ILWS September Challenges

Better late than never and you still have time to take part in the challenges over on In Love With Stamping, if you dont know where this is, follow the link on my right hand list, scroll down and you will find it.

This months challenges were varied. This is the sketch challenge, we were given this sketch and had to make a card using it.....

I did turn the sketch around to make this card. I used the Sweet Pea Paper Stack, Old Olive Satin Ribbon and the Hello Again Stamp Set. The Cardstock is So Saffron.
The next challenge was to make a card using a tone on tone. This means to use one colour but 2 tones of the colour, so, light blue and dark blue, or in my case, light purple, dark purple....

I used Perfect Plum Patterned Paper from Stampin Up and the Blooming With Beauty Stamp Set which is retiring at the end of the month, I will be very sad to see it go.

We also had to make a Children's Party Invitation, I used the Fox and Friends Stamp Set from Stampin Up, glad to see this is not retiring, the Sweet Pea Paper Stack, Brilliant Blue Cardstock, Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon and Old Olive Satin Ribbon.

And last but not least, a masking technique. This means you stamp something, place a mask over the top and stamp another image on top so you dont actually stamp on the bottom image... does this make sense. I used a Saleabration Stamp Set for this card, I love this stamp set, such a shame it was never in the catalogue. Again I used the Sweet Pea Paper Stack and Not Quite Navy Patterned Paper. The Cardstock is Whisper White and Rose Red.

So that is it from me today, off to the opticians in a minute. Went to the dentist yesterday and that cost me a fortune..... will definately be needing new glasses too, I think I must be falling apart.

Have a great day everyone... xx

This Month's Card Class.....

Okay, well I have lots to do this week and no time to do it as my Grandson has an appointment at the Royal London Hospital tomorrow and I am looking after my 22 month old Grandson, just not really feeling in a crafty mood at the moment anyway..... pah!!!! Think I am still recovering from having 17 people here Easter Sunday for roast dinner and definitely an overload of chocolate too, so diet starts again today!!! lol

So the above photo was my Card Workshop I did this month, I always find it really hard to judge how long it will take to make a card and I guess we had a bit too much to make this month, but everyone managed to stamp their images and make at least 2 of their cards and I showed them how to make the flowers on their notebooks...

How gorgeous are these colours. This month I decided I would not make everything matching, but use the same stamp set Greenhouse Garden for all of them but use different colourways so that they could see how different each card looked. For the notebook cover I used Perfect Plum Patterned Paper, Perfect Plum and Pale Plum Cardstock and Mellow Moss for the little leaves and the Taffetta Ribbon is also Mellow Moss....

This card is a flowerpot card and the flowers pull up and are attached to some card that you can write your message on. For this card I used Real Red and Whisper White Cardstock, there is also some Old Olive for the leaves and for the inside bit which you cannot see. The ribbon is Night of Navy and the inks are So Saffron, Real Red and Night of Navy.... the insides of the flowers are Chocolate Chip. I also used Jackpot Patterned Paper.

This card uses Pretty In Pink, Almost Amethyst and Certainly Celery Cardstock. The Patterned Paper is Tea Party and the Grosgrain Ribbon is Certainly Celery too....

This time I used Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow and Whisper White Cardstock. The Patterned Paper is To The Nines, this was probably the easiest card of them all to make. All stash used to make all these cards comes from Stampin' Up! If you would like to order anything, please contact me on LindaLloyd@gmx.net or if you would like a new Stampin' Up! mini catalogue, please contact me at the above email addy and I will get one out to you ASAP.

If you like Magnolia, Sugar Nellie or KatzelKraft stamps you will find some second hand ones for sale here and postage is free too.... bonus!!

Have a great afternoon, take care.. xx

Card Class.....

I thought I would show you what we did at my Card Class this month... the ladies all decided last month that they would like to make a masculine card set this month after seeing my card...

But I thought that maybe the flowers were a bit feminine, so I designed a whole new set to make, and I think they all went down really well, everyone seemed pleased and no one found them too difficult.... Here is a photo of the whole set together....

We even made a little Treat Box, I learnt to do this at a day Monica held in Peterborough, I changed the colour etc, but it was not my template.

The colours I used for this was Elegant Eggplant, More Mustard and Always Artichoke... and a small circle of Really Rust.... the Feather image is from the Nature's Nest Stamp Set and the little leaf is from the Autumn Days Stamp Set... the patterned paper is To The Nine's Speciality Paper... the chocolate bar is now all mine.... he he he

This card used Spiced Cider Patterned Paper, Elegant Eggplant and More Mustard Cardstock and the ribbon is Always Artichoke 1/4" Grosgrain. Stamp Set as above... I used the pricking mat and template to make the holes in the cardstock...

Again for this card I used More Mustard and Elegant Eggplant, the patterned paper is To The Nines and the ribbon is 1/4" Elegant Eggplant Grosgrain.

This last card is an easel card, the patterned paper is from the Perfect Plum Patterned Paper set and everything else is as above....

My little grandson who is 23 weeks old was admitted to hospital again last night, this time the doctor seemed positive that he wouldn't be going home until they found out what was wrong, this included having a gastric team on standby at the Royal London Hospital... they observed him last night, did even more blood tests and today decided that maybe he is allergic to dairy products.... er hello, we said this to them 3 months ago.... anyway this meant that I got to have my 22 month old grandson yesterday evening.... what a shame!! ha ha So small grandson is now home, he has kept his last 3 bottles down apart from the normal baby sick and we have our fingers crossed that this is the problem and finally he will start to put on weight.... the doctors have said he will never be able to have dairy products and the baby milk they have given him is only available on prescription, but hopefully for now everything will be fine... thank you everyone who has asked about him.

Hope you all have a great weekend, and Mums that you have a really great Mother's Day.... (ooops still need to make my mum a card...) Take care all xx

Anniversary Card......

This morning I had a Card Class and I think everyone enjoyed themselves, at least they said they did and they all managed to complete some wonderful cards... thank you very much ladies for coming... next months class is going to be made using the Greenhouse Garden Stamp Set, so cannot wait to get experimenting with that set. In the meantime it is my daughters 2nd Wedding Anniversary on Sunday (and it is also Mother's Day, I really need to do something about that too...). So have finally managed to make her and her hubby an Anniversary Card.

I used Perfect Plum, Rose Red and Pale Plum Cardstock with Whisper White for stamping on. The Heart and the Love image is from Love You Much Stamp Set. The heart was punched out using the new Big Heart Punch, it was smaller than the image so gave a really nice pattern on the heart. The Happy Anniversary sentiment is from the Cheers and Wishes Stamp Set, the ribbon is Elegant Eggplant Grosgrain. Oh yeah, the patterned paper is the To The Nines Speciality Patterned Paper. Think that is all....

I decorated the inside to match the front but this time used the Heart to Heart Punch to get the smaller heart shapes..... I hope they like it.

I will be back tomorrow, hopefully with a Mother's Day Card, and I am also going to put some more packs together to give away, but haven't yet managed to do that....

Have a great evening all, take care xx

MoJo Monday Challenge....

It must be that time of the week again when I enter the Mojo Monday Challenge.... This time my image is not Stampin' Up!.... Shock horror!!! But everything else is... lol

So above is the challenge you can find it here....

And here is my interpretation of it....

I have used Greetings Farm Stamp, Perfect Plum and Pumpkin Pie Patterned Paper from Stampin' Up!, Pumpkin Pie, Perfect Plum and Elegant Eggplant Cardstock and the sentiment and decoration are both from the Saleabration Set Vintage Tags, dont they look good... dont forget you can get this stamp set FREE if you spend £45 on Stampin' Up! before the end of February, after that it is gone.... and no chance of getting hold of one then. The ribbon is Elegant Eggplant Grosgrain Ribbon and the little button is also Stampin' Up!...

So you are honoured to have had 2 posts from me in one day, dont forget to scroll down and take part in my fortnightly colour challenge, there is a small prize for the winner...

Take Care all xx

Blog Challenge Winner and a New Colour Challenge

Well I cannot believe it is 2 weeks since I set the last colour challenge, where does the time go.... I have also decided not to pick my favourite card, I didn't realise that this would be impossible as all the entries were so good, so have decided to let Random.Org pick the winner.... and here is the winner, I didn't include my entry in the picking so just entered numbers 2-5 and the winner is......... ta dah!!!!

Here are your random numbers:4
Timestamp: 2010-02-02 11:14:54 UTC

and that is Carol....

Woohoo, well done Carol.

There will be a little something winging its way to you as soon as you send me your address.... to LindaLloyd@gmx.net.

And on to this fortnight's Challenge....

Whilst blog hopping one day I came across a card using these colours but in typical Linda fashion I jotted down the colours but not the blog address so cannot show you the card... but I have made one on time this week to show you and here it is....


All stash is Stampin' Up!, the Stamp Set is Autumn Days and I must admit this is the first time I have inked it up despite having it since before Christmas. The Patterned Paper is the More Mustard from the Hostess Level 1 Set of Patterned Paper, and the Perfect Plum Patterned Paper Pack. The flowers were made using the Scallop Circle Punch and Boho Blossoms Punch and oooops must admit sneaking in a Martha Stewart leaves punch too.... the Ribbon is Very Vanilla Grosgrain but I inked that with Really Rust as well as the edges of all the cardstock I used.

And do you think the pheasant is inked wonderfully.... well I am going to do a video tutorial to show you how this was done which will be up on my blog either Wednesday or Thursday, so keep checking back to see how this works....

And the above photo is the inside of my card, have taken to decorating the insides again this week..... lol

I look forward to seeing your entries during the next fortnight and again there will be a little something on its way to the winner.... unfortunately I can only ship the prize to UK and Europe but would still love to see International entries...

Have a great day all xx

A Couple of Things For You Today.....

Yep, thought I would treat you with a couple of things today, first a card I made which I adapted so would be suitable for 2 challenges at once, and the little image folder that I made for my downline.



So firstly the image folder, I used the new stamp set Good Friend, and the new Perfect Plum Patterned Paper, also Elegant Eggplant Cardstock and the new Pumpkin Pie Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, I also used Stampin Up Brads, and Stamp Set for the For You.

I used DL sized Vellum envelopes for the pockets, cut them in half and then punched the tops with the new eyelet border punch. I then punched more Perfect Plum PP with the tab punch to make little tabs for the tops of the pockets. I then finished off by stamping some images to put in the pockets and posted them out to my 5 downline. But the creating didn't stop there, I made some little folders to post out the image folders in, but I thought that as everyone would rip them over I would use some of my retired Stampin Up Patterned Paper along with Sage Shadow Cardstock and here are the finished projects waiting to be posted.

The above photo was the front and I just stuck an address label on the patterned paper, again I used the eyelet border Stampin Up Punch.

And the above photo is the back of the CD folder, I used the scallop border Punch and Grey Taffeta Ribbon.

My next project was a Get Well Soon Card, for this I used my Whiff of Joy Stamp as I thought it was really cute with the angel blowing kisses, I thought these could be get well kisses....


I used Glorious Green and Pumpkin Pie Cardstock and Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon, I also used the Sincere Salutations Stamp Set for the Get Well Soon sentiment, although I did use the Stamp a ma jig to shuffle the writing around a bit so it would fit into a circle punch. And as with all my cards I decorated the inside to match....

If you would like details of any of the items I have used or would like to purchase any Stampin Up items, then just drop us a line at LindaLloyd@gmx.net and I will do my best to help you out.

Take care everyone, have a great weekend.

Wow I've Done Some Cooking....

Well my best attempts are always something easy straight from the freezer, but me and DH decided this morning we would have a nice meal together, but...... it had to come out of a weightwatchers book, and we hadn't time to look together, so I bought all the ingredients for a 3 course meal, have chilled the wine and I have made the Starter, Sweet Potato and Chilli Soup, and the Dessert, which was supposed to be Very Cherry Mousse, but Tesco didn't have tinned Cherries, so now it is Very Strawberry Mousse, hope DH still likes it, and he is going to make the Main Dish which is Spicy Sausage Pasta, made with Chorizo which I know he loves....

My plans were nearly blown away when DD woke up this morning unable to breathe, this has never happened to her before, none of my 10 chldren suffer from Asthma and she was crying and panicing and I was trying to calm her down. I got an emergency appointment at the Doctors and appaarently this can happen to a lot of children, where the ribs meet the chestbone, the bone hasn't yet finished turning to bone and is still cartlidge and it becomes inflamed, this can happen due to exercise (she did the beep test and sit ups at school on Tuesday) or a viral infection which they ruled out her having, and the only thing she can take is ibuprofen for the pain, but once the pain dies down, her breathing becomes much easier, so fingers crossed this will heal quite quickly, although the Doctor did say it could take up to a week.

Belle my little pug was given the all clear by the vets today, they say her collar can come off on Monday, and we can also bath her then, which is excellent as she is getting a bit smelly because of the collar. In the meantime I have taken the very hard decision of re-homing my Great Dane. If anyone can give her a genuine good home and you have experience of Great Danes, then please contact me. I think she will be better off as an only dog, but she is really affectionate and loving, just not around my other dogs. (LindaLLoyd@gmx.net)

So all that leaves me to do is post today's card before I go and liquidize my soup.... and here it is, lots of Stampin Up stuff on here....

I used Perfect Plum and Pale Plum Cardstock and stamped the canvas stamp onto the Pale Plum Cardstock using Perfect Plum Ink. The scallop edge was cut in Whisper White using the Scallop Edge Punch. The other scallop edge with the holes was made using the Fiskars Threading Water Punch. The Ovals were cut using the Spellbinders Nestabilities. The Stamped Image is from A Rose Is A Rose Stamp set and cut and mounted on Dimensionals. The sentiment was stamped onto Whisper White Cardstock using Perfect Plum Ink and is stamped using the Best Yet Level 1 Hostess Set. So there we go a card using mainly Stampin Up today, if you would like to purchase any of these items that I have used today, I am offering free postage on them until Sunday, just contact me on LindaLloyd@gmx.net.

Have a great weekend all xx

In Time For Halloween

Thought I would attempt to make a halloween card today, but found Halloween sets lacking in the new Stampin Up catalogue, so although they do have a Halloween sentiment, I couldn't find a pumpkin, so I improvised.....

Yes I have used apples with Pumpkin Pie and Glorious Green Ink to try and make them look a bit like pumpkins, otherwise how about this.... you bob for apples on halloween.... lol

For this card I used Pumpkin Pie, Perfect Plum and Basic Black cardstock, Earth Elements brads, Pumpkin Pie, Glorious Green and Basic Black Ink, I embossed the Happy Halloween sentiment which is in the Occasional Greetings set, and used Old Olive Ribbon.... the apples are from the brand new Tart and Tangy stamp set which is available now in the new catalogue which you can browse if you click on the catalogue on the right hand side. Just let me know if there is anything you want at LindaLloyd@gmx.net. The little bat was made using the new 2" Scallop Circle Punch from Stampin Up, you can find instructions for it here.... http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1054178...

Check back here regularly for more ideas using the Stampin Up sets.