In Love With Stamping Saleabration Blog Hop...

Welcome to our In Love With Stamping Blog Hop... there are 30 of us taking part so we have split it into 2 blog hops 15 in each. Each project will use something out of the Stampin' Up! Saleabration Set and we hope this gives you some inspiration so you can design your own goodies with the stamp sets. If you have reached me that means you have come from Jan's blog here (hopefully) if not please make sure you go back and visit Jan's blog and her wonderful designs.

To get these sets you just need to spend £45 in the current Stampin' Up! catalogue and pick one of the sets free... if you would like to place an order with me just contact me on LindaLloyd@gmx.net.

I decided to be a bit more adventurous with these designs and made a suitcase out of Sahara Sand, Close to Cocoa, Really Rust and Chocolate Chip Cardstock using the Spiced Cider Patterned Paper. The Stamp Set I used for this set is the Good Neighbours set and it is stamped using Really Rust, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive and Bashful Blue Ink. The above photo shows the whole set including the suitcase.

The above photograph shows all the cards packed into the case, it has room for 2 different size cards, some decorated paperclips and pens and pencils.

This is a close up of the inside of the case, you can see in this picture that there are dividers in the box made out of Whisper White Cardstock... this would make a brilliant gift for a friend who was moving, although I didn't put any sentiments on the cards so they can be used for any occasion.

The small cards are 3 x 3 in size, the paperclips have been decorated using the Vintage Tags Saleabration Stamp Set and embossed. The back of the paperclips that you cannot see has the leaf shaped tree stamped onto the Scallop Circles.

The big cards are 4 1/2" x 5 1/2". The little houses fit nicely onto a 1 3/8" punched out circle which can then be matted onto the Scallop Circle.

I then moved on to making a little box set which would make a lovely gift for a friend. I used Real Red, Rose Red, Whisper White and Regal Rose Cardstock. The Stamp Sets I used are Happy Moments and Whimsical Words. The Patterned Paper is from the Kaleidoscope Set and the Pink Flamingo Set.

You cannot see very well, but the box is covered in a Medium Window Sheet which Stampin' Up! sell. I used Gold Cord to wrap around the box and Regal Rose Ribbon to decorate it.

These are the cards I made, they measure 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" and the chocolates in the middle of the box are Hersheys.

The above photo was taken after I had removed the window sheet cover from the box so you could see everything packed away. I used the pink colours as it is soon Valentines Day, but not everyone wants Valentine Cards so made them so they could be used for various occasions.

Well I hope you enjoyed your stop here. Your next stop is Dawn's blog. I know you will love her contributions to the blog hop..

Have a great Sunday, take care all.. xx

Snow-tastic!

Wow after having no snow at all yesterday I thought it was going to miss us out and I absolutely, definitely, without a doubt love the snow... it just makes me want to roll around in it, snow angels, the lot, I love it when it is crispy and squeaky and soft, not icy, and overnight we had a small sprinkling and I thought that was going to be our lot... but lo and behold by 8am this morning it was coming down thick and fast. DH started to take the older children to school but got about a mile in the school direction (it is 6 miles away) and turned around and came home... it was just too bad out there. We later found they closed the school around 11am anyway, so would have been dangerous and a waste of time taking them all the way in. Unfortunately the primary school didn't close, so I trekked through the blizzard (oh no, what a hardship!) and got the boys to school 5 minutes late. Their school was the only one in the area which wasn't shut but at home time we were informed they wouldn't be opening tomorrow. Hometime entailed another trek through an even worse blizzard to pick them up, but following some school children home and watching them all throw snow at each other and the joy on their faces was just heartwarming. Here is a photograph I took from my bedroom window, doesn't it look beautiful?

The bad news is that I had to cancel my Card Workshop for tomorrow, the weather will be too treacherous to expect people to trek to my house for this event and I would hate for anyone to get hurt on their way here, it has been rescheduled for next Thursday and so far all people are able to make it. I have 3 more spaces if anyone is interested, it will be based on Flight of the Butterfly stamp set.

Saturday night the forum In Love With Stamping held a challenge evening. There were 4 challenges set at 7pm, 8pm, 9pm and 10pm. You had 45 minutes to complete the challenge (unheard of for me, normally takes me 2 hours to make a card) and then 15 minutes to upload it to the gallery. Well I did complete the challenges, yes all of them in 45 minutes each....

The photograph above was my interpretation of Challenge 2 which was use one stamp set, one ink and cardstock and no embellishments, we could use punches and piercing tools but nothing else, this was my interpretation of that challenge. I used Basic Black and Whisper White Cardstock, the Bella Toile Stamp Set which I stamped with Basic Black onto the Whisper White Cardstock. I punched the flowers out using Whisper White and Basic Black and glued them together. I then stamped a tealight candle with the same stamp set and black ink and put it in the box. There were some very talented ladies on this forum and their ideas were absolutely brilliant.

The card above was from the first challenge which was a sketch challenge and guess what? YES I WON... woohoo, cannot believe it as I thought there were entries there that were far superior to mine... glad someone liked it though. The stamp set used was Mr and Mrs and the patterned paper was Nouveau Chic. I used all Stampin' Up! stash for all the cards that I made. The gorgeous ribbon is the new Striped Grosgrain that came out in the new catalogue.

This challenge was challenge 4 and there were 2 stipulations to this one, one was to mask and stamp and the second was to use something that you were throwing out in your house and recycle it. I masked the little house from the new Saleabration Set and tore up one of my Stampin' Up! boxes destined for the rubbish to make the outer circle on the image. The sentiment was from Bella's Bloom. If you would like to know how to get this stamp set for nothing, email me on LindaLloyd@gmx.net.

And this last challenge was a colour combo challenge, the colours were Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, Apricot Appeal, Regal Rose and Old Olive. I used the A Rose is a Rose stamp set for this and although at first I was horrified at the mix of colours, I think it turned out okay at the end and I am really pleased as I would never normally use this many colours together and it really got me thinking outside of the box. If you would like to purchase any of the Stampin' Up! stash that I used in these cards please contact me at LindaLloyd@gmx.net. If this is the first order that you have placed with me I will give you 10% off and free postage, so could be worth quite a lot to you. If you spend over £45 you will also get a free Saleabration Stamp Set. This offer ends midnight Sunday though, so get in quick.

Have a great evening all, stay indoors, stay warm and stay safe.... take care. xx

Day 11 - 12 Gifts of Christmas

Well the gifts wouldn't be complete without a small box of

Thank You Cards

So I made 10 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" cards and using the stamp set Pocket Silhouettes I decorated them all differently. I didn't really have room for a sentiment on the outside, so put it on the inside... here are the cards along with the inside of them, plus the envelopes.



Next I needed a box to put them in, and this is how I made it...

I took a 12 x 12 piece of textured card and cut it down so it measured 10 x 10. I then scored it at 3" and 7" in both directions so that I ended up with a piece of card that looked like this...

I then cut along the crease at 3" and at 7" on one side and then the opposite side (not on all sides)... I also cut a slight slither out here and added double sided tape as shown...

Next taking each piece bit by bit I peeled the tape off one corner and bending up the side and tucking it in I securely stuck it to the inside of the longer piece. I did this with all 4 corners so it ended up like this...

And it looked very neat from the side...

The cards fit very nicely in this size box...

We next need to make the lid. For this I used a 12 x 12 piece of Holiday Treasures Patterned Paper (which was the PP I used on the cards, so that everything matches nicely...) and cut it to measure 10 1/4" x 10 1/4". I scored it at 1 1/2", 3", 7 1/4" and 8 3/4". Do this both ways so that it is scored all around.

I then had to cut the corners so the box would fold together properly, so cut along the white lines I have drawn on the next diagram...

Do this on all four corners. When it has been cut out it will look like this...

Put double sided tape along the outer edge on all four sides, if you look carefully at the photo above you will be able to see where I stuck it. You will also need to cut downwards to the next score line on opposite sides, from below where the tape is. You fold the corners in and tuck the outer sides over the corners (remember to remove the strip from the double sided tape before you do this. It should look like this...

Next I decorated the lid by putting a length of Regal Rose around the edge of the box and tying in a knot. The paper is nicely patterned so I didn't feel it needed too much decoration. I then made a little to and from label to go on the box and tied it through the knot of the ribbon with Stampin' Up! Gold Elastic.

A very thoughtful present for someone as they can then use them to send out their Thank You Notes after Christmas.

Will be back tomorrow with the last of the 12 Gifts of Christmas....

Have a good evening all xx

Do You Want A Bargain...

Then why not sign up to one or all of these clubs....

CLUB 1 (PATTERNED PAPER) (8 PEOPLE PER GROUP)To view the patterned papers check out pages 70-71 of the current catalogue) or click on the catalogue picture on the left hand side of my blog.
You will get 1 6x6 sheet of each patterned paper which makes a massive 84 sheets of 6x6 paper.
Price £14.75 including postage.

CLUB 2 (GROSGRAIN RIBBON) (6 PEOPLE PER GROUP)To view the ribbons check out page 80 of the current catalogue)
You will get 2 metres of 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon in the following colours
Whisper White
Very Vanilla
Chocolate Chip
Pumpkin Pie
More Mustard
Real Red
Elegant Eggplant
Night of Navy
Tempting Turquoise
Certainly Celery
Always Artichoke
Price £7.25 including postage (22 Metres of ribbon)

CLUB 3 (5/8" GROSGRAIN RIBBON) (6 PEOPLE PER GROUP)To view the ribbons check out page 80 of the current catalogue)
You will get 2m of 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon in the following colours
Very Vanilla
Chocolate Chip
Bravo Burgundy
Real Red
Regal Rose
Brocade Blue
Certainly Celery
Old Olive
Price £8.50 including postage (16 metres of ribbon)

CLUB 4 (GINGHAM RIBBON) (6 PEOPLE PER GROUP)
To view the ribbons check out page 80 of the current catalogue
You will get 2m of 4.76mm wide Gingham Ribbon in the following colours
Black
Red
Light Blue
Light Pink
Moss
Caramel
Price £5.50 including postage (12m of ribbon)

CLUB 5 (TAFFETA RIBBON) (4 PEOPLE PER GROUP)
To view the ribbons please check out page 80 in the current catalogue
You will get 2m of 9.52mm wide Taffeta Ribbon in the following colours
Whisper White
Very Vanilla
Kraft
Chocolate Chip
Basic Gray
Mellow Moss
Bashful Blue
Pretty in Pink
Price £11.25 including postage (16m ribbon)

CLUB 6 (DOUBLE STITCHED GROSGRAIN RIBBON) (4 PEOPLE PER GROUP)To view the ribbon please check out page 80 in the current catalogue
You will get 2m of 1" Double Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon in the following colours
Rose Red
Bashful Blue
Chocolate Chip
Price £5.50 including postage (6m of ribbon)

If you join 3 groups, you will get a discount of 2.5%
If you join all 6 groups you will get a 7.5% discount (£52.75 - 7.5% (£3.96) = £48.79

SPOTS AND MARKERS CLUB (4 PEOPLE PER GROUP)
How does it work?
4 people sign up for 4 months and each month they receive a set of markers in 1 colour family and a set of ink spots in 1 colour family.

How much does it costs?
It will cost £45 per month including postage.

What do I get out of it?
You will each get a free level 1 Hostess Set plus £15 of free goodies of your choice from the current catalogue. I will pick names at random and allocate a month to each of the 4 people, they will then need to pick the Stamp Set and Goodies that they want. You will also get the awesome storage for the markers, as each month I will puchase a full set of markers and they come packed in the storage container (which you dont get with single purchases of the markers) and each month 1 person will get their one set of markers in a storage container, so by the end of the 4 months, you will have all Stampin' Up! colours in the inkspots and all the Stampin' Write markers in the awesome storage container without a huge single layout.

If you are interested in any of the above clubs, please e-mail me on LindaLloyd@gmx.net.

Been Playing Today.....

Yep my new stamp sets turned up yesterday so I have had a little play today, nothing much as I had a card order to finish, but have finally finished my nearly 70 cards and will be concentrating solely on Stampin Up stuff this week... including some blog candy, so watch this space.



So this is what I have been making...



Crazy For Cupcakes stamp set, normally £20.95, but if you spend over £20 in the new catalogue you can have it for £16.76 and if you spend over £20 in the new catalogue before Noon tomorrow you can have this stamp set for £14.67, cant be bad... I also used the new Patterned Paper set Tea and Crumpets and the Grosgrain ribbon in Regal Rose, the flower was made using the scallop punch and due to the nature of the sentiment, Happy Unbirthday, that was computer generated, plus I used Pretty in Pink Brad and Always Artichoke cardstock.... voila..

This only uses a new Stamp Set called Garden Whimsey this set normally costs £22.95 but if you buy it before noon tomorrow it will only cost you £20.66, the ribbon is Real Red Grosgrain also from Stampin Up and the cardstock is Real Red too, but the paper is not Stampin Up, I am trying to use up my huge pile of patterned paper.

My little grandson came round yesterday and enjoyed rolling around my bedroom floor, I am trying to introduce him to the joys of Stampin Up, I am sure he will be well into it when he gets a bit older, all those inks and things!!

It is my daughters 21st birthday on Monday and I haven't even got round to making her a card yet, but she is out tomorrow afternoon and so will have an opportunity after we have been geo-caching to make one for her.... funny but just before she was 18 we asked her which birthday she wanted to be her important one, her 18th or 21st and she said 18, now she is telling everyone her 21st is her most important birthday.... lol thats children for you...

Have a good evening all, hope to be back tomorrow...