A Birthday Card for my Daughter

It was my daughter's birthday last week and here is the card I made for her. The image is from The Greetings Farm and was coloured in using Copic Markers, the paper is Basic Grey and the punches are Dovecraft, Stampin' Up! and Martha Stewart. The ribbon is also Stampin Up, in Old Olive. Anyway, my daughter loves daisies, so although I thought this card was a bit daisy overload she loved it, so another happy recipient.

My poor little 8 year old is off school today, he was sick last night but has not been since, although he does carry his bucket around with him. He has also had something to eat today and all is well and good. He is complaining of headache, sore throat and the sickness, his brother had the same thing last weekend, but no sickness thank goodness.... I am not a very good sickness person... lol Thank goodness for half term next week when they all have a whole week to recover from all the little things they pick up from school.

I have a favour to ask. Does anyone have or can purchase for me some Hanglar and Stanglar stamps. I absolutely love these stamps but they will not ship to UK, so can I beg, steal or borrow some from someone please. I can do some Greetings Farm stamps as a swap, or I am willing to pay if anyone is selling, or can purchase on my behalf, I will meet all costs. Okay begging over.

Have a great afternoon and evening everyone xx

Did I tell you I was published???

Cant believe I forgot to tell you all... lol. I was published in the September Edition of Craft Stamper, it was for a Challenge, I was given a colourway and sketch and had to make a card along those lines and here it is....

I used Really Rust and More Mustard cardstock from Stampin Up and the Garden Whimsey Stamp Set. The punch is from Martha Stewart and the flower punch was x-cut I think. the brads are also Stampin Up and the card itself was cut using my cricut.... the article in the magazine is below...


I was so thrilled to be asked to enter this challenge, thank you Katie for giving me this chance.

Have a great day all, take care xx

Have Been Busy, Have a Lot to Show You This Week....

I hope you have all had a great weekend, we went to see my daughter who has moved into a house with her boyfriend in Sudbury, she was all alone this weekend as her boyfriend had to unexpectedly fly back to South Africa (he is Zimbabwean) as his Grandad died and he had to go to the funeral, so she was rather upset that she hadn't been able to go with him and felt lonely, so we took a trip to see her and went for a lovely meal in Prezzo and then geocaching to walk off our meal... a really nice day, thank you Ashleigh.

I have been mega busy over the past week, what with cleaning my house to within an inch of its life (so I dont feel too lazy crafting all this week too) an I even used a toothbrush to clean the skirtings... lol I have also been busy making cards, halloween gifts etc... and have lots of other ideas too... I really would like to make some Christmas Cards this week, and I have bought far tooooo many Christmas bits, so should have enough to last me for the next 10 years... lol

So here is a card I have made...

And I also have another card to show you, not sure if I have already shown it to you, but just incase, here it is... Not sure about the paper or the image, and the ribbon and buttons were from my stash.


This image was coloured in using copic markers and the image is a Sweet Nellie image, the sentiment is computer generated and the paper I expect is Basic Grey... my favourite.

And as promised, here are my before and after photos from my diet. The before was taken last summer when we were on holiday, I cannot believe I looked so awful and even my children have said we didn't realise you looked so bad mum... so here is the before.

> Yep, very bad photo, this was me at around 14stone 9lb and a size 20, and here is the end result which I arrived at in August this year...

And this is me at the Haagen Dazs Cafe in Leicester Square at 11pm on 31st August, which was our 10th Wedding Anniversary. We stayed at a 5* Hotel in Mayfair (The Metropolitan) and I wasn't ashamed about being fat, I was so happy with what I had achieved and that I finally looked normal. So this is the end result, 9 stone 12lb and a size 8 to 10...

So here's hoping that you all had a great weekend, and that your weekend will be just as good.

Take care

Still For Sale...

I have updated this post http://purelystamping.blogspot.com/2009/08/magnolia-whiff-of-joy-sugar-nellie.html to show the stamps that are still for sale... please email me on LindaLloyd@gmx.net. I will accept personal cheques, postal orders, or gifted paypal payments. Will be back soon to update, but my daughter had a little baby boy, Cain Mitchell this afternoon at 2.38pm, and I have been running up and down the hospital like a loony and looking after my grandson who is 17 months old.... and my crafting space is a mess as I am re-organising it to incorporate my new Stampin Up Stash. If you would like to purchase anything from the new Stampin Up Catalogue, check out http://www.stampinup.co.uk/ and just let me know what you would like. I am offering a 10% discount for all orders over £35... take care and have a good weekend.

A Little Something For a Challenge

Right, well I have decided to totally turn around my life and everything I do (not that I have much time after being a mum to 10 children and running them around to various appointments etc), but I need to get on and do something instead of being in front of my computer all the time. I also want to keep all the weight off that I have lost and being more active will do that hopefully. The plan is to also have a bit of a sort out in my craft area and put away stuff not used so often and take out stuff that is used whenever I craft like cardstock.... I also intend to have a major bloghop and find a challenge for each day of the week, which will hopefully inspire me to get things made in advance instead of making cards at the last minute.... lol Which reminds me, must get on and make some halloween gifts....

Anyway, here is my first Christmas Items of the year... and made for the Stamp With Us Challenge, which is a Stampin Up based website run by some brilliant demonstrators whose work I greatly admire. The challenge was to make something that wasn't a card, and since I received my new catalogue stash this week I decided instead of stroking it I would use it... (see I said I was turning my life around, I would normally have stroked it for weeks)...

I made a small box with a flap using the new Stampin Up Simply Scrappin Kit "Christmas Jingle", you get everything you need to make some brilliant scrapbook pages, cards or mini albums and it all co-ordinates including the cardstock, stickers and paper. And inside this little box I made is a mini folding album which I intend to fill with pictures from Christmas this year. A brilliant little gift to give to a loved one this Christmas so that they can save their own memories.... and here is the mini album out of the box...

Not yet filled as I want to put some photos from this year in it, and will make sure I take some really good ones especially for this album as I have never had an album before. It is also a good size to carry around in your handbag so that you can brag about the excellent Christmas you had, or just to remind you of the good times you had once, the cold, snowy, dull new year comes round.... have a good day all. xx

Have loads of made cards, just need to post them on here....

Well I have a backlog of cards that I have made to put on my blog, but I dont want to spoil you, so will plod along 2 at a time. Keep checking back as I will have some blog candy to give away soon, plus some stamp sets to sell, so watch this space.

I have been making cards today, trying to finish an order I needed to finish and was pleased to finish it at last, haven't managed to photograph them yet, yucky light...

Well it looks like Autumn is finally on its way, it was very windy around here today and decidedly chilly too.... nearly the kind of weather for thick soup and bread or hot and tasty stews, which reminds me, I will need to post a before and after photo of myself, I have been on the Cambridge Diet and lost nearly 5 stone... should be amusing, it will be worth checking back just to see these photos... lol

Anyway, I have 2 cards to show you today...

As I made this a while ago I cannot remember what I used, but it is all Stampin Up, I am sure those of you who use Stampin Up will know what it is... lol

Next is a Gorjuss Girl card from http://www.funkykits.co.uk/...


Again I have no idea what I used, but I remember digging deep into my piles of stash for the paper, the ribbon is Stampin Up, but I think that is all... image is coloured using copic markers..

Have a great Saturday evening, wrap up warm and chill in front of the tv... cya all tomorrow xx

A Few Cards..... and a really nice lady....

Have been busy this week making some cards and thought you might like to see it.... so much has been going on in my life at the moment and everything had to be put on a shelf until I get through the other side, and hopefully now I am re-emerging....

Sunday afternoon I had a phone call from my DDs boyfriend who she was out with saying his friend (they are 14) had fallen off his bike, couldn't move his leg and there was blood.... having worked on the ambulances could I please come and help him. I told him to call an ambulance and I zipped off in my car to their location. Took one look at the blood, realised it was nothing to do with his leg and all to do with the handlebars of his bike that had pierced his lower torso, there wasn't too much blood, so decided not to move him but try and calm him down. No one could contact his mother so DH went off to his to see if she was there, and meantime I managed to calm him down so much he was talking on his mobile phone to his Dad when the ambulance arrived. His mum turned up shortly afterwards and we planned that I would take his new bike to my house and lock it in my garage, so I gave her my address so she could pick it up when she was ready. Her friend then turned up and took the bike and I took off, leaving Mum, son and ambulance waiting for a back up ambulance... Well Wednesday evening there is a knock at the door, this lady remembered where I had lived and bought me a bottle of wine for looking after her son until she got there.... how kind was that, and it turns out she is a newly trained midwife who has seen my pregnant daughter on a couple of occasions for a check up.... her son started to bleed really badly once they got him on the ambulance, so I was so glad I hadn't moved him, and had to have an operation, but came home Wednesday afternoon....

Anyway, on to the couple of cards....

This is for Mum, it is her birthday on Monday, but she has gone away for a few days as a birthday treat, so had to get it made and finished for yesterday....

Recipe:- Stampin Up Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant and Lavender Lace. The flourish is cut out using my Cricut Expression and the edging is a Martha Stewart Punch. The "Happy Birthday" was made using my new Start Rite font stamps and cut out using the Window Slot Punch from Stampin Up. Old Olive and Whisper White Ribbon used along the edge. The diamond embossed rectangle that the flower is sitting on was made using acetate and a cuttlebug folder.

This card was made for my little boy's friend whose birthday party he went to last week.... I coloured a skateboarder and a fireman and my little boy chose the fireman...

Recipe:- Greetings Farm Fireman Stamp, Stampin Up Stamps, Stampin Up Tempting Turquoise cardstock, Green Galore Cardstock and Elegant Eggplant Cardstock. Real Red and Tempting Turquoise Inkpads... The Greetings Farm image was coloured in using Copic Marker and the star shape was cut out using the Stampin Up Star Punch....

That's all for today, have a good evening everyone xx