Another Challenge Card (are my headings getting boring... lol)

I have made yet another card for a Challenge, I find it easier to use sketches to make my cards, so thought I may as well work my way through some challenges. This challenge can be found at:- http://doubledutchchallenges.blogspot.com/. And here is the sketch.....

I have used all Stampin' Up! stash for this card except for the Sentiment which is computer generated. Unfortunately the Patterned Paper is now retired, I really need to try and use all my retired stuff up, but the new stuff is so lush I never get round to it... lol

I have been asked for some New Year Cards, but didn't want to make them too "in your face" New Year as they will be given out over the next few weeks or even month and New Years Day was now 2 weeks ago!

The snow here is nearly all gone, and I have just glanced out my window and we have sleet, but more rain than snow, it will definately melt away the remaining snow. The fields are still snow covered but the pavements are quite clear now... luckily as we are travelling to Peterborough on Saturday for a Card Making Day for me and then in the evening we travel back in time for my Step Mum's 80th birthday. Really need to get around to making some cards for that, so keep checking back if you would like to see them.

If you would like to buy any Stampin' Up! Stash, then I can sort that for you, plus if you spend over £45 you will be able to choose a free exclusive limited edition Stamp Set out of a choice of 4, these are only available until the end of February.

Have a good day all, take care and be safe wherever you are xx

A Couple of Challenges

I am still busy making my card order and needed a bit of inspiration, so decided to look up some challenges. This card was made using a couple of challenge, a colour one and a sketch one. I used all Stampin' Up! Stash for this card, am trying to do this more often now... it is so lush!!

The colours I used were Ruby Red, Cameo Coral, Bashful Blue, More Mustard, So Saffron and Whisper White as we dont have Deep Red and Baja Blue in the UK.

And the sketch I copied almost exactly except I added a bit of bling in the bottom right hand corner.

I used the new SAB set Happy Moments for the sentiment "Thank You", Circle Circus to edge the inner circle and flight of the Butterfly for the main image, and the Butterfly Punch to punch out the butterfly. I used the Level 1 Hostess Set Darling Dots for the flower on the Bashful Blue Cardstock. It is very unusual for me to use no Patterned Paper, but I did manage it....

The snow is nearly gone around here, but I am having big trouble with my car since the snow. The battery totally died, so had a new one fitted yesterday at a cost of more than £100 and this morning something has drained the battery and the new one is flat.... grrr thats all I need electrical problems with electrical diagnoses costing more than £50 an hour....

Dont forget my card workshop on Thursday, should be good as I am loving the Stamp Set Flight of the Butterfly at the moment, such pretty cards, hope my ladies like them.

Take care all, have a safe day...

Birthday Card

It was my nephews 17th birthday last week and I decided to combine the PTI challenge this week with the card. Had to use stars which i thought was ideal for a 17 year old boys birthday card.

Had to make it really quickly as I had nearly forgotten his birthday, so this card is very basic to what i would normally do. I stamped the PTI stars onto Bashful Blue Cardstock using Bashful Blue Ink. The stars were stamped using Night of Navy Ink onto Whisper White Cardstock and punched out using the Stampin' Up! Star Punch, I then attached 2 blue buttons to the middle of the stars and tied some Linen Thread through the middle. I cut a piece of Night of Navy and cut a v shape one end and mounted it onto a piece of Kraft Cardstock punched with a Martha Stewart Punch. And voila a really quick card. This also qualifies for the PTI Challenge which is to use stars.

Have a great snow day everyone, both schools are closed, DH is working from home. Unfortunately daughter dropped my grandchildren off here this morning whilst she took her hubby to work as she needed the car (grandsons are 12 weeks and 19 months) and she broke down on the way, possibly the water pump. She waited for the car to cool, but it overheated again quickly. In the meantime hospital rings to cancel her appointment (reason she needed the car in the first place) and her hubby rung work to see if someone could come out to pick him up and take him in and his boss said he was sending everyone home anyway.... what a waste of time. Luckily the boys were all nice and warm with me, but then I had to go pick her and hubby up, pick up the boys from mine and take them home.... not sure what they are doing about the car.

Take care and be safe. 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

January Card Workshop

I will be holding my usual Card Workshop in January. The date is Thursday 7th January at 10am until 1pm and we will be making some lovely cards using Flight of the Butterfly stamp set..... and a gorgeous box to put them in..... the cost of this workshop is £7.50 and this includes everything you will need to make the 5 cards and a Calender Box with drawer to hold your 5 cards plus refreshments. I will also have a full colour tutorial for you to take home with you so that you are able to make the cards at home too.... I only have room for 6 people and 4 places are booked already. I look forward to seeing you if you can make it. For more information contact me on LindaLloyd@gmx.net.

18th Birthday

My son celebrated his 18th Birthday on 28th December...... we all went out for a meal the day before and surprised him by having his other siblings and their partners ready and waiting at the restaurant. Not being very organised I had to put together this card quickly before Church on the Sunday morning, I thought about buying one but cannot quite manage to actually buy a card when I am perfectly able to make them (Plus I have tons of stuff to use up.... lol).

Have used Bashful Blue and Night of Navy Cardstock, plus the Old Olive Patterned Paper edged with the Border Punch at the top and the bottom. The circles are stamped with the Circle Circus Stamp Set in Whisper White ink and the stars are cut out using the Star Punch and Bashful Blue Cardstock. The Sentiment was stamped using the Happy Everything Stamp Set. All these items are available from Stampin' Up!

Now the inside was a bit of a joke, he is a trainee butcher and always telling us about the meat he cuts up and he seems to cut up a lot of lamb, so what better to put inside his card than a little lamb.... lol. Inside was created using Whisper White, Bashful Blue and Night of Navy Cardstock. The sheep was made using Stampin' Up! punches, Scallop Circle, Oval, Five Petal Flower (for ears) and Word Window Punch for legs.

There is a Cup Challenge on ILWS tonight, check out my right hand side bar and scroll down for a link to In Love With Stamping, be there at 5pm to register for an evening of fun and crafting.

Take Care all xx

Happy New Year Everyone

Well I just wanted to wish all my blog readers a very Happy New Year, hope this year is filled with everything you hope for, that you will fullfil your dreams and you will all have good health.

Me and DH held a New Year's Eve Party at our church and everything went really well, no catastrophes, everything went to plan, there was enough food and drink and it even snowed whilst we were taking my son and girlfriend home afterwards and I just love the snow..... so definately a brilliant evening had by all....

Anyway, today I want to finish up with my Christmas things, this time it was a gift for my Mum, pennies were very tight this year and I wanted to make special things for special people. I used to make jewellery a few years back and my mum used to love my earrings so I decided to make her 3 pairs for Christmas.

I decided that I would use 3 different colour metals and stones so they would all be completely different and would match with more of her outfits. The first pair (I did make 2 although there is only 1 in the picture) I made in gold using brown and cream coloured stones.

The second pair were made using silver and more cooler colours of purple and blue, in fact I think these are my mums favourites as she was wearing them when she popped round on Tuesday...

This pair I used antique copper wire and turquoise stones, I wasn't sure if they were a bit longer than my Mum would normally wear, so I offered to shorten them but she said she likes them just the way they are, so I think they were a hit. In fact I like this pair so much I may have to make myself some similar.

And of course I had to make a box to put them in... unfortunately I underestimated the length of the long ones and they hung slightly below the edge of the box, though not to worry, once the box was shut you couldn't see. I used Bordering Blue and Kraft coloured cardstock from Stampin' Up! and Bella Bleu Patterned Paper also from Stampin' Up!

On the outside of the box I used Very Vanilla Grosgrain Ribbon and the Scallop Oval and Oval Punch and the Oval All stamp Set all from Stampin' Up! and Bordering Blue, Kraft and Not Quite Navy Cardstock.

If you would like to purchase any Stampin' Up! items from me, for the next 2 months for every £45 you spend you can order a free limited edition stamp set. With a choice of 4 to choose from there should definately be at least one that you would love to own. Click on the Saleabration Leaflet on the left hand column to find out more details or email me on LindaLloyd@gmx.net.

Have a great evening all xx