A Quick Toot for me....

This weekend was the very first Convention for European Demonstrators of Stampin' Up!. Unfortunately I could not go due to finances, but I have been told by my upline that I was in the top 10 Demonstrators in the UK.... number 9 to be precise out of 281 people. I would like to thank everyone who helped me make it there.... and because I am feeling uber generous check back tomorrow for some free blog candy... xx

Hold On To Your Seats......

I have been really, really busy today and I made a total of 6 cards... yes 6, but unfortunately the light got dark quickly (?) and i couldn't photograph the sixth one, so that will have to wait until tomorrow. So I have completed 9 cards in all for my Church Order, well on target for Sunday, and the lady was thrilled with the ThankYou card I made with the little children on it, so I am happy as she is happy.

The paper on the first one is Bloom and Grow by My Minds Eye, the Cardstock is Stampin' Up! So Saffron (I always seem to use the Stampin' Up! somewhere)... the sentiment is from Our Daily Bread, a US company that makes some awesome stamps, the leaf punch is a Martha Stewart Punch and the bling is from my stash....

Again I used Bloom and Grow Patterned paper, and the ric rac ribbon is also made by My Minds Eye to match the Patterned Paper, again the sentiment is Our Daily Bread and the cardstock is Really Rust form Stampin' Up!. The butterfly is a Spellbinders die and was cut out using Certainly Celery and Really Rust cardstock (yes Stampin' Up! again).

Yep, you've guessed it, more Bloom and Grow Papers, sentiment from Our Daily Bread, the edges were punched using the Stampin' Up! scallop edge punch, the ribbon is Stampin' Up! taffeta ribbon in Pretty in Pink as is the cardstock.... the big brad in the centre of the flower is a My Minds Eye brad made to match the paper, everything else is from my stash.

Do I need to tell you who made the Patterned Paper.... lol, My Minds Eye again, Cardstock is Very Vanilla and Glorious Green (Stampin' Up!, their cardstock really is excellent and just the right thickness for so many projects)... sentiment - Our Daily Bread. The flower was punched out using the Stampin' Up! five petal punch and 1" circle punch, the bling was from my stash.

I thought I would try an easel card, seeing as everyone else seems to have made one and I haven't.... must admit, even though the card looked quite plain to me, it still looked really pretty propped up like an eassel. The Patterned Paper is retired Stampin' Up!, the scallop edge is Stampin' Up! scallop edge punch, sentiment is Our Daily Bread and everything else is from my stash.

Have a great evening all xx

Something A Bit Different......

Well today I haven't made any cards, but I have finally got round to making a chain for my glasses. I am always taking them off and putting them on and losing them amongst my stash (I am incredibly long sighted and cannot see close up when crafting without them). I bought these beads in my local Paper Mill Shop when I was last there buying stash for this purpose and they have been sitting on my desk ever since. I really need to get round to making more jewellery and am thinking that I could make some for Christmas Presents and make some nice boxes out of my Stampin' Up! stash to put them in... would save on wrapping paper too....

As mentioned above the green and flower beads came from The Paper Mill Shop and the chain and glasses attachment I already had in my jewellery making box.... am now thinking of making one in purple too, so I can mix and match with my clothes.... lol

And above is a photo of the whole thing attached to my glasses.... only took just over an hour to make, much quicker than any of my cards take me.... hope to be back tomorrow with a couple of cards. Have a great evening all xx

WooHooooooooo......

Yesterday, my long awaited Blu Ray disc of The Killers Live at The Albert Hall arrived, on the day it should have been released (somehow the dates got later as time went on, but it did arrive on the original date) and guess what, the flippin Blu Ray on my computer had disappeared. Luckily HP talked me through getting it back, apparently I-Tunes (which I do have) or Norton (which I dont have) have a habit of adding files to your registry which then makes your drive disappear... so thank you HP for sorting that for me but then the software wouldn't work. DH took over my computer from work (remotely) and tried his hardest to find out why, we updated every driver you could possibly imagine (even though I have only had the laptop 6 weeks) and it still didn't work... we searched forums, websites etc trying to get to the bottom of it... finally at around 9.30pm last night we found someone who had posted that their anti virus had interfered with their blu ray software (we had turned my anti virus off) and guess what, yep, it was the same anti virus as I use, so in case anyone else has these problems Comodo Anti Virus interferes with blu ray software and has to be totally removed from the computer before it will play blu ray discs (actually it wouldn't play DVDs either, so the drive wouldn't play any kind of disc whilst this anti virus was installed on the computer even if it was turned off), so 9.45pm last night I finally got around to watching the long awaited concert (yes we were there and I just wanted to relive the greatest concert I have been to this year and I have been to a fair few.... The Killers in February, Nickelback, Boyzone, U2, The Killers in July, Spandau Ballet and yet to come, The Specials this month and Madness next month).... In case any of you are thinking of buying this DVD it is awesome, brilliant and will be played on this computer for many weeks to come, and I even managed to make a card in between watching it.... lol

So here is the card I made, it was a card I was asked to make for our Children's Church to say thank you to The Leprosy Mission for the good works that they do.


I made an A5 card blank and matted it with Pumpkin Pie Cardstock from Stampin' Up!, the patterned paper was cut and sewn (by sewing machine) onto this cardstock. The Ribbon is the new Stampin' Up! Grosgrain Striped Ribbon in Pumpkin Pie and the button is from my stash. The Stamp Set is also Stampin' Up! (surprise surprise) and is called All in The Family. The THANKYOU was cut on my Cricut Expression using the StoryBook Cartridge on 1" in Pumpkin Pie Cardstock and then I cut a shadow for it in Old Olive Cardstock.

Thanks for looking everyone, will be back soon, so have a great weekend. Take Care xx

Blog Candy

Wow, check out this generous blog candy, visit here for a chance of winning all this stash...

And here is what you could get...

Martha Stewart 2009 Snowmen Edge Punch
Martha Stewart 2009 Himalayan Snowflake Punch
Martha Stewart 2009 Ornament Edge Punch
BG Eskimo Kisses 6X6 Paper Pad
BG Eskimo Kisses Painted Brads
BG Eskimo Kisses Colored Buttons
BG Eskimo Stitched Brads
5 yards Matching Ribbons
4 Matching Stickles
1 Magnolia Christmas Stamp of your choice from Magnolia-licious
1 Belles 'n Whistles Christmas Stamp of your choice from Belles 'n Whistles
Collection of gold and silver Christmas charms

Took A Bit of A Detour......

I took a bit of a detour today, having a bit of a personal dilemma and didn't really feel creative at all... I know I am not going to get the 12 cards finished and daughter asked me for a Wedding Card, so thought I would turn my attention to that, the happy couple who the card is for actually got married last week at Gretna Green, so I didn't really want to put Wedding Day on the card. I started off with something totally different inspired by someones blog, but actually hated the card and started all over again. The finished product is below, I ended up very pleased with the way it turned out, so am feeling a bit more positive this afternoon.

This card looks very monochromatic from these photos, something to do with darkness outside and all the fake lights I used to try and shed some light on it, but daughter has now taken the card so cannot photograph it in daylight. The base of the card is white, then brushed silver and then white again embossed using a cuttlebug embossing folder. The images are from Stampin' Up! and are the Love You Much Stamp Set and the Mr & Mrs Stamp Set for the Sentiment. The hearts were then punched out using the Stampin' Up! matching punch. I first of all embossed the image in white for the hearts and punched them out afterwards. The Together Forever sentiment was embossed in silver. The ribbon in the Stampin' Up! Taffeta Ribbon in Basic Gray. The pearls were from my stash. The inside has also been decorated to match the front.

Again I used the Whisper White Cardstock and brushed silver for the base. The punch is a Martha Stewart one and the shape was cut out using nestabilities. Hope you like it and it gives you some inspiration.

I was also so excited this morning when my Killers Blu Ray disc arrived ont he day it was released. It was fillmed Live at the Albert Hall and we were there.... Woohoo!!! Been dying to relive that night and couldn't wait to watch it, I have been driving everyone mad counting down the days, but can you believe the only blu ray drive is on my laptop and when I went to play the disc it had disappeared. After a support call to HP and many clicking of buttons it came back again, but still cannot get any Blu rays to play on it, so have to wait for hubby to get home to have a play and see what he can do... Apparently this is a common problem with HP Blu ray disc drives.... grrrr, if I had of known I would have bought the DVD version. Anyway, off to cook dinner, hope you all have a great weekend... Take Care all xx

Another Day, Another Card......

Here we have card number 3... definitely fallen behind as I really wanted to make the 12 by Sunday, but that is looking unlikely now, plus I have had another card request added to the order too, will just have to be a week late, the lady never minds when she gets them, I just like to make it 4 weekly, so no rush really.

Life just keeps on getting in the way... unfortunately last night we had to have our 2 year old cat put to sleep as he had tumours and leukemia... my little boy was devastated and would only go to bed last night with the cats collar on his wrist. Anyway, on to todays card.

Today I haven't decorated the inside, mainly because a lot of these cards are used to write letters in and if I was to decorate, there wouldn't be enough room to write, so some I decorate inside and some I don't... here is today's card...

I used the new Stampin Up Bella Bleu Patterned Paper, Kraft, Brocade Blue and Very Vanilla Cardstock, plus Stampin Up Grosgrain Ribbon in Brocade Blue. The pearls are from my stash and the sentiment is from Our Daily Bread Stamps in US. I never used a challenge today, so no challenge to enter either.

A lot of my Stampin' Up! colleagues have travelled to Germany today for the very first European Conference, unfortunately I was unable to go due to lack of funds, plus not having anyone to look after the 5 children still at home, maybe next year it will be in the UK so there is more chance that I will be able to go.... I hope they all have a really good time and send lots of photos for me to drool over.

Have a great evening everyone, take care xx