Belated Happy New Year!
It seems that I am way behind all my crafting friends; they all seem to be busy beavering away whilst I am suffering from post-Christmas overload.
I did make a couple of calendars for our daughters using mat board covered with various background papers, overstamped with a script stamp and decorated with a hand-made fan flower.
Calendar
The calendar part can be found here on Billie’s Craft Room blog, I printed off a cover for the calendar and then inked the edges of the cover and stamped it. I used eyelets to hold the calendar pages together and then adhered the last page of the calendar onto the inside of the cover.
This particular fan flower is made from vellum.
Calendar 2
The papers used on the calendars are free ones that came with a craft magazine.
Again the papers were overstamped with a script stamp in Whispers Royal Blue ink. The fan flowers were hand-made and an old button I rescued from some garment was fixed onto the large flower.
The mat board was hoarded from a pack of paper!
Here are some of the items I worked on before Christmas and gave as gifts;
Cover of the notelet holder
- Notelets stamped with Cute Companions stamps
I made several packs of notelets as gifts – a great way to use up smaller pieces of card stock!
Notelet panels
A selection of notelet panels stamped and inked but I forgot to take photos of the completed set and the box! The stamps used here are various Elusive Images stamps and the backgrounds are coloured using VersaMagic inks but can’t recall which ones now.
My darling husband bought me the Bigshot for Christmas; he was nudged into this direction but one of our daughters as he would not have had a clue and it came as a surprise that he had bought me anything crafty. It was one of those items on my very long wish list and now it is here! I have since bought some embossing folders – Cuttlebug, Papermania and Expressions – a Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers die cut, a Spellbinders Impressibilities which I haven’t yet played with; a set of Nellie Snellen’s oval multi frames die cuts and a set of Nestabilities labels 9 die cuts. I now need to think about what else I should like.
Kim and I have a great time playing with most of the die cuts and embossing folders but haven’t actually made anything yet! So there are lots of pieces of cardstock with shapes cut out and/or embossed. I shall see what I can make with what I have to hand now.
Thanks for stopping by
Lynn x
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Hi Lynn
Really well done, great ideas there. Love the notlet holder too
Best wishes and Happy New Year
Hugs
Billie
Heck Billie there I was still messing about editing the post and there you were
Makes me want to scream sometimes when my blocks of text and photos get changed around!
Thanks for stopping by and a Happy and Healthy New Year to you too
Hugs
Lynn
Hi Lynn,
Nice calendars and love the notelet idea I have plenty of scraps since I think I need to save every scrap of paper and then some LOL I also keep the paper cardboard pieces and many other things I think I can somehow use in my crafting endevors so my stash is pretty full. I love your paper flowers I keep think I will make some but havent done so yet I have tons of buttons and always buy more at tag and estate sales when I go with Brian and I salvage any fron clothes that are no longer wearable from the kids. I havent bought any Nestabilities or spellbinders dies yet but have been looking at some when I got to go to the craft store. You will have to let us know how well they work and what you do with your sandwich to use them. Happy to see your post.
Love and hugs,
Shelly
Hi Shelly and thanks so much for your kind comments.
The dies work extremely well and cleanly, love putting them back through to get the embossed effect too, more on that can be seen at StampTv’s youtube videos. Gina does a lot with Nestability dies although she uses a Cuttlebug but still good tips http://stamptv.ning.com/.
I have used the Nestability label die to create a card, since I wrote my blog and I’ll get a photo uploaded sometime, using an idea I culled fro Valita’s blog here http://valitasfreshfolds.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html scroll down the page almost to the bottom although she shows some beautiful lattice cards using various Nestability dies – there are videos which can be accessed from her blog too.
The sandwich I used was the multi platform (no tabs), an acrylic mat, die, cardstock, second acrylic mat and roll through. However I found if I want to position the die more accurately I put the cardstock down first then the die (cutting part downwards) in between the acrylic mats and I use only one of the acrylic mats for die cutting so the one with the most cuts/scratches is the one the die cuts through too! So bear that in mind when changing the die from bottom to top. Hope that is clearer than mud
Love and hugs
Lynn xx
Thanks for the information I am really interested in the nestabilities since you said the cut and emboss that is a nice value plus arent they easier to store? I love my bigshot dies and folders and have a few cuttle bug sets that work together one for cutting the other for embossing the cutout. got them at a local discount store called biglots for $2.00 for the set. Are you cataloging your stuff to keep track of what you have? I am weird like that I have a notebook to keep keep track of my stuff plus a computer program. Of course the program is from when I was a demonstrator a few years back. Ok I finally got to craft a bit thanks to you
I was inspired by your post and tried my hand at the paper flowers and got to make 2 yesterday. I thought that using my scrap strips of paper and edge punch would be a good idea as I can work in sections of time a bit punching chase nany a bit of scoring change diapers make bottles you get the idea and it took me the whole day to get 2 done but I did it 
I am gonna post a photo on my blog later when I get Sierra to go to sleep.
Love and hugs,
Shelly
Shelly I have to try and catalogue things otherwise I forget what colour inks (for example) I have and end up buying more of the same! I have also discovered, thanks Leslie, that when putting craft items on my blog some folks want to know exactly what was used. I now have to go through all my stamps that I unmounted and track down which company manufactured them and the name/numbers!! That is going to take some work as I buy stamps from various sources.
Wish the embossing folders and dies were as cheap here in the UK as you can get them for; even many of the craft shops sell them for huge amounts of money. The Tim Holtz embossing folders are extremely good and give a very deep impression.
Then there are those little fingers to keep watch over!
Yes I can imagine trying to craft whilst juggling nappy (diaper), bottle feeding, burping and everything else is in the mix
Love and hugs
Lynn xx
Hi Shelly!
Hi Nancy
How are your headaches? been having htem lately myself but overall I think the prevenative meds are helping. I really need to get over to your blog more often to see what you are doing.
Hope you are feeling better.
Hugs,
Shelly
Happy New Year Lynn!
( Yes! I just checked the link and they’re having a big clearance sale – up to 85% off! So you might want to check that out! Tell them Nancy from Canada sent you and maybe they’ll catch on! lol
Yay for you!! I’m so happy to hear that you got a Big Shot for Christmas! I just love mine and you already know you’re going to have fun with it! I hear that Sizzix has a great outlet site in the UK. I think it’s http://www.sizzix.co.uk They have big clearance sales both there and in the states but not in Canada
I love all your beautiful projects Lynn! It’s so nice to see what you’ve been up to! Your fan flowers are beautiful…you don’t have that Tim Holtz die already, do you? You’ve got such pretty papers that I’ve never seen before. Your stamping projects are so lovely! Can’t wait to see what you come up with next!
Hi Nancy and lovely to ‘see’ you here.
I no longer have my secretarial job with the old lady I worked for for 4 years – sorry about all those fors/fours 
She was an evil old bat but the last straw came when she accused me of stealing money from her as I had to deal with her finances it was becoming more and more difficult and I had visions of the police knocking on my door!
I have checked out the sizzix site but need more pennies in the bank
I would love the Tim Holtz rosette die but it was quite expensive plus I need to buy the longer mats too. When we sell the house ………
I love paper and have done since a youngster but then, like many people, don’t want to use it! I have quite a few sheets of free papers either downloaded from certain sites or that were included with craft magazines.
I’ll remember to tell Sizzix Nancy from Canada recommended me!!!
Love and hugs
Lynn xxx
Well, according to what you’re making, you have no need of Tim’s die! Yes, you’d need several extra plates to use it in the Big Shot. I actually have the Side Kick as well, so it’s perfect for those dies. Not that I have the flower one. I really don’t think one I”m going to get. Do you have a scoreboard? I think that’s more important when making these flowers. I’m definitely going to try it!
)
I’m glad you could give up that job…it sounds rather stressful if you’re waiting for the coppers to come! lol
Love & hugs back,
Nancy
Hello…me again!
)
Did you ladies all see the new Sizzix dies that Tim previewed on his blog today! He’s going to be releasing them at CHA in a couple of weeks! I commented with *gasp*! That’s all I could say! I
can’t wait to get my hands on some of them. There’s even one that would go perfectly with one of the new Stampin’ Up stamps that just came out! We’re all going to have so much fun…in about a year when they are available…and cheaper! haha Here’s the link: http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/01/cha-2011-product-previewsizzix-alterations-1.html
Oh…that’s kind of long! Hope that’s okay Lynn! Tell me what you think!
Nancy
Nancy I had a look at the Sir Tim blog – don’t normally follow his blog – and love some of those new dies especially the ‘easel’ thingymebob one now that would be very useful. Yes will what a while until the prices come down or I win the lottery
Isn’t this great fun all these chats via the blog???? Love it, now whose turn is it to make the coffee???
Love and hugs
Lynn xxxx
Why do the American companies dislike Canadian money so much? Those same American companies love us Brits too much – we get ripped off price wise! When I see what ou ladies are paying for dies and embossing, for example, then you have to triple the cost for us!! A set of Nestability dies cost us £17 which is almost $27 USD. Buying dies here for $2 – $3 is a fantasy
We pay £4 for the cheapest embossing folder which is equivalent to around $6 -$7! Same applies to the machines, inks, stamps, etc.
It would be cheaper for a crafter in the UK to pay for a flight to the USA, buy a huge suitcase and stock up on all the goodies available! There are some items we just can’t get here at all like those little ‘tube’ polybags, the ones that measure 1″ x 5″, like the little treasure boxes Leslie sent me and the range of charms in the USA is greater than here. Okay whinge over
Love and hugs
Lynn xxx
I’ve got the coffee, you’ve provided the location, Shelly has little one’s, so I think that means Leslie is responsible for the food! lol She always teases us with the food so it really should be up to her to feed us, right?
Totally agree with you there Nancy. She can get Hugh to make us some of that lovely carrot cake
How organised you are 
Just looked at the sizzix web site again and put several items into my basket and the shipping is going to cost as much as my order! Come on these light items! I’ll check out ebay I think
Hugs
If they don’t get you one way…they’ll get you another! lol
Oh then it’s my turn…you’ll like this Lynn! So if you go into a Michael’s store in Canada and look at a label, you can see both the US price and the Canadian price. It will show: US $14.99 Canada $24.99. Leslie & Shelly probably see the same thing in their stores. So here’s the kicker…this morning on the business news they announced that the Canadian dollar is now trading at $1.01036 US! YES!! We are ABOVE par with the US dollar. The Canadian dollar has been near that amount for weeks now. Of course, that is not reflected in anything as of yet
Even PayPal hasn’t caught up! Funny how that works, huh? Alright…that was it for my whinge as well! lol
That is appalling Nancy. Much of this, in my opinion, is to do with politics. But let’s not go there
Obviously Paypal is raking it in all round! Those soap boxes are getting a good workout today
Hugs
Lynn xx
hahaha…Leslie!! We talk funny? lol Actually, I don’t! That’s not a Canadian term at all! lol We started using that word in our house after my husband did a six week business stint in Australia. He had heard it said frequently to the men he had been training! “Quit your whingin’!” lol I don’t know…maybe it had something to do with the +50 degree weather. Yes…that’s like 130 F.
Thanks so much for the generous offer Leslie! I might take you up on it some day. The things that I have the hardest time finding are: Graphic 45, Webster’s Pages, and Tim Holtz. I LOVE some of Tim’s new dies! The truck is great! And doesn’t the dressform die set match the Sew Suite stamp set beautifully! That set is on my list!
Oh…btw…chocolate works for me!
Love ya,
Nancy
Coffee sounds like a plan too
I make a pretty good boxed Lemon bar very sweet but OHHHH so yummy. I dont make them much since I tend to want to eat them all 
Most of my supplies are Stampin up as I’ve been in the monthly club for years and was a demo for several years and built my stash up that way. I love the organization since I have such a small space and have much of my syuff out of sight. Nice to see you Nancy 
Sorry to cause the stir on the dies I havent always found them that cheap but a while back the local biglots had tons of clear stamps and cuttlebug stuff and I had some extra money and was able to get some. biglots is a store that buys out closing store inventory so if you get there in time you can find some really good deals but ususlly once its gone its gone. I do like to case the clearance stuff at the craft stores if I get the chance thats where I saw the nestabilities but wasent sure haw to use them so I passed them up. sounds like I should have picked them up. now they do carrypaper most of the time and I have purchased way too much as I dont need what I have
Take care ladies
love and hugs,
Shelly
Shelly don’t worry about the stir, it all adds interest to the pot
There was an advert that used to run by BT (British Telecommunications) and the by line was “It’s good to talk” and I follow that wherever possible!
Your lemon bar sounds gorgeous, I’d ask for the recipe but I get bogged down trying to work out how many ounces or grams a cup is
I have seen a few things of StampinUp’s that I rather like but again the price is expensive here and I would not be able to commit to a regular order nor would I be able to attend work shops and delivery from a demo is awkward because of us living ‘out in the sticks’.
Much of my craft items are out of sight due to lack of space – even though we have a spare bedroom! Two problems there though – in the autumn/winter I can’t use the spare bedroom as there is no heating so way too cold and ‘out of sight, out of mind’
Love and hugs
Lynn xx
Okay…this is the part I missed!
Hi Shelly! I missed this part where you said you’ve been in the monthly club for years and a Demo for several years! Now Leslie’s comment over on your blog makes sense to me! See…sometimes I’m just a little slow! lol
Hello Lynn, Leslie, and Shelly,
)
I’ve got a new blog post that I’d like you all to take a look at please! It concerns our lovely coffee date yesterday. I’d like eace of you to see it! Please pop in and give it a read! Thank you!
Love,
Nancy
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