New Challenge Day

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,  

Well yesterday turned out to be a lovely gardening day,  we managed to get another 70 bulbs in the Woodland like border at the side of our house, its the border that runs along under the huge trees,  its overgrown with ivy and other weeds.  Paul did a great job weeding, I bought bags that have a variety of bulbs that are perfect for 'woodland ' borders (when they were half price of course) 😉  they have Bluebells,  Fritillaria, crocus to name but a few!  We took a break for lunch and sadly I couldn't get my legs moving again after sitting down,  so the last 3 bags will go in this coming week.   I really can't wait to see that colourless area come to life in Spring.       Luckily I put a beef stew in the slow cooker, so dinner was easy for Paul to sort out.  

Now it's time for a new Challenge,  I wanted to do another TicTacToe as it gives us more choice.  It has plenty of choices for creating Christmas cards but there are enough choices for creating general cards and projects too. 

I hope that you enjoy it and it inspires you to get crafting. I can't wait to see what you all create. 

I hope that you all have a great start to the week, 

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

A look back at this weeks makes...

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

A bit wet and miserable here but it's perfect weather for sitting at your desk and creating pretty things.  

What do you all have planned today?   We had a super busy day yesterday so today is going to be a slow,  quiet day! 

Let's have a look at some of your craft makes from this week.....

Karen 

Karen's Description:

Cards 1 & 2:  Two simple Christmas cards using Serif images and ScanNCut to cut image and a backing out

Card 3:  Here’s one for the challenge (just!)

I used that lovely stencil you gifted me but masked off some of the rectangles and use Shaded Lilac DO

An old Aall & Create stamp

And black Dymo tape for sentiment Matted on a Shaded Lilac background Wish I’d matted it on black first then the lilac and again on black

Stencil-inking-ephemera…

Karen I absolutely love those vintage looking Christmas cards, you can't beat those old traditional images, they work great for anyone,   such a great idea to use the Scan & Cut to create a perfect shaped mat for the images.  You are so brilliant with your Scan & cut, I am in awe !  

Such a great way to use that stencil, sometimes the simplest ideas are the best, I love the colour and the simple stamped image. 

Thank you so much for creating 3 amazing challenge projects. XXX

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi, a quick Christmas card. The stamps of holly are Lavinia, the little bauble I have had for years. I’m sorry it’s a bit last minute, but family didn’t leave until this afternoon.

Oh Lilian I wasn't expecting a card from you this weekend with you having family visiting.  It was a lovely surprise though.

There is nothing about your card that says that it was a 'quick' card!  

I love the combination of the holly and the baubles,  you can't beat those traditional Christmas colours either.   I have to say that I really love that Merry Christmas die cut sentiment,  the font is so lovely. 

Thank you so much for such a beautiful Christmas card XXX 

Maria

Maria's Description:

I have made these two cards, not sure if I'm happy but I send them anyway 😄. I feel bad not sending you any for the Sunday previous but now I really need to get some Xmas ones made so we'll see.

I bought the hills, they are made of a special sticky plastic so you can move them around but you still have to be careful because I did rip a bit of the card.

The other one I just played with colours that I thought would go together. The cards are already stamped but I put a few bits in to make them mine.

Firstly please don't feel bad for not feeling up to making a card for a challenge,   I totally understand,   there are days I really have to push myself to create something for the Blog, other days I love sitting and creating!  

You have created 2 amazing cards Maria,  that first card with the telegraph pole is incredible, I love the design and the colours that you have used. 

Your second card you made with the mountains stencil is lovely,  I love the deer grazing in the grass and it looks like you are looking up through the trees on a lovely sunny day. 

Thank you so very much for supporting the blog & challenges my lovely XXX 

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

Here’s a couple of old cards.

Journal page/Stencil/Die Cuts

I used a Tim Holtz stencil for the background. I’ve used Tracey Hey stamps and papers for the background too. Tim Holtz butterfly and film strip die from my stash.

Christmas/Embossing Folder/Inks Colouring (and Die)

I embossed the Spellbinders snowflake folder and inked (sorry I can’t remember what I used) I die cut The Stamp Markets snowflake, added the sentiment and matted onto Kraft card.

I hope you are feeling better today my lovely,   thank you so much for picking out two amazing cards for today's blog post. 

Your journal page is beautiful,  the colour palette is pretty and the different textures, die cuts, vellum stamping & embossing all combine to create plenty of interest, there is so much to look at.  

You have a natural affinity with Kraft Card, if ever I see a lovely Kraft card I always think of you.  Tje colours you have used work perfectly with the kraft card base,  it looks like you have used your spray inks,  as you can see the little splatters.  The die cut snowflake is the perfect embellishment as it doesn't detract from that lovely background. 

Thanks again Sonia, stay wrapped up warm & cosy XXX

***********

I hope that you all have a good Sunday,

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,  

We had another chilly day yesterday,  the sun was beautiful though, part of the garden in the shade stayed frost covered all day.   We are forecast a wet and cold weekend,   Soph is off today and wants to go to Costco (Experience has shown that Saturday is not the best idea)!  The things we do for our children!  🤣

I picked up two Poinsettias the last time Lucy and I popped to garden centre,  these ones were reduced to £4, I couldn't resist them because of their colour,  I haven’t seen a Pink Poinsettia before and the variegated leaves really appealed to me, I don't think I've ever had a Poinsettia,  it does sound like they are tricky keep though. 

My Bargain

I love the sentiments and that string of lights, 

All with matching dies!

These lovely Tree stamps & sentiments plus 

Matching dies

The sentiments are really useful too.

The String lights have a matching stencil

Mistletoe sprig stencil with matching die.

Some body was selling the whole collection for £33 posted on a Facebook Destash group,  I really like Gina K stamps as they are great quality,  it's harder to find them here, so I wanted to snap it up!  I'm pretty sure one stamp and die set would be more than that price,  even if I used only the sentiments I'd be happy!  

Karen

Karen has shared her crafty Birthday gifts with us,  WOW Karen that lovely set of Pencils is an amazing gift,  its lovely to know you have every colour you'll ever need !  I have read really good reviews on these pencils too,  I can't wait to see how you get on with them and see what you create.  

That Crackle stencil is great,  a good size too,  I totally recommend that Winsor & Newton Calligraphy ink, its perfect for splatters, less messy the flicking those posca pens.  

Thank you for sharing your birthday gifts with us XXX

Sonia 

Sonia ordered these lovely stamps from Inkylicious,   I really love how the sentiments are worded in all of them.  These are perfect for journal pages too. 

Thank you so much for sharing your lovely stamps with us. XXX

I hope that you all have a great Saturday,  

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

A new journal page...

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you have all had a good week.  Lilian I'd like to congratulate you and Roger on your Diamond Wedding Anniversary,  what a huge achievement,  I hope that you have a lovely weekend celebrating with your family.  

Bladder Clinic was ok yesterday, she agreed with me that the uti is still there despite 16 days of Antibiotics!  So I contacted nurse and she has prescribed different antibiotics for me to pick up this morning,  fingers crossed they work. 🤞🤞🤞

I am sharing a new journal page today, made using Stamperia products.  

I painted the journal page with gold paint, then added a few patches of vaseline (after it was dry) next came a layer of 'Ivory' acrylic paint,  

As it dries you can see the little cracks appearing...

So after it had dried completely I took a piece of kitchen roll to rub gently over those little cracks to discover the gold underneath....

After all of that was dry I added some background stamping.  

Then I used a variety of paper die cuts to build the focal point,  for a change I used my wax stamp to add a different texture and to give a perfect a

sentiment. 

 Thanks to Vicki P for inspiration! 

I hope that you all have a lovely day, 

Love & hugs to all of you,  

Sandra xxx 

Christmas Bells!

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Oh my its a chilly one today, we have to be up and out as I have Bladder Clinic and there is a road closure, which makes things fun!!  

Today I am sharing a Christmas card that was part of Tracy Evan’s Workshop (121), let's just say it was a long make!   The poinsettia took me a good two hours to colour and I didn't do aa many layers of colour as I should have,  but I think it looks ok.  Making a mask for the bells was a pain, you have to trace and cut the bell  centre out  using copier paper so its thin enough to stamp over,  I ruined two lots of blended bells by not having the mask exact.  The last labour of love was colouring and fussy cutting those holly sprigs!  I will only be making one of these! 🤣😂

I hope that you all stay warm and cosy today, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

One Colour Thrinchie part 2

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

We had another sunny but very cold day yesterday,  I let Milo & Bella out and even the decking had a layer of frost on, I thought the cats would take a step out on the frost and run back in,  they both ran off to explore,   Bella came in and Milo followed a few minutes later, I could hear him in the lounge getting all excited,   I thought he was fighting with Bella so shouted for them to quit it,  but Lucy shouted down that Bella was upstairs with her,  So I looked round to see what he was up to to find he was 'playing' with mouse!  I squealed to get Lucy's attention, which spooked Milo who picked up his mouse and ran out of the back door,  where he continued to play with his mouse, despite Lucy trying to enticing him in with treats,  the mouse was already expired but it he wasn't done playing,  he did eventually give in to the lure of treats, left his mouse and came in,   Lucy quickly shut the door, we decided to not let them back out until Paul was home.  🐈🐀

I started a Christmas card that is part of Tracy Evans Workshop 121 yesterday,  with all of the steps and colouring each element it took me hours,  I got to the point of wanting to give it up,   by 6pm I downed tools, my fingers sore from fussy cutting!!  Hopefully I will finish it today 🤞

Today I sm sharing the 2nd Thrinchie of the pair, again made using Blueprint Sketch,  stamping flowers in white acrylic and then using pencils to add colour over the acrylic paint, just like yesterday's I used an indigo and denim coloured pencils,  the background was done by spritzing water on a diamond stencil, laying it over the background and leaving it to react with the Oxide ink,  always use a piece of kitchen towel on top of the stencil to absorb any excess water.  I left the stencilled area wet and let it air dry as it becomes more intense the longer you leave it.  A little background stamping and some shading followed be white splatters finish the look.  

They always look better when you see them as a pair! 

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra xxx 

Another One Colour Thrinchie

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

Yesterday was a beautiful looking day,  the sun was beautiful,  my goodness it was cold though!  After Paul finished work (from home)  he managed to get all my pots in the greenhouse,  just in time as between the girls getting home from work and 6.30pm (about 2 hours )  Lucy's screen was frozen and had to be scraped.  

I sat at my desk from about 11am,   but didn't start crafting until about 2pm,  I was looking at River cruises,  we watched someone doing a review of one and it looked lovely,  so I started looking into it, picked one that we liked the look of,  so went to look at finer details,  dates etc,  only to discover that they don't cater for people with 'Poor Mobility ', they have no lift, no accessible rooms,  even if it weren't for stairs (which would have been a no no anyway) they wouldn't accept me on crutches either as you have to be independently fit to evacuate if necessary, which I do understand but its still disappointing.  I will try other companies to see if they have different options.   I've definitely seen people on mobility scooters on cruises. 

When I did start crafting I decided to create Thrinchies,  so I went to YouTube and crafted along with Tracy Evans. 

I covered the Thrinchie in Blueprint Sketch, then stamp the flowers onto the background using White acrylic paint.  It gives you a light outline of the image, I then painted over the flowers with Acrylic paint and a paint brush.  After drying them I took a diamond stencil, spritzed with water and then laid it over the thrinchie,  I took a piece of kitchen roll to blot it, lifted the stencil and allowed the water to air dry. I took a script stamp and added little bits of stamping in Versafine Clair Twilight ink, the next step was to add some colour to the flowers, I used Indigo & Washed Denim pencils to add some colour and shade.  A few white splatters finish the Thrinchie.

Part 2 tomorrow! 

I hope that you all have a lovely day, 

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx