Last day of holiday 😢

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

Well that's it, holiday over,  while I feel ready to get home, my fingers are itching to craft,  I always find this last leg of the journey a bit emotional,  we see all the cars,  caravans etc heading off towards the beautiful  French coast, while we are homeward bound.   I'm not sure if any of you get the post holiday blues,  I'll be fine once we are home and back in a routine!   I might just look at booking something for Paul and I for September/ October time for our birthdays and wedding anniversary,  its Paul's 60th so he deserves a special treat. 

I think we all underestimate our strength, not necessarily our physical strength 💪,  more our mental strength,  our ability to tackle frustrating situations.  We are all much stronger than we give ourselves credit for 😘

Today's card is another 'smooshed" background, I used Twisted Citron,  Mowed Lawn and another that I can't remember.   Just like the last one of these cards,  I smooshed the ink into my mat, swished through it with my finger to break up any harsh lines,  after spritzing with water, I spritzed my card and tapped it into the inks, drying between each layer. 

I stamped a Tim Holtz sentiment and added a simple white die cut foliage stem for contrast. The final touch was a few tiny pearls.

I hope that you all have a lovely Thursday,  

Love and hugs to all of you

Sandra xxx 

Beautiful Bird Journal page

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,  

Well we were sad to say goodbye to our little holiday home yesterday,   one thing I struggled with was the bed,  there was barely 8 inches between the edge of the bed and the wall,  you couldn't move it either,  some nights I was up 3 times in the night, each time was a frustrating experience,   I cannot get up from sitting with my feet set back from my knees (in sitting position)  I had to 'shimmy' myself to the end of the bed and grab the wardrobe handle to get up!   So while we were saying goodbye to our hosts I asked about the 'Supreme Lodge'  it is more expensive,  so we went to have a look,  it would be worth the extra money for the bed alone,  its much higher, has a proper high end mattress and there was loads of room around the bed,  the whole lodge had a much better lay out too,  you get a good discount if you book early, so we might look into it.  

As we arrived at Millau the temperature was 39°, it was getter hotter as we drove down through the mountains to the town.   We dropped our bags off, got changed and headed to the pool,  we stayed there until almost 9pm.  

A great reminder today,  love the artwork too, although it does look a bit like a snowman to me!  🤣😂

Today I am sharing a journal page made using Stamperia All Around, I used both my Junk Journal and the Focus junk journal for all of the detailed pieces.  I mean just look at that,  the detail is incredible!  

I added some green paint with a dry brush,   then I added some texture paste that I turned gold by using a mica powder, it works really well,  the gold is really vibrant.   I used a tag as the base of my focal point and then added more, using flowers to ground the bird,  I took a piece of hessian ribbon and roughed up the edges and placed my sentiment on it.  A few white splatters finish the page.  

Here you can see that gold embossing paste shining brightly!  

I hope that you all have an amazing day,  especially Sonia who will be awaiting the arrival of her newest grandbaby!! 

Love and hugs to all of you 

Sandra xxx

All packed up and ready to start journey home

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

We got mostly packed last night, just overnight bag and wash bags to get packed and then we are off, I usually spend a few hours cleaning before we leave but with holiday you pay for a final clean which is €65, so I will not be scrubbing and bleaching! 

We have huge wildlifes ahead of us in France just over border,  fingers  crossed the roads will be open.  

We have had this one a few times, I agree with the statement but it remains something I find hard to do 🥰

Today I am sharing a journal page I made using Stamperia Secret Diary collection,   the blue paint was added using a baby wipe,  I added stamping in a tone on tone colour and added some stencilling for texture.  I then arranged the ephemera from the top down, finishing with some white splatters.  

I hope that you all have a great day, 

Love and hugs, 

Sandra xxx 

Happy Monday !!

Good Morning Ladies, 

A super quick and simple card today,   I used a blend of 3 Distress Inks to smoosh my background in, drying between each layer.   I trimmed it down to fit my card from, the stamped the sentiment at the bottom corner.  

The finishing touch is the beautiful vellum butterfly and a couple of pearls.  

Just a quickie today as we are packing and taking girls to the airport  

I hope that you all have a lovely day

Sandra xxx 

Happy Sunday...

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

We have had very hot & humid days this weekend,  almost unbearable in the evenings when the wind drops.    We went up to the old town last night,  it's always so picturesque,  we got a couple of lovely sun sets but you can see the smoke haze hanging in the air, sad but it added to the drama of the sun set.

Lets look at what you have made this week....

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:  

Hello, here is my challenge piece for this week.

I was working to “vintage” not very successfully.

I got the cut outs from Ciaobella Secret Garden, one of the first junk journals l bought. Haven’t bought any recently. I realise it’s not much like vintage, but the best I could .

Your 'Vintage' journal page is perfect Lilian,   I can picture myself sitting on that seat in a cool part of the garden!  It's your interpretation of Vintage my lovely 

Here is a close up of the actual image,  its beautiful,  you can see the background stamping and embossing. 

Thank you so much for creating a page for today, despite worrying about Roger and coping in the heat.  XXX

Sonia

Sonia's Description:  

Hi lovely 

Here’s my card for tomorrow, sorry it’s not challenge related but had to get this special card made 🩵

I used ChatGPT to design the image and background.

I used a piece of blue card to make my base, and the W fold for inside. The BABY die cut letters are from Pretty Pink Posh, the little stamped sentiments from My Favourite Things, and the flowers from a punch 🙂

Absolutely gorgeous card ready for the arrival if your new Grandson!   Not long now my lovely.  

The animals on the front of the just adorable,  every thing works so perfectly together, the paper you designed is beautiful too.

Thank you so much for sharing my lovely XXX 

Maria

Maria's Description:

Wanted to join you this Sunday for a card but didn't really know what to make. I found this Creative Stamping magazine and used a stamp and stencil set that came with it.

This is card number 3 because the other two went in the bin 😂

I used the stencil set to make the border then used Distress inks to make the background. Used a stamp about, Time in the garden, and then coloured in with Promarkers and TH inks. Stamped a few butterflies and coloured them out before cutting them out.

Such a bright and cheerful card,  I love the stamp you have used,  it works perfectly with that 'postage stamp' die,  the butterflies are the perfect finishing touch.  

I really am grateful that you braved your warm craft room to create a card for today my lovely XXX 

**************

Have a lovely Sunday my lovelies,  

Love and hugs to all of you,  

Sandra xxx 

Happy Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,  

Not sure where this week has disappeared to but its Saturday once again!  

We had another Pool day yesterday due to the wind,  it did calm down at around 5pm so we decided to pop down to the beach,  I was so excited to get in the 🌊 sea,  however the wind had whipped the waves up and it was way to rough, Paul and the girls went in and said the  current was really pulling you out,  which is rare for this beach,  it's usually always a green flag for safety but not yesterday.   Sadly it looks like tomorrow could be the same.   

While we were at the pool we noticed these odd looking clouds....

Lucy googled it and it said it was due to there being wildfire in the area,  a little more research and we discovered that just down the coast from here fire fighters were battling a huge wildfire,   by bedtime last night it had destroyed 1500 hectares of land,  evacuated a lot of tourists,  on that part of the coast its mostly hotels but there are a few mobile home/camping sites like ours,  it must be terrifying having that getting closer,  we have it the other side too,  the very south of France to the border of Spain there has also been wildfires, I hope they manage to stop them before we leave, Firstly to take girls to airport on Monday and secondly for our journey back to Millau on Tuesday,   we will be driving towards it.  

I love the artwork of this reminder, it's an actual working Wordsearch. 

Both Gina and Maria have shared some pretty Diamond Paintings.....

Gina 

Gina said it was too hot to make cards so she created these lovely Diamond Art Coasters I love how colourful they are. 🥰

Thank you so much for sharing them with us XXX 

Maria

Maria has shared two of her latest Diamond Paintings with us,  wow Maria those parrots are so colourful,   that must have taken hours with all that blue!  

The Alsations are just perfect,  it looks like a photo,  so realistic,   look at those sad eyes, it makes you want to give him a huge hug. 

You have definitely mastered the art of these my lovely.

Thank you so much for sharing your gorgeous paintings with us my lovely XXX 

I hope that you all have a lovely Saturday,  

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Stamperia Journal page

Good Friday Morning Ladies,  

Well we have had a couple of really windy days,  we can't really complain because Costa Brava translates to 'Wild Coast ' for that reason,  the wind is called 'Tramuntana' which translates to 'Beyond the Mountains' it happens in cycles of 3,  so we are hoping it will be just the 3 days (not 6 or 9). So yesterday for us was a pool day.

I'm not sure what we are 'feeling ' but whatever it is it's OK,  at the time of writing this I feel 'Windswept ' 🤣😂

Today I am sharing a journal page that I made before we left for holiday,  I used my Stamperia 'All Around ' Collection (i think).  

I added some paint to the background using a dry brush,  then added a little white paint to make the background paper less busy.  I took a stencil and used embossing paste to give more texture and detail to the page.  For a bit more texture I added the plasterboard tape behind where the focal point would be.  

Next came the fun part,  picking out the die cuts abd ephemera to build the scene (inspired by Vicki P),  I love the idea of using the paint brush as the body of the butterfly!  I added rub on leaves to opposite corners and some crocheted lace stapled in place to put the sentiment on.  A few splatters finish the page. 

Now I was going to add this piece straight to my journal but look how different the colours look on the black mat,  they really pop,  so I will add a black mat to the page before sticking it in. 

I hope that you all have a lovely Friday,

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx