A bit of Steampunk for a change..

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

We have an early start today as we heading off to London today,  the girls are looking forward to going to the museums,  we haven't been for years,  in fact I think the last time we went it was for the girls birthday when they were in primary school. 

Life certainly can feel like you are on a rough sea, so many ups and downs,  sometimes it definitely feels like there are more lows!  It is important to keep battling through,  those highs will come!! 

I had fun creating a grungy steanpunk journal page yesterday.  

I was so absorbed in creating that I forgot to take photos of each stage.  

I started by Spritzing the page with Faded Jeans & Vintage Photo Distress Oxide sprays,  the Spritzed with water and let everything mingle,  I then added water to me gold Gansai paints and splattered that over the dried background,   then I Spritzed with waterband absorbed it away with kitchen roll.  I used Black embossing paste through  Tim Holtz mini stencil and allowed to dry.  I added a few more gold splats.   I then picked out some die cuts and started by adding the tag to the background at an angle, trimmed off the excess and then added the other die cuts,  inking each piece as I went.  The final touches were adding the clouds and some white splatters.  

I hope that you all have a good day,  

Love and hugs to  all, 

Sandra xxx

A quick journal page

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,  

Yesterday just flew by,  I had an ok night all things considered,  the pain was more bearable thankfully.   I was tired but I think that was down to not sleeping the night before.  I had relaxed day, I made a quick journal page for today's blog, we then went to get our hair cut, which was much needed as I haven't had my hair done since before the wedding!  So my hair is now back to being evenly coloured and a bit shorter,   it feels good though. 

I feel like today's 'Reminder'  is meant for me,  its a word that people will use if they are a little bit stressed over something,  sadly it's not as simple as that,  true anxiety is so debilitating, you overthink absolutely everything,  anytime anyone is late or you don't get an answer if you call your brain just creates the worst scenarios you can imagine,  despite knowing its irrational you can't convince your brain otherwise.  Its the same when it comes to diagnosing and waiting for results,  my brain seems to wait until I am in bed,  when everyone is asleep and then it kicks in!!!  

So today's journal page was a quick one,  I used a favourite technique of Vicky P,  which is to apply paint using a wet wipe.....

I added some splatters of the darker paint too.   Next came adding some white paint with  dry brush and some stamping..

Oh then some stencilling too. 

The fun part is always picking out the diecuts and arranging them on the background,  I inked around each element,  punched a hole in the tag and added an eyelet and some twine,  I sat the lady on the tag and added some die cut leaves and flowers around them.  Lastly I added the 'plasterboard tape'  which gives some lovely texture and interest.  I sentiment and some white splatters finish the page.  

Today we have another busy day,  the girls and I need to pop into Witney,   then we are sitting to plan our 'itinerary ' for tomorrow and Friday,  then we need to go pick our car up as it has been in the garage, getting shock absorbers and something else related to that mostly due to the terrible state of our roads!  

I hope that you all have a good day,  stay warm as those temperatures seem to be a lot lower today. 

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

My latest Quiet life Journal page,

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

Thank you all for your lovely messages yesterday,   they mean the world 😊

The Consultant was lovely,   I do however think that they take advantage of your desperation for answers, especially when the possible outcome can be seriously life changing,  she said that I needed to have a biopsy taken,  I "could have it done under  general anesthesia " but the wait would be much longer,  the same was said at that Hysteroscopy,   anyway my anxiety wouldn't have allowed me to wait,  so through we went to the adjoining room where everything was conveniently all laid out teady.  For me the procedure was very painful and I still have a lot of pain and discomfort as I am writing this.   I did get a couple of hours sleep, curled up with a hot water bottle yesterday afternoon.  

I made today's page on Saturday,   I covered the page with rice paper that I cut up and arranged to cover,  I then swiped some white paint over the joins in the paper,  next came stencilling through a lace pattern stencil,  it dried a little pink where it absorbed the colour from the rice paper, which I don't mind.  

 I picked out the lady with the camera and fussy cut her some wings from a page in the junk journal,  tucked them behind her, then added a photo strip as a border and finished with some flowers and some doodles.  Although I had a nightmare as I am really struggling to find a white pen that really works, I've tried Posca fine tip, Gel pen, a Steadler one, Pilot one and some Acrylic paint pen then I got from Inkylicious at a show,   all if which worked a bit initially but fail after a couple of uses.  

Today's Gentle Reminder is just what I needed to read this morning!  

I hope that you all have a great day, 

Love & hugs to all of you,  

Sandra xxx 

Welcome to start of a new week..

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

Just a quick one today as I have a busy morning, we have to drive to Gloucester to see a Gynaecology Consultant,  please keep me in your thoughts,  I am so worried about the outcome,   just a bit of advice ...if you have a history of anxiety do not read your Medical record on your NHS app!  😔                           I think I managed 45 minutes sleep after Paul got up this morning,  out of sheer exhaustion,  I also felt bad that he was getting up at 4.45am to get a head start on his work as he is taking me to my appointment,   the girls are here today but for this appointment I need Paul with me.  

Today's gentle reminder feels very apt today!! 

Today's journal page is another Vicky P inspired design using the Herbarium collection, which as I have mentioned before is my favourite,  I just love all the greens!  I painted the page with a light green paint then drybrushed some white paint over the top, followed by texture paste through a stencil.  The lady is a sticker so I popped her onto paper and ffussy cut her so that she was a bit more sturdy and didn't buckle when adhered.  I arranged some little labels and flower stickers on the left had side of the page and popped her amongst them.  I finished with some splatters and some little scribbles with my white gel pen.  

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

Brenda I am crossing everything hoping that they get your care package in place so that you can go home and be with John,  sending hugs XXX 

Maria  welcome home my lovely friend, its good to have you back among us XXX 😘 

Sending love and hugs to all,

Sandra xxx 

Our makes from this week

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you are all feeling aa well as possible. 

Maria I hope that you and Rick are enjoying your holiday, this past week has flown by.  I hope you have a safe and trouble free journey home my lovely XXX 

Brenda, fingers crossed they can get your care plan sorted so you can get home and recover in your own home, there is nothing like it.  How lovely that John is being so well looked after,  your daughter is right he is definitely better of being with them and kept busy,  its one less worry for you!  Sending you gentle hugs my lovely XXX 

Lets have a look at what some of you have been making...

Karen 

Karen's Description:

Card 1:  

For this card I did a blending technique I hadn’t done before with Fossilised Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Crackling Campfire following a Jo Rice tutorial 

Large stamp for first time from a magazine OK but not very deeply etched (felt almost flat) and a printed sentiment

Card 2:  

A blues a purples version of the same card. 

2 lovely cards Karen,  both are amazing but I think I love the blue/purple version a little more. 

Thank you so much for this inspiring technique Karen XXX

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

This is my journal page for this week.

It’s Stamperia papers, two different books.

Most of it came from 'The Garden', I’ve had it a while ,but found this idea on Pinterest. The other one is from Herbarium, just the plant pots.

Oh Lilian I love this look,  both of my girls are houseplant crazy and I've been looking for ideas for birthday cards for them,  this might work!  I haven't seen the Garden collection but I will be honest and say that Herbarium is my favourite so far!  

Thank you so much for the inspiration XXX 

Sonia 

Sonia's Description:

Card 1:  

Dad asked me to make a card for him to give Mum. Papers are from Anna Marie designs, torn edge and inked. Blue card from stash. Tim Holtz butterfly and heart dies from Stampin Up.

Cards 2 & 3:  

I used Tracey Hey papers for both of these cards, which I haven’t used before. The cake die was from Temu and flowers from Gummiapan with a tiny punched flower in centre. Sentiments from The Stamp Market.

3 stunning cards Sonia,  the one for your Dad is absolutely gorgeous, I bet both he and your Mum loved it.  

I love your design using the Tracey Hey papers,  it works so beautifully with kraft card too.  Its lovely seeing you back creating beautiful cards my lovely XXX 

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

I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday,  

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,  

I'm fed up of wind and rain now,  I NEED Sunshine!! 🌞  Although we are forecast a wet and windy weekend 🙄.  

Never mind we have lots of jobs indoors to keep us busy, although Paul is itching to start moving the tonne of topsoil we had delivered yesterday!   I bet he nips out between showers 🤣😂

We also need to do a tip run as we have a huge collection of cardboard boxes that need to be recycled,  if we left it to just go out with kerbside collection every fortnight it would take a year,  it's a battle though as Paul hates going to the tip for some reason,  I love it, it feels so liberating flinging all of your clutter into those huge bins! 

Today's reminder...

 I'm not sure if I am enough if I'm honest,  but right now I am 'trying my very best ' to get through the day as if nothing is on my mind right now! 

Love you all very much,

Sandra xxx 

Another Quiet Life card

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

I was relieved to read today's Gentle Reminder as today I need to rest.  I think we all now that our bodies need to take it easy ! 

My appointment was positive yesterday,  all appeared well,  she couldn't see the scan results as they hadn't been uploaded,  which she considers a positive thing,  had there been anything 'concerning' the scan would have been uploaded straight away with request for urgent referral.  So fingers crossed thats the case.  

We were home before 9am but I felt really odd,  I went up to get my laptop but my heart went into a super fast rhythm and I had to lie down, I felt so cold, my feet were purple!  I didn't have the strength to hold my phone,  I must have fallen asleep,  as it was 11am, Lucy bought me a cup of tea and within an hour I felt alright.   In the afternoon we had a Riley girls (well and Harris) trip to Hobbycraft which was a bit disappointing,   I was hoping that they might have more craft stuff in with them having a tv channel,  but no, there was a couple of Sizzix stamps , a load of Crafters Companion stuff, including that pink plastic 'Ultimate'  thing, that was around when I started crafting!! Crazy!!  They had lots of machines,  wedding preparation stuff and cake making stuff, oh and jigsaw puzzles. 

Today I am sharing another card that I made using my Stamperia Quiet Life collection, everything on the card was from the Junk Journal. 

I hope that you all have a good end to your week, 

Love & hugs 

Sandra xxx