A Silent Sea Journal page

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

This first week of January is flying by,  Paul is back in the office today, I really miss him after having home for 10 days.  The girls are home though so won't be as bad.  

I think we are having a 'making' day today,  I got Lucy a Kokedama Kit,  you make a ball of moss around the roots of plants instead of pots,  you then wrap it in twine.....

They are lovely to look at,  she made one with Paul on Boxing day,  it's not as easy as you might think and is definitely a two person job.   

We popped out to the Garden centre yesterday so she could pick out a plant to make into a Kokedama. 

They are both in the middle of building lego kits too.  I hope to finish a bigger journal page that I started yesterday.

Today I am sharing a Silent Sea journal page that I made last week,  it started with a rice paper background halved diagonally I then covered the rest with Ivory acrylic paint, slightly blending over the rice paper.   After that was dry I stencilled over the background with texture paste, after it dried I blended over the page with Stamperia coffee ink (which is like vintage photo).

Next came the fun bit, adding the ephemera, most of these ones are die cut stickers (not something I thought Id use but they look ok)  I added gauze as to me it looks a bit like the foamy top of waves.  The wax seal just added another fun texture,  the wax is white I added gold gilding wax to highlight the details.  

I think I might do a 6 x 6 page as I have a collection of tiny shells that we have collected over the years from Spain.  

I hope that storm 'Goretti' doesn't bring you any problems,  I think you may be in for some troubling weather as it starts Lilian,  so please stay safe.  

Sending my love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Thrinchie 64

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,  

It doesn't feel like it's only a week ago that we were getting ready to go out to see in the New Year!  It feels like a month ago! 

Now I hope you don't mind me sharing this.... I bought myself a book of 'Gentle Reminders '  for 365 days.   I think that positive affirmations can change the way you think at times,  for instance yesterday's (6th Jan)  was "Its ok not to be ok"  which is so true.  I think we are all guilty of saying I'm OK, when we aren't because it's easier than being honest!  

So here is today's......

You are worthy!!  😍

Yesterday was a slow day, the whole morning was a write off as I was awake most of the night, in pain and the discomfort that accompanies Uti.  I followed GP request and called my consultant's secretary, after a lengthy period on hold, a lady answered the phone and informed me that the Secretary was off sick,  I left a message but will try again on Thursday.  

It was freezing here yesterday,  literally,  it was below freezing most of the morning.  Definitely a day to stay wrapped up, we had a bit of snow but nothing significant.  

Today I am sharing the partner to the thrinchie I shared on Monday,  I stamped the background in 2nd generation Portabello Versafine Clair,   then stamped the light bulbs in first generation so that they stood out.  I coloured the images with Prismacolor pencils,  then stamped the clock and pheasant to tie in with Thrinchie 63.  I added the sentiment and some white splatters to finish the Thrinchie.  I added a black mat but I haven't actually stuck it down. 

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx. 

Lilian's adorable Stamperia Card

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

My goodness its cold,  we didn't get above freezing here yesterday,  I have been getting great use out of my heated fleece blanket,   I pop it in bed while I get ready for bed, so its lovely and warm when I get into bed and when I am in and out of bed all night going to toilet I can flick it on for a few minutes to warm myself up, it's also handy to have downstairs  during the day when it's this cold, saves flicking the heating on!! 

I struggled all day yesterday to get warm, I felt rubbish,   as I had thought I'm back on Antibiotics for atleast next two weeks 🙄! 

Today I am sharing Lilian's super adorable card, that she has created using both Stamperia Quiet Days and Herbarium Vitae collections.....

Lilian's Description:

Not sure if you wanted a card this week, but thought I’d send this on that I made this morning. 

I used two different Stamperia pads. 

Quiet moments and the latest one, herbarium vitae.

Oh Lilian,  you wouldn't know that you'd used two different collections,   they both work together perfectly,  that little dog is so cute,  it would bring a smile to anyone's day.  

Thank you so much for sending me your card to share,  I really appreciate it, as always  xxx

I was feeling rubbish yesterday,  so wasn't thinking straight,  I spent best part if 1/2 hour writing a blog post,  describing the card that I shared last friday!   🙄 what am i like?!  Thankfully I had Lilian's card to use instead,   here's hoping antibiotics kick in quick and I feel up to crafting today,  

I hope you stay warm and cosy,  

Warm hugs all round, 

Sandra xxx 

Thrinchie 63

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

Everything back to normal schedules today, Paul's back in the office, our bins even get collected on the right day and to top it off I'm back calling surgery at 8am because I have UTI 😪

Today I am sharing Thrinchie 63 that I sat and made on Friday morning , the only colours used are Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso.  Quite a simple Thrinchie, using the clock reminded me of a New Year so thats why I chose this particular Thrinchie. 

I hope to create its partner today.

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

Love and hugs to all 

Sandra xxx 

Karen's Lovely floral card

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,  

From a very cold and frosty Gloucestershire,  my goodness it's been a maximum of 1° this past couple of days,  it's a cold that almost bites you!      A good reason not to go out,  we popped to return some bits to Next yesterday,   Soph came with us after coming back from lunch out with Lewis,  she told me to layer up before leaving the house, so I kept my leggings on under my trousers and three layers on top,  she was right though,  we have huge patches of the roads that the sun doesn't reach that are either snow compacted into a snow/ice sheet or black ice, both girls said that their cars were sliding on it,  the roads clearly aren't big enough to ge gritted!  

We had done so well avoiding germs,  mostly from staying home but we had one night out and Paul has picked up a horrible cold/flu symptoms bug,  he couldn't stop yawning all day yesterday and struggled to finish his work hours,   as we had dinner he said he was going to have a showerbabd go to bed,  he was out for the count by 10.15pm, which isn't like him at all, he never usually misses the news!   I hope it is over as quickly as it came! 

Now we aren't back to our usual schedule yet,  so today I am sharing this gorgeous floral card that Karen has made....

Karen's Description: 

The card I made yesterday using SueW dies that I had never used before I bought the LOVE one to go alongside the HAPPY one - to make a set really The border is also a SueW flag - another to complete a set The flower is a Julie Hickey one which I frequently use 

Had the printed Serif card in my stash

I love this card Karen, that paper is lovely,  the design would work so well many different paper styles,  the Julie Hickey flower die works, it's like the paper was made for the flower die!  The touches of black give perfect contrast. 

Thank you so much for sharing your card with us XXX 

For our next Challenge I'm not sure whether to go with 'Anything Goes' giving you freedom to use any of your stash.  Or use anything new or unused 

Do you have any preference? 

I hope that you all stay warm & cosy, 

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,  

I really am struggling to keep track of what day it is,  having the girls home through the week is going to make it even harder,  I usually know the day by who's home 🤣  They are off on Week days throughout January as the park closes through the week for essential maintenance etc, it will be nice having them home though.  

Rhis is the room that we had our New Year's Eve party in, it was lovely and cosy.  

Here are some photos of the lovely food we had...

We had a selection of Spanish meat,  anchovies, olives,  Gambas pil pil (which is our favourite) with a lovely soft 'coco'  bread,  then came pan con tomate (tomato on bread) and native rock oysters, which was a first for the girls and they loved them. 

We didn't get a photo of the Suckling pig, it was lovely,  we also had whole sea bass and lovely lamb in tomato red wine sauce, it literally melted in your mouth, we had salad, Hispi cabbage and patatas bravas 

We finished with Basque Cheesecake with cherries,  churros with chocolate sauce and cheese board. 

The food was deliscious, we were very full by the end of the evening.  

They had a singer who sang all the right songs that you want to sing a long to,  it was a perfect 'country pub' evening  🥰

Sonia's Shopping 

Sonia's Description:  

All from Temu. The stencils aren’t flimsy, I have some others from Temu and they are good. The ‘Tim Hooltz’ leaves are larger than expected. Very happy with my Christmas present to myself 😊

Such a great haul,  I did think it was funny that they got the name wrong,  maybe on purpose 😉 

I can't wait to see what you create with all of these lovely things.  

Thank you for sharing them with us XXX 

My Shopping 

I bought the most recent Collections from Stamperia,  Herbarium and Quiet Life,  these Junk Journal books have a bit of everything in which is a great place to start, you get beautiful quality papers, die cuts, stickers, labels and borders,  if course its nice to have the matching stamps,  they are really reasonably priced stamps too. 

I have already used the Herbarium set, can't wait to use the other one too.

I Hope that you all have a lovely Saturday,  

Love and hugs to all 

Sandra xxx 

Using my new Stamperia collection

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you all had a lovely start to the new year.  We had a very relaxed and laid back day,  Paul lit the log burner and we made a start on the jigsaw puzzle that Lucy bought us.  They were showing the 40th Anniversary celebration of Les Misérables on tv which was an added bonus, I think that is my all time favourite show. 

We had a lovely roast beef dinner with the girls and sat down and watched The Grest Escaper with Michael Caine, it was really good,  we had a lot earlier night last night, which we both needed.  

I received my new Stamperia Herbarium collection and couldn't wait to have a play, so I made this 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch card.  I layered some of the papers, added some lace and then added some of the die cut pieces.  I really like how it turned out.  

I hope you that you have a lovely day, 

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx