Mixed up Saturday

 

 🥳 Happy Birthday Brenda 🥳

Good Saturday Morning Ladies 

Please join me in wishing Our Lovely Brenda the Very Happiest of Birthdays 😘  I hope that you have a whole weekend of Celebrating with your lovely family ❤️ 

Lilian 

Lilian sent me a photograph of her stunning Christmas Cactus,  I don't think I have ever seen that many flowers on one plant, such a beautiful colour too, keep doing what you are doing Lilian it definitely loves it. That's an amazing display for its first show of flowers. 

Thank you so much for sharing it with us XXX 

Maria

Maria has kindly shared her NEC shopping haul with us,  you got some lovely things Maria, those little Dewdrop inks are the perfect shape for inking up your stamps, having that pointy end is great for inking tiny elements like leaves etc,  I believe they have reinkers in same colours too.  

Those flower stamps are beautiful,  are the stamps (top right) stamps for adding crystal art drills to?  What a grest idea.  All you need now is the inspiration and enthusiasm to use them ! 🤣  Did you take lots of photos?  

Thank you so much for sharing your shopping with us XXX 

Lindys Gang 

Magical Shakers 

I treated myself to some Lindys Gang Magical Shakers......

And I love them  !!!

The colours are lovely and vibrant, let me show you ......

The first three of the 5 colours 'Penny for your thoughts ', Wisteria Hysteria & Twig it out' are lovely,   that beautiful peachy pink would look beautiful painted onto flowers.  The blues & purples of Wisteria Hysteria has some beautiful colours and so much shimmer.  Twig it out is just as described with yellows,  orange & browns with gold shimmer.

The Lazing in the Laurels' is my favourite, the shade of green is spot on, perfect for leaves and stems.   Last but not least is Hello Buttercup'  how perfect for Spring,  you can actually see the gorgeous shimmer.

Just a quick background made with just three of the colours. 

The shaker top is the best Mica powder pot I have seen, the powder doesn't just fall out,  you have to shake them and it gives a perfect distribution.  

They aren't the cheapest Mica powders at around £25 for 5 pots but they will go a long way,  I think they are definitely worth the cost.

Have any of you tried them?  

I hope that you all have a great day, 

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx

Friday Festive Oldies

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

These Friday's are whizzing round aren't they!  

Yesterday was unseasonably warm, Soph took me for brunch to a new place for us, it is an actual Coffee Roasters factory,  you can watch them roasting the coffee.  Not that it appeals to me, I went off of coffee when I was pregnant with the girls and haven't liked it since,  Paul & the girls are real coffee lovers though.   Coffee has gone crazy over the last 5 years,  I remember years ago you were considered a coffee snob if you had Nescafe Gold Blend,  do you remember the old Mellow Birds advert ?  Where the lady tipped her coffee in the plant pot because it wasn't Mellow Birds,  or the love story of the Gold Blend couple.  Adverts were more fun to watch in the old days when they had sequels,  the Oxo family,  Papa & Nicole with Citroën!  

Anyway I didn't get anything finished for today's blog post, I had a bit more mopping up and cleaning to do, I then started playing with some new Mica powders and I love them, I will share them with you tomorrow. 

So some Christmas cards from 2019 for you today,  I still really like both cards, they haven't really dated in 5 years.  

I really must start making Christmas cards,  do you want me to set that as a challenge specifically or just leave it as part of TicTacToe so you have choice?? 

I hope that you all have a lovely Friday, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Arden Creative Journal page

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you all got a glimpse of the 'Super' 'Beaver Moon' last night,  the only benefit I find with a super moon is that I don't need the torch on my phone on to go the loo in the night!! 🤣😂     If you missed it you get one more chance in December,  that is called 'Cold Moon' !  

I had a disastrous crafting day yesterday 😔 , I sat down and started the journal page above (version 1) !  I did the background stamping, then added the texture paste and set it to dry on the Aga,  after an hour I got my Distress Oxide Sprays ready to go, picked up the Speckled Egg and added it, giving it a quick dry,  then picked up 'Shabby Shutters '  or so I thought.....it was in fact Forest Moss, a very dark brownish green, it looked awful, I was going to remove the page, I decided not to and I am determined to make it work with something!  

So I started all over again,  when I checked I found that I had 2 bottles of Peeled Paint Oxide Spray and no Shabby Shutters,  so I used Oxide inks for the background,  they are easier to work with in my opinion as you have more control,  I allowed them to dry and then took the lid off of my Vintage Photo Oxide spray to add some splatters,  which I then spritzed with water and held up to allow it to run around the page,  I dried it with my heat tool,  then added a little more if the Shabby Shutters ink to the right hand side, then edged the left hand side with Vintage Photo Distress ink as a contrast.  

Now comes the fun bit,  I still haven't mastered the art of deciding on how many elements to add to a page to make it look balanced, so I watched a few video clips,   I  picked out some tickets and Butterfly from my new Arden Creative die cuts pack, I bought some rub ons too and an amazing stamp set for adding touches of ink!  I picked out the elements I needed, edged them with Vintage Photo,  and arranged them 'a la Vicky' 🤣  I finished with a few splatters.

I then picked up my scissors to trim the excess tickets that added to the bottom right, as they were overhanging the page,  I noticed that they had brown, wet ink on them......so I looked to the side of my desk to see the Vintage photo oxide spray on its side, I hadn't even noticed that it had tipped over, I hadn't tightened the top either, so 3/4 of the bottle had leaked out, it was right under my glass mat and had spread the full width of my desk, under a white mesh storage unit that I have colour pencils, erasers, fine tip pens and bits and pieces in, it was one of those 'where do I start' situations, I mopped up what I could see with kitchen roll, then lifted my glass mat to find a lake of brown under there too, what a mess!  I now have brown stained hands, like those of a chain smoker 🤣😂

Lesson learnt,  always fully tighten your lids!! 

Let's hope today is less messy!  

Have a lovely day however you are spending it, 

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

Coffee & Chocolate Journal page

Good Wednesday Morning, 

Cold & wet day here yesterday,  I think I felt it more because of the Uti,  I'm not sure that these are the right antibiotics as I usually feel a difference after one daily days dose,  but after two daily doses I'm feeling no better, I messaged the nurse and she said that they should know by the end of the week if I'm on the right one🙄!  

Karen I would love to know how you get on with airport security etc,  I will have to take 'Control Drugs' (opiates) with me and it's something that worries me, if you saw the bag of medicines I take to Spain you'd be shocked 😲 !  

I made a quick journal page with the coffee & chocolate collection by Stamperia.   I made a huge Boo Boo though,  I thought I'd use Vintage Photo re-inker to add dark splatters......2 hours on they still haven't dried,  even after using a heat tool.  Hopefully it will dry overnight! 

I will update you 🤣😂

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Coffee & Chocolate Fun Fold

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

Just a quickie today as I am down with a UTI, this one has knocked me down, I have no idea where it came from, before its been because of been 'bunged up' because of my medication or time of month (which I thankfully don't have any more), I have barely gotten over that flu bug, Saturday afternoon I didn't feel right,  felt a bit bloated which I though was due to my hernia, I was up a few times Saturday night into Sunday then On Sunday morning I got the first indication that my bladder was 'under attack ',  as day went on I had nausea,  then by bedtime I had chills/ sweating, I was then in bathroom more than in bed !  

The surgery have a new protocol where the book you in for Nurse phone consult,  then they send you a Triage Questionnaire,  the nurse calls later and asks you those same questions again!   She asked  for a sample in,  later in the afternoon I got a text to say I had a "Full blown Uti " and to start the prescribed antibiotics straight away!  Frustratingly the pharmacy only had 2 out of the 14 tablets,  so we have to go get the rest today. 

Today I am sharing a 'Fun Fold' card that I made using the Stamperia Coffee & Chocolate collection.  This fold is perfect for gifting a coffee shop voucher

I adhered a piece of the Coffee & chocolate patterned paper to the front of my Kraft card base, I then die cut a circle out of the card front,  keeping the circle that is cut out,  I then made the 'mechanism ' which is a 1 inch × 4 inch piece of card, emboss the piece @ 1 , 2 & 3 inch mark and burnish those folds.  You then lay it flat and adhere it to the centre of the card right up to top fold line. You adhere the circle that you die cut back into place and then embellish with a selection of Ephemera from the Stamperia Coffee & Chocolate junk journal book.  The final touch was tearing a piece of the patterned paper cut to fit the card base, I tore it along the top then added the glue around the very edge of the bottom and sides.  Allow to dry and pop in your gift voucher. 

If you would like step by step tutorial for this fold I am happy to do it for you, it's perfect for Gift vouchers. 

I hope that you all have a great Tuesday ,

Love & hugs to all,

Sandra xxx

Stamperia Coffee & Chocolate card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

Welcome to the start of a new week, the first week of November, I'm sure this month will fly the same as all the others this year!  This week see's Becca off on her Honeymoon to Thailand and our Karen off on her cruise too, I hope both have an amazing holiday.  

We had a quiet weekend,  the sunny weather yesterday meant we could get out in the garden,  I did some weeding and put the garlic that we bought last weekend in the bed that we have leeks in.  It felt good to be outside listening to the birds. 

I almost ran out of time for getting something together for today's blog,  thankfully I had screenshotted a card that I loved using the Stamperia Coffee & Chocolate Junk Journal by Emillia Sieradvan. 

I hope that you all have a great day,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra xxx 

Alook back at this weeks makes..

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

We woke to a bright day , we started with a shower or two, Paul went to make a cup of tea and bought it back up to bed, we sat watching the wind and then all of a sudden a beautiful, huge rainbow appeared over the hills,  we had a naughty bacon sandwich and then I looked at Paul and saw that his left 'retina op' eye was really red and swollen, I said get changed we are going to Pharmacy,   the girl there was lovely,  she has given some eye drops that are for Acute Bacterial Conjunctivitis,  I put them in every two hours, hopefully they kick in quick, he said it just feels like he has grit in his eye.   What frustrates me is, had I not said 'lets go' he'd have left it until Monday probably,  Men!!!                 I got bedding washed and Paul was in and out with it for a couple of hours, it ended up in the tumble drier, luckily we get half price electric on Sat & Sun.   Today is supposed to be dry,  cloudy but dry. 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi, here is my card for this week.

I used : stencil. Die cuts. Colouring.

The stencil is Janet Klein Onion skins. No 210

The stamp is Arden creative. Wispy stems.

The cut out are by Tracy Evan’s Achromatic acrobats.

I coloured the butterflies with my Koi water colour pens.

Also some gold stickles, which you can’t really see.

Oh Lilian, that stencilling is so delicate but so pretty, it actually looks a bit like its embossed.  I love that Wispy Stems stamp,  I have just discovered Arden Creative and I love their products😍!  

Your butterflies are perfectly coloured, so bright and beautiful. 

Thank you so much for taking part in the Challenge,  I hope you enjoyed creating your card as much as I am loving looking at it XXX

Karen

Karen's Description:

Here’s another challenge card which fits quite a few options

I treated myself to the latest Simply Cards & Papercraft because I think some of the bauble scenes will fit inside the layered stencil and tried my luck at the one on the cover 

If only I’d read the ingredients properly to see that JL used the SueW rectangle dies that I happen to have I used ScanNCut instead to make frame Not perfect but it’s OK

Karen I love your card, your frame is perfect, I am guilty of not fully reading the instructions and regretting it.  Actually if any of you follow any of Tracey Evans video tutorials, ALWAYS watch them through first,  I have spent ages stamping and colouring an image or creating a background that she decides later in the video she isn't going to use,  I have done that 3 times,  I guess because her video's are 'real life' not edited at all, which is good as you know there is no trickery or 'here's one I made earlier ' ! 

Your card inspired me to buy the magazine,  I really love those little scenes,   yours is perfect with the blue shading, which enhances the snowy scenes. 

Thank you so much my lovely for a really inspirational Christmas card XXX

Sue

Sue came over on Thursday and we played with Alcohol inks,  we made a hell of a mess and got very mixed results!  Sue wrote most of her backgrounds off but this one is incredible it looks almost 3D, the hints of gold really work too.  I like how you have picked the gold out from the background to use for your layers and embellishments. 

I will say I was shocked to see that your card pop up in your message as you left me feeling like you were going to bin your pieces!  

Thank you so much  for taking sharing your card XXX

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

I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday,  

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx