Happy Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

We ended up having a different day to what we planned,   the girls went off to Cheltenham to shop for Paul's birthday,   I wasn't feeling up to a big shopping trip so I stayed home with Paul, did a bit of much needed 'self care' , I'm not sure if anyone else loathes washing and drying their hair as much as I do,   the washing isn't so bad but drying it is frustrating as holding the hairdryer above my head is really hard and painful,  It's because my lower back is a mess, so holding my arms out and up hurts, I have real weakness too.  I need one of those hairdryers my mum had, it was on a stand and had a hood,  she just used to sit there while it dried,  mind you she spent a while putting hair rollers in before hand. Anyway that's what i did yesterday morning,  I did my hair, spent ages moisturising etc,  something I usually rush through on a night time.  It felt good afterwards,  I felt 'put together ',  when you spend most of your time you tend not to bother too much.🤣  I'm not sure if Paul even notices when I make an effort,  he isn't one for remarking on things like that.  

How lovely is the artwork of this reminder,   the sentiment is a great reminder too,  you should never feel that taking care of yourself in which ever form that takes is selfish.  You have earned the right to have that time for yourself ❤️

A look a some of Lilian's Flowers 

What a beautiful selection you have shared with us Lilian,  I'm sure you aren't able to get outside to see your beautiful garden so hopefully this little glimpse will make you smile.  

Your Hollyhock is stunning,  what a gorgeous colour. 

I wasn't a fan of Begonias until last year when I grew some because I loved the colour, your basket of begonias is so pretty.  

That rose is a gorgeous colour Lilian,  which makes up for it not having a fragrance.  

Lastly your Pelargoniums,  one of my favourites, I think from remembering seeing them in my Nan's garden, their smell takes me right back.  

Thank you so much for sharing your garden with us.  I hope that you are in a little less pain today my lovely XXX 

Maria 

Maria has shared another of her amazing Crystal Art pieces,  I love this one, it reminds me of a little French village. 

Thank you so much for sharing your art with us XXX 

Ladies I hope that you have a lovely Saturday   

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Festive Friday

 

Good Friday Morning,  

What a whirlwind this week has been,  how is it even Friday?!  5 days since our Lilian had her surgery.  I hope that your recovery is going well my lovely ❤️

I love this reminder because it's something so true, learning it wasn't easy but now I find it easy to explain that I need to have an 'easy' day without guilt.  

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Now I will put my hand up and say that I'm not sure about this card.  

I used a pretty teal/blue glitter card to die cut the Bibi Cameron Snowflake die,  I added it to another Snowflake that I used 300gsm card to die cut,  because the glitter card was quite flimsy.  I used the same Spellbinders Snowflake embossing folder for the background and for this one I wanted to use my Anne Marie designs 'Let it Snow' die, I have had it a few years and I'm not sure Ive used it on a card.   So I placed it in the centre of the card and tried to get the Snowflake to fit around it.  

I ended up cutting the Snowflake to fit the corners, although not as perfectly as I'd hoped 🤣  Never mind, the idea was a good one. 😂   It's important to show the good as well as the bad I guess.    What made it worse was the 'non shed' glitter card was not 'non shed'  it got in to everything!   It maybe because I have had it many years in my glitter card draw,  although the other ones are fine, it still had the price on (£1 for 2 sheets), which is same as the decent ones.  It's good to get these things used up though.  I like the colour. 

Anyway I hope that you all have a great end to your week,  we have a full house today,  Lucy & Soph both have the day off and Paul is working ftom home and only works until lunchtime.  I love having the house full 😁.  I think we are going to sit and decide what we are going to do for Paul's 60th Birthday next weekend. 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Snowflake Christmas card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Woohoo we got a little rain shower yesterday morning,  enough to wet the ground, not enough for puddles though!  The funny thing is that we rearranged our decking and created a seating area just outside the backdoor,  we had to abandon the area on Monday evening as wasps had found a gap in the bricks above the back door, something stirred them up and they were flying all over,  yesterday the outdoor rug I ordered to finish the area off  arrived yesterday,  so Lucy and I were excited to have a nice chill day out on the decking but the turned cloudy and quite windy, so it wasn't pleasant enough to sit.  It felt like the project was doomed before it was finished!  🤣😂

Aww the artwork is adorable today and the sentiment speaks for itself ❤️

Today's card is another one that I made with my Bibi Cameron Snowflake die,  I used a pretty blue brushed metal card to the die from, the background I embossed with a Spellbinders snowflake folder and mounted that onto a white card base with 1/4 border. 

 I adhered the snowflake to the top of the card, leaving enough room for a sentiment.  Up to this point the card had taken me about 25 minutes, I spent another hour trying to choose a sentiment that worked,  I'm not sure if it does even work,  it fits and at this point that was enough 🤣, I stamped the Merry onto a piece of the blue card and embossed with white powder.  I added it at a 'jaunty angle" (because again I couldn't decide where looked best) 

I hope that you all have a great day, 

Love & hugs 

Sandra xxx

Stamperia White Christmas card

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

We waiting in anticipation of the rain all day yesterday,   we got the tiniest drizzle at around midday and then a little more at 7pm,  the first lot lastest 30 secs and you couldn't tell that it had rained at all, not on windows or the decking,  the evening shower was a a little heavier, there was actual moisture on the driveway and deck but it was only for 5 minutes and the heat had everything dry in 20 minutes.  Paul was hoping that he wouldn't need to water the pots on the deck but you couldn't tell it had rained so they needed a good water.  

The full meaning of todays affirmation or positive reminder.....

Every person has inherent worth and a basic right to receive care, love, kindness and respect simply for existing, without needing to earn it through perfection, work or pleasing others. 

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Today I am sharing a Christmas card that I made on Monday,  I was inspired by a journal cover that someone created,   I adapted it to create a card, it's 6 x 6 inch.  I took a piece of background paper from the White Christmas collection,  its like an Aran knit design,  I then took a white version,  cut out a few of the strips and layered them over the darker ones, I then took a panel out of the junk journal added foam pads down the centre (to allow me to tuck things in behind it), I used my Crop o Dile to add an eyelet to a tag from the junk journal,  the added some hessian ribbon through it, I tucked that behind the rectangle.  I popped out the girl,  Christmas tree, little bunny and sentiment and arranged them on the rectangle label,  to finish I added three of the die cut buttons on foam pads for dimension.  I added some white splatters.  I will add a personal sentiment when I know who I am sending it to.  

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love & hugs 

Sandra xxx 

A butterfly journal page

Good Morning Ladies,

Lilian I hope that all went well yesterday and your journey to recovery is going well. 😘

We had another very warm day yesterday,   it was around 31° early afternoon,   we didn't bother going outside until just after 5pm,  we had a wander down the veg plot as I haven't seen it for over a week,   I was shocked to see that the french beans had grown up the pole about 2 feet and had flowers on, we planted more because our original ones had been neglected while we were away and consequently hadn't really grown,  thankfully now they are back being watered they have grown to about 8 feet,  fingers crossed they give us a few beans,  I also popped in about 60 leeks,  that were half price at garden centre,   we eat a lot of leeks in autumn and winter, so would be lovely to have our own.  

I had to look into this one,   it basically reminds you that your value as a human being cannot be devalued my external factors,  your worth cannot be changed by past mistakes or failures or other peoples opinions.  It doesn't alter who you are because of your body shape, weight or age, or if you struggle mentally or physically.  

I think its all to easy to be hard on yourself,  I am definitely guilty of it,  "wishing I  was more able"  or feeling "guilty for being a burden " are just two examples.  

I have been better in my thought since being interested in these daily reminders,  it has definitely made me think more about how I feel and think.  

Here are a couple of ideas for changing negative thinking about yourself....

Today I am sharing a butterfly themed journal page that I made last week,  I used my 49 & Market "Faded Memory Lane " collection. I was inspired by a Pinterest post. 

I used Antique Linen & Tea Dye Oxide sprays for the base colour of the background, when dry I used a stencil and added Faded Jeans Oxide spray,  I liked how it turned out 😍

I added a bit of stamping around the edges of the background, then picked out a selection of ephemera,  tags and labels from both the ephemera pack and their die cut selection.  I added the three butterflies to the large label as a focal point and then added the sentiment and added the blue flowers.  

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love and hugs to all of you 

Sandra xxx 

Happy Monday Morning...

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,  

Welcome to the start of a new week,   I hope that you all had a lovely weekend.  

Lilian you are in our thoughts today, I hope that you are first on the list, so that you aren't laying around getting anxious all morning.   Sending huge hugs and wishes for a speedy recovery ❤️ 

Fun artwork on today's reminder,  a great reminder too.  We are all capable if more than we give ourselves credit for.  xxx

Today I am sharing a Christmas Tag that I made on Friday morning. 

I used my Stamperia White Christmas collection,   I used my Spellbinders Arch dies to create both of the layers, I backed both onto card to give more rigidity.  I used my Crop o Dile to pop an eyelet into the centre of the largest tag layer.  Both layers are background papers from the collection,   I added some snowflakes using a stencil and texture paste.

The buttons,  mittens , hot chocolate mug etc are all the due cut ephemera from the collection.  I sewed through the buttons to make them look more realistic. Finished with bow, ribbon through the eyelet and some white splatters of course.  

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

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Lets look at our makes this week

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

Well I thought yesterday was supposed to be cooler!!  It certainly didn't feel any cooler while we were out freeing the roses of the bind weed that has grown up around the stems and branches while were away, I was shocked at how fast it had grown we literally cleared it a week or so before we went away.  Shame the drought and intense heat didn't kill that too. 

We had a lovely day just pottering round ticking jobs off the ever growing list.  

Beautiful artwork,  now this one I dedicate to our lovely Lilian,  who is having surgery tomorrow.   I want you to know that we will all be with you virtually, I think it would be too noisy if we were actually there with you.🤣😂  

Wishing you the speediest of recoveries my lovely friend ❤️

Let's look at your makes....

Karen

Karen's Description:

This took me a few days to finish 

Took inspiration from the magazine I bought recently and used the stencil with JL Christmas stamps also from a magazine 

I used Tumbled Glass, Mermaid Lagoon and Blueprint Sketch DO for the background

Karen your blended is amazing,  especially in such small areas,  I love those little stamps, I might be tempted to buy the magazine just for those stamps!  

Your layout is lovely,  I love the little strip of card that you have used as a ribbon,   is that the old Sue Wilson die you have used for emboss the detail onto it? 

Thank you so much for sharing your card with us, it's lovely to see you back in your craft room XXX

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:  

Here is my piece for this weekends challenge. I know it’s not Christmas, It’s for our granddaughter for her birthday on the 19th of this month. Thought I’d better get it done as I’m not sure if I will be able to feel much like crafting when I come home.

 

I used chat GPT, asked it to design background and then some ephemera. It also showed me how to put it together, I changed it a bit. She is quite grown up now.

Lilian your Granddaughters Birthday card is so lovely,   13 is a tricky age to make cards for,  I think you have absolutely got it right though.  

Thank you so much for sharing your card with us XXX 

Maria 

Maria's Description:

I was playing this afternoon but I just stared at it all and in the end I managed to make this very simple card. It's a good one to have on stand by if you forgot someone 😊🤭. I will try with other colours too as this was made by bits from my bitbox.

The Poinsettia is by Poppystamps I believe , couldn't find any other name on the envelope they are in.

Maria you may think it's simple, sometimes simple is perfect!  The poinsettia is so detailed with all of that embossed detail that a simple background is exactly what is needed. 

Thank you so much for sharing your lovely Christmas card with us XXX 

Sonia 

Sonia's Description:

Something a bit different from me for the blog, my lovely.

I haven’t felt up to making a card or journal page this week, but I have been creating a Winter Countryside Collection on ChatGPT. Here are some of the pages I have created 😊

Oh my goodness Sonia,   the Winter Collection you have created is so beautiful,   the scenery is stunning,  the baubles are gorgeous and that Snowman is adorable 😍 

You are as good as any designer my lovely,  you should definitely look into creating Collections to sell.  

Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful Collection with us.  XXX 

(Sonia has protected her designs with watermarks)

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I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday,  

Love & Hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx