Sizxix Stencil Card

 

Good Thursday Morning Ladies, 

Lucy and I had a lovely morning in town yesterday,  we had a lovely brunch out too, the sun was beautiful and it felt really warm, town centres have a whole different vibe when the sun is shining,  people eating out on the street, hearing the chatter and laughter just lifts your spirits.   We popped into WHSmith to get Paul a garden magazine, (well and look at the Craft magazines 🤣)  while we were browsing we started talking to a lady that was buying cross stitch magazines, we talked all things crafting,  from running out of room, impulse buying, not using everything you buy, we chatted for a good 15 minutes,  she left saying she hoped to bump into us again soon,  how lovely that crafts still bring people together ❤️ 

I made today's cards with my Sizxix Layering stencil,  applying Distress Oxide ink through the stencil one layer at a time.  I used Tumbled Glass and Mermaid Lagoon for the sky/side detail,  then added a little hint of pink to create a little purple hue.  The flowers were inked with Mustard Seed,  Spiced Marmalade and a little touch of Ripe Persimmon in the centre, the stems are Mowed Lawn   I got some bargain sentiments on Amazon after Christmas,  they were a fraction of the original price,  I used one of them on the card.  I mounted the piece onto a narrow black mat to tie in with the black sentiment and make the colours pop a bit more!  

I hope you all have a good Thursday,

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

A New Thrinchie using a stencil

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

We had a lovely sunny day yesterday,  chilly but glorious sunshine,  I ended up getting lucy to put the clothes airer on the deck and pegged washing out there as it is like a sun trap, so warm that you could sit out without a jacket.  The towels didn't fully dry but they were on the way to being dry,  the washing line was in shade at this point.  Why is getting washing dry outside such a great feeling?!  I love it, I love how fresh it smells and feels.  As I have said before... I am easily pleased. 🤣😂

This Thrinchie is one of Tracey Evans latest ones, I made i yesterday afternoon, as it uses a stencil, so works perfectly for the challenge. 

I inked up a background stamp with Tumbled Glass, Mermaid Lagoon and a touch of Crackling Campfire, I then stamped it onto my Thrinchie,  I then took Tracy’s Bird Stencil....

I used the inside piece, so is that mask or stencil??

I used low tack tape (rolled up) to adhere the mask to the Thrinchie,  I then applied ink around the mask, first the Tumbled Glass, flicking outwards from the centre of the bird, I repeated with the Mermaid Lagoon,  which gives a great outline of the bird.  I then stamped the flower and added colour with pencils.  I stamped the phrase and added shading and then added some white splatters to finish and added to a black mat. 

I hope that you have a good day, 

Love and hugs to all,  

Sandra xxx 

Simple Embossed Design

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

Oh yesterday was a chilly one, I usually have a 'housework day' on a Monday, after a relaxed weekend,  I like to freshen up the bathroom etc then the kitchen,  since Soph has been doing her Sourdough there seems to have been a constant cloud of flour over everything in the kitchen and the Sourdough mix itself sticks to everything,  a did have a saying in  my mind that my Mum used to use but I had better not say that!  Trust me it just balls up and attaches itself to anything,  the littke strainer I have in sink plug  hole was totally clogged up, you have to literally pick it out, I bet it would block the sink drain too!  I was saying to the girls at the weekend (while cleaning dried Sourdough from my butchers block table) that my mum would never buy us Blu tack and cellotape was not allowed so we used to mix flour and water to a paste (on the quiet) and use that to stick our posters up!  It still bewilders me that Sourdough is just flour and water!  

I recently bought the Eileen Hull Crochet Mandala stamp for a card that I saw and loved,  so I thought I'd have a play with it and I remembered seeing a card by Ann Melvin, (who I knew through SU a few years ago), I loved the card for its simplicity and it was made with this folder so I had a go yesterday.

It is super simple, just emboss using black card,  then swipe over the embossing with a white ink pad, you may need to repeat the inking as it seems to dry lighter.  I then mounted the black embossed card onto a narrow mat of white card and then laid it across a black card base in a position that you like and then trim off the excess, overhanging card.  I then just popped a silver die cut sentiment under the angled embossed piece. 

I hope that you a have a good day, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Our Next Challenge ....

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

Here we are at the start of a new week,  we are half way through March,  how's crazy is that!!!  I looked at the calendar yesterday and we only have like 12 weeks before we go on holiday!!  We are going 2 months earlier this year because my darling daughter decided she wanted to be  September bride like her mumma and her Nan too, this clashed with our usual holiday dates,  she also decided that she'd like us around for the couple weeks before hand in case she needed us 🙄  So we looked at alternative dates and June worked best for our budget and dates girls could do as they can only take leave in term time!  It's both frustrating and funny that our holidays are still dictated by our girls term times,  we thought that ended more than 5 years ago!!  I do still think its nice that they want to come on holiday with us, although it isn't as relaxing as when its just the two of us. 

Our New Challenge 

I couldn't make my mind up for our new challenge,  I thought about colour or shape,  but wanted something that would encourage us to use things that we have in our stash but forget to get out and use.  So I combined 3 things that I know I forget to use.....

Embossing/Stencils/Masks 

We all have Embossing folders and Embossing Powders, I'm pretty sure that most of us have Stencils and Masks,  I've had some for over ten years, (although I do question why I bought some that I am yet to use)!  

You can use any of them as the main focus of your card, journal page, Thrinchie or Snippet, or just use for a bit of background detail.  It's surprising what a difference a tiny bit of Distress ink through a stencil can make.  I want to combine stencils with my Gelli plate, so watch this space.  

I hope this challenge gets you all inspired to create and maybe try something new, get those embossing pastes and mediums out, have fun, ink up your embossing folders,  get a bit messy, most of all my lovely friends just have fun 😘

Have a great start to your week, 

Sending my love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx 

Let's see what you have been making this week

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all enjoying the weekend,  I managed an hour in the garden with Paul yesterday, which felt really good,  the vegetable plot is all ready to be planted up with this years vegetable plants.  Paul has had the beds covered in leaves and cardboard so they are weed free and ready to go.  So today will be spent sowing seeds! 

So let's have a look at what you have been making this week....

Karen

Karen's Description:

Here's a Thrinchie …

Can also fit the challenge 

1 stamp #557

2 colours (background Forest Moss and Vintage Photo Leaves coloured with 2 polychromo pencils

3 Tim Holtz stickers

Here’s another card....

1 colour

2 layers or words

3 layers of a layering stencil

Karen has embraced this 1-2-3 Challenge like a pro! 

I absolutely love the background of your Thrinchie,  it almost looks like an animal print,  the colours really work.  

That card is perfect Karen, your colour combinations for this stencil have been amazing,  thank you so much for suggesting this challenge and for all the inspiration you have shared with us XXX 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hello, here is my Thrinchie for this week 

Old stamps again. Never used before, it’s an older one of Tracy’s.

Coloured with Tim’s watercolour pencils.

Absolutely gorgeous Thrinchie Lilian,  I love what you have done with that stamp, your scene building/ compositions are always amazing. 

Thank you so much for the inspiration XXX 

Maria

Maria your card is lovely,  I love that torn background and the flowers look beautifully watercoloured.  That sentiment is perfect too. 

Thank you so much for supporting the challenge my lovely friend XXX

Sue

Sue's Description:

Here’s my card for this week.                           

1 x sentiment 2 x colours 3 x flowers.               

 Sue used Stampin Up Flourishing Flowers dies to create this lovely card.  I love everything about the card, including the colours, that red is so vibrant! 

Thank you so much for supporting the Challenge XXX 

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I hope you all have a lovely Sunday,  

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Mixed craft Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning my lovelies,

I hope that you are all relaxed and ready to enjoy the weekend,  sadly the weather isn't forecast to be the best but we'll make the most of it.

First up today I want to give you an update on our Sourdough journey.....

The top photo is my Sourdough loaf that I baked on Thursday, its our best one so far, the bread was delicious and was gone by Friday afternoon! 

Soph suggested that we make pizza bases yesterday,  so Paul and I got all the toppings while we were shopping,  we made the bases when we got back from shopping,  we all made our own adding whatever topping we fancied, they were deliscious,  we had some dougj left over so I made this quick Sourdough garlic pizza bread, everyone loved it !! 

Karen

Karen is making these gorgeous animals for a friend, they are all adorable, however my favourite is the cheeky monkey, he just has a face that looks mischievous!!  Your friend will love every one of them.

Thank you so much for sharing them with us. XXX

Gina

Gina made this amazing card for her husband for their 18th Wedding Anniversary, I love how its a 'Review ' , so glad to see he passed !!  Your rainbow sentiment is a really amazing!!  I bet he smiled when he read your review! 

The text on Gina's card is from Serif Craft Artist,  the stars were added after.

A brilliant card idea, thanks for the inspiration and for sharing with us XXX 

I hope that you all have a lovely Saturday, 

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

A lovely colourful Thrinchie

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,  

We had a lovely sunny day yesterday,  it was cold, the sun really deceived you into thinking it was lovely out.  Paul did get the washing on the line, which was lovely to see.  (Its the simple things sometimes) 🤣

I was so excited to have a go at this Thrinchie as I loved how colourful it was, it reminds me of Easter.  I didn't have the same stamps that Tracey used so improvised with the background, I took the stamp and added,  Salty Ocean,  Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry,  Twisted Citron, Spiced Marmalade oxide inks and added then randomly over the stamp, spritzed with water and stamped onto my Thrinchie, I spritzed again and then stamped the Crocus stamp in black and Wilted Violet and Twisted Citron ink and fussy cut them both.  I arranged them on the Thrinchie and glued them into place and added the title, the little tag with 'C' for Crocus and the Hare,  I then added the shading and white splatters to finish,  the black mat finishes the look. 

I will announce the New Challenge tomorrow,  

Have a lovely Friday, 

Love & hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx