A little Cuddly Cuteness for Wednesday

Good Morning Ladies,
Well I can't believe it's Wednesday already, goodness me this week is flying by!
I thought I would share a little cuteness with you all today, I ordered the Bee Bunni Floral cd rom created by Crafters Companion last Friday, purely because I loved some of the background papers,
I was inspired by our lovely Patricia to use our many Cd rom background papers, Patricia has made
some beautiful cards and boxes with them! I got a free sample cd with a magazine that I bought and there were some on there that I loved so I thought I would get the complete cd rom.
Anyway the papers on it are gorgeous, I got carried away printing loads of them, which is kind of 'not the point', you are supposed to print just what you need so that you don't need to store them, but oh when I printed one in blue I needed to see what it was like in pink and green!
The toppers are kind of cute too, I am not to keen on the 'Card Companion' element of the cd rom,
they are just a matt and layered look card front, you can add these fake paper clips etc to make them look more realistic but 'naaa' its not for me, I guess if you were new to crafting and wanted a flat card to post that looked like it had depth, then yes it would work, but personally I would prefer to spend a few extra pennies on the postage and fill it with flowers & Pearls!
Anyway today's card is the result of my playing with my new cd on Monday, gorgeous papers layered with pink and green Bazzill card, then adorned with flowers and pearls, so I hope you like it!
Oh what a sad night last night, it was the last ever
CSI, I can't believe it, first New York finished then CSI Miami and now CSI the original.
Were any of you fans?? which one did you prefer? I liked all of the lead men, Mac Taylor, Horatio Caine and Grissom, all very 'cool' !
I think that this programme is the result of so many young people wanting to go into Crime Scene Investigations, although I think the reality was a lot more gruesome.
Now the Leek and Potato soup has been prepared, the bread is baking, ready for my lovelies to arrive to do some crafting, YAY!!
Anyone want to come and join us???
I hope you all have a lovely day, whatever you are doing.
Love and huge hugs

Sandra
xxxxxx

Gorgeous Birthday Card from Sheila

Good Morning Ladies,
I wanted to share with you today the beautiful birthday card that I received from Sheila, I was totally speechless when I opened the gorgeous packaging to reveal this amazingly personal card within, I absolutely love the title above the door,
'Sandra's Friendship Cafe', how very true, there is no way I would have made so many truly amazing, genuine friends anywhere else.
The beautiful 'french windows' open onto a pretty little table that has some pretty china set upon it, I could just imagine sitting out there with friends, I have no idea where you got the image Sheila but it is beautiful.  The Stunning French Window die is so lovely too, I have no idea who its made by, Sheila has decorated the border of it with tiny perfect roses, leaves, vines and even some tiny butterflies, so, so pretty.

Sheila, I can't thank you enough for the gorgeous birthday card
that you took the time to make and send to me, also thank you for the Stepper Card die cuts too.

I do hope that Saba has managed to get to dry land to get warm and dry, I think a few days of luxury are the order of the day for you my lovely friend.
Maria, I hope that you get some answers today, it must be miserable having these constant flare ups, keep us posted please, hugs coming your way.
Margaret, I think that you will need a bit of a lazy day today, it sounds like you whipped through the house like a whirlwind yesterday, sit and relax today, hugs xxx
Paul came home with news of a new job, this will mean that we will return to him working shifts, which has good points and bad,
It will be 12 hour shifts, which will seem really long as we have just got used to going back to to 9 hours, Paul will be exhausted for the first few weeks, he will only get two weekends off a month, but on the flip side we will get time off together through the week, which is nice, quieter for shopping too!
Its going back to him working nights that I will find hard to get used too, particularly at the moment, he is my calming influence, my security blanket! We will work through it, we always do! xx
Sue, it looks like you are coming to me this week, I hope that works out ok for you my lovely. I will make some leek and potato soup and some fresh bread!

Man Card Monday

 Myra's Man Card

Good morning Ladies,
Today we have a marvellous man card from Myra, those super spotty papers look like they are from Anne Marie Designs, I just love that blue one!
Myra has used the spotty card with what looks like Creative Expressions Tags Die along with their Bow Die and the Happy Birthday Die from one of the more recent launches.
I am not to sure about the Tie Die, I found one called 'Terrific Ties' by Die-namics, I think it would be a useful die to have in your collection, for those pesky men cards!
I love the selection of embellishments that Myra has used, very patriotic!
Thank you so much Myra for taking the time to send me the photo of this card to share with everyone here in the cafe! We all need inspiration for these cards xxxxx

What have you all got planned this week?, nothing much going on here, thankfully, but I can't believe that we will be in October by the end of the week, you know what that means.......? Not long now!!!
I hope that you all have a lovely day,
Love & hugs
Sandra
Xxxxxx

Ally Pally Meet up!

 Good Morning Ladies,
I have some photos of all of us at Ally Pally to share with you today, so here is the line up, on the left you have Diane (who doesn't usually look like this), Maria, Brenda (lello), Paul and Yvonne from Sue's blog.
On the right we have, (oops I don't know the first ladies name) sorry, then Lynda (just), Pat, Margaret P,
Me, Brenda (littlelamb) and Sue.

Pure mischief going on in this photo, Diane, Maria & Brenda, there was plenty of laughter, Brenda had the biggest shopping list ever, it made Paul think that I was being very good!

Here we have Sue (Mrs B) and Brenda (littlelamb) you can see some of Brenda's purchases on the table, but most of them were on the floor, hidden, Sue had a whole cart full, that I think Paul took back and emptied once!.

Lovely photo of the very lovely Lynda, and her lovely husband Terry, taking a break from being the photographer here! I have a photo to follow of Lynda's haul!

I have no idea what I was gesticulating at here, Margaret and Pat in this one too.

Lynda and Sue

Lynda's goodies.

I hope that gives you all a bit of an insight into our fun day out, Lynda was the only one brave enough to photograph her goodies, to be honest I didn't buy that much, I got some card, some 8 x 8 cards, some foils for heat foiling, some sticky pearls, some die storage folders, Sue's Rose embossing folder, justrite stamp set that was half price, that was it i think. ( maybe more than I thought), most of the dies were more expensive than Icon, but it was good to see them up close.

Yesterday was a very long day, up at 5am, we did the airport drop and then set off the other 84 miles to my mum's, stopping for breakfast, we arrived at mums at about 11am, when we arrived the kitchen was a hive of activity which never happens, my sister had made a delicious home made lasagne, which was a real treat as we usually have to go and buy our meals.  The atmosphere was ok, I don't think it will ever go back to how it was before 'the call' but it was bareable.  Its done now, we got home at about 9pm, so we were both totally exhausted.

Sophie and Lucy won their match 3-1, Sophie being one of the goal scorers, which is just fantastic and the boost she needed, funny thing is Paul and I have been saying for years that they should play both of the girls on the left side together and today they did and it worked a dream! Happy faces all round!

Have a lovely Sunday my lovelies,

Love and hugs

Sandra

xxxxxxx

Happy Birthday Cheryl & mixed crafts !

 Happy Birthday Lovely Cheryl xxxx

 More of Brenda's brilliant Pottery

Janet's Gorgeous 'Proggy' Hedgehog!

Karen's fab gift box 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

First up I want to wish our Cheryl a very happy birthday and a year full of good health, wealth and lots and lots of happiness. You are an amazing lady and a great inspiration to others! xxxx

Now onto our Crafts, first up today, well it wouldn't be Saturday without some pottery from Brenda,
Love the blue mottled effect on these plates Brenda, by the way your Zentangled bowl was the inspiration for Sophie's latest piece of Art coursework, I will get a photo when she has finished.
Thank you Brenda, for your on going contributions to mixed craft day, I look forward to seeing the ones you made last weekend! Xxxx

Now the next gorgeous. Little creature us Janet's 'proggy' hedgehog, now I would have been clueless to the 'proggy' part but have been watching a lady making proggy rugs, bags and all sorts on Hochanda, she us a delightful lady, who started on C&C doing pottery I believe, it's a bit like rag rugging but you use felt like material.  I am sure Janet will set me straight, I absolutely adore him Janet, as I am sure your daughter would as a mascot for all of her rescued animals! Thank you so much Janet for this and all of the other photos you sent on Friday xxxx

Last but by no means least is Karen's very neatly designed and built gift box, if my memory serves me correctly I think she saw the tutorial on our Patricia's blog, Karen I love the colours you have used and that border die looks just as pretty as lace on that box top, Patricia, something else to pack in your bag for the retreat, box making demo!!!
Karen I am so thankful that you sent me the photo to share with our ladies, xxxx

I may have confused some of you yesterday, it's today that we are up at Dawn to take Becca, Josh, Jordan & Emily to Luton and then on to Colchester, I will be channeling your positive thoughts.
Sophie and Lucy are staying behind as they have another football match and Matt is in France at the Motor Cross 'Des Nations' championships, so it will just be Paul and I.
I hope you all have a fab weekend, especially our birthday girl!
Love and hugs
Sandra xxxxx
Ps some Ally Pally Photos tomorrow !!!

Festive Friday

Good Friday Morning Ladies,
I thought that as we are officially now in Autumn we can start looking properly at Christmas cards.

So I have decided that for the next few weeks we
shall be having 'Festive Friday', I am more than happy to share your Christmas cards too, as it will give even more inspiration to all of our viewers.
First up is the card that I started while crafting with Pat on Wednesday and finished yesterday.
I used the Sue Wilson 'Festive Collection' 'Snowflake Background' Die that Pat bought me for my birthday.
I cut some dark blue Foundation Card with the die and laid it over some white card covered with a double sided sticky sheet and sprinkled with some Iced Snow for a sparkly snowflake look, I used some Pinflair Glue gel to give a little lift and dimension to the card.  I used the oval centre from Creative Expressions Austrian 'Innsbruck' die to give a larger centre to place the CE 'Let it Snow' die cut on to follow along the snowflake theme.
I decided to create an Easel card, so scored an A4 piece of card in half and then scored half way across the front from top to bottom, this gave the base of the easel, on to which I matted some white and another layer of the dark blue card,
I repeated this layers on the base, I then added the
new 'Snowflake Border' from Sue's Festive Collection to use as a stopper, using double sided foam tape, made stronger with Cosmic Shimmer Glue. I added some AB crystal adhesive gems to highlight the snowflakes and give extra sparkle.
I will add that Paul didn't put the top of the card correctly into place behind the stopper when he took the photo, so I will be having a 'word', I may need to dock his pay this week!!
I know its a little different colour wise for Christmas, but I thought I would experiment.
I am slowly getting back into this card making thing and quite enjoying it, so watch this space!!
I am not sure if I have enough Mixed Crafts for tomorrow but I will do my best. If you would like to send something please feel free, I don't mind the Grandchildren makes either, especially if it makes them smile.
Busy day and early night in our house today, we have to be up at 5.30am to take Becca and Josh to Luton Airport, we are then continuing on to my Mums for the day! (thinking positive thoughts, thinking positive thoughts)!!!!
Love and huggles
Sandra
xxxxxxxx

Another Beautiful Birthday card that I received x

 My Birthday Card from Pat (Witney)

Good Thursday Morning Ladies,
Today I am excited to show you the gorgeous card that Pat made for me, it is a beautiful Easel Card
(with extra bits), in a beautiful yellow with grey floral butterflies.  Pat used Creative Expressions Noble Dies for the main body of the card and layers, the decorative elements were made from Spellbinders Butterflies
and Creative Expressions Camelia flowers, both finished with pearls.  The depth and layers on this card were
absolutely amazing, I was totally blown away when I opened it, I will add that this card has travelled to Spain and back too, so really did stand the test of time and travel.
Thank you so much Pat.

Pat and I had a lovely crafting day, we did lots of die cutting, well that was all we did really, no cards were actually composed, but the elements are all there, I just need to sit and design.
Pat also bought with her the most delicious cakes (shut your eyes Sue)!!! They were fresh cream and fresh raspberry eclairs with a little raspberry sauce inside, they had a line of pink icing with freeze dried raspberries sprinkled over them, totally delicious and what a treat, thank you Pat xxxx
Maureen it was good to see that you were well enough to visit us yesterday, you were very much missed, its good to have you back xxxx
I get to see Pat again today, sadly not for crafting, she has to come back today as she suffered a serious
'Craft' moment, after checking twice to make sure she had all of her dies etc she got in her car and left,
I went to sit with the girls to talk about their day and noticed a grey handbag, quite large I might add, sitting
next to the coffee table, yes you guess it, its owner was half way back to Witney, I did think of calling but
her mobile was in her handbag! Oh Pat, its a bit soon for senior moments!!
Love and hugs to all
Sandra
xxxxxx

Another of my beautiful birthday cards.

 Good Morning Ladies,
Today I wanted to share with you all another of my beautiful birthday cards, this particular card has been designed by our lovely Maureen, the photograph really doesn't do the exquisite colouring justice, that pink icing looks almost edible in real life! The tea cup has been coloured to look like the finest china, so beautiful, the tea looks just how I like mine 'latino tan' tea, with just a dash of milk. Unlike my dear friend Pat, who just gets the second hand dippings of my tea bag as she likes hers like gnats pee!  Sue has a spiced apple tea, so she is easy to please.  Paul is the best tea/coffee maker, tea because he has the patience to let it brew properly, coffee because he grinds his own beans and brews it fresh!
Anyway back to the card, the coloured image topper has been edged with glitter, making it stand out from the background, the embossed frame has been created with Creative Expressions Noble square die,
Maureen has finished the card with almost 'edible' pink pearls on top of the cakes and in the corners.

I absolutely love this card Maureen, thank you very
much xxxx
I do hope that you are feeling well enough to pop in to the cafe to see your card today my lovely xx

Today we are going over to Sue's to craft, which I am very much looking forward to, I love our crafting Wednesdays.
I will call in to later to see what you have all been up to!
Love and Hugs to all,
Sandra
xxxxxxx

One of my cards!

 Good Morning Ladies,
I hope today finds those of you that are under the weather a little brighter, Michele I really hope that your throat and head are a little better today, it must be so frustrating travelling all that way for a holiday and then feeling poorly.  I am sure that the recycled air on the aeroplane is to blame for may of the holiday and post holiday coughs and colds.
Maureen I hope that you are feeling better too, this place just isn't the same without you, I miss you very much.
It was so lovely today, getting back to normal and having Paul come home for lunch, I spent the morning making a card and watching re-runs of Soldier Soldier, well that took me back I can tell you, there was a part where they were preparing to go away for a few months, that bought a lump to my throat! It looks so cheaply made though when you watch them back.
Some of you were talking about past craft shows after I mentioned Kameo Cards and Sue 'by eye' Smith,
I always found their products a little dated, but they had some good man themed card and paper, them always did good quality inserts too.
I remembered Alan & Barry too, they were like a married couple, they giggled and argued quite a lot, their craft style was a little hit and miss, but good entertainment, I am not sure if they were create and craft then or whether it was just Ideal World, thank goodness we have come along way since then!
Well I know you are all still in shock at seeing one of my cards today, but once you have calmed I will explain how I made it......
First I took a piece of white card and cut a piece of double sided sticky sheet to fit it, I then cut several of the Lattice Arched Adornment Die from Creative Expressions, designed by Sue Wilson, I laid them across the sticky sheet, trying to achieve a symmetrical pattern! Once I had finished placing the die cuts I rubbed in some extra fine glitter over the rest of the exposed sticky sheet, the colours in the reflective particles in the glitter matched the lilac coloured card quite well (greens and purples).
I then matted this onto a tiny white matt and then wrapped some lilac ribbon around this part of the card and matted onto a larger pierced white matt ( I used the score buddy), I then added another lilac layer and then onto the white base.
I made a bow from some sparkly tulle, topped it with a bow tied with the lilac ribbon and attached to the card with glue dots. I trimmed the bow with some Delicate Fronds Die cuts from CE, designed by Sue W.
I added some glitter to these so that they matched the background, I them topped it off with some little lilac flowers.
I die cut the 'Happy Birthday' sentiment and stuck it on to the lilac and white layered Pierced Flag die cuts,
I added a few white pearls onto the background and some lilac pearls to the corners.
I hope you like my card, I was going to add stick pins, but after the girls came in from school it slipped my mind!!
It was so lovely to see 'Tres' back in the cafe today, Ang (Mrs Duck) too, its so nice to have some new faces, I hope you both can pop in regularly, you are most welcome. xxxx
I will call in later on this morning to catch up with you all,
Love and Hugs
Sandra xxxxxxxx

PS: Margaret Palmer could you please send me the recipe for that cake you gave me on Saturday, it is so light and moist and delicious, I love,love,love it and so does Paul! ( we have been very mean and hidden it from the girls and Matt)!! xxx

Man Card Monday

Good Monday Morning ladies,
Well what an exciting weekend! Ally Pally was great as usual the very best part for me was meeting up with so many lovely ladies. I have to say I didn't seem to have my 'shopping head' on, I was disappointed that there were no stands demonstrating the 'Big Shot A4 plus' Sue and I were hoping to stumble upon an unbeatable deal that we could not turn down!! But there were none, not one being demonstrated!
So I will carry on looking online, Pink Frog seemed to have the best deal when i looked on friday, as you got £30 of free Brittania Dies that you could choose yourself and they have quite a good range.
Now I must share with you something that totally surprised me, have any of you ever fancied doing 'Hot foiling'?  well I like the look and think it would add a finishing touch to invitations etc, well I looked online on Friday and could only find one, a Minc Hot Foiling machine, sold by Create and Craft £99.99
you would need to have a Laser Printer too though.
Well there was a stand called Mad4ink at the show, the chap was very interesting and I was interested in talking to him as I am looking for a printer that would take 300gsm card, he was very helpful, he also asked me if i was interested in Hot foiling, I said I was so he printed my name on his Laser printer and then added
a piece of foil popped another piece of paper on top, he then ran it through a Laminator, just a standard one, he handed me the paper to do the 'unveiling' and when I did it revealed a perfectly foiled 'Sandra', he then went on to explain that these Hot foiling machines are nothing more than a laminator with a heat dial, well I was quite surprised as laminators cost under £20, so what on earth are we paying £99 for??? what a flaming rip off!  So that's something else on my shopping list for this month!!
Right onto Janet's fab man card, it comes under two categories for our blog, its both a Man card and a No Die Card!
I have to admit that I am unfamiliar with any of the products that Janet has used so we will have to wait for her to call in to let us know how she made it! Come on Janet!!!
Thank you so much for sending me your card to share xxxx
I would like to welcome TRES to our blog family, I look forward to seeing you in the cafe my lovely xxx
I will call in later to catch up with you all,
love and huge hugs
Sandra
xxxxxxx

Myra's Double pierced edge card

Good Morning Ladies,
Today's card designed by Myra, it shows the double what the double pierced edge looks like using Sue's
new pierced square dies.
I think Myra might have to explain how she achieved this effect as I can't remember how she said you did it.
Myra did mention taping two dies together, maybe just to emboss??!!
I am sure Myra will put us right later on today.
Myra has also used the Creative Expressions Butterfly die, I love the look of that dazzler in the bezel.
The flower in the bottom corner is so pretty and unusual too!!
Thank you Myra for inspiring us with your amazing skills.
I had an amazing day yesterday with very dear friends, also got to meet so lovely new people from Sue'e blog, Helen, Yvonne, Theresa and Ang (mrs Duck), all of whom were lovely and a real pleasure to meet.
Sue was as busy as ever, it was good to see her demo her 'northern lights' effect in real time.
I don't think I will too much good to anyone today, I will just say 'ouch' (you get the picture)!
I will stop in later to see how Myra created her amazing card ,
love and hugs
Sandra
xxxxxx

Mixed craft saturday

Hazel's Gift Bag

Anne's Harris Tweed Handbag

Michele's Notelet Cards

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

Well its finally here, Ally Pally......and you know what that means only 5 WEEKS & 6 DAYS TO OUR RETREAT!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness, how exciting is that, I just can't wait, I have started to email round to different companies to see if they will donate some goodies for us to play with and please rest assured ladies that cannot make it that I will make sure that you are included too!

Now onto this weeks crafts.....

Hazel's gorgeous gift bag is up first today, designed with gorgeous purple card and matching decorative papers, embellished with that beautiful silver butterfly, I love the way you have created the handle on this bag Hazel, it looks quite realistic, some handles look a little odd, this one is perfect, thanks for the inspiration Hazel xxx

Anne's Harris Tweed Bag is up next, WOW Anne its gorgeous, it looks like you have used leather

handle and embellishments, they look fabulous.  You really are a fantastic seamstress, that bag looks really professional, please dig out some more of your fantastic makes to share with us.

Thanks once again for sharing Anne xxx

Last but not least we have Michele's notelet cards, Michele made these as a prize for a friend of hers that was running a 'hook a duck' stall for their local Model Boat Club, Michele made them as a thank you as this is the friend that she went to the flower show with, now I believe she said she used a free gift topper set from a magazine, (Michele wanted to point out that they aren't her usual style)! haha

Thank you Michele for sending me these to share with everyone xxx

Hopefully as you are all reading this I will be meeting up with some of you lovely ladies, I really am looking

forward to seeing you all.

Now those of you that are staying behind, please don't go getting to wild, I will check in through the day,

love and hugs

Sandra

xxxxxx

Our First card with Sue's new dies ! Jeans family wedding photo

Brenda (potter)'s Delicate Garden frame Card

Jean's Family wedding photo

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

First up today can I ask all of you that are going to Ally Pally to leave a message to say where

and when you would like to meet up this time, last time we all met at the table in front of Sue's stand at about 1.30pm. Would you like to do the same, or meet up before for a hug and a quick chat and then meet for lunch.  I really don't mind what we do as long as I get to see you all !!!

Now onto Brenda's gorgeous card, I love the Delicate Garden Frame (creative Expressions) Die,

Brenda has used it to frame that beautiful floral paper, it really works with that gorgeous pink card as the background, so bright and vibrant, those butterflies really add that perfect touch of elegance, 

(they are part of the die set too).  Brenda has created the card base using the new Pierced Square

Dies from (creative expressions), it works brilliantly finishing the edges off with that perfect line of pierced holes.  Thank you Brenda for Inspiring us to use this beautiful die. xxx

Jean has sent me the photo she promised of her family at her Grandson's Wedding on the Greek Island of Kos.  the names of everyone from left to right are......................................

Grandson Tom, Son Dave, Daughter In Law Carol, Bride Demi, Great Grandson Conner, Jean and

Jean's hubby John !

Jean you all look amazing, what a fantastic location and the bride looks absolutely stunning.

Its so lovely to be able to put a face to a name, thank you so very much for sharing your beautiful

family photo with all of us Jean xxx

I can honestly say that our little cafe seems to be going from strength to strength, it is so lovely that so many of you are getting to meet up and form real 'actual' friendships, which warms my heart, also seeing photos of your families makes it all seem so much more personal, I really do value the friendship and support of every single one of you. xxx

Phew, I am so pleased that the internet popped back into life again last night, I was really panicking, they couldn't see the my frustration at being told that the service was going to be very intermittent until the 24th September, I have two girls doing their GCSE's which requires access to  the internet every evening and weekend. I didn't like to mention that my blog takes preference over everything else! haha

I will be in to catch up later,

Love and Hugs

Sandra

xxxxxx

My Beautiful card created by Brenda !

Good Morning Ladies,

I am so excited to be able to share my beautiful birthday cards with all of you, I felt so blessed 

when I returned from Holiday to see spread before the most enormous pile of jiffy bags and padded envelopes, it was like my best birthday ever.

Now this exquisitely delicate design has been lovingly created by 'My Yummy Crafty Mumma' Brenda (lello).

Brenda has used the 'Happy Birthday' Die from Creative Expressions, designed by Sue Wilson,

the top and bottom of the card have been divided diagonally by a pretty purple/white narrow ribbon, the bottom section of the card has been embossed using a pretty 'art deco' style embossing folder.

Brenda has complimented the pretty lilac card with the floral element of the card, using some complimentary coloured paper roses on top of some Delicate Frond' die cuts, also from Creative Expressions, these were placed upon a bow tied in pretty tulle. A delicately twisted piece of green ribbon gives a hint of foliage colour and two colours of Bakers Twine with the addition of the pretty lilac stick pins add that essential final touch.

This card is even more beautiful in the 'flesh', I will treasure it and the rest of them forever.

Thank you so much Brenda xxxx

Well an unexpected treat last night......Paul came back for the night!!!! it was like Christmas xxxx

I had a lovely day with Sue and Pat yesterday too.

I hope that all of the hospital appointments went well yesterday.

Hazel & Patricia, I hope you both had a smooth journey home, its good to have you back in the same time zone and climate!

I will call back later to catch up with all of you, 

love and Hugs

Sandra

xxxxxxx

How Beautiful is this card?????

Good Morning Ladies,
Today I want to share with you one of my beautiful birthday cards, the designer of this gorgeous card was not going to post it because she thought that it wasn't good enough! Can you believe that ???
I love everything about this card, firstly the colour, a beautiful shade of green, my favourite colour!
The dies used are from Creative Expressions Californian Collection, the lace is so pretty and oh the time that it must of taken to add all of those exquisite tiny little flowers with pearls in the centre and the foliage too.
The inside of the card is just as pretty.
The designer of the card is my very dear friend Norah, I would like to reassure you Norah that your card is equally as beautiful as the others that I received, I absolutely love it Norah and I am so very grateful that you took the trouble to make it for me. Thank you xxxx
I am looking forward to seeing Pat and Sue today, sadly Pat is only popping in for a coffee as she is off to the hospital with Pete, Sue and I hopefully might get some crafting done.
I will call in later to catch up with you all,
Love and hugs
Sandra
xxxxxx

Paul's Anniversary Card

Good Morning Ladies,
Well shock, horror, gasp......its one of my cards!!!!
I thought I would show you the card that I made for Paul for our anniversary.
It ended up being a little bit of a rush, but I certainly wasn't going to let Paul go away without his card.
I used an Anna Marie Designs Stamp for the focal element of the card, I love the words on that stamp.
I mounted it onto Blue Foundation Card, I then matted and layered the background with some red and the same blue card and the topped it with a piece of coconut white card, embossed with the A4 Swirling Hearts Embossing folder by Creative Expressions.
I then created a ribbon strip using red card and a Martha Stewart Punch, I layered it with some narrow matching blue ribbon and glued it to the right side of the card, I then added mounting foam to the back of the topper and placed it on top, I felt it needed something else, but I find it harder to 'embellish' mens cards, so I went with the heart theme, I die cut some different sized hearts, glueing two together with a strand of ribbon glued in the middle, repeated it three times and them glued it onto the card and topped with another die cut heart, i popped some red gems on for a bit of sparkle!
Paul seemed very pleased with his card, I hope you like it too.
We had a lovely dinner out last night after all the drama!
I will call in later to catch up with you all.
love and hugs
Sandra
xxxxxxx

Happy Birthday Barbara, Janet's Man card xxx

Janet's man card !

Happy Birthday Barbara xxxx

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

Well today is a celebration in many different ways......firstly its Barbara (Saba's) Birthday,

so have a wonderful day my lovely, I would like to wish you a year full of Good Health and

 Happiness xxxxx

Janet's amazing man card is another cause to celebrate, its just fab, I recognise some Kanban 

papers on the frame of the card, the inside section of the card is woven pieces of paper (although I am not sure what papers they are), they give a fab effect and the 'Happy Birthday' Sentiment from Creative Expressions just gives that final finishing touch, bringing the whole card together, thank you very much

Janet for sharing your design with all of us xxxxx

The other cause for celebration is that its Our Wedding Anniversary today, 24 very happy years together, he is my rock, my soul's other keeper and my life and I cherish every single moment that I

get to spend with him, so Happy Anniversary Paul, here's to many, many more! xxxx

Well that's all from me today, I am going to keep myself busy as Paul is away on a course, he is hoping to be able to pop home tonight for a couple of hours, so fingers crossed.

Love and Hugs

Sandra

xxxxxx

Karen's Thank You card, from Myra

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,
I am really excited to share this amazing card with you today, Karen sent the picture of the card to me,
she was so keen to share Myra's amazing creation with everyone.
I love the Art Deco theme that Myra has used to design this gorgeous thank you card for Karen.
The image could be you two very stylish ladies meeting for afternoon tea!
I love the background papers that you have used Myra, the fabulous metal button and the gorgeous feather finish the card off perfectly, really carrying through that Art Deco feel, I have several of Debbie Moore's Art Deco CD's yet I never remember to get them out and use them, I must make a mental note, or maybe we could have an 'Art Deco' Challenge, what do you think??
Its a style that never seems to go out of fashion, thankfully, or I would have a load of CD's that I can no longer use!
Well not much going on here, the girls are relaxing today after their football match yesterday, Paul is packing to go away for a course, its not too far away though, so hopefully he will be able to pop home,
that is if he doesn't get too much homework!
Thats all from me for now,
Have a lovely day everyone,
Love and hugs
Sandra
xxxxxx

Grandchildren Cards and Janet's amazing handbag!

Scarlett's Pretty Thank you Teacher Card

Phoebe's Pretty Thank You card

Janet's New Handmade Handbag

Another View of Janet's Handbag

Our Birthday girls today are Maureen & Patricia !!!

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

First up I would like to take this opportunity to wish both Maureen and Patricia a Very Happy Birthday,

I hope that you both have an absolutely wonderful day and that the year ahead is filled with both 

Good Health and Happiness xxxxxx

Now onto today's crafts, we have two very special cards to share today,

First up is Scarlett Brenda (potter)'s granddaughter's absolutely beautiful card that she made to say 'Thank you' to her teacher and what 

a very special way to say it with a wonderful handmade card, Scarlett you are a very clever girl and the cards that you make are very special, I look forward to seeing more of you amazing designs xxxx

Next up we have Phoebe (Mrs B's) Granddaughter and Margaret P's Great-granddaughter's Beautiful Thank You card, that she made for Great Grandma Margaret to say thank you for her birthday gift,

Phoebe I love your Butterfly design, I love how you have used the glitter to make the butterfly sparkle,

you are a very clever girl and I look forward to seeing lots more of your cards, you will soon be crafting with Grandma, Pat and I, thank you for sharing your pretty card with us today xxxx

Now we all love a Handbag, don't we.......? well how gorgeous is this one that Janet treated herself to

from a Medieval Market in France, Janet has had her eye on these style bags for a while, but she saw this one and could no longer resist and I don't blame her, just look at the workmanship, the carving and colouring on the leather is just exquisite Janet, I could see why you couldn't resist, when you think what we can pay for mass produced bags just because it has a little scotty dog on or a monkey, that any number of people could own as well, I bet this bag was no where near as expensive as those one and it is a one off, even if the creator tried, the chance of getting one exactly the same is pretty remote!

Thank you Janet for sharing your beautiful bag with us, I am sure you have got it filled to the seams of all our usual 'Ladies Handbag Essentials' ! xxxx

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend, especially our birthday girls!

Love and Hugs

Sandra

xxxxxx

Janet's 'One Die' Christmas challenge Card

Good Friday Morning Ladies,
The weekend is almost upon us, 7 weeks today we will all be leaving for, of arriving at our retreat hotel, (not that I am looking forward to it or anything)!
Also only a week to go until Ally Pally, I hope that there are lots of you coming along, I know Lynda will be there, Myself, Pat, Sue and Margaret P, I am hoping that Brenda L and Brenda (potter) will be going too and Maria of course, please let me know if you are going and we can arrange meet up and a chat, we had a good giggle last time.
Now how gorgeous is Janet's Christmas card, she has used one die for the sentiment, the rest of the card is made up of stunning little 'traditional' Christmas scene toppers, I love the old fashion snowman scene and Santa, those postcards are just perfect.
How many Christmas cards have you got finished Janet? I have up till now done NONE!!!
I was very late getting started last year too!
Thank you so much Janet for going to the trouble of both designing and sharing your design  xxxx
I am off for a cup of tea, not much organised this weekend, football match for the girls in the morning, its a home game though thankfully.
Paul is going away on Sunday for a course, so ridiculous and unnecessary, its not too far away, but he will be away all week, apart from Monday night, he said that he would come back for the evening on Monday for our anniversary, which I was really please about, he really is amazing!
I hope that you have a good weekend too, whatever you are up to,
love and hugs
Sandra
xxxxxxx

Wish you were here???

Wish you were here?





 

 

 



Good Thursday Morning Ladies,

Wish you were here?....................

Can anyone recognise those beautifully pedicured toes?????..............

It is of course Hazel and Patricia's hotel pool, just look at that blue, cloudless sky!

I could quite easily lay beside that pool and relax for a few days, even more fun with our two

sisters, maybe next year our retreat should be in the sun?  I think we would be thrown out for

spoiling the relaxing atmosphere, Maureen & Myra would get us banned from the pool because of

their 'bombing' and splashing those people relaxing! 

Hazel sent me another photo too, but how she managed to photograph some of our café ladies without the noticing I don't know!

 

 

Please feel free to name yourselves or others that you recognise in the above photograph.

I must ask you though ladies to use a glass, Elf & Safety will go positively bonkers at you all

'swigging from the bottle'! Especially when you are eating that sandwich, ewww, imagine those

backwash crumbs in the bottle!

Maureen I am sure that one of them is you, you must beware though as I heard a rumour that if

the police spot you out in your nightie and slippers they may well pick you up, just in case you have lost your marbles.

Thank you so much Hazel for today's photos, its quite nice to have an actual photo so that we can imagine you laying there when we are thinking about you both.

Lucy's appointment went well, she has her new lens that fits properly, they gave her some 'fake tears' as her eyes can get dry when she wears her lens. It will be like going back to square one as far as putting them in and taking then out, but she took to it like a duck to water.

Well ladies I have been looking forward to this day all week, can you guess why??................

Yes that's right, Sue is coming over, we have a lot of catching up to do, so I am not sure how much actual crafting will get done, but I don't really mind, I am looking forward to a hug and a chat!

That's all from me for today ladies,

I will catch up with you all later,

Love and Huge hugs,

Sandra

xxxxxxx



 









Good Morning Ladies,
Its Wednesday already, I just can't believe its the middle of the week already, 9 more days and Hazel and Patricia will be home, haha !!!
Seriously ladies I hope you have had a wonderful nights sleep and are ready for a fabulous day in the sun (or shade Hazel)! after your tiring day yesterday.
Now onto this stunning card of Anne's, it's absolutely stunning, look at the detail in the decoupage,
even the rabbits ears have been decoupaged! Anne has used the largest of the California Collection Dies from Creative Expressions for the black frame that frames the image perfectly.
I think that Anne may have used a CD Rom for the image and backing paper, I am sure she will be
in to let us know later on this morning.
I would like to thank you Anne for allowing me to share your card with everyone xxxx

Today we have to take Lucy to the Eye Hospital to get her new Occlusive lens, they have had one made to try and match her eye colour as close as they can, so that it isn't obvious, which is important at their age I think, she took to putting in and taking it out really well, thankfully.
Cheryl sweetheart, you are in my thoughts and prayers daily, hugs to you xx
Janet I hope you are feeling brighter today my lovely xxx
I hope that you all have a lovely Wednesday,
Love and Hugs
Sandra
xxxxxx