my Challenge card

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well, it wasn't quite as cold yesterday thank goodness, still a bit of a nip in the air, I didn't hear Paul scraping the car windows this morning so I knew it was warmer.  That saves him at least 10 minutes, after all the sooner he gets there, the sooner he is home!

Today's card is my Challenge card for this week, I have used the Dashing Deer die set from Stampin'Up! and a background stamp to create the gold dots. I have to say I was a little disappointed with the card, when I dug out my 'Flitter Glue' it had set solid, it looked like a Crème Brulee!
So I had to use this stuff I have had for years called 'Mica Boss' which is like embossing powder but looks more like granulated sugar, so it doesn't work great, you use Versamark or Perfect Medium to stamp with then add the powder and heat set, the actual bits are too big to stick to the versamark, frustratingly!  I had gone so far with my card that I didn't want to give up though.  I actually forgot to say that I was using Gilding Flakes (which is why I needed the 'Flitter' glue, believe me, by the time I had banged my head twice and almost got stuck half way in the under stair cupboard trying to get the Gilding Flakes I was not, not going to use them!  I have more Flake and Glitter Glue on order!!
But you get the idea I was aiming for, I looks better in your hand, I just couldn't get a great angle to photograph it so that all of the detail showed up.

Sue is coming over today, we are going to be doing some crafting, we may make our ATC's, Sue is also bringing something new for us to try which I am very excited about, most of all I am just looking forward to crafting with a friend.

It's been nice having the girls home since school had finished for them both, Lucy is looking for a job, something that she enjoys, it's a struggle logistically though as there is no public transport to or from anywhere near here, so they will rely on Paul to take them.  It's looking like Lucy might not be able to drive either because of the ongoing issues with her eyes, we are just awaiting another appointment, she has moved on to the Adult Eye clinic now and been referred to a new Consultant.

Sophie is going to start her own little business doing something that she can continue when she goes to Coventry University next year, her business will be Portraits, she is hoping to do portraits of loved ones, pets and at the moment she is doing a portrait of her boyfriend Lewis's new Mini Cooper, I can tell you its amazing already.  I am going to have to replace a good few of the lovely Derwent Coloursoft Pencils that I treated myself to though as she has worn a few of them down to a stump, as they aren't cheap I think I will get her some for Christmas, maybe just a set of the basic colours to top up the worn down ones, which were the black, white etc, I really don't mind, I am glad that they are getting used, I certainly would never be able to get the results that she does. I will leave links to her page etc when she gets set up so that you can see for yourself how amazing her work.  She worked very hard to get that A* A level Qualification, it would be good seeing it reward her back.

Having them home all day is costing a fortune though, the kettle/coffee maker is on constantly and they seem to always have their head in the pantry.  I am thinking of making them do a packed lunch the same as when they were at school, it's easy to lose track of how much you are eating when you just graze!  They don't tend to eat rubbish though, they are either making smoothies, using lots of fruit, both fresh and frozen, which I don't mind,  buying 5 mangoes a week is expensive though!  Sophie loves Avocado's too, so she has one of those most days.  I did put my foot down yesterday though, when they have their boyfriends to stay over they always want to cook some fancy breakfast for them in the mornings, I tried to explain that if we have sausages in the fridge they are usually for a meal during the week, so I don't want them used for a non necessary breakfast.  I suggested that if they want to do something like that they could all go together the night before and buy the ingredients, I mean I don't mind them using eggs, we always have eggs in, there is also ingredients for pancakes etc that they also like to make and waffles. We'll see if they listened I guess.

I hope that you all have a lovely day, will you be crafting ????

Sending love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Stampin For All 'Fancy Fold' Challenge cards

Good Morning Ladies,

I hosted a Design Team Challenge over on the Stampin For All  fb group a couple of weeks ago.

The Challenge was to make a 'Fancy Fold' Card, I used the 'Twist & Pop' Technique card, I think it has a real 'WOW' factor! 

But enough about my card, look at these amazing Fancy Folds, made by members of the Group...…..

Elaine Spencer

Elaine has made an amazing Fancy Fold using the beautiful 'Twinkle Twinkle'  Designer Series papers from Stampin'Up! The sentiments have been stamped and die cut with Layering Circles Thinlits.  The card is closed with a pretty piece of matching Lace.

Such a pretty card and brilliant fold, thanks so much for sharing Elaine. xxx

Gez Carpenter

Gez has designed a 'Double Z Fold' card for the Fancy Fold Challenge, Gez has used the 'Bubble Over' Stamp set with the matching 'Bottles & Bubbles' thinlits to decorate her card.

Gez I bet your Son loved this card, thank you so much for taking part in the challenge. xxx

Helen Chandler 

Helen has used the gorgeous 'Frosted Florals' Bundle to create this fantastic tri-fold style card, I love that gorgeous floral spray you have created and your choice of paper, everything works so well together.  Thank you so much for taking part in the Challenge. xxx

 Ian Potter

Ian has used the gorgeous 'Share What You Love' Bundle to create this amazing 'tent fold with a twist' (I have no idea what you would call that fold but I love it)! Ian used the 'Banner Triple' punch to create that flag tailed banner, which folds over to form the focal point of the card.

Thank you so much Ian for taking part in the 'Fancy Fold' challenge and for Inspiring us all with your gorgeous card. xxx

 Lorraine Turner

Lorraine has created a fun 'Slider card' for her 'Fancy Fold', she has used a beautiful die cut sentiment and some cute Peel Off stickers to embellish the slide our pieces.

Thank you so much Lorraine for supporting yet another challenge, you are amazing, I don't know how you manage to take part in so many.  You are an inspiration to us all. xxx

Victoria Littlewood 

Victoria has created a real 'WOW' card with this 'Fancy Fold' card and stand. Victoria has also used the 'Share What you Love' Designer Series Paper and Old Olive card.

Such an eye catching design, thank you so much for entering the challenge Victoria xxx

-----0----

What an incredible display of fun folds, I think that there is something there to inspire us all, I will certainly be having a go at a few of them.

I am hoping the weather forecast in right and that it really does start to warm up a bit today or tomorrow because I just don't function when I am cold, the heating was on all day yesterday but it just didn't seem to warm up, I had blue toes all day, with the added stress of the girls whining because they were cold too, if its the same today I think we will light the fire in the lounge, that way they can sit and get warm in there.

I hope that you all stay warm too, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Karen 's Monday Challenge & ATC partner draw

Happy Birthday 

♥♥Karen♥❤

Good Monday morning Ladies,

Ladies please join me in wishing our lovely Karen a Very Happy Birthday, I hope you are having a lovely time in London xxx

I hope you have all had a lovely relaxed weekend, it was certainly a chilly one, a beautiful day here yesterday, lovely sunshine but a definite 'nip' in the air. So chilly in fact that i sat in the car writing the nlog post while Paul was busy at allotment, our plot is in a shady corner so would have been too cold.  I was happy sitting in the warm car, radio on, eating Rhubarb and Custard sweets!  

What sweet reminds you of your childhood, what was your favorite?

This weeks Challenge has been set by Karen, she made that amazing Giraffe card and it inspired Karen to suggest this weeks challenge theme.

That fantastic Giraffe image is a Serif image,  Karen has added Glossy Accents to him,  which really brings him to life.

A truly lovely card x

So this weeks challenge is to make a card or project,  featuring an Animal/creature.

So you can use any Animal,Bird, insect etc

This means you could still make Christmas cards, using Reindeer's, Doves, or there are lots of stamps/images of cute dogs and cats in Christmas hats etc.  

Just have fun with the Challenge, can't wait to see your Animal cards!!

Now onto the ATC challenge that Cheryl suggested last week, I did the draw for partners yesterday and they are as follows:

Sue - Cheryl

Janet - Lynda

Maria- Margaret 

Karen - Sandra

Danni - Lorraine 

Please remember to send me photos of all  of your ATC's so that I can do a feature on the blog.

I hope that you all have a lovely week ahead

Love and Hugs to all of you,

Sandra

Xxxxxxx

Your Challenge cards

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

Well, it's my favourite day of the week, where we have inspiration in abundance, you have all made some incredible cards this week, you'd never know that you were all working from the same Tictactoe grid either!

So here we go...….

Brenda

Brenda has made a stunning Scalloped Circle Birthday card, I love the shape, it's just lovely to see something different.  Brenda has used texture paste with glitter to create that wreath, it's so pretty.

Brenda used categories Circle/Flora/Texture to create this beautiful card.

Thank you so much Brenda for making time to take part and making this gorgeous card.

XXX

 Karen

Three fantastic cards from Karen this week, two beautiful birthday cards made using some beautiful, intricate dies and one of the 'fold flat' aperture cards, I love how you have got the animals peeking through the aperture, so much fun, perfect first birthday card.

Here is Karen's description:

"Here’s three cc The first two were inspired by John Lockwood and based on Sue W’s description of an aperture card she showed on her blog They’re for friends who are celebrating their birthdays tomorrow and Saturday So I’ve gone for Aperture/Floral/Celebrate

The third is for a friend’s little boy who celebrated his birthday yesterday but Charlotte is going to his party on Sunday and it’s based on Jenny McGuire’s shadow box card I have to say it looked better in my head and on my first attempt I managed to put the red liner tape on the wrong edges So it’s aperture/celebrate/Fancy fold
I’ve sent a few photos of it so will let you decide which ones to use It’s all Serif apart from the SW stitched animals.

Thank you so much for 3 amazing Challenge cards, I really appreciate you making the time to take part each week 

XXX

 Lilian

Oh Lilian, I absolutely love the poinsettia stamp that you have used on your Christmas card, stamping and embossing it in gold was an inspired idea, the shade of red you have used looks almost illuminated, which maybe the reflection from the embossing, the embossing folder you have used is amazing, I like the fact that using that folder you could create a fantastic card base with one folder.

The postage stamp style card base is lovely, unusual too.

Lilian used categories:  Floral/Gold/Sequins

Thank you so much for taking part Lilian, I really do appreciate it.

XXX

Lorraine

Lorraine has designed a gorgeous foiled card for this weeks TicTacToe Challenge, using some stunning Stampin' Up! Foiled card, I have this collection but never used it, frustrating now that it's retired! Lorraine has teamed this beautiful card with Kraft card which works brilliantly.

Lorraine used categories:  Gold/Circle/Sequins

Thank you so much Lorraine for a fantastic challenge card.

XXX

Lynda

Lynda has made two amazing cards for this weeks TicTacToe Challenge, the first card used the Oak Tree from 'Lovely as a Tree' stamp set, it looks like you are viewing it through a window on this card.

Lynda's second card uses her favourite stamp set (at the moment) 'Dandelion Wishes' from Stampin'Up! 

Lynda's Cards used Categories:  Circle/Texture/sequins

                                                      Floral/Gold/Sequins

Thank you so much Lynda for two gorgeous challenge cards, I really appreciate your support in these challenges.

XXX

Maria

Oh Maria it's so lovely having you  back from Holiday and taking part in the challenge, I love your cards! This challenge card is a fantastic Christmas challenge card, that wreath is so lovely, those little gingerbread men are so cute!

Maria used categories: Gold/Circle/Celebration for this lovely Christmas card.

Welcome back my lovely, I look forward to seeing you very soon, Paul has suggested a Friday, we just need to sort it with Karen, Brenda, Margaret, Sue and hopefully Pat. 

Thank you for taking part.

 XXX

Michele 

Michele has made a fantastic 'Fancy Fold' card for this challenge, I'm not sure what this fold is called, it looks like steps/stairs, that shade of Blue is so lovely, mixing the silver with the different shades of blue gives a real 'frosty' winter feel to your card.

Michele has used categories: Fancy Fold/Silver/Celebrate

Thank you so much Michele for another amazing challenge card.

XXX

 Sue

Sue has made a lovely aperture style card using a Sue Wilson leaf die, Sue has used the die to cut through the top layer of card, then matted the white layer onto the pink using foam tape to raise it up, Sue then placed the die cut piece through the sentiment adding a little dries clear glue so that it sticks to that second pink layer, giving the effect of looking through the window to see the decorative die.

Love your technique Sue!

Thank you so much for taking part this week, I know you were busy!

XXX

Well, what did you think?? another amazing display of cards, all using different techniques and products to create cards from the same grid.

We lit the coal fire last night as it was so chilly, it was so warm and cosy, the problem comes when you have to get up and leave the fire to go to another room, thats when you realise how much heat it gives out.  Last night was definitely a 'hot water bottle' night.  I do have an electric blanket (although I haven't seen it since we moved) but I am a little wary about using it, it says that this particular one can be left on all night but I was too afraid of getting electrocuted!  The other thing is that I am like the 'Princess and the Pea' story, I cannot bare the slightest crease in the sheets so having those wires under the sheet was a definite No!  You can't beat a hot water bottle!!

Stay warm and dry today my lovelies, enjoy your Sunday,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxxx

Michele Magazine Review, Lynda's Mixed Media Project & Karen's Poppies

Karen's Knitted Poppies

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well on this chilly Saturday morning, it really has started to feel like Winter.

We went out last night so didn't light the fire, it would have been lovely to have had it on when we got in though as it was freezing.

I surprised Paul with Tickets to see the Bohemian Rhapsody Film on the Imax screen at the cinema, Wow it was fantastic, if any of you are Queen or Freddie Mercury fans I thoroughly recommend it, that chap that played Freddie was brilliant. 

Anyway enough of that nonsense lets talk about todays crafts.....

Karen has knitted these gorgeous poppies for a shop display, I will let Karen tell you...…

"Here’s a photo of the poppies I have made for our local John Lewis They are decorating a window (I think or it may be within the haberdashery dept!) to commemorate the end of the First World War and asked for donations
The pattern was easy once I changed one of the rows to fit
I couldn’t understand their crochet patterns but then I am self taught in crochet! They asked for fabric and felt ones too I hope to take a photo of the finished piece xxx"

I hope that you get a photo of the display as I would love to see it, John Lewis usually have amazing window displays.

Thank you for sharing your poppies with us xxx

Lynda

Lynda has shared a picture of this amazing 'Mixed Media Tag' that she has been working on for the past couple of weeks, (on and off), not helped by the fact that her Glue Gun blew up!  

Lynda has used a variety of stencils and different mediums to create that incredible background, the vibrant blues and yellows work beautifully together. 

Then there is that fabulous combination of paper flowers and metal charms, those deep purple flowers are really complimented with the brassy/coppery shades of the metal embellishments.

Lynda, I love seeing your Mixed Media projects, I can see how much work goes into placing each and every element. thank you so much for allowing me to share your work on my blog xxx

Next up we have the main event of the day...……

Michele's Magazine Review

Hi Ladies, Here is this month's magazine review.....

Simply Cards & Papercraft has a really lovely stamp & die set this month which is an unusual shape.

Look at some of the beautiful cards featured in the magazine, there's 2 more articles inside the magazine using the free gift, so lot's of inspiration.

 Making Cards

Making Cards Magazine has a really cute set of stamps.... Nick the Gnome plus some great papers.

Look at these great cards, lots of ideas to inspire you.

 Papercraft Inspirations

Papercraft Inspiration has an Embossing Folder & Stamp set free this month, some of these stamps would make a lovely winter birthday card & the two cute bunnies would be perfect for an anniversary or valentines card. A very versatile set of stamps this month.

Papercraft Essentials

Papercraft Essentials has an Embossing Folder & 2 Dies free this month.

This is one of the features using the free gifts, theses another article showing some quite different cards all made using the same gifts.

These also a great feature elsewhere in the magazine on 3D Diecut gifts tags-these would make your gifts look really special.

 Diecutting Essentials

Diecutting Essentials has a brilliant Die-Pretty Quick Christmas tree. 

This is one article using the Christmas tree die, there’s another one which is all decorated gifts eg a box, a sweet jar & a wine bottle cover.

 Cardmaking & Papercraft

Cardmaking & Papercraft has a set of Dies free this month plus some great papers.

This article shows some lovely cards made in no traditional colours. 

There’s a great article on Cards for men plus one on Bendi Cards which look amazing.

That’s it for this months roundup of magazines. As always if there’s any questions, I’ll try to answer them.

Michele

Thank you so much Michele for another amazing Magazine review, I love how you have shared some of the inspiration pages this time too.

I really appreciate the time you make to do this for us every month, huge thanks once again xxx

That's all for this Mixed Saturday post, enjoy the rest of your Saturday.

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Something Floral For Friday

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

This has seemed a very long week for some reason, I am so glad that it is Friday!  I'm not sure if it is just me or it's the weather but I just could not get warm yesterday, I kept my thick pj's on with a warm zipped fleece and sheepskin slippers but I was cold to the bones.  It may well have been the after effects of our fab shopping day yesterday that has contributed but I am certain that we will be lighting the fire this weekend.  The heating has been on for a few weeks now, this will be our first full winter in this house, lets hope it's not too costly!! I think I am going to light the Aga and leave it on, I am guessing that when it is up to temperature it shouldn't take too much gas to maintain its heat, the kitchen is quite large with high ceiling and the Aga is the only form of heat in there.

We have an unwanted tenant!!  Milo has been freaking me out for days as he sits and stares at on of the drawers in the kitchen, it is the drawer where their treats are kept but that hasn't bothered him before, now when we moved in there was mouse droppings in that draw, I cleaned them out and bleached the draw but I noticed today that they are back, so I am guessing that there is a mouse visiting, so far its trail is only in that draw and the cupboard beneath.  I went into the kitchen this afternoon and Milo had got onto the work top and opened the drawer and was all but sitting in it!

I keep opening the cupboard and encouraging him to go in and get the flippin thing, but no luck so far!  I don't want to have to set a trap but that's the next step, I can't have mice running round the kitchen, I'd end up having a heart attack! 

Today's card was made with the Petal Promenade Designer Papers from Stampin'up! the beautiful floral design was the inspiration for the rest of the card, I used Blackberry Bliss card for the base and mat and Champagne Foil card for the accent pieces, the dies I used are Stitched Label Framelits for that lovely frame, Delicate Lace Edgelits for that lacy edge die cut.

The Stamped frame is from Floral Frames Stamp set. 

I used Ruffled edge ribbon in Powder Pink and the narrow Ribbon is Fresh Fig.  

The paper is so busy that I don't think the card needed aby more embellishments, I hope you like it.

Have a lovely weekend Ladies,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Michele's Pretty Stepper Card

Good Morning Ladies,

Today I am sharing Michele's beautiful Stepper card, this is one of the many projects that Michele had already cut out and planned for the classes that she was going to be running before she was let down by the shop owner, I can help but think that the lady should refund you for the expense you had preparing for the classes that were cancelled last minute, I know that you can eventually use all of the card bases and die cut pieces that you made for the different skill levels in different classes and no doubt printed instructions but that isn't the point, you wouldn't have cut that many stepper card size pieces of card of die cut that many flowers ordinarily.  Why she couldn't reschedule is beyond me, I hope she told the ladies that wanted to come that it was her that cancelled and not you.
Anyway lets admire your beautiful card, I would have been so proud if I had attended a class and came away with something as amazing as this, so great choice of project firstly.  I also love your pretty, yet simple design,  I am sure that by the time the ladies had worked out the actual cutting out of the card base they would have wanted a simple design. Your choice of colours works so well to, I think that this would make a perfect Get Well Soon card to take someone in hospital, as you aren't allowed to take flowers these days, this would make anyone smile.

This card would also work for this weeks challenge, using Categories:  Fancy Fold/Flowers/Celebrate

I would like to thank you all for your fantastic response to the ATC challenge yesterday, it's quite scary suggesting something new sometimes as you just can't guess peoples reactions, I am hoping that picking partners and the 4 weeks to complete makes it easier for most of us to take part.
I will wait a couple of days to make sure everyone has decided whether to join or not, I will then draw the partners and let you know.

Sue and I had an absolutely lovely day yesterday, most of you will find this very hard to believe but we managed to spend a good 4 1/2 hours in The Range, yes you heard right 4 1/2 hours!!  But as always the time just flew, we did start out having lunch in there, which was very tasty and very reasonably priced, it was actually better than the local Garden centre we went to where the food is double the price and not as tasty, Sue had a jacket potato that had about a pound of cheese grated onto it with salad, which looked delicious and I had a turkey, stuffing and cranberry Panini, with a huge salad that was also very nice.  We didn't have dessert then as we decided we would go back for the afternoon tea/cake offer when we had finished shopping as we were both full. So the first hour was probably having lunch, we had a browse upstairs and then went down and got distracted by the many aisles of Christmas Decorations, OMG they were beautiful, we could have spent an absolute fortune, we were very good though, I bought two cute robins and a santa and I don't think Sue bought any decorations, oh apart from a Snowglobe, I think she is planning to return with Margaret though!
We then went on to Home furnishing as I was looking for cushions to match my new curtains, we were very loaded up then so went and paid and unloaded, then returned to 'do' the craft area, which was probably another good hour or more, as we spent time discussing what we could do with everything.  We were very tired by now and decided to go for that tea and cake, so waited for the lift only to get up there to discover the chap had just closed up! We were gutted as we both had our eye on the Viennese Mince Pies!  Maybe next time 😜😜!!
Thank you so very much Sue I had a lovely afternoon, I hope you aren't too sore today, but I am guessing that you are like me and having a very slow day xxx

Thats all for today ladies,

Have a lovely day however you are spending it,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Lovely Festive Card and Midweek Challenge

Good Morning ladies, 

Todays amazing card is one of Danielle's, it is the first card she has made in a while. 

Talk about come back with a bang! 

Danni has  created a watercolour wash style background by adding some ink to a clear block (or glass mat) adding a spritz of eater then to tranfer the ink to the paper Sanni takes a piece of acetate and presses onto ink then laying onto card, dry the first colour before repeating with second colour, so thatthe two colours don't mix and turn a muddy colour.  The two colours Danni used are Shaded Spruce and Merry Merlot, although the colours look more pink and turquoise in the photo. The Snowflakes and leaves are from Seasonal Layers Thinlits.

Such a lovely card Danni, it makes me think of a Windy Winter Day.  Thank you  so much for allowing me to share it today xxx

Midweek Challenge 

Cheryl gave me a suggestion for our weekly challenge that I think is a lovely idea but i didn't think it would work as our usual Monday Challenge.

The challenge is to make a pair of ATC's (Artist Trading cards).  I have shared a couple that Danni made, they are so pretty.

They are basically little card fronts or toppets, they measure 2 1/2  X 3 1/2 inches

They can be decorated with absolutely anything, you could do watercolour, use dies, embossing folder/paste etc. 

I think to make it work efficiently we can do it like a swap, so everyone that wants to take part will be partnered up, that way you only have to send one envelope. 

You have 4 weeks to make your ATC's and send them. 

Please let my know if you would like to take part, i think it will be a fun little project and so nice to receive Happy Mail !! 

Once we have names I will draw partners and let you know who you are swapping with.

Sue is coming over today, so lovely crafting with a friend xx

Have a lovely day ladies,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxx

My GDP #161 Card

Good Morning Ladies,

First up today I want to let you all know that Stampin'Up! are having a Flash One Day Sale, with 15% off for one day only!!

Here is the link to my Website:    http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/cotswoldcrafter/

Well I am not sure what happened yesterday, my 'mojo' just up and left and I sat in the craft room twiddling my fingers!  So I thought I would go and have a look at the Global Design Team Challenge for this week and it just so happens it was a 'Colour Challenge'  so I thought I would have a go.

The GDP #161 challenge for this week is to make a card using the Colours :

Old Olive
Pumpkin Pie
Crushed Curry

So I decided to use the Dandelion Wishes stamp set and the 'Resist Technique'  to create todays card.
I set the stamp in my Stamperatus Stamp Tool and stamped one side of my piece of Whisper White card, then rotated the card and stamped again using Versamark ink and White Embossing Powder, heat set and then placed on my glass mat ready to blend the three colours of ink onto the card.  I always find it easier to hold the paper at the angle you are want your ink to lie.
After adding the ink I buffed over the embossing to bring the white shine back, now I couldn't decide how to add my sentiment, then I had a look at this weeks TicTacToe Challenge and saw Vellum, so I cut a piece of vellum the same size as my card front, I then planned where I wanted my sentiment to be and placed the vellum back in the Stamperatus, lined up my sentiment stamp and stamped it and added White Embossing Powder and heat set.  I then placed the vellum back onto my card front and creased the vellum roughly where I wanted the tears to be and tore roughly a long those line, for a less formal look, I applied Old Olive ink to one side of the vellum and Crushed Curry on the other.
I attached the vellum to the front of my card with tiny spots of glue placed under the stamped areas of the sentiment and then in one or two spots where I was going to place the sequins.
I scattered some sequins over the front of the card to finish.

Now it just so happens that this card fits with our TicTacToe Challenge too, using categories:

Vellum/Sequins/Texture (vellum and embossing)

I am hoping that the crafting comes a little easier today, as I have a lot to get on with!

I hope you are all in full crafty swing, making your challenge cards, I think I am going to just blindly pick a stamp and colours when I get crafty block from now on and see if that works.

I hope you all have an amazing day,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Monday Challenge

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well and have had a lovely weekend, we were blessed with some lovely weather, Sunday was lovely and warm too, you can really feel the difference as it turns late afternoon now though can't you, as soon as that sun drops the temperature drops quite fast.

We even laid the fire in ready to go on Saturday evening but it didn't get that cold, so its all ready to go when we do need it.  We were looking at the price of getting a bulk drop of Logs but goodness me we shocked, prices were upwards of £350 !!  It seems to be the popular thing to sell these days, as you see 'kiln dried logs' advertised everywhere, probably since Log Burners became the 'in' thing. 

I wouldn't mind the cost if we had a Back Boiler or something, so that the cost was offset by heating the house or water but it just goes up the chimney!! 

On to todays challenge, I decided to go with what seems to be your Favourite Challenge, the TicTacToe, I have to say I think that they make a great challenge as they are so versatile.  

I tried to choose one with plenty of variety for Christmas and All-Occasion cards alike, you can class Christmas as a 'Celebration' so thats the festive link, plus the Gold or Silver, then just choose 1 other like I did, I like the fact that it has 'floral' too, as that can mean anything from Poppy to Poinsettia.

I hope you enjoy this challenge and I can't wait to see your cards.

My card uses Categories:  Celebrate/Silver/Fancy Fold

I made an Easel card using the Beautiful Blizzard Die to create the main focus of the Easel Card, I die cut it in Whisper White and Coastal Cabana and then I cut the snowflakes again with white card covered with double sided adhesive, I then 'painstakingly' picked every one out, peeled off top of double sided adhesive and dipped it into Fine Glitter and then popped the white snowflakes back into the Coastal Cabana Frame, just like a Jigsaw Puzzle (although I didn't think it was fun at 11pm last night)!  I used both some silver card and some Glitter Gems to pop into the centres of the snowflakes, I die cut the 'Merry Christmas' from 'Merry Christmas' Thinlets, 3 times to create depth and dimension, the top layer was covered with double sided adhesive too, so I dipped that into the Dazzling Diamonds glitter too.

I made this card to combine two challenges, Our TicTacToe and my 'Stampin For All' Design Team Challenge, which was to make a card using only dies!  

Luckily this card fits both categories.

I will be in my craft room today as I have a lot of things to make, including a Pocker Letter for a Swap with Danielle and my Swaps for our Onstage Event. So I need to concentrate and get motivated.

Oh before I go I must tell you that I did a Tutorial for Fridays Winter Woods Scene card, so I will leave the link below for you all to go and see how I made the card.....

YouTube tutorial

Have a lovely day ladies, 

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Your Challenge cards

Good Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all well and enjoying the weekend.

I have another fantastic display of cards to inspire you all.

So lets get straight on with the show.......

Lynda

Lynda created this beautiful card for this weeks Sketch Challenge, using the gorgeous Garden Impressions papers from Stampin'Up!  The papers do most of the work, Lynda has added three pretty John Lockwood butterflies all die cut in the same papers, so that they match perfectly.  Lynda matted these beautiful papers onto soft pink glitter card and gold mirror card.

A amazing card Lynda, thank you so much for taking part.

XXX

 Karen 

Karen made two stunning cards for this weeks challenge , an incredible Christmas card, and a gorgeous 'Just to say' card, WOW, wouldn't that brighten your day.

Here is what Karen used for that lovely Christmas Card:

Here’s a cc

SW Contemporary Poinsettia EF
Britannia sentiment
JL Poinsettia stamps and dies
JL trailing ivy

Karen's second Sketch Challenge card :

Just finished this one for my team to sign for a colleague that’s just had an op So the inside says “Get Well Soon”

Cardstock = Lidl And Core-donations
Sentiments = SW and Hunkydory
Flowers = SW daisies
Foliage = SW Maidenhair fern

Thank you so much Karen for two gorgeous cards.

XXX

 Lorraine

Lorraine a gorgeous card for the Sketch Challenge, it worked for a monotone challenge that Lorraine was taking part in too,

It uses Gold Foil card and a lovely gold spotted card too, Lorraine used the Starburst punch for the sentiment with a die cut circle with the sentiment 'Enjoy the Simple things' stamped on it.  The finishing touches are 3 gold foil stars, 3 tiny foil hearts on the sentiment too.

Thank you so much for taking part Lorraine, such a lovely card.

XXX

 Michele

Michele made this fantastic Festive card using two of the amazing All Occasion Embossing Folders from Craftstash. Using those two lovely shades of card with that lovely Navy Blue border strip, the lovely die cut snowflakes are the perfect finishing touch.

Thank you Michele, I know you haven't been in the right frame of mind for crafting but you really have made a stunning card despite that, Happy De-cluttering!

XXX

 Val

Val made her card just about as soon as the challenge went up on Monday, its a fantastic Christmas card made with some lovely papers. Thats foiled sentiment is lovely, I love the font.

Val's finished her card with some delicate little die cut snowflakes.

Thank you so much Val, I hope you have a lovely holiday, don't buy too many craft goodies 😜

XXX

 Margaret

Margaret has made this absolutely stunning Birthday card for this weeks challenge.

The bottom half of this card is amazing, I love that 'Ombre' effect! 

That Majestic Owl is a Stampin'Up! stamp set called 'Still Night'. You have stamped him beautifully Margaret showing all of that amazing detail.

Thank you so much for taking part in this weeks challenge.

XXX

Thank you all so much for taking part in this weeks challenge, I really do appreciate the time and effort you put into taking part.

I will be in my craft room today, thinking of a new challenge for next week, there will also be another Challenge mid week, this one was suggested by Challenge, it's by no means compulsory but I think it will be a fun thing to take part in.  

I will announce it on Wednesday so look out for that!!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx