Thursday 31 December 2020

Sonia's stunning Christmas card

 



Good Morning Ladies,

How can it be New Year's Eve already?! It barely seems a couple of days since Christmas Eve, does it? 
What are you all up to this evening?  We are now in Tier 4, (not that it makes a difference to us or our plans). As a family we are all in Tier 4 so we are all in the same boat, I think that we are going to have our Family Quiz over Zoom tonight so that will be fun.  To be honest we have never really made a big thing of New Year. We generally have a take-away, more for the girls than anything else, none of us really drink, in fact our Lucy doesn't drink at all, Sophie barely drinks but has really enjoyed making Cocktails and 'Mock' tails (none alcoholic cocktails) with the Cocktail 🍹 shaker we got her as a stocking filler!  
New Year's Day will be a quiet day for us too,  I think it's going to be a quiet day for most people, the girls usually work on New Year's Day so it will be nice to have them home, our other tradition is to start a Jigsaw Puzzle.  So it sounds boring but will be perfect for us.  

Today's card is the gorgeous Christmas card that I received from Our Sonia, it's a lovely clean and simple design, I have got that Spellbinders Border die, I love it and I love the way that you have used it on this card, the Sue Wilson Poinsettia die cut really makes the design,  your card is the perfect example of a flat card that's perfect for posting yet still looks stunning.  I love the little verse too. The soft shade of blue just makes the card, it works beautifully. 
Thank you so much for such a gorgeous card Sonia, I know that you were super busy working on the run up to Christmas so getting cards made for everyone was a huge achievement. XXX

Ladies I am changing the 'Your Next Challenge' announcement to Saturday, I'm not sure whether to do that permanently or just for this next week, so watch this space for that.  

I hope that you all enjoy your New Year's Eve however you spend it my lovelies,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Wednesday 30 December 2020

A beautiful 50th Birthday card by Pat

 




Good Morning Ladies, 

We actually had a few flakes of snow yesterday afternoon,  it didn't stick and was followed by drizzle so, sadly, not a hint of white round here, Matt was having a fantastic covering of snow during the afternoon,  the flakes of snow were enormous,  I'm not sure that it stayed there either.  It's  flippin freezing here though!

Yesterday saw another record breaking day as far as Covid cases go, its horrifying, over 90,000 in just two days!! It is literally getting too much of a worry to leave the house, it doesn't seem to be frightening to everyone else though, the roads are as busy as ever and the supermarket car parks were full!!  I think the best thing to do is to stay home and stay safe.

Today's card is gorgeous,  it's another of Pat's Groovi designs, this one is extra special as it was  Karen's 50th Birthday card, it is a lovely design Pat, I love the heart, that fancy cut out piece gives the card a real trendy twist. 
I bet Karen loved her card Pat, thanks so much for sharing it with us XXX 

I hope that you all stay warm, dry and safe, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxx 

Tuesday 29 December 2020

Karen's quick & simple Man card

 



Good Morning Ladies.

I think today is Tuesday, I will be honest and say that I had to check before I made that statement!  Christmas Day always feels like a Sunday to me!

Lovely to hear from you Cheryl, we have the Ninja Foodi and like you have used it loads, it roasts a whole 5llb chicken in about half hour, you pressure cook it and then use the 'Aircrisp' lid to give a lovely roasted finish.  We bought one for Matt for Christmas, he has limited work top space so having a machine that can Slowcook, pressure cook, grill, saute. roast and bake is perfect, he has used it a couple of times and loves it. We do have the big one though.  The promise of a new craft room is so exciting Cheryl, having something purpose built would be amazing! 

How's the jigsaw puzzle coming along Lilian ?  Ours is one of the 'Wasjig' puzzles, you don't actually get a picture of the puzzle on the box, you have to imagine what the people on the box are looking 'at'.  They are great fun and always a great quality puzzle.  What kind do you have Lilian?

Today's card is on of Our Karen's designs, she was asked at the last minute to make a Birthday card, I have to say that this card in no way looks like a 'last  minute' card!  I love the design and the style of that topper.

Karen's Description:

I made this super quick card for a friend’s birthday (I was asked at very short notice and can’t craft at night) The topper is from a 6x6 pad - I think The Works I trimmed it slightly and edged it with a Sharpie pen and Walnut Stain DO I shaded the edges of the card blank with Hickory Smoke DO I cut the Sue W sentiment in both black and a piece of card coloured with Hickory Smoke DO


Thanks so much for sharing your amazing 'Man card' with us, the sentiment really stands out with the drop shadow behind it. XXX

I hope that you all have a 'Terrific Tuesday',


Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx


PS:  Do you all want a challenge setting for this Friday?  I don't mind either way! x







Monday 28 December 2020

Michele's amazing Get Well soon Card

 


Good Monday Morning Ladies,

I hope that this Monday morning finds you well, am I the only one that keeps losing track of what day of the week it is?  I have to keep physically working it out.

I think that it will be easier as things return to 'normal' routines, although we aren't sure yet what 'normal' will be. None of my girls will be working for the foreseeable future, frustratingly Lucy had just been offered a full time, permanent position at the Wildlife park. Becca wasn't so worried as they were planning on closing the pubs in January anyway for refurbishment, January being a quiet month anyway.  Paul isn't sure what's going to happen as his work is in Tier 4 and we are in 3, so it would be better for him to work from home, not that I am complaining.

We didn't need to leave the house after all, Lucy's coffee machine 'issue' was just 'user error'! Thankfully. only to be expected, I thought it had given up with over use!  I was so relieved that we didn't have to go into town, apart from the fact that nowhere had another in stock.  

Today's card is Michele's most recent make, she made this amazing Get Well card for her friend Andreene. I love the colour you have used and the all of those elements make the card a little bit light hearted. I really love the font of the 'Get Well' you have used Michele.

This is the die set that Michele used to create this card, it is one of those sets that you over look until you see a card made with them.
Thanks so much for sharing your lovely card with all of us.

Special hugs going out to Brenda, Margaret and Lynda,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Sunday 27 December 2020

A gorgeous Christmas card

 


Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

I have to admit it feels really strange not sharing all of your Challenge cards on a Sunday.  

I thought I would spend the next few days sharing some of your Christmas cards,  the all deserve a day of their own on the blog.  Also if any of you any of your recent makes that you'd like to share just send me a photo and brief description.  

Today's card is Lilian's gorgeous Christmas card, it really catches the light and I love the combination of dies that you have used.  Thank you so much my lovely XXX 

We had a lovely relaxing Boxing day, we will have to break our tradition of not leaving the house to return Lucy's new Coffee Maker, one day in and its stopped working, much to Lucy's disappointment,  she was thoroughly enjoying honing her 'Barista' skills. So frustrating,  it had a 10amp fuse too, so no other appliance had a fuse that we could try to see if it was fuse that was an issue,  hopefully we will get either a fuse or the machine replaced. 

The flood waters continue to rise,  we are the right side of the Thames luckily, some of the areas nearby are really suffering though, flooding is bad enough but to get flooded this time of year and have the added worry of Covid on top must be terrifying,  our thoughts and prayers go out to anyone in that situation x

I hope that you all stay warm and dry and have a relaxing Sunday,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Saturday 26 December 2020

Happy Boxing Day

 



Good Boxing Day Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you all had the best Christmas 🎄 day possible, ours was unusually quiet and that includes Christmas Dinner, it seemed strange but we were in touch with Matt and Becca all day, Becca and Adam were exhausted after cooking for and entertaining 30+ guests for Christmas Dinner, she had a real sense of pride too, I think she totally enjoyed every minute. 

Today is a real relaxed day for us, under our new Tier, we have nobody coming and the girls aren't going to work either.  (For the foreseeable future, who knows how long this thing will last) 

Ooh Santa bought me a standard Ottlite lamp with magnifier, so thats me sorted. 

I hope that you all have a relaxing day, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra 

xxxxxxx

Friday 25 December 2020

Wishing You all a Very Happy Christmas

 

Good Christmas Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well on this very special day, it is going to be a strange one for all of us that is a certainty, I am sorry for those of you that are spending it alone for the first time in years.  I hope that you all get to catch up with your families over Zoon or Skype or Facetime, the wonders of technology, I heard Matt telling the girls how he was organising our family call and games night and I have to say that he could have been speaking dutch for all I knew!  I am hoping the girls can 'hook us up'!!

It's on days like these that I get to thinking how much you all mean to me, you are 100% my family, not blood related but in every other possible way you are family,  I know that I can turn to any of you for support.  This year has been one of the hardest years of my life and I seriously mean it when I say that I could not have gotten through those tough months without all of you, I think that blogging has helped me to keep going when I felt like just giving up, there are so many days when I just didn't feel up to writing a post but as the saying goes 'A problem shared is a problem halved' I have found this to be very true.  Our Messenger Group is the best thing we ever decided to start, it doesn't matter what time of day I go in there there is always someone to chat to, I have chatted with Maria in the small hours and Lilian and I had a great conversation at around 5am one morning, neither one of us had slept!

So that just leaves me to thanking you all, for supporting me throughout this horrendous year.  I wish all of you a Very Merry Christmas, fingers crossed and Vaccine permitting next years will be an even better one to look forward to together, 

I hope that you all have a the best possible day,

Love and huge hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Thursday 24 December 2020

Karen's Amazing Cards

 





Karen's Video 


Good Morning Ladies, 

Happy Christmas Eve Ladies, are you all organised?? Paul and wrapped until midnight last night, we have most of it done thankfully!  The long wrapping session was much more enjoyable by watching Calendar Girls, I love that film, such a feel good film to watch too. 

Today's cards are absolutely AMAZING!!! Karen used a die designed Karen Burniston called 'Photo Collage Pop-up '  
Your layout and design for both of these incredible Memory evoking cards is pure brilliance, the colours and papers make them fun for the boys to look at too.
Thank you so much, I feel so honoured that you allowed me to share your designs Karen 💖 XXX

Ladies make sure you watch the little video clip to see the full effect of the Pop-Up ! 

Now I know that things are far from ideal, Oxfordshire has been added to the Tier 4 list now too, we are going to Tier 3, I don't think the Tiers make any difference,  we are all going to be 'lockdown'  after Christmas, hopefully we can get ahead of this awful virus. 
I hope that you all have the best Christmas day possible, fingers crossed for good internet service on Christmas day, as most of us will be using it to see our families.  I will be thinking of you all my Dear Sweet Friends ♥ 

Sending Love and huge, heartwarming hugs to all of you,

Sandra 
xxxxxx

Wednesday 23 December 2020

Michele's latest commissioned Card

 



Good Morning Ladies, 

Are you all feeling 'Festive' ?!!  

We managed to get all of our shopping finished yesterday, all food shopping done too, which was a huge relief, I tried for weeks to get a Delivery 🚚 slot or even Click & Collect but it was impossible it must be booked up for months, I am just so conscious every time we go out, the numbers in Swindon and our whole area are soaring at the moment, the Cotswolds have gone up to 2 1/2 times the cases in 7 days. but there were still people out in Supermarkets today that weren't wearing masks, I so wish the stores could refuse them entry.

Do any of you start your Christmas food preparation on Christmas eve?  we have always cooked our Turkey and Ham joint on Christmas Eve, last year we decided to cook the Turkey on Christmas day, which turned out to be a nightmare as the large turkey seemed to overwhelm the Aga Oven and it took a lot longer to cook than it should. So dinner was delayed about an hour and a half, not that anyone cared on the day.  This year we have only bought a Turkey crown, the girls and I only eat the breast meat anyway, Matt and Paul usually have a leg but Matt isn't coming and there won't be nearly as many to eat the leftovers either!  I am hoping that it isn't dry.  I made the Jamie Oliver 'Get ahead Gravy' last year and it was absolutely incredible, you could have eaten it as a soup, it was super simple too, just roasted off some Chicken wings, smoked bacon, carrots, onion, celery, thyme, bay leaves and roast it in oven for around 45 mins to an hour, you add water and season and smoosh everything through a sieve, you are left with the most delicious gravy starter, once you have roasted your turkey you add the gravy base to the roasting juices in the tin and combine for the most delicious gravy.  I remember having it poured over mashed potatoes on the day after boxing day last year with cold turkey! it was so good.   Are some of you cooking Christmas dinner for the 1st time in a while? Do you all have any 'family tradition' accompaniments?? 

Today's card is one of Michele's last 'Commissioned' cards, Michele's good friend said that she needed a birthday card for her great niece-she’s going to be 6. The details I was given = likes pink, sparkly, dresses & unicorns.  That's a heck of a brief!! But I have to say that you 100% got the card spot on!

Michele used some 'Whizz Kids' toppers that she won in a competition years ago, which shows that hoarding does have it uses!😉 I am amazed that you remembered you had them and I am in awe that you knew exactly where they would be!!  

Michele you created a gorgeous card that fits the bill perfectly. I bet Emily absolutely loved it, thank you so much for sharing it with is XXX


Wrapping is on the agenda today, while the girls are at work, otherwise it will be a couple of late nights.

I hope that you all have a good day,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx






Tuesday 22 December 2020

Another of Pat's stunning Groovi Christmas cards

 


Good Morning Ladies,

I wish the rain would ease a little, it makes shopping such a nightmare, my wheelchair is still really muddy from going to the farm on Sunday.  

As most of you probably remember we usually go to Mum's the weekend before Christmas, we had a yearly tradition taking Mum to Carols on the Quay in Rowhedge, the had a Brass band and choir and all of our family would make the effort to come as it meant so much to mum, you could see her beam with pride as her whole family stood around her all singing along to the carols.  I felt really sad that we weren't going to be doing it this year, we then discovered that the local church and villagers had organised a Crib Service and Carol Concert in one of the Barns on the Farm, there were Goats, sheep, Chickens and even a huge Bull, everything was strictly socially distanced of course, they had even managed to get a Piano into the barn, the children all performed their roles well and the Choir led the whole village in a lovely selection of Christmas carols, I had a lump in my throat and had to fight the tears back but it was so lovely and I just imagined Mum looking down and smiling.  I was thankful that they didn't sing 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing as that was her favourite and always had us in fits of laughter when in came to the 'Glor-or-or-ria' part, as the Men tried to reach those high notes!  I felt 'Christmassy' for the first time this year I think.

Today's card is another of Our Pat's Stunning Groovi Christmas cards, it has been designed using three different plates, one for that beautiful ribbon border, the adorable Robin is on another plate and those lovely tags are another plate, I am not sure if this is one of Pat's Workshop projects, the amount of work that Pat has put into this card is incredible, from the embossing to the colouring and then the Picot Cutting, giving all that lacy detail.  Another absolute work of art Pat, thank you so much for sharing your Groovi projects with us, they are so inspiring XXX

Paul is working from home for the rest of this week which pleases me greatly, the less time the family spends out of the house the better right now, the cases are rising steeply in our area once again.  Mind you like a lot of places the Cotswolds are having even more strain put on them as people decided to leave their tier for homes and head for the holiday properties that are in tier 2, I'm sure some of you are seeing the same thing, lets hope that they aren't all bringing the new strain of the virus with them!.  It makes me even more cross that so many of you are making huge sacrifices to keep yourselves and others safe.  Rant over, Soap Box returned to the cupboard.!!!

I hope that you all manage to have a decent day under the circumstances,

Love and hugs winging their way to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Monday 21 December 2020

Wedding Card & Box

 






Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

I am to sorry to hear that some of you are now in Tier 4 and not able to go ahead with your Christmas plans, as awful as it is  I know it is the safest option for all of us. Hopefully some of you may he able to connect via Zoom or Facetime,  we have organised two Family Quiz sessions, one put together by Matt  and the other by Sophie and Lucy, we usually spend Christmas Day evening and Boxing day playing family games so hopefully these will fill that gap.

Today's card is the 'Last Minute' Wedding card that I made for Becca, who's friend had a reorganised Wedding on Friday, sadly Becca was unable to attend as it ended up being the Bride, Groom and their parents.  
The groom is a farmer and their wedding Invitation featured 'His & Hers' Wellington Boots so that is the theme I chose for their card,  luckily Amazon had the Sizzix Rain Boot die set on Prime so I was able to get that delivered on Thursday,  it didn't arrive until early evening so I certainly put in a late shift that night, I got up early and finished the box on Friday Morning, I think a box makes it more of a gift.   I also think that the card could be popped into a box frame and kept as a keepsake of the day.
Fingers crossed they liked it. 

I hope that you all have the best possible day,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra 
xxxxxxx

Sunday 20 December 2020

Your Challenge Cards

 





Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

I was sorry to see that some of you have had the hopes of a Christmas with family taken away yesterday,  it's so worrying to see that this hideous virus is developing new 'variants' that seem to be spreading even faster than the original virus strain.  Its frightening to see the figures rising so quickly.  I sat thinking yesterday how awful it would have been trying to communicate with Mum over Christmas,  her not being able to hear over the phone and being alone on Christmas day, so although I miss her desperately,  i take comfort knowing she is with my Dad and her family, having the best Christmas in years! 
Thank heavens for technology,  I hope that some of you can connect with your families by zoom or facetime as you will be having your first Christmas without your family, sending an extra ❤ hug to all of you.  

Now I am excited to share some amazing Bit Box cards with all if you...


Michele 


Oh Michele the papers that you have used are gorgeous, I love them both , you have created two stunning designs.

Michele's Description:

''Two challenge cards. The background card is what I used from my “bits box” and some patterned card I wanted to use. All I’ve done now is create more “bits” though!!" 

Thanks so much, never mind you will be making even more now you have more 'Bits' X❤X

Karen 






Karen has made 3 incredible Christmas cards from her 'Bit Box'

Karen's Description:

Card 1 :  

"Here’s another cc using bits
I had a piece of splattered blue card and cut the stag and sentiment from bits of white card"

Cards 2 & 3 :

"Here’s a couple of cards using bits
The pattern paper was left over
I tore a scrap of white card in half to create the snow which I have glittered 
The stag cut from bits of white card and the bark is a piece of corrugated paper that I gesso’d using a brayer"

Thanks so much Karen, I love the effect of snow on your first card and those corrugated trees are just genius, thank you so much for inspiring us  X❤X

Brenda 


Brenda I really love your Challenge card, that candle die is so lovely, it looks amazing in red. Such an amazing Christmas card 

Brenda's Description:

"I think this candle cut out has been in my pit box for at least two years so it lasts it has its day! Sorry can’t remember the company who made it."

Thank you so much Brenda for a lovely Challenge card X❤X

Maria 





Wow Maria,  you really have made the most of the 'Bit Box ' Challenge, you have created 3 amazing Challenge cards,  each one completely different to the next.  Your first card is just amazing, so bright & vibrant and would really brighten someone's day.  I love the geometric design of your second card too, again the colours you have used are bright and cheerful.   Your third card is beautiful, every part of your card is beautiful,  I love those papers. 😍

Maria's Description:

Cards 1 & 2  '' Had enough making x-mas cards now so found bits of papers in sunnier colours. One is with diamond shaped die cuts and the second one

,Hello, Being sent separate as the file to big  Hahaha
is made with swirly circle die . Both from China. Hope you like them.

My 3rd cc, I used some x-mas papers in my bit box to cut into 
strips and stick sideways onto card with some cone decoration 
and greeting plus some beads ? forgot what they are called. :/


Maria I love all three of your amazing challenge cards, 3 gorgeous designs, thanks so much for taking part X❤X

Lilian 











Oh Lilian,  I just love 😍 everything about your Challenge card, are those flowers from your new Poppy dies? They are beautiful so much detail down to the detailed centres, that colour is gorgeous too.  

Thank you so much for taking part in this weeks Challenge X❤X

Janet 


Janet's card  is a fantastic Masculine card, I love the vintage/ steampunk style of your card.

Janet's Description:

"I used a scrap piece of a small Christmas Gift Bag for the backing paper - you can see the cut out for the bottom of the bag - V shapes. I then found the small picture of the Owl for the top corner and to finish off the figure of the man.
All are LABLANCHE. The figure of the man was from the VINTAGE set."

A lovely "Bit Box " challenge card thank you so much Janet  X ❤ X 


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


Ladies,  what can I say?, thank you so very much for taking part in my challenges throughout 2020, there have been some tricky challenges along the way and you have conquered them all!! 

I look forward to challenging you a lot more in 2021

I hope you can enjoy the rest of the weekend, 

Love and extra hugs,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx 

Saturday 19 December 2020

Mixed Up Saturday featuring Michele's Magazine Review

 


Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

I hope the weather is being kind to you all this weekend,  we have had a very wild couple of days, the wind has been blowing a gale! Rain too, the Thames is flowing freely through the fields, it must be so disheartening for the farmer.  The tree is up at last, I was going to say that I am probably the last one but I know Sue has been known to leave it later than us!!



Maria



Maria has finished her Calendar and just look how beautiful these floral images are (including the one that opened the blog today). 

Maria's Description:

First up today, I have finished the Calendar. Flowers from a book
(don't know the name) but pretty and it also have a bit of decoupage 
on so had to keep the other months in a separate place.The other 2
photos showing the months from left to right , January - June and
July - December .

Thanks so much for inspiring us with your beautiful Calendar Maria XXX 

Janet


Janet has shared her beautiful handmade Christmas Gift Envelope with us, what a beautiful way to gift wrap a voucher or cash for someone for Christmas,  a lot of Children these days ask for a voucher or money towards something bigger.  I am not a fan of giving money,  but we do do it for Paul's Nieces and Nephew as we have no idea what to get them and when we asked the answer is generally money.  We had bought those All4one vouchers from post office but this year with so many companies closing down,  its too risky.  

Janet's Description:

The first picture is of MONEY WALLETS for this year. The dies are TONIC which were released two years ago and the card used is also their Mirror Card/White Glitter Card.

Thanks so much for sharing Janet, I might look out for that die. XXX 



Michele's Magazine Review 

Hi Ladies 

Diecutting Essentials has a really pretty die this month as the free gift.







Here’s some ideas of what’s inside the magazine .


Here’s the first of a few features using the free gift. This just shows you how versatile this die is.






Non card ideas using the free gift.




More inspiration & ideas.







An article from Christina Griffiths who designed the free gift.





Another idea.


I was featured again! My Clean + Simple cards.



Lovely inked shaker cards here-definitely different from Christmas colours.



Die cutting off the edge-this technique will make your card stand out.



Floating panel cards-these look stunning.



How amazing is this? Hard to believe it’s made from card!



Sneak peek at what’s on offer next month.



That’s all for this week so
Happy Crafting.

Love Michele


Thanks so much Michele for another amazing magazine review,  so many features that draw my eye in the edition, I might just have to buy buy one!  Enjoy  couple of weekends off now my lovely XXX


Have a lovely weekend my lovelies, 


Love and hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxxx





Friday 18 December 2020

Some Bit Box Cards

 




Good Friday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well, can you all relax this weekend or do you have last minute Christmas shopping to do?  We unfortunately do have last minute shopping to do as 2 of our Children have no idea what they would like for Christmas!  
We had a busy day yesterday, Paul managed to get the Outside lights up, so the house looks festive from the outside at least, not so much on the inside though, yes you guessed it, still no tree up!  The die didn't arrive until after 5pm and Paul and I needed to go to the supermarket,  we also had the Chimney Sweep, I don't know why I worried about mess, the hearth was cleaner when he finished than it was when he started. Such a lovely man, I was desperate to shake his hand but I was too cautious of the Covid thing and I didn't want to make him look awkward, I was hoping for a bit of extra luck!

Today I have to confess that it feels so strange not posting a Challenge for next week, you all deserve a break, I know that most of you will be busy next week too, we will be back with Challenges for the 
5th Anniversary of the Weekly Blog Challenge, how incredible is that, I am thinking of using the same Sketch as we used on that very first Challenge.

I have shared two cards today that would be perfect for using up those odd bits of card in your Bit Box(es) in my case. 
The first card I used up lots of little bits of paper to create the flowers and foliage that make up the wreath.  
The second card I took pieces of card from last years Christmas card leftovers, I cut them all to the same width and created the Herringbone pattern.

Well I best go and finish the Wedding card that is needed for later today,

Love and hugs to all of you

Sandra
xxxxxx

Thursday 17 December 2020

An 80th Birthday Card

 



Good Morning Ladies,

Did you all get through the strong winds and rain unscathed?  We have a messy garden from twigs etc and the river had broken it's banks once again.  One of the worst issues is the water that lays on the roads, it covers the huge pot holes which is really dangerous, luckily the girls have memorised most of the ones around here.

Today's card is Paul's Dad's 80th Birthday card, I have been trying to decide on a theme or idea for a couple of weeks now but it was getting a little bit to near the date, so after a lot of deliberating I ordered a big bag of 'Scrabble' style tiles from Amazon and I sat and had a play with them yesterday, I decided on the layout of the tiles but had a large space that looked to bare to leave, so I had a quick look at some photos and picked one of him with his Parachute Regiment Beret on as this is a really important part of his life and he is quite rightly very proud of his Service.  So I thought a photo that symbolises that in some way was very apt!  I chose the card colour to represent there parachute regiment too.  I hope he likes it.  I was wondering about adding a happy birthday somewhere but thought it would look to cluttered so the greeting is on the inside, it reads

Happy 80th Birthday Dad,

Don't Panic 80 is only 13 in Scrabble

We hope you have a Great Birthday.

Today I am waiting for a die to arrive so that I can make a Wedding card for Becca's friend who is getting married tomorrow, she had no idea of what colour or style to go for so I asked her to show me the invitation. The wedding is a last minute reorganised wedding as their original date was cancelled in first lock down, the girl is 9 months pregnant but wants to be married before the baby arrives.  The wedding invitation features his and her wellies with flowers coming out of them, so I ordered a Pair of Wellies die by Sizzix, fingers crossed that amazon delivers.

I hope that you all have a good day, are any of you going to be crafting?

Sending love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxxx