Tone on Tone Blues

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Did you all enjoy the 🌞 sunshine yesterday,  it was beautiful and I have to say it makes such a difference to being 'locked down', it makes it a total pleasure to be able to stay home and now you xan have some family over too.

Today's card is a similar version of yesterday's card, I used the same stamps and dies but I used Bermuda Bay and Pool Party cards and Inks. 

I arranged the flowers going down the card over the 'Fauxgrain' Ribbon strip. I decided to place the sentiment on a tag this time, I added some 'Pool Party' ribbons to the tag to embellish. So it's pretty much the same as yesterday's card but completely different too 🤣😂

I hope that you all have a lovely day today,  I wonder if it will be T shirt weather two days in a row??!!

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                              xxxxxx 

My second Challenge card

Good Morning Ladies,  

We are bathed in sunshine once again, although we shouldn't get too excited as I think the temperatures are set to drop again next week, so get out and make the most of it. 

I ordered a collection of 72 perennials at the weekend for the bargain price of £16.99, they are from Thomson & Morgan so should be good quality, if I can find the offer code again would any of you like it?  they come as plug plants. I am hoping that they will add some colour to the back garden as there are no flowering shrubs at all, apart from Lavenders that we have grown. We will have to 'spruce' up the front borders too as the village has entered the 'Best Kept Village' competition!!

Now onto today's card, this time we have shades of orange, the two colours I have used for this card are So Saffron and Crushed Curry, I used the Daisy Lane stamp set to randomly stamp the background and stamp some of the daisies that I then punched out, using two daisies for each flower, I stamped one in set in Crushed Curry too. I arranged them is a cluster of three and then punched some sprigs to add some extra foliage (as I couldn't use green for leaves). I matted and layered and the pretty card base is Phil Martins latest die collection 'Charmed Rectangles', my sentiment was also cut out with and layered onto labels cut with the same die collection. I have to say that despite being limited with colour etc I really liked how this card turned out xxx

Paul is going to be to'ing and fro'ing today as he needs to take our car to the garage as the exhaust is blowing, it sounds like we have a V8 super car engine in our old bird 😂😂. We are at that stage that she really isn't worth spending a lot of money on but we need her to keep going until we find a replacement, luckily John is a fantastic mechanic and he said yesterday that he would do his best to patch her up for now, there is nothing more valuable than a good honest mechanic.  Paul also needs to take Matt's truck for an MOT too, so he will have a busy morning, luckily its only 5 minutes up the road.

I will be in my craftroom, I'd like to get a little bit of time in the garden too as it is supposed to be nice weather today.

Sending love and hugs to all of you

Sandra                                                                                                                                                        xxxxxx

My First Tone on Tone/Shades of Blue/Greens card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well and ready for the last week of March, I can't believe its going to be the Easter Weekend in 4 days time. I am looking forward to Paul having the extended weekend off, although I have a suspicion that he may do a couple of hours on Friday,  lord only knows why because he doesn't get any extra money for working the Bank Holidays!  Like most of you we have no plans, the girls are frustrated that their work hasn't been able to open, their boss is too, he was on a local radio station talking about the huge impact missing another Easter weekend will have on the business,  he made a really good point actually, he was obviously frustrated at having to stay closed despite having acres and acres of open parkland for people to enjoy, he pointed out that they control the numbers too by limiting admissions, so people could enjoy the fresh air in a safe environment as apposed to the alternative of visiting crowded beaches,  which is exactly what happened last year, there are a couple of tourist towns nearby that ended up being so overcrowded that the police had to intervene and send people home as there were hundreds of people crowded onto old, cobbled pavements. They are beautiful places, Bourton on the Water,  Burford & Broadway, but not when the pavement comes to a stand still because someone 6ft in front has stopped to window shop! 🙄😔

Anyway do any of you usually have 'Family Traditions' over Easter weekend? 

Todays challenge card was made using another 'unused' die called 'Many Medallions' (SU), the set includes a lovely background die that would work just as well for Masculine or feminine cards as it isn't really lacy.  My card base was made using 'Bermuda Bay' card, I matted and layered using 'Coastal Cabana' card, the actual fancy background was cut out of Coastal Cabana, I also die cut a piece of Funky Foam to give me some depth, rather than cutting multiple layers in card and layering them up, it worked really well. To add some embellishment I die cut a piece of the Bermuda Bay card with my 'Fauxgrain Ribbon' die, (I am still buzzing about this die set). I popped the Ribbon across the card and added my sentiment on z die cut labe, it was stamped in Coastal Cabana ink, the sentiment was from 'Ornate Thanks' (SU) Stamp set.  The final touches were pearls added to tje background and across the ribbon strip too.

I hope you like it and it gives you a little inspiration. 

I hope you have a good day,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra                                                                                xxxxxx 

Your Challenge Cards

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

Have you all remembered to put your clocks forward, yipppeee...lighter evenings are on the way!

I hope that you are all having an enjoyable weekend, we spent most of the late morning/early afternoon shopping for Seed and potting compost a few new seed trays ready to get sowing, potting up and potting on, veg and flower plants.  I can't wait to see the garden in full bloom and hopefully an abundant supply of fresh vegetables!  

Anyway let's get on and see the gorgeous challenge cards that you all made using New craft products that you had bought and not gotten round to using...........

I never really mention the cards that I make but I have to say I love everyone of the cards that I made, I thoroughly enjoyed making them, it felt good using the things that I hadn't gotten around to opening yet! 

Brenda

Oh Brenda, your cards are just so beautiful, I love both of them, your second card is stunning, I have just bought some Sizzix dies as I saw a sneak peak of the free dies and sample cards that featured in the Die Cutting Essentials magazine and fell in love with the look. I love all of the angles and the delicate flowers.

Brenda's Description:

2 stunning cards Brenda, thank you so much for taking part in this weeks challenge XXX

Janet

Janet, like you, I cannot get enough of the stunning Stamperia papers that you share with us.  These two cards are fantastic, the Steampunk style of your first card can be tricky to incorporate into feminine cards but you have 100% made it work, your card is amazing and as always the papers have layers and layers of detail.

Your second card is a perfect man card, it's a perfect blend of vintage and travel, the contrast between the black and white background and the lovely colourful tags really works, a card perfect for any occasion.

Janet's Description:

''My first Challenge Card for this week is made using STAMPERIA papers and the theme is 'AROUND THE WORLD'.

My second card is again STAMPERIA and the theme here is 'LADY VAGABOND'. This set of papers match with 'sir Vagabond'.

Thank you so much Janet for taking part and creating two amazingly detailed challenge cards XXX

Karen

Karen just look at the three stunning cards that you have designed for this weeks challenge, they are all so different, all amazing. 

The umbrella card is so pretty, so bright and vibrant and would make anyone smile.

2nd card is brilliant by design, I really love these new letter stamps and boxes that you bought from Clarity, the sentiments just stand our so perfectly, I love your blended background and Tracey's stamp works perfectly.

3rd card, this card has everything, texture from the texture paste, beautiful blended background, those quirky flowers work perfectly with the design and the tiny bits of background stamping here and there bring the whole card together.

Karen's Description:

"1st card made using free gifts from Issue 185 of Papercraft Essentials Magazine"

"1) Shaded Lilac with Cracked Pistachio Gesso circles and rubbed along the edges Tracey Evans Fritillaria stamp and Circled numbers New item is Clarity Alphabet stamps done first and then masked off

2) is a Woodware stamp coloured with Caran D’ache pencils and Faded Jeans and Cracked Pistachio DO"

Karen thank you so much for creating 3 stunning challenge cards, some of your most outstanding work, I love them all XXX

Lilian

Lilia what a lovely scene you have created for your Challenge card for this weeks challenge, the trailing vines give real movement to the scene and work perfectly with the Fairies, I always think that your cards are like mini works of art.

Lilian's Description:

" I Used Lavinia stamps, that I hadn’t used before and oxides and my intense pencils for the colours."

Thank you so much Lilian for designing such a lovely, inspirational card for this weeks challenge XXX

Maria

Oh Maria I just love the lovely scene that you have created for your challenge card, I have these stamps but would never have put together something as amazing as this, everything is coloured so beautifully, I could really do with a paddle in that stream right now, you even remembered to pack your towel into your backpack, I know that you and Rick would like to climb those mountains but I am happy to wait for you sitting by the river, don't forget the picnic though !😂😂

Maria's Description:

"My card is made from stamps that came with Creative Stamping, think it said

Issue 183, and I followed the photo that was in the magazine as best I could."

Thank you so much Maria for inspiring me, I really want to get that stamp set out and have a play now, your card is amazing, thank you for taking part XXX

Michele

Michele hasn't quite gotten around to adding the sentiments to these stunning cards, the soft colour palette is so delicate that they would work with almost any background colour, as Michele has shown with the different combinations above. 

Michele stepped out of her comfort zone and sat and fussy-cut all of the flowers and foliage for these decoupaged designs.  They are all from an Ella's Design Download.

Thank you so much Michele, I absolutely love the pretty designs that you have created, perfect for this weeks challenge XXX

Sonia

Sonia what a perfect simple and stunning design, the amount of detail in the stamp is really highlighted by stamping it onto a subtle background, you can just see the hint of pink in the background, the rounded corners give the card a real 'designer' look too.  The sentiment sums the card up perfectly.  

Sonia's Description:

"Just a quick card from me this week.

I used my new ‘Pale Blush’ Pixie Sparkles to create the coloured background - unfortunately it doesn’t show up very well in the photo, but it’s a mix of pink and silver.

When it was dry I stamped my new Woodware ‘Butterfly’ stamp in Archival ink. I added a Tim Holtz quote and matted on black card."

Thank you so much for such a stunning card Sonia, this card is a fine example of the statement ''Less is definitely more', such an inspirational design, XXX

Sue

Firstly Sue I want to thank you for pushing yourself to take part in this weeks challenge, I know that your craft inspiration has been absent for a few weeks, I am hoping that this means that it might be coming back, hopefully in time for us to start crafting together sometime soon.  

Now I am not sure if the colours are coming across the same in the photograph but at first sight I thought that these backgrounds would be perfect colours for Christmas cards, I could just imagine a sprig of holly where you have put your little tags and maybe a Banner sentiment. 

Sue's Description:

"I sat and made some backgrounds with Brushos that I die cut with a SW striplet die, the Hi is X Cut alphabet and a random small flower from my stash. "

Thank you so much Sue I am so happy to be sharing your cards on our Challenge Gallery again XXX

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Ladies, I truly hope that you all enjoyed this challenge as much as I did, I will hold my hands up and say that " I still have things in my 'New/Unused' Basket"  is anyone else going to confess too?!!!

Thank you so very much to all of you, you have all made some stunning cards XXX

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday my lovelies,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                      xxxxxx

Mixed Up Saturday

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,  

Is it me or is it super chilly at the moment? I just couldn't get warm yesterday,  I do have some windows open a little bit for fresh air but I was positively shivering! It was  beautifully sunny most of day, we had a rainy spell in morning but only for a few minutes. 

I am looking forward to spending some time with Paul this weekend as I have barely seen him this week, we are hoping to get some time in the garden. 

Now look at this lovely magazine that Michele has reviewed for us this weej, I have ordered mine from Craftstash already 🤣😂

Michele's Magazine Review 

Hi Ladies, 

The delayed Diecutting Essentials (issue 75) finally arrived!
There’s a great set of stamps & dies as the free gift this month.

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

First feature using the free gifts.

More inspiration using the free gifts.

More card ideas including a non floral one.

Some lovely Easter card ideas.

Perfect for spring.

Don’t these look fantastic-made using inlaid Diecutting.

I’m sure some of you have Foamirin so you could try to create these beautiful cards.

I love the bright colours of the flowers but al  how much white space is on these cards.

These are made with a bonus SVG file but in an older issue this was a free Die-there’s lots of similar ones on eBay.

More ideas using a decorative die-doesn’t just have to be the original shape.

Another feature showing how to use your dies to make stencils-definitely let’s you get more from your dies.

Some inspiration for anyone that’s considering buying the latest Indigo Blu box set.

More inspiration.

Look at these fantastic Interactive shadow box cards

More ideas.

5 cards made using the same Die to create different cards. I just with they’d show the Die they’re featuring.

More inspiration.

This is what coming up in the next issue.

That’s all for this week so
Happy Crafting.

Love Michele

Thank you so much Michele.I loved those dies so much,  I ordered this magazine already! Another amazing review, the magazine is really packed with ideas and inspiration too. XXX

Craft Shopping 

My Shopping 

I simply cannot resist anything that the lovely Hayley Eaton demonstrates for Pink Frog Crafts, so these two just jumped in my basket when they were pick of the day on Hochanda a couple weeks ago, they came with 50 sheets if Super smooth card, 50 sheets of watercolour card and 20 sheets of Flower making paper, it was a great deal, I sm looking forward to playing with them.

Cheryl 

Cheryl treated herself to some new Stampin Up products, you have ordered some live things there Cheryl,  I have the multi tool thing,  its great for placing gems and Pearls.   I look forward to seeing what you create. 

Cheryl's Description:

My latest SU purchases from Sam, my across the road friend's daughter,  who does  craft classes in Watchett (summer)  at her home in Minehead during autumn/winter months ×

Thanks for sharing Cheryl xxx

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

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                        xxxxxx

Your Next Challenge

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

I can honestly say that I am grateful that it is Friday this week as I feel like I have barely seen Paul, he has had to go into work more days that not this week and with Wednesday being mostly taken up with the electrician it has felt like we were ships passing in the night!  Trouble is when he goes into work he doesn't get anywhere near as much work done as he does at home, so he gets in from a 9 hour work day, has his dinner and then does a couple of hours work to catch up.  While he is sat at his desk he says he gets inundated with people asking him to sort things out or find answers to things that they would have to deal with themselves if he wasn't there.  I think he was worried that they would question the amount of hours he was claiming for, he did point out that he was doing the work of two people on his own, I don't think that there has been a day since he started that he hasn't been rushing to meet a deadline on. 

I spent a lovely afternoon with Lucy yesterday, I needed to pick up some bits and pieces from the supermarket so she kindly offered to take me, we had a lovely browse around the homeware department, I have been trying to find King / Super king sized Flat Sheets, I think that 90% of sheets these days are those flipping fitted ones, our problem is that we have a really deep mattress and then a Memory foam topper on the top of that, so even the 'Extra Deep' fitted sheets keep pinging off and it's so frustrating. I am a bit like the 'princess & the pea', my sheets have to be wrinkle free, 🤣😂!

Your Next challenge 

For our next Challenge I asked if anyone had any suggestions on our Chat group and one idea that was suggested was making a 'Tone on Tone' card, I think this is a great idea, so thats our next Challenge.   

You can basically use any shade of any colour to create your card.  I don't mind if you use a white card base though, that makes it a little easier. You can use matching ribbons, flowers and embellishments too.

I have shared some cards that work for this challenge, they are all made made using shades of one colour. 

I hope you all enjoy the challenge, I am looking forward to creating some inspiration for all of you.  

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra 

xxxxxx

Something simple yet beautiful for Thursday

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Another week is whizzing to a close, we had lovely sunshine again yesterday but it was much cooler.

I really felt it while on my morning constitutional atound the grounds 🤣, I saw the sun so didn't put a cardy on while pegging out the first load of the day, I got it started super early before 'Mr Sparks' arrived!  Paul joined me and we were inspecting the Purple Sprouting Broccoli plants to see if any Purple Sprouts, they were there,  we removed the netting because the butterflies had disappeared over winter so we thought we were safe, but as one pest hibernates another has its Knives & Forks ready to take its turn, we aren't sure if its pigeons or crows, we have an abundance of both, I think the crows must be drawn to the farmland as you can see masses of nests in the trees around the fields.  The greedy beggars have bent our metal bird feeder, they absolutely love the fat blocks filled with berries and seeds, they have taken the metal cage that holds the fat blocks clean off the feeder on several occasions,  the all have a different method, one sits on the water dish and taps the fat block with his beak so that it swings to and fro, everytime it swings towards him he takes a bite, a bit of a long winded method but he is persistent,  others just literally hang on the little cage itself and peck ferociously at the fat block, which is how we think the square metal pole has been bent.  The highlight of the bird visitors, apart from the dear robin is a Woodpecker that sits happily pecking at the grass for ages.  

Now onto todays card, simple in design but I love how it turned out.  The thing that I am most excited about is the 'Grosgrain Ribbon strip' across the centre, its a die cut, Coolkatz crafts have designed a set of three dies called 'Purrfect Finish Fauxgrain Strips' they come in 3 widths and the dies are 12 inches long with only one cutting edge, so you can make it as long as you need, genius or what!! No more trying to find matching ribbon for your project, just use your card.  It's  a lovely deep emboss too so looks really convincing.  Here’s a closer look .....

Now onto the rest of the card, I used Very Vanilla card as it worked beautifully with the Island Indigo card and ink I used. That lovely lace background is a 'New' Stampin Up die called 'Stitched Lace' it comes as a full background and a little detailed cutting edge, great for simple cards like this one wherevthe die does all the work, I just layered it onto the Island Indigo card, then onto a Very Vanilla card base, I added some matching Pearls to the centres of the lace flowers,  then popped my 'Fauxgrain Ribbon' across and used my 'New' multi layer punch to create the label for the sentiment,  so easy having the one punch for both layers (I know I sound like Mel on Create & Craft)!! 🙄

I popped my sentiment piece on and 'Voila', a simple but effective card, super quick and simple.

 Which was all I was up to making after 3 hours of the smoke alarms peeping everytime he tripped the electric on and off, I lost count after 26, he went and tested every light switch, it just went on and on, for some reason it really triggered my anxiety having him in the house that long. It was mostly ok but he has to come back and test every single electric socket in the house as he thinks there us a loose connection somewhere!! I can't even think about that now to be honest.  

I hope that you all have an enjoyable Thursday, 

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxxx