Happy New Years Eve

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

It's the very last day of 2024, it has been quite a year!!  

What are your Highlights of 2024 ???

Ours have been.....

March :  

Becca & Adam 

💍 Got Engaged 💍 

May :  

My Sister Emily & Mat

❤️ Got Married ❤️ 

We spent a lovely weekend celebrating their  Special day, the highlight for me was having my whole family together ❤️ 

❤️ My favourite photo of the year ❤️

September:  

Sophie & Lewis 

 💍 Got Engaged 💍 

So as you can see it's been quite the year for us !! 

We have Becca & Adam's wedding to look forward to this year, which with all of the organising, outfit searching etc is going to fly by.  

I hope that you all have a lovely New Year's Eve,  we are simply celebrating at home with the girls.

Love and hugs to all of you & thank you for spending it with me.

Sandra xxx ❤️ xxx

My first card using New Switch

 

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

Atleast I think its Monday as Paul was up at 6am,  other than that I wouldn't have a clue what day of the week it was!  Thankfully he is working from home today, I am planning on playing with my new Switch machine, seeing how to set the sandwiches for cutting/ Embossing,  I did use it yesterday for the die above, it took two passes to cut but on reading the manual I see it says you need a Chrome Precision plate for thin dies!  Of course its not included, it cost £30 + on some sites, I ordered it from Craftelier for £16.99, so I ordered it from there, plus a few more bits to make postage worthwile.  😜🤣😂

Today's card is a super simple card using an old tissue paper background that I had in my bitbox.

I adhered it to a black card base and then die cut the Tim Holtz Meadow die and adhered it to the background,  I then stamped a sentiment!!  Super quick and easy!  

I hope that you all have a great start to the week,  

Love & hugs,

Sandra xxx 

A beautiful card from Lilian

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

Not our usual Sunday post but we are on a break from Challenges, however I couldn't gate keep this gorgeous card from our Lilian. 

We ventured into Witney yesterday afternoon for Milk & Bread, it was so busy,  just like Christmas Eve,  I guess people are stocking up for New Year's Eve/ Day.   We don't really 'celebrate ' New Year' to be honest,  we will have a take away on New Years Eve,  we'll stay up (if we can) to see the New Year in but that's as exciting as it gets ! I am doing Roast Lamb on New Year's day,  it's just the 4 of us though,  Becca has been working non stop through the Holidays and both her and Adam are on the verge of total exhaustion,  they are hosting a huge party at Bull on New Years Eve and are fully booked on New Years day,  so I think they will only be going one place after they finish work. ..to bed  !!!  I spent those few hours with her yesterday and her phone didn't stop!!  They both need a break.  I will happily plate them up a roast lamb dinner though.  Matt and Alex are coming for a couple hours on New Years Eve, but both working New Years day, Soph is working too but will be home at 4pm. 

Lilian's card was stamped with Christmas Rose Script,  I love these 'floral Script ' collection of Stamps by Elusive Images,  they would make great Journal pages. 

Lilian has used her Metallic Paints to colour the pretty Christmas Roses,  the original photo isnt true to colour though so here's another that Lilian sent

Thank you so much Lilian for sharing your beautiful card with us XXX 

I am off for a cuppa and a Quality Street,  although I am really disappointed with the chocolates in the Quality St tin this year, they have left out some favourites and put more orange /strawberry creams in! 😔  I did see on TV that you can go into John Lewis and putchase the Quality Street Tin and then go over to a Pick & Mix and fill the tin with your favorite chocolates from their collection,  what a brilliant idea,  mine would be full of Toffee finger, toffee penny, coconut eclair, purple one & fudge,   Paul ends up eating all the ones that the rest of us don't like 🤣😂 Oh, he does get to choose his favourites too !  

I hope that you all have a great Sunday,

Love & hugs to all,

Sandra xxx

Our Last Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all ok after the hectic days of the festivities,  to be honest when everyone has gone home and back to work it can leave you feeling a little blue.  We get so excited looking forward to these events and they are over in a flash.   I just want you all to know that I am always at the other side of a message or call. 😘

Please look at the little quiz above and let me know your score below,  you get 1 point for every one of the things on the list that you have never done!!! 

My Score:  0  🤣😂🤣😂

I wasn't sure what to do for today's post,  I finally got see Becca, she came over for the afternoon which was lovely,  we watched Gavin and Stacey again (as Becca didn't see it on Christmas day) so I ended up in tears at the end of that (not as bad as when I watched it on Christmas day), then Beaches was on, another incredibly indulgent films, that focus on the true power of real heartfelt Friendship, so that was me bawling my eyes out again!!!  I just put it down to my Hormones but I'm the same any kind of soppy film is on.  

Consequently I haven't gotten round to unboxing my Switch machine yet.  

Do any of you have any new Crafts or Craft Techniques that they'd like to try in 2025,  something you have wanted to try for years but not gotten around to starting?  

I would actually like to start and complete a Journal,  like a junk journal or something,  I have been "going to" start one for the past five + years!!  So 2025 will be the year. 

I may make the feature of our Saturday Blog as we really don't have that many 'mixed Crafts' anymore.

I would LOVE to hear from you with anything you'd like to see in the new year. 

I hope that you all have a good weekend,  

Lots of love and hugs to you all,

Sandra xxx ❣️

Sue's Christmas card

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

How is it even Friday,?   Having Christmas day on a Wednesday has thrown the week out for sure. 

Today I an sharing the lovely card that Our Sue made for me.  We both bought the John Lockwood Pinecone and Branch die at a craft show,  I didn't get around to using mine, Sue has made a couple of cards with hers.  I love the combination of Cream & Gold, it's a classic combination that just works.  

Thank you so much Sue for a lovely Christmas card XXX 

I loved hearing about your Christmas day Ladies,  its sounds like you all had a lovely day.  We haven't started our Christmas Puzzle yet, we usually start in on the 27th and hope to finish by New Years Day,  we have two Wasjig Puzzles this year,  one called 'High Tide'  which is a very crowded beach, the other is called 'the Final Hurdle'  it looks like its based on the London Marathon, wish us luck. 

Sending love and hugs your way, 

Sandra xxx 

Happy Boxing Day

 

Happy Boxing Day Ladies,

I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas day, did Santa bring you all something nice?  

We had a lovely day,  just the 4 of us,  Becca was still midway through Christmas Lunch Service and had been there for breakfast too, she phoned and said that she wasn't going to be finished much before 5pm and was too exhausted to be sociable.  Bless her, I hope her and Adam got a bit of time to relax. 

I hope that you all have a lovely relaxed day today, we certainly will be,  the girls are at work for a few hours and we plan to do nothing!  

Although I am itching to play with my gift from Santa...... 

It's the Tim Holtz Sizzix Switch, I couldn't believe it, what a lovely surprise!  I don't usually get Craft stuff for Christmas so it was such a shock.  

I hope that you all have a lovely Boxing Day,

Love & Hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx

Happy Christmas Lovely Friends

 

Happy Christmas My Lovelies,  

I hope that you are all relaxed and are enjoying today with your loved ones. 

I hope Santa bought you all a little treat xx

You are all the most amazing family and I love you all dearly. 

My love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra ❤️ 

Happy Christmas Eve / Julafton

 

Happy Christmas Eve to all of you, 

God Julafton Maria, 

I hope that you l find time to relax a little today, we are pretty much done, what we don't have no we can do without.  We will not be going anywhere for a good few days.  The girls are back in work on Boxing day,  they have split shift so only have to do half the day.  Matt is working Christmas day, as are Becca & Adam.  Paul is off until the 30th. 🎉🎉

We will spend today preparing for tomorrow then going for a walk in Bourton and having Fish and chips.  

Are you all waiting on  family arriving or travelling to family? 

Maria are you preparing the Jansson's & herring?   We love pickled Herrings in our house.  I hope that you and Rick have a lovely day 😘

Whatever you are all doing I hope that you have an amazing Christmas Eve. 

Love & hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx 

Lilian's Beautiful Christmas card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

Wheeew, what a weekend!!!  I love having our family around us,  seeing how proud Paul is talking about Matt and the girls really warms my heart, they all came to spend a few hours with Grandma and then Paul's brother came, we haven't seen Darren for over a year so it was lovely to catch up.  However after they all left at 7pm I was ready to collapse!  I retreated to my bed for an hour just so I didn't have to make conversation as I was too tired🤣😂.

This morning we are setting off early to get the last of the food shopping and last minute gifts, then home to do wrapping!  What do you all have planned for today? 

Today I am sharing the stunning card that I received from Our Lilian,  the background is so beautiful....

I have tried to capture the shimmer that Lilian has added to the snowflakes and stars, it captures the light and looks so pretty  the added trees stamped along the bottom work so well,  it looks like a winter wonderland. Thank you so much Lilian for such a lovely card XXX 

I hope that you all have a lovely Monday, 

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Your Christmas Cards

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all enjoying a lovely relaxed Sunday Morning,  we will be having a slow start to the day after 7 1/2 hours in the car yesterday!  We had a lovely meal out overlooking Brixham Harbour, then went back to Paul's Mum's for a cup of tea before leaving to drive back, we set off at 9.45am and got back home at 10pm, the traffic was ridiculous in the morning,  I think the world and his wife & kids were heading down to the West Country for Christmas as the M5 was nose to tail, especially around Cribbs Causeway (Bristol), they must have been stopping there for last minute shopping as it's  a huge retail park. 

Matt and Becca are both coming over today to see Grandma, which will be lovely. 

Let's have a look at your cards.....

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi, here is my card for this week,

Old poinsettia stamp, it’s called Poinsettia script, from elusive images 2006.

I found two stamped with black and embossed in clear, which I don’t use now, prefer a lighter, decoupaged the top layer. Sprayed with shimmer spray, which doesn’t show in the picture.

Hope alls well with you and yours.

Absolutely gorgeous Christmas card Lilian, you can just see the shimmer on that centre petal, I love the modern script behind the traditional poinsettia,  beautifully coloured as always. 

Thank you so much a supporting the challenge all year my lovely XXX 

Karen 

Karen made this beautiful card for her Aunt's Birthday,  using Serif to create that beautiful background and sentiment. 

Karen thank you so very much for supporting the blog & challenges this year, I really do appreciate it XXX 

Maria

Maria's Description: 

I had these cutouts of happy birthday in my box forever and thought it's time to use them and this is what I made. A AL card with the words being heat embossed and then stuck onto a cream-coloured glitter card.

The second one is a stamp with a couple of mice who are getting ready for Christmas. I first used my watercolour pencils but didn't quite like it so coloured over with the spectrum pens. Gold glitter card and a stamped fence background.  

Two lovely Bitbox cards Maria,  lovely modern feel for the first card, perfect for men too.   Your Christmas card is just so adorable, I love their Christmas tree 🎄. 

Thank you so much my lovely for 2 lovely cards and for supporting the blog all year, I am so grateful XXX

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I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday , 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Another lovely Christmas card

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

We are walking in a 'Wet & Wild Wonderland' this Christmas,  it was awful when we popped into Witney yesterday afternoon,  the wind seemed to drive that rain straight through you.  We just popped in to get a couple more gifts and some Salmon for dinner on Sunday evening,  we aren't sure if Paul's brother is joining us for dinner, we have bought extra salmon just in case he does. 

We have an early start today as we are leaving early for Brixham, picking Paul's Mum, going out for lunch and then bring her back to ours for the night and if weather permits we will have a wander around Bourton or Burford maybe, then home for lunch and a lazy afternoon,  then wait for Darren, have dinner and see our guests off and get some wrapping done.  

I hope you have a less hectic weekend,  Lilian you will need to get your feet up and rest before your next lot of family arrives,  as I have got older I find hosting exhausting,  I think it’s because you are constantly wanting them to be comfortable,  it always feels like the kettle is never off!! 

Today's card is the card that Sonia sent me for Christmas,  I have that embossing folder and never thought of using it for Christmas but it definitely works.  Love the bauble stamp with sentiment and that darling little poinsettia to finish off.                       Such a lovely card Sonia, thank you so much XXX 

I hope that you all have a great Saturday, 

Love & Hugs to all,

Sandra xxx 

A beautiful Christmas card from Maria

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

How are you all ?  Have you all finished your Christmas shopping??  I got a lot more done yesterday,  thankfully.  We just have got a few little bits to get and food shopping of course.

We have another really busy weekend,  we are driving down to Brixham to collect Paul's Mum and bring her back here to stay overnight then Paul's brother will pick her up on Sunday evening and take up to Birmingham for 2 weeks,  she is spending Christmas at Paul's sisters,  it will be nice to spend some quality time with her, we are hoping to go for a walk around Bourton on Water if weather is good. 

Today I am sharing the beautiful Christmas card I received from Maria, It's so sparkly, I love the stencilled snowflake background and that gorgeous sheer ribbon, all finished off with sparkly die cut bell and stars 😍. 

Thank you so much my lovely for a beautiful Christmas card. XXX 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Bit Box Silhouette card

 Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are being battered by the awful wind and rain, once again!!   The poor people that live the other side of Bourton on the Water (about 3 miles from us) are still trapped in their houses by the 30 + huge fir trees that fell a couple of weeks ago, they must be si frustrated, especially this time of year, they don't have phone or Internet services either due to the cables being down.  They must panic every time the wind picks up!  

You will have to zoom in to see the devastation,  the trees are having to be sawn up one by one which is why its taking so long.  

The girls and I popped into Witney for one last Brunch together before Christmas,  it was really busy but really lovely to spend that quality time together.  

Today I used one of the inky backgrounds that I made a month or so ago,  I will share a photo of it below

Its hard to capture the sparkle (its the light bits)

I used Forest Moss & Bundled Sage Distress Sprays and Pumice Stone & Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide Sprays and a few spritzes of water to create the background. 

I used my Inkylicious Ornate Deer/Stag (that I had never used 🙄!  To stamp the stag , I was thankful that I used my stamp tool as the background was Watercolour paper that was really textured,  so I needed to restamp several times,  also, because I used Oxide sprays the ink seemed to be absorbed by the oxide and wouldn't stay a deep dark black, do as I stamped the stag one last time I quickly added clear embossing powder and heat set, this made the black a lot more intense and gave a lovely shine too.  I did the same with the sentiment,  and finished the card with some tiny sparkles on the baubles.  

I hope that you all have as good a day as possible,

Love & hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx 

Bit Box Christmas Tags

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

Happy 'Hump Day' I feel that this week is going wsy too fast and I still have so much to do,  I was home alone yesterday so I got a good bit of shopping done,  thank heavens for the internet,  I was thinking about shopping yesterday and wondered about who did our Christmas shopping as children, I can honestly say that I never saw my Mum going shopping,  not once,  so my Dad must have done it all,  I used to go food shopping with my Dad on a Friday evening,  I have no idea why Mum never used to go, in her later years, after Dad died she started to really enjoy walking round the shops in town.  Funny the things that come into your mind when you are on your own. 

I created a Christmas tag for today's post, using these two pieces of Ink Spritzed background to create the tag. 

I used Embossing paste through a stencil that I added Gold Embossing powder to, after allowing it to dry I heat set the powder and used a die to cut into a tag,  to embellish the tag I used my Tim Holtz  die to cut the Poinsettia and Holly leaves out of the two pieces of spritzed card.  I used gold shimmer card for the top layer of the die cut.  I arranged the die cuts onto the tag and added the sentiment and some ribbon to finish.  

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

2 Card-I O Wreath cards (throwback)

 

Good Morning Ladies,

Paul and I had a lovely day out yesterday,  we went first to Burford Garden centre to look for gift ideas, Paul's eye's almost popped out of his head at some of their prices,  I mean they are ridiculous!   We left there and drove through Burford that looks so pretty with the Christmas lights on. We made our way to the Fosseway garden centre which is a favourite of the Girls & I,  we got a couple of gifts there,  plus the clothe area had a sale and I managed to get a new top and we got some proper beef dripping from the amazing 'proper' butcher that is based in the food area.  You can tell that he's a proper butcher from the cuts that he sells,  he has things like Ox Cheek and Oxtail,  he prepares just about anything for you too, he even has the Crown Lamb Roast... 

I haven't seen these for years, it has an apricot & pork sausage meat stuffing.  Everything looked so fresh and well prepared, at first glance you would think its expensive compared to Supermarket but you are paying for a skill aren't you.  A different kind of craft in a way.

Matt still doesn't know what he wants for Christmas,  he was showing me something on Sunday, a battery power bank for when they use their caravan without electric hook up,  but then he scrolled down the price....£700,  the shock on his face was comical  🤣😂, I said well, I can contribute towards it but you may need a 'whip round' for the rest. !🤣😂  He said oh no don't worry.  So I'm waiting for another idea.  I have a couple bits for Becca,  we picked up a load of bulbs yesterday so that I can create her a couple of planters for Spring.  Something they can both enjoy too. Do any of you find Christmas shopping mentally draining??

After our lovely shopping day I didn't get to sit and finish a card for today so I am sharing a couple of Wreath style card that featured on the blog on this date in 2022.  

I actually totally forgot that I had these stamps 🙄,  which makes me think I need to store all of my stamps and dies in an area together,  I currently have all of my Cardio stamps in a box together, I think I need to take all the Christmas stamps out and have all brands Christmas in one place.  Is that what you all do?  

I hope that you all have a lovely day, 

Love & hugs,

Sandra xxx 

Bit Box Christmas card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you all had a lovely weekend,  we have a bonus day off together today, which I think Paul will be glad of as he was up before 7am yesterday making sure the freezer was defrosted (as you can incur an extra charge if it isn't defrosted) luckily he had all sorted early as they rang at 8am and arrived 15 mins later.  It was a little chaotic getting it in, they had to take the back door off,  I am so glad that I stayed upstairs out of the chaos.  It looks very nice though and its very quiet!  

Here are some photos of my bit box,  well....... a fraction of the collection of bit boxes if I'm being honest!!  I picked the out the more interesting bits to photograph. 

I used a piece of the red and green Alcohol ink background with gold glitter accents.  I used my Tim Holtz Festive Overlay sentiment stamp for the sentiment and finished the snowflake with a red gem. 

I am looking forward to seeing what you create with your Bit Box contents.  

Have a great week,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra xxx

Your last Christmas Challenge cards

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

Goodness me yesterday just flew by, I can't even begin to explain how exhausted I was by the of the day, they all left at about 9pm, I just needed my bed straight after.  But it was worth every ache and pain,  hearing the laughter and buzz of constant chatting just fills my Mummy heart with joy 😊 

Let's have a look at your makes this week...

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

This is my card for this week, I used an old embossing folder, die cut snow flakes out of silver card, and used the remainder as a stencil.

Lilian I love the effect you got with the partial embossing,  and the stencilling,  your colour choice is lovely too.  

Thank you so much for sharing your card XXX

Karen's Description:

Well I’ve turned one of the foiled ScanNCut sentiments into a card Matted on to silver Mirri and a Spellbinder snowflake

You have really inspired me to want get the S & C out and have a play.  I absolutely love how those foiled sentiments turned out,  such a perfect clean & simple card. 

Thank you so much for sharing your card XXX

Maria 

Maria has shared three amazing Christmas cards,  all completely different,  all beautiful and glittery and sure to bring a smile to their recipient.  Those mittens with the snowflakes on, so cute 😍 

Thank you so much my lovely for sharing your cards XXX 

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I hope you all have a lovely Sunday,   we are having Fridge Freezer delivered between 7am and 12pm😯

Love & hugs to all of you,  

Sandra xxx