A Thrinchie to start the week!

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

As I am writing this we about 40 minutes from our hotel in folkestone,  we are trying a new hotel tonight,  as the last two years at the Premiere Inn have been a complete waste of money as the rooms are so hot, the heat wafts in your face as you open the room door,  both last year and the year before people were sleeping on picnic benches in the onsite pubs garden!! It's over £100 a night too, fingers crossed this one will be different.  

Today I  am sharing a Thrinchie I made last week, now I had to improvise as I didn’t have the mask for the wider tree, so I stamped the tree stamp onto masking paper and used a knife to cut the tree out, leaving the square around it to mask off the rest of the thrinchie.  Ooh but first I stamped the bubble stencil onto the thrinchie,  added white embossing powder and heat set.  Then I put the tree stencils over the area and pounced 3 colours of Dina Wakely paints through the mask, keeping the paint light so it doesn't leak under edge of mask. I had the skinny tree stencil/mask so I positioned so it looked like the skinny tree was behind the bigger one.  Once paint was almost dry I went over the embossed areas with damp kitchen paper to remove paint from the embossed areas.  I stamped some tree twigs at the top of the card and stamped the cat.  I grounded the cat with shading and added some white splatters.

I will update you as our journey continues,   the cooler weather was very welcome yesterday!

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

Love & hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

Our Crafts this week

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

I will be glad to get on the road, i keep thinking of things that i think we'll need.  We take are own plates and cutlery, as the ones there never look clean enough.  We have melamine plates that look like china.  It makes it easier when we leave too as we don't need to clean all of their stuff.  Ooh we take our own frying pan too!  

Anyway lets look at your TicTacToe cards this week...

Karen

Karen's Description:

Card:  Here’s a challenge card

Stencil Flowers Color Cube

Number 220

Used Spun Sugar DO for the Light Pink

Worn Lipstick DO for Salmon Pink

Victorian Velvet DI for Burgandy

Loved how the colour turned when I heat embossed the sentiment So I tried layering the stencils again - big mistake The powder glossed in places but went dimply in others

Card 2:  

Did a blue/purple one as I enjoyed doing the pink version

So Tumbled Glass Shaded Lilac and Villainous Potion DO I matted it on a piece of card inked with Villainous Potion and sentiment inked in Villainous Potion

Stencil-Flowers-CAS this time 🤣

I really love this stencil Karen, it doesn't seem to matter what colour way you use, it just works, Its definitely on my wishlist! 

Thank you so much for taking part in this challenge XXX 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi, here is my card for this week, late again I’m afraid.

Paper from the indigo blue magazine, 

Flower dies from Stamperia 

Embossing folder from Amazon not sure of the name.

I used flowers/clean and simple/ card.

Beautiful card Lilian it looks clean and fresh , love the flowers too!  The colours are lovely.  

As always thank you so much for supporting the challenge XXX 

Maria

Maria's Description:

 I started the card by cutting out the flower from Altenew and coloured it in with TH oxide inks. The frame in green and the sentence is from Temu. Stamping/ Flower/ CAS . 

Such a pretty card Maria, the flower & leaves are beautiful 😍.  I really love that lacy frame die you have used, it reminds of the original Sue Wilson dies.  

Thank you so much for taking part ans supporting the challenge XXX 

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I hope that you all have a cooler and more bearable day,

Love and hugs to all of you  

Sandra xxx 

Sophie's Fathers Day Card

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

Well its go go go in our house today,  although if it's the same heat as yesterday it will be go go slow!! I had to shower twice yesterday as I felt gross,  I think its partly menopause I think because even my arms were sweating, so gross!!   Paul will get the car mostly packed today, so we don't have as much to do tomorrow. 

Today I as sharing the card that Sophie created for Paul for Father's Day, I absolutely love this one,  mind you that smile will always melt my heart ❤️  Dad absolutely loved his card Soph, you are amazingly talented XXX

I hope that you all manage to stay cool today, 

Love and hugs,

Sandra xxx 

Another Emboss Resist card

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,  

This week has absolutely flown by, I feel like I have achieved nothing.  It's just been too hot to rush around.  

Paul has been working all hours to get caught up before we go away but other people's hold ups mean that he has to take a laptop with him(with special security clearance), he will have to do about 2 maybe 3 days work while we are away,  what frustrates me is that he hasn't had one day off since Christmas!!  He is doing the work of atleast 2 people!  

Today's card is a DL size card with three emboss resist panels.  I used stamps from a magazine that I will share with you tomorrow.   The colours used are Uncharted Mariner,  Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry & Spiced Marmalade oxides. 

I hope you all manage a good night sleep in this hear, 

Love & Hugs

Sandra xxx

My first card from IndigoBlu magazine

 

Good Morning ladies,

Did you all enjoy the sunshine yesterday,  I didn't venture outside until watering the plants in the evening,  It was just too hot to be outside, thank goodness for fans.

Today's card is the first card that I have made from the IndigoBlu magazine that I shared with you last Saturday.  This card was classed as a Masculine card, 

So categories:  stamping/flowers/Masculine card

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra xxx

Clean & Simple leaves

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,

Welcome to Blog Post 4,001, can you believe we are at over 4 000 blog posts!!!! Thank you ladies so much xxx

I hope that you managed to enjoy the sun yesterday,  Lucy and I did some last minute shopping and the heat was ridiculous!  We were glad to get home and cool off  

Today's card I made using an old piece of background that I made using Spray Mica stain, so it has a lovely gold shimmer.  

Trying to capture shimmer is a task in itself!! 

I used Tim Holtz Artsy Leaves dies, to cut the background and then matt gold for the stems/stalks and sentiment. 

I embossed the background to give a linen like texture to add some interest.  Then mounted onto a cream card base. 

Clean & Simple / Masculine/ Card

I hope that you all have a lovely,  sunny day, 

Love & hugs,

Sandra xxx 

Clean & Simple card

 

Good Morning ladies,

It was a beautiful day here yesterday,  in fact I needed the fan on me all day to stay comfortable.  I was intent on making as many cards as possible, so that I have enough to cover while we are away.       We didn't get back until after 1am Sunday night/Monday Morning,  we had to drop the car off to be serviced on the way home, the girls were there to bring us home.  So we are all feeling a bit tired today.   It was worth it though,  spending quality time with Matt & Alex, the show was amazing too, apart from his hilarious songs Tim Minchin is an incredible pianist. 

Today's card is my latest TicTacToe card, I used categories:  Stamping/ Stencil/ Clean & Simple

I started by using a stencil and Bermuda Bay ink, I blended into the centre with Misty Moonlight ink.  Then I stamped the main image using Night Of Navy ink.  I set that to dry and stamped the sentiment onto the same card as the background, I die cut it and added foam tape and added to the card,  I used three gems to finish the card. 

I hope that you all have a good,

Sandra xxx 

A throwback Fathers Day card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

We had a very late night last night, hence the throwback card,  we went to Cardiff yesterday with Matt & Alex to see Tim Minchin as a treat for Matt's birthday and Paul's fathers day, we had a lovely lunch out, I tried a dessert that I'd hadn't heard of before, it was called Chelsea Tart, I guess it was like a Gypsy tart.  

It is like a baked Caramel custard, it was divine,  I enjoyed every bit of it.  I might have a go at making one.  

The card I am sharing today is a Fathers Day card from 2020, here is the description....

To make the card I used a piece of cheap copy paper and cut an aperture through which I stamped the sea, I then die cut some tiny clouds and put some low tack tape on them and arranged them above the sea, I used the same 'Broken China ' Distress ink to blend across the clouds to create the sky.
I removed the scrap paper and stamped the birds in Black ink. I die cut the Beach chair in wood effect paper and added a touch of shading, I placed that in front of the 'Seascape' and added the 'Happy Father's Day  sentiment next to it.
To finish the card I added a mat of similar colour blue card and then adhered to a card base.

The laugh is I sat and made 5 cards on Saturday,  but hadn't photographed them. 

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

Love & hugs to all,

Sandra xxx

Let's look at your TicTacToe Projects

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

We had a mixed day weather wise, Paul was trying to get the car washed and cleaned out, he ended up stopping and starting for most of the afternoon,  he did get it finished in the end.  

We have a full on day today, Matt loves Tim Minchin, he's a comedian,  mostly known for his hilarious songs, he wrote Matilda the show too,  anyway he is touring at the minute and I knew Matt really wanted to go,  so I got tickets for tonight,  he bought our Tickets, so it's Paul's Fathers Day treat,  we are leaving this morning so that we get a couple of hours in Cardiff before the show.  

Let's see what you have been creating.....

Lilian

Lilian's Description:

Here is my card for this week.

So I used : stamping : colour cube : card.

The stamp is from indigo blue  and coloured with my inktense pencils. 

Oh Lilian I love your card, the colours you have used are spot on and those lovely greens work so well with gorgeous Mulberry shade. IndigoBlu stamps have so much detail, you don't need to add anything else. 

Thank you so much for inspiring us with your beautiful card.  I hope you really enjoy the weekend with your daughter XXX 

Karen

Karen created this paper in serif and used 

It to create the leaves 

Karen's Description:

Card 1:

At last! I think it can also be used for this week’s challenge 

Masculine - Color cube - card

So cut strips of card using the CMYK numbers to create the colours in Serif SW sentiment in white and shadowed with black

Card 2:

Another one for the challenge Is this OK? 

Stamping - Trees(leaves) - Color cube(same number as previous challenge 

It’s my go to Autumn card but used Aall & Create stamps and dies Plus heat embossed Phill Martin sentiment in Walnut Stain DO

I can understand why you wanted to perfect the first card before you wanted to share it, you have cracked it though, its perfect!  The colour match is spot on!  

The leaves on the second card look so incredibly realistic,  again the colour match is incredible, the card is amazing,  I love that embossing folder 😍

Thank you so much two incredible TicTacToe cards my lovely XXX 

Maria

Maria's Description:

I used the colours Grey, strong Pink and Honey / Orange to colour in the Hearts and the Sentiment. The background is a weaving Embossing folder .  

I'll let you decide to use it Sunday or leave for when you are away. 

Maria I love your card, it fits a few categories so please don't worry about that. I am more grateful than you will ever know that you made time to make a card for the challenge,  always remember that ❤️

Back to your card,  that embossing is incredible,  so deep and crisp,  this card would be perfect for my Becca,  all the lovely bright colours and patterns.  I love that you have matched the colours from the patterns in your sentiment too.  

Thank you so much for creating a card for the challenge my lovely friend XXX 

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

I hope that you all have a great Sunday, 

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Happy Saturday, IndigoBlu Mag Review

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

Maria sent me the great little quote above, I couldn't wait to share it with you,  I think that we all wish we had a craft room that cleaned itself!! 😀 

Lilian inspired me to get the latest IndigoBlu magazine, so I thought I'd do a review and share it with you .....

IndigoBlu 

Mixed Media Special 

Issue 9

There are so really lovely free gifts with this Issue of IndigoBlu magazine,  the stamps are so lovely,  there are both background and focul point stamps,  some that would look great on an inky background too. Some good journal stamps to finish your projects with too.

The other free gifts are a great 'Script ' stencil and some lovely dies that work brilliantly with the stamps. 

Last but not least there are some free papers, actually inside the magazine rather than having to download them.  

The papers are all lovely designs,  good quality papers too that you can ink and stamp on, my only criticism would be that the patterns are too big to be used on cards.  I will give it a go though! 

Lets look at the projects .......

Marie Jones has shared loads of ideas for using that great Script stencil, whether using a tiny little hint of stencilling or ink it in a bold colour and have it as the main element of your project.  

The project in the centre has a step by step guide to making that card, Marie has used 'slap it on' medium through the stencil which when dry will create a resist that you can ink over. You then stamp and fussy cut the Dragonflies to use as the main focus of the card. 

A bit late for Father's Day but we need Make cards all year round, Sarah has designed some lovely cards that would actually work for anyone using the magazine freebies.  

Glynis has gone for the 'Clean & Simple' theme for her feature, they aren't necessarily really clean, more simple ideas I think,  I really like them, I will definitely be creating some of these for the Blig while I'm away.  

Jane shares here step by step guide to creating this fun circular card. A really fun design that makes a change to a rectangular or square cards  

Karen Waterworth has created a Masterclass taling you through all the steps to create these lovely Mixed Media projects, I will definitely be having a go!  You wouldn't even consider the last card as 'Mixed Media ' as its such a simple design.  

I think Mixed Media sounds daunting but its literally using (in the case of the last card) patterned paper, a die cut, some ink and a stamped sentiment. 

Vanessa Hodgson has tried to get as much use out of the dies as possible,  she has designed some fantastic cards, something for everyone, for most occasions.  The last card has a step by step showing you how to 'stencil a die cut' 

Look at these incredible Mixed Media projects, all featuring IndigoBlu's 'Signature style elements ' 

These brilliant,  bright and cheerful looking designs are all 'quick' cards,  I can guarantee you will bw seeing some of these featuring on the blog in the coming weeks.  

Lastly I am sharing this lovely Sunflower card made using the magazine free stamps.  So bright and beautiful.  

There is so much more in the magazine,  my fingers were aching so I have left some to surprise you if you decide to buy the magazine.  

With so many ideas featured I think its well worth the £14.99 

Something adorable to finish with today....

Maria has shared her gorgeous Crystal Art with us, it features ths most adorable Huskie puppies,  it must have been so lovely to watch these little cuties come to life as you added the crystals Maria. 

Your sister will absolutely adore it my lovely! 

Thank you so much for sharing it with us, 

I hope that you all have a great day, 

Love & hugs to all of you,  

Sandra xxx