Snippet 97

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Quite a pleasant day here yesterday since that the wind has calmed down,  lovely and sunny at least.  Not that I ventured outside,  I spent the afternoon at my craft desk, watching some of Tim Holtz live from Saturday launching 3 new 'Texture Fades' (Embossing folder), I don't necessarily watch them with intention to buy (although I did purchase a few from the Christmas Idea-ology one the week before) 🤣.  I enjoy watching them for the inspiration and techniques,  Tim showed how to colour the embossed pieces with a variety of different products,  I didn't get to the end as its 2hrs 40 minutes long!  I have been trying to watch since Saturday, I had intended to create a journal page while having Tim in the background but that didn't happen.  I find him very inspiring,  you can watch some people and it doesn't make you want to get your stuff out and create,  Vicky Papaicannou is another incredibly inspiring creator, using things that have never really interested me up until now. 

  Who do you all enjoy watching??? 

Today I am sharing my version of Snippet 97, it is paired with Snippet 98, that I shared on Friday,   the background on this Snippet is created by scoring the card at 1/2 inch intervals,  really burnishing those creases so that the ink hits them as you drag the ink pad down it lightly.  The bird and flower are coloured through stencils using Oxide inks,  I created a copy paper stencil of the bird tracing around the bird stencil and cutting the inner part of the bird out, so the copy paper covers the whole background, allowing me to be able to stamp inside the bird without getting any overstamping on the background.  I used fern stamp and small poppy stamps, colouring the poppies after.  

I outlined the poppies with white posca pen to make them stand out, I added dots around the fern stamps to add interest. A little shading with a dark pencil makes the poppies 'pop' a little more. 

I really enjoyed creating this pair of Snippets, Tracey’s videos are on YouTube if you fancy having a go.  

I hope that you all have an enjoyable day, 

Love and hugs to all of you 

Sandra xxx 

Our Next Challenge & Sonia's Amazing Autumn card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you all had a lovely weekend,  ours was very relaxed, the weather prevented anything getting done in the garden, we did get a couple of little jobs done but Paul was hoping to trim the fir tree hedge in the back garden,  but I said NO to ladders in high winds with an electric hedge trimmer,  he emptied the tomato and Cucumber plants out of the greenhouse to make room for the garden pots that have Fuschia,  Dahlia, Geraniums etc in, I may have some of the pretty Geraniums in the conservatory so that I can continue enjoying them for a few more weeks.  

Today I am sharing Sonia's Autumn Challenge card, I fully intended on adding it to yesterday's post but I must have fallen asleep and totally forgot,  the good thing about that is that I get to post it today, all on it's own! 😁

Sonia's Description:

I die cut a Sue Wilson die in Kraft card. The under panel was cut using double sided adhesive sheet, I then added gilding flakes. The sentiment is from LOTV.

Oh Sonia that Gilding flake background is gorgeous,  I love the colours within the gold too, combined with the Kraft card leafy die cut it gives the perfect Autumn card.  That sentiment is so delicate and goes perfectly with the Kraft card, what colour ink did you use? 

Thank you so much for supporting the challenge my lovely XXX 

Our Next Challenge 

I couldn't decided on one category for our next Challenge so I decided to do a TicTacToe Challenge, I have added the categories that were suggested and added a few to give lots of choice.  So you should be able to do more Autumn projects or Christmas,  I have tried to think of something for everyone,  so you could create a card for most occasions without a problem.  

I hope there is something on there that you enjoy   

I look forward to seeing what you create ❣️

Just as an example Sonia's card would have worked perfectly with this TicTacToe,  using categories:

Autumn/Die cut/ Sparkle & Shine  or Trees/ leaves 

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

Love & hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx

Let's look at our Autumn projects

 

Good  Sunday Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you all stayed safe in the high winds,  we were well and truly battered but luckily only had minor damage,  which Paul went out and rectified,  it was more frustrating than anything listening to it howling through the windows all night,  it also sounded like it was slamming into the windows when it was gusting!   The girls went into work but not every thing was open, someone didn't put their handbrake on when they left their car and two Keepers had to jump in and physically stop their car as the wind was that strong it was blowing it along into the path of vehicles!  Hopefully it calms down quickly. 

We had a lovely chill out day as the weather put pay to any outdoor activities,  I reorganised some of my craft stash (again) but it gives me pleasure so definitely not a chore!  

I hope that you all had a good day, now lets look at what Autumn loveliness Lilian Karen & Maria have made  ....

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

 Here is an old card that works for the challenge.

Lavinia stencil, stamping up leaves, sorry not sure of the colours used  

Lilian thank you so much for going to the trouble of searching through and finding a piece thats perfect for our Autumnal challenge.  I love the colours you used and your lovely blending  XXX 

Karen

Karen's Description:

Here’s an autumn card I used JL Gerbera/daisies to crate sunflowers..?

And used this as inspiration.......

I have to say that I love your version!  Your colours are perfect for the season!  

Thank you so much for an amazing Autumnal card XXX

Maria

Maria'a Description:

Hi Sandra.

I was playing around yesterday with some leaves I picked up outside and gave some colour in autumn colours. I now wished I hadn't put the little ones on but thought they were flying in the air which clearly didn't work 🤭. Couldn't find any different words either so left it blank as it went in the bin! 

You are way too harsh on yourself,   I totally see your vision of the leaves swirling around in the air,  you won't have experienced it in Italy but we have had that 'leave swirling' weather here this week!  Your blended background is amazing,  just look at the amazing texture in that leaf, your colouring has highlighted it perfectly. 

I can't believe you binned it,  here's a hint...if you aren't sure about a project like this pop it in a journal, that way you can look back on it,  make a note of the colours and techniques you have used, so even if you wouldn't send it to anyone you can keep it as a reference!  

Thank you for creating a piece for the challenge while rushing to get ready to leave for Italy XXX

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I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday,  

Love & hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx 

Mixed Up Saturday...

 

❣️🎂🥂 🥳 Happy Birthday Lilian 🥳🍨🍾❣️

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,  

Please join me in wishing our Dear Lilian the Very happiest of Birthdays,  I hope that you have a lovely weekend celebrating with your family ❤️

I am going to create a TicTacToe for our next Challenge, I would love for each of you a choose a category for the TicTacToe,  it can be an item or a Technique.  You can either pop it in our chat group or put it down below.  I will put the TicTacToe together for Monday. 

I would like to share a few photos of the last of the summer flowers,  I can see everything starting to die back now which is a bit sad but it's a necessary process, plus we have Spring to look forward to.

Isn't nature wonderful!!  That Fuschia has burst into life this past 10 days, with those beautiful little 'ballerina skirts'  

So much lovely colour when you go out of our front door or out the back onto deck.  We will hopefully get our bulbs in pots this weekend. 

I hope that you all have a good weekend,  stay safe in this dreadful weather,

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

My version of Snippet 98

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

I would like to thank you for the lovely comments on yesterday's journal page, I really am enjoying creating them, I have really been feeling the benefit of losing myself in colouring or creating these journal pages, which has been great this week where I have been on my own a fair bit,  I have also been struggling with a uti, so distraction has been a great way of stopping my mind from focusing on what me bladder is doing. 

Sorry to hear that the weather has turned rough for you ladies is lovely Wales, I hope that you both have a very safe journey home 😘

Today I am sharing my version of Snippet 98, I saw Tracey Evans share this one on Facebook yesterday,  I loved it as soon as I saw it, so although it was 4.15pm, I usually finish off anything I'm working on when Paul finishes at around 5pm.  I wanted to sit and finish this, in fact it didn't really take that long,  as these are just 'Snippets' of art that might just give your mojo a boost when you are struggling.  

I started by dragging Vintage Photo Oxide ink pad down the 6 x 4 inch piece of card, I then took Tracey’s Pumpkin stamp from a 'Myriad of Designs' and added Ground Espresso,  Gathered Twigs & Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink, I started with the darkest ink and added the other two after, I stamped one pumpkin,  masked it and then stamped a second.  I lined the bird mask up over the pumpkins and added the same three colours as I used on the Pumpkins.  I took the floral stamp added Twisted Citron & Rustic Wilderness oxide ink and stamped two behind the bird.  I added a little bit of Text stamping here and there, a sentiment at the bottom and finished with a few splatters of white.  I layered the piece onto a black mat and popped it in my journal.  

I am hoping to do number 97 today!   I hope that whatever you do you have a good day, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Autumn Acorn journal page

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you are all having a good week,  the weather has been pleasant so far this week, I believe that we have a storm on its way,  I think both Gina & Sonia will be home before it arrives, which is a relief.  We have our tumble dryer installed and ready to go so we aren't totally dependant in the weather, we only use it for finishing off towels,  bedding and underwear mist of the time, you can really feel the difference!  

I had a late start yesterday,  I haven't been sleeping as I have a Uti (again) I had some antibiotics so started them Sunday but the frequent visits are back, I have been awake past 4am for atleast 3 days this week,  yesterday Paul bought me a cup of tea at about 7.15am, which I drank and took my meds,  I must have fallen back asleep as next thing I knew it was around 10am!  I had a shower and could have easily crawled back into bed but I didn't,  I had a late breakfast and sat at my desk, I have been creating little journal pages and I am absolutely loving it,  following tutorials,  searching through old stash to find bits to use instead of buying new things.  I honestly didn't think that using paper collections was my thing but I am really loving it. 

Today I am sharing a Tracey Evans Journal page, I really enjoyed the colouring etc on this one, colouring the acorns and adding light and shade etc,  the colour was hard to photograph but you can get the idea.  

I hope that you all have a lovely day, 

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

A different Autumnal journal page

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,  

Welcome October, your colours rival Spring for beauty added bonuses are warm cosy nights and snuggling under the duvet rather than sweating with a fan blasting! 

Maria your very early start will be worth it when you arrive in Italy, Rome & Sorrento are so beautiful.  You both deserve the break, so try and forget all of your worries for a few days.  Remember to take lots of photos XXX

Today I am sharing a VERY different kind of journal page for me,  I think this tiny owl is so adorable, he looks so warm and cosy in his little basket.  I followed a Vicky Papaicannou tutorial and loved every minute of it. 

To create the background...

I covered the background with brown/orange paint and allowed it to dry, I then added some vaseline in a few spots and covered the whole piece with a 'chalk' or 'off white ' acrylic paint, after allowing it to dry, (i did start to heat dry it) as I dried it the cracks started to appear, it's funny how these simple things excite you! 😁  After it was dry I wiped over a dryish baby wipe and the paint that was over th vaseline just lifted!  

You can add as much or as little as you please. 

I added texture paste through a stencil to finish the background part.  

The die cuts are all from the Stamperia 'The Owls House' collection, so adorable 😍 

I hope that you all have a great Wednesday,

Love and hugs to all

Sandra xxx 

Autumn journal page

 Good Morning Ladies,

I had a lovely crafty day yesterday, I managed to finish a couple of journal pages, then had a go at something new, I bought some Stamperia paper pads and die cuts, inspired by Vicky Papaicannou on Instagram, I love watching her videos,  so I bought a couple of paper pads that she uses and sat and played for a couple of hours.  

We also had a new Tumble Dryer delivered,  AO.com are amazing,  great price, great service and super easy delivery,  we decided to go with a 'Heat Pump Dryer,  you don't need to have the hose out of the window,  the water collects in a tank that is in same place as the Drawer that you put conditioner etc in on your washing machine, so its really accessible and easy to empty.  The lint collector has to levels of filtration, so it literally can't get into the inner body of the drier,  the best feature for Paul was that it is A rated, so uses minimal electricity, it fitted in perfectly beside the washing machine, which we were relieved at as both of us forgot to measure.  Do any of you have a Heat Pump Tumble Dryer?  Until we started looking last week I thought it was 'vented' (with pipe out window) or 'Condenser' with water tank . 

Brenda your Daughter's holiday sounds incredible,  I can't wait to hear more about it.  I imagine she will struggle for a few months,  her job was very stressful at times, so I think it will take time for her brain to switch off xxx

Today I am sharing a journal page (or could be a card) that I made following a Tracey Evans tutorial,  I used her stamp mask to ink around,  creating the frame,  then masked around the outside of the postage stamp frame and stamped the Pumpkins, I coloured them using Prismacolor pencils, I actually really enjoyed the colouring , I usually get bored of repeating layer after layer but I put some music on and relaxed into it!  

They aren't perfect but I was quite happy with my three pencil blend.  On previous over the years I just pressed down too hard so the pencil wouldn't blend properly.  On the last Pumpkin journal page I did, I felt too overwhelmed about colouring 3 Pumpkins,  so I used Distress inks and Distress watercolour pencils.  These ones definitely look more realistic!

To finish the piece I added some Ivy to the top of the card, added some words oh and a Chicken, some shading and some splatters.  

I hope that you all have a great day,  

Love & Big squidgy hugs, 

Sandra xxx 

2nd Autumnal Thrinchie

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,  

Welcome to the start of a new week, let's hope it's a good one xx

We got some garden jobs done yesterday,  we got to harvest some vegetables too, Tenderstem Broccoli,  sweetcorn, potatoes, tomatoes, last of the rhubarb too.  We have grown sweet potatoes this year too, I am so excited to see if they were successful.  The beans came out yesterday to make room for Spring Cabbage plants.  It was beautiful outside, warm sunshine,  not the rain that we were forecast. 

Today I am sharing Thrinchie 52, the partner to the one I shared Friday, very simple design for these ones, Vintage Photo, walnut Stain & Antique Linen Oxide inks are all added to the stamp, spritzed with water then stamped.  The tree was coloured the same way, I added the crow in black ink. 

I hope that you all have an amazing week, 

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Lets look at our makes this week .

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you all had a good Saturday,  Paul was busy in the garden giving the lawns the last cut of the year.  I did a few chores, sorting laundry in the morning, then I spent a good 2 1/2 hours removing the acrylic nails I had for Becca's wedding,  what a blooming nightmare,  I really don't think it's worth the trouble,  I love how they look though, they nake your hands look so much nicer,   I may look into BIAB, as it's so much better for your nails,  however I will have to find a mobile nail technician,  that way I can get proper nail care, the salon that we went to is a super busy Chinese business, you can just walk in (no appointment necessary,  although you can be waiting a couple of hours to start), you can ask for whatever you like, they smile and nod but do what 'they' want.  Becca always has Biab but they gave her acrylics this time,  even when they do Biab they use an electric 'dremel (drill) to file your nails down,  they even used that to trim my & Soph's cuticles!!!  I did eventually get them off, my nails now feel like paper!  It's a horrible feeling,   luckily I have a nail repair & strengthening varnish!   The one thing that made it more bearable was that I was watching Tim Holtz Live,  showcasing the Christmas Idea-ology release,  WOW,  the inspiration was amazing,  as was my wishlist 🤣😂

Let's look at your makes....

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi, here is my card for this week’s challenge. It’s from several cards I saw on Pinterest.

I used oxide ink for the background and black permanent ink for the stamping.

Such a perfect Autumn scene Lilian,  I absolutely love your composition,  the background inking is amazing too! 

Thank you so much for a lovely Autumnal scene XXX 

Karen

Karen's Description:

Card 1:  

Did this one the other day 

Baking paper technique background using Forest Moss and Frayed Burlap 

Aall&Create #557 (stamp press and sticky mat really helped)

Coloured odd sections with polychromo pencils

Added random sketchy red sparkle foil - not easy to capture 

Aall&Create sentiment on waste piece of card

Ticketed Snippets 

I had a go at that ticketed snippet Both are a bit disastrous but I enjoyed doing that simple background and the process

Image one is Antique Linen DO which is heat embossed and coloured with water colour pencils

Image 2 is stamped with Antique Linen DO and coloured (very badly!) with Chameleon pens and pencils

Card 3:

So using Color box card 261 for inspiration I have made this card 

Not exact matches but close enough

Background-Sand

Layer1 carved pumpkin Clay

Layer2 vintage photo Caramel

Layer3 crackling campfire Crimson

Layer4 ground espresso Burgundy/Charcoal

Wow Karen,  what an amazing collection of Autumnal loveliness,  card 1 gorgeous background,  literally looks like a forest, I forgot how lovely that Aall&Create stamp is,  coloured beautifully it looks like leaves!  

Your Ticketed Snippets are fantastic,  I love all the details you've added, the mouse is adorable!  

Card 3: 

I got this stencil too, couldn't resist it at the bargain price, You have totally inspired me,  all I could see was Christmas Wreath,  who says it has to be Christmas?!!

You have shown that a change a colour scheme and it changes the Season,  I know really want to play.  I love the Color Card you picked, it worked brilliantly XXX 

Sonia

Sonia's Description 

I used a Hero Arts stamp, using flake and flitter glue (had to clean stamp straight away!) and applied Cosmic Shimmer gilding flakes. Mounted it on a piece of Kraft card. Took 2 photos to show the glimmer of the flakes 😊

Oh Sonia what a stunning card, you could actually frame it and hang it as home decor!  The gilding flakes make it look like a silver birch tree. 

Thank you so much for such a lovely Autumnal piece of art XXX

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Thanks ladies for your incredible inspiration ❤️ 

I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

Ooh it was chilly last night,  I almost needed a hot water bottle, I just couldn't get warm, I think the fans and summer duvet can definitely go away! 

What are you all up to this weekend?  We need to work on the vegetable garden, frustratingly my sciatic nerve has flared up, right inside my hip, I think it may have happened when I had my procedure, the nurse rested her arm on my knee not realising that my hip isnt stable, I think it just pushed it out further than cab comfortably go. 😔  so sadly I may have to stay at my desk all day 🤣😂

Our Gina and Sonia are both in Wales.....

Gina is in Llandudno, what a lovely view from the hotel she is staying at. I hope you have an amazing week away xxx

Sonia is staying near Powys Wales,  look at those breathtaking views!!  It must be so peaceful.  How lovely to sit in the covered hot tub looking out over those beautiful hills.  You work so hard my lovely,  I hope you have a lovely week together xxx

Now from one stunning view to another.......

How beautiful is my girl, this one made me cry, such a lovely photo.  You would never guess what she had gone through the week before! 

Love this one too, they look so happy 🥰😍

These photos were just a sneak preview,  I am so excited to see the others,  how was this only 3 weeks away today?? 

Thats all for today, I am working on a step by step Masterboard post for you all. 

Sending love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx