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 

Thrinchie 51 (My Version)

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

You'll all be pleased to know that yesterday's appointment went well, we did have a laugh whenI asked them to check that 'everything ' was as it should be, after the misplaced catheter last month,  they were perplexed,  they couldn't work out where it had been inserted either!  We did laugh, although I did say that I didn't find it funny at the time and it was a rough start to my birthday!  You get to know the nurses really well,  they were asking about Becca's wedding too, which I said seemed forever ago although its only been 3 weeks!  We went for a cuppa afterwards that I just sipped as I have to hold the treatment in for atleast 3 hours!  😬

Sonia, have an amazing week away XXX

When I got home I went straight to my desk to finish a couple of projects I started yesterday and Tuesday,  I have really enjoyed crafting this week, my desk looks like a tornado has passed through, I lost count of how many things I knocked on the floor!  It was like those machines at the arcade where you put pennies in and they push the ones on the next layer off the edge and hopefully into your hand!!! 🤣

Today I am sharing the first of a new pair of Thrinchies,  this is number 5 1.  I used Vintage Photo,  Walnut Stain and Antique Linen Distress Oxides to stamp the imagine,  I added the mushrooms using the same colours,  I took a wet paint brush to pull some of the colour out to a wash around the image. I added some black splatters to this one. 

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

Love and hugs, 

Sandra xxx 

 

Good Thursday Morning Ladies, 

What are you all up to today?  I have the dreaded bladder clinic, Soph wants to take me, so that we can go into Cirencester after, not that I mind,  it's a beautiful town, with lots of lovely individual shops and cafés and bakeries.  It will be my first time leaving the house since last Friday!

Lilian I hope Roger got home safely and that you had a more relaxed day yesterday and I hope your pain was more manageable too xxx

Karen I was sorry to read that your pump had stopped working through the night again, it must be terrifying.  I hope that it didn't ruin your day yesterday,  is it easily fixed??  I use Sand Dune Versafine Clair, quite a bit as its great for colouring over so that you can't see lines.  xxx

Maria,  How are you feeling today,  I really hope that you aren't coming down with something,  that's the last thing you need if you are going away,  you have had a lot of worry and stress recently,  I think that all of that gets you down both mentally and physically.  I hope that you can put those worries to one side for a week so that you can have a few days away with Rick and a good book, just to recharge your batteries. Sending you a big hug xxx

Gina I hope that you are feeling better after your hospital stay, such a shame that you had such a worrying reaction to your last Chemo injection.  I hope that your heart rate has returned to a normal range and that it doesn't spoil your week in Wales, what were the chances that you and Sonia would be going to Wales at the same time?!! Have a lovely time xxx

Brenda I'm so pleased to read that you had a good last visit to St Christopher's,  its so reassuring to know thst the staff and facilities are so lovely, I hope that you managed to have a lovely relaxing day after your visit xxx

Sonia I hope today isn't too long and stressful at work,  keep focusing on Wales and having a lovely week away with Mark celebrating your Anniversary xxx

Sue I was so sorry to read that you were feeling rough again,  I wonder if you have low immunity and are picking up bugs after having the grands around at the weekends?  I hope that you wake today feeling better.  Now I think you have seen me me create a 'Masterboard 'before but it was a long time ago, you basically take a piece of  card (any size you like)  I used A3, you then use ink or paints, Gesso,  Texture paste, stencils & stamps, to build a colourful textured background. I will do a step by step on Saturday if you like? xxx 

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Today I am sharing a Journal page I created using the Masterboard I created following Tracey Evans workshop 121.  

I absolutely love how this one turned out,  I didn't colour my Pumpkins the same way that Tracey did,  she stamped in Portabello Versafine Clair,  which I thought was too dark, she then coloured them in with white acrylic paint and then started to build colour with pencils, it seemed a bit long winded, so I just stamped mine in Carved Pumpkin Distress ink, I then added a little Crackling Campfire Distress ink around the very edge of the stamp, to add a little definition.  I then took the same colours in Distress Crayon and added more colour, using the darker colour to the shaded areas,  I stamped mine, fussy cut them and used 3D glue gel to adhere them with dimension.

I stamped and fussy cut the ivy stamp and added that around the Pumpkins and  trailing down the top of the card, I did try and stamp direct but the Masterboard background I used has multiple layers of paint, Gesso and stencilling, so the stamped ivy got  bit lost.  Adding the fussy cut pieces really bought the piece to life. Using a piece of the masterboard gave me the coloured background,  I just added shading under the Pumpkins, I added the birds too, some white highlights here and there and some splatters finished the page,  the sentiment is from a Tim Holtz sticker book. I added the piece to a black mat and will stick it in my Art journal.  

It took me a good few hours, I was on my own but managed to relax and enjoy colouring and fussy cutting my pumpkins and foliage and building the layout was fun too.  With hindsight I think my Pumpkins are a little bright, but I like them,  they make me smile 😊

I started another journal page and made two thrinchies yesterday too. 

I hope that you all have a good Thursday, 

Love and hugs,

Sandra xxx 

Autumn Ticketed Snippet part 2

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,

We had another lovely sunny day,  it started cold though,  there was a thin layer of ice on the windscreen of the car early morning.   I didn’t venture outside other than letting the cats out into the garden, despite the chill in the air, the sun on the deck was beautiful. 

Lilian I hope you got through your long, lonely day Ok, it makes such a difference just having someone else in the house, even if you aren't in the same room, i think it's partly reassuring having someone at home with you, especially if you can't get out and about yourself!   I bet you didn't relax until R was home. xxx

Today I am sharing the 2nd of the pair of Ticketed Snippets that I shared yesterday. This one uses the larger of the two Acorn stamps in the "A Myriad Of Designs ' stamp set, I used the same colours as yesterday.  

I spent the whole working on Masterboard backgrounds,  and using them to make cards,  my desk looked like a bomb had gone off by the time Paul got home! 🤣

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx

  

Autumnal Ticketed Snippet

 

Good Tuesday Morning Ladies, 

Ooh we had a lovely sunny day yesterday, I sat and crafted most of the day with the window beside me wide open,  it was lovely listening to the birds,  it certainly helped kill that awful silence that comes from being home alone 😔.  The morning soon flew by, Paul got home around mid afternoon which was nice, we had late lunch and then back to work for Paul, crafting for me.   I made a pair of Ticketed Snippets and an A3 Masterboard which is part of a Tracey Evans workshop, it was so messy 😮  Paul looked over and just shook his head! 🤣😂  I finished it and made another ready to cut up to make cards with. 

Today's Ticketed Snippet uses Tracy’s Ticket Stencil and Acorn stamps, I edged the inner ticket shaped stencil with Vintage Photo Oxide,  spritzed it with water and placed ink side down onto a piece of card, I patted over it lightly with kitchen roll to absorb excess water.  When you lift the stencil you have the inked outline of a ticket.  Once dry you are ready to stamp.   Now I didn't have the pencils that Tracey used so I coloured my Acorns with Gathered Twigs Distress ink (pad) smooshed onto my glass mat. A bit of background stamping, some splatters and you are ready to add to your little journal, adding 'Acorn' stamp and the Blackbird to finish,  I finished off with some shading and splatters. 

I will share its partner tomorrow,  I really enjoy making these little Snippets.  

I hope that you all have a great Tuesday,

Love & hugs to all of you,  

Sandra xxx 

Mixed Media Tag

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

Welcome to the start of a new week,  the last week of September (if you can believe that)!  We have been counting down to September for what seems like forever for Becca's wedding and its been and almost gone in a flash!  This time last year it was 'Save the Dates '!   I can't wait to see the photos! 

We had quite a busy weekend,  Paul got all of the hedges cut and the huge Bay Bush we have that grows so fast.  The cleaning up was the hardest part, it reminded me of my childhood,  we always got to have a go with the shears, clipping the privet hedge,we hated sweeping up the clippings though.  It looks so neat and tidy now, well worth the back ache.  Paul joked that we could fit another car in the parking area now!  

Today I am sharing a Tag that I made roughly following a video on Instagram.  I only had translucent crackle paste but it gave some good texture and interest.  I added some stamping around the edges.  I used Evergreen Bough Spray stain, Evergreen Bough Oxide Spray, Old Paper Oxide Spray to colour the background, I then used Distress Crayon in same colours to colour around the crackles.  I coloured and fussy cut the butterfly and added it to tag along with the sentiment. I finished with some splatters of Old Olive Distress Oxide spray. 

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

Love & hugs to all,

Sandra xxx 

Let's look at what you have been making

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,  

Wet & wild once again here,  Paul managed to get the hedges cut, that was  huge job, so was the clean up, I did try and help but every time I went out side the heavens opened!  (I wasn't complaining 😂🤣)   I ended up repotting quite a few of our house plants.  I have one called  'String of Hearts' 

I have been looking for a nice hanging pot to put it in, in the meantime its been sat on a side table, what I didn't think about when leaving it sitting on a flat surface was that it would grow, it really has grown, the individual strings have grown round and round each other, it was untangling cotton...

It took me over an hour to untangle,  my hands were shaking by the end and I was sweating !!!  It is now repotted and trailing down the side of my dresser in the dining room!  I have learnt the hard way!  

Let's look at what you have been making this week..

Karen 

Karen's Description:

I changed the card I made last week and have stamped the sentiment & heat embossed with white

So instead of being a 4”x4” card it is now. 5”x5” card Looks much better in white than gold

Karen I loved the original,  however I totally agree with you, the white embossed sentiment works perfectly. I really love the revamped version!

Thank you so much XXX

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Here is my card for this week 

I cut a circle out of background paper, then stamped one of Lavinia’s holly stamps in bottle ink. I picked up the wrong brush to do the snowflakes.

Merry Christmas die cut from temp I think.

Lilian such a beautiful Christmas card,  that scene is absolutely stunning.  You have highlighted it beautifully with the holly. 

Thank you so much for supporting the challenge,   I'm sorry you have been in so much pain XXX

Maria 

Maria's Description:

I had better luck this week being in my craft room . Two cards made thanks to a crafting magazine. It came with the Embossing folder, Bell die and the Papers used for the second card where I cut it up into pieces, placed them back down randomly, ran it through with the embossing folder. 

Two lovely Christmas cards Maria,  beautiful embossed backgrounds. Love the glitter on the first card.  

Your second card looks like it took you ages, I love the colours in that beautiful background 😍 

Thank you so much for creating two amazing Christmas cards for the challenge XXX

Sonia 

Sonia's Description:

Here's a card I made.

Snowflake circle stamp from Magnolia stamps

Snowman stamp and die cut from Lawn Fawn

Inkylicious sentiment, paper from stash and mini snowflakes from a punch

Oh Sonia such a cute,  adorable Christmas card, that Snowman is gorgeous 😍.   That snowflake circle is the the perfect background,  a truly beautiful Christmas card. 

Thank you so much for supporting the challenge XXX 

Sue

Sue's Description:

Card 1:

I saw a very similar card on Pinterest as I  wanted to use these trees dies that I bought at least a year ago. I dotted red and gold pens on the trees and used gold posca pen to splatter large and small dots on the back ground by the gold glitter card star. Hope you like it xx

Sue didn't give me a description for her 2nd card,  it is brilliant Sue, what a genius Idea, I could see your 'Little Chris,' absolutely loving this card. 

If you pop in today could you tell us how you made it? 

Thank you so much for sharing two lovely cards for this week’s challenge,  it's lovely to see you back crafting again XXX

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I hope that you all have lovely Sunday ,

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,  

Well its been quite a week,  it proved that once again it doesn't matter how old our children are, we still worry about them as much as we did when they were babies. I am now holding onto all hope possible that her eye recovers as it should and that her eyesight is fully restored, so that she can enjoy her honeymoon without the worry of it healing . 

What are you all up this weekend?  We hope to get a few garden jobs done between showers,  the privet hedge at the front of our house is so tall,  we have been waiting for a family of birds to move out before we attempted to cut it,  I think it is against the law to trim hedges were birds are nesting.  It has been so lovely watching the little birds flitting about, especially first thing in the morning and the evening.  Our lawn could do one last cut, mostly because of the rain this last couple of weeks.  We also need to take the beans down as they have finished we have some Cauliflower & Sprouts ready to plant in the beds that the beans come out of.   They mention frost next week so I want to get my Geraniums,  fuschias etc put into the Greenhouse over winter.  

Now onto craftiness.....

Becca gifted her Bouquet to me on her wedding day,  which totally overwhelmed me.   I decided to dry and preserve them somehow,  so when we put the Aga on I decided to hang them above the it and see if the dried....

I'm quite happy with the result, the roses are very delicate but look so pretty.  I would like to keep some and give some to Becca as a keepsake too.

Karen's Tips 

Altenew Sticky Grip Mat:

I bought this mat from Bumbleberry Crafts after seeing the girl from Altenew on HobbyMaker 

I wasn’t going to pay Altenew postage!

It is a little thinner than I thought but think I can re-jig my stamping platform IF it works it is not supposed to lose it’s sticky

However hard I try with magnets etc the card always seem to move if I want to double stamp!

IF IT WORKS I will get another one for the Sizzix platform

Update:

I am very impressed (so far) with the sticky sheet by Altenew I knew it would be too short for the stamping press which I don’t mind and it is slightly wider than press 

It adheres to the foam mat OK and the card did not budge at all The Daisy B stamp always has to be stamped twice (forgot to take photo)and never use it much

It also held the Tim Holtz stencil in place too - no masking tape!

I wonder how long the sticky will last and how easy it will be to clean

They suggest using acetate cover to protect it when not on use (stop dust/cat hairs etc)

Craft Perfect Low Tack Tape

My new favourite piece of kit

I have always used Scotch Low Tack tape but was struggling to find it It was either quite pricey or Google kept bringing up Magic tape

Decided to give Tonic Craft Perfect low tack/die tape It feels like a very thin papery type of tape It works perfectly and can be used several times Fits in tape holder too.

Brilliant craft Hack

I bought 3 grey trays from Lidl last week Can’t remember price but very cheap

And turned one into this after raiding the kitchen cupboard for scourers

Natalie Bowers made one - much posher than mine but it works. 

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WOW Karen thank you for some great recommendations and a great craft Hack.

I am definitely get the Altenew sticky mat, I have  ought the Sizzix stamp tool replacement sticky sheets but you can't wipe them clean so if you made mess inking through a stencil you wouldn't want that to transfer to a new project so you would want to replace it, so having one that wiped clean would make much more sense.  I will be giving this one a go. 

The Craft Perfect tape....

I don't know if its just me that has trouble finding the Scotch Low Tack Tape, when I do find it (mostly on Amazon) its so expensive, I checked yesterday and 1 roll was £8.14.  

By comparison at 2 pack of the Craft Perfect Low tack tape was £4 !! So you get twice the tape for half the price!!!

Finally your craft hack for brush storage is brilliant, having them all out so you can pick the right colour brush is so useful,  I have 2 lots,  1 for Distress inks/ SU inks & 1 set for Distress Oxides, my oxide brushes are chucked in a draw and its a pain having to rummage through for the right colour,  my other ones are in a make up brush spinner that was more expensive than your idea. 

I cannot thank you enough for the time and research you have put into your recommendations!  I am definitely going to giving them a try, especially that tape, what a saving! XXX

Ladies I hope that you all have a great Saturday,  

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx