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