Alook back at this weeks makes..

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

We woke to a bright day , we started with a shower or two, Paul went to make a cup of tea and bought it back up to bed, we sat watching the wind and then all of a sudden a beautiful, huge rainbow appeared over the hills,  we had a naughty bacon sandwich and then I looked at Paul and saw that his left 'retina op' eye was really red and swollen, I said get changed we are going to Pharmacy,   the girl there was lovely,  she has given some eye drops that are for Acute Bacterial Conjunctivitis,  I put them in every two hours, hopefully they kick in quick, he said it just feels like he has grit in his eye.   What frustrates me is, had I not said 'lets go' he'd have left it until Monday probably,  Men!!!                 I got bedding washed and Paul was in and out with it for a couple of hours, it ended up in the tumble drier, luckily we get half price electric on Sat & Sun.   Today is supposed to be dry,  cloudy but dry. 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi, here is my card for this week.

I used : stencil. Die cuts. Colouring.

The stencil is Janet Klein Onion skins. No 210

The stamp is Arden creative. Wispy stems.

The cut out are by Tracy Evan’s Achromatic acrobats.

I coloured the butterflies with my Koi water colour pens.

Also some gold stickles, which you can’t really see.

Oh Lilian, that stencilling is so delicate but so pretty, it actually looks a bit like its embossed.  I love that Wispy Stems stamp,  I have just discovered Arden Creative and I love their products😍!  

Your butterflies are perfectly coloured, so bright and beautiful. 

Thank you so much for taking part in the Challenge,  I hope you enjoyed creating your card as much as I am loving looking at it XXX

Karen

Karen's Description:

Here’s another challenge card which fits quite a few options

I treated myself to the latest Simply Cards & Papercraft because I think some of the bauble scenes will fit inside the layered stencil and tried my luck at the one on the cover 

If only I’d read the ingredients properly to see that JL used the SueW rectangle dies that I happen to have I used ScanNCut instead to make frame Not perfect but it’s OK

Karen I love your card, your frame is perfect, I am guilty of not fully reading the instructions and regretting it.  Actually if any of you follow any of Tracey Evans video tutorials, ALWAYS watch them through first,  I have spent ages stamping and colouring an image or creating a background that she decides later in the video she isn't going to use,  I have done that 3 times,  I guess because her video's are 'real life' not edited at all, which is good as you know there is no trickery or 'here's one I made earlier ' ! 

Your card inspired me to buy the magazine,  I really love those little scenes,   yours is perfect with the blue shading, which enhances the snowy scenes. 

Thank you so much my lovely for a really inspirational Christmas card XXX

Sue

Sue came over on Thursday and we played with Alcohol inks,  we made a hell of a mess and got very mixed results!  Sue wrote most of her backgrounds off but this one is incredible it looks almost 3D, the hints of gold really work too.  I like how you have picked the gold out from the background to use for your layers and embellishments. 

I will say I was shocked to see that your card pop up in your message as you left me feeling like you were going to bin your pieces!  

Thank you so much  for taking sharing your card XXX

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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, 

Welcome November a month of gratitude and Remembrance,  most images showed lots of Autumn leaves,  I feel like October was our Autumn, our leaves are mostly gone.  

We had a bright and sunny day yesterday,  I hope that we get to see the sun this weekend.   What do you all have planned??

I have a magazine review for you today ,....

(Karen made me buy it!!!) 🤣😂

Simply Cards & Papercraft 

Issue 276

The free gifts are quite nice,  it would have been nice to have a die for the baubles, I guess that's down to cost.  The sentiments are a good size and nice sentiments for Christmas.  

Marie has made some lovely Christmas cards with the free gifts.  She has used a variety of techniques, colouring with watercolour techniques,  fussy cutting the baubles too, she has a way steadier hand than I do,  free hand cutting a circle is not something I'd attempt,  I'd have to find a die that fut the stamp.  The last card uses masking, which is really effective.

I included this article about stamp platforms as its good to remind yourself of all the features and uses that you don't think of,  you can zoom in to read  

Vicky has used the free stamps to create some fun festive decorations and gift wrapping ideas.

Now I don't usually include the adverts in my review but I really like these Julue Hickey stamps and dies.  So thought you might like them too!  I zoomed in on my favourite card. 😍 

Some heat embossed inspiration for the free gifts, Karen has made her version of the navy border card, you will see it tomorrow! 

Laura shares some Gelli plate tips and colouring techniques, I think we all need inspiration to get that Gelli plate used. 

Finally Vicky finishes off the magazine with a beautifully detailed scene in a bauble. 

I am in two minds about this issue, It felt like there were a lot of adverts,  I wasn't as inspired for the free gifts as I usually am, I'm used to there being a varied style of crafters creating samples, a lot of the inspiration looks the same.  But maybe the free gift is a limiting what you can do. 

What did you think Karen ??

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Paul and I went to Burford Garden centre (I think its the most expensive Garden anywhere) anyway they had a huge Christmas tree that was decorated with all handmade decorations,  most were these gorgeous Quilled ornaments,  they looked amazing,  they were from £10 - £15 each,  but there is a lot of work in each one.   I'd love to have the skill and patience to be able to create one. 

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend,  

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx