Your Sketch Challenge Cards

Good Morning Ladies,

Welcome to your favourite day of the week, the day we share your amazing cards, there are some amazing cards this week, here we go.......

 Cheryl

Cheryl was first past the post with her challenge card this week, I received it at about 7:50am on Monday morning, that's amazingly dedicated.  

Cheryl made a lovely Christmas card this week, using beautiful flower theme papers and embellishments.

Thanks so much Cheryl for you super speedy response to this week's challenge.

XXX

 Janet

Janet has made a lovely music themed card.

That embossing folder you have used has so much depth and texture.

I will add Janets description below:

Here is my offering for this week's CC.

I used  Crafter's Companion 8x8 Efolder  'Parquet' for the background

            Crafter's Companion 'Gramophone Days' unmounted stamp.

I coloured the Lily with Spectrum Noir  Sparke pens and clear Sparkle pen for the metal pieces on the gramophone.

The strip of hessian and brads came from my stash box.

Thank you so much Janet for making time to make a card despite having such a busy week. 

XXX 

Karen

Karen has made a super cute Baby card for this weeks challenge. Thay background paper is so sweet, love your gorgeous bow too, here is Karen's description:

"Here’s my cc for this week I needed a Leaving to Have a Baby card and even though I had a totally different idea in my head that didn’t work I think this one is OK

She doesn’t know what she’s having so stuck with yellow and peach

Patterned paper is a C&C download 

SW  new addition dies and Pierced flag 

Hunkydory Moonstone sentiment and a bargain bucket EF"

Thanks Karen for designing such a cute card for this weeks challenge. 

XXX

Lilian

Lilian has made a cute Christmas card for this week's Challenge, that Robin is so cute, I love the detail of the feathers, you have coloured it beautifully too.

Thank you so much for taking part my lovely.

XXX

Lynda

Lynda has made two gorgeous  cards for this weeks challenge, the first one features gorgeous little Hegdehogs, Penny Black designs I believe.  The second card features some amazing foiling, pearl trim and beautiful die cut, finished with three little rolled roses.

Here is Lynda's description:

First card, papers from my stash, stamps from Wish, Spellbinders Tag.

"Hi Sandra this is my second CC

I hot foiled the background then cut the die in white & blue I off set them

& used three quilled flowers then put a ribbon with pearl droplets & pearl embellishments"

Thank you so much Lynda for two amazing cards. 

XXX

 Maria

Maria has made two lovely cards for this week's Challenge, a lovely Christmas card using some beautiful, delicately detailed snowflakes.

Maria's second card is an absolutely beautiful birthday card, I love the grey and yellow colour scheme and your lovely rolled roses, I think that the Vellum over the tag is a lovely touch. 

Thank you so much for making two fantastic cards Maria.

XXX

Nicki

Nicki has made a Wedding card for her friends that works for this week's Sketch.

I love both the composition and colour scheme of your card Nicki.

Thank you so much for taking part, It's lovely to see your cards on our line-up!

XXX

 Victoria

Victoria has made a lovely thank you card for this week's challenge, using Animal Expedition Designer Series Paper and matching card stock. 

Such a lovely card Victoria, thank you so much for taking part. 

XXX

Thank you ladies for taking part in this week's Challenge, I really appreciate the time you make to take part each week.

I hope that you are all having a lovely weekend, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra 

xxxxxx

Mixed Up Saturday

Team Cotswold Crafter is growing!!!

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

We have lots of crafty goodness and shopping to look through today but before we get to that I have some AMAZING NEWS.....

Both Brenda and Cheryl have joined my Stampin'Up! Team, I couldn't be more excited and over the moon, thank you so much ladies, I hope you love it as much as Margaret and I do !!

Now lets get on with the show.......

First up today are those Stunning cards above, Danielle bought the 'Love You To Pieces' Bundle from Stampin'Up! and used it to make those three amazing cards, you could use this die set with photos for cards or scrap booking too, Danielle is using it to finish her album for Layla too.

Thanks so much Dannii, for allowing me to share your cards.

XXX

Karlie

Karlie made a lovely Origami envelope to share with us this week, as with all of your Origami pieces Karlie your lines are so clean and crisp, another amazing project, can't wait to see your next one, maybe you could show me how to make one today?!

Thank you for making this envelope especially for us Karlie.

XXX

Margaret

Margaret has managed to open her box of loveliness from Stampin'Up! I bet your fingers are itching to get stuck in!! I love the Hedgehugs stamp set its so cute. I would love a play with your Build a Blossom punch sometime, when you are up to travelling again. Happy Crafting my lovely!

Thank you so much for sharing your shopping!

XXX

Michele

Michele made this lovely card for her 'Crazy' Friend, I just love those cute cats Michele and those lovely embellishments that are with them, your friend will absolutely love this card.

Thank you for sharing it with us.

XXX

 Val

Val has been doing a bit of crafty shopping this week and this is what she has bought, John Lockwood's new stamps, they are so amazing, I love silhouette stamps, you can make some amazing backgrounds for them, you also have loads of sentiments and accent stamps too, I literally can't wait to see your Christmas cards Val, I'd quite like to play with these myself!

thanks for sharing Val.

XXX

Karen

Karen popped into John Lewis the other day and stumbled upon these amazing cute soft toy kits, they have everything included in the kits:  Alpaca Yarn, a Crochet Hook, Needle and stuffing. They were half price £15, which is an amazing price for Alpaca yarn.  

Karen I am so looking forward to seeing these made up, Oscar is a lucky little man!

XXX

Lynda

 Lynda has shared some more pages of her journal with us today, Lynda it is beautiful, you have so many different textures on each page, so much interest, so many beautiful backgrounds and pockets that draw your attention, I would love to flick through this in real life, so please bring it to Ally Pally.

Lynda has bought all of these dies from the Wish app, they were all bargain prices, those background dies are lovely and so is that floral circle and that border.

I can see some amazing cards coming our way!! 

Thank you so much for sharing my lovely.

Woo! What a post, exciting news, lovely crafts, fantastic bargains and Super Shopping!

Thanks to all of you that took part xxx

As you are reading this we should be on the road to Danielle's, for a weekend of crafting with a lovely friend.  I am quite excited!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend too,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Something Floral For Friday

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are well and looking forward to the weekend, we are going on a little road trip tomorrow!! Danielle has invited us up to visit her this weekend and I am very excited, there's only one thing better than crafting and that's crafting with friends!!

Today's card was made by our Lynda for a TicTacToe challenge I did over on the 'Stampin For all'
Facebook group.  Lynda chose categories : Metallic/Floral/Die cut.
Lynda has used a gold patterned background paper which she has matted onto gold mirri card, she has then stamped, coloured and die cut those beautiful poppies to embellish her card, they are 'Sheena Douglas In Full Bloom Precious Poppy'. I really love those poppies Lynda, I think its great that so many companies are making matching dies to their stamps, as it makes using them so much easier.
Lynda your card is stunning, thank you so much for supporting my challenge xxx

Margaret I have everything crossed that your appointment goes well today, I bet you can't wait to get in that shower, after my 2nd hip joint disaster I lived without access to a bedroom or bathroom for 3 years!  So I can fully appreciate how much you will enjoy that first shower, you just don't feel as clean when you just have a 'strip wash', oh just imagine a nice shower and fresh bedding, you will sleep well tonight! Fingers,toes & eyes crossed!! The other big excitement is that you have two stampin'up orders ready to be played with!

Maria I was sorry to hear about your Step Mum In Law, its heartbreaking to see them so helpless, made worse by the fact that there is not much you can do to help, sending you big hugs xxx

Janet, I feel like I am tempting fate by saying this but no, we haven't had a gift for a since the mouse on our bed.  Paul's parents had a cat that took a shine to them and visited them everyday, they ended up feeding it, I think it was probably visiting many different people that were doing the same.  I think your visitor will get the message if you just 'shoo' him out. Mind you are Black Cats good luck?? xx

I'm off to my craft room to play, I am also waiting for a new laptop to arrive today!

Have a lovely day ladies and a lovely weekend,

Love and hugs

Sandra
xxxxxx

Christmas in July, using Pop Of Petals stamp and Punch

Good Morning Ladies,

As promised I have made my Christmas version of this weeks challenge card, apart from the Christmas label all of the elements are 'non' Christmas. The embossing folder I used is called 'Petal Burst', the stamp set I used to stamp the background and the flowers is called 'Pop Of Petals', I stamped the flowers in versamark on Poppy Parade card and added clear embossing powder, I then punched them out with the matching  punch, I did the same on 'Shaded Spruce' card and put them together to look like Poinsettia's.  I added my red topper at an angle to follow the sketch, I stamped the tag with 'Labels to love' Stamp set.  I added some narrow gold ribbon around the top of the topper and  a stamped and die cut small flower to embellish the bow. To finish the card I added a  few gold sequins. Finally I mounted it onto a white card base.
What do you think??.

Pat came over yesterday and YES she bought delicious Cream cakes, it won't sound as exotic as Janet's delightful desserts but I will describe as best I can, it was an eclair filled with fresh cream and some fresh raspberries, on top was Raspberry flavoured icing with pieces of freeze dried raspberry sprinkled over.  It was yummy, such a treat !! Thank you Pat xx
After lunch we went into the craft room, Pat got straight down to creating another beautiful 'Groovi' masterpiece, the piece that she made had the most delicate pattern, I can't wait to see it finished.
I started by tidying my craft space, I then sat and made today's card.

Lilian I would be training Roger in the ironing department, I was lucky as Paul was taught how to iron when he did his training,  my only frustration is that he is so meticulous it takes him forever!
I am with you as far as bedding goes though Lilian, I am like the 'Princess and the Pea' when I get in bed, I just can't sleep on wrinkled sheets, I have an 'OCD' habit, every night before I get into bed I have to pull the top sheet and duvet right back and smooth the bed down, pulling the bottom sheet tight and making sure there are no 'bits' of any kind in the bed.  I also have to have a top sheet, I hate the feel of just having the duvet on me, a little strange I know, but I think it might come from childhood as we always had a top sheet, probably because we had blankets and a bed spread rather that a Duvet.

I hope you all have a lovely day ladies,

Love and Hugs

Sandra
xxxxxx

A lovely Thank you card.

Good Morning Ladies,

Today's card was a lovely surprise that arrived in the post on Saturday, it was made by a lovely lady called Annie Chambers, she has a YouTube Channel called 'Rosieposy Crafts', she is an amazing crafter making many different things from gorgeous Tilda Dolls to her latest project a lovely 'Wishing Well. 

Annie recently had a 1000 subscriber give away where she gave away some lovely prizes, to take part you had to send Annie an 'Applique', I knew Danielle wanted to support Annie but didn't have any applique or lace, so I sent some to Danielle to share with Annie, (not expecting her to tell Annie that I had sent them to her)!  Danielle is such a sweetheart and couldn't keep it to herself, so Annie entered us both into her prize draw, although neither of us won! lol.

So Annie was kind enough to make and send me a lovely thank you card, such a lovely card too, with lots of lovely sparkle from that glitter paper, three beautiful flowers and a cute little dog charm, which I am guessing is Annie's signature, as her adorable dog 'Rosie' is where 'Rosieposy Crafts' name comes from.  Annie's YouTube channel is well worth a visit for inspiration, looking at Annie's Charity shop bargains and laughter!

Thank you Annie for sending me such a lovely thank you card. 

I had a lovely day yesterday, the morning was spent catching up with Dannii on the phone and the afternoon was spent catching up with Sue, in fact we chatted so much we didn't go anywhere near the craft room! It only seemed like we were chatting for half an hour and Paul was home!  (Which meant we were actually chatting for 3+ hours)!

This meant that I didn't actually get any tidying up done in my craft room, but never mind, there's always tomorrow!  

I can't do it today as Pat's coming over, oooh I wonder if she'll bring cream cakes, Pat chooses amazing cream cakes, some bigger than I have ever seen! 

Michele I hope that Keith's move went smoothly, I think these things are stressful for everyone involved, let's hope this new place works out and it won't be as stressful as hospital visiting for all of you. xxx

Right I had better go and tidy a place for Pat to 'Groovi' on!  Why do we let our crafty mess spread so far? I really wish I used the put one thing away before opening another rule!

Have a lovely day ladies,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

My Sketch Challenge Card

Good Morning Ladies

Here is my card for this week's sketch challenge, I made it using only elements from a Stampin'Up! 'Tea Room' Memories & More Kit, these are kits that are perfect for Scrapbooks or Memory books, they have Journalling cards, little decorative elements, cards for mounting photos on, I will share a photo below....

Tea Room Memories & More Kit

They are perfect for card making too, as you can see from my card, every element matches with the Tea Room Designer Series Papers and of course there are matching inks and card stock.

That for me is the BIGGEST bonus, their card, paper, ink, ribbon and embellishments all match perfectly, it just takes the hard work out of crafting!

They have two amazing offers on at the moment too:

Firstly if you love Stampin' Up Designer series papers as much as I do you will love the first offer.....

Buy any 3 collections of papers and get 1 set absolutely free!

The second and most amazing offer is this one.........

If there is £99 worth of products in any of the catalogues that you have on your wish list now is the time to buy!!  If you were to join my Stampin'Up! Team before the end of July, not only would you get £130 worth of products for your £99 (products that you choose), you will also get a whole Stamp Pad Family, that is 10 ink pads worth £70, which means that for your £99 you get £200 worth of products in your starter kit, isn't that amazing.

I just want you all to know that joining up doesn't mean that you have to sell or demonstrate anything, you can be a 'Hobby Demo' like our Margaret, she will confirm that there is no pressure at all from either me or Stampin'Up!, you can take advantage of this incredible offer and the discount that comes with being a demo, you don't even have to spend anything else, your Demo status will stop after a quarter and that's it, no strings, you keep everything.  You could then do the same next time there is a fab offer. 

But please don't take my word for it, ask Margaret, I'm sure she won't mind telling you all about it.

If you do decide, you'll probably hear me squeal from where you are, just let me know.

----X----

Omg it was so lovely reading your nostalgic stories yesterday, we should have more of those topics, if any of you have any stories, please share them.

I have to tidy my craft room today, it's just got to that point where I have no room to actual craft, I made quite a few cards last week and left a bit of a trail of disaster!  So I am hoping that it is cool enough for me to do it.

I hope that you have a lovely day however you are spending,

Love and hugs

Sandra

xxxxxx

Monday Sketch Challenge

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

After a very relaxed and chilled out weekend I thought I'd go for a nice simple Sketch to continue the relaxed vibe.
I feel that this sketch could be used for anything from Christmas to Christenings!!
Remember to think outside the box, those circles could be flowers, stars, snowflakes, absolutely anything you fancy, your card just represents your interpretation of the sketch.
Now if you want to Challenge yourselves a little bit more how about making a Christmas card and any other card you choose, that way you are filling your Christmas card box up too!
I wonder who'll be first past the post this week?!! 
I will send out a little something to who ever gets their card in first!!

Wow, what a lovely weekend we had, I like the idea of shopping Friday and then not leaving the house for the rest of the weekend, it's been so relaxed.  For me it's seeing Paul sat nodding off in the garden, shoes off, feet up, totally relaxed.  We barbeque'd on Sunday lunchtime, before Matt left for work, which really made the rest of Sunday super chilled, usually as it gets towards five o'clock we have to start thinking about cooking dinner and then it usually takes a good two hours to prepare, cook and serve, meaning we usually eat at about 7pm, by the time we are done and sorted it's time for shower and bed!  I liked having Sunday Lunch and then doing the old fashioned Sandwich, cake and Ice cream Sunday tea!
Did any of you do that on a Sunday?  I remember helping prepare Sunday lunch as a child, we used to always make a jelly or a Bird's Trifle in the morning too,maybe boil some eggs for sandwichs too.  My Mum has always had lunch at 12 and tea at around 4pm.
Our typical Sunday tea back then was a Sandwich, followed by either a piece of Angel cake (layered pink,white and yellow sponge), or Battenburg, we would then either have Birds Trifle (how that fed 6 of us is beyond me), or jelly and icecream, sometimes we had a fun of fruit cocktail and Carnation milk (yuk), I remember we all used to argue over who got the cherry!!
Again how my mum made I fun of fruit cocktail serve 6 was a miracle!! Maybe we expect bigger portions these days, I just don't know.  We bought a Bird's Trifle a year or two back as a nostalgic treat, I was quite excited, got my best Crystal trifle bowl out and started making up the different elements, my lot were baffled by the dehydrated sponge blocks,they thought they were stale!! I poured the jelly in the bowl and I barely covered the bottom, same with the blancmange, when it came to to whipped topping it barely covered the blancmange, they had fun adding the sprinkles though,  the verdict wasn't good, they said it didn't taste of anything nice, just chemicals!!
I wonder why they would think to Vesta Meals, they were another weekend treat back then!
Did you all have similar Sunday tea times?  I would love to hear your stories.

Have a lovely start to the week ladies,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxxx