Your Challenge Cards

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all enjoying the weekend, we had the most relaxing Saturday ever, Paul found it very uncomfortable going into rooms that are well lit so we spent most of the day on our bed, either listening to Audible books or I was watching YouTube videos.  It was really nice to totally relax, we only had one phone call and that was Paul's surgeons secretary to check how Paul was feeling, which was really kind.  Hopefully he will be a little more comfortable today, fingers crossed as I felt so bad every time I put his eye drops in as he really struggled to open his eye.  We are planning to have an equally relaxing day today, although I would like to do some crafting.

Lets get to the best part of the day...............

Brenda

A beautiful Christmas card from Brenda for our Inspiration challenge this week, I think that we either buy a die/stamp etc after seeing someone use it or we buy it because we like it and then look round for inspiration. So this weeks challenge had been easy as it something that we all do.  

I love the simplicity of Brenda's design, allowing the image to take centre stage, in this instance it really does work with the sentiment that Brenda has used.

Brenda's Description:

"My card this week is inspired by Pam Simpson she use this Poppy Die called Stained Glass Angel, she embellished hers with Poinsettia but I kept mine plain. I have used blue and white glitter paper for the focal point, the background paper is from a pad that no longer has its cover !! 

Thank you so much Brenda for taking the time to sit and make a card for this weeks challenge despite having a trying week, creating cards is so much more of a challenge when you have anything on your mind, so believe me I truly am grateful to you my dear friend XXX

Janet

Janet was inspired to make her stunning Vintage Santa Christmas card by a card that she saw on Pinterest (shared above).  We all find so much inspiration on Pinterest but I wouldn't like to count the amount of hours I have lost browsing pinterest!

Janet's Description :

"I have used papers and embellishments from STAMPERIA TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS papers.I have also added the sample from Pinterest which I used for inspiration"

Thank you so much Janet for such a lovely, traditional Christmas card XXX

Karen

Karen has created another one of her Personalised Cards that really do make receiving a card such a special experience, the fact that you have gone to so much trouble to make a card that means so much to the recipients. I really love this card Karen, all of the inky detail in the background add so much interest. 

Karen's Description:

"Here’s a cc I was inspired by a card on Pinterest using a map for a Bon Voyage card

A bit of tweaking in Serif and I used a paper from the Indigoblu mag which I over stamped using Broken China DO I edged the image/sentiment in DO too"

Thank you so much Karen to taking part in this weeks challenge, your card is amazing, I bet Clare and Oliver absolutely loved it XXX

Lilian made this card for her Granddaughter Mimi last year, the papers are of course by Stamperia, that Reindeer is just so beautiful, the amount of detail that Stamperia include in their designs is incredible.

The inspiration for Lilian's card is the film Frozen, which Mimi loves to watch, I bet she was absolutely thrilled with her card Lilian, thanks so much for sharing it with us XXX

Maria

Maria has chosen a couple of different 'Fancy Fold' cards for this weeks challenge, I absolutely love both of your cards Maria, the first card has a beautiful topper by Hunkydory, featuring those darling Robins, if  there is one bird that makes me smile it's a robin, they seem so daring when you are out in the garden, they come so close looking for food.  Anyway back to Maria's design, I love the Mountain/Valley folds on your card, it makes such an interesting design.  

Maria's second card is a Arrow fold, these cards look so effective, especially with the design you have gone for Maria, the shape of the card really highlights that pretty snowflake, I love the tartan/plaid paper you have used too.

Maria got the inspiration for her cards from Pinterest.

Thank you so much for taking part in this weeks challenge, your cards are stunning Maria XXX

Michele

Michele has designed a pretty 'Swing' card for this weeks Inspiration Challenge, I really love the design that you have created, so clever using the different coloured little die cut pieces to make sure that all of the elements of your card tied together. 

Michele was inspired by a feature and the free gift in Issue 35 of Die Cutting Essentials for her card this week.

Thank you so much Michele for taking part in this weeks challenge XXX

Sonia

Sonia has deigned an amazing Christmas card for this weeks Inspiration Challenge, the deer you have used is so pretty, I think I have this Spellbinders Deer too, I can't believe how well it matches that pretty Scandinavian style paper pad that you have used, they work perfectly together and that soft blue and red compliment to Kraft card so perfectly.

This is the card that Sonia was inspired by,  I like the design Sonia but rest assured your version is far superior, in that I prefer your colourway and your Reindeer stands out more clearly. 

Sonia's Description:

"I took inspiration from a Stampin’ Up card on Pinterest.

I die cut the Spellbinders deer out of Kraft card, and stuck to the strips of patterned paper from Studio Lights Scandinavian collection. The stamped sentiment is from my stash."     

Thanks so much Sonia for taking part in this weeks Challenge while Barney was sleeping (I guess), it must feel like having a new born again! I really appreciate you making time to join in our challenge my lovely XXX                                      

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Thank you all so much Ladies, you are all so supportive, I really appreciate the lengths you go to to participate each week. XXX

I hope that you all enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all well and enjoying the penultimate weekend of November,  I cannot get my head around how fast this year has gone!!        Having said that I won't be sorry to see the back of 2020, I'm pretty sure you all feel the same, although we have all managed ok under the restrictions,  the hardest thing being not seeing your family and friends, I am  a little bitter that I was robbed of precious moments of what was to be my Mum's last year. along with what will be almost 5 months of not being able to see.!  Seeing him suffer has been the most painful experience.  

Today will be a day of rest and recuperation for Paul, he won't have a 'good' eye for a few days so he is forced to take it easy. Hopefully his recovery will be fast. He has spent the week getting ahead of work so he should be good for 2 or 3 days. 

On to todays features.....

Karen

Karen treated herself to Kerry Lord's latest book, which I think us a well deserved treat, especially to celebrate getting your new job!!   As with all of Kerry Lord's other books Karen couldn't wait to get started, her first two projects are pictured above, such a perfect Seahorse and Starfish, I love tge colours you have chosen too.  I can't wait for you to make the Nemo fish.!!  Thanks so much Karen for sharing your latest makes with us XXX

Michele's Magazine Review 

Hi Ladies,  


Decided to treat myself to the latest issue of Simply Cards & Papercraft. Look at the lovely free gift.

Here’s some ideas of what’s inside the magazine.

First feature using the free gift, they make some lovely cards.

More ideas showing that they’re great for non Christmas cards too.

Great kinetic cards using the free gift.

Article on Debossed die resist technique, produces a lovely finish.

Fancy fold  card but ones that fold flat for posting.

Interesting ideas making you own wrapping paper & gift tags. I think I’d prefer the look if you used large number dies to create your own stamps (or number stamps)

Nice idea but it seems like a lot of work.

Follow on article from last month, this one used 3 colours at the opposite sides of the colour wheel.

Mixed media techniques & mediums used here to create some fantastic backgrounds. This article should suit quite a few of you.

More ideas.

I’m sure we’ve all got stamps in this style & could recreate this look.

More ideas.

Interesting article on using stencils but masking part of them off to create a different look.

This gives us some more ideas of how we could use those stencils I’m sure we all have tucked away!!

Article for  you ladies who like to get Inky! How to create your own ink pads.

Sneak peek at the free gift next month. Great fir new year, special birthdays & mens cards.

That’s all for this week so
Happy Crafting..

Love Michele

Michele won a Prize

Michele won a prize ftom a magazine, who doesn't love a free gift?! I know it's not your usual style but it's quite pretty,  in fact you could make all the cards up and give them as a little Christmas gift to someone that doesn't get to go to the shops.               Thanks for sharing your prize with us my lovely. 

That's all for today ladies, my nurse duties are calling, I have to keep track of what drops gor which eye for the next few days!! 

Have a lovely weekend,  

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra 

xxxxxx

Your Next challenge

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

Today is going to be another long day for us, unfortunately Paul knows exactly what to expect this time so he's more nervous I think, what makes it worse is that he has to wait until 6pm, I'm sure the girls and I will keep him entertained!  Plus he wants to get ahead with work as he won't have a 'good eye' to use until Wednesday.   Fun days ahead!  I am so hopeful that this last operation works and his sight is restored. 

Your Next Challenge 

As we are getting closer to the time that we all need to have our Christmas cards all made and ready to post, we get to thinking about the cost of posting out pile of cards. I know that I will try to make the cards that I have to post as flat as possible.  Gone are the days of the big 8 X 8 boxed cards!! 🤣

With all that in mind I thought that I would make this weeks Challenge...... Make a Flat Card !          One that would fit through the standard card slot at the Post Office.                                                                   So time to get your stamps out maybe!  You could still use Embossing Folders, dies etc. 

The card I made (above) on Wednesday afternoon while having a play with my Distress Oxides is a good example of a "flat' card.  I used a mixture of Distress Oxides blended over a piece of card, I placed a Mask over the inked background and spritzed water over, after a few seconds I rolled over the mask with my kitchen roll and repeated across the card. I gave the card a quick blast with heat tool to dry the excess moisture before I heat embossed the sentiment that I stamped in Versamark,  adding gold Embossing powder.  I love how just adding water over a mask gives such lovely detail to the otherwise plain background,  it looks almost like a Damask pattern. 

I really hope you enjoy the Challenge ladies, 

Have a lovely Weekend, 

Love and huge hugs to all of you ❤, 

Sandra                                                                              xxxxxx   

Distress Oxide Christmas Card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Thanks for your lovely supportive comments yesterday,  sadly the Parchment on the card buckled really badly overnight so it will be binned,  I will keep all of the other layers,  just redo the Groovi piece. 

As you can imagine the upset with my brother set my AF into an Episode that lasted all night,  it was 5.30 before I even felt like I could nod off, I have been having another symptom lately too  once I have been in bed about an hour or so my whole body starts itching and I mean every part from my toes to my nose, when i got ready for a shower yesterday I noticed terrible scratch marks everywhere where I have been subconsciously scratching.   Now I put it down to being a symptom of my AF but apparently not, it is however a symptom of Liver issues, thinking bsck to late July/early August, my ultrasound had shown signs of liver disease, she was organising an appointment with the Consultant Heptolagist, she had told me to go and enjoy my holiday before looking into getting my liver diagnosis.   I guess she may have forgotten!  Our surgery is currently running on a very skeleton staff as half of them have been in contact with Covid, doctor's included, so they are only dealing with urgent cases.  

As a result of my rough night, I didn't manage to get up and and showered until after lunch as I had in effect run at least one reason marathon (with my heart racing like crazy!  So I didn't think I would have the inspiration to create anything,  I went and sat at my set desk and decided to have a play with my Distress Oxides,  I wanted to use the new green colour called Rusctic Wilderness, its a lovely shade of green. 

For this card I smooched the following Distress Inks/Oxides into my may and spritzed it with water,  I used both colours Oxides and regular distress inks together .  I used a fan brush to pick up the ink and 'tapped' the paintbrush which sent lots of tiny spots of ink all over,  I dried the piece between colours....

These are the colours I used addingvthe original distress inks gives a brighter pop of colour,  to add some gold dots I used my Gold Posca pen and tapped it until it sent the gold speckles all over my piece. 

To finish the card I stamped one of the sentiments from my Elizabeth Designs script greetings  and tied a bright red ribbon and tied a bow in a lovely bright red bow, to which I added some red jingle bells. I was quite pleased with results as I had no inspiration to create a card at all when I entered my craft room! 

I hope that you are all well, 

Love and hugs to all    ,

Sandra                                                                            xxxxxx                                         

          

Groovi Christmas Number 2

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all well.  Now come on own up....how many of you have thought about putting up your Christmas Decorations???   It seems to be a 'thing' this year to put them up in November, personally I couldn't cope with having them around that long, we usually aim for the 12 days before and 12 days after rule, I am usually ready for them to come down a couple of days after Boxing Day.    I love how clear and spacious the house feels when they have been put away.   I think that the thinking behind people starting Christmas early is to bring some cheer to an otherwise miserable year.  I think it's nicer to have something to look forward to in December, I would love to know your thoughts.......

Now today's card is destined for the Bin but I had nothing else to share today and between the phone ringing 8 times it had taken me all afternoon!  I took part in a Groovi class, the projects were designed by the lovely Hazel Edwards.  I love the design and enjoyed spending the afternoon colouring and I even managed the piercing part despite really struggling to see the points of the needle tool.  The last phone call that I took was a very frustrating call from my brother, who seemed to think that we just used Covid as an excuse not to go over to Colchester this weekend, I of course set him straight! I went back to finish my card when I should have just left it as I was suffering the effects of AF after getting upset on phone.  I used the special tool (that looks like a fountain pen) to add tiny lines of glue to add some fine glitter to, I cleaned the nib, popped it away and promptly picked the glue pot up instead of the glitter pot and dumped the glue over my work! I quickly grabbed some kitchen towel to mop it up but the wetness warped the parchment, I was still determined to photograph it for the blog so that I achieved something for 4 hours work!  So please ignore the warped bits and focus on the design!           I will make another one tomorrow, maybe I will send this card to my brother! 

I hope that your day is filled with peace and quiet and pray that mine is too,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Christmas Vintage style

 

Good Morning Ladies,

Off to get Covid check for Paul this morning, think he was feeling the effects of going into work yesterday, he did nothing but yawn when he got home and looked as though he was struggling, but he won't listen, so I am saying nothing! I would say that I'd leave him to it, but I can't bare to see him in pain so I went into nurse mode, not that he would take any pain relief, Why are men so flippin stubborn!

I have had a card in photos on my phone for a couple of years, I loved the vintage look of it but never got around to making my version of it, so this challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to create it. I have had those Spellbinder dies for years.  

I started by die cutting the Spellbinders 'Adorning Label 25' in white card, I cut a mat in Soft Suede card using the plain Label 25.  I took an old embossing folder (I found a box of treasure lol)  It's a Cuttlebug Folder, I ran it through with white paper and then used some Distress inks to add the vintage browns, I mounted everything onto a 4 1/4 X 5 1/2 inch card base that I had also tinted with distress inks.

Now onto the fun part...... the embellishments...

I tool another piece of white card and used the same distress inks to add some colour, I then took a Gold Posca Pen and flicked it all over the piece to add little hints of gold to catch the eye.  I then die cut it using John Next Door Poinsettia die,  I then cut a load of foliage sprigs in browns and golds and arranged them in the bottom corner of the label, placing the Poinsettia on top.  I finished the flower with a gold gemstone and then Die cut the sentiment (although I wished I had stamped the sentiment before I had stuck it into place.  The die I used was a freebie with last months Creative Stamping magazine.  I cut it in brown and added a drop shadow in gold.  

I treated myself to the matching stamps to John Next Doors Poinsettia's, although they weren't easy to find, I got them from Crafts 4 Less, I don't think I have used them before, fingers crossed I won't have to wait forever for them to arrive.  

I hope that you are all well, sending huge to those of you that are struggling,

Lilian I hope you feel a bit brighter today, 

Lynda and Margaret big squidgy hugs on their way to you both. 

Love and hugs to all of you, my very dear friends,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Man Card Monday

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

How was your weekend?, yesterday turned out to be a bright and cheerful day weather wise, the wind picked up in the afternoon but it was still a much nicer day than Saturday,  the Thames was had once again breached it's banks, I'm not sure why the farmer bothers to sow crops in the fields that are beside the river, it must be soul destroying as it's every year now, in fact it's multiple times a year that the river floods his crops. 

What have you got planned this week?  Paul has another Covid Test tomorrow in preparation for his surgery on Friday, he then has to Self Isolate for the rest of the week, so he is popping into work today and then working from home for the rest of the week, which will be nice.  It encourages me to sit at my desk more too.

Today's card is a Masculine Birthday card, very simple design that was inspired to use from a card on Pinterest. 

I took a piece of Chocolate Chip card 4 1/8 X 5 3/8, and embossed 4 lines down the right hand side of card, I left a gap of 1 inch between the two so that I can add a piece of decorative paper, I chose a piece of wood themed paper as it worked well with the brown card.  I stamped a simple 'Happy Birthday' sentiment and embossed in gold for a bit of luxury. I mounted it onto a Chocolate Chip card base 4 1/4 X 5 1/2 inch. I added another piece of tree themed paper and stamped a sentiment and embossed in gold. 

I hope you like my card x

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

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra 

xxxxxx