Michele Masculine cards that she donated

 

Good Morning Ladies,

Here we are at 'Hump' day again, don't the fly round fast!  Roll on Friday!! I am not sure what leave Paul has over Christmas yet, he finished the last of his 'rush' jobs yesterday, so he can relax a little now at least, I was missing sitting with him in the evenings, both Friday and Saturday nights he was working until after 11pm!  

Sophie finished her last exam for the Term too yesterday, so last night we decided to go out for a Celebration meal (only because Harvester were having a 50% off offer).  It was a real treat not to have to think about dinner.  Paul and the girls managed to get all the decorations out of the loft, Paul is still not supposed to be lifting so the worked it between themselves.  Hopefully we will get around to putting them up today.

I have shared some of the cards that Michele made to give to the Vicar at the hospital to give out to patients that maybe could do with a lift, such a kind and thoughtful idea and a great way to use up some of the excess cards that we make, I make one most days on a normal week for the blog, so the stack of cards soon starts to build, I guess you have to think about leaving sentiments as neutral or 'speedy recovery type cards.

I love the designs that you have created Michele perfect for Men of all ages really and left blank they could be used for a Birthday or Get well soon. 

Thank you so much for sharing your great idea and your inspirational cards Michele XXX

Ladies it is supposed to get super windy and wet today so please so stay safe,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                          xxxxxx

One of Pat's latest Groovi Designs

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I was so sorry ro read that some of you had trouble posting comments yesterday,  I did see a story on line about Google abd a couple of other Social Media platforms had issues yesterday morning so it may have been something to do with that. (Fingers crosses).  

After a couple of hours recuperating I got on with some chores which included washing everything that could be washed that we bought from Mum's as most things were covered in a thick sticky orangey brown layer of nicotine mixed with dust! It was gross, oddly I hadn't noticed it at Mum's but boy you could certainly smell it when we bought it in our house!  I only washed about 12 things and changed the water three times,  everything ended up a different colour,  a few crystal pots took on a whole new sparkle. The girls were so excited to fill up the Dog Biscuit Barrel from Nanny's house. (It was full of jammie dodgers but they had definitely had seen better days). 

Today's card is one of Pat's latest Groovi designs  it is absolutely Stunning!!! There is so much work in this design from the Embossed detail on the baubles to that intricate lattice work. I love the soft pastel shades too. Some lucky person is going to receive an absolute gift, what could be more special than receiving something that someone has poured hours of their precious time into.?!

Thank you so much Pat for sharing your beautiful card with us. XXX

I hope that you all have a good day,  it was a very wet abd miserable day here yesterday so fingers crossed for a brighter day today.

Love and huge hugs all round,

Sandra                                                                                xxxxxx 

Man Card Monday

 

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope you all well and had an enjoyable weekend.   Ours was exhausting but I am relieved that the whole Mum's house is empty and everything sorted, its like a weight lifted off our shoulders, It will take me a few days to recover,  by Saturday afternoon I could barely put one foot in front of the other.   It surprised us all to see how much stuff there was, we filled two big skips, it felt harsh but we had to be a bit ruthless, you can attach memories to almost anything if you try hard enough, we kept the important sentimental family things and photos, I have all photos and we will scan them in and put them onto a disk so that everyone has a copy.  

Today's 'Man' card was kindly shared by Michele for today's post as I was in no fit state to even sit in my craft chair when we got home last night. 

I love the clean and simple style of this card that Michele has designed.

Michele's Description: 

"Layers of grey & white linen card on a 6x6 card blank. A tattered lace Tuck  In die plus a Diecut sentiment. Card candi added to the corners"

Thanks so much for today's card Michele, really appreciate your help XXX 

Well I am going to have a recuperating day today, 

I hope that you all have a good day,

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra                                                                            xxxxxx 

Your Challenge Cards

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all enjoying a nice relaxed weekend, it's a busy one for us but it will be a great feeling to have everything sorted out.  

It's Sunday which means that we get to see what you have all  been creating, I love opening all of your emails and messages and seeing what treats are within,  it's a bit like opening an advent calendar every week!  

So lets see what you have been making....

Karen 

Karen has created three cards for this weeks Die Cut card Challenge.  Two versions of the same card, I love how you managed to get the Deer to be partly 'within' the trees, also the White splatters make a huge difference, they look like stars 🌟 in the night sky but could also be snow.

Karen's Description:

"First card same as third one, die cut background & deer .

Second card: A selection of Sue Wilson cards.

Card 3: "Here’s a variation of a cc for this week Same dies except instead of die/cutting the background I did white posca pen ink splats A lot lot easier than trying to poke all of the tiny holes out"

Thanks Karen for 3 amazing Challenge cards XXX 

Michele 

A beautiful 'Wreath ' style Christmas card from Michele for our Die cut Challenge this week. 

Michele's Description:

"My Diecut challenge card. Made using a magazine freebie which includes the Embossing folder & the die to create the wreath. Bit of bling added plus a Diecut sentiment."

Thanks so much Michele,  that magazine freebie die has been your favourite this year, you have designed some lovely cards with it XXX 

Janet

Janet has designed some Beautiful Gift Tags and a stunning Birthday card for our Die cut Challenge this week.  

Janet's Description:

" My first offering for this week's Challenge is not a card but GIFT TAGS which fit the remit.

I used TONIC DIE CHRISTMAS TAGS which were released a couple of years ago.

My second Challenge is a Birthday card and again I used TONIC DIES -a mixture of two sets.

The middle die is from the set IT'S YOUR BEAUTIFUL BRACELET and the backing die is BUTTERFLY MOSAIC STAINED GLASS WINDOW.

The mirror card used is also Tonic." 

Thanks so much Janet, you come up with some truly original designs to inspire us each week, thanks for taking part XXX 

Maria

Maria has designed a pretty poinsettia themed card for this weeks Challenge,  such a pretty design in a pretty colour way.   I love the style of your sentiment too.

Maria's Description:

"My cc with only using dies I used some felt to cut out the 

poinsettias and then cut the greeting in white and gold card.

A simple card but took me all week to make  

"

Thanks so much Maria for taking part in this weeks challenge XXX 

Lilian

Lilian's stunning Christmas card that she made for this weeks Die Challenge  features a variety of Old Spellbinder Dies. I love the medallion style of your card and the colours you have used.

Thanks so much Lilian for  taking part in this weeks challenge XXX 

Brenda 

  

Brenda has designed a Beautiful , card with stunning colours.  It's  so special, using such rich dark colours too. 

Brenda used Sue Wilson’s Manhattan Die set from the New York Range. 

Thanks so very much  Brenda for taking part in this weeks challenge XXX 

****************

Ladies thank you for your ongoing support for the weekly challenges, I really do appreciate your time and inspiration ❤ 

Have a lovely Sunday my lovelies, 

Love and hugs winging their way to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx 

Mixed Up Saturday featuring Michele's Magazine Review

Good Morning Ladies, 

As you are reading this we will be on our way to Colchester, we are aiming to be there early morning so that we can get as much done as possible so that we don't need to go back again (although this might be a little ambitious).  Mum doesn't have a lot of furniture so it shouldn't take too long, the hard thing will be the little things that have memories attached to them. 

Janet has shared her latest piece of Stitching with us, such a beautiful Cushion cover, I love the amount detail, look at the ivy leaves they even have shading, the colours are so bright and vibrant too.

Janet's Description:

Here is my latest piece of afternoon stitchings. 

It is as you can see a cushion cover which I purchased off a well known internet site. It was sealed and had everything needed to make the complete cover.

A variety of stitches -long and short/chain/stem/and french knots.

It  now sits in the chair in the bedroom.

Thank you so much Janet for sharing your latest creation with us XXX

Karen 

Here is Karen's latest Crotchet Cute Critter, it is a gorgeous Nemo fish, from Kerry Lord's latest book 'Ocean'.  It looks so realistic Karen, it must have been so fiddly with it being small, but so worth the effort, I can imagine a load of these hanging on a mobile, so cute for an 'under the sea' themed room.

Thank you so much for sharing him with us Karen XXX

Michele's Magazine Review

Hi Ladies,

Simply Cards & Papercraft has a great set of Dies & stamps this month as the free gift. These are made to coordinate with the set from Diecutting Essentials I reviewed a couple of weeks ago.

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

First of a few features using the free gifts.

More ideas, for various occasions.

Great to see some inspiration for men’s cards.

Party decorations & invitations.

Love the Happy New Year card.

This calendar looks great.

Here’s how to create the calendar.

Interesting feature using wax paper & embossing.

The instructions & another card.

Lovely pop up cards.

Beaded slider cards-they look really pretty.

Instructions & another card.

How to make the most of your circle dies.

More ideas & inspiration.

How to create a watercolour background using Distress Oxide inks.

That’s all for this week so
Happy Crafting

Love Michele

Another fantastic review Michele, thank you si much for all the hours you have kindly put into reviewing the Craft Magazines this year, You have boosted their sales for sure!  I really do appreciate your help with the blog my lovely XXX

Ladies I hope you all have a productive weekend,  decorating your homes and finishing your last minute cards etc.   

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx 

Get Your Bits Out ...Your Next Challenge

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

I Hope that you are all well and ready for a nice relaxing weekend, I won't have that luxury as we are travelling to collect and sort the last of things from Mum's House, we are staying over on Saturday night and travelling back Sunday, so it will a bus and emotional weekend for us as we say goodbye to our home of 50 years. 

This will be our last Challenge before Christmas so I thought I would make it a 'Bit Box' Challenge, I am guessing that most of you, like me have lots of 'Bits' left over from creating cards throughout the past few months, as I have mentioned before I have more than One 'Bit Box'.   You can of course add things to your Bit Box Collection to make your card (or project with) In fact this might be a good challenge to finish Michele's Calendar !!                                                                                 

As always I look forward to seeing your creations next weekend, I will then let you have a couple of weeks break before we start back in January and come back for our 5th Anniversary of the Monday Challenge, I can hardly believe we have been doing it that long. 

I hope that you all get to have a lovely relaxed weekend,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra 

xxxxxxx

Another Die cut Christmas Card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

How are you all? Are you getting through your Christmas card writing?  I have sorted through mine, I will need to make a few more, I kind of visualise a particular card for a particular person, so after deciding on a few I didn't have the 'right' card for a few of you.  I am almost there though, thankfully.  We must be more organised nect year!!! (It never happens)🤣

Today's card was one of my last minute Christmas cards, I absolutely love this soft green shimmer card, I wish I knew where I got it from, as I only have one sheet, so I used every scrap.

I started by die cutting the large snowflake out of the green card, I layered the snowflake up with smaller ones die cut in soft silver shimmer card and another green layer, I topped it with a Diamante sparkle, the top layer of my card is a white card with almost silver coating,  I embossed it using the SU 'Subtle' Embossing Folder,  then layered it with silver shimmer and finally soft green mats, I adhered the whole piece onto a card base of the same size.                                                                         To finish the card and add some Christmas sparkle I added Diamante sparkles to the tips of the snowflake  ❄                                                                     I really like this simple design. 

I managed to get hold of some lights to decorate the front of the house,  just simple warm white cluster lights, nothing fancy.  I am looking forward to seeing them up, well, when we decide how and where!  The girls are going to help Paul get the tree and decorations down, as he isn't allowed to lift for a couple more weeks, I would like to get them up before the weekend but that might be a little ambitious. 

I hope that you all have an enjoyable day,

Love and Hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                xxxxxx