Your Next Challenge

 

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you all had some of the sunshine that we were blessed with yesterday, I was pleased it was bright and dry as Lucy has had a 'project' that she has been wanting to get on with for a while.....    She wants to make a 'pallet bed' now I have said she could just have a new bed (not that there is anything wrong with the one she has)!  Sophie sourced everything Lucy needed including the pallets and fairy lights as an extra birthday gift, yesterday was the first day she was able to get outside and start sanding down the pallets, they were really good quality pallets so didn't need much work and Lucy really enjoyed getting started on her dream project,  here is a photo to give you an idea of what she is wanting.....

Although I don't think hers is as wide,  maybe a few inches either side of the mattress. I will keep you updated.! 

Your Next Challenge 

I thought that we would have a go at a Colour Challenge this week, I saw that Maria mentioned it last week and a few had mentioned it before that so here we go, now I thought that it might be better to do a range of colours rather than picking one particular colour.  So if you just look at the image above and you can pick out which ever colours you want, you don't have to use them all on one card. I also don't expect you to use those exact shades, just your interpretation of them, using colours that you have on hand.  I see some Distress Oxide shades in those colours....Twisted Citron, Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick, or that new pink shade that he has just bought out, Kitsch Flamingo, or SU colours Lemon/Lime Twist, Grapefruit Grove or Peekaboo Peach, Magenta madness, Petal Pink and Very Vanilla.  

There are literally so many colour combinations to choose from, the colours are delicious and I have to mention how beautiful that jug of flowers are.

I really can't wait to see what you all create, which of the colours you decide to choose, there are a few of my favourite colours in there so I am looking forward to this challenge.

I will find some inspiration from our past challenges and post them on tomorrows blog.

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

Janet we didn't have 'Ash' on Ash Wednesday, is that a tradition that you follow? I have given up Chocolate for Lent, something that I never used to be fussed about eating but in recent months I found myself eating chocolate at any opportunity, I swear its something to do with Hormones!!  I would love to know if you have all given up anything too.

I hope that you all have a little sunshine ☀ in your lives today,

Sending love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Simply Beautiful

 Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well, Janet I am dying to know......did you ask the Gremlins??  Did it work??  If so I have written a list and will try it later!!! 😂

We had a blustery wet day here yesterday, so the craft room was the only place to be, well after the kitchen, we had a bit of a treat breakfast yesterday, Banana Pancakes, simple to make, 1 Banana, 2 eggs and pinch of baking powder per person, the pancakes are lovely and fluffy and feel real naughty, they work out to 217 calories, I had frozen blueberries and raspberries on mine with 2 teaspoons of Golden syrup, all together the calories came to 271, which is really low compared to some cereals, so go on treat yourself.

Today's card is the very simplest design but I have to say I love it, it took me a couple of goes to line up the two layers of the but when I did the results blew me away, the colours I used are Rococo Rose and Merry Merlot, not two colours I would have put together but while playing I discovered it really worked, I also stepped away from my 'Old Olive' and used 'Mossy Meadow' which is a darker, richer green, I stamped one of the sentiments from the Stamp set  to finish the card, I used the darker of the two colours Merry Merlot to stamp the sentiment.  I layered the card onto Mossy Meadow card and then onto a white card base.  I really do love how it turned out.  I hope you do too.

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                          xxxxxx

2 more pretty floral cards

Janet, I saw this and thought of you!!!

Good Morning Ladies,

Janet, you made me smile when you explained about your misplaced scissors yesterday, I made me think of this fun quote. xxx

I ended up having rather a busy day yesterday so today had to be some older cards, although I do think that they are worth a second look, if only for inspiration for this weeks challenge.

Paul went in to the Office (actually at work) so I roped Lucy in to helping me to do something that I have been wanting to do for a while, he has been working up one end of the dining table in my craft room, with barely any room, he hasn't gotten round to setting up the new monitors he bought (through his company) to enable him to work as efficiently at home as he does at work, he also has been sat on a dining chair, and believe me our dining chairs get uncomfortable after an hour or two as they are solid oak.  So I ordered him an office chair and Lucy set off to collect it and I picked up a little desk tidy and file storage box etc.  My heart swelled a little because Lucy was so keen for us to get home so that she could get everything set up ready for when Paul came home.  We got in and she got straight in to building his chair, she then went to his desk and set up all of his technical equipment and organised all of his pens, pencils, diary etc into his new organisers. We finished just in time, he came home just as Lucy had finished.  I was a little concerned because Paul can sometimes be a bit funny when it comes to having his 'things' moved and reorganised!!  But he was delighted, he had a huge grin on his face, which totally made Lucy's day and mine too!  The down side was that I didn't get time to sit and make a card for today so I apologise for that.

Card 1:

Today's card which I have to say that I love! is one I made while Pat was over last Tuesday, I made it using my new Sara Davies 'Vintage Lace' paper pad.
I rifled through my paper boxes to find some card that would work with the colours in the paper pad, I decided on an aqua blue colour, I took a 5 x 7 card base and added a mat of the aqua card, I cut a piece of the paper off and edged it with 'Milled Lavender' Distress ink, I then die cut the lacy border panel from the same range, I cut the base die with the aqua card and the lacy top piece with white card that I coloured lightly with the milled lavender distress ink.
I found some flowers in my box that worked with the colour scheme so I added them and arranged them into a 'bunch', I added a few extra stems to make it look more like a bouquet and added a aqua bow to finish the look.
A few matching pearls and die cut sentiment is what I used to finish my card, I hope that you like it as much as I do.
I used categories:  Punch/Die cut/Patterned Paper/Floral (straight down the middle) !

Card 2:

I made today's card yesterday, I really enjoyed making Wednesday's card so thought I would have another play. I didn't do any colour blending on this card, I just stamped with 1st, 2nd and 3rd Generation ink to fill in any white areas, I also decided to use the Swing and those adorable little mice, I found a stamp set that has a couple of nice sentiments on them and chose this one as it would work well for sending to my Mum, I have been sending a card everytime I have written to her.
I mounted the finished piece onto a tiny black matt and then onto a lilac card base as I though it highlighted the lilac in the stamped flowers.

I hope the cards give you a little inspiration for this weeks challenge, I have to say that I do need reminding to use different things, like my Card-io stamps that are in a box separate from everything else. 

I hope that you all have a good day, Janet I hope that you find your pinking shears, they will be somewhere extra safe!!

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

My First Floral Challenge card

 

Good Morning Ladies,

Oh it has been lovely to not spend the day shivering, much milder now thankfully, all though it was raining most of the day.  

Weigh in went well I lost 4lb so that bought a smile to my face, Paul lost 4lb too!!  I found a page that does simple exercises for people with low mobility so I am going to give that a try, well I have to do something to get this body moving a bit, although I am approaching with extreme caution.  I have ordered some light weights to use, the chap said you can use a tin of beans but I think the hand weights will be easier to hold.  We will see I guess. 

Michele you must be exhausted covering your own job and helping out at the Vaccination clinic for hours, such a thoughtful, selfless thing to do, thank you on behalf of everyone my lovely. xx💗

Today's card was made yesterday afternoon, I have had the Daisy Lane SU stamp set for a while but hadn't gotten round to using it, I love it, I have the original daisy one but found the daisies quite large for standard cards, this set with matching punch is perfect. The thing I love the most about the set though is the fern stamp, I am a real sucker for a greenery stamp! 

The punch fits the smaller of the two daisies in this set, look at that lovely fern stamp though!!

Anyway for my card I stamped the fern stamp in Old Olive ink four times to create a foliage base for my daisies, I then stamped the daisy stamp six times on white card using Highland Heather ink and then punched them out and added Pink Frog flower pollen to the centres.  I used an old spellbinder ornate label die to give some lift to the flowers and a place to pop my sentiment tag.  I arranged the three daisies (double up) and then used various dies to cut some leaves and extra foliage out of Mossy Meadow card.  The sentiment is from a Julie Hickey stamp set called Friendship Flower, I stamped it in Highland heather and fussy cut and placed it onto a die cut Tim Holtz Tag die, I added a little bow in matching ribbon.  Now I struggled at first with the amount of 'white space' left on the card, after looking at it on my desk for an hour or two though it grew on me and the white space is balanced by that busy floral arrangement.

I hope that you like it ladies.

Have a lovely day, I hope that you maybe get to do a little crafting,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Michele's Floral Challenge card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well, we had a very wet and blustery day yesterday but it was warmer than previous days so I was thankful for that.  

Paul and I exchanged cards for Valentines day, thats as far as we go, I would be frustrated if he spent 5 times the price for flowers for one day, the thoughtful words in a card mean way more than any gift.  We cooked steak for dinner as a treat, it has to be for the four of us though, I could just imagine the girls faces if I cooked steak for Paul and I and gave them a burger!!! 

I felt that I needed to do something about my weight so I started watching what I ate last Monday, I weighed myself and was shocked, well horrified if I'm honest, so needed to do something.  I found a Tracker and added everything that I ate every day, the suggestion is to eat below 2000 calories a day so that was my aim and I was way under that everyday, today I will weigh myself, although I have been doing a lot of reading this week and it's as important to measure yourself too as you can loose inches more than pounds.(not sure I have a tape measure long enough though) !!! I will keep you updated.  

Today's  absolutely STUNNING cards were made by our Michele, they work perfectly for our 'Floral' card challenge this week, so I couldn't wait to share them with you.

Michele used a card making kit from a magazine to create these lovely designs, adding various pieces and embellishments, sentiments from her stash etc.  I love love love the colour theme, it looks so classy! 

Michele's Description:

''Finished all 6 cards!!! The papers etc were from Making Cards magazine October 2018 so I’ve had them a while.''

Thanks so much Michele for sharing your gorgeous cards with us, you really make the magazine kits work perfectly. XXX

Ladies I hope that you all have a good day,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Your Challenge Cards

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all managing to stay nice and warm on this bitterly cold Sunday morning, I just can't wait for Spring.

Now you have all designed some absolutely AMAZING 'Flat' Challenge cards, so without further delay, here are your challenge cards.........

Brenda 

Brenda has designed 3 fantastic cards for this weeks challenge, using totally different designs for each card.  I love your design for Samuel's birthday card, it hardly seems a couple of weeks since I was looking for 'beer' related dies and here is the very card that we were talking about.  You created a perfect card for a young man and I am not surprised that he loved it.  

I love those plaster dies on your get well card, that paper is lovely too. 

Brown and pink are a perfect match and its not one that we normally use, I have no idea why, this card demonstrates how perfect it is.  The patterned paper you have used is so pretty but the star of the show is that Dragonfly, you have made a standard 'die cut' look like a beautiful 'Applique' by adding the sheer fabric behind the die cut.  What an absolutely genius idea!!!

Brenda's Description:

This one is Samuel‘s birthday card you kindly suggested this die to me a few weeks ago it’s actually his birthday today and he loved his card.


The bed was downloaded from the internet, I reduced the size and changed the colour to keep it interesting. The plasters are a die I got from China. The little butterflies were some I had saved when I had a die cutting secession.


The last card is one inspired by you when you gave us the 6x6 challenge
I used a First Editions papers and embellished it with a SW dragonfly adding sheer fabric behind the wings.

Thank you so very much for creating 3 brilliant cards for this weeks challenge XXX

Janet

Janet has designed two fantastic cards for out 'Flat' card challenge this week, both using some beautiful papers, I believe these ones are 'La Blanche'. Your designs are amazing as always Janet.

Janet's Description:

It is all the way LABLANCHE this week.

My first card is made using the art work from 'TRAVEL'

and my second is made using the art work from 'ANTIQUE ROSES'

Thank you so much Janet for two fantastic 'flat' challenge cards, I really appreciate you taking part in this weeks challenge. XXX

Lilian 

Lilian has used Distress Oxides to create the background for her 'Flat' Challenge card, I love the colours you have used Lilian.  A lovely blended background with a stencil/mask laid over and water sponged through to create that lovely detail.  A beautiful Oriental looking stamp creates the focal point of the card, stamping in silhouette style really makes that background pop.

Lilian's Description:

Here is my card for this week, oxides then stencil over the top with just damp make up sponge, the brushed with perfect pearls powder. Sorry can’t remember who’s stamps they are, black then clear embossing powder.

Thank you so much Lilian for taking part in this weeks challenge, your card is stunning XXX

Maria

Ooh La Laura  I love your French themed card Maria, I absolutely love your design and all of the little details that you have added, the inking around the edge really draws your eye in to that lovely design. The other amazing detail is using those lovely fancy corners.  Stamping in just one colour just looks so classy.  The flicks of black and white paint really give your card added texture .

Maria's Description:

Found some stamps in my box (probably from china) that I can't 

remember if they ever been used so I made a French stamping scene 

and flicked some white and black paint little bit here and there.

Thank you so much Maria I know how much of a struggle it can be to motivate yourself when you are in pain an feeling rubbish, so I want you to know that I really appreciate you taking part XXX

Karen

Such a selection of cards from Our Karen for this weeks 'Flat' card challenge, the first card that Karen designed is made using a Tracy Evan's stamp, Karen used some lovely colours to create the background of this card and used the pink shade to use as the accent colour for matting and layering, I know you weren't sure about this card Karen but I love how it turned out.  

Karen's second card features a sunburst style background, the 5 is the main focus with the cute animals either side and the recipients name is are a lovely personal touch.

A lovely Valentines card for your third card, the heart border is amazing and is perfect for the occasion.

Karen's description:

I have put a pink die cut Happy Birthday on the inside I used my new slimline dies to create topper Some Honey Doo splat stamps and a magazine free in Worn Lipstick and Cracked Pistachio DO for the background Heat embossed Aall & Create Sewing and Crafty Roo sentiment

Here are 2 more cc (making 3 in total) 1) Totally flat using Serif images for my great nephew I put glossy accents on the “5” 2) A simple card for OH on Valentine’s Day All Sue W dies The hearts are a blend of DO Spun sugar Abandoned coral and Worn Lipstick Inside I have done a message to OH

Thank you so much Karen for three amazing Challenge cards XXX

Sonia

Oh Sonia, such a cute design for your ''flat' challenge card this week, I really love that stencilled background Sonia, a great background design for any card type, I might have a look for that one. Balls & Beer are the perfect combination for most 21 year old lads.  

Sonia's Description:

Here’s my card, made for my nieces boyfriend.

I stencilled the base of my card using a stencil from Clearly Besotted. The image is a digi from LOTV, as well as the sentiment stamp. I had the 21 peel off in my stash.

Thank you so much Sonia for a totally amazing Challenge card, I really so appreciate your time XXX

Michele 

Michele I love the design that you have created for your 'flat' challenge card, I really like Hexagons and the papers you have used are amazing, all of the little designs work so well together, that little sentiment in the centre finishes your card perfectly my lovely.

Michele's Description:

Thank you so much Michele, I know you have had 'quite a week', I really appreciate your time XXX

Cheryl

Cheryl has designed a lovely Gift Tag for our 'Flat' challenge. the 'Flitter' Glue has really picked up all of the detail of your stamp adding the flakes hasn't taken any of the detail away either.  Such a lovely idea and design for this weeks Cheryl.

Cheryl's Description:

I used Flitter glue with flakes,  pan pastels. The flakes don't really show up xxx

Thank you so much Cheryl for a lovely design for this weeks Challenge. XXX

Sue

Two cards from Sue for this weeks 'Flat' card Challenge, both perfect 'Thinking of you' cards, both are lovely 'clean and simple' designs.  That little Lily stamp on your first card is so lovely Sue, finishing it with a bow was a brilliant idea, I love that grey textured background too.   Your second card reminds me of the 'SU' Lovely as a Tree' stamp, its lovely and perfect for this type of card too.

Sue's Description:

 Both cards stamps are magazine freebies, as usual I haven’t got a clue from which ones or when, sorry. The grey patterned paper and the grey twine are both from my scraps boxes and the brown card layer is from Lidl (shame I haven’t seen it in there recently).

Thank you so much Sue, both of your designs are amazing, I know you have had a busy week Sue and I appreciate you making time to take part in this weeks challenge XXX

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Ladies, I am as always so very grateful to all of you for taking part in this weeks challenge XXX

I hope that you all have a peaceful Sunday and that you stay warm,

Love and Hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Mixed up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

I am that you are all well and not too chilly, I believe it is supposed to warm up a little, I have to say we have really noticed the cold this past few weeks, this house really does take some heating, there a large area's like the hallway downstairs a huge area with a big open plan staircase, if never feels warm, I think we may have to block off the chimney when we aren't using it too, as the draft from that is quite chilly. I did notice the first few buds and daffodils poking through the soil so Spring is definitely on its way!!

I have quite a varied array of projects to share with you today, the first thing is the gorgeous card above that I received from Lilian, I just adore those grasses blowing in the breeze, a pretty distress oxide background with a delicate script stamped in tha background, There are butterflies to adorn the frame too, such a pretty card that has pride of place on my desk.  Thank you so much Lilian for sending me this beautoiful card. XXX

Sue's Christmas Card

I didn't get around to sharing Sue's Christmas card with all of you, I just love the clever design, Sue used Acetate as the front panel of her card, on which she has placed two die cut Christmas trees back to back on either side of the Acetate so that it didn't matter which way you looked at the card it was 'finished'. Sue used some glitter card to die cut the 'Merry Christmas and adhered that above the Christmas tree, the inside of the card that was clearly visible from the outside so had to work, was a really lovely patterned paper that looks just like the branches of a Christmas tree, it even has the baubles!  It worked perfectly with the theme of the card.

Thank you so much Sue for a lovely card XXX

Karen

Karen's Desk Calendar

Welcome to Karen's 'Creative Corner.........

First photo from Karen is her 'Crocheted Boobs, now I can hear you all thinking 'why'?!  

Karen was asked by a local 'Health Visitor' Team to create some Crocheted Boobs for them to use to educate new mums on Breastfeeding, such a great idea, Karen has been waiting for the right yarn to arrive to make the 'Boobs'' in a strong durable yarn so that they last through all kinds of squeezing and manipulating'!!!   Another of your great ideas Karen, you really are an inspiration.

Karen shared the photographs of her Desk Calendar that Michele sent out to us all a few weeks back and I kept forgetting to share it on Saturday, so this time a wrote myself a note to remember to include them. 

So here they are, Karen used her Karen Burniston Dies to create the pages for her Calendar, I love the Genius Idea of using photo's of your loved one to highlight when there birthdays are, such a great idea.  I love how those dies give the look of a 'Polaroid' photo, so clever, 

Karen even made a box to keep her calendar in !! Such a great idea.  

I will leave the description to Karen as she is the expert on this one..................

"I’ve finished the calendar! I have used the Karen Burniston Photo Collage and Tonic Date Creator dies I backed each card with a mix of blue papers from The Works - that was such a good buy

I was hoping that I could use as many photos as possible but the space wasn’t big enough So each month has a photo of the family having a birthday that month If I couldn’t get a photo I have used a Serif image Halfway through I remembered I had a Serif Zodiac kit so some images are their star sign

 I will display the calendar tabs as appropriate The tabs have tiny stars covering the appropriate dates which includes friends 

On the back of each month I will write each name of family and friend and their addresses

I can keep the “cards” from year to year and just buy new calendar tabs

Once I’d prepared all of the photos on Serif - that was the longest part It was relatively easy to do 

I thoroughly enjoyed making it

Thank you so much Karen for sharing your amazing calendar and Boobs with us XXX

 

Thats all for today ladies, I how that you all have an enjoyable day and I look forward to seeing you back here tomorrow.

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx