Mixed Up Saturday

 

Karen's AMAZING Card for Oscar

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

First thing today I would like to wish our lovely Janet a safe a straightforward journey to Marigny,  even if there are a few delays it will be so worth it when you arrive at your Happy Place,  you and Jim deserve a nice relaxing break, there is no better therapy than spending quality time with your loved ones somewhere beautiful.  If you have time I would love to see some photos if the garden, I remember some beautiful spring flower photos from a few years back.  We also have the Friday Cake run to look to, we all wait to see what delights you both decided on from the your Friday morning shopping trip.   XXX

Fingers, toes and eyes 👀 crossed I will test negative today and we can go out, we need a couple of large plant pots for the Rose cutting we took from Mum's garden, it has really grown and needs a bigger pot, I need one for the Anniversary rose my sister bought us last year, I did buy a pot for it from B&M garden centre last October, it wasn't cheap, said it was frost proof etc,  but the only thing it will be good for this year is the crocks we use to help drainage in our plant pots, it ended up as a pile of bits, I am so pleased we hadn't planted the rose in it.  Other than that we have no real plans apart from the garden, plenty of seeds to sow and Seedlings to pot on. 

What do you all have planned???

Karen allowed me to share the absolutely AMAZING Birthday card that she created for Oscar, using her Karen Burniston  Photo Collage die, that die has been so useful for creating cards that are special occasion,  enabling you to include so many photos that would look too busy or overcrowded on a flat card regardless of size, as well as having that surprise 'pop up' element, I can imagine him opening and closing it many times, the colours are so bright and vibrant too. A perfect card, you should be very proudof your design. Thank you for allowing me to share it today XXX

Today's quote made me smile, as I know it's something that we ALL do, one or two of us more than others!  We are always our own worst critic aren't we.

Die Cutting Essentials Issue 89

This month's issue of Diecutting Essentials Magazine comes with a Bee themed free gift.  You get a 2 layer circular die that has the Honeycomb effect that flowers and a bee included in the design. You also get a stamp set that has a couple of bees and some cheesy sentiments! 

This first feature shows some lovely cards made using a combinatikn of the stamps and die.  The designer has used a variety of techniques to create some lovely designs,  colouring through the die cut so that you can colour the flowers and bee in any colour.  There are also some extra bits to download,  including extra sentiments.  You can fussy cut the bee out and have it 3D on top of the card for extra dimension. 

I really like the idea of using dies that you already have in your stash in a different way,   this time we are using our flower dies to create shaped flaps on the front of our cards, look at these lovely designs, such a clever idea, die cut the shape then stamp the matching flower on the inside, it shows you have to achieve this below.....

It doesn't look too difficult and the results look fantastic!

This piece is another 'Stretch your stash' feature, this time we are looking at ways to extend the die cuts to make them more versatile  

This die looks similar to a striplet die, the diagram shows how to make it longer.

A similar idea hear, this time with a label style die.

I think that most of us know how to do these techniques already, we just need to be reminded of the different ways to use these things. ! 

A quick feature showcasing some fun ideas for using the free gifts to make stationery.  

Now I'm all for getting as much use as possible out of our stash but I don't think these 'Pyramage' designs are for me.  They are meant to inspire you into getting another use out of your Nesting dies but....... let me know your thoughts !!

Now this technique would work well with this weeks CHALLENGE,  Using your dies to create a 'spotlight ' where you pick an area that you want to highlight,  for the challenge you could have the whole card monochrome and then add a pop of colour to your 'spotlight ' area. 

Here they use letter dies to create the spotlight like an eclipse style card. A clever idea.

The last feature shows some great designs for clean & Simple cards, I really like the colours used on these cards, adding the grey with the blue and yellow is a great idea. I also love the idea of putting vellum behind the die cut, it highlights the detail of the die and softens the background. 

All in all a good Issue, some great ideas, especially new ways to use our existing stash.  

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I hope that you all have a lovely weekend however you are spending it, this time next week is the last day of April,  how crazy is that !!!!

Sending my love and hugs to all of you  

Sandra 

xxxxxx 

Our Next Challenge- Karen's Choice

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

Friday is here again!!  No long weekend this time though!   How are we all?  It feels like such a long time since I caught up with you all ! 

Janet I hope you are all packed and ready for the journey to Dover,  I have everything crossed that the current issues with the traffic outside Dover doesn't cause you any delays, they have had long enough to organise everything.  I can't wait for the updates from your little corner of paradise XXX

Not sure what we are doing this weekend,  it all depends on my Covid tests, we are using them wisely as you have to pay for them now.  

Our Next Challenge 

I asked in our Chat group if anyone had a preference for our next Challenge , Karen suggested Monochrome or Monochrome with a Splash of colour.

Remember Monochrome doesn’t have to be black and white as I have tried to show with the inspiration above.

 

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend my lovelies,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra 

xxxxxx

My last Embossing card for this Challenge

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Here we are almost at the end of the week, Paul has tested negative at last so he has gone into work today and tomorrow too, I still have a strong Positive line (Paul's got lighter over last couple). So I think I will still have a few days.  I am still having symptoms too, I woke yesterday morning with chills, however through the night I couldn't bare the covers over as I was too hot.  Atleast he can go and get shopping etc, I did a foodshop via Amazon,  the last time I did it it was brilliant,  this time however it was a disaster, they do text you with substitutions, they were ridiculous though, they wanted to substitute English Muffins with cheese topped Rolls, a fresh Uncut Granary Loaf substitute was some basic brand thin cut bread. I am fussy about 🍅 tomatoes,  I don't mind paying extra for decent vine tomatoes that taste of tomato, they substituted my Picolo Vine tomatoes with some awful cheap cherry tomatoes that weren't even red!!!  So we ended up with none of the bakery goods I had ordered, the sad thing was Lucy and Paul were counting down the time to the shopping being delivered so they could have a sandwich!! 

Today's card was made using an embossed background piece that I found in my 'PHD' box. I love the tile effect of this embossing folder, it reminds me of Greece for some reason, which is why I was drawn to the blue ink (Blueprint Sketch) I added Gold Gilding wax over the blue ink to really highlight the detail of the embossed pattern.  Now to me this background looks kind of masculine,  so I went for simple embellishment, I die cut the Sentiment in matching colours and layered them with foam pads.  I matted the Embossed piece onto Gold mirror card and then onto a 5x5 white card blank .  The only finishing touch was adding Nuvo drops to the centres of the larger squares.  I have enjoyed this challenge,  It has had me reach for things I haven't used in a while.  I hope you have enjoyed it too .

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx

 

Another card with the Poinsettia Folder

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I always end up playing catch up after a Bank Holiday weekend,  I mean it just doesn't seem like a Wednesday today!  

Janet did you get to K & N yesterday?  I hope so, it's nice to break the week up but I guess you want to be super cautious not to catch any bugs before you go away.  Xxx

Today's card was the end product of a lot of experimenting.  I decided that I wanted the Poinsettias to be gold on this card,  so my first thought was to emboss my card with the coloured background like yesterday,  when it was finished I took a fine paintbrush and added Flake snd glitter glue to all the embossed areas, waiting for it to go tacky then added gold gilding flakes, result- disaster, I am clearly not skilled in painting, the gilding flakes just looked a mess, so in the bin it went!  Round two, this time I took my embossing pen and painted the recessed area of the folder,  closed it, embossed my card, quickly added embossing powder- it missed half the areas and just looked rubbish, so it followed number 1 into the bin! 

Final attempt,  I used Evergreen Bough, Bundled Sage and Peeled Paint Oxides and added them to the embossing folder with a brayer.  I passed the folder through 3 times to get a good deep emboss, I then used tha dark (back) of  piece of Cut & Dry foam to add gilding wax to the Poinsettias, yes it did go slightly over in places, but I think it looks fantastic,  I was really pleased with round 3! I mounted it onto Gold mirror card, then onto white card base, then added my sentiment .

I hope you like it ladies,

Have a lovely day, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                xxxxxx 

My First Post covid project..

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I hope that today finds you all well, the glorious weather over the weekend was just what we all needed. It felt so good just sitting out, reading my book, we had breakfast and lunch outside yesterday, my thinking is that the fresh air will blow this virus away a bit quicker. We are both still testing Positive which is so frustrating, Paul is getting really fed up of it now.  He still has the cough, our Soph is coughing the most out of all of us bless her, she really doesn't need anymore stress as she is literally 36 hours from her deadline, I have a feeling that she is going to hit a low point when she finishes and she can finally let her body recover, she had so many plans for the week after she finished her final assignment, she has barely seen Lewis as she has been working the clock around, she puts in so much more work than any of her fellow classmates and boy is she a perfectionist!  Hopefully a few days recuperation will have her back to full health.  Thankfully 'Super' Lucy is still covid free, she must have some incredible immunity!  Having said that I think that Soph may have only caught it because she has a rotten cold/flu bug the weeks before and she has exhausted herself, I think being low made her more susceptible.

Anyway on a brighter note I actually got into my craft room and had a play yesterday afternoon, I treated myself to Tim Holtz Poinsettia 3D Embossing Folder when I set this challenge but it has laid unused for over a week, so I was determined to have a play with it.  

For this card is used Black Soot Distress Ink applied with a brayer to the recessed side of the embossing folder, I spritzed it lightly and then took a piece of Pink Frog card, spritzed both sides of that too and then ran through the embossing machine 3 times (just to make sure), if you look closely the ink doesn't transfer perfectly but I love that, it looks textured in some places too, which is probably from spritzing with water. I will add that I tried this technique twice with different watercolour card before trying the Pink Frog, I found that it absorbed too much of the ink, the colour was too dark and didn't have the subtle look that this piece had.  I decided to add some gold embossing to give a little bit of a luxurious feel, so I used an embossing pen on the centre of the poinsettias, I then took a script stamp to add that same gold around the background of the card too. I then matted the card onto a narrow gold mat and then onto black.  I really like how this card turned out, I am going to have a play with some different colours today.

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

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                          xxxxxx

Another Stunning Embossing Folder Challenge card from Sonia

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

Did you all have a lovely day yesterday?  We spent the whole afternoon in the garden, which was lovely,  there was a good breeze which made it slightly cooler than yesterday, it was still warm enough to sit out and enjoy the sunshine and listening to the 🐦 birds sing.   We keep trying to find places to hide the bitds mealworm feeder in the trees, so that the flaming nuisance Crows don't find them, as they end up flying off with the whole feeder.  We have so many nesting on the trees around the local farms, you can see 4 or 5 nests in every tree, I know that they need feeding too but they are too greedy and have bent out bird feeder as there were so many fighting over a fat block!! So far today they haven't spotted the mealworms, so fingers crossed the little birds can have a feast.

Sonia's Challenge card,

I did try to sit and summon some creativity yesterday,  I ended up tidying my desk and then just sat there not even being able to think about what I wanted to create,  so I gave up before I got too frustrated.  

Thankfully our lovely Sonia made an extra Challenge card on Saturday so I saved it just in case I needed one for today. With Sonia's permission of course.  

Sonia's Description: 

I inked the embossed piece in Antique Linen, and the dotted embossed piece in Tattered Rose, as well as the butterfly. I found the dies from the frame in my stash - made a nice change to use something different. The sentiments are from The Stamp Market 😊

I love the embossing folder that you have used, it has an amazing texture, inking it has really highlighted the detail of the folder too.  What a perfect frame that die you discovered in your makes, the perfect size for highlighting the Butterfly 🦋.   I really love the muted tones of your card Sonia, an absolute stunner!  

Thank you so much for another amazing Challenge card my lovely XXX 

Ladies I hope that you all have an enjoyable day, I am thinking about taking a test today to see if I am still positive, though my symptoms are still hanging around so I'm not holding out much hope,  I think Paul can test first, if he is negative I might do one.

Sending love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx 

Some of your Embossing Folder Challenge cards

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

Happy Easter my lovelies,  I hope that you all have a lovely Easter Sunday, I hope that you all get to enjoy a little piece of Chocolate, luckily its one thing I can still taste enough to enjoy!  

We obviously have no plans, I think Paul is going to test again tonight to see if he is negative, he has had symptoms for around 7/8 days now, he's still coughing quite a bit and said yesterday that he gets out of breath much faster,  other than that he is ok, thankfully, I would hate seeing him really unwell.

Karen how did Bowls Club go??

Janet

Janet shared this opulent, Embossed card with me in the week,  I have to say I love this embossing folder by Crafters Companion,  its a real deep well defined emboss, the detail looks stitched, Janet has embellished the card with a beautiful sentiment and a butterfly, which is perfect as it allows that gorgeous embossed detail to shine.

Thanks Janet for inspiring us XXX 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Here is my card for this weeks challenge.

Brick wall embossing folder from stamping up.

Oxides ink.

Flowers Tim Holtz wild flowers , small is a little die from Amazon I think, or might have been eBay.

Oh Lilian I love your card,  the beautiful soft colours you have added to your embossed card really sets the scene for the whole card, such beautiful blending too.  I have the T Holtz Wildflower dies and love them,  I love how you have used them in silhouette form. 

Thanks for a lovely, inspirational card XXX 

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

The champagne bottle and glasses card was one I made for a resident at work to give to her Son and Daughter in law - the brief was preferably no flowers or butterflies, but I couldn’t resist adding the tiny punched flowers 😊 The last card, I embossed the die cut heart, matching it up to the background and added gilding wax to the raised parts.

Two amazing Embossed cards Sonia, the Champagne card is stunning,  that background die is gorgeous, yhe little flowers on the Champagne flutes finish them beautifully  so adding them was a great idea even though they weren't part of the brief!!! 

I love the contrast of your heart card, the gilding wax adds so much more definition as it highlights every bit of detail. 

Thank you so much for all of your gorgeous,  inspirational cards my lovely XXX 

Karen

I love this card Karen,  the Sentiment just works so perfectly with that embossing folder,  it looks like they were made to go together,  look at the heart at the end of the 'L' its the same as the embossed hearts!!   The other thing that really makes this card is how perfectly the paint splats are positioned, to me it looks like they were part of the stamp design. Very inspirational,  I may have to add that sentiment to my basket! 

Thank you so much for helping me to inspire everyone this week.  XXX 

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Ladies thank you for supporting the challenge,  it is running for another week, hopefully I will get to make some more cards, fingers crossed 🤞 

Have a wonderful Easter Sunday,

Love and hugs to you all,

Sandra

xxx❤xxx