Mixed Up Saturday

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

Janet I have everything crossed that you have a straightforward journey, I hope you don't have to endure the chaos that the first weekend of the school holidays bought to dover last year, pack plenty of food & drinks just in case, last year people were waiting for 12+ hours, all down to poor preparation of course!  

Packing & tip run here today, we are popping over to Becca's new house later on as they have been moving in over tbe passed few days,  we are having lunch out and then she is coming to see our new house.  

What do you all have planned?  

Now I know you are probably all sick of me showing my flowers to you but I thought that the 'Zinnias' would be great inspiration for colouring flowers, they look almost 'distressed' to me, in that the colours aren't beautifully symmetrical or equally spread.  Also colour combinations, I would never have mixed purple with orange as I didn't think if the colours worked, but as you can see above those colours absolutely do work together!  So we can all learn from nature.                                  The roses I just wanted to share as they are a cutting from a rose my Dad planted for my mum many years ago. 😍

Now lets look at this month's Diecutting Essentials Magazine....

Diecutting Essentials Magazine 

Issue 105

This months issue is very sea themed, the free die is great with the lighthouse and waves breaking all around it.  The little stamp set is bonus too.

Nicky has made some lovely summery cards with the magazine freebies,  it's nice to have lots of inspiration from different creators, they all have different styles as you will see through the magazine. 

I love using vellum on cards and this feature shares different ideas and ways of incorporating vellum into die cut cards.  I love that last card where they have stamped the frame onto vellum giving a tunnel card look.

I love the look of these cards, the feature is all about using your flower dies to created clean & simple cards.  I absolutely love the colours that have been used, lots of cool, calm blues 😍

Sandra has used the free gifts with to make some home decor projects and a lovely scrapbook layout.

Now, I have everything ready to try this technique,  its called 'Distress texture technique' 

You basically cover your card with Lost Shadow ink,  then run through embossing folder and blend 2 different colours over the embossing.  I really like the effect. 

These catds are so bright and cheerful you can't help but smile.  I love the reds and yellows with the blue.  

And finally we have 'Faux Laser Cutting ', so you can use up all of your intricate die cuts to fill a frame and give the look of a fancy panel die.  Perfect to use over some of your stash of backgrounds.

So all in all some fun techniques in this issue and the free gifts are good too. 

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I hope that you all have a lovely weekend 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

A new challenge

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

How are you all?  I hope you are all as well as can be expected 😍

I had a change from packing boxes yesterday afternoon as Sue came over and we sat and crafted, which made a nice change, we made some Shaving foam backgrounds which is where I got the idea for this weeks challenge, we had mixed  and both ended up with coloured hands and in my case coloured hair!  I tried using distress ink re-inkers first which turned out ok but the ink moved/smudged when you wiped the excess foam off, I used Alcohol inks from then on!  

Our Next Challenge 

So for our next Challenge I thought we could............ 'use it up' !!

So dig out your stash of bits of backgrounds, it can be bits you have inked, embossed, stencilled or maybe you have some 'Phd,'s' where you started a card but weren't sure about it, you could even use up bits of papers or card from your bit box!  

I hope that you all enjoy the challenge 

I hope that you all have a fabulous Friday 

Bon Voyage Janet, Have a lovely holiday xxx

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra                                                                   xxxxxx 

Pretty in pink

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Yesterday turned out to be a day of two halves, the first half was a right off, I just failed to function, mostly down to tiredness,  after another sleepless night, I seem to have so many whizzing around 8n my mind at the moment,  its hard to switch off.  The afternoon was better I finished off a couple of cards and Lucy wanted to pop to the shop and wanted company so I went with her, we then went over to our new house as Bill the landlord asked if we would like the keys earlier to help us get moved in a bit quicker as we have our holiday in less tha  a month!  This is what I mean when I say I have a lot whizzing around my little brain 🤣😂

Sue I was shocked to read about RJ having Crohnes Disease, I am sure that medicine has advanced to a point where they can get it under control, fingers crossed they get him comfortable really quickly. Sending you hugs xxx

Today's card was made using my all time favourite SU papers, I adore the colours all mixed in together it just makes you smile,  I made a simple fold where you just adhere 1 inch of the card together and add the ribbon before sticking it down.  I love to leave these papers to shine without too many bits obstructing the front,  so a simple sentiment and bow and thats it!   I hope it brightens your day too 😍

I hope that you all have a good day,

Love and hugs to all of you 

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

Colourful Blended Background

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,

Any news is overshadowed by the news that Our Janet is at long last getting to go back to her happy place, put any jobs etc to one side when you arrive, I know you will feel the need to  cleaning/maintenance as its been such a longbtime since you were last there.  You both need to sit down and relax, put those feet up for a week or so at least.  Is Jim a 'restless' type, I know some people need to be doing something all the time, constantly looking for a new project!  Paul isn't one of those 'restless' types 🤣😂, depending on the job he needs a 🚀 rocket up his bum! Especially if the job involves tidying the garage or taking stuff to the tip!!! I will add that ANYTHING I need help with personally or round the house he does without question and straight away, for which I will be eternally grateful  There aren't many husbands that would drive hours away to a craft show and then spend hours just waiting while I browse and enjoy the company of my friends,  he never complains, I am so incredibly grateful and feel like the luckiest girl in the world as far as partners go 😍🥰

Today's card I started last week,  I spent Friday afternoon playing with blended backgrounds using Distress Oxides, it was a combination of smooshing and blending,  I thought it looked a little flat though so I wanted to add some with a bit of sparkle or shine, then I remembered I had some metallic watercolour paints....

These paints are incredible,  I added quite a bit of water and expected the metallic effect to be washed out, I was so wrong!  I took an angled photo of card to try and capture the gold splats and spots that I achieved from tapping my fan brush, I was amazed,  there are lots of shades of gold and silver to play with too.                                                              Next I had to decide what to use to create a card, I decided on my SU Sunflower dies, they are big but really open so you can still see that lovely background through them.  I finished the card with one of my Strip Sentiments. 

I hope that you all have a lovely day, 

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra                                                                                xxxxxx 

Sonia's 2nd Challenge card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

A lovely sunny day here yesterday,  perfect washing drying weather!  I needed a sunny day to attempt a rescue on a pair of Lucy's light grey trousers,  they have a stain on the bottom area, it looks like she has sat in spaghetti sauce or something,  I have tried all sorts to clean it, it has faded slightly but it's still there,  i have been following Nancy Birtwistle on Instagram,  she has lots of 'green' cleaning tips, she has come up with a solution that she calls 'Pure Magic' , its basically Citric acid,  boiling water, eco washing up liquid, you dissolve the citric acid and then add in the washing up liquid, it works on many different stains,  so I applied it to the stain and then stage 2 of the process is to hang the trousers in direct sunlight, I kept checking and watched the stain fade before my eyes!!!  If any of you want the exact measurements let me know.  

I had a 'recovery' day yesterday,  Paul bought me a cup of tea in at 07 30, which I drank and went to bathroom,  I went and layed on the bed to take my medication and fell back to sleep, Paul came in to see if I was okay at 11.15 am which woke me up, I am guessing it's because I missed out on 2 nights sleep last week, frustratingly I don't think the UTI has gone completely, I will call GP today for some advice.

Today I am sharing Sonia's 2nd Challenge card that I totally missed on Sunday!  

Sonia's Description:

I’ve used My Favourite Things ‘Happy Birthday’ die inked in Kitsch Flamingo oxide. The Gummiapan flowers are inked in Spun Sugar oxide and the centres in Kitsch Flamingo. The frame is also Gummiapan. Backing paper from Anna Marie Designs paper pad.

Sonia what a lovely card, the combination of colours and that lovely background paper is beautiful,  that Gummiapan rectangle set is going on my list, it's a perfect size for our everyday cards, which is hard to find.  

Thank you so much for supporting the challenge my lovely and I am so sorry that missed your card on Sunday XXX

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love & hugs to all,

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

Karen's Card For Teacher

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

Well that weekend was soon over, the highlight was seeing the Lancaster from The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight fly past, it was a reminder of the years we spent in Lincolnshire while Paul was at RAF Coningsby,  the Lancaster,  Spitfire & Hurricane flew over really low almost every Sunday in the summer, such a magnificent thing yo see 😍!  

Other than that we were packing, packing & more packing,  I managed a few boxes, or ornaments mostly, Oh and the dreaded plastic /tupperware cupboard,  I am being completely honest when I say that we rarely have a take-away, its usually for a Birthday,  Father's day etc but my goodness have we accumulated a huge pile of plastic tubs from take-away,  I virtually filled to bursting a big bin liner full of those tubs, plus a few Icecream tubs etc that where in there too, it felt very liberating 🤣😂, annoyingly though I could only manage about ten minutes at a time before needing to rest.  I felt so good to be decluttering, then yesterday morning Lucy bought down a big laundry basket full of recycling, old school books, trainer boxes etc, so I got Paul to carry the box outside and went out to sort through everything and fit what I could in cardboard recycling,  I fully filled one recycle box and was coming to the end, there was a Yankee Candle tin, with a hinged lid, then there was a nice size box with a magnetic closure and finally a really good quality,  sturdy shoe box, well Ladies,  I just couldn't throw them away, my reasoning was they would be good for storage in my craft room! !! I have left them right by the door though in case I change my mind 🙄😬

I am sharing the card that Karen made for Oscar to give his Teacher .....

Karen's Description:

Here are the cards I made for Oscar's Teachers, I’m really pleased at how they’ve turned out All done on Serif and the piece of puzzle is a die cut.

Absolutely amazing idea Karen,  I can see the teacher shedding a tear or two, it's such a Special message.  I bet Charlotte loved them.  Thank you so much for sharing them with us XXX 

Ladies I hope that you all have a great start to the week, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

 

Our Bright & Beautiful Challenge Cards

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

We had a brighter day yesterday, it was incredibly windy all day but the sun did try to show his face most of the afternoon,  there was a lot more flying at the Air Tattoo yesterday,  which made up for the lack of flying on Friday, the Prince & Princess of Wales visited the Air show yesterday with their children,  such a shame the weather was so awful as they wouldn't have seen any of the flying displays.  

Sadly I was stuck in bed most of the day, I'm not sure if its down to the antibiotics or the infection resisting them!  Either way I felt awful, I have taken my last antibiotic (at midnight last night) so fingers crossed they worked.

Tbe girls had the day off due to not being able to get to work because of the Air Show traffic, so they had quite a productive day packing up their bedrooms!  Paul was busy up and down the loft ladder. So hopefully progress us being made!  

Let's have a look at the Challenge projects that you have made. ....

Your Challenge Projects 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Here are my cards for this week

1/ Tim Holtz floral boarder stamp, coloured with my zig water colour pens, it’s a bit bright, but I quite like it.

2/ stamp , positive thoughts, clear embossing powder, then rubbed on , garden green, old olive and pear pizzazz.

3/ floral stamp again, coloured with my old water colours, lemon yellow, yellow ochre, and a little carmine red. Fussy cut and then stuck on stencilled background, using one of Lavinia stencils.

Hope you are getting plenty of rest. Lilian

Oh Lilian your cards absolutely blew me away when I opened your message, WOW!  All 3 cards are so beautiful,  that first card that you coloured with your Zig pens is Stunning, the colours are so rich, your colouring skills are just a joy to look at. Card 2 is green, so obviously gives me joy, I have that stamp set and love it !  

Card 3:  WOW again,  your watercoloured floral stamp is beautiful,  your Watercolouring has added so much interest to the stamped image,  it works so well on that stencilled background too.  

Thank you so much for 3 stunning cards, I can tell how much enjoyed making them XXX

Janet 

Janet's Description:

Here is my card for this weeks challenge,  I used 'everything TONIC to create the card.

The dies were bought many years ago the same goes for the attachments.

Such a lovely card Janet, those die cut pink elements are so beautiful and work perfectly with those little leaves.

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

Karen

Karen's Description:

Here’s a Thrinchie (the last one!) for this week’s challenge 

Background is the baking paper technique using DO Mustard Seed, Carved Pumpkin and Picked Raspberry 

Stamps #540 for background 

#535 and #567 for focal elements

Absolutely gorgeous Thrinchie Karen,  I love the colours you have used too, those ticket shaped florals are lovely, you have coloured them perfectly too.

Thank you so much for taking part Karen XXX 

Maria

Maria has made 2 super cute cards, I think they are Hunkydory kits, which are perfect for when you need a card in a hurry, they are always finished beautifully too.

Thank you so much for taking part XXX 

Sonia

Sonia's Description:  

I made this card for Hayley’s Graduation. I’ve used a Polkadoodles digi image. The stamped sentiment is from My Favourite Things. The flower from Gummiapan.

Oh Sonia what an absolutely gorgeous image, I love the colours so much 😍.  I bet Hayley was blown away when she opened it bless her.  Your Gummiapan flower is the perfect finishing touch.  Thank you so much for taking part my lovely XXX 

Sue

Sue has made two fantastic, bright & Cheerful cards, perfect for this weeks challenge.  What a great idea to use the large letter dies to cut lovely bright letters and then finishing off with a coordinating paper strip along the bottom.

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

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Oh Wow what at stunning display Ladies, so many bright & beautiful cards, thank you all so very much ❤️ 

I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday, 

Love & hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx