A pretty floral card die only card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all well and managing to stay warm, as I write this blog the current snow flurry is settling in different places around the garden which seems so strange bearing in mind we were in T shirts in the garden on Friday and Saturday,  it wasn't as warm on Sunday but we still managed to be out in the garden, today was freezing and it has snowed on and off all day.  

So the best place to be was inside in the warm, I sat and played with different things in my craft room, after a couple of hours I hadn't created anything just a pile of bits, so I decided to use some of my pile of 'bits' with my new Phil Martin Diamond Dies (plus a phil Martin Rectangle for the back of the card). 

I started by die cutting the Diamond dies in White and Gold Mirror card and layered the together, I placed the largest Diamond onto double height foam pads so that I had room to tuck all my flowers and foliage behind.   I stamped all of the flowers abd leaves with Distress Oxides  'Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry,  Cracked Pistachio' and die cut them, I also added some gold die cuts and arranged them behind that large Diamond. I then die cut two sets of the sentiment and adhered them together so that it stood out more, I added a little Picked Raspberry around the edges.   

I know its a different look but I quite like it, I hope you do too, I will say that not stamping feels strange though.

Stay wrapped up warm my lovelies, 

Sending Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra                                                                                xxxxxx 

 Good Morning Ladies,

I was tempted to say 'Monday' morning then, Bank Holidays always catch me out and I end up playing catch up all week.  Is it just me? The house will be very quiet later this week as the girls work opens after the weekend so they will be in preparing, so when Paul goes into the office it's going to feel very odd, I'm not sure I'm looking forward to it, I have been spoilt this past year, as there has been someone home everyday, I think it will be music on and getting busy crafting!  

Today's card was the result of a messy craft session, I was having a play while Paul and the girls watched the Season finale of their tv show.  I bought the Honeydoo Background die after watching Amanda use it on TV last week (I ordered from Honeydoo direct though). For this card I die cut the background in light green glitter card and cut another in 300gsm card and adhered them together, I placed it over a background I made by used shades of purple Distress Oxides which I then spritzed and took more colour away with a doily mask. I cut a frame to cover the edges of the die cut background for this I used Phil Martin Rectangle dies. 

To embellish the card I stamped Honeydoo Carnation Flowers, stamping them onto parchment  with Versamark and adding white Embossing powder and heat setting,  I used the matching dies to cut the carnations out, I added Wilted Violet to tha back of the parchment and shaped them, I used some Sparkles in the centres and coloured them with alcohol markers.  The fun foliage is an Anna Marie Designs die. 

I haven’t decided on a sentiment yet, so you will have to imagine one. 

I hope that you all stay wrapped up warm as we are in for a chilly week ahead, temperatures staying around freezing with the wind chill. 

Sending love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx 

Some more 'Die Only' Cards

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you all managed to enjoy your Easter Weekend, I also hope that you all got to eat a little bit of chocolate.  I notice that a few of you also had lamb, we don't have it very often so when we do have it it's a real treat, the Aga really comes into its own when it comes to cooking meat. We had it with the usual roast accompaniments including our own Purple Sprouting broccoli. I didn't even bother counting the calories, I did all day just not for roast dinner and dessert, oh maybe the bit of chocolate that I ate later in the evening.

I was so surprised that the weather was as lovely as it was yesterday, I was fully expecting it to be really cold and gloomy, we were so lucky as we were bathed in warm sunshine all day, I went out into the garden with a jumper on but ended up with that tied around my waist as it was so warm.  I spent most of the afternoon repotting strawberries and their runners and sowing seeds.  Paul did a major repair on our octagonal seed house/potting shed, it has been neglected for years and for some reason this winter something made the whole frame pull apart in a couple of places, the whole thing looked too dangerous to enter as the huge glass panes had all shifted and dropped down, so he removed the glass and used some metal fixings to pull all the sides together and screw some plates to hold everything in place, he then replaced all of the glass and it looked a lot more safe and secure, by the end of the afternoon it was already half full of seed trays, so not a bad afternoons work, we also dug out some lovely old terracotta pots, they look like they have been handmade, it felt like unearthing treasure!!  I have used some of them to pot on some Spider plants, there are loads of them, all different sizes. Don't worry I will take great care with them. 

Now because we spent all day in the garden, my planned afternoon crafting session got postponed until tomorrow, so I hope that you don't mind me sharing some older 'Die Only Cards' to inspire you. 

The Berry Burst Hexagon card and matching box was all made with dies from Inlovearts.com. The Hexagon box die set is a set by Card Making Magic, Christina die sets are always great value for money. 

The second card was one that I made for Paul's niece when she got engaged, the die is a retired Stampin Up set, I just used White card and mirror card, which worked really well.

The final card is an Anniversary card that I made for Paul for our 28th anniversary back in 2019.  I still can't believe that we have been married for 30 years this year!!  The Stamp and die set was called 'Love you to pieces', it works perfectly for any romantic cards.  Although the puzzle pieces could be used for any occasion.

I hope that those cards give you a little inspiration, normal services will resume tomorrow! hahaha

Sending love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Your Challenge Cards

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies ,

Happy Easter Sunday my lovelies, what are you all up to today?  Another quiet one for us, just getting garden jobs done.  We are having roast lamb for a change today, spring cabbage is my favourite veg, the girls feel cheated if they don't get cauliflower cheese, I tried a recipe using the little chantenay carrots at Christmas they have become a favourite too.  The girls chose dessert too, I didn't even need to ask...Toffee Pecan Roulade!!! 

We don't really do Easter Eggs, my lot soon worked out that they got a lot more chocolate if they had Bars rather than eggs so that is what they tend to choose if asked. I have noticed over the last couple of years that Supermarkets don't have half as many Easter Eggs as they used to, long gone are the days of popping in on Bank Holiday monday and filling your basket with half price chocolate!!! 

Now let's have a look at your lovely cards, I really enjoyed this Challenge, so I would like to thank our Brenda who suggested it in our Blog Chat group,  I was only going to make one or two cards but once I got started I felt really inspired, I hope thats the same for next week too.

Maria

Maria has used pretty pinks as the colour theme for her beautiful Challenge card, I had forgotten how pretty some of Sue Wilsons Striplet dies are, Maria has used the 'Ornate Octagons' Striplet die for her card, it's so delicate and works brilliantly for this challenge.   I am thinking that we may need a 'Get your Sue Wilson dies out' Challenge, who still has them????

Thanks so much Maria for a beautiful Challenge card, for taking part and inspiring me to have a look at my Sue Wilson dies again XXX

Sonia

Lovely Lilacs and purple tones for Sonia's gorgeous Challenge card, that background die is so lovely, totally unisex too, you could just as easily use it for a Man card with a change of colour and embellishment.  The die cut Octagon ( another Sue Wilson die i believe) is the perfect landing spot for your butterfly Sonia, such a perfectly composed Challenge card.

Sonia's Description: 

"Here’s my challenge card,  I recently purchased some digi papers from Etsy, a set of 100 solid colours and a set of 100 watercolours, which I’ve used on my card. The butterfly is cut from the watercolour paper, although the colour doesn’t show up in the photo. I’ve used a Memory Box corner die and the octagon is from one of Sue Wilson’s sets."

Thanks so much Sonia for a lovely inspiring Challenge card, I like the sound of those digi papers, a great stash builder without having to find the space to store it ! XXX

Karen

Two fantastic Challenge cards from our Karen for this weeks challenge,  one super special design and one simple design that works so perfectly. 

I absolutely love your incredible Eclipse card design for Charlie's 1st Birthday card Karen, it looks so complicated, the white background to the 'Happy Birthday' totally transforms them and makes them almost jump of the page. You are so incredibly talented when it comes to designing bespoke/personalised cards Karen. 

Karen's Description's:  

"My first card Is mixture of Serif and MCS all coloured blue within the Serif program I cut the letters 3 times on ScanNCut and stacked them"

Here’s a tone on tone cc that I did yesterday It a mixture of JL butterflies (including sentiment) using Valspar paint charts/chips/samples/thingies!

Thanks so much Karen for two incredible Challenge cards XXX

Lilian 

Wow Lilian what a genius alternative idea for using the CoolKatz 'Fauxgrain' Ribbon dies, in my favourite colour too!! I really love your design, adding the extra inked lines above and below the main panel really extends the design, making a perfect design.  I bet it took a while though, it shows how lovely the die cuts are too, they just look like real Grosgrain ribbon. 

This design would work so well as the main focus of the card or you could use that panel as a bit of a background and maybe have a little spray of flowers in opposite corners.

Thank you so much for taking part in the challenge and for thinking 'out of the box' you have really inspired me to make a background with those dies XXX

Janet

Two beautiful designs from our Janet for this weeks challenge, one in lovely Vintage tones and the other in fresh lilac/lavender and green.  Both really lovely designs.

Janet's Description:

"My first card this week is from STAMPERIA and their theme of PROVENCE .It shows shades of Purple and Green. 

My second card was made using LABLANCE papers in shades of Brown and has the theme of VINTAGE. This is a card I made last year

Thank you so much Janet I have to say that I really love those 'Provence' papers that are just so pretty and some of my favourite colours too.  I really appreciate you taking part each week my lovely XXX

Michele 

Wow Michele, what an absolutely stunning Challenge card, I love everything about it, the colours are beautiful and that gorgeous die, so lacy and delicate.  I love the whole design of your card.

Michele's Description:

"My Tone on Tone card. I forgot how difficult the floral panels were to cut-probably why I’ve hardly used this set of Dies!! DieSire Circle Centre Dies , used my own dies for the sentiments & added some gemstones."

Thank you so much for such a perfect challenge card my lovely, you have now added more shopping to my list!! XXX

Brenda

Oh Brenda what a Beautiful design, I love that background so much, I feel like I have seen it before but it had never appealed to me but Oh My Goodness this card has 100% changed my mind, it's one of those backgrounds that you can leave simple with a sentiment and pretty bow or you could go 'all out' with a big floral centre piece. I think that the colours you have used adds to the appeal too.

Brenda's Description:

"For my tone on tone card I have used lilacs through to purple. The centre die I’ve had for ever, in fact the background section I made a few years ago, I made a whole batch and came across them again in one of my tidying up sessions, so I thought why don’t I turn them into Easter cards.  The deep purple I’ve used at the back really lift the whole thing, it was looking a bit bland so I had a play and this is the result."

You are right about that deep purple background giving the whole card a lift, it really works, it's one of those designs that the more you look at it the more you see, I have zoomed in 3 times and just noticed the tiny embossed pattern around those pretty little flowers!  What an absolute treasure to have found while tidying up, I hope you did a little 'Happy Dance' !  Thank you so much for such a gorgeous Easter card XXX

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

Well ladies, what an absolute pleasure it was to open all of the messages you sent containing your challenge cards, I have no idea why but you have all designed some absolutely stunning cards for this challenge, just have another look back over that incredible display of cards. WOW, I genuinely feel so blessed and privileged to be able to share your designs each week, thank you all XXXX

I hope that you all have an enjoyable day and that you all get to have a little piece of chocolate,

Sending love and huge hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Mixed Up Saturday featuring Michele's Magazine Review

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

I do hope that you are all enjoying the Easter Weekend?, I hope that you are all getting to Skype/zoom with your families at the very least.  I don't think the weather is warm enough for picnics in the garden but maybe some of you can wrap up warm and have a cuppa and a catch up with a loved one or friend.  I am more than happy to make do with Paul and the girls for now.  This will probably be the girls last weekend off for a while as the Wildlife Park is finally opening up next week, I think that they are both looking forward to getting back to normal.   Becca and Adam are also having a busy weekend getting ready for the pub opening too, they are really excited to get back to serving customers.  

Maria

Maria created this lovely Diamond Painting for Rick as an Anniversary gift, I really love the design, such a lovely image, something that we can all relate to, mind you if it was to portray Paul and I it would need to have both of us lying on one side of the bed and Milo the cat laid full stretch on the other side. 😂😂.  A real unique gift Maria, I'm sure Rick loved it. Thank you so much for sharing it with us XXX

Michele's Magazine Review 

Hi Ladies,

Papercraft Essentials has a fun gift this month-Baked with Love stamps & toppers.

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

There 14 pages with 21 ideas how  to use the free gifts.

Yet  another feature (seems to be a recurring one) on how to use your dies to create stencils.

Great idea for a quick card.

How to guide to create a stencilled background.

Create your own backgrounds using Distress oxide sprays.

Some cute Easter ideas

More Easter inspiration.

Great article explaining how to use a Gel plate, you can create such a variety of backgrounds.

Feature using new Hunkydory papers-Duo Design.

I’m sure we’ve all got some similar papers we could substitute to create cards like these.

WOW-doesn’t this diecut flower make an impressive card.

Great to see how you can use one floral die to make 3 very different cards.

That’s all for this week so
Happy Crafting

Love Michele

Another great magazine review Michele, some great techniques, I like the look of the Mono printing and the using the Distress Sprays to create backgrounds. There are some cute Easter designs too.  Thank you so much for taking the time in your week off to write a review for us my lovely XXX

That's all for today ladies, I am going to be out in the garden again today, we are popping out to the shops early to get some Chocolate for everyone and we need some gardening supplies, the only thing that worries me is last weekend the queues to get into shops were huge, particularly The Range and Asda, I am hoping to pop into B&M Bargains today but we will see how long the queue is first, I hope that you all have a good day too.

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                          xxxxxx

Your Next Challenge

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

I would like to wish you all a very Happy Easter, I know it's another quiet celebration for all of us but hopefully this will be the last big celebration that we spend without our families.

Paul didn't have too bad a reaction to his Covid Vaccine, he mostly felt very tired, well exhausted, mind you he has been working long hours lately which probably didn't help, he dozed on the bed until mid to late afternoon, then had a bit of lunch and wanted to go outside, he definitely couldn't focus enough to work, I think a total lazy day had done him good, a couple of hours in the garden put some colour in his cheeks, mind you it was very 'bracing'!!  We have a long list of garden jobs for the weekend so I hope it stays fine.

Your Next Challenge

You may well have guessed the challenge by looking at the cards above, this one may be a bit of a challenge for some of us these days.....

So for our Next Challenge I would like you to make a card or project using....''ONLY DIES''

You can use decorative papers for backgrounds and I don't mind if you want to add a stamped sentiment but the majority of your card has to be made using dies, so you will have to rummage through those storage boxes and dig out some of your old dies.  Remember you could use a background die to make a mask to ink through if you didn't want to actually use the die itself.

Gosh do you remember the days when we would go white and panic at the thought of stamping, now it's more of a challenge to use only dies!!

I absolutely loved the last challenge as it make me think and use things in different ways, I am hoping that this challenge does too.

I hope that you all enjoy it too, I am looking forward to seeing your projects.

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                          xxxxxx

My final 'Shades of' Challenge card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all well, did you all get some good weather yesterday? We were lucky,  it wasn't as sunny and warm as Tuesday but it was nice enough to enjoy being outside. We started sowing seeds yesterday but we will have to keep them in the utility room if the temperature drops as much as they are forecasting,  some places could get 'Wintery Showers' !! 

Paul had his covid jab yesterday and by the evening he was feeling really achy.  He had the Astra Zeneca one same as I did, so I have everything crossed that he doesn't feel as ill as I did,  mind you Paul just refuses to admit when he feels unwell so we'll see. 

Today's card is my last 'Tone on Tone'/shades of card. The idea came from watching a John Lockwood show on Hochanda,  he was demonstrating some nesting dies and did a similar design.  I used his tip of lining all the dies up and then adding some low tac tape to the back so that they were held in the same position every time you cut with them,  so that all of your die cuts were the exact same size and nested perfectly.  I went for Blue shades as I thought it would make a great man card. I die cut a piece of card with the largest of yhe Hexagons and added double sided tape, this meant I could stick each layer of blue card down easily.  The extra bonus is that I have enough die cut bits to make at least 3 more cards. 

Lilian I hope the roads have started to quieten down, I don't understand how they are getting away with driving all the way to Cornwall,  my Matt got stopped driving Pauls car 25 miles away, we leant it to him to get to work while he gets his fixed, the police have stopped him twice to ask why the car is 'so far' from Castle Eaton'!  So why aren't police stopping them as they drive into Cornwall and send them packing.  It's still not allowed to stay overnight at hotels, guesthouses etc. 'Soapbox' put back in cupboard!! 

I hope you all have a good day,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx