Mixed up Saturday featuring Michele's Magazine Review

Good Saturday Morning My lovely friends,

I hope that you are all OK, despite the weather turning so much cooler, I think that the garden was grateful for the rain though, it was looking a little parched!

I have so Gorgeous Knitted and Crocheted cuties to share with you all today, plus we have Michele's fantastic Magazine Review, Michele and I were discussing the review yesterday as some magazines may have to stop production, Michele and I both subscribe to Card Making and Papercraft magazine and they announced that the latest issue is the last for a while as they have to protect their staff, we tend to take these things for granted when we pick them up in store or have them delivered, the sad thing is that they would have been even more popular as people have so much extra time on their hands. So we must make the most of Michele's reviews while they last.  

Karen

Karen has been busy Knitting and Crocheting these incredible NHS characters, they are amazing  you are so talented Karen, your attention to detail is outstanding.  I wish Nurses still dressed like the one in your first photo, you used to be able to clearly see who was who and wards were run in almost Military fashion with Matron in charge!! 

Thank you so much for sharing your amazing creations Karen XXX

Janet

Janet has also picked up her crochet hook, she has very cleverly altered an existing pattern for a cute critter to one wearing 'Scrubs', so brilliant Janet, I love them!

Janet's Description:

"I attach a photo of two 'cute critters' which I have managed to turn into NHS teddies dressed in scrubs. These will be going to my Granddaughter who works on a ward in a local hospital"

Thank you so much Janet for sharing your amazing makes XXX

Michele's Magazine Review

Hi Ladies,

Simply Cards & Papercraft magazine has a great set of stamps & stencil as the free gift this month.

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

Here’s some ideas of what you can make using the free gift.

Great article on ink blended emboss resist. This gives some gorgeous results.

Interesting feature on using Gouache paints.

This style of fancy fold cards looks amazing.

That’s all for this week.
Happy Crafting

Love Michele




Thanks Michele for another fantastic Review some great techniques and features once again. That stamp set is amazing and I will definitely be buying that magazine. 
I really appreciate you doing this feature each week my lovely XXX 




Have a lovely weekend ladies, please stay home and stay safe,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Thanks all round for Next weeks Challenge

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well and are ready for the weekend, the weather isn't supposed to be great sadly but that is a good excuse to stay in and craft.

Next Weeks Challenge

I thought that it  would be nice for us all to make 'Thank You' cards for our Challenge this week, I have left a Thank You card for our Post man and for the driver that delivers for Amazon, I even took one to the ladies in the Pharmacy the other day too. Just a small token but our Postie was so grateful to have a little something to collect and his face lit up when he opened it.  

You can make your card designed specifically for a certain service, I have started playing with an 'Eclipse' style  card with the letters NHS. 

I wonder if you can get an address of the NHS direct office as those people are seriously over worked and I'm not sure that they get the praise and thanks that they deserve as they are often the front line as far as calling is concerned and can certainly stop you worrying unnecessarily!

We all have so much to be thankful for in these trying times.

I hope you like this Challenge idea.

I have included the address for this remarkable Gentleman on today's post as I thought that some of you might like to make and send him a Birthday card, I think the figure he had raised the last time I looked was in excess of £15 Million pounds !!! 

What an incredible achievement, it's hard to believe that he is almost 100 and not long had a new hip, he is an inspiration to us all.  The address is on the picture above. 

I had a looong day yesterday as I sat making the 'Save The Date' cards that I have been putting off!

I sat and tied 80 tiny twine bows, made 80 tiny envelopes. I then had to die cut the each one of the little cards and glue the twine bow to each one and after it had dried I had to attach a tiny yellow rose to the centres of each bow!  As I am writing this I have yet to complete the 'assembly' stage, I have a load of the cards sat with their bows drying on the coffee table waiting for their flowers to be added.

I will be sharing a photo of them when they are completed.

Before I finish them though I have to go and cook the Teryiaki Salmon that I have been marinating all afternoon, I made the sauce at lunch time, I was going to serve it with buttered new potatoes and Tenderstem Broccoli 🥦 which seems to have become a favourite veg in our house! But the girls fancied Egg Fried Rice with the broccoli instead, so I precooked the rice earlier, it will only take me a few minutes to pull the whole meal together when Paul gets in, it's quite a light tea too, which is better when we are eating later. 

Phew I just looked at the time and had to high tail it to the front door to clap for the Keyworkers & NHS.  It's odd as it seems like we have only been doing it for a couple of weeks and the first one was in total darkness.  

Our village really goes to town with the Church bell ringing, car horns, air horns, gongs and bells, as well as whistles and hoots, it gives me Goosebumps!

Enough waffle for one day!

Have as great a day as you can in the circumstances,

Sending HUGE hugs and Love to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxxx

PS.  I want to say a Huge THANK YOU to all of supporting the Blog everyday 💛💜❥

Easter/Spring Swap - Sonia

Good Morning Ladies,

Well where did yesterday go??? We both had a rough night the night before as Harley seemed really unsettled and kept barking at something outside, which after the first time gets your mind thinking ''is there actually someone out there''?
Because he was unsettled that meant the Milo was on edge all night too, he sleeps on our bed and was in and out all night. I suffer with insomnia anyway so am often still awake until after 3am.  Luckily Paul is on a later shift  this week so didn't need to get up early, he went off to work at lunchtime and I decided that I was going to sit and finish the project that I started on the weekend, I paid to take part in one of Tracy Evans Workshops, it was fantastic and I learnt a few new techniques, I will share my project when it's finished.  I sat at my desk getting really messy with Gesso and paint having a great time.  I looked up at the time as Milo was brushing around my legs wanting a fuss, so I thought it must be their teatime (around 5pm), when I saw the time my jaw dropped, it was 7.05pm!!!!  I lost about 3 hours somewhere!
It was a welcome distraction from the harrowing news, it just doesn't seem to get any better, seeing that that lovely nurse that was heavily pregnant lost her life to this hideous disease, she was so young, they did manage to safely deliver her baby girl, how terribly devastating for her family. God Bless our NHS & Key workers !!

Today's gorgeous card is Sonia's card that she made for Karen, it is exquisitely beautiful Sonia, that little mouse with his big bouquet is the most beautiful image, you have enhanced it's beauty by plaing it upon such a stunning background paper, such a beautiful, delicate floral design, is it another Ann Maria Design paper?
Everything works together perfectly, the Lilli of the Valley sentiment add the perfect finishing touches along with those darling little die cut flowers.  Thank you so much for sharing your card with us xxx

The glorious trees outside karen's house are so heavy with pretty pink Blossom, they look so beautiful, you can't help but smile, thank you so much Karen for such a beautiful photo to make us all smile. xxx

I hope that you all have a good day, will you be doing any crafting??

Sending extra hugs to Lynda and Our Margaret who is sorely missed xxx

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxxx

A Pretty Spring Card

Good Morning Ladies,

Yesterday was a long day with Paul going back to work, he was on lates too which seemed to make the day drag on even longer, he generally gets in around 9pm. so by the time we eat its almost bedtime.  It was a lovely sunny day here, the wind made it chilly though.  Matt popped home to collect some more clothes and his computer and mail, he has been 'Furloughed' from work until mid June, which is a relief as it was worrying me greatly that he was sitting beside someone in a van all day that had no respect for any kind of rules that have been enforced since this pandemic took hold, he told Matt that even if he did have symptoms he wouldn't say anything because he didn't want to lose money! Idiot !! Matt sent the letter from his rheumatology team telling him that he had to follow 'Strict' Social distancing to his Managers and explained that he was happy to return to work providing he didn't have to share a van, even if it meant driving his own car, the clearly took it seriously and have taken the decision to Furlough him.  Sophie and Lucy received their first 'Furlough' pay, so they breathed a sigh of relief.

Lucy and I went and run all of the errands yesterday, we went to the Surgery to collect our prescriptions, which took forever as I have to collect 'Control Drugs' , they aren't asking you to sign for them at the moment, they are usually really strict about that. We then needed to go and get some essentials, Bread, Milk etc, we headed off towards Asda so that we could get everything in one place but the queue was immense, so we decided to go to the new Lidl on the same trading area, there was no queue at all and they had everything in stock, pasta, tinned tomatoes, all fruit and veg, eggs, Bread, milk, bleach and loo rolls, with NO restrictions and remarkably nobody was 'stock piling'.  We managed to get a good stock of everything we needed (plus a couple of things that we didn't need damn those half price Easter Eggs)!!  So we won't need to go out for another week or so.

Today's card is my most recent 'Spring' themed card, I have to say that I was so pleased how it turned out,  I used two different Honey Doo stamp sets for this card, 'Budding Flourishes' & 'Daffodils'.

I stamped the Daffodils first and masked over them and then stamped in the ''Budding Flourishes',

I then took my Polychromos and coloured all of the flowers and leaves, blending 3 colours of each shade. I finsished my card with a piece of Daffodil delight ribbon that I topped with a purple flower.

My sentiments were Honeydoo too.

I have added the photos of the Shipwreck that Michele took on her walk to Ainsdale Beech, again some amazing photos, it's crazy to think how long  it's been lying there.  Thank you so much for sharing them Michele xxx

I hope that you all have a good day,  stay safe,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Brenda's Brillian Birthday card

Good Morning Ladies,

Well those four days absolutely flew by despite us not going  anywhere, we got quite a bit done in the garden, mind you I know have ideas of things I would like to see in the garden but Paul does not share my enthusiasm, we have an area in the bottom corner of the garden thats pretty much always in the shade as it is under some pretty big trees, the ground is almost woodland like, it gets really overgrown with weeds and brambles really quickly, I suggested that we out some paving stones/slabs down to put the swinging chair on and then we could put some pots of nice smelling herbs, lavender and move the pots of grasses that we have on the patio, making a nice little area to relax in, we cleared it of weeds etc this weekend but annoyingly we didn't have enough slabs for the area needed, so I guess we will have to wait until this pandemic is over before we can get what we need.
But watch this space!

We had a big change of plans yesterday as the weathermen totally got the forecast wrong (our local news) they had forecast 12 degrees wet and windy (which we had yesterday) for Sunday which is why we decided to cook the turkey and have a big roast dinner, the girls wanted our traditional sausagemeat stuffing loaf, spiced red cabbage (the full works). But we awoke to blue skies and 25 degrees, not the best weather for a BIG roast!  So we cooked the Turkey anyway, it finished cooking at about 6pm, I have to say that the Aga cooks the turkey beautifully, maintaining so much moisture.
We ended up having Spaghetti Bolognese instead and had the roast yesterday, as I am writing this we are about to start preparing the vegetables etc. I am really looking forward to eating it. Paul battled the wind and did more gardening, the girls decided to wash their cars, I have to say that the boredom has finally started to set in for them.

Today's card is Brenda's brilliant Birthday card that she made for her Grandson Callum's 18th Birthday, I have to say that I think that it is a brilliant idea for a teenage card, just change the colour for a female card, specially if they are like my girls and aren't really girly, it has a touch of humour too which is a hit with any teenager.  I love how you have mixed the stamped balloons with the punched ones, adding dimension and interest to your card.
Thank you so much Brenda for sharing such a fantastic, inspirational card XXX

Well I best go now and rope the girls into helping me make the sausagemeat loaf, they can have the pleasure of squidging the egg and stuffing mix into the meat, I bought a decorative 'Bundt' tin to bake it in at Christmas and it worked great, although it is a pain to arrange the bacon around all the detailed areas, it helps to stretch it out with the back of a knife as it makes it a little thinner and easier to manipulate, I did try it without adding the bacon wrapping but it just wasn't the same, the crispy bacon on the outside and juicy sausage meat on the inside is a great combination. Messy hands and messy kitchen here we come!

Have a lovely day ladies,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxx

My 1st Card with something Recycled

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you all had an enjoyable weekend, the weather stayed sunny and warm through Sunday too here so scuppered my plans for eating Roast Turkey dinner in cooler weather, we ending up having roast in the evening to make it more enjoyable.  The highlight of the day was getting to speak to my Mum, my sister was with her and put her phone on speaker and I shouted, she heard most of what I said, but getting to tell her that I loved her and hearing her response was a delight.  She has been really enjoying my letters too, I am getting to use all the cards that I have made and not used over past couple of years.

For my challenge card I decided to use a book that I had rescued from a book sale a couple of years ago it was in a bag ready to be binned as the pages were falling out, the book is actually Poldark, its really discoloured which makes it even better for crafting with. I used a page to cover just under a half of my card front, I then created a border with black card and a SU border punch, I topped that with a scrap piece of lace trim from my scrap box.
I took a few more book pages and used a Spellbinder flower die to cut several flowers, I spritzed them with water and screwed them up to give them some texture and shape, once they were dry I unravelled them and layered them up off setting them as I went as this makes the flowers look fuller, to finish the flowers I brushed over the edges with Vintage photo ink and added some around the edges of my card too, I popped a black gemstone into the centre of each flower and arranged them on my card front, I then die cut some bits of foliage to finish the arrangement.
To finish the card I added black gem stones onto each of the lace flowers and popped some in opposite corners of the card to draw your eye into the design.  I stamped my sentiment onto the top of a book page and punched it out with my SU banner punch.  I kind of like how it turned out, I hope that it gives you some ideas.

We have had a productive weekend in the garden, all of our composters are now full of weeds, I spent yesterday trying to tidy the greenhouse but boy was it hot in there, Paul was busy weeding and edging lawns.

Sending love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Your Challenge Cards

Good Morning Ladies,

I want to wish you all a Happy Easter, none of us will be spending it as we would choose but we have to make the best of the situation and be thankful for any reason to be celebrating. I hope you all have the best day possible.

You have all created some absolutely amazing Monochrome cards for this weeks Challenge, just look how incredibly talented you are.....

Brenda

Brenda has designed an amazing Monochrome Challenge card for us this week, using the HoneyDoo Paint Splat stamp and that fantastic Stampin Up 'Happy Birthday' Die. 

Brenda's Description:

'' I used the Splat stamps and oxide Wilted Violet ink pad for colour even inking the edge of the Matt. The sentiment is my favourite StampinUp. Easy and simple once I had decided on the design."

Thank you so much Brenda for taking part this week xxx

Sonia

Sonia had designed two stunning cards, I just love the effect you have achieved on your first card, what a stunning colour combination!  Your second card is also amazing, you can't beat the traditional Monochrome!

Sonia's Description:

''For the first card I stamped the ‘Brocade’ background stamp onto Kraft card in brown ink. I die cut the Memory Box swirly flower, Tim Holtz butterfly and  Sue Wilson’s pierced flag in Kraft card. The base of the butterfly and circle it sits on were inked in the same brown ink. Sentiment from LOTV.

For my second card I stamped the ‘Swirl’ background onto white card. I die cut the centre part of the ‘Cannetille Rectangle’ from Amazing Paper Grace in black card, and stamped the LOTV sentiment onto the inner shape of the ‘Brillante Rondelle’ also from APG. I finished it off with two small punched flowers.''

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

Janet 

Janet has designed 3 marvellous monochrome cards for this weeks Challenge, the first two using Phil Martin's latest stamps, I have stay Janet that I wasn't really interested in his stamps until you started using them.

Janet's Description:

"My first two are made using the latest Phill Martin stamps. I just couldn't resist these when I saw them demonstrated. The flowers are LaBlanche.

My third offering is made using Tonic dies and Phil Martin backing papers which were launched with his latest stamps"

Thank you so much Janet for taking part in this week's Challenge. XXX 

Karen

Karen has designed an adorable New Baby card to welcome her newest Grandson to the family, I love your design, those Animals are so cute, adding them to the apertures highlights them brilliantly.

Karen's Description:

"I wanted to do something new as Charlotte has seen the other styles I do and I think I used SW Shadow box for Oscar’s This one is using SW New Arrivals and was inspired by a card John Lockwood made".

Thank you so much Karen for taking part in this week's Challenge. XXX

Michele 

Two fantastic cards from Michele this week for the 'Monochrome' Challenge. That die you have usef on your first card is beautiful, so delicately intricate.

Michele's Description:

First card is using Creative Expressions Swirly vine die & the second is using the Happy Birthday edger Die.

Thanks so much my lovely for two fantastic cards XXX

Lilian

Lilian has designed a stunning card for this weeks 'Monochrome' Challenge,  I absolutely love that stamp that you have used Lilian, it's amazing to see how incredible it looks just using one colour of ink.

Lilian's Description:

"Hi, here is my card for this week,
Stamp is romantic botanic from Studiolight.nl
Various rectangle dies
Night of navy ink, pulled out with water brush.
Glossy accents on the main flowers."

Thank you so much Lilian for taking part in this week's Challenge. XXX

Maria

Two stunning cards from Maria for our Monochrome Challenge, yoye cards are so beautiful Maria, I love that die you have used on that first card, frustrating that it doesn't cut properly, can you not contact Spellbinders and get a replacement? Your second card is so pretty with that lace and beautiful flower.

Maria's Description:

Monochrome cards :

One Black and White, used a Spellbinders die. Hopeless to cut with so

it's going in the bin now  

My second card is White and Pink with some contrast coloured flowers

stamped, white ribbon and a pink flower from my stash.

Thank you so much Maria for taking part in this week's Challenge. XXX

***********

Ladies, thank you so much, you have designed some incredibly beautiful cards.  As the weather turns cooler thank goodness we have our craft rooms to keep our minds from stressing over the news.

I hope you can enjoy whats left of the weekend,

Love & Hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxxx