Stamperia Butterfly Journal page

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,  

Yesterday disappeared in a blur,  I realised at about 9am that I was home alone,  I had been busy chatting to Lucy and wondered why she wasn't answering,  so I went from bathroom to her room to ask why she wasn't answering me only to find her room empty and so I looked out to see her car had gone!  I messaged her to see where she was and she replied saying that she swapped her day off so that she was home with Soph and Paul for my birthday, bless her ❤️.   I absolutely hate getting down the stairs when I am here on my own,  so I put it off for an hour or so doing a few jobs upstairs,  then I went to sit on the bed to get my breath back before attempting those stairs and must have fallen asleep,  I woke up at about 11.20am.  I had a bit of a rough night so I guess I needed it,  although I never sleep in the day time usually.   I did consider waiting upstairs until Paul came home at 2.30 ish, but I had finished my water bottle and was a bit hungry,  so I just had to go for it,  my method is to hold on bannister with both hands, go down about 3 steps then lean back put my bum on the stair and go down like that.               I got down had some 'brunch' and sat at my desk, before I knew it Paul was home,  he was later than usual so good job I didn't wait upstairs!  I felt tired all day, which was so different to Monday morning when I woke up with a 'spring in my step'!!  

Look at that lovely artwork,  the sentiment goes without saying, especially as Mum's when we usually put ourselves last.  😘

I made this little journal page yesterday afternoon,  I used Stamperia Secret Diary collection for this page,  I used rice paper in the background with some stamping, I did use some Arden Creative Rub-ons in the background too.  The main focal point was made using the junk journal.  I finished with some white splatters and the very true sentiment 'Nature never goes out of style'.

I hope that you all have a good day and that the change in the weather doesn’t affect you too much. 

Love and hugs,  

Sandra xxx 
 

Dragons Card 2

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

We had a much cooler day yesterday,  quite breezy too,  it makes life a lot more comfortable though,  who knew we'd end up enjoying 'below' average August temperatures 🤣

This is actually a really good reminder,  most of us have no problem having plenty of patience with our loved ones, friends etc.  But when it comes to having patience with ourselves its a different matter.   This blooming CPAP machine is a prime example,  I feel pressure as the team that supply the machine monitor your progress wirelessly. Which is making me get so frustrated with myself,  I just don't think it's going to work out.  I am kind of 'ok' with the mask but as soon as the air comes on I go into a full panic,  which makes the situation worse because you need to take steady breathes,  to me the forced air is what stops me being able to breathe,  I have tried so many different methods of distraction but its still not working.  I end up getting upset and angry with myself.  I have no patience left in this situation 😔

For this card I used the 6 x 8 inch paper pad from TEXT{ures} by Lou Collins, its called Dragonfly Dreams,   I trimmed a piece of the paper to fit my card base with a narrow black mat, the papers have so much detail you don't need to embellish them at all really.  I simply fussy cut a dragonfly to add to the page, I added foam pads to raise it up away from the background,  a sentiment and some irredescent gems finish the card. 

I hope that you all have a lovely day, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

A Clean & Simple 'Wings' card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you all had a lovely weekend and that you are rested and ready to start a new week 😀 

We had a lovely relaxing Sunday, well I certainly did, I think Paul did some work down the allotment area,  so I think he wasn't as chilled as I was, although he ended the afternoon falling asleep while reading his book on the deck 😴

A very true reminder,  it may seem like you are ready to get back to normal activities, (speaking from experience) however a day or two later you become very aware that you didn't give yourself long enough to recover.   Your body can do amazing things, if you take time to heal, be it physically or mentally xxx

Today I am sharing a Clean & Simple style that I made yesterday,  using an oval stripe die and a couple of tiny Dragonflies.

This is the old bit of background made using the faux batik technique,  basically tissue paper, screwed up and adhered to a piece of card. I have run this one an embossing folder for a bit more texture.  I did add some gilding wax to highlight the texture.  

I used the oval die to create that aperture in the centre of the card,  positioned the coloured card behind the aperture and adhered to the base card,  I added foam pads under that top layer and positioned it over that background.  I die cut the two dragonflies out of the same background and positioned them opposite each other.   The sentiment die embosses the 'Happy Birthday ' into the card that you used for the background.  I finished the sentiment strip with a little die cut bow, topped it with a tiny silver gem.  

I hope that you all have a lovely Monday,

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

Our Makes this week ...

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,  

We had the best day out yesterday,   we decided to go to a 'Pick Your Own' Farm,  found one nearby, well its 16 Miles from us,  we drove through some beautiful Cotswold countryside,  as we got near the farm we went through a gated area with cattle grids, we opened gate drove down the road and OMG, we were treated to the most spectacular views, you could see for miles in every direction,   the road was super narrow with passing places so we didn't get to pull over to take photos, so I found one online....

The area is called 'The cotswold way ' its just incredible (even though it wasn't as green as it is in these photos) 

Let's look at what Karen and Sonia have made this week....

Sonia 

Sonia's Description:  

Didn’t get anything Christmassy finished, so as I’ve started making tags, thought this one fits with the mini challenge.

I’ve used papers and ephemera I created on ChaptGPT 😊

Oh Sonia what stunning, vintage style papers you have created,  the combination of Lace, script and floral is always a winner, the addition of the butterflies really elevates it.  You must be so happy with how they came out.  The tags you have made with your design are amazing.  

Thank you so much for sharing your latest design with us XXX 

Karen 

Karen's Description: 

I made this background before we went away using a Sizzix layering stencil - Mozaic Flowers with Tumbled Glass, Shaded Lilac, Cracked Pistachio and Peacock Feathers DO Added SueW NOEL die cut.

Karen that colour combination is gorgeous,  isn't it brilliant when you create a combination of inks that really works. It's also great when we get to use an old die, the new colourway and background gives that old die a new lease of life.  

Thank you so much for sharing your latest card with us XXX 

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I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday,  

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Happy Saturday Ladies,

 Good Saturday Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you have all had a good week and are relaxed and ready for weekend.  

I had a follow up CPAP appointment,  I explained the problems I was having with Claustrophobia and wearing the mask, we have left it that I will continue with desensitising methods and will have another appointment in 4 weeks.  He did say I could call the Warwick Hospital and ask them to put me back on the list for Hernia surgery,  although I'm not sure why I couldn't have stayed on list anyway as they don't don't anything different during surgery, they just monitor you more carefully,  watching for when you stop breathing.  I think that makes me more terrified of having surgery.  I think sometimes you are better off not knowing!!   The chap did say that using CPAP could help revovery , so we'll see. 

Gorgeous artwork and lovely reminder ❤️ 

Another fantastic post box topper in Witney, how brilliant is the sand castle and bucket & spade!!  I think it's a shame that there isn't a little ticket saying who makes them.   You can't even ask in Post Office (behind) as its now a restaurant 🙄 

I am so glad that our Gina allowed me to share this hilarious photo of her taking advantage of the 'photo opportunity ' in her local garden centre!   You look like you are so much fun to spend time with my lovely,  I hope I get the chance to sometime soon 🤣😂😍

I hope that you all have a lovely day , 

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

Mini Challenge

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,  

We had RAIN !!!!  Soph and I popped out to the very posh  Burford garden centre,  which we generally visit just for the lovely experience,  they sell divine cakes and pastries, which makes the trip even better as we always come home with some delicious treats.  

This reminder goes without saying, I am not only 'Happy' that you are here, I am so GRATEFUL!  

Lilian, I hope that you aren't too sore after your clip/stitch removal yesterday and that you can now get on and make a speedy recovery xxx

Sonia,  I hope that you aren't too sore after your laser treatment yesterday,   hopefully you are well on the way to feeling the benefits my lovely xxx

Brenda, I hope that you are recovering from your worrying episode last weekend. xxx

Today's journal page I made yesterday using my Arden Creative Laurel Grove collection,  I stamped the background then added some Lindys Gang powders to give a pop of colour to the background.  The focal point I made using a tag from the paper pad and a couple of the die cuts.  The main point of this journal page is the butterfly......

Because I want to have a 'Mini Challenge' the theme is WINGS 🪽 

So Butterflies 🦋  Bees 🐝 Bird 🐦 Dragonfly, Angels, Fairies  🧚‍♀️ Dragon 🐲 Bats, Aeroplane ✈️ 

I think it covers most occasions too,  Birds could be robins for Christmas,  Angels also work for Christmas.  Bats for Halloween.  Butterflies for any occasion etc. 

I will keep this a short challenge as I am planning a TicTacToe 

I hope that you all have a great day, 

Love & hugs 

Sandra xxx 

Maybe my last Christmas card for now..

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

We had a very cloudy, 'muggy' kind of day yesterday,  the temperature was around 23° but my goodness it felt warmer because of the humidity I think,   it tried to rain at around 4pm but didn't last 3 minutes,  it was forecast to rain all day, never mind maybe it will rain today.   We didn't do very much, popped to witney to get a few bits and had lunch,  then home.  

I love the artwork more than the sentiment,  of course you are all very capable,   it's something I often doubt, I'm sure you all do at times!  

I put this card together yesterday afternoon, using my Lou Collins Christmas Cheer paper pad and a piece of music sheet behind.  The sentiments are also dies from the same Lou Collins Collection.

I want to change the challenge but unsure what to change it to...any preferences?

Lilian I hope that your appointment goes well today,  I dreaded having the clips taken out of my hip reconstruction scar, there were so many,  luckily the area was numb so it wasn't painful at all,  the skin is still numb today.                                     I am hoping that you will be more comfortable after having clips and stitches removed my lovely XXX 

Karen you should be so proud of yourself going down the slide no matter the size, I bet the boys loved to see you having a go, did Alan have a go?  I could never workout how Paul always came out feet first and just stood up, no matter how i tried to stay sat up and facing forward, I came out backwards, disorientated with a boob almost on show!!! 🤣😂  Enjoy the rest if your week my lovely XXX 

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx