Throwback floral Friday

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

Thank goodness it's Friday,   with Paul being super busy at work and Lucy and I doing wedding invitations etc I feel like I have hardly seen Paul this week.  So everything can go to one side until Monday and I plan to do nothing wedding orientated until Monday. 

Yesterday was really busy, after very little sleep and feeling fragile because of Uti symptoms, a full day wedding shopping with 5 women was exhausting, they did get some ideas of styles and the shop had the perfect shade of Green and Champagne Dresses , they didn't have styles that everyone liked, Soph & Lucy looked stunning in any dress they tried on, they didn't love the cowl neckline that most of them seemed to have, so I think that they have decided to order their dresses online, frustratingly that seems more of a headache as you have the sizing issues, but fingers crossed they can all get what they need. After hours dress shopping we went to Hobbycraft for more invitation supplies. We got home and I crashed out.  

Today I am sharing another simple floral card from last year,  fingers crossed normal services will resume on Monday (with new cards)

Here is how I made it ...

its a 'Pinspiration' card, I loved the simplicity of the one flower, which is a stamp from a set I've had for years called 'Tasteful Textures'.  I stamped the flower and cut it out and popped it onto a black mat that was 1/4 inch bigger, now came the tricky part ...working out exactly where to score the rectangle onto the card front to frame the focal piece, I did work it out after the second attempt though, it was worth the extra work though, as it finishes off the look really neatly.  Thank heavens for clear stamps and stamp platforms too, otherwise that sentiment would never have happened!! 🤣  I really liked how it turned out

Have a great Friday my lovelies,  

Love & hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx 

Pretty daisy throwback card

Good Morning Ladies, 

Well yesterday was a blur,  I wasn't looking forward to sitting and making 80 invitations,  it was so monotonous,  measuring scoring & folding the same thing over and over.  I did manage to re-jig the measurements and add the shaped 'flap' all on to one piece of card, I wanted a shaped edge which was going to mean another 160 die cuts,  so that felt like a win.  Becca came to help out too,  so we set her on making the wax seals,  Lucy wss letterpress printing the invitation while I was creating the wallet part of the invitation.  

We called it a day at around 7pm and then we needed to think about eating,  I had no energy, mentally or physically,  so we ended up having quesadillas and salad.  I was then ready for bed!  I got into bed and must have fallen asleep straight away,  but that didn't last long as a short time later I woke with an overwhelming urge to pee,  yes you guessed it the Uti symptoms are back.  I got about 90 minutes sleep total and had to be up early this morning as we are Bridesmaid dress shopping as we speak !! 

Sorry for the late post x

Here are the details for todays 'Throwback' card from April last year...

I used Dutch Doobadoo stencil 'Hessian ' I believe, with some Mowed Lawn DO, I varied the amount of pressure so that the ink was lighter in some places. I matted my background onto a SU Polished Pink' mat and then onto a white card base.

To make the flowers I took some off cuts of a watercolour card and die cut the flower from Tim Holtz Wildflower die set, I used the Mowed Lawn again, smooshing it into a into a non stick sheet, spritzed with water and dipped and dried a few layers onto my flower stalk, building up the colour while trying to keep the watercolour look.

I smooshed Kitch Flamingo and Picked Raspberry DO's into my mat and spritzed, a did a few layers but wanted more of a textured look, the Kitsch Flamingo and Picked Raspberry seemed to just blend together, so I remembered that I did a project a while back where I combined Distress Ink with Distress Oxide, so I got my Picked Raspberry Distress Ink and smooshed that onto my mat and spritzed it, I wanted to try and pick up the tiny little dots of ink that you get when you use non stick mat, (it doesn't create dots on glass mats). I made sure my flowers were dry and then ever so gently lowered them down onto those pretty pink dots, i barely let the flower touch the ink, I quickly dried them to fix those dots before they disappeared, I dip another dip and then stopped. The flower centres are made using the original Flower Soft' I have had it since it was first shown on C&C easily 12+ years ago! I quite like the texture it gives it does look quite realistic. 

I fiddled around until I was happy with the position of the flowers and then glued them down, I stamped a quick Tim Holtz sentiment, which worked well with the flowers! I am really pleased with how it turned out, especially the flowers! 

I hope you all have a good day, 

Love & hugs to all  

Sandra xxx 

Pretty Bouquet card

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

We are in wedding invitation production line mode here at the moment,  it was so monotonous cutting and scoring the pieces of card to exactly the same size over and over again.  I was doing the inside pocket for most of the afternoon,  I have decided to use double sided tape to adhere the pocket,  when I tried my usual glue it ended up oozing out onto the visible part of the invitation, because its dark green card the glue mark was super visible. It will be a bit more time consuming but will look better.  I will be doing the actual main body of the invitation today. 

It was quite a nice change to make an actual card,  I used a new die set and embossing folder for this card.  The folder is called 'Floral & Vine' and the stamp set is called 'Sealed Wildflowers', both Spellbinders. 

I created a 4 1/4 X 5 1/2 card base, then embossed a panel of the same card 1/4 inch smaller and then adhered this to card base.  Next I die cut the flowers and foliage from different coloured card, adhered the flowers to the stems and arranged them into a bouquet and adhered them to a circle of white card.  I stamped the sentiment and die cut and added foam pads and placed it onto the bouquet.  This circular piece had foam pads added and placed onto the card base.                                                            I quite like these flowers 💐 

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love & hugs to all,

Sandra xxx 

Birthday Wishes

 Good Morning Ladies, 

Ooh it was lovely to see sunshine and no ice this morning,  it felt warmer too, I wasn't shivering when I got out of bed. 🤣

Today I am sharing a card I made on Friday, I love the combination of Orchid Oasis Mango Melody works so well on this card.  The heart frame with the orchid oasis showing through adds some lovely detail to the card.  I finished the card with the stamped sentiment and those tiny die cut butterflies  🦋. 

I hope that you all have a good day,

Love & hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

A simple spotlight

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

Here we are at the start of a new week, hopefully a little bit warmer than last week.  We are starting wedding invitation production this week,  I can't say I'm excited about the thought of all that repetition!  But hopefully the result will bring happiness 😊 

Today's card was an experiment,  I tried a new colour combination: Dried Marigold & Milled Lavender Distress Oxide, its a lovely combination,  it made like a peachy pink where blended together.  I used a circle stencil to blend the circle onto my background,  I let it dry before stamping the flower from the 'Spotlight on Nature' stamp set,  I dusted with anti static before stampin the flower just in case,  as soon as I stamped I added clear embossing powder, Oxide inks cause black ink to go dull,  adding clear embossing brings the intense black back.  It has a lovely shine too. 

You can see the shine here!  

I picked a similar coloured card to create the card base, I stamped the sentiment the sentiment in the bottom corner and finish off with some resin dots. 

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

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx 

Sunday look at what we made this week

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

Fingers crossed that today might be warmer,  it was -7 until about 10am yesterday.  We drove through Bourton on Water and it looked so strange seeing the 'mist' floating above the water almost like it was steam as the water was warmer from the air.  It was so incredibly busy there too,  the cold didn't put the tourists off!! 

Maria I hope that your journey was smooth and the scenery is as beautiful as you remember xx

Sonia I bet your Dad loved the card you made for him,  it's so much nicer to receive hand made cards, although I think only another crafter truly understands the true value of a handmade card, enjoy your weekend off my lovely xx

Karen, welcome home,  you have been missed,  I can't wait to hear all about your holiday,  I bet your fingers are itching to craft ! xx

Lilian I can't wait to see your 'sewn' detail on your cards, Paul got my machine down weeks ago bit I haven't even got it out of the bag yet.  xx

Let's look at what you have been making......

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi, here is my card for this week.

Used Tim Holtz stamps and my zig water colour pens. Some of which are drying up, must use them more. Not sure where the stencil came from, I think it was a magazine freebie. I used one of Tracy’s 3x3 squares.

Such a beautiful card Lilian,  the colours in the background work so well with your main image,  your colouring is amazing as always,   the flowers are beautiful and I love the shading on the vase, it makes it look 3D.

Thank you so much for sharing your lovely card XXX 

Maria

Maria's Description:

I made this yellow and orange card. Thinking that yellow always makes you feel happier. The happy birthday die came this morning in the post from kokorossa, think it was them anyway 🤭 så that was lucky so I could finish it off 😊

You are so right my lovely,   yellow is a colour that instantly brightens your day!  I love that floral background die you have used!  The little ted centres really make the flowers pop.  Adding the black layer under your sentiment helps to lift it off the background,  it looks like one of those 'eclipse' cards  

Thank you so much for another lovely card, I hope that you have arrived safely at your hotel and that you enjoy every minute XXX

Sonia

Sonia used a new die that she received fron Temu to create this gorgeous card.  It is exactly 'Simple Floral ' card, I love the combination of colours you have uses and those tiny resin dots highlight those pretty little flowers perfectly.  

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

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Enjoy your Sunday my lovelies,   I hope that you all manage to stay warm & cosy x

Love and Hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx 

Creative Stamping Magazine Review

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

Oh my goodness I cannot be coping with this level of Cold 🥶.  Paul must have thought that I had lost the plot on Thursday night in bed, I was so cold (full on shivering) that after about an hour of shivering I was so cold down to my bones I was in tears,  I was virtually welded to Paul physically,  my feet were entwined in his legs and he was full on hugging me to share his lovely toasty body heat, but it seemed to make no difference, now whether its because of my long term blood loss or just the extra body ache that the cold brings to anyone with constant bone pain I have no idea,  but last night I went to bed in layers, with the heated blanket on before bed and the hot water bottle, I will let you know later. 

Maria I know the scenery in Zell am See is stunning, I mean I would love to see Austria,  but I would want to go in the sunshine and warm weather.  I know that you & Rick love the snow abd your photos have been stunning in the past,  I would definitely say its your 'Happy Place ' !!  I hope that you both have an amazing time, I can't wait to see this year's photos and hear all about your holiday.  I hoped you remembered your thermal drawers!! 🤣😂

It's never a good idea to be left alone in the magazine aisle,  did I need a magazine?  No i didn't but as with all craft stash,  we never need it, but its nice to have,  so I thought I'd share it with my lovely friends.....

Creative Stamping issue 143

This first issue of 2025 has some lovely floral stamps, some Spring flowers, plus a lovely Magnolia (I think) from Stamps by Me.  

The first feature has Sarah Phelan sharing ideas for Lattice cards,  we did these asca tutorial last year, they look really effective,  especially with the flowers and leaves woven through the lattice.

I mentioned that metallic/foiling would be a trend this year and here it is featured, Laura Murcott shares different ways of adding foiling to your cards,  there are lots of options from double sided tape, the heat up bonding powder that get tacky when you heat them, even glue pens will work. You just need to make sure you have the right kind of foil.  Some are heat activated, some need images printed with toner,  you could just use gilding flakes too. 

Some fab fun folds made using the free downloadable papers.  

Some lovely gifting ideas, using the free stamps and papers.  I like the chocolate bar box and  the Pocket Gift tag, which would be great for gifting seeds 

Now Mark Making is something I haven't really heard of.  Its apparently the oldest form of art and something that people have been doing for many years!  You can use anything from Bubblewrap to Vegetables. Things that inspire you in nature,  you have to go right back to basics and leave any idea of perfect stamping at the door!!  It's all about having fun and enjoying the creativity.

Glenda Hall shares different ways of getting the watercolour effect.  For istance get those watercolour markers out and use them to colour your stamped images, then spritz with water, the harder you press down the more the ink will spread.  Now if you use a stamp platform and replace the watercolour background back in place (after drying) you can then ink the stamp with black ink and add the detail back over the watercolouring.  

Stamping on vellum and then adding colour on the reverse gives a much softer effect, just go careful when heat embossing on vellum it sets very quickly

Julia Dawson shares different ways to add highlights and spotlight to your cards, each card has a different effect, all lovely 😍 

All in all there are some great techniques,  great inspiration at a time of year when we all need a bit of a boost.  The stamps are all very usable too. 

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I hope that you all have a super Saturday,  

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx