Lets look at our makes this week

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,  

I hope you were all blessed with the beautiful weather that we had yesterday,   we had lunch out on the deck but I had to come inside out of the heat for a while, so I am writing this post  while cooling off.   

Today's reminder couldn't have been more true for me yesterday,   I had the worst night (Friday night to Saturday Morning)  I was sat on the edge of the bed in tears at one point as I just couldn't sleep,  the more frustrated I got the worse I felt, I was itching all over, so consequently I was covered in scratch marks,  I had the worst headache, just from exhaustion I think,  so believe me yesterday I had to do a little and keep taking breaks.  Fingers crossed for a better day today. 

Let's look at your makes....

Karen 

Karen's Description:  

Card 1:  

My first attempt with new stencil and die

I used DO

Spun Sugar

Kitsch Flamingo 

Picked Raspberry 

Seedless Preserve

And cut the die in CE glossy black

Trimmed stencil down and matted onto a piece of inked Picked Raspberry card

Die comes with Have a Wonderful Day sentiment but leaving it blank for now

At a push I think it could be used as a Sympathy card too.

Card 2:

For the mini challenge 

Because I print a lot of items I have a lot of white card in my bit box But I found this piece of leftover “fire/ice” I made donkeys years ago Can’t tell how I created it I’ve forgotten🤦🏼‍♀️

A JL butterfly cut in vellum and white

The sentiment is die cut from my new Belle of the Ball set

Doesn’t photograph very well but there’s quite a bit of gilding flakes caught in the acetate x

Two amazing cards Karen,  sorry I forgot to show your new Stencil and die yesterday!  The card you made with it is stunning,  I love that little black edging that the die cut gives,  it sets the whole thing off.

Your little section of 'Fire & Ice' background has made a lovely card, the colours and inclusions you used are beautiful,  isn't it a pain when we can't remember what we used,  I wonder if I go nack through the blick archives I'd find it ?? 

That thin strip is just the perfect size and the mat you used works great at highlighting the colours in the strip too. I REALLY love that sentiment!  

Thank you so much my lovely for two Incredible cards XXX

Lilian 

Lilian's Description: 

Hello, hope all well with you and family.

Here is my challenge piece for this week.

Used the quote “ cat lovers” for inspiration this week.

Bought the cat papers from Sandy rose digital art.

I managed to get some to open, but others no joy with.

The other bits are from Stamperia . Can’t remember where the little wooden birds came from.

Wow Lilian I love your double page journal spread,  being a 'cat lover'  I can really appreciate this one,  Sandy Rose has created some beautiful designs,  those cats are magnificent!  I love the embellishments and background you have created.

Thank you so much for taking part and sharing your lovely challenge piece.  XXX 

Maria 

Maria's Description:

Here are my cards 

One is a very sort of quick card, well it only took 2 hours so a quick one for me it was 😂. I forgot totally making a card for my dear husband until the afternoon before, I know very bad or what but you said that the month was going fast 😊

Luckily I had this pack for men by Honkydory so it had to be a couple of hearts with things he likes, like holidays, walks and photography taking and of course football 🤭😊. 

I had this background in the draw of off cuts.

  I had played with leafs from the garden that had fallen off in the autumn and used some Momento Inks to colour them up and then stamped them onto the card. A villa, looks Italian and a few words finish the card off. 😊

Two lovely makes Maria, I bet Rick loved his birthday card, you certainly covered all of his interests!  Some times the quick ones are the best 😉

Your leaf background is beautiful, it looks like you have stamped it,  that villa is gorgeous,  I want to move right in ! 🤣  It looks like the ones near where we stay in Spain,  your little sentiments match perfectly too.

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

I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday,  

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

Ooh I hope the lovely weather we had yesterday lasts through the weekend,  the sun was that hot that my face got slightly pink while I waited for Paul while he ran onto Sainsburys,  he was only about 10 minutes and I have factor 50 in my face cream!  I was shivering yesterday 🤣😂

I was a little frustrated yesterday as I had to turn down a date for my Hernia surgery,  the lovely lady called from Warwick Hospital,  offering my dates for mid May,  frustratingly it would only be 4 weeks before we go on holiday,  at first she said that I'd probably be ok after 4 weeks but thinking about it sensibly I don't think a wound on my abdomen would be sufficiently healed for me to go in the sea/ pool etc,  I just think I wouldn't enjoy the holiday as much if I couldn't swim,  I have to use my crutches on the beach too, I use my abdominal muscles to move my leg as I have no hip muscles on the right side.  She did say not to worry, they would call me again in beginning of July, so wouldn't have to wait too much longer.  

Love this reminder,  you are all incredibly important ❤️ 

Maria

Oh Maria this has to be your most adorable Crystal Art you have done so far,  that mischievous look on those little Westies faces remind me of Boo !! 

Thank you so much for sharing it with us XXX 

I hope that you all have a great Saturday, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx

A Bit box journal page

Good Friday Morning Ladies,  

Well what another beautiful day we had yesterday,  I did make the mistake of going out at 9am in a t-shirt though,  it was very chilly out of the sun!  

I set up the sleep study equipment as per the instructions,  I found the nasal cannula very frustrating,   I was also concerned that the little monitor box that you strap across your chest had no lights, nothing on the display,  it looked like it wasn't charged or switched on,  but the instructions that come with the equipment tell you not to press any buttons,  I had a lousy night sleep,  weirdly I kept having dreams about going back to the hospital and finding it hadn't work and having to syay in hospital to have a sleep study!  I was up and down with uti and eventually got up at 6am and took everything off and filled in the paperwork.   When we got to the hospital I just mentioned to the receptionist that I was concerned that it hadn't worked, she called through to 'Respitory' and a chap came out,  he explained that he was with a patient,  but said he'd take the device and download the data and let us know if it worked,   we went for a coffee and when we got back he came out carrying the little blue case, my heart sank,  he said that only part of the data had recorded, but luckily he had a spare machine  that he had programmed for two nights just to be safe 🙄, we can return over the weekend or by monday latest,  so lets see if it worked this time! Fingers crossed 🤞 

I love todays reminder,  although the illustration had me confused, it looked to me like her reflection in the mirror had her top pulled down to her abdomen!!  But looking closer its her arms 😂🤣

Today's journal page was made using a Gelli plate background I made during a Tracey Evans workshop a good while ago.  I added some black ink splatters,  then I die cut some of my new Tim Holtz Artsy Stems to add to the background,  I added little dabs of  Fossilised Amber to the tips of the flowers, to tie in with the colours in the background.  I finished with some white splatters and a fun sentiment "I've got it all together,  but I forget where I put it"!! 🤣😂

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

A card from an Alcohol ink background

 

Good Morning my lovelies, 

Well yesterday's appointment turned out to be a bit of an adventure,   we followed the directions (postcode) that was in the 'pick up and drop off sleep study equipment " box,  which took us to Warwick Hospital,  which made sense as they were the ones that requested the study and called me to organise it.  We arrived in plenty of time, Lucy came with us in case there was no parking like the last time we went there.  However we drove in and got a space straight away,  so we all went to the outpatients reception as directed,  but the receptionist said she didn't have me on her list,  I gave her the letter, she looked on her computer and said 'ahh you are supposed to be at Stratford Hospital Diagnostic centre',  we said that it didn't say that on the letter,  she just said there's been a mix up 🙄.   So we set off for Stratford-upon-Avon Hospital,  which took about 20 minutes, I had phoned ahead and explained,   when we got there the man that we saw was so lovely,   he apologised for the mix up and explained how to use the equipment,  it's basically a nasal cannula,  a chest strap with monitor, a waist strap and one of those pulse/oxygen things that goes on your finger.  I hope it all stays in place!   It won't be helped by the fact that I have ANOTHER uti so will be up at least 3 times in the night. 

Now  today's reminder is something I really do have a problem with,  I will do everything I can to not stay No, mostly because I feel so incredibly guilty refusing any one help,  even it's to me own detriment.  How about you ladies?  

Today's card comes from my bit box...

This is the one I used, its an alcohol ink background. 

I used my new Tim Holtz Leafy twigs die to cut a piece of white card, I laid this over my alcohol ink background, using my fine tip glue press to add tiny blobs of glue on the leafy parts. 

I took this photo to show off the shimmer from the silver mixative that I added to the alcohol ink/blending solution mix.

I cut a frame to neaten the edges of the die cut, to finish the card I added a butterfly and a small sentiment.  

I hope that you all have a lovely day, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

A little mini Challenge

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies  

We had a lovely sunny day yesterday,  it was chilly in the wind though.  Lucy treated me to brunch at our favourite little place,  then we had a browse around M & S,  ours isn't very big, it's clothes style has really changed though,  we looked around for nice t shirts for when it turns warmer,  I would say the majority of the ones they had were 'cropped ' t shirts,  how many 50+ women wear cropped t-shirts,  it's probably ok if you are petite,  I'd struggle to get them past my boobs 🙄🤣  i really would like to support local shops so we don't lose more shops from town but they need to maybe cater to the demographic, I'm pretty sure that the population that shop in Witney are 60+.  It's hardly a trendy town.  

A great reminder today, you really do need the patience of a Saint sometimes, I struggle with it if I'm honest, especially when it prevents me from doing something I really want to do.   There is no point stressing and getting frustrated,  if you rush it you'll end up being having to spend longer healing. 

Now I am not changing the challenge fully but I saw this quote while looking for Saturday quotes and thought it would a great little challenge for us to have a go at.  

These are just some of the pieces of inking, gelli plate backgrounds,  alcohol ink experiments I have in my scrap/ bit box.  Hopefully I can make something with a couple of these backgrounds 

If you don't have any then feel free to carry on with the Aall&Create challenge.  

I hope that you all have a good Wednesday,  

Love and hugs to all of you,  

Sandra xxx 

Birdsong & Blossom

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

It was a lovely day here yesterday,  although I didn't gp outside,  my legs, particularly knees are too sore after the gardening I did yesterday,   I cannot tell you how frustrating it is,  I knew it was coming as the weight of our super light duvet was too much, I ended up putting my dressing gown on for warmth and then just had the sheet over my legs,  it's at these times and when its hot that I am glad I am old fashioned and have a top sheet under the duvet,  the girls don't, I couldn't bare having the duvet on me.  Do you use top sheet?  Mine has to be 100% cotton and white 🤣

Haha  it's this one again,  sadly my growth is the wrong kind !! 🤣😂

Today I am sharing a journal page that I started on Friday,  I saw VickyP’s version of this on Instagram  and loved it,  I have three Maremi's Illustrations books 

This is one of the them, they have beautiful images inside to fussy cut etc,   I have one that had lace and music score sheets for backgrounds too.   I used torn pieces of this for the background,   then added some Salvaged Patina paint across the page,  I took a stencil and embossing paste for some texture and interest,   some stamping and a few black splatters complete the background.  I fussy cut the bird and branch and added that across the page and added a little apple blossom on the end of the branch.  I added some scribbles with fine tip black and white pens and then finished with splatters and a sentiment that I printed on my mini printer. 

I hope you all have a great day, 

Love and hugs to all of you,  

Sandra xxx

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

Welcome to the start of a new week,  what have you all got planned? I have to go to Warwick Hospital on Wednesday to pick up my 'Sleep Study' equipment,  then we have to return it on Thursday morning before 12pm.  Fingers crossed it comes back ok as I really don't think I could use a C-pap machine due to my claustrophobia, we'll just have to wait and cross that bridge when we get to it. 

We had a lovely and very busy day in the garden,  I put some alpines in that we bought a couple of weeks ago,  I potted on some Cauliflowers,  then prepared pots and planted some of my new dahlias, we need some more soil though,  Paul was super busy finishing off the lawns,  trimming bushes and hedges and putting in his new Raspberry plants.  We were both really ready for a cuppa and a biscuit at 5pm!  

Another great reminder,  recovery from mental,  physical or emotional pain can take a lot longer than anyone can imagine.  It's something that needs to be slow & steady and at your own pace. 

Today's card I made last week and thoroughly enjoyed the whole process,   I started by stamping my TH Floral Trim stamp in Black Archival ink on watercolour card,  i heat embossed it to make colouring easier.  To colour the card I used Distress Mica Stains, I popped a little into a palette and used my paintbrush dipped in water,  before adding any colour I wet each flower and then gently dotted the volour at the base of each petal allowing the ink to flow up the petal, adding a little more colour as necessary.  Now i must add that I am very much a novice when it comes to watercolour,  however I really do love it.  I coloured the leaves in the same way, I got some fresh water and a clean brush, added a wash of water over the rest of the card and then added a light wash of blue.  The mica is very subtle, you need to turn it to the light to catch it,  I prefer it that way.  To finish the painting I added a little Harvest Moon Mica stain to the flower centres.  

I was undecided when it came to matting and layering, I decided to go for Kraft card and then onto a white card base.  A simple sentiment that allows most of the floral trim to shine and that's it finished.  I really,  really enjoyed getting lost in colouring this one. 

I hope that you all have a lovely week, 

My love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx