A look back at our crafts this week

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you are all enjoying a relaxed weekend,  we are making good progress with our lists!  Still plenty to do though,  Paul wants the car packed by tonight.  

Love this reminder,  great artwork too x

Let's look at your makes....

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hello, here is my challenge piece for this week. Hot chocolate is the theme.

These are the papers I made with help from chat GPT

Only used some of them need some more practice at getting the scale correct, still quite pleased for first time.

Lilian I can't tell you how happy I am that you had such amazing results using Sonia's tutorial.  

Your page is perfect, I love all the details that you have added, I could just drink that right now,  it looks delicious 😋 

Thank you so much for sharing your amazing page with us XXX 

Karen 

Karen's Description:

Number 22 and 23 in the challenge 

22 Winter My piece of bubble art with Tim Holtz snowflake die cuts - I didn’t want anything Christmassy 

23 Cocktails 

My ChatGPT that I edged with Black Soot DO Wish I hadn’t done white splats (but it’s my art🤣) A Sizzix die cut to finish

Karen your bubble art piece is brilliant and works so well with the snowy theme.  I can't believe how much detail you got from the bubbles, the colours are lovely too. 

Your background is fantastic,  I love how you have included all of the 'botanicals & fruit in the background with the cocktails.   Your finished piece is perfect.  Those olives at the bottom look like u

You could pick them off the page and eat them. 

Thank you so much for 2 very inspirational pieces, this challenge has encouraged you to try so many different techniques,  which is amazing XXX

Sonia 

Sonia's Description:

Hi lovely 

Here is my journal page. Theme is Nature from the AALL&Create challenge.

I used background card, and all elements from Stamperia ‘All Around’ collection, from the Maxi Pad and Junk Journal Focus Points. I inked all edges with Vintage Photo distress ink. 

I’m really pleased how it turned out 😊

You should 100% be pleased with your 'All-round ' journal page,  its stunning,  look at all that incredible detail, I love the bird perching on the tag and the little ladybirds.  

Thank you so much for such a lovely journal page XXX 

Thank you ladies, I really appreciate your     support ❤️

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, 

What are you all up to this weekend?  We are busy doing holiday prep,  making lists, packing what bits we can.  

I have to do:

Medical bag, which has all of my medication,  plus the usual bits you take on holiday,  I have always taken Anthisan for insect bites and a pen that is pure ammonia I think, it works great for getting relief from mosquito bites etc.  Both of these things are purely because my Mum used to take the same when we were children,(not that they ever went abroad).  Then I always take Imodium, paracetamol, Ibuprofen and a medical kit that has all plasters, dressings etc. Oh and a tiny pot of Sudocrem. 

Overnight Bag, which has everything we need for three days on the road.  I have a bag that I put toiletries etc in and enough medication for those 3 days. 

Then we have clothes,  Paul and I share a big holdall, Paul would be happy with a carrier bag though 🤣😂.  

We take some food basics, cereal etc as the supermarkets in Spain (where we go) have mostly naff cereals like Coco pops,  all very sweet!   We also take a couple of decent knives, jug, good frying pan (as theirs are rubbish), chopping board as they only have wood ones and it freaks me out that people could have chopped raw meat on it as it's the only one,  since lockdown/covid we have taken our own cutlery etc too. 

The rest is down to Paul to remember! 

As I have said before,  I do leave it until last resort to ask someone else for help,  we all have our weaknesses,  mine is 100% feeling like I'm a burden, now I know my family would say I am being silly,  however that doesn't stop me from feeling that way.  An example : Soph was really struggling to get the wheelchair into her car because Lucy was coming with us to Bladder Clinic because we were going straight to hairdressers after,  I just wanted to tell her to leave the wheelchair,  I'd manage somehow,  but with Lucy's assistance she got it on.  I just felt terrible 😪.   10 minutes down the road it was all forgotten about. 

Witney Pride Post Box Topper

I'm not sure who creates these incredible creations,  they must be constantly knitting or crocheting,  the details are amazing,  those darling hedgehogs are my favourite,  they even include bunting, pride flags and lots of rainbows. 🤩

Then Soph and I went somewhere different for brunch last week and they had different knitted ir crocheted flowers on each table....

Our table had lavender and a tulip, there were so many different ones on different tables,  I couldn't photograph them as people were sitting at them. 

Then there was a table with pastries for sale and they had these lovely Sunflowers and Daffodils. 

I hope that you all have a lovely Saturday,  

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra xxx 

An oldie for Friday

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,  

A busy day today,  got lots of pre-holiday preparations to do,  we lost the whole day yesterday,  leaving at 10.30am to go to bladder clinic,  we popped into Tesco for a few bits and a toasted ham & cheese sandwich and a pot of tea,  Tesco café make the best toasties!  I sipped at the tea, it's a tricky one as I have to hold the infusion in my bladder for 3 hours!  Not drinking goes against my bladder health,  I am hoping and praying that this installation doesn't cause a flare up,  I am still on Anti Biotics for uti too,  fingers crossed they help.  

Well ladies I'm not sure how I feel about this reminder,   the word 'disorder ' seems an odd word to use. I like the leaves though 🤣😂

Today I am sharing a card that's from around 10 years ago,  I made it using Sue Wilson New York collection,  I believe this one is called 'Union Square'.   I do remember how much we all loved both 'Periwinkle' & 'Coconut White' back then.  Do any of you still have it in your stash?

I love the card,  I don't think that it looks too 'outdated ' That collection were some of the best that she designed.  There wasn't anything else like it back then.  Do any of you still have any of the New York collection?  I do have them somewhere.  

I hope that you all have a great Friday, 

Love & hugs,  

Sandra xxx 

Butterfly on inked background

Good Morning Ladies,  

We were quite lucky yesterday,  we did have a few spots at around 1pm,  it was sunny for rest of day although not particularly warm.  

Busy day here,  bladder clinic this morning and then the girls and I are off for a cut & colour! 

I would say that most of us have gone through or are going through different mental health issues,  whether its dealing with constant pain or loss of a loved one, having to learn to live your life very differently after medical problems,  family fall outs are another thing that can bring mental anguish,  depression looks different for all of us, whatever the reason your recovery is really important and matters a lot ❤️

For todays card I took a piece of card (4 x 5 1/4 inch) and masked off a narrow strip down the right hand side, initially I used three strips,  place the two outer ones first, this will determine the width of your stripe. I used narrow washi tape for mine, using the width of the tape as my guide, I placed the third strip up against one of the outer pieces, then blended Peacock Feathers & Squeezed Lemonade Oxides over the strip,  I then lifted the tape carefully and used it to cover the piece I just inked, I inked the same colours but the opposite way round and blended the two colours in the middle.  

TIP:  If you try and lift your masking or washi tape and feel like it might tear your card waft the heat gun over the tape for a few seconds, this warms the adhesive and makes it easier to lift.

Once the ink is dry, take whatever stamp you want to use, I picked a butterfly from my stash,  I stamped and heat embossed the butterfly and sentiment, matted the piece onto black card and then onto a white card base.  This card was inspired by Ciara Davis

I hope that you all have a great Thursday,  

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

A Different kind of Eclipse card

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you are all as well as can be,  special hugs to anyone that needs one 🤗 

I love this reminder,  we are all different and things can take a lot longer for someone to get over compared another person,  for many different reasons.  I think we just need to be gentle with ourselves 🥰

Today's card is a different 'Eclipse ' card,  with this one the stamped image is stamped on top of the raised area.  Unless you are good at lining stamps up I would say that you need a stamping platform.

 

I stamped the Visible Image flower onto my card, using a stamping platform,  I left the stamp in place in the platform so that I could stamp the image in exactly the same place.  I then cut 27 1/4 inch strips, I think that they are 5 inches long (but you can do whatever size works for your card.  Next step was to glue the strips together in stacks of three.  I arranged them a couple of times over my stamped flower to see which way looked best,  once I was happy I glued the strips into place.  The final step was to put the card into the stamp platform in the same position and stamped the flower again.  

It's like an optical illusion 🤣😂.  The final touches were matting on to black card and then onto my card base. 

I hope that you all have a good day,  

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

A quick Stamperia card

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

Well the weather forecast couldn't have been more wrong, which was frustrating as if I had known it was going to be sunny and breezy I'd have put a load of washing on overnight (Economy 7 😉)  It was lovely to see the sun anyway.  I did put a load on last night so it will tipping it down today.  

This one makes me chuckle,  when I asked Paul if he thought that I was 'enough '  he laughed and told me that I was 'more than' enough!!  Not sure if it was a compliment though🤔🤣😂

Today's card is a quick and simple card,  I layered a piece of Stamperia Daisy Art paper onto a Kraft card mat,  then mounted that onto a white card base.  I layered up the tag, the yellow daisy then popped the Kraft card decorated butterfly on top, a few white splatters to finish,  I will add my sentiment when I come to use it. 

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

Welcome to a New week

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,  

Welcome to the start of a new week,  not the brightest of starts, in fact we have constant rain forecast until Friday!  We were tempted to put the Aga back on yesterday!! It adds extra warmth to the house and is brilliant to dry clothes over, it really throws out some heat.  I resorted to getting my heated throw out last night as I couldn't get warm. 

You are all so incredibly important my lovely friends 🧡 

Today I am sharing a tag that started out a piece of card that I used to clean my stencil on,  I had used the stencil and sprinkled some Lindys Pigment powders over it and spritzed with water,  I did use paper towel to gently press the water into the powders and through the stencil,  the first tap was quite dark, ( i will share that another day)  for this one I spritzed the stencil with water and laid it onto a piece of card, I gently rubbed over the surface with a paper towel to transfer any residual powder,  I was delighted with what I got, so die cut a tag out of it,   then used Arden Creative Laurel Grove die cuts to embellish.  The black detailed areas are rub ons,  Ardens rub ons are great quality!  I added sentiment strips and some similar colour seam binding to finish. 

I hope that you all have a great start to your week, 

Love and hugs,  

Sandra xxx