Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

From a very very wet and windy Gloucestershire,  my goodness did we have rain yesterday,  it just didn't stop, the wind picked up throughout the day too, poor Lucy looked like a drowned rat when she got in from work,  rainy, windy days make for a very long day at the wildlife park!  Her day was measured by how many Sudoku she managed to complete! 🤣

I was sat playing with different Poinsettia dies to try and decide which ones I liked the best,  the jury is still out.  🤔   I was distracted by Christmas shopping and Soph had my sewing velcro into a gift that she has personalised for someone 😉, the trouble was she bought adhesive backed velcro, so my needle really struggled to get through that tough adhesive backing that coated the needle with its stickiness with every pass!  By the time I was done I had no feeling in my thumb and forefinger!  

Whilst making some room in my photo album I cane across these photos that we took when we popped into Witney around Remembrance weekend,   this spectacular Mail Box topper was knitted & crocheted by local ladies,  what blew me away was the level of detail, look at those boots and the neatness of the helmet,  the poppies are beautiful and even featured Purple poppies for the Animals lost in combat too.  

Maria 

How beautiful is Maria's latest Crystal Art, the colours are so incredible,  it must have been so hard with the colours all being so similar. There is something really special about this one Maria, I'm not sure if its the incredible imagery or the way the light hits the piece.  I absolutely love it my lovely.

Thank you so much for sharing such an amazing piece ❤️ 

We may well get the Christmas bits out of the loft this weekend,  (I heard Paul telling the girls yesterday)  It's very early for us but the girls seem to be excited though.  We don't have much else planned,  other than food shop at some point as there was no way I was going out in that wind and rain yesterday. 

I hope that you have a good one, however you are spending it, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Some more Festive Oldies

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you have all had a good week and are looking forward to your first weekend in December,  let's have a 'hands Up' how many of you are putting up your Christmas Tree this weekend??We will probably do ours next weekend.   I am hoping that this will be the last weekend of feeling rubbish with Uti symptoms,   I'm almost too scared to say that I think I can feel an improvement 😬!  I don't want to jinx it.  

We have been trying to plan a couple of days away together but I haven't wanted to go while feeling rough. I feel like we are running out of time before Christmas.  

I have shared some 'Oldie' Christmas cards today, the girls have taken up most of my day this past couple of days, not that I'm complaining,  I love spending time with them, although it was exhausting feeling a little on the delicate side. 🤣

I actually really like these three Christmas cards,  I think the poinsettia one is from 4 years ago, the last two are from 2017 !!! 

I hope that you all have a great day,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx

Stamperia Dewdrops Journal page

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

How is it Thursday already?!   This week has flown by.  

Today's I am 'Reluctantly ' sharing a journal page that I started last week,   the idea was based around a technique.  You cover the page with a sealant like Gesso,   allow it to dry then add ink,  I blended 2 different blues to create a dark sky.  Now here's where it went wrong for me,  You place a stencil over the blue and use a baby wipe to wipe off the blue,  I couldn't get it to remove only the stencil snowflake,  it kept bleeding through the stencil, the ink would also smudge at the slightest touch (because it didn't seem to want to dry on top of Gesso.   So I re-inked the background and used thick stencil paste instead,  it still was a bit messy,  but it still wasn't straightforward and doesn't look great but I had invested so much time into it that I wasn't going to give up.  I allowed a couple of days for it to dry and layered the die cuts on Monday. 

So here it is,  no where near perfect but it's important to find beauty in imperfections!   🤣😂

I hope you have a great Thursday,  

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Stamperia Christmas Card

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,  

Well I think I had a more successful day sorting medical stuff out yesterday,   the Practice Nurse called and said that after discussion with GP, both of them had gone back through my notes and found that I had a blood test in April and my liver numbers were OK then, so they decided that they will prescribe Nitrofurantoin for seven days, hoping that it clears the infection,  she made me an appointment for bloods for next Wednesday just to make sure that my liver is still ok.  They also asked me to keep trying to contact Consultant as they are running out of options and don't know what to do next (which fills you with confidence)!  I did eventually get through to Consultant Secretary,   she couldn't see any update on the application for Uromune as he had done it on his personal laptop, which seems a bit odd, you'd think it would all be traceable on NHS computers!  Anyway she was going to discuss my situation and get back to me.

So I have new antibiotics, I hope that they work.

Today's card is one I made using my Stamperia 'Owls House' collection, the inspiration came from Emilia Sieradzan on YouTube.  

I added extra dots of glue and some fine glitter to give some extra sparkle.  

I really like how it turned out something a bit different.

I hope that you all have a good day,

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Lovely simple Christmas card

 

Happy Belated Birthday 

Gina

Good Morning Ladies,  

Firstly I want to wish our lovely Gina a very happy belated birthday,   I am so sorry that I missed your birthday yesterday,  it sometimes happens when I schedule the blog post in advance.  I hope you had a lovely day 😘

I had a very frustrating day yesterday,  I called the surgery at 8am to try and get an appointment,  I ended up waiting for the Nurse to call me,  I asked her to check my results that the Out of Hours GP sent off on Saturday,  but no, the sample has disappeared!!! I saw her put it in a special bottle and fill in the paperwork, but she called the Lab and they have nothing.  Looking at the last test there are only two antibiotics that will clear it, the one I am taking and isn't working or Nitrofurantoin that I can't take!!   The nurse said that they are running out of options so maybe I should contact the Consultant Urologist,   like he is going to diagnose me.  I did try to contact his Secretary but after 1 hour 50 mins on hold I gave up!  Whatever he says about the Uromune Vaccination they still need to clear my current infection!!  Wish me luck today please.  

I followed a Tracy Evan’s YouTube Tutorial for Todays card.   I started by cutting a piece of Washi tape in half and using it to mask off a narrow strip across the card just below the centre.  

I then blended Salty Ocean over the taped area then Blueprint Sketch close to the line to give a darker area and make the white void stand out more.  I spritzed with water and blotted to give some interest.  Now to the stamping,  I used the gorgeous Stags from Tracy Evans 'Wilderness ' stamp set.  For perspective I stamped the signpost with the owl (the right way up)!  I used a Berry to create a Bauble on the Stag Antlers,   then stamped the sentiment and ran glue along the white centre, top ,& Bottom and added Rock Candy Glitter (Chunky & Fine)

 A few splatters and matting and layering to finish the card.  

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love and hugs, 

Sandra xxx 

Christmas Journal page

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

Welcome December and welcome to the start of a new week!  

Do you ever have one of those 'why do I bother ' days, I finished the journal page that I am sharing with you today.  I started another page 3 times and then gave up!  Then I followed a Tracy Evans tutorial almost to the end  was pleased with my achievement, I was on the phone to matt and getting Christmas shopping tips from Sophie at the same time, which was a recipe for disaster, the finishing piece was stamping an Owl on a sign post, of course I stamped it upside down, tried to rescue it but it wasn't happening! 😔  At that point I switched my desk lights off and walked away! 

I used Vintage Photo & Festive Berries Oxide Spray inks  and then dried with heat tool. I splattered some water over the background to add interest,  then added some background stamping.  To add some sparkle I added some stars, using Tim Holtz stencil and some gold glitter paste (although the gold glitter was hiding) 🤣, it did add some shine though. 

Onto the fun part, picking out all of the elements to build the focal piece.  I chose 3 main pieces and then added a ticket and cut a stripey label in half and added a bit to top and bottom.  Then came the Santa and the poinsettia and little 25 sticker.  The final touch was the splatters and the little sentiment. 

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

Love & huge hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

A look at this weeks makes

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you all had a brighter day than we did yesterday.   We had another early start as we had to be at Cheltenham hospital for my Urgent out of hours appointment,   we drove through some incredible flooded roads on the way.  

The GP appointment went ok,  mind you I had to wait until after 2am for them to call me,  they asked what time I wanted to go in,  I asked what times were available,   there were some virtually straight away, by this time Paul was sound asleep, which was no surprise after our long day on Friday, I didn't have the heart to wake him so I said we'll come for 8am, it's a horrible journey and weather was horrendous,  so Paul wanted to leave extra early, so 6.30 we were up and getting ready.  I felt so unwell, this one is the worst one I've had for pain and feeling feverish,  I felt 'ok' through the day, the discomfort started in the car on the way home, then as the evening went on I went downhill, I went up to bed at 10pm, went to bathroom and it was all I could do not to scream in agony, I was shaking with cold, so got into my heated blanket then I was too hot and felt so sick!  So called 111!  I'm not convinced that another 14 days of same antibiotic will work, she advised me to call GP for further advice on Monday.  I was literally bed/sofa ridden all day, if I tried to get up I felt sick abd dizzy!  Fingers today will be better. 

Let's look at what you have made this week.....

Karen

Karen's Description:

A very quick challenge card

Serif image/background 

Sentiment I think from Temu or is it Anna Marie

Tree-Christmas-Card

I absolutely love the simplicity of your design Karen, the little Robin on top of the tree is so cute,  the white splatters work perfectly as snow. 

Thank you so much XXX 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Here is my card for this week’s tic tac toe. It’s for Oscar’s Birthday he will be 15 and is having a camera for his joint present.

I used    Stencil. Animals. Card.

Lilian your Birthday card for Oscar is perfect,  what could be more fitting than a card featuring cameras?!  They work with the rest of the design too.  The background behind the bird is so detailed, Oscar will love it. 

Thank you so much. XXX 

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

Here’s my card, sorry the picture quality isn’t great.

Christmas/Poinsettia/Embossing Folder

I embossed a piece of Kraft card for the bottom layer. I die cut the little house from Mama Elephant in pink textured card. I die cut a circle and stamped with Lavinia Stamps star swirl. I die cut the little square and cut the bottom edge with a scallop frame from Chloe’s Creative Crafts. I added a Lawn Fawn sentiment, and the long sentiment is from The Stamp Market. I die cut the small poinsettia in two shades of pink. Added a sparkle gem from Honey Bee Stamps.

You know I always love your Kraft cards, this is no exception,  the house looks lt is in a snowglobe with stars swirling around it.  What a great design.  

Thank you so much, it's lovely seeing you crafting XXX

**************

I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday, 

My love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx