Karen's Autumn Challenge card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,  

Happy 30th Wedding Anniversary Sonia & Mark, have a lovely day, even better a lovely week away next week celebrating 🍾 🥂

Well yesterday was a busy day,  I did another area of the pantry,  shifted areas that didn't work and creating new ones.  We got three loads of washing done and dried,  Paul cut lawns and did hedges.  Then we cooked a lovely roast dinner,  to celebrate switching the Aga back on.  I will say I did slightly regret the Aga being on as it was a warmer day yesterday and the kitchen was hot.  

This reminder is a very important one,  as Mum's and wives (although most of us are very lucky and have amazing husbands) we can feel guilty when recovery takes longer than we thought and hoped,  seeing our families doing the tasks that we usually do for more than a few days can evoke feelings of guilt,  although this could be just me as I have a huge mental issue with feeling like a burden, it doesn't matter how many times I'm told I'm not,  whether it's needing one of them to have time off to take me to an appointment, the most common one is watching Paul and occasionally the girls do dinner after work.  Despite any feelings of guilt Healing time is so important, especially after surgery.  😘

I feel terrible that I forgot to share Karen's card yesterday,  I don't know whats happening with my memory lately 🙄  I usually scan through everyone's messenger page to check for cards, although I do normally save them as they come in.  Anyway Karen and I have chatted a bit this week so her card was hid further back up the chat.

Karen's Description:

I started this card on Friday and had a complete disaster with Nuvo drops 

I had enough brown card to die cut the Memory Box die again and layer on top of original Added brown pearls 

The background is a piece of card from a photo frame (I think) Added a few gold splatters. 

I know how frustrating Nuvo drops can be when it comes to making a mess,  especially when you are adding them as a finishing touch and they end up spurting out ruining your whole page🙄.  

The background is lovely and proves the point that these things we hoard do actually come in handy,  there is no better feeling than creating something pretty with something most people would throw away!  That piece is a perfect Autumnal background,  your die cut flower compliments it perfectly.  You would have no idea looking at your card that you had had any kind of mishap! 😂

Thank you so much for sharing your card and I hope it isnt too long before you are back in your craft room.  XXX

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

My love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

A look back at our makes this week

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you are enjoying a lovely weekend,  a quiet one over here,  I was generally pottering around yesterday,   I spent a good part of the morning (2 + hours) on the phone with Matt,  sadly Haze (Alex's Dog) who is over 10 years old,  has been off his food and lethargic,  so they took him to the vets and it turns out poor boy has a large tumour on his spleen,  they aren't sure if it has spread and he's not strong enough for surgery to find out,  the tumour is more than likely pushing onto his stomach which is why he is off his food.  They have given pain medication and anti sickness for now,  sadly it's just a waiting game.  They are going to spend the next few weeks spoiling Haze and spending quality time with him.   This is the hard side of having pets, over time they become family members,  making times like this hard to cope with.  

I also carried on with re-organising the pantry,  three bin bags filled so far this week,  bloomin Flour weevils don't stick to Flour!!  I have no idea how they get inside sealed plastic containers,   which makes me think they come in the actual bag if flour, which is so frustrating!  We also had quite a collection of out date spices,  you buy them for a recipe needing only a tablespoon or two, they get put in your spice box and forget about. The other thing was cereals,   the girls occasionally pick a cereal, try it a couple times and then decide they don't like it.  Paul and I are boring he likes weetabix and I have porridge,  Granola or cornflakes!  

I am looking forward to having a very organised Pantry though.  

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

Lilian 

Lilian's Description :

Hi, here is my challenge card for this week.

It is meant to Autumn, but it is more summer.

A bit of stencilling, a fussy cut robin, with some washi bits and pieces. 

Such a perfectly designed Autumn card Lilian,  I think Robins are my favourite bird,  he looks so majestic on that fence post.  The flowers you have added really enhance the Autumnal feel. 

Thank you so much for sharing your lovely card XXX

Maria 

Maria's Description:

Crafting this morning but it did take me some time to get moving because of looking at Pinterest 🤭😊

I took a piece of ice blue card and ran it through a snowflake embossing folder.

I then used some stickers that I bought from temu and placed them down before splatter with white paint all over and me as usual 🤭

Maria your card is amazing, the background you have created works perfectly with the images you have used.   The scene you have created with the stickers is so lovely,  it could be a pre laid out scene from a Stamperia collection.  A perfect Christmas card.  Thank you so much my lovely for creating something for today's blog post XXX

Sonia 

Sonia's Description:

To fit the challenge, I took one of Shaylee Morehouse’s AI prompts to create some bookmarks. I chose the Seasons theme. They are ready to print and be made into bookmarks 😊

Wow Sonia your bookmarks are perfect depictions of every Season.  I love them all,  my favourite is definitely Autumn,  those colours are beautiful, although  Summer is a very close 2nd. 

Thank you so much for creating your lovely Seasonal Bookmarks,  such a lovely idea for a little gift for someone XXX 

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I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday,  

Love ams hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx 

Happy Saturday

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,  

What are you all up to this weekend,   after an exhausting week we are having a quiet weekend.

Sonia, I hope that you have an amazing day taking Your parents and Mark's Mum to spend the day with your grandchildren xxx

Lilian, I hope that you are seeing some improvements in the movement of  your knee,  it's always a little more painful when going through physiotherapy.  Sending hugs xxx

Karen, I hope each day brings you a little closer to better vision,  I remember the one thing that Paul was annoyed at,  he had bought new Varifocal glasses a couple months before his retina detatched and then the cataracts in both eyes following the surgery,  they had cost £370 !  After surgeries his glasses were no use at all 🤣  He now only needs glasses for anything  close up and working on computer.  I guess you will have to do the same.  But worth it to have better vision.  I'm sure you must be going 'stir crazy' though,  not being able to do the things you love,  six weeks seems such a long time.  Can you still Knit & Crochet?? 

Sue,  I hope that you are starting to recover from your multiple dentist visits this week,  I hope that the stress of the Decorator nightmare has resolved and you can put that behind you lovely. Have a lovely weekend,  hopefully unpacked your craft stash. x

Maria,  I hope you got a good start on your new Crystal Art,  hopefully it will keep your mind off of your visit to Sweden, try not to worry too much,  I think you are amazingly brave doing that journey on your own.   I hope that Rick is a little more comfortable and that his needles are now just a little 'pin prick' 📌 🤭🤣 xx

Brenda, I hope that your journey to visit Ann is a smooth one and that you have a lovely day,  you must be really looking forward to seeing her and the lovely ladies in her community,  who will very much enjoy the treats you picked up for them. Have an amazing day with your lovely family.   I think you will need a very relaxed day tomorrow xxx

Gina

Gina shared this amazing, fun Christmas card with me this week,  the texture you have acheived on the 'O's' looks great and  works so well with decorative card you have used on the 'H', the little hats add humour to the design too.  

However the funniest part of the message that Gina sent me was the photograph of the 'aftermath' or 'Craftermath' 🤣 that most of us have after making any craft project....

Mine is probably a lot worse than yours my lovely,   mine comes from having ideas that I think might work, when they don't work I don't get up and put them away straight away,  consequently I end up working on top of a pile of stuff or working in a tiny 4 inch square!!  🤣😂

Love this sentiment, your feelings are 100% valid, no matter what the situation is.  ❤️

My Shopping 

The above photos show what you get in the little Flowers & Poems kit that Vicky P puts together 

I bought the Junk journal too,  I absolutely love this collection, it is a lovely mix of the 'All Around ' Collection with touches of Autumn 🍂 

I am looking forward to playing with this collection.  

I hope that you all have a lovely Saturday,  

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Lovely Anniversary card from Sonia

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,  

I'm actually relieved that it's Friday,  I feel mentally and physically exhausted this week,  I think the Uti hasn't helped, but this time I really allowed the fact that I got the uti get to me, I honestly thought that the treatment was working,  so I feel really down about the whole thing.  I have been proper stressing about yesterday's CPAP appointment too as I haven't been able to use the machine.  The lovely chap that we saw last time too was really helpful,  part of the problem is that I have really dry mouth from medication,  the air blowing in made that so much worse,  so he has given me a new machine that has a water tank on the side that is a humidifier,  he explained that it will help with dry mouth too.  He gave me a different mask too that is much easier to put on,  he said that the other one was much harder to get in placed because I have a very small nose !!!  Who knew 🤣😂 at least something is small 🤣  The only downside is that distilled water is expensive,   I have ordered some that is being delivered today.   I am more hopeful that this one might work.  

Today I am sharing the lovely card that Sonia made for us for our Wedding Anniversary.   Using papers that she has designed herself.  I love the card the detail and colours are just beautiful.  Your attention to detail is incredible Sonia xxx

I hope that you all have a lovely Friday, 

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra xxx 

Autumn leaves journal page

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

I am very anxious this morning as I have my CPAP machine follow up appointment and I'm afraid to say it just isn't something I think I will ever get used too,  one issue is that I suffer with an incredibly dry mouth from my medication,  the air blowing in made that 10 times worse,  then I couldn’t have a drink with mask on!  thats on top of the Claustrophobia issues, I have tried support through desensitisation methods etc but I just can't get on with it.  I guess we'll see what they say.  

I love this reminder, it doesn't matter how many times you hear it, it's alwsys a comfort to know 🥰😍😘

I very simple journal page today,   I had this leaf left from a project from probably more than a year ago, I just couldn't throw it away,  so I decided that I was going to use it,  I wanted an embossing background but didn't have a leaf folder,  so I die cut a load of leaves and created a 'faux ' embossed background,  I raised the leaf on foam pads,  then die cut the letters to create 'AUTUMN ' out of card that I coloured to compliment the leaf  and I arranged them underneath the leaf.  Im not sure whether to add some splatters of colour around the background or not.  

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Stamperia Flowers & Poems journal

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you are all ok, or as close to ok we hope to be 🤣,  gentle hugs for those that need one xxx

Becca joined Lucy and I on our weekly day out, we went to a new garden centre, Becca treated us to a lovely lunch out,  it was lovely to spend time with her,  she has taken it upon herself to organise a holiday for my 60th Birthday next year 🙄,  I have said that we need to keep things realistic,  as she can get a bit carried away with ideas at times!! 

I really love this reminder,  it is so true, no two people need the same things in life.  Love the artwork too 😍 

My new Stamperia collection arrived yesterday,   oh it's beautiful,  a mix of Autumnal and Romantic.

I used a piece of rice paper for the background,  added some stamping and stencil paste, inked around the edges.  I used the girl and framed her with one of the frames in the Focal point journal,  I added the little envelopes and butterfly to embellish,  final touches were sentiment,  leaves and splatters. 

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love & hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx

An Autumnal Journal page (2)

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

Thank you for your lovely Anniversary wishes yesterday.

When I installed the Epson Printer I used my phone  and downloaded Epson Smart Panel App onto my phone,  so whenever I created an image in ChatGPT,  I downloaded it and when I opened it I pressed print it went straight to the New printer and I printed it off.  Let me know if you want to know anything else.  

Karen you will be in my thoughts today,   I'm not sure whether knowing whats going to happen is a curse or a blessing.   You know it will be worth it though.  I imagine the most frustrating thing is the restrictions,  especially dancing and crafting!  Sending healing hugs your way 🤗 😘

I made this journal page using Arden Creative Wicked Woods collection.  I used Distress paint Wild Honey & Crackling Campfire for the background,  then added some rub-ons,  I am definitely a convert to rub-ons,  they have come on so much from back in the day when you could see the shiny outline and they are less risky than stamping onto your background,  I did add a bit of stamping though.                                                              Then came the fun part, picking the bits to create a 'cluster'  I usually go in threes, so this time two tickets and a tag.  I used the toadstools from the die cuts, then added a resin sticker and some faux moss to the bottom of the toadstools.   Inspired by Vicki P of course!  

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx