A 'faux' Eclipse card

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

Yesterday just flew by,  I was busy all day doing bits and bobs,  I just can't sit and relax at the moment,  I want to empty every cupboard and drawer and get rid of everything we don't use,  yesterday I did the little cupboard that we keep tea bags and hot chocolate bits in,  surprisingly there about 10 different teas !!  I got rid of ones we hadn't used in a while,  we had three different types of mint tea bags 🙄!   I bought some lazy susan trays for the pantry but hadn't used them so I checked to see uf they fitted in the cupboard we keep the herbs and spices in,  they did, so I got Lucy to help me get all the jars out, wipe the cupboard out and then arrange the herbs on one and spices on the other on the shelf above.  It looked so much neater and was much easier to pick something that you need.  I bought some herbs last week when we were out with Becca,  so I planted them out in the high troughs we bought earlier this year.  These are little 'niggly' jobs that keep put off!  

It sometimes feels like the most trying things in life seem to go on forever,  however they do pass eventually and those clouds will pass and allow the sun to brighten our days.  🌞 ☀️ 🌤 

Today I am sharing an anniversary card that I made using ChatGPT, I wanted to create a 'faux' Eclipse card, so I found a floral spray that I liked,  I then asked ChatGPT to resize it to use on a square card,  I asked for the letters to look as though they are part of the background but raised, I couldn't work out how to add a drop shadow.  Anyway with many edits I was happy with the image.  I went to print it using the Epson Smart Panel but it kept going to 'fit to page' which was way too big,  so I asked ChatGPT to turn it into a pdf so that I could print it on A4 card and cut it to 5 1/4 inch square.  

I then matted it onto a shade of green that picked out some of the colour of the foliage. Then onto a  6 x 6 inch card base that I made from an A3 piece of card.  

Its great for posting as its flat,  however I do feel that I 'cheated'  somehow,  I wouldn't want to use it all the time as I'd miss the physical crafting.  It is perfect for personalised cards though. 

Soph and I are off out for brunch today,  which I am looking too. 

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love and hugs to all of you,  

Sandra xxx

An Autumnal Tag

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,  

Just a quickie blog post today,  lets have a look at todays reminder...

I don't remember seeing this one before but I love the sentiment,   I'd say we aren't proud of ourselves often enough. 😘

I started this tag on Monday,  using the Aall&Create #28 Tag, I used the inner part of the die to cut a piece of Stamperia Golden Harmony card,  the outer I used to cut a piece of Kraft card.   I then fussy cut the boot and other bits of ephemera,  edged them with vintage photo ink and built the focal point of the card.  I used a flower die set to cut the flower and coloured it with Mustard Seed, Fired Brick & Vintage Photo ink,  I used my small Gelli plate to put the die cut flowers on to colour them, it was so much easier as I didn't have to hold them down,  the ink blended beautifully on the gel plate too.  I cut leaves from a piece of paper in the collection and inked the edges.  I shaped the flowers and adhered them to the tag.   A piece of crocheted lace and some splatters finish the tag oh and some little cork buttons in the flower centres.  I just need a sentiment or phrase!  

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love and hugs to all

Sandra xxx

Sonia's Beautiful Christening card

 

Good Monday Ladies,  

We were blessed with a glorious day yesterday,  Paul and I sat outside after he finished work for a couple of hours,  Paul was reading his book I was doing a crossword, it was lovely, you could tell the difference when the sun started to go down though.   

This one goes without saying my lovely friends ❤️

Sonia 

Today I am sharing the absolutely gorgeous Christening card and Album  that Sonia made for her Great Niece.

Sonia's Description:  

I designed this last minute card on ChatGPT for my great niece who is being Christened tomorrow 😊 I’m now going to the ceremony with mum and dad. It’s very simple but I really love the pale colours and the overall image. I had a chose of about 6 but this was my favourite 😊

I also wanted to take a little gift, so decided to make a little memory album. Again all designed on ChatGPT.

Here is the Album ...

Sonia what a beautiful card and perfect gift,  they could use the Album to put photos of the Christening in.  Such a lovely idea and awesome Keepsake.  Your design is so beautiful, the florals are do delicate,  I love the little floral charm too. 

Thank you for allowing me to share your lovely card & album XXX

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

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 

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

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