Another Blended Background card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Up and organised this morning as it's Bladder Clinic day, it seems to be becoming a coincidence that I have uti on the week of bladder clinic, I wonder if it's down to the effect of the treatment wearing off,  it did remind me that I need to chase up Uromune prescription again as it was 5th March that I had consultation and I still haven’t heard anything 🙄

I had a lovely afternoon out with both girls yesterday, we went to Cirencester, it has a lovely Abbey and some lovely boutique shops. We then went to Garden centre and finally Tesco as the girls are doing food prep each week for lunches to take to work as the restaurant food isn't as healthy as they'd like.  I was exhausted by the time we got home and had two very swollen ankles !  

Today's blended background is made using Festive Berries, Picked Raspberry & Squeezed Lemonade Distressed Oxide inks.  

I don't know if I mentioned yesterday but I tried Inkylicious 'coated card'  thinking it would be smoother to blend the oxides but for me it wasn't as smooth blend as Pink frog card. 

I used Julie Hickey's Mandala stamp and a sentiment that I have had for many years, I love the words though.  

Great reminders for today's affirmations, I think it does help to remind ourselves often. 

I hope that you all have a lovely day, 

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

An Ink Blended Card

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,  

Weren't we blessed with a beautiful day yesterday,  to have the sun and warmth was a real treat.  Although I spent most of it inside,  (me weekend garden activities were fun but my legs are protesting) 🤣😂  It's not so bad when your punishment is crafting! 

I think we all understand this reminder, however when it comes to asking I will generally try and manage without asking,  I know that Paul and the children would help me in a heartbeat, but I feel that they do so much already.   I think it's a personal thing,  I agree with sentiment though. 

Todays card started as a piece of White card,  I used Spun Sugar,  Picked Raspberry & Wilted Violet Oxide inks and blended them across the card.  I then took an old IndigoBlu stamp and stamped it on the bottom right corner,  I added clear embossing ink to enhance the black ink,  I then picked out a Honeydoo sentiment stamp and stamped & embossed that attach the top. 

I really like how this one turned out, 

Have a lovely day, 

Love and hugs, 

Sandra xxx 

Art of Travelling Journal Page

 

Good Morning My dearly loved friends,  

I hope that you all had a lovely long weekend,   I laughed at Maria's response to yesterday's reminder,  I think most people expect to 'grow ' a little over the Easter weekend,   we were pretty good, we treated ourselves to a bar of 'Tony Chocolonely' chocolate with a little seasalt,  it's a feelgood bar as the company is fighting to end exploitation of Cocoa production.  I think we must have had a different one last time as this one wasn't the best tasting chocolate,   paul and I have eaten just about half years of the bar between us.   If I could choose I would have the Fruit & Nut egg.   Alex (Matt's GF)  was telling us that people have been boycotting Easter Eggs in her store because the new 'Cadbury ' owners have decided to add Palm oil to Easter eggs,  it's not the wisest decision but if I saw my favourite chocolate egg half price I could be tempted to overlook the Palm oil. ☺️

After a lovely weekend everyone is at work today,  my usual Tuesday companion swapped her day off with someone that needed Tuesday off for childcare.  So I will be alone,  however I know that you are all there for me 🥰

Today I am sharing a journal page that I made using my newest Stamperia junk journal (The art of Travelling). I used distress paint for the background,  then added some stamping,  built up the due cuts and then finished with some white splatters. 

I hope that you all have a lovely day, 

Love and hugs,  

Sandra xxx 

A walk in our garden

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,  

I know its Monday and I usually share a craft project but today I wanted to share some photos I took in the garden yesterday. 

I had no idea that there were so many different colours and varieties of daffodils until ours started to open up....

The loveliest tulips, some many layers of petals 

These ones have really thick waxy centre petals that have really strong fragrance 

There are a few in the bamboo pots! 

These are my absolute favourite,  so delicate in both colour and look.  They look like they are made of tissue paper.

This one is pure white,  not even a hint of colour,  so beautiful,  especially when mixed with those lovely jewel toned tulips.

A more common pure yellow 💛 

This one is mostly white with the most delicate hint of orange, so pretty.

 Another pure white one with the outer petals turned backwards 

I am sharing these photos as I am so amazed at how far these have spread, they were 50p rescue plants from a garden centre. 

This is another 50p rescue,  I was delighted to see such an incredible display,  this rockery was totally bare, not one plant,  other than weeds!  We are slowly filling it up,  being able to do it on a budget is even better!  

I hope you didn't mind a walk around the garden today. 

I hope that you all have a lovely day and a great start to the week,

Love and hugs to all,  

Sandra xxx 

Let's see what you have made this week

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

Happy Easter my lovelies,  I hope that you all have a lovely Easter Sunday xxx

I think that most of us are testament to today's reminder,  you are all incredibly strong ladies 🥰

I really enjoyed creating each one of my craft projects this week,  lets have a look at what you have been making....

Karen

Karen's Description:

My version of number 13 Birds/Butterflies using my favourite A&C stamp #449 

Added some extra splats using a Stamperia stamp Touch of Ink

Triple embossed the butterfly and mounted on black cotton

Such a lovely page Karen,  the colours of the butterfly are beautiful, the work so well with the colours in the background.  The extra bits of stamping  really enhance the main image. 

Thank you so much for another inspirational piece XXX

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Here is my challenge piece for this week.

The theme is circus.

Didn’t have any circus ephemera so used Stamperia’s Master of magic instead. Some are peel offs but the big ones are cut out of piece of the papers. Background is is from the paper with some texture paste. This one I found quite difficult to get going. Think I will cut them out and mount them in a separate book.

It may have taken you a while to get started but it was worth it,  the images you have used are perfect for the category,  the colours are so pretty, some circus images can be really gaudy.  The soft pinks and turquoise blue work so well.  I love your stencilled areas, they have created the perfect spots to highlight the elements you have used.  

Thank you so much for sharing this awesome Circus themed page XXX

Maria

Maria's Description: 

I let the paper speak that I found in my clear out, a few stamped bits in black, splatters in white. A couple of roses that I coloured in and a sentiment but neither is stuck down yet.

Have a good weekend ❤️ xxx

Maria your card is so lovely,   your background is incredible, I love the script and the floral element in that background,  your added stamping has really enhanced that background.  I also like that you have let the that lovely background shine!  

Thank you so much my lovely for sharing your lovely card with us XXX

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

Here’s my card I made for my sister in law. I used stamperia Quiet Days collection. The foam flowers I made the other day with you. Could have done with a bit more shaping but didn’t want them to get squashed in the envelope! The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

Such a beautiful card,  I can't believe how perfectly those flowers you made while you were here match the papers, it's the perfect shade of lilac.  Your card is so pretty I bet your Sister in Law loved it.  

Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful card with us XXX 

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

I hope that you all have a lovely day and hopefully a little bit of chocolate 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

The first day of the long weekend just disappeared for us,  we usually do go shopping on a Friday, however with it being a Bank Holiday it was absolutely ridiculous,  people seemed to be shopping like it was Christmas,   we noticed that supermarkets seem to be pushing the same things at Easter as they do Christmas,   alcohol, some of the food is exactly the same just with a rabbit on the tin rather than a reindeer!   Anyway the shopping took over 3 hours!   So today we are staying home,   the weather isnt forecast to be great for gardening though, especially with storm 'Dave' on its way!  

Karen did Charlie enjoy his birthday surprise??? I hope he had a lovely day ☺️ 

Sonia I hope that you and Mark have a lovely day with family today 😊

Brenda,Lilian,  Maria & Sue,   I hope that you have a day with a little less pain and suffering , sending hugs 🤗

Gina I hope that you get some time in your craft room this weekend. 😊

Maria

How beautiful is this Basket of Flowers Crystal Art that our Maria has made.  It is so pretty, the colours are so lovely, it perfectly depicts Spring and Summer.  

Thank you so much for sharing your amazing Crystal Art with us my lovely friend XXX

Sonia's Shopping 

Sonia's Description:

Craft buys this week 😊

2 memory albums, 230gsm cardstock and Stamperia flower stamps and dies. All from Amazon

What a lovely haul Sonia, I have those stamps and dies too, they make lovely flowers.

I can't wait to see what you create with your new goodies.

Thank you so much for sharing your shopping with us XXX 

I hope that you all have a lovely Saturday,  

Love and hugs to all of you,  

Sandra xxx 

A Stamped Tag

 

I absolutely love this sentiment and

the artwork that accompanies it. 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

What are you all up to this Easter weekend??  We are planning to get some garden jobs done,  we are dog sitting Boo on Sunday so we won't get much done then 🙄🤣

I had some good craft time this past couple of days,  Today's tag is one of the things I made. 

I started by using Mowed Lawn &  Salty Ocean Distress Ink to smoosh the tag in to,  I dried between layers of smooshing  which gives more interest. 

I then took Tim Holtz French Garden stamp and used a script stamp and a Berry Branch and used the same ink to add background detail..

Next came the main element stamping,  I stamped the flower and leaf in Versafine Clair ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.  

I used the Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean ink to colour the flower and leaves.  

To add some extra texture I added some Clear Crackle paste, although it didn't really Crackle! 

This is before drying 

This is after,  although hard to capture! 

Some white splatters, a sentiment and ribbon coloured with Mowed Lawn distress ink, oh and a black mat finish the tag. 

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend,  

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx