A look back at our makes this week..

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all having a good weekend,   we had a bit of a change in weather yesterday,   we had quite a strong breeze,  it was still very warm in sheltered areas of the garden,  the wind made it a lot more bearable, I had a lovely hour or two out there with Paul,  I managed to pot up all of the plants left over from refilling the wall baskets at the front of the house,  we used ten plants to fill the three baskets,  its lovely to look out and see pretty flowers rather than the distress of looking at the dead plants hanging there.    

What are you all up to today?  

Another great reminder,  it takes a lot of patience to recover from anything whether its a simple Uti or surgery,  anxiety and depression,  it all takes time,  one day at a time is difficult but it's very true 🥰

Let's look a your makes from this week....

Karen

Karen's Description:  

I had these pieces lying around since before cruise and had a go at finishing it this afternoon 

It’s number 25 in the A&C challenge- birthdays 

I did the inking an embossing folder technique which I was really pleased with I decided to be “brave” and use all shades of blue just to see 

Afterall it’s my journal so a record of ideas etc

Karen your experiment worked out brilliantly,  sometimes its hard to take risks, especially if we are making cards for someone for a certain date,  that's one of the major bonuses of an art journal where we want the results of both good and bad experiments,  we learn by both experiences,  occasionally getting a happy accident.  

Your Braveness triumphed my lovely,  thank you so much for sharing your page with us all XXX

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Here is my card for this week’s challenge 

Stamperia ephemera, background from the junk journal.

A few dot of outliner paste. Brown in around the edge.

Oh Lilian that tree is stunning, it looks 3D! and has so much detail. Adding the shading around the edges brings that lovely vintage warmth. As with all Stamperia products everything works together beautifully. 

Thank you for sharing such a beautiful Christmas card card with us XXX 

Maria 

Maria's Description:

Hi, here is my first Xmas card for Sunday 😊

I used this stamp from Woodware, then used TH inks in green tones to colour a background. Little bit of use of a glitter pen over the snow flakes. Layered on a piece of green card and then onto the white card.

I don't think I will use this stamp too often because it took me seven goes before I was happy with the imprint. So frustrating aargh 🙄.  

Maria your first Christmas card is amazing,  I love the stamp you have used and the colours really work, I understand your frustration though, Silhouette stamps can be a pain to get a good stamped image with.  Did you stamp the image first and then colour?  I only ask because stamping on Oxides can be a total nightmare.  

The mixed media style of the stamp is lovely,  so I hope you do use it again,  do you use Versafine Clair ink, it is a bit wetter which it makes it better to get a good image with,  I was struggling earlier this year so treated myself to a new one and it made such a difference. 

Thank you so much for making and sharing your first Christmas card of the year with us XXX 

Sonia 

Sonia's Description:

Here’s my card for tomorrow lovely 😊

I created the images and ephemera on ChatGPT

I distressed and inked edges with Milled Lavender distress oxide ink

I added some stencilling using a snowflake stencil from Temu, and added some clear gems.

Absolutely gorgeous Christmas card Sonia, the view the girl is looking out over is beautiful just like the rest of your card.

The snowflake stencil is lovely giving just enough detail without dominating the delicate background.  All of the elements you have created come together to create an amazing Christmas card my lovely.

Thank you so much for sharing it with us XXX 

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Thank you my lovely friends, for supporting today's Blog post ❤️

I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday, 

Love and hugs to all of you   

Sandra xxx 

Happy Saturday!

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

Welcome to the weekend,  although this week has absolutely flown by,   probably because I fretted the week away stressing about yesterday's appointment 🙄,  I felt confident (ish) that I could manage it, until I got ready for bed last night,  got set up , all seemed ok until I switched the air on, my anxiety went through the roof and I pulled it off,  it's going to be a process I think, he did say wear it while you are distracted (like watching tv etc) to help you get used to it quicker, so I might give that a try.    On the way we detoured to Gloucester Royal hospital to collect my Uromune,  which has to below 8 degrees,  luckily we always have cool bags in the car!  It's 2 pumps under the tongue daily.  Fingers crossed it's a miracle cure🤞🤞🤞

Something will all need to remember,  especially in this hot weather x 

This is the very last minute Nappy Cake that we put together with about 10 minutes notice,  I love the little sock roses that Becca and Soph made by rolling baby socks on to bamboo skewers.  I hope that Becca's sister in law Helen likes it.  

I hope that you all have a good weekend,  

Love and hugs to all of you 

Sandra xxx

Friday Festive Throwbacks

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

A busy day today,  with an early start,  we have to be at Coventry Hospital by 9.30am latest,  it's a good 1 hour 45 minute journey, so we will leave at about 7.30 am 😔

I ended up having to take a sample in to surgery yesterday morning, Bridget called to say that she had never seen a test strip light up so fast and so strong in colour!   I explained that I had finished the last of 3 courses of Antibiotics on Tuesday and within 24hrs the symptoms were back with a vengeance!! She has given me 3 days of Nitrofurantoin reluctantly,   she asked me to go in for bloods as my liver functions were not right in May,  not that they bothered to let me know!!  Fingers crossed she doesn't call me back this morning to say I can't take the antibiotics 🤞

Some good news though....My Uromune UTI medication is finally ready for collection!!  This should prevent further Uti's.  

Love this sentiment,   you all know that you 100% Belong Here!  I don't know what I'd do without you ❤️ 

I have shared some older Christmas cards today as I was feeling rough yesterday and Becca turned up wanting me to show her how to make a Nappy Cake for her sister in law.  I say 'show her' she watched me for most of it 🤣😂

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love & hugs to all

Sandra xxx 

My second Christmas journal page

 

Good Thursday Morning Ladies, 

Another warm but bearable day yesterday,   I did some crafting in the morning while Lucy went to get her wrist looked at,  she was gone about an hour or so, so not too bad,  they bandaged her wrist up, told her that she needs a dual support brace to prevent her wrist bending up or down,   they apparently had run out, which is why they bandaged her up,  they showed her which one to buy, gave her a referral for physio and told her to go to GP if problem persists,  our surgery currently has NO bookable appointments that aren't the daily urgent ones, that's up to end of August.  Its ridiculous.  All 4 of our children have Hypermobility in pretty much all joints, I have it too, I don't think Paul does though.  Hypermobility can cause problems in joints because of the over flexibility meaning extra strain on wrists,  knees etc,  they kept asking Lucy what she thought it was that was causing the pain,  lucy replied if I knew I wouldn't have taken up your time,   they seem to think its like RSI,  from scooping the hard icecream every day.   I have said that she should maybe delegate that job for the next week or so to allow her wrist to rest.  We have ordered the Wrist Brace, fingers crossed it arrives today.  

We had a lovely lunch out,  which lifted her mood a little x 

Another brilliant reminder,  you are all incredibly important ❤️

I used Stamperia’s Classic Christmas collection for my journal page today,   I took a piece of background from the Art Journal,  then dry brushed some white paint onto the paper added some splatters and did some stamping,  then I used Brown ink through the Classic Christmas stencil.. 

I added some Coffee ink on opposite corners and then got on with choosing the ephemera to create  my focul cluster.

I took a label and added some stamping and an eyelet and popped some twine through it.  I used this as my starting point,  next came that little recipe card, then the pile of gifts.  The gifts were floating so i added a border strip along the bottom, I roughed the edges of all the ephemera and added brown ink too. A few flowers added some prettinesz, the candy canes added some height.  The final flourish was the 'joy' sentiment and white splatters. 

Karen:  I can't believe it's been a week since your surgery,  hopefully you are back in your craft room now,  Paul was back doing light work a week after his,  I think its sensible to do short sessions to start with.  Paul hated the eye drops but continued them past the necessary time 'just to be sure'.  I bet your fingers are itching to create. 

Lilian:  I am so pleased that you are getting that knee sorted,  although it might get uncomfortable in a heatwave.  I do remember having to shower in the 'Hibiscrub' wash,  it felt horrible,  I didn't have to do it for than 2 days though.   The clean bedsheets every day seems a bit excessive, especially as you are antibacterial washing every night.    They have some crazy ideas these days!   I hope you aren't suffering too much after the dentist my lovely XXX 

I hope that you all have a great Thursday,  

My love and hugs to all  

Sandra xxx 

A Christmas journal page

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

I had a lovely crafty day yesterday,  playing with some new Christmas themed goodies that I treated myself too 😊 

Lucy had a lovely chilled day off, Paul was at work, so I just sat and played with my new bits and bobs, it does seem quite odd having to have a fan on while created Christmas projects 🤣😂

I am guilty of saying 'sorry for being a nuisance '  or 'sorry for being a pain"  when someone has to accommodate my wheelchair or something,  I'm not sure if that's what today's reminder means,   It all comes down to feeling like you are putting people out or being a burden!   

I agree with the reminder though,  I just need to work harder on my feelings !  

For today's journal page I used my small Stamperia journal,   I used Mowed Lawn and Rustic Wilderness Oxide inks to blend down the right side of the page and along the bottom.   I then used the Arden Creative stencil with the same inks to add more interest 

I added some water droplets to the background and then added some green and brown splatters.  I used Ground Espresso to add a darker vignette around the page.  

I moved on to add some Rub Ons from the Arden Creative  Christmas Cheer collection, I absolutely love them...

Both the little bits of text and the musical scores are rub ons.  

Onto the fun part, picking out the die cut ephemera,   I collected a few bits, added some hessian ribbon , created a cluster to pop Santa on then added some little bits to finish off the page.  Last finishing touch as always is the white splatters! 

I hope that you all have a lovely Wednesday,  

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx

My First Christmas card for our Challenge

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Well what do you think of the new PM ??  🤔  I'm yet to be convinced,   after all he hasn't been elected either by party or the nation.                    They never go through with their promises anyway! 

Maybe today's reminder is more apt than we think??🙄🤣

Today's card is a simple design,  I took a piece of white card and blended Salvaged Patina,  Mermaid Lagoon & uncharted Mariner Distress Oxides across it.  Next I added some pearl spray using the pipe inside the tube to flick it over the page.  It didn't give the effect I wanted,  so I watered down some white paint and flicked that over the page and the die cut snowflakes (die cut from card inked with the same colours).  I added in a snowflake die cut from Mirri card too.  I lined up the snowflakes and pierced a hole through the centre and added a Brad,  which I used to secure to the card too.   I diecut the sentiment and added that below the snowflake.  

I hope you all have a lovely day, 

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx

 

A lovely butterfly journal page

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

Welcome to the start of a new week,  what have you all got planned?? I have my Respiratory appointment on Friday for sleep apnoea,  I think they have already decided that I need have it 😔

We had a lovely afternoon in the garden,  I popped in some French Bean plants,  after which I was done,  so just observed Paul working 🤣

This reminder is a good one, it can be a frustrating wait but you need to allow plenty of time to make sure you are fully recovered.  😘

I absolutely love how this page turned out,  Vicki P gave me the idea,  using the magnifying glass from the Stamperia 'All Around ' Focus journal,  there is also a large butterfly in there, which is an exact copy of the small one in the Junk journal,  which means that you can pop the large one under the Magnifying glass and trim the small trimmed to match up with the large on to create the illusion that the Magnifying glass is working!  I did add Acetate to the Magnifying glass to make it look a bit more realistic.   The background was created with a piece of decorative paper, I added some paint,  then cut some squares from another background paper, inked the edges,  I added some gold embossing paste through a stencil for texture and a bit of sparkle.  I then placed the fussy cut squares around the page.  I finished with some flowers and splatters! 

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

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandrs xxx