A Fun Journal page...

 

So Incredibly true, for me my best cam vary from

Getting up and dressed being the 'best ' I can

 acheive, other days I can create something crafty, 

Cook for my family and write a blog post !  

But however different my days are they are always 

My Best! 

Good Monday Morning,  

Welcome to the start of a new week, the last week of February, which is crazy!  

We were treated to a gloriously sunny day yesterday,  Paul got lots of jobs done in the garden. 

Today I am sharing a Journal page that I made last Thursday.  I followed an old Vicky P video,  for this I used pretty all Tim Holtz products,  some I have had longer than I care to admit 😅 

I started by adding torn up rice papers to my blank page,  after I had dried that I added Twisted Citron & Mustard seed Distress Oxide spray,  followed by a spritz of water to encourage them to mix.  I edged the page with Vintage Photo distress ink and added some through TH Graduated Square Stencil.

For texture and interest I used the same Graduated Square stencil this time I used Glossy Translucent Paste.  I love how it catches the light.  

The main focus of the page is the Crazy Bird, I stamped coloured him with Distress inks,  but first I clear embossed hid eyes and then coloured and embossed his beak, so that they were protected from the blue inks.  I used Cracked Pistachio,  Peacock Feathers and Blueprint Sketch inks which I blended over the bird.  

The focal element was placed on top of an old Ephemera tag, to which I added some gauze for some fun texture, then an old ticket,  which I stamped the bird on to so that when I fussy cut it I didn't need to include the legs and his curled feather on his head.  I tore up some Washi tape to ground the bird. To finish I added some inspirational words. 

I love the bright colours of this page, it's definitely fun! 

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

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Our makes from this week

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

We had a very mild day yesterday,   Paul got our mew Strawberry planters out and started filling them,  we actually took the plunge and ordered a couple of planters from Temu,  Paul was sceptical but when they arrived within two days and the quality was excellent he was pleasantly surprised,  he has given me his card and told me to order a couple more, I wonder if he'll notice if I added a couple of craft bits on the order too 😉🤣

Sadly I wasn't feeling great,  I feel like I'm rattling with having to take 10 antibiotics a day,  I did ask the pharmacist to make sure that Phenoxymethylpenicillin & Nitrofurantoin don't clash with each other,  I hope they don't upset my sensitive liver!   I also ordered a Nasal wash kit, which the pharmacist recommended,  as I am writing this I am putting off going to use it, although it would be great if it worked,  the odd thing is I don't have a congested nose at all, its all across my face that feels sore.  I will let you know how it goes !! 

I am having to take this reminder seriously at the moment ! 🤣  

In all seriousness,  it's another reminder that may sound obvious but it can be easily overlooked when we get caught up in our role as Mum, Wife, Daughter etc xx

 

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

Karen

Karen's Description:  

Here’s a simple card that I was inspired by Natalie Bowers

She used a curve die and a butterfly 

My curve die is too short for DL size

A piece of Clarity paper behind the white topper and Julie Hickey flowers

First time I have created my own glossies using a circle die and Glossy Accents

I absolutely love you simple card Karen,   those Julie Hickey flowers are so delicate and work beautifully with the clean and simple style of your card. 

Your glossies are brilliant too! 

Thank you so much for sharing your card with us and supporting the challenge XXX 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi, here is my challenge piece for this week.

I used coffee lovers from the list.

Rice papers and cut outs from several Stamperia books, all junk journals.

Oh Lilian I love your jounal page, it's amazing how all of the different collections work together,  your layout is perfect,  the little dashes work so well and really draw your eye in.   

Thank you so much for taking part of the challenge my lovely XXX 

Maria

Maria's Description:

I went for a Camera and Vintage style for my journal page.  I used for a background a Yellow, Green and Peach Prism Glimmer mister.  Embossed and Stamped a bit and then put some stickers a sentiment down from Temu

 I love your jounal page Maria,  your background is so textured, the stamping is perfect and your focal elements work perfectly for the challenge.

Thank you so much for taking part XXX 

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

Card 1:  Birthday card I made for Marks mum, using Stamperia Quiet Days collection. The die cut dragon fly is Gummiapan and the little flowers from Temu. I didn’t make it specifically for the challenge, but it could come under ‘Birthday’

Journal pages:  Challenge, Photography/Camera.

I have used all images and sentiments which I printed from Pinterest. The photo negative strip is from Temu and the ‘Polaroid’ frame is from Maryanne creative (I think!) Stencil on background is also from Temu.

Your card for Marks Mum is so lovely,  I bet she absolutely loved it,  these Stamperia papers have us all addicted 😍

Where do I start with your journal pages,  wow 👌 your layout is incredible,  the little reminders and notes that you have added are so spot on and give so much more meaning to your design!  

Thank you so much for sharing your inspiring creations with us XXX 

Sue 

Sue's Description:

Finally finished my 1st journal page. I used Stamperia Silent Seas junk journal and followed a tutorial by Vickyp but didn’t realise until half way through that you had already followed the same one! I will stick it into the journal now I have finished it. Thank you for all of your help xx

Your finished page looks amazing Sue,   the twine you have used looks brilliant,  I can see you were in Scouting as your knots are perfect!   🤣

Thank you for sharing your first journal page with us XXX 

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

Maria:  just an idea,  you could get a bag of cat treats,  'Dreamies' are a favourite in our house,  just shake them and call her when you go in,   she'll warm to you in no time,  but take them with you when you leave in case she finds them,  Milo and Bella have eaten a whole pack on more than one occasion 😉 🤣😂

I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday   

Love and hugs to all of you,  

Sandra xxx 

Yay It's the weekend!!

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all relaxed and ready to enjoy the weekend.  We had to fo out to GP surgery and pharmacy yesterday afternoon so Paul popped into the supermarket and got what we needed for the weekend.

Frustratingly I had being struggling with having chills , which I thought was cold weather,   but I couldn't get warm in bed either, then Id wake so hot it was unbearable,   then during Thursday night my fears became reality and I started with Uti symptoms,   I also wanted to have my awful headaches looked into, the other symptoms related to that for me are the horrendous headaches, ears aching, teeth hurting,  feeling fatigued,  I had ignored these symptoms for last three weeks thinking they were caused by the stress of waiting for Biopsy results etc,  but after my mind was eased the headaches have gotten worse,  any way the answer is that I have Chronic Sinusitis along with a Uti !  No wonder I felt rough. 😪  I am not looking forward to the results of taking 2 different antibiotics!  

I am determined to keep crafting though!  

If I could climb to the top of a mountain to get you all to believe that your best is Good Enough I would,   but as that's unlikely you will just have to take my word for it !  You are ALL amazing and I see your best bits each week and they are brilliant! 

That's all I have for you today, 

My love and hugs goes out to you all,

Sandra xxx 

Stamperia Double page journal

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you have all had a positive week,  it felt like it was dragging at the beginning of the week but after Tuesday the days just disappeared!  I felt really cold yesterday all day and the night before,  I am hoping 🤞🤞🤞🤞 that its not the start of a uti 🤞

Today is a reaffirmation that the small things we class as 'self care' are in no way us being selfish.  It might be a stretch but for me this includes crafting,  as it is one of my few pleasures (that I do for myself),  it is as much of a therapy as anything else which is self care! 

Today I am sharing the double journal page that I created last Friday. 

I started by taking rice paper sheets and cutting them up and rearranging them over the two pages

 Making sure to add plenty of rice paper glue both under and over the rice paper pieces.

These two photos are to show that adding a brayered coat of white or ivory paint over a busy background can really calm down the colours etc.  You can also see the background stamping. 

Next came some splatters to pick out the black stamping. 

Now the texture paste through a stencil,  now I was a little unsure at first,  I thought the two black areas looked too bold,  but both areas where going to be focal points and seeing the finished piece they almost frame the main focus of the pages.  The white stencilling adds some lovely texture.  

A close up of both focal points.  

The finished piece!    The final touches where the sentiment strips and some gold pearl drops and white splatters of course. 

I really enjoyed creating this one 🥰

I hope that you a have a good Friday, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

My latest Tracy Evans inspired card

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

Ooh yesterday was a chilly one,  luckily I was able to spend most of the day warm & cosy in my happy space, although it could also be described as my 'messy' space,  I spend as much time tidying and re-organising as I do crafting!  

Another lovely daily reminder,  I think that we are all lucky enough to have loved ones that remind us that we are Loved, Capable,  Worthy & Enough, however we do actually need a reminder every now and then,  my personal issue is feeling like I'm a burden to those close to me,  I know that those same people will tell you that I'm not!   ❣️

Today I am sharing my latest Tracy Evan’s inspired card,  I saw this card on Tracy’s Facebook page and instantly clicked onto the YouTube video to follow along with the tutorial,  I find these so inspiring,   sometimes we just need to grab some supplies and follow along ...

I started by creating a Distress Oxide background 

I dabbed through a Harlequin stencil with damp kitchen roll, to give some more interest to the background,  I added some stamping too, using the same colour inks I'd used for the background. 

I then stamped the flower bouquet from Tracy’s       TE37 Flower Power stamp set,  then came the therapeutic part ...... colouring the flowers,  I did stamp the flowers again onto white card as the darker colours if the background made it harder to get the flowers to 'pop', so I sat and listened to some music and used my Prismacolor pencils to colour the flowers, I then fussy cut them and glued them over the stamped flowers.  To add the jar/vase I drew around the inside of  Tracy's Jar stencil with a fineliner, adding some shade down the right hand side.  Now I realised after that I should have started my vase higher up, but never mind, we are using the 'short vase' today 🤣😂                                               The finishing touches are some highlights in white using Dr P H Martyns Bleedproof white paint, lastly some white splatters and the sentiment of course, which was from TE004 New Beginnings.  I mounted the piece onto  black mat 1/4 inch bigger and then onto a 5x7 inch Card base.  

I haven't had a messy play for a while, I really enjoyed it.   I have my eye on some new Thrinchies that I haven’t done yet, so they will be next. 

Ihope that you all have a good day, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx 

Altenew Garden Cosmos card

 

A lovely sentiment, especially when you are 

going through stressful times 🥰

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,   

We had a lovely sunny day yesterday,   it was chilly but thankfully my new coat that I got for our London trip kept we warm,  Lucy treated me to brunch at our favourite place in Witney,  we had a little browse around before coming home,  I sat and did some crafting until about 5.30pm  then made pancake batter,  we made about 30 altogether,   the girls and lewis have them for tea, Paul and I had 2 for a sweet treat after our tea.   

Did you all have pancakes?  

Today I am sharing a card I made on Monday using my Altenew Garden Cosmos Die set and Altenew Embossing folder.    I die cut and assembled the flowers in red,  it's easy as the die packaging has an assembly guide.  

The background is a piece of Crumb Cake card (which is light kraft)   I added white ink over the embossed areas to highlight the embossed areas.  I arranged the flowers down one side and added a sentiment. 

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Maria's Journal page

 

Such a true statement! 

Good Morning Ladies,  

It's mine & Lucy's first official day off together since way before Christmas,  not sure what we are going to do but it will be nice to have some one on one time with her, Paul has to go into work too so I am looking forward to having some company x 

Now must apologise to our Maria,  I simply forgot to add your journal page,  I don't know why because I was blown away when I saw it!!  

Maria's Description:  

I'm not really into this with journaling but have for a few days had  a very messy tries and came up with this in the end 

I went for a Camera and Vintage style for my journal page.  I used for a background a Yellow, Green and Peach Prism Glimmer mister.  Embossed and Stamped a bit and then put some stickers a sentiment down from Temu

My vertigo is back but not too bad this time, thanks to some pills but my legs are killing me so I don't get much sleep.

Oh Maria I don’t know why you are not into journalling because you are great at creating them.

Your page has texture,  colour, stencilling, texture paste, then the lovely die cut ephemera and sentiment tags.  

You have done an amazing job of your first one, Its so lovely.   I hope you find the enthusiasm for the next one! 

I hope that you all have a lovely day, 

Love and hugs 

Sandra xxx