New Baby Girl !

 



Good Morning Ladies,
Today's card is another beauty from an anonymous contributor! A very talented, contributor at that!
A beautiful use of many of Sue's dies, including our favourite Scandinavian border Die, The Oslo, the Classic Bow die set to name but a few, also the Rows of Bows Embossing Folder, all from Creative Expressions, designed by Sue Wilson, No1 Blogger! yay!!!!
Are you all enjoying the new Die launch over on Sue's blog, I have to say I was actually blown away by those 'Configurations' Dies, they looked hard to work out in the picture, but boy when you seen them in use, they really pack a punch, they look very versatile too. In the one card Sue used them as a background and the focal element! Ooooh what will tomorrow bring?
Well Pat and I had a lovely day today, apart from the fact that we both missed Sue, we did a lot of die cutting and chatting though, my new stamp set arrived, I was so pleased that it arrived while Pat was here, so I could have her guidance, I had a go and she gave me not one but two gold stars!!! Actually it is a Justrite stamp set and they always stamp well even in my hands, Pat left and I continued stamping for a couple of hours! I'm hooked, it is a multi-layer stamp system, which I thought I could never master, but it was quite easy!
You will see my stamping skills in the next few days, I just need to make them into cards.
Well all that is left to do is thank out Card creator very much for sharing their work!
Maureen I still need those photos of your cards too, Brenda (mumma) I would love to see one of
yours too!
I hope that you are feeling better Sue, we really missed you today!
We have Parents Evening tonight, be interesting to hear what the teachers have to say about 'hospitalgate'!  and to hear how well the girls are doing too of course!
I will be back to catch up with you all later,
love and hugs
Sandra xxxxxxx

Blue & Cream Floral Doodle

 

 

 

Good Morning Ladies,

Todays card was inspired by my stamp that arrived yesterday, Creative Expressions Floral Doodle,

its really pretty and stamps really well with my new Fiskars Stamp Press, it does make stamping

easier, there is no awkward hovering over a piece of card, you pop your stamp on the block, ink it up and the foam legs hold it a few centimetres above your card, when you are ready and have the position you want you press down with one hand and rub your fingers over the area of the stamp with the other! I think i find easier because I don't weight bare normally so holding a stamp block and hovering over a piece of card and then placing it down gently and correctly can be quite hit and miss!

Anyway back to the card, I stamped the Floral Doodle Stamp onto a lovely piece of almost Cornflower Blue card with Perfect Medium and embossed with True White Cosmic Shimmer Embossing Powder, I used the same items to stamp the sentiment too.

I matt and layered some Cream card and the beautiful blue American Crafts card, finishing with blue, I then ran a piece of the cream card through the GC using the Creative Expressions Eternity Embossing Folder, I matted that onto the blue card, I added a double layer of foam tape under my Cream Card Frame, with a little blue card for highlight.  I placed the stamped focal element onto the card and then added a square of Cream card, cut with the smallest Square of the Union Square die, and them a smaller Blue Matt with sentiment stamped on, cut with the centre of the Noble Pierced Square Die set from Creative Expressions.

I cut two of the Delicate Fronds dies to use as a base for my bow, I then ties a double bow using off white Vintage Seam Binding, I topped that with a double bow of the thinner Blue ribbon from CE, I then made a flower using the Camellia Full Petal Die Set and added some glue and sugared it with Cosmic Shimmer Iced Snow, I them added a few pearls, both Blue and white, and then made two Stick Pins in matching blue and cream pearls!  I would love to hear what you think about my card.

I really enjoyed making this one!  I have Pat coming over today, I have my fingers crossed that Sue will be joining us too, I have missed her so much!   I am looking forward to see what Sue has created with her new dies. There are one of two of them that have caught my eye!  I hadn't realised that the POD on C&C was another Tattered Lace thing, that explains the price, I like the shoe though!

 

Love and Hugs to all of you

Sandra

xxxxxxx

                                                   



A Male Duo from Maureen









 Good Morning Ladies,
Today we have 2 male cards from Maureen, they are like buses eh? you hardly see any and then
two at once, only our Maureen could pull two male cards out of the hat at once!
This first one has real character with his socks falling down, great for any young man!

This second card is just Fantastic, so funny. I bet Ray loved this card when he opened it!
This is the one thing that you can't get from shop bought cards, its that 'wow' factor,
people always really appreciate a personal touch don't they, you have got so much texture into
the card Maureen with that background stamp and the wood effect embossing folder gives the 'Wanted' poster the realistic look!
Thank you Maureen for sharing both of these fabulous cards, you are clearly very talented!
Please send me photos of the four cards you made at the weekend too!
Well sadly we still haven't managed to gather together enough loose change to for the big buy out!
Just think of how much better it could have been, we could have had all the greats, and they must be great because we all share the same view, we all seem to get tired and bored of the same things too!
Saba, enjoy the rest of your week in Cheshire (very posh) maybe you can have a dig down the back of your daughters sofa for our 'take over' fund! Lucky Myra found a Policeman down the back of hers! All that I found were a couple of old cashew nuts, a Hazelnut still in shell, clearly used as a missile at some point! A few bits of die cut waste and some cat hairs! I think a 'spring clean' is on the agenda!
Well I had one of those 'get nothing done' days today, I was busy all afternoon but achieved very little.  I think that today will be spent in my craft room.
Love and hugs,
Sandra
xxxxxxxx



Noble Peach Floral

 





 Good Morning Ladies,
Today I fancied a little bit of peach, I have only recently discovered a liking for this colour and now
I have to stop myself from picking it up all the time.
This card started when I took some Creative Expression Foundation Card in Peach, I used the Criss Cross Mask, from That Special Touch (Stamps away) and applied some Cosmic Shimmer Clear Sparkle Medium through the mask and left it overnight to dry.
I loved the effect so much that I couldn't wait to use it! I took the Classis Adorned Rectangles and The Ornate pierced Rectangles and made a frame to go around my sparkly background.

I used some cream card as a contrast, I mounted the whole thing onto a Cream A5 Background with a matt of Peach card, I then got my flower boxes out and set to arranging a spray of flowers up the side of the card, I Used the Delicate Fronds to cut some Green card to go underneath the flowers and added a few Peach Stamens from Anna Marie, I then used Sue's Pierced Flags to Stamp the Happy Birthday sentiment on, I used Peach Bellini Ink and embossed with Detail Clear Cosmic Shimmer Embossing Powder.
I used some Peach Coloured Seam Binding, Also from Creative Expressions and tied a double bow, using a little piece of the Delicate Fronds die cut card to accent the flower in the centre of the bow.
I finished with a few Peach coloured Pearls.
I hope you like the card, I was trying to capture the 'Spring Feel' .
Janet I hope you made it home safe and sound and have started the huge job of unpacking, there is nothing like getting in and having that first cup of tea though is there?  A cup of tea doesn't taste as good anywhere in the world as it does at home!
Saba, sweetheart, today will be a very emotional day for you as you prepare to Leave Val and your family behind, try and focus on those arms that will welcome you home though, We will all be here to fill that void when you get home, I am sure you will feel lost for a few days, and catch up on some sleep too, as I expect you have crammed as much into every minute of everyday that you have been away!
I am going to try and set myself a goal of making at least three cards this week, I seemed to have lost my mojo of late and have lots of PHD's! I think you just have to be in the right frame of mind, so I gave myself a 'virtual' kick up the pants and I made myself sit and complete this card between 5pm and 8pm last night, (that is good for me)!
Maureen you put me to shame making 4 cards and boxes in one day, well done you!
Well I must get on so as to keep to my goal,
I will call in again later to catch up with you all, thanks for being such a great support team!
Love and hugs to all of you,
Sandra
xxxxxxx
 Ps I think there are 187 sleeps till Retreat time!



A day of Prizes

 



 Good Sunday Morning ladies,
I thought I would use today to showcase the prize cards that Maureen and Steph won from Sue's
Pick of the day show's on Create and Craft on Wednesday, I was amazed at how quickly mine arrived. As always with one of Sue's cards to see them 'in the flesh' shows them in all their glory, they look so much more amazing up close.
Mine had the presenters signature on too, did yours ladies?
First one is Maureen's first card, I think Sue is fond of that Caribbean Border as it is on my prize card
too, it is a fab border though, I like the tag that's in with it too!

 This is Maureen's second prize card, Pat and I both decided we might need to buy this Caribbean Background die too, its so different to the others too!
Sue's pattern of the blue and white with a little touch of black is really growing on me too!

 

This last card is Steph's prize card, one of Sue's 'channel' cards, this time decorated with the Splendid Swirls, I did get to learn in the shows how cute that little spiral thing that came with the splendid swirls can look, just teased out to add dimension to your floral focal point or bow decoration.

I would like to thank both Steph and Maureen for sending me photo's of their cards to share

with you all.

Pat, Paul and I had a lovely trip out to Anna Marie's new showroom, it is a lovely place full of lovely

Anna Marie goodies and lots and lots of inspiration too, she has some lovely flowers and pearls and bits in and had the same offers on card and card blanks as they do at the shows, which was great, Pat did rather more shopping than I did, but shhhh (don't tell Pete), I was kind of hoping to go back on Wednesday to show Sue but Anna Marie said they aren't opening every day, sadly!

She was very excited today bless her, it was so lovely as we arrived she rushed to open the door and greet me by name, how she would remember me i'll never know! We were made very welcome, even had a cup of tea and a choccie biscuit (well some of us did eh Pat)!

Well I am off for a shower and a cup of tea,

I hope you all have a lovely Sunday, a bit less rain today would be nice!,

love and hugs to each and every one of you,

Sandra

xxxxxxxxxx



 

Good Saturday Morning Craft Friends,

Another Mixed Craft Saturday is upon us,

First up we have Margaret's lovely lady, Margaret it looks like

one of those 'Tilda' dolls, I Love the beautiful Hat and dress and her

lovely basket, her blond curly hair looks so realistic, if this was a

'Tilda' doll it would cost a fortune with that amazing outfit!

Thank you Margaret for allowing me to share this wonderful lady

with our crafty friends xxxxx

 

 

Next we have these gorgeous Pendants made by the very

Multi-talented Brenda (littlelamb), they are beautiful, one for almost

every outfit there Brenda, I love the green ones, they look almost like

Jade, they look like they have different inclusions in them to

give the different effects, Brenda, I wish you were coming on our retreat

you could teach us all so many things, from Pottery to making Pendants,

MDF Tissue Box covers to name but a few, please have a think again about

joining us, we won't really make you teach, it would be great to sit and talk

to you about your many crafts though.  Thank you so much once again for

allowing me to share more of your amazing creations with everyone.xxx

 

Now last but not least is this absolutely gorgeous Knitted Jacket by a new
contributor to our Mixed Craft Saturdays, Maureen has knitted this beautiful
Jacket, Maureen its beautiful, I love how you have the contrasting patterns,
it makes the little jacket look so modern, I love to see little ones in proper, hand
knitted cardigans and Jackets, it looks so warm and cosy and such a lovely colour.
Thank you so much Maureen for sharing your hand made Jacket with us. xxxx
Well I hope that you all have a lovely weekend planned, the weather isn't supposed  t
be too great, so I don't think that there will be too much gardening happening.
We are hoping to go to Anna Marie's New Warehouse that opens today, Pat is coming
over after her Craft class, I not sure about Sue as she is just back from her holiday in Devon.
Whatever you do I hope you have fun,
Lots of love and hugs to all of you,
Sandra
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 

 

My Prize Card!

 

 

 

 

 



 



Good Friday Morning Ladies,

Well its been a long week this week, its certainly had its ups and downs!

The down side being Tuesday, we had Lucy's eye hospital appointment,

they did more tests, this time on her field of vision and how her eyes

react to different things, the conclusion is that her eyes are ok, its her

brain that is not doing its job, she has now 3D Fusion (where your brain turns

two 2D images into one 3D image) this is usually as a result of head trauma,

but Lucy has never banged her head, the Consultant thinks she has always had

the problem, this being the reason for her needing the two repair surgeries.

We were hoping that they were going to be giving us some realistic ideas of

treatment to plan for, but it seems that the only course of action that they

can take is to give Lucy an Occlusive Lens, this will be worn in one eye,

to blind that eye, this will temporarily stop the double vision.

I really was hoping that there would be a more permanent and less

drastic solution, it really wasn't the outcome I was praying for, we have to

return in two weeks for the fitting for her lenses, she will have to wear them

in alternate eyes so as not to affect the muscles in the eye.

It seems so unfair as she is so young.

Now the up side of the week was two fold, one was having Pat come over

on Wednesday, we did have a good time, I was really grateful for Pat's company.

The second part was watching Sue's shows and hearing so many familiar names

read out, Sue always looks so pleased to hear familiar names, winning a WOW card

was very much a highlight too! I have pictured it above.

You can see that Sue has used her new Weaving Dies with the Noble

Rectangle Dies,  and the Caribbean border die, embellished with the Camellia

dies which have been layered up and 'Sugared' with Iced snow,  Splendid Swirls Die,

White and narrow blue ribbon and a couple of stunning Stick Pins, all from Creative

Expressions, its a stunning card, it arrived in perfect time too as my Weaving Dies

arrived too, so I have some close up inspiration!

I hope you all have a good day and the we have a busier day in the café, we had our lowest

numbers for a while yesterday, I'm not doing anything wrong am I?

I am only asking so that whatever it is I can put it right!

Love and Hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

 

 

Pretty floral meadow!

Good morning Friends,

Well what a busy, exciting day in the cafe yesterday, we did quite well with getting read out on TV,

Plus a few card winners too!

Congratulations to all of you! I hope Sue did well with sales etc, just as a confidence boost, I hope someone managed to get Sue's blog mentioned at least once to boost up her numbers!

Another pretty card today, made using the Floral Meadow Striplet Die and both sets of the Camellia Dies (open and full petals) from Creative Expressions, designed by Sue Wilson of course!

Such a pretty colour, a pretty aqua colour, the smaller Camellia dies match perfectly with the flowers on the floral meadow striplet die, giving you a really pretty 3D image.

I hope you like the card, please leave comment below?.

Well did any of you buy anything? I was tempted by the card pack, the light coloured ones but the £11.69 + £2.99 p make it a little too expensive, it would still be cheaper to get it from one of our regular suppliers! So that's what I will do.

I do like the Carribean background die too, the one with the large oval centre. But I was very good and didn't buy anything.

Pat and I had a lovely day crafting, well afternoon, after we had put the world to rights over morning coffee and then lunch, Pat bought some lovely homemade soup, yummy and warming, with a naughty iced bun, that I managed a couple bites of, I made the mistake of leaving it unattended when I nipped to the ladies, when I came back Lucy and Sophie had polished it off, not even a crumb!

After Pat had left we had to get ready as the girls had a football match that ended in 2-2 draw!

I was so pleased to finally sit down!

Well I hope you could all see the templates ok, I look forward to seeing plenty of beautiful boxes

In the coming weeks.

Well I am off to do a little crafting,

Love and hugs

Sandra 

Xxxxxxx

Michele's Box template

Good Morning Ladies,

Today I have added Michele's Box Template

that so many of you requested.

The only trouble is it takes up most of the blog as I

have had to enlarge it so that you can read it, so I will be

brief and just thank Michele for all of her hard work

uploading these instructions for you and Paul of course who

had to turn the Pdf into a Png (I have no idea)!

Love and Hugs to all

Sandra xxxxxxxx

 





Tutorial for Tuesday

Good Morning Ladies,
I have managed to finally turn Michele's pdf download file into a format that I can upload to my blog,
well when I say 'I' what I actually mean is Paul managed to change and upload the tutorial for the
Exploding box card, I hope that you will be able to zoom in on it if you need to

The Instructions look fairly straight forward
and easy to follow ( well we'll see).
I look forward to having a blog post made up
photos of all of your exploding cards.
I can put the other photos of exploding boxes up if anyone wants to see them for inspiration or you can just go back through the posts.
I would like to thank Michele for taking the time
and trouble she went to uploading these instructions for us, she did send me an email
today with the other instructions in but there are a few technical difficulties, as soon as I have it sorted I will post it for you. Thank you Michele x

Well I hope you all have your tv boxes set for
Sue's shows on Ideal World and Create and Craft
starting tonight at 9pm, with John doing the following two shows at 11pm and 9am.
I am looking forward to all of the inspiration that
Sue brings us, I like to record the shows too as
often Sue has brand new cards on there that we
haven't seen, I guess she will have made a lot as she was supposed to do two separate days
before it got changed to today.
But I will take Sue shows anyway I can get them,
I am not sure as yet what dies it will be, maybe the Greek Island dies, as we haven't seen too much of those ones up until now.
Lets make sure we bombard them with emails,
I think it confused them when they had a few emails from the Café !
Will I am off to have a practice at an exploding box, or I may get round to using my new toy and
leave the box until Pat comes to play tomorrow.
Love and Hugs to each and everyone of you
amazing friends,
Sandra xxxxxx
                                                                                  

Oh My Something So Special to share with you today!!!!

 



Good Monday Morning Ladies,
Well I cannot wait to tell you about todays Card, well more than a card, its the most beautiful Silver Wedding Gift I think I have ever seen!
It was made by our very own Sheila (Ginger), I am so in love with this card, (can you tell)??
When I opened the email from Sheila I couldn't actually believe my eyes, my jaw dropped! Sheila you are so very talented, thank you so much for sharing this work of art, I think that you had better start sending me more of your cards please, your inspiration needs to be shared! (if you don't mind)!

 



The inside of the card/gift are equally as beautiful as the front, you have used Sue's dies in such an
amazing configuration, it has given such a beautiful delicate background and the combination of lace and the gorgeous Scandinavian Border Die, the edges of the box look so beautifully finished off.

 



Here is the final view of the edge of the box, doesn't that die just finish it off beautifully?!
What do you all think of Sheila's Box Card?
I hope you have been as 'wowed' as I was when I first saw it, Sheila, once again thank you so much for sending me the photos of your card to share.
Well its Monday again ladies, another week nearer our October retreat, YAY!!
Hasn't Sue (Mrs B) picked a good week to be away, well so far so good! I think that when you holiday here you are usually pretty prepared to explore the sights in all weather conditions, Sun being a bonus when you see it!
We have a busy calendar this week, haircuts, hospital appointments, football match and parents evening! Lets hope Paul doesn't get called away this week!!, Its either all or nothing isn't it?
Well I am going to get organised so I have time to play with my Stamp Press today, I spent most of the weekend enjoying the peace, quiet and birdsong at the allotment, he got quite a bit done this weekend. We have lots of veggies and salads to look forward to in the coming weeks.
I will call in and join you for coffee later.
Love and Hugs
Sandra
xxxxxx

Good Sunday Morning!

 

 



Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

Yesterday was such a glorious day, so sunny and really warm, but boy didn't that temperature drop in the evening, I was shivering and even had to resort to a hot water bottle, maybe I should have had that Baileys to warm me up!

Todays card was made using the Santorini Die, from Sue Wilsons Greek island dies, now I searched high and low and could hardly find any cards made using these dies, I don't think that Sue has used them too much as I could find hardly any on her blog either, in face there are a few of the last die collection that I haven't seen too much of.  Do you think this next launch will have Christmas s in, or will there be another launch in june/july ?  I didn't read that there were any Christmas dies, I am

looking forward to see what the new Noble dies are like though as I quite like them, they are big enough to create a whole card with!                                                                   This card was made using Green card from the new colour collection by Anna Marie Designs, its almost like an apple green, I teamed it with a Lilac pearlescent card also from Anna Marie Designs.
 I used the Noble Classic Adorned Rectangles in Lilac and the Greek Island Santorini Die both from Creative Expressions, designed by Sue Wilson.
I stamped the Justrite Happy Birthday Sentiment onto the centre of the Santorini die, added some pearls and a bow tied with Lilac satin ribbon, topped with a resin flower that I got for a bargain price at the works, sadly they only had the lilac/purple ones, they have great 3metre crochet ribbon and other lace ribbon in some really lovely colours, some of wooden reels, all at £1 each!
I still need to add some flowers maybe in the bottom right corner, but I am not sure, what do you think?
Well much excitement, my Fiskars Stamp Press came yesterday, it wasn't due to be here until Monday!  So I will be have a restful day doing a bit of crafting I think, I ordered some new Smoothies, they are little egg shaped latex sponges, they are like the best stress toy, I must have sat squishing it in my hand for ages, I watched Julia Watts demo them on Create and Craft and they look so easy to use as the have no edges so blend really smoothly, well we will see, I will update you later on today!
Well we are having a lazy morning, which is just as well after yesterdays allotment afternoon, it really frustrates me that I can do hardly nothing and still pay the price heavily, this time for sowing a few seeds, I wasn't hoeing and digging! I really did enjoy it though, I love spending time with Paul doing something that he really enjoys, he is so willing to do anything for me!
I hope you are all enjoying your Sunday morning........is that Bacon I smell?!
Hazel I hope your antibiotics kick in today xx
Norah, I hope you are ok, we are all missing you xx
Sam, I hope you are feeling better, well in time for your amazing holiday with Lyndon xx
Steph, I hope you are feeling less 'pants' and more 'bloomers' today xxxx
Love and Hugs
Sandra
xxxxxxxxx

 





Mixed Craft Saturday

Good Morning Ladies,

Welcome to another Mixed Craft Saturday,

Don't they come around fast?!

Now I am getting to the point of not knowing whether I

have shown something already or not, so bare with me please!

 



 

First up today is this gorgeous MDF tissue box cover by Brenda (littlelamb)

I love how you have used the ribbon under the butterfly wings, it looks

like an extension of the wings, so pretty, the stamping of the leafy

flourish is brilliant too, are they Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms? I have

those and rarely use them, I must get them out and play, thanks for the

reminder, isn't funny how we get side tracked by our current dies

and forget about all the older ones that we once loved and couldn't live without!

I love this box Brenda, you must be our most multi skilled member I think!

Thanks for allowing me to share you craft with our friends.

 

 

This Necklace was made by yours truly, last November, I made it for

that ill fated Craft Fayre that I did and that has scarred me for life I think!

The necklace is made using  Genuine Amethyst Nuggets, with Lavender Pearls

dropped down on swags of gold chain, I also made a Bracelet and Earrings to match.

 

 

This last set of photos was sent to me by Michele (Pharmacy),

It comprises of this very cute little box that has a

hinged top (like a cigarette box)!

Inside there are..................................... 

 

These gorgeous little notelet cards, how sweet are they? they

all coordinate perfectly, yet they are completely different,

what an amazing gift to give somebody, I really don't think we use

notelets enough these days, it would be so lovely to receive one

of these through the door rather than an email wouldn't it?

It looks like Michele has used some Kanban Stamps, I think

I have the same ones, but I had trouble using them (due to my lack of skill)

I expect as they are clear stamps, I have more trouble with clear stamps!

Thank you for allowing me to share your project with our crafty sisters Michele.

Well what have you all got planned for the weekend?

I have promised Paul that I will go and spend the day at the allotment with him,

 I have a stool and table set up for planting seeds etc,

 I will take something crafty with me to do too.

 Luckily Paul has a huge Polytunnel so I can sit in there out of the wind and rain.

I felt that he had earned me going there with him as he spent the whole day at

 Ally Pally with all me friends last Saturday, although he quite enjoyed it I believe!

Love and Hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

Michele's 21st Card & Pats dotty Happy Birthday Card

 



Good Morning Ladies,

Hopefully this post will appear as it is supposed to today and not cause me

early morning stress like yesterday!  I still wonder where the original post

disappeared too, I think its floating around up there with some of your comments!

Todays card is a fabulous 21st Birthday card by Michele, I can see she has

used Sue's 8 X 8 Embossing Folder, I really like this folder as it is so unisex and

very effective, I have done the embossed lines effect going one way on a card

but I think it would be impossible to get that effect with a score board.

It looks like Michele has used buttons to cover the 21, it is very effective

whatever it is she has used, looks quite sparkly!

 

 

This Card was made by Pat (Witney) for her Granddaughter,

The dotty card is Anna Marie Design and the focal element is made with

Spellbinders Floral Ovals, they are one of my very favourite Spellbinders,

I can't remember the make of the Happy Birthday Die, although Pat and I

were together when she made this card, there is a CE Checkerboard Pinpoint

Embossing Folder, embossed white mat at under the dotty card which had been cut

with a Spellbinder Card Creator set, it just gives a different shape to your layers.

Altogether a gorgeous little card for any teenager.

Thank you to both Michele and Pat for allowing me to share the creations,

you really are a very talented bunch of girls!

Did any of you ladies see Julia Watts Craft Clinic on Monday?

She used these brilliant little things that looked like eggs, they are latex sponges

and they looked like they took all the hard work out of applying ink to paper,

either to ink around the edges of your card or for inking through the die, I have

got the Brushes from Inklyscious, but I still don't always achieve seamless blending

in fact I often get little marks from the bristles of the brush!

I did see over at Oyster Stamps that they sold a Sizzix version of the Tool n One,

they sold it as a complete set with a mat for £7.50, which is cheaper than the Tool n one

alone, there was also a Zutter make one too but I can't remember the cost of that one.

 I ordered myself one of those Fiskars Stamping Press plates as well today, stamping really

isn't my strong point, I usually end up stamping something 10 times a may get 2 good ones,

I am not sure if its being disabled and I transfer too much of my weight when I lean

forward to press onto the stamp, or it goes the other way , when I find it hard to stand

so don't apply enough pressure, this Press is supposed to aid these problems, its

basically a large Stamping block with four sponges at the corners, so you can place it

over your piece of card or die cut shape, you can get it into position and them press

down and hold with one hand while rubbing your other hand over the area of the stamp.

It looks great but we will see,  was a little sore today after trundling between the dining

table and craft room yesterday, so I decided to have a sit down and shop on the internet.

While watching the C & C birthday celebrations, nothing has tempted me so far, but a

couple of good demonstrators, its free P & P this weekend, but the prices were still to high,

I was shocked at the price of the Tattered Lace Die cutting machine, almost £300, I guess

its C&C machine isn't it as they are actually Tattered Lace or Vice Versa, so I expect we

will be seeing a lot of that too! No mention of their new TODO machine yet though!

Well fingers crossed this goes to plan!

Love and Hugs

Sandra

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty Congratulations!



Good morning Ladies,
Such a pretty card today, Could be used for a Wedding Card, or even Engagement or Congratulations
for winning a dance competition,
Sue's beautiful Heart Lattice die has been used on some beautiful pearlescent card, this sets the perfect background for the gorgeous main focal element, that beautiful die, its called "First Dance"
its a Signature Die by Joanna Sheen, its so pretty and a great price £7.99, it has the look of a Tattered Lace Die, but at half the cost!
A "Congratulations" banner and some gorgeous Camellia Flower Die Cuts by Sue Wilson topped with some pretty pearls finish this card of beautifully!
I am sorry about the interruption to normal service today, the Original Post disappeared with so many of your messages into Cyber space!  (what actually happened is I just couldn't find the key to open the front door, so I have been sat outside since 6 am waiting for a lock smith!
I am going to ask Mrs B's dad to make me a little hanger for the keys so that doesn't happen again!
The three of us had an amazing crafty and very chatty day yesterday, I have no idea where the time goes though!
I was very shocked to see on Icon Uk that Sue has another Die Launch at the End of April, it just is too close to the last one for me, I have hardly any of the new dies in the last collection, mind you I tried to get some inspiration yesterday for the Greek Island dies but there is hardly anything out there,
even Sue has barely used them, I do think that they are a bit of a strange shape, I think that the only really successful range in the last set was the Noble Range, there are more of those in this next launch, along with a Canadian and Portuguese range and something called Configurations!? we will have to wait to see what they are.
Well my head is buzzing from this troublesome start to the day, thanks for sticking with me, you really are the dearest, most caring bunch of friends!
Love to you all,
Sandra
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A Perfect Pair of Pop -Ups! By Michele!

Good Morning Ladies,
Just look at how fabulous todays cards are, what teenager wouldn't love these amazing creations,
they would definitely be regarding this card as "Cool"! Which is something quite hard to achieve with teenagers these days!

I love both of these colour combinations, they could be used for both girls and boys!

I am hoping that Michele has a template or something so that we can all have a go at making

one of these cards, I imagine once you have got the mechanics right the decoration of the pop up card is up to you, I am quite excited at the prospect of completing one of these!

So Michele I will be looking forward to you coming in and telling us all about your cards.

Well it was so lovely to see Patwyn return to the café yesterday, I hope that you will soon be up to

popping in more often, you will be in the best place for support.

Cheryl my lovely I hope that you feel up to a visit as well today, I have missed your daily post,

I find you such a positive and uplifting influence on my life! Hurry back, please xx

Well a lovely day ahead today as I have Pat and Sue coming to play, which I am very much looking forward to, particularly as Paul is away!

They will have to ignore the dust etc as my domestic genius is not here, if I hoovered there would be no crafting, so you can't have it both ways, it always needs doing again when you leave anyway!

The important things are always clean, my only problem is you have to walk through my craft room to get to the toilet, and that is rarely tidy, I just can't craft tidy, sorry!

Well I am off for a cup of tea,

love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

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Spellbinders Romantic Rose, Monochrome!



 









Good Morning Ladies,
A bit of a slow day here yesterday, but  I was keen to get in the craft room to play, I always like
to open new ink pads and do a little colour swatch, it makes it easier to find matching ink for card stock if you have them ready stamped on a piece of white/black card. The colour on the label can be very deceiving at times!  So I did that, used some of my new magnetic sheets to try and sort some

dies out and then sat and stroked and "ooo'd & aaaa'd " at the colours  of the new Anna Marie Card that I bought, just too nice to use!
Today's card I made for Paul to send to his Aunt in Canada, sadly his uncle had just died of lung cancer, so sad, Aunty Rita didn't really want loads of sympathy cards but Paul felt that he wanted her to know that she was in our thoughts, so I used the Spellbinders Romantic Rose die cuts that I made when Pat was over a couple of weeks ago, I layered them with Spellbinders Matting dies , I stamped the Justrite sentiment in the centre of the smaller die and added a couple of tiny Camellia Flowers from Creative Expressions Open and Closed Camellia Petals, in black and white.
I took my usual 8 X 8 card and matted it with black card and them white that had been Embossed with the Creative Expressions Floral Brocade Folder, designed of course by Sue Wilson, I placed my focal element at the top centre of the card and run a piece of black satin ribbon across  the lower

section of the card and adhered a Triple Bow to the centre, topped with a couple of pieces of the C E Delicate Fronds die cuts in white and popped a larger Camellia on top of that, made using both the Open and Closed Die Sets. I popped a few black gems around to finish the card.
I hope you like the card, I am finding more and more of the new Spellbinders that I like and that would work very well with Sue's dies too.

Lynda sent me a photograph of her
Huge Shopping basket from Ally Pally, those die storage cases in the background were a proper bargain, I wish I had bought some now, as the came with 10 pockets in with a double magnetic sheet in each pocket, so twenty sets of dies atleast in each folder! She got loads of dies too and some masks by the look of it, Lynda please let me know how you get on with that Stamp Positioner thingy, Sue and I looked at them at Farnborough but weren't sure about it, great idea though, for people like me that aren't very confident with stamping!

Well that's al for today Ladies except to say that Sam I hope the Doctors Visit went well, I look forward to seeing you back at your number one slot in the morning, after feeding your boys their buttered toast, fingers crossed for you my lovely!
Love and Hugs
Sandra
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Ally Pally update ! (sorry steph)!

 



Good ladies,
Todays blog post is an update on our trip to Ally Pally.
This first photo is of Cameeli, Me, Sue, Lynda & Maria, gosh I hate having my photo taken!
Its is a lovely photograph of all the , lovely ladies though! (Thank you Terry).

 



This next photograph is of all of us that met up for a chat in the afternoon, here we have from left
to right...Brenda (Mumma) Lello, Maria, Sue (Mrs B), Brenda (littlelamb), Pat, Paul, Me & Lynda.
We had such a good time and the hour we were sat there went so fast, I just didn't want to say goodbye to any of you! Although we continued to bump into each other for the rest of the afternoon, we then all migrated backed to Sue, where we were all chatting until we were asked by Security to leave!  Yes we were verbally 'removed' !
The crowd behind us is around Sue, there was a crowd around Sue for pretty much most of the day!
As with other craft shows this year, the amount of stands were less, the ones that were missing were as with other shows, all the companies from the British Craft Network Channel, I am guessing that they have just decided to not bother with any shows this year, I asked Sue but she had no idea why they weren't attending. So that remains a mystery, there was plenty of room to get around and as always at this show there was plenty of seating for everyone!







This photo is a picture of Maria's haul from the show, she clearly had a stock up on Sue's Dies

and a few Spellbinders too, Stamping card, Mica powders, Bakers Twine and embossing folders,

you did very well Maria, now you have mastered the art of sending me photos you can send me some pictures of the cards you make with this amazing Haul!

 

This photo is my purchases, I bought Pinflair Glue as they were 3 for £10, which I thought was a bargain, I have long awaited the Shaded Lilac Distress Ink, Distress Markers too, they were 3 for  £5, which again i thought was a good deal! A pair of scissors for £1 they were good ones too, Westcott !

Three packs of cards from Anna Marie Designs, a kind of a patterned, gingham in the new colours and a pack of Pearl card in matching colours too, eagle eyed Pat spotted this deal, there were a hundred sheets for £15 instead of £29! The Anna Marie Stamps were buy one get one free, so there for a must! The green fibres and voile in the packet in the back of the photo, along with the coloured stamens were also from Anna Marie.  I got my new White Tulle, Clear Embossing Powder, a large pot of Iced Snow and some of the new Sparkle Medium from Creative Expressions stand, the small  

Memento Ink Pads set were from Inklyliscious, I watched her using them and they worked as well as

Distress inks, so thought that all of these colours would boost me existing colours for many techniques! A gorgeous Trailing Butterfly stamp from HoneyDoo crafts, a couple of odd dress  stamps from Sue, a pack of Big bloomers from Papermania  and some A3 Centura Pearl card and a large Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue complete the list! What do you reckon, did I do well???

Everything was a great deal or bargain price, nothing too exciting but all necessities (well that's what Paul thinks)!

I can't wait to get in my craft room and put all of this fab stuff into use, so watch this space!

Sorry If this post has bored you all senseless, you did ask what we had bought!

It was truly a fab day, made special by my Café friends, so thank you all!

Love and Hugs

Sandra

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A Beautiful Gift No.1

 

Good Morning Ladies,

Well what can I say, I had the most amazing day yesterday,

I have never laughed so much in one day, or talked for that matter,

needless to say I have no voice to say (Paul is so pleased)!

I wanted to share with you this beautiful card that Cheryl sent me,

I have never received a card so prettily wrapped, it came wrapped in a

sparkly tulle, wrapped with a pretty yellow ribbon.

Just look at how pretty this card is, using on of Sue's Gemini Dies and

her Trailing Ivy Die, with some beautiful flowers to finish it off.

I was so touched, the verse inside had tears streaming down my face,

I haven't shown it as it is personal message.

Here is a close up of the flowers that and Ivy Die in

the corner of the card!





Lastly the gorgeous Gemini Die, Cheryl, thank you from the

bottom of my heart for such an uplifting, heart warming, gift and message.

 

Back to Ally Pally, the day started bright and early with Sue and Margaret (Sue's Mum)

Arriving at our house at 7.30am, yes I did say 7.30 am!

We then went to collect Pat and made our way to Ally Pally, where the first surprise

of the day was Cameeli, waiting for me in the entrance to Ally Pally, such a wonderful

hug to start the day!  Myself and my entourage then walked past the huge queue and

straight in with my disabled entrance (fast pass)! We all went straight over to see Sue

who is always so welcoming, I find it amazing that with all her blog members she still greets

you with your name and a huge welcoming smile, such a warm, friendly, kind hearted lady!

Later on in the day I got to meet up with Lynda, Maria, Brenda, Brenda (littlelamb),

Sue and Pat! Security did approach once, but we kept it down and they retreated!

It was such a lovely hour, we all spent the time chatting and like has been said do many times

it was just like we were all sat chatting with old friends, I literally cannot wait for our Retreat

now, its those little experiences that make this whole  blog thing so worthwhile.

I had some of the most heartfelt hugs every yesterday, I have been waiting for my 'Mumma Hug'

for Brenda L, for too long, but it was so worth it! The Cameeli hug was and unexpected Bonus,

I have tried to persuade her to start trying to come in and join us more often, believe me she

has a wicked sense of humour!

A special thanks to my two crafty sisters Sue & Pat without whom the experience would have

a lot less fun, I love spending time with you two!

I will call in later and update you on my shopping (yes I managed a little of that too)!

But at the moment I am still too tired to open the bags!

Thank you to the lovely ladies that kept the Café open and running in

my absence, you did an amazing job!

Love and Hugs

Sandra

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