Happy Birthday Janet

🎉🎉🎊Happy Birthday Janet🎊🎉🎉

Good Morning Ladies,

A very Special day today ladies, it's Our Lovely Janet's Birthday, there's a huge chocolate cake in the chiller, some fresh baked scones, one of Margaret's Coconut & Lemon cakes, everything has been done this morning Janet so please just sit in the special chair  that is adorned with balloons and streamers, put your feet up and enjoy your day, I wish but was close enough to give you an actual 'Birthday Hug' , I'm sending lots of virtual ones to compensate!  

I'm not sure that you have planned today but whatever it is have a wonderful day my Dear, Sweet Friend xxxx

I love the card that you have made too Janet, I'm guessing it was for a special occasion as it is so beautiful, every thing about is just gorgeous, from the sentiment to the beautiful floral spray with pretty stick pins and ribbon.  Thank you for allowing me to share it with everyone. Xxx

Pat I hope all goes well with Pete's hospital visit today, I'm sure it is going to be a long and tiring day, you will be in our thoughts my lovely. Xxx

Sue is coming over today, I have a list of cards to make, so will be cracking the whip today, haha, I'm looking forward to a catch up xxx

I hope that all of you have a lovely day today too,

Love and hugs

Sandra

xxxxxxx

Monday Challenge

Dragonfly Dreams Stamp and Die Bundle

Good Morning Ladies,

This weeks Challenge as you probably have noticed is not a Sketch Challenge, the Challenge is.....

I would like you to choose either One Stamp or Die set 

And then make ...

1 card for a male and 1 card for a female

I think this is a great way of looking at our dies and stamps in different ways, being able to use them for both means we get more out of our stash.  I know this means making two cards instead of one, but if it's with the same set you'll just need to change the colour theme and embellishments.  I hope you share my enthusiasm for this Challenge, I got quite excited when I came up with it yesterday. 

I look forward to seeing your ideas.

I am hosting another Sketch Challenge on fb today, but I'm cheating and using a sketch we did a couple of weeks ago.  I just couldn't summon the energy to create another Challenge.  I have felt totally wiped out since we got home from Farnborough.  I'm not sure why, I didn't sleep well the night before, due to my anxiety.  I don't think I was out of my wheelchair much more than I am when we go to Ally Pally, but something has just zapped all of my energy.  I have my fingers crossed that it isn't the start of something horrible.  There were a lot of people coughing and sneezing around the show, I'm just hoping it isn't anything from that.

On the up side we have had a lovely, relaxing weekend.

I hope you all have a lovely week, 

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra 

xxxxxxx

Your Challenge cards

My Challenge Card

The sketch

Michele has made 3 Fantastic cards for this Challenge,

amazingly they all look so different.....

A Cute baby card

A Fantastic Christmas Card

A lovely any occasion card

You have really made the most of this sketch Michele, 

Here is Micheles's description

"Christmas challenge card-paper & card from stash,  poinsettias are die cut. Baby card -film strip is a Spellbinders die & shapes are from the Shadow box maybe or the other die set Sue brought out, tag is from an earlier Sue Wilson die set(forgotten which one)! The last card has an embossed background with 3 diecut squares (another Sue Wilson die set) .

Janet's Challenge Card

Janet has used some of the earliest Spellbinders that I remember 

(And I own) 'Fleur De Lis Doilly Accents', I actually had forgotten how much 

I like them! The three circles are mounted upon the 'Fleur de Lis' accents, the 

Border from the set have used to create the pretty border under the ribbon.

A gorgeous card Janet, it will be fun to see how many people have owned these

Early spellbinders too.  Thank you for taking part xxx

Karen's Challenge Card

Karen (scan & cut Genius) has created this card using only the Scan & Cut,

I am in awe of your talent Karen, those shoes are 'killer heels', Karen has cut in 

Black gloss card, they were created in scan & cut too, I hope that when we get this retreat sorted you will be giving me some serious 1,to1 tuition, although I know that Cheryl will want to learn too!  Thank you so much for your inspiration Karen xxx

Lynda's Challenge Card

Lynda has used one of the fantastic cheap dies from China, I think I have 

Ordered this one too, it works so well with assortment of beautiful Butterflies that 

Lynda has arranged around it, a gorgeous card Lynda thank you so much xxx

Lilian's Challenge Card

Oh Lilian I absolutely love this card, sometimes it's the simplest of designs that 

Have the best impact, can I ask what the 'stitched' looking border is that

You have used? I really like it!,  Your  flowers are coloured beautifully to match

Your background colour, everything is just perfect down to the pretty how

On the sentiment, thank you Lilian for taking part xxx

Val's Challenge card

What a brilliant idea, I have loads of these frames and never would have thought,

Of using them like this, I love the papers you have caused too, those butterflies

Are really pretty, those gemstones really finish them beautifully.

Thank you so much for taking part xxx

Brenda's Challenge Card

Those little MDF tiles work perfectly for this weeks sketch Brenda, good thinking!  I'm also very impressed that you were thinking about the sketch Challenge while you were at the show,

That's dedication for you! 

I am also very impressed that you and Michele have made a

Start on your Christmas cards! A fantastic card Brenda 

Thank you so much for taking part xxx

Margaret & Sue's idea for a

Challenge Card

Now Margaret makes a Challenge card every week but this week

She has had surgery on her wrist so was unable to craft. 

While at the Farnborough show, we were all stood chatting with the 

Lovely ladies cat the 'Honeydoo Crafts' stand, Margaret said that she thought 

That this card was perfect for the sketch this week and that maybe they could photograph it and send it in !! (Joking of course) !  

So ladies, I have done it for you !!

Thanks for thinking about taking part xxx

On the subject of that I was surprised to see on one or two stands had 

'photographs only with owners permission' signs on.  

Usually you are free to take photos, we have done many times to use for inspiration.

When we asked why, it was explained that some people were taking photographs 

And entering them into competitions in magazines etc.

Can you believe that people would actually have the nerve and cheek to do

Such a thing??! I was gob smacked,  I was under the impression that

Crafters were the most kind, caring and generous natured people,

(well with a few exceptions),  the same lady was telling us that one individual 

Spent ages in conversation with a stall owner but was then found with over a £100 of stolen goods in her bag, from that stand and the next one! Unbelievable!!

I guess there are always exceptions!

Thank you so much ladies for taking the time to take part

In this weeks Challenge, I will keep doing them for as long as

You all enjoy taking part xxx

Have a lovely Sunday

Love & Hugs

Sandra

xxx

Mixed Up Saturday.....

Mixed Up Saturday

Good Morning Ladies,

Welcome to another ' mixed up Saturday'  where we share all sorts

Of crafty goodness!

Karen's Crafts....

Karen, I love the Pop up Box card, it looks so different to any others 

I've seen, so perfect, the images are fantastic.

The Minion Hat is just, the most adorable hat I have ever seen, 

I love everything from his wonky eyes to the little personal 'Hand made by' 

Charm, a brilliant finishing touch.

I will add in you description as you  explain things so clearly.,...

"Hello Sandra

My photos - the pop up box was cut from a free svg file on ScanNCut All I had to do was score the lines. It was embarrassingly easy. The photos I "borrowed" from Google and cut with a Spellbinders deckle edged die. I decided to keep it "clean" and not put frilly flourishes etc Next time I will really go to town

The hat is from a child's pattern I adapted to fit a man. I bought the yarn at Sandown and crocheted it on the Sunday evening to give as a birthday present to my boss on the Monday. I added a little brass charm that reads "Handmade With Love" He was thrilled with it and has bought a Minion T-shirt with the leftover cash we'd collected to go with it!  His main presents being a Red Letter day experience and a model of a Minion riding a motorbike

Lots of Love

Karen"

Thank you Karen xxx

Michele's Craft Room

The plan!!

 

i

As you can see most of Michele's  Crafty goodies have made their way back Into her new craft room , I think I'm most impressed by the 'post it notes' explaining what's in each draw, it must have taken you ages! ? It. Looks like you pretty much have it sorted Michele, although (the room)

If any of you have any ideas for creating a better craft room for Michele please leave your comments below,
Thank you Michele for sharing your craft room with all of us xx

Now onto some craft shopping......

Lynda

Some lovely Dies from China, I saw this one the other day and thought it looked like

A shadow box frame, I love that 'Retail' Therapy' too Lynda, Sue made a lovely card with the shoes etc on,

It looked like a real 'designer shoe' card.  The little bits and pieces of dies are really fab too, headphones great for Male cards and we all know what a pain they can be!  

Thanks for sharing your shopping with us l

My shoppjng

My shopping was a little bit boring, I got some essentials, white 300gsm paper, this brand of white 

Paper is absolutely fantastic, I got some A4 and the same stall did white Centura  Pearl A3 so I grabbed some of that too, I had and anti-static bag, but the house fairy stole mine so that was on my shopping too, I got a flourescent pink one so I shouldn't lose it!  Scissors were on my list too, so I got those, I got a pretty stamp and die set I wanted too, plus's many more sundries, oh and the Sue Wilson Tree die, just for the leaves mainly, it's a lovely die though, so never mind! I also bought some lovely embossing folders from Creative Expressions,  some superfine glitter card , some pretty flowers, two die sets from. Last but not least I bought a pretty stamp and matching die from. Honey Doo crafts, the samples on the stand were stunning!

Thank you all for stopping by, 

Love and hugs

Sandra

xxx

Beautiful Birthday wishes from Brenda

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

We are all rushing around this morning trying to get ready to leave early, usually either Paul has been gone hours by 7.45 or we stay in our bedroom waiting for the whirlwind of chaos that Matt, Sophie & Lucy cause whilst grabbing their packed lunches, curling their hair, deciding on which blouse to put with which trousers etc, it's best to stay out of the way, as it is you get bombarded with questions like "have you seen my......".  Or "why did you buy orange and mango juice when we always have orange and pineapple", or there are the 'statements' that get bellowed from the kitchen......'I don't like smoked ham" or "there aren't any cherry bakewells", as you can tell, they are all 'life changing' problems, after the dust has settled and the fro t door has slammed shut for the last time, we tentatively stick our heads out of our bedroom door to find that almost every light has been left on between their bedroom door and the front door, the kitchen looks like a tornado hit, I'm not quite sure what happens when Sophie and Lucy try to scoop the ground coffee from its tub to the coffee filter, but they have either got the serious shakes or there must be a gust of a breeze through the kitchen window, blowing coffee granules everywhere, then there is the overspill from the milk frother, little puddles in a trail from the microwave! 

Then I venture into my bathroom!! We play a game daily, I pick up all of their make up, mascara, Foundation, concealer etc, put it into its box, they use it then leave it in every surface available, so I pick it up and so on, they would never get away with a murder or crime either, there is always at least one foundation finger print to be found, the killer thing and the one thing I Cannot tolerate is when my newly laundered, fluffy white hand towels are used to remove the excess foundation from their hands, this generally has me picking up my phone and sending a rather angry text message, I'm not sure if any of you ever saw the Harry Potter films, but they have an angry message service called a 'Howler'  basically a stern telling off in a message, I will try and leave a link below for a giggle....

1:15 ron gets a howler. YouTube - 10 Jan 2010

Anyway, hopefully as you are reading this we will have restored calm to the house and be on our way to Farnborough, stopping on route to pick up Pat, Sue & Margaret.

As I am writing this I am picturing myself as a swan, being all calm and carefree on the surface but there is all kinds of turmoil racing away underneath the surface! 

Onto today's stunning card, Brenda has designed and created this gorgeous card for her Dear Friend Jenny for her 80th Birthday, Brenda has used the 'Union Square' die from the New York Collection designed by Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions.

The addition of that stunning, delicate lace just transforms this card into a beautiful keepsake card, that Jenny will treasure.  Once again Brenda I want to draw attention to your stunning hand made roses, the are just so beautiful. Did you colour the Vellum for your sentiment or did you have a blue vellum in your stash? I have seen you use it before for your sentiments and love how delicate it is, it doesn't overtake the card at all, just perfect.  The one thing that transforms this gorgeous card into a gift is the beautiful box that you have made Brenda, I can't thank you enough for sharing this card with us, I imagine everyone  will be hitting the 'pin' button and keeping this card for inspiration. xxx

Right ladies, I have my list, my lunch and flask and my wonderful husband, (most importantly) without him I would not be able to cope today.  He's so amazingly patient, not many husband's would do what he does, he takes us all there, does runs back to the car to drop off our shopping and pick up our lunches, although he does draw the line at pulling Sue's trolley back to the car!  He does all of this with a smile, I think he enjoys the chat and gossip that goes on, he and Sue can also be found trying to work out how something works and how they could make the same thing cheaper or with things we already have! 

I can't wait to meet all of you that are you going today, I'm hoping Doris will have finished her visit though, I can do without her input today! 

I hope you all stayed safe during the chaos that 'Doris' caused! 

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxxx

Pootles Design Team Challenge Week 2

Good Morning,

Welcome to Week 2 of my Pootles February Design Team  posts.

We were given the 'Bookcase Builder' stamp set to work create 3 projects with.

Bookcase Builder 

Now this stamp set had my worried at first sight, but it really got my thinking about all of the different combinations of Stamps that you could use to create anything from a New Baby card to a Scrapbook page about winning a trophy for something.  I now think that these challenges are a fantastic way of stepping out of your comfort zone and changing up the projects that you usually make.  So I totally encourage you to take part in Design Team Challenges whenever you can.

For my 2nd project I went with the 'Champion' theme and created a card that could be sent to someone who has just won a competition or passed an exam, you could stamp the 'Trophies' in any colour.

I used:

The 'Bookcase Builder' stamp set for the trophies and the 'Congratulations' sentiment.

'Night of Navy'  Card 

Versamark ink pad

Silver Embossing Powder

I hope you like my card.

I have enjoyed this challenge and can't believe that next week is my 3rd and final card.

I hope you all have a lovely day.

Love & Hugs

Sandra

xxxxxx

Another card in Janet's Vintage Ladies series & Box making Tutorial

Tutorial for making Boxes

Good Morning ladies,

I have featured another of Janet's 'Vintage Lady' cards today it is the latest one of a whole 'Series' of beautiful Vintage lady themed cards.

This particular card is just so pretty Janet, from the Vintage style paper in new the background to the frame around the image with the pretty tied in the bottom corner and gorgeous blue Butterfly in the opposite corner. The lace that you have edged your frame with is just so delicate and if I remember rightly it has tiny sparkles along it that catch the light.  Your Floral spray trimmed with that beautiful Bow is the perfect finishing touch Janet, thank you so much for allowing me to share your card xxx

I have been asked a few times to do a tutorial on box making, particularly, how to measure the card that you need to make your box and the difference you have to allow to make the lid fit properly.  The easiest way to do it was by making a Video Tutorial, so that's exactly what I have done for you, I show you how to make one using the "Crafters Companion" 'Ultimate' Score board and a regular score board, which in my case is my new 'Stampin Up' Score board, which I absolutely love.
Anyway I hope you find the tutorial helpful. If video above hasn't worked please click on link at the bottom of the page.

Pat is popping over today, all being well so that will be fun, I have quite a list of card making and die cutting to do, so I'll be busy!

I will be putting a Stampin Up Order in in a couple of days, so if there is anything that you would like me to order you, just let me know, that way we can all save on postage.

Have a lovely day

Love and hugs
Sandra
xxxxxxx

In case video doesn't work here is link to video turorial:

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=ag2X86Rsdmk

A card from Tracy

Good Morning Ladies,

Tracy sent me this photo of a super pretty pink and white card that she has made and I couldn't wait to share it with you all, it's so lovely to see everyone's different card making styles, we all have our different finishing touches or techniques that make our cards unique to us, some of you that have been sharing your cards for longer are usually easy to pick out. (Or not for some of you 😉).!!
Tracy used .....
Creative Expressions Eternal Rings Striplet Die for background with Double sided Adhesive and Diamond Sprinkles
Creative Expressions Scripted Happy Birthday (sentiment)
I'm not sure about the Alphabet dies, but love them.

Now I'm not normally a bright pink girl, but it really works Tracy, I think that just using it in small amounts makes it more bearable.  I absolutely love this card Tracy, thank you so much for sending in to me to share.  You must have sent the others in a different format though as I couldn't open them, please try again my lovely xxx

Are any of you going to Farnborough on Friday? If you are let us know, we could arrange a meet up, even if only for a few minutes, I would love to see you, it really is a lovely show to go to, all stalls are easily accessible too. I'm really looking forward to it.
I sent a message to Sonia yesterday to ask if she was ok as we hadn't seen her for a while and one or two had asked after her.  She said that she was busy with work and home life and hadn't really got her craft 'mojo' back, but she says she still looks in, she sends her love and hopes to join us again soon xxx

I had a lovely treat yesterday morning, Janet called, oh it was so lovely to chat, we hadn't for a while but we got straight into conversation as if we had just chatted on the weekend, which just reinforces my point about us being such a lovely craft family, I could pick up the phone to any of you, any time and it's like we chat every week! I am so looking forward to meeting all of you.

Insomnia has struck again, it is currently 2.42am as I write this post, I've tried closing my eyes, nothing happens, so I am going to finish now and Read my book (Kindle).
Maria, are you still up too??.

Have a lovely day ladies,

Love and hugs
Sandra
XxxxX

Monday Sketch Challenge

My Challenge Card

The Sketch

Good morning ladies,

Here is your sketch for this week, remember that you can turn it sideways, upside down or however you please!  I think it's fairly straightforward, I asked Michele to help me choose while we were chatting on messenger yesterday, we both thought that this would be a fun Challenge, it is a lot easier to work with than the first one we picked!! Have fun with it, whatever you do xx

I went romantic with mine, I will need a card on the 10th March as it's the anniversary of the day we met, in Sainsbury's, 28 years ago, we usually have a little celebration, so this challenge card will be perfect for that.

Now the right answers to the challenge cards are.....

1. Janet

2. Michele

3 Margaret

4 Maria

5 Lilian

6 Karen

7 Val

8 Michele

9 Lynda

One person got all 9 right and she didn't have one of her own to help......It was 

BRENDA !!!!  Well done you!!

Sue was next with 6. 

Thank you all for taking part, it is so much fun.

I'd like to thank you all for leaving such kind comments over the past couple of days, my blog gives me so much pleasure, more so if I know I am helping any of you in some tiny way.  I absolutely love seeing you get the lovely comments oh Yours cards, I love sharing yours as much as sharing mine.  The huge amounts of love you show each other when one of us is struggling in some way is so wonderful to see and I know first hand how much benefit there is to sharing your worries, I am a strong believer in ," a problem shared, is a problem halved!  Even just the process of writing down your problem down is therapeutic. 

Have a lovely week ahead ladies,

Loved and hugs 

Sandra 

Xxxxxxx

Your Fantastic Challenge cards

My Challenge Card

The Sketch

Card (1)

 (2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

Good Morning Ladies,

Welcome to another Sunday blog post packed full of your incredible Challenge cards, we have some absolutely stunning cards this week,  but just for fun I am not going to tell you who made which card, I will list below the names of everyone that took part this week to narrow it down a bit......

Michele (2 cards)
Maria
Karen
Janet
Lynda
Lilian
Val
Margaret

Just write the number of the card with the name of the person you think made it beside the number.

Now last week I said I would do a draw for a little something, just for fun, so I listed everyone's name that commented on last Sunday's blog  and added the number of names into a 'Random Number Generator' see below......

Everyone that commented

The number generated was 6

So the winner is Lynda !!!! I will post you a little something this week Lynda, thank you to everyone for taking part.

I'd also like to say a huge thank you to everyone that made a Challenge card, as always I really appreciate the time and effort you put into making Sunday's my favourite blog post of the week!

Have a lovely Sunday,

Love & Hugs

Sandra
Xxxxxxx

Today's PS..........

How True is this ??