Your Challenge cards

My Challenge card

The Sketch

Good Morning Ladies, 

It was a lovely sunny day here yesterday, Paul managed an hour or two at the allotment in the afternoon, we have been lucky in that the plot next to ours (our one and that one used to one whole plot but waiting list was so long that they divided any new plots that came up into 2 half plots), has been abandoned, the chap that took it on a year or two ago decided to give up, the weeds are waist height but I will give us a lot more growing room, we like to grow potatoes but if we sow 3/4 rows of potatoes we then have no room for peas and beans. Our current plot has Paul's most used birthday gift (10years ago), a 20ft polytunnel on and a 'Heath Robinson' style fruitcage that was already on the plot, it has gooseberries, blackcurrants and we added 3 rows of raspberries. I think Paul is quietly excited about having the extra room, our latest experiment is to try and grow Sweet Potatoes, I will keep you updated on the success! I will also maybe do some 'before and after' shots of the new plot! 

Now onto your lovely cards:

Karen's Challenge Card, I love that backing paper Karen, such an amazing colour, I will paste in Karen's description for you........

I was going to do a Christmas card using the John Lockwood Christmas rose stamps which I bought at AP last September and I can't find them Arrrgh! I intended to use them to create the sentiment part.  They must be somewhere buried in my room (I hope!)

So instead I used a die I bought from Hobbycraft - LOVE made by X-cut. I made the mats from an image on my Special Shaped cards usb in ScanNCut. and the heart border is a die cut using Sue Wilson's Diagonals - Love Hearts. The red ribbon was probably snipped off a t-shirt. Actually I wish that the ribbon was slightly wider.

A lovely​ card Karen, thank you so much for taking part XXX

Janet's Challenge Card is a fantastic monochrome card, the hint of gold on the flower adds a touch of luxury. Thanks Janet for taking part, I hope your journey to Calais goes smoothly today XXX

Lilian's Challenge Card is such delicate design, soft beautiful papers, pretty pink ribbon and those gorgeous little sparkly dragonflies finish the design perfectly, thank you so much for taking part XXX

Maria, oh such a pretty Challenge card from you this week, you have such pretty paper and adding the delicate lace makes it even prettier, I love the little resin bow on the tag too!  A gorgeous Challenge card Maria, thank you XXX

Val, I love your monochrome Challenge card, that Embossed background is amazing, such a deep, crisp emboss too, is that your new 'Gemini' by any chance??

A fabulous Challenge card Val, thank you so much for taking part, I am so happy that you have your 'Mojo' back !! Yay !!! XXX

Lynda, wow !! 3 fantastic Challenge cards from you this week, your first card is so pretty, it looks almost Lacey, the flowers are the perfect finishing touch.

Your second card is just gorgeous, such a pretty Christmas card, oh my I love that rose stamp! I wonder if that's the stamp our Karen was going to use ?? 

Your 3rd card is very 'Tim Holtz', that Tree stamp is lovely Lynda, the diamond die looks totally different on this card, you are so talented Lynda, I love your cards Lynda, thank you so much XXX

Michele's Challenge Card finishes our line up today,  what a way to finish!!

I love your card Michele, that 'Happy Birthday' die cut is just gorgeous, mounting onto the white linen look card was a genius touch that really works, I love the good embossed background too, the gold lace creates a lovely textured border, a really pretty card Michele thank you for taking time to make a card, I know how hard it was for you this week XXX

Thank you so much ladies, you are amazing friends XXX

I am off to prepare tomorrow's Challenge, hhhmmm, what shall we go for this week, traditional sketch or something different like Colour or theme type Challenge??

Enjoy the rest of your weekend Ladies,

Love and hugs,

Sandra 

XXXXX

It's Saturday....you know what that means?? We change things up a little!

Good Morning​ Ladies,

Welcome to our mixed up Saturday, where we like to change things up a little, 

Show different things, have a little peep into each others lives, well we are all virtually family!!

First up this week is a trio of fantastic cards from our Janet,

A beautiful Stepper card, such beautiful papers and gorgeous little butterflies

Create this beautiful work of art.

The second card features that adorable little girl ( I believe it's from a CD-ROM, if my memory serves me right)! Janet has matched the background perfectly with the 

Topper and a few pretty gems and some ribbon are 'icing on the cake'!

Last but not least another cute children's card, featuring some comical royal 

Characters, they look very 'panto'!! 

Three fantastic cards Janet, thank you so much for sharing.

Have a safe journey home xxx

Next up today I wanted to share a few photographs of Matt's flock with you,

He's been struggling a bit this year after some health issues etc, but he sent me these 

Photos last night with a message saying, this makes the all the struggling worth it.

I had a huge lump in my throat I can tell you, We are so proud of what he has achieved!

The lambs with the Mummy's in the field, they grow so fast!

The Dalmatian is Matt's friend Jodie's dog, she is giving 'Pascal'

the black lamb, he is huge, Matt had to intervene with his birth, using rope to

Assist his Mummy to deliver him, it was no wonder she struggled when you see the 

Size of him, we have him at home at the moment, Paul has just fed him and put him

A clean nappy on, yes I did say nappy, well you can't potty train a lamb!

This is 'Athena' our first abandoned lamb, in this photo she is stealing 

The horses food at the stables, she looks so tiny compared to Pascal

Harley with Athena, such an amazing bond between these two, totally bizarre,

They sleep together, play together, Harley cleans her regularly, especially her face when she has just had a bottle! I think he will miss her when she is running in the field with her cousins! 

Last up is an amazing transformation, the smile says it all....

From pain and frustration....

To smiles and perfection, Lynda you are so brave and strong, the pain

Was so worth it though, your smile warms my heart ❤

Thank you for sharing your journey with us, I know everyone of your

Friends here will be as happy as I am that you have your smile back

XXX

Val, I too have a draw full of Glitter Girl boards, I never really mastered them if I'm honest, plus you had to hand cut all the shapes, which is something I'm rubbish at, I always noticed when they were on CC they had everything pre-cut, making it look so easy, although when I look back they were a little tacky and 'OTT', I wonder what they are doing these days! Have a lovely weekend Val xxx

Lilian, I hope you have recovered from being put through the 'wringer' xxx

Maria, I hope you are feeling brighter sweetheart xxx

Brenda, will be thinking of you today, hope appointment goes well xxx

Janet, I hope packing and first leg of your Journey goes well xxx

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra 

XxX

PS: Did any of you notice that I upgraded the card yesterday? 

I thought it was a little bit bare, so I did this ....

To this, a few embellishments, I filled in the border strip and added some flowers and flourishes and a few pearls !!

Eastern Promise.......

Good Friday Morning Ladies,
Phew, the end of another week and almost another month!
How is that even possible?!
We have a busy month of blog birthdays next month, starting with Sue's on Monday, then Michele (who shares a BIG birthday year with me this year) !! Then we have Sonia/Angela on same day and Maria towards the end of the month, it's crazy! We seem to be either all or nothing !!

My card today features some of the new 'Eastern Palace Suite' of products from Stamping up, it's all rich peacock colours, emerald greens, rich Burgundy reds, gold and dark blue, the dies are medallion style dies, it has a Morroccan feel to me, I wasn't sure at first but the colours are growing on me, there are some brighter colours coming that are more Spring and summer so I can't wait to use those with these dies.

Have you all got plans for the Bank Holiday weekend?  Paul is working so I think I will be spending it in my craft room !

Have a lovely day ladies,
Sending gentle hugs to those that need it, Lynda I hope your mouth isn't too sore, can we see a photo of your new crocodile smile?! XXX

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra
XXX

Beautiful Card from Brenda x

Brenda's Beautiful Card

Welcome to the World

Penelope Faye 

Good Morning Ladies,

Firstly I would like to welcome Penelope Faye to the world, she made her entrance to the world at 9:09am yesterday morning, weighing in at 6lb 14.5 Oz.  Both Mum and baby are doing fine.

Sue you must be such a proud Grandma and Margaret a proud Great-Grandma, she is beautiful ❤.

I received this beautiful card in the post yesterday morning from Brenda, I was absolutely blown away, it is stunning, I love it so much I think I am going to buy the Stamp and Die combination​ before 30th April, after then you have to but them separately and it costs a little more, it is a beautiful die called Floral Phrases.

Detail Floral Phases Bundle

Thank you so much Brenda for such a stunning, inspirational​ card, I love it xxx

I had a lovely visit from Pat yesterday, we didn't craft together but it was good to catch up, it seems like ages since we have sat and chatted. X

I hope you are all well and that the weather hasn't been to crazy where you are, we had both beautiful sunshine and sleet/hail stone showers. We have had the heating back on too! 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra 

xxxxxxx

Sending you Sunshine!!

Good Morning Ladies,

I am sending you all sunshine today, oh If only I could!!!!!

We actually had two mini flurries of snow today,  it seems so odd, short sleeves last week, gloves and hot water bottle this week!

So to warm you all up I made this bright and cheery card, using the 'Sunshine Sayings' bundle from Stampin'Up!, 

A really fun and cheerful set that works for so many occasions, available to order anytime!
I made a channel style card and added the die cut Scribble Flowers and then added my sentiment.
I hope you like my card ladies xx

I have added a 'Contacts Page' to the blog, above this message, you can click onto it at anytime to find my YouTube Channel, SU Website, email address etc, I would love to hear from you x

Still no baby news from Sue, Roz was having good strong regular contractions early Evening, so hopefully today will be a happy news day!

Pat you'll be glad of a day without hospital today, YAY !! Hugs xxx

Hope everyone is ok,

Love and hugs,
Sandra
xxxxxxx

My GDP084 Case The Designer Card

My Global Design Team #GDP084 Card

Good morning Ladies,

My goodness me it has turned cold, I swear I could see my breath in bed last night!! I do like having the window open, for the fresh air but if I hadn't been so cold I might have ventured out from under the duvet to close the window, I think my nose was blue!

Today's card is my entry for the Stampin Up! Global Design Team Challenge, #GDP084.  This weeks Challenge is a "Case the Designer" Challenge, meaning you look at their project as an inspiration for your own, very similar to our Sketch Challenge.

'Michelle Last' Designed the card that for this weeks Challenge, her card is featured above, it's so pretty ! 

My card was made used the Butterfly Basics Stamp set and the Brand New Fresh Fig Ink pad, for the main image I brushed the ink onto the stamp and then used a little more of the same colour ink, watered down a little to colour in the image, this way you have no harsh black outline. The background​ was stamped with some more of the Butterfly Basics stamps and a couple of stamps from 'Timeless Textures', stamped with 'Sahara Sand',Fresh Fig and Old Olive' Ink pads.

The little butterflies were stamped on to Vellum and fussy cut! 

I hope you like it ladies xx

I am hoping to hear some happy news from Sue this morning, fingers crossed, depending on that is our meet up today, Pat has another full day of Drs appointments and scans, I hope all goes smoothly Pat, hugs to you and Pete, it amazes me that Pete looks and seems as fit as a man 10 years younger! Xx

Sending Love and hugs to all that pop in today,

Sandra 

XXX

Sketch Challenge

My Challenge card

The Sketch

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

How can it be the last week of April already? I wish this year would slow down a little!  Paul only has 3months left working in his current job, he then starts a period of re-settlement, where he goes on courses to retrain for a new career, so lots of changes ahead in our house.

Matt is coming to the end of lambing, thankfully, so he will return home sometime next week, depending on how long the last few Ewes take to deliver, I think he will be glad to get back to his own bed and he will be nearer to work, so won't spend so many hours driving between his work and the farm.  I think that it would make sense for him to have his sheep nearer to home, they are currently 60 miles away on a farm close to where he used to work and ride his motorcycle.

We are keeping an eye out for a farmer that has Solar panels in his fields, as they are usually glad to have sheep on their land to keep the grass down, because the panels are often too close together to mow between them.  

Now onto this weeks Challenge, I decided to go with a Sketch again this week, some of you are just getting back into the swing of card making again after losing your 'mojo', I will admit that even mine to a little 'mini-series' last week!  These sketches are the perfect cure I think, all you have to choose is your colours/ papers and what embellishments you are going to use, its also good to try and do a couple of variations of the same sketch, different colour or turn the sketch around. As always I can't wait to see what you all create ! 

I have started preparations for filming a 'mini-series' of different card folds, I want to do a once a week feature of making cards that we don't tend to use, just so that we can all expand our 'repertoire' a little.  What do you think?.

I hope that you are all well, sending love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra 

xxxxxx

Your Challenge Cards

The sketch

Brenda's Challenge Card

Karen's Challenge Card

Margaret's Challenge Card

Lynda's Challenge Card

Lilian's Challenge Card

Michele's Challenge card

Maria's Challenge Card

Val's​ Challenge Card

Good Morning Ladies,

Another lovely line up of cards ladies, 

Brenda, I absolutely love your card, that basket weave style embossing folder you have used is stunning, Brenda inked the embossing folder with Tim Holtz 'Potting Soil' before running through the machine, it has given a lovely effect, highlighting the design, the little flower appliques are stunning. Beautiful background paper too.  I absolutely love your card Brenda, thank you xxx

Karen, I love the picnic, tea party look of your card, the way you have used the two die cuts as a drop shadow it really makes the image stand out from the card. The gingham card looks like a tablecloth too, so the whole card really works, thank you so much Karen for taking part. Here is Karen's description:

Here's my challenge card. I am really pleased how it worked BUT it wasn't until I photographed it I realised that the squares are "wonky"! ((Note to self (again) - take a few photos before sticking)) down for layout ideas etc)

It's the first time I have used this die - Spellbinders paper Cuts Collection/Tea Party and originally went for two layers of blue but decided, see above, that it was too dark, so added a white layer on top.

The cup was trimmed away from the Dreamweavers die I bought at Ally Pally and the "steam" (poetic licence needed here!) is part of a Tattered Lace pearl flourish die

The gingham was a freebie when I ordered my ScanNCut.

Margaret, such  a pretty colour card, I love the layout of your card too, the central flower is really lovely, a fantastic challenge, thank so much for taking part. xxx

Lynda, oh my, your card is so pretty, I love that 'Groovi' parchment background, it is so delicate, the dies and flowers are perfect for your card, finishing it perfectly, thank you so much for taking part XXX

Lilian, such pretty patterned paper, have you designed it yourself, I love your colour combination too, they look very much like Stampin'Up! Colours, your beautifully​ stamped topper and delicate flower work perfectly to complete your Challenge card, thank you for finding the time to join in XXX

Michele, you too have used such, pretty, summery colours for your card, I loved the teacup die too, this would make a perfect, 'Just a note' type cards, beautiful, thank you Michele XXX

Maria, oh I love the Embossing folder you have used, the distress look works perfectly too, that pretty lace ribbon is stunning and works perfectly with the colour and  style of your card, that one little flower is all that is needed to embellish this beautiful card , thank you my lovely xxx

Val, a pretty, romantic card from you this week, those hearts are so delicate, the Embossing folder has a real Delicate pattern too, really pretty, yet subtle, those tiny diamantes are the perfect embellishment, pearls would have been almost too harsh, a stunning engagement card, that will fly off the shelf! Thank you Val, it's good to see your 'Mojo' has returned!! XXX

Thank you so much ladies, once again you have done me proud xxx

Here is a photo that Lynda's Terry took off all of us at Ally Pally.....

A welcome break from a hard mornings shopping! 

Have a lovely day ladies,

Love and hugs

Sandra

XXXXXX

It's Saturday, no crafts today but lots of lovely things!

Maria's Amazing Challenge card (last weeks)

A Gorgeous Chandelier Card by Janet

Val's shopping

 My shopping

Front image of die

My Fernli Stampin'Up! Ink storage

Good Morning ladies,

Lots to share with you today, first up is :

Maria's stunning Challenge card from last weeks 'Scored card' Challenge, I absolutely love what you have done Maria, it is neat and perfectly scored, your decorative elements are exactly the right size too, a real 'Clean and Simple' card, that really looks amazing, Fantastic card Maria, thank you so much xxx

Next up we have a beautiful 'Chandelier' themed card, it looks so opulent with that gorgeous chandelier die cut and the regal peacocks on the patterned card, it shouts 'expensive country house' to me Janet, I love it, especially the colours, thank you XXX

Val's been shopping!, Some lovely new goodies to play with, I'm not sure what the tool is, a pokey tool maybe, I love the 'Stuffed Animals' Dies from Sue Wilson's New Arrival Collection, The 'Rope Chain' Embossing Folder looks fantastic Val, I can't wait to see what it looks like on card! Some pretty pink card finishes Val's little haul, mind you she does have a fun parcel on its way! Eeekkk are you excited Val ?? Thanks for sharing your shopping XXX

My shopping came from Honey Doo crafts, after buying two colours of their Mica Powders at Ally Pally, coming home and loving them I decided I needed the whole set, so I ordered it plus the matching Die for the 'Roses are Red' stamp that I used in the vellum wrapped card last week, I can't wait to have a play xxx

I also bought the Stampin'Up​! ink pad Storage from Fernli Designs, it comes flat packed but to prove how amazing their units are to put together, I video'd myself assembling it, it took 17 mins in total, most of which was adding the glue.

After construction I Gesso'd and painted it white and then added a Mod Podge sealer over it so that I could wipe off any ink. 

It's such a strong , sturdy unit once constructed, I 100% recommend it ! 

That's all for today, Paul is working, so hoping to get some crafting done today.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, 

Love and hugs 

Sandra 

xxxxxx