Sunday 31 December 2017

A look back at 2017

A look back at some of my favourite cards



Happy New Year's Eve Ladies,

As we don't have any Challenge cards to look at today I thought I would take a look back through the year and pick out a few of my favourite cards that you have made, it was so hard to choose, I was going to choose just one but that was way too hard so I settled for two for each of you ( this took me hours) ! 
So I hope you like the cards in have chosen for each of you, they are mostly chosen because I love them, some because they stand out for other reasons, like one of Karen's was because it was her first real go at stamping, which is why I chose my cards, the first was my first ever completely stamped card, the second was a card I made for Sophie's birthday, I love the background stamping on this card and when I shared this on a FB stamping groups page it went crazy with hundreds of 'likes' !

Anyway let's get a look at yours.....

Brenda



Cheryl

Janet




Karen


Lilian


Lynda


Margaret




Maria




Michele



Pat


Sue



Val




Wendy



I hope you liked my choices, they are all amazing, all so very different, can you believe another year has whizzed by??

We have had a few special birthdays ....

Lynda celebrated her 70th birthday

Michele celebrated her 50th birthday

Penelope (Sue's granddaughter) was born

We met up in April

And again in September

We also had a meet up in November at the NEC
Where we got to meet our lovely Michele.
xxx

We also had the Lovely Tracy join our blog family,
Sadly we lost her a few weeks ago.
A genuinely lovely lady, who is very much missed.
xxx

I apologise if I have missed anything or any other Special Birthdays, it was almost midnight when I finished writing this post, my brain had already fallen asleep! 

If you are going out to celebrate tonight, have a fantastic time, we will celebrate as we always do, at home, the good thing this year is that Paul doesn't have to work, which is a celebration in itself !! 

I will take this opportunity to wish you all a Very Happy, Healthy New Year !!!

Lots of love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra 
xxxxxx


Saturday 30 December 2017

Michele's mag review and so much more!


Michele's Magazine Review

Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine has a few embossing folder + set of stamps this month which could be used for many occasions. There’s 6 ideas inside the magazine but it could be used for so many more projects.


Diecutting Essentials magazine has a brilliant free life gift this month-Woodland friends. This could be used to make Male or female cards for so many occasions, not just Birthdays. This would work well with Sue Wilson Shadow box dies. There’s 3 features using the free Dies so there’s loads of inspiration.


QCME comes with a really pretty set of Wildflower stamps. These would make some lovely Thank You cards or Mother’s Day Cards. This is the last issue ever as this magazine is being discontinued.


Papercraft Inspirations has a decoupage easel card kit free this month which is a great way to try a new style card. This kit looks like it makes some really lovely cards.



Simply Cards & Papercraft has a brilliant set of stamps (one of the sentiment stamps fits the All Occasions Embossing folders ) plus some bonus toppers. There’s 2 features inside the magazine using the free gifts do lots of ideas to try.


Making Cards magazine has a great Alphabet set of stamps (upper & lower case) plus some excellent quality papers. As always there’s a pull out section in the magazine with ideas using the free papers.

I treated myself to a couple more magazine subscriptions and I got some lovely free gifts-early Christmas present to myself!!! It also means I receive the magazine earlier than the shops stock them so I can start the review early for you so you can decide if you’d like to buy any of them.

Michele



Craft Gifts & Photos



Michele


Michele got some lovely Craft Christmas presents, the selection of Sue Wilson dies were from Phil,
I must say Michele he chose well !
The Promarkers were from Michele's Mum in Law, Michele has set herself a challenge to do more colouring this coming year, so these pens will be a great starting point.
Thank you for sharing Michele.
XXX


Karen




Karen has shared some gorgeous photos of Oscar with us, two in his cute Santa outfit, that second photo shouts 'mischief' to me, lol, I bet he bought lots of smiles to everyone's faces this Christmas.
The third photo is absolutely amazing, Charlotte and Karen worked together to create a incredibly professional looking gift for Charlotte's partner, I bet he absolutely loved it Karen, Oscar looked like he worked very well as model, I can imagine you and Charlotte had lots of fun taking the photos too.
Karen received some lovely Crafty Christmas gifts, the Knit Pro Symfonie Knitting needles are fantastic, they are supposed to make it a lot easier to knit with particularly if you have arthritis, they are really light and very smooth to knit with.
Two lots of fantastic Sue Wilson dies were also in Karen's Christmas stocking, I look forward to seeing what you create with that lovely background die, and the Alphabet dies are always useful.
Thank you so much for sharing the gorgeous photos of Oscar and your lovely gifts.
XXX

Janet




Janet has sent us some absolutely gorgeous photos of Gracie-Leigh and Lily-Mae in their Reindeer dresses and one of Gracie-Leigh helping with the baking. I can't believe how much they have both grown, they are such beautiful girls Janet. Thank you so much for sharing their photos, its so lovely to be able to watch them grow.
Janet had a go at something new over Christmas, Paper Cutting, this is something that I have always admired, the skill, time and effort that goes into Paper Cut designs is mind blowing but its now been made accessible to those of us that aren't confident with a Scalpel, Sue amazes me as she uses a knife and a ruler rather than a paper trimmer, I couldn't even manage that!
These fantastic 'Paper Cuts' were done by Janet, these Cuts are from a Pad called 'Adventures in Paper Cutting', it is distributed by Katy Sue Designs.
They can be cut using Scissors alone, which most of use every day.  
Your samples are fantastic Janet, thank you so much for sharing this amazing new craft with all of us, you could use them in so many ways including simply framing them on a dark background, I love these and I am very tempted to have a go.
XXX

Thank you ladies for another fantastic blog post, particularly you Michele for the fantastic magazine review, its so helpful to have a brief idea of what we can expect in the magazine before we decide to buy it. Your reviews are so helpful.
Thank you to Janet and Karen too for the updated baby photo's and the photos of your gifts etc.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend,

Love and Hugs

Sandra
xxxxxxx

Friday 29 December 2017

The last Festive Friday of 2017


Good Morning Ladies,

I have a very special Christmas card to share with you all today, this amazing  card was made by my Mum, she goes to a Club on a Thursday where they do a variety of things including some crafting, they made some lovely Christmas cards including little trees, decorated candles and these cards.

Mum made it by taking a triangle of card and wrapping different pieces of ribbon, lace and trim around it. 
She then added little square of green card to make the bucket/stump of the tree.
She finished the card by die cutting a Red Felt Deer, a foil star for the top of the tree and the greeting is a peel off stuck onto a piece of matching card.
Such a lovely card, even more special to me as its the first and only card my Mum has ever made!!! 
So i will treasure it forever xx

A slow start for me today after yesterday's  journey but we really must get on with the packing today.

I hope you all have a lovely day,

Love and hugs

Sandra 
xxxxxx