Double delight today, 2 fab cards.

Good Morning Ladies,

Two absolutely fabulous cards today, both 'stamped' designs, both very different.

The first card is Maria's, a pretty stamped window with flowers growing all around it, I loved the spring colours that you chose to colour your image with Maria. The flower frame that you stamped you imagine works brilliantly too.   Thank you so much for sharing your lovely 'New Home' card My lovely. XXX

The second card was designed by Pat, a gorgeous 'Seaside Scene', it looks like a 'Jenny Mayes' (Hobby Art) stamp but I think it might be a 'Clarity' scene stamp,  I'm sure Pat can set me straight!  A lovely scalloped border separates the stamped scene from the sentiments, both sentiments work so well with the theme of the card Pat. Your colouring is incredibly accurate too. Thank you so much for sharing your card with us My lovely. XXX

I loved reading all of your cleaning tips yesterday, how funny that so many of us use the same products, probably because they are the best, I did leave one thing out though, you can't use it on everything but for cleaning enamel baths, sinks and taps you can't beat 'Vim' powder, although I do wonder if it's also made up of baking soda, I love the smell too. Thanks for all of your tips and tricks ladies.

I am having a day off today and hopefully meeting up with Pat, I'm looking forward to a change of scenery and some lovely company! 

Val I hope you continue to feel better, this horrible bug is really knocking people down.  Sending hugs XXX

Sue, I hope you are starting to feel better today my lovely xxx

Sending love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra 

xxxxxx

Margaret's Challenge Card

Good Morning Ladies,

I didn't receive Margaret's Challenge card in time to share it with you all on Sunday, so today it gets a post all of its own, it's a stunning card and totally worthy of its own post too! 

I will share Margaret's description below:

I love the papers you have used Margaret they are so pretty, both the gold foil dotty paper and that beautiful floral piece too.  The addition of the little lace butterflies makes it even prettier!
Thank you so much for taking part in the challenge my lovely. XXX

I have discovered the best cleaning products ever.....White Vinegar and Baking Soda (bicarbonate of soda).
Both have their own strengths, white vinegar is the very best thing for removing limescale build up on just about anything, I run about half a bottle through the coffee machine every couple of weeks as it has an indicator saying when the limescale has built up, I was worried at first that it would taint the taste of the coffee somehow but it doesn't, I also run to cycles of just wanted through just to make sure there is no vinegar left.  I am going to try it on the kettle next.  I use it on the shower head too.
If you soak some cotton wool in vinegar and wrap it around the base of your taps it cleans the limescale off there too. 
I am also going to try a combination of baking soda and vinegar to revive my towels next, some of them seem a little rough, mostly because we use fabric conditioner I believe but I think they have detergent residue in them too, I discovered this when using a face cloth, I popped it into a sink of clean water and it immediately went cloudy as though the flannel hadn't been rinsed.  I only hope that the towels don't smell of vinegar at the end of the wash. It will probably clean the machine at the same time.
Bicarbonate of soda is great for lifting smells out of carpets, you can sprinkle it on your mattress too leave for a while and then vacuum it up.
The two mixed together made into a paste are like a miracle cleaning product, our microwave/combination oven has a base plate that was once white but years of roasting chickens etc have left it  "baked on" brown! We have soaked it, scrubbed it, popped in the dishwasher but we couldn't get it clean.  While I was 'gloved up' on Friday I thought I would have a go at it with bicarb/Vinegar paste, it was like a miracle!!! It isn't as good as new but it's 95% better !  So we can dispense with the cupboard full of sprays, creams, aerosols and just have Baking Soda and vinegar oh and Bleach, I couldn't live without without bleach! 
The best thing about it is that the white vinegar costs about 30p in Aldi and I ordered a Kilo of Baking Soda for about £4 from Amazon, that's so much cheaper than all of these fancy cleaners!

Do you have any amazing cleaning tips and tricks?? I would love to hear everyone's cleaning ideas.

I hope you all have a lovely day,

Love and hugs,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Michele's Monday Challenge

Good Morning Ladies,

This week's Challenge was chosen by Michele, I was so grateful when she messaged me yesterday morning asking if I needed help with today's Challenge, we had another full day at the old house so I wasn't going to get chance to sit and organise a challenge for today.  So thank you Michele for helping me out, I am very grateful. 

I would like to offer any of you the chance to choose the challenge for the week, all you have to do is suggest a challenge and maybe make a card to inspire everyone for that Challenge, I'm sure yet you all have brilliant ideas that we would love to try, just let me know, send me the idea for the challenge and a card and I will do the rest.

Now onto Michele's Challenge, it's very simple and leaves you with so many different options. 
The challenge is to make a card using Anything Floral.

Michele made her card using Cream and Navy card, that stunning die cut is a Freebie from 'Die cutting Essentials' magazine issue 22 (in case any of you might like it)!
Such a lovely card Michele, thank you so much. XXX

We had a very busy weekend, got lots done, hopefully by the end of this week we should be finished. I think it will take Paul a month to recover!
I am going to contact the window people today to see when then are wanting to start their work, as this is one thing that is causing a huge hold up, if we go round cleaning every room to a ''march-out" standard then have them go around behind us making a mess as the rip Windows and walls out.  We'll see what they say today, fingers crossed!

I hope that you all this week's ''floral' challenge, I can't wait to see your cards.

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Your Challenge cards

Good Morning Ladies,

Wow, it hardly seems 24 hrs since I was sharing your last Challenge cards, this week has been an absolute blur, I feel so sorry for Paul, he is so exhausted, he hasn't stopped since last Friday morning, every day has been an early start, dropping girls off at school then going to bungalow to pack some more boxes, you just forget about all the high storage cupboards etc and both lofts of the bungalows were full as we had no garage there.  It should be all completely empty by the end of today, so that we can then go in and clean 1 room at a time and then close them off, I have been doing bits and pieces all week so its literally a wipe down of the walls and paintwork and vacuum the carpets, then give them a clean.  All ready for the workmen to come in and mess up! They stopped Paul on Friday to say that they wanted to get in as soon as possible to start work (although they changed the date to 15th Feb)! 

Michele

Michele I love these papers even more now that I have seen your card, I love the colours together and that scalloped border is one of my all time favourites.

Here is Michele's description......

"Challenge card-made using the free papers from this month ms Papercraft Inspirations. Crafters Companion scalloped border die, flowers & sentiment were magazine freebies from years ago."

Thank you so much for taking part my lovely, particularly as you have had a tough week.

XXX

 Lynda

Lynda, OMG  absolutely love the soft background that you have acheived by blending the Distress Oxide inks together, cutting the Daisies out of the same coloured card was a great idea, the stamped Lace border gives a real touch of texture to the card although it's only a stamped image.

Here is Lynda's description.......

"I used distress oxide 

Lucky clover & Fossilized Amber 

I blended the amber first over the base card then blended the clover over the top 

Then cut a strip of card coloured it the same stamped my SU border on the bottom stamped sentiment a then cut delicate daisies &sweetheart foliage added pearls."

A truly stunning card Lynda, thank you so very much for taking part.

XXX

Karen

My cc which I have to say this particular card wasn’t going to be I intended to do something completely different for my great nephew It was going to have a bunny and a completely different layout but I miscalculated what I was hoping to achieve But I think it works as the challenge My only regret is I wish I’d backed the letters in the dark blue to make them “pop” more.

Karen's second card is for someone that likes the old movie stars, the same lady that Karen made the 'pop-up' card for last year.

The theme works perfectly with this sketch Karen, I love the embossed background, it looks as though you have embossed it and then rubbed over it with a sanding block. 

Two fantastic cards Karen, thank you so much for taking part.

XXX

Janet

Janet, such a beautiful card, this is what I would say is a Janet 'signature' card, it has all of your special touches, the luxurious lace, the beautiful flowers and the delicate butterflies. 

Here is Janet's description.....

"I used a backing paper from my 'Bohemian' paper pad

The silver butterfly is a Tonic die from the 'Wings and Things' Monarch and Princess

The 'Happy Birthday' die is a Crafter's Companion one..

The lace, flowers and other butterflies are from my stash."

Thank you so much Janet for creating such a lovely card for this weeks challenge.

XXX

Lilian

Lilian has designed a fantastic Birthday card for this weeks Sketch Challenge, I love that Music background Lilian, you can use that style background for so many different cards. 

The stars you have used tie in to the background with the stars on the music score.  I really like that almost hand written font of your 'Happy Birthday' too.  

Have you added glitter to the edges of your decorative background too? 

A fantastic Challenge card Lilian, thank you so much for taking part,

XXX

Brenda

Brenda has used the new Stampin' Up! Heartfelt Blooms stamp from the 'Sale-a-Bration catalogue to create the beautiful background for her beautiful card and she has fussy cut the stamped image to embellish the card too, such a stunning card, all in the gorgeous 'Berry Burst' ink and matching paper too. Such an inspirational card Brenda, I think I need you on my team!! 

Thank you so much for designing such a stunning card, I do hope that your Butterflies fly back to you very soon! hehehe.

XXX

 Maria

Maria has made a beautiful Challenge card, it has a real refreshing spring look to it Maria, so pretty,

I love the delicate lace that you have used to embellish your border, the tiny ricrac edge to your border is really pretty too, the soft pastel colours all work so well together. 

It looks like Brenda's missing butterflies might have landed on your card Maria, hahahahha!

Thank you so much for taking part this week my lovely.

XXX

Thank you ladies for another stunning line up of Challenge cards, such a beautiful display, you are all so amazingly talented.  I am really, really missing my craft room, my fingers are literally itching to make a card.  Your cards have really brightened my day, so thank you all once again.

I can't wait to get back to a normal schedule, hopefully after a week of scrubbing and steaming it will all be over!

Have a lovely Sunday My dear friends,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxxx

Michele's Magazine Review & Mixed crafts

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

We have another one of Michele's fantastic magazine reviews to read through today and the cutest knitted items I have ever seen, plus a bit of shopping too!

So here goes.....

Michele's Magazine Review

Thank you so much Michele for a bumper magazine review, I have the first one and the papers are stunning!!  I am very grateful Michele, thanks again.

XXX

Karen

Karen sent me these adorable miniature Doll clothes to share with all of you, I have to say I didn't really notice how tiny they were when I first looked, then I noticed the pound coin! How anyone can knit on that small a scale and follow a pattern absolutely blows my mind!  Karen said the socks are so tiny that they are about the size of her smallest finger nail. These ladies must have amazing eyesight. 

Here is Karen's explanation:

"Here’s something a friend received for Secret Santa from a fellow crafter They both belong to miniaturist club She said you can show if you’d like The items are socks pants hat and dress They are “tied” onto the dolls for doll’s houses They are made using flower thread and the knitting needles used are like piano wire" 

Thank you so much Karen for sharing this incredible work of art, I would love to see the dolls dressed in this outfit.

XXX

Janet

Janet did some more Watercolouring this week and look at this stunning stamped image she has coloured, it's incredible Janet, the colours are gorgeous, you have achieved some great shading too, framing the image really does enhance it, I can see this fast becoming your favourite medium, you are so multi talented !!

Thank you so much for sharing.

XXX

 Brenda

Brenda saw a cart on the 'Art of Craft' website and she was so inspired she thought she would buy the products to make it, I have to say that I love those dies, Brenda said that the Red card is so Red that it glows.  I can wait to see your recreation of the card Brenda.

The rest of Brenda's shopping was from the week before, like me Brenda fell in love with the 'Remarkable You' stamp set, so useful for many occasions including the hardest cards we are asked to make.. Sympathy cards.

Brenda also bought some Brusho's and watercolour card, which meant that she could choose a FREE stamp set as it's Sale-A-Bration, so she chose the stunning 'Heartfelt Blooms', such a gorgeous stamp, particularly as it's Free!! 

Thank you so much for both shopping on my Website and for sharing your crafty buys!  I am as always hugely grateful.

XXX

 Pat

Pat went to a new craft group this week in Abingdon, this Craft group are all ladies that use the Clarity 'Groovi' system, I think this group is a fantastic idea Pat as it will get you using your Groovi more and you will also gain confidence.  Pat created the card above at this week's meeting, which is a huge achievement, it's so lovely to see you start a project and finish it and make it into a card Pat, you will be an expert in no time!  Your card is stunning, thank you so much for sharing it with us Pat

XXX

 Danielle

Danielle took some of the Black and White 'Petal Palette' Designer series paper and coloured selected areas with the new 'Stampin'Up! 'Stamp and Blends', I love the shading you have achieved For Dannii, your colouring is gorgeous, Such a clever idea to use sections of the detailed papers, mounted onto a black background to make them pop and then popped onto a card, they really do work my lovely, thank you for allowing me to share your work.

XXX

Ladies thank you all so much for sharing your shopping and crafts this week, I really do appreciate your input, it makes the blog so much more interesting.

Have a lovely weekend,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxxx

Something Floral For Friday

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

It just doesn't seem like but was a week ago today that we picked up the keys to our New Home, this week has flown by, I really think that we made the right choice though, Everyone seems so calm and relaxed, even though we still don't have everything in place it still feels like home. 

Today's Floral Friday card was designed and created by Our Lynda, it's so beautiful, such a lovely colour and the design really works.

Lynda used:

Heartfelt Creations 'Blooming Dahlia' and coloured the stamped Dahlia's with Watercolour Pencils, your colouring is amazing Lynda and shows off the stamped image perfectly.  Thank you so much for sending me a Floral Friday card, as I don't have anyway of making one right now.  XXX

I would like to thank you all, you are so supportive, I really appreciate every card that you lovely ladies has sent me to share while I have been unable to make them, I still need cards for a few more days so please keep them coming, I think it's lovely to see all the different styles of card making too.

I hope that you are all well and looking forward to a relaxing weekend, I will be spending the weekend wearing 'marigolds and old clothes', doing lots of scrubbing!! 

However you are spending it, have a lovely weekend,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxx❤xxx

Throwback Thursday

Good Morning Ladies,

This weather is so frustrating, it's so cold and the wind is really gusting today (Wednesday)!! I hope you are all dry, warm and safe.

I thought it would be fun to maybe start looking back at some of our old cards, I will do it Thursdays and call it 'Throwback Thursday', just for fun and it won't necessarily be every week. I think it's fun to see how card designs have changed.

Today's 'Throwback' card was from this time (Jan 26) 2015!, I don't actually think it's dated that much design wise, I would still be happy to receive a card similar to this design today. 
Here is the description hi wrote back then:

" I cut Majestic Labels twenty Five in coconut white card and used foam pads to stick it onto some American crafts pink card, leaving a small border of pink showing and Matt it on to some more coconut white card, the centre of the cards is simply the centre section of the die, with a Justrite sentiment stamped on and embossed with Cosmic Shimmer Clear Embossing Powder. I mounted this onto pink card with film pads for dimension.I arranged some pink and white flowers on either side of the centre piece with some foliage to lift the flowers from the background, I then simply added a few pink pearl to finish the corners."

One of you may well have received it as a birthday card!  I still have the die, but haven't used it for a year or more, I wonder why we do that ? I love the die, the shape the size and the fact that you can make fairly quick and easy cards with it, it's such a pretty design you only need a sentiment and a few embellishments.

It has got me thinking about doing another challenge, encouraging you to dig back through your die collection, another die that I absolutely loved and used loads at the time I bought it was Sue Wilson's 'Lyra' die, I have loads of cards made with it, so many different occasions too, but again I haven't used it for years. 

So, do you all fancy an 'old die' challenge?  

We spent the day yesterday cleaning and clearing the old house, it's taking longer because bi want to sort through things so that we don't end up with tons of stuff that we don't need/use at the new house,  I am actually shocked at the amount of stuff there is!  It's quite therapeutic throwing out old and useless stuff, I feel that we have achieved something, it's just too easy to throw it all in a box and take it with you!

I hope to get back to 'normal' posts by next week, depending on how accessible all my craft stuff is, so please stick with me, I really appreciate your patience my lovelies xx

Have a fantastic Thursday,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xx❤xx

A Magnificent Minion card from Karen

Good Morning Ladies, 

Day 5, I still haven't made it out from under the pile of boxes! Haha not really, slow progress, but we are getting there, I have the kitchen mostly organised, it really takes some thinking about where to put things do that the 'flow' of the kitchen works.

I've lost count of how many times I've been asked where the cups/glasses/teaspoons are! I have told them it's a puzzle, they'll have to work out then they won't forget ! 

The new 'Halogen' hob is taking some getting used too, I have to say I much prefer gas, with that once you turn it off it's off, these halogen rings take forever to cool down, the first time I used it I thought it was broken and switched it off at the wall, but Lynda actually reassured me that the hob light stays on until it has completely cooled to stop you from burning your self!

The grill was another adventure, I had turned it on but couldn't understand why it wouldn't heat up, but I had to turn the top oven dial on too!  We will get there eventually i guess, I can't even imagine cooking a roast right now.

Now onto today's amazing card, Karen made this fantastic Minion card for her boss (then one that she made the minion hat for last year)! 

He likes motorbikes too so this picture was perfect, Karen age he has the picture on his desk, it works perfectly on this card, with the Sue Wilson 'Happy Birthday' die cuts to finish the card off, I bet your boss absolutely loves this card Karen.

This was the first time Karen has used the 'Direct Cut' function on her Scan&Cut, images like these are where it comes in handy as fussy cutting that image would have been a nightmare.  I have used 'Direct Cut' to cut out stamped images, it's brilliant! 

Thank you so much Karen for sharing this amazing card. XXX

We have internet, yes!!!! Oh my goodness you just don't realise how much you depend on having internet access, my first port of call for fixing something etc is YouTube, anything else you just 'google' it, (well we do)!  

So now I can research how to set the timer/clock on the cooker, because the flashing 0:00 is driving me crazy! 

My fingers are literally itching to make a card, I'm finding it harder than I imagined, having said that my craft room is my little sanctuary.

Have a lovely day ladies, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra 

xxxxxx

Super 16th Birthday card from Michele

Good Morning Ladies,

Fingers crossed we should get our internet sorted today, it says we should have it by midnight, so I am crossing everything, well to be honest I think I will be having a super slow, relaxed day.

Michele kindly sent me this fantastic birthday card, teenagers can be so hard to make cards for but I think this one 'hits the nail on the head ' particularly as this card is going to Michele's Niece in Florida and they make a big deal out of celebrating their 'Sweet Sixteen', which means that cake us probably spot on!   Here is die recipe:

"All Sue Wilson-Alphabet Grid, stitched squares, cake  is from a Shadow box set I got at Christmas & the flowers are the daisies from yonks ago-open petal I think. "

Thank you Michele your card is really inspirational, particularly for this age group! XXX

Well I must go unpack some more boxes, I just looked at the pile in the dining room/craft room and closed the door!

I hope you are all well my lovelies,

Thank you for your patience,

Love and hugs,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Monday Sketch Challenge

Good Morning Ladies,

Well it's Monday so that means Challenge day!

This week I decided to go for a 'Sketch' Challenge, I think that a sketch is a good 'mojo' booster and this time of year we all need to give our mojo's a bit of a boost, we have just finished manic Christmas card making and then in a blink of an eye we are looking at our birthday books to see what cards we need to get done.  

So I hope today's sketch helps your 'Mojo', you can of course use it just as a guideline, you can turn it anyway round and replace the stars with whatever you choose, you could use flowers, balloons, tools, hearts, it's up to you, I think this would make a great Man card, but then with flowers and a scalloped lace border it could make a gorgeous ladies card too.

What ever direction you go in enjoy it, I am quite jealous right now, I would love to be sat in my nice warm craft room making a sketch card, I am hoping to take part later in the week.

We got all furniture moved across and lots more besides, so it's just a case of getting organised now, it will be eventually, we got the lounge organised pretty much straight away so that we have one room that isn't in chaos!

I hope you all have a great week,

Love and hugs 

Sandra 

xxxxxx

Your Challenge Cards

My Challenge Card

The Challenge

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

It's that amazing time of the week where we get to see everyone's take on this Challenge, these Tic Tac Toe challenges give you free reign to design any shape and size of card, which means these challenges have the most varied end results, you all look at the categories and think of completely different designs. 

So without further delay here are this week's Challenge cards..........

Michele

Michele made this amazing Birthday card t help inspire you with this week's challenge.

She Chose categories: Circles/Birthday/Favourite Colour

A perfect man card Michele, I love all the metallic shades that you have used, they look so striking against that black background.

Michele's second card is made using Sue Wilson's Intertwining Circles Striplet, die cut in white and layed over the gorgeous Teal background, Michele used the same colour card as the background to die cut her sentiment, which works perfectly.

Thank you so much for helping me inspire our friends.

XXX

Karen

Karen has used the 'Bokeh' Technique to design her Tic Tac Toe Challenge card for the weeks Challenge. 

She picked Categories: Circles/Die Cutting/F

Birthday/Circles/Favourite Colour

I love your card Karen, particularly the way the sentiment follows the Butterfly.

Thank you so much for taking part this week.

XXX

Sue

Sue managed to design and create her first Christmas card of 2018 for this week's Tic Tac Toe Challenge.

She chose Categories: Circles/Die Cutting/ Favourite Colour

A fantastic Christmas card Sue, love your design, particularly those Reindeer!

Well done for making a start on this year's Christmas cards, you always said you were going to start at beginning of the year! I will try and encourage you to keep it up.

Thank you so much my lovely, two challenge cards in as many days, you are awesome.

XXX

Janet

Janet has made three TicTacToe  cards for this week's Challenge, Janet chose categories:

1.  The first card has been made using a Stencil/ Tag/Birthday

2.  The second card use categories/ watercolour/ Die cut /birthday

3. Die Cut (Cc Create A Card) /Birthday./ favourite colour  (Silver and white) 

There stunning cards Janet, they are all so beautiful.  Thank you for taking part.

XXX

Lilian

Lilian has made a stunning Floral Birthday card for this week's challenge, she chose categories: Watercolour/Birthday/heat Embossing

Such a beautiful stamped image Lilian, I love how you have coloured it too.

Thank you so much for taking part Lilian.

XXX

Margaret

Margaret has shared a beautiful birthday card, I absolutely love how you have used the Stampin'Up ! Die as a stencil, cleverly the image looks three D!  

Margaret chose categories: Stencil/Birthday/Watercolour 

An absolutely gorgeous card Margaret, thank you so much for sharing it with us.

XXX

Lynda

Lynda has made an absolutely gorgeous card for this week's Challenge, she chose categories: die cutting/Birthday/favourite colour

I love this colour Lynda, such a beautiful card, nice and quick too with those dies, adding the butterflies really finishes it beautifully.

Thank you so much Lynda for taking part.

XXX

As always I am so very grateful to you all for making time in your busy lives to take part in my Challenges, I know that you all go to great lengths to take part.

I absolutely love sharing your work, particularly those of you that don't get to share your work on line.

Fingers crossed that the BT installation goes to plan on Tuesday, so that I can get back up and running as soon as possible.

Thanks again ladies, 

Have a lovely Sunday,

Love and hugs 

Sandra 

xxxxxx