Mied Craft Saturday

Rolled Rose Tutorial

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well and enjoying your weekend. We are going to have a relaxed weekend, all being well, after what has been an eventful couple of weeks.

I was a little disappointed when Stampin'Up! Retired their Pansy Punch in May, it was so easy to pick up and punch out flowers for embellishing cards and projects.  

I was sat at my desk trying to think of an alternative that would replace the punch.  It then came to me!....Rolled roses/ flowers, going right back to basics.  You can make them to match any project as they can be made with literally anything.

The video is just a quick reminder of a quick and simple technique. 

I hope you enjoy the video my lovelies xxx

Michele's Magazine Review

Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine comes with a lovely set of Hunkydory Floral card toppers. There’s a great article on Inlaid Diecutting and one in Repeat stamping.

Papercraft Essentials comes with a fantastic free gift-Dies, Stamps & a Embossing Folder. There’s so many ideas inside the magazine using the free gifts plus extra inspiration on YouTube. This gift is perfect to use for those difficult Male cards. There’s also an interesting article on rotating a stencil which produces an interesting background.

Love Cardmaking magazine has a really nice gift this month-perfect to make all occasion cards with. Lots of inspiration inside the magazine using this free gift plus a great article on how to use ribbon on your cards.

Making Cards magazine has some beautiful papers this month. The feature this month is Floral & there’s lots of wonderful ideas to make some beautiful cards.

Diecutting Essentials comes with an extremely versatile free gift-there’s so many ideas inside this magazine. You could use this die set for lots of occasions.
There’s also a great feature on Cards for Men using square Dies.

Papercraft Inspirations has a pretty Pop up Decoupage Card kit free this month. It contains everything you need to make 4 complete cards.

Simply Cards & Papercraft magazine has a lovely floral stamp & die set. This set could be used to make cards for many occasions as some of the features show inside the magazine. Christina Griffiths has a great video on her YouTube channel using this freebie.

Papercrafter magazine has a really lovely set of Dies-Fairy Garden. There’s a 5 page feature using the free gift.
I submitted the card features inside the magazine months ago & was told I’d be Designer of the Day in this issue.

 My featured card plus a write up about me!

That’s it until next month!
Michele


Thank you so very much Michele for a Fantatic 'Bumper' Magazine review!!
Lots of lovely freebies in these mags, there are a few I would quite like!

I was so over the moon to see you featured in a Magazine, you are our Crafting Celebrity,
you are so very talented and deserve to be featured in a magazine, I am so happy for you,

XXX

Margaret

Margaret has shared a photo of the cross Stitch that she did for Maria, I was lucky enough to see it before it was framed and I have to say it looks absolutely amazing properly framed, you can see so much detail. 

You are so clever Margaret, this is a truly stunning piece of work and I will never forget Maria's face when she opened it!

Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

XXX

Thats all for today Ladies, thank you so much to Michele and Margaret for participating in todays blog.

Have a lovely weekend My lovelies,

Love and Hugs

Sandra

xxxxxx

Something Floral ('ish) for Friday

Good Morning Ladies,

A busy, exciting day in our house today, as the girls are preparing for their 6th Form Leavers Ball, so lots of Tanning, plucking, preening and panicking going on, they are having their hair done this afternoon, we are lucky in that we have the loveliest lady hairdresser, she comes to us and over the years has become a lovely friend, the girls were really funny about getting their hair cut, so wouldn't let anyone touch it for a couple of years, Freya used to come to do my hair and she gained the girls trust, they now let her have free riegn!
So when she comes over its like having a friend over for coffee and a catch up, with the added bonus of a fab hair do at the end!
I have to steam to long multi-layered evening dresses today though, that it I am super nervous about, our iron is a steam generator style and gives a really good jet of steam so I will not have to actually touch the dresses, thank goodness! I can't wait to see them all dressed up! I've seen the dresses on them but I think having hair and make up done, really adds the wow factor!

I have been asked to join the Design Team of a Facebook Group called Stampin For All, they have a weekly challenge and today's card is for their Sketch Challenge, it's quite a basic sketch, just five 3/4 inch strips going down a card and a sentiment going down the centre.
I used the Nature's Poem Designer Series Paper and Tranquil Tide card, the pretty tag is from a Die set called "Botanical Tags" . I die cut that in Tranquil Tide card o which I added a piece of Vellum that I had stamped my sentiment on. I added a piece of Grapefruit Grove Ribbon, tied a bow and added a pretty silver flower.
I the added three flowers at the bottom corner with some foliage and finished with some pretty Faceted gems.
I hope you like my card.

Sadly Sue was too poorly to come and play today , I missed you my lovely and hope you are feeling much brighter today.
I had a few jobs to catch up on, spent some time with Lucy as Sophie was at her boyfriends house, I like to make the most of having 1 to  1 time with them as it rarely happens!
I spent the afternoon in my craft room, filmed a short tutorial, very quick and simple, it's more a case of jogging people's memories but fun all the same! I was hoping to add it to this post but as usual our internet was way to slow!  It might be ready by next Friday !!!

I hope that you all have a lovely Friday, preparing for a lovely weekend.

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra
xxxxxxx

My Christmas Challenge Card

Good Morning Ladies,

Here is my second Challenge card that I promised I would make, I wanted to give both options of this weeks challenge a go, so I made my 'non' Christmas card on Monday and I made my Christmas version yesterday.

I have chosen categories: Tree/Christmas/Silver or Gold (straight down the left side of the grid).

I will apologise in advance as I cannot stop using Blackberry Bliss and Rose Gold together, they are a match made in heaven!!

So to start I took the 'Lovely as a Tree' stamp set (stampin'up's longest running stamp i think)!  and stamped into the centre of a piece of Blackberry Bliss card that measured 4 x 5 1/4 inch.

I stamped with Versamark and added Rose Gold (copper) Embossing powder and heat set, I did the same with the sentiment that is from the 'Hearts Come Home' stamp set, I then used a little star from another stamp set and added a few along the 'sky' area of my card, I stamped and embossed these exactly the same as before. I then added a mat of Rose Gold (copper) Foil sheet and mounted onto my Blackberry Bliss base card that measured 4 1/4 X 5 1/2 inches, I added a piece of the Copper mesh trim to the card and tied a simple knot.

I really like the colour way and the simplicity of this card, using the Stamperatus Tool you could just replicate this design over and over again, changing the colour way to Silver on Blue or Gold on Green.

Our house is buzzing with excitement today as Sophie and Lucy start the preparations for their End Of Sixth Form Prom, they have both chosen stunning dresses that I will share with you if we manage to get a photo, neither of the twins likes having their photo taken, which is stark contrast to Becca who is the Selfie' Queen!  I feel sad that they seem to lack confidence, I'm not sure if its anything to do with the fact that Paul and I aren't overly confident, having said that Matt and Becca are the total opposite, who knows, it makes getting a photo a bloody nightmare though.

Enjoy the sunshine again today Ladies, while it lasts!!

Love and Hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxxx

Hilarious card from Karen

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well and enjoying the sunshine, I love to see it and I like to sit out later in the afternoon and evening when it's cooler. It's lovely to sit and eat our dinner outside, this is the first house that we have had a garden that we have 'wanted' to sit out in.

Now you remember a couple of weeks back I had a bit of an incident or 'incedents' with frogs?

We still aren't sure whether the cats bought it in or if it made its own way in through the Patio doors, we have a lot of wooded areas in the garden that are consistently damp so I guess it's a haven for frogs.

In case any of you missed the post I stumbled upon a frog in the lounge, that Milo was playing with, which I bravely ejected after I had calmed down and composed myself.  I thought that was the end of it until we were in bed that night, I wondered what Milo was playing with in the corner of my bedroom at about 2am, when I shined a light on him, it was another BLOODY FROG!!!

I had put the whole incident to the back of my mind until the postman arrived on Thursday last week....

I was excited to see a personal card (rather than Bills or Junk mail), so I hurried to open it and got the surprise of my life.......3 Hilarious looking Frogs, you couldn't do anything but laugh could you.

I then opened the card and read the Brilliantly funny verse that Karen's hubby wrote, he is a flippin Genius Karen, do you use his services often????

Karen, thank you so much, we have had a hellish few weeks of worry and stress, with A Levels, strange and scary Lumps, Mum being rushed into hospital and then to cap it all last week Matt being admitted Tuesday and kept in until Sunday.  

Your card made both Paul and I laugh, something that we hadn't done for some days, I have kept the card on the side in my bedroom and every time I look at it I smile.  

Such a thoughtful thing to do, they say that laughter is the best medicine and I believe it is, I think I am going to maybe do a 'RAK' card Challenge, where you just make a card and send it to somebody for no particular reason, a Random Act of Kindness can really make a difference to somebody's day, it certainly did ours.

Lucy's appointment went well, your prayers and positive thoughts helped, its a benign Tumor, that we now have to keep an eye on the size of.  I think you could actually physically see the relief in both Paul, Myself and Lucy, she was most relieved that she didn't need a Biopsy or any needles!  Thank you all so very much for keeping us in your thoughts.

Have a lovely day ladies, tomorrow I am sharing my first Christmas card !!!

Love and Hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxx

My Challenge card

an alternative view to show 'shine'

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well and enjoying the Sunshine, they said that yesterday was the warmest day this year so far, I think that the good weather is supposed to last all week. 

Sitting out in the garden here is such a pleasure, particularly in the sunshine. 

My craft room has two windows and I realised today that despite having them open it gets very warm in there, so I managed to make a quick challenge card later yesterday afternoon.

I went diagonal across the grid using categories: Tree/Die Cut/Birthday

I masked off a strip of Whisper White card and used 'Grapefruit Grove, Highland Heather and Blackberry Bliss ink, blending them together to give an Ombre effect, I tried to pick rich colours that would feature in a sunset.  I then used the Blackberry Bliss ink to stamp one of the trees from the new 

'Rooted in Nature' Stamp set from Stampin'Up!, luckily I was using my Stamparatus as I needed to ink up my stamp twice to get solid coverage of ink, I then wiped the stamp clean and inked up the stamp with Versamark and stamped over the Blackberry Bliss, this enabled me to add clear embossing powder and heat set, this gave me the 'Shine' element of the TicTacToe. 

I popped the card back into the Stamparatus and placed my 'Happy Birthday' stamp where I wanted it, I then stamped the sentiment twice as before and added Clear Embossing Powder as before.  

I was going for a simple card style so finished the card with a bit of Blackberry Bliss Twine simply knotted.

Rooted In Nature 

My next card for this challenge will be a Christmas card, to show how versatile this challenge is.

Its Lucy's long awaited appointment is today, to say that I am sick with worry is an understatement, please keep everything crossed for a positive outcome.

Have a lovely day Ladies,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Monday Challenge

Good Morning Ladies,

I have chosen another TicTacToe for this week's Challenge because some of you wanted to have a Christmas themed challenge but not all, so this particular TicTacToe works for everyone. I think it has a great selection of categories, something for most occasions. I hope that you all enjoy it, I am very much looking to seeing some festive cards in my inbox!
If you want some inspiration type in Paper Players 368 into Pinterest or Google.

I was out most of day yesterday with hospital visiting, food shopping and a special trip back to Debenhams because I bought a pair of knee length denim shorts the other day and when I got them out to show Paul I noticed that they still had the huge security tag on them, I had a look to see if I could remove it but gave up as I didn't want to damage the shorts, together fair they were very apologetic and the guy explained that the magnetic tags were old now and had been replaced with a more effective device.

We were hoping for a low key kind of day as we had a late night, the girls were invited to go ''Clubbing" on Saturday night with their friends as one of them is leaving the area, of voucou with us living out in the sticks they needed a Dad's Taxi, so we dropped them in our old town at 8 where they were meeting friends, they then all got bus into Oxford.  To save driving an extra 30 miles we decided to go to the cinema, the movie started at 10pm, there were only 6 if us in the theatre!  The movie ended about 12:30am, we then went to drop off my heart monitor, then back to Carterton to wait for them, we got back there at about 2am, they arrived 20 mins later.  So we all got in at about 3:10am!  They enjoyed their first Nightclub experience, they said they spent the evening on the 'Cheese Floor" where they played anything from Abba to UB40 and everything in between from the 70's, 80's and 90's, they both have a very broad music taste, liking the oldies most.

Matt is finally home, thank goodness, he has another 10 days of antibiotics to take, but he feels fine, I am so pleased that that ordeal is over, I am a little frustrated that they haven't answered why it keeps happening though. 

Well I am off into my craft room for some craft therapy!  Tomorrow is Lucy's long awaited appointment, I will be glad to get some answers and hopefully set our minds to rest.

Have a lovely day Ladies,

Love and hugs

Sandra
xxxxxx

Your Challenge Cards

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

Please join me in welcoming Nicki (Karen's friend) to our lovely Blog family, Nicki has been looking in for a while and has finally taken the plunge and taken part in our weekly challenge, I was so excited when Karen told me, Nicki has made 4 amazing cards for this weeks challenge.

Welcome Nicki, I am so happy that you took the plunge and joined us, I am truly blessed to have the most amazing, kind & caring group of friends that check in daily to catch up with each other, it's unique as far as blogs go and I love it, I also love sharing everyone's work, whatever it is, so please keep the photo's coming.  I will let the ladies introduce themselves, that goes for you too Victoria.

So let's see what you have all been making for this week's TicTacToe Challenge.......

Nicki

Nicki absolutely blew me away by sharing 4 cards for her first ever challenge, they are amazing cards too..

1. Nicki's first card features categories Metallic/Stripes /Die cut

What a fantastic Party Invitation Nicki, adding the little gems for the Champagne Bubbles was a touch of genius.

2. Features categories: Die cut/Yellow/Floral

Such a pretty card, perfect for an Anniversary or Get well soon, such a pretty card.

3. Features categories: Stripes/Die Cut/Free

What an amazing 30th Birthday card Nicki. 

4. Features categories: Floral (embossing)/Die Cut/Stripes 

Another gorgeous card, as before its great for Anniversary, Valentine or Romantic Birthday.

Four absolutely amazing cards Nicki, thank you so much for taking part.  If you have any ideas for a challenge just let me know!!

XXX

Victoria

How bright and cheerful is Victoria's challenge card this week, a fabulous Birthday card, using categories: Yellow/Floral/metallic.

Victoria has  created a pretty floral  background by randomly stamping with a little flower stamp, then adding Gold Embossing powder, that  beautiful yellow flower is made with Pineapple Punch card and the Daisy Punch, I love the yellow & Green combo Victoria, is the Green 'call me clover'? 

Thank you so much for taking a

Part again this week, i look forward to seeing what you make next week , if there is a particular challenge you would like to see let me know.

XXX

Karen

Karen has designed 3 fantastic cards, all completely different, great to see a Christmas card appearing on the line up.

Here is Karen's description....

"Here’s two cc The man one I’ve done before but have changed bits and decoupaged it differently this time All from Serif and a Tim Holtz die STRIPES:METALLIC:DIE CUT or BANNER 

The second was inspired by Lisa Horton on Hochanda The Flights of Fancy die has been cut from a PP background The other dies are SW too

YELLOW:DIE CUT:FREE

Karen's third card description:

METALLIC:DIE CUT:STRIPES

The sentiment is one of the new dies you showed today mounted on white which again is a die cut but I cut it into 2 and scored one part every 1/2 centimetre on my Hougie It’s a shame the photo doesn’t really pick it up and of course the metallic is silver mirri board and silver ribbon I had in my stash"

Thank you so much Karen for taking part and designing 3 amazing cards. 

Thank you also for introducing Nicki to our blog family.

XXX

 Michele

Michele has made a really pretty 'thanks'  ard for this weeks challenge.  It uses categories: Yellow /Stripes/Thanks. 

Here is Michele's description:

"I use Done very old papers from Making Cards magazine, a Cuttlebug die for the sentiment & a few Peel off sparkly dots."

Thank you so much for taking part.

XXX

Janet

Janet managed to fit in making a beautiful challenge card before setting off for Marigny, it uses categories: Floral/Metallic/Free.

Such a pretty card Janet, those metallic butterflies are gorgeous.

Thank you so much for taking part, fingers crossed that your laptop functions ok this time, our line up just isn't complete without your cards.

XXX

 Lilian

Lilian has designed another beautiful floral Birthday card for this weeks challenge, Using categories: Floral/Metallic/Free

Thank you so much Lilian for another stunning challenge card.

XXX

 Val

Omg, how cute and adorable are Val's cards?? I love them both Val, trouble is I wouldn't want to send them to anyone!!

Here is Val's description....

"I had to make a box of cat cards this week so made two with the cc in mind.

No1 die cut , floral and free kitten photo.
No 2 yellow,  die cut and free kitten photo."

Thank you so much for taking part and bringing a huge smile to my face.

XXX

Lynda

Lynda has designed a gorgeous 'especially for you' card using stamps those lovely Card Making Magic cards that were free on a magazine last month, i think a few if us bought them.

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

"My Cc floral yellow & free

I went over base card with fossilised Amber & fired brick
I had a piece of  parchment in my stash I stamped the rose stamp a free card making magic set with a mag. Onto it. Coloured with a yellow Cc pen I then stamped the rose on some white card twice coloured in same yellow pen I mounted them together & glued it to the edge of my card.
Stamped sentiment cut out with SW fag die. Added a few sequins. Xx
I absolutely love your card Lynda,  thankyou so much for supporting the challenge.

XXX

Well Ladies, what can I say?! I think this display of cards is one of our best for variety of designs and occasions covered by the cards we have made.

Thank you all so very much, you all know by now how much I appreciate you taking part each week.

Any ideas for next weeks challenge?? 

Is it too early to start Christmas challenges? 

Matt is still in hospital, having bloods done this morning to check CRP, fingers crossed they have started to come down.

I hope you all have a lovely Sunday,

Love and Hugs,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Mixed Craft Saturday

 Lynda

Cheryl

Good Saturday morning Ladies,

I am so excited to share some amazing crafts with you this week, from some of our newest ladies too, Victoria who joined in with our Challenge last week has shared two amazing craft projects, Danielle's daughter Karlie was so delighted to read the lovely comments on her box last week that she made another origami project for this week, how amazing is that, positivity encouraging a youngster to craft fills my heart with joy! 

So without further ado let's get on to the exciting part of the blog........

Lynda heads up the list this week with that absolutely stunning Framed piece of art, it is stunning, I love the Hummingbird background and that beautiful spray of flowers, you have highlighted all of the detail of that lovely frame with Gilding Wax.  Another amazing 'Lynda work of art', you are such an incredibly talented crafter Lynda, you inspire me so much because you will have a go at just about any craft technique and make it work.  I can't wait to see the frame in my hands! 

Thank you so much Lynda for sharing your amazing frame with us.

XXX

Cheryl has allowed me to share with all of you the absolutely stunning Pearl Statue that she bought to Celebrate their Pearl Wedding Anniversary, Cheryl chose this statue as it depicts Pete with his arm around Cheryl shoulder, his hand on hers, it couldn't be more perfect, the lovely sculptor at Midnight Orange agreed to Pearlize it for Cheryl too, what an amazing gesture. 

I don't think you could have found a more perfect piece Cheryl, I am so incredibly grateful that you allowed me to share it with all of our friends here on the blog, 

XXX

Victoria

Victoria has shared two of her recent craft projects, the first is a stunning wreath made with the Stampin'Up! Daisy Punch and stamp set, it must have taken ages to create, I was lucky enough to actually hold it in my hand and the colours were a lot brighter that they appear in a photo. It's also so neatly put together.

Victoria's second project is a gorgeous Floral Frame, using Stampin'Up! Beautiful Bouquet stamps and dies to build a stunning arrangement. it shows that the stamps and dies we all have can be used for so much more than making cards.

Thank you so much Victoria for sharing your craft projects with all of us, I am so thrilled that you found us and decided to join in with our challenges.

XXX

Danielle 

Danielle has been busy making Teacher gifts this week, she made the backing paper with the Very Vintage stamp set, the first set stamped in Lovely Lipstick (new In Colour) and the second set in Blackberry Bliss, the smaller bag is made with Natures Poem Dsp. Any teacher would be delighted to receive these Danielle, it wouldn't matter what was inside them! If you would like to have a go at these fantastic Gift Bags just pop over to Dannii's YouTube channel.

Thanks so much Danielle for sharing your lovely bags.

XXX

Karlie

Karlie was so happy to read all of the lovely comments on her Origami Box last week that she couldn't wait to share another Origami Project with us, she has made an absolutely gorgeous Origami heart, in such a beautiful paper with a delicate floral design, every single one of those folds is perfect, being able to obtain perfect lines and symmetry takes great skill, Karlie you are an amazing crafter, I am so excited to see your next project.  

Thank you so much sweetheart for sharing another fantastic project with us.

XXX

Karen

Karen has finished another one of her gorgeous Crocheted animals, this one is called Penelope the Bear, one of Kerry Lords patterns, Karen has made him with Aran Yarn from Aldi, I love how rich that brown yarn is Karen and the other thing that sets these animals apart is their adorable faces, you seem to capture a perfect expression Karen, I am almost 51 and I would love Penelope sat on my pillow!

Karen has treated herself to some craft goodies this week, John Lockwoods Butterfly Dies and an fantastic collection of Sentiment dies and stamps from Creative Expressions, you have most occasions covered with that collection Karen.

Thank you so much for sharing Penelope and your shopping with us.

XXX

See I told you it was going to be a great Mixed Craft post, I hope that you are all inspired to go and have a play in your craft room!

Thanks again to all of you that took part in today's blog post xxx

Sadly Matt didn't get to come home yesterday as we were all hoping, they removed his cannula and got his Antibiotics from the Pharmacy ready for him to leave but at the last minute his blood test results came back, they had the Doctors very concerned because his CRP had risen dramatically, it was 17 when he was admitted on early hours of Tuesday morning, (normal is less than 1), they put the 17 down to a combination of the infection and his Arthritis, the blood test that they took Friday morning saw his white cell count drop but his CRP rise to way over 200, they think it may be his infection but I don't understand why it was 17 when he was admitted and in full throws of the infection but rose massively to over 200 after 3 day course of intravenous antibiotics!!! Nobody could answer that question either.  He was so desperate to come home too, because his 6th bed move since Tuesday was to a Dementia Ward, he was in a room with 3 other extremely poorly elderly gentleman, that even I found distressing after being sat there for 2 hours, one is shouting and using the 'F' word constantly, another must be in agony as he just groans constantly, Matt was in tears as he felt so sorry for the man, the man in the bed next to him was up all hours and started beating another patient with his slipper as he thought he was intruding in his home, Matt said he nodded off at one point and woke up to a man sat in the chair next to his bed, enough to scare the living daylights out of anyone! Even the nursing staff said that Matt had no place being on that ward, they are geared up for people almost four times Matt's age, we took him a McDonalds to cheer him up, just as we walked into the ward the man opposite had messed his bed and had his hands in it, we decided to take a walk outside and had a picnic!

When we got back they had given Matt his 7th bed in a side room of his own, I can't help to think that the poor chap opposite would have been better in the privacy of a private room though.  We got him moved and settled in and as we were getting ready to leave the night staff were coming on and a few popped their head in to say hi to Matt, he said that he ended up sitting with the Nurses all night as he couldn't sleep, he said they had a great laugh, which gave me a huge sense of relief.  Fingers crossed that his bloods come back better today so that he can maybe be discharged this afternoon or tomorrow.

I can't wait to have him home and poor Harley is missing him so much. 

I hope that you are all having a lovely weekend ladies,

Love and hugs

Sandra

xxxxxx

Something Floral to

Good Morning Ladies,

Another week has whizzed by, in my head its only Tuesday!

Matt is still in hospital, he is currently in his 5th bed, such a waste of money as they strip the bed every time someone uses it, even if they didn't get in the bed, he had 4 beds just yesterday, the poor guy oppisite matt had been in 6 days and in 5 differemt wards, how do you get continuity in care, Matt's between two teams, surgical and medical, who have both made a care plan, both totally different! He wanted to come home last night as he is missing his own bed and this ward he's in now is Geriatric, so nobody his age  and he says they are all making funny noises!!! 

Todays card was made using Balmy Blue and Very vanilla card stock. I die cut the edges of the Balmy Blue card using the New Delicate Lace Edgelits, then i added a narrow mat of Copper Foil card followed by Very vanilla which i embossed with the new Tufted embossing folder. I then die cut a Froral Frame Framelit and some of the foliage that comes with the set to create my focal point, i also cut some elements in the copper foil card to tie the colours together. 

I stamped my sentimnt onto Very vanilla card and embossed wirh Copper Embossing Powder and heat set, i added some die cut Copper Embossed flowers onti my sentiment.  I mounted my finished piece onto a Balmy Blue card base then finished the card with pearls that i had pressed into Versamark and covered with Copper Embossing powder and heated leaving me with copper pearls, i placed these into the dots on the quilted, embossed background.

More hospital visiting today, we were late getting there as we were all at Sophie's Art Exhibition at school.  So many people people attended, we were certainly exhausted by the evening!

I am hoping today will be less  stressed and more relaxed.

I hope you all have a lovely day 

Love ang hugs

Sandra 

xxxxxxxx

Brenda's Anniversary card

Good Morning Ladies, 

Not sure what has happened to the weather this past couple of days, its been a lot cooler and quite breezy here, so frustrating when you want to sit outside and relax.

I had my heart monitor fitted on what turned out to be stressful day/night.  We got home after a very long 11 hour day and i felt completely washed out, i had felt odd all day as in feeling under the weather. Anyway Paul did dinner and Matt came home said he had a really sore back and felt rough but had to go straight out after dinner as he had had a lamb born that didn't seem right, he left at about 7:30 with bottles of formula for lamb, sadly despite him trying for hours it wouldn't feed and its mother had rejected it (I think that maybe the ewe can sense that lamb has problems thats why they reject them). He couldn't have done more, its the only one he has lost and thats all part of farming.  Anyway he wasn't home by 3am so i called him, he said he was in so much pain be couldn't drive, he eventually got home, i gave him painkillers and told him to get to A & E, which he did, they have admitted him as he has kidney infection again and they were going to scan him for stones. So as you can imagine i got no sleep and had atleast 3 episodes of palpitations! 

Up super early for another long day of appointments at Eye hospital with Lucy then off to check on Matt. 

I was so thankful that Brenda had sent me the card that she made for John for  their Anniversary, as there wasn't much chance of me getting one made yesterday.

Brenda made an 'Eclipse' technique card, using Stampin'Up! Large Letter dies, I  love this technique as its so effective. The stamp 

Brenda used is 'Lovely as a Tree', the 'You' is a Honey Doo stamp that Brenda mounted onto Wild Wasabi card and fussy cut.

Cascading Hearts Embossing folder  creates the background to this amazing Anniversary card.  You must be so pleased with how it turned out Brenda, it is truly amazing, I bet John loved it.

Thank you so much for allowing me to share your card Brenda xxx

Today is going to be a very relaxed day (hopefully), as I need to recharge my batteries.

I hope you have a lovely day,

Love and hugs to all 

Sandra 

xxx xxx 

A couple of Janet's amazing cards

Good Morning Ladies,

As Janet starts to get her craft box together for packing into the car, ready to head of to Marigny, I thought it would be nice to look at a couple of the cards that she made recently that I had to gotten around to sharing with you yet.

The first is a lovely shade of blue and cream with a delicate butterfly pattern paper behind, I love the shape of this die Janet, It's a Tonic die called "Perfect Posie Layering Die", Janet has used this die a couple of times for challenge cards and it looks do different every time, I guess you can choose which layers you want to add. So it can be as intricate or simple as you like. A beautiful card Janet, thank you for sharing.

Janet's second card looks very luxurious with the intricate detailed die cutting and foiling. I live the unusual fold too, you get to see all the detail of the front of the card and the inside as well, usually the inside of a card can be a little plain but not this style, the inside us as beautiful as the out.
Thank you so much for sharing Janet.
I hope that you and Jim have a smooth crossing and trouble free journey. You deserve a long and relaxing break at Marigny, don't forget your medication!!!
I look forward to reading your daily updates and it seems like forever since we had a Friday cake description. I put on a pound just reading it!!

Yesterday was a very long day, we left home at 7:10am and didn't return until after 6pm, the hospital appointment was straight forward and only lasted 15mins. I have to wear the monitor until Saturday and return it Sunday.  I bet i don't get one episode of palpitations!
We do it all again today but for Lucy at the Eye Hospital, the Eye department usually has huge delays so fingers crossed we won't be there too long, it's just for a sight test, so fingers crossed!

I Hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love & Hugs

Sandra
xxxxxx

My Challenge card

Good Morning Ladies,

I was sat playing with some of the New Stampin'Up catalogue and my challenge card kind of just 'happened'!

I used some of the gorgeous Delightfully Detailed Laser cut Speciality paper, snippinga piece out of the 12 x 12 square, I then pressed my Versamark pad onto it and then added copper Embossing powder and heat set, so now I had a Metallic detailed die cut. I thought this would look nice on the Grapefruit Grove colour paper and I just happened to have the Nature's Poem Dsp, which has both of the colours I was thinking of featured in it, I picked the background i wanted and glued my laser cut piece into place, I stamped my sentiment the top right area, the flower i made was stamped with the new Pop Of Petals flower onto the same DSP and punched with matching punch, I also embossed these with Copper Embossing powder to tie in with background. 

I finished off my card with a few faceted gems in BlackBerry Bliss and Grapefruit Grove to match the card I used to matt and layer my card.

I hope you like how it turned out and it inspires you a little. 

Delightfully Detailed Laser Cut Dsp 

Nature's Poem Dsp

If you would like any of the products I have used you will find the link in the contact page at the top of the blog.

A long day ahead for me as Paul doesn't want to drive all the way back to home to pick me up and drive 30 miles back in the 

Opposite direction, so Lucy and I are having breakfast out close by to Paul's work, he will then pop out pick us up and take us to appointment, depending on how long it takes he will then drop us off in Witney town centre where we can shop for a couple of hours until he picks up, we get to do it all again tomorrow too for Lucy's appointment! 

We can get some holiday shopping done hopefully.

Have a lovely day whatever you are doing,

Love and Hugs 

Sandra 

xxxxxx