Another Challenge Card

Good Morning Ladies,

Another Challenge card from me today this one was made with the same stamp set as I used on the Yellow card yesterday, although it looks quite different.  I chose the colours Gorgeous Grape and Highland Heather, it is actually the first time that I have stamped with this ink properly and I love it.

I made a card base out of Highland Heather card and added a matt of Gorgeous Grape and then stamped the middle sized flourish from the Flowering Flourishes Stamp set randomly all over a piece of Whisper White card, which I then divided into three equal strips and set them down with a slight gap. 

I stamped my sentiment in Gorgeous Grape ink onto Whisper white card and die cut with a Layering Oval die, I cut a scalloped mat out of the same colour card.

To finish my card I added a piece of Gorgeous Grape striped ribbon and ties a knot, I topped that with a Petite Petals flower that I stamped in Gorgeous Grape onto Highland Heather card, punched it out and added some Old Olive foliage behind. A few sparkles placed here and there to add the final finishing touches.

I also made a matching Envelope using the Envelope punch board, I used Whisper White card and the same stamp as I used on the card. I think it looks so nice having a 'matching' envelope. 

Sue came yesterday which really made my day, I made us some fresh Leek & potato soup and warmed some bread.  After that we both got straight down to some crafting.  I made todays card and Sue made a fantastic 'man card ' !! Before we knew it it was 5.30 and Paul was home. 

I have a full day in craft room today, as I have a long list of projects to finish.

I hope you have a lovely day ladies ,

Brenda you will be in my thoughts all day xx

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra 

xxxxxx

My Challenge Card

Good Morning Ladies,

I thought I would make a card to brighten everyone's day today!! It is in actual fact a much softer yellow in your hand.  The colour ink and card I used is So Saffron, one of my all time favourite colours.
I cut a So Saffron card base to 4 1/4  X  5 1/2 inches and set to one side while I stamped my background, I bought myself a Retired Stamp called Flowering Flourishes a week or so ago and couldn't wait to use it.  So I randomly stamped my background using So Saffron Ink.  I die cut a Scalloped Circle in So Saffron and then stamped a floral circle pattern on to a Whisper White die cut circle.  To finish my topper I stamped the circular 'Thank You' from the Stitched All Around stamp set and mounted it on foam pads onto the centre of my circle.
To finish my card I added some Old Olive Twine and Punched out a stamped flower from Petite Petals, then added a couple of die cut sprigs behind it, a few sparkles and a tiny pearl flower in the centre of my flower finishes the card.

I hope you like it and it brightens your day!

It was so lovely to read all of the companies that you all recommend for great Service, funny how a lot of us use similar companies.

Also glad to hear that Crafters Companion replaced your dies Lilian, more people should vote with their purses as far as Hochanda is concerned that can't continue to get away with poor customer services these days, the internet brings us the luxury of choice.  I always find that they take an age to post things to you anyway.

Maria I am glad you had such a lovely holiday, maybe we will get some snow here so that you feel like you are still on holiday! xx

Lilian I hope the ECG went well, fingers crossed for a better solution medication wise for your symptoms. xxx

Brenda, I hope you have a smooth journey to visit Anne, your company will certainly distract her, laying there alone makes the days so long in hospital, especially when you have major surgery on your mind.  Sending love and Hugs xxx

Val, my lovely I am so very sorry to read about you losing Harvey, I can only imagine the pain, they love us unconditionally which makes it even harder when they are no longer around.  I am sending you HUGE hugs my lovely xxx

Well thats all for today my lovelies,

Have a fantastic day whatever you are up to,

Love and Hugs

Sandra
xxxxxx

A Stunning Card by Janet

Good Morning Ladies,

I couldn't wait to share with you all this stunning card that Janet has created, using Tonic Oceana Layering Die Set.

Such a lovely die set, I was wondering why it was called 'Oceana' but seeing the mermaid in the centre kind of gives it away.  I guess the outer edge looks like shells too.
Janet you have given this card your 'Special Touch', your ribbon weaving is just stunning and I love how you have topped the centre off with a lovely wreath of roses.  I think that beautiful shade of blue foiled card is what really makes the card pop.
Where do you find these lovely colours Janet, are they the Crafters companion foiled card range?
The beautiful corners make the circular design work perfectly on a square card base.
Thank you so much for allowing me to share your card with everyone today Janet.

Janet's card also works for this weeks challenge, using Categories: Circle/Ribbon/Flowers

I will add the grid again today as it was obstructed by the notifications on the side of the Blog yesterday.

Now I was so pleased to see that it wasn't just me that needed the Soap Box yesterday, if got a right good breaking in for the New Year, I think we may need two!

Lilian I think you have been treating appallingly, if you don't want to fight your corner then please Email me your order number and details and I will 100% try and resolve the issue, take lots of photos too, thats what I did on Saturday, to show the damage.  Let me know if I can help you though my lovely, £10 no way covers the damage caused, it never ceases to amaze me how poorly they think that they can get away with treating their customers.xxx

I had an issue with them last Sept, I had ordered some stamps earlier in the year that happened to be on Easy Pay, in fact it must have been soon after we moved in, as after we had changed the addresses on our Bank cards etc (which I I had notified them of).  Anyway the last transaction didn't go through, so I called and paid over the phone, they chap had said everything was fine and resolved.  So I thought no more of it, until September time I had a letter threatening to involve a collections agency, well, you know how badly my anxiety affects me!! I got straight on the phone and asked them to explain, I told them that I had called and paid the £7.25 over the phone and was assured by the agent that all was fine.  She could look on screen and see that I had called  but explained that that payment had been declined too, so by this time I was getting a little bit 'pissed off' (sorry no polite way of getting my frustration across).  

I asked her to read me back the details that they had for me on file, bearing in mind that they had sent the stamps to this address!!  They were using our old address and get this, when that didn't work the only other address on the account was Pat's (as I ordered some pencils for her years ago), this was the reason that the payments were not going through, they were using the wrong address as verification.

She then started to apologise and she had never known this happen before etc etc, she then offered me a 'Special Code' for the next time I ordered etc.  I categorically refused then and there to ever shop with them again.  If I see anything on there that I like I go and order from the company direct, I think the company benefits more from that anyway as they aren't having to give a percentage to Hochanda.

Take my Derwent Coloursoft pencils as an example, Hochanda had them on a 'Super , amazing' offer price, I automatically check online to compare and on Amazon they were £40 cheaper with free next day delivery!!

Update on my Soap Box moment.....Still no Ink Cartridges, they chap is now blaming Royal Mail,  although I explained to him that Royal Mail had been and delivered both our Mail and parcels today, just not anything from them.  I am awaiting his response! 

The Works emailed today and have asked for Photos of damage, which I luckily took at the time!

Michele, thats terrible, if you win a prize you don't expect to have to keep chasing it up, I know you won't stop until you get it though!! xxx

Pat, I did giggle at your Soap Box moment, as I had visions of your tiny little legs poking out of the top of the wheelie bin!  In all seriousness though, I wouldn't want my parcels in there, I know its not 'dirty waste' as such but still not ideal, glad you got it out in the end. xxx

Lynda, I think it's quite concerning that they gave you drugs that you are no longer prescribed, if you didn't have a clear mind it could cause a lot of problems.  Hope you got it sorted my lovely xxx

Val, I had everything crossed for poor Harvey today, I hope that the Vet could help this time, sending you and Harvey huge hugs, we worry about our pets as much as we do our children I think, I didn't realise how much I talked to Milo, Bella and Harley until one of the girls pointed it out!  Crazy Cat Lady in the making I think!! sending hugs xxx 🐾

Right Ladies I think that we should balance out these Negative Company comments, so lets hear a company name from each of you that has given Outstanding Service...….

My first one would be Ben at In2Craft (was SET Craft) for super fast delivery and all round Great service.

I look forward to reading who yours are…..

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Monday TicTacToe Challenge

 Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well after a very blustery weekend, my goodness that wind had a bite to it, it was definitely a 'stay at home' kind of weekend.  We have a lot a standing water around here as well after a considerable amount of rain over past few days, all we need now is a frost and the roads will be treacherous!

I thought I would choose a TicTacToe challenge for this week, it seems a popular choice with all of you and you can make virtually any card for any occasion using it. This one has something for everyone, birds for Lilian 😉, we all use die cuts, its always great to have a 'Masculine' choice, particularly for Karen this week, maybe an eclipse card???😜
In all seriousness its a great grid for spring cards, which is something we all look forward to making after all of those Christmas cards.  Although I bet that Michele could make a Christmas card out of this grid, maybe that should be an EXTRA challenge!!

I am excited to see what you all make, I just love those messages!!

I am getting the Soap Box out, can someone give me a hand climbing up??……
I ordered the Freddie Mercury Biography from The Works on Friday and a couple of other things that I needed, paid for fast delivery as a couple of things were needed for girls for Sunday.  Anyway, we were going to be out for a few hours so I did what we always do and left a note for the parcel to be left either in Greenhouse or the little potting shed, both were left unlocked and are clearly visible.
We got back at about 4.45 after visiting Pat, popping to garden centre and then popping into town to a little tea room for a cup of tea and a piece of cake, just to kill time until we needed to collect girls from work.  As we pulled up onto the drive I could see the box by the back door, where it had been since 11am in the pouring rain, I took it inside didn't need to use scissors to open as the box all but collapsed, lucking 3 of the things were in cellophane but my book wasn't and the water has soaked the top corner, causing the cover to tear.  Hermes were the courier used, you would think that they had enough experience to not leave a card board box in the bloomin rain!!
I have photographed everything and emailed The Works to complain, so watch this space!!

But thats not all, I have bought some Travellers Note Book printable images/kits and have been desperate to have a go but I am having serious printer issues, now it may well be our own fault as we have used 'Compatible' inks, for our printer, the colours are printing out totally wrong and the images aren't 'sharp' enough!  So I got Paul to get our older printer out of the loft, I ordered a new cable for it as we had misplaced it in the move, we got it all set up but it needed Light Cyan ink, so on Friday I rang a local company, thinking we could go and collect but that wasn't an option, he did however promise me faithfully that if I ordered by 4pm he would guarantee that it would be here Saturday Morning...….well I guess he wasn't quite as genuine as I thought, his invoice arrived ok, but no ink, so I called and asked where it might be, I also said that as he was less than 5 miles away maybe he could keep his promise and deliver it.  His response was '' I can't do anything about Royal Mail Delivery times', 'your issue is with them, not me''!   I think he knew full well that they wouldn't arrive on time.  But the result of his bad business attitude is that I will tell everyone not to use his Ink supply company.... so ladies do not use ''Ink Save''

That is my rant over, so if someone could help me down, we can stow the Soap Box back under the stairs for next time!   Thanks for listening....it's good to talk!! lol, hahahha

I hope that you all have a lovely week,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Your First Blog Challenge Cards, New & Old.....

My New Card

My Original card

Good Morning Ladies,

I have absolutely loved this weeks Old and New challenge, what has surprised me most is the fact that in three years nothing much has changed in how we make our cards.  I was kind of expecting things to look a little dated etc but they really don't, your original cards would be just as well received today as they were back then, which given how fast craft styles change is surprising.

Although if you think about it everything seems to come back round, I know that SU have just launched a 'Cogs' die, which surprised me as I have the first, original Spellbinders Cogs die, that Steampunk style has never really gone away either, it just fades in and out of popularity.

Animals, Birds and Butterflies are timeless too as are cute animal images. 

The upside of this is that we are all, always 'Bang on Trend' 😉😜

Here are all of your cards, I have included everyone that is on the Blog today that made cards back then......

Cheryl 

2016 Original

Cheryl made this card for our original Challenge in 2016, I loved it then and I still love it now, such a fantastic image and Cheryl has made a fabulous card with it.

Remember this one Cheryl??  

Thanks my  lovely xxx

Janet

 Janet's new card

The 2016 Original

We have both past and present Challenge cards from Janet, the original card was made with Janet's Dolly Dimples images (I think), set on a really pretty background and embellished with some pretty daisies.

Janet's new challenge card is a real WOW, using some gorgeous background papers, in rich golds and brown, that die cut heart flourish is just stunning Janet, the finishing touches really make the card they include little pearl corners and flowers and a Beautiful bow, trimmed with a pretty pearl flower.

Two delightful cards Janet, thank you so much for taking part. xxx

 Karen

Karen's 1st NEW card

Karen's 2nd NEW card

Karen's 1st Original 2016 card

Karen's 2nd 2016 Card

Karen made 2 cards for each of the Old and New challenges, 

The first card was made with what we refer to as 'Lynda's die from wish, which Karen has placed over a chalked background. I love this card Karen 

Karen's second NEW card is simply stunning,  I love the white on white, such an amazing card Karen, No Serif necessary!! ;)

Here is Karen's description......

Another cc I left the embellishments off because in my opinion even though it is white on white it was beginning to look a bit “busy” to me
So it’s JL Poinsettia dies and stamps
JL Swirling ivy
CE contemporary Poinsettia EF
SW Pierced tag
Mrs Duck’s Snow
Again no Serif!

Karen's two Original cards are both amazing, I didn't ask for descriptions back then so I am not sure of all the products used.  I am pretty sure that the second card features the Chemical Composition of Beer!

Your cards certainly haven't dated Karen, that are as fab today as they were 3 years ago!

Thank you so much for all of your cards xxx

 Lilian

Lilian has made two cards for the same challenge 3 years apart and used Birds on both cards, what were the chances of that????!

Your original card is so lovely, featuring a gorgeous bird topper, placed upon a perfectly coordinating background, a lovely border strip and what looks like a peel off sentiment to finish. 

Your New card Lilian is absolutely stunning, Lilac and Green are a match made in heaven as far as I am concerned, the bird image you have used is beautiful and your stamped background is just so perfect.  

Lilian thank you for taking part this week, your card is just stunning as is your original. xxx

Lynda 

Lynda's New Card

Lynda's Original 2016 card

Lynda has both New and Original card featured today, both are absolutely amazing!

I love the work you have put into building up the overall image of your new card, the background is amazing and the Dragonflies are gorgeous.

Here is Lynda's description...…

My challenge card
I used distress oxide Blended with Fired brick & Fossilised Amber then embossed with tattered lace folder foliage & butterflies
John lockwood dragonflies
Sue Wilsons flowers

Lynda's Original card features an absolutely gorgeous topper that Lynda has mounted onto a red mat and a lovely embossed backgroung, embellished with some stunning roses.

Two stunning cards Lynda, thank you so very much for taking part xxx

Margaret 

Margaret wasn't making cards when we launched our challenges, but boy has she made up for it since, this card is gorgeous.

Margaret has used the Needlepoint Nook Designer Series Papers to create her card, that beautiful card needs nothing more than a few punched butterflies and a sentiment!

Thank you so much Margaret for another amazing card, just think you will have two cards when we revisit this challenge in a couple of years! xxx

Maria

Maria is on holiday so can't take part in this weeks Challenge, she did take part in the original challenge back in 2016 though. 

Such a fantastic card Maria, using a Sue Wilson Striplet die as the background, Maria has very cleverly used the flower pot and added an actual rose as the flower, absolutely Brilliant Maria, I love that sentiment too.

I hope you are having fun in the snow and love seeing your original card. xxx

 Michele

Michele missed our Original challenge by a couple of weeks but she has more than made up for it since.  

This card is so very cute Michele, that puppy just melts my heart! I love those pansies on the background too.  

Thank you so much Michele for taking part in this weeks challenge. xxx

 Sue

Sue has been poorly this week so didn't take part, she did take part in the Original challenge though.

I love the super cute image you have used Sue, again I think that this card hasn't dated at all, that flower border is lovely, I love how you have cut it down to make a flower for the cats hair and used the same flowers for the little floral spray.

I hope you are feeling better my lovely, I hope you love seeing your original blog challenge card. xxx

Val

Val has made another adorable Valentine card, sadly Val wasn't around for the first challenge but like the others has more than made up for it since becoming part of our lovely blog family..

An adorable Unicorn matted onto a die cut circle, a lovely vintage tag upon an amazing vintage background paper create the backdrop to this lovely card.  It wouldn't be Valentines day without a few hearts to finish the card.

Thank you so much Val for taking part in this weeks challenge xxx

Ladies, what can I say....Thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart, for over 3 years of Challenge cards, you are all amazing! 

I am now off  to think about next weeks challenge.....what would you like to see??

Enjoy your Sunday my lovelies,

Love and Hugs,

Sandra

xxxxxx 

Michele's Magazine Review

Good Morning Ladies,

Bumper blog post today which includes Danielle's stunning Bag & Tutorial Link, Michele's fantastic Magazine Review and then a look at Brenda's shopping.

First of all today I want to share the link to Danielle's Tutorial that features instructions to make the stunning bag shown above, the paper is gorgeous too, Danielle is so clever, she just makes these bags up as she goes along.  I think she is a fully qualified 'Paper Engineer' ! Lol xx

 Just Click this link :  Danielle's Bag Tutorial

We have also set up a Facebook Group together called 'Crafting With Riley & Rose'  which is both of our surnames, we hope to feature Craft Swaps, little competitions etc, you are all most welcome to come and join us on our little adventure into crafting together. Although I think I have invited most of you already.  

Now onto Michele's Magazine Review.....

Hi Ladies,

The latest look into this months selection of craft magazines.

Papercraft Essentials has a pretty set of Hunkydory toppers & background papers this month. Inside the magazine is a feature showing you how to use this free gift. There an interesting feature on partial heat Embossing too.

Cardmaking & Papercraft has a really lovely gift set-a cameo dies, stamps & an Embossing Folder.

This shows what you can make with the free gift.

Diecutting Essentials has a fantastic free gift this month. This Friday set reminds me of the Craftipotential sets -very much her style. There’s 2 features inside the magazine using the free gifts.

First feature using the free Dies.

Second feature.

Simply Cards & Papercraft Magazine has a fantastic set of stamps & matching Dies-British Garden Birds. There’s 2 features inside the magazine using the free gifts and Christina Griffiths has done a great YouTube video using this set. Great for those difficult to make “Men’s cards “!

This show some of the ideas you could create using the free gifts.

Making Cards magazine has a cute set of stamps & some lovely quality papers. There’s an interesting article on “environmentally friendly crafting “ inside this magazine-quite thought provoking.

Papercraft Inspirations magazine has a great set of Dies this month. They’re to Make Easel Cards but can be used as a decorative edge Die.

That’s everything this month-Happy Crafting.

Michele 

Thank you so much Michele for another fantastic review, I love how you now include the inspiration too, I think I might get the Papercraft Inspirations and Making Cards to start with. 

Brenda saw these lovely dies on offer at 'The Art of Craft' and couldn't resist them, I have to say that I don't blame you Brenda, they are so lovely and what a fantastic bargain. 

Thank you for sharing, I might go for a look and see what else they have! xxx

Paul is taking me over to visit Pat today after we have dropped the girls off at work, It will be so lovely to see you Pat after so many weeks. xxx

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxxx

A matching Gift Bag

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

Thank goodness its Friday, its been a long week this week, not sure why, it has just seemed to drag.

Hopefully yours hasn't been like that, have you managed to get any crafting done? I know a few of you have as I have received your Challenge cards already.

No card today as I decided to make a matching Gift Bag for the card I made yesterday, using the same Peaches & Pinks paper (well card really) on a Kraft card Bag, that I made with a new die that I bought from Craft Stash, Its a bag die that makes an album as well as just a bag, the designer is Helen Griffin.  I didn't see any bag samples made with the die but lots of Albums.

I started by cutting my bag out of Kraft card, I then cut a hexagon out of the same card to make a flap for my bag (to tie in with the shape of the card).  I added a mat of the Peaches and Pink paper to both the bag front and the Hexagon flap.  I decided to edge the bag flap with some delicate crocheted lace and layered another floral lace trim over the top, I chose this particular one as it matched some of the pinks in the paper. I finished the flap off with some matching colour pearls.

I die cut some Petal Pink card with one of the SU Lace Edger dies and brushed some Tea Dye Distress Ink over it, I then added the same lace and trims as I did on the flap and finished with some pearls. 

I gathered together some of the same flowers that I used on the card, and arranged them over a Cherry Lynn Flourish die cut, I added some little pearl stamens to add some little bursts of colour.

I stamped a sentiment and die cut it with the central dies from Sue's Lavish Accented Hexagons and then added a few more flowers to balance the look.

I know they are quite 'busy' but I quite like how they look together!! I hope you do too. xxx

Guess what???  Paul had to go up the loft to look for our old Printer and as he turned to come back down the steps he looked up and there was my Cutterpillar Pro, just sat in its box, bold as brass, how he could have missed it is beyond me!   I am so happy to have it back though!! 

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend, we have a Michele Magazine Review to look forward to tomorrow, so be sure to look in for that.

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxxx

Back to the 'old style' cards.....

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well, I was really concerned about you all yesterday as there were so few comments, I do hope that you aren't all under the weather, if you are I wish you a speedy recovery.  The weather doesn't help it stayed fully frozen over in the back garden until way past lunch time, the car sat on the drive was still as iced up at 3pm as it was when Paul left at 6.40am yesterday morning, then the temperature starting dropping again. A lot of the roads around here are so minor they don't get gritted, so driving can be treacherous, even if you drive according to the conditions it doesn't mean that everyone else does.  Go careful out there today my lovelies. xxx

Now onto todays card, I am going to be totally honest with you and say that I thoroughly enjoyed making this card, I made a huge mess as I went along, trying different colours of card, flowers etc but I was really enjoying it.
The whole card was inspired by the stunning paper, which is Crafters Companion Pinks & Peaches A3 card, which Danielle bought me as part of our 'Swap' in November last year, I have been 'stroking it' since then but decided that it needed to be used and shared, sadly I couldn't find it online yesterday so they may have discontinued it which is such a shame as it is stunning.

It took me a while to decide which piece to use, I then die cut a section with one of the dies from Sue Wilsons 'Lavish Accented Hexagon' collection, I then cut the base and first layer of the frame with the same dies out of Kraft Card, that Danielle had also bought to go with the decorative paper.
I used the three outer dies to cut that ornate frame, I cut it out of SU Petal Pink card, then took the brightness down a little with some Tea Dye Distress Ink, I layered these all together and was excited to get on with the decoration of the card.  I pulled out all of the Peaches and Pinks flowers that I had bought from Wild Orchid Crafts back in November and arranged a spray of them around the bottom corner of the card, I tried to used colours that complimented the paper, adding in little pops of pink and gold to add interest.
I then decided to add some flat back pearl string around the card to give the frame some interest and draw your eye in.
The sentiment is SU 'Well Said' dies cut and layered up, I cut them out of the SU Petal Pink as well and again added Tea Dye Distress ink to tone down the colour.
I did end up deciding to cut a slightly larger card base to show off the 'Kraft' Card a little more and it made the card look a little more 'balanced.
I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed making it. xxx

Brenda, I hope your trip wasn't too exhausting, was thinking about you all day my lovely xxx

Pat, sending you love and hugs xxx

Sending love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Something a little different...

Good Morning Ladies,

Something a little bit different from me today, I saw the Altenew Wild Fern stamps featured on a card and fell in love with them, what I didn't realise how tricky they are to line up!! They have 3 very intricate layers, some worked first time, others were just a hair out but my goodness it shows,  I totally love them though, I think they look quite realistic too.

I stamped them with Lemon-Lime Twist, Pear Pizazz and Old Olive (light to dark).  I may order some of the Altenew inks to try too, do any of you have them??
After I had stamped my three layers I then die cut the ferns with the matching dies (phew no fussy cutting)!! Lol !!
I cut my card base to 5 1/4  X 4 1/8 inch and blended some of the Pear Pizazz ink over the card base, I then sprayed a little water into the lid to mix with some Old Olive paint, loading my water brush and tapped it so that fine dots flicked over the background.

I then arranged my die cut ferns around the card, so that they overhung the edges, once they were stuck down I used my large Tim Holtz scissors to trim any die cuts overhanging the edge of the card.

To finish the card I die cut the 'Thankyou' die and layered it up, and stuck it straight onto the background.  I then stamped the 'For Your Kindness'  in versamark, added white embossing powder and heat set, I then cut this down to a small rectangle.
I think the black sentiment gives a striking look !
As I said its something different, I think its growing on me though!

I spent most of the day playing about with different things in my craft room, sadly them only thing that I made was a MESS!!   I tidied a space later on to sit and make todays card though, but will need to go in and clear away again in the morning, why am I such a messy crafter?!

Not much on the cards for me today, sadly Sue is poorly so she isn't coming over, so I will be crafting on my own, maybe I will get more done though, fingers crossed!

I hope that you all have a lovely day however you are spending it,

Special Hugs to Brenda, Pat & Pete and anyone else feeling under the weather,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxx

My Sketch Challenge Card

Good Morning Ladies,

I decided to got for a lacy, die cut look for my Sketch Challenge card this time, I used Petal Pink ink and card, (which actually looks more peach than pink to me).

I stamped my sentiment from Stitched All Around stamp set and die cut it with a die from the matching Stitched Labels die set.  I then die cut another mat of Petal Pink card to layer it onto.

I added foam pads to raise it off of the background that I made by cutting a panel from the Beautifully Detailed Laser cut Panels in half and placing them in opposite corners of my card base, I added three little pearls in matching tone to continue the pattern to the border.

I then finished my card by adding a few of the same pearls to the stamped sentiment tag.

I hope you like my card.  xx

It is quite different from the original card that I made for this Sketch, I like them both equally though.

Nothing very exciting to tell you about my day yesterday, I did start my first Traveller's Notebook/Journal, I am not sure what to call it to be honest with you,  I picked out some stamps that I hadn't used for a long time and some old dies too, I stamped the first few pages, I just need to decide on what other things I am going to add in between the pages, you have to leave room to write, whether thats on the actual journal pages or onto journaling tags.  

I have ordered some dies from Craft Stash to make the assemble of a New Album easier, I am looking forward to them arriving as I think that getting new bits and pieces to craft with actually boosts you creativity too, so watch this space!  

What did you all get up to?

Karen, have you managed to rediscover your Craft Desk??

Maria, have you made your first Snow Angel yet?? 

Val, did you find any inspiration on Pinterest, how many hours did you lose? hahaha

I hope that you are all starting to rediscover your crafty inspiration, with so many of us struggling I am guessing it has to be the time of year, having made so many Christmas cards just exhausts you I think.  Maybe we should all take a leaf out of Michele's book, she has made two Christmas cards already!!

Have a lovely day however you spend it,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxx