Bag Toppers

Good Morning Ladies,

Ladies please join me in wishing Our Lovely Janet a Very Happy Birthday, I hope you have a lovely day Janet, filled with fun, surprises and hopefully a little bit of cake.!

Now onto to today's project, not a card for a change!  

Danielle and I run a  Facebook Group that is all about crafting, be it card making, Origami, knitting, sewing, absolutely anything crafty.  We decided when we started that one of the things that we wanted to do was Monthly 'Swaps',  so anyone that wants to take part puts their name forward, we pick partners and then have a Month to make and send your Swap.

The first 'Swap' was chosen by Danielle and it was to make 'Two Bag Toppers', it was up to you whether you made just the toppers or filled a bag of goodies and pop your Toppers on the top.

I added a few bits and pieces to my bags and created my Toppers from Grand Decorative Circles for the larger bag, I used Petal Pink and Cream card and added some lace Applique' flowers to decorate the bag topper.

The Smaller Bag Topper was made with Sue Wilson's Millie Die, cut in the same colours and decorated with a single Flower Applique, topped with tiny resin flower.

I think that they are both quite pretty and I'd be happy to receive them.

I will be sharing all of the entries on our Saturday Blog Posts, as you would expect there was a huge range of styles.  Lynda and Cheryl both took part and both made beautiful bag toppers too.

Our next Swap will be 3 x 3 notecards, I am looking forward to the seeing what everyone makes, you can join in too if you like, just let me know.

Pat, I was sorry to read that Pete had another bad day, I hope and pray that you get care package in place very soon, it seems ridiculous that this has been expected for so long but the care package you need is not ready. Sending huge hugs xxx

Lilian I hope that you are feeling a little better my lovely xxx

Val, sending you huge hugs, this first few weeks on new medication is miserable, I am so sorry that you have had to delay your trip to UK.

Sending love and hugs to all you too,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Another Background Technique Card

Good Morning Ladies,

I am featuring another one of my Pixie powder backgrounds today, I'm not so keen on this card, as the stamping doesn't show up on camera as well as it does in your hand.  Stamping onto Acetate wasn't the easiest thing to do either but with the stamperatus I managed ok, I wanted to emboss the sentiment too, which worried me because I wasn't sure if it was heat resistant acetate, but it turned out okay.

I absolutely love the colours in the background, the are so bright and vibrant, I did the 'Caught in Crystal Technique' again, this time though I wanted to try kitchen roll instead of Tissue Paper, mainly because we don't always have tissue paper to hand.  I peeled the layers of the kitchen roll apart and scrunched it and added it to the wet adhesive, it worked fine, although they weren't as many creases but you could see the pattern of the paper, which was interesting in itself.  I have seen some really nice patterns on kitchen roll so may need to experiment further, in the mean time I ordered some cheap 'packing tissue paper' on line and that arrived yesterday, so I am all set for round two.

I mounted the 'Caught in Crystal' piece on onto white card as that showed the brightness of the colours better, I then cut a tiny black border, then added some sequin string and then mounted onto a white base card.  As you move it in your hand the mica makes it look like the colours are moving around, its quite lovely.

Well ladies I finally went to join the new surgery and bought up the AF thing with the new GP, he explained what happens during an episode of AF so clearly, even Paul was impressed, it made it clear to understand why they were so concerned about the clotting and chance of a stroke was so high.  In the consultant report they discussed the findings of the Monitor that I wore for a week last year, it was recording episodes that were longer than an hour, some were over 3 hours before a 'normal' rhythm was regained. This together with the frequency of the Ventricular 'Ectopics' apparently was the cause of the concern, but in the 7 months I have had the Consultant letter my GP never contacted me once to ask me to go in for a consultation.  Anyway I have to start both an Anticoagulant 'Apaxiban' after they get results of a blood test and Bisoprolol to be started immediately.  So we will see what happens next.  Believe me I laid awake all night worrying about his frank description of the risks of not taking medication.  

I will say he was a lovely chap, very patient and listened to all my concerns etc.  Fingers crossed we have picked the right surgery.  

I did go with Lucy yesterday as she has become deaf in one ear, we have been adding olive oil for a good couple of weeks, so today she was  scheduled to have it flushed out, the nurse was so funny, really put lucy at ease too, she only got some of it out though we have to go back in 2 weeks for the rest.

I hope that you are all well and have been having fun with this weeks challenge.

Love and hugs to all of you

Sandra

xxxxxx

Pixie Powder Painting

Good Morning Ladies,

Oh such a lovely day yesterday, I had washing blowing on the line all day, it felt like middle of Spring out there.  I had all the windows open too, it was a little chilly in the shade though.
The only problem was, while I was busy in my craft room (no windows open) Mr Sainsbury must have decided that it would be a good day to 'fertilise' his fields, OMG the smell was terrible, it was billowing through every open window.  Lord only knows what the washing will smell like, lets hope that Lenor with Febreze can over power 'Slurry' !!

Now let's talk about today's card, it is quite small, its about 4 1/4 inches by 3 1/2 inches.  It was one of the off cuts of my Pixie Powder backgrounds.
I spritzed some watercolour paper and gently tapped out a little of the 'Aqua Lagoon' and 'Golden Mint' onto the wet card, I then gave one last spritz of water and let the powders work their magic.
At first I wasn't that impressed, so I just left them on my Craft Room windowsill to dry, when I looked at them again on Friday morning I was amazed and how much they sparkled, I was close to binning them after Sue left on Wednesday but I am so glad I didn't, so my Advice......just leave it over night before throwing it away.
I didn't decide what to do with it until yesterday though, I was looking through some stamps and came across this one called 'Picture Perfect' from Inkyliscious, it was the perfect size for my off cut of card, so it was like it was 'meant to be'  I have had these stamps (set of 2) for years and hadn't used them, I found them when I was rummaging for 'something old' last week.  It was like finding buried treasure!!
So I popped my dry piece of watercolour card into my Stamperatus and inked up my stamp with Versafine ink (I chose Versafine as it usually picks up all the fine detail), then I just let it dry and matted onto black card then a matching green and finally onto a black card base.

I thing it's very 'Arty' , hahaha, something totally different for me, but we have to embrace the challenge!
I have tried to pick up the sparkle from the Mica in the Pixie Powders on the photograph without much success.  I did have fun though.

I might try playing with some embossing folders today, oh and I bought some masks as Farnborough so I might try them too.

I hope you are having fun with the challenge ladies,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra
xxxxxx

As Seen On TV......

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

I just couldn't resist having the title.....As Seen On TV !!!  

I was like many of you I expect watching Sue on Hocahnda yesterday afternoon and I saw that the 'Millie' Die was featured on the Line up, so I decided to send an email in with the photos of the two cards above attached, to my complete amazement at the end of Sue's 5pm show they featured my cards!!!  Sue loved them too, I hope some of you saw it. 

I also shared my cards with Sue on Instagram and she messaged me back saying ''Absolutely Stunning'' in my eyes there is no higher accolade!

I was absolutely exhausted yesterday and unusually for me spent most of the day on the sofa but this gave me the hugest Buzz!

I will leave the link below in case any of you want to pop over to In2craft to have a look at this die and some of the many on offer, I will admit that I went over yesterday and bought some Glitterbitz and Lustre Polish!! Shhh!!!

In2Craft Link

I was also really suffering after our day at Farnborough, this was the worst I have felt after a Craft show, I had had a really rough night on Friday, having only maybe 50 minutes sleep the whole night, mostly because I just couldn't get comfortable and my AF was giving me hell.  Milo was also very unsettled which is never a good thing when you are trying to sleep.

Farnborough was good, although I'm not sure if Sue, Margaret and Brenda agree that it wasn't 'as good' as previous years.  

Firstly the parking, before it was in an indoor structure that adjoined the show venue,( a bit like the one that they have at the NEC for disabled parking).  So you didn't have far to walk or wheel yourself,  this new building had outdoor parking that was far enough from the venue to cause issues for someone that really struggled with walking or had to wheel themselves in a wheelchair, there were also a large amount of steps up to the entrance, they did have a ramped access but it was Very long and quite steep, there is no way I could have got myself in there on my own, Margaret wouldn't have managed either.

There were also a lot less Craft Stands there too, before there was a huge range of Parchment craft stands, I didn't see one this time, there were a long line of rooms doing workshops, I think that there were one or two this time, there were a few make and takes though. I just think that there wasn't that much choice as far as range of products, for instance apart from Distress Oxide inks there were virtually no Tim Holtz products on sale.  Lots of SW dies, Tonic dies, Crafters companion Embossing Folders had a lot of repetition,  there were some favourites like Honey Doo, Inkyliscious etc.  It was lovely to catch up with Anne at 'The Art of Craft' stand, they have now expanded their range of dies etc, looking forward to seeing them again at Ally Pally.

Right now I'm not sure if we will bother with Farnborough again, especially if Stamperama is on the same weekend, we will probably try that show next time.

The highlight as always was spending the day with lovely friends surrounded by lots of crafty goodness, oh and Margaret's Lemon/Coconut cake of course!

Today I will hopefully be playing with my new crafty goodies, making some lovely backgrounds for this weeks challenge.

I hope that you all have a lovely day too,

Special hugs to Pat and Pete as always xxx

Love and hugs to all of you too,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Your Something Old Challenge cards

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all having a lovely weekend, I am in fact writing this Blog Post on Friday night as I think I will be too exhausted Saturday night, unless there are any more cards to add of course.

You have all made so absolutely amazing Challenge cards,,,,,,,,,,,,

Brenda

Brenda has made two amazing cards for this weeks challenge,  I love both of these cards Brenda but will be totally honest and say that the Honey Doo one is my favourite.  Although I love Samuels card too, I think those dies are very clever.  

 I will add Brenda's description below:

My First card was for Samuels birthday. Last year I bought Stampin’up  Layering Alphabet Edgelits dies and Lined Alphabet photopolymer stamp set (a considerable purchase) I was so excited to try them out - well my first attempt was rubbish, I was so disappointed, they were banished to the shelves where I keep my Stampin’up stamps and dies. So when I was thinking about making a birthday card for him I decided to blow the dust off and have another try. The results can be improved on but he was happy. Oh and the Studded Boots die is by Tonic and has been sitting on my work space for about a year. 

The second card is for a friend of my sisters a lovely sincere and caring lady her birthday is on the 29th of Feb. So she has had (I think) 15 actual birthdays.

The stamp I bought April 2017 at Ally Pally from Honey Doo Crafts, it’s called Lovely Lily, this week is the first time I have taken it out of the packet. At the same time we both bought the Roses are Red die, Lynn had made a gorgeous demo card using vellum, I did the same with this card.

Two incredible cards Brenda, thank you so very much for taking part my lovely xxxx

 Janet

Two fabulous treats from Our Janet this week, I adore the vintage style card, it's so beautiful, I always think that they are in fact more of a gift as they took longer to create than a standard card and have so much more detail.

The second card is equally as beautiful, I do in fact have this 'Sue' die and loved it, but we just forget to dig for them don't we!!

My First Challenge Card is created by using Crafter's Companion beautiful Lilac card (sorry I have had this for so long that I cannot remember the name but they produced a pack in pinks at the same time). The lace around the topper which is from  'LaBlanche' I bought at least 18months ago. The gold flowers are of course a Tonic Die.

My Second Challenge Card was created by using one of Sue Wilson's early dies -Caribbean. The centre image is from LaBlance and the pearls are from my stash.

Thank you so much Janet for two amazing 'Something Old' Challenge cards xxxx

 Karen

Karen, I love everything about your Challenge card this week, I love the colours, that background is just beautiful and your flower embellished frame is stunning. Karen has used both something Old and something new, thats a whole new challenge!!

Flowers = something old Marissa’s Bouquet

Foliage = something new a die bought from Wish.

Thank you so much Karen for such a stunning Challenge card. xxxx

 Lilian

Another stunning Challenge card from Our Lilian, I love the colours in this card, your design is fantastic too Lilian.

Here is my card for this week, had this stamp set for ages, and never used it.

They are from Chocolate Baroque, floral mannequins.

Thank you so much Lilian for a gorgeous Challenge card, I hope your sore throat has eased a little, I am a strong believer in gargling with salt water, it used to always work when I suffered badly with Mouth Ulcers.  I hope you feel better soon xxxx

 Lynda

Three fabulous cards from Lynda for this weeks 'Something Old' challenge, you always come up with such amazing designs Lynda.

No1 Tumbled glass Stormy sky oxide inks

No 2 carved pumpkin & Mustard Seed Oxide inks

No 3 challenge SW Calbria die

Thank you so much Lynda, although I am not sure what happened to the other 59 cards you were making??😉😜 xxxx

 Margaret

Margaret has made two beautiful cards for this weeks challenge, using some older things that I also have and had forgotten about!!

The first is a Stampin Up Stamp, it's retired now and the name escapes me, but seeing Margaret use it reminded me of how much I loved it, it's one of those stamps that creates a fantastic card with just one stamp, you can leave it just as Margaret has without adding colour or you can colour it in, either way it looks stunning.

I think a few of us have a hoard of Anne Marie card from' back in the day'  when they like stampin up did everything coordinating.  I loved the paper then and still love it now, a simple design that works perfectly.

Thank you so much Margaret for reminding and inspiring me this week xxxx

Maria

Such a beautiful Box frame card from Our Maria. The paper/card you have used is absolutely gorgeous Maria. 

Maria's description:

I wasn't sure what to make for this weeks CC but remembered I got this 

die at Ally Pally some time ago and never used so this was my first attempt

 to make a frame of kind. Guess you can also put little photos in the frame etc.

Thank you so much Maria for a stunning challenge card xxxx

 Michele

Michele turned to an old Magazine free die for her 'Something Old' Challenge card, using the classic Black and cream card combo gives a real sophisticated look.

Navy & cream 5 x 5 card. Magazine freebie Die plus gems on it.

Thank you so much Michele, I love your card, that die is amazing xxxx

 Sue

Now I can't act as shocked and stunned at Sue being on the Challenge card list this week because she has become a regular lately, I have to say I am very impressed!!

Sue has used two lots of old things for her Challenge card, firstly the Gilding Flakes, I think we have all had these in our stash for longer than we card to admit.  The stamp is an old magazine freebie, but stamped and then having gilding flakes added over the top gives it a real WOW finish.

A truly amazing card Sue.

Thank you so very much for taking part my lovely xxxx

Val 

Val tried something new for her Challenge card this week and the best thing about that is that she had fun while she was 'making a mess'  I love the look of your card Val, this would be a great Thank you for a man, which you don't always see.

Here is Val's Description:

My cc is also enclosed. I bought some Inkz spray inks  quite a few months ago and they were still in the packet so I thought I'd have a messy hour. It's not really my sort of thing but I enjoyed getting ink on my fingers. I cut out some black letters, tied some twine around the card and added a little star charm.  Simple I know but I enjoyed using something I don't usually use.

Thank you so much Val, I am so pleased that you feel a bit more up to crafting, it is good therapy, especially when you make a mess!! xxxx

Well ladies another amazing display of challenge cards, every one is amazing, all completely different, it's been lovely to see some of the old familiar craft products seeing the light of day again.

Thank you so very much to all of you.

Have a lovely Sunday,

Love and Hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Mixed up Saturday including Mag Review

Janet's New Boxes

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all relaxed and ready to enjoy the weekend, I hope the nice weather holds out for a little bit longer, the girls had a Super-busy day at the Wildlife Park yesterday, record breaking amount of visitors for February, they took over £10,000 in their restaurant, so needless to say they were shattered when they got home, Lucy had been doing the job of two people and Sophie was a 'Barista' for the day, making all kinds of coffees!

We are off to Farnborough to the Make It Show today with Sue and Margaret, meeting up with Brenda when we arrive.  I love this show as it is so much more accessible than other shows and there is a greater range of stands.
I am hoping that it hasn't changed too much, as its in a new Hall this time. 

Our first picture today is of Janet's newest Boxes, they are the latest Tonic Box dies, they are a fantastic size Janet and I love how you have decorated them, do the different panels work for both box shapes? The Ballerina panel is so pretty, such a lovely design for gifts for Girls, image buying their first Ballet shoes and presenting them in that box.  The other decorative panels are beautiful too, the ornate floral one is decorative enough to just leave as it is, the lattice panel one is perfect for men as it is but could have flowers added to it to embellish it further.  Such a lovely collection Janet, thank you so much for sharing them with us. xxx

Now we have Michele's 'in depth' review of 'Die Cutting Essentials' Magazine...….


Hi Ladies,

Diecutting Essentials issue 48 has a gorgeous Tattered Lace teapot die free this month. Plus there’s a great offer to send for coordinating stamps-you just pay the postage. 

This is one of the articles inside the magazine using the free gift. It shows you how to use the Die in different ways.

The next 2 photos show more ideas including a tag & shaped cards. 

This picture shows you how you can get more from this Die-look at all the different elements you can cut out. 

There’s a great feature on using Diecutting as a stencil including a step by step guide.

This feature shows a lovely style of card-Shadow Box Cards. They’re great because they fold flat to post but look very impressive. 

That’s everything for this weeks Review. 

Michele 

Thanks Michele for another brilliant magazine review, it makes it so much easier to decide whether to buy or not being able to see so much detail . xx

Val

Val has treated herself to a Trimmer, she has used a Craft knife and mat up until now (Sue does the same and it amazes me how accurate the mats are) so I think you fill the trimmer so much quicker Val, I cannot believe that you make all of those cards without a trimmer, you deserve a medal!

Val also couldn't resist that beautiful Floral corner die, it looks so pretty Val, I can't wait to see it die cut and on a card.  I can see why you wanted it.  xxx

Michele

Michele finally got her £50 prize for sending this card photo in a magazine and writing a short email explaining how to use it.  So it just shows it is worth sending in to these things, I always read them but think that my cards wouldn't be good enough!!  I actually bought that magazine for a couple of pounds on Moremags as I loved this die when you used it. 

Thank you for sharing your happy news with us my lovely xxx

That's all for today ladies, thank you all so much for taking part for taking part in today's blog post.

We are off Craft Shopping!!! yay, I wish you were all coming, mind you we spend too much time talking now and end up rushing round to finish our shopping, our lunch is usually a good 2 hours.

Have a lovely Saturday my lovelies,

Love and Hugs

Sandra

xxxxxx

Pixie Powder Background card & Next Weeks Challenge!

Good Morning Ladies.

We had another beautiful sunny day yesterday, I hadn't realised how warm the Sun was until I went out in the garden with Harley at lunchtime, I had had my bedroom window open since 7am as it's Milo & Bella's chosen entrance and exit, the breeze coming in was quite chilly so it was a pleasant surprise to feel the warm sun on my face.

I will tell you an funny story about the cats tapping at our window....it was 3am on Tuesday morning and I could hear Bella tapping at our bedroom window, I thought she was asking to go out (we don't let them out after dark, although they will try).  Anyway I was trying to quietly tell her to stop and get down when Paul woke and open the curtains to find she was on the outside trying to get in, we were both puzzled as we knew she was in for her dinner at 7pm, so how had she got out and how long had she been out for, we didn't think about it too much as Paul has to be up at 5am, so we settled back down and blow me if 20 minutes later she was at the window again, this time she had to be on the inside trying to get out.....No she was outside again!! I said to Paul that I just had a hunch that the front door may be open, as Sophie had let Lewis in that way earlier and our Front Door will not stay shut if it isn't locked, we have really thick curtains across the porch too so we wouldn't have known, Paul goes off to check to find the front door wide open, we don't know how long it had been open.  What we couldn't work it is why the cats would go out of the bloomin door but insisted on coming in through the window!! We now have a routine door check before bed, we always check the back door as its the only one we really use, but now we have to check both. 

Today's card was completely inspired by my Pixie Powder background, after Sue and I had started to tidy up I checked mine to see what they looked like and it was virtually dry, I was just sat looking at it wondering how to use it and I said it looks like the 'earth' looking from space (kind of), then I remembered that one of the Magazine freebies was a Globe die set with a matching embossing folder and so beautiful papers, so I immediately said to Sue I can use it with my globe die, so here it is.

I die cut the frame of the Globe in Matt Copper card, then I used the accompanying circle die to cut out a piece of my Pixie Powder 'caught in crystal' background,  I stamped one of the many sentiments that came with the dies as I love the saying …..

'' To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world'', it makes me think of Paul of course as he is my entire world. !! 💕💗❤

I embossed a piece of Whisper White card with the embossing folder, which embossed beautifully and added that to a mat of blue card and popped them onto a 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 card base.

I mounted the Globe onto some foam tape and placed it on the front of the card.  I thought it just needed a little something else so I die cut a little 'tab' die out of the same pixie powder background and popped a tiny heart that I had die cut from a piece of the scrap matt copper card, I also added a couple of hearts to the globe.

I am quite pleased with it, it's something completely different for me but it's  nice to shake things up a bit don't you think, the added bonus is that all the other bits I used were magazine freebies!!

I also got to use Acetate, Glossy accents (that was so old it looked a funny colour), pixie powders (some old) and tissue paper, most of which has been in my cupboards and draws for many years, I love that we are all digging deep and using our old bits!!

Now for next weeks Challenge………..

Challenge For Monday 25/2/19

For this weeks challenge I would like you to make a card or any project using a Background that you have created yourself.

So you could do any of the following:

Embossed

Random Stamped background

Blended Distress inks

Caught in Crystal technique

Or any other inky technique ie : Bokeh (circles)

Watercolour style background, where you add ink to a piece of acetate add a little water, smoosh about a bit and then pop your piece of card over the ink.

You could use Mica Powders

You could die cut a background

Use Gilding Flakes

Those are just a few ideas, I'm sure you will have many more.

I was inspired by this weeks challenge, we can get so caught up in new things that we forget to go back and use some of the old techniques that we all know and loved when we did them the first time. 

I am so exciting to start getting messy and creating new background ideas.

I hope you enjoy the challenge Ladies,

Have a lovely weekend,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Lynda's Baby Card

Good Morning Ladies,

Today's stunning card has been designed by our Lynda, she was asked to make a Baby Card by a friend.  I bet she absolutely loved what you have designed Lynda.

Lynda's card has a framed Acetate front that Lynda has arranged some beautiful die cut flowers around, the frame itself Lynda has coloured herself by blending shades of yellow, the flowers are a mixture of pretty baby pink and yellow, to finish the flowers Lynda added some coloured pearls to the centres.

Inside the card Lynda has covered the background with a decorative paper and then printed a lovely Personalised sentiment onto a beautiful decorative background paper.  Those flowers are a real surprise when you open the card as Lynda has covered them on the outside with her die cut flowers.

All in all a beautiful gift that any new parents would Treasure, thank you so much for allowing me to share your beautiful card Lynda xxx

Did any of you go and look at Moremags Sale, I ordered about 6 different ones on Monday and they arrived yesterday morning, it was a lovely parcel to open, so many dies and stamps and lots of inspiration too, the parcel was quite heavy and only cost £2.49, so that wasn't bad either, I think it was the same postage whether you had 1 magazine or several, so it makes sense to fill your trolley!! 

Sue came over yesterday and despite her reservations I made sure we played with Pixie Powders, we didn't make too much mess either to be honest, well apart from me spilling the bottle of glossy accents over my desk!! We tried a few experiments with different things, using a bit of kitchen roll instead of tissue paper for the caught in crystal technique, we also tried doing it with dries clear glue instead of glossy accents, me got mixed results but most things turned out great. Just got to decide what to turn all the bits into now....watch this space.

I hope that you all have a lovely day today, 

love and hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Michele's Twist and Pop Card

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well, he we are at the middle of another week, it's so lovely that the nights are slowly getting lighter, It was still light when Paul came home which was really nice. Looking forward to being able to sit outside in the evenings.

Today's card is one of Michele's amazing designs, Michele made this one for a Colleague using a Download.  I love the design you have used Michele and the fact that the back of the card is equally as beautiful as the front.  Did the download give you all the information and measurements to create the 'Twist & Pop' Mechanism too?   As that would make it perfect for Beginners, it is a fairly straight forward card to make once you understand the workings.  There are a couple of different methods too, I do have a YouTube Tutorial if any of you want a refresher. 

Thank you so much Michele for sharing your amazing card with us xxx

I want to let you all know about a Sale thats going on at 'Moremags.com 

Some of you may have already been and had a look, I went over there as I wanted to take advantage of the 3 for £12 offer on Creative Stamping Magazine (that is normally £7.99) per issue.

While I was there I had a look in their Sale section, they have some great magazines on sale with Dies and stamp sets on them, worth a good bit too.  Some mags are £2.99 , £3.99 with freebies still attached, so it's well worth you all popping over and having a look.

Let me know what you think and if you ordered anything xx

I was so pleased to see that the two cards that I have made for Ben @ In2craft have gone down really well, our blog views more than double on the first card and I am hoping for similar results this time.

It makes crafting so much more enjoyable knowing that you are inspiring people.

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love and hugs to all

Sandra

xxxxx

Millie Die Card

Click the link Below to go to In2craft for the Die:

Sue Wilson Millie Die

Good Morning Ladies,

I ordered some of the new Paper Boutique from Ben at 'In2Craft', the one I ordered is called 'Secret Romance'

Click the link below to go to In2Craft for Paper Pad:

Paper Boutique pad

There are matching paper packs too, which is a huge bonus, I used just the plain paper from the matching paper pack to make this card and one of the sentiment toppers too.

I wanted to use the die set on its own to create the card this time, so I took a piece of card scored it a folded, I made it slightly larger than that outer die so that I could put the cutting edge of the die very slightly over the fold of the card (as this will the hinge of the card). I only needed to pass the die through the Gemini once and it cut through both sides of the card base too.

I cut a piece of the coloured card from the pack and used that to cover my card base, I used the same colour to die cut the ornate frame part of the die, I did use two circle dies, one very slightly larger than the other to make a narrow frame around the centre of the frame, this allowed me to cut the centre aperture slightly larger than the circle die that came with the set, it makes the die that much more versatile as you can use it over larger images.

I may make a tutorial on making the aperture frame as I think it is a useful thing to learn.

I die cut the outer die of the ornate section in white and placed the sentiment topper in the centre, next I added foam pads onto the back of the frame and positioned it over the sentiment. 

Having the white behind the frame highlights all of the ornate detail of the die cut. 

The die itself has so much detail that I didn't want to overdo the embellishments, so I added some pearls to the frame and a few flowers and foliage die cut from card from the pack.

I really like the how it turned out, it shows that you only need the die set itself to create a beautiful card.

What do you think??

Well ladies, the weather says we will enjoy this unseasonably warm weather for a little bit longer (although it was a bit chilly and damp here yesterday) but don't get too used to it as the cold weather will return in March.  A bit different to last year when we were awaiting the arrival of 'The Beast From The East)! So keep those winter warmers handy!

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love & Hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxx