Your New Challenge

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

The next challenge I have chosen is one that we have done a couple of times before but you always make amazing cards for it, so I am hoping that you like it.....

You may have guessed from today's card but if not your next Challenge is to make cards using your own backgrounds, it can be as simple or as technical as you like, I will add some examples below...…

Use an embossing folder, maybe try embossing patterned paper for a different look, or add gilding wax to highlight the embossed areas.

You could stamp a background

Emboss resist then add ink

Watercolour wash

Sharpie Technique that Karen uses, or use cheap pens like Danielle did last week

Use an adhesive sheet and add glitter, micro beads over plain or patterned paper

Bargello technique (weaving paper)

Mica powders, perfect pearls, pixie powders

Caught in Crystal technique

Herringbone pattern technique

Thats all my tired brain can think of right now, I am sure there are lots more, basically it's an excuse to get messy and have fun!!

I did just that yesterday afternoon, (after I had settled Harley, yes he's still frisky)!!
I ordered some of the Cosmic Shimmer Crystal Tints from Ben at 'In2Craft' after seeing them on Julia's show last Friday, I wanted to have a go at the 'Caught in Crystal' technique and when I saw Julia use them instead of glue or glossy accents for the caught in crystal I was surprised at how vibrant the colours were, they arrived yesterday morning and I was itching to have a go.
I took a piece of acetate and squeezed on a combination of Teal Tourmaline, Lime Peridot & yellow Citrine Crystal tints, I then added some White Pearl Pixie Powders and a sprinkle of 'Glitterbitz' chunky glitter, I scrunched up a piece of tissue paper and pushed it into the mixture, now I needed something to 'smoosh' it down with, so I thought for a moment and instead of using a baby wipe of kitchen roll I decided to use a piece of white watercolour card, that way if it looked ok I could use the it as another background, if not it didn't really matter.  So I took my watercolour card and smooshed it into the green gooey mess and carefully peeled it off and left it to dry.  I made another Caught in Crystal in a different colour and did the same.
By the time I had finished and tidied away my watercolour piece was dry and had a shimmer to it and was actually a really nice colour so I decided to use it with the 'With Love' Papercuts die that I used the other day, I was happier with this one because I have framed it and I think it looks neater.
I embossed the background to add more interest and placed it on my card base, adhered the 'With Love' die cut, added a piece of ribbon that coordinated and tied a triple bow that I trimmed with a crystal faceted heart gem. I cut a frame to fit the piece, which finished it off nicely, I added a few green hearts here and there for embellishment.
I hope you like it, I really do like the colour of that background (but then I love green), the photo below my card is of the 'Caught In Crystal' that that background came from, which I am was still wet, I can't wait to see it when its all dry.

Val I hope all is well, sending hugs xxx

Not much planned for us this weekend, I hope to do some crafting.

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love and hugs

Sandra
xxxxxx

Another Challenge Card

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well, we are almost at the end of another week, I can hardly believe that it's almost June, almost half way through the year! The weather feels more like march though, we had the fire lit last night, I could not get warm last night at all. We still can't have the heating on, so the only warm place was the lounge.

Today's card is another Sketch Challenge Card, I used the Paper Boutique 'Butterfly Ballet'' 8 x 8 paper pad and a matching topper for this card along with some of the card from the matching card pack, which I used for matting and layering.  I used a punch to create a green and then pink border strip, I topped these with a piece of lace, that kind of fitted the pattern of the border.
I then took a circle topper, edged it with pink ink and cut a pink doily with a die and then a circle of matching green card to layer it on, I added foam pads to the back and mounted it on the border.
I die cut another sentiment and backed it with the same green card and tucked that under my circle sentiment, I edged this sentiment with pink ink too . I took some of the off cuts of both pink and green card and die cut some flowers and leaves and added them around the sentiments, tucking the foliage behind the flowers and adding three little rose buds wrapped together on each side of my flower, following the leaves.

I had two lovely visitors yesterday, both Sue and Pat came to play, we sat and chatted and had lunch and then all three of us went into the craft room.  I had my first go at the 'Groovi' and I really enjoyed it, I was a little heavy handed with the 'white work' but lesson learned, it's something completely new so I am allowed a few mishaps, I am determined to make a card out of my design so watch this space!

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Val we are missing you,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra
xxxxxx

I forgot I had this die.....

Good Morning Ladies,

Well I will get straight into telling you how adventurous my day was yesterday, I wasn't looking forward to it as I was home alone after a busy house at the weekend, nothing worse that a quiet house!!  Well ladies I needn't have worried, it all started at around 6.45am, Harley was howling like a wolf, proper high pitched howling like you see on films, I have never heard him make such a noise, I went out and called him in and he still continued so I fussed him a bit and then he was at the back door again so I let him out, I gave him some treats in a ball puzzle toy thing and went and laid back on my bed, he was quiet at last, just like a normal day, so I thought 'Oh he was just missing having everyone around, he's fine now''!  10 minutes later Matt came in with Harley, he had apparently escaped, I have no idea how as the gates were tightly in place, he was at the Farm, they had called Matt and he came back to get him, so in he came, Matt went off and he started again, this time Matt had but big planters etc along the bottom of the gates so that there was no way he could move them, so I left the back door open, he was laid in his bed, I made myself a cup of tea and went into my craft room.  All was quiet for about an hour, then I heard him howling again, I searched the garden and called in house but her wasn't coming to me, so I looked out the front porch to see him tied to the post on the porch with someone elses dog lead.  Matt called me 5 minutes later and it was Tom from the farm, he had found his way put again, however this time we had our answer, their little dog was 'In Season' , Harley usually plays with her at the farm, in fact on Saturday she had followed Paul home and was trying to 'encourage' Harley in our back garden, Paul rounded her up and took her back, I am guessing he can 'smell' her and it is clearly driving him crazy, I allowed him to have the run of the house (which we don't usually do) to try and take his mind off things, it didn't work, he was trying to climb out of the windows, when the postman came I had to get him to pass parcel through the window in case he escaped, there is no way I have the strength to hold him on a normal day, let alone when he is desperate!!  So my day was anything but quiet, I am hoping he has calmed down, I can't cope with another day with a Frisky Colley!!

While I was in and out of my craft room I came across one of the dies that I bought last minute from Ally Pally, It is one of Creative Expressions 'Papercuts' dies, called 'With Love', I havent used anything like it before so this card is a bit of a trial, I decided the other day that I am going to use up some of the old card and paper that I have hoarded before buying any new, this particular paper is a  Stampin Up one that I like and just 'kept for best', I wanted to use Berry Burst card as I hadn't used it for so long and this particular patterned paper has Berry Burst in it.  I die cut the 'With Love' twice, once in Berry Burst and one in Silver (as that is also featured in that background paper).  I offset them slightly and stuck them together.  I then punched two border strips in silver and adhered them to the front of the card and topped them with a piece of silver foil edged Berry Burst ribbon. I layered the background paper onto a tiny mat of silver card and then on the berry burst card base.  I tied a double bow in the ribbon and added to the piece on the border, I topped that with a contrasting coloured rose.
I'm not too sure whether I like it or not yet, it is growing on me though!

I hope that you all have a lovely day my lovelies

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxx

Buried Treasure!!

Good Morning Ladies,

Well that weekend was soon over wasn't it?!!  To be honest the weather wasn't really that bad here, we had a couple of hours of drizzle but we managed to get 2 loads of washing dry.  

I rediscovered today's card while sorting through a box of cards for a swap that I am doing, I have a 'Special' cards box, this along with a few others were at the bottom.  

This is the card that Lilian designed for us when we moved into this house last year, I had it on the mantelpiece for a while with the others and then put it away but I am pretty sure that I didn't share it with all of you at the time.

I will say that the photo doesn't do it justice, the flowers are so bright and vibrant in real life, it looks very much like the whole piece is a painting. As with all of Lilian's cards it is a miniature work of art.

Adding those delicate border stamps is a really clever way of making that painted piece blend seamlessly onto the card base.

I will thank you again Lilian for such a lovely card xxx

I love looking back at the lovely hand made gifts I have received from you ladies, it really fills my heart with joy.

The swap that I have just been involved in was a card swap, we had to swap four handmade cards, I had our lovely Lynda as a partner and another lady called Toni, who's cards I shared on Saturday.

One thing I have learnt from doing this swap is that I should really think more about the size of the cards that I make when I am making them as it took me 3 times longer to sort/make envelopes for the cards I made than it did to make the cards.  I don't usually add sentiments and inserts until I send them out as I never really know who I am sending them to or for what occasion. I think that apart from 1 or 2 cards out of the 8/9 I swapped I needed to make envelopes for the rest, most of them were only a couple of centimetres over the standard size, a couple of the cards needed deep envelopes, so I had to get out my 'Envelobox Creator', I think that this may have been the first time I have used it, I usually send cards with flowers on in a jiffy bag wrapped in tissue paper but when you are giving them to someone else to send you kind of have to provide an envelope, although even when made of 300gsm card the 'Envelobox' envelopes are strong enough to send in the post.  So lessons learned with this challenge!

I hope that you all have a lovely day ladies, mine will be spent re-tidying my craft room...honestly why do I bother!!!

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Two of My Swap Cards from Lynda

Happy Birthday Maria

Good Morning Ladies,

Please join me in wishing Our Sweet Maria a Very Happy Birthday, I hope that you have a lovely day with your family, with lots of cake, chocolate and everything that you enjoy. XXXX

I hope that you are all enjoying your long weekend, ours seems to be whizzing by, it's been very relaxed though.  Although we had a frustrating afternoon out yesterday.  We decided to go for a ride out to a place called Studley Grange Craft Centre & Garden Centre, Paul wanted a Cucumber plant and I am never going to turn down a trip to a Craft Centre, well let's just say disappointed doesn't come close, I'm glad it was only 18 miles.  We arrived and went straight to the 'Craft Village' , I was a little bit excited, well who wouldn't on their way into a whole 'village' of crafts??!!

We walked into a very 'tired' looking ramshackled building, there was a manky looking Café as you walked in (you know the type)!  There was a large childrens soft play centre in the middle of the 'village' to keep the little ones entertained while you shopped and crafted I guess.

The first shop was closed down, the second was 'closing' down! There was a sweet shop, selling childrens pocket money sweet pick n mix bags, a place that made hand/feet sculptures, a place that was closed that had some baby clothes hanging in it, a Lego shop and childrens toy shop, a chocolate shop, the nearest thing to craft was a quilting shop that had a class going on.  There was a Paper craft shop on the website and on the map, but it wasn't there, apparently it hadn't been there for months. we left, feeling cheated and very frustrated and went to the Garden centre to find Paul's cucumber plant, they had a nice selection but wanted £6.50 for one cucumber plant, Paul's eyes just about popped out of his head! Needless to say we left it where it was and went back to the car!  Bit of a waste of time but as always we did manage to laugh about the whole experience.

Today's cards are two of the cards that Lynda sent me as we are Swap Partners for this month's 'Card Swap' over on our FB group, they are absolutely fantastic, the first card is a Heartfelt Creations card, made with a Heartfelt Creations Paper pad and matching die set, I have always fancied buying one of the collections but they are quite expensive, I can see why though as the papers feel really good quality.

Lynda's second card is so super sparkly, I think that Lynda has covered a Clarity background paper with glitter which softens the colours and adds an amazing sparkle, then Lynda has die cut one of China dies in white card and laid it over the glitter card, finishing with a frame made from the same Clarity Paper as the background and 2 John Lockwood Dragonflies.

Thank you so much Lynda for an amazing swap, your cards are fantastic my lovely XXX

Thats all for today ladies, I hope that you all enjoy your day,

Brenda I hope that Kiara had a lovely day yesterday, I am sure you are up for some relaxation today, I do hope that Anne is on the mend, she will be sad that she missed Kiara's special day but it couldn't be helped, she was in the best place, sending hugs xxx

Val, I hope that you are ok, we have really missed you my lovely, sending hugs xxx

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Your Challenge cards

Good Morning Ladies,

Wow you have made some stunning cards for this weeks TicTacToe challenge.

So lets get straight on with the show.....

Lilian

Lilian has used her stunning Stamperia papers for her Challenge card this week, I have no words to describe how much I love this card Lilian, it has so much depth and interest, I find myself looking 'into' the card not just 'at' the card, those papers are just incredible and every time you use them on your cards I want to buy the pad, I don't think I can resist any longer!

Lilian has used categories : Wood/Metallic/Masculine

A truly incredible card Lilian, thank you so very much for taking part my lovely xxx

Janet

Janet has made 4 challenge cards this week, four amazing,  very different cards, something for most ages and occasions.

Janet has done a great description which i will add below....

Here are my CCs for this week.

For my first card I used - Sue Wilson eboss folder/Tonic die cut and Sentiment/metal brads from my stash (Eboss/Die cut/Female/Metal.

For my second card I used a Dolly Dimples CD for my backing paper and little girl image. I used  Female/bling/wood. The 'bling and wooden shapes are from my stash drawers.

For my third CC  I used wood effect backing paper from a 12x12 pad 'It's a Man's World' bought from The Works. The circles were also cut from the same pad. The main image is a Bee Crafty stamp. (Male/Wood/Circles.

For my fourth and last card I used  a Die'sire Eboss folder of Circles using a 8x8 blank card. The Die Cut is Tonic's 'Mermaid' set. (Female/Circles/Die cut/Eboss.)

Thank you so very much Janet for four fantastic challenge cards, i really appreciate the time that you put into making your cards.

Maria

Maria managed to make two fantastic challenge cards for this weeks TicTacToe.

The first card features a cute teddy relaxing in his deck chair after a busy day in the garden, using categories:  masculine/wood/metallic

The second card is a very trendy masculine card, featuring moustaches! Maria used Categories: Masculine/stripes/die cut

Thank you so much Maria for two fantastic cards, i hope your hand has recovered from the nasty bite my lovely xxx 

Karen 

Karen has made two gorgeous Challenge cards for this weeks TicTacToe, Oh karen I just love your inky backgrounds so much, both have such stunning colours.

Karen's Descriptions:

card 1)  Here’s a cc I was hoping to do more but I am running out of time

It is similar to the retirement card I made earlier
I thought it would fit quite a few tic-tac-toe but Feminine /Die cut /Metallic
I inked the background with shaded lilac DO
The topper I “scribbled” some more shaded lilac DO with a water brush I “flicked” gold and purple SC water colour
Sentiment stamped and heat embossed in CS bright gold and a simple GUMMIAPAN die on top and three gold sequins.

card 2)  Here’s another cc for tomorrow (if I’m not too late) I chose Metallics/ Feminine/ Die Cut

The background is PP’s with Julia W’s bubble wrap technique (metallic) And the rest die cuts with the flowers and butterfly
Or it could have included heat embossing as the sentiment is stamped with worn lipstick DO and heat embossed with clear powder

Thank you so very much Karen for two stunning cards. XXX

Nicki

Karen's lovely friend Nicki made some cards for our TicTacToe Challenge this week,  Wow Nicki your cards are absolutely amazing, they are all so different, we have a perfect Man card (or it could be for ladies that don't like girly cards).

Nicki's second card is a fantastic New Home card, such a great idea to use the Bird houses!

The third and final card would make a lovely anniversary or wedding card.

1) Wood / Masculine / Stripes

2) Wood / Die Cuts / Dry embossing

3) Dry embossing / Die cuts / Bling

Thank you so much Nicki for taking part in our Challenge, it's lovely to have your cards on display again, so please keep them coming (when you have time). XXX

Cheryl 

Two fantastic cards for Men from  Cheryl for this weeks TicTacToe Challenge, Cheryl made the top card for her Dad for Father's Day, I am sure he will love it Cheryl.

I love all of those little tool embellishments you have used, and the cogs are fantastic.

Cheryl used Categories: Masculine/Wood/Metallics

Thank you so much Cheryl for two very inspirational Man cards XXX

Lynda

Lynda has made this beautiful girly card in gorgeous shades of pink, its so pretty Lynda and looks like it took you way longer than the Half hour that you told me it took.

Here is Lynda's Description...…

My CC

I dry embossed my base card with flourish CE folder
Went over with fire brick oxide
Cut my doily die then cut two flourishes & two rolled flowers dies from wish.

Lynda used categories:  Embossing/Die Cuts/Feminine

Thank you so much for a lovely challenge card Lynda XXX

Michele 

Michele has besn struggling like me with a lack of inspiration to craft, it's frustrating when you desperately want to just sit and make cards but no matter how long you see there nothing happens. 

So Michele has sent this card in for this weeks challenge, its a fantastic Easel card, the papers you have used are fantastic Michele and work perfectly for that particular card style. 

The categories used are:  Circles/Embossing/Bling

Thank you so much Michele,  I hope that our 'Mojo's' return from their vacation soon. XXX 

Val

Val, I didnt see a card in my email from you this week but as I went back through my messages I found this one that i had completely missed. 

This was a card order than Val received and works for this weeks TicTacToe challenge,  using Categories Masculine/Die Cut/Circles 

Thanks so much Val and I apologise for missing this card when you sent it my lovely X XX 

Ladies thank you all so very much for another incredible display of incredible works of art.  The cafe will be looking amazing for the next few days!

Enjoy your weekend my lovely friends,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra 

xxxxxx

Mixed craft Saturday including Michele's Mag Review

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well and are starting to relax and enjoy the weekend, we certainly have, it's so nice having 'no' plans!

The first cards that I am sharing with you today are absolutely amazing, such a lovely selection, they are from a lovely lady called Toni Watson from our Facebook group, this month's swap project was to make 4/5 Different cards for any occasion.

The first photo shows four cards, a really pretty Art Deco themed card, a card with 2 cats that have been Stitched in Gold Thread, they are so sparkly, a stacked decoupage that has some cute owls on an Easel card, a finally a stunning Mixed Media card featuring many different layers, a mini postcard, beautiful bird on a branch decoupage both layered upon a pretty vintage pink doily, it is so amazing, I love it.  Toni also made me that little keyring that features my initial on a Scrabble tile.

The second photo is of the 5th card which is the prettiest Easel card, I couldn't quite capture the pretty foiled acetate that made up the top part of the easel card, it has that pretty topper with frame layered on it, the bottom is made with a beautiful floral card, embellished with a little sentiment stopper and some matching pearls.

Toni I was absolutely over the moon with your lovely selection of cards, I don't think I will be parting with any of them to be honest. XXX

Danielle

Danielle created some amazing 'watercolour' effect backgrounds with a set of 99p highlighter pens from Home Bargains!! I think she was surprised as we are that she got such fantastic results, I am guessing that it's similar to the 'Sharpie' technique but you only need water to blend them.

Danielle did a video sharing this technique, I will leave the link below...……

Danielle's Highlighter Watercolour Technique

These are some of the projects that Danielle has made with her Design Team Dies and Stamps from 

'Inlovearts'  I will add the link to her video where she shares these projects and the link to the shop where you can purchase a good choice of dies, I bought some the other day, when you have made your order type in code 'FSDANIELLE' to get 15% off.

Thanks so much Danielle for allowing me to share your craft projects XXX

Michele's Magazine Review

Hi Ladies, 

Magazine Review time & it’s Papercraft Inspirations this week which has a different type of free gift this month-Washi tapes & stamps.

Here’s a few ideas featuring the free gifts.

There’s an interesting feature on Sliding cards which don’t look to difficult to make.

This months free papers(which need printing out from the downloads section of the magazines website so you get good quality printing)are great for Fathers Day or Male Birthday Cards. 


That’s all for now so Happy Crafting.

Michele 


Michele, thanks once again for a fantastic review, I am very keen on reading the feature on 'Sliding' cards, what a great feature, looks like there is lots of inspiration for the free gifts too.
As always Michele I am so grateful for the time you put into this feature every week XXX

Michele shared her most recent Ebay purchases too, all three of these dies cost less that £5, which is amazing value.  Thanks for sharing your bargains Michele XXX

Well ladies, another lovely selection of cards and crafts for you to look at today, I hope that you get a little inspiration.  

Have a lovely weekend,

Love and hugs,

Sandra

xxxxxx

A little bit of Vintage and Next Weeks Challenge

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

Yay Yay, it's Friday !!!! and we have a long weekend!!! Woohoo!!  (can you tell that I'm excited)!!

It's extra nice as we have no plans, no travelling, no jobs that are urgent, nobody visiting, just time for relaxing and I am going to insist that Paul does exactly that!
Do you all have plans?  There are a few things going on locally, a big music Festival in a nearby village called Lechlade, a couple of Fete's etc, although I think the weather isn't going to be amazing so maybe we should just stay home, I won't say no to a visit to the craft room, I don't usually get much of an opportunity on the weekend.

After much deliberation I finally decided on a Sketch for next weeks challenge, We haven't done one for such a long time, it's funny have times have changed as that's all we used to do every week.
I thought that this particular sketch would lend itself to many different card styles.
If you would like some inspiration you can go to the blog thats under the actual sketch and type in Sketch 480, scroll down the page and you will see lots of cards made for this sketch.

**Remember it doesn't need to be exact, as long as the main elements are there**

I based my Vintage style card on the Sketch for this weeks challenge, I have a book that I bought in The Works that has different images and embellishments as well as the main decorative back panel,
I added some Rich Razzleberry card for the base and matching Velvet ribbon (as the colour matched perfectly to the colours in the background).
I placed a doily to bring in the circle element of the Sketch, then that main image as the Rectangle Box and the little sentiment ticket for that banner.  I also added some pearl swirls and a butterfly to finish the look.
I hope you like the card and it gives you a little inspiration.

We had one of 'those' days yesterday, I went down the garden in the morning to check the washing that Paul had put out at 6am, only to find a big old Bird poo on a Bed sheet!!  I then thought that I would look at the strawberry plant as there were a few that were almost ripe last weekend, when I go there they had all gone, just the stalks left, I'm not sure if it was the squirrels or mice or what really!
Sophie and I decided to sort out the two freezers so that we could put all the smoothie ingredients in one draw in the kitchen freezer, so we started sorting through, binning things that were maybe a little bit too old, we made great progress, so I decided to sort through the rest of the drawers in the kitchen freezer, as I got nearer the bottom drawer an awful smell starting filtering through the air, I opened the bottom draw and all seemed ok, I started taking things out and sorting them into categories, I then put my hand in a little deeper and the smell was like nothing I had ever smelt before, for some reason the packs of meat (mostly steak and beef annoyingly) were not frozen at all, they weren't even particularly cold, the meat had decomposed to mush, so lord only knows how long it's been like it, I was worried that some things may have defrosted and then re frozen so I didn't take a risk and binned the entire drawer full of food and the drawer above, thankfully the top half was frozen solid, fingers crossed it's not on its way 'out' !!
Quite a frustrating day, but never mind, today is a new day,

I hope that you have a lovely day and weekend,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra
xxxxxx

I based my card on the l

Another Challenge card......

Good Morning Ladies,

We were blessed with another glorious day weather wise yesterday, I do love the days that you can have all of the windows open,  so that there is a lovely breeze flowing through the house and you can hear the birds singing in every room.

Today's card was inspired by this week's TicTacToe categories, I have been wanting to make a card with  wood effect paper for some time, I have virtually a whole pack of 6 x 6 from a year or so back, it's  a Stampin Up set.

I ran the piece of woodgrain paper through the Gemini with a Wood Effect Embossing folder and then brushed lightly over with a little ink. I attached it to a white card base that was 1/4 inch bigger on both sides. I then sat trying to decide what to embellish it with, (this has been my problem of late, I just can't summon any inspiration).

I had a piece of something called 'Clip Art' its fancy design pieces made out of compressed paper, this particular one was rows of little hearts.  I clipped a piece off to put in opposite corners, I decided that this would be the base for some flowers, so I trawled through my flower boxes a picked out a selection and had a go at arranging them, I tied a couple of bows with jute twine to add in too, I laid out the flowers and plugged in my new Glue gun, I have wanted one with a fine point for a while, as it will be easier when working with flowers, it worked perfectly, not anywhere near as much glue pumping out unnecessarily!

I glued everything into place, then tried to decide on the sentiment (as by this point I had the recipient in mind)😜

I decided on one of Sue Wilson's sentiments, I particularly like the font on this one and it's larger than normal so fills the space well.

I had a couple of bare areas that I thought needed something, so I found so die cut butterflies and added those.

The final touches were simply a 'Swish' of Wink of Stella over butterflies and sentiment!

I hope you like my card ladies, I went for Categories : Wood/Die Cuts /Feminine

I had an unexpected surprise yesterday, Pat came to visit, it was lovely to see her again after what seems like many months.  She bought some lovely cakes and we spent the afternoon in the craft room, Pat was doing her 'Groovi' thing and I have to say it has left me really wanting to have a go, I just love the beautiful results, such delicate patterns, I am so tempted right now, the other thing I like is that it's a craft that you can take into the lounge and do while you are watching TV, where all my other stuff is to messy or you would need to take so much stuff with you. Hhhhmmmm can I resist??!

I hope that you all have a lovely day ladies, 

love and hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxxx

Some Beautiful Cards from Michele

Good Morning Ladies,

Well yesterday was both a beautiful day weather wise and a very relaxed day, I just needed to have a day with no pre-set agenda, I knew my body was struggling due to the pain I was in and the fact that I was having more episodes of AF than usual, so I made myself just sit and watch some craft YouTube videos, do some paper work (bills and boring stuff).  The only trouble with that is that you go online and then start to browse and then end up with a few bits in your basket, well you know how it goes ladies!!  I didn't actually buy anything though.

Oh I will say that Danielle has been approached to make some projects with some dies from a company in China (I believe).  The up side is that she was given a 'Fan code' so that we can get 15% off the already really inexpensive dies & stamps.  I will share a couple of her samples with the code tomorrow.  I think that it does Danielle good as well when we use her code as it shows them how many people have been inspired by her Projects and that determines whether they work with her again.  But you already know that Danielle's samples are amazing.

Onto today's gorgeous cards, which were all made by our Michele, I have to say that they are a little different for you Michele, you don't usually go for the really floral patterned papers, I absolutely love the ones you have used, particularly that Blue and pink floral paper.

Ladies as you have probably guessed Michele made these cards using papers that were FREE to download.  You have chosen perfectly matched card to coordinate with your papers Michele, the matting and layering makes those papers 'pop' even more.

Your layouts are great too, I really like the Vertical sentiment and how you have placed the flowers around it.

Thank you so much Michele for 3 absolutely stunning cards, I think we would all like to know where you downloaded those papers from! xxx

We decided to have a bit of a relaxing treat last night, it was a bit last minute, we have been so busy this past few weeks that the evenings just disappear, it seems like we have been having dinner, clearing away and its bedtime.  So we decided to go to the Cinema, I had a look and our cinema must have a special deal on Tuesdays as the tickets to see Captain Marvel were only £5 each, instead of about £12, so I booked tickets for Paul, myself and the girls (matt is not interested in those kind of films).  So I will let you know what we thought about it tomorrow.

Have a lovely day my lovelies,

Love and Hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Pretty Floral Card

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well ladies,  also want to sent special, gentle hugs to those of you that aren't feeling 100%.  I have missed seeing a few of you in the 'Cafe' my lovelies, please take care of yourselves and take it easy. xxx

After our visitors left late morning yesterday I was looking forward to getting in my craft room to have a play.  I had bought some flower dies from China many weeks ago and I wondered what they would look like die cut in Tissue Paper, so that was my first technique, I used white tissue paper and just die cut several layers at once and coloured individual layers with Calypso Coral ink. It was so much fun peeling apart the many layers of the tissue paper and adding the ink, I used a ball tool to add so shape to the flowers and I really scrunched them up, I popped some stamens through the centres of the flowers and set them to side.
For the main part of the card I took a white card base and added a piece of retired SU Designer Series Paper called Graceful Garden, this particular sheet has a subtle tone on tone pattern in Calypso Coral.
I used the leftover piece that Paper to make a narrow border down the left hand side of the card, I die cut a piece of white card with Spellbinders Fancy Lattice die, trimmed it to fit the border I had cut, I added foam pads to the lattice die cut to give so depth and interest to the border too.
I took the Sue Wilson Trailing Ivy die to add some foliage to the lattice work, which also created a place to add my Tissue Paper flowers.  I gave them a good scrunch before adding them to my card.
I wasn't sure what sentiment to go for, I then noticed Sue Wilson's 'Just ForYou' die,  it was on my magnetic board.  I die cut it in white and card and then created an Oval tag, using a Small Oval die and a matching Scalloped white layer at the back.  I trimmed the Oval Tag with a pretty Tulle Bow topped with a tiny die cut flower.
The flowers don't look as effective in the photo but they are really frilly and delicate in real life.
I hope you like my card Ladies xxx

A lovely relaxed day for me today, I hope that you have a lovely relaxed day too.

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Karen's Engagement Card

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

Well I am hoping that this is the start of a quieter week for us, no visitors, inspections, lambs etc, so hopefully I can get into my craft room and really start to play with some of my new craft goodies that I have had for a while and not had chance to touch.  It just seems to have been none stop for a few weeks, the most time consuming and exhausting thing was having the lambs, so hopefully after a day to recuperate from the hectic weekend I will be able to summon some kind of crafty inspiration.

Paul's parents are leaving this morning to travel up to Paul's sister for a few days, I think that they had a nice weekend.
We spent yesterday at the Cotswold Wildlife Park, wandering around the beautiful gardens, admiring the animals, we had a nice lunch, the girls were quite excited to see us in their restaurant and were introducing us all to their friends and colleagues.  The highlight of the day for me were the Giraffes and Rhinoceros, it was quite funny to watch the Rhino's keepers trying to encourage them back in to their 'House' for the night, despite them yelling, whistling and banging to attract their attention the rhino's remained oblivious, I have no idea what they use as a last resort as when we left (15 minutes after the rhino house closed) they were still at the far side of the paddock, totally unaware of the time or their keepers desperate attempts to lock them up.  I think that maybe someone should suggest they use food as a bribe to get them in.  I know that Matt just shakes a bucket of feed to get the sheep to cooperate, I think most animals think about the bellies first, including us!!

I am so thankful to Karen who very kindly allowed me to share the Engagement card that she made yesterday for a work colleague as I was going to busy all day (and have been since Thursday) and therefore was unable to get a card made, in fact even if I had sat at my craft desk yesterday I just don't think I could have created anything, I don't think it's just the physical demands of hosting guests all weekend, my stupid anxiety causes stress which leaves you mentally tired too.
Anyway back to Karen's stunning card, I don't think that you can go wrong for any romantic occasion if you used White on White, it works so well on this and any Wedding, Anniversary or Engagement card, with a little hint of Silver/Gold or wedding accent colour.
I will add Karen's fantastic description below....

"The sentiment is printed on that lovely pearl paper from That Crafty Place and cut with Spellbinder Marvellous Squares
The background is cut from same paper with Botanical Swirls and overlapped Toy have to only glue half of first one so that when you go to stick on fourth you can tuck it under first one She’s a work colleague and I think they’ve both been married before
Can you tell I’ve done similar versions as they’re all old dies!"

Thank you so much Karen for helping me out and allowing me to share this stunning Engagement card. XXX

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

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Your Challenge cards

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend, we had a lovely day yesterday with Paul's family, we even got a few hours sat out in the garden which was an added bonus. It's lovely to see Paul spending time with his family.

You Challenge cards were amazing again this week, so I will waste no more time and get straight on with sharing them...….

Michele 

Michele made two fantastic cards for this weeks challenge,  I will share Michele's description below:

"My challenge cards for this week-both images were free digital downloads (Ella’s Design)from the current issue of Simply Cards & Papercraft plus the backing papers."

Thank you so much Michele for two lovely challenge cards. XXX

 Brenda

Brenda used some free magazine papers for her Challenge Card this week, I love how the free papers and images inspire us to make cards that are completely different to our usual style.   

Brenda's Description below:

" I got my inspiration for this card from Craftwork Cards,  Papercraft collection. (Michelle review this edition on the 11th of May) it really is an inspiring magazine and papers included are FAB. "

Thank you Brenda for making time to take part in this week's challenge XXX

Janet

Janet has made 3 fabulous cards for our 'Freebie' challenge,  I will add Janet's description below:

The first three cards are my CCs for this week and are made using the free papers/toppers/Eboss folder and stamps which came with the latest TONIC CARDMAKING COLLECTION magazine.

The shaped die on my third card is also Tonic and is one of their latest Verso

dies called 'CLASSICAL CURVED LAYERING DIE SET'.

Thank you Janet for 3 amazing challenge cards, I love the unusual shape of the new Tonic Verso die, those papers yoy used are beautiful too.  XXX 

 Val

Val has made her beautiful challenge card using Free papers from Making Cards  magazine. 

I have to say that the stunning papers are one thing that I really loved about Making Cards magazine,  they were always such incredible quality 

Thank you Val, I'm so glad you are feeling a bit more like making cards again XXX

Lynda

Our Lynda has made two gorgeous cards for this week's challenge,  one gorgeous everyday card and a lovely Christmas card.

Lynda's first card was made using Heartfelt Creations kit that she got free from Margaret. 

Lynda's lovely Christmas card was made using a Free stamp set from a magazine.

Thank you Lynda, i really appreciate the time that you made to take part this week XXX

 Karen

Card 1:  Ooh and this one It’s my go to Christmas die A freebie from Die Cutting Essentials

Card 2:  It’s a ticket giveaway kit from an old Crafting Live show (probably 2017) I’ve followed an example on the project sheet and just tweaked it

It’s a short fold card

Card 3: Thank you

A Fathers Day card using SW shirt The actual shirt is wallpaper and the sentiment is a free stamp from a magazine Cardmaking Magic and tiny scraps of card.

Card 4: This card is also uses wallpaper 

I know it’s similar to one I sent last week but it’s smaller 4x6  The butterflies are JL The smallest of the large set but the smallest from large set also fits cut from toning Valspar paint swatches The sentiment fits on them too - bonus!

Card 5:  This one is a piece of wallpaper sample (freebie from B&Q!)

Matted with a creamy pink card

Karen thank you so much for SO MUCH inspiration,  I would never of thought of using Wallpaper samples for cards, you are amazing at thinking 'outside of thr box' XXX

I would like to thank all of you for taking part, I did do a double check so I don't think that I have forgotten anyone this week (fingers crossed).  If I have they will of course be featured at a later date.

I hope that you all enjoy your Sunday,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxx