A very Simple challenge card

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all wrapped up warm, it's like a totally different season out there, feels like we are back in November!  The rain really does make the garden look much healthier, I walked up to the greenhouse with Paul early yesterday morning to check on the progress of our seeds, they are all starting to come through, it gives you such a 'buzz' to see them coming to life.  The rain seems to have given Paul's onions a boost too, they look like they have double in size in a couple of days.
Oh I saw a tip about growing Spring Onions the other day, when you use the Spring onion leave about an inch or so at the root end and plant that out and the spring onion regrows really quickly, so its like you are getting 2 for 1, I know that they aren't expensive to buy but even better if you can get some for free!  It's a pity we can't grow craft supplies!

I too have had a frustrating parcel delivery Brenda, I ordered some Tim Holtz bits from Create and Craft, everything was in stock and there were no delays when the confirmation came through, so I have been going on to try and track parcel but you can't, Hermes are supposed to be delivering but there is no tracking information.  I then received an email yesterday explaining that there was a 'delay despatching' the items due to the 'current situation'!  What annoys me is that there is no talk of this until they have your money, I also think that some companies are using the 'situation' as an excuse for poor service.  Don't get me wrong I totally except delays with Royal Mail because of staff shortages.  However 6.99 delivery cost from a courier is a little OTT when the order takes as long as ordering from China!  Rant Over!  Soap Box back under the stairs! (by the way did you notice that Paul has added a Grab Rail to the Soap Box for those of us that struggle to climb up to air our frustrations?)!

Todays card was so simple but it was all I could summon the energy to make after an uncomfortable night, why does a bad back hurt so bad?!
I took a 5 1/4 inch square piece of white card, I then put a tiny drop of Pink Acrylic pain on my craft sheet and loaded my brayer, I brayered a light touch of ink onto my card and then used the excess ink and cleaned the roller on a separate piece of card, I stamped a few of the Best Wishes stamps around my painted background and then stamped a stem onto the card, I took the Daisy stamp and stamped that onto the separate piece of card that I cleaned my brayer onto, I dried the image and then fussy cut it and placed it over the stem on my background.
I used the same Best Wishes stamp to stamp the sentiment onto a scrap of card which I die cut with a banner die, I then cut a black mat for it too, I added touches of the pink paint around the edges of my sentiment to tie it into the background.
All of the stamps I used were free in the Simply Cards & Papercraft Magazine issue 204 in shops now.  Michele featured this magazine a couple of weeks ago, the free stamps are lovely.
My card was based on a design in the magazine by Tracy Evans.

Categories Used:  Simple Stamping/Floral/Feminine

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Karen's 1st TicTacToe challenge card

Good Morning Ladies,

Yesterday was chilly let me tell you, it rained pretty much all day too, which made it feel even cooler, the garden was very grateful for the rain though, everything looked like it was springing to life after a good drink! It also meant that some of the 'indoor' jobs got done too, I couldn't bare to look at the ironing pile any longer (Paul usually does it but the garden has taken priority) so I thought I would do some ironing while watching Hochanda, as Tracy Evans had the One Day Special so there were some lovely demo's to watch.  I thought I would do a few of Paul's work shirts and then go into my craft room to make a card for the blog..…..How daft was I, Ironing is one of the jobs that my body just doesn't like, I managed to get about 4 shirts done and a few T Shirts and my back decided it wanted to stop, annoyingly I was then in agony for the rest of the day, I'm not sure if its the weight of the iron or the actual action of twisting side to side as you iron,  I just can't do ironing sat down either, I have tried.  I just hate leaving it all for Paul to do, the girls did come and take over for me thankfully.

Karen kindly let me share her 1st TicTacToe Challenge card today (as I just couldn't sit to craft, I was so frustrated),
Karen used Categories:  Floral/Favourite Colour/Die cut

Description:
" I used categories : Floral Die cut Fav colour (blue)
Paper is Serif
Die cut is from Wish which I’ve shadowed with the dark blue x

Karen I love your card, that background is so delicate and pretty, I think that keeping it simple was definitely the right thing to do, it just showcases those stunning flowers in the corners. The happy birthday die cut you have used works beautifully as its really delicate too.
Thank you so much for allowing me to share your card today, I really do appreciate your help XXX

Janet, did you watch the LeBlanche One Day Special, ooh so many beautiful things, there was a really beautiful girly collection that sold out in the first 10 minutes, I thought about you and your Diorama's the whole show! XXX

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxxx

My First TicTactToe Challenge card

Good Morning Ladies,

Slightly cooler day yesterday, it felt like there was a storm brewing all afternoon, as yet it hasn't arrived.  We did have our 'elevenses' out side yesterday but I had to go a put a cardi on as the breeze was chilly.  We then went and did out circuit of the village, stopping to pick up some marmalade and I was hoping to get a cucumber plant but they were all gone.  Luckily the lady that has them is on the village FB group so I messaged her and asked if she had more, she was really kind and came and dropped them off for me with a couple of tomatoes too, she stood and chatted for a while and asked if I would like to meet for coffee when all of this nonsense is over, which was nice.

Today's card is my first of the TicTacToe challenge cards, I chose Categories: Water theme/Masculine/simply stamping (simple as in all one colour).

I used the same SU stamp set that Lilian used for her challenge card on Sunday, it is called High Tide,
I stamped everything in 'Soft Suede' to keep it simple and I also wanted the 'Vintage' look.
There are some lovely sentiments in that set but I thought that this one was quite apt for current times.  I added my stamped piece to a darker shade of brown card to finish it off, I wanted to keep it super simple so I left it at that.
I am quite pleased with the results.

I am hoping to do some more pages for my accordion book today, it took me a good while to clear up after the crafting session on Sunday morning, I did pick up a good tip though, if you have paint stuck to your masks, soak them in a little Biotex, it brings them up like new, they smell good too!

I hope you manage to have a good day, there will be plenty of Tracy Evans tutorials on today as she has a One Day Special on Hochanda, trust me she is fun to watch and craft along with.

Sending love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Sonia's Birthday card for Captain Tom Moore

Good Morning Ladies,

Here we are at the start of the last week of April, it's odd as the days/weeks seem to drag but the year has flown by so far! I hate the thought of this 'Social Distancing' becoming the new 'normal', I think that we all need a point to work towards to get us through this tough time.  Most of us on here are real family people, making the distancing even more painful, there is nothing harder than one of your loved ones struggling with loss of because of worry about job/money/bills and you can't comfort them in person like you normally would.  In our family we have settled more worries over a shared cup of tea and a hug than any therapy sessions would have.  Our Becca has had more than her fair share to deal with and is often worrying about something related to her house etc, she would have driven over and spent the day with us talking through options and solutions, to say that I have seen her once since almost the start of March (before we went to London) is unheard of, we do facetime most days but it isn't the same.
Seeing so many people disregarding the rules this past few days frustrates the life out of me, why don't people understand that they are prolonging the restrictions indefinitely, I'm  not sure whats going on in USA with the stupid 'ASS' making ridiculous statements, I read that quite a few people tried ingesting disinfectant after his comments at the daily Press conference!  Whatever next!!!

Anyway on to lighter things...
It was a huge bonus to have the gorgeous weather last through the weekend, the forecast on Friday (locally) said that we would have mostly cloud and quite cool temperatures, thankfully they were wrong, we had clear blue skies and wall to wall sunshine all day both days, Paul got quite a few jobs done in the garden, even getting my corner sorted for the swing, we need to go and buy some more purple slate though as three bags was nowhere near enough, it looks good though and we sat and tested it out for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon and the placement is perfect.
I had a busy start to the day as I was up trying to work out what had tripped the electricity through the night, luckily most things had restarted about from the internet router! hence the blog not uploading.
I was also anxious to get it working before day 2 of my Workshop with Tracy Evans, thankfully it was and the workshop was brilliant, such a fun bunch of ladies from all over the world, Tracy is an excellent tutor, she explains things really clearly and goes at a pace that is manageable for everyone. The time flies by whilst your crafting along though, I have quite a few more pages to finish for my accordian book, I will share it with you as soon as I am done.

Today's card is Our Sonia's card for Captain Tom Moore's 100th Birthday,  isn't it fantastic, you just can't beat a Lilli of the Valley cute image, the background is lovely too and works perfectly with that image.
Thank you so much for sharing your card with us Sonia, I would love to see Captain Tom's face as they show him all of the cards that people have sent to him. A perfect card thanks again Sonia XXX

That's all for today I have to go and sort the mess in my craft room after the workshop yesterday morning, There are used baby wipes and bits of kitchen roll all around my desk and bin, my brayer and stencil both need a clean, I did by some Bio Tex as I heard a few people say that not only is it good for getting stains out of your clothes, it also cleans your stencils brilliantly!  So I will be testing that theory today.  I will make some pages for my Accordian book and make my challenge card.

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxxx

Your Thank You Challenge cards

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

Well we weren't forecast it but we had another glorious day yesterday,  beautiful sunshine from late morning onwards, there was a cooler breeze but it was gorgeous.  After I finished my Tracy Evans workshop we had a walk around the village followed by lunch outside, I them sat and did todays blog post, followed by a few garden jobs, all in all a lovely Saturday.  

I hope that yours was enjoyable too.

Now let's look at your stunning cards....

Lilian

Lilian has designed a lovely seaside scene on her Challenge card, the attention to detail that Lilian always puts in to her colouring blows me away, look at the amazing shine on that lighthouse!  what do you use to colour with Lilian?

Lilian's Description:

"Hello Sandra, here is my card for this week, old stamps but appropriate for this time.

Every body needs a light house."

I love your Thank You Challenge card Lilian, thank you so much for taking part XXX

Sonia

Two stunning cards from Sonia for this week's 'Thank You' card Challenge.  You use some incredible die combinations Sonia. Your cards are amazing.

Sonia's Description:

"For my first challenge card I used the Gummiapan circles die and Crafters Companion Thanks die, both inked with a fuchsia stamp pad to match the AALL & Create stencil. I mounted it on black card and finished off with two small punched flowers.

For my second card I used the Amazing Paper Grace Brilliant Rondelle die set. The main sentiment is from LOTV, while the Thanks along the bottom is a stamp from my stash. Papers are Anna Marie Designs along with grey cardstock"

Thank you so much Sonia for taking part in this weeks challenge XXX

Janet

Three stunning cards from Janet this week, all three are so pretty, the poppies on your third card are so vibrant. I love your Air Dry Clay embellishment too x

Janet's Description:

"1. to make this card I used a piece of  Phill Martin's Brush Strokes paper as the backing. The Poppy Die I have had for a number of years and I really cannot remember the name of the company. The sentiment is a Tonic die and one that I can always 'go to' when short of complete word die/stamp. The po ppy is cut from a spare piece of card in my stash.

2. My second card is made using a  piece of card from Prima -called 'Midnight Garden'. This is the first time I have used this company products and the pad is just gorgeous.The card is excellent quality and a joy to use. The doilie is from my stash bought long long ago and the rose and leaf are made from air dried clay (my first attempt of using this medium and I have to say I'm a little bit taken up with it. The moulds are LaBlanche and coloured with Spectrum Sparkle pens. Again the snetiment is made using the same Tonic die as before.

3.My last card is made using the last of my paper napkins (given to me last year by one of my crafting friends at K&N; coloured again by the sparkle pens and again the sentiment is Tonic.

Thank you so much Janet for 3 amazing challenge cards XXX

Karen

Two fun Challenge cards from Karen this week, they will work for anyone, I love that cute Rainbow, its so apt as it has become an emblem for this pandemic.  

Karen's Description: 

"Here’s a cc

The stamp is from a Crafti Potential set (do you remember ages ago Michele told us about a bargain offer from them they include dies and stamps and the rainbow is a freebie from magazine Papercraft Essentials This one is for the bin men who are a bunch of young lads I will write how much we appreciate them on the back"

Thank you so much Karen for two brilliant challenge cards XXX

Michele

Michele has made two lovely Thank You cards for this weeks Challenge, these cards would be perfect for so many different people,

Michele's Description:

"Purple card was made using an unbranded Die and the cream + green card was made using a magazine freebie(I think)."

Two fantastic Thank you cards Michele, thanks for taking part XXX

Maria

Maria made two amazing Thank You cards for this weeks Challenge, the first card is beautiful Maria, I love the background, you have used some pretty toppers to embellish it too.

Maria that Crackle paste piece is stunning and I love how you have used it on your card.

Maria's Description:

'' Found a piece with crackle paste on and used that for my first card.

gave it a bit of colour, yellow and purple and stamped the thank you

so much in the right hand corner

With my second card I used some toppers in my box and die cut the

Thank you in silver card."

Thanks so much Maria, your cards are amazing XXX

*************

Thank you so much Ladies you have all made so incredible Thank You cards, I received a Thank you card a few days ago and it really did make my week. Our Postman was delighted that he was appreciated so much!!

I hope that you all have a lovely day today,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Mixed Craft Saturday

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well and relaxed for the weekend, Paul managed to get some Purple slate for the corner where I would like the swing to go, I think that is an easier option than that slabs, so thats one job ready for the weekend, we also got some paint for the swing as it has a couple of rust spots.
All of the seeds that Paul ordered from Dobies arrived yesterday too so he is going to have a super busy weekend, although Lucy has asked if she can  paint the swing so thats one job less.
This morning and tomorrow morning I have my Workshop with Tracy Evans, we are making an Accordian Fold  Book.  The last Workshop  was really fun and very informative, it really pushed me out of my 'comfort zone'. I thoroughly enjoyed every part of it creating my Mixed Media piece and the company from all of the world was hilarious.
The project we made is pictured above, I didn't have Mountboard or a Canvas to hand to I took the board out of the back of two brown envelopes (I think its grey board) and stuck them together, it gave me a really strong surface that took all the Gesso, paint and Texture paste really well.  It's a totally different look for me but I do actually love how it turned out.

Janet

How beautiful is Janet's Cross stitch?? such a gorgeous scene, I absolutely love it Janet, the colours of the flowers are so bright and vibrant.  

I will add Janet 's Description below:

" I've added a picture of my latest effort. It is a small piece of embroidery from a company 'Rowandean' based in Derbyshire.It is a kit so everything needed apart from the ring. It is the first time I have used this company and can recommend them. It is a long time since I did any free hand embroidery and I really loved doing this. 

I have seen this company on Hochanda Janet and really admired their kits, I am tempted to have a go but I seriously need my eyes tested first.  Your piece is stunning and I can see that you might easily become addicted! 

Thank you so much for sharing with us Janet XXX

*********

Michele's Magazine Review

Hi Ladies,


Cardmaking & Papercraft has a brilliant free gift this month. It’s a Shadow box Cardmaking kit.

Here’s some ideas of what’s inside the magazine.

This is what you can make using your free gift . These 3D cards would really stand out.

This article shows a very different “fancy fold “ but it looks easy to create. If anyone wants the details on how to make this type of card just let me know.

Just look at these paper flowers & the vase-aren’t they lovely?

Pretty Cards that could be used for many occasions.

That’s all for this week
Happy Crafting

Love Michele



Thanks Michele, I have this magazine and it has some great features and lovely inspirational ideas. 
It's sad to think that this could be the  last one for a while, although I totally respect their decision to stop production for the health and safety of their staff.  Fingers crossed all will return to normal soon.
Thanks for the review Michele, I really appreciate you doing this each week my lovely XXX

********

Michele, I hope that Phil is feeling better today XXX

Sonia I hope that you really enjoy your few days off XXX

Lynda, I would love to see you make a Challenge card, I would make my day, but only when you are ready XXX

Margaret sending love and hugs to you XXX

Karen & Kat I hope you both enjoy the workshop XXX

Sending love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Good Morning Ladies,

The weekend is upon us again, I am writing the blog whilst sitting on the swing at the bottom of the garden, Paul is laid beside me with his head on my knee, taking a nap (he's up at 4 45am on earlies), all I can hear is bird song, somany different kinds of birds, it's so peaceful.
It has been such a beautiful day today, lovely and warm and no chilly breeze today.

The day didn't start as relaxed however.....
We had a call from Matt who was contacted by the police regarding Sophie's old car, (she had insisted on buying a car from a garage that had a poor reputation,  it looked lovely from the outside, but what they hadn't disclosed was the fact that it had been in a bad accident and they hadn't bothered repairing some of the major structural damage, which we discovered when she needed some work done at our local garage, he advised her that it wasn't safe to drive, so she ended up selling it to an auto salvage company that paid her a decent price, which she put towards her new car that is in good condition)!
She handed the relevant documents to the driver and waved goodbye to that bad experience, thinking that chapter was closed! The police were ringing because the car had been parked on somebody's drive in Trowbridge and the keys put through the letter box, only problem being the people knew nothing about the car, that was apparently still in Sophie's name, luckily she had all paper wotk from the sale and Matt spoke to police, they think the car was sold at auction and been delivered to the wrong address, Soph called DVLA to check that they knew that she wasn't the owner. For a few minutes we were worrying that she was going to be liable for all kinds of costs. Thankfully the day ended a lot happier than it started.  It does make you wonder how efficient  the Dvla paper system really is.

Next Week's Challenge 

I discovered this great TicTacToe Challenge while browsing through Pinterest, I thought it had a great variety of Categories, so I decided that this would be our next Challenge. 

It's nice to see 'Water Theme' and Clean & Simple alongside Vintage and some of the usual categories.

I hope you enjoy it Ladies.

Lets hope this lovely weather lasts through the weekend.

I hope you all have a good weekend,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxx 

Karen's Birthday card for Captain Tom Moore

Good Morning  Ladies,

Another glorious day here in sunny Wiltshire yesterday, it has been so lovely to sit and eat lunch with the sun warming your face.  Paul managed to finish the lawns, including all of the rough areas under the trees and around the vegetable patch, I think that we really need to get a petrol strimmer to tackle these areas, these are the things that Matt usually buys for Paul for his birthday, he has bought some really useful gifts over the years.

Karen has shared the card that she has made for Captain Tom Moore's 100th Birthday, I love the design that Karen has gone for, cleverly using the design as the background for a 'Shaker' card, which makes it even more special.
I will add Karen's description below:

''
I made this card for Captain Tom Moore this afternoon
It’s a shaker card with gold and silver stars
The background is from Serif
and a mixture of Sue Wilson and Tonic dies''

Thank you so much Karen for sharing your inspirational design for Captain Tom's card, I am sure that he will love the shaker card. XXX

Today I am going to prepare the things I need for the 'Accordian Fold Notebook' Worksop that I am taking part in on Saturday and Sunday morning.  Tracy Evans from 'Aall & Create' is hosting the Workshop, I did one a couple of weeks ago and it was great fun, I will share my project on Saturday's Blog.  The workshop is run as a Facebook Live session, which makes it fun as everyone interacts by messaging in, there were some hilarious conversations and even the ladies husbands were getting involved trying to 'out do' each other by bringing cups of tea and Bacon sandwhich etc.  I didn't craft along with the actual class 'live', Tracy leaves the workshop up for you to follow whenever you like, so I did mine on the Monday after, that way I could skip all the chat and craft at my own pace, although I will say that Tracy crafts at a pace that is super easy to follow and will stop and help anyone that is struggling with a particular problem, Tracy's goal is for you to enjoy the Workshop the same as if you were all sat in a room together, I think it worked.

We were discussing if this would be a way forward as craft workshops go as it makes them more accessible for everyone, the cost is less as there is no venue to pay for, all you are paying is the £10 to Tracy for the tuition, which I think is a bargain, the last one took just over two hours on Saturday and the same on Sunday morning, leaving the rest of the day free. So there is no travel expense or anything and you can take part what ever your ability

My Card for Capt Tom

Good Morning Ladies,

This week is dragging, not sure why, maybe as last week was such a short one! I honestly thought it was Thursday today!
Another bright and sunny day, really windy though, great washing day here!

Today's card is my Birthday card for Captain Tom Moore, for his 100th Birthday,
I used my Stamping Up Number Dies to cut the letters and their matching stamps to add the ink to which I added to the Gold embossing powder and then heat set.
I chose the colours of the Duke of Wellington Regiment which matches the tie he was wearing, I did struggle to find the right shade of Burgundy though, I had to dig to the bottom of my card stash.
I decided that I would make the ribbon edge look like the regimental tie, to give a more masculine look to the card.  The rest I kept really simple.

After making this card I had to do a full reorganisation of my craft room as it looked like a bomb had gone off, there were bits of card all over the floor from die cutting all of those 'Save the Date' cards, the stalks from all the flowers were everywhere, the trouble was that I was so exhausted when I finished making them that I just couldn't face tidying the mess!  The last couple of cards that I have made have been created in a small space that I made by pushing everything else to the edges of my desk, does anyone else do that???

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

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Michele's cards for Captain Tom

Good Morning Ladies, 

Another lovely day here in Wiltshire yesterday,  really sunny, nice enough to eat outside at lunchtime,  the wind picked up as the day went on though, I did wonder if the washing was going to stay on the line.  It blew dry in no time! 

Paul is on an early shift this week, which is lovely as we get a good few hours in the garden.

Today's cards are the cards that Michele has created for Captain Tom Moore, she has made one to send from herself and Phil and the other for her Work Colleagues to sign and send.  The Total amount raised so far is £23 Million, which is mind blowing, what a HUGE achievement. 

Michele's cards are just perfect for a special birthday celebration, I wonder how long it will take for him to open them all !! His family will be very busy. It's a small token of our gratitude for what he has done.

Thank you Michele for sharing your cards, giving us all some inspiration. XXX

How funny is that statement that Michele found, it's so true, I think I have enough craft supplies to last me many years (if i used them sparingly of course)😉🤣 Obviously there are things that we will always NEED to buy, right?? 😅😘

I hope that you all have a good day, lets hope the sun shines again today! 

Love and hugs,

Sandra 

xxxxxx

A Rainbow Thank you

Good Morning Ladies,

I think it's Monday, so welcome to the start of another week here on the blog.
Yesterday turned out to be a glorious day, Paul and I sat out in the afternoon, absorbing some much needed Vitamin D, Paul spent most of the day pottering in the garden, it's like he has his allotment with the added benefit of no travel and tea & coffee on hand! I do love to see him relaxed though.
We had a fun family quiz last night, we all used an app called Zoom to join together online and Becca organised the quiz questions, it was great fun, Paul and I were the winners, which was mainly due to Paul's knowledge in the General Knowledge round. It was a lovely way to see all my family together, Sophie & Lucy are hosting the next quiz.

Today's card is a quick and simple 'Thank you' card, I stamped 'Thank you ' all over the background of my card and then added white embossing powder and heat set to create a resist, I used Distress Oxides to create a rainbow of colours across the card, I spritzed the card with water to Oxidize the ink, lastly I laid the 'Wavy Lines' mask over my piece and spritzed again laying kitchen roll over the mask to soak up the excess water. This left a subtle hint of the pattern, after drying the background I wiped over with a piece kitchen roll to remove the ink from the stamped 'Thank you's'
To finish my card I used the my SU 'Thank you ' die to cut 1 black and 1 white pieces,  I laid the white one over the black, slightly offsetting to give a shadow. Then added the 'From All of Us'.
This would be a great card for our Bin Men that are due round this week.

Lilian,  I emailed you yesterday about joining us on messenger, Janet it would be great to have you in the group too.

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Your 'Recycled' Challenge cards

Good Morning Ladies,

It's our favourite day of the week again, you have all made some amazing cards that I can't wait to share with you....

Janet

Oh my goodness,  Janet has created 3 amazing cards, using a variety of Recycled items.  So much work has gone into each one of these cards.

Janet's Description:

"My first card this week is made by reusing the main die cut (Tonic die)which is off a card I made early last year which I spoiled. The backing paper is one from Phill Martin 'Beautiful Brushstrokes'.

My second card is made using part of a page from a knitting mag I've had for years. The decoupage is LABLANCHE.

My last card this week is made using a pattern again from an old mag but this time it's using beads to create the pattern.The paper flowers and bows are from my stash. This would suit anyone who enjoys doing small pieces of work."

Thank you so much Janet for 3 amazing Challenge cards, I love all of them XXX

Sonia

Wow Sonia, your Challenge card looks so Classy! That chocolate box is gorgeous!

Sonia's Description:

"Here’s my challenge card.
Have to admit I was a bit out of my comfort zone 😂 I’ve also sent a photo of the chocolate box outer layer which I used to create my card. I used one of the side panels as a stencil in the corners of the card. I applied an inked panel behind the main cut out design. Added the pierced flags and LOTV sentiment."

Thank you so much Sonia, your card is stunning, I can't help but hold on to lovely packaging, but I do worry that Im turning into my Nan, who hsd cupboards full of margarine tubs and biscuit boxes! XXX

Sue

Love you card Sue, you have done some amazing Recycling too!!
Sue's Description:
". I used an old folder divider for the green layer and the yellow is kitchen towel that I coloured using Scattered straw and Stormy sky DO’s. The rose die is an old magazine freebie."

Sue, using Kitchen roll was a bloomin genius idea, I love how your card turned out, hopefully this amazing card will bring your 'mojo' racing back!  Thank you so much for taking part XXX

Karen

I love this card that Karen has made for this week's 'Recycled' Challenge, everything works together perfectly, it looks like everything was meant to go together like a 'kit' almost! 

Karen's Description:

"Here’s my cc,

As I’ve had a clear out of my sewing bag I have used an old tape measure I found a background of a doll pattern on a MCS CD-ROM and Tracy’d it up a bit with Hickory Smoke DO and Versafine Clair Nocturne to stamp a Lisa Horton border stamp that looked like a zip to me I can’t remember where the die is from It contains lots of sewing items like scissors needles thimble etc 

I think I like it I’m not sure"

Thanks so much for such a lovely card Karen XXX

Michele 

Michele has made an absolutely adorable card for this week's Challenge, I'm pretty sure this is a Penny Black stamp/image, I have a few Wood mounted stamps featuring this gorgeous hedgehog.

Michele's Description:

"My card for this weeks challenge-it’s more a repurposed one than recycled. The topper was on a birthday card I was sent over 15 years ago & I finally decided to repurpose it."

Thank you so much for such an adorable card Michele XXX

Lilian 

Lilian has used some Recycled music paper to create the background for her Challenge card, sadly Lilian's I pad has been playing up this past week so she has been unable to comment,  so frustrating,  especially now, when any form of communication is welcomed.

Lilian's Description:

"Used music paper from a 1930ties book, with inappropriate lyrics for for today’s world.

Stamping up stamp, sorry can’t remember the name.
Blue in using blue pen."

Thank you so much for taking part in this week's Challenge Lilian,  I am intrigued to know what song your music sheet featured. Take care my lovely and I  hope that you are back commenting this week xxx

 Maria

Maria created two fantastic cards for our  'Recycled' Challenge this week.

Both of Maria's cards were made from Toppers from Old cards.

The first card features that fantastic 'Happy Birthday' die cut, which Maria has used as the central focal point and closure for the card, I particularly love all of those tiny bottles that Maria must have fussy cut! 

Maria's second card.... another Recycled topper, absolutely hilarious, I think most of us have fantastic Husbands that just get jobs done, but there are definitely Men out there that this card represents perfectly!! I do love a card that makes you smile, we NEED smiles right now! 

Thank you so much my lovely for two fantastic Challenge cards. I hope you are up to getting out for a walk today XXX

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Thank you so much Ladies,  your cards are amazing,  you really do amaze me EVERY week!

I know that we are all struggling right now, whether it's from the extra pressure from work or from being isolated and the extended weeks of restrictions makes things seem even harder.

I hope that having the Blog will give you a tiny bit of comfort,  it certainly helps me,  I love hearing about your day, what you have been up to or any news that you have to share. So I want to thank you for taking time to comment every day, I sure I'm not the only one that loves reading them.

Please take care my friends, I hope you have a relaxed Sunday.

Love & Hugs to Every one of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx