Monday 30 November 2020

Sonia's Christmas Card, perfect for Man Card Monday...

 


Good Morning Ladies,

We had a very dark and gloomy weekend (weather wise), the fog just didn't lift all day, it was really odd, the main A419 is about 2 miles from our house, you drive straight past our house down a narrow country road and then directly onto the A419, which is a very busy main road, the little country road was a bit misty when we left at around 1.30pm to do food shopping but as we approached the main road you could see that the fog was really dense, it was almost like there was a voile panel across the end of the little road, it's hard to describe but I found it odd that the fog had such precise boundaries, poor Lucy was really wary pulling into such fast traffic with the visibility being so poor, because as usual the roads are full of fools that don't slow down where junctions meet the main road.  Like you Janet we had lights on all day, it was as though daylight never really happened.  

Apart from food shopping we really didn't get much else done, Paul worked for a few hours on Saturday afternoon, I went into my craft room fully intending to sit and play but decided to have a bit of a move around and de-clutter, WHY, do we start these things??!! It seemed like such a good idea at 12.30pm but by 5.45pm I was still sat on the floor surrounded by a huge pile of stuff to put in the bin/recycling.  I have an ongoing battle with 'Bit Boxes', I keep keeping little off cuts of card that in my head would be perfect for stamping sentiments on or for die cutting little leaves and flowers from, I do use them when I remember to rummage around for them but mostly I will use an off cut of the card I am just working with, I certainly don't always think, 'oh hang on let me rummage through one of my many bit boxes for a 1 inch by 3 inch piece of card''!  So the cardboard recycle box is super full this week!  I felt better for getting rid of it too, I had a little bit of a move around, while sorting through a box that had my old stampin up desk pad I found a stamp that has been missing for about 2 years, it's the lower case 'a' from an alphabet, it's about as small as one of those little pearls you put on cards, it made the whole upheaval a bit more pleasing.  I was certainly 'feeling it' by bedtime, I have always been really bad for sitting with my legs underneath me, I can only do it with my left leg these days and to be honest the only time I ever sit on the floor is to retrieve something that has fallen of my craft desk,  I found a few things while I was down there, pencil sharpener, Distress Oxide ink pad, pair of ✂ to name a few!                                                                                                                                             Sunday disappeared after getting back from food shopping 🛒, my brother and sisters called to tell me about all of the treasure that they had discovered in the loft at Mum's, my youngest sister was over joyed to discover that her Doll's house that Dad had built her was still up there and in good condition, my brother found his old Atari games console and some Binoculars that belonged to our Grandfather that were left for him.  By the time those calls were done it was 7pm and the weekend was all but over.

Today's card is one of Sonia's from a recent challenge that I received from Sonia last Monday, I have been looking forward to sharing it with all of you, I felt that it would work perfectly for a Christmas card for a Man so what better day to share it than 'Man Card Monday' !                                                   As always Sonia your card is finished to perfection with clean, crisp lines, Sonia was inspired (like most of us) by a card on Pinterest.  Those curve border dies work so well for Snowbanks, that lovely deeply embossed falling snow looks beautiful, your eye is drawn in by the aperture that surrounds it, such a fantastic Christmas card Sonia.                                                                                                   Sonia's Description:                                                                                                                                    ''. I used the town house dies from Mama Elephant, and the trees from My Favourite Things. The sentiment is from LOTV. ''                                                                                                                        Thank you so much Sonia for sharing such a lovely Christmas card XXX

Ladies, I hope that you all have a lovely last day of November,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                          xxxxxx


Sunday 29 November 2020

Your 'Flat' Challenge Cards

 





Good Morning Ladies,

Well it's Sunday,  so you know what that means?!..
Time to showcase your amazing card designing skills, so without further delay, let's get on with show......(I always feel like I want to add the music from 'Take Hart' they used to play it while showing all the art work that viewers had sent in) ... 

Click play and you'll know exactly what i mean...





Sonia


Two fantastic and very cute 'Flat' cards by Sonia for this weeks ''Flat card Challenge'  both of these cards would fit through the standard postage slot no problem!  
You have some very cute stamps in your collection Sonia, wouldn't it be lovely if we could all craft together and have a play with each others craft stash.

Thank you Sonia for designing two amazingly cute cards XXX


Pat

I love this 'clean and simple' design by Pat, I actually chose this card from Pat's folder on my computer, it is perfectly flat, yet there is so  much detail and how adorable are those birds, this would be a perfect Christmas for a couple.  Pat has used her Groovi plates to make this card.

I absolutely love this design Pat, your Groovi cards are so inspirational XXX

Michele



Michele was totally not in the mood to craft this weekend, which is quite understandable given the stressful week at work that she has had, like most of you Michele takes part in pretty much every single challenge so I just couldn't leave her space empty today.   So I rummaged around in my 'Michele' file and found two lovely designs, both totally flat for postage.  I have included one amazing 'Clean and Simple' style Christmas card and a lovely floral 'Happy Birthday' card.

I hope that you feel a bit more like crafting today Michele, maybe have a go at something new, pick one of the Techniques from your magazine to have a go at, I would love to see what you come up with.
Thanks for 2 lovely cards XXX



Maria 



3 Amazing cards from Our Maria for our 'Flat' card Challenge. You have used three completely different styles and Techniques for this Challenge Maria, I love all three of your designs, especially that super cute Santa card,  I just love all the Wildlife around him ❤ 

Maria's Description:

"We do have some people who are not celebrating x-mas so this is one card for them.
1) The Winter fun frame is on Red Glitter card background and Season Greetings."

"My second card is by Giordano, Santa and his forest friends. It is decoupaged
but very thin so hope it fits this week challenge.

The third card I used a already embossed black card, stroke some Blue Parakeet
and Pink Thistle Opal Polish by SW over it before stamping the Stag and laid it
onto a Snow Embossed piece of paper and the card, still thin for posting so hope-
fully it won't be to much in postage this year........"


Thank you so much Maria for 3 incredible 'Flat ' Challenge cards XXX 


Lilian




Two gorgeous 'Flat' cards from Lilian for our Challenge this week, we must have done a 'Flat ' Challenge recently as I found another group of cards under the 'Flat' title, in Lilian's file was this amazing Nautical scene card, so I really wanted to share that one too. 

Both of Lilian's cards are made using Stamperia papers, I love that Vintage looking Santa, the image is stunning and the card needs nothing more. 


Thank you so much Lilian,  I hope you are feeling a little brighter today my lovely XXX 

Karen


Our Karen has used a combination of Serif and Die cut for her first card today,  such a clever idea, Ican see this design working for many different occasions.  
Karen's second card was from our last 'Flat' card Challenge,  I loved the design and thought it might inspire some of you.

Karen's Description:

"Here’s a totally flat card for you Charlotte asked me if I had any cards ready Of course I only had flowery ones She wanted one with wine or gin which I could have done if she’d given me some notice!

I saw this cheap die and have made almost a copy of an image advertising it No wonder it was cheap as it’s quite small So I scanned it into ScanNCut to be able to make it larger 

I created the background in Serif 3 different colours of blue/green and used the die in Black I’m going to create some more with different sentiments eg Merry Christmas and use a simple die on top" 

Love your designs,  thanks so much Karen XXX


Janet



Three stunning designs from Janet for our 'Flat ' Challenge,  Janet I have to say that you have some truly stunning paper collections,  the beautiful designs mean that you simply have to 'enhance' their beauty!  

Janet's Description:

My first and second CCs are made using LABLANCHE papers which were launched as one of her Seasonal Themes for this year.

My third CC is made using papers from a Company called 'CRAFTOCLOCK'.This is the first time I have seen anything of this Co. but they did a package which had all the three sizes suitable for cards and scrap booking (6x6  8x8  12x12). They really fit the bill for batch making.

Janet thank you so much for 3 stunning cards and for introducing us to 'Craftoclock', guess whete I'm going after this?! XXX


Brenda 

Lovely Lillies from Our Brenda for this weeks 'Flat' card Challenge, the Stamp is from HoneyDoo, Brenda has coloured the image beautifully,  bringing the Lillies to life.  Using the waterbrush to drag the colour out really ties the image to the background. 

I love your card Brenda, thank you so much for taking part XXX 

Sue


Sue made this amazing card for Gemma's (Bub's)  birthday, I absolutely love your design, my favourite part is the Cat's bum, it's hilarious! What a genius idea. 

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


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

So many stunning cards Ladies, just look at all of the different Techniques and products that you have all used, absolutely incredible.  Thank you all so very much. XXXXX

I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra
xxxxxx

Saturday 28 November 2020

Mixed Up Saturday featuring Michele's Magazine Review





Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

What are you all up to this weekend, I imagine that half the population of the UK are putting up their Christmas Decorations but we are nowhere near ready to do that, as I said previously, I would get sick if the clutter before the big day!  Our village are making a 'thing' of outside decorations this year, following on from the success of the Scarecrow Trail, a few houses have already started.  Do any of you decorate outside??


Karen


Karen has added another species to her growing Cute Crocheted Critter collection, this time it's the cutest Jellyfish I have ever seen, she has been crocheted in Aldi chunky yarn so she is a little bigger.  Karen you just have a way of making boring creatures look cute and desirable!                                      Thank you so much for allowing me to share them XXX


Michele


Our Michele is a Winner, she made some amazing cards with the magazine freebie, she made a stamp using funky foam and the free die. 





These are some of the cards that she made with the free die, after sending them in to the magazine she heard that she was being featured as 'Happy Mail' and won a £50 Craftstash Voucher too, which is amazing prize, I can't wait to see what you spend it on. XXX


Michele's Magazine Review

Hi Ladies, 



Diecutting Essentials issue 72 comes with a lovely free gift this month. A multipurpose sets of dies.


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



First of three features using the free gift-showing kits if different style cards.


Second article-new year & special occasions coveted here.



Party invitations & table decorations in this article.



I sent the editor a letter and when I opened the magazine I saw that I’d been chosen as the Star letter! They’re going to print another letter of mine next month.


Floating diecut frames explained in this article-don’t they look amazing?


Create Bokeh backgrounds using your circle dies.



More detailed explanation here.


I’m sure pretty cards like these could be created using what we already have in our stash.


How to create your own masks & stencils using diecut shapes.



Just using basic shaped dies  (or punches) you can create some lovely cards.



More ideas.


Telescopic apertures-I just love the look this technique creates.  You could use just about any set of dies to create this look.




More ideas.



That’s it for this week so
Happy Crafting

Love Michele


Thanks so much Michele,  another fantastic Magazine Review,  those telescopic apertures look great, great feature for using left over papers too. I really appreciate you taking time to write these features for us each week, the magazine companies should have you on commission!  XXX

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


I hope that you all have a lovely weekend my lovelies,


Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                          xxxxxx


Friday 27 November 2020

Your Next Challenge

 


Good Friday Morning Ladies,

Here we are on the Eve of the last weekend of November, I can hardly believe I am saying it, although in all honesty our lives have been tipped upside down sing the beginning of August and we have been lived waiting for hospital appointments, so you end up wishing the time away.  Obviously all of the lockdown restrictions have made a difference too.  I think that I am right in saying that most of us will be glad when we wave goodbye to 2020.  

I will say that writing my blog and checking in daily and chatting with you all in our messenger group has been a life line, you ladies make such a huge difference to my life, I am so very grateful for our friendship. Whether it's advice or discussing food or crafting or just having someone to talk to, almost 24/7 (because half on us are insomniacs) lol 😂 

Your Next Challenge

I thought that it would be fun to do a TicTacToe Challenge this week, I found this one on Pinterest, it's getting harder to find challenges that we haven't already done. 

This Grid has a good variety of categories so it would work for either Christmas cards or cards for any occasion, I went with that as I am guessing that most of you are getting to the point of finishing your Christmas cards, you should be proud if you are done.!  

Having said that if you haven't finished, especially those of you that work or are unable to craft for long there is no shame in buying some ready made cards to boost your stock, the Card Factory sell some amazing 'hand finished' cards at ridiculously low prices, so go and fill a basket and take the pressure off of yourself.  I think that is nothing that kills your craft mojo more than pressure, you get to the point that trying to finish cards becomes a chore and it totally takes all the fun out of crafting, be kind to yourself ladies, only you ladies and maybe a couple of others will be getting hand made cards from me this year. Our time is precious and there is no point sending cards that you have spent your precious time creating to people that don't appreciate you. 

I hope that you all enjoy the Challenge, I look forward to seeing your cards.  

What do you all have planned for the weekend?  not much happening here, we need to get some boxes of chocolates etc to fill the Advent Calendars, I still feel the need to fill one for each of them, whether they are here or not, I couldn't bare seeing the disappointment on their faces even the arrived and asked where theirs was, the good thing is if they don't get eaten we can have them!! 

What ever you are doing have a lovely weekend ladies,

Love and huge hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                          xxxxxx

Thursday 26 November 2020

Another Flat Challenge card




Good Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all well, its certainly a lot colder outside right now, we had a walk up the garden to pull up some leeks for dinner and the wind was bitterly cold, it feels really cleansing though, it makes you want to really take a deep breath in to clear your lungs.  That's the one part of Winter that I love, just having the windows open for a brief spell in the morning really makes the house feel fresh.  

Today's card is another one of the cards that I made on Tuesday afternoon from the free stamps that came with my Creative Stamping Magazine....


As you can see there are some great stamps for Christmas cards, the trees and background/border stamps can be used for any occasion cards. The stamps in the top right corner are Stampendous stamps,  they feel good quality and I love that stag head with lovely scene inside.  Great sentiments too, nice bold font which is perfect for different stamping techniques.  

For my card I used the Mask that was part of the free gift,  blending Peacock Feathers through the Christmas tree mask,  after giving it a quick blast with the heat gun and tapped over it with my anti-static bag before stamping the matching tree stamp (that is basically festive words in shape of the tree), I think it's a fantastic, modern design.   I stamped it using Versamark ink and added some White Embossing powder and heat set.  To finish the card I stamped a sentiment and added a few clear sequins around the card.  I layered up the card onto a matching green card and a white piece with tiny snowflakes ❄ stamped around, then finally onto a green base card. 
Different,  well for me it's very different but I quite like it and think it would work well for a younger age group, my lot would quite like this design I think.

I hope that you all have a great day,

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra
xxxxxx


Wednesday 25 November 2020

A stamped Christmas Challenge card

 



Good Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all well, another week that's whizzing by, can hardly believe its Mid-week already.  

I had a lovely afternoon crafting yesterday, I actually made 3 cards,  simple stamped cards, just following the inspiration in the magazine, I think it's just what I needed,  not too much to think about either.                                                                                Luckily my Creative Stamping Magazine arrived mid morning so I was itching to have a play.  I will say that something I find really frustrating  is that despite we having a very large range of Distress Oxide Colours, I NEVER seem to have the colours that they suggest, this time it asked for 'Chipped Sapphire ', Pumice Stone and Milled Lavender,  I had none of those,  so that card has been put on hold until the new colours arrive. 

This was the first card I made, after stamping the cottage and trees I masked off the roof and trees and used a die to create a moon mask, I used 'Picked Raspberry ' to edge around the moon mask,  the next step was to tear some paper to create a mask to ink in some snow hills, I had to use Milled Lavender Distress Ink instead if Distress Oxide, but it worked ok.  I used Dusty Concord  Distress Oxide to ink around the edges and to add shade to the trees, cottage and around deers feet.  As a finishing touch I used a quickie glue pen to add some glitter to the snowbanks and cottage and trees. I layered my stamped piece onto a Octagonal card base. 

I hope to make some more cards today, watch this space, Lol 😆 

Have a lovely day Ladies , 

Sending Love and hugs to all of you ❤, 

Sandra                                                                                xxxxxx 


Tuesday 24 November 2020

A Groovi Christmas Tree Challenge card

 


Good Morning Ladies,

Well what did you think of the new Covid prevention Rules?  More Tiers, but which one will you be in I wonder??  I couldn't even guess where we would be, I can't help but think that this is just going to prolong getting on top of this Virus, I fear that there will be another lockdown looming in the New Year, the people that have exacerbated the spread of this hideous virus will no doubt be back to their raves and crowding the streets in our towns and cities, in all honesty it makes you want shut your doors, close your curtains and hibernate for the Winter.  

I was trying to explain to my family over the weekend that if we all want to have the best possible Christmas next year we need to be extra careful this year, cutting back on seeing family and friends if only to ensure that the people that you dearly want to celebrate with are still around and able to celebrate with next year.  Our Christmas day will just be our little 'Bubble' of 4, which is not ideal but with Matt and Becca being vulnerable due to their medication it is the safest option for everyone, their partners are having to make sacrifices too. Becca and her partner were supposed to working this Christmas as their pub opens on Christmas Day, providing an all day Christmas Dinner buffet for people in the town that are on their own, which I think is a lovely idea, however how the latest Tier restrictions will affect that is yet to be seen.  I will just carry on being the nagging Mum that keeps reminding her to take every precaution to stay safe.   I was speaking to my sister yesterday that works on a Critical care ward, they have to do an Audit each week on the numbers of patients on the ward, she explained that the numbers are worrying at best.  

Today's totally flat Christmas card is a Groovi card, made using the 'Christmas Tree' Groovi plate, I kept the design simple and all I did to add to the design was to add for little corner pieces.  I really love this card and think that it would be easy to batch make, adding little dots of glitter around the tree really gives that extra 'sparkle' that all good Christmas card needs!  These Groovi cards look so effective despite being one layer, you can see how much detail has been embossed into the design making any recipient feel lucky to receive one.  ( well I know I feel lucky, particularly as I know how much work has gone into each element) 

I hope that you all have a lovely day, please stay home and more importantly stay safe,

Sending huge virtual hugs, lots of love too,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                        xxxxxx

Monday 23 November 2020

Janet's Man Card Monday

 


Good Monday Morning Ladies,

I hope that this Monday morning finds you well, we have had a totally relaxing weekend, which we both needed very much, Lucy did too but Sophie has been working all hours trying to finish her University Assignment, I think that this one is her most difficult piece so far, she has had to write a short story and then make an animated video that tells the story, I can tell you that I had no idea how much work goes into creating one figure and then adding in the technology to animate everything from all body joints to facial features so that the character can raise an eyebrow, smile and show emotion, there are so many elements to include I was completely confused just listening to her try and explain what she was doing.  What makes it harder is the fact that Sophie, just like her father is a complete perfectionist.  I am looking forward to seeing the final piece, I will hopefully be able to share it with all of you too.

Janet was kind enough to send me a few cards for our Man card Monday feature, I absolutely love the image featured on this particular card.  I love any scene that you can look into and imagine being there, this could be a harbour anywhere, I wonder what they have in their bucket?!  I'm not sure if this particular piece is from a Stamperia collection, looking at the amount of detail in the background, I think it could be, I am sure Janet will enlighten us.  

Janet I love your card, it would work great for this weeks challenge too, as it looks like it is totally flat, the other think I really love is the simple font of the sentiment that you have used. Thanking you so much for sending me cards to feature on Mondays. XXX

I am looking forward to getting some crafting today, I have a few new goodies to try which I am itching to try.

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Sending love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                      xxxxxx