Your Challenge Cards

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

Please join me in wishing Our Dear Janet the Very Best Birthday ever!!  I hope you have the best day possible in Lockdown my lovely ❤💜💛

It just so happens that your Birthday falls on our favourite day of the week too, lets look at all of your amazing challenge cards........

Lilian 

A beautiful Birthday card for our Colour Challenge from Lilian this week.  That Blossom die cut image looks lovely against the wood effect background, I have to say the bits of Ivy trailing look so lovely against the wood effect.

Lilian's Description :

Here is my card for this week.

7x5 portrait card
Stamperia background papers, with some pen to enhance the greenery.
Magnolia stamp is an old Sheena one, water coloured the fussy cut.

Thank you so much for such a love challenge card My lovely XXX 

Maria

Aww a lovely New Baby card from Our Maria for this weeks Colour Challenge.  The die cuts you have used are so cute, I really love the little duck.  Such lovely cards to make.

Maria's Description:

Thank you Maria, your New Baby card is perfect for our Colour Challenge this week XXX 

Sonia 

A lovely new home card from Sonia for our Colour Challenge this week, I love that delicate peachy/pink you have used Sonia, with that lovely hint of shocking pink too, a match made in heaven! 

Sonia's Description:

The heart backing paper is a digi set from The Lovely Studio, it comes in lots of different colours, and you can also print it with the background as main colour and white hearts. The stamped trees are from Inkylicious, and sentiment from Clearly Besotted. The house die from Mama Elephant. The scalloped border is a Tonic punch.

Thank you so much for taking part this week my lovely XXX 

Karen 

Ooh Karen I love how this white background version of your black card turned out, I love both but think this version might be my favourite ❤

Karen's Description:

Here’s my finished cc

"I inked through a circle stencil with Spun Sugar Squeezed Lemonade and Twisted Citron DO

Stamped and heat embossed Tracy Evans daisy with white embossing powder 

I “painted” the daisy with Worn Lipstick DO and edged it with a pink alcohol marker I think black would have been too harsh Some flicks with a Pocsa gold pen"

Thank you so much Karen, I love how your card turned out, the colours are perfect too. XXX

Michele 

Two gorgeous floral cards from Michele for this weeks Colour Challenge,  both images are from Ella’s Designs. The background papers are so pretty too.

Michele's Description:

Thank you so much Michele for two gorgeous challenge cards XXX 

Janet 

How beautiful are these cards from our Janet,  the colours in the papers work so well with the colours in this weeks Challenge. Such beautiful images too.

Janet's Description:

I spent ages and ages this week trying to decide what colours to use from the given grid and in the end good old STAMPERIA came to my rescue once again. Both cards are made using 'WONDERLAND' papers. I think there is a bit of all the required colours in these chosen papers.

Thank you so much Janet for two beautiful challenge cards XXX 

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So many beautiful cards for our Challenge this week, so lovely to see New Home and New Baby cards in the gallery this week, cards for occasions so full of hope and happiness.   Thank you all so much for taking part, you have all created such lovely cards. XXX

It's forecast to be another lovely sunny day today so hopefully we will spend some more time outside, although I may have gotten a bit carried away yesterday, clearing the border by the patio, so I might be mainly supervising today 🤣😂.  It's so love being out in the fresh air though.

I hope that you all enjoy the sunshine, 

Love and huge hugs to all of you, 

Sandra                                                                        xxxxxx 

Mixed Up Saturday featuring Michele's Magazine Review

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you all have some sunshine today, we had another lovely sunny day yesterday although it was really chilly.  So we are hoping to be able to get some jobs done in the garden today, not sure what yet as there are plenty of jobs to do.  I am hoping to pot on some Geranium cuttings and other plants that we took from Mum's garden before the house was sold, I hope that they all take as they are a bit more special, so that's one job that I want to get done, we also need to clean all the seed trays and pots ready to sow the veg seeds.  We usually fill a big trug with watered down Jeyes fluid and give them all a wash out. It's so lovely to see the daffodils coming out we have a few Snow Drops too, it's just a lovely time of the year in the garden.

I have featured a picture of Our Benji above as Becca is doing a 1000km Walk to raise money for the Dog's Trust

Dog's Trust run 21 Rehoming centres to Save over 16,000 Dogs annually 

I will leave a link to Becca & Benji's Just Giving Page, I am not pressuring anyone into donating but if any of you would like to just click the link below.

Becca's 1000km Charity Walk

 Karen

Karen has been busy with her Crochet hook again, 'Viro' looks a very tactile creature, with lots if fiddly, twiddly bits to play with. 

'Viro' is a character designed by a member "Ed's Imaginists' club who are Kerry Lord's  Edward's Imaginarium' book Kit Subscription group.  They have some great designs. 

Karen's Description :

May I introduce you to my version of “Viro” 

Kerry Lord has brought out a kit I thought as I have her Imaginarium book and similar yarn I thought I would give it a go It’s probably not exactly the same but it’s close enough for me"

Thanks so much Karen for sharing Viro with us xxx

Michele's Magazine Review

Hi Ladies 

Finally I have a magazine review for you.


Papercraft Essentials has a really cute gift this month-Woodland collection which includes topi& papers.

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

So much inspiration & ideas using the free gift.

How striking are these cards-perfect for children.

Great article explaining how to create your own backgrounds using photo paper & inks.

Stunning mixed media project.

Dry embossing on vellum-this technique produces some really lovely designs.

Some much needed ideas for men’s card.

More ideas-I’m sure we’ve all got stamps or dies similar to those used in this feature.

What a gorgeous card, made using the stamps in this months issue of Creative Stamping, as shown.

Interesting technique-embossing using sequins to create the pattern on your card, you could use Diecuts to create an embossed background too.

Colour block stamping effect-this technique creates a lovely background.

More ideas.

That’s all for this week so
Happy Crafting

Love Michele

Thanks so much Michele, it must be so frustrating waiting for your delayed magazines, especially when you are paying for the privilege of getting it a bit earlier than everyone else.  There are some great features in this issue, I love the feature on backgrounds and that lovely Mixed Media project by Tracy Evans.  Now I have the Creative Stamping Magazine and I'm not over keen on this month's stamps, they are like Zentangled designs, not really my thing but I might have a play and see if I change my mind.  Thanks again for taking the time to write this weeks review.  I am looking forward to the next one already XXX

Ladies I hope that you all have an enjoyable weekend and that you can get out in the garden,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                                                                  xxxxxx

Your Next Challenge

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

So how can this be the last Friday of February?!  It barely feels a week that I was preparing for the Girls birthday and here we are at the end of the month!   We had a glorious day yesterday, I had all windows open, turned up the music had a good old sing to myself, it's surprising how much it lifts your spirits.  

While listening to some early 90's music yesterday it got me thinking, in my mind the 70's is still only 20 years ago, when in fact its 50 years ago, how scary is that!!!!  It made the girls laugh, they do enjoy the older music though which is a good thing, we all love music so it's helpful that we can all live with each other's choices.  

Your Next Challenge

For our next challenge I thought we would go for a 'Fun Fold' Challenge, I am not quite sure why it's called 'Fun' fold, I don't mind whether the fold you choose is fun or not 😂😂!

You can choose any fold you like other than the everyday side folding cards that we all make, I am going to have a play with Gatefolds, centre gatefold and side gatefold, it's not something I think of doing normally but thats mainly because I have a box of ready cut card fronts in front of me and I just dip into those and make regular cards.  So this one is as much of a challenge for me as it is for you!

I hope you enjoy the challenge, I am as always looking forward to seeing what you create.

If there are any particular challenges that you would like to see just let me know below.

I am not sure what the weather forecast is for the weekend but hopefully we can manage an hour or two outside, I really enjoyed being out of the house last Sunday.

Have a lovely weekend whatever you have planned,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                          xxxxxx

My First attempt at Watercolour on a Distress Oxide background

Good Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all well, I almost got my washing out on the line yesterday but after I had dealt with the aftermath of white tissue in a dark wash, ooh that makes me mad! Anyway by the time I had picked all the bits off, I got ready to go out and it had started raining,  which it continued on and off for a couple of hours so I just put washing on airer in front of the Aga, it dries quite fast there but not as nice as being dried outside. 

Today's card is my first proper attempt at watercolour, using my new Koi Watercolours that were half price at Craft Stash.  I had made a pile of Distress Oxide backgrounds weeks ago by squidging ink pads on craft mat, spritzing with water,  then spritz watercolour card with water before dipping card into ink, I then spritzed again to get colours to blend, they do turn out better if you let them air dry (once again I used the Aga).  

I picked a coupke of the backgrounds based on this weeks colour challenge, I dusted it with anti static bag and then stamped my floral image in Versamark,  I added gold embossing powder and heat set. Then came the hard part trying to choose which colours to use,  I went with orange and pink to match the challenge mood board, then added green for leaves. Having the embossed outline made the colouring really easy. I left the colours to dry overnight and then matted onto gold (to pick out embossing) and then orange and green. I added a tag that I die cut from a similar coloured piece and stamped 'For you' on and embossed with gold, i pulled a piece of narrow green ribbon through and attached to my card.

It's a different look, I quite like it. 

Paul is off to work today so I will be in my craft room, what are you all up to?? 

Enjoy your day my lovelies, 

Sending Love and hugs, 

Sandra

xxxxxx 

An oldie Colour Challenge Card

 

Good Morning Ladies,

It's so lovely to hear that some of you are managing to get your washing dried outside there is nothing more satisfying than the smell of laundry dried out on the line, I actually love to see it billowing away in the breeze!   It was windy here yesterday but we were blessed with some 🌞 sunshine too. 

The day just disappeared here yesterday, I will admit to having a very slow start to the day with my body 'complaining' about me helping Paul in the garden on Sunday afternoon, I cannot squat down to pull weeds or anything so I tend to bend over with my legs mostly straight, but only if I have to, as a result the backs of my thighs are really sore, even sitting on the loo is painful !!  I tend to just do pruning etc that is at chest height so that I don't have to bend, but I had done as much cutting back as I could and foolishly stepped in to help Paul, he did suggest it was a bad idea at the time I might add, one thing I hate is not being able to join in and help, particularly in past times that we both enjoy, but on this occasion, lesson learnt.  

After I was up and had breakfast Lucy came down and asked me to have another practice and putting the perm rods (rollers) in her hair, she has bought the perm kit but I refused to go for it until we had done a few dry runs, we did one on Sunday which she thought was a bit too curly, so we tried a different way today and she really liked how the curls fell this time, so we will have another trial run in a couple of days and then maybe we go for it, she decided that she might like having it permed when I was looking at getting a loose perm or ''Beach Waves'' as its called these days late last year, perms don't seem to be such a big thing any more, maybe because they have so many curling devices.  I used to perm my Mum's hair all the time, but thats not really the look that Lucy is going for!! 😂  It looks like she won't be going back to work until early April so it has time to grow out a bit if it isn't quite how she imagined I guess.  I will keep you posted. 

After my Hair dressing stint, which took a couple of hours, then we needed to go food shopping after Paul got home the day just disappeared so I didn't get to play in my craft room after all, so I thought I would share another 'Oldie' that works well for this weeks challenge.

Here is how it was made:

For this first card I wanted to go full on feminine prettiness, so I decided to go for a 'peaches and cream' colour theme.  The colour is actually called Petal Pink.

I made a card base that measured 6 3/4  X 6 3/4 Inches, I used Sue Wilson's Large Pierced Square dies to cut the layers for this card, the embossing folder that I used is also one of Sue Wilson's, I believe its called 'Beaded Arch', it's an A4 folder. I used the square dies to make a frame to cover the edges of the embossed piece.
The main focus of the card is that beautiful die, I can see so many used for that beautiful intricate design, it would make a great doily for using in albums, journals etc, you can of course cut it in any colour to match your projects. having the centre cut out is an option, you can leave the centre in, leave it plain or use the pretty centre piece that I did, I recessed mine just to give the card dimension and to highlight the beautiful detail too.
The flower in the very centre of the die cut was made using the pieces that die cut out of the die, I just gave them some shape with a ball tool and popped them back in, I added an extra layer of petals to make the flower a little fuller, I finished it by popping a pearl embellishment in the centre.
So back to the method, I die cut the base piece of the die in cream card, then that beautiful intricate piece with both the inner and outer cutting edges to create a frame. I raised this up with foam pads so that all that intricate pattern stood out. The centre piece that I decided to cut out was placed flat onto the card base.
Next came the fun part, which was the embellishing, of course any 'feminine, girly' card needs flowers and ribbon, so thats what I used, I had some flowers in my stash that matched the colours perfectly, so I arranged them around the bottom left hand side and finishes with a bow made from cream ribbon with a hint of copper/rose gold on the edges, I placed that upon another bow made from cream dotted tulle ribbon, I topped these with a little flower.  Then to balance the card I added a smaller little spray of flowers on the opposite corner. 

I hope that you all have an enjoyable day,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                          xxxxxx

Shades of Grey Chrysanthemum

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all well, it was good to hear that most of you had no real side effects after having your vaccination, I wonder if we will hear about ours in the next couple of weeks, I will be relieved to have it done. Maybe the side effects are worse for men!! 😂 teehee!!  Paul cringes every time he sees them giving the vaccination to somebody on TV, the needle does look big though.  Do you remember when we had vaccinations at school?  They used to ''sterilise' the needle in a Bunsen Burner between students, can you imagine the implications of that these days?  I have noticed that the people you see giving the vaccinations on TV for the most part don't wear gloves.

Todays card took a couple of practises to get 'right', I also had a little bit of tuition from Sophie, she was explaining that it was better to blend in the opposite direction to your pencil strokes, this helps get rid of the pencil lines, giving a smoother finish, she also bought me down a 5B pencil that was a little darker for the areas in shade, she was also explaining how to use her battery operated eraser to create lighter areas, I think I probably spend about 3 hours sat colouring and blending, erasing, adding more colour and blending again.  I think I am happy with the results, it doesn't look as good as the 'professionals' would do, but it's not too bad. Actually the first mistake that I made was stamping the Chrysanthemum in Black, it looked wrong, so I stamped again using SU Basic Grey and found that worked much better as you didn't have a real harsh border.  I added the Honey Doo 'Have a Wonderful Day' sentiment and matt and layered onto black card and then onto a white card base.  I think it's simple but effective!

Lucy was busy constructing her bed yesterday, I am looking forward to the big reveal, Paul has gone in to work today so I will be in the craft room, what are you all up to today?

I hope you all have a good one however you are spending it,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                          xxxxx

My First Colour Challenge card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you all had a good weekend, we actually managed to get out in the garden yesterday, I attempted to help Paul clear a flower bed in front garden, it got totally overgrown with Mint, it has clearly been there years, bloomin stuff did not want to come out,  we (well Paul) got a good bit done and its looking much better already, it was so lovely to be outside, Lucy managed to get her pallets varnished.

I had a lovely chat with my brother over the weekend, he had his Covid vaccination on Thursday and said that he felt terrible on Friday, flu symptoms and chills and a really achy arm, but felt much better Saturday so hopefully that was it, he said that most of the people that he knows that had the Astra Zeneca vaccine had some kind of symptoms but those that had the Pfizer one not so much, whether that is just coincidence remains to be seen I guess, which one did you all have?

I am going to apologise in advance as I think I am going to be using this stamp a lot as I absolutely love how it looks.  I did a 'Petal Pink' version this time and layered the stamped image up onto some Petal pink card that I die cut with Phil Martin's Double Debossed Rectangle dies, (Hochanda had a great deal on them if you bought 2 sets). I cut the actual stamped image out using SU ornate Layer dies, they have some really pretty edges in that set.

I wrapped a piece of Petal Pink ribbon around the card front and added a knot, I then stamped my sentiment in matching ink and die cut and layered onto Petal Pink card too.

I really like this colourway as much if not a little bit more than last Thursdays version.

I hope to play some more in my craft room today, what are you all up to?  

Sending love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Your Challenge Cards

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

Here we are at your favourite day of the week, I absolutely love sharing your work, it gives me so much pleasure, you all make such incredible cards and they deserved to be seen. 

So without further delay, here are your amazing cards..........

Brenda 

A beautiful clean and simple 'Just for You' card from Brenda for this weeks Floral Challenge. 

Just look at the depth that Brenda has achieved with the layers of that Heartfelt Creations flower, the detail in the petals is incredible too, I do love the Heartfelt flower moulds. The leaves are so detailed too.  The Swirls really enhance the impact of that one flower, making it more than enough of a feature. 

Thank you so much for taking part my lovely XXX

Sonia

Oh Sonia I love the simplicity of the card you have chosen for this weeks Floral Challenge, the colour is beautiful too, I think we can be afraid of stamping in just one colour but it gives almost striking results. The more I see these lovely slimline dies used the more I like them.

Sonia's Description:

I matted and layered using my slimline dies, bottom layer using Kraft card. The stamped flowers are from Inkylicious. Sentiment from LOTV.

I knew I recognised that stamp from somewhere, of course its Inkyliscious, I haven't been on their site for ages.  Thank you for such a lovely challenge card, I hope that you get to do a bit more crafting with your new goodies this week XXX

Pat

Pat has shared two absolutely gorgeous Groovi cards that work perfectly for our Floral challenge this week. I love the pretty floral design with that lovely blue background Pat.

Pat's second card uses a really modern looking flower, I love the effect of the orange and green on that almost Kraft looking background, which is softened by the parchment.  The frame is one that Pat has left over from when she used to go and craft with a lady called Carole in Abingdon, they work so well with your designs Pat.

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

Cheryl

OH Cheryl such a exquisitely beautiful card, there are so many layers of interest, all in those soft & gentle pinks, the pearl swirls add a little touch of luxury too.  I love all the different bits of detail that you have added from the beautiful flowers to that lovely lace and pearl trim, the little touches like adding some depth to your 'just for you' sentiment strip all add texture and interest.

Your Mum is going to be absolutely bowled over by the beauty of this card my lovely, thank you so much for sharing it with all of us XXX

Michele

Michele I absolutely LOVE the colour combination you have used for this weeks challenge card, the rich deep pink is just stunning when partnered with Kraft card, a match made in craft heaven for sure.

Michele's Description:

My challenge card-A6 card blank, pie vice of scrap card (raspberry pink) embossed using a 5x7 Cuttlebug folder. Strip of Kraft card with flowers punched out-used a very old punch for the first time in years! Some bling, twine & a sentiment added. I think this style would be good for a make card if you used blue & stars. Might try that next.

Thank you so much Michele for such a lovely challenge card XXX

Maria

Our Maria has had a rough week this week so I sorted through some of the cards I have in my 'Maria file'  (oh yes I have files on all of you)😉

Both of these cards work perfectly for this weeks challenge.

The first card is  SW die cut that Maria has used shades of blue card to fill and finished with pretty matching ribbon.

Maria's second card just screams 'SPRING' to me, I absolutely love this card there is so much to look at, how lovely would it be to pull that card out of the envelope!!!

I hope that you have a better week this week my lovely XXX

Lilian

Oh Lilian I love the effect of the vellum behind the poppy die cuts, and the soft effect of the background stamping, it's so pretty.

Lilian's Description:

Here is my card for this week, found similar one on Pinterest.

Stencilled with bundled sage oxide, then used the poppy set from stamping up for the flowers, with velum at the back.

Happy birthday stamp is from the new pink pigs, chrysanthemum one.

Lilian thank you so much for an absolutely challenge card XXX

Karen

OH Karen I have to say I absolutely LOVE the effect that you have achieved on your second card, I hope you enjoyed creating something new and different, I may have a  look back and have a go myself. I do love your first card too, so simple but so pretty.

Karen's Description:

Here are two cc First is a very simple 5x7 card with SW daisies in various sizes I then inlaid daisies of different colours The sentiment is from Hunkydory Moonstone die set The second is a mix of DO through a circle stencil Tracy E daisy stamped with Versamark and embossed with black I painted the daisy with DO and edged it with a white gel penI stamped the smaller daisies around the edge The sentiment are Tim Holtz stickers

Thank you so much Karen for a very inspirational challenge entry this week XXX

Janet

Janet has shared two completely different projects with us for this weeks Floral Challenge, a beautiful card that features gorgeous ribbon and flowers, I believe it's a tonic die cut, I love the die cuts in the corners they almost change the look of the shape of the card and really draw your eye in.

Janet's second project is a really pretty box, how beautiful would our craft rooms look if we stored all of our stash in pretty boxes like this.

Janet's Description:

I decided as it was a while since I had decorated a box that I would take advantage of this week's Challenge -Flowers being the main feature this would be the ideal time. So once again  this week's Challenge is LABLANCHE all the way. The box is one of their ready made sturdy boxes. The paper used is one of their Decoupage papers of Roses and the knob/corner decoration/feet are all metal and of course LaBlanche too.

As I haven't had time to make another new card I have added an old one from Jan.2019. I used TONIC dies and flowers from my stash.

Thank you so much Janet for two amazing projects XXX

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

Ladies thank you all so very much for supporting another challenge, your cards are all amazing, it looks like you all really enjoyed this challenge. XXX

Another wet and windy day here so we will be staying inside, I hope you all manage to have a good day,

Love and huge hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                          xxxxxx

Mixed Up Saturday

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all well and set to have a nice relaxing weekend, there won't be much happening outside though as we are forecast a day of torrential rain, the fields haven't drained from the last flood yet, I don't understand how the soil in the fields will be any good for sowing crops. It must be so frustrating for farmers.

I have picked out a few cards that work great for our next challenge, all of the cards feature at least a couple of the colours from the 'mood board'.  

I am also sharing some things from Janet and Michele, I asked Janet about her new sewing machine and she shared some photos of it, you get an amazing features for the cost.!

Michele did a bit of 'shopping therapy' too a couple of weeks ago and her goodies arrived this week too, so she kindly sent us a photo of her new things.

Janet 

Janet I can't believe how many great features there are on your new machine, I always think there is far more than we would ever use but it's nice to have them there just in case!!  One feature mine has that I couldn't be without is the needle threader!!

Janet's Description:

My machine is a 'UTEN'. A name I have never come across before. The company  is owned by 'RBU INTERNATIONAL LTD.

It has 99different stitches/can use two needles at a time and many other functions-at the moment I have just used straight forward things like the automatic needle threader.

It came with a pack of extra 'feet/shuttles and others'.

The price of the machine is just under £200 which I thought was a very good price. The machine is sturdy but not too heavy.

Your machine sounds great Janet, I know that you are going to get lots of use out of it, I can't wait to see what you create. Thank you for sharing XXX

Michele

Michele really likes Sue Wilson's last collection and I have noticed that the 'DL' size card has become popular all over the place so I think that these dies are a really wise buy.  It's lovely that you have the whole collection too, so many combinations to play with.

Michele's other purchase was a very lightly used Grand Calibur, gosh my plates were in a worse state than that after the first week, so it looks like there is lots of  life left in it.  It's great to have a machine on stand by for when your platinum is no longer usable.

Michele's Description:

"My bumper purchase & my bargain machine! Look at the cutting plate-virtually no marks, there’s a few on the other side but not much more.

 Thanks so much for sharing Michele XXX

Thats all for today ladies,

I am sending you all lots of love and hugs,

Sandra

xxxxxx