Karen's TTT Challenge card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all well my lovely friends, we had a somewhat dismal day yesterday, boy was it chilly, in fact we were actually forecast snow through the night last night, I wonder if it will ?? Seems ridiculous having snow one day away from April but I guess it's not unheard of.  

Michele I hope that your hand isn't causing you too much pain today, try and rest, I know you will find it hard, hopefully you have a good book, no good relying on craft TV these days as that is as dismal as the weather!! 

I had a lovely craft afternoon yesterday, I got all set up to do a Tracy Tutorial, we started out well, although I made a right mess, paint and gesso everywhere!  I didn't know that coating my pink frog card with Gesso will leave the paint 'open' longer so that I could blend the paint through a mask, Tracy also said that the paint appears a little brighter if the card is Gesso'd.  I got the messy part of the background done (the painting).  I then started on the focal point, I stamped the sunflower and then had to 'watercolour' it, well that in itself was an obstacle, I am in no way a natural when it comes to watercolouring! 4 attempts in I gave up. The tutorial was using a light ink to stamp so that it's almost invisible when the flower is coloured, I had to add the detail of the sunflower in with a fine paintbrush, that's when I gave up!  I am waiting for Mr Amazon to bring me a fine paint brush today so that I can continue, I will not be beaten!! 

On a positive note, I then went into the kitchen a made a delicious Chicken, Leek & mushroom 'Chicken Pot Pie'  Basically chicken leek and mushroom in a creamy sauce with garlic and thyme with a puff pastry top !! It was delicious 😋

Today's card (thank heavens Karen had a more successful craft session than I did) Is Karen's challenge Journal Page for this week.                                                                                                                           Using Categories:  Stamping/Bird/ Ink Background                                                                                   Karen's Description:

Speckled egg through stencil and Tracy stamps I was inspired by a photo on FB

The hardest part was lining up the square centrally which is on foam pads and I think I should have made square smaller so that you could see the black and white stamping underneath. 

I love the technique you have used Karen, I also love the bright vibrant colouring on the flower too.  You must be so pleased with your Journal Page. 

Thank you so much for helping me out today, although your journal page will inspire us all for those last minute Challenge makes.

I hope that you all have a lovely day, wrap up warm, 

Sending love and warm hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                          xxxxxx

A 'Thinking of you ' card for a lovely friend

 

Good Morning Ladies,

I want to wish our Michele well for her Hand/wrist Surgery today, I hope that you are first on the list and home before you know it, fingers crossed that you have little pain and wish you a very speedy recovery🥰

It was a very wet and dreary day here yesterday,  quite chilly too, it rained early on but dried up and the sun tried to come out but failed,  later in day it was that rain most like mist. Such a shame as I have girls uniforms to wash and dry, it was so lovely getting it dry in the sunshine! Thank goodness for the Aga, although whether we will keep it on constantly is questionable with Gas prices hiking up this week.  It's so handy having a constantly preheated oven,  we never use the electric oven at all, it's large and takes a good 15/20 minutes to heat to 180/200. So it's swings and roundabouts really.

Today's card is one I made with a special friend in mind.  I used the SU Free (Sale-a-bration)  papers that accompany the 'Hello Friends,' stamp set, I adore the papers as they feature lovely florals and some pretty 🐦 birds. The colour palette is fresh spring colours as you can see with the striped paper down the side of the card, it shows all colours included in papers. I layered a couple of different pieces of paper onto a white piece of card, I matted a piece of Pool Party card onto a white card base, to finish my top layer I added some soft succulent ribbon finished with a bow. I stamped the sentiment and die cut with Oval layering dies, I didn't want to add anything else as I wanted that pretty bird to stand out as well as those lovely flowers.  

I hope that you all have a good day my lovelies,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                xxxxxx 

Pretty Magnolia card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

How are we all today,  what are you all up to today,  I had a lazy start to my day yesyerday as the little bit of time I spent in the garden had taken it's toll, it's got to the point that the duvet is too much weight on my legs it's painful, hey ho  the joys of getting old !!   I did enjoy being outside though, it just makes you feel better doesn't it ?!  

Janet did you get your appointment?  Our surgery is still doing same, in fact I was talking to my sister about it at the weekend,  her partner had a huge cyst on the top of his leg, he was calling drs for 4 days, when they answered at 8.04am he was 26th in queue,  so never got appointment, she ended up taking him to A &E on Friday where they treated him and said he would have ended up with Sepsis if left any longer, the infection had built up so much simple oral antibiotics wouldn't have helped.  This is where our GPs are failing us at the minute.  A lot of the ailments could be treated IF you were seen in time.  I just don't understand why they haven't gone back to normal surgery service. 

Today's card was quite a relaxing little make, I have had this Magnolia stamp for over a year and never used it,  seeing some Magnolias bursting into life got me really inspired, I had a browse on Pinterest for inspiration,  I also loved the technique Karen used on her card and wanted to haveva go.  So I stamped the Magnolia and heat embossed with Gold embossing powder,  I used a White paint pad with a waterbrush and coloured all of the flowers, when the white ink dried I used a pink ink pad to add some colour to the flower centres. I stamped the sentiment and Embossed it, I die cut it and added to the card with some twine and foam pads.  I finished the card with a bow and some sequins.

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                xxxxxx 

Happy Monday

 Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you all enjoyed the lovely weekend, we were blessed with lovely weather, although yesterday wasn't as warm and sunny as we hoped. We got sun 🌞 later in the afternoon,  it was around through the day but was hidden by ⛅️ clouds.  We still had a lovely day though.  

We went and found a 'proper' Garden Centre at Greatfield a little village in the middle of nowhere, it sold only flowers, plants and the things you need to grow them.  It was absolute chaos inside but it was one of those places that if you asked for a special nut and bolt for your greenhouse the old chap would know exactly where to lay his hands on one. The plants were amazing prices,  7 incn pots of Herbaceous plants were £1.69, had that have been 'Dobbie's' they would have been double the price, it was a proper Aladdins cave!  No coffee shop though so it was back home for afternoon tea, we bought a loaf of fresh bread yesterday so we had smoked salmon & cream cheese sandwich and Sophie bought a selection of cream cakes and scones on Saturday so that we could have afternoon tea, I had a Raspberry/Cream Horn.  As I am writing this we still hadn't decided on what to eat for dinner.  

Today's card is the Sympathy card that Sonia made for us after we lost Paul's Dad, it is perfect for the occasion and with a change if sentiment would work for lots of other occasions too.  I absolutely love that Script Background stamp, the font is so pretty, the butterfly 🦋 has a lovely shape too  keeping it monochrome allows you to take in all the detail. It would work for this weeks challenge too.

Categories: Stamping/Die Cut/ Butterfly 

Thank you so much for such a lovely card Sonia ❤

I hope that you all have a lovely Monday,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                xxxxxx 

Your Flower Challenge Cards

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

Firstly today I want to wish all of you wonderful Ladies,  A very Happy Mother's Day, you ladies are the closest thing to a Mum that I have, I love and appreciate you more than you will ever know. It's so comforting to me knowing that are all there for me 🥰😘❤

We have no plans as such for today, just a relaxed a chilled day, we were going to go do a National Trust house and Garden but I feel a little bit guilty leaving Lucy on her own as she is still poorly, we also need to sow some seeds and there are so many jobs to do in the garden,  we might go and have a wander around a garden centre or something. 

I hope that you all get to have a lovely day with family if possible, relax and chilled out day if not. 

Now lets see your floral cards .....

Maria

Maria's Description:

My first card is the Card I made using Ukraine 🇺🇦 Flag colours. 

The Poppy and Hyacinth cards are made using the New stamps that I bought at Ally Pally.

Maria your cards are amazing, Your Ukraine card has the colours 'spot on' and you have also added that stunning Sunflower that is Ukrainians National Flower.  It couldn't be more perfect ! 

I loved the stamps that you bought at Ally Pally and the cards you have made with them show how great they are. The background you have made for the Poppy card is lovely,  the pops of yellow draw your eye, I love the lines across the background too, you have kept it simple enough that the stamped image takes centre stage.   

The Hyacinth card is equally beautiful,  I love that delicate background and the colours you have used on the Hyacinth itself work beautifully the yellow in the background really makes those purple petals pop.  Thank you so much for taking part in Sonia's Flower Challenge.  XXX 

Janet 

Janet's Description:

"Here are my CC for this week.

Have a good week-end. loads of love and hugs xxxx

Both my Challenge Cards for this week are made using LABLANCHE'S KIT FOR 'EASTER'.'

Janet these cards are stunning, those papers are divine, I may well have to go looking for them.  The pressed flowers look so realistic,  that stunning pink flower (looks like a fancy tulip to me but I am probably wrong) is breathtaking, look at the shading on its petals,  LaBlanche is the queen of detail!!  Thank you so much for Supporting Sonia's Flower Challenge. XXX

Karen 

Karen's Description:

Card1: 

I did this card at a make and take at Ally Pally and finished colouring it at home I added the JL poinsettia to make it a little Christmassy.

Card 2:

I followed Hazel’s technique 

You must use a stamp press 

Stamp it in black onto the Kraft card Once dry just paint over the top

When paint dry stamp again 

Don’t take it out of platform so that you can stamp over the top again. Then used a Pencil to shade.

Two lovely cards Karen, I really love how you have just coloured the coat red, it's like those amazing paintings you see of london that are grey scale apart from a london Bus or phone box.  It could have been any season but cleverly adding the poinsettia changes into a lovely Christmas card. 

I have a 'thing' for Kraft card, so this second card really appeals to me,  the design maybe simple but the shading takes ages. It is so effective though, I am definitely going to make one of these.                  Thank you so much for two lovely  cards & Supporting Sonia's Challenge  Karen  XXX 

Sonia 

Sonia's Description:

Card 1:

The first card I’ve used Sue Wilson flowers and inked them in Spun Sugar and Tumbled Glass distress inks. The ceramic dots in the centres are from The Stamp Market. I haven’t put a sentiment on yet, but will wait for an occasion to use it for.

Card 2:

The second card I’ve used AALL and Create flower stamp. I kept it simple to show the detail of the flowers, using Kraft card for my Matt. The sentiment is from LOTV.

Card 3:

The third card, I used a Tim Holtz flower stencil, inked in Spun Sugar (quite difficult to see in the photo though) I’ve used an AALL and Create stamp and sentiment. The flowers are Sue Wilson’s and The Stamp Market dots in the centres.

WOW!! Sonia,  3 absolute stunners!!  The first card is so pretty, I love those 'sugared almond ' pastel colours, it would make a perfect Easter card.

Your second card is so beautiful in its simplicity,  a stamp as detailed as that, that has taken the artist hours, deserves to be seen in its simplest form so that we can appreciate the exquisite detail.  

Your third and final card just perfect, I love the background,  I love those simple flowers too, that sentiment works beautifully. 

Thank you so very much for choosing such a great challenge,  you can see how much everyone enjoyed it by that amazing display above X❤X

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi, here is my card for this week, very basic I’m afraid. Mariane stamp not sure where the stencil came from. Oxide inks for the background. Echo line pens for the flowers . 

Absolutely beautiful Spring card, this card would work perfectly for Easter, Get Well as well as birthday.  That stamp is lovely, is that lovely background detail part of the daffodil stamp, or something you have added yourself? Either way I love it. ❤️.  That pretty yellow background is the perfect backdrop!  

Now I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, I know what an effort getting in your craft room must have been, I hope you got a little bit of joy while you were Crafting my lovely 😍 XXX

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Ladies I hope that you all have a wonderful Mothering Sunday .

Sending my love and huge hugs to all of you, 

Sandra

xxx❤xxx

Mixed Up Saturday

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

Ladies it's going to be so miserable going back to the colder weather next week, don't get me wrong it is absolutely freezing first thing when I went to see Paul off and let Milo out, waking up to blue skies just warms your heart though. 

What do you all have planned for this weekend, are any of you spending Sunday with family??  Mine are all working on Sunday so I think we will maybe go and look around a National Trust house or Garden if house isn't open,  we might take a nice picnic with us and the flask.  The last time we had a piece of cake at a National Trust place it was awful, I might even make some scones this afternoon to take with us.

Maria has shared her latest Diamond Painting, what a stunning Peacock, the colours are so bright and vibrant, the Peacock looks so majestic.  I love it Maria, we used to live beside Tattershall Castle and we had their Peacocks in our garden all the time,  seeing them fan their tales is magical, their cry sounds ao much like a baby or small child though, which can be frustrating!  Thank you so much for sharing him with us Maria X❤️X

Diecutting Essentials Issue 88 Review 

Today I am reviewing Issue 88 of Diecutting Essentials Magazine. The free Dies that come with this issue are actually really nice, you can layer them or use them individually. The Oval die is really pretty and would make lovely Easter cards.

Nicky has made some beautiful cards for all occasions with the free dies, there is a 'How To' on using the Butterflies to create a stencil.  I love some of the cards especially that one with the three panels.  

Get your glitter out girls!! Let's have some messy fun!! This feature shares some ideas for making some glittery stained glass effects.                                I mean they look amazing but I'm not sure I could be bothered with the mess! Some beautiful cards though. 

I really like these features that get you looking at your dies in different ways, in this case its using nesting dies to create frames, now I know that most of us know how to do this but its remembering to do it thats the issue, in my case anyway!  

Now I dont usually share these articles in the magazine as they are basically Advertising,  BUT I haven't heard of 'The Ton' craft company, these cards are so beautiful,  I did a close up of that background die as it's so delicate and lovely at the same time. I have left the advert for stockists above if you want to have a look. 

Another feature using the free dies, some beautiful cards, something for most occasions.

Ingrid shows three different ways to use 1 embossing folder,  basically,  inking the folder and then embossing,  carefully using a clear embossing ink over raised areas and adding gold embossing powder and the third technique is using a sanding tool to rub the very top of the embossed area off.

These pretty cards are made using the dies and free downloadable papers. The colours are beautiful. 

Lastly this feature shows you different ways of using your hexagon dies to create cards for men. 

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

I would say that this month's issue is worth buying, some great features and lovely inspiration.

I hope that you lovely ladies have a wonderful weekend, 

Sending my love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                xxxxxx 

Our Next Challenge

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

Well that's another week done, what a week it's been!  Our first family case of Covid, poor Becca has had a miserable week, Rheumatology clinic, bloods and Xrays on Tuesday,  coming home feeling terrible,  thinking it was just stress from hospital, only to discover after feeling worse on Wednesday that she had Covid !!, it has really knocked her down bless her,  she was in tears yesterday, she said that even her hair folicles hurt, which I read is actually a symptom.  To add to her woes, she has birds in her chimney,  she had it capped last year but they put the wrong cap on and birds can still get in!  So she has been laying in bed terrified that the bird will fly out of the fireplace in her bedroom,  Benji keeps barking  up the chimney, which would be fine, but the debris that the birds are sending down is making a huge mess and at some point as Benji has had his head at the chimney he has ended up with something in his eye, so he had to have an emergency vet appointment today costing Becca £160, while Adam was bundling Benji into the car he noticed that the windscreen had a huge crack across it, obviously a car has flicked a stone up causing the crack!  The insurance want £120 to replace windscreen,  so without even getting out of bed today she has lost £300!                                                                                     I only ever hear from Becca about once a week as she is usually super busy at work, not getting in until really late, so it's been quite a shock to the system having 4 calls a day !!  I do hope she feels better today.x

Our Next Challenge 

I decided that it was about time we did another TicTacToe Challenge as we haven't done one for a while, I looked through quite a few but couldn't find one that a decent selection of choices, so I decided to make my own! 

I have tried to include something that would suit everyone's taste/style etc, any occasion too, so that those wanting to make Christmas cards have enough choices.  The other big thing I wanted to cover was Journal pages.           

So I hope there is enough categories that please you, you can pick ANY 3

If you want to 'Challenge' yourself further go for 3 in a row.     

Whatever you choose have fun with if, I am excited to see what you all create.

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I hope that those of you that are under the weather will start feeling better, gentle hugs are on their way 🤗 ❤️ 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx

  

Pretty Very Vintage Floral card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

How are we at Thursday already??? This week has absolutely flown by.  We had the best day of  the year weather wise yesterday, beautiful 🌞 sunshine all day and lovely and warm too, in fact we walked to the post box to post Paul's Mum's Birthday/ Mother's Day cards, it was that lovely that we decided to go and look at the river and then went for a walk around the village,  it was odd not seeing people out and about but with so many having covid I guess they were lying low inside.  Becca felt too exhausted to do anything yesterday, she said she just wanted to sleep, she is usually a real "busy bee", she gets bored sat doing nothing, the other symptom she was telling me about was theat she was absolutely ravenous! She had to do an amazon food shop to stock up as Adam wouldn't be home until after 9pm.  I really wanted to suggest that she came home to recuperate but we don't want to catch it, which makes me feel so mean!  I kept checking on her throughout the day though, bless her, I hope she is over it   

Today's card I made yesterday afternoon,  I wanted something Spring looking,  so decided to use Yellow/Green before I decided on the stamp set.  Now I don't remember using this stamp as a focal point on a card before , its the floral spray from the Very Vintage Stampin Up! Stamp set.  I placed the stamp into my stamp platform and coloured the image with my Zig Clean Colour pens, after colouring the image I misted the stamp with water and stamped it onto white card, I cut the image down and added a mat of card that I coloured with the same green marker,  I added some stamping to the background using the doily stamp from the set coloured with the yellow marker.  To finish the card I added some Yellow gingham ribbon to the stamped centre piece and added a tag stamped with a 'Thanks' sentiment. I coloured a second with green pen and adhered that to the back of the sentiment and attached to the card with a bit more of the ribbon.

I hope that we are all blessed with another beautiful day today.

Sending my love and hugs to you all,

Take extra care and please stay safe,

Sandra                                                                                xxxxxx 

Floral 80th Birthday card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

Oh aren't we blessed with the weather at the moment,  Lucy wanted me to go to Matalan with her, I have to say that I was amazed at the lovely Home Decor section and they had some lovely clothes too, I bought a couple of bits, nothing very exciting though.  

I was supposed to be going to Becca's Rheumatology appointment with her, luckily we checked though as unless you are under 18 they don't let anyone in with you, I do understand but when you have life long/ life limiting illness it should be ok to bring someone with you for support, there are lots of things that need discussing, lits of things to remember about drug side effects, especially around fertility etc, Becca gets so anxious in case she had to have Blood Tests or her massively swollen elbow drained, so all questions tend to go out of the window.  She did have a blood test but she has to go back to have her elbow drained. The consultant told her that she had Arthritis in her jaw now too, she had an idea as it was painful to open her mouth wide.   She will start Methotrexate Injection,  luckily it's a Pen type needle, so she doesn't have to draw the drug up, swap needle and then inject the drug.  She has had Methotrexate before but in tablet form,  which made her very nauseous. Fingers crossed it will work and she will have more movement,  after a few weeks she will be prescribed the Biological drug (Humira) to take alongside the Methotrexate. I just want her to be pain free! 

Today's card I finished about 10pm lady night,  it is Paul's Mum's 80th Birthday card, I used my Sara Davies Vintage Lace paper pad with my Heartfelt Creations Book Dies to create the card, I made the flowers with Crafters Companion Flower Foam and stamens.  I die cut the Sentiment in Silver Mirror card,  I placed the MUM letters directly onto the card but they looked lost, so I added them to an oval die layered onto Mirror card. 

I do hope that she will like it.  

I will upload a clearer photo later today, it was dark by the time I finished so it wasn't the best conditions to photograph. 

I hope that you all have a lovely day, 

Love and Hugs to all,

Sandra                                                                                xxxxxx 

Mother's Day Flower Card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

How are we all today,  we were blessed with another beautifully sunny day, it felt colder than yesterday though, it's so lovely to have all the windows open letting that fresh country air in, we stripped the bed while it was sunny and breezy too, nothing feels as good as line dried bedding,  it just smells fresher!  I did regret not remembering to close the window earlier though, as I went in the bedroom at 4.30pm to take my meds and it was freezing in there. It felt clean and aired though. 

I sat and made Paul's Mum's Mothers Day card yesterday afternoon,  the pale yellow looks darker on camera, I paired it with cream for a softer look, I used Sara Davies Vintage Lace Rectangle dies for the detail, I didn't have a Mother's Day stamp though, I have no idea what i used to use, after rifling through a load of Magazine stamps I found one, it isn't perfect but looks okay, I embossed it with gold embossing powder for a more luxurious look, I used gold edged ribbon to match it too  I arranged the flowers and for a change I used Pinflair Glue rather than my hot glue gun, it made less mess,  there were no glue strings everywhere either!  I felt a bit nostalgic filling up the syringe, like the old days of crafting ( when we used Kanban kits)!  Anyway I hope she likes it, I don't find it easy doing Mother's/Fathers Day cards, I just treat it like any other card, try not to think about it.  I have to make her birthday card today, she will be 80 on Friday!! 

Guess who forgot to make the bed before bedtime,  there is nothing worse than being ready for bed and walking in to find an unmade bed!!  It was lovely once it was made though 😁

Lilian I hope that you are over the worst of Covid, we are laying low as our whole village has a mass infection as they all went to a leaving drinks party at the pub a week or so ago and everyone that went has become ill with covid.  That's how easy it can spread,  the newest varisnt is even worse than omnicron 

Take care and stay safe my lovely friends,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra                                                                                xxxxxx