Happy New Year's Eve

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

I just want to focus on wishing all of my Wonderful Blog Family a Very Happy and Healthy (as possible 🤣😂) 2023!! 

I cannot find the right words to explain to you all how much you mean to me.  It doesn't matter what I face in my life I know I can turn to you for advice and comfort but mostly because I know that you will all listen, sometimes that's all we need as there are so many things that we all have to deal with that nobody can do anything about, but just knowing that you have someone that you can reach out to knowing that they will hear you out without judging your decisions or choices.  

You are all the perfect hand picked family, I couldn't wish for better.  We may only be a small group but my goodness what we lack in numbers we 100% make up for in Love, Support,  Sincerity and Creativity of course.

One thing's for sure 2022 would have been so much harder without ALL of you!!  

I feel I can go into 2023 with that little bit more confidence knowing that you lovely ladies have my back.  

I wish each and every one of you all you wish for and so much more ❤️ 

Thank you all fron the very bottom of my heart for supporting me through 2022.

Love and HUGE hugs winging their way to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx 

Maria's Lovely Christmas Card

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

Did you do anything exciting yesterday?  I have definitely picked up this bug from Lucy,  she went into work yesterday and absolutely regretted it as coughing has made her ribs feel really bruised, she couldn't stop coughing all day either, she says that people look at you like you have covid as you are constantly coughing!  It makes you ache like you have never ached before! 

I got up and dressed early on but ended up just laying on the bed reading all morning,  Paul did too, we sat and started our first jigsaw, we got three this year, Paul bought me one as my mum always bought us one and it became a tradition, he wanted the tradition to carry on, so did my sister, Matt also bought us all one that looks virtually impossible,  its all of the Marvel characters, the other two are 'Wasjig' puzzles that don't actually show you the picture you need to create, they are fun though and quite funny!   

Today's card is the lovely card that I received from Our Maria,  I love it, the main colour is of course my favourite colour,  the red and narrow green rows give the look of tartan when they are all combined.  The sentiment and Holly at the bottom corners finish the card perfectly.

Thank you Maria for such a lovely Christmas card XXX 

I will restart the Challenges next Friday,  so enjoy the next week off ! 

Sending my love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra 

xxxxxxx

1 of a set of 3 Notelets

 

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope today finds you all well, Karen I hope you aren't too overloaded with work on your first day back my lovely.  

Brenda I am sure both you and John have that ringing in your ears you get when you have been in a house full of people and then you are just sat on your own!  I get it after a long car journey too!  I'd be surprised if you didn't spend a couple of  days napping!! I was like that yesterday,  Paul sat and read his book I was just pottering,  later on I summoned the energy to go and sit and make a card, I made a set of Notelets. 

This is the first of three notelets, I am using this beautiful paper sparingly because I love it, so I intend to get as many projects out of it that I can, the paper is cut to 3x3 inch, matted onto a Mossy Meadow matt that us 1/4 inch bigger, I embossed a piece of white card for the background and then matted the whole lot onto a white 4x4 inch base card.  I added a sentiment and three tiny diamantes to finish the card.  

Another lazy day for us, I feel like I have the start of the nasty cough/flu bug that our Lucy has had for past week, I made her do a covid test she was that bad on Monday, yesterday I had rotten tummy pains, today my chest hurts and I have that odd feeling when I breathe in,  I swear these bloody antibiotics have ruined my immune system! 

I hope that the weather isn't too rough where you are, 

Sending my love and hugs to all,

Sandra xxx

It's Wednesday already!

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

It was so lovely having everyone here yesterday but as always it makes you appreciate the quiet when they all go home 🤣😅😂

Janet as it turns out it was a blessing that you weren't booked on a Ferry today, poor Jim I do hope that the Antibiotics kick in really fast and he is feeling better by the weekend  XXX 

Sonia, Paul and I tested positive for 12 days so you may have a few more days home yet, definitely a good job you didn't take that new job or you'd be worrying even more. Another sign you did the right thing!  XXX 

Sue, sorry to hear that some of your family have been poorly,  such a shame this time of year with all the family get togethers, I hope you have had a lovely time so far XXX 

We are having a very relaxed day today, it was lovely having everyone here yesterday but It's exhausting entertaining!  Even when it's your kids! 

Today I am sharing the portrait Sophie drew for me as part of my Christmas present, I was sad earlier in year that i didn't have a nice photo with them all in together.  She said that she listened and remembered, bless her heart, she's so incredibly talented ❤️ 

I hope that you all have a wonderful Wednesday, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra X❤X

Lilian's Christmas Card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you all had a relaxed Boxing Day, ours was very relaxed, the girls were working,  the Wildlife Park was quite busy, they both looked exhausted when they got home, Sophie went off to Lewis's and Lucy felt rough, she has a really sore throat and cough bless her, she did a covid test just to be safe, which was negative thankfully as we have a house full tomorrow with Becca, Adam & Benji and Matt & Alex, I am really looking forward to it.  

I didn't feel as bad yesterday,  I think the worsening symptoms were definitely a side effect from the Estrogen pesseries, I still think that I have the UTI but it's manageable at the moment,  fingers crossed it stays that way as I finished the full course Antibiotics last night and start the low dose today. 😔😏

No cooking here yesterday,  we ate cold meat, cheeses and picky bits, which made a nice change. We are just having a cold buffet today.  

Today's card is the Christmas card I received from Lilian,  I absolutely love this scene, it looks like an ancient forest, waiting to be discovered.  Here is Lilian's Description:  

I used a piece of paper from a Stamperia pad, called forest, I had forgotten all about it, it’s mostly wild life, but I thought this background suited the the tree stamps from stamping up. A few gold stars and some stickles.

Thank you Lilian for a gorgeous Christmas card XXX 

I hope that you all have a delightful Tuesday,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx 

Happy Boxing Day

 

Good Monday morning Ladies, 

I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas Day, it sure went by in a flash, we had a very relaxed day, we opened our gifts in the morning,  then relaxed for an hour or so, I helped Paul with dinner, we prepared most of it on Christmas Eve as we were super organised for the first year ever!  We ate a delicious Christmas Dinner and afterwards we all collapsed on the sofa and the girls chose a movie or two, I napped through most of the first one as frustratingly I wasn't feeling great, I don't think the antibiotics are working again, which is so annoying,  nausea is a new symptom, so I am afraid I may have to call 111, fingers crossed for me ladies please.

I hope that Boxing Day is fun day for all of you,

Sending My love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx

Happy Christmas Day

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I just want to wish my Amazing Blog Family an absolute awesome Christmas Day,  I feel so blessed to have you Amazing Ladies supporting me every day. 

What could possibly be better than a family that you picked yourself,  you Ladies have helped me through the most trying times and  been there to celebrate our happiest moments.   

Sonia I hope that you are both well enough to enjoy your Christmas day my lovely XXX 

Maria I am so sorry that you and Rick are spending the day on your own, but it was the wisest choice,  enjoy your time skyping the boys XXX 

Brenda I hope that your journey to Essex was a smooth one, have a wonderful Christmas making wonderful memories with your lovely family XXX 

Lilian I hope that you have a lovely Christmas Day with your Children and Grandchildren,  don't over do it and exhaust yourself XXX 

Karen I hope that those gorgeous boys fill your Christmas day with smiles and laughter XXX 

Sue I hope that you and your lovely family have a fantastic Christmas day XXX 

Cheryl I hope you have a lovely Christmas with your family XXX 

Michele   I hope that you and Phil have a lovely Christmas with your family XXX 

Gina,  I hope you got those Lanterns finished!! Have an amazing Christmas with your family XXX 

Wishing anyone else looking  in a wonderful Christmas day too XXX 

Sending my heartfelt love and Hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx 

Happy Christmas Eve

 

Maria's Crystal Art Painting

Good Morning Ladies, 

We had a very wet and miserable day yesterday,  we needed the lights on in the morning it was so dark. I was glad we didn't have to go out anywhere!

We spent the afternoon having a marathon wrapping session, this is when I regret buying lots of little stocking fillers!   We bought a load of plastic free wrapping paper this year, only yesterday I realised it was virtually see through!!  After using up what we had bought we reverted to the massive roll of brown paper I bought last year, the problem with it is that the cellotape doesn't want to stick to it, making wrapping a real challenge, the good thing is it's all recyclable this year!  

Today I will cook the ham (it's huge) as it was the only one we could get !   Our Turkey crown is a medium one this year it only takes around two hours to cook so I think we will cook it Christmas day instead of Christmas eve.  With all the wrapping done we will have time to prep more of the food for Christmas day.  The girls are cooking dinner tonight so it will be a nice relaxed Christmas Eve for a change, the girls still like to choose where to hang their Stocking, they never wanted Santa to come in their bedroom, we always woke to our stocking at the end of our bed as Children, we would all take them into Mum & Dads room and open them on their bed.  My mum would be banging about by 6am as she was excited for us to get up and open our presents.  We must remember to put a Tangerine and a walnut in their stocking this year as they moaned I hadn't done it last year! 

Today I am sharing Maria's gorgeous Crystal Art Painting,  its justvso beautiful the photo has captured the glimmer as the light hits the Crystal beads,  What a stunning Christmas image too, that dog is looking at the bird with curiosity, having a snowy scene makes it so festive, what a lovely gift that you can get out every year, I have my one out that you sent me Maria. 🥰😍 

Thank you so much for sharing it with us Maria, I am looking forward to see the nect one xxx

I hope that you all have a productive day,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx 

A beautiful Christmas card from Sonia

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

Thank goodness it's Friday,  all the shopping is done, anything we haven't got now we can do without, we have most things, the hot property this year that seem impossible to get hold of is Biscuits for cheese (Crackers)! We tried everywhere, but nothing in any shop, we tried Asda, Morissons, Aldi M&S and Lidl !! Not even a Jacobs Cream Cracker in any of them!  It's an odd thing for supermarket to run out of !! So we have lots of cheese but no crackers!  Our favourites are Cornish wafers and Butter Puffs !  Do you a have a favorite Cracker?? 

What are you all up to today?  We are going to finish any preparations that can be done today, I think we will mostly be wrapping presents while the girls are at work, it will be a first for us not to be wrapping gifts into the early hours of Christmas day!  Lol 🤣😂.   I have to say I do miss the days when they all still believed in the magic of Christmas,  the excitement on Christmas Eve,  putting the Mince pie and drink for santa and carrots for the reindeers, we used make flour footprints and make the carrotts look like they were part eaten!  We had a set of sleigh bells that we used to jingle as they went to bed to get them even more excited, they loved spending the day baking, I remember doing the same with my Mum.                   These days they all work Christmas Eve, they do still get excited on Christmas Eve though,  Paul still checks 'Norad' Santa tracker (for fun)  the girls still play along, its hilarious.  Don't you wish they stayed young and innocent forever?!   Sophie and Lucy are working Boxing day too and New Year's Eve and New Years Day, Becca will be too I think.  Hopefully we will have a day in-between where we can all get together. 

Today's card is the gorgeous Christmas card that I received from our Sonia, it is a beautiful design, it sparkles beautifully as the Christmas lights reflect in the glittery background.  I love how delicate the die cut snowflakes on the front of the card are.  Thank you so much Sonia XXX

I hope that you all have a productive Christmas Eve, Eve ! 

Sending love and hugs to you all,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx 

Monochrome Floral Card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

How are you all getting on with your Christmas shopping?  I think we are mostly done, we went food shopping yesterday when Paul got home, we will have to pop out Friday morning and get the last of the fridge bits, fresh bread etc.  Paul had extra leave to use up, plus a couple extra days from Airbus, so he has finished now until 3rd January, that's actually like a Christmas gift to me 🎁🥰

Are you all having family come to you or are you going to stay with family at the weekend??  We are at home, just Myself, Paul and the girls, Matt is cooking Christmas dinner for himself and Alex, Alex only gets Christmas day and Boxing day off, so it's important for them to spend it together.  Becca & Adam are hosting Christmas Dinner for a fully booked Restaurant,  after which they are travelling down to Lymington to Adam's Parents for a couple days, they will call in and see us on their way home.  It will seem very quiet after last weekend but we are looking forward to a more relaxed day, we had everyone with us last year on Christmas Day so we have earnt a quiet one. !!! 

Today's card I sat and finished yesterday,  I started along with  a couple of other projects on Monday while waiting for the GP to call, I just couldn't concentrate on one thing!                                               I die cut a piece of the Cottage Rose Dsp using the matching die set, I love that it has monochrome pages included, after die-cutting the Dsp I used the same die to cut some funky foam and the black card that would create the main focus of my card.  I adhered the die cut flowers and stems to the funky foam, this really raised the detailed flowers from the backing,  I simply had to fit the pieces back into their correct aperture on the card front.  I finished the card with a simple sentiment.   I think it looks quite effective. I included a side shot so that you could see the depth.

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra                                                                                xxxxxx 

Karen's Gorgeous Gnomes Card

 

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all having a good day,  I also hope that those of you feeling under the weather are starting to feel stronger and better xxx

My day was super busy yesterday!  So today will be a 'take it easy' day!  Lucy and I went into Swindon town centre, my goodness me that place is depressing,  its mostly haunting dark concrete shops that are boarded up or abandoned, there are only a fraction of the shops there used to be, we could only get a space in a multi storey car park, the first space was on the third floor, so we got out and ready and made our way to the lift area, what a waste of time, we called a member of staff over and he just shrugged and said "no its not working " so we set off walking down the exit ramps, they are a huge hill !  We heard someone calling us and it was an attendant,  he wanted to apologise as he hadn't realised I was on a wheelchair,  I told him that 'it was frustrating but okay' I told him that he should check the lifts and leave a HUGE notice as csrs drived in, warming them that the lift wasn't working!  

We managed to get a few last minute gifts while we were out, so it wasn't all bad! 

Today's card collection were made by our Karen,

Karen's Description:

My family of gnomes The 2 on the right are ones I did at the Daisy B workshop and the 2 on the right are kits I bought and decorated at home

Oh Karen those Gnomes are just so gorgeous, I love  every part of them, there is so much detail from those adorable beards too, your boys will love them Karen ❤️ 

That's it for today, I hope you have a productive day,

Love and hugs to all of you 

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx 

Michele's Fantastic Christmas card

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

Well yesterday was very wet and wild, it was lot warmer though.  Paul was shocked at how Sunday early morning the car temperature read -4° and Monday it was +12!  So crazy,  I was ready for it to be warmer though,  I am suck of sitting and shivering,  or getting out of bed to use toilet and then struggling to get warm again.  

What a long frustrating day yesterday turned out to be!! I called the surgery at 8 25am, but didn't get through to speak to Receptionist until 9.10am after having to explain at great length my situation,  I explained that I still didn't feel right (although I had started to think that I am just paranoid about the symptoms imagining I felt something when i went to the loo)  Turns out I was still having symptoms,  as although I gave in a sample first thing Monday morning, which was back on Wednesday indicating that Co-amoxiclav wasn't going to work for this infection, the surgery neglected to let me know, so I took a full 7 day course for nothing 😡  I did say that it was the same antibiotic that she prescribed me, she said that when she prescribed it it was effective and it had built up resistance that week!  So results.... my scan showed that my kidneys and bladder are fine, I am emptying fine etc, which is good news,  although I just want answers!  So we are back to square ⬛️ 1 !!                                             Going forward, today I start another 7 day Course of Nitrofurantoin,  followed by a 3 month short course the day after I finish the full course. 😢😭 She has also made an appointment for me on 4th Jan to discuss Hormone replacement choices, as she is convinced that it is menopause that is causing the problems, particularly Estrogen.  I'm not so sure but we'll see what's on offer.   So I will be spending Christmas on Antibiotics,  which isn't great and the Nitrofurantoin do make you feel rough.  She did agree 100% that I take Keffir fermented yoghurt every day, to help replace my good bacteria and repair my Microbiome from the damage caused by 6 courses of antibiotics back to back !! 

On a lighter note...Today's fantastic Christmas card was sent to from our Michele, such a lovely surprise. I love the Clean and Crisp design,  the photo doesn't capture how much the trees sparkle with the glitter card behind them, it really catches the light on the mantelpiece! I absolutely love your design Michele,  thank you so much my lovely XXX 

I hope that you all have a terrific Tuesday ,

My love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx 

Sonia's adorable Christmas cards

 

Good Morning Ladies,

All of our snow has finally gone, we had sleet/rain most of yesterday that melted any remaining snow and Ice, my Sister insisted on staying out in her Campervan on Saturday night despite it being -3 degrees, she said that they were fine though, they said that they had woken up and were watching the birds and squirrels on the bird feeders we have in the trees, she had watched the squirrel open the fat block cage and take the whole block!  Cheeky thing!  Our family Christmas Dinner was hectic but fun, we had a table that Matt used for his candle stall,  we managed to get 10 of us around it, it was tight but not uncomfortable,  sadly my sister said this morning that we forgot to take any photos, such a shame on the rare occasion that we were all together.  

As you can imagine after my sister and her partner treated us out to breakfast, (from which the left to start their journey home before dark) we came home and spent the rest of the day relaxing as we were both exhausted. 

Today's cards are more of Our Sonia's gorgeous Christmas cards,  as Sonia quite rightly says  "you can't beat a Lilli of the Valley" Christmas image, this collection of cards are so adorable.

Sonia's Description:

You can’t go wrong with some LOTV images to make quick cards. I’ve teamed them up with pretty Christmas papers, Chloe’s sentiment, The Stamp Market snowflakes and a Memory Box snowflake border die 😊

Sonia the pretty papers you have used work so beautifully with the LoTV images,  like they were designed to go together.  Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful Christmas cards with us. XXX 

I hope that you ladies have a lovely day today, hopefully it will be a little warmer, 

Sending my love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Your Challenge projects

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

I hope today finds you well, I am writing this at 11pm Saturday night, the house has just calmed down, I have had a hugely busy day, it was so lovely having everyone around the table together, reminding us all of Christmases years ago.  The house just came to life, people having conversations in every room, I loved it.   I will say that after my sister leaves today we will be having a very relaxed day.  

Let's have a look at what you have been making...

Karen

I made these over 30 years ago!

Karen's Description:

Here are some photos of makes Some are very recent and some are exceptionally old!

Karen your Crocheted Critters are gorgeous, the old knitted  Santa and Angel  are so adorable.  The green dinosaur is my favourite.  Can you imagine how much money you have made for charity over the years?! 

Thank you so much sharing XXX

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

This year I decided to make cards for my work colleagues - 9 in total. I’ve used The Stamp Market snowflake background and snowflake dies. The sentiment is from Chloe’s. I’ve used purple as that is the colour of our work uniform and we are know as the ‘Purple Angels’ ☺️

Sonia this card is absolutely gorgeous,  those die cut snowflakes work perfectly together and you have matched them perfectly with that Embossing folder. Your colleagues will love them, thank you so much for taking part XXX 

Janet

Janet's Description:

The box was made us TONIC DIES.The base card and mirror card is also TONIC.

The money wallet was also made using TONIC DIES which were released some years ago for their Christmas dies. I used TONIC mirror card on this too.

Janet I absolutely love those Tonic Hexagon boxes, I keep looking for them on the selling pages. they are so beautifully detailed.  I love your sewing themed  one too, I made the one you sent me into a sewing box fir Becca.  

Your card is so beautifully detailled, so festive looking with the foiled card. 

Thank you so much for sharing with them with us XXX

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi hope you are feeling better. Here is my card for this weeks challenge. I’m sorry I can’t remember where all of the things came from; the swirls are stamping up. The numbers I had when I used to use my big shot. Hope you are having a lovely time with your family. Lilian

Oh what a lovely idea for a New Year card Lilian, New Year and Easter are the only occasions I haven't made cards for.  I love that Embossing folder too.  Thank you so much for inspiring me XXX

Ladies thank you so very much for sharing your crafty projects today.  For those of you that don't see all of the items you sent to me, I have saved some for next week,  I hope you don't mind xxx 

Sending love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Happy Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

A brief post today as we have a very busy day  ahead, I am hoping to get all the meat cooked early this morning so that the oven is free for the roast potatoes,  parsnips,  sausagemeat  loaf etc.   We went and did all of the shopping last night, we were chatting to the chap on the till and I said "are you prepared for a mad busy store next week"  he then told us that a huge number of people had already bought theirs so that they don't have to go out next week, a very sensible move but I like to get longest dates possible on what I buy.   When do you all fo and do yours ?  

This rich, opulent Christmas card, catches the light beautifully,  I just illuminates on the mantelpiece.  This is a lovely die set Janet is it a Tonic set?  

I tried to capture the shine from the red shiny card and the glitter on the background,  the pretty Poinsettia is made using beautiful iridescent silver, I have caught the Aroura Borealis  look as the twinkle in the light.  Thank you so much for such q gorgeous Christmas card Janet   I love it XXX 

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                           xxxxx

Pretty Floral Card

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

Another week has flown by, there are only two weeks left of this year, it's so crazy, this year has literally flown by, is it just me or has it flown by for you too?! 

We have a very busy weekend ahead as my Sisters are driving up from Essex & Suffolk tomorrow,  my sister Claire is staying over in her Campervan, rather her than me, fingers crossed they have a good heater! As the temperatures aren't getting anywhere near above Freezing, in fact the car was reading -6 yesterday and despite us having lovely sunshine all day yesterday not one blade of grass defrosted!! 

So with everyone being busy on the run up to Christmas I didn't want to do a Challenge this week, you all have enough to think about. 

I will ask if you would share anything crafty that you have either been making or received so that I can fill some of the days over Christmas, if you don't mind xxx

Today's card I made yesterday morning,  I have bee  playing with stamp sets and dies that I have bought and not used yet or used very little.  The beautiful paper collection I cut a piece of is called "Awash In Beauty " which is a beautiful floral collection.  I cut a 3 x 3 inch square of the paper and added a Balmy Blue mat, I added that to a 4 1/8 X 5 1/2"inch card base. I added a piece of embossed Whisper white paper and added a narrow strip of the paper collection in a contrasting colour, I embellished that with a piece of white twine and a die cut label with the stamped 'Happy Birthday ' greeting.  I added some tiny pearls to the flowers to finish them off. I love the pretty Spring colours of this card, I was inspired by a collection of cards on Pinterest by Blue Rose crafts.  

I hope that you all have a lovely Friday,  

Sending love and warm hugs,

Sandra                                                                            xxxxxx 

A pretty Floral card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

How are you all feeling, there does seem to be some horrible bugs around at the moment,  Lucy has a nasty cough and cold with chills and flu like aches all over her body, Matt was convinced he has covid back,  I explained that it was doubtful but he had similar symptoms to Lucy with body aches etc.  I hope that you are all managing to dodge the germs, I think that we all have enough to deal with as it is. 

Lucy and Sophie are having a bonus week off as the Wildlife Park remains closed due to the car park and footpaths being so icy, its fun having them home but it seems like there is always someone in the pantry and the kettle hasn't been off all day,  it's a good job we don't have a Smart meter, I'd be looking at the thing every five minutes, do you ladies have them??

Today's card is a very quick and simple card that I sat and made yesterday afternoon,  I was really just playing with a stamp set and matching punch (for the vase).  I hadn't even opened it and I have had it since October but we have been focusing on Christmas cards since then.  It's a two step stamp set, the bottle has the main bottle and an outline that gives circle at the bottom detail then the flowers have the petals (which I stamped in Pale Papaya) and the leaves and flower centres (which I stamped in Garden Green) the same colour as the bottle.  I did punch the bottle out as I was having a play with all elements but it would have been better to have stamped it direct to paper as I think flowers should stand proud of the vase, but I wasn't about to fussy cut the flowers on this occasion.  To finish the card I created a tiny label and stamped 'with love' and stuck that to top of the bottle and attached a Pale Papaya Bow to finish.                           Now with hindsight and had I been in a better frame of mind I would have cut the stamped layer smaller and matted and layered an extra layer with some texture, embossing etc, but for a little experiment piece it's ok.  I might even have a play with it today, watch this space!  🤣

Ladies I hope that you are able to stay warm and cosy today, 

Sending love and warm hugs,

Sandra                                                                                xxxxxx 

Brenda's Amazing Christmas card

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

I hope today finds you all well, sending love and gentle hugs to those of you that are feeling under the weather.                                                                       Talking of weather we still have a fair amount of snow laying about around us, the hospital had a good few inches of snow still on the ground yesterday, it was treacherous in places.  The temperature isn't rising enough to melt the frozen snow.                                                                                   The Radiographer was lovely yesterday, she was very thorough, I was having to physically concentrate to not lose any of the 1.5 litre of water I had to drink an hour before my appointment, having a UTI didn't help.  Anyway fingers crossed I will get some feedback from the GP soon, the lady said she would email everything to our GP by mid afternoon yesterday.  So how long will I have to wait I wonder ?! 🤔 

My sister met some lovely friends while on holiday in September this year, they were invited over to Germany to visit them and visit Christmas Markets,  they flew out last Thursday and were supposed to fly home on Sunday night but all flights were cancelled out of Hannover due to snow,  they were supposed to fly into Heathrow,  they initially told them they wouldn't be able to fly out until Tuesday/Wednesday,  which just didn't work as they both had important work commitments, after many hours of discussions they were able to find alternative routes home,  it cost them £500 more!! They also were flying into London City instead of Heathrow, they also had to fly out of Hannover onto Amsterdam and then to London City,  once they got to Amsterdam they were left waiting as London City Airport hadn't opened yet,  so they were left waiting,  eventually they were diverted again this time to Southampton,  which then cost an Extra £100 for Train Tickets!  She was so relieved to be home bless her she was tearful, she said would NEVER fly in Winter again.  It's such a shame as they had a wonderful time with their friends and she said the German Christmas Markets were hust incredible. She is hoping to claim some of their extra expenses back. It is so shocking that just a few centimetres of snow can cause so much chaos!! How do countries like Canada cope ??

Brenda had a lovely craft session on Monday and has very kindly shared her creations with us, I am showing one of the cards today, it is so lovely.  The cards started out with Brenda playing with Yupo paper and Alcohol inks, on the card above the Alcohol ink piece is just so lovely, it really works as the sky outside of that beautiful die cut window, I am always so tempted to buy this die, I  really love those candles too.  Everything about your  composition works beautifully Brenda, you must be so delighted with it.  Thank you so much for sharing your lovely Christmas card with us. 

I finally got my Christmas cards in the post yesterday, which is such a relief.  Let's hope they all arrive before the postal strikes return! 

I hope that you all have a lovely day, 

Love & hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx

A little bit of Sparkle

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

From a freezing Wiltshire,  the snow that we had yesterday has frozen solid overnight, Paul and I looked like we were doing Couples Ice Skating getting from the back door to the car 🤣😂 !  I went to the Surgery because I thought it would be less frustrating than phoning for an appointment! How WRONG I was, initially she refused to take my urine sample,  claiming that there was nobody in the practice to dip it, I explained that it didn't need dipping, it just needs sending off to lab, she then asks 'Says Who'!! I explained that the GP I saw 2 weeks ago told me to bring a sample in today to make sure that 3rd batch of antibiotics worked,  but as they hadn't the Out of Hours GP instructed me to bring one in today too.  She took it begrudgingly,  then came the part I knew would be fun, I said "I also need to speak to a Doctor" , well there's no chance of that today was reply, this was in the morning,  I explained that Dr Aitchinson had asked me to follow up with her in particular as she wants to see this infection resolved.  Apparently she is not available until next week, so I asked if i could book an appointment for then, well No!  I will have to call Monday morning to book an appointment for Monday, then if not we'll try Tuesday etc etc, how bloody ridiculous is this system!!  So I will try again then, somehow I need to make sure that I have a course of antibiotics on hand to take over Christmas because you can guarantee it will come back Christmas eve!                                                         Let's hope today's scan gives some answers 🙏 

Today's card is one I made back in October but hadn't shared yet, I made it using one of the bargain embossing folders I got from Printable Heaven....

I believe they were £1.99 each, they are great quality.  It pays to check their website as they have some great offers from time to time. 

I took a piece of pink frog card, then prepared my embossing folder by sprinkling Mica Powder all over the raised side, I then spritzed my card with water and ran it through the die cutting machine,  the results are amazing. I cut the embossed piece down and matted onto some rose gold metallic card and then matted onto a white card base.  I added a few sparkles and a die cut stencil to finish the card.   You can make so many variations with this technique, I think we underestimate what a valuable tool our embossing folders are to be honest. 

I hope that you all have a lovely day, 

Sending love and warm hugs,

Sandra 

xxxxxx

Brenda's Beautiful Embossed Card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

It's so Cold !!! Yesterday we woke up to a Winter Wonderland,  it continued most of day, so we had to cancel our trip to Brixham, which turned out to a good thing as by late morning I was in agony with the return of the UTI, this time it got me good, I was in a mess, I waited on phone to 111 from 11.20 ish to after 1pm, waiting,  crying in pain, they said I needed to be 'seen' within an hour  but call finally came in at 5.30 ish, we then ventured out in snow to find the pharmacy the Gp sent the prescription too.!  What a day, my body is going to rebel against another course of antibiotics.   Hopefully the scan tomorrow will offer some solutions!  

I am so grateful to Brenda who kindly shared this absolutely stunning card with me for today, I tried to sit and make a card but i was either shivering or sweating and couldn't concentrate!  It turns out my UTI gave us the bonus of seeing Brenda's beautiful card,  I am grateful for it for that reason ! 

Brenda's Description:

The card I’m sending you is a copy of the card I made for Tierney’s birthday using a Crafters Companion 3D embossing folder which is 5.5“ x 5.5” I coloured it with craft chalks (similar to the colours on the packaging) it was trimmed down as the card I was putting it on was 6” x  6” and I wanted to add a mount for extra impact, then a simple sentiment and it was finished. Hope you like it.

Brenda thank you so much for sharing such a beautiful,  inspirational card, Tierney will love it, it's so pretty 😍.  Sometimes its the simplest cards that give us the the biggest WOW !  XXX 

I hope that you all manage to stay warm today, we are expecting more snow! 

Sending my love and warm hugs to all,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx

Your Old Die Challenge cards (part 2)

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

Looking out of the window yesterday and seeing the beautiful 🌞 sunshine in a clear crisp sky can't fail to make you smile, everywhere was white, each blade of grass was beautifully iced, it makes being cold a lot more bearable.  We ventured out to do some Christmas shopping,  not such a wise idea, as you can imagine everywhere was ridiculously busy, on the plus side the sun beaming through the car windows, warming my face felt like therapy, I got a good dose of Vitamin D !! 

Today we are travelling down to take Paul's Mum out for lunch, it will be nice to spend some time with her , fingers crossed the journey will be ok, we are just doing a day visit, so it will be a long day.  

What are you all up to today? 

Let's see which dies you all uncovered   .......

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:  

Hi, here is my card for this week.

Its a memory box die which I haven’t used for years. 

Cut it twice and used the flowers on top of the bottom one, so much easier than trying to colour the whole thing. 

The stencil is also an old one, not sure where 

You are definitely the Queen of creating a beautiful scene to set your dies in Lilian, such a beautiful card.  Thank you so very much for taking part XXX

Maria

Maria's Description:

Oldie die is Austrian Background die by SW on a bluish glitter card. 

The Merry Christmas is a die that came in the post this morning Emoji

On the other card is a die I never used before and it is a no name,

must have got it from wish at some time. The Poinsettia is by SW,

must have been the first set and this Merry Christmas die also came

with the post this morning oopsEmoji and a few snowflakes from my stash.

Maria your Mojo came back with a Festive Bang!  Your cards are AMAZING, that Australian background is one of those dies that you can use for any occasion, I love the sentiment you have used in the centre too.  Your second is a fantastic ' traditional' style Christmas card, that gorgeous plaid paper topped with the gorgeous Poinsettia looks incredible.  Thanks so much for taking part XXX 

Sue

Sue's Description:

My challenge card uses a The Works Christmas tree die, an unknown stag die and Hunky dory snowfall acetate. I think it needs something else but can’t work out what! Any ideas will be gladly received. 

Sue I love that Christmas tree, the stag is very majestic too, the acetate gives a lovely snowy background.  I'm not sure it needs anything else, the only thing I would suggest trying is to mat the card front onto either a gold,  green or red mat then layer on to white. I think that sometimes your eyes have nowhere as a stopping point, so the card just disappears into the background.  It's hard to explain,  maybe just sit it into a geen/Gold mat and see what you think.  Thank you so much, it was a lovely surprise to see your card XXX

Karen

Karen's Description:

Card 1:  Here’s the finished card

A Serif background and image

And the sentiment is a very old Paper Boutique die

Card 2:  Here’s the card I made and forgot to send that’s similar to Sue’s 

CE/SW EF - Contemporary Poinsettia 

Gemini die - Lyra and SueW sentiment

Card 3:  I made this card this morning for a neighbour who has just announced their engagement 

I have used an old Sizzix heart die layered that I picked up on eBay layered onto acetate 

CE Swirling Heart EF and a Sue W sentiment and Pierced Flags I used a piece of Pink Frog 36cm x 15cm card to create the tent fold card blank

Wow Karen 3 absolutely stunning cards, I forgot how much I like that Lyra die!  I remember all the different handbags that we used to make with it. Your serif card is so pretty, I love the idea of cutting that intricate image on the Scan & cut!   The engagement card you designed for your neighbour is amazing, very modern too!!  Thank you so very much for 3 fabulous Challenge cards XXX 

Janet

Janet's Description:  

Oh Janet what a pretty card (card 2)  so, so pretty,  I have thst gate die and that same 'Happy Birthday ' stamp,  I forgot how much I loved the pretty font, the font matches thst background die beautifully,  such a lovely girly card.  

My first card this week was made by using SUE WILSON EDGE DIES.These were some of the very first dies I bought when I started die cutting.

My second card is again a SUE WILSON DIE (this die is really a 'gate' but I cut the die cut down to cover the card.

Oh Janet what a pretty card (card 2) so, so pretty, I have thst gate die and that same 'Happy Birthday ' stamp, I forgot how much I loved the pretty font, the font matches thst background die beautifully, such a lovely girly card.  

Your first card is lovely too, those edger dies give that lovely 'Broderie Anglais' lace look, the pretty papers work so well with it too, it looks like a beautiful M&S dress my Becca had as a little girl. 

Thank you for two gorgeous cards my lovely XXX 

Sonia

 Sonia's Description:

I’ve used a Sue Wilson background set, added the Tim Holtz butterfly and small punched flower.

Oh Sonia this is definitely a 'Simply Perfect' card, 

That background works so well as the swirls around the centre echo the shape of the butterfly, it's like they were made to go together.  Thank you so much my lovely for a beautiful challenge card  XXX

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Oh Ladies,  what can I say but WOW,  you have created a stunning display of cards, showing that these old dies still have many more years in them yet.  We must all try to use them more throughout next year,  I will do my best to remind you. ❤

I hope you all manage to stay warm & cosy today ,

Sending my love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx