Faux Watercolour card

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

Here we are at the last day of 2023, this year has absolutely flown by, its been a challenging for me healthwise, we also took on the mammoth task of moving house which was simply exhausting!  We are happy to be starting the New Year in our New Home though,  it was definitely the right decision.

How would you all sum up your year?  

Sue if you are managing to look in from Hospital everyone sends their love and wishes you a speedy recovery xxx

Today feels very odd, not having your cards to share,  it just doesn't feel like a Sunday without them!

I had some craft time yesterday afternoon,  this card was made with a new stamp set called "inked & Tiled "

I added Pumpkin Pie and Mossy Meadow ink to the stamp and then spritzed with water to give the faux watercolour effect, I stamped onto watercolour card, next I added water to the card around the flower and then a light wash of Burnt Umber around the flower ( I know its not perfect).  I die cut the image with a circle die and added that to an embossed background and then onto a Mossy Meadow base card.  I finished the card with a sentiment die cut with a banner die and finished with a linen thread bow.

I hope that you all have a lovely restful Sunday,  

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra zxx

Polaroid style Note cards

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

I hope today finds you as well as possible,  I want to reach out and send healing hugs to Sue who is poorly with a Chest infection,  I hope you feel a little better today, Our Janet too, we miss you much, I hope you and Jim have had a lovely Christmas with family XXX 

I know Karen and Maria have been under the weather this week too so extra hugs to you too  XXX 

I am laughing as I am writing this because those of us not mentioned above are hardly kicking our heels with good health, maybe Gina is the exception to the rule!! 🤣😂😅

I had to reach out to StampinUp at the beginning of December as I had been notified that I was no longer considered a demonstrator as I hadn't spent enough during the last quarter, originally I wasn't too bothered however I had intended to stock up on some consumables before I stepped down,  so I reached out and explained that we had moved house and I had been unwell for some time, they responded to my email and they had kindly reinstated me as a demonstrator and I was at the same level, so kept the same discount level 👍👍👍

So I ordered extra plates for my little SU Diecutting machine,  that thing is a little workhorse and its a little bit wider than other small machines which makes such a difference, anyway I stocked up on plates, some card stock in my favourite colours and some ink refills, I then had a little browse and saw these gorgeous papers (6×6) called Meandering Meadows....

They are an updated version of the ones we had a couple of years ago, I always look on Pinterest before I buy anything to see how people have used them, I saw some beautiful cards.  So they went into my basket along with some other bits (all totally necessary of course) 🙄🤣😂

One project I saw was creating Polaroid style cards with them, so I cut down the papers and layered onto larger mat of white card to give the 'Polaroid' look, I decided to turn them into a set of notelets, you can remove the clip for posting if course.  I embossed the base cards, Blueberry Bushel, Bubble Bath & Pool party are the colours I used. I embossed the card bases and used the debossed side as it gave a subtler look. I saw a few versions 1 of which was a lady called Gloria Macnally. 

I hope that you all have as good a day as possible, sadly more wind and rain on the way!

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

I had a crafty afternoon!

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

Anyone else have no idea what day of the week it is?  

We had another wild and windy day yesterday,  with more rain in the afternoon, Paul managed a couple hours in the garden but I stayed on the warm.  To stop me from nodding off on the sofa I thought I would do some crafting,  I had some new Tim Holtz stamps before Christmas so I thought I'd have a play with them.

I stamped the image in vintage photo distress ink first (onto watercolour paper), then I wiped over the stamp and adding a little water to the leaves and red petals of the poinsettia then added dIstress watercolour pencils in Candied Apple and Rustic Wilderness to the areas I had added water too, a quick spritz of water and then stamp over the vintage photo ink (benefits of using stamp platform).  It gives a bit of a watercoloured look, the vintage photo gives a vintage hue to the usually bright colours.  

Before I cleaned my stamp,  I added another light spritz of water and stamped on an off cut of card....

I actually love this image as much as the original, so I will find a way to use it. 

I hope that you all have a lovely Friday,

Love and hugs to you all,

Sandra

xxxxxx

A lovely Christmas card from Sue

 

Good Thursday Morning Ladies 

Just a quickie today,  we had a totally lazy day yesterday,  the weather was terrible,  in fact the wind was the worst we've had in a while, lashing rain too, its so sad to see the devastation some parts of the country have suffered. Our electric was in and out, we didn't have tv or anything on, the only reason I noticed was because I had a warning that I had used 1GB of mobile data, so the Internet must have dropped out and stayed off.  But I basically spent the whole day on the sofa, we made a start on our jigsaw, as we do every year.  Paul lit the log burner as it was chilly, mind you my body wasn't capable of much else after our gardening yesterday. 

Todays card is my Christmas card from Sue, I haven't seen the branch die used for years, a real blast from the past, l love the baubles, finished with those darling little bows. Thank you so much Sue XXX 

I hope you all have a relaxing Thursday, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx

A Gorgeous Sparkly Christmas Card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you all had a lovely Boxing day, I know that our Karen and Sonia had their big Christmas celebrations yesterday, ours was so peaceful,  we had a leisurely breakfast and then had a couple of hours in the garden, weeding pots and putting the last bulbs in, I know its late but it seems a shame to waste them, if they don't come up this year they will next year!  

We were both shocked when we came in and it was 3pm.  We were very much in need of a cup of tea and a slice of Genoa cake, I love genoa cake, the only place we found one was Tesco.  

I bought Paul a 'Growing Calendar' for Christmas and a new Wormery as ours is over 10 years old and needs upgrading,  the worms turn kitchen waste (peelings etc) much faster than ordinary compost heaps.  The calendar was really expensive for what it is, I thought the 'month pages' were the paper with seeds in but the seed paper is at the back of the calendar you just put pieces of the handmade paper into pots with compost.  I will do a review of it for you later in the week. 

Today's card is my gorgeous Christmas card from Our Brenda, I can't tell you how much it sparkles, so pretty, the image is just so cute too.  Brenda I must ask how you created that super shiny sentiment, it looks like really glossy paper, its so effective.  Thank you so much for such a beautiful card XXX

I hope that you all have an enjoyable day,

Love and hugs,

Sandra xxx

Happy Boxing Day

 

Good Tuesday morning Ladies,

I had to write the day on today's greeting just so I knew for myself, it's been proper confusing with Christmas day being on Monday,  yesterday felt like a Sunday all day.  The day just flew, Paul and I did dinner together,  we ate at around 3 30pm,  Sophie then took Lucy to pick up Flynn, then Becca and Adam came over, we had a lovely evening playing games and eating snacks & nibbles.  It makes you realise that we don't do that often enough, it seems like everyone is always too busy to get everyone together on the same night.  

Today will be quiet as the girls are working,  Becca and Adam are driving down to Bournemouth to Adam's parents, Matt may come over later on when Alex finishes work.  Lewis is coming in the evening too, we have a big buffet on Boxing day, very relaxed,  everyone just helps themselves.  

Did any of you get anything crafty in your Christmas stocking??

I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas day and I hope Boxing day is a relaxing day for you all. 

Sending my love and hugs to all of you 

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

Sending love to you all this Christmas

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

There is only one thing that I want to say to you all today....

I'd like to wish you all the Very Happiest Christmas day, I hope that you are all spending it with your family and friends. 

I hope that Santa brings you all a crafty treat this year.  

Thank you all, you all give me the best possible and most precious gift....your friendship, this is a better gift than anyone could wish for.  Thank you all from the bottom of my heart ❤️ 

Love & Hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

Happy Christmas Eve

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

It doesn't feel like a Sunday though does it?  Paul and I got ourselves right confused yesterday, we had no idea what day it was, we were going to do a last run to the tip for 2023, we thought it was Friday, but I checked on line and managed to book a slot for 3 30pm, we then stopped at Aldi to have one last check for their Finest Red cabbage,  its ready prepared, it's the nicest one I have ever tasted  it's not too sweet or too cinnamony, we have been trying to get hold of it all week but the lady in one Aldi said that they literally can't get enough in, it sells out minutes after being restocked, Paul said 'as we are close I will just nip and check', I knew by the huge smile on his that he had managed to get one,  so a worthwhile trip all in all.                           Today we will be wrapping and baking pretty much, the girls are doing their own thing, we don't need to go out for anything until the end of the week now which is a lovely feeling.  

Janet I hope you and Jim are well and that you are all ready for Christmas,  sending love & hugs XXX

Sue sorry to read that you are still in bed feeling under the weather,  I'm sure Chris has got you all organised.  Hope you feel better for Christmas day XXX 

Sending love and hugs to of you,

Sandra xxx

Happy Christmas Eve Eve

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

How true is that statement?? I think it wouldn't matter how big your craft room was you'd never have the right amount or enough space!  My craft room often resembles the one above.  

Seeing that mess reminds me of something my brother and I did when we were children.  My Dad's garage/workshop resembled the chaos above, tools piled high, bits of wood/ metal, old baby milk tins here and there,  his toolboxes were empty though. So one Saturday mornings my brother and I decided that we would tidy Dad's workbench, it took us the whole day, we sorted screws, organised socket sets, put flat head screwdrivers in one box and cross heads in another, his bench was virtually clear!  We were filthy and exhausted but so excited to show him when he got back from his fishing trip.  We waited excitedly by the door, he swung the door open and his face was a picture, he thanked us and said what an amazing job we had done but his face was telling a different story.  We later discovered that he was horrified, it took him months to find everything, in our minds we couldn't understand that in all that chaos he could lay his hand on anything he needed but he could.  It wasn't long before it looked like it did before we started.  🤣😂

I saw this on Facebook the other day and thought I'd share it with all of you.  It's so very true!  I honestly think it's only fellow crafters that truly appreciate a Handmade card. 

I hope that you all have a lovely Christmas Eve Eve,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

Sonia's card for Teddy

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

Where has this week gone?? I was totally shocked when Paul said he had finished for the Christmas break yesterday afternoon!  I am delighted of course but in my head it was Wednesday 🤣😂

We are going to try and get our shopping done today, we don't need much just vegetables, milk etc. We will go this afternoon and collect lucy from work on our way home, Sophie can go straight to Lewis's then as they are going into Oxford for a meal.  The road to Oxford is bad on a normal day so I dread to think how long their journey will be.  I'm sure they'll have a lovely evening though. 

Today I am sharing the absolutely gorgeous card that Sonia made for little Teddy Blu's first Christmas.  That cute teddy image couldn't be more perfect Sonia,  as usual you have embellished the image to perfection 👌 😍XXX

Remember to take time to put your feet up my lovelies, 

Love and Festive Snuggles to all of you,

Sandra XXX

Maria's Crystal Gnome Card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Today I want to introduce you to Zebedee the latest addition to our family, isn't he adorable?!  The girls love him and wish him good morning and good night, his is on the new Kallax unit in the Hallway and he catches the light beautifully.  

He is of course my Christmas card from our lovely Maria,  you put so much work into these cards my lovely, they truly feel like more of a gift because of the time and love you put into creating each card.  Thank you so much my lovely,  the girls will be asking where he is next year so he will join the Robin you made me the year before in coming put every year as part of our decorations. XXX

Lilian I hope that your Christmas day part 1, went off okay and that you enjoyed the time with your family, today you should put your feet up and rnjoy the left overs.  

Karen, I do hope that the Dentist /Hygienist went ok, you are very brave XXX

Janet, we all send our love sweetheart,  hope you and Jim are well XXX

As always my love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx

Sonia's Gorgeous Christmas card

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,

I hope today finds you all well, how's the Christmas organisation going?  

Are you all hosting or going to family on Christmas day?   It sounds like our Lilian will have a house full of lovely family.  Sonia's Christmas day starts with work, then a quiet lunch, but a fun filled Boxing Day with all the family including gorgeous little Teddy 🧸.   For us I think it will be quiet Christmas day, just for four of us but we have everyone here on Boxing Day.  

Today's card is one of Sonia's latest cards, It's a Perfect card for James's & Mollie with the gorgeous Lilli of the Valley image,  they do the perfect level of cute without being tacky.  Sonia you have bought the very best out of that image with the snowy background and those amazing Snowflake die cuts!  Thank you so much for allowing me to share your beautiful card. XXX

Ladies I hope you have a lovely Wednesday, 

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

Lilian's Beautiful Christmas Card

 

Good Morning Ladies,

Ooh yesterday seemed a long day,  it felt like it was about 2pm and when I checked it was only 10.20am!!  Paul was in the office, which always makes the day feel longer!  I was just pottering,  emptying the last couple of bits out of the Christmas boxes that Paul bought down from the loft, so that they can be put away.  

On the flip side Paul has the day off today, so that we can finish the Christmas shopping, if I'm still testing positive it will be shopping from home!  So frustrating,  however I wouldn't want to pass it onto anyone and have them feel as rough as I did last week. Especially over Christmas.  The most frustrating thing is that every day Paul has had leave I was unwell.  Flipping Covid ! 

Today I am sharing the gorgeous card that I received from our Lilian, its three beautiful Holly sprigs, coloured perfectly, the leaves are so incredibly glittery 😍.  The focul point is mounted onto a gold glitter card mat,  then onto a white card base. 

Thank you so much Lilian for such a beautiful Christmas card ❤️ XXX

Have a terrific Tuesday, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                        xxxxxx

Karen's Beautiful Birthday card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

I think I finally started to turn the corner and started feeling better, the hardest thing has been the headache, I have had a severe headache causing me to feel nauseous since Tuesday,  my tinnitus has been 50 times worse than usual,  causing me to be almost completely deaf. My head feels somewhat better but nowhere near back to normal.  I did manage an hour outside planting some bulbs, it felt good being in the fresh air.  

What did you all get up to ??? 

Today I am showing this gorgeous card that Karen made, just look at that beautiful background, it looks like lace, so pretty ! 

Karen's Description:

It’s not dry embossing but I was really pleased how this turned out eventually How many times does something evolve from your original idea!

A Serif background that I matched - with the “dropper” to create a mat that I cut the Julie Hickey dies from and wrote the sentiment.

It seems like ages since you made a Serif based card, your card shows what an amazing tool Serif is, if you know how to get the use out of it that is!  I can see that you are going to get a lot of use out of those Julie Hickey Flower dies. 

Thank you so much for letting me share your card XXX

I hope that you all have a great start to the week,

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

The cards for last Challenge of the year

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all enjoying a lovely relaxed Sunday,  this time next week we will all be busy with the Christmas Lunch preparations and wrapping the last of the gifts, do you all have family traditions that you take part in on Christmas eve?  We always had a 'picky tea'  then bathed all 4 children, got them in their new Christmas pj's,  these Christmas Eve Box things weren't a thing back then, (another way to squeeze more money out of you In my opinion ), the children then placed their stockings where they wanted Santa to leave their presents, they then put Mince pie and Milk for Santa, carrots outdide for Rudolph and hung Santa's Special 'Magic' Key on front door, the girls would then go to bed and Matt & Becca would watch Santa doing his Deliveries on Norad on the Computer. The laughs we have had trying to silently move all the Christmas gifts from where they were hidden upstairs down to the lounge without waking a child !! 

Sophie & Lucy have started their own tradition, it started about 5 years ago, on Christmas Eve they both take the day off work, the will go out for lunch, they open all the gifts they have bought each other, they have a list of Categories that they both buy from, full outfit, something funny, something to do, something to eat/drink,  toiletries, something useful and surprises, are some of the Categories.  They don't see their other halves either, 'Twismas' is a day totally dedicated to each other.  I hope they keep it going for many years to come. 

Your Embossed Cards 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Card 1:  Hi here is my card for this week, old embossing folder, stamp is Honey Doo,  that doesn’t sound right, can’t remember the correct name. Same pens as usual and stickles to colour.

Card 2:  here is my card for this week, embossing top & bottom.  The Green glitter is Stickles Patina colour.

Lilian I loved both cards that you created for this Challenge,  your colouring is both beautiful and vibrant, the cards have similar stamp but the lovely vintage style looks so different from the crisp white embossed base card of this weeks card.  The extra little gens finish the card perfectly.  Thank you so much for taking part in this last challenge,  I know its a busy time of year XXX

Karen

Karen's Description:

Card 1: Here’s a new baby card I have made for my great niece

It’s a bargain bucket EF with background etc created on Serif and SueW elephant Sizzix hearts Aall and Create sentiment.

Cards 2  & 3:  Two cards using embossing folder

No idea of either brand! 

Merry Christmas embossed onto gold mirri card with Sue W poinsettia and JL foliage - it’s a bit too “in yer face” for me 

Second one is embossed on to white and matted onto a piece of Clarity card and a Tim Holtz tree

That baby card is so cute, I love the little footprint embossing folder, I don't think I've seen that one before, perfect for Baby cards.  

Thank you so much for taking part in this last Challenge, you have a lot of last-minute craft projects to finish so I really appreciate your time XXX

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

Here’s a couple of cards.

I’ve used Spellbinders 3D ‘snowflake’ embossing folder, The Stamp Market snowflakes die and sentiments.

Two gorgeous Christmas cards, I love that Stamp Market Snowflake die, its really different!  It also works perfectly with the Spellbinders embossing folder.  Thank you so much for taking part on the last challenge of the year. XXX

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

14 cards between us for this last Challenge,  that's amazing Ladies, thank you so very much. ❤

I think we have had 24 Challenges this year with us moving to fortnightly challenges rather than weekly, you have all created some incredible cards for these challenges over the year Ladies, you have taken on new techniques,  rediscovered old ones and all masteted all manor of colouring and background challenges. I hope that you all got something out of taking part.  I know you know how grateful I am to all of you,  I do like to remind you all each week though, so thank you all my dear sweet friends ❤️ ❤ ❤

I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday,

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra

xxxxxx

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

Total upheaval in our house this weekend as we are looking after Harley until Sunday as Matt & Alex have gone to London for a couple of days, we got them tickets to see Peter Kay, Matt bought tickets for us too, we go on 6th January, we bought tickets when tour was announced back in November 22, it seemed like it would take forever to come around but it hasn't!   

So we have to keep pantry door locked, he already sussed that if he puts his nose at front of bin the sensor opens it, so we've had to put tape over that, within about 40 minutes of him being here he had scaled the kitchen worktop and managed to catch the handle of the bread board that was on top of the toaster 'out of reach ' (or so we thought), luckily I heard the commotion while Paul was on phone and managed to get to him as he had just ripped the end open and taken a bite, so i managed to salvage the part that was still packaged!! Paul was not impressed at the thought of not getting his Tiger Bread Bacon sandwich!!  I think we will be mental wrecks by Sunday Morning! 

A few more Photos of our trip to 

Black Country Living Museum 

We went to a Mothering Class at the Clinic,  it is a new feature at the Museum, it was both entertaining and informative,  my how things have changed, we had a trip down memory lane as we had a go at folding terry Nappies,  we used terry nappies for Matt for a few months, he was so tiny though, the nappies were huge on him, back then you laid your baby on its side with a rolled up blanket behind (this changed with every baby i had) but for matt with his big nappy on his leg used to stick up almost to top of his carry cot!! 🤣 As soon as disposable nappies became more reasonably priced we swapped.  My terry nappies are still as soft as the day I bought them, they are the best cleaning clothes 30 years on!   

How gorgeous where those prams, I had one just like it when I was a baby,  the midwife talked about buying your baby a 'Layette'  thats a term that has gotten lost over the years too.  I think people go crazy these days and buy way too much!   

We had these amazing little nightgowns for Matt in the softest brushed cotton, they had a drawstring at the bottom which made nappy changing so much easier, no undoing poppers and bending their legs in and out.  That and a little hand knitted cardigan with matching hat was all you needed.  

I don't think we had the bottled orange juice when I had Matt, we had Rosehip Syrup and Gripe Water though.  I remember our little midwife telling me to dissolve brown sugar in water and dilute it to help baby with constipation,  during the transition from Breast to Bottle.  I hadn’t realised that Farleys Rusks had been around so long!  Although I do remember my Dad having to make the hole in the teat of my sisters bottle bigger because the dissolved rusks in her milk to try and fill her up !!! You'd be accused of abuse if you did that these days.  

Did that trip down Memory Lane bring back any memories for you?  

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Embossed Poinsettia card

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

I hope today finds you well, I am feeling slightly better, I had a lovely bath last night in an attempt to clear my sinuses and hoped it would help me relax a bit for bedtime too, I am still having sweats/ shivers and the coughing is annoying!  

Anyway while looking for a card to share today I came across this card, do you know what the title was.....

"My First Post Covid Card"  

What were the chances, it was from March 2022!  

Here is the Description:

For this card is used Black Soot Distress Ink applied with a brayer to the recessed side of the embossing folder, I spritzed it lightly and then took a piece of Pink Frog card, spritzed both sides of that too and then ran through the embossing machine 3 times (just to make sure), if you look closely the ink doesn't transfer perfectly but I love that, it looks textured in some places too, which is probably from spritzing with water. I will add that I tried this technique twice with different watercolour card before trying the Pink Frog, I found that it absorbed too much of the ink, the colour was too dark and didn't have the subtle look that this piece had. I decided to add some gold embossing to give a little bit of a luxurious feel, so I used an embossing pen on the centre of the poinsettias, I then took a script stamp to add that same gold around the background of the card too. I then matted the card onto a narrow gold mat and then onto black. I really like how this card turned out, I am going to have a play with some different colours today.

I hope that you all have a fantastic Friday,

Love and hugs to all of you 

Sandra 

xxxxxx

Some Lovely Throwback embossed cards

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I feel so downhearted today, from a girl that doesn't get out much our meet ups are something so incredibly special to me. I have felt unwell since Monday,  it came on quite suddenly in the car on the way home from our shopping trip, my throat was getting more sore by the hour and I couldn't get warm, I tested when I went to bed and it was negative,  so i thought that it was my body reacting to the weekend.  All i thought was rest up Tuesday & Wednesday ready for our meet up,  sadly as the day progressed Tuesday I felt worse,  so ended up going to bed, I had a horrendous night with fever, sweats and the worst tinnitus I have ever had, my racing heart thudding in my head made my tinnitus sound like a siren!  So I tested again yesterday morning and it came up positive straight away, I think I knew before i even did the test!!  

I will be thinking of you Karen & Maria, have a lovely catch up xxx

I have shared a card from all of you today,  it took my nearly all day,  your embossed cards are amazing XXX 

Sending my love and hugs (from a safe distance)

Sandra