Paul's Mum's Birthday card

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

That weekend just seemed to disappear,  Saturday literally flew by though, it reconfirmed my desire of wanting to live by the Sea, there is just something about the fresh air, the smell of the sea and I find the sound of the sea so soothing.  I think Paul's mum has to realisation that she would actually really miss living by the sea if she moved to Birmingham. I think its like anywhere you live you take for granted the beauty around you.   

We had a quiet day yesterday as all our girls were working, Matt came over in the afternoon,  instead of buying me flowers that would die in a week the card he bought had seed infused paper that you plant and grow your own flowers,  such a lovely idea, he bought freshly baked cakes too.

Today's card is the card I made for Paul's mum for her birthday next weekend,  it has a very simple background so perfect for this week's Challenge.... I took a piece of Ombre green paper and embossed it, I added to a white card base, then die cut a pretty rectangle to lay my 'bouquet' on, I bought the SU bouquet stamp & die set on fb market place, so I was keen to use it,  it has a stamp to create the newsprint background for the wrap, the matching die cuts and scores the wrap so its easy to fold,  i then stamped the bouquet in Pear Pizazz ink and coloured with my Stampin Blends,  I die cut some extra flowers to fill the bouquet out a bit, the little tag and sentiment are included too, I added the 'Mum', which I die cut from the leftovers from the background. I finished the card by adding sparkles to the flowers centres. 

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

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

Your Challenge cards

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

I want to start by wishing you all a Very Happy Mother's day, you ladies are literally my whole life, I don't know what I would do day to day without you to turn to!  You are my strength and encouragement my support and inspiration and I love you all dearly ❤️ 🥰😘

Now lets look at what you have made for this weeks challenge......

Your Challenge Projects 

Brenda

Two beautiful cards coloured is pretty Spring colours, your colouring is incredible Brenda, I absolutely love the cute girl stamps.  The colouring you have done in the background works perfectly too.  I am sure that they won't be in Ann's card box for long.

Anne if you are looking in, we would love to see one of your cards, sending love and hugs your way xxx 

Brenda thank you so much for sharing your cards this week, it fills me with joy being able to share your cards xxx

Karen

Karen's Description:

Card 1:  I did this Make and Take at Ally Pally My 2 friends did it too and thought Mica Magic was amazing It looks different to when I bought it and tried to tell them that I’d sold my big box on So maybe the smaller boxes are different and better

Card 2:  Looks very ‘wavy’ in photo but is OK

New Woodware stamp heat embossed with silver and I’ve rediscovered Nuvo drops!

Two fantastic cards Karen, I do agree with you about the Mica Magic,  Danielle had them and having played with them I think they don't have much mica in them, you seem to have to work so hard at getting decent depth of colour, the pops of yellow in your card above look vibrant but the pink/purples don't.  I love the stamp though and your colouring is amazing. 

Your Christmas card is lovely,  the tree is so different but I love it, I also love the colours of the Nuvo drops you have used, you could make it look so different my using different mediums to colour it. Woodare have some amazing designs.  Thank you so much for taking part in this weeks challenge XXX 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi,  Here are my two cards for this week. The stamps are very old ones that I found when I was looking for spring stamps. The tulips are stamps and coloured with my zig water colour pens. The lantern stamp is stamped with Olympia green versa mark ink and coloured once again with zig water colour pens.

2 beautiful cards Lilian,  your tulips are coloured so perfectly,  your shading is an inspiration,  I love the little corner stamp you have used too. 

I'm not sure of the flower on your secon card, is it an Anenome ? Whatever it is the colouring is inspirational.  Again I love the little bits of stamping on the base card, it really ties the two layers together.  

Thank you so much for taking part my lovely,  enjoy spending time with your family this weekend XXX 

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

Card 1: I’ve used a LOTV image and sentiment. I thought the image fitted well with the ‘Spring’ challenge. I used the Pink Fresh Studio Floral Lace background and patterned paper from my stash.

Card 2:  I made this card for a resident at work, who requested an Anniversary card. I die cut the heart and stamped and heat embossed the text stamp which was one of the freebies from Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine. The flowers are Spellbinders. I added an Anniversary sentiment inside.

2 gorgeous cards Sonia, the first card is so cute, it would be perfect for so many occasions, you can't go wrong with a LOTV image.  That background die works perfectly with any card. 

Your second card is a perfect an Anniversary,  I bet your resident loved it, by the way that freebie script stamp is amazing!  Thank you so much for two amazing Challenge cards my lovely XXX 

Sue

Sue's Description:

For this card I used a combination of Sizzix dies and Old unbranded stamps. The Brickwork embossing folder is from Aall&Create. 

Sue such a gorgeous card, I love the scene you have created through the aperture, everything works so perfectly together, you must be so pleased with how it turned out my lovely.. Thank you so much for taking part XXX 

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Ladies thank you so much, your cards are amazing,  thank you, thank you,  thank you ❤❤❤

I hope that you all have a wonderful Mothers Day, your Children are truly blessed having you as Mums xxx

Love and extra big hugs today,

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Brenda's Poppy cards

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

Today's quote was sent to me by Gina, I think it's very true for most of us!  Thank you so much Gina for sharing it. xxx

As you are reading this we will be driving down to Brixham to spend the day with Paul's mum, we are hoping that the weather is nice so that we can walk around the harbour, we will have a nice lunch somewhere too, then make our way home early evening.   

What do you all have planned today? 

Craft Shopping from 

Ally Pally

Brenda

Brenda picked up some lovely goodies,  I didn't go on the Cardio stand, it was so crowded whrn we first went past and after we were going round after lunch I didn't have the energy,  I still have quite a few of their stamps that i haven't used yet (listen to me being sensible 🤣😂).  I love that scenery stamo you have bought Brenda xx

That poppy stamp is so lovely and I love the cards that you made with it too (see above) I think you acheive much more when you just 'have a play ' with something new rather than having to have a specific project. 

You got some good bSic bits too, we were all amazed by the Watercolour lady Eunice Friend,  she has a YouTube channel and runs Watercolour classes, she has created her own paints and brushes and the ladies that were doing Make & Takes were all amazed by how great her brushes were and how pigmented the paints were, I got the brushes,  Brenda got the paints and the brushes.  I do want those paints but they will hVe to wait until next time.  

Thank you so much for sharing your shopping with us Brenda, I am delighted to see that you are playing with your new things XXX

Karen 

Karen had an a lovely day shopping as she travelled to and from the show with friends and spent lunchtime with us, she was as delighted to see Brenda as we were, it really did make the day extra special, you can see that Karen had a great shopping day too!  Like me she started out at AALL&CREATE and did a good shop there, I picked those number tags up snd put them down, I think i might order them for Mothers day!  After the first shop Karen had a little delay as she thought she had lost her phone, luckily it was quickly located and normal shopping resumed 😉🤣😂. 

Karen what do you use the Limetree card for? Is it good for pencils or pens ??  We all topped up on consumables,  glue, ink etc,  the Woodware tree is lovely,  you will see tomorrow how detailed it is and stamps beautifully. The stencil looks like it could be Aall&Create but is infact a visible image design, that Clocks embossing folder is lovely great for vintage and mens cards too. 

A great shop Karen thank you so much for sharing it with us. 

Sue

Sue and I did our shopping together which was lovely, we talked ourselves out of buying a few things but mostly encouraged each other to buy it whether we needed it or not!  

Sue got some lovely bits, I really like that Mixed Media background stencil, such great value getting so many different patterns on one stencil.  Those gorgeous Dragonfly stickers were only £1 and were so delicate and detailed, sue picked them up for Christopher to play with, the washi tape was a bargain, it was Anna Griffin too so great quality, I have to say that I was surprised that HoneyDoo were selling random things like that, I kmow they all have to make money but those things belong on those 'pile it high, sell it cheaper' stands I think.  The creative expression Stencil is fantastic as it had two different Mountain/valley or Horizon line stencils, then all the little bits too, I think it is water themed as it looks like reeds, fishband bubbles but I have to say looking at on the day it could be used for any background. Those vertical sentiments are fantastic I am going to order myself a set too as Sue picked up the last one, she got some great colour Oxides too, it pays to shop around though, two stands next to each other one had Oxides priced at £7.99 , sneakily had no prices displayed, so you dont find out until you are paying, when mist people would be too embarrassed to say " no, I'll put them back", luckily Sue asked beforehand,  we left it and looked at the next stand which was The Stamp Hut, they were selling them at £5.99,  so Sue almost got 3 for what she would have paid on the previous stand!! 

Thank you so much for sharing your shopping with us my lovely XXX

Me

My Shopping... well I got the inks that I had on my list,  the other bits were a bonus!  First stop of the day was the Aall&Create stand where the offers were too good to pass up, it worked out at buy 2 get 1 free on one if the stamp sizes, the others were just as good too, I bought a few that I had my on,  the Sweet Poppy stencil and stamp were purely Brenda's Fault! , if she hadn't shown me her stencil and told me how amazing the cards being demonstrated were, I wouldn't have gone straight there and bought the stencil and stamp set.  I can't wait to sit and play with them.  

The last item wasn't for me, as I mentioned on Brenda's Description right at the end of the afternoon we met Eunice Friend, an incredibly talented Watercolour artist,  she has created her own paints, working tirelessly to get the formula just right, all pigment no fillers, so the colours are so bright and vibrant and so a little goes a long way,  I have been searching for a decent paint brush for months,  she was selling a set of three for £15, I thought she said £50 at first !  She runs watercolour classes on YouTube,  she has free tutorials too, she had a great deal on at the show though....A year's tuition (weekly classes) and the paints, brushes and Bockingford Watercolour pad for £90 !  I could see Paul's eyes light up, he had found the perfect gift for his Mum's Birthday & Mother's day!  So that's what he got, he also bought me the brushes,  I can't wait to see his Mum's face today, she has been wanting to start her Watercolouring again for a while.

I hope that you all have a great Saturday, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra 

xxxxxx

Our Next Challenge

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

It's Friday again!!  Where did that week disappear to?!!  I have had a couple of days out and about with the girls and a couple of very 'busy' nights 🤣😂, so thats maybe where my week disappeared!  How about yours ??

Have you all got plans this weekend, I'm sure that your families are all excited to celebrate having such amazing Mum's as you lovely Ladies 😍😘

Our Next Challenge 

I was thinking about 'Backgrounds' for this weeks Challenge, but hadn't decided on specifics.  

Karen came up with the idea of Simple Backgrounds'  So that's our Challenge for the next 2 Weeks. 

I have shared some of my simple backgrounds above, I also looked for some on Pinterest to give some different ideas....

Adding ink to a stamp block and stamping a simple 

Background can make a great backdrop for a simple stamped image or die cut.

This background is so simple and delicate a simple inked square in a light shade looks incredible. (You may need to zoom in to see it)

A simple embossed background can look amazing 

I love this card, a simple stencilled background

Looks amazing with that simple flower.

Ladies I hope I have given you some inspiration for our next Challenge,  I look forward to seeing what you all create.

Not much planned today, apart from welcoming Flynn home, I want to have a relaxed day as we are driving to Devon and back tomorrow,  Paul wants to be back so that I can have a relaxed Mother's Day. 

Have a fantastic Friday my lovelies,

Love & huge hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Thrinchie: Numbers

 

Good Thursday Morning Ladies, 

We have a lot of excitement in our house today as Lucy is buzzing around getting ready to see Flynn after just after 4 months, luckily we know exactly how she is feeling,  Lucy took me shopping today sp that we could get his favourite things in, he has requested Roast chicken for his first meal when he gets back.  So for this week only Friday night is roast night.  We are blowing the dust off of the scan & cut later to make him a welcome home banner. I remember getting them to make them as children for when Paul came home.  Her first hurdle is driving to Heathrow on her own on Friday morning, I did offer to go with her but its not an occasion you want your mum with you for !

Today's Thrinchie theme is Numbers.  I used a few different Aall&Create stamps to create this one,  the background was one of the pieces of the masterboard I made at the start of my Thrinchies journey. 

I hope that you all have a lovely Thursday,  

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

Thrinchie: Animals

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,

I hope today finds you well,  I am just about recovered from weekend, I had another busy day though, I had promised Sophie that I'd go with her to get her Wheel Alignment done on her car, those girls don't like doing anything on their own!  We then went to a car Audio place as Lucy, Paul and I bought her an upgraded sound system for her car and she needs it fitted,  it is going to cost almost £300 though,  that was a bit of a surprise,  she was happy to pay it though,  I did say I'd contribute as she wasn't sure what she wanted as a graduation gift, I was going to get her a Pandora Bracelet but she wasn't bothered about one of those.   We got home mid afternoon and I was exhausted,  we all sat and ate lunch together which rounded afternoon off nicely.  I did end up having a 'Nana Nap' afterwards though.   I am just not sleeping,  ul 4 times in total to go to loo Monday night, finally started to drift off at around 4am.  Fingers crossed for a better night tonight. 

We had 3 seasons weather in one day yesterday,  when we left it was beautiful,  very warm in sunshine, no jacket required and sunglasses necessary,  then when we were waiting at garage ut was so chilly we were shivering! Then sun was back out and it was warm, on our way back there were Hailstones the size of garden peas!!!  It was heavy enough to leave a lovely white carpet!  

Lilian...I would say that your Klimpt stamps/papers were quite quirky!  It could be anything a little but funny or different,  did you take a photo of your puzzle? xxx

Sonia how lovely that Luke & Hayley get to visit Amsterdam for a few days, its a lovely city. Paul and I did an overnight cruise there years ago but 1 day was nowhere near enough. I hope you got some crafting time i on your days off. xxx

Today's Thrinchie theme is Animal, I had an Aall&Create stamp set with mice on so thats what I chose for this one, a couple of other Thrinchies I had seen used mice too, I did find a sweet squirrel after I had finished,  maybe use that next time.  I kept the colours the same so that whole collection ties together.   I intended to do them in order Karen but I needed a couple of stamps to create a few of the early ones that I was going to get at Ally Pally so I skipped those, I've had to think a bit harder about some of them too.

Hoping to play with my new craft goodies today,

Have a relaxing day my lovely friends,

Love and hugs,

Sandra                                                                      xxxxxx 

Quirky Thrinchie

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I had a day of recovery yesterday, I didn't realise how tired I was until I got home from Ally Pally. It was the most I'd done socially since starting this Uti business, I loved every minute of the day on Sunday, boy was I mentally and physically exhausted, I felt like I had reached my limit by about 4pm.  Brenda you were an inspiration,  to have gone through what you have over the past year or more and then travel to Ally Pally and wander around the show was an incredible achievement, seeing your face appear through those doors while we were talking to Karen melted my heart, it had been way too long!  I will say though that you looked ready to get back on that bus at 4pm.  I am sure that you must have spent yesterday recovering too!  

Janet I am glad that you are at the end of your 24hr tests  you can relax a bit then, I'm pleased yo hear your snow has gone too, we had terrible gales here yesterday,  the girls saw a tree come down across the road in Lechlade on their way to work, thankfully they arrived after it had fallen,  they had quite a detour to make but made it into work safely.  Paul said it had cleared as he came home, it was sawn up on the side of the road.  

Today's Thrinchie theme is 'Quirky ', I struggled with what to use but looked through my stamps and some other Thrinchies that others had made and decided on this cute, Quirky dog, designed by Tracy Evans of  course!  I have kept the colours the same throughout the Thrinchie challenge to tie in with the paints I used in the backgrounds.  

I will do a couple more Aall&Create ones then I will make some StampinUp Thrinchies. You could literally use any company and work through the list of themes. 

I hope that you have a great day and are safe from these terrible high winds.

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

A Spring Mother's Day card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

I am feeling a little sore today after a lovely day at Ally Pally yesterday,  it was a well organised show, very well set out, good amount of seating, also a good variety of companies.  The highlight of the day was seeing Brenda, after what seems like forever, it was also lovely spending time with Karen and Sue of course.  I will say that we were very reserved in our spending,  we usually spend an absolute age browsing HoneyDoo & Card-io but nothing jumped out at us, I did have a good spend on Aall&Create stand and Sweet Poppy stencils.  I did get the ink pads that I needed too! 🤣😂

Today's card is for Paul's Mum for Mother's Day,  I used a really pretty paper collection from SU called Dainty Flowers,  it is so pretty I must buy another before they get discontinued!   I cut a piece for my card front and added an Oval Frame, I was creating a 'Faux Aperture '.  I wanted something to draw your eye in, I embellished the Oval with a die cut Butterfly that I coloured to match the Rich Razzleberry card that I matted the Dainty Flowers Dsp onto.  I stamped the sentiment and die cut with a Tim Holtz tag die, I trimmed it with a piece of satin seambinding that I coloured to match the butterfly, I attached it opposite the butterfly on the oval. For the inside I used a different piece of the same paper range matted on to rich razzleberry again, Paul chose the sentiment, which I stamped in matching ink. A few tiny gold butterflies finished the card. 

I am itching to get in my craft room today,  to play with my new goodies. 

I hope that you all have a great day,

Love and Hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                            xxxxxx 

Your Spring challenge projects

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

Oh what an exciting day, although it is a very early start!!  Paul set his alarm for 6am 🥺🥱 I will probably wait until 7am, making sure everything is ready on Saturday night. 

We made sure we had a relaxing Saturday,  we teally didn't do anything exciting,  we had a long leisurely brunch with Sophie, she is really enjoying cooking at the moment and loves experimenting with new ingredients,  I'm not sure I could cope with olives in my breakfast/ brunch, her foid always smells amazing though.  In the afternoon I sat and made a card for Paul's Mum for Mother's Day,  I really enjoyed making a card instead of a Thrinchie! 

Now let's have a look at your Challenge projects ...

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi, here are my cards for this week, first one is my take on a thrinchies, not what it’s supposed to be like but all I could think of. Second is my spring card, mostly using very old stuff.

Lilian, Oh My Goodness!!! Your Thrinchie is brilliant!! You have perfected the art on your first attempt, I hope you enjoyed making it  I think they are great to make instead of a card each week. 

Your Spring card is beautiful I love that background, did you use a stencil?  The effect is stunning.  

Thank you so much for taking part XXX 

Sue

Sue's Description:

For this Challenge card I used a Circular sentiment die from the Works and the Tulip die is a Freebie.

The Daffodil stamp on the second card is a freebie from Simply cards Issue 240. 

Two beautiful Spring cards Sue, that daffodil stamp is beautiful. Thank you so much for taking part XXX

Sonia

Sonia has created another amazing Journal page using her Tracey Hey stamps, the Film strip really makes the page, it draws your eye in  the butterfly is made using Sonia's favourite Tim Holtz die! 

Thank you so much my lovely,  XXX

Karen

Karen's Description:

Card 1: Aall&Create Lily of the Valley stamp, card inspired by a Janet Pring card. 

Card 2: A Serif card with Birds Decoupaged onto the background .

Karen, thank you for two lovely cards, I love the Lily of the Valley stamp,  the monochrome design allows the details of the stamp to shine.  

Now you haven’t made a Serif card for a while, you haven't lost the knack though!  I love your card, the birds are beautiful,  I love the amount of detail,  like the reflection of the bird in the bird bath and the snail and Ladybird.

Thanks again my lovely XXX

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Ladies thank you once again for an amazing display, I am as always so grateful to all of you ❤️ 

I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx