Botanical Thrinchie today!

 

🎉🎈 Happy Birthday Janet 🎈🎉

Good Morning Ladies, 

Let's start by wishing our Lovely Janet a VERY Happy Birthday,  I hope that you have an amazing day celebrating my lovely friend XXX 

I had a lovely afternoon in the craft room, I am really enjoying making these Thrinchies,  they are like mini card, actually very much like the ATC's we made once. 

Todays Thrinchie has a background made on the Gelli plate, I added some Distress Oxide to it too, to give a little more colour,  I added some white embossing,  then added a flower and leaf stamped onto watercolour card and coloured with Ecoline pens, I then fussy cut them and added to my background with a bit of white cotton underneath for a bit of texture. I did make a huge boo boo though, I love the texture that adding splats gives but vowed not to bother any more, I took quite some time adding layers of colour to my flower, I stuck it in place, then shook my posca pen to give some splats and a huge splat of white landed on the centre of the flower, obscuring half of it!!! I could have cried,  instead I stamped another and coloured it and layered it over the original, ssshhh don't tell anyone!! 

I hope that you all have a lovely day, 

Janet I look forward to a slice of your Birthday cake, which flavour did you go for??

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx

My 'Sewing' themed Thrinchie

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all rested after the weekend, oh it was certainly a chilly one!  We had a lazy day yesterday,  a few jobs round house, Paul went into garden,  I went into my craft room.  I was exhausted after the excitement of Saturday.

Today I am sharing my 'Sewing' themed Thrinchie that I made yesterday afternoon, I really enjoyed making this one,  although all those splatters made a fair mess of my desk I can tell you!  I used Tracy Evans Sewing Forever #396 to create this one, I enjoyed the colouring, I will say that the Bristol Smooth card makes such a difference to blending the Ecoline pens, so it's worth investing in some if you have Ecoline pens.  I like how bright and vibrant this one is. 

I hope that you all have a marvelous Monday, 

Love & Hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx 

Your Challenge cards

 

Proudest Mum Moment ! 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

From a very cold Wiltshire,  my goodness I need to under a heat lamp I think.  

We had the most amazing Saturday,  we took Sophie to deliver her painting to the Wildlife Park, she asked Lucy to meet her in the carpark to help her carry it in, I think she just wanted lucy with her, although she was paranoid that she was going to damage or drop it!  As soon as we got to the restaurant where the painting will be displayed people slowly started to gather, the friends and colleagues,  were all amazed the best reaction came from the park owner, you could see that he was visibly shocked and initially speechless he then pointed out every bit of detail, he was amazed that this was Sophie's first attempt at oil painting, it was so lovely to sit back and watch her talking everyone through it, at the same time I could tell that both of them were struggling mentally being the centre of attention, Lucy soon made her excuses and disappeared back to her kiosk!  We eventually left the restaurant and had a walk around the park, I wanted to see all of the animals that featured in the painting, the Giraffes were busy eating, the Rhinos were having a lazy morning, just laying around their paddock, something was bothering the Lion though as he was roaring like crazy, which was amazing to witness, we then stopped by Lucy's kiosk and had the most delicious hot waffle topped with whippy ice ream, biscoff crumb and caramel sauce with a little whipped cream, very naughty but VERY nice, Paul had sliced banana and caramel sauce with ice cream!  We wandered back to the car as we had been there a good four hours and I was so cold, I had to get under the duvet with a hot water bottle when we got home.  I wouldn't have missed that experience for the world though. 

Now lets see what you have been creating.....

Your Challenge Projects 

Lilian 

Lilian has used the StampinUp! Elements of Style stamp set to create this gorgeous card.

Such a beautiful card Lilian,  the silver gilding in the background gives a touch of luxury, the focal piece is beautifully coloured in a way that lets the beauty of the stamp stand out. That blue is so lovely, with the little touch of green for the leaves, it stands out perfectly on the white card. Thank you so much for a very inspirational card XXX 

Karen

Karen's Description:

Here’s 2 cards I used Daisy B stamps which I hadn’t tried yet

Card 1:  Very simply stamped onto Kraft card The poinsettia is coloured red and his antlers are highlighted with gold glitter

card 2:  Stamped onto white card and coloured in with chalk pencils and ordinary pencils First time I’ve tried to “shadow” with pencil and smudge with a paper stump.

Karen I absolutely love this Daisy B stamp, you really need nothing more than the stag simply stamped and coloured,  it is such a beautiful design, both cards look amazing but I think you see more detail on the white card, that corner stamp is so pretty too.

Thank you so much for two lovely cards for this weeks challenge XXX 

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

I’ve chosen Tracey Hey as my brand this week and have used various stamps from different collections 😊

Sonia your cards are amazing,  I love the modern style, slightly quirky with so many interesting elements with the cute hearts, faix stitching,  lovely script background, I love the font too!  She is an incredible designer, I can see why you like her stamps, I am very tempted to go over to her website!!!  Thank you so much my lovely for supporting the challenge XXX

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Thank you so very much ladies for your inspiration,  I really appreciate your support.

I hope that you all manage to stay warm and cozy and enjoy your Sunday, 

Love and warm hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx 

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

We have a fun outing this morning as Sophie has asked us to take her into work with her huge Oil Painting, it won't fit in her clio, plus I think she wants us to see it hung up in the restaurant, we get to spend a few hours in the park too which will be lovely,  although its very cold around here today! 

I have donevq review on the 100th Edition of Diecutting Essentials below so lets have a look at what this month has in store.....

Diecutting Essentials 

Issue 100

Magazine Review 

Issue 100 has a lovely free gift courtesy of Chloe Endean of Chloe’s Creative Crafts, you get a lovely butterfly die and three word dies that are a decent size.  The magazine has lots of inspiration too.

Chloe herself takes you through how to make sone of the cards made with the free gifts. As always Chloe’s cards are really pretty and have lots of sparkle.

Technique Showcase: Stepped Back Technique 

This technique shows how to highlight a focal point by creating a 'tunnel effect, by raising the things around it.  So if you have a die cut flower,  you would cut the flower out of the background and raise the background up with foam pads, then drop the coloured flower die cut into the aperture. I have zoomed in on the tutorial to help you.  Its a fun idea and another way to get more use out of your dies.

Back To Basics: sentiment dies

This technique requires sentiment dies with separate background dies ( the double layer ones)

It looks like you are using the background part of the die to cut an aperture and then adding the die cut word into the aperture. Its nice to see a different way to use those dies.

Sandra Rayner has made some lovely projects with the free dies, that Birthday Hanger is a lovely idea.

Nicky has made some lovely projects using both the free dies and the downloadable papers, the cards really do Showcase the free gifts perfectly. 

Skills Booster: Faux Foiling 

Basically this technique gets you using a metallic marker to add gold detailing around your die cuts etc.   A simple idea thats quick and quite effective.

This magazine has some lovely content, as long as you aren't sick of Butterflies!  

I hope you ladies have a lovely Saturday,  

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx

Hello Friday......

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

It's been a really long week, I am literally buzzing that it's Friday, I feel like I've hardly seen Paul this week, then yesterday I was home alone,  Paul didn't get in until after 6pm, he left at 6.30am!   So he was exhausted,  it didn't help that I was awake until around 4.45am, my tinnitus was so loud Wednesday night it drove me crazy, combined with Mr walrus snoring next to me, even Milo snore, when you can't sleep yourself hearing snoring is like torture because you wish you were joining them. I really have to find away to get Paul to go to GP as he definitely has sleep apnea!   Despite my long night I was up and organised by around 10.30am, Paul had emptied dishwasher etc so i only had a few jobs to manage.  Sadly though Sue couldn't make it over, 😪.  So I decided to get in my craft room and get busy to keep those demons from my mind!! 

I decided I was going to sit and get busy making backgrounds for my Thrinchies, so I set up my laptop watched some YouTube videos and dug out my Gelli plate, I followed a Tracy Evans tutorial for ideas for background using Gelli plate, I made about 30 using that,  then I got my oxide sprays out and made a few more, finishing with some 'smooshed' backgrounds and some Distress oxide on gelli plate.  I was still going when Paul came in!

Here are a few of them...

I think there were 60 in total, so not a bad afternoon crafting!  It's not until you stop that you fulky appreciate the mess you have created! 😲😳🤣

Challenge 

Just a reminder that we are carrying last weeks challenge over to next week, I hope that you have all decided what stamp set / Brand eyc you are using ?? I would still like some for this Sunday if you have them ready . 

I hope that you all have a fantastic Friday, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra                                                                      xxxxxx

My First Thrinchie

Good Morning Ladies,

Well ladies my Antibiotics are finished,  so now I am going to start taking my Alternative treatment,  I have started some of the supplements already, Cranberry Supplements I have taken for a while, I have started a Probiotic and Garlic & Parsley seed capsules,  I did research into them all including L-argininne and Magnesium and they are all fine with my AF/Flutter infact some of them are helpful to heart conditions.  The only one that had a negative was Evening Primrose oil, which can cause palpitations,  so I will watch out for that,  I get them anyway so we'll see if they increase. 

The Dream Team! 🤞🙏

This is what I am hoping will prevent me from having anymore antibiotics,  the research papers that I read said that this combination worked in preventing Uti's it also reversed the Resistance to antibiotics that all participants had. So fingers crossed, there are lots of other benefits to these too, I am trying to stay positive.  

Now the "alternate Treatment " the GP was talking about was a combination of a drug called 'Hiprex'  which basically changes to formaldehyde & Ammonia in your bladder turning your urine acidic, so that Ecoli bacteria cannot thrive/grow in acidic environment, combined with D-Mannose which is an over the counter supplement that I could add into my combination above.  The Hiprex has some pretty nasty side effects that don't excite me so I'm not keen on taking it, this combination smooth the lining of your bladder and create an environment that's hostile to bacteria which is exactly what the natural combination above do, so I am going to try that first.  I had to buy a new medication dispenser to fit all of these new medications in, otherwise I'd be in a right muddle! 

Now onto my Thrinchie, my first realisation.... working on a small 3x3 inch piece is as daunting as working on an A3 piece!!  You have to scale everything down, finding that balance between not enough and overkill is not as easy as you think when you start out. 

I started by making some backgrounds on Tuesday afternoon using Pixie Powders and Brushos,  this particular piece was a Brusho background. I added a bit of stencilling and some stamping, the main wings feature I created by stamping the wings from Aall&Create #45 onto vellum and embossing with white powder, then fussy cutting 2 times layering together, I added extra detail by stamping butterflies and adding clear embossing powder and another butterfly I stamped and fussy cut, the little dots of Nuvo sparkly are hard to pick up on camera.  I really enjoyed creating it, I need to stop overthinking now and enjoy the process! 

I hope that you all have a lovely day, 

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxx 

Sonia's Congrats Card

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies 

It was like a lovely Spring day here yesterday,  Lucy wanted me to go to B&M Bargains with her which made for a fun couple of hours,  we had some lunch out to and got home around 4pm.  I was exhausted when we got back, I did sit and make some backgrounds for my Thrinchies using Pixie Powder and Brushos.   I then helped the girls make a stack of pancakes, which they enjoyed for that tea, they didn't save one for Paul and I though!  Lucy had chosen cooked apple with caramel sauce for her pancakes, we had what was left on a toasted sugar waffle with and Icecream😋! Sophie just likes lemon and sugar!  I'm the same, I like it traditional.  

Sonia has some Super Exciting News to share with everyone... Her Son Luke Passed his Driving Test yesterday !!! 🚗🎉🎊

Today's card is the card Sonia made for Luke for passing his test,  it's perfect!! Sonia used her Tracy Hey stamps (which she is using for our Challenge) to create the card.  I love that background Sonia and the border is amazing.  The words are perfect for the occasion and for the age group. 

Thank you so much Sonia for sharing Luke's card and pass our Congratulations on to Luke, to pass with no minors is an incredible achievement too! XXX 

I hope that you all have a great Wednesday, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx

My Valentine card for Paul

 

Good Tuesday Morning Ladies,

I hope that today finds you well, I was delighted yesterday as I got my first line of washing dry outside this year!!! Oh what a difference it makes, I could have sniffed those towels for a good hour, they just have the smell of freshness!  I did need to tumble dry them to finish them off, but it took 10 minutes rather than an hour!  The sun was shining all day too, it feels so nice having windows open too!  I am easily pleased !!

Todays card is the card I made for Paul for Valentines day, now it is a simple design but it took me ages as I had to reverse stamp one of the sheep and then reverse die cut it, what a palava that was, I ended up die cutting the sheep first, I then stamped the image onto a blank stamp block (which is like a big rectangle photopolymer stamp), which I managed to place onto my stamp platform, I needed to do this because after several attempts inking once just wasn't enough as you are stamping onto something to stamp again, after I had stamped the sheep clearly I carefully placed the reverse of the die cut sheep onto the reverse stamped image and the gently rubbed over the back of the die cut, I did say a little prayer as I lifted the die cut off, hoping that the image had stamped properly, this was about the 8th attempt, I was at that point where if it hadn't of worked this time I would have hurled the stamp across my craft room and asked girls to take a card shop!  I added some grass underneath and some hearts to symbolise love, the sentiment was a concoction of different dies.  I did write a nice verse inside, but decided to go for a fun card this year!  It made him smile, so had the desired effect! 

I hope that you all have a lovely day, I will be starting my challenge projects today,

Love and hugs to all of you

Sandra                                                                                                                                              xxxxxx

Happy Monday !

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

Welcome home Janet, I can't tell you how much we missed you, I think you should spend this week taking things easy though, to be on the safe side, I will be willing you to get straight through to your GP this morning so that you get your appointment,  remember to 'lay it on thick'  make sure they know how important it is that you are seen.  Our Surgery opends at 8.30am, if you get through by 9 its a miracle that's constantly redialling too!  Then you have the rask of getting through the 'Gestapo' on reception,  they are a rare breed, I think they are trained to squeeze information out of you, I beat them at their own game now and give them every detail no matter how graphic, it has definitely worked as they magic up an appointment to get uou off the phone!!! 🤣😂😆  In all seriousness I hope that get you seen and sorted soonest, sending gentle hugs my lovely XXX  

Ps. I have tried to make sure everything is where you left it behind the counter, the girls are looking forward to having your Sunday Roasts back on the menu 😘😉🤣

I didn't get to show my card yesterday so I am sharing it today,  I used my Zig Clean Colour Markers to colour my butterfly,  they worked 'ok' on Pink Frog card but did start to 'pil' as I tried to blend the colour to get a lighter edge, I love how it turned out though, I really love the bright colours on the white tag and the stark contrast between the white tag and the kraft card blank. 

The bottom photo is all of our cards together ❤️  I have to say that there is nothing better than crafting with friends,  we literally didn't stop talking from 11.30am until we left at around 5pm, such a lovely Saturday afternoon,  I can't wait to do it again soon  

Thank you so much Karen for all they work you put into preparing our project, you are a natural instructor 😍 xxx

I hope that you all have a marvellous Monday, 

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra xxx

Your Challenge cards

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all having an enjoyable Sunday Morning.  

We had a lovely afternoon at Watford yesterday, Karen prepared a card for us to make, It was a lovely card, you will to see it below.   Thank you so much Karen for providing all of the bits for us to make the card. XXX 

Let's have a look at what you have made for this weeks challenge......

Your Challenge Cards 

Sonia

 

Sonia's Description:

Card 1 I’ve used Chloe’s flower border, matted onto pink glitter card. I used the outline of the Pink Fresh butterfly and added the Tim Holtz butterfly die cut in glitter. The sentiment from Inkylicious is stamped and heat embossed onto vellum. The little flowers are from a Tonic punch.

Card 2; I was playing around with hot foiling normal dies and liked how this background die from Crafter’s Companion turned out. The hot foiled wreath is Spellbinders. I hot foiled Tim Holtz butterfly too and added to the centre. The sentiment stamped on vellum is from Stamp Market. 

Sonia thank you so much for two gorgeous Challenge Cards, that background on second card is stunning, I thought it was die cut not foiled, you are so inspired. XXX 

Lilian 

Lilian what a beautiful card, made using the StampinUp'An Open Heart'  the bird is so detailed, it looks like it is eyeing up those red berries!  Now I have been looking for some of that 'eyelash trim' for ages,  I love how delicate it is and it looks very much like a birds nest on your card.

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

Karen

Karen chose this design as the card for us to make at our little get together yesterday,  I love it, that crisp white tag on the Kraft card background looks so effective! 

We used Aall&Create #566 Winged Fragments & Aall&Create  #573 House of Butterflies  (for background).  We then marked of 2cm in from edge of card and drew the white gel pen border and stamped the little Butterfly definition inside to create background.  Karen stamped and embossed the tags for us to colour. 

The top card is Karen's original and the one beneath is the one she made yesterday as she crafted along with us.

Thank you so much Karen for choosing the project and providing all the bits to create it and for your amazing guidance, for me it was so lovely just sitting and crafting along. XXX

Sue

Sue used blues and greens to colour her butterfly at our crafting session yesterday,  an amazing card Sue, thank you for taking part XXX

Maria 

Marie used Blues for her butterfly,  it looks so striking against the white label.  A gorgeous card Maria,  thank you so much for sharing your card with us XXX

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Another amazing display Ladies, thank you so much for designing some lovely cards for the last week of our 'Wings' Challenge ❤️ 

Have a lovely Sunday ladies,

Janet, make sure you get plenty of rest my lovely friend, you have been so missed ❤️ 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I am sending love and hugs to our Janet today, I hope you are ok my lovely XXX 😍 

I hope that the rest of my lovely Blog family are as well as can be expected at our age!! 😉🤣😂

I have been looking forward to today as Paul is taking Sue & I to Watford to meet up with Maria, I am so sorry that Brenda and Sonia aren't able to join us this time but fingers crossed for next time, Karen has designed a card for us to make today, which I am really looking forward too, as well as lots of chatting.

Now hopefully you saw the Masterpiece at the top of the blog post, Sophie has finished her oil painted scene for the restaurant at the Wildlife park, its absolutely incredible up close,  the detail on each animal is unbelievable you can even see the light in the tortoise's eye!  

As it was too big to get a close up of, Soph has photographed in in 3 parts too.

The 'brief' was to create something that featured some of the favourite animals in the Park, so Soph came up with design herself,  you can see that the Monkey has his fish and chips, the flamingo is enjoying a Milkshake and the Lion looks like he doesn't want to share those scones !  

The detail is unbelievable,  the markings on the Giraffe and tortoise,  the colour of the Peacock, you could just reach in a help yourself to one of those scones.  We are so proud if all of her work but this is her first Oil painting so to think she hasn't used the medium before this us kind of unbelievable. 

Well done Sophie,  I cant put into words how proud of you we are 😍🥰🤩😘

I hope that you all have a great Saturday,  

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra

xxxxxx