Seaside Scene card

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

Now A) How is Friday already ?  B)  How can it be the last day of June???                                                      I know I say it every month but June has literally disappeared before our eyes, we have had birthdays, Father's Day, that all seem ages ago!  I know July will whizz by as we are preparing to move house 🙄😬🤔

Sue and I saw that Inkylicious were bringing out some new Seaside themed stamps and after watching them being demonstrated we couldn’t resist them, so when Sue came over yesterday we were excited to have a play with them, I will say that making the blended backgrounds wasn't as straightforward as it looked, getting the right colour blends etc, especially when we didn't have all of the right colours, between us we managed,  with a bit of swapping and sharing, for some reason our colours looked completely different to the ones on the demo (despite being the same inks) !  We had a good laugh though,  Sue was determined to get ginger orange sand 🤣, luckily she managed to calm the colour down!  That wasn't the funniest thing either, maybe Sue could tell you about her 'extra wide' Horizon line 🤣😂😅, ships could disappear through the gap and be lost forever! 😉 🤣

My card was actually breaking the rules as I used Distress Oxide inks, however I love how beautifully they blended so I went with them, I have two others that were made using memento inks, I will finish them off next week.  After inking I made sure the ink was dry before using an anti static bag and then stamping the water/waves, adding white embossing powder and heat setting.  To finish the card I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark and added more white embossing powder and heat set.  The final touch after mounting onto white card base was too add 3 tiny shells that we gathered on holiday!   I hope you like it ❤

I hope that you all have a lovely Friday,

Love & hugs to all, 

Sandra                                                                      xxxxxx 

Warm Wishes Christmas card

 

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that today finds you as well as can be expected, we had another very humid day yesterday, it looked like we were going to get rain in the morning as it was very cloudy but fortunately it stayed dry all day so that I got two loads of washing dry (Lucy had been away at Flynn's all week)!  

For the rest of the day I sat at my desk and got 3 cards made, which is unheard of for me, I was tidying as I went along which made it easier, I have no idea why I can't do that all the time, I guess we just get caught up in being creative, try one thing, if that doesn't quite work then we get something else just to see if it's better, then it's not and so it goes on, when you finally finish you look up and see the devastation you have created !!  Please tell me it isn't just me !!

Today's card is one of yesterday's projects, the lovely scene die is called Grassy Grove from Stampin Up!  I bought it last year and didn't get around to using it, I combined it with the beautiful New Horizon papers that you have all seen me use before.  I picked one that looked a bit like a sky background, I added the die cut forest scene on the front using foam pads for a bit of dimension. I stamped and die cut the deer and popped him in place, I wanted to add a bit of 'festive sparkle', so I added some silver mirror card stars, the twine has some sparkle in it too.

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love and huge hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Some throwback cards for inspiration

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

Well I'm not going to lie to you yesterday ended with me being in turmoil, I felt nauseous,  my skin felt clammy, heart racing, all because the owners of the house we went to visit yesterday picked us out of quite a list of applicants!   The couple want to meet the girls, which is understandable, then the long process of preparing to move begins.  The girls were over the moon, as they are closer to work and partners! 

So I went and sat at my desk I don't know how many times and totally cleared and tidied it, yes I now have the whole A3 mat and room each side, as apposed to the A5 area I was working on on Monday! But I just couldn't concentrate enough to make anything.  

I have picked a few more Christmas cards to maybe give you a little inspiration, hopefully my body will calm down overnight and normal creativity will return!  (I hope so) xx

I hope that you all have a lovely day

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                               xxxxxx

Another Christmas card using my Backgrounds

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope today finds you well,  we had a busy day yesterday,  we went to view a house last week and we liked it but had a couple of questions so we asked to go back to view it again yesterday,  we had an appointment with the Estate agent at 12, as we arrived the landlord was walking across his yard so the Estate agent called him over to introduce us, well he kind of took over,  wanting to show us every bit of the garden, then he wanted to show Paul the summer house, garage and loft,  the Estate agent ended up leaving, so I was left wandering around while Paul was up the loft,  they them came down and wanted to show us their campsite and gardens, we ended up being there for an hour and a half !!!  To be honest they seem a lovely couple, very 'normal' and down to earth.  

My new chair is lovely and comfortable  thankyou,  Maria you could have a point,  it could be my weight that was causing the problem 🤣😂, the new one is holding up so far! 

Karen I am so pleased you had a lovely weekend,  I know how much you were looking forward to meeting Aljaź, was Janette there too?  It was lovely that Alan enjoyed it too.  Was there dance lessons or did you watch dancing?? 

Todays card I made yesterday afternoon, I was wanting to use up the background I used for yesterday's card, so I stamped the little Christmas tree that has text cut into it, it's a SU set, I stamped the tree and embossed with clear embossing powder,  I then took some white ink and rubbed it into the text areas that don't emboss, which highlighted the text a little more.                                  I embossed a piece of white card with a snowflake embossing folder, I mounted this piece onto a piece of card that I coloured with peacock feathers distress ink, I used the same ink for the sentiment too. I mounted everything onto a top folding card base.  That's that piece of background used up, onto the next !! 

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love and hugs, 

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

A simple Christmas card for this weeks Challenge

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

What a wonderful warm weekend,  we didn't really acheive much, Paul mowed lawns and weeded, so maybe I should rephrase that comment to 'I' didn't really acheive much!  I did offer my supervisory services of course, not that they were required but it made me feel like I was involved 🤣😂, that husband of mine has the patience of a saint !!! 

We had to pop out and pick up my new office chair, I tried a lot of different styles in Ikea but the didn't seem to be long enough in the seat, I like the back of my knees supporting,  its one of the areas that I have a lot of pain, the area where my femur snapped is too painful to touch even today almost 15 years on!  I found one on Argos that was similar size to my current one, its a Habitat chair.  My old chair had started 'going down' of its own accord, I would be sat crafting and all of a sudden off I went on a slow decent, the problem with that is I cannot get up from low down chair without a struggle, it also put my knees above my hips which often results in my hip popping out!  It was funny to watch as 'mid heat embossing ' I would slowly descend.  So after I had ordered the chair Paul came and asked me if I knew where his 'Alan Key' set was, I pointed him in the direction of the car, he found them and next thing I knew he had my chair upside down attempting to fix it !!! Why wait until I bought a new one??!!  I have asked so many times and even had the thing upside down myself, the problem is the release handle that raises and lowers your seat, you should be able to push the handle in and lock it in place.  Anyway he thinks he's fixed it even though he couldn't get into the workings, it won't be fixed it temporarily stays put for a few hours and then down we go again.  Anyway to finish off this long winded tale, my new chair is in position and my old one is going to Lucy's room, she has been using Sophie's art desk chair! So everyone wins, most importantly I feel like the Boss in my shiny new chair!!! 🤣😂

Today's challenge card:  I used a piece of a background that I made a couple of weeks ago when I was trying the tissue technique, after adding the ink you take a piece of paper/card to smoosh the colours together, this is the piece I used this background for...

I used a few different shades including a spray that had Mica in, which has added a lovely sparkle. I stamped my sentiment onto my card base then trimmed a piece of the background down and placed it onto my card base and then added an assortment of Snowflakes and to finish added some sparkles to the centres. I finished the card yesterday,  which is exactly 6 months to Christmas day!! 

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

Sending my love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra

xxxxxx

Our White on White with a Pop of a colour cards

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

Well yesterday turned out to be so humid, it was such an effort to do anything,  mind you I was feeling a little exhausted as I went to Ikea with Becca on Friday morning, I find IKEA as mentally exhausting as physically!!  Becca was also shopping for a specific style of curtains,  curtain poles etc, also work top swatches/samples, same for cupboard doors/ handles etc, they have totally stripped the kitchen, bathroom, flooring out of their new house and are rebuilding, really exciting for them, a lot of work though. So I basically acheived nothing yesterday,  apart from this blog post !! 

Your Challenge Cards 

Janet

Janet's Description:

All the dies apart from the baby basket / Efolder are SWilson. If I remember correctly the baby basket is a CCompanion die.

Such a beautiful card Janet, there is something so special about a white card made with lots of lacy die cuts, so gorgeous 😍 

Thank you so much for taking part XXX 

Maria

Maria's Description:

My cards are mostly white with some crystals and gold sentiments. 

Maria,  I hope you are feeling a little less exhausted today, that is the reason I stopped going to the NEC, its just too big to get around,  quite overwhelming and I found it frustrating that there were so many non craft stands mixed in with craft ones.

Anyway thank you so much for two beautiful cards, perfect for weddings or anniversary cards.  XXX

 Karen

Karen's Description:

Here’s a white card with a splash of colour 

John Lockwood die

Julie Hickey sentiment and Glossies There were 9 Glossies and 10 gerbera So covered one of the gerbera with a sentiment🤣

Such a clever solution to your lack of enough yellow glossies Karen, we wouldn't have known if you hadn't said anything 😉  There is something so special about a simple daisy, your card is beautiful, thank you so much for inspiring us XXX

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:  

Hi, here is my card for this week, rather stuck for ideas, hope this is ok, I used an old embossing folder and a stencil I made. The leaves are a mistake. 

Thank you so much Lilian,  your care is beautiful,  it would make a beautiful wedding or anniversary card.  Those flowers are really pretty XXX

Sonia

Sonia's Description :

Card 1:  I used my glimmer foiling machine to do a letterpress with the foiling plate. I inked up the plate with Speckled Egg distress oxide, I also did the same for the sentiment. I added two Tim Holtz Butterflies.

Card 2:  I inked the edges of the butterflies with distress oxides. I die cut a circle and overlapped it on the edge of the card, trimming of the excess. The sentiment is from the Stamp Market.

Card 3:  I die cut the poinsettias and put them back into the cut outs. I added some Spun Sugar inked card underneath. The poinsettia centres are cut from a Spellbinders set and inked. The sentiments from the Stamp Market.

WOW Sonia,  all 3 of your cards are stunning,  I love all 3 designs,  using the Glimmer machine for Letterpressing gives such an amazing effect, I will definitely be giving that a try.  

The second card is such a simple design but my goodness it looks amazing! 

Now I had a sneek peek at this card earlier in the week,  I have been dying to see the whole card, I can confirm that it was worth the wait!! It's so lovely Sonia 😍

Thank you so much for three beautiful, inspirational cards XXX

Sue

Sue's Description:

Three super quick and easy cards. They were a last minute make after dropping an ink pad on my original challenge card!

Oh no Sue, you had that card mostly sorted on Thursday you must hafe been so frustrated!  

These three cards are perfect, even better if they are quick and easy to make! 

Thank you so much for starting over, I really do appreciate it XXX 

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

Ladies thank you so much for a stunning display of cards, I really do appreciate every moment you invest in supporting our Blog ❤

Karen thank you so much for choosing this Challenge,  I have really enjoyed it XXX

I hope that you all manage to stay cool and comfortable today,

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra

xxxxxx

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

Welcome to the weekend,  time to relax and do what you love!  

Our Gina sent me the above quote, its so accurate, I can put my hand up and say that I bought stuff from Sweet Poppy at the last craft show (Ally Pally) that I haven't even opened let alone used !  I know I can't be the only one!  Thank you Gina for sharing the quote with us XXX 

Creative Stamping Magazine 

Issue 123

This month's issue is a Collaboration with the RSPB, so by buying this Issue you are supporting the charity. The bird themed stamps are lovely,  lots of detail, some great scene building stamps too.

This first piece focuses on using the free Embossing folder to create different backgrounds to use with your stamps.  Using techniques such as Faux letterpress and sanding back to create different effects. 

Some lovely mixed media style cards, Rachel has used Nature & textures as Inspiration for her designs.

Masterclass:  Trapped Emboss Resist

Basically you lay down a base colour,  stamp an image on the background and then emboss with clear embossing power,  therefore 'trapping ' the base colour under the embossing.  You can then add more ink over the embossing to darken the background (the trapped colour would appear lighter)  or you can lighten the background (the original 'trapped' colour will appear darker) .  By playing around with colours you can really make your original image pop!  The designer has used the Ombray effect which works really well.  Baby wipes are a great tool for removing ink.  I will definitely be having a go at this technique. 

Framing & Sectioning Techniques are used to create some masculine style cards using the free stamps  I really like the bright fresh colours of these cards.

Jessica has used some different 'Over the edge' techniques to create some really lovely cards.

Some fun ideas for making projects that would make great Charity Fundraisers.

In Depth Make:  

Floating Panel card, Nicky has used an assortment of the free stamps to create this fun Floating Panel card.  If any of you want a closer look at the instructions.

Lorraine has used Masking techniques to create these amazing,  brightly coloured cards that are quite simple by design. 

I have to say these are my favourite cards in this magazine!  

Now I thought I would share this subscription offer with you in case any of you were considering a new magazine subscription, as the free gift is really useful,  you get Watercolour Inks a brayer and a small Media plate (gelli plate).

There are lots of techniques featured in this issue, the stamps are really usable too.

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend,

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra 

xxxxxx 

Maria's Christmas Challenge

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

Ooh what a week, I am so thankful that it's Friday!!

We have nothing planned for this weekend,  which I am happy about, the weather looks ok, quite warm but showers on both days, not for long,  I think Sunday it was in the evening.  

Our Next Challenge 

Our Maria kindly suggested Christmas as our next Challenge topic, so Christmas it is, well if you think about it its literally 6 months away, 5 months to make cards, so we do need to get started.  I have shared a few of the last Christmas cards I made,  I may try making a couple in 'different' colourways than the traditional.  I will also just add that I won't be only posting Christmas cards for the next 2 weeks,  I have some other goodies that I am excited to play with.  I will still be adding in cards to inspire you. 

Thank you so much Maria for suggesting this Challenge ❤️ XXX

I hope today brings a little cooler air to all of you 

Love and hugs to all of you 

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx