I actually managed a Snippet

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

It's much nicer having calmer weather, being able to get out in the garden, even if its only ten minutes, it makes such a difference to my day, we open the door first thing to let Milo & Bella out, Milo needs you to actually go out of the door to get him outside,  after which he is perfectly happen running about.  But that 10 minutes feels so therapeutic to me, I love it.  We didn't get around to getting a little 'bistro' table and 2 chairs last year, so I have my eye out looking for something. 

I was determined to create one of Tracy Evans 'Snippets ' yesterday,  I sat at my desk with determination to get one finished, I found one that I had most stamps for, the one I didn't have I quickly found a replacement for, which was the part that was frustrating me yesterday.  I used Salvaged Patina, Old Paper & Salty Ocean Distress Oxide inks to create the background,  then Versafine Clair 'Verdant & Shady Lane ' for the stamping.  A little bit of Posca pen for the white splatters. 

The Snippets are little inspiration boosters, something to have on hand when your mojo has disappeared,  You can add to them to create a card or simply keep them for inspiration to refer back to, they are 4 x 6 inch.  I am going to keep mine in a journal.  

I also think they are a great alternative to making cards every day, I am going to do a similar think for those little card topper things I shared with you last week.

I hope that you all have a wonderful Wednesday, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

A quick & simple card using patterned paper

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Well yesterday turned out to be a day of too much procrastinating!  I spent the whole afternoon looking on YouTube, I wanted to create a Tracy Evans 'Snippet ' after being inspired by Karen on Sunday, I am ashamed to say that I have quite a few Aall&Create stamps designed by Tracy that I bought intending to make a specific card and never gotten around to making it.  So when I saw Karen's Snippet I thought 'brilliant ' I have plenty of inused stamps to play with!!! 

However after looking at many different Snippet videos that I didn’t quite have the right 'ingredients' for I got disheartened and gave up!  I'm sure we all have days like this though.

So onto today's card, when I closed my laptop at about 5.20pm I thought, I will just share an old card, but it didn't sit right with me, so I decided to use some brand new SU patterned paper and make a quick and simple card.

I used the new Flight & Airy paper (which is freebie if you spend £45), I made a top folding card base, added a layer of white card embossed with my new favourite embossing folder and then matted a piece of the patterned paper onto coordinated card and added it to my card, before adhering I added a piece of linen thread finished with a bow and added the simple sentiment on top. 

Hopefully today will be more productive!

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Lovely & Sweet Card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,  

We had a lovely day yesterday,  it was chilly but beautifully bright and sunny and that makes everything better.  We pottered about in the garden, Paul sorted the greenhouse out to get it ready for sowing seeds for summer bedding, we have a habit of leaving it too late, however this greenhouse is safe to be in as it hasn't got missing glass panels in the roof and hasn't been condemned. ( I will add that Manor lodge is still on the market and they are using old photos that are showing the summer house which was destroyed in last years storms and the greenhouse which he was instructed to remove as it is too dangerous to step inside, mostly because any fixings that are holding the massive sheets of glass in place have rotted away)!.  Anyway Lynn & Bill couldn't be better landlords,  for instance I reported that the hot tap wasn't switching off properly,  Bill was round same afternoon,  the taps were the original ones and he couldn't repair so he went straight to Screwfix and bought a new set, he said "I got you lever taps so they would be easier for you to use", how thoughtful is he, bless him, the girls have realky taken to both of them, I will often see them chatting when they get back from work etc.  

I made today's card ob Friday, as I was photographing it it dawned on me that I was clearly in a "green & white" phase last week!  

I used a stamp & die set called "Lovely & Sweet", I think the images are almond plants, anyway I stamped and embossed in gold embossing powder, I then used Stampin Blends to colour the foliage in Mossy Meadow & Soft Sea Foam,  I fussy cut a couple of flowers from the matching papers and added them to my stamped image,   I stamped the sentiment and gold embossed that too, I tgen die cut some foliage and flowers to embellish the card and in particular around the sentiment.  The background is foiled paper from matching dsp,  I added some tiny pearls coloured with matching alcohol marker and popped them on the flowers. 

I hope that you all have a lovely start to your week, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx

Your Challenge Cards

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

It was a lovely bright day yesterday but my goodness the temperature really dropped when the  sun went in, it was definitely a log burner night.  I am hoping that tonight will be the first night that I actually get to sleep before 3am!  My body has decided that I'm not ready for bed at 11pm.  I am really feeling it after a week, through the week I have literally just got to sleep as Paul's alarm goes off,  after that i am wide awake again.  I started nodding off in the lounge twice this week but I'm not starting that otherwise my body clock will be all over the place! 

We had a busy day yesterday,  we wanted to hey a couple of Clematis 'Montana ' plants, as there was a huge Clematis covering a 20ft hedge but the hard frost of last winter killed it, all that's left is a large area of dead growth where it used to be, Lynn next door  said that it was a huge wall of pink and white flowers throughout the summer before the frost had them.  The garden centre that we went to yesterday had about 6 different sorts, none of which covered what we wanted, we did pick one though,  its called Clematis Princess Diana,  it has beautiful flowers that are scented, it's a late variety though, so we'll look for the vigorous growing 'montana' type to fill the gap too.  They also had a sale table, with loads of plants reduced to 50p, mostly ground cover plants but all had pretty flowers, we got a couple of shrubs to reduced to £1, we picked up some seeds to, they were 99p, a branded name too, if you joined their garden club you got 50% off of all the seeds, I think we had 20 items, 6 of which were seeds , the Clematis was £14.99, the total was £22 !!! Paul was really buzzing with his bargain shop, particularly as we got a boot full of plants!  

Your Challenge cards 

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

Hi lovely 

How’s your day been,what you been up to?

Here’s a couple of cards……

Card 1:  Made this for James on passing his driving test. A LOTV image, the sentiment is new to me from Stampin Up, and the P plate is from a Memory Box alphabet set

Card 2:  I’ve used my new Snowflake dies from PinkFresh Studio, and sentiment dies from Spellbinders. I inked the embossed card with Tumbled Glass distress oxide and the snowflakes too. It doesn’t really show up in the picture, but I dabbed some white ink onto them too.

How lovely is that card for James, LOTV really hit the nail on the head with adorable images for most occasions!!  You must be so proud having him pass his Driving Test 1st time!!  All of those hours of extra experience from you and Mark clearly helped, it's changed so much since we passed, if I had had to do parallel parking I'd have failed every time!  

Your snowflake card is so lovely,  I love your background,  why do colours look so much nicer when someone else uses them?  Those snowflakes are so delicately detailed and beautifully coloured, the vellum is a great way to add the sentiment without it being too harsh and dominating the card. Thank you so much my lovely for two incredible challenge cards XXX

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi here are my challenge cards and scrapbook page.

The scrapbook page I’ve done to shoe the new distressed colour ' Scorched Timber', also used Barn Door pencil.

The tulip card is also used barn door pencil, and a Lavinia stencil, used old paper.

The stamps are both new, tulip is indigo blue, the other flower I bought from that’s crafty.

Hope you OK, still wet and windy here. Had a bad week this week.

I love that you had time to sit and have a good crafting session my lovely, you have convinced me that I need the Scorched Timber Distress Ink pad, I think that your journal page shows the colour really well, your piece shows how it looks stamped and blended, it mixes really well with the Barn Door colour too. 

Your Tulips are so beautiful, I would never have guessed that they were coloured with Barn door Distress Pencils, you have definitely mastered the Distress Watercolour Pencils, they blend beautifully as you hsve demonstrated. The Lavinia stencil makes  perfect background too. Thank you so much for inspiring us all XXX

Karen 

Karen's Description:  

Card 1:  Here’s a card for the challenge 

Everything on it is never been used before apart from the silver and navy card I kept it flat for posting

Background (white) = SueW (I won it Not ever used because the sizing is definitely American 

Sentiment = Daisy B embossed in silver 

Tag = The Works

It’s one of those cards that I didn’t have a clue where it was going but like how it turned out

Card 2:  I had a go at Snippet 17 today I don’t have distress crayons and I heat embossed the butterfly I didn’t add the extra wings either

Firstly I would like to thank you for inspiring me, I have that background die and like you I have never used it, I don't remember buying it but I'm guessing that something must have inspired me🤔!  

The combination of the Navy & Silver card is a match made in heaven,  your pretty sentiment worls perfectly with that label die too. 

Your Tracy Evans Snippet is incredible Karen, the distress crayons were clearly not essential as you have substituted them and nobody would be any the wiser.  Your colouring is lovely,  I like a heat embossed finish, I think it looks so much better and in my opinion it makes it easier to colour on.  To me this would make a perfect Journal cover.  I am 100% going to be having a go at the Snippets, I am ashamed to say that I have several Aall&Create stamps that I have bought and never opened!!   Thank you so very much for two inspiring projects XXX

Janet

Janet's Description:  

This card made at this week's K&N.I had cut out at home so just needed putting together. The efold is a Sue Wilson -can't remember when I last used it. The frame is a Phil Martin Stately Collection/double debossed/elegant  labels again I haven't used this set for at least a couple of years.

Such a beautiful card Janet,  like you I have that embossing folder and haven't used it for so many years, it will be like using something new all over again!  The label dies make the perfect frame for your pretty floral arrangement.   Thank you so much my lovely,  seeing you crafting again really does bring me so much joy!  Thank you so much for taking part XXX 

Maria

Maria has created a fantastic card using a  Diecutting Essentials die issue 20,  think it was a Miss P die, Maria cut it 3 times from some pretty coloured card and arranged them onto the striped background.  A lovely cheerful card that would work well for male or female recipients.  Thank you so much Maria XXX

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

Ladies thank you so very much, my mind is buzzing with ideas for crafting projects this week. ❤

I hope that you are all having a lovely relaxed Sunday,  

My love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra 

xxxxxx

Mixed Up Saturday

 

I think most of us are more interested in watching 

A new craft tutorial rather than tv shows! 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all having a lovely relaxed start to the weekend,  the last weekend of January!!  I had realised it was that close to end of January,  then reality hit me, its Sophie  & Lucy's birthday next Sunday (4th feb), how can my babies be 24 !!  It makes me feel so old, I was that age when I married Paul ! 

Paul and I had a lovely stroll (well Paul strolled) around Bourton On The Water yesterday afternoon,  I think it's the quietest its ever been when we have driven through, the pavements are really narrow so its a nightmare with the wheelchair when it is busy, the pavements are just about wide enough for the wheelchair on its iwn, so people have move out of the way,  which I hate, I spend half my saying 'excuse me' or 'I'm sorry'  So we seized the opportunity while it was quiet, a lot of the shops were closed though, which may be why it was quiet.  We did notice that it stayed light until after 5pm yesterday, which is lovely,  I can't wait to be able to stay outside into the evening.  

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend, 

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra

xxxxxx

Lovely Leaf print card

 Good Friday Morning Ladies,

I hope today finds you all as well as you can be, gentle hugs are winging their way to those of you that need one. 

Janet,  Sue & Brenda,  I hope that you are all ok, please know that you are all in our thoughts. 😘

Sonia & Karen I hope that your antibiotics are kicking in by now and that you are both starting to feel better.  

What do you all have planned for the weekend?   We have a quiet one, however we need to chose between sorting the spare room or the conservatory, decisions decisions!!! 

Today's card is a simple design,  I embossed the front of an "Evening Evergreen" Base card with a woodgrain embossing folder, I then took my new Tim Holtz, Stampers Anonymous Leaf Prints stamps and a variety of green inks and stamped a background design onto a cream card, I then used it to create a fantastic decorative front for my card, I adhered it onto the embossed front of card at an angle, I die cut the 'thanks' a couple times and stuck them together for extra dimension,  I stamped the rest of the sentiment onto a piece of card and die cut with a circle die, I popped that onto a scalloped layer and added to my card front. 

As I said it's a simple design, I do like how it turned out though.

I hope that you all have a fabulous Friday,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

Lovely Fresh Greens

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Well what a contrast in weather,  we had a lovely bright and sunny day yesterday,  we had the back door and windows open most of the day to let the fresh air in.  😀 

The brighter weather put me in mind of spring, fresh greens and brighter colours.  Which is how this card came about.  The colours are Garden Green, Parakeet Party and Crumb cake. The

I used the stamp and die set 'Field Notes' (SU) with some foliage from an older set called Forever Fern.The colours are Garden Green, Parakeet Party and Crumb cake.  I love that embossing folder too.  The inspiration for the card came from Pinterest. I really like how it turned out.

As I am writing this we are all getting ready to go out for dinner & Cinema. We haven't all been out together for ages.  So I am really looking forward to it. 

I hope that you all have a great Thursday, 

Love & Hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx

Something Bright & Cheerful

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

Well we had storm Jocelyn battering us all day yesterday, strong gusty winds and more rain!! As Sonia said yesterday I much prefer a cold crisp morning, everywhere looks so sad when its bedraggled by wind and absolutely saturated with rain. 

So today's card will brighten everyones mood, lovely bright green and gorgeous pink.  I used the same rule as yesterday,  white embossed rounded rectangle,  is base, secondary shape is the tag, Greenery x 5 is leaves, Accent is ribbon on tag and embellishments are little gems on flowers.  I love these colours together,  they certainly brighten your mood !  

I hope today brings us some better weather 

Love and hugs to all 

Sandra xxx

Challenge card No.2

 

Good Morning my lovelies, 

Last night was much calmer thank goodness,  we were battered with wind and rain all night, I fully expected to see devastation when I looked out this morning but other than the trees looking a bit the worse for wear it wasn't too bad, there were a few huge trees down between us and Cheltenham, I think its so sad to see these trees that are so old broken and laying across the road.  

The wheelchair assessment was a bit of a waste of time,  it seems ridiculous to have to take a step backwards because the county we are in have different budget to the Oxfordshire NHS where the wheelchair was issued after assessment!  But we will just have to manage I guess!  Never mind ! 🤷‍♀️

I had a job relaxing enough to make a card when wr got back yesterday as I find trawling back through my nightmare medical history very harrowing,  so many mistakes and bad decisions were made by people that are paid a huge amount of money to do their job.  Had said people showed an ounce of care, compassion and more importantly competence, I wouldn't need a bloody wheelchair! 

Today's card was made using a new Stamp & Die set called 'Gorgeously Made', the background paper is from the same suite.  I watched a tutorial about building 'Focal Point Clusters'  this card was one of the examples.  The lady was called Robin, her formula is  'Base Shape x1 Secondary Shape x1 Greenery x 2-3,  Accent x odd number, Embellishments x 3

So for this card the base was the tag, the secondary shape was the sentiment tag, greenery was the foliage,  Accent is ribbon under tag and twine at top, Embellishments are the sparkle gems.  

So I think it works,  I am trying something different today to test it out again.  If you want me to explain it more I am more than happy to.

Sending you all my love,

Sandra xxx

My first New/Unused Challenge card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

From a wet & wild Gloucestershire!  My goodness me that wind was strong and I was colder on Saturday night than I was all week when the temperatures were below freezing!  I cannot manage to get to 3am without having to make a trip to the bathroom,  when it is so cold it's like torture, I have tried not drinking after 9pm, no caffeine after 6pm, all kinds of methods so that I can stay in my warm cosy bed all night, but it's not happening and I daren't not go and risk the consequences (and I don't mean wetting the bed)!! 🤣😂

Today we are going to the independent living centre in Cheltenham do discuss my new wheelchair, I asked about having a powered wheelchair so that I can have Paul walk beside me when we are out sightseeing together,  but mostly for that bit of independence,  the girls struggle with the wheelchair at times,  Becca with her arthritis in her elbow simply can't push it and Soph has an issue with her wrists, making them weak and painful.  When I enquired over the phobe about powered wheelchair,  the lady said that the ones that they supply require a special vehicle with a ramp or hoist, which is not what I was thinking at all, so she said that it would be easier for me to ho there to see and discuss the options. 

Today I am sharing a card that I made on Friday, I used two different die sets that are new, the first is a background die (SU) ' Stitched Greenery' 

It gives that lovely Stitched leaf detail all over your background,  I really like, how detailed yet subtle it is. The flowers and foliage are from a Spellbinders die set called Be Bold Blooms, I don't know why I hadn't gotten around to using them because I bought them in July!!  I think that now I have got them out I will be using them all the time.

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

Love & hugs to all of you,

Sandra 

xxxxxx

 

Your 'Old Die/Stamp' Challenge cards

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

Our Internet is back on!! 🙌 🥳🎉🍾   what a relief, although I will say I didn't miss the TV at all.  All sitting around chatting was much nicer way to spend the evening.  We also picked up our new kettle, which in all honesty was missed just as much as the Internet 🤣😂

Not much planned today,  we may pop out to a garden centre, it depends on the weather really.  What are you all up to today?  

Let's have a look at your cards.....

Janet 

Janet's Description:

Here is my CCfor this week.

Once again the dies are Sue Wilson (bought way back in 2015).

The base card/flowers/pearls and two dark green leaves are from my stash boxes.

Such a beautiful card Janet, so much pretty detail, your flower arrangement topped with the pretty lace butterfly finish the card perfectly.  Thank you so much for such an inspirational design XXX 

Karen

Karen's Description:

Card 1:  Here’s a card using old stuff I honestly cannot remember when I last used this Tattered Lace rabbit die and matching print 

The sentiment is Aall & Create It’s for the same baby Teo and so wanted something completely different and it won’t be given to the mum for another couple of weeks as I haven’t finished the gift yet!

Card 2:  This one is a very very old Serif background that I printed off at least 3 years ago and never used (I try to fill an A4 piece of card before I print) 

An old Gummipian butterfly die

Old Lidl blue card

Card 3:  Here’s a Christmas card with 2 “old” items

The deckle edge dies are probably the first dies I ever bought- at least 10 years ago and white embossing powder on the Crafting With Josie tree

Sentiment is Sue W which is new to me

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi, here is my card

It’s the first time I’ve used acrylics for cards, looked good until I decided to stamp and emboss the corners. 

Lilian I would definitely say that acrylic paint on cards is a success, your beautiful painting is something special.  The recipient of this card is very lucky, what a beautiful gift.  Thank you so much for taking part in the Challenge mtly lovely XXX 

Maria

Maria has designed a beautiful blue & cream card, a colour combination that I love.  Such a ptetty corner die too,  with such intricate detail that all that is required is a simple sentiment.  Thank you so much for supporting the challenge my lovely friend XXX 

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

Card 1:  I used Spellbinders dies Majestic Squares & Mary's border  and Tim Holtz butterfly and The Stamp Market sentiment. I followed a tutorial for cutting the die into the base of the card - which wasn’t as easy as it looked!

Card 2:  I’ve used the same Spellbinders die, cut into the top piece of card without the outside cutting border. I matted it onto to pretty paper and used one of my new Spellbinders die cut sentiment. I’ve added some gems to the centres of the ‘flowers’

Card 3:  Another card using a Spellbinders border bracket die and the JustRite border and sentiment stamps. The centre dies are also Spellbinders.

Oh Sonia your mojo came back with a bang!!! 3 absolutely gorgeous cards, I will say that I love them all but number 2 is my favourite, it's a combination of that gorgeous sentiment and the colours.  

Thank you so much for 3 amazing cards my lovely XXX 

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

What can I say ladies?!  Look at that incredible display of cards, you are all amazing and I am so grateful to you all ❤

Have a lovely Sunday, 

Love & hugs to all of you,  

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

Still no Internet for us, the novelty has well and truly worn off, luckily we managed to connect Paul's work laptop to either my Mobile Data 'Hotspot' or Lucy's, so he was able to stay home and work.  More importantly the blog posted!  I am concerned that we won't have any Internet for the rest of the weekend and I will run out of mobile data.  

It was really nice last night though we were all sat in the lounge together, Sophie was working on an art project while Lucy Paul & I were working on our Jigsaw puzzle, while listening to music.  

Janet 

Janet created this beautiful card at her first Knit & Natter of 2024, it was her first card of 2024, I missed the email when it was sent (sorry Janet).

It is a beautiful country cottage scene, I love the decoupaged Cat and Cockerel, imagine waking up to that every morning!!  I would like to walk through that gate and see what the inside of the house looks like, wouldn't you?.  

Thank you so much for sharing your first card of the year with us, I am looking forward to having your cards back on our Sunday display XXX

Lilian's Shopping 

The first picture above is of Lilian's perfectly organised bottles of stickles, pixie powders etc.  I personally think having them on display makes you use them more as they aren't hidden away in a drawer.  

The second photo is Lilian's shopping and Christmas gift.  Some new domed blending toolscand sponges,  the latest Distress Oxide Scorched Timber and Distress colour pencil in same colour.  The stamp is 'That's Crafty' Melina's Grunge Flower, I love it and can't wait to see what you create with it.  The collection of Embossing Powders were a Christmas gift from Lilian's Son Jason, I rarely get Craft gifts, it must be lovely,  as long as they know what you will use.  

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

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend,  it is getting warmer for a few days!! 

Sending my love & hugs to all of you,  

Sandra

xxxxxx