Time for a New Challenge..

 

Good  Friday Morning Ladies,

Here we are on the very last day of May, at the beginning of this month Paul and I were getting impatient to get planting done, but we had to follow the rules around not risking planting out until 'May was out', the laugh is that with the wedding and the weather we will be lucky if everything is planted by the end of June!  I wonder what weather June will bring us?

We are so looking forward to a relaxed weekend (apart from the planting), having nowhere to go and nothing to shop for, our next big event is holiday in August, no doubt that will be here in no time.  Do you ladies have any big events to look forward to?  

Of course we have 'The' Wedding next September, Becca wants to get 'Save the Dates' our soonish, now that Emily & Mat's wedding is over I feel okay about turning my attention to Becca & Adams wedding.  

Our New Challenge

I couldn't decide on any particular challenge this week, I am sorry it has been so long since I have set a new one. 

I thought a TicTacToe would be a good choice as there is literally something in there for everyone, from a beautiful card made with Stamperia papers from our Janet to a gorgeous Butterfly adorned card from Sonia, pretty florals from Maria  and Lilian or a more mixed media look from Karen with her Snippets and Thrinchies.

I have tried to add enough categories to cover everybody's style.  Please don't feel pressured into sticking to particular lines, just pick whichever 3 categories you fancy.  

My only aim is to encourage you all to get using all of your lovely craft stash. 

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I look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow as we welcome in the first day of June,

Love and Hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                        xxxxxx

Thoughtful Journey card

 

Good Thursday Morning Ladies,

I have to write the day so that I know where I am in the week!!  These Bank Holiday weekends really throw me off for the rest of the week.  Anyone else?? 

Brenda I do hope you weren't stuck at the Marsden all day yesterday my lovely xxx

I did eventually get my call from GP,  turns out that my liver is inflamed again, the dr wasn't convinced that it was the antibiotics though, she said that I hadn't had a blood test since last September when the reading for my liver were off the chart, which she said was worrying,  she also couldn't understand why with the history of liver problems that I haven't been referred.  So she has done a referral,  the other thing that should have been done was a Fib4 liver scan, my bloods have consistently shown that the Fb4 reading is above the higher level of normal,  so she organised that too. Its all to do with how firm your liver is.   The pain and inflammation that I had last week....she thinks its the Bile Duct left aftet Gallbladder removal may have a stone in it, I did explain that I had an MRI scan in September 2022 that didn't show any stones, she said she wasn't convinced so she has ordered another scan.  The other thing that she picked up on that had been overlooked by the old surgery was a long history of being very deficient in Vitamin B12,  this could be because of the issues with my liver.  So she has told me to order some B12 supplements and she had prescribed Folic acid to take 4 weeks after starting B12.  Fingers crossed that all of this gives some answers. 

Today's card is made with some pretty papers that I just bought from Stampin up, the set is called 'Thoughtful Journey', there are some lovely designs, I will share them on Saturday.  

I hope that you all have a good day,

Love ,& hugs to all,

Sandra xxx 

A pretty Bit Box card

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

From damp & gloomy Gloucestershire,  we had showers on and off all day,  it felt chilly too, compared to the warmer days we've had recently,  poor Emily was so hot on Friday and Saturday in her wedding dress, luckily she had a pretty fan on hand to keep her a little bit cooler.  We were so lucky with the weather, we had torrential rain in the days leading up to Friday, thank heavens that the sun shone all day Friday, it was around 23° too, so the photos in the grounds of Bury st Edmunds Abbey should be beautiful, I can't wait to see them all.  

As I am writing this Blog post I still haven't heard back from the GP surgery regarding my Urgent Blood test results from Thursday,  they were supposed to call me with results on Friday, I called in after not hearing by lunchtime, I was told that they were actually back at the Surgery on Friday, however the administrator thought that it would be ok to leave these 'Urgent Blood results' for the Duty GP that requested to look at when she returns to work on Thursday this week !!!!  I politely suggested that they read the notes explaining the reason for the Urgent blood test, they came back saying that they have put the results on the list for the Duty GP to look at, I would get a call in the afternoon,  it is currently 18.43pm and I have heard nothing!  I am beginning to regret the choice of surgery that we made. 

I made today's card yesterday afternoon, I looked on Pinterest for cards that use bits of patterned papers etc so that I can reduce my 'bit box'.  The original was by a lady called Mary Hansen, although there were many variations of this design.  I chose a scrap piece of paper from my 'Masterfully Made' collection, I really love the colours in this set.  

I used 4 small pieces of the paper, 2 of each side, arranged around the edges of a piece of white card that was 3 7/8 x 5 1/8 inch, I then ran the whole piece through an embossing powder for some extra texture.  I layered this piece onto a piece of Pretty Peacock card and then onto a white card base.  I stamped the settings in matching ink and layered it onto a pretty peacock mat and added it to centre of my card. 

I hope that you all have a good day,

Love and hugs,

Sandra  xxx

Sonia's Card from Karen

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Everything back to normal today, it's an odd kind of low feeling when you have been building up to an event for months and its all over in a blink of an eye.  I absolutely loved having my whole family together for more than just a couple of hours.  My sisters too.  The house is eerily quiet today normally Lucy would be home but she was asked to work today so it's just me, I am hoping to here from GP with my blood results,  I hope they don't need me to go in,  well if they do it will have to be tomorrow. 

The weather stayed lovely for us yesterday, it looked like it would rain a couple of times but luckily it missed us, Burford have torrential rain though, so we were lucky. 

Today's I am sharing the card that Karen made for Sonia's Birthday,  although sadly Sonia still hasn't received it. Which is both sad and infuriating, sad for Sonia but disappointing to Karen who took time to make such a lovely card, even worse when its so expensive to post these days too. 

Karen's Description:

My birthday card to Sonia,  I have never used this embossing folder I tried to lightly ink over the top with Picked Raspberry DO

The butterfly is by GUMMIAPAN I made a base for it on ScanNCut.  

Love this card Karen, I know Sonia will too, having the ability to cut petfect mat and layers for dies makes the machine worth every penny. 

Thank you so much for allowing me to share Sonia's card xxx

I hope that you all have a great day,

Janet fingers crossed you get to Knit & Natter my lovely XXX 

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra xxx

A Man card Monday

🎉🎈🎂 Birthday Maria 🎂🎈🎉

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

Please join me in wishing our  Lovely Maria a Vsry Happy Birthday,  I hope you have an amazing day my lovely XXX 

Thank you for all of your lovely comments and messages about how lovely we looked, I am so incredibly proud of our little family, they certainly did us proud.  They did Emily proud too between them, Becca made some amazing Charcuterie Boards for the buffet table, the girls pitched in with making the tables look amazing too, Soph & Lucy did all the signs for bar, cocktails lawn games etc. 

This was the seating area, Paul did those fantastic balloons that were clear, helium filled, he then wrapped tiny fairy lights around them, they looked lovely.

Here is a sneaky peek at our beautiful bride, she looked beautiful bless her. We have a long wait for the official photos but I can't wait to see them.

Today is mostly going to be spent recuperating,  on Thursday morning I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to go, the GP gave me the go ahead as long as I promised to pre check where emergency/urgent care facilities were.  My ribs on the right at the bottom feel so incredibly bruised and laying on the right is now impossible, whatevee it is that's inflamed in my abdomen is taking its toll, eating more than a few bites makes it worse and the pressure on my bladder has that flared up too. I am hoping that the surgery will call me tomorrow to give me blood results. I really hope they get to the bottom of this,  this is the worst its ever been. 

Today I am sharing another card that was featured in the IndigoBlu magazine, I really like this one, it was made using some of the papers, which I added stencilling too, some stamping and paper tearing and a little bit of colouring! 

I hope that you all have an enjoyable Bank Holiday Monday,  It looks likely to be a typical wet BH !! 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxxxxx 

Your lovely craft projects

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

Hopefully as you are reading this we are on our way home, the weekend has been awesome but I am ready for a proper cup of tea and feet up!  Yesterday was lovely, everyone worked together and the Barn looked beautiful, the girls did signs and decor.  My sister claire and i did food for buffet/nibbles,  Becca did Charcuterie boards, that looked amazing.  Paul & Matt did lightning etc.  So we were all busy but had it done in a couple of hours. 

Emily was delighted with how it looked which is the main thing. 

Lets see what you have been making this week...

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

I’ve used a Tracey Hey stamp, it’s from a set and this is the first time I’ve used the cute elephant. I stamped twice, the second on blue card and cut out his little dungarees. The ink splat stamp in the background is from HoneyDoo crafts. The die cut sentiments from Spellbinders and the stamped sentiment and number are from a very old set by DoCrafts.

Oh Sonia what an Incredibly adorable card for Teddy's 1st Birthday,  how can it be almost a year?!

This will be a lovely card for his keepsake box.

Thank you so much for sharing it with us XXX

Karen

Karen's Description:

My version of Snippet 11 Different flowers #332 Birthday Blooms I used the pot and sentiment from #401 and left the bird off But might add a mouse or rabbit 

Never used an ordinary pencil and paper stub to blend (the pot) 

Oh Karen I think this is one of my favourites of a of your Snippets,  I love everything about it, including those lovely green flowers.  

Thank you so much for sharing your Snippet XXX

Maria 

Maria's Description:

I used a new die with trees and a bench that I bought some time ago. Just gave it a hint of colour in the background.

The second one, I have used a AALL stamp that I liked the look of and coloured some of the part only. 

Two lovely cards Maria, the 'spotlight' colour on  the first card is amazing and works beautifully with the background colour. 

The second card is so lovely with just a hint of colour.  Thank you so much for taking part XXX 

Lilian

Lilian's Description:

Hi, here are my cards for this week, thank-you for the inspiration.

Really enjoyed doing these simple cards.

I found a box of stamps, some used some new. I think I must have put them away when I was using dies.

Lilian I absolutely love what you created with those papers, the lighthouse ones are perfect, its like they were made to fit.  Love the others too of course. Thanks you so much for sharing your cards.  XXX 

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Thank you so much for sharing your craft projects, I really do appreciate it ❤️

Have a lovely Sunday, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra

xxxxxx

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all enjoying the better weather and having a good weekend. 

We had an absolutely beautiful day yesterday,  lovely sunshine, not too hot, perfect for the occasion.  

I am so incredibly proud of my beautiful family, they scrubbed up well,  we have had some professional photos but here are a couple of sneak peeks...

Me & My Love

My Beautiful Girls

My Handsome Matt & Lovely Alex 

❤️My whole world ❤️

That's kind of all for today, sorry not craft related today.

I  all honesty by the time we got back to the hotel I was too exhausted to even think about crafting 🤣😂

We are getting ready for wedding day 2, the big reception/party!

Have a great Saturday, 

Love and huge hugs to all

Sandra xxx

A very Special Day

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

We arrived in Suffolk yesterday all ready for the wedding today.  It was a looong journey!  I can't wait to watch my baby sister get married, she is 20 years younger than me so its a different bond than it is with my sister Claire, we grew up together, I think we both have more maternal feelings towards our Emily,  I think there will be a few tears shed today.  

Today's card is my version of one of the cards featured in the IndigoBlu Magazine that I bought last week.  I love the mixed media style and it was fun using bits of lace and muslin again, great ways of adding texture and interest to your projects. 

I hope that you all have a lovely Friday  

Love & hugs to all,

Sandra xxxx

A card in a card

Good Thursday Morning Ladies,

Well didn't it rain?!!! Our gutters could barely cope and when Lucy took me to go surgery the standing water on either side of the road hat joined together making it like driving through a river, it was running like a waterfall in some places! 

Last bit of packing today and we set off for Suffolk for the wedding.  

If I remember everything it will be a miracle!  Fingers crossed I have packed all of the essentials! 

Todays card is a card with a little pocket with another pocket tucked inside it.

It's like having somewhere for a secret message!  The papers are some I've had a while,  I think that they are an Autumn set, I love the colours though.

This shows how pretty the papers are with a little touch of foiling.  I added just one diamanté, for an extra twinkle! 

I hope that you all have a good day,

Love & hugs to all,

Sandra xxx

Simple Inked & Tiled card

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,

A chilly day here yesterday,  very cloudy too,  we didn't get any rain though. 

I had one of those 'what to do for the best" moments yesterday,  Lucy asked me to refresh her dress for day 2, she has only worn it once, I checked the label and I says "Dry Clean Only"  so I had think, then decided to put it a a mesh bag I have for delicates, zipped it up and put it on a wool/ delicate wash, I was panicking the whole time it was on there, I have never counted the minutes down to the machine finishing before.  Thank heavens it came out perfect !   

My shoes are sorted!!  I refused to pay £120  for a pair of Phase Eight shoes, I tried so many others but the colour wasn't right,  then I had an Idea,  the girls are always buying and selling stuff on Vinted so I went on to look for the shoes there, I saw the perfect pair with a matching bag,  but the lady was on holiday until this weekend,  so that was a no, I then found another pair and messaged the seller to ask if she could post them so that I get them in time, she agreed and they arrived yesterday, they are just like new and are quite comfortable,  which I would hope for £120 shoes!! Luckily I paid about £25 with postage! 

I will make final decision on my day 2 dress today, fingers crossed something works. 

Today's card is a simple card made using my "Inked & Stamped"  stamp set.  I stamped the flower in Lost Lagoon ink and used a stitched die to cut it out.  I layered it onto matching card and some matching patterned papers. I added some ribbon to the focal piece and added  knot. I couldn't make my mind up where to put the sentiment,  then I remembered I had vertical ones, so used one of those for a change. 

Brenda I'm sorry to hear that you are still in hospital,  it's exhausting being in a six bed bay but the people watching can be entertaining!  Sounds like you have plenty to keep you occupied,  poor John,  he must wonder what on earth is going on, I do think that every time ive been in there has been a "Loopy Lil " character (nutty as a fruitcake)!  Sending you love and gentle hugs my lovely XXX 

I hope that you all have  good day, 

Love & hugs, 

Sandra xxxxxx 

Cute little Faux watercolour notelet

Good Morning Ladies, 

How are you all today,  weren't we lucky with another day of sun, it was warm too.  

Janet I do hope you made it to K & N, just getting out of the house can lift your mood.  XXX 

Lilian I hope that your new antibiotics have started working and that you are feeling brighter xxx

Brenda, are you home yet?  I do hope so, there is nothing like your own bed, as well as the quiet, hospitals are noisy places, I've been on wards with some quite colourful characters!  One lady had learning disabilities,  she would call nurses constantly,  at night she'd wander around,  I woke up on a few occasions with her stood over me as I was asleep, I about had a heart attack from the shock!  Then you'd hear all other ladies shouting in shock to find her virtually in bed with you, it started affecting everyones sleep so much they moved her to a side room,  you could still hear her shouting for Nurses,  if it went more than 15 minutes, she'd throw whatever was on her bedside table out into the hallway, plastic cups, the clipboard with her notes, her slippers and shoes, it was frustrating at night but so sad to think how confused her mind must have been. The main issue was she'd had hip replacement and wasn't supposed to walk unaided!!  Poor sweet lady.  

Today's card is a little notelet, I intend to make a set of 4.  This one started by doing 'Faux watercolouring'  I inked my stamp with Pumpkin Pie & Mossy Meadow ink, placed watercolour card in the stamp platform , then spritzed the inked stamp with water, I stamped it then spritzed again and re stamped to get the colours moving a little bit. To make it more interesting I added some tiny splats of Pumpkin pie and crumb cake ink around the flowers.  

I matted and layered the card base, starting with  crumb cake base card, then mats of Early Espresso and a coordinating patterned paper.   I quite like how this one turned out.  I will share the others as I make them. 

I hope that you all have a great Tuesday, 

Love & hugs to all,

Sandra xxx

A pretty scene card

 

Goid Monday Morning Ladies

Here we are at the start of a new week, its going to be a busy one for us with the wedding this Friday and Saturday!  I still have no shoes! We went suit/shirt and tie shopping yesterday, what a palava, were in Next over an hour and half,  if the jacket and waistcoat were perfect they didn't have the trousers, then we found a pairif trousers a d a waistcoat that looked amazing but no jacket in stock. I have ordered one of the ones we liked and it 'should ' be here by Wednesday!!

Today's card is a quick one I put together when we got back from shopping.  I was inspired by a couple of Pinterest cards.

I used my Meandering Meadows papers,  I layered it with some matching card (Mossy Meadow) which I embossed, I added a small strip of brown card with some twine wrapped around for some interest.  The papers are so pretty they deserve to be the main feature.  

Brenda I hope that you are home and that your procedure has you feeling better xxx

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

Love & hugs to you All,

Sandra xxx

Look what we have all been making...

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

I know I didn't set another challenge this week, I was afraid that you had all gotten tired of them.  I just like to keep you ladies motivated to get in that Craft room and use all of the wonderful products that you have been excitedly collecting over the past few years, its so easy to keep putting off going in and just having a play with your craft stash.  That's all it can take to reignite your craft passion,  we all get busy with the boring and mundane things in life,  sometimes its stress or trauma or illness that can cause us to close the door on the craft room and find something else to occupy our minds.  Your mobile phone is often the biggest stealer of time ( I know mine is).  I now try to put it away for a couple of hours a day to make myself go and do something creative. 

When we do finish a project and love how it turned out the feeling is amazing,  especially of its a card or gift for a loved one or friend that you know they love.  Sometimes its lovely just to pop a 'RAK' (random act of kindness ) card in the post, let me tell you that the joy of opening a surprise card and reading that someone is thinking about you and knowing that they have sat and made a card for you is INCREDIBLE and makes such a difference to someone's day.  So your 1/2 hour creative session in your craft room can be beneficial to you and the recipient of your creation!  

Now lets see what you have all been making....

Sonia 

Sonia's Description:

I sat and put some cards together this morning. They were all stamped, and inked ready to go with my newest stamps from DarkRoom Door and Penny Black. I’ve used my Lavinia Magical Mica Sprays to add colour. The sentiments are stamped directly to the cards and are from My Favourite Things 😊

Oh its lovely to see you crafting again my lovely! 

Your cards are beautiful,  I really do love that DarkRoom Door daisy stamp. 

That Penny Black simple drawn flower is gorgeous too.  Lovely clean and simple designs. 

Thank you so much for sharing them my lovely XXX 

Lilian

Lilian's Description:

Hi, hope you are having a good Saturday.

As you can see I bought Kay’s box kit, so although I’m still not better, have made one of the basic cards from the kit.

I didn’t have the correct colour peach to hand and wasn’t able to pull out all my card.

Patterned paper is from the magazine, plain colours are mine.

Oh Lilian,  I kind of knew you would have this magazine,  it really is a good one isn't it?!

I absolutely love your card, its one of the ones that I had earmarked to create, its so much easier having most of what you need in the kit.  Your paper choices from your stash work perfectly with the papers in the kit, you would never know they weren't part of the actual 

Sue 

Sue's Description:

All new dies that I bought after seeing a lovely card which I can’t find now! I tried to remember it as best I can but it’s not quite right. It’s the first time I have sat at my desk and crafted for so long and my mojo has definitely come back 👏🏻🥰

Lovely to see you are feeling up to crafting again, love the card and love those butterflies.   Thank you for sharing your card XXX 

Maria

Maria has made 2 beautiful versions of the fun fold card I shared with you last Saturday.  I absolutely love both versions, the sideways one is a genius idea, I love how that looks, your colouring on that topper is amazing by the way.                                        The second card with Hunkydory topper is so lovely  that Criss-Cross background looks great behind the topper.

Thank you so much for having a go at the fold and for sharing your cards XXX

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I hope that you all have a good day, better than mine anyway,  I am in absolute agony with the worst UTI I have had in a while.  😔 Luckily I have antibiotics on hand fingers crossed 🤞 they are the right ones 

My love and hugs to all of you 

Sandra xxxxxx

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

I hope that today finds you as well as can be, gentle hugs to those of you that are feeling under the weather xxx

Today I thought I'd share the latest IndigoBlu magazine with you all....

IndigoBlu Mixed-Media Special

Issue 8 

It's a lovely issue with some nice free gifts,  a lovely set of stamps with some matching dies and 2 nice stencils. 

The first feature shares some lovely projects that spotlight or highlight a specific area.  I like the clean and simple look.

Sarah Phelan has given some lovely inspiration for the free dies on this page 

I have made a masterboard before and really enjoyed it, so I will be definitely having a go at this  

A Masterclass on Mixed Media by Kay herself,  some of these projects are gorgeous,  I would love to sit and make one, be good to use up all the lace and bits that I have.  

Janet I can imagine you enjoying doing these as well.

These are all quick to make cards made using some of the gorgeous free papers that  come with the magazine 😍 

Some journal pages and scrapbook layouts in this feature.

We can't leave those pesky men folk out can we?!,  Katie has some fun Man cards.

How gorgeous are those papers!!! The quality is amazing too, there are 2 of each pattern so plenty to play with.

These lovely cards all feature the stencils, something we all have but often forget to use.  I love these cards. 

Just one of the stamps in the free set is the main focus of these cards, it just shows the versatility of the set.

Now I have ink sprays but just never remember to use them partly because of the mess, the thing is that I love the effect when I do use them.  

Teabag folding, paper weaving,  paper rolling, some origami flowers and a shirt fold I remember from way back when I first started crafting it was the go to for a man card  !!

If you like Kays style of crafting you'll love these projects that she has shared how to create, a little more time consuming but well worth the effort.

Finally these lovely clean and simple designs look great fun to make, great for any occasion too.

Now this magazine was £14.99 and in my opinion worth the money, the free gifts are really usable and there is so much inspiration inside the magazine.

What do you think?

I hope that you all have a lovely Saturday, 

Love & hugs to all,

Sandra

xxxxxxx