My lovely Christmas card from Lilian

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you are all having a good week, hugs ready for any of you that need one. 

We finished our little break yesterday by driving to the local Harbour,  called Charlestown Harbour,  the harbour itself is under construction but we got to take in the lovely views and Paul found a little walkway that cut out most of the steps down to the beach,  so I was able to sit down on the beach and listen to the healing sound of the sea.   

Then we set off for home, the journey felt s lot longer than the journey there.  

Today I am sharing the lovely card that Lilian gave me on Sunday,  Lilian I love these papers that you have used 😍,  such a lovely scene!   The other question I have is... where are you still finding 'peel off' sentiments??  I love the delicate one you have used. 

Thank you so much for the lovely card 😘 xx

I hope that you all have a good Day, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Another Christmas card from the Gina K kit

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

After having great weather on Sunday things took a bit of a turn,  well a lot of a turn, We woke yesterday to absolute torrential rain which didn't ease until lunchtime so we had a lazy morning,  then went to look in the local shopping centre,  then went back to the Eden Project for the Christmas light show,  wow,  wow, wow it was spectacular,  totally worth going back for,  they had a choir singing in the food court too which added to the Christmas spirit.  Weather permitting we will pop to Carlyon Bay in the morning before driving home. 

Today's card is the last one I made from the tree stamps in the Gina K kit,  I stamped the coloured part of the tree in Old Olive and Cherry cobbler ink and then added the 'branches & stem' stamp over the coloured background and gold embossed it.  I die cut the three trees and arranged them onto a white background that I had embossed, to finish I stamped and gold embossed the sentiment and die cut it and positioned it under the trees.

I like the clean and simple look of this card. 

I hope that you all have a good day

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

.  

Simple Kraft Christmas card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

Welcome to the start of a new week, is it really Christmas next week????

We are having a lovely weekend away,  the Tropical/Rainforest Biome was fascinating, the highlight of yesterday was meeting Lilian & Roger, it was just like meeting a very dear friend,  the time we were there just flew by.  I am already looking forward to the next time x

Today's card I made following a Tracey Evans tutorial on YouTube.  I stamped the poinsettia onto kraft card and embossed it, then added postage stamp stencil and added a light blend of white pigment ink then traced around the stencil with white pen. I used Prismacolor pencils to colour the poinsettia.  I added some splatters,  stamped the sentiment and added the bird. 

We are off to walk along beach today ( weather permitting) and then we go to see Christmas lights at Eden. 

I hope you have a great start to your week,

Love and hugs, 

Sandra xxx

A look back at our makes this week..

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,  

As I am writing today's post we are on our way to Cornwall after spending the afternoon and having dinner with Paul's Mum, brother and Niece,  it was lovely spending quality time with them, Alice is a couple of years younger than the girls and she is such a lovely young lady,  really chatty too,  we went to a pub in the Harbour to eat,  food was deliscious, I wasn't brave enough to have the 'mystery catch of the day' fish as I'm not keen on flat fish,  I'm glad I didn't as it was Megrim Sole, although Mum in law and Alice said it was lovely.   Paul had Hunters Chicken, Darren had fish & chips and I had steak & ale pie, Mash and veg.  We took Mum in law home, said our goodbyes and set off for the 70 mile journey to St Austell.   

Now I'm sure it's not just me but the night before we go away I cannot sleep, I have a million things going through my mind,  things to pack, things to do before we leave, instructions for the girls etc,   as a result I have been yawning like crazy for the last hour, I am going to struggle to stay awake, so if the blog ends abruptly you know I feel asleep 😴 🤣

Karen 

Karen's Description:

3 tags for the challenge

Just playing Will probably keep them in my little snippets album

Tag - Christmas - Stencil

Three amazing mixed media tags,  using the Stencil Paste Karen made back on 9th September,  it's still aa good as the day she made it, no mould, no discolouration or odour!   It looks a lovely crisp white finish 

Thank so much Karen for coming up with something different, maybe we need that recipe posting again!  XXX 

  

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi, here is my card for this week’s challenge, a very old embossing folder and some die cuts from an old set from the works. Sorry it’s a simple card, but I have had backache for the last few days. 

Please don't apologise,  simple is often the most beautiful design!  Your card is lovely,  the combination of that deep, crisp embossing and those lovely snowflakes that fit together like they were designed to be together!  

Thank you so much my lovely, I hope your back is a little easier today XXX

PS... See you later 😘 

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

Card 1: 

Christmas/snowflake/stencil. 

I used the Sweet Poppy snowflake stencil with Spun Sugar and Tumbled Glass oxides. The snowflake in the middle is from Pink Fresh Studios (I think) and added a gem to the centre. Sentiment from Taylored Expressions.

Card 2: 

Snowflake/trees/Christmas.

I embossed the Spellbinders snowflake background. I die cut a circle and then die cut it with Chloe’s Creative Cards stars die, and added a frame, and matted on a Kraft circle. I die cut the house from Mama Elephant and the tree from The Stamp Market and added a couple of snowflakes. Haven’t decided on a sentiment yet.

Oh Sonia,  thank you so much for two absolutely stunning Christmas cards,   the stencilled snowflake is so pretty the colour combination just works!  The die cut stencil is the perfect finishing touch, it looks like its made to fit. 

Your second Christmas card is a real 'Sonia ' card with the touches of Kraft card, its beautiful.  

 Thank you so very much for supporting the challenge XXX 

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

I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday,  

My love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx 

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,  

We are off to Brixham today to visit Paul's Mum and then we will leave from there to go down to St Austell,  we will stay for 3 nights so that we have plenty of time to look around the Eden Project,  they have a Christmas Lights feature in the evening,  which we hope to do on Monday,  after speaking to the Eden centre direct,  they advise that Monday will be much quieter.  Of course the weather doesn’t look the best, thankfully there is plenty to do inside.  The good thing about your ticket is that it lasts a year, so we can come and see the different plants in Spring and summer too.   The most special part of the weekend is getting to meet Lilian, I am so  excited 😊.

Karen

Karen's Description: 

I know this card doesn’t fit in with the current challenge but I was pleased how it turned out I was inspired by a card on Pinterest

Took quite a bit of engineering- measuring etc All mats and symbols etc cut on ScanNCut 

Her surprise party on Sunday is casino themed

Karen it might have taken a lot of work but my goodness it was worth it, what an incredible card!  

Its perfect for a Casino themed party  obviously something that she has a keen interest in,  she will absolutely love it.  

Karen also included the card that inspired her.   It would make a great man card too.  

Are  you going to the party Karen?? 

Thank you so much for sharing your amazing card my lovely XXX 

I hope that you all have a lovely Saturday  

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Sizzix Wreath stencil card

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,  

Busy day here today,  I think I have most of the Christmas cards I need, I just need to sit and get them ready to post.   Then I have to pack for our long weekend away,  we are going to visit Paul's Mum on Saturday and then we'll continue the journey down to Cornwall to visit the Eden Project and see our Lilian,  I am more excited about that more than the Eden centre.  

We have waited to make the final decision wether to go based on my Blood results etc,  the urine wasn't a 'certain ' clear, it keeps showing some Staph' cells,  but no blood which is unusual for me,  the blood showed that my liver was Ok too,  which was a sigh of relief.  The nurse said... 'because my liver is ok she has put a short course of Nitrofurantoin into the pharmacy for me to take away',  I'm hoping she is just being cautious and isn't expecting it to flare up !! 

I finally got around to using my Sizzix Wreath Stencil after so much inspiration from our Karen.    I decided to use it on Kraft card for a different look,  I used Distress inks Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness,  Gathered Twigs & Festive Berries,  I used the Festive Berries to colour the edges of a piece of card to create a mat, I stamped one of my Gina K sentiments and die cut it and popped it in the centre of the wreath.  A few red sparkles  finished the festive look.  

I hope that you all have a great Friday, 

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx

 

Good Thursday Morning Ladies,  

My goodness the floods were quite bad around here,  after two days of persistent rain for the best part of two days. Lucy had to drive through a lot of standing water on the way to GP surgery, trouble is you can't see the pot holes under the water!  

I went and had my blood tests yesterday,   I took a sample to be checked too,  the nurse checked it and said it looked all clear apart from a tiny trace of blood.   The blood tests are for a whole host of different things,  mainly my liver and inflammatory markers, the nurse said I should have some results back today.  I asked about flu-jab but she said that they had run out and were waiting for more stock.  I explained that we were going away this weekend so would rather wait until after the weekend in case it makes me feel rough.  

Today's card is another Gina K 'Christmas in July  collection' card.

The Mistletoe branch is a 4 part stencil,  I used Pear Pizazz,  Old Olive inks for the Greens and Cherry Cobbler with a touch of Aged Mahogany for shade. 

I die cut the branch,  added it to a 4 1/4 X 5 1/2 inch card base matted with cherry cobbler, I embossed the front panel for interest and some lovely texture.  I finished the card with a sentiment from the same stamp set. 

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love and hugs,  

Sandra xxx 

Gina K Christmas Kit Card

 Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

I think we have had more than our share of rain this past few days,  it didn't stop yesterday,  the wind was howling all night, so the rain was lashing at the window, it was so loud, poor Milo struggled to settle down too which makes for a fun night. 

I have Blood Test today, to check that my liver is ok after taking Nitrofurantoin, fingers crossed it is but I am a little concerned that I can feel something pushing up against the bottom of my rib cage on the right side. We'll find out in a few days hopefully. 

Today's card is the first card I made using the Gina K 'Christmas in July' kit I got at a bargain price on FB Destash group.  

I have to say that I am so impressed with the quality of every element in this kit, the stamps are great, the dies too.  The stencils are an amazing quality material, really sturdy not thin and flimsy.

I started by cutting 3 frames from 300gsm card, they measured 4×6 inch, the aperture was about an inch smaller.  I adhered these three frames together, then cut another piece of 6×4 inch card and covered it with gold splatters that  I created by using a little pea sized amount of Stamperia Gold paint with a little water added to loosen it so it would splatter evenly.  I set this to dry and moved onto created those String Lights. 

I stamped the wire part in Green ink and then stamped again with Versamark and added clear embossing powder and heat set,  this gave the wire a shine that made it look more realistic, to colour the light bulbs you have a stencil, its super easy to line up, I used Festive Berries,  Mustard Seed, Twisted Citron & Salty Ocean Distress ink to colour the bulbs.  After the bulbs were dry I die cut them, again the die lined up easily.  

I stamped the sentiment in Festive Berries and stamped again using Versamark and heat embossed, I have added a close up so you can see the shine. 

I created a top folding 5 × 7 inch card base, then adhered the stacked frame onto the gold splattered background then onto a gold mirror card mat and then the card base. I then added the string lights, I added glue to the pieces that sit in the frame and foam pads behind the bulbs that are inside the frame.  I also added foam pads behind the sentiment and added to the centre of the card. 

I hope that you all have a drier day,  

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx

Tim Holtz Ephemera card

 Good Morning Ladies, 

I had what felt like a busy crafting day yesterday but I only finished two cards,  I think I need to find some quick and simple designs!  

I made this card on Sunday,  it is actually a Vicky P' Journal page but I don't have this size Journal (8 ×4) inch.  So I decided to use a card that I have and actually rarely use.  

It started with a new technique, which is applying your paint to your background with a baby wipe. 

It gives a more subtle effect,  it wasn't that messy either. 

I stencilled some detail onto the background and dry brushed on some gold paint, it looks messy at first you have to trust the process. I added some splatters of gold paint for texture too  

Then we get to the fun part,  picking out and colouring,  edging and distressing the die cut ephemera. 

I added some gauze under the holly bough, its really light adds great texture.  

I really enjoy making these journal pages, however I must concentrate on Christmas cards for the next couple of weeks. 

I hope that you all have a great day, 

Love and hugs to all,  

Sandra xxx

A second Stamperia Christmas card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

Welcome to the start of a new week,   what have you all got planned?  

How are you all doing with your Christmas shopping?  I have done a few bits but I need to sit and concentrate to get the rest done!   I need to see how many Christmas cards I have made,  hopefully I will have enough, I have my doubts,  I am guilty of making too many Journal pages when I should have been making Christmas cards ☺️  I will try and rectify that this week.  I am only sending to my lovely Blog family and a couple more, the others  be bought.  

Today's Christmas card isn't traditional in colour etc,  however I love this style,  it does have Snowflakes, Christmas tree and snow though. All elements are Stamperia, mostly from the Owls House collection.  

I hope that you all have the best week, 

My love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

A look at our makes this week

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all enjoying a lovely relaxed Sunday.

I really love Blog Sundays,  because I get to share your makes...

It occured to me that I always forget to add the TicTacToe categories to my descriptions, so here are the ones for this week. 

Card 1:  Trees, Flowers/Christmas/ Glitter

Journal page 2:  flower/Glitter Sparkle/Journal page

Card 3:  Christmas/Glitter/animals 

Journal page 4:  Snowflake/Christmas/Journal page

Karen 

Karen's Description:

Card 1:  Here’s another very simple Christmas card that fits a few of the options

Tree-glitter-Christmas-embossing folder

Card 2:  Just had a go at finishing that layered stencil one with JL stamp

Stencil - Snowman- Christmas x

Card 3:  Another challenge card - Gina wanted me to repeat that tutorial you showed but couldn’t remember when you did it 🤦🏼‍♀️

So Snowman - Animals - Christmas 

A Serif image 

Sentiment from JL’s magazine heat embossed in Faded Jeans DO on vellum

Bit of gauze as an embellishment

3 amazing Christmas cards Karen, all completely different,  each one using different techniques.  I love the modern look of your first card,  perfect man card too.  Another brilliant version of this layered stencil,   love that centre image,  the colouring is great too, really makes the image 'pop'

Thank you so much Karen for supporting the challenge XXX 

Lilian

Lilian's Description:

Hi, hope you are ok.

This is my card for this week’s challenge.

I bought some background papers but didn’t realise they were sepia, so not much use for Christmas. I coloured the poinsettia and cut it out.

Stamped the little snowflakes in silver.

Stencilled the red edges.

Categories used, snowflakes. Flowers. Stencil.

Absolutely gorgeous card Lilian,  those Poinsettias are popping off the page,  beautiful colouring, that stencilled border brings the whole card together. 

Thank you so much for taking part my lovely XXX 

Maria

Maria's Description:

I'm sending this card for Sunday. Hope it's ok.

Embossing, Xmas, Poinsettia.   The stamp is from the same magazine that Karen used some week ago, sorry can't remember and I have put the magazine away somewhere 🤭😊

Your card is so lovely Maria,  that Embossing folder has given a really deep, crisp emboss, I love that shade of green too 😍  your bauble is coloured beautifully,  the Poinsettias are such a perfect embellishment as that pop of red stands out on that gorgeous dark green background.

Thank you so much my lovely XXX 

Sonia 

Sonia's Description:

Both cards Snowman/snowflakes/Christmas

The first card I used Lawn Fawn snowmen dies and stamps. I gave this to James and Mollie last Christmas. The little pink heart on the snow lady representing her pregnancy with Scarlett ☺️

The second card I used some printed background snowflake paper, and a LOTV image. I think the Merry Christmas circle die was from My Favourite Things. It was made in 2021.

Absolutely gorgeous cards Sonia,   the snowmen are so adorable on both cards.  Adding the heart to the Snow lady's tummy was such a brilliant idea.  Their Christmas will be a whole lot busier this year!   

Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful Christmas cards my lovely XXX 

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

I hope that you have a lovely Sunday, 

Love & hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

From a very very wet and windy Gloucestershire,  my goodness did we have rain yesterday,  it just didn't stop, the wind picked up throughout the day too, poor Lucy looked like a drowned rat when she got in from work,  rainy, windy days make for a very long day at the wildlife park!  Her day was measured by how many Sudoku she managed to complete! 🤣

I was sat playing with different Poinsettia dies to try and decide which ones I liked the best,  the jury is still out.  🤔   I was distracted by Christmas shopping and Soph had my sewing velcro into a gift that she has personalised for someone 😉, the trouble was she bought adhesive backed velcro, so my needle really struggled to get through that tough adhesive backing that coated the needle with its stickiness with every pass!  By the time I was done I had no feeling in my thumb and forefinger!  

Whilst making some room in my photo album I cane across these photos that we took when we popped into Witney around Remembrance weekend,   this spectacular Mail Box topper was knitted & crocheted by local ladies,  what blew me away was the level of detail, look at those boots and the neatness of the helmet,  the poppies are beautiful and even featured Purple poppies for the Animals lost in combat too.  

Maria 

How beautiful is Maria's latest Crystal Art, the colours are so incredible,  it must have been so hard with the colours all being so similar. There is something really special about this one Maria, I'm not sure if its the incredible imagery or the way the light hits the piece.  I absolutely love it my lovely.

Thank you so much for sharing such an amazing piece ❤️ 

We may well get the Christmas bits out of the loft this weekend,  (I heard Paul telling the girls yesterday)  It's very early for us but the girls seem to be excited though.  We don't have much else planned,  other than food shop at some point as there was no way I was going out in that wind and rain yesterday. 

I hope that you have a good one, however you are spending it, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Some more Festive Oldies

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you have all had a good week and are looking forward to your first weekend in December,  let's have a 'hands Up' how many of you are putting up your Christmas Tree this weekend??We will probably do ours next weekend.   I am hoping that this will be the last weekend of feeling rubbish with Uti symptoms,   I'm almost too scared to say that I think I can feel an improvement 😬!  I don't want to jinx it.  

We have been trying to plan a couple of days away together but I haven't wanted to go while feeling rough. I feel like we are running out of time before Christmas.  

I have shared some 'Oldie' Christmas cards today, the girls have taken up most of my day this past couple of days, not that I'm complaining,  I love spending time with them, although it was exhausting feeling a little on the delicate side. 🤣

I actually really like these three Christmas cards,  I think the poinsettia one is from 4 years ago, the last two are from 2017 !!! 

I hope that you all have a great day,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx

Stamperia Dewdrops Journal page

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

How is it Thursday already?!   This week has flown by.  

Today's I am 'Reluctantly ' sharing a journal page that I started last week,   the idea was based around a technique.  You cover the page with a sealant like Gesso,   allow it to dry then add ink,  I blended 2 different blues to create a dark sky.  Now here's where it went wrong for me,  You place a stencil over the blue and use a baby wipe to wipe off the blue,  I couldn't get it to remove only the stencil snowflake,  it kept bleeding through the stencil, the ink would also smudge at the slightest touch (because it didn't seem to want to dry on top of Gesso.   So I re-inked the background and used thick stencil paste instead,  it still was a bit messy,  but it still wasn't straightforward and doesn't look great but I had invested so much time into it that I wasn't going to give up.  I allowed a couple of days for it to dry and layered the die cuts on Monday. 

So here it is,  no where near perfect but it's important to find beauty in imperfections!   🤣😂

I hope you have a great Thursday,  

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Stamperia Christmas Card

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,  

Well I think I had a more successful day sorting medical stuff out yesterday,   the Practice Nurse called and said that after discussion with GP, both of them had gone back through my notes and found that I had a blood test in April and my liver numbers were OK then, so they decided that they will prescribe Nitrofurantoin for seven days, hoping that it clears the infection,  she made me an appointment for bloods for next Wednesday just to make sure that my liver is still ok.  They also asked me to keep trying to contact Consultant as they are running out of options and don't know what to do next (which fills you with confidence)!  I did eventually get through to Consultant Secretary,   she couldn't see any update on the application for Uromune as he had done it on his personal laptop, which seems a bit odd, you'd think it would all be traceable on NHS computers!  Anyway she was going to discuss my situation and get back to me.

So I have new antibiotics, I hope that they work.

Today's card is one I made using my Stamperia 'Owls House' collection, the inspiration came from Emilia Sieradzan on YouTube.  

I added extra dots of glue and some fine glitter to give some extra sparkle.  

I really like how it turned out something a bit different.

I hope that you all have a good day,

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Lovely simple Christmas card

 

Happy Belated Birthday 

Gina

Good Morning Ladies,  

Firstly I want to wish our lovely Gina a very happy belated birthday,   I am so sorry that I missed your birthday yesterday,  it sometimes happens when I schedule the blog post in advance.  I hope you had a lovely day 😘

I had a very frustrating day yesterday,  I called the surgery at 8am to try and get an appointment,  I ended up waiting for the Nurse to call me,  I asked her to check my results that the Out of Hours GP sent off on Saturday,  but no, the sample has disappeared!!! I saw her put it in a special bottle and fill in the paperwork, but she called the Lab and they have nothing.  Looking at the last test there are only two antibiotics that will clear it, the one I am taking and isn't working or Nitrofurantoin that I can't take!!   The nurse said that they are running out of options so maybe I should contact the Consultant Urologist,   like he is going to diagnose me.  I did try to contact his Secretary but after 1 hour 50 mins on hold I gave up!  Whatever he says about the Uromune Vaccination they still need to clear my current infection!!  Wish me luck today please.  

I followed a Tracy Evan’s YouTube Tutorial for Todays card.   I started by cutting a piece of Washi tape in half and using it to mask off a narrow strip across the card just below the centre.  

I then blended Salty Ocean over the taped area then Blueprint Sketch close to the line to give a darker area and make the white void stand out more.  I spritzed with water and blotted to give some interest.  Now to the stamping,  I used the gorgeous Stags from Tracy Evans 'Wilderness ' stamp set.  For perspective I stamped the signpost with the owl (the right way up)!  I used a Berry to create a Bauble on the Stag Antlers,   then stamped the sentiment and ran glue along the white centre, top ,& Bottom and added Rock Candy Glitter (Chunky & Fine)

 A few splatters and matting and layering to finish the card.  

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love and hugs, 

Sandra xxx 

Christmas Journal page

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

Welcome December and welcome to the start of a new week!  

Do you ever have one of those 'why do I bother ' days, I finished the journal page that I am sharing with you today.  I started another page 3 times and then gave up!  Then I followed a Tracy Evans tutorial almost to the end  was pleased with my achievement, I was on the phone to matt and getting Christmas shopping tips from Sophie at the same time, which was a recipe for disaster, the finishing piece was stamping an Owl on a sign post, of course I stamped it upside down, tried to rescue it but it wasn't happening! 😔  At that point I switched my desk lights off and walked away! 

I used Vintage Photo & Festive Berries Oxide Spray inks  and then dried with heat tool. I splattered some water over the background to add interest,  then added some background stamping.  To add some sparkle I added some stars, using Tim Holtz stencil and some gold glitter paste (although the gold glitter was hiding) 🤣, it did add some shine though. 

Onto the fun part, picking out all of the elements to build the focal piece.  I chose 3 main pieces and then added a ticket and cut a stripey label in half and added a bit to top and bottom.  Then came the Santa and the poinsettia and little 25 sticker.  The final touch was the splatters and the little sentiment. 

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

Love & huge hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx