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 

A look at this weeks makes

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you all had a brighter day than we did yesterday.   We had another early start as we had to be at Cheltenham hospital for my Urgent out of hours appointment,   we drove through some incredible flooded roads on the way.  

The GP appointment went ok,  mind you I had to wait until after 2am for them to call me,  they asked what time I wanted to go in,  I asked what times were available,   there were some virtually straight away, by this time Paul was sound asleep, which was no surprise after our long day on Friday, I didn't have the heart to wake him so I said we'll come for 8am, it's a horrible journey and weather was horrendous,  so Paul wanted to leave extra early, so 6.30 we were up and getting ready.  I felt so unwell, this one is the worst one I've had for pain and feeling feverish,  I felt 'ok' through the day, the discomfort started in the car on the way home, then as the evening went on I went downhill, I went up to bed at 10pm, went to bathroom and it was all I could do not to scream in agony, I was shaking with cold, so got into my heated blanket then I was too hot and felt so sick!  So called 111!  I'm not convinced that another 14 days of same antibiotic will work, she advised me to call GP for further advice on Monday.  I was literally bed/sofa ridden all day, if I tried to get up I felt sick abd dizzy!  Fingers today will be better. 

Let's look at what you have made this week.....

Karen

Karen's Description:

A very quick challenge card

Serif image/background 

Sentiment I think from Temu or is it Anna Marie

Tree-Christmas-Card

I absolutely love the simplicity of your design Karen, the little Robin on top of the tree is so cute,  the white splatters work perfectly as snow. 

Thank you so much XXX 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Here is my card for this week’s tic tac toe. It’s for Oscar’s Birthday he will be 15 and is having a camera for his joint present.

I used    Stencil. Animals. Card.

Lilian your Birthday card for Oscar is perfect,  what could be more fitting than a card featuring cameras?!  They work with the rest of the design too.  The background behind the bird is so detailed, Oscar will love it. 

Thank you so much. XXX 

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

Here’s my card, sorry the picture quality isn’t great.

Christmas/Poinsettia/Embossing Folder

I embossed a piece of Kraft card for the bottom layer. I die cut the little house from Mama Elephant in pink textured card. I die cut a circle and stamped with Lavinia Stamps star swirl. I die cut the little square and cut the bottom edge with a scallop frame from Chloe’s Creative Crafts. I added a Lawn Fawn sentiment, and the long sentiment is from The Stamp Market. I die cut the small poinsettia in two shades of pink. Added a sparkle gem from Honey Bee Stamps.

You know I always love your Kraft cards, this is no exception,  the house looks lt is in a snowglobe with stars swirling around it.  What a great design.  

Thank you so much, it's lovely seeing you crafting XXX

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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, 

I hope that your weekend gets off to a better start than mine.  

After having a lovely day out with some amazing friends we started the journey home,  after about 20 mins into the journey I had over whelming need to use the bathroom,  this was my first sign,  Then came the altogether agonising part of uti, the pain on passing urine.  I have a GP appointment 

Now on a lighter note lets look at some craft goodies.....

I placed an order on Tracy Evans website on Wednesday and this lovely card was included in my parcel,  Tracy created this card a couple of weeks ago , it's on her YouTube page. I have to say that her colouring is incredible 😍.   

When I got home yesterday I had an envelope waiting for me,  when I opened it it was Happy Mail from our Lilian!   I asked which make the die was thet she used for her sentiment last weekend,   so she very kindly sent me some die cuts.  They were attatched to this beautiful Tag,  Lilian has inked the background,  added stencilling and then used a beautiful rub on.  I have to say that my photo doesn't do it justice!  It's so pretty.  Thank you so much Lilian ❤️ 

Now onto some craft shopping.....

Sonia

Thank you Sonia for sharing your shopping,  I'm secretly thrilled that you have bern bitten by the Stamperia bug!  I absolutely love your stamps and that paper pad is next on my list!  

My Shopping 

I  couldn't resist these new Tracy Evans stamps,  I love those stags, the antlers are amazing, the berries and foliage are great background fillers too.

These new concept Tim Holtz Mixed Media stamp and stencil kits are a perfect way to dip  your toe in to mixed media art.  They have a small selection of stamps from a bigger stamp set,  and a stencil thst  has a combination of two different stencils on, they are a perfect size for cards and little journal pages. 

Finally my latest Stamperia collection, these Junk Journals have a great selection from a particular Collection,  they have die cuts, background pages, sentiment strips and lots of little Ephemera bits,  I love their Allegro paints too, the blues in this collection are lovely.  

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I hope todays post is readable,  I had to write and  re write bits of it so many times as I just couldn't string a sentence together.  I started it at 11pm while waiting for 111 GP to call me,  I had to delete and rewrite most of ot at 6.45am while on route to out of hours GP appointment 😭.  They wanted me to go in at 3am but Paul was sound asleep and so where the girls,  so I said I would wait a couple of hours.   This is a really painful one though,  the bacteria is clearly well embedded in my bladder   and after nurse told me to stop antibiotics on Tuesday as bacteria was resistant to penicillin,  the bacteria has gotten busy multiplying without antibiotics!  I did ask if this would happen,  nurse just said 'see how you get on'  !! 

I hope you have a good Saturday, 

Love & hugs, 

Sandra xxx

 

Former Festive Friday cards

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

By the time you are all seeing todays post we should be on our way back from Heathrow with Adam & Becca,  I have been so excited to see them both 😊 

We then have a quick turnaround,  as we have about an hour (depending on traffic) to have a cup of tea and get ready to leave for Watford.  I am so looking forward to seeing you lovely ladies. 

So as it was an early night after a sleepless night I am sharing a couple of 'Festive Oldies' with you. 

The first is a Stencilled Christmas card :

 Today's card was made using Sweet Poppy's Bauble Stencil, I inked through it with Iced Spruce & Wild Honey Distress Ink (not oxides). I tapped the blending brush quite heavily on scrap paper so that the ink went on lightly and gradually built up the colour and blend. I added the Wild Honey to the centre of Bauble and added touches down the ribbon.  After the ink was dry I stamped the cottage which is also a Sweet Poppy stamp, after I stamped it I used water to renove the yellow ink from the snowy rooves, I used a Quickie Glue pen and added some fine glitter.  I quite like the subtle colours. 

Card 2: 

Today's card is the card I made on Saturday following Tracy Evans Workshop, I thoroughly enjoyed making it, especially as I had someone special in mind. I think they are fun because there is no decision making involved, I did change a couple of details though. It involved inking, blending, stencilling, stamping, fussy cutting and layering! I took my time, after spending time creating a multi layered background you don't want to mess up the stamping! I would thoroughly recommend Tracy Evans Workshops, she puts so much thought into every element. 

I hope you don't mind another look at these cards. 

Have a lovely Friday my lovelies, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

2nd Half Christmas Journal Page

 

Good Morning Ladies,

Today I am excited to share the other side of my Christmas journal page. 

I actually loved creating this journal spread.   I was surprised at how much I loved the finished thing too.  The products are the same as yesterday's, the techniques are the same too. 

Arden Creative products are great quality,  the die cuts are 'double faced'  which means that you can have them facing either way, which is really helpful when you are creating layouts.  Their Rub ons are the same great quality,  they take very little pressure and come away perfectly.  

My fingers are itching to create another one!! 

I hope that you all have a good day. 

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

First half of double page Christmas journal page

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,  

A chilly but sunny day yesterday,  I wasn't up to a day out with Lucy sadly,  we are hoping to go do a bit of Christmas idea shopping today, at the time of writing this I am crossing my fingers 🤞                    Our midweek date night has been highjacked by the girls this last couple of weeks 🤣,   we were planning a cinema trip to see Nuremberg, however the " Four" of us went to see Wicked !!! 👀 🙄🤣, I am just kidding I don't actually mind that they wanted to come out with us.  The film is really long though, so it's finish time was 11.30pm 😲😬 Thats way past my bedtime 🌙 😴 

I was planning to get a couple of projects finished yesterday but with spending time with Lucy and looking at her shopping ideas,  I only got 1 finished,   it's a Christmas double Journal page, I followed a Vicky Papaicannou Workshop on YouTube.  I really enjoyed it,  it's fun, well explained and easy to follow. 

I am sharing one half today and then I'll share the whole piece tomorrow!  

The page started with two pieces of torn Rice paper, then I painted the rest of the pages with Ivory Stamperia Allegro Acrylic paint,  it dried quite fast,  I then did some random stamping ( I do find partial/random stamping hard)  I think it's because of those early days of trying to stamp perfectly with inferior stamps and getting frustrated at failing.  I give it a good go though! 🤣  The good thimg with these pages is that if something bothers you too much you can use something to cover it.   At this point (above) I had added some green splatters too, then edged the pages with Vintage Photo distress ink, It adds warmth and draws your eye in.  After this step I stencilled over the pages in Vintage Photo to tie everything together and add interest and texture.  

You can see both the Vintage Photo stencilling and the next step which was embossing paste through the same stencil.   That is the background complete, now I set this aside to dry while I picked out some die cuts.  

I arranged the largest piece on the left hand page which I am sharing today, I added some doodling and white splatters too finish the page.  

I will share the full double page spread tomorrow. 

I hope you all have a great Wednesday, 

Love & Hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

A festive journal page

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

The weather was back to dark, wet & gloomy yesterday,  we couldn’t even see the hills that we love to look at while doing the dishes 🤣.   So different to Sunday when we got a load of washing virtually dry.  Even with my desk lights and my daylight lights it was still almost too dark to do any crafting!  But I give it my best effort. 😅😂

Just as I suspected my body wasn't wanting to 'play' yesterday after an afternoon in the garden with Paul,  I dream of a day with no miserable pain!  I do my best to not let it rule my life but there are days that I don't win the fight!  

This is where I have been enjoying making journal pages,  they are for me,  to experiment,  play and more importantly allow mistakes to be part of the learning process.  I don't dislike the pages I create but I wouldn't necessarily be happy to send them as a card to anyone.  

We are all our own worst critic, which isn't healthy,  sometimes the 'perfect  Pinterest pieces we see and love are digitally perfected,  all slight imperfections erased.  As long as you have enjoyed creating a card or journal page and it looks like something you'd be delighted to open yourself,  that's all that matters  

So with that in mind I am sharing yesterday's craft session. 🤣

I started by  creating a 'messy' background using Wisteria Lindys pigment shaker, sprinkled over a 6 x 4 inch piece of card,  spritzed with water and put to one side to 'do its thing' .  I then stamped an older Tracy Evan’s stamp 'Poinsettia' using 'Hawthorn Rose ' Versafine Clair ink, which pairs nicely with the Wisteria Lindys Shaker,  I used  watercolours to colour the larger sepals of poinsettia,  adding some of the Lindys mixed with water to add shimmer to the poinsettia too.  I left the top layer how they were stamped, although I did fussy cut them and added a swoosh of the lindys shimmer!   

When the background was dry I added some stamping in the Hawthorn ink,  Its hard to pick up on camera but I added lots of dots of glue and sprinkled Tim Holtz Rock Candy  which gives an amazing sparkle!  

I hand cut a tag by tracing around Tracys Tag and adding a light blend of Lost Shadow Oxide ink, I placed it on the background using Glue Gel, I added some scrumpled cotton underneath for texture.  I stamped and fussy cut so leaf sprigs and tucked them under the poinsettia.  A few ink splatters (some a little bigger than intended) finish the page. 

I will say that I love the shimmer of the Lindys combined with the sparkle of the Rock candy!   You can't have too much pizazz at Christmas!! 

I hope that you all have a good day,  

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

New Challenge Day

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,  

Well yesterday turned out to be a lovely gardening day,  we managed to get another 70 bulbs in the Woodland like border at the side of our house, its the border that runs along under the huge trees,  its overgrown with ivy and other weeds.  Paul did a great job weeding, I bought bags that have a variety of bulbs that are perfect for 'woodland ' borders (when they were half price of course) 😉  they have Bluebells,  Fritillaria, crocus to name but a few!  We took a break for lunch and sadly I couldn't get my legs moving again after sitting down,  so the last 3 bags will go in this coming week.   I really can't wait to see that colourless area come to life in Spring.       Luckily I put a beef stew in the slow cooker, so dinner was easy for Paul to sort out.  

Now it's time for a new Challenge,  I wanted to do another TicTacToe as it gives us more choice.  It has plenty of choices for creating Christmas cards but there are enough choices for creating general cards and projects too. 

I hope that you enjoy it and it inspires you to get crafting. I can't wait to see what you all create. 

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

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

A look back at this weeks makes...

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

A bit wet and miserable here but it's perfect weather for sitting at your desk and creating pretty things.  

What do you all have planned today?   We had a super busy day yesterday so today is going to be a slow,  quiet day! 

Let's have a look at some of your craft makes from this week.....

Karen 

Karen's Description:

Cards 1 & 2:  Two simple Christmas cards using Serif images and ScanNCut to cut image and a backing out

Card 3:  Here’s one for the challenge (just!)

I used that lovely stencil you gifted me but masked off some of the rectangles and use Shaded Lilac DO

An old Aall & Create stamp

And black Dymo tape for sentiment Matted on a Shaded Lilac background Wish I’d matted it on black first then the lilac and again on black

Stencil-inking-ephemera…

Karen I absolutely love those vintage looking Christmas cards, you can't beat those old traditional images, they work great for anyone,   such a great idea to use the Scan & Cut to create a perfect shaped mat for the images.  You are so brilliant with your Scan & cut, I am in awe !  

Such a great way to use that stencil, sometimes the simplest ideas are the best, I love the colour and the simple stamped image. 

Thank you so much for creating 3 amazing challenge projects. XXX

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi, a quick Christmas card. The stamps of holly are Lavinia, the little bauble I have had for years. I’m sorry it’s a bit last minute, but family didn’t leave until this afternoon.

Oh Lilian I wasn't expecting a card from you this weekend with you having family visiting.  It was a lovely surprise though.

There is nothing about your card that says that it was a 'quick' card!  

I love the combination of the holly and the baubles,  you can't beat those traditional Christmas colours either.   I have to say that I really love that Merry Christmas die cut sentiment,  the font is so lovely. 

Thank you so much for such a beautiful Christmas card XXX 

Maria

Maria's Description:

I have made these two cards, not sure if I'm happy but I send them anyway 😄. I feel bad not sending you any for the Sunday previous but now I really need to get some Xmas ones made so we'll see.

I bought the hills, they are made of a special sticky plastic so you can move them around but you still have to be careful because I did rip a bit of the card.

The other one I just played with colours that I thought would go together. The cards are already stamped but I put a few bits in to make them mine.

Firstly please don't feel bad for not feeling up to making a card for a challenge,   I totally understand,   there are days I really have to push myself to create something for the Blog, other days I love sitting and creating!  

You have created 2 amazing cards Maria,  that first card with the telegraph pole is incredible, I love the design and the colours that you have used. 

Your second card you made with the mountains stencil is lovely,  I love the deer grazing in the grass and it looks like you are looking up through the trees on a lovely sunny day. 

Thank you so very much for supporting the blog & challenges my lovely XXX 

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

Here’s a couple of old cards.

Journal page/Stencil/Die Cuts

I used a Tim Holtz stencil for the background. I’ve used Tracey Hey stamps and papers for the background too. Tim Holtz butterfly and film strip die from my stash.

Christmas/Embossing Folder/Inks Colouring (and Die)

I embossed the Spellbinders snowflake folder and inked (sorry I can’t remember what I used) I die cut The Stamp Markets snowflake, added the sentiment and matted onto Kraft card.

I hope you are feeling better today my lovely,   thank you so much for picking out two amazing cards for today's blog post. 

Your journal page is beautiful,  the colour palette is pretty and the different textures, die cuts, vellum stamping & embossing all combine to create plenty of interest, there is so much to look at.  

You have a natural affinity with Kraft Card, if ever I see a lovely Kraft card I always think of you.  Tje colours you have used work perfectly with the kraft card base,  it looks like you have used your spray inks,  as you can see the little splatters.  The die cut snowflake is the perfect embellishment as it doesn't detract from that lovely background. 

Thanks again Sonia, stay wrapped up warm & cosy XXX

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I hope that you all have a good Sunday,

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,  

We had another chilly day yesterday,  the sun was beautiful though, part of the garden in the shade stayed frost covered all day.   We are forecast a wet and cold weekend,   Soph is off today and wants to go to Costco (Experience has shown that Saturday is not the best idea)!  The things we do for our children!  🤣

I picked up two Poinsettias the last time Lucy and I popped to garden centre,  these ones were reduced to £4, I couldn't resist them because of their colour,  I haven’t seen a Pink Poinsettia before and the variegated leaves really appealed to me, I don't think I've ever had a Poinsettia,  it does sound like they are tricky keep though. 

My Bargain

I love the sentiments and that string of lights, 

All with matching dies!

These lovely Tree stamps & sentiments plus 

Matching dies

The sentiments are really useful too.

The String lights have a matching stencil

Mistletoe sprig stencil with matching die.

Some body was selling the whole collection for £33 posted on a Facebook Destash group,  I really like Gina K stamps as they are great quality,  it's harder to find them here, so I wanted to snap it up!  I'm pretty sure one stamp and die set would be more than that price,  even if I used only the sentiments I'd be happy!  

Karen

Karen has shared her crafty Birthday gifts with us,  WOW Karen that lovely set of Pencils is an amazing gift,  its lovely to know you have every colour you'll ever need !  I have read really good reviews on these pencils too,  I can't wait to see how you get on with them and see what you create.  

That Crackle stencil is great,  a good size too,  I totally recommend that Winsor & Newton Calligraphy ink, its perfect for splatters, less messy the flicking those posca pens.  

Thank you for sharing your birthday gifts with us XXX

Sonia 

Sonia ordered these lovely stamps from Inkylicious,   I really love how the sentiments are worded in all of them.  These are perfect for journal pages too. 

Thank you so much for sharing your lovely stamps with us. XXX

I hope that you all have a great Saturday,  

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx