Let's look at our crafts this week

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that the heat isn't causing you all too much discomfort,  we had a dramatic day yesterday,  everyone at the pool had a phone call/message simultaneously,  which was odd in itself,   we all had a warning ⚠️ alert, there were severe storms forecast with significant flooding likely, it warned you to not be anywhere near bodies of water,  which is impossible for us as we are between a massive river/lake thats a nature reserve and the sea.  Our reps then came around to reinforce the warning and advised us that we shouldn't leave the resort site, so that we could be contactable at all times.  It has been a couple of hours since we received the alert and we are just getting the rain and thunder, this place was quite flooded from the storm earlier in the week, which there was no warning for, the good thing here is it dries up super fast.  There is a large area of Teepees here, that are right beside the river, their reps are panicking a bit as they have no alternative accommodation and they have about 50 teepees with families in.  Hopefully they are being over cautious because of that disaster in Valencia last year that they refer to as the deadliest natural disaster in Spanish history.   The girls fly out today at 1pm, so fingers crossed it clears up fast. 

Let's look at what you have been making....

Karen

Karen's Description:

Card 1:  

I have rejigged a Julie Hickey card that I have previously done This time shades of orange with brown mat The photo makes it look very dark/bright 

I shaded Carved Pumpkin DO and splashed with water A bit of Aall&Create stamping Sue W tag die and Julie Hickey flower Plus some Nuvo drops Not too sure about it but it’s growing on me

Card 2: 

Here’s another challenge card for “shades”

I found some Valspar paint charts and cut some  JL butterflies Found a piece of pink card similar in colour for mat and sentiment

Two lovely cards Karen, I love the layout of your 'rejigged ' card, I really love that colour too. 

I can't believe you still had some of those Valspar paint swatches, that has to have been years ago!  Like I have said many times...if you keep things long enough they will be just what you need, the colours work great with your chosen accent colour. 

Thank you SO much for 2 lovely cards for the challenge 😘 XXX

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi hope you still enjoying your hols. It’s very hot here.

This is my card for this week’s challenge 

Left over piece of stencilling from a couple of weeks ago, only reversed.

Not sure where the stamp came from, colour based on mermaid lagoon.

Ooh beautiful blue 💙!! Gorgeous card my lovely, those tiny butterflies are amazing they really do look like they are 'in flight',  the green is the perfect accompanying colour for mermaid lagoon.  Tje flowers are so pretty 😍 

Thank you so very much for another lovely card XXX 

Maria 

Maria's Description:

Card 1:

The first card is a fold over one. I used a pink card and used a die to cut out the piece for the front and for the inside I used dies by SW. Heat embossed the sentiment x

Card 2:

On the second card I used some stamps from a magazine, can't remember which one, Dragonflies and butterfly. Heat embossed and then used some of TH inks in Green through some cut outs x

Two amazing cards Maria,  card 1 is a lovely 'Z' fold card, the colour is pretty and I like the details you have die cut into it,  using the fall out bits from the die cut as tiny flowers is a great idea, adding the little black gems really enhances them.

I love the inky background of your second card, the silhouette stamps work perfectly on it. 

Thank you so very much for creating 2 lovely cards for the challenge 🥰 XXX

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I will let you know if there are any changes to our situation,  

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx 

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

I am sat outside writing this at midnight,  we have an extremely warm and humid night, I was sure it said 91% humidity,   its not pleasant,  we have aircon inside but it's nice to sit outside on an evening,  we popped to the Old Town earlier this evening,  so we didn't get dinner until 10 30pm,  which is quite normal here,  I don't know how they do it every night, I hate going to bed with a full tummy, it's too hard to relax.  We took some photos of the old town, I will share them below.....

There are definitely more flowers in bloom at this time of year,  the Bougainvillea plants look beautiful, they are all different colours, white, pink and purple, the scramble up the old buildings so easily. 

These photos were taken by Lucy on our walk home on Thursday evening...

Its hard to capture,  the moon was full and it glowered a beautiful peachy orange colour. 

This was taken from the Coastal path, the full moon over a cliff, it looked so pretty with the reflections on the sea, in the cove at far end of the beach.

These are 'Agave ' plants,  the flower spikes are reach up to a good 20ft, we thought it was a tree behind the plant at first,  its amazing to see up close, once they have flowered the plants die!  Which seems so sad. 

This last photo is looking the other way in the coastal path, those lights in the distance are Estartit, the little town full of souvenir shops that we went on Monday. 

Thanks Lucy for sharing your lovely photos 🥰😍

Maria

Maria has shared this stunning Crystal Art that she has recently finished.  

She managed to complete it while Rick has been watching Rugby and Cricket.  The colours are so beautiful Maria, I bet it will look incredible once its framed. 

Thank you so much for sharing your Crystal Art with us my lovely XXX 

Ladies, I hope that you all have a great Saturday,  

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

Agapanthus shades of purple

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

I am currently laid in the sun by the pool listening to the 'Animation ' (kids club) dancing to 'Baby Shark'  🦈 in the pool.  They are having 'water' mini disco today!  Oh for a little peace!!  Just kidding it's actually quite entertaining watching them all, especially with some of the competative parents who have clearly been rehearsing the moves to the dances all day🤣  One thing that I find both sad and worrying is that it seems to becoming a trend to dress young girls like they are teenagers or even adults,  4 & 5 year old girls in my opinion should not be wearing bra tops and shorts that barely cover their bottom, or leopard print dresses with the midriff area cut out.  I know times have moved on since mine were that young, but in todays world I think its even more important to keep them dressed appropriately.  Having boys is so much easier in that sense, here they are mostly in football kits.  

We are out tonight for dinner, we have our booking at the local pizza place, which we are looking forward to.  

Today's card is made using one of my favourite stamps that I had totally forgotten I had until I was looking for silhouette stamps before coming away.  I used my stamp tool and inked different parts of the stamp in different colours, blending them together with a tiny blending tool before stamping,  then adding more colour where needed. I stamped the sentiment in the darkest colour and had the green as my accent colour. 

I hope that you all have a good Friday,

Love and hugs to all of you 

Sandra xxx 

Die cut card with pixie powder background

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Well these last few days of our holiday are whizzing by,  we went to the beach yesterday but it was quite windy all day,  we were hoping to go out to a local pizza restaurant last night but they were fully booked,  which surprised us as its still early in the season here,  we have booked for tonight though, so we still get to go. 

Brenda I hope your visit to the Marsden wasn't too exhausting xxx

Lilian I hope you managed to save your tomato plants,  I am dreading seeing what state the garden is in when we get back, I hope they watered everything. Xxx

Karen I hope bowls isn't too hot and you manage another win!  We have been playing Boules in the evening,  the french probably look on in horror!   We still have the coloured plastic boule set from when the kids were small, they are heavy though, I think we should invest in some decent ones. xxx

Today's card is another I made to use up some of my pile of pixie powder backgrounds.  I used a Tim Holtz background die to cut the top layer and stamped the sentiment before adhering it to the background.  I placed the finished piece on to a 6x6 inch card base  

I hope that you all hava a great day, 

Love & hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

Another shades of one colour card

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

We had a pool day for most of yesterday,  the wind was really strong throughout the night and as a result the sea had huge waves,  so at around 6pm Paul & Soph decided they wanted to take the body board into those mad waves, Lucy and I sat and enjoyed the sun whilst watching the mad pair getting beaten by huge waves, the highlight was the huge smiles on their faces, they both came out breathless and exhausted, I think it took a good half hour to get all the sand out of her hair! 

Todays card is another card using the Always & Forever papers from SU, I used the back of a floral sheet for the background,  I used a script stamp to add detail to the centre circle and fussy cut flowers to embellish. 

I hope you all have a great Wednesday, 

Love & hugs to all,

Sandra xxx

Shades of 1 colour Silhouette card

 

Good Morning My lovelies, 

We had a cloudy day yesterday so we did the girls favourite trip to 'L'Estartit' (tacky town), where they have a whole long street of 'looky looky' or souvenir shops, basically every shop sells the same things,  the girls usually buy bracelets or anklets.  The only exception to the souvenir shops is one that sells massive knives, guns,  ammunition,  crossbows, any weapon you can think of, it literally horrified me every time.   We always have chips,  churros and ice-cream when we are there (not all at once)  the flavour choice is incredible,  I had Turrin or Nougat, it was ok, I wish I'd had the Creme Catalan after I tasted it,  maybe next time.  

Today's card is kind of shades of one colour and a Silhouette card combined.  I used an Inkylicious stencil for the moon/sun and blended the orange shades over the rest of the card,  i then removed the stencil and brushed over the area just with what was left on the brush!  I stamped the meadow stamp in black and added clear embossing powder and heat set.  I matted onto white card and then onto an orange card base.  I haven't decided what sentiment to add so I have left it for now. 

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love and hugs,  

Sandra xxx 

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

Yesterday was definitely a day of two contrasting halves,  we started the day off by getting some lovely fresh croissants and taking them with us to the beach, so that we could make the most of the few hoursvof sun that were forecast, Paul and I wasted no time in getting straight on the sea,  we were all laid on the beach reading,  we were there until around 2pm, thunderstorms were forecast and arrived dead on 3pm!  My goodness,  I think we had a months rain in an hour, the ground was baked so hard from the heatwave that the water wasn't going anywhere,  I felt sorry for anyone in a tent as they were probably flooded, luckily we have a high deck area.  We used the rubbish weather time wisely and went food shopping, the supermarkets here are open till 10pm on a Sunday, which really surprised me.

Today's card is my first 'Monochrome/Shades of one colour' card. 

I used a Stampin Up paper collection I have had for a long time, I used the floral side inside the card and the back of that paper as the contrast on the front, there is another sheet that has larger floral pattern, I fussy cut the little flower spray to add to the sentiment label on the front of my Z fold card,  I popped the sentiment in the bottom corner.

I hope your weather is brighter than ours today, 

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Our crafts this week ...

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

Boy did we have a storm yesterday,  we had a lovely morning/early afternoon on the beach ⛱️, I think I had a good 2 hours in the sea 🌊 altogether,  the girls and Paul were having fun looking at fish etc with the paddle board 🏄‍♂️ and snorkeling,  I was enjoying the freedom of weightlessness with my inflatable.  We then when to a local favourite of the Girls for chips,  churros and ice cream 🍦 😋 

The forecast isn't great for today,it will be nice having a lazy start to the day though. 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi, here is my challenge for this.

I have done this page so I can put my Venice photos on the opposite page ( when I find them )

So journal page , flowers , stamping.

The papers and stamps are Stamperia. Afraid my fussy cutting is not very good these days.

Hope you are having a lovely time by the sea.

Lilian I knew it was stamperia as soon aa I saw it, what a perfect page to go with your Venice photos .  There is nothing wrong with your fussy cutting,  it looks absolutely perfect to me.  Stamperia makes the best quality papers, so detailed and great quality. 

Thank you so much for sharing your page, I'd love to see it with the photos too.  XXX

Karen 

Karen used her favourite stencil in another lovely colour way, using one of her Color Box cards.  I love the pink in the background and the amber and mimosa are perfect match and work perfectly,  I agree that the clay is a little dark,  I still love how it turned out though, this stencil is on my birthday wishlist for sure. 

Thanks Karen for another inspirational stencil card and Color Box inspiration too XXX

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We were talking about photos the other day, when Matt was a baby we took so many photos, quite a few of Becca too, however while Becca was a baby we got a video camera,  we video'd everything,  but it looks like it was it at the expense of taking photos, as I noticed that we have nowhere near as many photos of Becca at 6 months + and the girls.  We need to get all of the old video tapes converted so that we can have them on line to view.

I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday,  

Love & hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx

Mixed up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

We ended the week with a relaxing pool day, followed by a bonus beach swim at around 5pm, the sea was warm, the sun a little hazy so it didn't feel like it was burning you, the beach was quiet, it was the perfect end to a lovely day. 

Sue

Sue has shared a photo of her 'Margaret' rose, it's as beautiful as its namesake for sure!  What an absolutely perfect rose in such a delicate colour,is it a fragrant rose?  

Thank you so much for sharing it with us XXX 

Karen

Karen shared her first attempt at Mosaic Crochet, now Karen explained that she picked a 'simple' design for her first attempt,  I think this looks anything but simple.  Its lovely and so incredibly neat.  I can't wait to see your next piece! 

Thank you so much for sharing it with us XXX 

Lilian 

Lilian shared this absolutely incredible throw that she has been working on.  

Lilian's Description:

Hi, it’s finished at last, still have to do some of the ends and give it its pamper wash.

It’s about 40yrs since I’ve done any crochet, so not perfect but I am pleased with it. The pattern is 21 pages long. Hope you like it.

Lilian you have created a lovely family heirloom, your children and grandchildren will be thinking about you whenever they are wrapped in it.  

I love the pattern you have chosen, those lovely diamonds in the rows between the granny squares really break the pattern up, the colours are gorgeous too.

Thank you so much for sharing it with us XXX 

That's all for today Ladies, I hope that you all have a great start to the weekend, 

Sending love & hugs to all,

Sandra xxx 

Our Next Challenge

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

This week has flown by,  we had a lovely relaxing pool day yesterday,  the pool felt warm for the first time ever, it was so lovely,  the girls even enjoyed it and they don't do the pool usually.   It clouded over early evening,  so we got a brief respite from the sun. 

Our Next Challenge 

I thought we'd have a change of Challenge for next week,  I don't want you all getting bored. 

So if you haven't guessed from the cards etc above I thought we'd go for Shades of One Colour/Monochromatic 

You can have an accent colour for matting and layering and sentiments,  so as you can see I have used black, white, gold, silver, its up to you, use whatever works better with your colour theme, you can make anything you like,  tags, cards, thrinchies,  Snippets,  journal pages etc. 

The only rule is that you enjoy creating your project. ❤️

I hope that you have a lovely Friday,  

Love & hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

Card using pixie powder background

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

You are probably bored of hearing it but we had another amazing day on the beach ⛱️ yesterday,   we left at about 4.30pm as the wind started to pick up, it's at that point people start to lose their poorly secured umbrellas, they blow around like missiles. We have the same weather forecast until Sunday we are definitely making the most of it.

Today's card is one I made using up an old pixie powder background,  I used a Tim Holtz background die to cut the top layer, I then positioned the pixie powder background piece to get as much of it on show through the die cut as possible.  Before attaching the background I stamped the sentiment on the  die cut panel.  I actually really like how this one turned out. 

I hope that you all have a fabulous Thursday, 

Love & hugs to all of you,  

Sandra xxx 

Teddy's Birthday Card

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all able to remain comfortable in the heat and humidity.  We had another very hot day, people really struggled to walk on the sand at the beach, the sea was really warm too, I think its the warmest it's ever been, we had a lovely breeze coming off the sea, last night was ridiculously humid though, it was almost too hard to breath, we are forecast another warm one for today, I think we may have a pool day though, there is more shade there.  Paul and I stay out of the sun under our beach umbrella but you have to keep moving which is a pain.  

Today I am sharing the card that Sonia made for Teddy's 2nd Birthday,  I can't believe his is two already, that year really flew by! 

Sonia's Description:

Card for Teddy’s 2nd Birthday.

I’ve used Tracey Hey Designs “Bubblicious ll” stamp set, colouring the little dinosaur with Ohuhu markers. The sentiments are from “Man, Myth, Legend” stamp set. I used Tracey’s Circles dies which include the hearts, and “Bubbles” paper pad. The die cut 2 is from Temu.

Your card is so adorable Sonia, I love all of the little details like the little hearts cut in the circle die cuts.  Tracey Hey definitely has an eye for a fantastic design and range!  Your colouring is brilliant and I love that Bubble paper!  I'm sure it's gone into Teddy's Treasure box. 

Thank you so much for sharing it with us XXX 

I hope that you all have a good day,

Love & Hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx