My 2nd Workshop project

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

Bank Holidays never feel like the start of a new week, do they, they just feel like an extension to yhe past week!  (Maybe thats just my crazy mind) 🤣😂

We spent the afternoon with Matt yesterday, he picked a place called the 'Anatolean Palace' which was a Turkish Restaurant,  I was really excited as I follow a couple of Turkish cooks on TikTok,  my mouth waters as I watch them.   I had Halloumi cheese as a starter,  Paul & Alex had Creamy Garlic mushrooms,  Matt had prawns with garlic butter, the also bought a basket of the most deliscious bread.  Matt, Paul & I had Mixed Shish kebab that came with rice and unlimited salad, Alex had a wrapped meat dish.  Our lamb literally melted in our mouths,  the chicken was lovely too.  Needless to say we were all to full for dessert.  I will return in a heartbeat,  I'm not sure if they are a chain but if you are ever near one I wouldn't hesitate to recommend you try it.  Paul and I  couldn't eat anything else apart from a cup of tea and biscuit before bed! 

Today I am sharing the second project from my Tracey Evans workshop.  

This project (and the last one) started out as stamping a mixed media stamp over an A4 sheet to look like a newspaper sheet 

You then tear up the sheet and lay it randomly over an A3 piece of card, adhering it with collage medium.  

Next we brayered different colour acrylic paint, then we smooshed some on with a finger,  circles dipped in white acrylic paint in varying sizes gave more texture, next came texture paste through stencils, with they layers you can still see the print on the paper beneath.  I then cut the background up into 6 x  6×4 inch backgrounds and 2 x 5 1/2 × 4 inch backgrounds. 

On today's project you can only really see the background on the inside of the Acorns, I added paint in several layers around the acorns, so that the acorns themselves were the highlight.  I added white stamping over the background and then stamped the birds in black, I added the tag and 'Acorn' and finished with some splatters. 

I have to say I really 'lost ' myself while doing these projects, I really enjoyed making them. 

I hope that you all have a great Monday, 

Love & hugs to all,

Sandra xxx 

Our makes this week

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,  

We had a lovely relaxing day yesterday,  which is exactly what I needed.  Well apart from popping out to return all of the dresses, jackets & shoes that I had ordered to try on for the wedding.  It felt good getting them all out of the way.  

The rest of the day we spent sitting on the deck, I finished another workshop piece.  I still somehow felt exhausted at the end of the day.  I think it's the antibiotics.  Maybe the wedding stress isn't helping either.  Only 2 more weeks.!!! 

Today is Matt's birthday,  its unusual for us to be in the UK for his birthday so we are going over to have a meal out with him this afternoon, we are going to Gloucester Quays, which is a shopping Outlet, they have a lovely Turkish Restaurant so that's where we are eating.  

Let's have a look at what you have been making this week....

Karen 

Karen's Description:

Card 1:  I made this simple Sympathy card too for this challenge using Sizzix layer stencils

Card 2:  Just finished an eclipse card for the challenge using a Serif image The technique I adopted worked very well But the photo looks better than in real life I don’t think there is enough contrast It all looks a bit blurry but that could be my eyesight 

An old Sue W die set and I turned it into a tent fold card (Pink Frog)

Card 3:  This is better Same SueW dies Julie Hickey sentiment. 

What a creative week you have had Karen,   another incredible stencilled card, every colour combination is a winner!  

I love both of your Eclipse cards, I do agree that the darker image looks crisper.  I really love that butterfly image 😍 

Thank you so much for supporting this challenge XXX 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:  

Thought I’d do Christmas card today, the new Indigo Blu Magazine today so used the stamps and stencil from the kit.

Oh you are one of the lucky ones,  I didn't pre-order and it sold out straight away, so I'm guessing it must be a good one!  

Your card is amazing,  love the papers and those stamps,  I also love the technique of edging the layers with peel-offs, they give a lovely neat finish.  

Thank you so much for supporting the challenge,  I do hope that you are feeling better after your dentist visit.  XXX

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I hope that you all have a lovely weekend, 

Love & hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx 

A quick hello

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

Just a quickie post today as I started with a dreaded Uti yesterday,  it came on mid morning,  quite out of the blue,  I had felt under the weather on Tuesday and Wednesday, sore throat, shivers etc but put that down to having same virus as Lucy.  I didn't feel too bad on Thursday though,  so was quite surprised with the Uti symptoms yesterday,  when we got home I knew for sure that it was Uti (I have become an expert this past few years, especially when it comes down to the difference between a bout of Interstitial Cystitis and full blown Uti)  Fortunately my Gp made sure I was covered for antibiotics for our holiday, so I started the lighter option of the two.  I have had Pivmecillinam before, so didn't really think twice about taking it, checked the dose, took them and some paracetamol for the miserable pain,  within 45 minutes to an hour I started itching, then came nausea,  I ended up having to go to bed, I felt so unwell, as you all know very well, when you have ongoing medical issues, something as simple as a Uti can feel so much worse, it's added pain, making the pain that your body is 'used to' worse, my AF seems to go into one long episode, which is so physically exhausting.  The itching makes me feel like a 'stroppy toddler", to the point that I want to lay in my back, kicking my arms and legs and scream "its not fair " 😫 🤣😂😆

I have got some photos of the patio pots from last Sunday to share with you...

This is the latest flower on my 'Mango Stripe" Dahlia, this one looks like its three different blooms in one, the bold red, the plain yellow and then the beautiful variegated stripes, it is so beautiful.  

This was the first bloom, the stripes are more even, there is less of the vibrant yellow in this one too. 

This Dahlia is '' Hootenanny Swann Island" this flower isn't as 'perfect' as its first either, however,  the colour is stunning that yellow centre is so vibrant, enhanced by the gorgeous deep pink. 😍 

I very nearly didn't bother with these Begonias as they are usually more trouble than they are worth,  but my goodness, I would have kicked myself,  these beautifully delicate flowers are just breathtaking,  I believe they were called 'Petticoat'.

I apologise that I haven't shared and paper craft inspiration today.   I do find that nature can be an incredible source of inspiration though,  for example the colours of these flowers would be perfect for one of those layered stencils or to use for any background etc. 

I hope that you all have a great Saturday,  

Sending my love and hugs, 

Sandra xxx

Ps.  Its not such a quick blog after all, it did take me three separate attempts though 😉😂

TGIF...

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

I had a lovely rest day yesterday,  which was very much needed after our exploring adventures at the Priory, Chapel & Rectory yesterday,  my knee was really 'complaing' all through the night!  I spent most of the day at my desk, I have been doing  Tracey Evans Workshop for about a week, (fitting bits in here and there) I will say that I thought that maybe they were a little expensive at first but I am on my 3rd or 4th project and I have really enjoyed it.  

Today's card is from the Workshop,  we started out by making a 'Masterboard' which with drying time took 2 days, then we cut the A3 Masterboard up and are making our way through the backgrounds that we created with it.  

All I have done on this card is draw around the bird stencil with a micron pen, then add white paint around the edges of the bird,  we then go back in adding colours to match the background, the idea is to almost 'spotlight ' the bird.  I added some embossed white stamping, Then added the 'Nature ' and the 149 label at the top, some white splatters finish the piece.  There are so many layers of i interest on this piece, the textures are amazing.

You can see the torn print in the background and the texture paste on these photos.

I hope that you all have a great Friday, 

Love and hugs, 

Sandra xxx 

Second Bird Thrinchie

 

Thrinchies 45 & 46

Good Thursday Morning Ladies,  

I honestly thought it was Friday today,  I'll be glad when it is! 🤣

Lucy and I had our hair done yesterday, Lucy's is lovely,  mine is a little lighter than I thought it would be, all the girls love it, so I guess its ok.  We got home at around 2.30pm, had a quick drink and then went to look around The Priory  (Becca's wedding venue), it is a beautiful country house, set in acres of land, there's Padel courts, swimming pools, walled vegetable garden, orangery, chapel, its absolutely stunning.  We also had a look in The Rectory,  which is where Becca and the Bridesmaids are staying on the night before the wedding and Adam and Becca are staying the night of their wedding.  It sleeps 16, it has a cinema, hot tub, sauna, the kitchen is beautiful as are all of the bedrooms.  The master has an incredible four poster bed! The Rectory is the other side of a large lawn, so not even a minute from the Chapel etc.  It has made it all a lot more real !  

Today I am sharing the matching thrinchie to  yesterday's.  These are Thrinchies 45 & 46,  the same Colours and stencils were used as yesterday's! Simple but effective. 

I hope you all have a great Thursday,  

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra xxx 

Bird Thrinchie 1

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

Two days of resting are up, Lucy and I are off to the Hairdressers to get our pre-wedding colour top up,  goodness me I'm so nervous, there will no hiding any mess-ups with the wedding being in 2 weeks Saturday!  Then we are meeting up with Matt, Paul &  Becca to go look at the wedding venue, just so we have an idea of the logistics!  

Karen has your cough and chest cleared up with the antibiotics and fresh sea air?  I hope that you are feeling much better my lovely xxx

Maria sorry to hear you are in so much pain with your back,  is it sciatica?  It sounds like that kind of pain that you were experiencing with the bumps in the road.  I hope you feel a little bit better today,  although sciatica does come in waves that can be a few hours or a few weeks. It sounds like you had a lovely lunch out yesterday 😋 xxx

Sonia I hope that you had a lovely weekend,  making lots of memories with your lovely family xxx

Lilian I hope that your back is a little easier today my lovely,  that constant nagging pain just becomes exhausting both mentally and physically.  Try not to let it get you down,  I try and push myself so I feel like I am not letting the pain win, there are more days that I just want to pull the duvet over me and stay put than not,  but my determination makes me not let that side of my body /brain win!   Sending you gentle hugs your way xxx

Brenda I hope that your hospice appointment was helpful and that it didn't exhaust you too much.  I hope John is doing ok.  Are you off to your daughters for the Bank Holiday weekend?  

Gina I hope that you are well and managing to get lots of crafting time in !  Have you got any more little breaks planned, or have you had any more amazing charity shop craft finds??? xxx

Sue are you back home after your trip to Chris's family? It was lovely to read that you were up at Hounds Tor (your happy place), it's not just the place it's the memories that you recall when you are there xxx

Today I am sharing the first of a pair of Thrinchies featuring Tracey Evans Bird Stencil.  

I used Distress Oxides Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade & Candied Apple to cover the inner part of the bird stencil (the bird shaped inner ) I spritzed it lightly with water then turned it over and placed it onto my thrinchie, I placed a piece of kitchen roll over a gently applied pressure over the stencil.  I carefully lifted the bird and revealed the bird,  I allowed it to dry, then I did some background stamping,  using a text stamp in the darker of the three shades and then I added tiny touches of the text stamp in black.  

I used TE number stamps to add the 1 2 3 to the thrinchie,  the bird was stamped onto the top of the 3.  I then finished the piece with some ink splatters. 

I will share part 2 tomorrow x 

I hope that you have a good day, 

Love and hugs to all,  

Sandra xxx 

Another reverse eclipse card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Yesterday was a bit like "one of those days" you want to go back to bed and start the day over again!! 

I think I mentioned in my previous blog that I had done something to my knee,  I had it elevated most of the night,  however the pain was unbearable,  keeping me awake most of the night, when I got it off the bed to try and take a step, there was no way that was going to happen, it feels like it is under so much pressure, the pain is on the inside of my knee, the pain appears to spread up my thigh too. Getting down to my desk was a performance,  trying not to weight bare on the knee that you only use to weight bare ended up being a bit of a disaster,  thank goodness Paul was working from home!  Whilst we were navigating that situation my phone rang, it was Lucy, she was feeling like she was going to pass out and was going to be sick, can Dad please come get me.  So he closed down his terminals and off he went, he came back in confused as Lucy had driven herself and So her card would be left there!  I just said go get her and we'll work it out,  when she came in she looked terrible,  I had told her at 7.30am to call in and tell them she was too unwell to go in, but my girls are stubborn!  I asked if she wanted GP call but she said she just needed sleep.   She slept rest of the day.  Paul ended up driving Sophie's car into Wildlife park, Soph then drove her car back and Paul drove Lucy's car home, so all drama resolved....for today! 🤣🤩 

Today's card is another version of the reverse Eclipse card that I made last week.  I used my IndigoBlu Lady stamped in Versafine Clair and added clear embossing powder and heat set, I then created another exactly the same.  I used a more open design background die this one, cut two and adhered them together and then used the same die to cut one of my embossed Ladies,  after knocking out all the die cut bits I adhered this one to the top of the other two die cuts, so you have one piece, the final part is to line up your die cut piece with picture on with the image on the background piece....

This was quite an intricate one to line up but if you have cut all your parts the same size you should be fine.  

The final part was adding a black mat and then adhere to a card base. 

I'd love to see you have a go, 

Sending love and hugs,

Sandra xxx 

A journal page to start our new challenge

 Good Monday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you all had a good weekend,  ours was very relaxed,  just as my love requested.  He managed to finish his book in the garden, then spent time setting up his new Tablet,  he was impressed at how he could now save recordings on his bird feeder camera as well as have photos.  

I have done something to my 'good' knee so my day was a bit restricted,  I am currently creating a 'Masterboard' as part of a Tracey Evans workshop,  so I did a bit more to that yesterday.  We had a lovely steak dinner (Paul's real birthday meal). That was the weekend,  Paul asked me to thank you for his birthday wishes xxx

Today I am sharing a journal page that I created following a Tracey Evans YouTube tutorial,  the background was created using a stencil, I used three different shades of green Distress Oxides on the stencil, then spritzed with water and placed on my page, I popped a little piece of kitchen roll over it and pressed it into the page, I then did some background stamping in Morning Mist, then some darker bits in black.  I stamped the butterfly stamp in green.  The flower was stamped in brown, I fussy cut the flowers and adhered them over the stem. 

I used my ticket stencil to create the tickets,  to which I added some of the ephemera stamps on Tracey’s stamps,  I fussy cut them and added them to the page.  I added the three birds, the word and then added shading and some ink splatters to finish. 

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

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

A look at what Lilian & I made this week

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,  

We had a lovely relaxing day yesterday,  just as Paul requested,  although I will say I find it impossible to sit and do nothing,  on holiday I read or do a crossword etc,  I sat for about 10 minutes, then got up and dead headed all of my pots, then wateted them,  we have some cabbage and sprout plants in troughs on the deck, waiting for corn/ courgettes to finish, they will then go in their place, anyway I have seen a few white butterflies around,  they had almost destroyed my Kale plants last week, they are netted but the butterfly laid her eggs on the netting,  the caterpillars then dropped onto kale!  Anyway they are usually easy to spot as they are a cluster of bright yellow eggs,  but they have got smart,  out on the deck they are landing on the soil and laying just one egg on each leaf, making them a lot harder to spot,  I cleared them off the little plants twice yesterday!  Paul's job today is netting over them!   Growing vegetables is one long battle,  to stop something eating them before you get the chance to ! 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hello , here is my piece for the challenge this week. It a page in my art journal.

Jo Rice did something similar on Pinterest, I just changed the stamps.

A mixture of stamps some from stamping up, and Lavinia stamps , the little flower stamps came from amazon. Lots of different colour inks blended together.

Oh I love this Lilian,  did you use one of those stamp wheels to get everything so perfectly lined up?  I love the Autumnal shades too, I have to say its my favourite season for colours.  

Thank you so much for sharing your lovely journal page with us and supporting the challenge XXX 

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I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday, 

Love and huge hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,  

It's Paul's birthday today,  so we will do whatever he wants to do,  when I asked yesterday he said he'd like to sit in the garden and read his book,  so far that's the only plan,  other than dinner out with the girls & Matt & Alex at a nearby Cider Farm that has a lot of different food outlets,  something from most cuisines I would say.  

What are you all up to?  

Sonia, your weekend sounds lovely,  I hope that Mollie is feeling better.   I can't believe your Great Nephew is one already!  Have an amazing time xxx

This is a photo that a lovely security man took of us all outside of Niko's Greek Taverna. 

I treated myself to the Sweet Petunia Glue Press,  I have bought that many different glues etc that either don't do what I want need them to do or the 'fine tip' gets blocked, Or I end up taking the whole end off and soaking it in hot water to free it of glue that has set and hardened. 

This comes with a full pot of Tonic's Nuvo glue and an empty pot for you to fill with your favourite glue.  The stand has a little pink silicone plug....

This is where the glue press nozzle sits and the silicone seals the end so that the glue doesn't dry and harden.  So it's always ready to use.   I have only used it for 3 days, I really like it so far. 

My other go to adhesive is....

Scrapbook adhesives Permanent Glue runner, it places little strips of double sided adhesive wherever you run it.  I have the 'grand' one of these too,  I bought this set on June as it was cheaper to get the runner with adhesive in already, plus two more refills, it was from Amazon.  Christine Emberson introduced me go it years ago, I loved it straight away,  it allows you to pull your artwork off of its base in the first minutes after adhering,  when it sets its solid its a really strong bond.  

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I hope that you all have an amazing weekend,  

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Phew...It's Friday !!

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,  

Oh my goodness what an exhausting week, I am so glad it's Friday,  this weekend we can relax, unlike last weekend.  My body is definitely still recovering from Wednesday's trip to London, then up early yesterday to go to bladder clinic !  So I am planning a lazy morning today. 

Our Next Challenge 

I thought we'd do a 'background challenge '  this challenge will be "To use either Background dies or Stencils /masks " to add detail to your cards, journal pages or Snippets etc. 

I hope that you enjoy the challenge, I look forward to seeing what you all create xx

Have a lovely end to your week,

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx