Something Festive for Friday

Good Friday Morning Ladies,  

Fingers crossed this post published as normal,  I have no idea why yesterday's didn't,  I apologise if any if you missed it.  

Love this artwork,  it gives an Autumn feel though.  

I like the reminder too,   we all need time, for many different reasons.  Do he gentle with yourselves ❤️

I made this Christmas card yesterday afternoon,  the background is made with Distress Sprays,  Oxide Peacock Feathers and Wilted violet spray stain,  I added some splatters of the Distress Mica Sprays in the same colours.  The shimmer looks amazing...

I

 I tried to capture the shimmer in these photos 

I spritzed a piece of white card with a mica pearl spray,  I then used my Bibi Cameron Snowflake die to cut a snowflake from the shimmery card. 

I placed it over the background,  trimmed off the overhanging bits of snowflake and then adhered the piece to a white card base.  

I struggled to get a sentiment to stand out with the busy card front, so die cut 'Wishes ' in black and then pressed into clear ink pad, added clear embossing powder and heat set,  I added the 'Warm Wishes '  from an old Anne Marie designs Christmas sentiments sheet. 

A few black stones finish the card. 

I hope that you all have a lovely Day, 

Love and hugs to all,  

Sandra xxx

A TEXTures Dragonfly Dreams Journal page

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Well yesterday was the 'straw that broke the camels back'  (as they say)!  The heat made the symptoms of uti and theses bloomin antibiotics even worse.  I popped to shops with Lucy in the morning and felt awful in the supermarket,  we came home,  I tried laying on the bed with fan and my cool towel to try and relax but I couldn't relax at all.  So I got up and tried to distract myself by crafting 😂                         Sorry for moaning,  I just believe in being real with you all, I could just say "I'm ok" I guess 🤣

I'm glad it's okay as I do it often 🤣

I bought some of Lou Collins (TEXTures) Dragonfly Dreams collection.  I was drawn to it by the geometrical design if the stamps. 

I used the background stamp from this collection with Kitsch Flamingo & Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide for the background, I spritzed it with water and then dried it before stamping the floral kite shaped stamp from above.  

 

To embellish the card I used a jar of flowers from the paper pad collection,  I wrapped some twine around the jar and added a now.  I fussy cut some of the same flowers from another jar and added some foam pads to the back to raise it up,  I popped another one at the base of the jar.  I added some splatters of both the oxides and blake ink.  To finish I stamped and fussy cut the 'Beautiful ' and added the 'Just the way you are' at the bottom.  

I am looking forward to playing with these stamps more.  

I hope that you all have a lovely day,  especially as its forecast to be cooler,  

My love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx

Winter Journal page

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies,  

Lucy and I had a lovely afternoon yesterday,   Mammogram was a straight forward as usual,  we did have a laugh with a couple of the Ladies in the waiting room though,  we had a wander around Cheltenham afterwards followed by a lovely lunch.

A question we often ask 'are you ok', we often answer "yes I'm ok" because its easier than explaining how we really feel,  partly because we don't want to burden our friends with the truth!       I think that most of us are ok about speaking frankly about how we feel, whether its mentally or physically.  

We shouldn't have to hold back on our true feelings, it really is ok not to be ok!   😘

Today I am sharing a journal page I made on Monday using Stamperia Dewdrops collection.  

I used a piece of background paper and used a lovely snowflake stencil that Sonia bought me to add some texture and interest to the background.  I created the focal piece by using an adhesive frame adding the girl in the frame and using other bits of ephemera to build the scene.

I hope that you all have a great Wednesday 

Love and hugs to all of the, 

Sandra xxx

Stamperia Classic Christmas collection Card

Good Morning Ladies,  

We had a calmer day yesterday,  the wind has dropped,  I felt that the temperature was higher again though,  unless it's my uti symptoms,  Its so frustrating that I have the Uromune here to take but I can't take it until I have this current infection cleared up,  as per usual the surgery are a let down,  because my liver wasn't right the nurse only gave me three days if Nitrofurantoin,   she asked me to go straight in for bloods to recheck my liver,  she was going to call me Friday with blood results to let me know whether to carry on taking them,  she never called (shock 🙄), so I took them,  they feel like they were working but 3 days were never going to work, she said herself that it was a nasty infection,   so I have checked my app and called and heard nothing back,  the last thing on the tast results tab was urine sample from before our holiday.  I will call again this morning,   although we will be out as I have Mammogram this morning,  it seems like it was only last year that I had one,  Lucy is taking me so we will probably go for lunch afterwards,   there are lots of good places in Cheltenham.  

You ALL know what I'm going to say!  So just in case you forgot here is a reminder 🤣

I sat and crafted all afternoon yesterday,  well part crafting part Pinterest browsing 🙄, today's card is one of the things I made.  

I used my new Stamperia Classic Christmas collection,  I took a 6 x 6 inch Kraft card and added a piece of patterned paper from the Junk journal and cut it 1/4 smaller than the base card, I lightly inked the edges and adhered to the card base.  Then I picked out some of the die cut elements from the journal and inked round each one and arranged them on the card front.  I placed the sentiments on bits of hessian and adhered them in opposite corners.   I finished with some white splatters.  

I hope that you all have a good day,  

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

An art inspired journal page

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,  

We had another really windy day yesterday,  slightly cloudy, it was cooler though so better for being out in the garden.  It was a perfect day for getting washing dry though,   got all of our bedding washed, even the super thick quilted mattress topper.   I love lined dried bedding,  I was excited to go to bed 🤣😂

How lovely is this artwork 😍, great sentiment too,  you are so incredibly worthy ❤️ 

I had almost forgotten about this journal page, I made it a couple weeks before holiday,   I hadn't made anything for today so quickly checked my 'Holiday ' folder.  

I used the Stamperia All Around collection for this page, I added both lilac and white paint on the background and then  stamped and used embossing paste for texture and interest. 

I picked out a collection of die cuts from the junk journal and the Focus journal too.  After creating the composition I added some sketchy lines on the die cuts and added some splatters.  I frayed a piece of hessian to put the sentiment on. 

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

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx 

A look back at our makes this week..

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all having a good weekend,   we had a bit of a change in weather yesterday,   we had quite a strong breeze,  it was still very warm in sheltered areas of the garden,  the wind made it a lot more bearable, I had a lovely hour or two out there with Paul,  I managed to pot up all of the plants left over from refilling the wall baskets at the front of the house,  we used ten plants to fill the three baskets,  its lovely to look out and see pretty flowers rather than the distress of looking at the dead plants hanging there.    

What are you all up to today?  

Another great reminder,  it takes a lot of patience to recover from anything whether its a simple Uti or surgery,  anxiety and depression,  it all takes time,  one day at a time is difficult but it's very true 🥰

Let's look a your makes from this week....

Karen

Karen's Description:  

I had these pieces lying around since before cruise and had a go at finishing it this afternoon 

It’s number 25 in the A&C challenge- birthdays 

I did the inking an embossing folder technique which I was really pleased with I decided to be “brave” and use all shades of blue just to see 

Afterall it’s my journal so a record of ideas etc

Karen your experiment worked out brilliantly,  sometimes its hard to take risks, especially if we are making cards for someone for a certain date,  that's one of the major bonuses of an art journal where we want the results of both good and bad experiments,  we learn by both experiences,  occasionally getting a happy accident.  

Your Braveness triumphed my lovely,  thank you so much for sharing your page with us all XXX

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Here is my card for this week’s challenge 

Stamperia ephemera, background from the junk journal.

A few dot of outliner paste. Brown in around the edge.

Oh Lilian that tree is stunning, it looks 3D! and has so much detail. Adding the shading around the edges brings that lovely vintage warmth. As with all Stamperia products everything works together beautifully. 

Thank you for sharing such a beautiful Christmas card card with us XXX 

Maria 

Maria's Description:

Hi, here is my first Xmas card for Sunday 😊

I used this stamp from Woodware, then used TH inks in green tones to colour a background. Little bit of use of a glitter pen over the snow flakes. Layered on a piece of green card and then onto the white card.

I don't think I will use this stamp too often because it took me seven goes before I was happy with the imprint. So frustrating aargh 🙄.  

Maria your first Christmas card is amazing,  I love the stamp you have used and the colours really work, I understand your frustration though, Silhouette stamps can be a pain to get a good stamped image with.  Did you stamp the image first and then colour?  I only ask because stamping on Oxides can be a total nightmare.  

The mixed media style of the stamp is lovely,  so I hope you do use it again,  do you use Versafine Clair ink, it is a bit wetter which it makes it better to get a good image with,  I was struggling earlier this year so treated myself to a new one and it made such a difference. 

Thank you so much for making and sharing your first Christmas card of the year with us XXX 

Sonia 

Sonia's Description:

Here’s my card for tomorrow lovely 😊

I created the images and ephemera on ChatGPT

I distressed and inked edges with Milled Lavender distress oxide ink

I added some stencilling using a snowflake stencil from Temu, and added some clear gems.

Absolutely gorgeous Christmas card Sonia, the view the girl is looking out over is beautiful just like the rest of your card.

The snowflake stencil is lovely giving just enough detail without dominating the delicate background.  All of the elements you have created come together to create an amazing Christmas card my lovely.

Thank you so much for sharing it with us XXX 

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Thank you my lovely friends, for supporting today's Blog post ❤️

I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday, 

Love and hugs to all of you   

Sandra xxx 

Happy Saturday!

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

Welcome to the weekend,  although this week has absolutely flown by,   probably because I fretted the week away stressing about yesterday's appointment 🙄,  I felt confident (ish) that I could manage it, until I got ready for bed last night,  got set up , all seemed ok until I switched the air on, my anxiety went through the roof and I pulled it off,  it's going to be a process I think, he did say wear it while you are distracted (like watching tv etc) to help you get used to it quicker, so I might give that a try.    On the way we detoured to Gloucester Royal hospital to collect my Uromune,  which has to below 8 degrees,  luckily we always have cool bags in the car!  It's 2 pumps under the tongue daily.  Fingers crossed it's a miracle cure🤞🤞🤞

Something will all need to remember,  especially in this hot weather x 

This is the very last minute Nappy Cake that we put together with about 10 minutes notice,  I love the little sock roses that Becca and Soph made by rolling baby socks on to bamboo skewers.  I hope that Becca's sister in law Helen likes it.  

I hope that you all have a good weekend,  

Love and hugs to all of you 

Sandra xxx

Friday Festive Throwbacks

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

A busy day today,  with an early start,  we have to be at Coventry Hospital by 9.30am latest,  it's a good 1 hour 45 minute journey, so we will leave at about 7.30 am 😔

I ended up having to take a sample in to surgery yesterday morning, Bridget called to say that she had never seen a test strip light up so fast and so strong in colour!   I explained that I had finished the last of 3 courses of Antibiotics on Tuesday and within 24hrs the symptoms were back with a vengeance!! She has given me 3 days of Nitrofurantoin reluctantly,   she asked me to go in for bloods as my liver functions were not right in May,  not that they bothered to let me know!!  Fingers crossed she doesn't call me back this morning to say I can't take the antibiotics 🤞

Some good news though....My Uromune UTI medication is finally ready for collection!!  This should prevent further Uti's.  

Love this sentiment,   you all know that you 100% Belong Here!  I don't know what I'd do without you ❤️ 

I have shared some older Christmas cards today as I was feeling rough yesterday and Becca turned up wanting me to show her how to make a Nappy Cake for her sister in law.  I say 'show her' she watched me for most of it 🤣😂

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love & hugs to all

Sandra xxx 

My second Christmas journal page

 

Good Thursday Morning Ladies, 

Another warm but bearable day yesterday,   I did some crafting in the morning while Lucy went to get her wrist looked at,  she was gone about an hour or so, so not too bad,  they bandaged her wrist up, told her that she needs a dual support brace to prevent her wrist bending up or down,   they apparently had run out, which is why they bandaged her up,  they showed her which one to buy, gave her a referral for physio and told her to go to GP if problem persists,  our surgery currently has NO bookable appointments that aren't the daily urgent ones, that's up to end of August.  Its ridiculous.  All 4 of our children have Hypermobility in pretty much all joints, I have it too, I don't think Paul does though.  Hypermobility can cause problems in joints because of the over flexibility meaning extra strain on wrists,  knees etc,  they kept asking Lucy what she thought it was that was causing the pain,  lucy replied if I knew I wouldn't have taken up your time,   they seem to think its like RSI,  from scooping the hard icecream every day.   I have said that she should maybe delegate that job for the next week or so to allow her wrist to rest.  We have ordered the Wrist Brace, fingers crossed it arrives today.  

We had a lovely lunch out,  which lifted her mood a little x 

Another brilliant reminder,  you are all incredibly important ❤️

I used Stamperia’s Classic Christmas collection for my journal page today,   I took a piece of background from the Art Journal,  then dry brushed some white paint onto the paper added some splatters and did some stamping,  then I used Brown ink through the Classic Christmas stencil.. 

I added some Coffee ink on opposite corners and then got on with choosing the ephemera to create  my focul cluster.

I took a label and added some stamping and an eyelet and popped some twine through it.  I used this as my starting point,  next came that little recipe card, then the pile of gifts.  The gifts were floating so i added a border strip along the bottom, I roughed the edges of all the ephemera and added brown ink too. A few flowers added some prettinesz, the candy canes added some height.  The final flourish was the 'joy' sentiment and white splatters. 

Karen:  I can't believe it's been a week since your surgery,  hopefully you are back in your craft room now,  Paul was back doing light work a week after his,  I think its sensible to do short sessions to start with.  Paul hated the eye drops but continued them past the necessary time 'just to be sure'.  I bet your fingers are itching to create. 

Lilian:  I am so pleased that you are getting that knee sorted,  although it might get uncomfortable in a heatwave.  I do remember having to shower in the 'Hibiscrub' wash,  it felt horrible,  I didn't have to do it for than 2 days though.   The clean bedsheets every day seems a bit excessive, especially as you are antibacterial washing every night.    They have some crazy ideas these days!   I hope you aren't suffering too much after the dentist my lovely XXX 

I hope that you all have a great Thursday,  

My love and hugs to all  

Sandra xxx 

A Christmas journal page

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

I had a lovely crafty day yesterday,  playing with some new Christmas themed goodies that I treated myself too 😊 

Lucy had a lovely chilled day off, Paul was at work, so I just sat and played with my new bits and bobs, it does seem quite odd having to have a fan on while created Christmas projects 🤣😂

I am guilty of saying 'sorry for being a nuisance '  or 'sorry for being a pain"  when someone has to accommodate my wheelchair or something,  I'm not sure if that's what today's reminder means,   It all comes down to feeling like you are putting people out or being a burden!   

I agree with the reminder though,  I just need to work harder on my feelings !  

For today's journal page I used my small Stamperia journal,   I used Mowed Lawn and Rustic Wilderness Oxide inks to blend down the right side of the page and along the bottom.   I then used the Arden Creative stencil with the same inks to add more interest 

I added some water droplets to the background and then added some green and brown splatters.  I used Ground Espresso to add a darker vignette around the page.  

I moved on to add some Rub Ons from the Arden Creative  Christmas Cheer collection, I absolutely love them...

Both the little bits of text and the musical scores are rub ons.  

Onto the fun part, picking out the die cut ephemera,   I collected a few bits, added some hessian ribbon , created a cluster to pop Santa on then added some little bits to finish off the page.  Last finishing touch as always is the white splatters! 

I hope that you all have a lovely Wednesday,  

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx

My First Christmas card for our Challenge

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Well what do you think of the new PM ??  🤔  I'm yet to be convinced,   after all he hasn't been elected either by party or the nation.                    They never go through with their promises anyway! 

Maybe today's reminder is more apt than we think??🙄🤣

Today's card is a simple design,  I took a piece of white card and blended Salvaged Patina,  Mermaid Lagoon & uncharted Mariner Distress Oxides across it.  Next I added some pearl spray using the pipe inside the tube to flick it over the page.  It didn't give the effect I wanted,  so I watered down some white paint and flicked that over the page and the die cut snowflakes (die cut from card inked with the same colours).  I added in a snowflake die cut from Mirri card too.  I lined up the snowflakes and pierced a hole through the centre and added a Brad,  which I used to secure to the card too.   I diecut the sentiment and added that below the snowflake.  

I hope you all have a lovely day, 

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx

 

A lovely butterfly journal page

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

Welcome to the start of a new week,  what have you all got planned?? I have my Respiratory appointment on Friday for sleep apnoea,  I think they have already decided that I need have it 😔

We had a lovely afternoon in the garden,  I popped in some French Bean plants,  after which I was done,  so just observed Paul working 🤣

This reminder is a good one, it can be a frustrating wait but you need to allow plenty of time to make sure you are fully recovered.  😘

I absolutely love how this page turned out,  Vicki P gave me the idea,  using the magnifying glass from the Stamperia 'All Around ' Focus journal,  there is also a large butterfly in there, which is an exact copy of the small one in the Junk journal,  which means that you can pop the large one under the Magnifying glass and trim the small trimmed to match up with the large on to create the illusion that the Magnifying glass is working!  I did add Acetate to the Magnifying glass to make it look a bit more realistic.   The background was created with a piece of decorative paper, I added some paint,  then cut some squares from another background paper, inked the edges,  I added some gold embossing paste through a stencil for texture and a bit of sparkle.  I then placed the fussy cut squares around the page.  I finished with some flowers and splatters! 

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

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandrs xxx

Let's look back at our makes this week

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,  

We had a lovely day in the garden yesterday,  catching up on the little jobs,  the cooler weather made it much nicer being out side. 

Ooh I'd love to have a go on that swing!! 😂.  It's a great reminder , sadly it's something I struggle with, I always have.  I hope that you all believe on yourself though 😘

Let's look at what Sonia & Maria made this week....

Sonia

Sonia's Description: 

Here’s my journal page for Sunday my lovely 

Snail Mail

I used ChatGPT to create the main image, and the little stamps, envelope and postmark. I have used a background from Stamperia ‘Quiet Days’ collection as well as the typewriter and couple of sentiments. I cut two slits into the typewriter so I could feed the little quote in, which was from Pinterest. The larger text piece is also from Pinterest, I used ChatGPT to change the original text and added the background colour, as well as the top pieces of text. I inked edges with vintage photo distress ink 😊

Sonia what an absolutely stunning Journal page,  it fits that the Snail Mail perfectly.  The verses on the page work so well too,  I love all of the little extra bits of ephemera too.  

Thank you so much for creating such a lovely journal page and sharing it with us XXX 

Maria

Maria's Description:

I had a chance to sit down for an afternoon of crafting and this is the card I made.

First I spritzed a piece of card in Green and Yellow/ Gold.

Next I used some bits by Stamperama, secret diaries. I think it was called. Bulldog clip and Keys from my stash.

Maria your journal page is amazing,  I love your little clusters, everything works together to create such a lovely page. 

Thank you so much for creating this lovely page for today's post my lovely, I really appreciate it XXX 

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I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday,  

Love and hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx