Your Next Challenge

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

Well another week over, we are less than two weeks away from our holiday now so I am trying to think about getting extra cards ready for all of the days we are away, I feel that there will be lots of looking back at older cards.

I just cannot sit and make lots of cards in one day, I think I spend far too long procrastinating, decided what I am going to use, then I decide not to use it but don't put it away straight away so then have to spend about half an hour after each card tidying up.  I am in awe of those of you that can sit and make three or four cards in one afternoon!

Your Next Challenge

As a follow on from last week's 'Flowers through the Seasons' challenge I would like you all to make cards using  SUMMER flower themed cards.

You can use actual flowers on your card (well paper ones) 

You can use Flower stamps as the focal image OR Background 

You can use Floral patterned paper, I really don't mind how you interpret the challenge, I always love what ever you create.

Thank you so much for taking part each week xx

With all the uncertainty about our holiday we have done little preparation so I think that is what we will be doing this weekend.  We changed our booking to the South of France, fingers cross that it stays safe, we will be taking every precaution possible throughout the holiday.  As it's just Paul and I going I may even take some crafting bits with me, but we have a whole list of essentials to sort before I can even think about that.

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Thursday Throwback Spring Card

Good Morning Ladies,

How can it be Thursday already, it was a very quiet day in our house yesterday as everyone was out at work, I just don't enjoy the empty house, isn't it funny how different we all our, I know that some of you would love a totally quiet house with no distractions but I would much rather listen to the girl's music from upstairs or have them sat with me chatting.  

Today's card is one that I made last year, the lovely yellow flowers make me think of Spring, although I'm not sure what the flowers are or if they are actually 'Spring' flowers.  This is one of my most favourite colour combinations.

The Stamp Set that I used for this card is called Beauty Abounds, I just stamped the two fancy flourishes in Pear Pizazz ink and colour the tiny flowers yellow.   I die cut the oval/scalloped oval in matching colours and stamped the sentiment (from the same stamp set in matching Pear Pizazz ink.

I finished the card with a flurry of tiny yellow butterflies.

I hope you enjoyed seeing it again as much as I did.

I am looking forward to seeing Sue today as Paul and the girls are working again today, so I will really appreciate the company, we do have quite fun too! 

I have been trying to stick religiously to our healthy eating plan but my goodness I have felt hungry this week, I didn't feel like that at all last week, I thought that having the 'Overnight Oats' with loads of fruit in the morning would really keep me full till lunch time but I had to really resist snacking yesterday, I usually resort to eating a banana at times when I am really hungry, just to tide me over until the next meal, but I would never eat more than 1 in a day as they are quite calorific I think.  

I might make a big fruit smoothie today as I find those quite filling and I make sure that they have lots of healthy thinks in like spinach or kale, greek yoghurt, lots of frozen berries, and a banana to help thicken it, I add seeds in to, chia, pumpkin, hemp and sunflower.  I will have it fresh mid morning and then freeze it and eat some as snacks in between other meals. 

Sophie and Lewis made a Banana Loaf yesterday and it is taking every ounce of my will power not to go and take a slice! 

I hope that you all have a lovely day ladies,

Love and Hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Pat's Beautiful New Baby card

Good Morning Ladies ,

Another lovely day here in Wiltshire, not that I got outside, I was doing paperwork with Paul in the morning and as Paul left Pat arrived,  which was lovely. 

Pat and I sat and crafted all afternoon and had z catch up. Pat is creating another stunning Groovi project from Clarity's Maria, the design is stunning, I cant wait to see you finish it Pat! 

Today's card is a Beautiful New Baby Girl card for the baby that is due any day now.

Pat used the Clarity Groovi Club free gift to creste those pretty Baby  shoes, using pink parchment, to pierce through and create those beautiful shoes and that stunning lacy Border.

I love the style and the design Pat, so thank you so much for the inspiration. XXX

 

I managed two cards yesterday both which is a miracle in its self, I was really loving the combination of Dark Greey and So Saffron.(yellow).

I hope that you all have a lovely day 💗 

Love and hugs

Sandrs 

Xxxxxx

My Second Spring Flowers Card

Good Morning Ladies,

Well yesterday just seem to disappear, I had barely said goodbye to Paul when I was saying Hello again at 9pm!  

I had planned to get a few cards made in order to get ahead but that just didn't happen, I managed this one, which I finished about 10 minutes before Paul got home. 

after Paul left Sophie wanted to try a new recipe for lunch, it was a Couscous based dish, the couscous had lots of spring onions, parsley and mint, lemon zest and juice, there was a seperate dressing that was made with Harissa Paste with lemon juice and a little olive oil stirred through, we gridled a block of Halloumi Cheese and arranged it over the couscous, scattered over some toasted almonds and then drizzled the sauce over.  It was absolutely delicious 😋 ! 

After creating that with Soph I went into my craft room, then Danielle called, which was lovely although we didn't chat as long as we usually do as she was busy with her girls. I got a bit more crafting done and decided what I was going to make and set about starting the card, the girls then left as they were off out for dinner with a friend, taking advantage of the government's new 'Half Price Meal' voucher, so I was left to feed Harley and the cats, by this time it was almost 7pm, then Matt rang, I carried on trying to finish my card while we chatted, Paul came home, then took Harley out, I said goodbye to Matt and that was that, 7 hours gone!

Todays card I made using the SU 'Jar of Love' stamp set and matching dies.  I stamped the jar directly onto my card front (for placement) the stamped another and die cut it, I stamped the stems onto the jar so that it looked like the flower stems were in the water, I then stamped all of the flowers and foliage and die cut them, I arranged the flower heads and foliage around the top of the jar, tied a bit of twine around the top of jar and tucked a die cut tag with the sentiment underneath the bow.

I added a piece of a doily under the bottom of the jar to 'ground' the jar. (an idea I saw on pinterest).

I placed the card front onto a base card made using Granny Apple Green Card.

I think it's very spring like, quite pretty too ;)-

Pat is coming over today, so hopefully I will get more crafting done, as well as chatting of course X

I hope that all of you have a lovely day, however you are spending it,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

A Pretty Spring card to start the week

Good Monday Morning Friends,

How are you all my friends,  I hope that you all got to spend time with family and friends.  We had quite a relaxed weekend, Saturday more relaxing than Sunday,  I'm not sure what happened to Sunday, one minute it was 7.30am and we were having a leisurely cup of tea, next minute I was rushing to get my hair dry before leaving to get food for the weeks as Paul is on lates, we were rushing to get back in time to get to Becca's house for 3.30pm to walk our 'Granddog' Benji. (see below)

Becca and Adam were working from early morning, Becca popped back at 12 to spend time with him but didn't want him left for too long, so Becca asked if we would walk him mid afternoon, the girls joined us and we had a lovely walk around the Oxfordshire countryside, he was very excited to see us and enjoyed his walk, he is only 9 months old and has boundless energy. It was a lovely couple of hours. 

 I used two different Honey Doo stamp sets for this card, 'Budding Flourishes' & 'Daffodils'.

I stamped the Daffodils first and masked over them and then stamped in the ''Budding Flourishes',

I then took my Polychromos and coloured all of the flowers and leaves, blending 3 colours of each shade. I finsished my card with a piece of Daffodil delight ribbon that I topped with a purple flower.

My sentiments were Honeydoo too.

I hope that you all have a lovely day ladies,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

 

Your TicTacToe Challenge cards

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you are all relaxed and enjoying the weekend,  the weather was kind to us yesterday so we got some weeding done, it seems a never ending battle to keep them at bay but I guess the veg patch was a really rough piece of ground covered in weeds, where rotavating does make it easier to break up the rock hard ground it does also chop the weed roots into bits which seems to distribute them further.  We harvested onions and beetroot on thursday, both if which look like a successful crop. 

Enough horticultural waffle  lets get down to the good stuff.......

Maria

Maria has made two beautiful TicTacToe Challenge cards, the first card is a beautiful design, the paper is gorgeous and having just the one word sentiment really allows that paper to be appreciated. 

Oh Wow Maria, your second card is stunning,  I absolutely adore that bird stamp that you have used,  I love how you have continued the stamping onto the frame was a genius touch and looks so effective.  That frame us gorgeous too, how  did you create it please?

Maria's Description:

"1/  I used Washi tape, Green and Single word

2/  Birds, Leaves/Green or it could be for Masculine"

Thanks so much Maria for two lovely cards, you have really inspired me XXX 

Brenda

Two very 'Trendy/modern " style cards from our lovely Brenda,  I absolutely love both designs! 

Brenda's Description:

Thank you so much Brenda, I love both of your cards, have a lovely family weekend XXX

Janet

Three beautiful cards from Our Janet for this weeks TicTacToe Challenge. 

The first two cards are both gorgeous woodland scenes, the third card is just so beautiful with the pretty birds and flowers, vintage elegance at it's best!

Janet's Description 

"For my first and second card this week I used LABLANCHE papers and cut outs using MALE/GREEN/LEAVES/BIRDS.

For my third card I used STAMPERIA- HORTENSIA papers using BIRDS/ONE WORD/LEAVES."

Absolutely gorgeous cards, thanks so much for taking part XXX 

Karen

Two amazing cards from Our Karen for rhis weeks challenge. 

The first card that Karen has designed must be such a hard card to think about each year, particularly a Special birthday,  as always Karen you did Gary proud, such a fun design, incorporating the colours of his uniform too.

Karens second card is one that a couple of years ago I'd never imagine Karen making, that STAMPED border is stunning Karen! 

Karen's Description:

Card 1:

"Here’s a cc It’s die-cut/masculine/green for Gary’s Birthday tomorrow It’s a flat version of ones I’ve made as a shaker card I just hope it laminates OK 

We are going to the zoo after it’s closed to the public and have a wander around and have a peak at the new Tiger enclosure they’re building 

Just got to type Alan’s beautiful poem now which will make me tearful I know"

Card 2:

"Here’s another cc for you leaves-die cut-one word

I saw John L do something similar with his new autumn stuff 

I have a freebie CC stamp set of leaves I used DO 2nd and 3rd generation in various colours Fired Brick Fossilised Amber Wild Honey and Crushed Olive onto a masked card blank I lightly inked around the edges Removed mask The word sentiment are Tim Holtz dies inked and double embossed with Fired Brick DO

The dies were a real bargain on eBay I can see why because each letter is separate and very fiddly"

Thanks so much Karen for both taking part in this weeks challenge and for sharing such a Special card with us XXX 

Lilian 

A beautiful card from Lilian for this weeks Challenge, featuring a cute bird and some very pretty foliage. I love the gredn with the grey card base and that  lovely 'eyelash trim twine' adds such texture to your card.

Lilian's Description :

"Birds leaves and twine.

Saw this little card on Pinterest, thought it fitted this weeks challenge.
Stamping up stamp set an open heart, not used this one much,love the little heart."

Thanks so much Lilian for designing such a pretty little card for this weeks challenge XXX 

Michele 

Another pretty card featuring Birds, this one has been designed by Michele for this weeks challenge. 

Michele's Description:

"Challenge card (it’s one i made  a long time ago). Birds/green/Male. The topper is printed one from a craft cd, embossed background to look like wood."

Thanks so much Michele for such a lovely challenge card XXX 

Sonia

Two amazing cards from Our lovely Sonia for this weeks TicTacToe Challenge. 

The first card is just so beautiful, it looks both modern and vintage, everything about the design works, stunning!

Sonia's second card is simple and stunning, I am a sucker for a 'wreath' card and yours just hits all the right notes Sonia ! 

Sonia's Description:

"Here are my challenge cards (I remembered to do all 3 elements this time ☺️)

My first card is die cut or punch/stripes/birds. I used Sue Wilson’s ‘Dove of Peace‘ bird for the main element, mounted on a Spellbinders fancy square die. The papers are from the ‘Silent Night’ collection from First Edition Paper. The sentiment is from my stash.
My second card is die cut or punch/green/leaves. The stamped image is one of my new stamps from Tracey Hey. I coloured the leaves in with a green ProMarker. I die cut the Crafters Companion ‘Thanks’ die in green Bazzill card to match the green backing card"

Thanks so much for taking part my lovely XXX 

Well what can I say  you girls are just amazing,  every week you blow me away with yoyr incredible designs.

Thank you all so much for your amazing support and for making this blog the lovely place that it is 😍

Love & hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxxx

Mixed Up Saturday Featuring Michele's Magazine Review

Lilian's Beautiful Sweetpeas

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all enjoying the cooler weather today, 34 degrees here yesterday afternoon, it clouded over in the afternoon and we did have a few spots of rain, it never came to anything though, so I think the fan will be on full tilt tonight.

I hope Lilian doesn't mind me sharing this beautiful vase of Sweet peas, I can just imagine the amazing fragrance, mine are way off flowering, so I hope you don't mind me sharing yours Lilian XXX

Just look at my beautiful model !!! It's our Soph modelling my first real sewing project, It's lined and has an opening for a filter too.  I have to thank my lovely friend Sue for her tuition and another lovely friend Lilian for the pattern. I love it and have already made another. 

Michele's  Magazine Review

Hi Ladies


Simply Cards & Papercraft has a great set of stamps & Die free this month

.

Here’s some ideas of what’s inside the magazine.

Here’s the first feature that uses the free gift. Some great ideas.

Interesting article explaining how to use water colour crayons.

Mixed media article-perfect after seeing Karen’s gorgeous card this week.

Bold inspiration here using Colour block backgrounds,

Metallic Embossing makes these cards look fantastic, perfect for Christmas cards too.

Don’t these easel cards look amazing? They’d certainly stand out.

Great article on dry embossed die cutting-we could all probably try this technique.

Second feature using the free gift-showing that the stamps can be used for so many occasions.

Embossing with stencils-this article shows us how we can more use out of our stencils.

These window gatefold cards would certainly look impressive.

Wax resistant Embossing-what a great look it creates.

That’s all for this week so
Happy Crafting

Love Michele

Thanks so much Michele, such a great magazine review, in fact I went out and bought the magazine after I was finished typing up your review.

One of the features has been featured in a magazine before, the Colour Block feature was in a magazine a couple of months ago, which shows that they must share articles.

There are some fantastic features and some amazing inspiration throughout the magazine.

Thanks for taking the time to write it XXX

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxxx