Happy Good Friday

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you are all ready for a lovely long weekend,  what have you all got planned?                  I think our weekend will be mostly be spent sowing and in the garden.  Our lot are all working sadly 😔, when I think back to when the children were small, they loved Easter,  Paul always did an Easter Egg hunt for them, which they still remember now, we always had a huge Easter Lunch,  we are still having a lovely lamb roast but there will only be 4 of us sat around the table, it will be an evening roast too as the girls won't get home until almost 6pm.  

Karen & Lilian I hope you got your Prescriptions sorted, I feel really lucky at the moment as our current pharmacy is really good, he really goes above and beyond to make sure you get what you need, the last time I had a uti he rang the GP surgery for me to explain that he didn't feel comfortable treating me (as gp suggested), he explained to them that my history was far too complicated for him to diagnose for, he made sure they saw me the same day too.  He also must remember your prescription as I went to buy Cymalon sachets and he said that I couldn't take them with the medication I am on.   It's quite reassuring to know.  

We had a very long day out yesterday,  Becca had arranged to collect some bud vases and candle holders from a ladyin Hungerford, so to make the journey worthwhile she said, "lets go charity shopping in Newbury ",  we set off, she was confident that she had got the Salvation army charity shop in her sat nav as our first venue,  we drove past a big trading estate that had a Salvation army building,  but she was sure we were on the right route, turns out she forgot the charity shop part in the search, it took us straight to The Salvation Army church hall ! 🤣😂 Soph and I were in stitches.  We parked nearby and had a look down the Newbury shopping centre,  it was quite nice,  not much in the way of charity shops though.  We visited a few shops, found a branch of Sostrene Green, its a lovely little shop that sells home decor, they had lovely little bud vases that were 88p and £1.20, their candles were cheap too, so Becca bought most of what they had, she was really pleased. We had lunch and then went to find the actual Salvation army charity shop,  which didn't disappoint,  we got tealight holders for 25p each so pretty crystal candle holders for.£1. We were all exhausted by this point, so we headed to the address that lady had arranged to get the wedding bits from, she was really lovely,  she got married in late March,  she had the exact table number holders that Becca wanted, some lovely bud vases and candle holders too, so all in all a really successful wedding shopping day, Becca had a huge smile on her face which made it all worthwhile.  Needless to say today will be a rest day for me! 

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

Love and hugs to all of you,  

Sandra xxx

Another Blended Background with Faux Bleaching

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

Today feels a bit like a Friday with it being Good Friday, I do love a bank holiday weekend,   extra nice when its a double.  The weather doesn't look that great though.  Isn't that always the case with Bank Holiday.  

Today's card is another Blended Oxide Background,  Salvaged Patina, Salty Ocean and Blueprint Sketch.  I then used my 'bargain' Tim Holtz Floral Outline stamp, I stamped in Versamark and added white Embossing powder and heat set,  I then took a small paintbrush and a piece of kitchen towel and 'painted' each flower and leaf with wYer and used kitchen roll to dab each piece to lift the ink.  It looks really effective.  I finished with a sime sentiment for a simple look. 

I hope that you all have a good Thursday, 

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Using a three colour Oxide Blend

 

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

We had a very dark & dreary day yesterday, we didn't actually really see any of the rain that was promised, it tried once or twice but thankfully it didn't come to anything although the garden could do with a good soaking.  

Lucy fancied trying a different garden centre yesterday,  we went to Dobbies in Cirencester, it's a huge garden centre that has a Lakeland shop ( which I really like) it also has a big childrens play centre so it was really busy,   they aren't daft are they, these garden centre chains, the restaurants are all usually quite overpriced, they attract parents with children by having the play centres so that the parents can still shop while the children are occupied,  customers that would otherwise be elsewhere entertaining their children in the school holidays.  It works too,  the car park barely had a space.  Lucy's eyes lit up when she saw the huge indoor plant area,  it was far bigger than any other one we've been to,  we must have been in there for about an hour and a half!!  Lucy picked two plants, one of which she has been looking for for a while.  I got another terracotta pot for my succulents and another small succulent so that I had an odd number in my new pot.  (Thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it) 🤣😂

Today's card was a result of my playing with one colour blends,  while I was looking for some inspiration I saw a card that caught my eye,  I didn't have the materials the original card featured so I did my own version,  I used Wilted Violet, Villainous Potion and Black Soot Oxide inks to create a blend from light at the bottom to dark at the top,  after drying I tore two pieces of paper to give a narrow, irregular  section from bottom to top, at an angle,  I laid the torn paper on my piece and then used my splatter brush to spritz white paint across the piece to look like a 'Milky way/galaxy', (not the chocolate) 🤣, after drying I stamped some trees (Inkylicious) to the foreground, making sure the trees were in that lighter section of inking.  I stamped some little mounds at the base of the trees to ground them. 

Now... confession time, I originally stamped the sentiment straight on the card, however,  it didn't stamp perfectly,  no matter how i tried I couldn't rectify it, white embossing on a dark background is recipe for disaster at the best of times,  I was gutted as the blending had taken my ages and a lot of ink, so feeling frustrated I tossed it in the bin!   When I got back from garden centre yesterday I sat at my desk and the piece was glaring at me from the top of my card & paper bin,  I picked it up and thought I refuse to waste it, so I cleaned and dried the sentiment stamp that I originally used, I tested it with black ink,  it was ok  so I inked another piece of card with same inks and dried it, I inked the stamp in Versafine and stamped it, added white embossing powder and heat set.  I die cut it and added a black mat and placed it over the original sentiment.  I mounted the card onto a narrow white mat and then onto a black card base.  It's by no means perfect,  I do like how the lighter ink makes it look like the trees are illuminated by the stars.  

It just seemed a shame to bin it. ! 

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love & hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx

The second card using colour wheel papers

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

I think I felt cold all day yesterday,  mind you we did have the door to the garden open for Milo & Bella to go out,  I had to go find some socks, ( I think that my circulation is off) as my feet were almost purple, it reminded me of my Mum's feet, although I think hers may have been down to smoking.  Some fluffy socks served two purposes, 1 warmed my feet, 2 stopped Paul & Girls from worrying about my purple feet!!  Although I will get it checked next time I have Gp appointment.  This time last week I was in t shirt, yesterday,  cardi & thick socks,  what confused weather we have!  

Karen & Maria, I have the die Gina used on her card, I will bring it to Watford if you like. 

Today's card is one I made as I didn't want to waste the leftover piece of patterned paper that I used for this card last week   

It's a good feeling when you use the whole piece of paper, no waste!! 

I die cut a black decorative circle with a white mat to cover the hole that I die cut for the card above and to have a place for a sentiment.  It's a simple card but it's colourful and fun. 

Today Lucy is at home so not sure what we will do, she wants me to help her re pot some of her plants, I need to do a couple too, apart from that no plans set yet,  we need to book hair appointment,  as we haven't had a hair cut since last August, apart from lockdown i have never gone that long!  I didn’t want to get any more colour as I want it to look perfect for the wedding in September.  

I hope that whatever you are doing you have a great day, 

Love & hugs to all of you,  

Sandra xxx 

Gina's Thank You card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,  

Well a bit of a change in the weather for the start of the week,  the difference in temperature was really evident yesterday,  I needed my cardi on in the garden🤣😂

We managed to get all of the Alpines in that we got last weekend,  they look just like the ones we bought last year, a little small and pathetic looking but 1 year on....

So hopefully this time next year we will have lots of ground cover and pretty flowers.  Paul had quite a job as the bank is made up of tons of cotswold stones, you have to move it aside to get to the heavy clay soil, so Paul added lots of compost too. 

Today I am sharing the lovely Thank you card that Our Gina made for Karen.  

Gina used the Waffle Flower Postage die to create the card, adding both stamped images, die cuts and pretty papers to embellish the card. It's a lovely card Gina, thank you so much for allowing me to share it, thank you to Karen for taking the photo too XXX

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

Love and hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Your Colour Cards

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies, 

It's my favourite day of the week,  I absolutely love sharing your cards.😍

We had a fun day yesterday, we were up and out early,  we went to the local  Cricket club to look at their monthly market.   It felt a bit like Castle Eaton at first where it feels like everyone is looking at you as you are the only stranger in the room,  we were asked if we were tourists,  so we explained that we have lived in the village for almost two years. We soon got talking to the lady on the 'Bric a Brac' table,  as I was looking for bud vases for Becca's wedding reception, we then noticed the plant table, where we picked up some Chinese Money plants and some alpines for the garden, only £1 each, luckily the plant table was next the Cake table, there was a lovely Coffee walnut cake that just happened to land in our box!! 😍 I am so dubious about buying handmade cakes at these kind of events, I hope whoever made it had a clean kitchen 🙄🤭

Let's look at your cards....

Karen 

Karen's Description:

Here’s my challenge card for this week

Totally out of my comfort zone with colours- similar to one of those blends on that sheet Was inspired by a photo I took of a card that was on Create & Craft by Janet or Abs.

What an amazing card Karen, I love the colours you have used, that hint of purple in the background really enhances the purple in the butterfly.  

Thank you so much for supporting the challenge Karen XXX 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Here is my card for this week.

Background: blend of three colours.

Tattered Rose

Old Paper.  Both oxide distress ink.

Powder pink.   Stamping up.

Next stamped in ground espresso permanent ink, 

Embossed in clear.

Punch three spots to show the colours used.

Oh I love this card Lilian,  the colours you have chosen are so delicate,  you have blended them perfectly too.  That stamp is so versatile isn't it. 

Thank you so much for taking part in the Challenge XXX 

Maria 

Maria's Description:

Hi, it's that time of the week again 😊. Wasn't sure if I made it right but here are two I got together.

I already had this piece of card with green and yellow together. Used an embossing folder to make a frame and then found this little duckling or is it a 🐥 ? Anyway I stamped it on and the sentiment that was with it.

The next one I used more orange and brown hues together. Tim's Dried Marigold, Vintage Photo and a bit of Marmalade 🤭 

Two lovely cards Maria, both have lovely colour ways. I also love the dies you used on your first card.  How adorable is that little duck/chick 😍 

Thank you so much for two beautiful cards my lovely XXX 

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I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday, 

Love & Hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx 

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you all get to enjoy some lovely Spring Sunshine today, we have done all shopping so we get the weekend to enjoy the sun and the garden.  I was tempted to plant out some petunias yesterday but luckily before I started Paul told me that he had to scrape ice (albeit thin) off of the car windscreen yesterday morning,  so I'll be sensible and wait a couple of weeks  

Karen

Karen's Description:

I enjoyed doing the pink and lilac monster and so have done a blue/turquoise one 

I have never done two the same monsters before Loved how these turned out

Oh Karen what a gorgeous pair of Monsters 😍, although monsters seems a bit harsh as the are so adorable, I love how you got the pattern to create the swirls on their feet.  Their droopy ears remind me of Dobby from Harry Potter.  Whoever gets to adopt one of these will have a huge smile on their face.  XXX 

Gina 

Our Gina got a great bargain, its clear to see why she was so excited 😊.......

Gina's Description:

You got a good deal there, the wooden display racks would have cost a good bit, you have those great sewing themed dies, some lovely sentiment stamps,  the die cleaner brush and embellishments too, there is no greater feeling than getting a good bargain is there?!  

Thank you for sharing your happy shopping with us XXX

Becca has asked me to go have a Charity shopping day with her next week, we are looking for little bud vases and old/vintage picture frames for her wedding reception,  the bud vases are for the tables, the picture frames are for a feature called "Our Love Story"  she wants photos of my parents, Paul's parents on their wedding day,  Paul's parents too, then the same from Adams family, including Paul and I and Bob & Bev (Adam's Parents), I think this a lovely idea .

Creative Stamping Magazine 

Issue 146 

I wasn't intending to buy another magazine this month but the beautiful stamps on this issue had me reaching for it before I could tell myself I didn't need it!!! 

In this first feature Vanessa shows us how 'Masking' can help you create beautiful bouquets and arrangements.  I love every card in this feature! 

Helen has picked the Birds and Butterflies out of the free stamp set and used them to make some lovely cards.  She also does a little Tutorial on creating a 'mirrored image' so you can have the birds facing each other.

This is a handy little 'Technique Dictionary '  it explains what different stamping terms mean, for example:  Blending,  Brayering to Layered stamping and Second generation stamping.  I'm pretty sure you all know what they all mean but I wish I had something like this back when I first started.

Laura shows us how we can acheive some fun looks by layering our Distress Inks.

You can use both stamps and stencils to create this technique and it works with both Distress Oxides or Distress Inks, or any water reactive ink pads you may have.  You are best using a stamp platform if you are stamping, as you ink up your card first then add water to your stamp and close the platform, allowing the water to react with the ink, you then open the platform and the and see where you have lifted the ink,  you can repeat if you want more lifted,  you then allow your card to dry and then you can ink up your stamp with your second ink choice and stamp it down onto your inked piece.  

You can zoom in on the little Tutorial above if you want to have a go.  

You can use stencils too,  you spritz water through the stencil and use a cloth or kitchen roll to lift the ink.  Then allow to dry and add your second colour through the stencil. 

I am definitely going to have a go at this. 

The cards in this feature are all made using the free downloadable papers that you get with this issue. 

I am definitely going to have a go at this "Trapped-Resist " technique.

You stamp your image, colour it and then use an embossing pen to cover the image in clear embossing ink, then add clear embossing powder and heat set, you can then add a darker colour around your image.  It looks really effective.  

Ali shares different methods of creating Apertures in your cards. The one in the vase is really fun,  with it being a shaker too. 

Jess shows how we can create some super colourful cards using dye inkpads,  she uses 'Izinks' in this feature but you could acheive the same effect with whatever dye ink pads you have. 

Sarah shares some lovely 'Clean and simple' inspiration using the stamps and papers from this issue.  

A good issue with some lovely stamps and some brilliant inspiration. 

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

Love & hugs to all of you,  

Sandra xxx