This should melt the snow!

I always like to make a humorous card for this particular friend and am disappointed I couldn't see him open it today as planned. He and his wife should have been lunching with us before going to Mary's centenary dance, but the snow in their area (an hour's drive from here) was much worse than we have and they decided it would be silly to travel, so the card is in the mail and I hope it will arrive on Tuesday. Illustration by Art Impression, words by Unknown as it's a polymer stamp and I no longer have the original packaging. Inside is another stamp which says 'You're much too young to be that old' which is entirely appropriate for the man concerned - he's now 84 and looks about 50. It's quite obvious just from looking at both Terry and Mary that dancing keeps you young!

Back again

 Where on earth has the year gone? We're still waiting for spring to arrive and the weather is more suited to making Christmas cards but I have  at last made a couple of birthday cards, albeit in much more of a hurry than should have been necessary, After all, we've been looking forward to celebrating our friend Mary's one hundredth birthday for a very long time! Last week we were in Somerset with her on our annual folk dance week which she organises - sadly she is having to hand over the administration to someone else from next year because her eyesight is giving her problems, but we were delighted to see her dancing once more (and we have photos to prove it!)

I had all sorts of vague ideas for her card but ended up with my tried and trusted stepper template by Get in Shape. The first one I cut wasn't quite wide enough for the three numbers (hand cut in several layers of thin card and layered) so I put that aside and made another, moving the centre cutting line further to the right. I added a backing panel of the same aqua (more green than it appears here) embossed with a Cuttlebug folder of plum blossom just to give some texture then used the same on the middle step. The trellis edging is a Memory Box die and the sentiment is by Britannia Dies. I added a strip inside stuck to both back and front as a stay to prevent the card collapsing, and trimmed a piece of plain white card with a Martha Stewart punch then stuck it on the back for the message. It went in the post and I hope it arrives safely in time for the big day on Saturday. On Sunday we are having a dance with around 80 dancers and hope that Mary will again take her place on the floor among so many friends. Her brain is as sharp as ever, her memory phenomenal and her sense of humour acute - her physical frailties of eyesight and wobbly legs  irritate her immensely for in her mind and spirit she can still do everything she did 80 and more years ago!  God bless Mary.

The too-small card base that I first cut didn't go to waste as I used it for a similar card for a craft friend. This time I cut a separate front panel and used a Nestie oval to cut an aperture which hides the stems (and sticky tape) on the Memory Box die (I forgot to emboss the panel before cutting the oval as I had intended). I love this bouquet. I used the trellis border again plus leaves from Cheery Lynn and the Britannia sentiment - it took me about a quarter of the time that I'd spent on Mary's card having done so much preparatory work and that too was whisked into the post. I need to make one more card for Sunday for a friend who will be at Mary's dance, so I really can't use the same pattern yet again (her cards are sure to be on display)..

I've enjoyed my card making over the past couple of days after a long break. Life is a bit difficult at present: I'm not sure if I've mentioned on here that my husband has had to give up driving because of eyesight problems and it has meant a huge upheaval. Not only do I now drive everywhere, it's the extra time taken by driving him to appointments etc when previously I would have been doing my own thing while he was out. Also I have two other major interests which are taking up more of my time. I'll try to get back to card making on a regular basis and will share them on here, but in between I'm likely to be either dancing or collecting, learning and telling traditional stories.