...and two more!

The elephant by Wild Rose Studio, coloured with Promarkers and the background chalked in pale green, is for our 'adopted' grand daughter's first birthday (her mother is our ex-daughter in law).

The second card is for one of two crafting friends whose birthdays are on Sunday 23rd. This really did just come together from bits picked up at random in my very untidy craft room - maybe I should leave it in that state, because when it's tidy I struggle to create! The 3D picture is from a booklet by Le Suh which was in one of several boxes/bags/tins a friend gave me after her mother died. It's probably not something I would  have thought to buy for myself but it is full of potential and I'm delighted to make use of it. The background paper is from the same issue of Making Cards as yesterday's kingfisher, and the words by Paper Bag Studios were stamped in Ranger Archival ink in Grape.

One birthday card down, 4 to go

Just a very quick post to show this kingfisher card, using background paper and image from Making Cards magazine plus a Nestie eyelet circle. I don't really like doing cut-and-stick designs but loved this combination so much I'm happy to leave it plain and simple and hope my brother-in-law likes it too (his birthday is Christmas Day)..

Almost there

Christmas draws ever closer and I am still trying to make up for lost time, making enough cards for my family and crafting friends and buying for everyone else! Here are the final designs for this year - still about half a dozen cards needed within the next couple of days, and then I can start to think about next year. Resolution #1: I really WILL start making my 2013 Christmas cards in January!

And Resolution #2 is to update my blog regularly.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have half a dozen birthday cards needed between now and the end of this year....where did I put all my Happy Birthday stamps?

Christmas is coming...

...and my stock of cards is very small! Here are four that I made recently and I have two more of the white ones also, but I really need to get busy soon. 

Catching up slowly...

Another sea themed card but rather different for my daughter.  The central image is by Creative Stamps and the single dolphins at the top by Rubber Stampede; the panel was coloured many years ago using (I think) various Ranger Color Washes and I added some sponged ink to make it more marine blue and less grass green. The patterned piece at the bottom is a strip of blue holographic plastic - I bought several strips long ago when a craft shop was closing down and don't think I've ever seen it since (one of those 'must haves' that goes out of fashion as quickly as it comes in). I punched the top edge with a Martha Stewart punch whose name escapes me and then added clear gems as bubbles. To be quite honest, I really struggled to make a card at this time and was thankful that it turned out even half decent.

Two weeks later I was still struggling to create and I 'cheated' with an easy cut-and-stick design for my niece's birthday, using images from Making Cards magazine. I had two pretty background papers in my stash and with the use of old and new Spellbinder dies the card came together quite satisfactorily.

Finally, there was yet another Golden Wedding celebrated by friends (I think that's 6 in about 18 months). Using the trusty Centre Step template by Get in Shape, a couple of Memory Box dies and a couple more Spellbinders for the aperture and trim, a sheet of pale gold card for the base and another of matt gold for the images, the entire card came together in about half an hour. That was after a dummy run which proved the difficulty of attaching those very fine flower stems securely but invisibly, and the advantage of having an aperture edge behind which some good old fashioned sticky tape is concealed!

Hellooooo....is anyone there?

It's been a long, rather difficult six months - nothing really dire but one of those periods when it takes all one's efforts just to stagger along from day to day. I won't bore you with details but suffice to say I hope I shall be back to serious crafting very soon; I haven't wanted to bother with card making for a long time but am beginning to feel the itch just a little. This is the first card I've made since July and the result of trying something completely different to stimulate my interest. Although I've made plenty if stitched cards before I haven't used beads as an integral part of the design, but I love the finished effect. I have now bought many more patterns from this designer, Emelie, and stitched/beaded several with Christmas cards in mind. I'll try to mount them properly in the next few days and show them on here as soon as possible.

 Meanwhile I'll include one of three cards I made for family birthdays in July: here's  a sea themed easel card for my sister who loves seahorses, made with papers from Making Cards magazine and tiny brass charms. I'll make a separate post tomorrow to show those I made for my daughter and niece, since I'm having a spot of bother sorting out all the changes Blogger has made during my absence!

You wait half an hour.....

....for a bus and then three turn up together! Only instead of a bus it's a blog entry and for half an hour read 6 weeks!

This morning I made the last of the four cards I need, which is just perfect for the recipient. Inside, opposite the greeting, is stamped 'Chocolate is not the answer. Chocolate is the question and the answer is yes!!!' I can't credit any of the stamps since they all came unmounted but I can tell you the die is from Nesties Labels #10.

I did add a fifth creature to yesterday's card: it bugged me (pun intended) that there were only four and I suddenly remembered I had some tiny wooden ladybirds tucked away in my embellishments drawer. I used a foam pad to attach it in the top left hand corner of the 5 and it finished it off perfectly. I also decorated the insert sheet of the Egyptian card with appropriate motifs including a suitable cat...more finishing touches that I don't always think about. And the die cuts on the Christening card were still hanging on so I slid the card into a large envelope ready for delivery this afternoon :) If they fall off now, there's nothing I can do.....

Right: that's definitely all until after our return from the Isle of Mull, Scotland. Fingers crossed that we don't have any trouble such as last year's when we wrote off the car and came home by train minus half our luggage. We phoned our friend on Mull yesterday and she assured us the roads are in a better state than usual with much filling of potholes. As for the weather, the present forecast is cool and showery - not much change there, then!