Four more for February

I've been quite busy on the card making front but don't seem to have much to show for my endeavours....the stitched cards take a while to put together (and I can't show one yet because the intended recipient does occasionally read my blog!) but here's a couple of Christmas cards using the same pattern but embellished and mounted slightly differently.

The one on the left is as shown on the original pattern: I wanted to use a die cut greeting but because the flower motif intrudes on the space there wasn't room for a longer second line. A straight peel off looked too skinny and the angled version was definitely an improvement. When I did the pattern again I turned it through 180* and was able to use my Britannia Die and achieved (I think) a better relationship between space and lettering. I have another ready stitched but not mounted - I may turn it through 90* from the original and see which looks best.

Our young neighbour was 4 last Monday and this is what I made for her. Originally it was coloured with pencils but looked rather dull so I went over it with Promarkers - it doesn't have the perfect finish that other people manage to get but I'm hoping that Florence wasn't too miffed :) The pink die cut was a lucky find in my scrap box - originally it hadn't cut cleanly and I'd discarded it, but by replacing it in the die and passing it through the Cuttlebug again it came out perfectly. Even more amazing was it being the perfect size for the picture! The balloons in the corner were made with a small punch.

My sister introduced me to Pinterest recently and like every other user I'm finding it quite addictive. Yesterday I decided my next make should be based on one of the many cards I have pinned and this is it - certainly unlike my usual style, and quite different enough from the original that I doubt anyone would recognise it as a derivative. The punched flowers usefully disposed of quite a lot of scraps; it was the first time I had used this particular embossing folder, and it's rare for me to use ribbon, so quite an adventurous card overall.