Birthdays, birthdays ....

I was so pleased with this notelet, I actually made two of them as I'd inked a whole A4 paper. The intention was to send it to my gorgeous Godmother, Janet who lives in Shrewsbury. She recently felt quite ill suddenly and this was her get well card. I hope I made her day as I stuffed it full of photos and good wishes. In case you read this, get well soon Janet, thinking of you always. x

As I was saying, I was so pleased with it I couldn't resist making the other one for my lovely friend Tina, whose birthday was this week. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TINA!!!! I hope you had a brilliant day. x The card was made with three distress inks, milled lavendar, broken china and shabby shutters. I was quite recently taught better ways with inks and stuff by Linda Elbourne, www.acraftingjourney.blogspot.com who is brilliant at all that and I decided to spray mist my white pearly glimmer mist onto my swirly stamp and subsequently onto the blended inks to complete the background. It worked a treat so I am going to try different colours on some new cards in the next few weeks. I completed the card by ripping a rectangle and twice wrapping it with white organza ribbon, stamping a tree branch and birdy in black staz-on. To be honest I think it would have looked better in brown but you live and learn .....! I inked shabby shutters around the very outside of the card, stuck it all together and was pleased with the result. I hope you like it.

Over the next couple of months, I should be blogging a few more cards than usual: A friend of mine is having a charity day at her salon to raise money for children who are born with cleft palates in third world countries so she is going to sell some of my cards on the day too ... of course, all proceeds will go to her charity. She is hoping to raise £500 which will help 4 children to get much needed operations to correct them. So, it's busy busy busy for me ... watch this space!!!

It was Alison's birthday ... that came round quick again! Yes, yes, I know it was in February but I've only just managed to take photos of one of her birthday presents. I made her a tissue box to match her lounge. She was so pleased with it and I was so thrilled that when the girls and I went there for dinner recently, it was full of tissues and she was actually using it!!!! Isn't it brill, when a plan comes together like that?! I used some delicious papers bought from www.scrapbooksisters.co.uk especially for that use, covered it in full, went over the patter in glossy accents to brighten it up a little, added some ink to the edges, some minky coloured pearly stones and minky coloured ribbon. Et voila, one tissue box and a very happy friend!

Birthdays, birthdays ....

Congratulations to my dear friend

Yes YOU!!!!! Lisa!!! Many congratulations on making the huge decision to purchase your new home. This is the card I made for Lisa. She has very classic taste and I thought my new stamps bought for me by one of my lovely crafting friends for my birthday (thank you :-) ) would suit her perfectly. She loved it. I used background papers, walnut stain ink for the chair and chandelier and used gold glimmer mist. A brown ribbon in the corner and clear stones finish it off nicely. Good luck Lisa - I know you'll be very happy in your new home. x This is Louise's birthday card. Louise is the owner of Riley who is my Border Collie (Cassey's) husband!!! As many of you know, they both parented a litter of 9 pups on 5th November last year and all are doing very well. It is also lovely that we have made new friends with Louise and her lovely family. So thank you Louise and Happy Birthday. x The style of this card is similar to that I am choosing to make at the moment. Once I get my teeth into a style, I don't let go for a little while as the compliments keep coming!!!! Thank you for taking a sneaky peek at my blog.

Cards, cards & more cards!

My oh my what a busy bee I've been. I've had a little more time on my hands due to lack of sleep at the moment and I've been making a few cards and keeping my new year's resolution in check. I cannot believe how good I've been. Making them on time, posting them on time and the happy recipients have been receiving them on time!!! Wow, it's just not like me!! Have I turned over a new leaf? Not yet I don't think ... wait til this time next year and if I've stuck to my guns then the 'good' habit will be well and truly affirmed. Here is a sneaky peak at what I've been doing. This is an 18th birthday card for one of my best friend's daughters. I have known Lisa since we were 11 so that was .... well, so many I've lost count!!! So her daughter, Rebecca and mine, Nathalie, although miles apart and don't see each other, have grown up in parallel worlds. I cannot believe where the time goes. Life seems to just fly by so quickly, there's no time to take it all in. Just goes to show, we must cherish every moment we are rewarded with. Anyway the card was made with the beautiful Pretty Please, another collection from My Mind's Eye. I punched out some large squares, laid them next to each other on the card and used a grey Marvy LePlume to draw (yes I cheated and drew ...!) the faux stitches. I used my Cricut for the 18, used double sided to lay some lovely matching ribbon and made a fan flower again with one of the papers. I siliconed a button on to the top and used a quickie glue pen and glamour dust round the edges of the 18. Et voila, an 18th birthday card. Simples!!!

Hayley's card: made with My Mind's Eye papers Pretty Please, Cricut, glossy accents and ribbon. Amy's patchwork card: My Mind's Eye - Pretty Please papers, large and small square hole punch, black pen (faux stitching), cricut, glossy accents, ribbon. Hello fellow bloggers! Well well ... I am totally sticking to my new year's resolution - making sure my friends and family not only get their birthday cards but get them ON TIME too!!!! It's brilliant! I feel chuffed with myself as I have done just that so far and made 99.9% of them. The 0.1% is for the humorous cards I have taken to ordering off moonpig.com and boy, do they do some funny cards! New for 2010 I have something in the pipeline that may be good for all those people emigrating abroad, especially Spain and the Med where there are no card shops. Watch this space!!! Daren is also doing well with his newly formed website www.smartcarz.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk where he is transforming every day ordinary cars to personalised modified fantasy cars. He is really working hard and has some great ideas for 2010. Well here are a few cards I have made for this week: Firstly, it was my second cousin's 18th birthday and the girls' fellow dancer, Hayley's 16th birthday so here are their cards. I am also going to give you a little peek of my lovely friend and fellow crafter, Andrea's birthday card but have patience, that will come after her birthday which is Wednesday of this week. So it's party time .... my lovely craft friends are coming for a buffet lunch on Friday for mine and Andrea's birthdays and I am really looking forward to seeing them all :-))))) The birthday hats and balloons will be out and hopefully nothing will spoil the day - not even a drift of snow!!!! Cross fingers, touch wood etc etc ......!!!! So I'll bid you all farewell and leave you with the piccies I promised.

New Year's Resolutions ...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Better late than never as I always say ...! A new year's resolution of mine is to definitely craft more but to actually make my cards on time and for the recipients to actually receive them on time also (whoops!) I am so terrible at remembering birthdays, I usually remember them weeks before and then the date comes and goes and I forget thinking that when I did remember them weeks before, it was far far too early. It just goes out of my mind. So I suppose this is an apology really to all my friends and family who have had their birthday cards late in the past (and that's probably 99.9% of them) and hopefully, I will stick to my guns and make and send well in time for 2010.

An 80th birthday card

At last I'm back! As you can see I haven't posted in a while. It's been a very busy summer for us .... I thought I was going to have to work all summer but we have been up north visiting relatives in the first part of the summer hols, we have just returned (sadly) back to Kent from the most loveliest place in Cornwall where we stayed in a cottage for a week and next week, we are off again to West Sussex to dog and house-sit for relatives. Cornwall was lovely though. It was just minutes from the gorgeous Daymer Bay where we laid on the beach every other day. Aaaaah bliss .... how I wish we were back there. There's always next year! :-) We visited lots of nice places in Cornwall, places we have been before but we cannot resist another visit .... Port Isaac, Padstow, Boscastle, we went in some lovely shops and ate in some brilliant restaurants.

When we went up north, we stayed just outside Uttoxeter in a converted barn, for bed and breakfast. We were made to feel very welcome, the rooms were gorgeously decorated, the beds were very comfortable, I would definitely go back again. It was a great place http://www.bandbthegrangestaffs.co.uk/and just a couple of miles from Alton Towers with all the stunning countryside.

Before I went to Cornwall, I was asked if I would make a 'wine' card for a male 80th birthday. Mmmmm .... I was challenged on this one. I remember one of my girls used wine papers for her French project last year but thought she didn't have any left. I was stumped. So off I went to visit my lovely friends in http://www.scrapbooksisters.co.uk/ for inspiration and a helping hand and I wasn't disappointed. There was nothing to be had at that time in the form of 'wine' in the shop, but the most beautiful new papers in, with colours you would like to eat so of course I had to spend a little whilst I was there ..... how could I possibly resist???!!!! One of the girls so kindly gave me a wine card from which I took my inspiration for this card. A million thank yous girls ...... I will return the card very soon when no doubt, I will find even more lovely things to buy!!!!

Luckily, after a little search when I got home, I managed to find the rest of the 'wine' paper that Lianne had used for her project so I set to work. The card is made with a Basic Grey background and the bottle and glass is decoupaged, although it is not clear in the photo. I marked faux stiches round the edge of the card and printed the greeting on my computer, then inked it in a matching green color box ink. I finished off with some green gro-grain ribbon.