Derek's 60th Birthday Card

Derek loves travel so I made him this card to celebrate his 60th.

Not that he went to Paris or even France.... as it turned out they went to Jersey... not far away!!!

The inspiration apart from the interest in travel came from some lovely papers Mary had bought, and I particularly liked this paper with French writing and a picture of the Moulin Rouge. It gave a good backdrop to the travel elements.

Desiring Truth Thank You Card

 I went on an excellent weekend away at Lindors near the Forest of Dean recently, for a 'Desiring Truth' Bible teaching weekend on the Glory of God.

Not only was the teaching by Ann Absolom very good (as usual), but the fellowship with other believers was like a taste of heaven.

Just to add a cherry on the top... I made a lovely new friend called Sandra. We shared a room together and straight away felt like we had known each other for decades.

I wanted to give a thank you card to express my appreciation, so cheekily used three elements off their advertising literature to add to this card I made.. the Bible and the Desiring Truth logo's.

The Bible verse I used inside the card was:

"So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, 'If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free'."
The envelope in the centre section inside the card was there for me to pop a discreet note of thanks inside.

Chris's 2013 Birthday Card

I had a fancy to use different types of materials to make this card so used purple card, turquoise cord, softly patterned lilac paper, blue, purple and turquoise material folded and stuck down, silver peel offs to create the lines, diamanté in the centre of the soft flowers, peel offs for the 'Make a Wish' and candles and then typed a sentiment and printed it onto Safmat so that I could stick it onto the card.

I hoped it would be a pretty cheerful card that wasn't like anyone else's card Chris had sent to her, because she receives lots of handmade cards.

Sue's 2013 Birthday Card

I saw an advert for some die cutters to make a card that looked very similar to this. When I looked closely I thought, well I have cutters that are so close in design, I reckon I could have a go at sort of copying it.

Having some lovely lime green card from Papertrey that I was looking forward to using, set about making Sue's card.  Sue likes (in colour coding terms) summer colours, so I set about using some blues and silver to try and pull it round to something that I thought she may like.

I did have a bit of a wobble mind you... because she isn't overly fond of cards with flowers, and these are sort of flower elements, although not actual pictures.

She said she liked it... I hope she did, and wasn't just being polite.

It is difficult to make cards for card makers.

Oskars lifeboat cake

Oskar was celebrating becoming 6 years old with a party and a clown had been booked for the occasion.

oskar has a passion for lifeboats and also their mascot, Stormy Stan.

So I set about making a cake that included both.

The cake was sponge, sandwiched and covered in jam and butter icing before being covered in regalice.

Happy 6th Birthday Oskar.

I was thrilled to receive this thank you note from Oskar in the post for making his 6th birthday cake. The writing is so neat and tidy and am impressed with his skill at such an young age.

Doesn't he just look simply gorgeous? What a pleasure it was making this cake for him, knowing he would be so thrilled.

The Cotswold Crafters

Well here we are.... the motley crew!

Mary
Fiona
Chris
Pam

We met on the 2nd March and spent a lovely day making cards.

Lunch was a beef bourguignon and Fiona topped it off by making us a delicious meringue/roulade desert to finish.

This is the first card I made on our Cotswold Crafters day.

With some urgency I made this card because it was Anne's birthday the very next day.

I used an embossing folder to create the white broiderie anglaise design and then using some fabulous die cutters and stamps belonging to Chris, made the flowers.

If you want to see more cards using these then I can really recommend you go onto Chris's blog listed on the right hand side of my blog... called purple peonies.  She has made some lovely cards using them.

This card I made on the Cotswold Crafters Day on 2nd March 2013.

I used a new stamp set belonging to Chris and really enjoyed making this simple card that had a lovely clean look to it.

It looks to me like embroidery.

I sent it to my relative in Cornwall, Marilyn. I hope she liked it.

Tea Cup and Saucer Card

I fancied having a go making a card using my sewing machine.

I found a shape of a cup and saucer and cut the shape out of some pretty paper.

However it wasn't as easy as that because there was no definition, so I cut an oval out in green to place at the top of the card so that it looked like the inside of the cup, and out of the same paper cut a strange shape to differentiate the cup from the saucer.

I then had great fun sewing all the pieces together. Mind you, turning the corners of the squares proved a challenge and I wish I could say I had done it perfectly!!!

I liked the finish card and chose to send it to Dorothy for her birthday as she drinks tea and I think she may just like this card... well I hope so.

Cupcake Easel Cards

What a lovely time Fiona and I spent crafting this afternoon.

We had no idea what we were going to make when we started, but by the time we had delved into my card stock, patterned papers, ribbons, bling, peel offs etc... this is the idea Fiona came up with, and I followed suit.

It was a fun card to make and we spent a very pleasant time chatting at the same time.

I made the pastel version and Fiona the one in richer colours.  I have to say hers looks good enough to eat!

Emma's Butterfly Birthday Card

Emma loves butterflies... so I made her this easel birthday card in the shape of a butterfly.

My sister-in-law brought her butterfly die cutter with her on a recent visit and I asked her to cut out this lovely butterfly from a very heavy gold glitter paper.

I used the shape to draw around for the card and to mask the less than perfect edge... despite trying hard (I guess that is why die cutters are so popular!) went around the edge of the card smudging it with a lovely verso gold colour ink pad. I deliberately smudge the paper to give it an old fashioned sort of a look. It doesn't show up so well in this picture.

I added little purple stones and added a dragonfly off a birthday card Val had made for me to give extra layering and interest.

Rachel's Sea Canoeing Birthday Card

My Manager is a very active person and one of the things she likes to do in sea canoeing.

When it was her birthday I decided not to make the usual 'flowery' birthday card but instead put a picture of one of her hobbies.

I saw this photo of a canoe on the sea in google images and contacted Debbie at Plas Gwynant Outdoor Eduction Centre in Nant Gwynant, Caernarfon to ask if I could use it to make a 'one-off' card, and she gave permission.  Thank you.

I really liked this card... although my husband thought it looked too dull.... I thought it was tasteful.... make your own mind up.  I like it anyhow and hopefully so did Rachel.

Three Different Christmas Cards

I actually made about 50 Christmas cards in 2012, but the quality was compromised because of quantity.

I have promised myself that in 2013 I will endeavor to make my Christmas cards throughout the year... if I made one per week I would have the same number without the rush at the end.

I thought I would put just three of the Christmas cards I made that are all very different to look at.  In my rush I hardly took any photo's and yet made over 30 very different looking cards... a bit ambitious I think!

Mary's Birthday Card

Mary's birthday card 2012 was inspired by the ribbon. I loved the ribbon when I saw it in the shop and knowing she liked burgundy decided to buy it.

When I came to make the card I discovered that using this unusual ribbon wasn't quite so easy and after a time of fiddling about... this is what I came up with.

Using lovely dotty papers layered I then used this ribbon to look a little like a plant growing up the side.

Jenny's 2012 Christmas Cake

Somewhere underneath this mass of icing is a cake! ha ha...

Jenny looks after my lovely dog when I go out and for this I am extremely grateful.

So this is my thank you cake to Jenny this year.

I told her I had made a cake but hadn't decorated it and she said, "Put a Christmas tree on it"... so I have!

THANK YOU JENNY