Thomas the Tank Engine at Thomas Land

This is my grandson's 6th birthday cake.  He spent the day at Thomas Land at Drayton Manor Park with his Mom and Dad, plus their friends and daughter Izzy,
and the cake will be shared with family at his birthday meal during the evening.

The bottom tier is a fruit cake covered in marzipan and the top tier a sponge also covered in marzipan and then the whole cake covered and decorated in regalice with some royal icing highlights.

The people in the roller coaster are jelly babies.

Queens 90th Birthday and WI's 79th Anniversary

This week our WI had a special party to celebrate it's anniversary - 79 years, but that was topped by also incorporating our Queen's 90th birthday. Asked to make the cake, I went for a fruit cake and covered it in marzipan and regalice to create this approximate copy of the coronation crown. All that you can see is icing although behind the scenes is one piece of plastic dowling to support the top of the crown and a cardboard frame to support the icing on the arms of the cake.
I have to say I have been more than a little overwhelmed by the number of compliments I have received. I am pleased to have brought a smile to so many faces.

Perfume Bottle - Betty's Birthday Card 2016

Bettys birthday card this year was a perfume bottle which I made by cutting out a card the shape of a bottle from something else I had. I covered it in velum to try and create a frosted glass appearance, added a Christmas bauble die cut I made and then cheated by using a couple of items in my bits and pieces box... the tassle and the circle.

Brian's Garden Birthday Card 2016

Brian's 2016 Birthday Card using a technique Louise from the Range showed Sue and I. This shaped card allows for items to be hung, and whilst Louise used bunting for her card, I decided to choose a line of washing in front of a backdrop of a pretty garden.  A bit of fun for my brothers birthday card this year.

A little paper band to hold the card together for transit.

A Visit to The Range in Wigan

Val's Birthday card using the new spine technique I had learned with some stamping to create the tree picture

My first attempt at making a fancy spine as taught by Louise

This was lovely Louise who spent so much time showing Sue and I different techniques which we then came home and had a play trying out.

These circle cards were our interpretation of Louise's card.  

Merry Monday Nativity Scene Challenge

This was another real problem solver for me this weekend having to produce a card for the Merry Monday challenge. I really like Nativity scenes but it seems nigh on impossible to purchase Christmas stamps or dies in England out of season. I just could not face using the one die I already have and used to 'death'.
My sister-in-law is here for a holiday and she was telling me about Iris folding. This was something I had never heard about before and whilst it would have been great to have had a go, I simply just did not have the time to learn so decided to do a cheating version and just cut out lots of strips of paper to make up a nativity picture. I then mounted these onto backing papers and this is the result.  It was a very fiddly and time consuming card but I had so much pleasure figuring out a process and actually achieving it.  I think I will do this again.... a great way to use up scraps also.

Christmas Cuckoo Clock in Wood Grain, Craft and White

Wood grain, craft and white was the challenge this week from Merry Monday.
I didn't have anything in real wood, had no wood paper, so once I got the idea of a cuckoo clock  into my head, set about downloading a picture of some wood.  I used this to piece together lots of bits of pieces which I cut and paste on the computer, creating some extra shapes to be cut out so that I could decoupage this card.  It took me about three hours to make as it was very fiddly.  I used the clipart on my computer for the bird and the clock face, using a die cut for the Christmas story to decorate the clock.
To try and add interest, I cut the top of the card the shape of the clock.

This view shows the cut out shape

Graham's Chess Birthday Card

Graham's Birthday Card 2016
This card was designed with the weekly chess games he and my husband play each week.

Merry Monday Challenge 'Let it Snow'

The Merry Monday Challenge this week was 'Let it Snow'. So I decided to have a stamping and layering week. I stamped the 'winter wonderland' scene, the bow (which also had to be coloured in)  and the 'let it snow' tag. These were all mounted on 3 differing layers of black and white papers and placed on white card.

Handmade Birthday Cards I received in April 2016

Betty's Birthday card to me 2016

Carol's Birthday Card to me 2016

Val's Birthday Card to me 2016

Sue's Birthday card to me 2016

Chris's Birthday card to me 2016

Merry Monday Purple, White & Silver Christmas Card

Very pleased to receive an honourable mention this week for my purple, white and silver Christmas Card from Merry Monday. Thank you.

The Merry Monday Challenge this week was to create a card using purple, white and silver. With a busy week I have not had time until today and even then not a lot of time to 'play'. I looked at the ideas that had been submitted already and all the thoughts I had considered during the week were there already so I decided to go for this simple design where the colour is everything. I also like having cards suitable to send to Christian friends at Christmas. 

Grandad's Birthday Card

This is my Grandson making Grandad's birthday card.  I drew the shape of the road and the sky line, he coloured it in with watercolour pencils then went over it with water and a paint brush. The sun, trees, and cars were die cuts which he very happily cut out using my Spellbinders mini die cutting machine and then stuck them all on. He had a wonderful time 'crafting' and was very proud of his efforts.

65th Birthday Card

My husbands birthday card this year.  He is passionate about this subject and I also needed to create something regarding the Titanic for this weeks local WI meeting where we are having a talk. So it was killing two birds with one stone so to speak.

Merry Monday Sentiment Card

I didn't have a large sentiment to use for this Merry Monday challenge and as the sentiment had to be the focus of the card, I had to come up with a way of dressing a card to make it interesting.

I found an old picture of a template Christine had given me years ago and decided to use that as my base, cutting out different but hopefully complimentary papers.  I cut out the shapes, stamped the sentiment and stuck them on before embellishing the card with little die cuts, etc. to add interest.  I really enjoyed making it.

Merry Monday Christmas Song Challenge, Mistletoe & Wine

My Merry Monday Challenge was made all the more of a challenge when my husband decided he was going to choose the song I had to depict in the card. As you can imagine he didn't suggest the easiest song out of the book!

He went for Cliff Richards Mistletoe and Wine Christmas song which for those of you who aren't familiar with it and are wondering what this card is all about, the words go something like this:-

A Child is a King

The Carollers Sing

The old is past there's a new beginning

Dreams of Santa

Dreams of Snow

Fingers numb

Faces aglow

Christmas time, Mistletoe and Wine.... and later on....

Love and laughter and joy ever after, ours for the taking just follow the Master..

I did not have enough stamps or die cuts suitable for this card so had to resort to the computer.  Wanting to avoid the pitfalls of breaching copyright and not having enough time to email people to ask for permission as I do, I had to just use the clip art already installed on my laptop... not the best of images, but hey ho. it's a bit of fun at the end of the day.

I printed a vinyl disc picture as my base, created a record label for the centre and then mounted images of the key points in the first verse of the song, which I mounted on sparkly gold card.

I topped this off by cutting the card the shape of the record leaving the text bar at the bottom for stability.

I know a mad crazy Cliff fan who will really enjoy receiving this Christmas card, albeit rather over the top!

Merry Monday Church Christmas Card Challenge

You have heard of the House that Jack Built? Well this is the Church that Pam Built.  The Merry Monday Challenge this week was a Church, so I set about building one using the kind of style I see on American films of country Churches.... I don't think my 400+ year old church building would have carried this off half so well.  I cut out a basic shape and then covered it with strips of white card to look like the boarding and then added all the embellishments.  It was a fun card to make. I think it looks really cute when standing up.

Delighted to receive another Honourable mention this week.

Sewing Machine Card

I received a sewing machine card from my sister in law for my birthday and liked it so much I thought I would make one for Chris. She loves sewing and is a really keen patchwork maker having achieved some beautiful work.  So I used the card I received and drew round it... cut out the shape, then set about making the patchwork. I did this by cutting out a square of material, covering it with double sided sticky tape and they proceeded to stick on all those small squares I had cut out.  I have to admit to removing the cardboard buttons from my own card to help embellish this one. I went into my button box and found a lovely little button that looked liked scissors... how fortunate was that!

Cosy New Home

This is the card I made for my brother and his wife as they have moved into their new home.  I made this card using a card making disc (Signature Collection by Sara Davies) that came with a crafting magazine, something I never do and yet Sue frequently does, and the embellishments were made using the Spellbinders Sapphire mini die cutting machine Brian & Sue very kindly bought me. The machine is so nice to use for small items as it is a lot less effort than using my Big Shot.  I shall let my grandson have a go with it on our next crafting session and see how he gets on with it.

Making a Mothering Sunday Card

It was fascinating to see what colours my grandson would use to produce this Mothering Sunday card for his mom, I thought his selection and balance were very good for such a young chap. It's lovely to keep these kind of memories.

Merry Monday set the challenge of making a Christmas card using black, white, gray and silver. So I used white textured card for my base, layered it with bright sparkly silver (which doesn't look so sparkly in this photo), a layer of dark gray spotted paper, then a black card before mounting the oval white card with the silver die cut of the holy family and a large bright sparkly star.  I finished this off with some diamante (silver) beads for the other lesser stars. As usual the photo taken on my phone does not do this card justice as the real thing looks so much more vibrant.

Merry Monday Buttons Christmas Card

Well this is my response to the Merry Monday challenge this week, a frosty snowy scene with buttons.  I did try real buttons on my card but the different shades of white didn't look very good so I opted for cutting them out using my die cut, so at least that way the white was all the same. I was very pleased again this week to receive an honourable mention for my efforts!