Parents birthdays

Once again I'm blogging about how awkward it is having parents with birthdays within a few days of each other.

All I will say is ----- thank gawd for friends and forums LOL

The inspiration for mum's card came from seeing a card that the fab Kerrie made.

And here's dad's card. Competition time on the forum and the theme was Easel cards. Ummm I came first :D Very very happy :)

Stamps: Stampin Up Choo Choo and train track roller. I had great fun doing the train track. Nearly ended up with having them all over my craft room walls LOL

Paper/Ribbon: Stampin Up - can't remember the name of the pack

Card: Stampin Up Kraft, Early Espresso and Brocade Blue

Letters: Sizzix Go Slim

A Little Birdie told me

It's been a while since I used this stamp --- isn't he cute :)

Auntie to a 21 year old!!!

One post a month - I'm getting better LOL

I made this mini book for my nephew who turned 21 last month --- how on earth did that happen?!?!?!? It doesn't seem like 2 minutes ago that he was a toddler shouting "Dare" up the stairs LOL

Anyway, I wasn't going to make him anything as he said that he didn't want a handmade card but his mum (my sister) persuaded me to make this. I think he liked the idea of it but didn't like the photos aarrggghhh. Anyway, my sister was pleased with it :o)













Ribbons and plain card stock are Stampin Up. I can't remember who the papers are from but they're ideal for male cards :D

Christmas catch up

I think everyone should have received their Christmas cards by now so it's safe for me to put them on here LOL

I had specific orders from Amy that she wanted a pink Christmas card!

Competition cards

Here are the 3 cards that I entered into a competition on a crafty forum. The theme was "anything goes" which was a great relief as I really had had enough of Christmas LOL

And this card came joint 3rd - yippee!

I was going to say that I was shocked that I hadn't used any Stampin Up products on any of the cards but ...... I've just realised that the card stock that I used for matting/layering and the ribbon were --- Stampin Up LOL

ITunes voucher holder

This was a last minute make on Christmas Eve. My parents bought my nephew an Itunes voucher and I decided - at the last minute - that they couldn't give it to him in just an envelope.




Patterned Paper: Bo Bunny
Card Stock: Stampin Up Real Red
Sentiment stamp: Stampin Up

Choo Choo

My parents birthdays are with 6 days of each other!!! Mum's card is normally fairly easy - well compared to dad as she likes flowers, pink, girly bits and pink! Whereas dad - who has got lots of hobbies but they're things like golf, computers, football and trains - choo choo ;o)

Once again, the fantastic Sarn came up with a challenge to make a waterfall card which I thought would be perfick for my dad's birthday card :o) The only problem was that it took me about 4 hours to finish it!!!

Card Recipe:

Little train stamp - Stamps Away

Sentiment stamps - Stampin Up

Paper - Pebbles Inc.

Die Cut letters - Sizzix - forgotten what the set is called!

I love this bird!

This is my mum's birthday card for this year. Always struggle with both my parents birthday cards as I always try and do something "different" for their cards. Thankfully, the fab Sarn came up with a challenge to make this shaped card.

Now, I really really love this die cut bird but I haven't got the die :(
Had to borrow Becky's but now I want even more LOL

I made this anniversary card for my sister and BIL. Still can't believe that they've been married for 21 years!!!

This card was the first time that I'd used (and fell in love) with the definitions stamp from Stampin Up. I think the set is called Define Your Life ?!?!? Anyway, for this card, I borrowed this definition from a very good friend as I didn't actually have that set but ---- my fab parents bought me the set for my birthday. Now just need to find some time to play with them all LOL

The paper is from Stampin Up - Bashful Blue designer series. The owl stamp is a Sugar Nellie one that was free with a magazine and the branch is from Hero Arts.

40th birthdays

2009 has been the year for 40th birthdays in my family. First there was my sister and recently my cousin and his wife also went from being 30 something to 40 ;o)

Now I'm pretty close to my cousin and we have the same daft sense of humour, so I always knew that I was going to emphasize his age on his card. Don't think I could have got it much larger LOL

I was much kinder on Hayley's card :o)

Patterened papers on both cards are Pebbles. Plain card is Stampin Up - brocade blue and close to cocoa on Colin's card and Pixie Pink on Hayley's. The mouse stamp is a Penny Black and I think that the golf stamp is from Great Impressions.

Get Well owl

I made this card a couple of weeks ago for a close friend who was going into hospital for an operation. Despite being in considerable pain, she text me when she'd received it to say thank you and where did I get the image from --- yep she's a crafter as well:) The poor love is still in there but hopefully she'll be out soon and can get back on her feet.

First Stitched card

I bought a sewing machine in March but haven't really had the chance to play ---- until I had the week off from work.

Now this might not look like a major achievement but here's my first ever card that has stitching on it !!!!!! As my dad would say --- little things please little minds LOL :o)



The image is from the Stampin UP stamp set True Friend and the papers/card stock are also Stamping Up.

Heatwave!!!

It's been a while since I blogged but that's just down to there not being enough hours in the day!

I did have a much needed week off work which was great especially as I'd picked the week when we had a heat wave!!! 31degC recorded in my garden - sun sun sun and more sun!!!

However, it wasn't such a great week craft wise as it was too warm to craft and I only managed to make 1 card LOL Thankfully, I had a couple of friends over at the weekend and they helped me find my mojo :o) So by the time I returned to work last Monday, I'd made the grand total of 9 cards - woohoo!

I can't show any of the cards that I did make as they're for upcoming birthday's. Here's a couple that I made last month - 2 new babies in our family.

These cards use products from my 3 favourite craft companies :o)

My fab new storage

My dad was challenged - not by me ;o) - to make me something to store my Stampin Up punches on or in. Well, after a bit of encouragement to stop planning it and get on with it, this is what he came up with. Isn't it great?



The problem is that I'm now thinking that I should have asked him to make it a bit bigger. I think I must have been in denial when he asked how many punches I had. He thinks that he'd made it so that it was half full --- oops!

Happy Father's Day

As per the title of this post - this is the card that I made for me dad. He's really good at DIY whereas I'm not! He's always there to help me out when I get in a fix so the sentiment was very apt.



The image is of "Marshmallow" from the Design Objectives range of stamps. These stamps are great as they have images that are suitable for men ---- who as we all know are really hard to make cards for! The sentiment is from Stampin' Up and the papers are Pebbles.

I really enjoyed making this card as my friend (whose birthday it was) is another Penny Black addict. Unfortunately, it looks like it's got lost in the post :o(

The image and sentiment are both Penny Black. Patterned papers are Pebbles. I even used my favourite Stampin Up cardstock and ribbon --- Certainly Celery :o)

2 posts in 1 day!

Thinking Of You

It's been a couple of weeks since I blogged. I have been making cards but everything else has been a bit hectic.

My mum asked me to make a sympathy card for her neighbour. Didn't really know what to do until I remembered that I'd recently got the SU Happy Harmony stamp set. It's a simple design that doesn't need anything else.

Anyway, this is what I came up with.

Wedding season

Here's 3 wedding cards that I've made recently.

This one was for a very good friend of mine who got married at the beginning of May. I love this Forever Friends stamp and it has come in very handy --- as you'll see below ;o)



The next 2 were for my cousin's son who got married on Saturday.

This one was from my mum and dad. The stamp is one from Stampin' Up Fun and Fast Notes.



This one was from me - spot the FF bears again LOL I found out that the wedding colours were burgundy and cream so I tried to make the card match. The ribbon is SU Basic Gray taffeta - thanks to the forum girls (especially Maggie) for helping me see that I really really needed it :)

I can't help it ......

..... I'm addicted to birds, owls and branches LOL

I went to Glitter Pot on Sunday and my youngest nephew walked round picking out all the stamps that had a branch on them - the cheeky little devil :o) Okay so he's right and I did end up buying another branch stamp but it was just what I was looking for ;o)

So not surprisingly here are another 2 cards that I've made recently and yep they have owls, birds and branches on them!!!

This one is done using all Stampin' Up goodies. I love my new stamp set (Cheep Talk) which I got recently from the US. The scallop circle looks black but it's Basic grey (the new black LOL) and I've made it look like Bazzill by using the Canvas stamp inked with Basic Grey.

I have just had a thought and I think that the sentiment is a Hero Arts one???



This one was for a very good friend (Becky) who I get sooooo much inspiration from - except when it comes to using orange ;o)

Cards for men

Is it just me or does anyone else think men are a pain in the bum to make cards for??? That's why I bought the Stampin Up Loads of Love stamp set and I've already used it ----- loads LOL

These 2 cards were for my uncle who's birthday it is today. The first one is from me and the 2nd one is from mum and dad. Mum chose the Penny Black stamp that she wanted on her brother's card and she ended picking one that I hadn't used for ages!!!