The reason I've been a bit absent...

...I'm having another baby! and I've been feeling so ill this time round. I'm currently 16/17 weeks and just starting to get a bit of energy back! Its been a really tough few months, as we have had lots of tests carried out to see whether or not this baby has the same disease that we lost our little girl Rebecca too. The results have come back all clear, which is fantastic news but its been an extremely stressful and worrying time.10 weeks12 weeks

I've made some cards too! The first is a variation on a card from my last post. I was asked by this lady to make a card for her Aunt who is having a tea party for her 70th birthday. I had a go at trying to fold a little table cloth, and as it turns out, its a lot harder than you would think!

I bought a few quickutz dies from ebay recently and decided to make a few simple cards for my box! I've made this card is several colours. The sentiment and border are printed directly onto the card. I've got a few orders that I need to get working on, so as soon as they are finished, I'll upload some pictures.

Thanks for stopping by!

For the Men & Boys!

Some of these cards go back a while now! To start with, I was asked to make two golfing cards for a chap who's 60, as it turns out there were for the same man! Luckily I figured this out before I went ahead a copied the first card I made!I've been on ebay and invested in some Quickutz dies, a Golf Tee & Ball and a Golf Club set and the Grass die. I can see myself getting quite a lot of use out of these so thought they would be a good purchase! I can't remember where the paper for this card came from, but I'm pretty sure it was a download. The pringle design works great with golf cards! I've done quite a bit of paper pricking on this card too! I think its my latest "thing"And here is my second attempt! Decided to go with the large numbers theme on this card and embellish it with the golfing die cuts. I've used a tartan looking paper, which I think came from the Basic Grey Archaic set, very fitting as the chap is also Scottish! I've mounted the numbers onto foam pads so they stand out a bit and have tied the two together using some eyelets and elastic stringy stuff!Within the space of 3 days I was asked by two different people to make a card for a keen cyclist! This time though they were actually for different people so I was able to replicate the card! I really didnt have a clue what to do, so I took a look through my trusty old stash of magazines when I came across a booklet of mens cards, I think it was from Papercraft Inspirations last year. This is my interpretation of the card they featured which was a paper pieced mountain bike. I beleive I've seen a version of this card on Stacey's blog too! It was a bit challenging getting all the pieces to fit together!
This one is for a Watford Football Club fan! I'm never really sure what to do when it comes to football cards. I've done one a bit like this in the past, and after Googling some images, this is what I came up with. The background card is part of the Black Magic set I bought recently, it has a yellow core. I've sanded it down so it looks distressed. I didnt realise that it would make so much mess though!

And this final one was for my friends Dad for Fathers Day! The suggestion was for Automotive! Something Classic! So I thought, blokey, James Bond, Aston Martin! The image has a slight hint of green in one of the back windows, and this is what inspired the colours of the card. I really like this teal/grey combination.

Something for the Ladies...

With all the Fathers Day Cards I've been making recently I felt the need to do a couple of lady cards! The first is part of a kit I downloaded a while back and I cant for the life of me remember where from. The paper is lovely and the matching embellishment is actually blank for you to add your own text, I added mine in paint shop pro. I've stamped my Anita's Scribbly Flower onto the paper in pink and added a pink adhesive stone. I attached some eyelets to the sentiment and scrap of pink ribbon and stuck it down with foam pads. I really like this card and it only took about 5 mins to make!

The papers for this card were downloaded from Kirsty Wiseman as part of a kit. I've used my Quickutz butterfly which I absoloutely love, and have stuck on some adhesive stones. The sentiment was printed directly onto the paper.

My Stash

Well a week has passed since my first post, so I thought it was about time I had another go! I've been sitting in my craft room the past few nights working on a couple of cards my mum asked me to make for my auntie's 65th birthday in June. I've done the card for my mum to give to her with inspiration taken from a combination of cards on Nicola's, My Paper World blog. I also made 3 cards for the ladies who work with my mum and auntie.

I have been going through thinking of ideas but primarily thinking that I really ought to use up some of my stash. For instance I have a Papermania Kit I got from QVC last year and I've hardly touched it! It was one of the very first crafty things I bought. Then I opened the draw with the peel offs and there are a lot of them, only to realise that I dont think I like peel offs anymore. I'm sure I'll find a use for them eventually. I dont think I've found "my style" yet. The problem is I like to keep trying new things but that doesnt help in using up my old stuff!

I'm really pleased with this card and I think my mum will be too. I love the quickutz butterfly.

This one I'm not sure about. I love my new cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder, but the flower is the peel offs from the qvc kit I mentioned.

I've seen a lot of this style of cards around lately and thought they looked so effective, so I had a go. Only problem is I printed the greeting directly onto the card and then did the embossing with the folder the wrong way round! I've learnt my lesson now, but do think the de-bossed look is quite effective too! You learn from your mistakes....