Celebrating new beginnings

The three cards I have to post tonight have one thing in common - they each commemorate new beginnings.

The first one is punch art.  I have been playing with the punches a bit lately and when I saw this card on Nancy Riley's blog I just had to have a go at it.  As usual I didn't have all the necessary punches (or that beautiful dsp) so had to 'wing' it and cut some of the pieces freehand, but I think it is still cute enough to send to a friend's daughter who is expecting her first baby.

The next two are Christening cards for twins.   I have had the idea of making a dress card for a little girl for a while now and decided to turn it into a christening gown.  Wasn't sure what to do for the boy but got the idea for his from page 59 of the catalogue.  Both cards are really very simple ones but I am pleased with them.

I have had quite a bit of variety in my card making lately but time to get back to some birthday cards now.

Thanks for popping in,

Mary

All things bright and beautiful ..

... all creatures great and small ...

I have just returned from my second Grandson's 7th Birthday party.  A little different from the usual  - he had "Snake Busters" - yep! they bring the snakes, lizards, frogs and even a crocodile to the house to amuse the children ( and terrify the grandparents ).  The children ( 28 of them !) couldn't wait to get hold of them and thought it was fantastic. 

So you will understand why this little boy had to have different cards for his birthday:

a bit of fun with the SU Punches

another one with the SU Punches

and this one using SU Nature's Nest.

There were a few other birthdays that required more conventional type cards:

this one was for a ten year old boy and used SU Stars,

and Butterfly Prints and Pocket Silhouettes for a ten year old girl,

and a robot for a five year old - SU Star wheel for the background.

Last month I posted the photo of a card I made for a friend which featured a stamp set from Hero Arts with little birds.  Well, I ended up making her a set of cards to match using some of the lovely Raspberry Tart designer paper, and popped them all into a little "pizza" type box.

you can see the original card I made at the top centre of the photo.  The box is at top left of the picture. 

Back to the drawing board now for the rest of April's birthdays.

Happy Easter

I hope everyone has a lovely and peaceful Easter.  I certainly am.  I had intended to catch up on some stitching but my plans were thwarted somewhat with the arrival of a little visitor to spend a day or so with me.

This little bundle of fluff is the newest member of my Daughter's family.  "Summer" was adopted from the RSPCA a week ago and is just gorgeous, but she wants lots and lots of attention and follows me everywhere.  As soon as I sit down she is on my knee and while I am on the computer she lies like this and watches me, making me feel very guilty.  

Luckily I had already made the Easter baskets for the grandchildren, so they just needed to be filled with eggs.  Amazing how many they actually hold !!  I may have to shred some more paper to go in the bottom.

They are very simple to make.  I only have that one Easter stamp so I had to make do with little birds and the Organic Dragonfly.

Last Thursday night I tried my hand at the technique called "Black Magic".  I saw it ages ago but didn't have the white stamp pad, now I realise that I probably don't have the right stamp sets!   Here are a few of my practice runs -  certainly not perfect yet!

I tried the Upsy Daisy set and the tempting turquoise was looking quite good until I did the outline with the white gel pen, so I left the orange one without outlining it and it's ok, still needs some orange ribbon.

Then I spied the Eastern Blooms set and tried that one out and I think that one works better.  I have a few pieces in various stages, but none finished yet.

Ok, so I have been here too long - the dog is destroying her bedding - must be time for another walk !!!