A final fluttering

of cards to formally farewell the year.

This one was a belated birthday card but it is also very appropriate for today:

The picture was taken from a calendar which has a different picture and thought for each day of the year - they are all far too cute to throw away so I recycle them when I can.

Here are a few more of them:

I find these cards much easier to design - not just because there is little or no stamping, but more because when I am using a stamp set, I have usually seen many cards made with the stamp and in an effort not to copy/case them, I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get something original. 

Here are some of the stamped cards I have sent out in recent months:

This one uses "Jolene" by My Favorite Things.  Is it just me or does she look sad ?

The ice cream cone worked well for twins:

Tilda for a little girl:

and one for the guys - a quick one using Birthday Bash Sentiments from Papertrey!!

and I nearly forgot to add my Christmas card for 2011 - the Ornament was originally to have been very much a 3D item but time beat me and I had to settle for this version.

these were two of the cards I had originally intended to make for Christmas - not sure why I changed my mind as these seem much brighter than the one above.  Oh well ......

and a shoe or two (or three):

Funny, how they are all red - having a love affair with everything red at present.  They actually look great as I covered the red with glass finish and they look so shiny.

And last in this marathon is a teapot ( Papertrey - Tea for Two) in slightly unusual colours.

Well that's it from me.  Maybe 2012 will see me better organised with posting - that's not a resolution, just a vague hope.

Hope you have a very happy New Year and that 2012 is filled with good health and much happiness.

Mary

Shoe Boutique

Catching up on the blogs and making a last minute dash to enter the Scrapbook Boutique challenge. 

Here's hoping my lucky number comes up !!

Cupcakes

While I was checking out Scrapbook Boutique this morning I saw this beautiful photo

which is the inspiration for their latest challenge and decided to give it a go. 

This is what I came up with.

Now, the challenge will be to see if I can work out how to post it to their blog.

Mary

Edited to add:

I have posted it on the Scrapbook Boutique blog but it is not a good photo - it really does look better in real life.  Maybe I should wait for some sunshine and try agin.

Look what I won

While busy posting my cards a few days ago I completely forgot to tell you about a lovely surprise I received.  I have been lurking around blogs for ages and started to leave comments to let people know their work is admired.

I came upon a blog hop from Case Study and left a comment on a blog that was new to me and I was very lucky to have been chosen at random as the winner of some goodies.   I have copied this photo from Sue Kohler's blog to show you my bundle of supplies.

Two very cute MFT stamps which I know will be great to use on cards for my Granddaughter's little friends; some pretty striped twine, Annabelle ribbons and rhinestones and some of the cardstock to use with Copics.  Maybe I will have to try the copics because Sue does such lovely cards with them.  What a great way to get to try something new.

Thank you again for my gift Sue.

So now I need to get brave enough to enter a card into a competition.  On a couple of occasions I have made cards for that purpose but never quite get around to working out how to enter them.

Mary

An accumulation of cards

This is quite a mixed bag as it covers a whole month.

First one up is a sweet butterfly card for Caitlyn:

one for Dylan:

Then one for my dear friend Chrissie, using SU Nature Walk, Clearly For You, and of course the scallop die.

opened:

and closed - with the matching box behind it.

I used the scallop die again to make a 70th birthday card:

and again, opened:

Next up are a few cards that have been made for a while:

Share a cup: I cased the layout from one made last year by Mary Fish and I made it in two different colours.



I just had to try this technique when I saw it on Andrea Walford's blog some time back, so this is another case.

Now a bit of Disney for the little girls - a Princess with her own castle:

and inside:

I am always looking for something a bit different for cards for the men so I used this Matches paper that I had bought ages ago to make a couple of very simple cards.

This card was inspired by Dawn Olchefske who has a tutorial for it on her blog:

Yep it's the scallop circle card and the Butterflies again.

I saw a cute baby dresser card at a paper show I went to a few months back and have tried to replicate it from memory.  I believe the lady who made it is "Michelle".  I tried to find her but don't think she has a blog.

I had a lot of fun making the next four cards - saw this beauty on Dawn's blog and again, just had to try it.  I got carried away and then turned all my efforts into cards which I am pleased with but they are not a patch on Dawn's original.

I made this little group of cards at a Glitter Class at Michelle Grech's home - very sparkly!

Just thought I would pop in this picture of some tealight covers that I made from paper doilies - very quick and easy to make and they look lovely massed on tables for a party.

...and last (well done to anyone who has stayed this long !!)  I went back to my very rusty calligraphy for this card.  It's for my older Brother so I can get away with the words.

I should have made the title of this post "How to fill in an evening" as it has been quite a marathon.  Of course if I didn't leave it so long between posts it would be much easier, but I am not going to make any promises. 

Thanks for popping in

Mary

Yee Hah !!

Had a really great night last night.  A friend was celebrating her 50th Birthday and had a square dancing party.  What fun we had.  She had sent to America for her dress and most people had dressed for the occasion.  The cake was in the shape of a cowboy hat.

Here is the card I made for her:

I made the card larger than normal because I wanted to enclose a Gift Voucher with it, so then I made an envelope especially for it and decorated it as well.  After all the dancing last night she may well need to use the Massage voucher!!

Hope you like it.

Mary