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.

The quick and the (dreadfully) long

Spent a good bit of yesterday making a card for a little girl who is having a cheer leader type party and although I knew what I wanted to do with Tilda it took me ages to get the rest of it to gel.  Used the lovely SU Ginger Blossom dsp on this one - it is lovely when everything matches.  I thought her dress was too red so I went over it with Twinklings which is why it looks shiny/funny in the photo.

I realised when I was finished that it was not the one that was needed for this weekend.  The one I needed was this one which I then threw together very quickly by just running an image through the copier twice and cutting out the second 'Ben" and layering him up for a 3D effect.  Actually did run the SU Stars wheel over the front of the card as well as inside and called it done.

Sorry about the glare but it is on glossy paper.

While I was on a roll (sort of) I made two identical cards with the lovely little birdcage from the Saleabration set.  I had some images stamped out already so just had to tie it up with some Rose Red card and designer paper.  A couple of layers, some ribbon and two

 more were done.

In my hurry to photograph it I have knocked the bow sideways, but I guess you get the idea.  Another simple one.

I have a few more to get done before the 31st March !!

'I'm Late' for "Valentine's Day' so I'm left with 'paper roses'.

The time has come for me to get this blog on the move.  I started out with great intentions in January but have had too many things to distract me since then.  I decided it had to be done before the second month of the year disappeared, so just scraping in. 

I want to say a very big Thank You to Sue  http://www.madexcreations.com/ (my lovely Stampin' Up lady), who has helped me to work out some of the finer points of blogging including making a watermark for me today, and also to Karen http://kgiron.blogspot.com/ for her tutorial on watermarks. 

As to the title of this post, well I did have this Valentine offering done in plenty of time, but alas, no one to give it to.  I have cased this from one I saw here last year and finally got to make it.   Sharon always makes beautiful cards and her blog is really great with plenty of new interest all the time, and she has the most divine ribbons.

This second card was another one that I 'cased' - this time from one by the wonderfully talented  Kelly Lunceford at http://flutterbyatomicbutterfly.blogspot.com/ .   I admire her work so much and have to pop in regularly to see what she is up to.  Love those concertina circles -  use them all the time.

When I realised that I had missed the 20th Birthday of a niece in England, I knew exactly which card I was going to do.  I just love anything to do with Alice in Wonderland, and the words on the front of the card are some that I seem to use quite often (if only to myself!).   I have to say this card was very, very late, but hopefully it has arrived by now.

My third card is all my own work (thank heavens, I hear you say!).  I have done quite a few 'step/stair' cards for special birthdays and they are really enjoyable to do.  This one is for the 90th birthday of a friend's special Auntie, so I do hope she likes it as they are a bit different from the normal run of cards. 

This card is pretty much a total SU effort.  I used the stamp set Fifth Avenue and watercoloured the roses etc., using some Twinklings, which give a bit of sparkle.  I have to say that it looks better in real life - my photography is not crash hot - the colour of the back rose is actually the same as the middle one.

February was a busy month in our family for birthdays and here are just a few of the cards I made.

Another step/stair card with a fairy theme:

Followed by yet another step/stair for Princess Lily.  SU Pretty Princess used on this one.

Most young children love to see their name on cards so sometimes I get to play with my pens and ink.

 That's about all I have to show today but hopefully I'll be back soon with the next batch of cards.

Cheers,

Mary