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

All caught up

I have had time today to catch up with downloading photos and update my blogs.  I must try to keep up to date from now on.

I admired this card made by Monica Gale and just had to case it even though I don't have a need for it just now.  Usually when I see cards on other blogs I never have all the ingredients for them and so by the time I am finished they look nothing like the original (probably just as well, I guess!), but on this occasion I had all but the sahara sand card and I couldn't wait to get that so used kraft/crumb cake.  Not sure who will end up with this one, but my Daughter did ask if it was for a Christening.

I tried my hand at a twisted easel card for a special 60th Birthday.  I started out with the lovely japanese paper for the concertina circle and this is what I ended up with - not quite how I envisaged it, and perhaps a bit too bright.



closed

and opened up.

Some of the ladies whose blogs I follow ( Bronwyn and Jenny ) have been using the SU Beautiful Butterflies die and the scallop circle die to make some lovely creations, so when my order arrived I used both of these dies to produce a card for my wonderful Daughter - and yes, red is her favourite colour.

I had to get the circle scissor thingy (non SU) out to cut the plain circles - that's  not something I enjoy using, so I am hoping SU put out a die to co-ordinate with the scallop die soon.  Can you see that this had a very generous spraying of shimmer?

 and the inside:

I was very happy with the way this one turned out and will certainly be making more in this style in the near future.

So now I am all up to date, thanks for popping in,

Mary

Lots of birthdays

I am so far behind in updating the blog, but at least I seem to be better at remembering to take a photo of the cards as I finish them.  ( I need to do this otherwise I can't remember what I sent people the previous year).

Birthday wishes owl for Roy:

I wanted Papertrey "Tea for Two" for ages and finally got around to inking it up:

and a special 40th stair step card :

Tilda came out of wraps for three year old Eve:

and the punches helped with these two for twins who had a witch themed party:

Another stair step card for a 40 birthday:

which I was pleased with, so I repeated it for a special 70th birthday ..

.... and this time I made the envelope especially to fit the card and also the Gift Voucher that went with it:

I also made a concertina book for guests at the party to sign:

this is it opened up:

Well, I am sure that's more than enough for one day.  I must update more often.

Mary

Eggy things

Last year I made Easter baskets for the children but couldn't find the pattern again, but thanks to Di Dunk who supplied the pattern, I made them up again.  The designer paper is SU  (retired). 

the cute little boxes in the front are made with SU Petal Card punch.  They held a few of those yummy little Cadbury speckled eggs.

I also made a couple of Easter cards, with the idea for them coming from LeeAnn Greff: 

It was such a cute idea I just had a make one - even though I didn't have a smaller circle for the feet!

Mary

The bells were ringing ..

.. for family and friends.  It has been a while since I have been to a wedding so it was nice to be able to work on a couple of wedding cards.  The first two were quite simple using embossing folders and lovely metallic cardstock:

This first one uses SU embossing folder "Elegant Lines".

this is SU Manhattan embossing folder

the words on the front and the inside of these cards were computer generated.

This cute little bride and groom were calling out to be used on this one ...

 

and this was the inside.

We were fortunate enough to get a lovely day for the wedding as well.

Mary

A handy hint ..

.. for your Chocolate Chip SU marker !! 

I have had a couple of bad scratches on a piece of furniture for some time and had tried a few different things to try and hide them them to no avail.  Then I tried the chocolate chip marker.  I went over the scratches with the marker, and when it was dry I polished it and it looks great. 

So there you are - a very practical use for our hobby tools.

Mary

Friends

How beautiful a day can be when friendship touches it.

I want to show you two beautiful hand made cards I received. 

The first one is from my dear friend Chrissie - it is so delicate.  The photo doesn't do it justice.

This one is from Sue.  The colours are quite lovely and the watercoloured flower is beautiful.

Anything that is hand made has a special message for the recipient, and I was very touched by these cards.

I needed to make some Thank you cards and settled on these simple ones.

As always, thanks for popping in,

Mary

A few more April cards.

Being so far behind with my posting it is just as well I took some photos along the way to jog my memory.  This first one was for an 11 year old:

and then a couple for my Grandson who just loves turtles, frogs, lizards etc:

and another princess card.

Cheers,

Mary

Wedding invitations

A very dear friend produced all of her Wedding invitations, place settings etc. using the SU embossing folder "Finial Press". 

The front of the invitation was embossed as well as the left side of the envelope.

As you can see from this photo it was a triple fold with the right hand side being detachable for the rsvp (they used the perforator on SU's Cutter kit - a great little gadget !).  The smaller envelope for the rsvp was also embossed.

Considering they had never done anythiong like this before I think they did a super job.
Mary

March and April Birthdays

I just loved this little sentiment so had to use it for a special friend.

The feature on this one was also taken from a calendar:

Then I was really running late for my Nephew's birthday and made this one in a few minutes with the help of a packet of stickers.  A week or so later I found the card I had made for him back in January !!  I hope I can find it again for next year.

Another quick one using lots of SU vintage stamps and papers.

and back to the calendar for this little cutie.

It pretty much sums up how fast this year is going too.
Mary

Some rain must fall

"Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary."
............................ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Without further ado I will try to catch up on my paper crafting.

I guess it is paper of a different kind - a "cake" for a baby shower.  Very cute and very easy to construct.

Yes, it is made of disposable nappies - so cute as well as practical.

On St Patrick's Day we had a great celebration for which I made this banner.  As per usual my photography is pretty ordinary (how on earth do you photograph something like this??), but I am sure you will get the general idea.

Will be back later with some more pictures.

Mary