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 !!!

Midnight, not a sound from the pavement .....

I feel like Cinderella - I am always trying to get to bed before midnight.  I just seem to get a run on and the clock beats me again.

However, I have just finished off a couple of cards and wanted to post them here before I forget and post them to the recipients.  I had a quite a few cards to do and not a lot of time so I found inspiration in cards I had seen and liked on the web.  The one original card I did make this weekend,  I mailed without taking a photo!

Earlier this month I saw this lovely card on Sue's blog and just had to try it for myself.  It was the first time I had used the little dragonfly from SU Organic Grace.  Unfortunately I don't have any of those lovely hat pins, so this is how mine ended up.  Kraft,  Red Ridinghood Red and Choc Chip - just love those colours together.

This is a bit too pale I think, but it is for an elderly aunt so hope it will be ok. 

I have had a set of bird stamps from Hero Arts for a year or so now and finally got to use some of them - I think they are really cute.  I got the idea for this one from here just changed it around a little.  

Loved the simplicity of this lovely card from Nancy Riley, but as usual I didn't have the  ingredients so here's what I ended up with:

and this is what I've been working on tonight.  Just loved this card by Silke Ledlow - you can see I'm right into the red and kraft at the moment.  I have used (for the first time) a stamp from last year's Saleabration set - Polka Dot punches - for the large flowers and one from Razzle Dazzle for the smaller flowers.  The little dragonfly from Organic Grace makes a comeback - I stamped him onto the card and then stamped again onto kraft card,  cut them out and overlaid them.  Drew the stems by hand and made the buttons from card.  I would have preferred the ribbon a bit wider as they are large cards 120 x 180, but at least the colour was right. 

I have forgotten to take a photo of the little Easter baskets I made for the Grandchildren, so will do that next time.

Mary

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 !!

A happy St Patrick's Day to be sure, to be sure.

I hope you all have a very happy St Patrick's Day tomorrow.  I have some wonderful Irish friends so had to get a couple of cards made for them.  I only have one small four leaf clover stamp and wondered what I could do this year and then remembered that I had seen some punch work somewhere out there in blogland and the card grew from there.  The leprechaun and the pot of gold were very easy to make, but it seemed to take me ages to match up the layers on the card.

Front and back views here.
I do hope the wording is right - it should say "Happy St Patrick's Day" if my information is correct.  Nearly all Stampin Up product on this one.  Garden Green and Tangerine Tango card stock with designer paper from the Patterns Pack 2.
Hope you all have a lucky day tomorrow.
Mary

More cards and that rabbit makes another appearance

I've been busy trying to keep up with the birthdays and I have needed quite a few male cards lately and this is what I came up with for some of them - a wine bottle!  I have made it a bit more personal by adding the recipient's name on the label and in some cases I put the year of their birth in on the vintage tag.  A nice easy one to do when you are a bit short on time and a bit different from the usual run of cards.  The insert reads: "Life has many gifts, take time to open them all."

Unfortunately I have also had to make some sympathy cards this last month - not such an enjoyable job, but this is the one I came up with - using the single bloom from the SU Bloomin' with Beauty stamp set.

It is getting harder to think of ideas for the children as they get a bit older especially when they live interstate or overseas and we don't know what they like, so this one is for a ten year old girl.  SU  Happy Moments set and Whimsical Words used here (both free sets).

And I thought I'd pop this in - not a card, but a cake for a little 4 year old fairy. LOL

Last, but not least, my very favourite rabbit makes an appearance:

and as that other rabbit used to say ...... that's all folks !

'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