Back to card making

It's been a while since my last card, and March is a busy month for celebrations. I had completely forgotten that last month it was my brother's 25th wedding anniversary, so I made a belated card.Then on the 14th it's my nephew's birthday. It may very well be his 25th too. He is living with my dad at this time, because my dad is becoming more of a risk to himself. So James agreed, or perhaps even volunteered to live with him.Finally a card for my sister who loves frogs. Thomas bought me some embossing envelopes for my birthday and so it was perfect when I saw the froggy one. I knew I had to make something with it for her birthday.

BLOGS OF INTEREST

Throughout the years I have gathered many craft blogs in my favourites. Some I follow every day, others I check out now and then. I think I should share the blogs that I have found. So once in a while I'll list some under "BLOGS OF INTEREST"

Kath's Blog

Dawn's Stamping Studio

Kristina's Blog

Mel Stamps

Angie over at Chic'n Scratch

Well that should keep you busy.

Friend's birthday card

February 6 is my friend Jill's birthday. We went to boarding school together and we are the same age, but I'm pretty sure she's gonna be pissed at me for putting her age on the card!!
I don't remember the last we saw each other. She now lives in Malta and crews on sail boats for a living. She is never in England when I go to visit. But we stay in touch with MSN, email, Christmas and birthday cards, and the odd call here and there.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JILL!

February 1st Layout

So I made this page today and completely changed the papers that I had originally picked out. This one is much more vibrant. Yesterday I was at Walmart and picked up 2 paper packs that ususally sell for $20 each, but I got them for $5. There are some very lovely papers in there, hopefully I will get them used up.

This was the last night in Cuba. We had dinner with friends that we made down there. I took a couple of shots from the dining room window of the sun going down.

January pages

Here are 2 trees that were on the grounds of the hotel I stayed in while in Varadero, Cuba

On the way to Havana we stopped of at a little place for drinks and something to eat. I just wandered the grounds and found this amazing gnarled tree.

Here is Beatriz taking a rest in the very hot sun. We saw so much of Havana thanks to one of the restaurant staff from our hotel who showed us around.

Christmas card layout

Every year I take the cards that I receive for Christmas from family and friends and make a lay out with them.

I also make a page with the stamps, return addresses and air mail stickers.

This is this years pages.

Valentine Treats

I decided to make Valentines chocolate gifts for the staff at work. I love how these turned out. Then I decided to make something for the kids. I work with all but 2 classes this year, so that is a lot of kids. when I finished I had about 150 little chocolate gifts. Then I thought that it would be better to use these as a fund raiser for the school. We have a Winter Concert coming up next month, so it would be a perfect time to sell them. I think I can ask $1 each, and hopefully we can make $150.

Boxes

I've been finding joy in making boxes, lately, here are a few.

Happy Birthday Dad.

On February 3 my Dad will turn 82. He is the only one from his own family left. His parents, step mum and both sisters died many years ago. His wife of 51 years died 4 1/2 years ago, and he now shares his home with Lucy, his faithful dog. My 2 sisters visit him weekly, my brother makes it there when he can, and all that I can do is call him once a week. We talk for about an hour, and often he has very little to tell me about, but I try to fill in the gaps with memories of old times, or stories of my kids at work.

So I made a card for him and will put it in the mail tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

Early attempts at cards

Here is a card that I made a while ago, that makes me cringe when I look at it! The card stock is all crooked and the stamps placement are not well though out.

This one is a very simple Christams card where I used my sizzix die and a SU stamp.

My Gift for the staff at school

Every holiday season I try to come up with a small gift that includes a card. This year I bought a very cute rubber stamp set from Hero Arts, Clear Design called Jolly Christmas. I love all the pieces, but especially the reindeer. It gave me the idea for this years gift.I added some organic raisins to the bag. There is a poem that goes with this kind of gift, but it wasn't really the words I was looking for. So I simply added the words, "A Gift From The Holiday Reindeer"

Thanksgiving

I was invited to Greg and Sonya's place for Thanksgiving dinner and although I am a vegetarian there was still things on the menu that I could eat. That is always a pleasant surprise. I had eggplant parmasan and a bunch of roasted vegetables. Other guests brought along some vegetable samosas too. Of course the apple pie and ice cream topped off the meal.

As a gesture of my appreciation I made Thank You tags that I put on each guests plate, but I forgot to take a photo of them! I also made a card for the hosts. I found the idea in an old Paper Crafts magasine.

Smooch

Thanks to Dawn, I discovered this wonderful way to make more cool backgrounds. Check out her video on Smooch backgrounds I tried the same technique with watercolour paper, but I didn't like the results I got. Keitha's make and take at the Scrap Palace was another great technique to make backgrounds.

Owl card

A simple card

Another card challenge

Well I'm not pleased with this one, too much 'white space' or something!

Anyway Artzy Girl Challenge #42 offered this sketch

and this is my attempt.

Last Summer

These are pages made up of last years pictures taken in Salou, Spain while on holiday with my sister, Lorna.

That's me with the messy hair, and Lorna is the one walking on the beach.
This one is almost finished, but I am still waiting for the right TITLE to hit me!! If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them. I don't want to use Sun Goddess, or Bikini Babe as I have already used them in the journaling.

This is the first holiday in almost 15 years and my first ever with my sister. We had a great time, and I hope to be able to do it again soon.

Happiness

I discovered another card site today....

2 sketches 4 you

This is the sketch:

And this is my take on the challenge.

It is super simple, but nice all the same.

For Blair's staff book

I asked the teachers to contribute pages for Blair's book. He is leaving our school to work at one closer to his home. I'll really miss his sense of humour.

All the staff members

My page. Later I inked the edges of the quote in the corner.

My latest creation

I was reading the newsletter from Bad Girls and one of the designers talked about a bulletin board she made.

I used a piece of 12 x 12 corrugated cardboard, 12 x 12 patterned paper, a small piece of thin cork board, and a few embellishments, I also added 3 tiny pegs at the bottom for other papers. The photo mat is square to accommodate a number of shapes and sizes, so that I can change the photo whenever I want.


Yes that is a funny picture, taken on the beach in England the year my mum died.

Gift for a teacher friend moving to another school

This mini book was made for Blair with whom I've worked for the past 4 years.

Unfortunately all the pictures are a little blurry, but look good IRL.

Father's Day Post-It Note Holder

Thanks Dawn for this great idea.

The kids at school all made one for the important men in their lives, but I forgot to take a picture, so this is the example that I made while demonstrating it to them.