Mother's Day card for M-I-L

Because Vera (M-I-L) doesn't like anything modern, cute, humourous, in fact anything other than traditional, it was hard coming up with an idea for a card for her. I still had to like what I was doing. So, this is what I came up with, I didn't spend too long on it as she doesn't keep any cards. Very different for me but hopefully Vera will like it.

The papers are from a 6" x 6" pad by K & Co. The background paper has four squares of different colours. I cut around the flowers of the blue poppy paper and as there are six of each sheet I was happy to cut into a couple of other sheets to do a bit of decoupage of some of the petals and the butterfly. A bit of glitter glue here and there and the sentiment was printed on the computer and cut with Nesties.

Katy's card

I thought today that I'd better get on and make a card for great neice Katy's birthday next week. I bought a pack of 80 different ribbons from QVC last week and was itching to use some so the first thing I did was print off the spotty paper, chose the spotty ribbon as it went so well with the colour of the paper and went on from there.


Not quite sure where the last week has gone, and I've not really done anything to blog about. Deborah came for a visit and loved her 40th Survival Kit and her birthday card. Digital image was coloured with Brush Strokes used as water colours, except the teddy was done with water colour pencil. Dark burgandy card used for the mats, some pink paper found in stash (which came from an insert in a shop bought birthday card I received many moons ago) and some card candy. The flower has a button centre threaded with some hairy fibre (I'm sure there's a proper name for that!). I'm surprised I never thought to get the Cuttlebug embossing folders out, but I'm happy with it as it is.

While I was making this card Paul was busy making a cake. I love home made fruit cake and have given up making them as his are far superior to mine. I'll just have to go and do a taste test though, he's a bit out of practice and might have lost his touch. Yeah right!!!!!!!!!

MSE Mother's Day Challenge

Over at MSE the lovely Jailhousebabe set a challenge for a Mother's Day Card. Unfortunately both of the elderly mothers who receive mine don't appreciate hand made cards and I know they end up in the bin along with whatever else they've received for whatever occasion. This makes it difficult for me to want to make too much of an effort and use too much of my lovely stash which could go to a more appreciative recipient! Also, M-I-L is so very traditional and just doesn't "get" anything remotely modern, so with all this in mind this is my entry and it will go to my mother who is a bit more with it!

5" square card covered with some blue and white decorative paper. Core'dinations whitewash card run through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder and some dark blue ribbon wrapped round, embellished with a couple of buttons and some fibre I had in my stash. The flower is from an old stamp but I've only used part of the image, stamped with Stazon and watercoloured and matted onto some co-ordinating Gemstones cardstock. The sentiment was printed on the computer, cut with Nesties and layered onto the same Gemstones card.

Inside the card

I've spent the weekend tidying up the loft bedroom and putting my craft stuff away so that Deborah, Jessica and Jack can come and stay for a couple of days during half term. So, no real card making done but I did have to finish the inside of Deborah's card.


I copied one of the 8" x 8" papers in the Pepper & Friends pack and printed a message onto it. I printed off a recent photograph of Deborah and cut out the head and shoulders using one of the Nesties circles and stuck that in the flowery circle on the paper. I trimmed the page to fit and stuck it down on the inside of the card.

I hope it will live up to her expectations of a special card. I'm pleased with it and even though it wont be her birthday during her visit I'm hoping she'll open her Survival Kit as it would be nice to see her reaction to that.

It's not pink!

With Deborah's birthday fast approaching, panic set in and I had to get organised and sort her card out. She asked for a "special" card as it's her 40th - possibly hoping for a Bookatrix. With everything that's been going on with Mom being so ill my head's not been in the right place and I couldn't think what to do with a Bookatrix card. So I thought about making one of those cards that's like a book and do photos from when she was a baby plus other landmark events throughout her life, but again after sifting through and finding the right photos I just couldn't bring it all together.

So, as she's quite into cute I decided to use the Pepper & Friends papers that Angie gave me and try to make something extra special from that. It had to be bigger than normal so I cut down some A3 cardstock and was lucky enough to have an envelope that would take an 8" x 8" card, so that was a start - perfect for the 8" x 8" Pepper backing paper. So this is what I came up with:


I covered the card with a sheet of glittery butterfly paper, then cut a piece of the co-ordinating stripey sort of paper which I put onto purple Core'dinations Gemstones card and matted that across the front. From the sheet of large images I cut out the cat which I mounted onto a green mat then a purple mat from the Gemstones card. I punched a hole and titivated this label with some gingham ribbon. Then from the sheet of small images I cut out the matching cat and matted it onto the same purple Gemstones card, trimmed the sides with matching gingham ribbon and put a purple bling stone in the corner. I printed the sentiment on the computer and that's also matted onto the purple card. The label is slotted into a secret pocket behind the stripey layer so that it doesn't disappear completely behind.

And it's NOT PINK!

Phew, I'm glad I've got that done and dusted now. I have seven more birthday cards to get organised in the next two months for family and a Ruby Wedding card for my friends but I've got plenty of time to get those sorted. I've got two baby girl birthdays coming up and I have a feeling it might be back to pink.................

Deborah's Anniversary

Deborah & Dave's anniversary and Ann's birthday fall on the same day later this week so I've had to knuckle down and finish their cards.


For Ann I'm sending the Pepper & Friends card I made recently but I thought there was something missing. I put some more card candy in the bottom right hand corner and I cut out a glittery butterfly from the matching paper I had and 3D'd the top butterfly. I think the card looks better for this.



For Deborah and Dave I stamped one of the rabbits from the Candyfloss & Marshmallow set I recently bought and mounted it onto a scalloped circle of Core'dinations Gemstones card. The mat behind is Core'dinations Whitewash in the same colourway, put through the Cuttlebug with the Daisy Pattern folder then sanded. The hearts backing paper is out of a wedding set of 12" x 12" paper I've had for years but never used. I printed the sentiment on the computer, mounted it onto the same Gemstones card and finished it off with a little pink heart button I found in my stash. A bit of card candy in the corners and I'm quite satisfied with it.

I've just realised - pink again! I really must start using other colours, that will be my next challenge to myself but I think it's going to be hard!

Deborah's 40th Survival Kit

It seems ages since I had anything to blog about, I sort of put everything on hold while Mom's been so poorly, so the last couple of days I've been doing a bit of catching up. Ironing - well, yes, two weeks' worth needed to be done so I got that out of the way this morning then it was back to getting organised with some cards, etc.

Daughter Deborah has a wedding anniverysary next week so I'm about half way through that card, my friend Ann has a birthday on the same day but there are a few suitable ones in my box so no mad rush to make another one. I'm also half way through Deborah's 40th birthday card. Today, after thinking about it for weeks and collecting the bits and pieces, I made her 40th Birthday Survival Kit. Paul covered the box for me while I printed the labels. Thanks to Rusty from MSE for the idea, also CT and Thriftyscotslass who gave me suggestions for items to include. Also thanks to Karen who sent me a lovely post-it note holder with some marbles (for the kit) and I was so taken with it I wanted to include one in Deborah's kit.


Included in the kit:

Tummy tuck and bum lift pants (£4 bargain from The Factory Shop); Paracetamol; Rubber band; Matchsticks; Emergency penny; Reading glasses; Polyfilla; Toothpaste; Marbles; Paperclip;
Notepad and pen; Little Book of Big Days to Remember (free download courtesy of Cuddly Buddly); Sponge.

I still need Energy pills (Smarties??) and will get those tomorrow.

I did make another card for Mom seeing as I can't get to visit her but in my rush to get it in the post I forgot to take a photo.

This is the sheet I made it from, which was a free download from Cards2Craft. It was a bit of a challenge cutting around the letters, I'm not great with scissors, but I made a pretty reasonable job of them. Once the card was assembled I punched two holes at the left hand edge and threaded narrow pink ribbon through and tied it in a knot. I was really pleased with the end result, it made an unusual and pretty card which I think Mom will like.