More Hunkydory Under the sea cards

Some more birthday cards made with the Hunkydory papers and stamps I mentioned yesterday

Plus this one has a blue lobster on it!

 Happy New Year and I hope  2019 brings you health, wealth and plenty of time to craft!

Hunkydory - Twilight under the Sea

I've had this Twilight under the Sea paper pad for a while now, it's got some great designs in it and on a trip to The Range yesterday I spotted these 'Dive In' silhouette and sentiment stamps that go with it for £4.99 - so I snapped them up!

As you can see they go together well and make a different type of card - such a change from my usual girly flowers & butterflies!

And this is a card I had made previously with the background papers and a sweet fairy!

Merry Christmas to you all, and I hope that everyone appreciated your Christmas cards and other home made crafted goodies!

I made over 450 Christmas cards this year - 400 of which went to various local charities to help with their fund raising. With a bit of a push I hope to exceed that total next year but find it hard to get in the festive mood until September.

Just to finish with card to you all, made with a freebie embossing folder and bauble die from a magazine and silver bow saved off the crackers last year!

Happy Christmas everyone.

Masculine Makes ....

I was lucky enough to win these Masculine dies made by the Christina Collection from a crafting magazine. It arrived about 6 weeks ago when I was in the middle of Christmas card making, so I put them to one side. 

Now the Christmas crafting is over for this year I got them out and had a play!

They cut really nice and crisp images, and are a great addition to my ever growing collection of  dies.

So useful for those 'difficult to make for' men in your life!

Cats Galore!

I love cats and thought this birthday card covered in cats sitting, walking and jumping all over it would be suitable for another cat lover too!

I think both the cat and the square collage dies were both cheapies from China!

Stags & Reindeer at Christmas

Again, many of the Christmas cards I am making for 2018 feature a stag or reindeer on them - some cute and others realistic!

I just can't resist making them, especially as I have so many deer stamps, toppers and dies in my stash!

A Very Strange Commission!

I am often asked to to make special birthday, retirement or birth congratulations cards for the people I work with  - but this one is the weirdest yet!

I've been asked to make a card featuring a Highland Cow wearing a mini skirt for a lady who is retiring - no idea why!

If you have seen any Highland Cattle, you will know that it is highly unlikely that any would wear a skirt - let along a mini skirt, so this is the best I could come up with.

A Commission and Recycling

I recently got a commission to make a card for someones first Grandson - this will be winging its way to Romania soon!

Like many people, I have now started making my Christmas cards. These two have both got parts of last years cards recycled in them!

Two of a Kind

I bought this oval lace die set from AliExpress  - a great source a cheap dies direct from the manufacturer!

It cost $3.06 including postage, a weird amount I know! I have bought several dies, ranging from $1.50 upwards, don't think I have paid more than $4 for any of them.

I paired it with a different white embossed background for this wedding card 

I also bought these balloon and cloud dies, which has been used on several cards so far!

Something old ... something new ....

I just love it when a crafting mag plops through the letterbox. I can't wait to try out the ideas and freebies that come with it, and, well my craft room is one of the coolest places in the house at the moment!

Yesterday issue 180 of Simply Cards & Papercraft mag arrived with a Songbird Blossoms stamping die & embossing folder set

So I dug out these old pots of Brushos and made some backgrounds for the cards

Images stamped with Tuxedo Black Momento ink and set off with black mat and layering with little diamante for the birds eyes

I then tried the embossing folder on bright orange card and highlighted it with Versamagic Sahara Sand chalk ink. Such an enjoyable evening!

Suffolk Day 2018

Today is not only the longest day of the year, but also Suffolk Day where we celebrate all the wonderful places that make up my home county

For those of you who have never been here - it is an amazing county with unspoilt coastlines and countrysides, there you can step back in time to Medieval villages such as Lavenham, where they filmed Harry Potters 'Godrics Hollow'. Or visit a traditional seaside town, Felixstowe, with its newly refurbished Pier and Gardens.

At Shotley you can watch the UK's busiest container port, with huge ships unloading all the time, then nip across to Harwich on the Ferry.

Bury St Edmunds has the lovely Cathedral and abbey gardens, for a relaxing stroll around

And Ipswich, my birthplace, has some fabulous shops and restaurants, and the Waterfront - this is the statute of Cardinal Wolsey when it was Yarn Bombed! There you can also pick up a boat trip down the rive and pass under the stunning Orwell Bridge. The amazing Christchurch Mansion is free to visit and the surrounding Christchurch park is huge. If you are lucky, you might spot Mabel the owl in one of the old oak trees there.

I'm going to be spending the day in Sudbury, where they are launching a new Vision for the future of the town.

If I have tempted you to come here, there is far more information on the Visit Suffolk website.

3 Pink Elephants

I've had a pack of 3 glittered pink elephants with felt ears in my stash for ages, so thought it was about time I used them up - so have made 3 different birth congratulation cards

Each one is in a different style, size and layout,

But I think they are all quite cute!

Masculine Makes

Men are always so difficult to not only make cards for, but also to find the right presents for.

Here's a few cards that could be suitable for men - no flowers, butterflies or pretty accessories on these!

There ones are all left blank inside, so could be used for a variety of occasions.

Sorry - More Cats!

Following on from my last post, I'm afraid here are more cards featuring our feline friends!

I couldn't resist the 'Paws for Thought' topper pad by Hunkydory that I found in The Range yesterday - I just had to have all those cute fluffy cats and kittens!!

Cats, Cats & An Otter!

As a cat owner (or should I say slave), I love making cards with cats on then!

I especially like black or black & white cats, like my own

But just for a change, this last card features an otter!

Sports Mad .....

I'm a great fan of the themed set of stamps that come with Creative Stamping Magazine and this months are a cracker!

So many different sports are featured - including darts, snooker, badminton, hockey and 10 pin bowling

I couldn't wait to have a play with them, when I got them this morning!

Could prove very useful for those pesky Men's and teenager Birthday Cards!

Loads of Llamas

I've had these llama and cactus background papers for a year ( from April 2017 issue of Making Cards) and when I saw a sheet of cute Llama and cactus stickers this morning, I though they would be a great way of using them up!

They were only 99p in The Range and come in bright zingy colours!

So, another small dent in the stash made!