Good Bye & Good Luck!

Following on from from my previous post, I got stuck in and used those fab Honey Doo stamps! Managed to make 11 different cards with those sentiments, some to keep and some to sell.

A few Hot Air balloon cards and then some with kites 

A couple of Light bulbs for New Job cards

some bright, modern and funky cards

And then something completely different from the rest!

Leaving or Getting a New Job?

I found it really hard to find the right sentiment to make a card wishing someone good luck in their new job. Despite having hundred of stamps, I only had one that said JOB and it was tiny!

So I searched around and found these sentiments from Honey Doo Crafts which fit the bill perfectly! Plus they were reduced to only £2.99, so I treated myself to the Birthday Star stamps as well. I discovered that they are a local company based here in Suffolk and they arrived next day on 1st class delivery.

I'm going to team them up with this hot air balloon die from Papercrafter mag.

Wild & Free

A couple of cards made with some of the stamps I bought last month with background papers from the Hunkydory Twilight Kingdom pad the I bought  back in June 2017!

Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady

It was a year ago that Simply Cards Magazine had the 'Country Diary' themed freebie papers and stamps - still using them up!

Wedding Anniversary

Having just celebrated my 35th Wedding Anniversary, I realised that I needed to make some anniversary cards to put in my (ever growing) charity card box. We should have been in New York this week to celebrate, but it was not to be. Instead a visit to the seaside, to walk  along the prom and eat fish and chips was the best we could do. 

Looks like it will be a long time before we get the money refunded, so can't make any plans. In so many ways, this will be a year to remember!

Nuvo Jewel Drops

I bought this bottle of Nuvo Jewel Drops (in Pale Periwinkle) on impulse to try out, because I liked the colour. They dry translucent and look just like little droplets of water, so pretty!

I'm now digging out some cards I made a while a go, to add a bit more embellishment. Might have to buy another bottle to see the different colours - sea breeze and  rosewater sound tempting!

Stamping Around

Got some of my under-used stamps out to make these cards - I really must make the effort to do more stamping, after all I have amassed hundreds of them over the years!

Really lockdown has shown me that I don't need to buy anything other than card stock and double sided tape for years to come. I have boxes of papers, ribbons, toppers, flowers and embellishments to keep me going for ages - I just need a bit of inspiration and mojo.

Totally Tropical

I treated myself to a couple of magazines last weekend - Creative Stamping and Papercrafter, both of which had tropical themed flowers, leaves and animals as freebies.

The freebies included lots of clear stamps, die cut shapes, an embossing folder and loads of backing papers.

and of course, the magazines had plenty of ideas on how to use them to make  some bright and zingy cards!

So I've had great fun in making some new additions to my every growing pile of lockdown birthday cards.

Three of a Kind

3 men's birthday cards, all made with stripy backing paper, sentiment, die cut balloons and co-ordinating ribbon - simples!

A Bit of Recycling !

It was Husbands birthday recently, so when the cards came down, I snaffled them to chop up, reuse and recycle.

And put a few more Masculine cards in stock pile!

Steam Punking

Despite what everyone else seems to be doing, I haven't spent this extra time in lockdown baking bread and cupcakes, hosting quizzes on zoom, growing all my own vegetables, making a quilt or working out with Joe Wicks

No .... but I have made loads of birthday cards in all sorts of different styles and themes!

Today I have been steampunking (is a that a real word?)

More Cat Cards

Yes, more cat themed cards on this post!  You can never have too many card cards can you?

Cat Cards

As a cat lover ( I currently have 4 treating my house as a hotel), I love making cards with cats on them and consequently have lots of cat stamps.

So it was time to dig out those kitty stamps. I also had a nice book with cat photos in it ( but my daughter had written in it), so rather than throw it away, I salvaged some of the pictures to make cards with!

What a Quick Sale!

I've been making the most of being stuck at home and making lots more cards than usual.  This one was made from freebies in Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine from a year ago.  

As my pile of cards has grown, I have listed a few on eBay to sell. This one sold within 3 hours of it being listed! I was surprised, as it is a fairly basic card, but hopefully the buyer will be pleased with it.

A couple more cards made with my Brushos backgrounds - this one using a freebie stamp from a magazine from several years ago.

This cute one uses some old stickers from my stash. The lockdown has certainly given me the chance to use up some bits and pieces that have been gathering dust for quite a while!

Playing with Brushos & Cosmic Shimmers

Plenty of time at the moment to play with and use some of that stuff that sits at the back of the cupboard! So today, I got out those little pots of Brushos and some Cosmic Shimmer mists to get messy with.

I made over a dozen different background sheets, using up some old stamp album pages that have been kicking around for ages.

And started making a few cards for the charity pile

This one uses for the pink card mat, an old pocket file that I rescued when lots were bring thrown away at work.

And this black mat was recycled from the inside of a box of chocolates!

Time to experiement

With time on my hands, there is no excuse not to play around and experiment a bit! I'm using different colour schemes and matching up toppers with backgrounds I might not have considered before. Are you?

Piles of Papers

I keep the unused parts of freebie paper sets from magazines in poly pockets in 4 ring binder files. They are roughly divided into Vintage, Modern,  Men's and Animal & Bird themes.

All this extra time has made me go through and try to use some up! These 2 Good Luck cards use the Up and Away set from May 2015 edition of Making Cards.

Whilst these pretty fairy cards come from an old freebie from Cardmaking & Papercraft Magazine - however I still have dozens of sets to go through, at least it helps to pass the time whilst staying at home.

Exciting Discovery

I was carrying out some long-overdue clearing out of the cupboards and discovered tucked away at the back of one, this box full of old ATC's !

They date between 2008-2010 and were from so many different crafting friends - many of which I lost touch with when Docrafts closed down their forum a few years ago. I used to participate in 7-8 different swaps every month and there were some fab ATC's in this box. I've had a great time looking at them and remembering those talented crafters.

Bits & Pieces

I really have far too many little embellishment bits and pieces left over from other projects, so this weeks challenge was to try and use some up that have been hanging around for TOO LONG.

A small sense of achievement after I made a few cards! I've also been selling off some of the stamps that I never use on eBay to make a bit of space.