Thank You Birds

 

I'm not quite ready to start making Christmas cards as it's still too warm, so thought I would make a couple of Thank You cards to keep ready for the right occasion.

They also used up some old images and papers from Making Cards Magazine that have been hanging around a while!

ATC Swaps ??

 

I love making and swapping ATC's (Artist Trading Cards), you know, those little cards that measure 3.5 x 2.5 inches. Over the years I have joined in lots of swaps with other card makers who enjoy making something a bit smaller and specific. Its lovely to received what other people have made along the same theme, colour or technique.

However, over the years, many of the swaps have closed down or faded away and now I only do 2 monthly swaps with the ladies who I met through the Trimcraft forum (now also unexpectively closed down). Do any of you crafters know of any other UK based monthly ATC swaps I could join ????

Irridescent Cardstock

 

Following on from my last post, I spotted a pack of very pale blue cardstock printed with irridescent wildflower silhouettes in Hobbycraft, so I had to buy it!

I already had some leftover scraps of holo card, so die cut some butterflies, birds and sentiments to go on the cards

They do look good together!

Wildflower Silhouettes

 

You can't go wrong with a birthday card made with the silhouettes of wild flowers and grasses!

So, I snapped up a copy of Die-cutting Essential magazine when I saw they had a selections of 5 different flower and grass dies this month, far cheaper than buying the Tim Hotz set for £18!

You can even win a set over on Christina Griffiths blog!

Honey - Natures Medicine

 

Honey really helped when I had a bad sore throat with covid recently, so I made a birthday card featuring  a bowl of honey and some bees to recognise its value!

Summer Time

 

A couple more cards made from the lovely summer images from Making Cards Magazine, ideal for this time of year!

Covid Hits

 Sorry I haven't posted for a while, but covid finally caught up with me. At first I thought it was a bad cold as the first test was negative. I had a really bad sore throat, which meant living on honey, strepsils and ice cream for several days. Thankfully back to full health now.

This meant that the latest issue of Making Cards Mag has only just been used. 

The bright, sunny holiday themes made me feel quite cheerful again!

Jubilee Celebrations

 

Hope all my (UK) friends are enjoying the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations, the bunting is up on my house and I have have used loads of blue, white and red ribbons from my stash to add to the decorations!

Beside the Seaside

 With the warmer weather now, it's time to start making some Summer themed birthday cards

I've always been glad that my birthday falls in the summer, it's a good excuse to have a trip out or BBQ, and I never had to go to school on my birthday!

However, you could never guarantee the British weather and some birthdays have been washed out due to torrential rain and thunderstorms!

Handbags & Boots

 

I came across some old foam stickers of handbags and  boots  recently. I think they were a freebie from a magazine ages ago, so it was time to use them!

Plus use up a couple of old handbag shaped sentiments from Craftwork Cards too . 

POW!

 I invested £2 in The Works on these Superhero stickers to help me make some cards suitable for young boys and teenagers, always tricky to find a suitable subject for them!

The bright, vibrant colours meant I was also able to use up some more of my odd scraps of paper

I also add a few drops of bright lime green Nuvo Drops to the next card!

More Feathers

 

For ages now I've been hunting for my favourite feather shaped die. I haven't been able to find it for months and had to rely on stamping out feathers or using a smaller die to decorate my cards (like on the card on the left)

Then I picked up a pad of background papers, and there it was, stuck to the back! I was so pleased and made a couple of garden bird themed cards to celebrate.

Party Invites

 

It's my Dads 80th Birthday soon, so I was volunteered to make the party invitations. I've only got to make 15, but I wanted them to each be similar, but different. So, I used a mix of die cut balloons, champagne glasses, birthday cakes and stars in a variety of colours and mirricard -  it also helped to use up some scraps of card from my stash!

More Scraps

 Another birthday card made up of contrasting scraps of paper - I need more inspiration, as there is still a big pile left - might need to pop over to Pintrest to see what other people have made! 

Cat & Dog Stickers

 

I picked up this cheap booklet of cartoon cat and dog stickers for only £1 at the Works this week.

It's been useful to use up some scraps of paper - my piles of off-cuts are ever increasing!

Also produced a slightly different style of cards to my usual.

Lucky Car Boot sale

 

Yesterday I want to my first card boot sale of the year - lovely and bright, but boy, was the wind cold!

I picked up an unused 6x6 paper pad called 'Lets Celebrate' by Love to Craft for 50p. On another stall several rows away I found packets of matching tags and bows for another 50p! Great to make these bright birthday cards.

But, the best buy of the trip was a Hornsea Pottery mug with a weird face on it that cost 75p. After checking it out when I got home, I found it was quite rare and sold it online that evening for £35. 

Snap!

 

I found this pack of round snap cards in a local charity shop for £1 - I think they were from a MacDonalds kids Happy Meal promoting the recent Space Jam movie.

I thought they would make great toppers for kids birthday cards

They are bright, cheerful and feature many different Loony Tunes characters!

Still Dreaming!

 

 Yet more cards made from the fab Japanese dreams stamp set.

The koi carp were stamped onto a piece of paper which I had experimented on when playing with the brushos powder back in April 2019!

More Japanese Dreams

 

I'm really enjoying playing with these oriental stamps from Creative Stamping Magazine

and using the the orange/yellow/pink colour combo when colouring in images with my promarkers

Japanese Dreams - Creative Stamping Mag

 

I couldn't resist picking up this copy of Creative Stamping mag on a trip to Hobbycraft - it was the Koi Carp and the Good Luck Japanese Character that appealed to me.

So, of course, the first cards I made with the set featured them. The coin with the hole in the middle I have had in my stash for years!

Next I'm going to try out the Mount Fuji Scene and the paper lanterns