A Tale of Two Christmas Cards

Hi Everyone,

Brrrr it's getting cold isn't it, winter has hit big time.

Last time I shared a vintage Christmas card for my lovely mum-in-law and this time I am going to share the card I have made for my mum. They are both very different just like our mum's.

Mum looks nothing like this pic but she does love her red wine lol!

The background papers are from Debbie Moore's Inspiration magazine and the image is a copyright free one from the Internet. Ribbons etc from my extensive stash ;-)

Have a great Sunday and forget it's Monday tomorrow and back to work

Take care

Gill xx

Christmas is Coming

Hi Everyone

I hope you are getting used to the dark nights but at least the weather is still good for November.

I suppose it is getting to the time to start thinking about Christmas and this year we are going to spend Christmas day with my daughter and her family so I am quite excited. Christmas excitement is not usual for me as I am usually a bit of a bah humbug.

Anyways here is one of my cards for this year. I went for a vintage theme for my mother in law so hope she likes it.

The beautiful image is from the Lost Family mixed media card stack by Indigo Blu, The flower dies are from Tattered lace and leaves X cut and the backing papers were printed from a cd a long time ago so I can't remember which one

I keeps saying I love this and I love that but to be honest if I didn't love the finished article I would never share it 

Take care until next time

Love

Gill xx

It's All About the Bride

Hi Everyone,

I am helping my cousin organise her wedding next July and loving every minute of it. So far I have made the save the date cards and her bouquet and just want to do everything now!

With this in mind I got to thinking about special thank you cards for the bridesmaids, grooms men and special people who help and support. I am sharing them below with you and I have used a lot of bits in my stash including tattered lace dies. I also thought that a really personal card with a special message is as good as a gift if you are on a budget.

I am so happy with the cards that I just had to share all of them with you.

I would love to hear what you think

Take care till next time

Gill xx

Flowers and Inks

Hi Everyone,

I have loved experimenting with inked backgrounds recently and have a couple of cards to share with you using different techniques.

For this one I have used Craft Card and coloured with Memento inks (Morrocco, Peanut Brittle and Toffee Crunch) I then stamped the edge with stamps from Craftwork Cards. I matted the stamped image of the flower from Crafters Companion Textures range and stuck it at a jaunty angle.

This card is so simple but I just loved the effect that I had to make two. It is simply masking off a strip at the side of a DL card and again using memento inks (autumn colours as above and the blues are Tim Holtz distress inks in milled lavender,weathered wood and shaded lilac) Don't be shy with the ink layer them up to get a lovely deep shade. I then stamped the card with the flower and sentiment from Woodware (Sunflower doodles).

Both simple but I am sure the recipients will be delighted whoever they may be.

Take care

Gill xx

Happy Halloween

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all well. I have had a few health issues the last few months but all good now and I have loads to share with you over the coming weeks.

I think I am nearly done with my Christmas cards but you never know and I think it is a bit early to share them with you so lets talk about Halloween today.

I have created a small tray to hold the treat sweets and decorated a milk bottle and straw using Crafters Companion papers from the free cd in the Autumn magazine. The freebies you get in the magazines are amazing not to mention the projects you can craft along to. The Autumn mag is on sale for just £4.99 on the web site at the moment.

I am not a big Halloween fan really but loved creating this, I am sure my Grandsons will love it.

Take care

Love Gill xx

More Cards and a Bit of Journalling

Hi Everyone

I hope all you mums out there had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday. I met up with my mum , daughter, brother and families for brunch which was lovely. After that a visit to the Mother in laws where I made her a new hanging basket of silk flowers and the rest of the day making some custom retirement cards.

I can share the cards with you because they are all for blokes in work who won't even know I have a blog.

The script for this one was a man who loves to sail. Bit obvious eh!

This one was a little more difficult as it was astronomy and try as I might I struggled with inspiration 

As for the third one I can't believe I haven't taken a photo. What an idiot I am?

Along with the cards I have also been indulging in my new love of Journalling and joined the Mission Inspiration group on Facebook. This is my first mission

I am actually attending one of Mike Deakins workshops on Saturday and am really looking forward to it

Oh and I mustn't forget I have made three design team pieces for Personal Impressions but you will have to wait to see them when they are published in the next few weeks. Check out their blog if you haven't already there is some fabulous makes, videos and inspiration on there. 

Anyway that's it from me for now. I'll be back soon

Take care 

Love 

gill xx

The Final Touches

Hi Everyone,

Today we are putting the final touches to my craft area so as soon as we are done I will show you some pics. The hope is I will have a card making area and an altered art area to work in as I do need more work space. I am praying everything still fits on the shelves we are putting up but you know what us crafters are like.......... WE JUST NEVER HAVE ENOUGH!

I am going to share a couple of samples I made for Personal Impressions recently that were shown on Hochanda when Linda was demonstrating. I can't describe how excited I was for Linda and seeing my makes on TV. I am truly blessed to design for PI as I have been taken out of my comfort zone by not having a choice of products. I look forward to receiving my box of goodies so I can push myself a little further.

All the pictures here are using products available at Personal Impressions

This is my gorgeous grandchildren, daughter and son in law.

The speech bubbles are stamped with stamps from PI and the heart is stenciled with Tim Holtz stencil and distress ink

This little drinking jar has sparkly peel off letters and gold bling

This wedding card again uses lovely sparkly peel off letters along with Sweet Dixie Dies, white card and gold organza ribbon

Thanks for dropping by today

I'll be back soon (I promise!)

Love Gill xx