Last Card of 2009

Well this is the last card I have made this year for the challenge for today Day 306 at 365 Cards which was to delve into your stash and use something that you've had for a long while.

The wire word is from a Papermania pack that I have had for about 18 months or so. It comes with small silver brads and I have swopped them for some Queen & Co spotty brads that I have also hoarded and not used.

The base card is pale pink and I used an offcut of metallic pink card that I had previously cut a Nestabilities mat from so made it like a frame for the card. The cake is a glittered diecut, the flowers are various Primas with a sequin flower, K& Co self adhesive pearl and a Papermani glittered brad. Last but not least I have finished the corners off with a little glue and glitter.

The use of glitter and bling entitles me to enter it into challenge #48 for Crafty Creations too :)

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my followers and all my blog friends a wonderful New Year. I hope it will bring you all you wish for and more.

As for me, 2009 has had more than it's fair share of troubles, but I am grateful to have a wonderful man by my side and we are stronger than ever. With the help of some very special friends I have got through it all and I am looking forward to a much brighter 2010.

Crafty Cardmakers 11th Challenge

Boohoo, I'm suffering from a lousy cold/flu bug and have felt awful since Boxing Day and was struggling to be able to do my DT card for Crafty Cardmakers this week so asked Vix if she would like to post this card which is one I made earlier in the year.

The theme for the last challenge this year is to use your favourite items on your card.

The papers I have used are from Clare Curd's Papermania pack. The pack was huge so I gifted half of it to my crafty buddy Sarn who I made this birthday card for. In what has been a tremendously difficult year for me on many levels Sarn has been a wonderful friend and I wanted to make a special card for her birthday.

The other favourite item I used is the Cuttlebug butterflies, especially the dotty textured one used here. I had wanted this set for a long time and earlier in the year had the opportunity to do a crafty session at The Glitterpot with some forum buddies and had saved up some money to be able to have a bit of a spend up so they were a must buy puchase :)

The central panel on the card was made using a scoreboard to make a grid design and then I sewed small black beads at each intersection.

With the help of challenges and sketches my card making has really come on a long way in the last year and I have made a lot of improvements, but this is one of the cards I am most proud of and it is quite befitting that it uses some of my favourite items of this year.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the cards that are uploaded for this challenge. It is always interesting to see what people's favourite crafty items are, who knows they could become my new favourites next year LOL

Happy New Year to you all, I wish 2010 to be a happy, healthy and prosperous one for you all.

Last Christmas Card

This is the last Christmas Card I made for our very good friends Garry and Hazel. I used a Kanban concept sheet from a QVC kit and the majority of it was punch out decoupage shapes what have been layered with 3D foam. It's all glittered and lovely, really am impressed with these sheets :)

The card base is an A4 sheet of shimmer cardstock and I have used various snowflake peel offs from Docrafts/Anitas/Papermania. The sentiment panel is also from the sheet.

I have been able to link this up to the challenge for 365 Cards for Day 259 which was to make a card featuring or inspired by snow. Quite apt considering it is snowing in Birmingham at the moment.

Happy Birthday CJ

Wow, where did December go? One minute it was the 1st December, then it was Paul's birthday (10th) and then it was our Christmas do and before you know it, it's Christmas Day. The whole month has flown by in a blur. Thank goodness I started to make Christmas cards early this year or else they would not have been posted (albeit in the very last posting day.....)

Anyhoo, Christmas has come and gone and I am now full of a snotty, headachey cold so it seems like the perfect end to what has been a pretty crappy year.

Christmas day however is also our nephew's birthday and this one was special as he was 13. He is the only child I have seen from being in his mummy's tummy to actually being born and we've watched him grow up. He's had his trials and tribulations like a lot of kids, but he is growing up into a young man and it is really weird to see. Not having children ourselves was a conscious decision and one I still stand by, but I am happy to see what was a troubled kid turn out into a really good kid who still loves his huggles with Aunty Mandy. I hope he doesn't grow out of that too soon.

I adapted a card I had made earlier in the year and personalised it with his age. Papers are Dovecraft, stars are from my stash and the peel off letters and chipboard numbers are from Brenda Pinnick kits from QVC

Crafty Cardmakers 10th Challenge

It's a sketch challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers and as I didn't have a lot of free crafting time on my hands I decided to use it to make my husband Paul's birthday card.

I used the sketch as a layout inspiration for an A5 card. The base was made from an A4 sheet chocolate coloured cardstock with papers from Basic Grey Cupcake pack.

The matted layers were cut using Nestabilities dies. The stamped image is from Lili of the Valley and is the perfect image for my car game mad hubbie's birthday card. I have coloured the image with Promarkers and Sakura pens

The gift parcel in the top corner is a cardstock sticker from the paperpack. The sentiment in the bottom corner is a Letraset rub on and I have added Stickles glue to add some highlights to the patterned paper.

Paul loved his card as he thought the image was perfect for him, it's the little things like that that makes me so happy when I make personal cards.

I've also been able to complete an older 365 Cards challenge for Day 154 which was to incorporate a mode of transportation in your card.