More July makes

A card for our dancing teacher. . . . . .

A card for my Aunt – a keepsake of her visit . . . .

A card for DH’s aunt’s 80th birthday

Happy Birthday Paul

Today is our dear friend Paul’s birthday.

He liked his card (he opened it early!!) – phew!  So once again Paul, have a very happy birthday!

Where did July go??

Apologies for the lack of blog posts but July simply seems to have disappeared – in my defence, July was a busy month.
I managed to finish the decorating that I had started (despite the cats helpfulness!); recycled an old denim jacket of mine; dealt with the usual end of school year fall out and took some time out for my aunt’s visit – oh, and I made some family/friends cards.
So, where to begin?  I actually made something for myself.  I had an old denim jacket that was in dire need of renovation.  I had some spare denim from converting various jeans into shorts and thought I would have a go at re-inventing my jacket.
I am very pleased with the result and now I have a jacket that I can wear.

Father’s Day

A belated Happy Father’s Day for yesterday.  DH had a lovely day – a cd from DS, another cd from our 2 cats and his favourite meal in the evening.

I made 2 cards for DH: 1 from DS and one from the cats (I know, how sad am I!).  I also made a card for my FIL.

DS wanted his card to incorporate a cupcake (mainly due to my recent bakes!)

I made this card from the girls – I based it on an eye test chart.

This one was for my FIL.  He is a keen gardener, so I thought it would be nice to make a card with a deckchair in the garden (relaxing on Father Day sort of thing).  I even included a miniature newspaper.

Anniversary card

I am now able to show the anniversary card that I made last week, as it has been sent and received.
















Similar in style to the engagement card (see previous post), but this time I added two silver horseshoes and some handmade paper roses.

Engagement

I always have a list of cards to make in addition to items for the shop.

This card is a special one, well, all engagements are special, but this one has a story behind it.  It is for a friend who I have known for 40 years!  We started school together when we were 4!  After leaving school we lost touch but Wendy found me on Facebook.

Imagine my surprise when she told me she was getting engaged to somebody we had both been to school with – how lovely!

 

Card information:

Dark blue aperture card blank embossed using Sizzix texturz “Lots Of Love”

Names were cut from light blue card using Sizzix decorative strip alphabet “Wingo Zingo”

Here’s wishing them both every happiness

The exam

Just over a week ago we took our silver dance exam.  We had to dance 4 ballroom and 4 Latin: waltz, quickstep, swing fox & tango; cha,cha,cha, rumba, salsa & jive.  A little fanfare please – we PASSED.  Our marks were comparable to last years, although this years exam was more difficult as we now know more steps.  We equalled or bettered last years marks and I was overwhelmed (and very pleased) to see we had three 9- between us.
With the exam out of the way and with lessons not starting again until September we can now look forward to a summer of dancing (see previous post) – I can’t wait.
Thanks again to DH for being a great dancing partner and we are both looking forward to starting our third year, especially as we will be learning the Paso Doble. 

I'd also like to thank everybody for their kind messages of support & congratulations - they were much appreciated.  Also a big thank you to our son and our fellow students, who were absolutely fantastic supporters on the night - you are a nice bunch x x x x

Last dance

This week we had our last dancing lesson for the season.  As it was the last lesson, we were all asked to take along some food.  I decided to make some muffins.



We had a lovely evening and we are already looking forward to when we start again in September, as third years.  That’s not to say that we won’t be dancing before then – we have our exam (soon), various dance cafés during July & August, free dancing evenings in June, technique lessons in June and the opening ball in September.  So really, we don’t stop dancing at all!

I also decided to make a card for our lovely dancing teacher – he has to put up with a lot from us (or should I say me), so I thought it would be nice to say thanks.



Based on the Union Jack (long standing joke as we’re the only Brits in the class!), I made my flag base from unusual colours.  I then embossed it using the Cuttlebug folder – “thanks”.  The letters were cut from purple card using my Sizzix alphabet decorative strip – “Wingo Zingo”.

Well, best get on as I have an engagement, anniversary card and 2 birthday cards to make, plus I want to use my craft robo oh, and I’ve just remembered that I need to make a father’s day card, as well as making new stock for the shop – what fun!

In the meantime  - happy crafting!

Anniversary

Our dear friends are celebrating their anniversary today and as usual I made a card for them.
I wanted to do something a little different.  I started with one of my favourite stamps – a vintage style bride and groom.



I began by adding colour to the stamped image using my lovely Copic markers.  I then punched lots of tiny, tiny flowers and from these I made the groom’s buttonhole and the bride’s bouquet and headdress.  I used the left over flowers for the background (in the style of confetti).
The image was then trimmed, the corners rounded and I punched two holes for the ribbon.  Colour was added to the edges of the image with a Copic marker.  I threaded the ribbon and before tying the bow, stuck the completed image to a pale blue card blank.  I then tied the bow, trimmed the ends and the card was complete.

May birthday

I made this for a friend’s birthday this week.  Rubber stamping, colouring with Copics, pretty papers and flowers with gem centres all combined to make this card.

Royal Wedding

Something new

I love learning new techniques.  Over the last week or so I have been trying to improve my rubber stamping.  More to the point, I have been trying to improve the colouring of my stamped image. I have tried coloured pencils, paints & pens but have had limited success . . . . then I came across Copic markers – all I can say is wow (and why didn’t I try them before??).

I love the way that you can blend the colours (though this took a bit of practice!!)



I am pleased with the results that I have got so far and I am looking forward to practicing a bit more with these markers.

A handbag

As regular readers know, my MIL keeps all the cards that I make for her and my FIL in a handbag.  Occasionally, I try to get a handbag somewhere into the theme of the cards that I make for her. (Mother’s Day 2010)

This year, I made a handbag to use as the gift wrap for her present.

Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to those celebrating today (our Mother’s day isn’t until May here).

Here is the card that I made for my MIL

I made each rose – time consuming but well worth the effort.

Dinner gift

It is customary here to take flowers or a nice pot plant when going to friends for dinner.

We had been invited to dinner by our newly married friends and we decided to do something a little different to the norm – but it still involved a pot plant.

1 year on

It is a year today since we said goodbye to our MLC Winnie.