Michelle's birthday today

Today is the birthday of my golfing friend. Michelle, who left the UK

to live with her partner in Spain.

We have been out there and visited them a few times,

 have the odd chat on Facebook, and exchange Christmas

and Birthday cards.  Michelle is a crafter and when she live over here

we would have regular crafting sessions with various friends, most weeks.

Here's the birthday card I made for her.

Quick update

Hi everyone, just a quick note to let you all know that I am now home after two weeks in. Benalmadena Costa Del Sol as I am sure you must have been wondering why I haven’t been
visiting you for that time.
I am suffering with a horrid cold so haven’t done much at all, but hope to get back to normal
as soon as possible, looking forward to catching up with you all soon !
xx

Yetr another Joyous Noel!!

By now this infamous DSP needs no introduction -

I am sure you would have recognised it immediately!

So beautiful  - I rest my case!!

xx

Upcycled Tag

This tag has been upcycled into a Thank you card for causes.

I think it started life off as a Training swap, but not sure from whom. 

But...  I am sure they will be pleased to know that its been

given a new lease of life!!

More Joyous Noel

You will very soon see that the Joyous Noel Speciality DSP

has become a firm favourite for featuring on this years Christmas cards.

Here's another card using these beautiful papers!

You can really see the copper foil catching the light on this one!!

I also used the Sprig Punch with White card and Copper Glimmer paper

on here, plus a couple of strips of Copper foil card.

Petal Promenade yet again!

If you think that this card looks familiar,

you have seen this design before -

Maggi and Ger's Anniversary card  was just the same.

What I did was use my Stamparatus to produce 4 cards 

with the same floral stamping on, then just changed the sentiment.

4 cards made in a fraction of the time!

Another Thank You card for causes

Here's yet another of the cards for causes that have been sent off 

to the Contact the Elderly Charity at the end of last month.

This is an upcycled Team swap
I cut the front of the card off
and  glued it onto a 7" x 5" card blank.
I then stamped  the From the Heart sentiment at the bottom.
Love the colours on this one!

------------------------

My special day!!

Today is my special day and I wont be crafting today -

because its my birthday!!

Heres one of the cards I have received .
Will post more later - too busy today!!

Happy Birthday to me!!

xxxx

Joyous Noel

Today, a really clean and simple card that features the

Joyous Noel Speciality Designer Paper

Really simple but so effective dont you think!!

Bit Box Birthday

Heres another Bit Box Birthday card to go into my little box 

for emergency cards at the last minute!!

Should eliminate belated birthday wishes!!

Its another Ann's birthday today!!

As the title says,  today is Ann's birthday.

Ann is a crafting friend of mine who comes to my

Saturday morning workshops -

so I have to make her a card that she hasn't seen!!

Here it is!!

Card open for display

Card closed flat for posting

Angled view showing mechanics

Hope you are having a lovely day Ann!!

Leo's birthday card

Today is the birthday of my Great Nephew - Leo.

He is my Sister-in-in-law - Chris's Grandson.

You will all have heard me talk of Chris

my crafting partner in crime and my very special friend.

Anyhow .....

here's the card I made for him.

Happy Birthday Leo!!

Maggie and Ger's Wedding Anniversary

Had to make a really special card for my Sister Maggie

and Husband Gerald's Wedding Anniversary, as we usually go out

 and have a meal with them to celebrate the occasion!

This year is no different!!

Here's the card

Have a wonderful Wedding Anniversary!!

xxxx

Signs of Santa for Hayden

Here's another version of the Signs of Santa card  

this one is for - would you believe - Hayden.

He is the son of my Neice who is also my God-daughter, Emma.

Thought he would enjoy this little cutie.

Different colour again - no two will be the same!!

Am doing really well with my Christmas cards, should have them
all done in good time if I keep this up!

-------

Ann's Birthday

Today is the birthday of another of my golfing friends

from my old Golf Club at Sadhill - this time its Ann's.

Here's the special card for this special lady.

I used to call her my Fairy Golf-mother, because she always 

looked after me when I was learning to play - and she continued to

to look after me once I had got the hang of this complicated game, 

always on hand to help and guide me.

 A truly lovely lady !

Jackie's Birthday today

You may recall that my good friend and ex work colleague Jackie,

spent a good part of the last six months in and out of hospital.

I sent her a couple of card bombs whilst she was in, and a few 

more cards in between!!

Its great to send her a card that celebrates her birthday,

rather than one wishing her a speedy recovery!

She really is making excellent progress and we are back to 

our monthly visits, with me going to her house as she is not currently driving.

Here's her birthday card.

Jackie loves White and Lavender, so I thought that this foyyed the bill
and whilst being very simnple it was elegant!
Happy Birthday Jackie!!

Signs of Santa for Eva

I am trying to get ahead with my Christmas  cards, so I am doing variations on themes, 

rather than trying to do loads of different cards - here's Eva's card.

(My Great -neice and Chris's Grand-daughter)

You saw the basic card that I made at Training published earlier.

Here's the updated one with the personalisation!

I have just realised that I havent glittered it!!

There's still time before it gets posted!!

Another Thank You card for causes

I have made quite a few thank you cards  - to send to the charity

Contact the Elderly.

Here's another one of the design where I cut various elements of a card,
 then mix and match them back together again,
In have done several of these. its amazing how different they can look.

I have tried not to make these too girly as quite a few of the volunteers  are male.
I am, for once using beautiful DSP instead of just admiring and stroking it!!

-----------

Janet's birthday

Today is the birthday of one of my Tuesday Class Ladies - Janet,

she has been coming to my weekly classes since September 2009!!

Here's the card I have made for her.

Yet another card featuring the Beautiful Petal Promenade DSP.
You dont need to add much at all to this as it is fine all on its own!!
I cut the square of DSP , matted it onto another square of Fesh Fig cardstock,
and stuck these onto a 14.8 cm square card cut from Pink  A4 card stock.
Then I simply stamped the flowers at both sides using the floral splash
from the Wood Words stamp set - inked in Fresh Fig,
then added the Happy Birthday sentiment.

Love these papers!!
Happy Birthday Janet!!
Have a super day!!

91 Days to Christmas

Inspired by another card that was made by Julie (my Stampin' Up! Mummy)

I cased the card she had made and personalised it.

Can you guess who this is for?

Its for my great-nephew Dylan - he's my baby Sister Anne-Marie's Grandson

I think that he will love this!!

(I do !)

By the way........ today its.......

thought you might like to panic with me!!

Jeans Tower card

A long time ago Chris and I made a "Tower card" and one of my

Tuesday class ladies expressed an interest in making one.

 I loaned her my card, and she very kindly wrote out 

the cutting measurements to make one of them, so that 

anyone else who wanyed to make it didnt have to do all that measuring.

One of my Wednesday class ladies, Jean wanted to make a Christmas version,

so I sorted out some retired Christmas papers for her to make a prototype

for herself.  This is the card she made.

Card stood up for display

View from above showing construction

Hasn't she done a fabulous job!  Well done Jean.

----------

Dashing Deer

Thought that I would share  this Dasher card that Chris and I made

a couple of weeks ago at our house
 - we wanted to do a series of  Dashing Deer Bundle cards,

so there are still plenty more to share!!

Tranquil Tide, Copper and White is the colour combo on this.

The copper loooks gold on this photo, but its because of 

the reflection on the Copper foil card. 

Dasher and the corner flourish are cut in Copper Foil card

using the matching Detailed Deer  Thinlits dies.

Layering circles Thinlits dies used to cut both the scalloped copper 

and white  circles, and thewhite circle is embossed with the

 Swirls and Curls Textured Impressions embossing folder.

The ribbon is the Merry Merlot and Copper 5/8" reversible ribbon.

All of the above are available in the Autumn Winter catalogue.

I think this card will be one of my specials!!

You never know - you might just get one!!

----------

Glynis' birthday

Today is the birthday of my good friend Glynis, 

who was my doubles partner at my old Golf Club at Sandhill.

We dont see much of each other these days, 

but still keep in touch with birthday and Christmas cards!!

Featuring the beautiful Petal Promenade DSP,
it really needs very little adding to this to make an exrea special card.
I used Punpkin Pie card for the mat and the flourishes in the corners,
which were from the Detailed Deer Thinlets Dies.
The sentiments were computer generated - its a style I use a lot -
you may have noticed!!
So Glynis - hope you have a fabulous day!!

Cards for causes - a bit box card

As you probably know, our team of independent Stampin Up Demonstrators, 

Julies' Jems, each month make cards and donate them to a worthwhile cause or charity.

I make best use of my bit-box to make cards out of the bits of card

 and DSP or ribbon, that might otherwise be thrown away, or in my case

 - they are usually far too pretty to be thrown away!

So they frequently end up in batches of cards destined for such cards for causes.

Here's one I made today,

This is a really CAS  card - a 7" x 5" base card

matted and layered with Black and Tempting Turquoise (retired) cardstock,

then a panel of DSP  that I couldnt bear to bin, 

but couldnt tell you it's origin as it's years old!!

I think this has come together really well.

I have another piece of this DSP so I think that I

will make a thank you card of the same design for a different charity with that!!

Nothing ever gets wasted in the Martin craft room!!

----

Hearts come home Christmas card.

Yesterday was my day to go to Chris's for the day

to craft together and have lunch.

We decided to make Christmas cards using the 

Hearts Come Home stamp set and dies-

heres the first card we made!

Its a very simple card, the background was embossed with the 

Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossinbg folder

Layering Ovals Framelits dies were used to cut the 

scalloped oval in White and the Blue oval that the house,

tree and hill are glued onto.

The sentiment inked in Night of navy on White cardstock, 

was then matted and layered on NON cardstock.

Can you see the white glitter snow?

Think it just finishes it off nicely!!

New baby congratulations card

Last week my nephews wife Heather gave birth to a baby girl

and I just had to make a personalised card to mark the occasion

and something to put in Taylor Rose's memory box!!

Here it is

I wanted to do something a bit different from the usual

pink and white that I normally do for baby girls,

 so I thought the lovely pastel yellows, cream and pinks 

of this DSP made a nice change!

Congratulations Adam and Heather - cant wait to meet Taylor Rose!!

-------------

Monica's angel, made by Janet

Today, one of my Tuesday class ladies, Janet, brought me a project

that she has made for her Christmas table this year.

She tells me that she originally saw this on Monica Gale's blog,

that's my Stampin' Up! Nannan!!

This is Janet's angel

I have searched Monica's blog and found the original one

which you can see on her blog 

HERE

but I have copied the original picture from Monicas blog
and here it is below!!

Aren't they both just adorable!!

They are of course for table favours on Christmas day,
and you can get a decent size goodie inside this Petal Cone box!!
I won't ever part with this die!!
Thanks Monica for the inspiration and Janet for sharing it with us!!
I am sure more of the ladies will be wanting to make this golden oldie!!

Another Signs of Santa card

Heres the second card that we made at Training at Julie's,

using the Signs of Santa stamp set,the other Wednesday.

Its a gatefold card - here it is closed

And here is the inside

I think its brilliant - so much so I just had to order the bundle, 

so watch this space ....... there will be more!!

Another bit-box card from Chris.

Chris has done a series of bit box cards and used them as examples in class,

of what you can make with small pieces of card,  DSP etc.

Here's one I am going to case with different papers and colours.

This one was made from two separate scraps of DSP ,an offcut piece of embossed card,

some left over diecuts from another card . A greeting was simply stamped and punched out

- et voila -  a super Christmas card!!

Aaron's Birthday

Todays is my nephew Aaron's birthday,

not sure exactly how old he is, I am ashamed to admit ! 

I know that he is 2 months older than Ellie,  my eldest grand-daughter

 - think she was born in 93 so she will be 25 in November,

so he must be 25 today!

Its DL size and I cut a Black base card,

Then cut the Happy Birthday Thinlit die sentiment in White card 

and separated the Happy from the Birthday so that it would fit above Aaron's name.

Aaron was cut out of the Regals DSP 6" x 6" Papert stack using a Shaded Spruce design.

I finished it off with some green Glimmer paper stars.

Think this is quite suitable for a young man!!

Happy Birthday Aaron!

Hope you are having a super day!!

Lovely as a Tree

I am getting some serious Christmas Card making done at the moment,

 not masses in number, but quite a few designs I have tried out

 from various sources of inspiration, this was on Pinterest.

Please see the important note at the end of this post.

It is a beautiful eclipse card I am sure you will agree-

here's my version.

The stampset is of course Lovely as a Tree, stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black.

The word Noel is cut out using the Large Letters Thinlits dies,

this is then raised up using double sided adhesive strips.

The sentiment is from Star of Light.

Beautiful in it's simplicity dont you think!

-----

NB: I saw this card on Pinterest - where it purported to be by Craftsbyriley.com, 

but when I tried to go to this site, I was advised that this was an unsafe site!!

So all I can say is that I have cased this card, but dont recommend 

you trying to see the original!

And here's the card I made for Uma

As I said yesterday, it was the birthday of both Amanda and Uma,

so here's the card I made for Uma.

Two birthdays today

Two of my Stampin Up fellow Demonstrators share their birthday today!

Amanda and Uma.

Today I will share Amanda's card with you and tomorrow Uma's

Here's Amanda's

Card folded flat for posting

Card stood up and opened for display

view from above showing  mechanics of Z fold

The Happy Birthday sentiment was stamped onto a diecut

Stitched labels Thinlit  cut in Mint Macaron 

and stamped in Tranquil Tide ink

I used the fabulous First Frost Speciality DSP -

A special person deserves special papers!!

Hope you are having a fabulous day Amanda !!

xx

                                                       

Mistletoe Season

Last Wednesday at Team Training, Julie

shared with us these two cards which she did for a class

in late August and may well be repeating sometime soon.

The class featured two cards where 5 of each card

is made and the Stampset (worth £16) is included for £20!

Here's my two cards cased  (with permission from Julie)

Real Red, Mossy Meadow and Pear Pizzazz
Under the Misteltoe DSP

Real Red, Old Olive and Buffalo Check stampset

Both cards use the Misteltoe Season stampset

And here are Julies original cards featured on her blog

HERE

Chris's Get Well for Lucas

Here's the Get Well card that Chris made for Lucas when he was

ill the other week with Appendicitis.

I wanted to share this with you as I was really impressed with the diecut balloon

 and the DSP that Chris used for the die cut!!

The stampset is "Lift me up"

and the matching thinlits "Up and Away"

The DSP is some retired papers, but the result is so effective 

-dont you agree!

Beautiful Blizzard!

Here is a card that I have cased from my good friend and Stampin' Up! sister

Amanda Bates from the Craft Spa.

I have done this with her permission, and if you want to see more

of her creations take a look 

HERE 

This card features the stamp set Beautiful Blizzard and the Blizzard Thinlits dies

 which are available as a bundle with a 10% discount.

This also features the greatly appreciated return of the Shimmer paint -

Frost White has been used on the border of this card, but its available

in Champagne Mist, Vegas Gold and Bright Copper!!

Cant wait to get my mitts on these two new colours!

The foiled snowflakes have been die cut using some lovely blue

foiled card I found in my bit box, whilst looking for something else!

I love this card- hope you do too!!

Thanks for allowing me to case this Amanda - love it!!

Dale's birthday

Today is my baby sister Anne-Marie's partner - Dale's birthday.

Heres the card that I made for him.

It's a faux Washi tape card !

The colours are Blueberry Bushel and White

I stamped a piece of Whisper White with the Buffalo Check stamp

then cut a couple of strips.

I cut some strips off the Blueberry Bushel 6x6 In Colour paper stack

in different designs .

I then shaped the strips top and bottom. taped them together on the back,

then stuck them onto a mat of Whisper White cardstock,

then onto a layer of BB cardstock.

This was then stuck onto a 7" x 5" Wite base card.

The small happy birthday sentiment fron the Happy birthday Gorgeous

stamp set was stamped in BB ink directly onto the card.

I stamped the large sentiment from  Blended seasons

in BB ink on whisper White cardstock, then stuck this onto a layer of BB cardstock.

This was then stuck on top of the coloured strips.

Whilst I have deliberately cut these strips of papers, 

you could make this using pieces from your bit box!!

I am really pleased with this - mens' cards are really hard to do!

More of the Dashing Deer Bundle

Another card that Chris and I made together a couple of Wednesdays ago, 

using the Dashing Deer Bundle . This has certainly proved to be an 

exceptional  value for money purchase - we have made umpteen cards using it!!

This card featrures the Joyous Noel Speciality DSP
which has fabulous copper foiling on it - think you can
see the effect on the photo.
Also we used the Merry Merlot &v Copper reversible ribbon for the bow.

I think this is one of my favourites.

This has been cased from another Stampin Up Demonstrator -
Mary Deatherage and you can see her work
HERE

Signs of Santa

When I saw this stamp set in the Autumn Winter catalogue,

Signs of Santa, I thought that I didnt need it!

That was until I went to training on Wednesday and Julie

had us making a couple of cards with it!

(I am ordering it tonight!!)

Heres the first card we made

Isn't this just too cute - I will be sending this to my great-nephews and nieces!

The young ones will love it!! I do!!

Frosted Floral -Thank you Andy!!

On Monday I was invited to  play golf at my friend Andy's Golf Club.

We had a team of 4 and had a great game, and scored well, but not

well enough to come in with a prize.

I really enjoyed the day and the company.

Here's the card that I gave her.

A really CAS thank you card - using the Frosted Floral Speciality DSP-

as the name implies this paper has a lovely frosted sheen to it - yummy!!

The sentiment is cut using the Thank You thinlits and Tranquil Tide DSP.

Thanks again Andy for inviting me to play!!

For my Stampin Up Mummy

Here's a card that I made for Julie, my Stampin' Up! Mummy.

I am sure you have read a lot about her here on my blog,

as she is such a wonderful role model for our team. 

Always there for us, readily giving help, encouragement,

and in my case sometimes a little nudge in the right direction.

As a result of me being reinstated as a Silver Elite Demonstrator in August 

Julie was reinstated as a Platinum Demonstrator, so to mark

the occasion I made this card for her and took it to training

Below is the inside of the card with the most approprate sentiment -

the Stampin' Up! Statement of the heart

Many congratulations and totally deserved and earned!!

Night in Bethlehem

This will be my special card for Christmas this year,

 so if you get one of these, you know you are special!!

This is the front view of the card as you would take it out of the envelope

This is the view of the middle of the card, as it would be displayed on the mantelpiece

illuminated by a Battery operated night light

This is a close up of the left hand side two panels

and a close up of the right hand side two panels.

The colour combination is a simple Night of Navy and White.

I used the Night in Bethlehem bundle of Stamps and Dies,
plus an old retired stamp set
"Come to Bethlehem."

This is the same design  as I used for my special card last year.

If you missed it

Follow this link to see it here

------