Category Archives: Cards

More pop-up Boxes

Posted on by
Reply

Following on from last week, I thought I’d catch up a it on all the pop-up box cards I’ve made over the last few months. These have become one of my most popular customised order items in the last couple of years.

I have a plastic template for making a box card which I draw around and cut out twice to make the boxes. I can usually get one box out of one piece of A4 cardstock. For these I have been using Hunkydory ink-me cardstock (white) and Kraft card (brown) as it doesn’t crack when scored for the edges. I have also used HD Adorable Scorable in the past. In order to make the cutting out less time-copnsuming and to reduce the amount of hi-tack tape I need, I am also now working on a personal template so it’s only one piece with one side tab to attach.

First up is the box I made for a Swiftie! A 13th birthday card to go with tickets for a concert. I managed to find an image of the set list and the gig poster for the venue to add to the box, as well as adding in some album covers. I used some craftwork cards papers and Hunkydory mirri card and gems to complete the look.

Last year I had lots of weddings to make these cards for and the same lady asked for this one. I try to customise for the recipients as much as I can and this wedding box includes images personal to the couple – wedding and engagement venues as well as hobbies, where they work and the colours of the wedding invitation. Here I used some hammered card for an expensive feel and the foiling is all in silver.

An 80th birthday card for someone that likes bowls, wine and lives by the sea! This was a fun one to make with lots of bright greens and sunshine. Again I looked for image in my boxes of cut-outs and also found some free images online. I particularly love the seagull on the front of this one – probably got his eye on the ice-cream cone!

I really enjoyed making this 50th birthday box as it was for my brother, so I was able to look around for all the things that remind me of him. He’s been a massive Bury FC fan since he was about 5 so I was thrilled to find tiny images of all the club shirts over the years. I basically themed everything around football and added in a few beer bottles, albums and film references. I think he liked it.

Another milestone birthday box, this time for a son’s 40th birthday. I was given lots of ideas to add to this one, mostly games, space and theme park related. The Hunkydory duo design paper pads are great for this type of background too.

I was given lots of photographs to add on to this birthday box along with the hobby of triathlon. Again I have found Hunkydory to be a great source of pop-up pieces and here I have used a running topper set, sporting delightful die-cut book, sporting die set, FTLS stamp set and just my type pad. I finished it off with some Papermania square gems and Hunkydory wheelie paper.

After posting details of the retirement box I made for a teacher, I was asked to make a set of five more. Four of them were very similar to my original, the only difference being the stamped images painted and the colours used. This final one was again along the same lines, but was to include table tennis . For this set I used an old OS map for the background and added in lots of images from the Hunkydory die-cut pads.

Finally, I have just completed a 30th birthday card where I was given so many suggestions and images it was hard to fit everything into the box.

It really has been a summer of pop-up boxes! I hope they were all enjoyed by the recipients.

Time to get on with the Christmas crafting now I think, but in the meantime, have a safe and happy Bonfire Night.

Happy crafting

K x

Summer’s Over, Box cards and painting

Posted on by
Reply

Well Summer is over, half term finished here and it’s Halloween this week! Where has the last three months gone? I hope everyone had a lovely time and is keeping well now the dark nights are back.

So what have I been up to I hear you ask? I know lots has gone on and I have certainly been crafting when I can. It’s been a particularly busy few months for pop-up box cards, so I thought I’d share a few with you.

I was asked to make a special one for a favourite teacher retiring at the end of the last school year, so I thought I’d have a go using some of the stamps I got in a craft haul from FB Marketplace. These are a set of Hunkydory For the Love of Stamps , part of their Nature Watch collection. The other stamp set has large binoculars on but there are to big for a box card.

I chose to do some watercolouring and using my Prism brushmarkers are perfect for this. I don’t have the full range of them yet, but I am slowly building up the collection.

I always get confused over which ink pads to stamp with when using different colouring mediums, so heaven only knows whether I used memento or Stayz-on for these! But the colours didn’t seem to run, so whichever it was, it seems to have worked. (NB: Use the opposite base for the ink to the colouring medium – water-based inkpad with alcohol markers and vice-versa)

I was quite pleased with the finished results here as I haven’t painted for a very long time. It was fun to do and the Premier Craft-Tools Messy Mat was perfect for using as a pallet and to stop me getting water all over the office desk!

Whilst the paintings were drying, I put together my box card. I used kraft card for the box base and a piece of vintage map card from a collection from Hunkydory. I always use red-liner tape for putting these together as they do get some use folding flat and popping up again and this tape holds the box together brilliantly.

Once everything was dry, I cut out the painted images using a circle nesting die and also added some die-cut leaves. Then it was time to put them all together, using some thin strips of acetate for some of the smaller images so they look like they are exploding out of the box. The recipient also has a penchant for pigs, so I found a little pig stamp and added them on to the side panels.

So there you have my retirement box card. It was one of many boxes I’ve made over the last few months.

I’ll be back with a couple of craft hauls in the next few days, so in the meantime,

Happy crafting

x

(I have been back at Parkrun and I have managed to equal my PB of 44:25 twice!)

Another Great Day

Posted on by
Reply

What a week it’s been. I’ve just calmed down from my Bury Show wins and received my Hunkydory magazine. Having a quick flick through and I’ve only gone and won the sketch challenge from the last magazine!

Talk about thrilled and flabbergasted! So I have a nice little prize to spend on their website. I think I’m going to save it up for the Christmas goody box, but you never know as they are bringing out lots of lovely new products all the time and I might just cave from my no spend Summer!

Here’s a close up of my winning card. It was made using the Dreams of Spring collection which I’ve been trying to use up and this design was a great stash buster for some of the little bits left over. It’s a 6×6 scalloped edge card blank, silver mirri and cardstock from the kit. I loved the scalloped circles and they were all far too nice to put on top of each other. I thought this large circle in particular was very pretty. I used a corner rounder on opposite corners to tie in with the scallops and a leaf shaped sentiment I had left.

I really enjoyed putting this together, so much so that I made another one for a friend moving on to a new job.

What do you think?

Time to get cracking on the rest of the kit I think!

Happy crafting

x

Back to a Crafty Challenge

Posted on by
Reply

After a very stressful and distressing week last week, I’m pleased to say I’m feeling a little better. It’s been tough to get refocused as my craft space looks over the devastation, but I am calmer this week . So it’s back to some crafting!

A few weeks ago I discovered a lady on YouTube doing some crafting challenges. I found her when Hunkydory were doing their goody boxes and she had posted some unboxing videos. I watched several of these on the internet so I could decide if I wanted one (or more) this time around. The ones I enjoyed watching most were by a lady named Lauren, so I subscribed to her channel (Lauren M & Co) and found she does lots of unboxing of craft orders, as well as some crafty makes and challenges set by her partner/son/subscribers. Anyway, I was really struck by her weekly challenges set by her partner and I think I might have to have a go at something similar in the future.

One of her other challenges though is to work through an entire kit / paperpad and see how many cards she can make with it. This is something I really need to do as well. I have so many papercraft kits and embellishments that I’m running out of storage space. I’d made a card for a friend’s daughter using some toppers from a very old Hunkydory kit and decided that this would be a great kit to use up. It’s the Dreams of Spring kit and it’s been in my cupboard since around 2013! So it’s well overdue using up.

Peach Flower Rocker Card

It’s a massive kit and I have used some of the concept cards from it several years ago (baskets and rocker cards pictured). There was still a lot left though – 5 foiled aperture cards, 3 foiled decoupage sheets, 3 collage elements sheets, 10 sheets of toppers and 14 sheets of cardstock – so plenty to go at there!

I started out with the aperture cards, just to get me back into the swing of crafting, simply adding a few gems, bows, flowers and sentiments. One of these as already gone to celebrate a young lady’s birthday.

Next I decided to work through each die cut sheet as they came out of the pack. I also set myself the challenge of using up some of my stash of card blanks ( I have lots in a range of sizes) and I wanted to make some different style cards as well. It’s taken me a few weeks so far but I’m almost at the end of the kit (does that mean I can restock?!) It’s been quite good fun to use up so much co-ordinating card, colours and patterns and I’ve really enjoyed finding matching gems and ribbons to add some interest.

To help me on my way I used the inspiration sheet for a few of my earlier cards. What do you think? They’re quite large cards and so used large pieces of the card and papers. I’ve liked how this kit is foiled in silver as I usually use gold, so this has also helped to reduce my stack of silver mirri card.

Once I was into my stride with the cards and what to do with the toppers, I was able to make quite a few cards reasonable quickly Looking through my cards and envelope drawer I found some aperture cards and twisted easels, both of which I had never used before. These were trickier to use as they required some precise measuring (Cat Hollis over on Hunkydory has a trick for doing triangles to fit, but I can’t, for the life of me, remember what it is). I enjoyed making these and choosing the stoppers but they do leave awkward pieces for the scrap box. I’m quite please with how they turned out for my first attempt.

There were also three sheets of florals in the kit which I thought would be perfect for making flower boxes. So that’s just what I did. I hope you like them. They are all ready to be personalised for an event or person. I particularly like this one with the floral panels.

I’ve really tried to use up everything and stretch the kit as far as I can , so I’ve made quite a few smaller A6 cards with a variety of styles. These sizes are great for using up smaller pieces of card and also a way to incorporate some ribbon strips. I used an idea from Laurens’s recent project, putting a couple of card patterns together with a ribbon stirp across the join. I think they work well, although I can’t help being reminded of wallpapering with a dado rail! Is it just me?

I’ve also made a few panels using the card scraps I had leftover. I love making this type of card. I die cut ‘Happy Birthday’ sentiments from some more scrap pieces and I think the extra gems really finish them off well.

My most recent make was made using the sketch challenge in the latest Hunkydory magazine (issue 77) and I really like this style, so I can see me making a few more.

Well I don’t have very much of the kit left, just one piece of printed cardstock, a bag of scraps, a few sentiments and a couple of patterned paper shapes. Time to get my thinking cap on – or I could just move on to another kit maybe? I plan to ask Crafty-teen to pick me something to work through next – wish me luck!

I’ll update with the final card total from this kit soon – how many do you reckon I made?

Happy crafting

x

(Parkrun was at Worsley Woods, time 47:05)

Craft Stall Update and Review

Posted on by
Reply

Hello Again!

This week I thought I’d have a look back at some of the craft stalls I’ve done over the last year or so. I’ve made much more effort to get ‘out there’, although it’s quite difficult trying to balance the place to be with the costs of doing the fair. As my cards and gifts are generally low cost items to purchase, I need to sell a lot to even cover the costs of the table and there have been times in the past when that’s about all I’ve managed and that is very disheartening I can tell you.

Anyway, balancing act aside, I did a few stalls last year. I ended 2022 with a successful stall at the local primary school Christmas fair. It’s a good cause to support, the table money goes to school funds and they ask for a raffle prize for on the day. With it being after school on a Friday, it only lasts for a couple of house as well (and there’s the bonus of only having to transport my things down the road). It’s hard work but good fun and I can always nip home if someone asks for something specific! I could do with more like this.

Into 2023 and I arranged to have a small stock of special day cards in my local Post Office. I’d missed the boat for Valentine’s / Mother’s Day, but I did get a decent collection of Father’s Day cards in there. They went down quite well, so I also did some thank you teacher, Halloween and Christmas cards, and then some Valentines and Mother’s Day cards this year too. The cards don’t sell in huge numbers but as the ad says ‘every little helps…’

Back to 2023 and I discovered that my local Dunelm has a community group and they offer a table at weekends to local small businesses in exchange for a donation to their charity fund. I thought it was worth a try to see how it went, so a booked myself in for a few dates. It’s a long day (10-4) and I was on my own for a large part of it – definitely one to limit drinks! Crafty-Teen (craftykid has grown up) dis accompany me on a couple of occasions but didn’t stick it out all day. I did the weekend before Father’s Day last June in the hope I could sell some sports shirt and trophy cards. I tried to make at least one for every football team I could think of! The weather was ridiculously hot. so it wasn’t the best attended stall I’ve ever had but I did sell some things and get my name out there. I had another table in October, this time in a different location in the store. Once again the weather wasn’t on my side as it was very wet. I focused on Halloween themed items and sold a few knitted pumpkins (new for 2023) and some little tassel ghosts. All in all it was a better day than it had been in June.

At the end of the Summer term I attended the primary school Summer fete again. I always take lots of teacher thank you cards to this but hardly ever sell any which I find very strange. However, the small knitted/crochet characters went down well with the children. I guess small mascots at pocket money prices area winner. It was nice this year as we were able to have the tables outside and it was very well attended (I was starving at the end though as I was very close to the BBQ station).

I had another table at Dunelm in November with a focus on Christmas cards. I find it difficult when to pitch Christmas as lots of people don’t want to see festive things until December, but with making and selling cards I really need to get them out there well before Advent. This was the earliest stall I’ve ever done for Christmas and I launched my £1 card collection which did reasonable well , along with my regular recycled cards. I did a few bundle deals too which seem popular so I will continue those again next Christmas, It was my best stall of the three at Dunelm but it really is a very long day on your own, with long periods of nobody stopping to chat. Thank goodness for some friends dropping in to say hello!

I managed to get a table at Clark Crafts in Ramsbottom at the start of December. I was really lucky to get a last minute cancellation place as I had somehow been missed off the initial listing. I was really looking forward to this one as I had been double-booked for their first market in the Summer, so missed out and it had been really well attended. It was cold! Snow on the ground (and we didn’t get much over Winter) but the Ramsbottom Maker’s Market was on so my fellow stall-holders and I were hopeful. I think the weather must have put people off because we didn’t have lots of customers. I still managed to do ok, but it was a long day and several stall-holders didn’t make their table money back. The highlight was a lovely lady selling Thai curries and she gave us all some of her tasters – much needed on such a cold day!

I finished 2023 with another table at the school Christmas fair and again it was the little knitted characters that sold to the children. It’s a fun way to end the year, but it wasn’t as well attended as previous ones and my sales were down a bit. But it is very local and not a long stand! The time does go very quickly with lots of people to chat to.

Total sales from the stalls:

Cards – 51; Knitted/Crochet Characters – 44; Gift tags – 35; Christmas decorations – 29; Chocolate orange covers – 14; Keyrings – 6; Pumpkins – 6; Hat/Gloves – 5 Ghosts – 4 Poppies – 3

And from the Post Office: Total 20 cards (to date)

Father’s Day – 3; Teacher/Thank You – 7; Halloween – 1; Christmas – 6: Valentine – 1; Easter 2.

So those were my 2023 efforts to get out and about a bit more. It was hard work and I must thank my husband and Crafty-Teen for their help with transport, setting up, lunches and packing up. I have learned a lot about what people are prepared to buy/pay at these small local fairs and I’ve met lots of lovely people (fellow makers and customers). I will definitely continue with the school fairs and need to have plenty of pocket money characters ready for these. I shall keep taking a view on my stock before making a decision on doing Dunelm again, but I have got my name down for Clark Crafts again and I will get my Father’s Day cards back in the Post Office soon. Then it’s back to updating my Facebook page!

Happy Crafting

x

(Last week’s Parkun 44:52)

Shaped card crafting

Posted on by
Reply

It’s been a few weeks since I last wrote, I’m really starting to wonder where the time goes these days. The joys of middle age have been working their magic again – lethargy, brain fog and lack of focus!

Anyway, I’m here currently back in school covering the office for a few hours while the staff have some academy conversion training! Fingers crossed it’s quiet as it’s pouring down outside. I an hoping to catch up with some of the staff here as it’s been quite a while due to all the lockdowns and me leaving the lunchtime rota.

So what else have I been up to crafting wise? Well, Easter came and went quickly. It was great to be able to spend it with my family and after the holidays were cancelled due to craftykid testing positive for Covid (had to happen at some point I suppose). No symptoms and both me and my husband remained negative. In spite of the very boring school holidays we managed a celebratory trip to Hebden Bridge once she tested negative and I arranged a couple of egg hunts, one at home and one at my Mum’s for my nephews. I was really proud of the one I did at home as I wrote a poem of clues based on the nursery rhyme ‘Round and round the garden’.

Crafting wise I’ve been making lots of cards for us at home and some lovely local orders too. Over the last couple of years, I’ve really enjoyed making different shaped cards. I started making handbag cards several years ago, but I have tried to enhance them recently with more elaborate papers and gems as well as paper flowers.

So I thought I’d have a go at some more shaped cards. My Dad plays golf, so this golf bag card was an ideal format for him. I invested in a collection of plaid papers and they work brilliantly for these cards.

My next attempt ay a shaped card was at the request of a friend wanting a shoe for her niece’s 21st birthday. This was a little more tricky as I had to get the proportions of the shoe and the heel so it looked right as a shoe, but also sturdy enough to stand up. It took a few goes to get the basic shape and then it was a simple (?) case of picking the papers and decorations.

I plumped for a sophisticated elegant look using a collection from Papermania – Midnight Blush. It gives such a soft look , I just wish I could walk in a pair of heels that high!

Well, that’s about all for now. Time to work on some ideas for more shaped cards I think!

Happy crafting

K x

Easter Staycation

Posted on by

This week, I should have been in Edinburgh for our family holiday.  However, like everything, it was cancelled, so it was staycation time.  I wish I could say I was a brilliant parent and made the week into something very holiday-like at home, but I didn’t!  Instead I spent the week with the most card orders I’ve had in quite a while, making with what I have in the stash upstairs.

One of my friends mentioned that she needed some special cards for her colleagues at work.  The company she works for sends out cards for special birthdays, new babies and long service anniversaries.  She was struggling to get any in time, so as she lives near to me, she asked if I would be interested in making some for them.  Of course, I jumped at the chance and so I spent this week with most of my crafting stash on the kitchen table, making my way through the list of cards required.

These are some of the one’s I came up with.  Using up some Ribbonbox numbers I’ve had for ages and some large typography stamps from Papermania.  They are all A5 sized and I have tried to vary the orientation.

They asked me for some celebratory cards for long service anniversaries.  So while I was having a shower, one evening, I decided I should make some champagne bottle cards.  My initial idea was for the cards themselves to be bottle shaped, but I liked this idea with the stars and streamers.  I used some green foil card for the bottles and I coloured the stars and streamers using promarkers.

I think they look a little like champagne bottles and kraft card makes quite a good cork.

After finishing that first set of four cards, I was asked for another four to cover events in May.  So there’s a new baby card and I was able to use up some ribbon I bought years ago which I love.  And I still love making these cards with the ‘invisible’ acetate strip holding a dangly pram on.

Then it was a set of three special birthday cards, 40th, 50th and 60th.  I was asked for fairly generic cards, which I actually enjoyed making for a change.  It’s lovely to sort through papers I’ve had in boxes for a long time and then find other’s to go with them.  I  hope the recipients like them as much as I enjoyed making them.

These have certainly kept me busy for the week and stopped me thinking about all the adventures we should have been having in Edinburgh.  It’s true about crafting being therapeutic and a stress reliever – or I think so anyway.

I finished the week with a rush order for a couple of cards for soon-to-be four-year-old twins in Australia.  My brief was animals, the sea or books!  Both had to be similar but slightly different.  I started with a couple of cards I already had made, which have a balloon and a basket full of animals.  I thought having different coloured wording and an extra bow and tag would be different enough, alas different animals was preferred.  So I headed back to a set of decoupage farm animals I bought at the first craft show I attended many years ago.  I think the images in these are so bright and cheerful, therefore I decided to use the frog and rooster.

The photos of these were rushed too and I didn’t have time to get them into my resident photographer (my husband) for his professional attention.  So apologies for the poor quality of these pictures.  However, I think it shows how vibrant the images are.  I added a blue number four on each one before hand delivering on my daily walk.

My final make of the week was a birthday card for a friend’s daughter.  My daughter and I had already made our cards for her, but her Mum wanted something special as it’s to be a birthday in unreal circumstances.

I ordered a crafting set from Create and Craft a couple of weeks ago which included lots of images for mums and daughters (it’s part of a set from Kanban), and I picked one sheet in particular as I know she’s a real dancer.  We settled on this image of the baby ballet shoes and the grown up shoes.

I think the star background paper sets off this image to perfection and I hope she likes it too.

Well I’d better check on my daughter’s school work planning for next week’s return to school. #Backtoschool

Stay safe and happy crafting

x

I’m back!

Posted on by

Hello again, it’s been a long while since I posted anything on this blog, but I am back and hope to be able to post a little more frequently in the coming weeks at least!  Over the last couple of years I have been working in the local primary school during lunch hour, doing admin work on the school website and volunteering to read with some of the younger children.  This has taken up far more time than I had imagined it would and I guess this blog is what I sacrificed.  However, I have been crafting when I can and my facebook page has been updated more often than the website.

I am currently not able to do my lunchtime role in school and the additional admin work I was doing seems to have dried up as well.  Yesterday was the official end of my contract and I don’t predict that to be renewed in this current climate, so I am now back to crafting and looking after the home again full time.  Of course, my daughter is also at home and I am trying to find ways to keep up with her school work as well as keeping her busy and interested each day.  I would love to hear of any activities you think would be useful to share with an eleven year old about to leave primary school!

So while I sort out the rest of the day, here’s a card I made last summer, using Tonic adorables die and stamp set – Kirby and Lulus Wash Day.  I think it sums up how I feel at the moment.

Cute cats in washing

Stay safe and happy crafting.

x

 

Hearts Everywhere

Posted on by

This year the heart has never seemed more appropriate to send to someone.  I think we all need to show a bit more love.  I’ve had a few wedding cards to make for and it always restores my faith in humanity when I’m asked to make a special card.

I’ve made a couple fairy recently for a lovely lady who wanted the colours to tie in with the colours on the wedding invitation she had received.  This first one was a classic cream and navy scheme.  I still love this style with the dangler heart on acetate.

The second one was a much more colourful affair.  I was a bit unsure at first, but I rather like the overall effect of the nesting hearts and borders.

I also had a wedding of my own to go to, as my cousin was tying the knot, with my daughter as her little bridesmaid.  Her scheme was very pastel colours, so I went for a pale pink with floral foiling and added pearls.

Last month was so sad with all the terrible events in Manchester and London.  I was at a complete loss after the Manchester Arena  bombing, I knew several people at the concert and we lost two young lives in the town.  I wanted to do something to help so I joined a group #aheart4mcr making hearts to distribute around Manchester city centre.  It was a wonderful way to show support and care for those that had lost loved ones or sustained terrible injuries.

I sent off 27 knitted and crochet hearts in total and they joined over 26,000 others from all over the world, displayed and then taken home by people coming into the city centre.  I was struck just after the first heart drop to find this lovely heart on my lawn.

Sometimes it pays not to mow the lawn every week!

I thought I’d end today with one of the cards I sent in my order to Hearts for Homes in Ramsbottom, a red button heart for an engagement.  I was asked to make a few new engagement cards and the heart just seemed to fit the bill.  I haven’t done a button based card for quite a while and I really enjoyed emptying my ever-growing button stash onto the table to find the right size and colours.

I’m afraid I’m not very organised with my buttons and ribbons.  I wish I was, but I don’t have very much space really, or maybe it’s not having the inclination to sort them out!  I’ve taken over the box room so I’m squashed in with everything else that hasn’t found a home elsewhere in the house.  I really do need to get cracking on sorting it out though, but I always get so distracted whenever I start.

Oh, well, back to finding some more love and make some more hearts.

Happy crafting
x

2017 is flying!

Posted on by

I can’t believe where this year has gone and it’s almost July already!  It’s been a rather odd year for me and I’ve been busy with all sorts of things that I haven’t had time to sit down and write anything.  So I’ve grabbed a few minutes and thought I’d have a catch up and see what’s been going on.

I had a rather rotten end to 2016 and start to 2017 as my back went and I was unable to stay in any position for long, so I was a bit grumpy (to say the least), well lack of sleep will do that to you!    So I’ve been trying to do some back strengthening exercises every day to help, but it still twinges every so often.  I also spent several weeks on physio and hospital check-ups following my broken foot last July.

Anyway, I seem to be hospital free for the time being (fingers crossed) and I’m back to my weekly tap class which is great fun.  I’m also back crafting again and have spent the last few weeks and months busy making all sorts of items for orders and for our own use at home.

I ended last year making loads of legwarmers for the girls at dancing, and this year has continued the trend.  Since Easter I’ve been knitting frantically, furry wrist cuffs and legwarmers for some the girls taking part in a ‘Cats’ number both for the annual dance show and for competitions.

These feel lovely when knitted up, but depending on the yarn used I found them quite difficult to make.  The white ones were made with Eskimo yarn and that knitted up quite nicely, but I used some eyelash yarn that was really difficult to keep count of my stitches.  They did all look lovely on the girls though and made the outfits.  Alice has also asked for some now as she’s obsessed with white!

So I’ve beenknitting quite a lot over the months, and managed to get in a bit for my family.  I always make the children something to play with at the end of the egg hunt we do at Easter, and this year was no exception.

This year the three children found a knitted egg cosy character with a chocolate egg inside.  These are made from a free pattern of Jean Greenhowe that I’ve ad for ages and never got round to making up before.  They are easy to do and they were very popular, so I introduce you to Holly, Eggy and Steven!  They certainly has plenty of adventures on Easter Sunday, poor Steven was lost several times, but he was eventually found and went home with his new best friend!!

Easter also involved quite a bit of baking which was shared with family, friends and neighbours.

Mother’s and Father’s Day meant a lot of card crafting and my large owl cards were very popular.

I made these in a variety of papers and love the different effects they create.  I also enjoyed making the triangular backgrounds and took this further making some cards for men.

I love the monochrome set of card and toppers and when matched with the Hunkydory rainbow mirri card they really shine.

For Father’s Day I made a collection of cards for Hearts for Homes in Ramsbottom.

I fancied doing some more origami and made these using an old Papermania set of men’s papers, but I had to do some owls too and loved using these old maps.

Well it’s time to head off to work now, but I’ll be back soon with some more ramblings of a middle-aged crafter!  Have a great day.

Happy crafting

x