A Very Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years

Hello to any kind visitors who find the time to drop by over this busy time of year. I have some lovely handmade cards I've received in the last couple of days which I want to post but haven't yet had time to take photos of but I will as soon as I can.

In the meantime, I just wanted to send all of you my very warmest wishes for a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I hope you all have a lovely time over the next week or so doing whatever you love best and I also hope that the New Year brings everyone good health and happiness (with a good measure of crafting pleasure thrown in, Lol).

If anyone has to travel (like we do tomorrow) take care and stay safe and warm.

My love and hugs to you all.

Lesley XXXXXXX

Christmas Cards (in the nick of time)

I was really beginning to think I might have to buy ALL my Christmas cards this year but I've managed to redeem myself a little. I'm finally 'getting into the Christmas groove' and I'm hoping to get a few more done before it's too late.

The first card I'm going to share is one I made for the swap we have on our Graphicus Guild Yahoo group. Janet received it this morning so I can post it on here now. I used little squares of BP from my Guild paper pack and stamped and gold embossed little Christmassy images taken from all the different Elusive Images Christmas themeplates I have. The greeting on the layered Nestie Labels is from one of the most recent monthly Guild stamps. Some of the little squares were fixed with DST and some with 3D foam and I used a thicker 3D foam to attach the greeting in the middle because I wanted different levels but I don't think this shows up in the photos very well. The two little poinsettias are sprayed with Glimmer Mists.

This first photo shows the different levels best but the colour is not too great as the light was poor.

These next two photos show the details a bit closer and the colours are truer too except that the base card is a lovely pearlescent gold.

This last photo was taken before the poinsettias were attached as I was waiting for them to dry but wanted to take the pic before the light got worse.

What do you reckon to my lovely snowman? He's an early Christmas gift from my Mum 'cos she knows I love Christmas ornaments. The lovely cottage scene lights up with a beautiful soft glow from the inside.

This second card is my first 'easel' card and I used a Santa image and co-ordinating paper from a pack I bought over 2 years ago. There are quite a lot of different images with Santas and children in the pack and after I bought it I hadn't a clue what to do with them (does anyone else do that?). Anyway, I finally came up with something partly inspired by some cards Helen Chilton made last year using the same paper pack. I also used my gorgeous Tim Holtz Reindeer Flight stamps which I bought from Graphicus at the Open Day a couple of weeks ago.

Well, it's a bit late but I think I've finally broken through the block I had over Christmas cards and I've got all the stuff prepared to make about a dozen similar to the one above. Hope I can get them done over the next few days!

I've finally managed to download all our holiday photos today too but they need a lot of editing so they'll have to wait a little while before I bore you with a few of them, Lol!

I hope you are all better prepared for Christmas than I am but that's what comes of going away in November. I know, I know, I should have done it all before we went!

Thanks for still visiting.

Lesley Xx

Worth waiting for? I hope so!

My apologies to every kind person who keeps popping back to my little web space to find ............. it's the same old, same old post but I have finally managed to finish a project. I did make a card I was very pleased with last week but forgot to photograph it before I passed it on to the person who ordered it, Doh!!!! So that one was a missed posting opportunity.

Before I post my own project though, I'm going to share another couple of things from my lovely Son. As mentioned in previous posts, he and his little family had to stay with us for about 8 weeks and while he was here it was his wife's birthday so he asked if I would help him make her a card. Actually, all I did was show him the gallery on the Graphicus website (fabulous place full of inspiration) and he picked a card he liked. I then showed him how to stamp and emboss, gave him a few pointers about matting and layering and off he went.

This was the result and I think he did brilliantly.

His second project was another pencil portrait, this time of his own beautiful little daughter, Alexa, which he did for his wife, Krystle's birthday too.

This is the original photo

And this is the beautiful drawing which captures one of Alexa's gorgeous expressions perfectly.

I'm very proud of him, er ........ does it show?

Now on to my own efforts. Last Saturday I went up to Graphicus for my final workshop from this block. It was called 'Hanging about with Lynn' and once again I had a fantastic inky playday with guidance and wonderful inspiration from Lynn Robinson-Hunter. There were 9 of us and we each made a wall hanging using all sorts of goodies and techniques and it's amazing how different each persons canvas was. I blended Distress and Dye Inks, stamped on canvas, card and tissue. Hand drew and coloured with Adirondack pens (lovely on canvas). I used metallic paints and texture paints, Pearl Pens, Paint Dabbers, Glimmer Mists, screens, copper foil with TSS molds and heaven knows what else. It was great! As usual, I didn't finish mine at the workshop but was enjoying doing it so much I couldn't wait to finish it at home. Although nearly everything (and there was a lot) I used can be purchased from Graphicus, I did have to use a couple of Lavinia stamps because they were the only ones I had at home that were suitable for what I wanted but I do know Graphicus have perfectly suitable ones available on their website from their own stamp range or the others they stock.

As there were so many items, I'm going to list the ingredients below for anyone who's interested in what I actually used so now here are the photos of .......

MY SECRET 'DREAM' GARDEN.

Ingredients :-

Dream sentiment - Tim Holtz Mini Ornates

Tattered Angels Blossom Trees

Tiny trailing vine by Clarity Stamps

Wild Meadow )

DREAM word )

Fuchsia Plate )

Let Your Heart Sing) All these are Elusive Images themeplates

Tattered Angels Glimmer Screens

Distress Inks

Adirondack Dye Inks

Metallic Paint

Viva Ferro Metal Effect

Paint Dabbers

Glimmer Mists

Pearl Pen

McGill Robin Punch

Crafty Individuals Chipboard Frames

Copper Foil

TSS molds

All the above available from Graphicus

The wrought iron gate stamp and the leafy spray are from Lavinia stamps.

The ribbon, beaded trim and Epoxy Dream definition sticker (Tim Holtz) were from my own stash.

Phew! I think that's the lot!

After so long, I hope you like it 'cos it will be a while before there's another post as I'm off on holiday next Friday and not only have I not finished anything else to post, I haven't the foggiest idea how to schedule them! If you are kind enough to leave me a comment after Thursday it will show when I get back from sunny (I hope) Orlando. I'm off to see Mickey & Co with my little Granddaughters!

Take care everyone.

Lesley Xx

A Birthday Gift from my Son to his Sister

As I am still finding it difficult (nay make that impossible) to find crafting time and space because of my lovely 'lodgers' I'm going to post my son's work again. I like showing it off anyway, Lol!

This time he did a pencil portrait of my daughter, Jenna and her daughter, Isabella, as a birthday gift for Jenna at the beginning of the month. I think it's absolutely beautiful and so did Jenna.

This is the original photograph.

And this is the lovely drawing

Oooh, I wish I could draw!!!!

Golden Wedding Anniversary Card & Box

Last weekend was the 50th Wedding Anniversary of my Hubby's Aunt and Uncle and this is the card and matching box I made for them.

Unusually for me, this card has no stamping whatsoever. I used a lovely pearlescent pale gold base card and gold mirri for layering and all the flowers, leaves, hearts and butterflies were punched from different shades and types of gold papers.

I thoroughly enjoyed making this card not least because I knew Aunty Janet would be expecting one handmade by me. She always says she loves receiving my cards to see what different designs I come up with and she keeps all the Christmas cards I've made for them and gets them out every year. Ah, isn't that nice of her?

I've had a really lovely day today. My friend Jo and I have been to the Artisan show, which was sponsored by Craft Stamper and Beads and Beyond magazines. There were some wonderful exhibitors there including the brilliant Leandra Franich (PaperArtsy) and we watched some fabulous demonstrations and made a lovely Stampbord brooch at a 'Make and Take' with Katy Fox, the Editor of Craft Stamper and Helen Chilton, whose work both Jo and I greatly admire. For anyone interested in jewellery making there were some wonderful items available. Some of the beads were stunning and there was a wide range of equipment as well. Unfortunately, it appears that attendance had not been good and I have to admit, it was very quiet today. Now this was lovely for us as shoppers as we could easily get round to see all the goodies and watch all the demos from the 'front row' but I am sure it was not so good for the exhibitors and must put in jeopardy the prospect of another Artisan show which is a great shame. We found the venue easy to find and accessible by road and although I drove us there today, Jo had checked out trains and buses and could have got there quite easily if I hadn't gone. There was also a very nice restaurant area with a pretty good menu available, including cooked meals at reasonable prices. I really hope that they do try again.

At last - Something to post!!!!

I've had a funny time during the last bit of August and Sept, some of it lovely and some not so. The 'not so' was a nasty bout of some 'flu like' virus which made me feel really poorly for several days and has left me with an annoying cough but, thanks goodness, it seems to be going away now.

The good parts though were brilliant! Over the past few weeks I've been to three workshops at Graphicus in Barnard Castle. With Lynn Robinson-Hunter it was called My Secret Garden and then I had a day spent half with Glenda Waterworth and half with Lynn which involved all things Christmassy. The last one was with Glenda and was called Glimmer Misterie, absolutely fantastic. I have another two workshops booked in October and can't wait. I will do blog posts about these wonderful workshops at a later date, but I need to work on the projects some more before that.

In the meantime, this is a card I was asked to make by a lady I used to work with, for her Sister-in-Law's 40th Birthday. It's quite a simple card really which mainly involved stamping and embossing with Copper Kettle Detail EP and Crystal clear EP but I was really pleased with the result. The stamps I used were from a design sheet called Butterfly Garden which is from The Stampman's own Aspects of Design range.

Other items I used were one of my Nesties labels dies, ribbon, butterfly charm, peeloffs for the sentiment and a lovely clear sparkle border peeloff.

This is a closeup of the lovely intricate butterfly which I also stamped randomly over the background with Versamark and embossed with Crystal clear EP.

This is the insert which I again stamped with images and sentiments from the same Butterfly Garden themeplate.

I'm not too happy with the light quality of these photos but I had to take them without the sunshine on the card otherwise the mirri card glared and most of the detail was lost.

Makes from a recent Sheila Oliver Class

On the 18th August I went to a cardmaking class with my crafting buddy Jo. The tutor was the very talented Sheila Oliver. This is the second of Sheila's classes we have been to but for this one we indicated to Sheila the techniques we would like to have a go at and she tailored the class specially for us. Two other ladies joined us on the class and we had an absolute blast! Customers going into the shop (Monk's Den at Ashby-de-la-Zouche) downstairs kept asking what all the noise and laughter was. It was an absolutely brilliant day so thankyou Sheila and if you check out her blog here you'll see what I'm talking about.

This first card was using Cuttlebug embossing folders on card and chipboard shapes. We used a mixture of inkpads, acrylic paint, Rub n Buff, gilding flakes, embossing powder and stickles to colour and texturise the various elements.

The second card was beautifully simple and so effective. Again we used CB folders but before placing the card in the folder we tapped embossing ink inside the folder and then embossed. We then covered the embossed area with clear sparkle EP and heated. Result - gorgeous!!! We used a single large snowflake folder for the top part of the card. I absolutely love this Christmas card.

The third card uses CB folders as well but this time with wax paper. We ran a piece of wax paper through the CB in a folder and then ironed it onto a piece of semi-gloss card. We then blended ink onto the card and the wax created a resist. Finally we stamped and embossed our image.

The final card used a totally new technique to me in the final stages. First of all we built up a collage of images and once we were happy with it we covered the whole piece with Bond-a-web and heated it with a heatgun until it bubbled and the bubbles burst. This meant there were areas where you had the shiny melted Bond-a-web and bare areas of card where the bursted bubbles were. We then blended ink over the whole piece and, of course, it settled into the bare areas to leave you with a sort of faux rusted tin effect.

I you click on any of the photos you can see a closeup of the techniques used, especially the sparkly snowflakes and the faux tin. Sheila's classes are so enjoyable and she's a really good tutor. I only wished we lived closer so that we could get to more of them.

Finally, I want to show a pretty pair of earings which were a RAK from Kathryn. She and I shared a series of workshops at Once Upon a Stamp earlier this year. She's been making some really beautiful jewellery and hasn't been blogging very long so please pay her a visit here and leave a comment.

Thankyou for the gift Kathryn, I shall enjoy wearing them.

Not My Own Work (Unfortunately)

Life has been pretty hectic at our little homestead this week. I've been helping out at my old job over their holiday period and I had a lovely crafty day with Jo on Wednesday. We went to Once Upon a Stamp (which is very close to me) for a good browse and some crafty shopping, called for some lunch on the way back and then spent a smashing afternoon playing with shrink plastic, acetate, gold leaf, Inkadinkado Snow Fall set and some of my new Elusive Images Christmas stamps. We didn't actually finish a card (too much chat and not enough work) but had all the bits ready to put a couple together. I will blog mine when I get chance to finish them but...........................

In the early hours of Wednesday morning I got a tearful phonecall from my lovely DIL. They had a pipe burst and the lounge had a huge hole in the ceiling with water running everywhere. Absolutely everything was soaked including all the electrics so I had to go fetch her and little Alexa back here whilst my son stayed to wait for the emergency plumber - thank goodness for home insurance! The outcome is that they will be staying with us for a couple of weeks at least, which is lovely, but not condusive to my getting much crafting done.

So, as I haven't made any completed projects recently I thought I would share someone else's work with you. My son, Jamie is quite a talented artist (he has a Fine Art Degree) and although he is not employed in any artistic field but works as a Personal Development Outreach Worker, a couple of weeks ago they had an Open Day so Jamie did some graffiti demonstrations but onto boards instead of walls. The following are photos of the pieces he did plus a couple of pencil drawings of children in the family (taken from photos).

I'm very proud of the artwork Jamie produces when he has time and keep trying to persuade him to set up a blog but unfortunately, at the moment, spare time is in short supply so I'm enjoying showing it off instead.

A couple of weeks ago I did go to a cardmaking class with Sheila Oliver as the excellent (and lots of fun) tutor and as soon as I have time to sort the photos of the cards we made I'll post them.

Creeping round the Boss!

This card had to be a bit special because it was for my boss, Lol! Actually, I retired at the beginning of May but was asked if I could help out over a difficult staffing time they're having just now, so although Jayne is technically my boss she is and has been a very good friend for a number of years now.

Jayne is also a friend who, although she isn't a crafter herself has always taken great interest in the things I make and has been very encouraging so I like to make sure her cards are a bit special.

This design is a card within a card. The outer card is folded gatefold style and the inner card is a normal C5 fold. For this card I used a precious sheet of my Graphicus Guild BP pack in a beautiful grey. It almost seems to shimmer like silk. I'm not going to bore you with details of the cutting and stamping as I think it's fairly obvious what I did but if there's anything anyone would like to ask me, please feel free to email or leave a question in the comments. I did also stamp the image I have used below and another sentiment into the inside of the C5 fold card.

Once again everything, stamps, inks, etc., I used on this card are available at Graphicus but you have to join the Guild to get the paper. They have just brought out a beautiful new cd though, called Decadent Brocade, and there are several paper designs on it that are very much like (if not exactly the same) the one I have used, and lots of others that are absolutely gorgeous.

I was really pleased with this card because I thought it suited Jayne's taste perfectly and I was right because she really loved it.

Birthday Card for my Crafting Buddy.

I'm well and truly hooked on the Heidi Swapp Mega Masks at the moment and I used one of the smaller circles on the sheet to create a card for my lovely friend Jo.

We met on the internet just over a year ago through our mutual love of Elusive Images stamps and our admiration of the company's owner/designer Glenda Waterworth, whose blog Artylicious, we both visited and commented on frequently. After emailing each other several times and talking over all things crafty we met irl at a Graphicus workshop and really got on well together. Since then we email each other on a very regular basis, supporting and encouraging each other in our 'crafty' endeavours. It's great to be able to discuss anything to do with craft and know that you're not boring the other person to death (as happens sometimes with my OH).

As well as emailing we do try to have craft related outings every so often and again, it's really good to be able to share the excitement of going to a workshop or a craft show with a good friend and I look forward to many more of these outings with Jo.

I know she's going to be feeling embarrased but I just have to say how much her emails lift my mood if I'm feeling a bit down in the dumps. She always manages to put something in that makes me smile and I know that she has at least one other crafty friend who thinks the same. So thank you Jo and a very Happy Birthday to you for last Sunday.

Now on to the details of the card and I'll try to be brief. I used DIs to blend a fairly light background to the circle and did position a small bird and branch mask (again Heidi Swapp) but I ended up almost obliterating it with stamping

.

All the various stamps I used are from Elusive Images (available from Graphicus) and I stamped the little bird on the branch twice so that I could make it nice and bright and then cut it out and layered it onto the card. I then used Glossy Accents to give it shine. I stamped and embossed the bird with the curly tail and then coloured it with H20s, cut it out and positioned a feather behind the tail before adding it to the card on foam pads.

I blended chalk ink on the pretty block circle stamp and cut it out with my Nestabilities and then stamped the sentiment and inked the edges. Finally, I arranged the little flowers and added a bit of bling.

I think just about everything I used on this card I bought from Graphicus except for the basic card stock and the feather and self adhesive diamante stones which were in my stash.

List of EI stamps used : Damask Blocks

Design-a-Tree

Live out Loud

Curly Birds

Sentiment is from a Graphicus Guild exclusive stamp plate.

Thankyou Sheila!

I had a lovely comment the other day from a card designer I really admire, wanting to pass on a couple of awards to me but it turns out I had recently received them from elsewhere. I thought I would still do a quick little mention on here though so that I could include a link to Sheila's blog and say thankyou. Well it's blogs really as she has two and they are both great and full of inspiration, beautiful work and amusing bits of her life.

My friend Jo and I are going to Monk's Den where Sheila works, next Tuesday for a full day's class with Sheila that she has set up specially for us covering techniques that we requested. If you live within visiting distance of the shop at Ashby-de-la-Zouche I would recommend Sheila's classes. The tuition is great and so are the laughs. We had a brilliant time on our last visit - which is precisely why we can't wait to go again.

See you on the 18th Sheila!

A Birthday Card for a Friend

This card is a bit different from my usual. It's quite simple and although it took me a while to decide what to do (I'm a very slow designer) it didn't really take long to make as there is not much stamping.

It is a card for a friend and ex-work colleague and I knew she wouldn't really appreciate anything 'arty' with lots of inking and stamping so I decided to try and do something just a mite 'chuckly'. The stamps are two by Penny Black that I got from the Paper Mill Shop last week and I stamped the first sheep, once onto semi-gloss card and once onto masking tape. When it was dry I masked it out and stamped the second sheep. I then added just touches of colour from some Adirondack inkpads and coloured the sheep in with a Sakura Souffle white pen. I gave it 2 coats using a circular motion to make the surface a bit rough and 'woolly' looking. I then cut out the image and a scalloped mat using my Nesties.

For the rest of the embellishments I used my Fiskars Threading Water border punch, some little flower punches that have been languishing at the back of a drawer for ages, my Swiss Dots CB folder and some peeloffs that I colour co-ordinated with permanent markers. I just used scraps of paper from my bit box (how good am I?) for the little flowers, inked the edges of the larger petals, layered them and added blobs of Stickles in the middle.

When I'd finished I was chuffed to bits with it and it was a big hit with my friend when I gave it to her yesterday.

Another Lovely Award

I am really lucky to have such nice people visiting my little bit of web space and I have made some lovely 'virtual' friends through it. Crafters are just the best and I've been given this award by a lovely lady called Christina all the way over in America. She has a really pretty blog with some wonderful papercrafting so please give her a visit.

I am supposed to pass this award on to 5 other people but I'm really sorry I just cannot choose five. Everyone who visits and leaves me such encouraging and heartwarming comments, plus having beautiful and inspiring blogs of their own, deserves the award so please accept it for yourselves with my love and thanks for your support.

Lots of love and hugs

Lesley Xx

Two New Awards

Just a little post to say a big thankyou to two lovely ladies who have each given me an award this week.

The first one is from Judith who has a wonderful blog here and makes the most beautiful cards. As Judith had to come up to our neck of the woods today, my friend Jo and I got a chance to meet her and we had a lovely day spent chatting, eating cake and crafty shopping. We also got a chance to see some of her beautiful cards IRL. Pop over to her blog and take a look.

The second award is from Lisa who is wonderfully encouraging by leaving lovely comments on my blog. Her blog is here and it is more than worth a visit to see her wonderful creations and equally wonderful photographs.

I have found that crafters in general, are such really nice people and are generous with their praise and encouragement and always willing to share their knowledge and experience so I would like to pass these awards on to anyone who is kind enough to visit and leave a little message on my blog as a thankyou from me.

My Mum's Birthday Card and a Doggy Trauma

My Mum is 81 years old next Sunday and I have to say I hope if I get to her age I'll be in the same sprightly condition. Somehow, I doubt it because she puts me to shame now sometimes, Lol.

Anyway, this is the card I've made for her and it's safe to post as she doesn't even have access to a computer let alone own one. She does delight in sending me text messages though, in text speak I might add, from her mobile phone.

Originally, this started out as an A4 card and I used my new Mega Circle masks by Heidi Swapp. I had just finished all the blending, flower masking and stamping and then ....................... I dropped a blooming DI inkpad onto it. The air was somewhat blue, I have to admit. The only lucky part was that I didn't drop the inkpad onto the actual masked circle so I decided to cut it out and mount it onto another card rather than waste all that work. As you can probably see from the detail close ups, I blended DIs onto the background first then used a HS daisy mask and blended some more, removed the mask and did a couple of layers of stamping using stamps from the EI DL sized Lily themeplate and the Fantasy Floral A4 themeplate. Then after cutting the circle out I distressed the edge a little and then inked lightly all the way round. I then used a complete contrast DI in Broken China to stamp the humming bird by Inkadinkado which I versamarked all over, clear embossed and cut out. Using the same contrast ink I stamped quite a few flowers in two sizes again from the Fantasy Floral themeplate, cut them out, curled the petals a little, layered arranged them onto my card before fixing with silicone glue. The pretty circle block is from EI again and is one of their newest plates called Damask Blocks along with the sentiment from their very useful new Birthday Words plate. I cut this out using my scalloped circle Nestabilities. I also punched some leaf fronds from Core-dinations card using my Evergreen punch by Floral Punch Craft from The Hobbyhouse.

Almost everything I used for this card can be purchased from Graphicus/Elusive Images, my favourite craft shop as everyone knows.

Before I finish this post I'd just like to share a little bit about the rather traumatic week we've had with our little Snoopy. On Monday evening Snoopy thought he could have a little chomp on a nice fat bumble bee and live to tell the tale. Within seconds his face started to swell and before long he looked more like a Bassett Hound than the Jack Russell/Dachsund cross that he is. The swelling was so bad we got rather worried that it might affect his airways so felt that a call to the vet was in order. Result - a quick OUT OF HOURS visit for a steroid injection to halt the swelling at a cost of £62! Well, at least it seemed to do the trick and although it took a while for the swelling to come down, by Tuesday evening we thought he was fine. Uh Oh! Thought wrong! In the wee small hours of Wednesday (3 am to be precise) we were woken by Snoopy's panicked barking because he wanted to be let out. We thought that he'd settle after that but we were wrong again. 45 minutes later he started again and when I went to him this time he had been sick (too much info I know). I spent the rest of the night on the settee having 10 minute naps then being roused by a very poorly little dog being ill.

I have never known our little bundle of energy be so still and so quiet for over 24 hours. It's taken him most of today to get back to anything like his normal self and, of course, as he has spent the greater part of the last 36 hours sleeping he has just started to wake up - and it's nearly my bedtime and I haven't caught up on the sleep I lost yet. Whether it was the poison from the bee sting (after all, he is only small) or something else entirely that made him so sick I don't know but I hope it doesn't happen again.

The first of the photos is to show what he normally looks like and the others are taken about an hour or so after the sting.

Hopefully after another night's sleep he and I will both be fully recovered in time to enjoy the weekend - I hope!

Night Night! Sleep tight!

Masked Wedding Cards

On the 4th July, Jo and I went up the A1 to Barnard Castle, the home of my favourite crafty people at Graphicus and Elusive Images. It was the 2nd of their two Open Days and the very first time I have managed to get to one of them. The atmosphere is lovely there because they are all very friendly and the demonstrations are second to none. Annette was demonstrating the die cutting machines like the Cricut but unfortunately I didn't get time to watch her (maybe next time). I did get to watch Judith making some lovely beads in the Melt Pot which was really interesting and made me want to get mine out for a play at something different.

The best for me personally though were Glenda, Lynn and Lesley, who were all stamping in one way or another and my absolute favourite of the day was Lynn demoing some fabulous Mega Masks from Heidi Swapp. If you visit Lynn's blog she has posted the samples she made during her demos and they are wonderful.

Anyway, I just had to buy these and couldn't wait to have a play with them when I got home. Over the first couple of weeks in August we have two family weddings. My niece gets married on the 1st August and my nephew gets married on the same day but away from home so they are having their celebratory reception on the 15th. I decided that I could use the Mega Heart Masks to make a couple of Wedding Cards.

Both the cards use the same format on A4 cards and the same materials, stamps and masks. I just changed the colours and altered the positioning slightly. Except for the two word definition stamps - Married and Marriage, which were from Stamp to Your Arts Content, everything else was from Graphicus. I used Milled Lavender and Weathered Wood DIs on the first card and Tattered Rose and Antique Linen on the second one. The flower masks I used are also Heidi Swapp and I bought them from Graphicus ages ago but have never got round to using them until now.

This was the first one I did in Milled Lavender and Weathered Wood.

and this was the second one in Tattered Rose and Antique Linen.

I thoroughly enjoyed making both these cards and I love blending backgrounds with DIs. I also bought the Mega Circles Masks as well as the Hearts and I have a couple of birthdays for some of my VIPs coming up over the next few weeks so I'm going to try using the circles with some stamping. Again you can see an example on Lynn's blog.