Retirement cards for Gareth, Gerard & Marlene

 Hi all!  Well it finally feels like Spring is almost here!  We finally got out to our back garden which has been sodden for months to get bushes pruned, dead stuff pulled out, grass cut and some lovely bright primroses planted up in my hanging baskets! It is so good to see the evenings on the stretch, I absolutely hate the long dark days of winter 😁

Anyway, just wanted to share some retirement cards for some ex-workmates of Mum.  The first two are for brothers so I kept the same vibe for them both.  So first up is this one using a Penny Black stamp...

Just Us Girls #715 - anything goes stencil week 

Word Art Wednesday #635 - anything goes 

I was hunting for a different hot air balloon stamp for this one but of course it was nowhere to be found, but luckily came across this unknown oldie instead.  The house border is an old MFT die

Allsorts #769 - things that fly

CAS on Friday #277 - male/boy

And finally, a nice bright spring card using one of my favourite Lili of the Valley stamps (I still have this one out to make a thank you card so you'll be seeing it again very soon!). I added some clear gloss to the daffs to make them pop a bit. 

Simon Says Stamp - beautiful blooms

Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #624 (just noticed my yellow panel should have been longer)

Snippets Playground #474 - my butterflies were cut from the leftover bit of yellow 

Greg's Valentine

 Hi all, here this grey evening to share Greg's Valentine's card... in my PJs, Molly pretending to sleep on my lap and a big box of choccies and a cuppa by my side!  Molly's nose twitches hopefully every time the box is opened, I think she's disgusted with us that we're not sharing the goodies.

I've used this oldie stamp from Gummiapan and paper pieced his outfit - I am amazed that this scrap lasted this long as it was the circular cut out from this card from 2021!!  For my background I used a heart diecut as my stencil.  Clear gloss added to the eyes and teeth and lots of glitter to the balloon.  Inside it just reads 'ME' and a big diecut heart.

Colour theme from CAS Colours & sketches #530

Addicted to CAS #251 - heart

Snippets Playground #473

Make My Monday #219 - love

Cardz 4 Guys #340 - love

Alexandra's birthday card

 Hi all, here this lovely spring day with a birthday card for my niece - I can hardly believe she is 14 already, it's absolutely no time since she was a wee tot!  

She's a St Valentine's Day baby, so this old Penny Black stamp with the heart balloons was just perfect.  Silver and blue metallic splatters added to the stencilled background. 

Layout inspired by Atlantic Hearts Sketch #563

Simon Says Stamp Monday - fun with stencils 

AAA Birthday #58 - hearts

Seize the Birthday #277 - splatter

When I was 14 on the 14th the Falklands War ended, that's a long time ago now!  I wonder will Alex remember in 40 years time what happened on her double-14 day! 

Some fishy cards for David & Greg

 Hi all, here this blustery evening with a few fish themed cards. This first one is for my brother - he keeps tropical fish so I thought these dudes from Simply Graphic would do the trick.  I stencilled in some bubbles using my snow stencil and added some metallic silver splatters too. 

Layout from AAA Cards #258 

My Time to Craft #526 hobbies

Allsorts #766 - from the grid I've used stencil / red / green 

And this is Greg's card ... I hadn't realised my stencilling was so wonky until I took the photo

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes 

Addicted to Stamps #460 - dies / stencil (sorry I can't remember the brand name of either)

For Greg's birthday I treated myself to a couple of days off work (let's face it, any excuse is a good one 😉).  Here's a wee photo of beautiful Ballycastle on a day out - the waves were so rough I could have watched them for hours.  Unfortunately it was blowing a gale and we had an urgent date at the local chippy LOL