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

Marlene's birthday card

 Hi all! Bit of a wild night here, we have Storm Isha visiting and it's blowing an absolute hooley out there!  Definitely not an evening for walkies! The noise from the wind is frightening and our lights are flickering away here, hopefully the power stays on!  Molly is fed up with the weather too as we're just getting over our first taste of snow and ice but thankfully it only hung about for a few days.

Anyway, I've I card for a friend of mum's to share this evening. I've used an oldie Penny Black stamp and some of my new flower dies from Creative Depot.  Some background splatters with metallic paints and the little flower gems have been in my stash forever so I'm glad to use them!  MFT striped paper.

As You Like It - favourite paper brand - I don't buy a lot of designer papers but have always loved any My Favourite Things pads that I've bought, they're great quality and always nice colours. 

Penny Black Saturday January - anything goes 

Snippets Playground #472 - unfortunately I missed playing in Di's 12th anniversary challenge so I'm making sure to play along this week!  My snippets on this card are my flowers cut from the leftover bit of the circle

My Time to Craft #525 - new stash (my flowers)

Baby boy and birthday card for Catherine

 Hi all, and a Happy New Year! It's hard to believe that's the holiday over already, but in some ways it's nice to get back to a bit of normality.  And I do love to get the tree and deccies down and my house tidied!

I've been playing with my new bunny stamp from Creative-Depot and I love how this turned out! The blue card has a bit of sparkle in it and I also added clear gloss to the balloon and then popped him up on foam pads.

Time Out Challenge #254 - new

Word Art Wednesday #629/630 - anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - something new

Moving Along with the Times #162 - a new craft item

And just recording this one for future reference.  I don't know why but I always really struggle with this stamp!

Greg's Christmas and Mum's Birthday cards

Well that's Christmas over and done with for another year!  We had the usual gathering and family feast down in Mum's... dinner always tastes better when someone else cooks it haha 😜.  I'm off work now till the 4th and so looking forward to recharging my batteries, clearing out cupboards and wardrobes, scoffing all the chocolates and, of course, a few movies in my PJ's!!  I'm also hoping to get time for some colouring classes, so we'll see how that goes! 

Anyway I've a couple of cards to share this evening.  Last card of the season was as usual for Greg.  I made variations of this for most of my cards, but had to add a little Molly to Greg's.

Simon Says Stamp Monday - let it snow

Allsorts #760/1 - cold and ice

And this is Mum's birthday card, very pink! Flowers from Altenew and I think the dies were from Creative-Depot; gold metallic paint splattered for the background and also to colour the butterflies.  I fussy cut the flowers and popped them and the main panel up on foam pads.

Snippets Playground #470 - anything but Christmas.  I don't get to play with the Snippets challenge as often as I like so I'm pleased to get this one added.  Lots of snippets on this... the butterflies and the diecut background (which is 3 small panels) are all cut from leftover white card

Word Art Wednesday - annual blog hop

And finally, here's a wee pic of Miss Molly.  Despite only being a good girl some of the time, Santa did bring her a lovely cosy winter coat, a squeaky Christmas tree and pressies from her Aunties and Uncles!  The doggy chocolates were a definite big hit! We were pleasantly surprised that she didn't bother with the tree, decorations or presents, a bit of a initial sniff and that was her happy!