The Last Three

 These are the last of my October birthday cards so now I can relax a bit and play with some things I have sitting calling my name from my cupboard.  I think I told you that I participated in an all day class last Saturday?  Well these three cards are direct copies of some of the lovely vintage cards we made.  So thanks Ali for the class which was fantastic and I just know my three friends are going to love their cards.  We made a really neat folder to house the cards too.  Teresa Collins design paper.  Yummy!!  It feels like it's late but it's only 9.15pm.  I might retire to bed early with my book.  Trent and Tayla are here at the weekend and for the following 2 weeks of school holidays so I need to make sure my batteries are on full charge - at lease for the start of the hols!!  Thanks for stopping by today.  Maybe we will have some kid's art/crafts to post over the next 2 weeks??? (Apologies for the colouring on the last image.  The flash was playing up on my camera.  It is really in the same tonings as the other two!!)

A Pretty Box . . .

 . . .to carry the pretty glass dome card I posted a few days ago.  Flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.  I love their flowers and they make such a quick and easy job of making pretty things.  More posts to come.

A Cutie for a Cutie

 Last but not least this wee cutie is for our Great Niece who will turn 5 in late October.  We haven't seen her in quite some time but she sure looks cute in her photos.  We hope you have a lovely day Miss Ruby.  And that's me done for today/night.  October is a busy month for birthdays for me.  I have 8 to cater for.  With this week's effort I am well on the way to having them done in good time.  That is a sign my hands are improving as Im haven't been able to be this organised in quite some time.  Long may it last.  Thanks for looking in and I hope you liked at least some of what you've seen.

Our Baby Turns 40

and where did that time go to???  Our youngest daughter was born just 15 weeks after we arrived in NZ and on October 18 she turns 40!!!  I love the card I have made for her and I hope she does too.  I am working on writing a poem for her to go inside it but it is still a W.I.P.  She won't be here with us for her birthday as she and her partner are going to tour Tasmania for three weeks.  I hope the sun shines EVERY day for them.

Twenty Years On

 Hi again this is for a very good friend who is about to turn 60.  I first met her just after she turned 40 when she came to work as HR Manager and became my boss.  We just had that rapport right from day one and we worked together for about 6 years and became good friends.  Going to work was a real pleasure when she was my boss.  I think we had at least one really good laugh EVERY day.  Special lady and I can hardly believe it is twenty years since we met.  She keeps ALL the cards I make for her, both birthday and Christmas.  I hope she likes this one.  Happy Birthday Diane C.

For Chelsea . . . . . .

. . . .who turns 9 in early October.  She is the adopted daughter of a friend of ours and is delightful (if a bit boisterous at times) She lives in the UK so we only see her a few times a year when we visit the UK but we do have skype sessions in between times.  Nothing fancy about the card - just stamped on watercolour paper and painted with Distress Inks. Then I cut out the image with Nesties, mounted on pretty paper and added a button at each corner just for something different. I haven't done any painting in quite a while with my 'fuzzy hands'  so I quite enjoyed myself with this one.

More Poinsettias

 Just a couple more poinsettias.  I added a few feathery leaves to one and I used my new Fleur de Lys frame from Spellbinders for the other one.  Just gives a slightly different look.  I have had a few very productive days so I have a few posts to follow.  Hope you like what you see.

Thoughts of a Late Night Blogger

 Hi Everyone.  Just a quick post tonight as it's very late,  I've been working hard all day and I have a craft class to tutor tomorrow.  So here goes.  Two Tim Hotz style Christmas Tags which are just fabulous to create.  Anything goes, and with all the lovely embellishments available to we Crafters the sky's the limit.  The other wee cutie is also Tim Holtz.  Gone are the days of cutting strips, scoring and folding to achieve the concertina rosettes.  Good old Sir Tim has made life easy for us with his rosette die cuts.  Whack them through your cutting machine (mine is a Cuttlebug) with the extra long plates and the cutting and creasing is done in a flash.  I thought they would make neat wee place markers at the Christmas dinner table.  Hopefully the ladies tomorrow will like them and then they will become another class in October/November.  Right off to bed.  'Night 'night and sleep tight if you're on my side of the world.  Have a great day if you're on the other side of the divide.  Thanks for looking today/tonight.

More Paper Flowers

 Good Morning Everyone and what a beautiful morning it is here in Upper Hutt today.  Yesterday was awful and there was even SNOW on the hill tops I see from my kitchen window!!!  It is pretty cool just now with ice on the puddles but the sun is just beautiful.  I have been pegging out washing so my 'fuzzy' hands are frozen as well today.  Anyhow before I start on the rest of the days tasks I just had to finish off my latest effort with the lovely paper flowers I recently discovered over at the Kitty Kraft site.  They are SO nice to do.  At the moment I am improvising with punches I already have whilst I await the delivery of a new foliage die cut and frame die cuts too.  You can see another punch-around-the-page effort this time using the Eyelet border punch.  Proves the old addage 'You learn something everyday' and with the Internet literally at our finger tips we are truely spoiled with options of what we can choose to learn.  I hope you are liking these little flower cards and are visiting Kitty Kraft to see the most beautiful creations ever and maybe have a go yourself.  Right off to do a bit of Spring Cleaning.  The sun is lovely but it sure does show up the dust and winter cobwebs lurking in the corners.  Have a good day and thanks for looking.

A Good Couple of Days

 Good Evening Everyone.  Well I've had a good few days here.  I've typed up class instructions and writen a couple of extra tutorials and typed them up too so I am in good shape.  Writing instructions is my least favourite part of teaching but the enjoyment I get out of it far outweighs that.  You will recognise the poinsettia on the front of this card from a couple of posts ago.  I made this one out of cardstock rather than paper and I like the results better.  I also punched-around-the -page with a straight border punch to make the lace edged mat.  This needs a little practise but I soon got the hang of it.  You can make square or rectangular mats.  Some border punches work better than others but it saves having to buy two punches (corner and border) to achieve the same result.  Right I'm off to have a go at some other flowers from the kittykraft site.  See you next time.

For Our Big Granddaughter

 Where do all the years go to so quickly?  This card is for our eldest Darling Granddaughter who turns 23 (OMG) next Wednesday.  She is so Special and I miss her terribly now that she has moved to Surfers Pardise.  She is having a great time over there and that is good for her. I loved doing this card.  I used  a CheeryLynne die cut for the doily.  The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the background paper from Kaisercraft Sweet Nothings collection.  I was very pleased that my still fuzzy fingers coped with the multi loop bow.  So I got it in the mail today and hope it arrives in time for her on Wednesday.  Not such a nice day here today dull and a bit blustery.  Spring equinox winds I expect.  Everything comes at a price they say so I will gladly put up with the winds if it heralds the onset of Sring and Summer.  Bring it on I say.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Paper Flowers

Hi Everyone - Blurry photo (sorry) but you can kinda see.  My good friend Ali has been saving this ladies blog details because she knew that looking at such things has been depressing for me these past few months  but now things are improving for me she has passed it on.  Go take a look at http://kittiekraft.typepad.com/kittiekraft/ and see the beautiful things this lady creates.  She is very generous with her talents too and has easy to follow tutorials.  This is my first attempt at her poinsettia and with Christmas looming I will be making more.  Of course the down side is that you have to make a box to house/post the card in and of course you need to take out a mortgage to post it to the other side of the world but hey!  good friends are worth it are they not???  Thanks for looking on this bright and sunny spring day.