Wedding Post Box

My Cousin and his Fiance are getting married in Antigua later this month.  They are going to have a party in September to celebrate with their friends and family who cannot attend the ceremony, and they asked me if I could make them a wedding post box so that everyone can put their cards in at the party to keep them safe.

They wanted a simple, contemporary design in a mixture of purples and lilacs, so this is what I came up with...

Little Girls' Princess Cards

I received an order for 2 cards for two little girls last month, aged 2 and 4.  I made them both my Gorjuss Princess cards.  I hope they will be well received on their birthdays!

All packaged and ready to go

Tracy's Birthday Treats

It was my Sister's Birthday today and I have spent the past week or so preparing some little gifts for her.  She is mad about baking and makes the most deliciious cupcakes, so I went with that as a theme when I did these projects.

I packed them all up in a big box and sent them to her work.  She was over the moon with everything I put in, especially the pen holder and tic tac cover!  I will add more details later about how to make those.  But for now, here are some photos of the things I made for her.  The quality doesn't show up very well.  Please double click on each photo to enlarge.

Amelia's 1st and My 30th Birthday

We had a wonderful couple of days last weekend.  We had a Very Hungry Caterpillar party to celebrate Amelia's 1st Birthday and also my 30th.  Yes that's right, on my birthday last year I was busy in hospital giving birth... my worst and best birthday all rolled into one!  Lol.

I have been busy with the preparations for the party for a few weeks so I have stopped selling my cards and memory boxes for the time being.  I will start again on 1st May once Easter is out of the way.  I want to spend as much time with my family over the next few weeks.  It's not often that I get so much time off work!

I put my love of card making and papercraft into practice at the party and made all sorts of decorations to include invitations, food picks, a "Thank you for coming" sign, a birthday card for Amelia and some little cards to stand around the food on the table.

I ordered the most FANTASTIC cake from Teresa's Tasty Treats (on Facebook).  It was a major talking point and everybody loved it.  I really didn't want to cut it.  It was so spectacular!

A great day was had by all.  Amelia and I were thoroughly spoilt with beautiful cards and gifts and the weather was perfect so we were able to get out into the garden.

Here are some photos of the day, and of the things I made:

Sandwich/food picks

Thank you for coming sign

Invitations

Card for Amelia

Very Hungry Caterpillar cake

On Thursday he ate four strawberries..

He was a beautiful butterfly!

Amelia unwrapping her present from us (a Smart Trike)

Foooood!  Yum yum!

Amelia opening her presents

Mother's Day

I had a lovely Mother's Day yesterday.  I was thoroughly spoilt my my two children (and Daddy!).  I got a HUGE Boofle card from the children which is actually bigger than my Daughter, a Wife Boofle card from my Husband, a huge bouquet of flowers, a Willow Tree figure and a big box of Malteasers. Yum :-)
I love Boofle and my Husband buys me a Boofle card for every occassion!  I have a growing collection of Boofle teddy bears, pens, notebooks, mugs and keyrings too! All of which have been kindly bought for me by friends and family.

We went to my Mum's for a roast dinner and my Mother-in-Law came too which was lovely.  I gave them their gifts; flowers and a craft punch for my Mum and a few bits that I made for them both.  Here's what I made them:

Mother's Day cards for my mum

In my Nan's words; the photos really don't do them justice.  I have had the same feedback from many of the things that I have sold in the past.  I wish I had a better camera to take pictures of my work on!  I would LOVE an SLR camera one day.

Baby's 1st Birthday

Here is the card I have just made for a lady who contacted me through my blog :-)  It is for her daughter Tiffany's 1st birthday which is the week after Amelia's. 

I used Pro markers to colour in the Lily of the Valley image.  The paperstock is from DCWV: Nana's Nursery Baby Girl.  The pink linen effect cardstock is from Coredinations.

A Little Bit of Sugar...

The Sugar Bowl Card Challenge 55–Erika’s Sketch

Here is my "If Friend's Were Flowers" card which I am entering into this month's Sugar Bowl Challenge.  This month's sketch is...

With the optional theme of Spring.  So here's what I came up with...

Here's what I used:
Paper: My Mind's Eye - Quite Contrary Mary Mary "Beautiful"

Cardstock: Coredinations "Tank"
Stamp: Gorjuss Girls "Poppy Fields"
Punches: Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page "Butterflies"
Ribbon: Smirk creative ribbon
Sentiment: Lili of the Valley "Dreamy Days"

I used a mixture of Papermania Watercolour Blenders and Pro markers for the stamped image.

Wish me luck :-)

A Very Hungry Caterpillar Card...

It's my 30th and Amelia's 1st birthday on 17th April and we are having a Hungry Caterpillar themed birthday party to celebrate!  I have been buying lots of Hungry caterpillar napkins, paper plates, party hats, banners, streamers etc.  We are hoping it will be warm and sunny enough for a BBQ.

I decided to make her a co-ordinating Birthday card, and this is how it turned out..

Here's what I used:

Card blank:  8x8" white square card with expandable envelope from Anita's.
Card and paperstock:

• My Mind's Eye Jack & Jill "How Sweet It Is" Yummy Stripe paper (used on reverse)
• My Mind's Eye Jank & Jill "Life Is Good" Serene Spots paper
• Bazzil Basics Paper Phonenix

Punches: Martha Stewart "Loops" and the circle and scalloped circle in the centre were made using my Sizzix eClips PIP setting. The number 1 in the heart was made by using the tag setting on my eClips. 
Ribbon: from a selection at The Range
Buttons: Papermania Capsule Collection. Mini Buttons
Hungry caterpillar image was coloured using a combination of Promarkers and Papermania watercolour blenders.

I wasn't very happy with how the colouring turned out as the card started to pill as I built up the colour.  I am yet to find a stockist who sells good quality card to prevent this from happening.  As the card is for my Daughter though I'm sure she won't mind!

I couldn't resist buying some new Lily of the Valley stamps yesterday and I'm looking forward to them arriving this week.  So watch this space for some new cards!

It's March already!

I can't believe it's 1st of March already!

We didn't have very good news this morning.  My Son found out which secondary school he has been allocated which was his second choice school :-(  There is a lovely school just up the road from us which we really wanted him to go to, but it was not meant to be.  I am thinking of appealing, but will wait and see what he wants to do.  Chances are, if his friends are all going to the same school he will be happy with his allocation.

It has just occurred to me that I haven't told you anything about my Family. I have a son, Oliver who is 11 years old from a previous relationship.  He is quite arty like me and also loves reading.  He goes through books like no body's business and costs me a fortune in WH Smith everytime we go into town.  I'm quite glad we don't have a Waterstones in our area! 

I got married to my Husband, Paul in June 2009. He works with me full time in the day as my assistant when I'm childminding and also has a second job in the evenings to pay for our holidays!  We are booked up to go to Florida in December this year and we are taking my Parents with us.

 Here is a picture of the three of us at our wedding. 


Me, Paul and Oliver




Paul and Oliver

My Candy Floss Creations all started when I made my own Table Plan and guest books for the tables at the wedding.

Last year, on my Birthday I had our Daughter, Amelia.  I had a difficult pregnancy towards the end when I developed Obstetric Choleostais, so I had to be induced so as not to put the baby in danger.  I couldn't believe my luck when the induction date was arranged on my birthday!  So this April we will both be celebrating a milestone... her first birthday and my 30th!
This is Amelia Rose aged 10 months after unravelling one of my used Pritt rollers!  Little monkey!

Amelia Rose

Well the start to the week wasn't all bad...  I have received 3 orders for memory boxes in as many days, so I will be busy this evening.  I finished the new baby box I told you about in my last post last night and I also snuck in a sneaky 30th birthday card for my friend!



Baby Girl Memory Box



30th Birthday card

Well I better get off for now.  Lots and lots to do :-)