After numerous attempts at cards this year I decided on this simple design. I fell in love with the reindeer die cuts from Tim Holtz when I first saw them and they definitely did not disappoint.

The snow drifts were created using the Sizzlit Decorative Strip "Abstract". The star was cut using a Paddle Punch die.

The background paper was something I've had in my stash for years. Unfortunately I only had enough for half a dozen cards so the rest were contructed using plain navy blue card with some punched snow flakes.

I'm pretty sure the local supermarket still has this card in stock but it's been snowing so much I didn't have a chance to get there.

The Glitter card stock is from the Craft Barn.

A going away card for friends who are leaving Luxembourg.

The inside reads "The place won't be the same without you".

I cut a circle as a moon mask and created a background using distress inks. The house and fence are from Tim Holtz's line of Sizzix dies of course. The windows and door were backed with old book text and then coated with crackle glaze.

Some Male Cards.

A friend of mine asked if I could make her some male cards, so I thought I would get these out of the way so I can concentrate on Christmas AS SOON AS MY REINDEER IN FLIGHT DIE ARRIVES. It was dispatched from the U.K. over a week ago - I sure hope it arrives today.

The Happy Birthday card as stamped with a range of stamps from the Non Sequitur stamp set Time and Space and a Crafty Individuals Script stamp. I stamped with black archival ink and used Chipped Sapphire and Crushed Olive distress inks for a bit of colour. The punch is from Marth Stewart - it's from the punch around the page series but I can't recall the name now.

The two images on the Journey card were stamped on alcohol inked backgrounds. They were both from Stempelwinkel - bought at Wiesbaden last month. I found many quotes about journies on the internet but I thought this one would appeal most to my friend. She is Swedish as was Dag Hammarsköld - a remarkable man from what I have read of him and by him.

With Love and from Left-overs.

I just finished a bunch of cards for a friend of mine and this was the last one.

I had a little bit of the fuschia glitter card left over - just big enough for the largest tattered floral and another scrap big enough for the smallest of the flowers. Also had some strips of pink left over from which I punched some squares. When I bought this punch on the internet it was advertised as a 1" punch. Unfortunately that's the diagonal of the square not the sides. I didn't realize a 1" punch would be so hard to find - Wiesbaden came and went and I'm still looking ! Just have to use scissors I suppose.

I bought some great things at Wiesbaden. I also took advantage of the fact that a friend was going over to the U.K. during the school holidays and stocked up on some of the bargains to be had with the stronger euro - without the prohibitive postage costs. So watch this space !

This is probably the last card I will have time to make before party time tomorrow night.

Tim Holtz's Heart Wings die was used to cut Core'dinations cardstock (Vintage and Black Magic), the Phrase is from a Sizzlit Die, and the background is a distressed page from an old music book (rescued from recycling).

I've only had time to make 3, but I'll revisit this design again. I think it would be perfect for a teenage or pre teen girl.

I have been very busy over the last 36 hours. Not only did I make another 4 of the bird cards but I have also produced 3 new designs for the Think Pink evening tomorrow - 5 of the dress, 6 of the bath and 6 of the cupcake.

(1)The Dress and accessories are cut from fabric adhered to card using a sizzix original die.

(2)The background of the "Bath Card" was printed from the computer using word. The bath was cut from glossy photo paper adhered to foam board. The legs and rim of the bath were cut from a piece of black shiny card. The bubbles were cut from acetate which was coloured with watermelon and gold alcohol inks. The girl was cut from a sizzlit die.

(3)The cupcake was stamped in black archival ink and water coloured using derwent pencils. The sprinkles were coloured with gel pens. I am intending to colour the markings on the candle, but I need to duck into AVA to buy a light pink acrylic or gel pen.

Today's card for Think Pink. The Sizzix bird was cut from pink "sand paper" - it's actually glitter paper. I picked up 3 12x12 sheets of this at Spotlight while on holiday in Australia (wish I'd got more now). Perfect for jazzing up this cute little bird which Lena was good enough to lend me. You can't see very well from the photo but the eye is a little black crystal - I picked up these in Australia too.

I was going to put a birthday sentiment but I decided to leave it neutral. I think it's festive enough even to be used as a Christmas card.

So far I've only made 4. I need to look for some more background paper now - the hearts sheet was my last one in this colour I think.

Today's card for THINK PINK - well yesterday's actually. The papers are from Basic Grey Sugared Collection. The Scalloped "Flower" was stamped with a Crafty Individuals stamp and cut using a Spellbinders Classic Scallop Circle. The centre was stamped with a stamp from the Kaiser Scrapbook Circles. The Apple is a Sizzix Small Die (original not sizzlit). It's cut from foam board. I used Tombow markers to colour the stem and leaf. The abc were cut using the Go Slim alphabet. The Inspire stamp is from the Basic Grey Inspire me stamp set.

I made 10 of these but I wasn't happy with one of them so I'll probably keep that one.

It's very similar to the ones I made for my friend and sister-in-law who are both teachers. I think it's perfect for a teacher - perhaps an end of year thank you. It thought it might also be good for a graduation.

This is another card I have designed for the Think Pink evening next week. I decided to use up some of the DL cards I had in my stash. I hardly ever use these - I prefer the 5x7" or the square cards, but I realized that I'm running out of those, so I had better start using the DL instead.

The flower die is a Sizzix Original - Elegant Bloom, which was overstamped with a Crafty Individuals stamp. The background was made up of 1 " tiles of patterned paper. The sentiment was printed on the computer using the papyrus font (the letters were double spaced) and the edges were distressed. I then added 2 little jewels for some bling.

Another 10 cards finished last night/today. The inside reads "Thinking of You", printed by computer.

The papers are from the Sweet Nothings Collection from Papermania. The telephone was cut using the Sizzix Bigz die Telephone #2. The paisley, hearts and flowers were Cuttlebug dies. The "hi" was cut using the Go Slim alphabet from Sizzix. The telephone was attached to foam board and the letters were attached to chipboards to give them dimension. I was surprised but the cuttlebug cut through the foam board as well.

I think I need a rest, not sure if I can do any more tonight.

The Easel Card for the Think Pink Evening. Thought I had better take a photo before they all get packaged up. There were 3 different colour themes used for the 10 cards, all with some pink in them of course - just using what was in my stash. This one was probably my favourite, but I am glad they're finished.

I have to thank Jaine for the use of her Cricket to cut out the phrases - it would have taken me an eternity cutting and pasting letter by letter. A handy tool - I'm thinking of asking santa for one !

Our local Think Pink evening is now less than 2 weeks away and I've only made 18 cards so far - and only 2 designs. Ten easel cards were possibly a mistake - far too much work, and boy was I ever sick of them by the time I had finished. Any way they are done now - phew.

This card was a lot more fun to make. I do love these Basic Grey sultry papers. An EF gold acrylic pen was used to dot the bow and outline the lid. Other than that it's almost identical to the card I made for Charlotte at the beginning of the year. Because I'm so pushed for time I thought I had better revisit some of my earlier designs. I've made 8 of these.

Umm what shall I do tonight.

I created this card for Simon's best friend Niamh. It's almost exactly the same as the one for Heidi. I am planning on making another 10 for the Think Pink evening on the 16 th October.

Well the end of the school year is fast approaching and if there's one person I must thank it's Gavin and James' piano teacher Octave.

Yes I know it's a cool name for a piano teacher but not so strange when you consider he was from a musical family.

He has coaxed and urged my two less than motivated boys on for many years now but this year in particular was difficult, and while they may not have achieved the level they were capable of, it was not from lack of trying on Octave's part.

Actually when you consider the amount of effort they put in they did brilliantly - due largely to the huge effort Octave invested in them in the final weeks before their exams.

The background was created using alcohol inks - cool peri, salmon, sandal and gold. I then overstamped various music and text images masking off each one as I stamped to create a collage. I also stamped the figure from the Boys Toys stamp from Crafty Individuals on the same alcohol ink background and cut out it out and mounted it on 3d foam. The piano charm is from Karen Foster (same set as the clarinet). The charm was a little new shiny looking so I coloured it with a little gold and pitch black alcohol inks.

Another card, this time for my husband's nephew Tom. He is a brilliant musician so I wanted a musical theme. He was also at one time (not sure if he still is) a stamp collector, so I thought this collage stamp from Crafty Individuals was perfect for him - with both postal and musical elements. Both stamps were actually freebies. I have added some other postal images (mostly CI but with one Non-Sequitur image) on 3d foam for a bit of variety.

The collage image and other elements were stamped using black archival ink on a background created using gold, salmon, willow and sandal alcohol inks. The photo doesn't do it justice - it has the most wonderful shine and depth because of the gold alcohol ink.

The clarinet charm was from Karen Foster.

I made this card for my dad. He was 86 this month, and I'll be seeing him in just a few weeks now (which is why I didn't fuss too much about missing his birthday). I haven't seen him since January 2008, and Simon hasn't seen him since July 2007. We had thought Simon travelling to Australia was too dangerous, but as he has been seizure free for almost 10 months now (touch wood) we decided to risk it. I wanted to surprise my dad, but mum just couldn't keep the secret (she was so excited when I told her we had decided to make the trip).

I created some background paper by using alcohol inks (Salmon, Willow, Sandal and Gold), then stamped the 2 images using black archival ink. I was much happier with the alcohol inks this time. The colours are lighter and I think the gold helped to lighten it even more. The images aren't lost in the background here. The 1st image is from Crafty Individuals (love their stamps), and the 2nd from Stampers Anonymous (borrowed from my good friend Lena). The quote was created on the computer. All three were mounted on black card and then on a K & Co Mat sheet, then on a black 5x7 card.

This was mainly an experiment using paper blocking techniques. The Papers are from My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus Collection.

Jaine had made one of these flowers last week when I was there. She made hers from distressed book pages. I decided to try and coordinate with the Wild Asparagus papers. I cut 10 of the smallest Spellbinders Petite Scalloped Circles, squeezed them together using a faux washer and brad on the top and fanned them out to give them a bit of volume.

I'm not really that happy with the card, it's too unbalanced. Unfortunately I kept trying to fix it as I went along. If I have the time I'll redo the card, but I probably won't have a chance to do that as time is running out before I go to Australia, and it would be a shame to waste those pretty papers.

The little bird (which should have been further south and east) is from a clear Basic Grey stamp set. I stamped the legs on the card and stamped the body in one of the coordinating papers and cut it out and attached it above the legs using foam pads to give it some dimension. Unfortunately I had already stamped Happy Birthday on the left, otherwise I would have repeated this process and done the same on the left. In fact a few of the birds climbing up and down across the top would have been cute. The only thing I could think of to balance the bird was to cut out another of the flowers which was on the background and place it on foam pads to give it a bit of dimension. This made the card far too top heavy. The small "Laugh, Live, Love" stamp - an attempt to balance the top heavy card (not nearly enough though) was from the Circles stamp set from Kaiser scrapbook. I did try to peal off the little mosaic centrepiece so I could try repositioning it further down the page but it started to tear the backing paper underneath - trust me to attach it too darn well.

Any simple ideas (which I might have in my stash) to balance the card would be appreciated.

I also created this card on Friday in Jaine's Basement. I finally got my hands on Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die. The Alteration dies and Embossing folders are so hard to get hold of in Europe. Fanciful Flight looks interesting, but as I go away in 4 weeks for the summer, I may as well wait - hopefully the demand will have died down by September.

The background paper is from Rayher, which I coordinated with some hot pink cardstock and old newspapers (they do come in handy) attached to some firm cardstock and distressed with worn lipstick distress ink. The top left corner looked a little empty so I punched out 2 butterflies and attached one on top of the other along the body, so the wings can sit up.

I had a lovely day on Friday in Jaine's Basement.

So nice not to have to rush off to pick up Simon and I always get plenty of inspiration from watching Jaine work.

I created this card using the stamp on the cover of the Craft Stamper Magazine - love this mag !

This is the 2nd "Apple for the Teacher" Card I created. I used different papers - the background is from the Basic Grey sultry Collection, but the others are from the Paper Pizazz Girls to Women book.

As I said in the last entry I ran out of the Inspire rub-on, so I used this stamp from the Basic Grey set "Inspire Me".

The top right corner was a little empty so I used this die cut of a pen from the Sizzix Original die Telephone and Diary.

The ABCs are cut using the Wingo Zingo Decorative Strip die.

I thought it might be nice to decorate the inside with the Phrase "Teachers Rule ok" also cut using the Wingo Zingo decorative strip die. This is for all the underpaid and under-appreciated teachers out there !

I've created this card for my sister-in-law. She's a teacher so I thought an apple for the teacher and all that. She also loves to wear pink so I thought the Pink Lady was particularly appropriate. I have a friend with a birthday next week and she's a teacher too so I might create another one for her. Unfortunately I don't have any more of the "Inspire" rub-ons so I'll have to improvise with a stamp - watch this space. I picked up these rub-ons at K-Mart years ago. I'm going back to Australia this summer, who knows I may find some more.

The papers are from Basic Grey's Sultry Collection. The Apple is a Small Sizzix Original. The Letters were from Sizzix Retro Metro Alphabet Set. I downloaded the Pink lady logo from the internet.

A card for my mother-in-law Jill.

I bought this gorgeous stamp set from Clearly Impressed called Writing Set. As soon as I saw it I thought of my Mother-in-law who is a brilliant calligrapher. I was lucky enough to be at my friend's house for a crop and was able to use her Tim Holtz die Heart and Wings. This one hadn't impressed me much from the catalogue, but I fell in love with it when I saw it up close. Two hearts are cut out - the lacy one on the top (cut from Core'dinations and slightly sanded) and a solid background heart (which I cut from an old book page overstamped with text) so you get a real sense of depth. The wings and crown were cut from gold and distressed slightly. The flower was cut from the same Core'dinations card stock using a Sizzix Bigz die - Bird with Leaves and Flower. I overstamped this with text as well. I cut out the stamped background using a Spellbinders Labels 8 die, and matted it with olive green Core'dinations embossed with the Cuttlebug "Script Texture" embossing folder. I have to thank my good friend Lena who convinced me to lift the card with a bit of colour, otherwise I probably would have played it safe by cutting the heart from olive green.

TIME and SPACE Card.
I created this card for my father-in-law who was a commander in the R.A.N. Being ex-navy he has always been time conscious, but he also has a passion for the stars. So when I saw the Time and Space stamp sheet from Non-Sequitur, I started planning his card straight away (before I had even bought it).

The sentiment is printed with Word using the 13 O'clock font from 1001fonts.com on a cork filled background, then cut out with a Quickutz oval. The Gears are from Ellison Thin cuts, and the card is plain cream cardstock distressed using Ranger Distress Inks (tea dye, shabby shutters and pine needles I think). The borders on the green strip (Coredinations) were cut with a Sizzix Bigz XL die(card fronts-A2 Eyelet and Ornate).

I just loved the Easel card on the front cover of this month's Craft Stamper so I thought I would have a go and combine it with 2 challenges from Scrappy Accent's Cyber Crop over the weekend - Circles and Lollipop Flowers. The lower half of the inside of the card has a raised edge which supports the hinged Card front. Bit tricky with a scalloped circle though - the scallops never quite match up. Pretty papers aren't they - Retro Floral from PaperMania. I do like making cards for little girls. Hope Heidi has a lovely party on Saturday ! Hope this gorgeous weather holds too. BTW, anyone else not missing the planes ?

Finally the kids are all back at school and I get a chance to play with the new stash I picked up in London during the Easter break. I bought some gorgeous stamps from Blade Rubber - located just 2 blocks from our apartment. The card featured here includes images from the Non Sequitur sheet Roaring Twenties. My hands have been itching for some time to get really dirty with some alcohol ink. I bought some years ago at a craft fair and my initial attempts at usage were not great so I put it aside. However I have been watching videos on the net of the guru Tim Holtz and loved his polished stone effect background overstamped with Mona, so I thought I would give it another go.

I must say I did have some fun creating the backgrounds, but they were all so dark that the images were barely visible. My attempts at lightening with the blending solution were not successful either. I think I need some metallic mixative, maybe some lighter colours and loads more practice. I had also forgotten how tricky stamping on glossy cardstock can be. I usually just avoid glossy cardstock but I knew I would never get that polished stone look using anything else, so I persevered. After 20 or so bad images, I had finally steadied my hand enough to get a fairly crisp image I was happy with. One trick I think works (which I noticed Tim doing) is to lift the cardstock with the stamp and then carefully peel it off the stamp. Less chance of smudging that way (who da thunk)!

I should have decorated the plain cream cardstock a little more before I adhered the images but I was really pushed for time. I had to finish Maggie's card that day and I had to clean the

kitchen table (experimenting with alcohol inks was pretty messy) and I had to get Simon to the hospital for a 7pm appointment with Doctor Pauly. Boy does that man work long hours.

The inside I made using Word and the font Type Keys Filled - a free font I downloaded from Dafont.com. The Roaring 20s sheet actually had small typewriter key stamps for the alphabet and

numerals but there was no way I was going to stamp this sentiment. The sentiment is my own and I'm sure Maggie will get the deeper meaning - not just the trite but true one.

I was having a discussion not so long ago about how when you really know someone (and like them) you don't notice anymore whether they're having a bad hair day (or week) or whether they're just wearing their comfy clothes, or whether they've put on a few pounds. I suppose you see into their soul and love them for who they are. So Maggie this card is for you. You are gorgeous and extremely stylish (as anyone who knows you will vouch), but even if you weren't I'd still think you were! Lord what a useless friend am I - you're wasting your time there girl!

This is a similar card but in darker tones so it suits a male. This was one of many I made as a gift for a friend. She is always so thoughtful - never misses anyone's birthday - so I knew she would appreciate a whole bunch of handmade cards.

I didn't have much in the way of stamp sentiments when I constructed this one - I'm sure everyone recognizes the cuttlebug combo embossing folder which comes with the cuttlebug.

The papers were from Dovecraft Abstract Prints - 12"x12". I was a bit limited with this set as most of the patterns were too large for card making - one of the risks posed with 12 x 12 papers especially when you buy over the internet. Still they were a bargain so I can't complain.

This is a card I made for a young friend of my son's. She turned 5 and I wanted something ultra pretty, so I chose papers from the Basic Grey Sultry collection. The edge punch is from Fiskars. The stamp Just for You was from Hero Arts Happiness Messages Collection. The scallop circle was one of the Spellbinders petite scallop. The "gift tag" was printed on the computer and cut out with another spellbinder die. I love the Spellbinder dies because you can see what you're cutting - makes it so easy to centre the images. The focal point - the gift, is Sizzix Original Gift 2. I covered a piece of thick card with the pretty floral and cut out 1 die. I then cut out 1 from the plain pink and trimmed off so that just the bow was left, and laid this over the 1st image. Please don't look too closely - I tried to make a slit to separate the lid from the box and my ruler slipped (it was raised because of the bow). As my friends know I am my own worst critic. I couldn't start again because it was fully assembled and in place on the card at that stage. Next time I'll make the cut before I attach the "bow". We learn from our mistakes, although it's better if we learn from someone elses.