A Few 60th Birthday Cards

 I'm having a quick break from making cards to catch up on my blog today.  Here are some cards I made for a friend who has a bunch of friends turning 60 this year - two with butterflies, two with dragonflies and one with a very busy bee.  I tried to make them all a little different - with different papers and slightly different sentiments!  This is the first one I made whose birthday is this month - not that there will be any festivities just yet!

After I showed her this one, she asked for the others to be "less pink" so I went with a blue panel and a smaller butterfly.    

The more eagle-eyed may notice a channel in the card!  This is my go-to card design most of the time - dead easy to make and very effective when in action!   

Then I switched to dragonflies - same concept though.  We discussed that since some of the friends know each other, it wouldn't be fair to give some interactive cards and others "plain" ones.  The panels and sentiments are still different.  I used a mix of the Simon Says Stamp Happy Birthday die and the Crealies Happy Birthday and Upper Case Alphabet sets.  A little gloss and glitter et voila!

Lastly was this busy little bee - which was her favourite!  

Being the smallest spinning element he really is very busy and the gossamer shine (glossy accents and glitter) on his wings really catches the light as he spins!

I was worried she didn't like them (after the "less pink" comment on the first one) so I dropped them off personally (wearing a mask and we were in the garden).  I needn't have worried - her eyes lit up when she saw them and she has made a very generous donation to the Ilula Orphan Program so I know she was well pleased!  

I'm entering the Butterfly Cards in the following challenges

Day of the Month Card Challenge #25 - 2nd Birthday and Learn about Butterflies Day

and The Card Concept Challenge #151 which has this beautiful photo inspiration - obviously inspired by that butterfly and its main colour.  I would describe my cards as Clean and Layered or possibly Clean and Graphic or possibly Classy and Elegant.

I'd also like to enter the Bee Card into the current Alphabet Challenge - Y is for Yellow!

and all 5 cards into the Fab'n'Funky Challenge #515 to use non-square cards 

and the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #WWC311 - all things feminine!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll be over the moon!  I’ll also know you were here, so I can check out what you’ve been up to and we can get better acquainted!

Kate

Twofer Feathers

 

The March Twofer Challenge is a little different - we get to choose our own twofer element and I chose Feathers!  I love the Twofer challenges - they're a challenge for my brain as well as for my hands!  I also got to use some NBUS items as the Feathers I chose for this challenge are from a new (for me) set (Funky Nature) set so I'll be entering NBUS Challenge #24 as well!

The first card is a Moving/New Home card.  Here's a closer look.  I used a few different Core'dinations card stocks.  Remember when they were all the rage?  I thought they would add to the rustic feel of these dies and it feels good to use something I've forgotten about in 10 years!

I cut a few branches down to make enough twigs for the nest, then it was just a matter of layering it on a branch and adding the eggs and of course the feathers - you can't feather a nest without feathers!  The sentiment is from Waltzing Mouse Stamps A Good Egg.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges Time Out Challenge #183 - Do Your Different Thing!  I don't usually use these Core-dinations card stocks (which explains why I have four barely used pads full)!  Distressing is something else I don't do often.

I'm also entering Challenge #78 at The Library which has the following book as inspiration

And the current Fusion Card Challenge which has the following inspiration

and the Daring Cardmakers Challenge and Always Fun Challenges #205 which have the prompt of Spring.

Here's a closer look at the second card which is a teacher appreciation card.  The feather here being used as a quill to be dipped in this little ink pot.  This is for my son's male teacher - hence the absence of pretty colours and the use of wood was necessary as Simon is in the Bois Class this year.

I wish I had stamped the sentiment before I assembled it!  I tried to stamp afterwards and while the ink splat worked, I had to mount the sentiment on a frame to cover up an unsuccessful attempt at stamping on the front panel.  I do like the look of the stitched Kraft frame but it might hinder the spinner the spinning feather.  

Here is the feather in flight

I'm entering this card in the following challenges

Inspirational Challenge #235 - Fur/Feathers

Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies March Challenge 

Fab'n'Funky Challenge #515 - No Square Cards

Retro Rubber Challenge #154 - Anything Goes 

(the ink splat is from a 2016 Stamp set and the sentiment is from a 2014 set).

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll be over the moon!  I’ll also know you were here, so I can check out what you’ve been up to and become better acquainted!

Kate

MIA and a few Sympathy Cards

 Sorry I've been a bit preoccupied the last few weeks and haven't been posting.  I have been creating, I just haven't had time to post.   One of my favourite charities (an orphanage in Tanzania where I foster a child) is doing it tough.  Not only has just about all the fund-raising either been cancelled or curtailed since COVID reared its ugly head, but the virus has now reached the isolated community.  I've been creating cards to sell to raise funds.  So far I've raised over €500 and the last 3 weeks I've been flat out meeting demand.   Not that I'm complaining, it's good to keep busy and helps keep my thoughts away from dark places.  You may have heard the EU has not done well with the vaccinations thus far and we have no idea when we will be vaccinated and life can return to normal.  In fact my son's teachers are preparing for more  home-schooling for the week before and the week after the Easter holidays (four weeks at home will drive us both bananas)!   At the moment my mantra is "Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming" like Dory from Finding Nemo!  Here are some cards I made for a friend who needed some sympathy cards using a few NBUS items.  

The first is a wild daisy made using on of the the Tim Holtz Wildflowers 3 dies.  I cut three and layered them up to give dimension and sponged some Wild Mustard and Black Soot Distress Inks onto the flower centre (masking off the petals) and Peeled Paint DI onto the stem.   I was lucky enough to find this panel of DP with other wildflowers as a backdrop.

I'm entering this card in the following challenge

Daring Cardmakers - Plant a Flower

This second card was made with a dandelion die I bought at Dortmund (Creativa 2019 - remember those days when we could attend public events).   I just blended a few inks onto a panel, added a few drifting dandelions and a sentiment.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges 

NBUS Challenge #24 - There is unused schtuff in all these cards, but this dandelion die is the oldest

The Paper Players - see picture below, the dandelion in the top centre captured my imagination!

This third one is something I've been wanting to try for a while.  I used a butterfly swarm die (Aliexpress) to create a large number of various sized butterflies and added them to a Twiggy Tree (Memorybox)  instead of blossoms.  I love my Twiggy Tree die and have probably used it every spring for the past nine years I've owned it.  It reminds me of the Japanese plum tree outside my kitchen door - which is preparing to burst into life any day now!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges 

Day of the Month Club Challenge #25 - Learn About Butterflies Day and 2nd Blog Anniversary

Modsquad Challenge - Beautiful Butterflies

CAS on Sunday - Spring

Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes with Dies

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll be over the moon!  I’ll also know you were here, so I can check out what you’ve been up to and we can get to know each other better!

Kate