Not the Jubilee 60.......

Last year my lovely brother in law reached 60 years of age. We didn't know quite what to do for a birthday present for him as he was very ill and we were really worried. The doctors didn't seem to know what to do to help him!. Tony didn't have the energy for any of his hobbies or anything else so all the usual gift ideas weren't right. Although money is always useful a cheque in the card didn't seem appropriate either, so we had to find a more novel way to mark his birthday AND it had to be posted!

I couldn't think of a way to stick so many £1 coins to a piece of card and make it good good enough to give as a gift and survive in the post. So I decided to use a piece of polyethylene foam packaging instead. It still didn't look good! There were too many coins to make a reasonable sized 60. Credit where it's due, my DH came up with this idea. I printed out another paper template and he used it & my craft knife to cut 60 slits in the foam and each coin was then wedged in upright so that when the box lid was closed they wouldn't shift in transit. A printed message and some 'fancy' drawing pins and we were good to go!

My BIL liked his present and I'm pleased to say that once the right part of the NHS  made the correct diagnosis and started to treat him appropriately he made a great recovery and is enjoying life again!

I think this idea could be adapted for other birthdays or money prizes with a bit of novelty visual appeal.

Here's a closer look for you

Thank you for looking
Margaret x

Two Weeks!

As I said last time I blogged  I'm not the quickest crafter on the block and this card was no exception.

A very kind friend made me a gift of this image after I had admired a card on her blog. Thank you lovely lady! Inspired by her card I decided to paper piece the image as it's a technique I've never tried before.

After a few false starts I managed to paper piece the dress and the parasol using the turquoise blue floral backing paper and coloured the parasol to try to give it that beige 'papery' look of a real parasol.

A composite flower cut from the green stripey backing paper edged with dark chalk, a few gems and a craftwork sentiment and phew! the card was ready to go to Ali in time for her birthday last week.

I'd like to enter the following challenges please


http://robynsfetishchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ paper piecing
http://sketchycolors.blogspot.co.uk/ Turquoise & green
http://ceschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ Anything Goes
http://joyfulstamper.blogspot.co.uk/ Anything Goes
http://shellysimagesblog.blogspot.co.uk/ Something that makes you happy (the floral backing paper)
http://www.sjpapercrafts.blogspot.co.uk/ Favourites (the floral backing paper)
http://thepapershelter.blogspot.co.uk/ Anything Goes

Thank you for dropping by

Margaret x

I've Made A Card!

I recently saw a poll on facebook asking how long it took you to make a card, the options started at about 15 minutes and the max time was an hour. It's only taken me a week to make this card......... LOL!

For a change, it hasn't been made to fit any specific need other than if I'd left it any longer I might have forgotten how to......

The image was a LOTV freebie off a recent magazine, coloured with Copics and liberally dusted with glamour dust.
The lace, doily, pearls & flowers have been in my stash for far too long.
One of the backing papers was a gift from my lovely friend Jennie to help me re-discover my MoJo - It worked. Thank you once again x
And the other backing paper was the 'Must Have' item bought a couple of years ago that I believe qualifies me to enter Flying Fresian's MSE challenge.

Thank you for looking

Margaret x

Is it Springtime?

I haven't blogged since last September, I've made a few cards but always seemed to run out of time to blog them so if I can remember how......... here goes.........

I follow the MSE card making thread here I think the current challenge is Springtime, if that's right then I'd like to enter this simple card.

This is what I used:
Image - LOTV recent magazine freebie -coloured with Copics & chalks
Papers - Backing Yellow card from Lidl, yellow spot is Stamping Up, green spot is Pink Petticoat (both these hoarded bits)
Punch - Fiskars Threading Water my first punch - sadly neglected
Flowers - from stash - they were the first I ever bought, also for an MSE challenge!

I'd also like to enter:

http://ladybugscraftsinkchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ Anything Goes
http://sweetstampsblog.blogspot.com/ Think Spring
http://useittuesday.blogspot.com/ Green
http://www.cupcakecraftchallenges.blogspot.com/ Going Dotty
http://kaboodledoodles.blogspot.com/ Green
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ Anything Goes
http://www.gingerloftchallenge.blogspot.com/ Spring

Thank you for looking

Margaret x