Mothers Day 2009

Be warned - this is very photo heavy! I had a really nice Mothers Day this year - I had a lie in until 8:30am (although had been up 4 times between 4am and 6am with Jacob, the pest) and then whilst I was getting ready to go out the boys presented me with these:

Samuel had made me a shopping list at school, the front is covered with felt and foam stickers (he likes giraffes and dinosaurs, so of course, I do too) plus the random bit of fluffy glitter at the bottom. On the back of the shopping list notebook he wrote:

He also made me this certificate type hangy thing. And if you know me, the drawing is a very close likeness (I do like how he has grasped the basics of perspective). I'm not sure why he loves me and he could not work out what he'd written either. So that will remain a mystery.

Jacob, at nursery had made me this lovely card

And inside is a photo of him holding a message (I get the impression all the kids were made to hold the same message!) and just look at his join-the-dots writing - he really concentrates when he does his writing and not bad for a three year old!

I also got a card with a chimp knitting on it (not sure of the connection there) and a box of chocolates. Which is now a part box of chocolates and I presumed that you really did not want to see those!

We then set off to the South Lakes Wild Animal Park which is in Dalton-in- Furness, Cumbria, about an hour and a half drive for us. We've been a few times before when Jacob was a baby but this was an all together better trip as it was a special Mothers Day weekend - Mums got in free when accompanied by their children!

We saw loads of different animals - its not a huge place but the space is used really well and there are viewing platforms where it feels that you can just reach out and touch the animals. Lemurs have the run of the place as do the ducks, peacocks and emus.

There are two baby rhinos, and here is one with its mummy (photo taken from one of the viewing platforms)

There were also two pests sat on a bench

This lemur sat really still for me, but refused to look directly at me

Same with the peacock

And this emu took a fancy to me but I kept away from its beak!

I actually thought this was a statue until it blinked!

At least this parrot kept still long enough for me to take a photo (Samuel was by this point telling me which photos he wanted taking so he could take them into school to show his class)

Dotted around the park are sculptures of the animals which of course need to be sat upon

And me and the boys went on the little train. It was really windy and Jacob didn't want his photo taking.


So there you go - great day had by all!

Christmas is Coming to Funky Hand!

Two new Christmas downloads are now available from Funky Hand!! And here is a sneak preview of some of the papers (which are, as you'd expect, totally fantastic!)

The first card is made using the Funky Little Christmas download which is more contemporary - with pinks, browns and greens. The trees are actual toppers which I have simply cut out and attached to the card with strips of acetate,

so the trees look wobbly! I've added some snowflake punches and gems and some green grosgrain ribbon.

I am quite a fan of stripy paper! The letters have all been cut using the Round-a-bout alphabet from Sizzix with 'crimbo' cut from matt gold card.

The second collection - Funky Christmas Time has a more traditional colour pallet with deep reds, greens, ivory and golds. Some of the patterns are modern but with a traditional feel. I'm working on a further two samples from the Funky Christmas Time collection, so watch out for those later this week!

Go on - go and buy and get making Christmas cards in July!!

Lazy Town with Diamonds

The title was a poor attempt at a recreation of a Beatles song. Didn't really work did it?! Anyway, two recently commissioned cards for Pauline's Daughter and Granddaughter, personalised to their interests!

The detail on Joanne's card is shown as its hard to see it on the other picture - stamped with silver ink from a clear Studio G stamp.

Both my boys were particularly impressed with the Lazy Town card and wanted one!!

The little characters will be available to buy from my website in August.

Happy Fathers Day!

And here are some I made earlier! Commissions for Fathers Day. Have a guess which football teams they are from.......

The red one is actually a rugby team, if it makes it any easier!

I actually quite enjoy making these and probably can do any team!

Shabby Saturday Collection

I had quite a creative weekend again!

All cards made using the Shabby Saturday download from Funky Hand. I decided to see if I could make a collection of 5 cards using only backing papers from the collection and some extra bits for interest.

I printed all the papers onto either white card or clear vellum and did not re-size the image to fit the whole of the paper so that the detail is a little smaller.

This card uses the flowery background printed onto vellum with extra vellum flowers, black ric rac ribbon and a few gems.

This has 3 buttons for detail which have been attached by silver wire - holes made in the reverse of the card and the wire pushed through, twisted and then made into tear drops.

The sentiment, printed from the collection is attached to the card with black organza ribbon.

A light chalking around the edge adds a little depth to the card.

The bling one! Vellum dotty overlay in the centre of the card with added gems to pick out the pattern. Again, the edges of the card have been lightly chalked and the printed flowers have vellum layered over the top.

Bargain green organza ribbon which was originally wired but I took that out. The rest of the dotty vellum was used on this card with the sentiment attached to it.

And finally, my favourite! The remaining printed flower vellum attached to the front of the card by silky raspberry coloured ribbon (hole punched the holes so it threads through). I made some little swirls out of wire to echo the pattern on the flowers, however it was not that easy as I don't have pliers so my fingers took the brunt of it!

Tiny silver dots run around the edge of the vellum, made with a silver gel pen.

I'm quite pleased with what I have achieved! And they will be able to view as examples of the Shabby Saturday download on the Funky Hand Website very soon!!

On a roll

Be warned - this post has a bit of a pink theme going on!
My cousin Claire regularly asks me to make cards for her. And as I'd not done any crafting for a week whilst being on holiday, I was itching to get stuck into something! So I made these three cards (amongst others!) on the Saturday and Sunday evening. The vellum flowers and dotty backing are printed from the V Funky CD. Birthday sentiment is one of my own, and its finished off with a raffia ribbon tie.

Super bright pink card from a previous de-stash by Lynsey (I'm using it slowly!) The little bits of glitter are also courtesy of Lynsey from her latest de-stash - its Anita's 3d paint, silver glitter and I love using it!

And this one uses backing paper, again from Funky Hand, and I think its one of the earlier CD's (sorry can't remember as I print papers off and then forget where from!) The letters are die cuts from the Lollipop font by Sizzix that I bought from ebay a while ago, and they have been coloured with felt-tips. The pretty pearlescent flowers are also courtesy of Lynsey.

More Fathers Day

Some more Fathers Day (15 June) cards that I've made lately. The Superman one above is made using a topper on my website.

You'll never guess which backing papers I've used for these next two!! The little tags come out of the envelopes. I'm making more tactile cards these days. Or is it because I'm embarrassed about my big box of ribbon and I need to use it before I buy any more......??!!

All three cards are available to buy!

PS - Karen loved the two cards from yesterdays post - Wedding Anniversary and Ice Climbing! Always good to know eh?!

Anniversaries and Ice Climbing

Two cards commissioned by my hairdresser Karen.

The first one is for her son Thomas who will be 18 at the end of June (I now feel really old as I remember him as a toddler!) and I made the Party Invitations last month in the rock climbing theme. Karen wanted the Birthday card to have an ice climbing theme. So this is what I came up with! The 'ice' is made from very shiny silver card and also glitter card with a bit of matt silver card thrown in.

Wire and brads make up the 'rope' and foothold things.












The second card is for friends of theirs who are celebrating their 20th Wedding Anniversary.

Sue loves to shop and Trev always gets to carry the bags!

I'm dropping both cards off tonight when we have our hair cut, so I'm hoping she and the recipients like them!

Funky Fathers Day Cards!

Here are 4 Fathers Day Cards I made over the weekend, amongst other things. The 'other things' are not quite completed yet so cannot show!

I think I've used the V Funky backing cd! The letters are Sizzix Lollipop die cuts coloured with felt tips (yes got it all over my hands too!) a little randomly to give it a bit of a spontaneous feel. Small gems are added over the dotty pattern at the top - bling for Dad! And either organza ribbon or raffia have been added to the sides, attached via little brads. All the cards are hand shaped too!

Will be added to my website soon!

Scottish Man Utd & ACDC

Pauline from Wedding Toppers asked me to make these two Birthday Cards for male family members with personalised details. And as this type of card is proving very popular at the moment, I did these the same! Plus male cards can be quite hard to do sometimes! Hope they like them!