MAKE CARDS TODAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Thursday .. .. and happy Valentine's Day.

I hope some love will come your way in one form or another today.

It has been a busy wedding week here which has seen me completing lots of venue stationery.  I  have two brides getting married this week.  One tomorrow and another on Saturday so definitely lots of love in the air for those happy couples.  Let's hope there will be some of the wonderful sunshine in the air too that has been making a bit of an appearance this week.

So nothing has been made especially for my blog since the weekend .. .. but what I can share are a few of my makes that went into the current edition of Make Cards Today  magazine which is now on sale.  

There was a bit of a cute bird theme running through the projects I was asked to work on.  The first here was part of a decoupage commission and the others were part of a stamping commission.

Hopefully the weather will be nice enough for me to take Mum for a walk out later.  We are already looking forward to the spring weather appearing as walks out have been rather chilly for her these past few months .. .. .. no matter how many layers we dress her in.  Someone suggested her having a little hot water bottle under her coat so we might have to try that!

To make her smile come meal time I made her a little cottage pie in a heart shaped dish last night.  That can be cooking away whilst we put the world to rights later.

So enjoy your day everyone and I will catch you again soon.

SAD TIMES

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all having a good week and things aren't too manic for you in the run up to Christmas.

It suddenly dawned on me today that whilst up to my eyes in wedding work I didn't share my favourite cards from the current issue (Issue 173) of Quick Cards Made Easy .. .. and I can't let that pass by without sharing a couple of the cards from a commission called "Paperback Cards".

I really enjoyed this commission and I still have loads of pages left in the second-hand book I bought from the charity shop .. .. which cost a whole 20p !!  In fact I felt so guilty at only wanting one book I bought a few. I must go back sometime and see if there are any books with "coated" pages so that I can do a bit of ink blending on them. Paperback paper doesn't lend itself to that very well.  

I only remembered that I hadn't shared anything from Issue 173 when Issue 174 dropped through my door this morning, ahead of going on sale next week (28th December).  

These are my favourite makes from Issue 174.  This first one features a technique called "Partial Heat Embossing"

and a second commission which featured "Magic Slider Cards".  Not something I had ever made before .. .. but something I found hard to stop making .. .. and I will definitely make some again in the future!  Not easy to photograph but hopefully you get the general ideal here with the closed and open shots:

But rather than the normal excitement I feel when I see the magazine on the door mat, it was tinged with sadness when it arrived today because Issue 174 is going to be the last ever publication of Quick Cards Made Easy.. .. boo hoo!!  I have enjoyed my time with the magazine soooo much and have worked with, and met, some fabulous people.  I have been very lucky.

I can still remember my very first commission like it was yesterday, starting with the magazine in January 2012 and now finishing in January 2018.  A whole six years ... and I have been fortunate to appear in each magazine during that time.

But as my Mum would say "all good things must come to an end  .. ..  the same as all the bad ones" and I will wait to see what the future holds for me now.  I do believe things always happen for a reason and perhaps my wedding world is just going to take over completely!  Who knows?

I know the future starts with two wedding fayres in January so no time for me to rest on my laurels that's for sure.

But before then we have Christmas, and I am so looking forward to some lovely "chill time" with  my family.  I love it when we are all together.

So that is me for today.  I will be back again soon.