JUST IN TIME!!

Well here I am to post the cards I've made from the November parcel Liz gave me ......... and just in time to as tomorrow is a day I've been waiting for, the day we start opening our Advent parcels, oh I love having that little gift (actually 2 little gifts, even better!) to open each morning.
Anyway back to November, we're not finished with that just yet! When I opened Liz's parcel I could only see 2 cards I could make but after a bit more thought and playing around during a lovely days crafting with Liz I managed to make 4 so I was happy with that .......... and here they are ....


I really like this one, quite simple and easy to put together

I put together the background, green strip of card, ribbon & button on this one from my parcel and then had no idea what to do with it!!! I left it aside and later on hunted through my own stash and found the picture, nestie shape & greeting which I added to it. I'm not a lover of green as my friends know but I do like this with the green & yellow and the little touches of red.

This one almost made itself it was so quick!! I was just playing around with bits when it all fell into place. The dark strips on the corner strip of backing paper are actually narrow purple ribbon but it doesn't show well at all here!!

I'm not too keen on this one myself!!

So there we are, one year of monthly parcels and challenges completed .......... it has been lots of fun and I've enjoyed both making the cards from the contents of each parcel and the anticipation of what there might be in the next parcel, ........... I'm looking forward to next years parcels and challenges but there's those advent gifts first!!!!!!!

Part 1 ..... RIBBONS RIBBONS RIBBONS!!

Part 1 of 3!! The challenge for Novembers parcels, chosen by Pat, was "Ribbons" ............... every card must have a piece of ribbon on it. She knows I don't do ribbon, LOL, although the influence from her & Liz is helping me to use them a bit more so it wasn't as scary a challenge as it would have been earlier in the year!
I managed to get 5 cards from Pats parcel and have quite a lot of lovely bits left over still.

On this first one I used the ribbon to "hang" the little squares on, I used pieces of my own red & white card for the background.

This one came almost totally from my parcel except for the little red gems & greeting. Again I used the ribbon to "hang" the picture from but this time I didn't take it all the way down.
As usual I'm not totally happy with my colouring, the poor little hedgehog looks like he's been in the sun too much, LOL, although the pink is not quite so deep on the actual card.

A very simple one and everything from the parcel, just background paper, a topper, greeting  and a piece of ribbon

The background paper here came from the parcel, it was so lovely and bright I really wanted to use it but had no idea how ......... until I remembered I had some sunflower toppers tucked away, ...... an oval of white card to bring them out and, I think, a lovely card. I couldn't fit ribbon across in a way I liked so I used a little "artistic licence" and added a bow, well it's made from ribbon!

I'm really not sure about this one, ............. I cannot decide if I like it or not, I seem to change my mind every time I look at it, LOL

So there we have my cards from Pat's parcel ..................... onto my one from Liz next, mmmmmm I wonder what she's put in there? I love opening these parcels and letting all the goodies fall out.

Part 2 ....... NEW DOODLES!

2 new Doodles I have done this week, both took several hours to complete (not all at once!), I have to call them doodles as I'm not sure what they are .......... but I'm happy with both and enjoyed doing them. I used chalks to add colour and was pleased with the soft smudgy effect they gave and the way they blended together.

Part 3 ... SPOTTY STRIPY CARDS!

Blogging in 3 parts today as I have different things to show you and don't want to do it all in one. Firstly here are 3 cards I made from a "Spotted & Striped" theme for a group I belong too, I was happy with all 3 of them.

Here are 2 cards and a card front I made last night and this morning from my stash .......... I spent a day sorting all my nesties cut outs and embossed bits, got a load of old polypockets and cut in half, then put shapes in some order ....... ie. ovals in one, square in another, round in another, etc, ....... and put embossed all in separate ones so I can see exactly what I have when I want one instead of rummaging in a box and never finding anything!!! Of course while sorting them out I came across a few bits that gave me ideas so here are the results ...............

This one is just a card front at the moment waiting to go on a card, I was just playing around with odd bits and pieces and came up with this,

This one I needed to make for my SiL as her Birthday Card never turned up (Grrrrrrr!! Flipping Royal Mail!)

This one I just liked, LOL

SWAP THE SWAPS part 2

So onto my parcel from Liz ......... a very interesting selection but I soon managed to come up with some ideas and have made 5 cards from it. I have a couple more to make up but I ran out of double sided tape!!! So here's what I've done so far ......

I haven't put a greeting on this one yet but I love black & white cards,

I really wanted to use this gorgeous piece of ribbon but it took me a while to decide how, I used a piece of my own backing paper on it but the rest was from the parcel.

This one took a bit more thinking about, as soon as I saw the circles I wanted to use them together like this .......... like a great bit hoop ear-ring!!! The corners matched with their pink check backing too.

A fairly simple card this one, but I think it's cute

Another easy card to make but I like it

As I say I have at least a couple more to make up from Liz's parcel yet. I think "Swapping the swaps" was a success.

SWAP THE SWAPS!!

(Part 1) I was quite looking forward to Liz's choice for October of "Swap the Swaps"!! The idea was we would take bits left from all our parcels this year (Jan -Sept) and with the addition of a few bits from our stash if needed send them back!! I couldn't wait to see what I had been "sent back" so was pleased when the time came to open my parcel ........... as always I opened Pats parcel first (don't ask me why, that's just the way I started at the beginning of the year and have kept it up). A lovely array of bits & pieces tumbled out, and so much of it too!!! I didn't know where to start. Eventually I sorted bits out and (so far cos there's loads left still!!!) I made 7 cards.

I made this one up using 2 santas first, but I didn't like it much and the santas wouldn't stick to the crepe paper backing!! In the end I took them off and stuck them to card, then cut them out ......... and finally decided to only use 1 of them.

This one took a lot of working out! I knew what I wanted to do but wasn't sure how to do it, in the end I came up with this ......... it was the best I could do!

This one was fairly simple, as usual not too happy with my colouring but there you are.

I actually like this one ......... no Pat it's not "traditional" colours but you know I have to be different, LOL

This was one of my favourites, easy to make too

This is my other favourite, again easy to do

A bit more traditional with red & green, LOL

All in all a lovely parcel as always and lots of fun making the cards.

Tuesday was crafting day with Liz so she tackled her September parcel from me and I tackled mine from her .............. with a helping paw or 2 from our new kitten Elfie!!
I knew when I spread out the lovely array of bits (one gorgeous piece of backing paper went immediately into my "I love that & I'm keeping it" file!!) that I could definitely get 3 or 4 cards from it, and I did those while Liz made 4 from mine ............. a succesful (and very enjoyable) day. I wasn't finished though, I put my parcel away with ideas for at least 1 more card in my head but when I took it out the next day I ended up making 3 more!!!! I think both Liz & Pat will say these 3 are definitely "my style", not sure if they will like them or not (I think so even though they are not their style) ...... I certainly do!
So, on with the show ...........

 This first one took a little working out, I knew what I wanted to do but wasn't sure how to lay it out at first (I also told Liz - nicely! - I wanted more images of that lovely picture so I could try colouring it). The greeting was from my stash and just seemed to fit perfectly.

 A fairly simple layout for this but just a little different, .......... which I like, LOL

 The backing paper here came from my stash as it seemed to fit best, again a fairly simple card but I like it

 Another simple card but I was happy with it

 Now onto the other 3! I really like this one, don't ask me why, I just do! It took me a while to work it out .......... eventually I used one of my own stamps to make a background, the main image and the piece I layered it onto came from my parcel, and the clocks on the top are from one of Liz's stamps that she brought over last time and let me stamp some bits ........ they came in handy fairly quick!

 Same image as before but this was in shades of brown so I used some bits I'd stamped fron one of Liz's stamps on a previous visit as a background, they seemed just right to me

 The image here was from my parcel as was the frame around it (leftover from cutting a bit out for another card!). The background was a bit of scrap wallpaper from my stash ............ I tried so many bits of backing paper before this one and none seemed "just right" to me, but as soon as I came across this bit I knew my search was over.

So there we are, all up to date with Septembers cards. I may get a few more from the parcels, who knows, but it won't be just yet ................. to be honest I'm waiting very impatiently for next months envelopes when we "swap the swaps" and give back all those bits we couldn't use or that just weren't us, I cannot wait to see what Liz & Pat have sent back!!!!!!

Well it's way past time I showed what I did with the parcel for September .......... it's really not my fault I'm slow, a cousin dragged me back into Family History on a line I haven't touched for over a year, and while searching for some notes I decided it was time I finished the job of sorting out my filing cabinet!!! So I have been knee deep in scraps of paper .......... almost literally at times!!!!!
Anyway I'm here now and armed with some cards so let's get on with the show, ........ the theme was "Mens cards" and (so far) I have done 3 with the lovely selection of bits Pat sent me .......

I have to admit I had no idea what I was going to do with either this paper or image but (being a football fan) I had to use it, I hope it will resemble someone celebrating his team winning!

  I wanted to use these 2 papers but had no idea how until Liz said "How do you use a tie?". The answer came to me immediately, with a shirt, so I took the plain paper and cut a shape, folded the corners down (luckily it was white on the back so made a nice contrast) and, after adding the tie and some "buttons" hoped it looked at least something like a shirt!!

I loved this paper but it took me a while to decide how to use it. In the end I just added the plane image (I inked the edges of it first) ........... then I found just a small peel off greeting which seemed to be all it needed to me.

I also finally finished this card from Liz's August parcel!! I had started it but needed to colour the image, finally I got it done .......

Then, whilst playing around one day, I made this one from bits and pieces, ..........

Look Pat, I found a stamp I like!!!!!!! Ok so it only says Happy Birthday but it's big and has lots of uses ............... and (most important) I like it!!!!
So there you have Septembers work so far, next week I start on Liz's parcel ........... more goodies to play with. I do enjoy these parcel swaps.

Ok, second part of todays Blog .......... which will come out above the first part!!!!! ........... I wanted to Blog these drawings I have been working on recently for a change .....

 

This is a pencil drawing, I feel it's not finished but I'm wary of adding to it in case I spoil it!!!!

 

And then I just have to show off these 2 gorgeous parchment pictures that a friend on one of my lists did from one of my drawings and sent to me (Thank You Lesley), aren't they just beautiful?

 

So that's it for today, hope you enjoy looking at it all and see something you like.

I have several things to Blog this week so I'm going to divide it into 2 parts (aren't you lucky!!). Firstly my August parcel from Liz ....... we are still on Pat's theme of  "Sympathy, Get Well & Thinking of You" (unfortunately we all need those cards at times don't we).
Liz, as usual, gave me a lovely selection to work from, and as she joined me for a lovely crafting day too, we both set to work.
Here is what I did (not all that day, some I did the next day), the first 4 cards are almost totally from Liz's parcel, the next 2 have bits from her parcel too, .....

 

This one was easy, those gorgeous butterflies really don't need much added to them.

 

I love these poppies, and I managed to colour them ok!!! Again they don't need much ......... there is no greeting yet as I haven't decided what I want!!

 

I wasn't sure about this one at first but by the time I'd finished it I liked it

 

Another one I wasn't sure about ........ I'm still not!!!

 

I really wanted to use this gorgeous butterfly/birdcage paper Liz  included and finally I worked out how to

 

Another lovely paper I was determined to use

 

I wanted to try using this heart parcment paper (think it came from Pat originally), after seeing the problems Liz had sticking hers down without it showing I decided to put it behind a frame I had.