So the time came to open my July parcel from Liz ........... as always it contained lots of lovely bits ......... and, as always, my mind went blank! Trouble was this time it stayed blank, no matter  how many times I looked at those bits nothing came to me!! I couldn't even put 2 bits together let alone make a card from then ............... the sun had finally melted my brain!!!
Help came in the form of a visit from Liz ............ a cup of coffee, (ok, tea for Liz) and a natter and finally I had 1 (very simple!) card made.
It helped though and the following morning when I got up I made a second, then a third!!! I had a couple of bits that I wanted to use but had no idea how so I rummaged through my stash and finally I made 2 more cards ............. success at last!!!
So here they are ............

This was No.1 ...... very simple but it got me going ......... and I like it!

No.2, again fairly simple but I love the "chocolaty brown" hints

No.3, this took me a bit more time trying to work out just how to lay the bits out, then it took me ages to find a greeting for it!

This was difficult ......... I soooooo wanted to use that gorgeous snowflake cut out that Liz included but nothing looked right .......... in the end I settled for this though I'm still not completely happy with it and don't think I've done the "cut out" justice at all.

Liz included this cute pink ribbon and I had no idea what to put it with ........... until I remember a beautiful embossed piece I'd had from Pat that I hadn't been able to use, ......... a few shiny little flowers (also from Pat) and a nice feminine card.

So there we are, I may be able to get 1 or 2 more cards as I have bits left from both parcels but I'm happy with what I have done ............. and starting to look forward to Augusts parcels!!!!

First July cards ...

So time to open my July parcels .......... how do the months go so fast? July was Liz's choice of challenge and she decided that every card must have at least 1 embossed piece on it.
So I opened Pats parcel, as always a lovely selection of bits and pieces fell out ............ and my mind went blank!! What was I to do with them? I looked, looked again ...... and put them away!!
Luckily Liz came over Monday for a lovely chatty crafting day, so out came all the bits and pieces again. Liz showed me the ideas she had for her selection and suddenly, fron nowhere, a couple of ideas came to my mind ............ it really helps having someone to share things with.
So I made 2 cards, both of them are quite different to my usual style and both are designs I've never done before .............. but I love them and will certainly use these layouts again ....... and again, LOL.
But time to show, not waffle, ...........

This one was quite simple in the end, the background paper is embossed and I just found  strips of blue & pink paper in my stash that matched to make the strip across, the flower, sentiment and little people images came from the parcel.

On this one I decided to cover the card blank with black paper from my stash, then (a bit nervously in case I went wrong!), I cut the lovely image from Pats parcel (which has some embossing on it although it doesn't really show here) in 3 and stuck it on to the card. I found some dark green card in my stash and cut and shaped as a background for the sentiment, which is from the parcel, and added a couple of little gems.

So 2 cards that I really like (so far, I may do more from Pats parcel yet) and 2 new layout designs that I love to use again ................... a success I think.