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.

So time to start on my August parcels .......... Pat's first (don't ask me why but I always do Pat's first!). As always when I opened it lots of lovely bits and pieces fell onto my table .......... and, as always, my heart sank!! Pat had chosen the theme for the month, "Get Well, Sympathy & Thinking of You". I had no ideas at all what to do!!
Liz came over for a lovely days crafting and while waiting for her to arrive I spread my bits out on the table and slowly a couple of ideas came to me ........... it was a beginning.
After Liz arrived we had a coffee and a natter before setting to work ................. what a succesful day it turned into, we made 5 cards each!!!!! Once I got started they just seemed to come together and I added very little of my own stuff as everything I wanted was in my parcel.
So here's the finished cards ..............

I even coloured some of Pat's stamped images in (she does love her stamping!) ......... and used them!!!!

I entered 3 cards I made into a monthly competition run by a group I am in, the theme was "Oriental", and I am very pleased to say that one of them was the winner!!!
Here are the 3 cards ...................

This one is actually my favourite

This is the winning card

I wasn't so happy with this one but I still like it

Now I await what I know will be a lovely prize donated by a group member

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.