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.

WHERE DID MY POST GO??

Well I don't know what happened but somehow I lost the post I did a few hours for today!! I have no idea where it went so it looks like I have to do it all over again!
I just about managed to get the 3 cards I made from Liz's parcel finished and on here in time, it being the last day of June and tomorrow I can peep into Julys parcels ........... if I have time!!
So here is what I have made so far, I have 1 more in mind yet but not sure exactly what bits I want to use on it, ..........................

I haven't decided whether to put a greeting on this one or not yet,

Sorry about this one being blurred, because those cute little Santa hats stick out it wouldn't scan properly and because I don't have a camera at the moment I had to just do the best I could ........ which wasn't very good at all !!!!!!

I also made 1 more card this month, the picture came from an earlier parcel of Pat's, the glitter strips were also from Pat, the backing paper I'm not sure of ......... it's my age you know, I just can't remember everything!! The idea for the layout of the card definitely came from Liz ........... it's her favourite layout, LOL.

Well it was time to open my June crafting parcels .............. the theme this month (chosen by yours truly) was "Christmas ......with a difference!". I have nothing against traditional Christmas cards at all, in fact I like them, but I started thinking and realised that not everyone i send cards to at Christmas is into the "traditional" sort, nor are they all religious, so i decided I needed to do some slightly "different" type cards, rather than the more normal "red/green, santa, snowman, holly" type.
I could hear Liz gasp and see Pat sink into her chair in despair but i showed no mercy and held to my choice!!! I had a look at both parcels and was pleased with what i saw. I have a couple of ideas for when I start on Liz's but yesterday I decided to go with Pats parcel first.
Liz joined me for a fun days crafting and between us we had everything we could want .............. except inspiration!!! Liz forgot hers and I've lost mine!! However after a day struggling ............. there were several long silences (almost unheard of before, LOL) while we both sat and looked at all the lovely bits we had and tried desperately to think what to do with them ..................... i finall managed to make 3 cards, all of which I am pleased with, so in the end it was another succesfull day's work!!

A fun card this with "comic" Santa, red & green yes but not quite "traditional"

I loved both this backing paper & the picture as soon as opened my parcel and saw them.

I have to admit I wasn't at all sure about this image to begin with. I had actually put this paper aside to use with a couple of other bits from the parcel but somehow ended up making this card ........ which I like!

After being reminded by Pat that one of my May cards was supposed to be an easel card I swiftly grabbed my parcel of bits to see what I had left!! Finally I came up with this one ................. making a grand total of 8 ..... yes eight!! ....... cards from Pat's May parcel .............

As usual I'm not happy with my colouring at all but it looked a bit better after I cut the picture down