On your bike!

Hello lovely people,

Did you miss me?!
I'm back from a wonderful week away in Yorkshire; I think the weather was not as good as at home but we had lots of fun including a LOT of walking and LOTS of cream teas :-)

I also got to meet my very lovely blogging buddy Christine (and her other half!) for the first time and we had a good old chat over lunch at Betty's at Harlow Carr gardens.

I didn't manage to get anything scheduled to post before I went away so thought I would share one now from a few weeks back.

As well as making my own card for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary, my Dad asked me to make one for him to give my Mum.

They enjoy lots of sporty and outdoor activities together so I used just one of those to inspire my design, which was cycling.

The bicycle stamp set comes with the basket separate and also some butterflies or hearts that you can stamp above the basket but in the end I added some die cut hearts cut from matching DP for a more co-ordinated look.

Card recipe;

Image: Good times - Clearly Besotted

DP: Yours truly - Pebbles

Twine: Natural button twine - The Ribbon Girl - currently unavailable

Tag: Sentiment tags - LOTV
Dies - mini heart collection - Memory box

I haven't been able to keep up with my blog visits while I've been away but I'm looking forward to coming round to see you all soon :-)

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Challenges I am entering;
Papertake Weekly (Ohh so pretty)

Ruby wedding anniversary

Hello lovely people,

I've had a weekend packed with celebrations; firstly my parents' 40th wedding anniversary and then my sister-in-law's 40th birthday.

I decided to take the plunge and make an exploding box card for my parents' anniversary card so here's what it looks like from the outside...

I kept the outside fairly simple and used several different flowers to make a little 'bouquet' on the top.

Since 40 years is ruby I wanted to use some red in the design...now, that is a colour that I have very little of in my paper collection!

I made the most of a small leftover piece of gorgeous Maja Design heart paper and scrounged together a few scraps of plain red - just enough for the heart centrepiece and a few heart stems!

The heart centrepiece is made from strips of paper and is held in place with a rather large blob of glue, which I hid with a whole heap of flowers!

The little heart stems are a real favourite die of mine and I think they look so cute 'tied' with a twine bow.

Card recipe;

DP: Vintage baby - Maja Design (available from Live and Love Crafts) and scraps of red from stash

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Twine: Natural button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Tag: Sentiment tags - LOTV
Dies: Circle stax - MFT Die-namics, Vintage lace - Magnolia Doohickey, Heart stems - Impression Obsession, Tiny heart set - Memory box, scalloped circles - Spellbinders I think!

Sentiments: done on computer (font - Kayleigh)

I am pleased to say that my parents loved this 'card' and we had a wonderful time celebrating their special anniversary.
I'll have more cards from the weekend to share with you soon!

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Challenges I am entering;
1.  Simon Says Stamp (anything goes)
2.  A Gem of a Challenge (flowers)