RICHARD

My son, Richard, lives in Australia and it tears at my heart to know that he is so far away. We do try to see him once a year but, for me, that is nowhere near enough. I miss him so. Just to show I was thinking of him I sent him this card which I made using my new motorbike stamp from Stampin Up. He used to have a green 'ninja' bike and so I thought I would colour it green.

ANITA'S RETIREMENT CARD FOR ANITA

My friend came over this afternoon for a crafting session. She wanted to make a retirement card for her friend Anita, (SHE IS ALSO CALLED ANITA). We decide on the stamp set 'Cheers to You'. to say she is a beginner I think she did an absolutley fabulous job. I am sure her friend will appreciate her efforts.

We also both made a baby card for new arrivals to be. Mine is the baby girl one shown here. Anita's was very similar but in blues and I forgot to take a photo before she went home!!

OWL PUNCH

Well - everyone who IS anyone has been longingly awaiting the arrival of the owl punch from Stampin Up. - If you need to get hold of one send me an email with your details and I will get back to you.

I showed it my ladies at class and they were ooing and aahhing about it all lesson. As it is nearing Easter we made a little bird house to put chocolate mini eggs in and put the owl at the side. We also made a couple of book marks using the owl punch. This was great for one of my ladies as she is Brown Owl at Brownies. Guess whose shopping list the punch went on!

ENVELOPE BAG

Last week I was showing my new card class ladies how to make a bag using a brown paper envelope. I used the 'very vintage' ink roller from SU, using soft suede. Made the flower using the butterfly punch and spritzing with water. If you want to know how to make the bag please leave a comment and I will publish instructions. Thanks

RUBY WEDDING CARD

On Sunday it was our friends Ruby Wedding anniversary. They live in Australia now and have done for the last 35 years or so but were married at Wentworth Church, near Rotherham, Yorkshire. David is a Yorkshire lad born and bred and Wendy is a true Australian. They met in Austrlia when David was in the Navy and the rest, as they say, is history.

They decided that they would like to come back to Wentworth to celebrate their Ruby Wedding day and organised a bar-b-que at the Rockingham Arms in Wentworth for family and friends. It was a lovely evening. One lady even came all the way from Argentina for the celebrations!

I made this card especially for the occasion. I even made the flower by using 3 butterfly shapes from the SU butterfly punch, inking the edges, spritzing with water and scrunching up. The centre I made using ribbon and folding it into a rose shape. The background was run through the big shot using the new embossing folders from Stampin Up. I hope they like it and I hope you do too.

Thank you

I have made this thank you card for a new customer. She has ordered the vintage vogue stamps set, pretty in pink and early espresso ink pads so I thought I would use that combination to maybe give her some inspiration.