Retrospective

I've had lurgy this week, and it's hard to make pretty things when your head hurts and you have to blow your nose every couple of minutes, so I have nothing new to show. Instead, I thought I'd share some of the first cards I made, when I made my first few crafty purchases from eBay and Lakeland in 2005. I started making my own cards partly because I didn't like many of the ones in the shops, but mainly because I really don't like the sickly verses in the bought ones. These three are from March to June that year. At that time I hadn't been in a craft shop or looked at a craft mag, and I didn't own any rubber stamps. My house seemed bigger in those days ;-)

Coming soon to a scrapbook near me

A mothers day trip to visit Adam's mum in Surrey provided a perfect excuse to have a long weekend to fit in some geocaching south of London, and a visit to my friend and fellow paper-stroker, Miranda. The weather was fab, and the pile of photos to scrap has got a bit bigger. These are near the top of the list though.

Designer Doughnut Filling



Poseurs


It's Banania! Hmm, maybe you had to be there...

One for Mum

Uh-oh, one week in, and playing catch-up already. That's long weekends away for you!

As usual, I waited until the last minute to commit to designs for my mothers' day cards. In the end I decided to use it as an excuse to make a swing card, and to use a very lovely tulip sticker I've been hoarding for a while. Hope you like the result.

Cardmaking Beginners - Challenge #1

I recently managed to cajole my Mum & Dad into having a go at card making, but they are a little overwhelmed by all the possibilities. To help to get them started, I'll be setting them challenges that focus on individual techniques. I'll set these challenges on here too, and would love people to join in. It's just for fun, so there won't be judging or prizes or anything, but if you're a beginner, hopefully it will help you too.

The first one is nice and simple - to make a card conforming to the layout in this basic template, and with a stamped image as the focal point. You don't have to use straight lines or rectangles and you don't have to have a greeting if you don't want to, just make something with the basic elements in the template. Also, because it's the first challenge for brand new crafters, only basic techniques please - this is a confidence builder!

Deadline: 23rd March

I want a pretty blog too

Welcome to my new blog! My old blog was a bit dull, it covered everything, I shared it with Adam, and was exceedingly lazy about updating it. Recently I've been getting craft blog envy looking at friends' blogs, so I thought it was time to be a proper blogger, and have a pretty blog of my own, dedicated to papercrafting.

So, here it is. Nothing bespoke yet, but my first challenge is to make updating my blog regularly a habit. Wish me luck!