Hello there. I am finding my card making all over the place at the moment. I am working on Christmas cards for the next ABC Christmas Challenge, so I have a lot of Christmas stuff out.

I am also making some birthday cards to put together a stash of them for when needed- and that’s mostly stamping and colouring.

I also turned my hand this weekend to make a birthday card for my mum-in-law. She doesn’t follow my blog or Instagram, so I think I am safe posting this. Her birthday is on Tuesday – the big 80…………but that is the day after we bury her second husband……….my step-father-in-law……a true gentleman, who took great loving care of her for many years……

Mum-in-law particularly likes my intricate die-cutting cards, the kind I made lots of back when I started crafting – mainly because I couldn’t stamp clean and clear images! The arrival of the Misti stamping tool changed the cards I make, and the way I craft, and following other card making blogs and Instagram led me to the American crafting industry – wow. What a selection of crafty stuff over there – but lets also not forget out UK companies – Clearly Besotted, Heffy Doodle, to name just a couple.

Here I am rambling on – maybe I’m getting a little maudlin because of what the week is about to bring…..

Back to the card:

I turned to my Sue Wilson/Creative Expressions stash for virtually all of this card. The card stock – lilac and teal; the dies – stitched rectangles and leaves; the glitter jewels behind the lattice. The only other company was Crafters Companion – the sentiment, and the glitter card stock for the leaves.

I actually ‘gutted‘ the bottom two layers to die cut the top few labels, so it made it more economical, and raised some of the layers on foam tape. Another couple of pictures and close-up:

I am tempted to change the way I did the sentiment, as I think it gets a little lost on the card, but it certainly shines and glitters more in real life – may be the last photograph shows it better?

I also used my Gemini Go for the first time. I am finding a lot of my die-cutting is for small images, and I used it for the mosaic leaves here – first pass, cut straight through – no backwards and forwards – just done…..I am so impressed as these leaves are quite intricate. It now has a place on my craft table……

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Die Cutting Divas – glitter or foil with die cuts

Seize the Birthday – anything goes birthday (option of confetti not used)

The Alphabet Challenge – use some stitching – real or faux (Stitched rectangles)