Well Christmas has come and gone and for once we had a white one!

Here's a photo of my 6 year old Dalmatian, Jazz, exploring snow for the first time! After these few tentative steps and sniffs he decided the white stuff was fun and started running around like the dappy dog he is!

I had a really good Christmas - my only complaint was that it went too quickly. If I could I'd make Christmas last for at least a week! Although I couldn't manage being away from cardmaking for a whole week.

In fact on Boxing day night I sat in front of the TV watching my umpteenth soppy Christmas movie and opened up a card making kit which I've had for a while.

 I signed up for an annual subscription to a card making magazine and the kit was the free gift.

I thought you might like to see some of the results. These were really easy to make but I think they look really effective. I like the colour combination of pink and coffee, with just a hint of chocolate for the card making embellishments.

So far I've made about 12 cards and I've still got quite a few elements left. Let's hope the soppy movies continue until New Year!

Technorati Tags: card making embellishments, card making kits, card making magazines, cardmaking

  My good friend Jean's birthday is in December so I thought I'd show you the handmade birthday card which I made for her.

Some card makers wonder  if they are making birthday cards for someone around the Christmas/ winter season whether or not they should keep the card to "appropriate" colours i.e. the winter blues, greys etc of the festive red and greens. My view is that the card must always be suited to the personality of the person you are sending it to, and reflect what you feel for them.

As usual I was on the last minute with this one but was fairly pleased with the result.

The base  card is white onto which I matted a pink pearlised design paper (this photo shows just how pearlised the paper is) - the paper was part of a Craftwork Cards gift set which I received free when signing up for an annual cardmaking magazine subscription.

I used the oval and scalloped edge Nestabilities to create the centrepiece and then rubber stamped a Sugar Nellie image with Versafine ink. Tiny pink gems embellished the scalloped edge.

The image was coloured using Copic markers and I used Candy Pink Stickles over the pinafore.

Finishing touches were a "Happy Birthday" card topper and a pink flower with a gemstone centre. The flower picked up the colour of the flowers on the pot plant which the girl is holding in the stamped image.

I'm pleased to say that Jean appreciated it!

Technorati Tags: homemade birthday card