This is the Dedication Card I made for Elijah's Grandmother to give to him. Actually that  is not completely true, I started the card off  and was just making the "book" when my friend, Linda, who had come over for the weekend from the Isle of Man, helped me finish it and completed the design.

I have to say Linda is, in my opinion, one of the best cardmakers in the UK. - That's not just a friend's flattery - some of her work is truly exceptional!

Unfortunately I had to rush to take the photographs before Church this morning and they're not so good.

The "book" is cut from a Nestabilty die - the pages have been curled and  pale blue ink has been brushed across the edges. Because the die sizes are such, Linda painstakingly cut  base blue card to shape to sit between the white "pages" and the silver Mirri board "cover". The white satin ribbon has been glued down with a pearl embellishment to hide the glue spot.

The cross has been rubber stamped in Slate Grey ink and it comes from a set available from Stampin'Up. Although the photo does not show it clearly the cross has been stamped flat onto the white card and then a duplicate cross has been layered over it using 3d foam pads.

A simple cross has been punched into the pale blue insert. As you'll have gathered I love using card making punches on the inserts. I have quite a selection but am always on the look out for more.

As you can see from the photos a satin bow and some more embellishment pearls help to balance the card and complete the design.

I normally make cards on my own so it was really good making this, sat on the floor,  with Linda whilst watching Saturday night TV. I feel so blessed to have good friends.

Linda was also kind enough to bring over about 50 cards which she has donated to my card stall for Mission work. I'm sure a few of them will find their way onto this blog soon!

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However as the old saying goes " one man's loss is another's gain", or in this case "one woman's..."!

Sally hosts "Creative Cafe" every Tuesday evening at her mother's coffee shop, "Delicachix" so last Tuesday I dropped by and managed to bag myself some real bargains. Sally was selling all her card making rubber stamps for half price or less, and some of them had not even been used!

The Penny Black tree on the right of the photo is a stamp I've been wanting for ages and I just fell in love with the baubles behind that - this year's Christmas Card design I think!

To make things even better for me Sally has donated over 100 of her cards to sell on my stall at Longton Community Church in aid of the Mission work.

Now Sally is a very talented lady and she has been making beautiful cards for years. Here is just a snapshot of some of the lovely cards which she has given. She apologised when giving them to me, saying that they were not her most elaborate, or her best work, but I'm sure you'll agree with me that they really are gorgeous! I just wish I'd bought the big daisy stamp before someone else had got hold of it!

Anyway I wish Sally all the best with her new venture and I'll keep you informed every now and then as to how she's getting along.

New rubber stamps can be very expensive so always keep a look out for good quality used ones - you might be surprised at just what you can find!

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However, as usual, my life has been really hectic so I had absolutely no time left to make them a Wedding Card myself. I frantically searched through all the card boxes of the cards we sell at Church. Luckily Anita had recently made this delightful card so I dutifully purchased it, but before writing it, decided it was so nice I had to share it with you.

The card is a landscape with scalloped edges. I hope you can just make out the pale white and grey backing paper which Anita has used as a base mat. Onto this she has rubber stamped a delightful wedding image from Lili of the Valley which she had bought from one of the craft shows we have been to, and a simple sentiment.

The stamped image has been mounted onto silver Mirri card and the finishing touch is a white chiffon ribbon.

I love the way Anita has been quite sparing with her use of colour on this card - the image could have been more heavily coloured but I think this would have distracted from the overall feel of the card.

A little glitter just gives the card the right amount of highlights.

And just in case you're wondering what the happy couple looked like - here is their photo - taken just after they'd exited the Church through a whirl of confetti!

That is why I want to share this card with you. It was made by a lady called Linda (not the same Linda I have previously written about) who has recently joined our card making team and she is making some really lovely cards for us to sell at Church. This one particularly caught my eye because it is so bright and jolly and just immediately makes you want to smile.

I think it is a great card to send to a friend to just to let them know that you do not take them for granted and that you do value their friendship.

I like the way Linda has combined her use of rubber stamping with the torn hand made paper and the printed background paper.

It was really refreshing for me when Linda showed me some of her cards and asked to join our team because her style is very different to mine and she has jolted me into thinking how I can freshen up some of my card making.

So my suggestion to you all is to make some Friendship Cards and let your friends know how much you value them.

At Church recently we had a Celebration Evening to celebrate what has been achieved in the last 6 months and to look forward to the next 6. As part of the evening our choir performed  a special song and I'm going to share it with you here because I think it fits in with this piece on friendship - I know many of my friends have been there for me in tough times ( you know who you are ladies!) and I was grateful for their support.

I hope you enjoy the video - all the singers are amateurs and rehearse together for just a couple of hours a week. I thnk they did a great job on a great song!

Although the theme is St Patrick's Day it would be easy to adapt this idea for any other special day. For a birthday you could substitute a more expenisve bar of chocolate and use some of the lovely papers from Cardmaking-Ideas!

Susan
Cardmaking-companion

Technorati Tags: card making, card making papers

Obviously Christmas themed stamps dominated the stalls but there were plenty of other stamps as well.

I picked up some lovely Penny Black clear stamps packs which had been discounted by 66% - what a bargain! Hopefully I'll be able to post some of my efforts with them shortly.

I also got another set of Just Rite stamps which I'm itching to use!

We spent the whole day at the Fair and by the time we got home we could hardly stand let alone think about rubber stamping!

I really enjoy going to card making and craft fairs - I like seeing what new products are on offer and always find there's some new tip you can pick up from the demonstrators.

Technorati Tags: card making, Penny Black clear stamps, rubber stamping, rubber stamps for card making

Technorati Tags: card making, rubber stamping, rubber stamps