School's Out! ...

...For Summer!
Thursday was the final day of term and the children are now free to enjoy a break from their normal routines ... some warm sunshine over the next 6 weeks would be very welcome too!
I put together some simple treat gifts for my daughter's teachers, using Papermania Honey and Hugs papers and some coloured card.

Plain white card was cut into rectangles and the patterned papers were matted onto coloured card leaving a narrow border. 
The treat pouch was created by scoring and folding 6" wide card at 2" and 4"  and using a scalloped circle punch for the cutaway in the centre section, before securing at the back with strong double-sided tape.  This was then stapled at the top and bottom onto the prepared paper panel and then stuck to the white rectangle base, hiding the staples from view.  

A computer generated message was mounted onto coloured card cut with nestabilities and adhered with silicon glue to hide the securing staple at the front.

On the reverse I had attached a panel with room for a personal message and by adding ribbon to make a hanging, the teachers now have a cute keepsake for their notice boards when the chocolate is gone.
Coincidently 4 Crafty Chicks are doing a "School's Out Challenge" this week and the current Joanna Sheen Challenge is "Summer Days" so I'm submitting my wee treat hangings for consideration.

My precious mum celebrates her birthday today so we'll be popping round with her card and gift this afternoon.  I'll share her card ... and the one made for my dear friend Ann who also has her birthday today ... later, so's not to spoil the surprise.
Have a wonderful weekend, wherever you are and whatever you are doing ... and thank you for visiting.

A Manly Time

The weekend's cardmaking was predominantly male orientated as we celebrated Father's Day here in UK. 
A Dad is a girl's "first love" and will always hold a special place in her heart ... I'm lucky enough that mine lives close by and is still playing an active and important role in our family life.
Another important man in my life is, of course, my husband and the children each needed a card for him, so I was kept busy in the craft room on Saturday.
My daughter's card uses elements from a collection of Fizzy Moon goodies 'cos she likes 'cute'.

 The front of a large square card was folded back to create a z-fold card and the panels were decorated with layers of plain blue card and glittery heart patterned paper matted onto silver mirri.   A strip of blue ribbon knotted on one side helps to break up the empty space.

Fizzy Moon chipboard emellishments were matted onto silver mirri card and placed on the front panel with foam pads ... simple silver peel off letters spelling the word 'DAD'.

The sweet sentiment was computer generated on my PC and placed inside, leaving enough space for her to write her own personal message.

Something a little more grown up was needed for my son's card, so I decorated a large square card inside and out with GCD studio double-sided papers and folded an origami shirt from a matching leftover scrap.  Black Stickles glitter glue was perfect for creating shiny buttons and alphabet letters on gold mirri punched circles are arranged above it.  No ribbons this time lol!

The sentiment inside came from a little used Penny Black stamp set which I came across the other day and I thought it was ideal as a meaningful, yet non-gushy, message that a grown up son could send to his dad.

For my own dad's card, I coloured a digi image of a dog relaxing in his chair, armed with nibblies, a cuppa'  and ... most importantly ... the TV remote!  Quite appropriate really given that Euro 2012 is dominating TV at the moment ... yawn.

This image was bought ages ago to help raise awareness and funds for an Air Ambulance charity and it is an almost identical replica of a card featured previously on my blog somewhere ... but unfortunately I can't find it and I can't remember who to credit.  If anyone knows or can point me in the right direction, I'd be very grateful.  Rest assured when I do find out I will add the relevant credits and links etc.

Finally I just wanted to show the belated birthday card made for one of Naomi's ten pin bowling pals.  It was his birthday last week but as Naomi was in The Ochils hiking and camping for Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award at the time, she was a bit late.

 

Kanban came to the rescue with this cute Scottie dog image with tartan background elements and I played around with words for the computer generated belated message inside.

I am submitting entries to the following Male themed challenges ...
My Sheri Crafts - Challenge #87 Father's Day
Dream Valley Challenges #34 - For That Special Guy
CI Paints - Inspired By Father's Day
Card Makin Mamas - Challenge #47 Father's Day

Flaming June? ...

Errrrmmm ... I don't think so!
Any hint of flames would be quickly extinguished in the abysmal weather we've had recently.
However on a more positive note ...
It was my son's birthday yesterday and obviously cards were needed so what better excuse could there be to give my crafty stash a long overdue airing?

As he is, (and always has been), a dedicated Nintendo fan, the only difficulty was in deciding which character to use.  After much deliberation, I plumped for Mario and Yoshi simply because they're in my own personal list of favourites. 
An A5 card blank was covered with star paper and Yoshi was printed a couple of times so I could decoupage him for a 3D effect, (although it isn't showing very clearly in the photos).  Once dry this was matted onto gold mirri and placed on the front panel with foam pads.  The sentiment was something that simply popped into my head while I was pootling,  so I quickly printed it, used coloured chalk to kind've match the background paper and cut it out with an oval nestie before matting onto a gold mirri scalloped oval.

Inside I used another piece of the star paper and the Teddy-Bo freebie stamp from this month's Simply Cards and Papercraft provided the perfect greeting.

One down ... one to go!
Sticking 2 DL size cards together gave me a tri-panel card, the front of which was decorated with fabulous blue glittery paper - a perfect background for Mario to fly through.  I cut some silver stars with the cuttlebug and placed an embossed panel across the bottom instead of a stamped greeting.

Red card was scored and embossed top and bottom and stars were cut with nesties for a bit of decoration on the middle section.

Another silly sentiment was matted onto a slightly larger piece of blue glittery paper and the inside was done in a jiffy!  

Cards completed and I'm pleased to say he was delighted with them.