Beat the Christmas Rush - the March edition

A little bit late but here are my cards for Beat the Christmas Rush - if you would like to join in and get organised for Christmas by having a nice stack of cards made ahead, then feel free to join in.  All you have to do is make a few cards (I aim for at least five cards each month) and then link them here so that everyone can take a look and we can share inspiration.

For this month's cards I used a die that I bought last year and to my shame never got round to using.  I am so glad that I have now dug it out and used it as it is lovely and I will definitely be making more cards using it - I am thinking blue and silver for my next cards.

The dies are Thinlets by Stampin' Up and are called Delicate Ornaments, there is also a matching set of stamps that I haven't used yet - maybe I will use those next month!!

The papers are some that came free with a magazine and should have been for making Christmas Crackers with, but they are perfect for cards.  The top layer is cut with SU Cherry Cobbler and the bottom layer is various gold and mirri cardstock from my stash.

The sentiment is by Lili of the Valley and the bows are ones that I have rescued from shop bought cards.

I can't add a linky tool at the moment so if you do join in please leave a comment and I will come and see what cards you have made.

Easter Cards - part 3

And some more Easter cards from me (I don't usually make this many but I needed a lot this year for my fundraiser the other week).

For these I used an Easter cross stamp from Stamping All Day.

The sentiments are a mixture of Pink Petticoat, Woodware and Stamps Away.  The flower punches are all from Stampin' Up.

I only made four of these as I was running out of time but wished I had made more as I sold these four straight away.  I'm not sure who the sentiment is by as I got it one year at Ally Pally - it was from one of those stalls with boxes and boxes of unmounted stamps and you had to wade through them all with a mirror to find the sentiment that you wanted - I seem to remember that Wendy and Sy really helped me that day to find Easter sentiments.  The flowers decorating the cards are a new stamp from Stampin' Up called 'Grateful Bunch' and it comes with a co-ordinating punch for three different sized daisies.

And if you are wondering where Beat the Christmas Rush has got to this month - don't worry, I have a blog post planned for the 30th - I wanted to get Easter out of the way before posting Christmas stuff!!

Easter cards - part 2

Some more Easter cards using Penny Black stamps from T for transparent set "Garden Friends"

The patterned paper is a magazine freebie and the sentiments are from Pink Petticoat

I'm entering the cards into the Penny Black and More challenge - Feature a Creature and Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Easter

Easter cards - part 1

My blog has been a little bit neglected just lately and in the meantime my 'to be blogged' book is filling up with entries.  So I am going to make a valiant effort to get back to some more regular entries.

Today I have some Easter cards which are perfect for this month's challenge on Penny Black Saturday Challenge which is Easter.  They are also great for the challenge on Penny Black and More which is Feature a Creature.

I used Penny Black stamp 'Seeing Your Face'

For the first three I used freebie papers from a craft magazine (sorry I have no idea of what range they are from).  The sentiment is by Stamps Away and the little flowers are a Stampin Up punch.

The other cards I used a large stamped sentiment from Woodware and again flower punches from Stampin Up.

Memorandum Monday (except it's Tuesday!!)

I'm a day late for Sian's Memorandum Monday but I have a good excuse and a note from my Mum!!

The weekend was spent getting prepared for a fundraiser that I did yesterday for Children With Cancer Fund.  I had cards to put inserts in and package up and lots of baby chicks to finish stuffing and sewing up.  In fact I was so busy I never took any photographs of what I was up to.  I did take a little break on Saturday evening to visit Mum and Dad though and we watched Saving Mr Banks as there was nothing on TV.  I'm not sure Dad was overly impressed with Mum and I singing along to all the songs LOL!!

Anyway Monday was a busy day and a new fundraiser for me, I usually do one in September with Christmas cards at my parents' home.  This time we sold mainly Easter cards plus knitted goods, post it note pads, tissue covers and other cards.  We did really well and raised £97 with our stall and over the course of the morning I was given a further £190 in donations from individuals and groups.

Here are all my ducks in a row

And some of my Easter cards (I will share them soon on the blog) and the other knitted toys we had.

So I'm now having a bit of chillout time and planning what I can make for my next fundraiser - I sold all the post it note pads, so they are next on my list!!

Memorandum Monday

It will be Tuesday by the time I have finished typing and uploading this - but hey better late than never LOL!!  It is that time of the week when we go and give Sian a wave over at From High in the Sky and report on our weekend and anything new (done or learnt).

It was a bit of a baking weekend - no new recipes, but a tried and tested Dundee cake and it is now safely in the freezer away from Mr P who is somewhat possessive over Dundee cakes.  It is for our crafty weekend away next week.

I made a Mother's Day card but I can't show you that yet and I made my table gifts for next weekend. This is all I can show you sneaky peakwise!!

Really not giving much away at all LOL!!!

The rest of the weekend was spent visiting my parents and doing more work for the Easter fundraiser.

So Monday started off well and then whilst having breakfast I broke a tooth - I didn't procrastinate and got straight onto the dentist and will see him on Wednesday - which is a good job as another piece broke away this evening during dinner - oops.   The rest of the day was spent starting to pack things up for the crafty weekend - priorities right - the wine is the first thing to get packed!!

I made some cranberry and white chocolate cookies for the weekend

And prepped some more toppers ready for making Easter cards next weekend

So have a great week everyone, I have dinner out with a friend tomorrow to look forward to (picking something soft off the menu hopefully!!) and then a date with Plamen the Dentist on Wednesday (it doesn't have the same ring as Darren the Dentist - Sian!!) Then after that it is full steam ahead to finish my baking and get everything packed for the weekend - full update on that will follow next Monday!!