Cards for January ...

I'll get by with a little help from my friends ...................
and with their help my confidence has grown! Not sure my skills have, but at least I now know what I do and don't like!

I've surprised myself actually! I never thought I'd be the hearts and flowers type, and the hearts can jump off the nearest cliff, but I DO like flowers!
I've bought three lots now from iamroses in Thailand. The next lot though, I'm going to get from Wild Orchid Crafts in the UK as I WANT [NEED!] some of their poppies! What an 'acquirer' I am!

Playing around with an image from Clip Art and the Reversed Nestabilities video from Gina K on StampTV!

THIS IS WHY I WANTED TO MAKE CARDS IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! Happy Christmas to my Dear friend Rob in the UK! This is his wonderful dog, Lucy coming out of the surf in the North Sea! The Sentiment just HAD to be "JOY"!

I think this was pretty much the first insert I ever did! Well, decorated anyway. The whole thing of adding inserts was a total mystery to me!

A couple more of the cards I made at Christmas. Nothing special, but this die  [the tree] came in the Australian Simply Cards magazine and was the most intricate one I'd ever used! Stuff got stuck everywhere! Friends to the rescue once again! Ahhh.... baking paper! Whoever would have guessed!

My dear friend Sue, in Weston Super Mare sent me this stamp! By Robert Powell, I'd never coloured anything like this ... was pretty pleased with the end result, but didn't have a lot of the muted browns, ochres and olives Powell used in his artwork. I've got most of them now, and next time I do this one, I think I'll be a bit closer. I know it's not the aim, to replicate something in it's entirety, and it's OK to do your thing, but no one could do this better than Powell, so why try!?!! Sent it back to her as a card!!

I had fun doing this silly verse and working out the sizes for a portrait card in 5" x 7" size using Office!! Sue now shares Nikki and my birthday on January 8!

Wow I did a  terrible job on those palms! Never mind, my heart was in it and it was for my wonderful friend Janette, who has helped me in this carding game so much! The weather was pretty bad in Sunderland, {still is!], so this Aussie Sunshine card made her smile. You'd think with this much sun and strong colour there'd be some shade and shadows somewhere ... oops! Next time!

Oops! Next time! This could well become my motto! I could engrave it on my shield! My family crest!
At the moment though I'm having too much fun learning new things to go back and fix all the mistakes!

Onwards and upwards!