Canga and Roo

I wanted another baby wearing wrap (a big scarf that you wrap a baby and you both look like Canga and Roo :) but I already spent over £150 on babywearing so if I brought a wrap home, I would probably be defenestrated. But it's addictive. It's like buying another pair of shoes. Or a car. Yes, a car. A nice, shiny, fast convertible. Well OK, you don't buy several cars at once, but you want to. Just because you can. There are wraps in various colours, fabric blends, etc... And it was all supposed to be about the card making, not babywearing!

I received quite a lot of various paper bits, feathers and stickers from one of my babywearing lovely friends and I was wondering how to use them in the best way. Then I thought of the person for whom the card  I was making and yet again the butterflies came to my mind. 

My mother in law is one of the most gentle people I've ever met. She's ethereal and lovely. I wanted to make a card for her that would say 'hey, we love you - have a fantastic day, filled with laughter and pretty things'.

And then, instead of buying another wrap, I spent some money on embossing equipment.

The card you see on the right was dry embossed with an embossing folder (it's like a patterned envelope you put a card in) that was rolled through my lovely embossing machine. That's one kind of embossing. Then there is another kind, where you stamp a pattern on the card, sprinkle lots of coloured powder on it and treat with a heat gun. The powder melts and hardens, creating a pattern from the stamp. I got some of these on ebay, but it backfired a bit as a few items did not fit their description; the case is still open at the moment...

Surprises

I've always wanted to know how it is, when you open a door and a crowd of friends shouts 'SURPRISE!' - well, maybe one day I will, but so far I've been on the side of the crowd. 

The setting was a lovely castle, apparently only 3 years old. Or was it restored from scratch 3 years ago? Anyway, the blue arch lit up the whole building and it looked like there should be Lords and Ladies coming soon. But later, there came the King and the Queen instead ;)

We hid in the orangery and waited for the surprisee (is it even a word?)

When she came in, escorted by her husband, smug as a bug, as he organised everything, we shouted and cheered- and I hope she was happy.

A little card to wish a happy 30 birthday was given.

I need to work on the way I attach ribbon to card. I used PVA glue here, but I wasn't happy with the end result. I tried to  attach it with a double sided tape but it was visible underneath. Hmm. Something to think of when I make another card with a see through materials.