Not buying cards

As a card maker, I'm ashamed to admit that quite often I leave it that late, that I end up buying a card from a shop. I then just want to kick myself, especially as I have enough craft stuff to keep me crafting for a lifetime. I attend enough craft fairs and buy enough magazines for inspiration.

Anyway, my biggest challenge is that I find it hard to make cards for my Mum. As a fellow crafter we share a lot of ideas, we go to the craft fairs together and usually buy similar sorts of products when we see them (or we each buy something, with the intention of sharing it), so I feel under immense pressure to create something she 'hasn't seen'.

I decided that I needed to use my stamps, once and for all, and chose to use another of my new stamps http://www.liliofthevalley.co.uk/acatalog/Stamp_-_It_Takes_Two.html. A bit of colouring in, and I was really pleased with the outcome.

I mounted the image on a Kraft card blank and used a piece of pattern paper I found in my stash which just seemed to bring it all together. I can't for the life of me remember where the paper came from and am certauin it was a download... my next mission is to find it!

Anyway, Mum was delighted.

Being Inspired...

I just LOVE Lili of the Valley stamps and I probably own a lot more than I have actually used, if I am honest!

This is probably one of my favourite stamps by Lili of the Valley, called 'James in the Snow'.

I was inspired to make this card after I had seen a very similar one whilst browsing online. I don't like overly flouncy cards and there seems to be a trend of adding loads of flowers and flourishes to cards, something I think gets a bit excessive. For me, less is definitely more!

You do have to consider packaging the card, too, and the more you build up on the front, then you have to look at boxing the card up. 

I thought this card was quite simplistic, with just the right amount of fancy for me. I am looking forward to making some variations on this, and playing around with the hat/scarf colours.