January Birthdays

There are a few Birthdays hot on the heels of new year in our family, so as soon as Boxing Day is over I start making cards for them. My MIL will be 86 on 4th January, and for her card I decided to do one of those half aperture swinging card things (If you know the proper name please let me know!). She is very fond of Pansy's and butterflies, so this year I've used a Hero arts butterfly, coloured with promarkers. There is a little bit of DP (MME) behind the butterfly and lots of stamping and distressing with wild Honey Distress Ink. The music background is a very old stamp from Stamporium, and the ornate corner is from Elusive Images.

My Dad also asked me to make a card for his dear friend Eric who is 80 on the 4th. They used to teach together and every Easter holiday they would disappear (along with another friend, John) for a couple of days up to the Lake District to plan the annual school camp. If I'd known a bit sooner I would've bought a camper van stamp for this one, as that is what Eric drove for many years. Anyway, the main request for this card was to have mountains on it, so what better excuse to get the brayer out!

The only stamp on this one is the 'spruce scape' from Clarity stamps.  I'll be back tomorrow with my Brother's birthday card (7th January) and a few others I've been playing with.
Steve was back at work today, so Meg and I decided we would go out for a while. We had tea and cake at Derby garden centre (very nice), a quick look in craft central there and then back to IKEA and Decathlon. What possessed me to go anywhere near IKEA? It didn't seem that busy, but it took us 45 minutes to escape from the car park! Although I guess he will never read it, I'd like to thank the bloke that let me into the queue in front of him. Might still have been there otherwise!