Birthday Lady

There are two very special things about today...the second is that we're all off to Birmingham this morning to spend the entire weekend at the big craft show...lets see how much ribbon we can buy shall we!!! The first and more important thing, is that today is Lady's 47th birthday!!! One of the things I didn't share with you on Mum's birthday is that Dad didn't quite know what to get her, so instead decided that as he needed to give her something she could unwrap he put 50 pound coins in a jar!! When I told Lady what he was doing she said "tell him I'm 47 on Friday"!! haha!! Well, neither I nor Dad got her 47 coins, but we did make her a few special things...starting with her cards ... 

This card was a joint effort from both Crusty and I...Crusty stitched the "mon-key", I placed him onto the card and decorated him!! I'd already made Lady a birthday card (or two) but when I saw the "mon-key" I really wanted to make him for her...but I can't stitch!! So thankfully Crusty was able to help me out and together we made quite a pretty card...well I think so anyway!!

Next up there's the card Mum made...

A while back, Mum made a card with folded over corners that Lady really liked. So when it came to choosing what to do for her card, Mum already had this planned in her head!! With lots of flowers, and pretty pinks, it turned out perfectly for Lady. 

As Lady is a big Snoopy fan, Crusty couldn't resist stitching him for her birthday card...again she's added the buttons (see what I mean about the button phase!!). This is another of Crusty's "all by herself" creations...she's getting rather clever don't you think?? Definitely needs to be doing more of them I think!!

Last of all her cards, is mine...

I'd made this card in greens for Mum, although obviously Mum's had a 50 on it!! When I showed Lady, she'd loved it so much that I couldn't quite resist making another version in pink!! Pink is apparently her favourite colour, although I've had so many issues trying to match shades of pink that I've been trying to convince her that it should be orange!!...she wasn't buying into it though, so I had to stick with pink haha!! With a little bit of pink gingham, some more stitched edges and a lot of pink flowers, I'm pretty sure this is "very Lady"!!

Well I might have lied before when I said that was the last card...you see I thought I'd messed up again as I hadn't taken a photo of the other card I'd made her...but thankfully after a few text messages I have a bit of a dodgy quality (taken on a phone) photo...

Yellow car!! (punch for you)...Way back in August as I sat sunbathing in the garden, I made two of these cards...one for Crusty, and one for Lady. The only problem was if I'd shared this card in September when it was Crusty's birthday, then Lady would have seen...so Crusty's been itching to watch Lady open this card!! On Wednesday night when we all descended on Lady's house to deliver her presents, we all sat watching as she opened this card...knowing what was coming...as she opened the envelope and saw what was inside, she got the "YELLOW CAR" slaps!!! Somehow with us all being together this entire weekend and both Crusty and Lady having these cars as keyrings I have a feeling I'm going to get a lot of slaps!!!

Did I mention presents?? ...

I did didn't I!?! This is how Lady's presents were delivered...

as brown paper packages tied up with string...and in there were a few of her favourite things!! (The Sound Of Music in case no-one got the reference)

Don't worry, her presents were wrapped up nicely in pink papers and cellophane inside!! 

Some were in a pink spotty bag...

and some were made to look like ice-cream in a bowl!!

But mostly they didn't stay wrapped for long!!....

Happy Birthday Lady...Hope you have a fun packed day

Little x

Mum x

Crusty x

Old-Lady's Crafts!!

For my final post about Mum's 50th birthday I thought it was about time I shared all the cards we made her...When it comes to making cards for Mum it's never easy...it takes me forever to think of what to do...then once I get an image of what I'd like to create in my head I wind myself up in stress to make it look as perfect as I can. You see as Mum's a crafter, I can't get away with anything!! No little glue splodge or glitter in the wrong place goes unmissed!! Crafting for Mum however is always a challenge...I usually push myself harder than I have before to create something extra special that she's not seen before or would expect.

With it being her 50th birthday I really needed to make her cards more special than ever before...how?? Well, by spending more than 8 hours crafting one card alone!!! Yep that's right 8 hours!!! Why 8 hours?? Well, this is why....

Apart from the card itself, and the ribbon, every piece of that card is hand stitched by me...and I'm NOT a stitcher!!! I'd made a card where I'd added stitched edges and a stitched sentiment, but somehow got it into my head how pretty a stitched backing paper would look...

Personally I think it does look pretty...but I shall NEVER EVER be doing it again!! I really do love it, but it caused me nothing but nightmares, pain in my hand and a lot of bloomin stress!! It was a seriously long process...I started by drawing the 50 onto aida (fabric used for Cross stitching) then I had to place that little 50 where I wanted to stitch...punch through all of the little holes where the stitches would go...then move the 50 to a new place and start all over again!!! Ooo and of course once the holes were punched I had to then stitch through them!!!...So do you see why I'm never doing it again!?!

My stitching phase didn't stop with this card though...

I then decided to add the stitched sentiment and stitched edges to this triple easel card too!! Ooo and you see the little 50 heart?? 

Yep, I hand stitched that too!!! Mental I know!!! In fact I'm pretty certain I need checking to make sure I actually have some sanity!!!

With my card, and the card from my Brother made, I then spent an afternoon making a card with my Dad!! Ooo yes, not even Dad gets away with buying a shop brought card...everything's handmade in our family!!

I may have cut the bits and pieces out, but Dad sat and glittered everything by hand...he stuck it all down himself and chose it all...Although when it came to the ribbon I had to take over, so he's not quite got a new job just yet!!

Crusty on the other hand...

Well seeing as she made this card all by herself, she can definitely have a job!!! Mum's favourite disney character has always been Tigger, so when it came to choosing an image to stitch she decided to use the black and white tigger. Then as she's on a bit of a button kick at the moment...she's stitching buttons on everything!! The orange and green she'd used fitted perfectly with the black and white stitched image. 

Next up is the card Lady made...

Mum really loves Fizzy... so when it comes to Lady choosing an image to stitch for Mum, it's always got to be fizzy...he's ever so cute! This time there was a choice between two images, but together we decided on this one. Lady worried that the flowers were too pink and as Mum's favourite colour is green that it wouldn't look right, but as you can see it's beautiful. Lady even cut out the stitched image and backed it with a doilie as she'd done on a previous project that Mum had loved...Ooo and she even used her favourite buttons on the flowers, which means Mum must be really special haha!!

Now I've shown you all the projects made by us here at little-lady's crafts, I can explain the title of this post...Mum's friends Jackie and Linda that I mentioned in the previous post also wanted to get Mum and extra special card. I guess when you're buying for a crafter you're perhaps more aware of what the card is and how it was made...or maybe they love our cards so much they want to try and match their prettiness!! Whatever their reasons, they both decided that Mum's 50th birthday would be the ideal time to try and make Mum a card!! Ooo yes, they too decided that a shop brought card just wouldn't be good enough!! So they went and brought some children's crafting pots full of all sorts of things to make and create....they brought a large piece of card, and then some time last week they both met up and made this ....

hahaha!! No matter how "rubbish" they think it looks, it will never be "rubbish"...it might not be up to our usual standard!! But the best thing about it, is they tried!! Jackie and Linda took the time to think about what they wanted to do, they put their heart, soul and hair into this card!! So no matter what anyone else thinks Mum absolutely adores this card...I'm not sure why I bothered spending 8 hours stitching her card!! maybe feathers, glitter and stickers was what I needed hahaha!!

Ooo and the explanation for the title??...

As we always put our facebook address on the reverse of our cards, Jackie and Linda decided that they'd put their own the reverse of theirs...Old-Lady's Crafts!! Well I guess they are Old-Ladies hahaha!!! 

Little x

28 Years

Evening all!! I'm back with quite a few projects to share with you today...although they're all for the same purpose. Confused?? I'll explain....

28 years ago on the 11th August, my Mum and Dad got married!! Since then they've been a heck of a lot of up's and downs...but one thing has stayed the same ...they're still married!! As we were going through all of the old photographs whilst moving Nan to her new home, we obviously stumbled across their wedding photos...but no I can't share any of them with you as to be perfectly honest, I'd rather like to stay alive!! What I will share with you today though is all the cards we made for them....starting with the card I made from my Brother...

I'll admit there's not much prettiness to it, but to be honest if this card had been for sale in a store, it would definitely have been the card my Brother had chose!! He's not exactly touch feely my Brother, and he's also got a bit of a warped sense of humor, so when I saw the sentiment used on something else, I couldn't resist making this!! 

This card is the one I made for my parents...Having made quite a few anniversary cards lately as well as knowing Mum can see all the images I have to use, I just didn't know what to do. With a little bit of a play about, I decided I'd try something new...so this is the first card I made using stitched edges on the layers. I wasn't sure quite how it would work out, but once it was finished I was ever so proud of it!!!

These were made by Crusty...when it comes to making cards, Crusty's not quite as confident in her abilities as the rest of us...she usually chooses an image to stitch, then passes it to us to add to card!!! Not these though...after struggling to decide what to do, she came up with the idea to make them a card each...one that said "Mum 2 Happy" and one that said "Dad 8 Anniversary", that way when added together they'd make a "happy anniversary Mum & Dad 28...how good an idea was that!! Once she'd finished stitching the wording, she brought them to me to place on a card ...but Ooo no!! I was having none of it haha!! I gave her the idea of the stitched patched and she did the rest...she stuck it all together, faux stitched the edges and placed the dots for added definition...so these two were all made by Crusty. 

This card was made by Lady...she also struggled to decide what image to cross stitch...but finally settled on the hedgehogs. She was happily stitching away...then all of a sudden whilst texting one another one evening, Lady suddenly said "Mum does like hedgehogs doesn't she??" hahaha... as I told Lady before, and Mum said herself, it wouldn't matter if she'd stitched a big ugly spider...it's the fact that Lady took the time to make it herself that matters most...plus Mum thought they were really cute!! Lady was also clever enough add Mum's favourite colour of green to the image, meaning there was no way she could not like it haha!! One of the first things Mum said after she'd opened the card, was "where's the Ribbon from" ...not that any of us are obsessed with ribbon of course!! 

Anyone spot there's two cards there??? Well yep there is...and that's because Mum made two cards for Dad!! She'd made the burgundy and gold card way back in February, but then decided she wasn't quite as keen on it as she had been. So Mum being Mum, decided to make another one which was the red,black and white card...she really loved that card. But when it came to their anniversary she gave him both cards anyway!!! Dad of course loved both cards.

Finally, this card wasn't made by me, Mum, Crusty or even Lady....nope this one was made by Dad!! Since the day we all started making our own cards, Dad was also told he needed to make his ones too...well why not...we have plenty of stuff and it means more than just buying one of the shelf that hundreds of other people also have!! I'll admit he's not the greatest card maker!! In fact most of the other cards he's made have been mostly made by me, with Dad's help!! Not this one though ...nope this time I gave him the software and told him to get on with whilst I sat in the garden sunbathing!! I did have to help him print the bits and bobs out, but after that he put it all together himself to make this...see even Dad's joined the business now haha!! 

Usually I'd wish the recipient of the cards a good day at this point, but as I was with them, I know that Mum and Dad had a lovely meal out and enjoyed their day!!

Little x

Something A Little Different

I'm getting really tired of being so far ahead! I've made some really pretty cards this past week, but can't share any of them with you yet as they're not needed in some cases until August!! In fact I'm so far ahead I've got just 3 cards left to do for August dates before I'm onto September ... I won't mention the 50+ Christmas cards I've yet to make because that's a very scary thought!!! 

Anyway, back to rainy July!! Today I've got a few little projects to share with you that have all been delivered this week. First up there's a Mum birthday card today...

Mum made this one...it's all cute and pink and girly ... so cute!! 

Next up there's a few little Thank-you teacher gifts. I have no idea what it's like to be a teacher, but when it comes to the end of year they must love it!! Although as a parent I guess it's difficult to find something that will be different from what every other child in the class will give the same teacher. That's where we come in!!! ...

These could even be personalised with the Teachers name on. Not only were these candles given to the teachers, but they even had their own little gift bags...

Now you can't buy those in the shops!!

Well, that's all from me today, I'm now off to make a list of all the christmas cards I need to make ... wish me luck!!

Little x