Annya's 11!

For today's post I have 5 cards to share with you....Back at the start of the year (which feels like so long ago now), Allie gave us a great big long list of cards she'd like us to make! In fact the list is so long that no matter how many cards we make it just seems to keep increasing! So you're probably thinking there's a selection of the cards Allie's asked us to make in this post right? Nope, you'd be wrong! Today's post is all about Allie's youngest Daughter Annya.

Today is in fact Annya's 11th birthday...Happy Birthday Annya...Allie placed her order, and we followed with our usual questions...is there anything in particular you'd like on them?? Does she have a favourite colour?? When do you want them for etc. Our brief was Pink, girlie and Tatty Teddy...my favourite kind of cards! I do love a girlie Tatty Teddy card...flowers, glitter, polka dots. ribbon, the list of pretty things is endless! Only problem is when you've made so many tatty cards it becomes increasingly difficult to come up with new ideas...let alone 5 different images and 5 different cards for the same person...but I've never been afraid of a challenge haha! So I gave it a go ....

First up there's tatty with the birthday cake....I threw everything girly into this card...ribbon, cupcakes, flowers, polka dots and flowers...plus to let you in on a little secret, tatty is supposed to be holding a blue (not very girlie) cupcake with sprinkles...but I preferred the pink flowery one, so I adapted it to make it even more girlie haha!

Then there's tatty with the presents...another "adapted" card...that tatty image is originally carrying something else in his basket...but as time goes on I'm getting better at adapting the images to make new ones that we haven't used before...perhaps I'm getting too clever haha!! 

followed by tatty with the birthday hugs ... Allie told us that one of Annya's favourite animals was a rabbit, so I couldn't resist using this tatty with her bunny!

Then there's Annya with her birthday badge and banner... I've created almost everything on this card...I made the backing paper...I hand stitched the letters on the bunting...I cut out the butterflies...I put the badge on tatty...all so that a special little girl gets a very special card from her Mummy.

And finally there's Tatty bring love from Nan...We'd actually made all of the other cards and delivered them to Allie safe in the knowledge that our work was done! Or so we thought, as when Allie's Mum saw the rest of her cards she wanted one too! So with lots more thought and a bit of "I need another tatty that's different again" I made this one! 

Hope you've had a lovely birthday Annya 

Little x

Tash-tanic Bears

 January 31st is my Dad's (Papa) birthday. Every year we face the same thing...what do we do! You see Papa's not really a big fan of much...he likes football, he has his own team but doesn't spend his weekends on the terraces....he likes American football, but he can't go to the games as he's not in America! (or so we thought)...he's not a big drinker...he doesn't play sport...in fact he's a pain in the posterior!

There's a few things he does like, but we've already made cards etc for most of them....our only option is to use the same things but in different ways...which is both difficult and takes a lot of thought! Thankfully though we're a creative bunch, so always manage to come up with something new...eventually!

This year was certainly no exception when it came to thinking of new ways of doing things....but for a big change I'm going to start the sharing off with Lady's project first. Lady made Papa a very pretty card...she had a pattern, but wasn't quite sure if it was the right "boat". From the instant she said "boat" I could her Papa's voice in my head saying "it's not a boat it's a ship"...I swear it's gotten to the point now where I call it a boat just to wind him up haha! After telling Lady it was in fact the right "boat", she made this...

Titanic! Ooo and if anyone was in any doubt, the instant I mentioned that Lady wasn't sure if it was Titanic, Crusty said "it is because it's got four funnels...the fourth one's fake"...Do you see how much our Papa's bored us with all his waffle hahaha!

So, that was Papa's favourite "boat" covered ...next up Mum made a card using an image she found a long time ago. My Brother ( Gareth but we call him Vinnie) has always said our Papa looks like Mario from Super Mario! I have to admit it is sort of true...

Haha he even has Papa's grumpy face! This one was in fact made from Vinnie. When Vinnie took the card out of the envelope to write it, he giggled...that's when you've made a good card...if Vinnie approves then you've created something amazing! Ooo and the old man? Well, he is old! 

For Christmas Papa had lots of moustache cards & gifts that as far as we could tell, he loved! Soooo ....

Ta da! Another "tash" card it was! Only difference was this time he had boggley eyes too...not that we're saying Dad's got boggley eyes haha! 

Ooo and while we're on the subject of moustaches...

Papa even had his own little Moustache phone case! 

And then the last in the series of Papa's cards is mine...

Remember how I said Papa likes to watch American football? Well "his" team is the Chicago bears. I was randomly searching for an image for another project way back in September when I stumbled upon the little "dabears" man that I couldn't help thinking just like my Dad! So for months now I've known exactly what I was going to use...the only bit that changed was once I had the Grand Calibur I got to make lots of shapes that I didn't have to cut myself haha!

Woops...almost forgot Mum's card...

Tatty teddy footballer in Papa's teams colours! 

So there you have it...not one theme...but lots for a man that likes "nothing in particular" haha! 

Ooo and if anyone's wondering, Papa had an enjoyable birthday...at work! But we did make up for it and treat him at the weekend!

Little x

All a Flutter!

For my birthday (just before Christmas) I had a very special present. I've reached that age now where I have everything I physically need. I don't grow (ever) so don't need bigger clothes or shoes. So it seems that my birthday causes a lot of people headaches with what to buy me haha! Like I said though, I got a very special gift for my last one...a grand calibur! (and for all the non crafters out there, that's a machine that cuts things for you!). The machine is so expensive. We'd been looking at it for a while but just couldn't justify spending so much money on something we may never use...Now I have it though I can honestly say it's the best crafty thing we've EVER brought. It's been constantly used since the day I took it out of the box, so much so that it already looks like it's about 3 years old ...woops!

Having the grand calibur means we can now create even better cards with even more intricate detailing without the need to cut yourself with a craft knife (by the way that seriously hurts!).  So when we were recently asked to create some card by people who were unsure of what they wanted, Mum decided to use my Calibur and made these...

Having found the image of tatty with the butterfly on his top, she matched it with the paper and then used the grand calibur to create the ever so pretty butterflies to give it that "extra" touch...

As you can see, you have the ability to add the shape of the butterfly and then add the "fiddly" cut butterfly layered on top! How pretty is that!

With one card made, Mum then went on to make another. This time for an older lady, so less cute and more tradition...

Mum's used the butterflies as more of a feature on this card...and then ...

Added Alma's name to the inside of the butterfly too! 

There's so much more I can show you that Mum's made with these butterflies...but I'll save that for another day!

Little x 

December Birthday

I've already shared with you how frustrating I find it that my birthday is in December, but thankfully I'm not alone! 

Nope, one of Mum's oldest (and by oldest I don't mean age) friends also has her birthday in December! Plus she finds it just as frustrating as I do haha! Donna celebrated her birthday back on the 29th December and just like with my birthday, her family had to arrange the celebrations for a time away from the hustle and bustle of Christmas! It really is a pain...but then I guess it sort of works out so you have more than one birthday!! More than one birthday, but only one set of cards haha!

Talking of which, we were kindly asked by Donna's Daughters and Husband to make her birthday cards...

I'm always using Tatty teddy when it comes to Donna's sets of birthday cards for other people so I thought this year it would make a nice change to use a different character...I chose Tulip as some of the images seemed quite appropriate for Donna and her girls.

Donna's a cake baker so when I saw this image I could picture this being one of the scenes in her house...Donna baking cakes with one of her Daughters...

...then showing off the cake they made!!...

Followed by Donna relaxing and de-stressing in the tub after her long day of cake baking!! Well that's how I picture things anyway...not sure if they do really work out like that haha!

When it came to making the card from Donna's Husband, Mum knew exactly what she wanted to do...

Less cake and more love!! 

Hope you loved these cards Donna

Little x 

New Year, New Beginnings

Today's the 7th of Feb and it's the first post of 2103! Ooo how I've been slacking in keeping things up-to-date. So time for a change me thinks!! As of today we are back with a vengeance. In fact as the days go on and these posts become more regular you'll probably be sick of the sight of our creations haha! For now though we have some catching up to do...

Way back in 2012 (how long ago does that already seem!) we were asked to create a new home gift for someone who had a bit of an obsession with cleaning...nope, definitely not me haha!! As always, the way we work is to speak to our customers to gain an overview of what they'd like...next up we ask them to set us a budget...we come up with a few ideas...do a bit of shopping...and then Voila! We come up with things like this...

A bucket load of cleaning products (quite literally!) Once we have an idea, we always find it easiest to set a colour scheme and then find things that fit within it. With this bucket we chose purple, which was then made easier when we discovered a whole cleaning range (scourers, cloths, brushes) was available in purple. 

One thing you might not be able to see is the "hidden gift". You see, we thought that the recipient of this gift would be worn out after all that cleaning, so we hid a bottle of wine in there too! That way once their new home is clean and sparkley they can relax with a glass of wine and toast their new beginning in their new home. Either that or drink away the memories of all that cleaning haha!

Ooo and what new home is complete without one of our cards!

With the purple theme set with the gift and the "hidden" bottle of wine, Mum knew exactly what she wanted to do with this card. Don't you think it matches well? 

It really is good to be back

Little x

A Month Of Birthday!

Not surprisingly, my birthday is the same day every year...just like everyone else's!! The only difference between mine and most other people's birthdays, is that mine is on a rather annoying date!! Yep...my birthday was in fact yesterday...a week/7 days before Christmas day...could be worse...could be Christmas day itself...well I know that, but in fairness being a week before still sucks!! Every year it's the same thing ...people don't have any money as they're spending it all on Christmas...people can't make certain dates because they're either visiting relatives, or they have relatives visiting...the winter weather makes them ill...I have to work (being in retail means no time off at Christmas) ...or worst of all, there's SNOW!!! Ooo yes, for years when I was younger I asked for it to snow on my birthday...I thought it would make the best birthday present EVER...what with it being all snowy and pretty and all that...what I didn't factor in though was that no-one would be able to get anywhere!!! So when the snow finally did start to fall on my birthday, it ruined everything even more!!! So I can safely say that every year I try my best, but every year I'm let down by one thing or another...it's the same old story, only I'm a year older!!

This year we decided to play it a little differently...we arranged a trip to London for the first weekend in December...we figured things would be a little quieter and there would be a little less chance of snow!!! We also booked tickets to go and see Starlight Express in Southampton for the same week...I saw the musical years ago...it's the best one I've seen, so when the tickets came up for sale I knew what I wanted!! Yet again the curse of my birthday struck!! Not that it spoilt my birthday...just that yet again it didn't go to plan...it's a curse I'm bored of living with now...so much so that I'm quite tempted to move my birthday to July...surely things can't go too wrong in July??

Anyway, like I said, yesterday was my birthday...but on my actual birthday I didn't do very much at all...I sort of forgot that planning everything for other days would leave me with nothing to do on my birthday...oopsies!! I was just a little bit spoilt this year instead...It's been a little more like a birthmonth than a birthday!! haha!! Spoilt maybe a bit of an under statement, especially when you consider the fact I've technically had 4 birthday dinners (or 5 if you include going out tonight!!).

So, do you want to see my birthday makes??? ... Well, first up I need to remind you of a little story!! Remember way back when I started this blog?? I was off work...I was spending my summer sunning myself in the garden...well that plan went a little wrong!! But whilst I was sunning myself, I'd also planned to grow a few vegetables to give me something to look at in the garden!! Remember how I told you my Sunflowers all got eaten by the evil slugs?? and how I held out little hope for my pumpkins?? ...Well, I did actually manage to grow two pumpkins...one was even pretty big, but they didn't quite get to orange in time for halloween...but add them to the cucumber, the beetroot, the potatoes and the tomatoes I managed to grow from scratch, and I was pretty impressed with myself!! Why am I telling you all this?? Well...

Mum thought it would be funny to make me this card...she'd been walking past this sunflower for months, and seeing how my sunflowers failed, she knew she had to use it!! She just wasn't too sure how until she spotted the little spade and fork...the story behind the spade is it apparently broke three times before I got the card...she even had to replace it the morning of my birthday as it had broken again!! It's very cute how she's made it look like tatty's growing the sunflower, pottering about in the garden...and she's even added my name to the little basket...very clever!!

To add to the garden themed card, Mum also gave me this ...

My very own gardening hamper!! Complete with spade and fork for the "little" gardener!! Plus as it's for me and I love a certain jewellery brand that comes in a little blue box with a white bow, she even managed to get the wellies in the almost "tiffany blue" and ...

added the little white bows to the sides of my wellies hahaha!!

 Thanks Mum xx

Mum also made me this card ...

Well, it was signed from my Brother, but considering he's got a warped sense of humor, this doesn't say "get well soon" or "happy hannukah" and it's far too cute, I'm pretty sure it was Mum that made it!! 

Next up there's...

Yep, piglet!! Crusty's stitched him...Piglet's my favourite disney character...there's a line from Disney that goes along with piglet..."in the back of his mind, piglet wishes he was tall as it's hard to reach when you're so very smal " which is obviously tailor made for me!! Not only has Crusty stitched piglet, but she's also surrounded him in polka dots...all very me!!

This is the first of two cards Lady made me for my birthday...if I remember rightly, she had made the other card, but when she saw the image in this on, she just couldn't resist making it!!...soooo many buttons!! In fact when I opened the card I knew exactly where she'd got the image from, but then instantly forgot...I had a sudden burst of exictement...I knew I had the lettering in our design discs, so had visions of Lady making the surrounding frame out of lots of different buttons from the same design suite...I was a little disappointed when I realised I don't actually have them to use haha!! It is such a beautiful card filled with lots of beautiful buttons!!

My favourite of the two cards Lady made me, is this one...it seems to have worked out that whenever we're choosing colours, Lady has pink, Mum has green, Crusty has purple and well, I have Teal!! The only problem is Teal isn't always an easy colour to find...but as always, Lady manages to find just what's right...a teal and white card with tatty in the centre...and he's even got my name on his shirt!! Very pretty...but then I'd expect nothing less from Lady!!

The biggest surprise this birthday, I guess you could say was this...

Not our usual standard?? Not quite the sort of thing we usually make?? Well that's because it's made by Lady's partner (his name's Wiggers/Mick not Man!!)...I'm pretty sure it's the first card he's hand made...and how privileged do I feel to get it!! I have lots of stanps, but I've never got on with them...I just can't seem to get them right and lose patience...but having now seen Wiggers' attempt, I think I'll be getting him to stamp for me in future!!...he even designed and coloured it all himself...not bad for a first attempt I guess haha!!

It certainly made me smile...thanks Wiggers!!

Lastly, but probably most importantly there was a very special gift that Lady made me...last year she spent months knitting me my Christmas Reindeer jumper. This year I hadn't asked for anything...there wasn't really anything I wanted...until that is I saw something in a magazine...someone had cross stitched a beautiful pattern and then made it into a Christmas cushion. So a couple of months ago, seeing as I can't stitch I asked Lady if she'd be able to make me a cross stitch for a cushion...I didn't ask her to do it for my birthday, but she insisted it was what she was going to do!! Well...that was until she realised just how difficult it is to get hole of teal fabric!! Why teal?? Well I wanted it to sit in my teal, cream and brown room...it would look lovely on my sofa next to my cushions that Mum made me...she wasn't too impressed with the colour...she hunted everywhere for fabric...we spent hours wandering around the craft show looking for the ideal fabric, but couldn't find it...then whilst we were in Birmingham...I was fast asleep, Lady was busy dreaming up visions of how to make my cushion in a different way!! With a bit more searching and adjusting, she made this ...

Just perfect isn't it?? ...tatty teddy, teal, polka dots, buttons and bows...it has it all...in fact it's so beautiful I've been told that if I even think about dribbling on it Lady will punch me!! haha!! 

You can't quite make it our from this photo, but the little book says "story time" and I'm pretty sure that the little bears are Lady trying to work out what the word is, whilst I'm just thinking "come on read it properly"!!

I really do love it ...thanking yous Lady x x

Well, that's my birthday over for another year...I guess the biggest bonus was there was no snow this year...do you remember the snow!! 

Thanks to everyone for making it a happy Birthday 

Little x 

Ooo and I even got a whole day off for my birthday...not a single bit of crafting in sight!! (even if there is still Christmas cards to make!!)

More purple...but with green!!

Evening All!! Bit of a late post from me today...I've been busy making even more special projects that I can't tell you about again...but I will someday soon, I promise!! Until then though I'll share a couple of Projects both Mum and I made a few weeks ago...

First up, there's this pamper cake...you may remember a while back, we made a similar cake?? Well, this one is again for a friend of Donna's...she'd loved the last one we made, so wanted something similar again. She placed her order...Mum and I got to work buying all the bits and bobs and making everything match...we were all finished and made when Donna suddenly realised she hadn't asked us to make a card...

So having already made the pamper cake in the purples and greens, it was obvious what colours the card needed to be...We've had these backing papers lying about in our stash for quite some time, but never knew what to do with them ...until now!!! Added to tatty carrying the purple present, I think it makes quite an elegant yet cute looking card!!

Plus both the card and gift match!!

 Little x

A Little Bit Of Purple!!

Anyone notice I've been missing for the past couple of days?? Well, I've been a busy little elf, making some rather special goodies...but that's not why I've had no time to make some posts for you...Nope, the reason for my Absence is Mum!! You see, she's the big 5 Ooo in a little under a month and I've been trying to make a couple of VERY special things for her...trouble is, how do you make them when she's in the same house?? ...Yep that's been my problem...Mum walks out the door and I rush to my secret hiding place and get back to working on my projects...it's all hush hush secret stuff, but the minute it's in her hand I'll share it all with you too!!

So now you know where I've been, am I forgiven?? Haha thanks (I'm hoping you said yes)!! Back to today then...

A couple of weeks ago, Allie asked us to make 4 special cards for her Daughter Zoe's 16th birthday...which is today!! All we knew, is that they needed to be purple, include tatty teddy and be very special!!So here's what we came up with ...

First up, and probably my favourite card I've made in a while is this large Daughter card... when I started looking for things to put together for this card, I found the lilac gingham piece of A4 card and had that lightbulb moment!! You know, the one where you have an image inside your head of what you want to do...usually the final project doesn't work out the same, but this one really did...I know I'm a little bit biased, having made it, but I really do love this card!!

This is the first of the three Sister cards...Mum made this one. You might not be able to see it as the image is a little small, but the backing paper on this one says "happy 16th birthday". Again, once Mum knew Allie wanted purple themed cards, she knew exactly what image she wanted to us...tatty carry the purple present...Ooo and the present's even got a little gift tag with Zoe's name on it too!!

Second on the list of Sister cards, was the tatty flower card which was also made by Mum. Again, she's personalised the backing paper, which reads "happy 16th Sister" with Zoe's name this time added to the flower. The difference between making and buying cards, is that you can personalise every detail of the card, not just the bits a system decides to allow!! 

Lastly, this third Sister card was made by me...I won't tell you the trouble this card in particular caused?? Why?? Well, lets just say it was 11pm, I'd spent the past two days playing with my drawers (that's another story), I hadn't quite figured out what I was doing, and when I did I just kept making silly mistakes!! Thankfully the end result was pretty, but I did worry that it wasn't as purple as the other cards...

Mum and I really loved these cards...to the point that we decided that if Allie didn't like them, I was going to hold her down and Mum was going to punch her!! (Sorry Allie)...But it's ok, she loved them!!

Happy Birthday Zoe...hope you've had a fab day and loved your balloons!

Little x

P.s...Allie...Mum says the cake looked so yummy, don't forget her slice!!

Just A Card??

A few days ago I shared a couple of "off to university" cards, and today I'm back with more. This time they're both for Bethany. When we're asked to make a card, a lot of time and thought goes into their final look. We do have a library of set images that we can use, but it's not quite as simple as picking a picture and sticking it to card. Nope, we like to know what who/what the card's for so that we can tailor it to the person/event. 

With Bethany's card, we knew she was a fan of tatty teddy and pink. We also knew that although both cards were to be "good luck at uni" cards, one would be from her Sister, and the other her Parents....so that's the order placed!! ...once we had that, it was a case of looking at the images to try and see what would represent it all best....that's the difficult bit...not having any patterns/step-by-step guides...it's all imagination and creativity!!

So with my imagination and creativity, I made ...

this tatty teddy card, personalised with Bethany's name and wishing her good luck...

and this tatty teddy card with the little "you're off to uni" tag...

So that's the two card I made...simple right?? Well, not quite...you see to anyone else they're cute tatty teddy cards, but as I made them, I know the reasoning for those images and I hope Bethany does too!!

You see, the way I look at them is the little bear on it's own is Bethany's Sister Becca wishing her good luck at uni ...and the other card?? Well, that's her parent's in the top right wishing her good luck whilst Bethany's got her bag packed at the bottom left and is off to uni!!! Makes sense doesn't it?? So, like I said, they may just seem like cute cards, but as with every project we make, there's a lot of thought, hidden meanings and even more love put into them.

Hope you liked them Bethany

Little x

Forensic Teaching Science!!

Confused by the title of this post?? Haha!! Then I shall explain...a while back we were asked to make a couple of cards for two very special people that were heading off to Uni this September....Melissa (Mel) will be studying Forensic science and Bethany (Beth) will be studying Teaching!! See, it makes sense now doesn't it!?!

With all that in mind, Mum made the following three cards to mark their new starts...

First up, there's this tatty teddy "star" card...Mum decided as they were both about to become superstars, they needed a super star card!!!

Ooo and as they were both from Donna and they'd probably see one another's card, she made them both the same...slightly different colours, but still the same!!

As Mel was moving all the way to Kent to study, Donna also asked us to make her a new home card...

So Mum made this very cute little card...personally I'd say that the two little bears are Ed and Donna (Mum and Dad) sending lots of Love to Melissa in her new home...so appropriate I think!!

We're still a little bit behind with these posts, so both girls have now left for uni...but as far as we've heard (and seen the pics!) they're both having lots of fun already!! 

Best of luck girlies

Little x

Almost Lost Nelly!

We've made so many projects recently and had so much going on I seem to have lost a bit of my brain!!! A few weeks ago we were asked to make an elephant birthday card. I chose all my paper pieces...I printed off the image...I decoupaged the elephant...I stuck it all together...I added the flowers...I glittered it all...I added some ribbon...In fact I finished it all...It was pretty (well in my opinion anyway)...I had it all ready for collection...it was collected...

But....only after it was collected did I realise that I hadn't taken a photo of it...It's habitual...you make a card...you take a photo of it...you than bag it up, write a receipt and it's all ready for collection...but this time I failed!!! My brain was so full of "what am I going to make for Christmas" that I completely ignored what I was supposed to have been doing!!! I sat for hours disappointed that I'd lost it...but then it struck me...whilst texting back and forth with Lady I mentioned I was making an elephant card....Ooo and not only that, but I sent her a photo of it!!!! Woohoo!!! 

and here it is!!!

it's not quite the completed card, but at least I didn't quite lose Nelly!!!

Little x

A Little Bit Overdue

No matter how much time you have, you just never seem to have enough do you!!! I seem to have fallen a little bit behind with sharing projects we've made again, so from today I'm back for a whole weeks worth of posts to try and get things a little more up to date....starting with today's projects...

Way back on the 18th September, Lady celebrated her anniversary with Wiggers...or to be a little more accurate, Mel and Mick!!! As always, when it comes to making cards for Lady, it's a little more complicated. As you know she's a fellow crafter, so the pressure is on to make them that extra bit perfect...or at least try!!! I can sit for days/weeks with a blank mind trying to concoct an idea of what to do, until finally at last it'll hit me. For her anniversary, I have a bit of a confession...the layering was actually supposed to have been for Lady's birthday card...but as I couldn't get any pink card to match what I needed (just how many shades of pink can there possibly be!!!) I decided to use it on their anniversary card instead!!!

What do you think??? The moment I put the stitched layers with the inner image, I just knew I had to use them on this...but there was still something missing...I had no ribbon!!! You can't possibly make a card for Lady without ribbon...it breaks the "law of the wibbon"!!! So after a "lightbulb moment" I decided to add the little heart to the tree with their names with the ribbon on top...problem solved!!!

In addition to the ever so important ribbon on her cards, when it comes to making cards for Lady, there's usually one choice of colour...pink, pink and more pink!!! But when Mum made her anniversary card she had a problem...there were specific images from a kit she really wanted to use, but none of them were pink...she "ummed" and "aaahhed" for hours trying to work out if it was the right thing to do, but eventually after a lot of "yep Mum, it's perfect" from me, she made this ...

Not a single bit of pink in sight...but very very cute. Anyway, how many pink cards can one person have??? (the answer's not 84!!!) Originally, Mum had laid everything out and it looked beautiful, but then I noticed something...no ribbon again...if one card without ribbon breaks the "wibbon law" then what the heck does two cards without ribbon do!?! So, with a bit of shuffling about, Mum added the daisy ribbon which matched perfectly with the little daisy in the bear's hand....but it still looked like something was missing....cue a bit of glue, a lot of gems and even more "Ooo for Christ's sake's" and the little daisy's had red gem centres....perfect!!! 

Even up until the moment Mel had opened her card, Mum was worrying about the missing pink!!! Thankfully though I think Mel loved it, even without the pink!!!

Happy belated anniversary Mick & Mel

Little x

Crusty's Birthday...Next Time I'll Take A Picture!!!

Ok, so I know I was supposed to be on a post a day for a month challenge, but then I had issues with my laptop. Then the issues were fixed...or so I thought!!! Turns out they weren't fixed, so I've been unable to post things properly...BUT now I'm back with plenty of makes to share, so you'll be hearing a heck of a lot from us over the next couple of weeks...I hope you're ready!!!

I'm kicking off the back log with a post that is long overdue...in fact I think Crusty/Lindsay thinks I've forgotten all about her...I haven't!!! It was her 24th birthday back on the 3rd of September...I still can't quite believe she's 24!!! I can still picture her as a tiny little girl that was obsessed with wearing a multi-coloured pair of pumps everytime she left the house!!! I can still hear her calling our Brother "Ga-Wuff" in stead of Gareth...and I can still recall the countless trips we took to Finkley Down Farm Park that was (and still is) her favourite place!!!

24 she is though, and definitely a lot more expensive than she was when she was younger!!! Crusty's always baking some cake or another around here...not that I'm complaining (especially when I get to eat them)...but what we thought might have just been a phase has now turned into baking almost every week!!! So, seeing as there wasn't much else she wanted and there was no question of it getting over used, we all chipped in a little bit and finally brought her a professional mixer...

Not that she got it on her birthday...nope as soon as it was delivered, it was out of the box and used!!!

Now, I'll be totally honest... Mum and I aren't exactly bakers ...my job's the measuring whilst Mum's a little too impatient and keeps wanting to open the oven to check how everything's getting on...BUT we couldn't ask Crusty to make her own birthday cupcakes could we!?! So, we tried our best and after a few disasters, came up with these ....

I should probably explain... for years, we've all played the "yellow car" game...if you're not familiar with it, it's a game whereby everytime you see a yellow car you get to hit the closest person to you and shout "yellow car"!!! It was probably made up years ago as an excuse to hit everyone, but as I said, it's a game we played as kids. Until recently when it seems to have made a re-appearance which now consists of punches everytime you spot a yellow car, no matter where you are AND if the other person isn't there, then you take a picture of it on your phone (if you're quick enough) and send it to the other person!!! So...Crusty's birthday cakes were the ideal excuse to hit her...and hit her I did!!! 

Ooo and I'll let you in on a bit of a secret...Mum and I made these cakes before Crusty's birthday whilst she was away for the weekend. We set them all out and decorated them, then had to put them away until she came home later in the day. But that caused a problem....you see, when it came to trying to put them back together we couldn't get the road to flow right...Mum was certain it was 6cakes wide and 4 cakes tall...turns out it was 5 cakes by 5 cakes!!! Whilst Mum and I were struggling to get it all back together Dad piped up with "didn't you take a picture of them so you'd know how to put it back together?"...NO!!! Lesson learned hahaha!!!

Ok, baking attempts over I'll get on to showing you the projects we're more used to making!!! Starting with the card I made her ...

Yep, yet again I've hand stitched all the edges around the card...but I did it so long ago, that I was sitting out in the garden in the sunshine while I stitched!!! I actually love this card...so much so that I've already requested one of my own for my birthday!!! 

Mum made this one from our Brother...a while back we made this cupcakes paper for another project, so when it came to making a card for Crusty, this paper was an obvious choice!!! Add that to the little mouse carrying the large cake and you've got this card!!! 

Lastly this is the card Mum made for Lindsay from her and Dad. Another card for crusty...another cupcake!!! This one's so cute and girly, I love it.

I'll tease you a little bit here, because there was another card that I made my Sister, but I can't share it with you as there's another copy of it for someone else who's not had their birthday yet...I'll tell you now though, that I am so proud of it, I can't wait to show you all!!! 

So there you go Lobby Lou...I do love you!!!

Little x