Some more ATCs to show. These are for a DoCrafts swap on the theme "Simply Vintage". I made three cards and for all of them, I started with a blank white card. I used my new inkpads to colour them in - one in yellow, one in a soft pink and another in a pale blue. Each card blank was then spritzed with glimmer spray, in amber, pink and teal successively, and heat gunned to dry.

For the yellow one, I edged the card with a soft orange ink to add a little intensity, then added some shimmery orange flower stickers and a sticker in one corner featuring music and the same orange flowers. Finally I added a little printed square featuring an old piece of music manuscript.

For the pink one (which was my favourite when it was finished), I layered on some printed pink card then added a printed tag, affixed with a crystal brad. A couple of embossed K & Co corner stickers were added,then I put in a rectangular printed card which was fixed behind the tag and lay diagonally across the card. I trimmed the corners to fit the card and added a tiny pink pearl to the centre of a flourish. Finally, I added a row of three white roses above the card. It looks great.

For the blue one, I worked in a portrait rather than landscape format. First I went over the edges with a darker blue ink to define them. Then I added an embossed K & Co sticker to the front of the card and put in a crystal brad at the top of the shape. Finally, I added a printed blue square looking like a vintage French postcard and then added a small ribbon rose in blue. Luckily I was able to catch Friday evening's post with these.

Some more ATCs and a birthday card for our nephew. The ATCs are for a stitching theme on Do Crafts Forum. I cross-stitched two small pieces - one of a blue bunch of flowers with a creamy yellow bow, and the other of a poppy with seed beads added to represent the stamens. For the blue card, I took a textured card blank and gently rubbed two ink pads over it, Adirondack Juniper and Cool Peri, then spritzed it with a Sky Glitz so giving it a subtle sheen. I added the trimmed and backed stitching, then stamped a row of three flowers along the base in dark blue and coloured them in turquoise. These had a layer of glitter glue added to them for some sparkle. Finally, I went round the edge of the card with a dark blue Sakura pen in a faux stitch and added two ribbon roses to the top of the stitching. I am very pleased with the finished card, as the colour scheme is lovely, very fresh and pretty.

I am much less happy with the other one and am thinking I am not likely to send it to the swap- at least not in its current form. I may have another go at it tomorrow morning.

Finally, I made a birthday card for our nephew who will be eight this week. I used a K & Co card blank in shades of blue and green stripes. To this I added a colourful tag, featuring Chinese lanterns in a row, with some orange ric rac tied at the top. Then I added some K & Co stickers from the same family as the tag and finally an initial J for the birthday boy. This will be posted tomorrow.

A quick update on some recent ATCS. These are for a Distressed swap, on Do Crafts. Two were for the swap, and one was a RAK for the organiser. As her name begins with an N, I started with a plain white card which I coloured using an Adirondack Lemonade ink pad. I then spritzed it with a Glimmer spray. Then added some crumpled Coredinations card in beige, also spritzed, across the middle part of the card. On the right border I stamped a floral border in dark pink and added some mini brads at the bottom of the Coredination in cream, beige and dark grey. The letter N has stripes in pink, beige, grey and similar colours so was added along with a little butterfly sticker.

For the two swap cards, the first was covered with a piece of distressed paper we made at the recent ATC day in Barry. Over this I applied some flowers, attached with brads and then alongside I stamped and embossed the words Lots of Love and a pretty heart.

The second card was also one that started life in Barry - being one of the ones I coloured using shaving foam, in tones of coral, yellow and pink, like a tequila sunrise. Over this I applied some crumpled, torn Coredinations card, then spritzed with a pink glimmer spray. I worked round the edges of the card with a dark red ink pad. After drying the spray with a heat gun, I stamped on pretty dark pink flourishes at random and the word Friendship in black. Finally, I added a vintage metal butterfly embellishment, affixed with mini brads.

In my last post, I wrote about the wonderful day I had in Barry doing ATCs and meeting the other lovely ladies from the Docrafts forum. This week, I've been experimenting with some of the techniques learnt to do a couple of thank you ATCs and I have also made up some cards.

The two ATCs were made using a technique of blending inks which I learned and like very much (thank you Lisa!). Both were "blended", then on one I used a rainbow ink pad to make a chrysanthemum stamp and a thank you message. On the other I stamped the word "Friendship" with some floral brackets in the corners, which were then coloured using Sakura pens. Both cards were also spritzed with glimmer sprays, which gives a gorgeous subtle shine to the surface and complements the swirly colours. I am very pleased with these.

For the cards, I returned to a wonderful kit from K & Co that I bought from QVC some years ago. It appears to be bottomless. I picked out three greetings cards and used a variety of complementary diecuts and stickers from the kit to layer up. Finally I added a ribbon on one and some Stickles glitter glue to emphasise some of the rose petals and flower centres. One is going to be a thank you card for the organiser last week, one is a thank you card for the lady who sold plants at the most recent greyhound show and one is to a good friend of mine, just because.

Well, yesterday was a very exciting day. I regularly swap ATCs on the Docrafts website - the forums there are very good, being busy and friendly. I am not one of the most active members, as I have lots of other things in my life going on, both craft and greyhounds, but I regularly visit and enjoy it. Anyway, one of the things that happens is members meet from time to time in different parts of the country. On Saturday it was the turn of Wales! One of the members kindly offered to host/organise it, and it was held in Barry. Barry has now become famous because of the TV show "Gavin and Stacey", but before that it was mostly notable as a port for the import of bananas and the notorious Barry Island - in the 1970s the home of a holiday park and funfair. Most people my age in South Wales will have been taken to Barry Island during their childhood to enjoy the rides, eat candy floss and toffee apples and win a goldfish in a shooting contest. Nowadays the holiday park is shut down and the funfair is on the verge of closing. The beach and coast are still beautiful though.

Kate, the organiser had been very hard working and a full day of demonstrations and activitites had been laid on for us. We all also brought with us a list of items such as goody bags to swap, raffle prizes, name badges that were swapped at the end, and ATCs on the theme of Barry, as well as general cards to swap with others. The raffle was brilliant and through that and various other activities we raised nearly £90 for Ty Hafarn, the local childrens hospice, which was great considering we were only 8 adults and one child. More importantly, it was really good to put faces to names, after swapping cards with people for quite some time. The whole day was lovely, really inspiring, and simply flew by in a whirl of craftiness. I've learned a lot and apparently it was such a success there will be another one in October. Hurrah! Generally, my crafting is a solitary activity so it was lovely to meet fellow enthusiasts, learn new things and enjoy meeting a lovely bunch of people. Some pictures attached. At the end, I was shattered but very happy.

To start with, here are two birthday cards for next week. Andrew's sister has a birthday, and hers is the initial C. This was a pretty alphabet in the latest World of Cross-stitch, and surprisingly quick to stitch up. You can see I've added some tiny blue seed and pink seed beads. After mounting in the card, I added some pretty ribbon and a Happy Birthday greeting.

Using the same alphabet, I stitched another card for my greyhound friend Penny, whose birthday is the day before. Again, I simply added a ribbon and a greeting. You can see on this one I used slightly different beads, with some seed beads and a pretty flower shaped one.

Penny's business recently won a big contract with the new racecourse that is opening next month in South Wales so I decided to stitch her a little project that came with a magazine last month. The little frame has a ribbon and also a magnet so she can either hang it or stick it. I used one of the selection of designs and again added some seed beads for extra colour and texture. I attach a pic of the frame and then one of it wrapped. I used a 12 x 12 scrapbooking paper, and added a K & Co tag. To this, I tied on some organza ribbon in a bow, added some adhesive pearls and finished with a little glitter glue. A pink gel pen was used to write the message. It will be a nice surprise for her and is something a little bit more permanent than a card.