Picture attached of the card I stitched for my MIL, for Mother's Day. I made an envelope for the card, using a pink and cream patterned paper with hearts and flowers on it. The little sampler was gift-wrapped too. Recipient seems very pleased, which is good.

We returned from Somerset via Cardiff, to pick up some stuff at the house and read the meters. It also helped to break up the journey. I made a flying visit to Inkspot, the craft shop and brought my sewing machine and quilting "bits" with me back to the house here. I had been suffering from withdrawal symptoms especially as I have a small quilt just about ready to finish plus some really nice fabric waiting to be used. So expect to see a bit more quilting adventures in these pages in future.

So, some cross-stitch for a change. This is a pattern I have made for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day this weekend. She is a keen gardener and loves flowers. This design was taken from a calendar of garden designs that came with the January Cross Stitcher in 2008. I used the calendar (handy desk sized) but kept it knowing I wanted to stitch some of the designs. This was a pleasurable stitch. I liked the simple palette of fresh colours, white, green and blue. After stitching, it was washed and ironed then I placed it in a small blue frame, ready for wrapping.

A few things to update. First, some ATCs. The top one is of an Altered Drinks Label. I used an orange juice label from a bottle and wrapped it round the ATC. Then I made some miniature oranges using a circle punch on orange card, with green gelly pen for the stalk area. These were applied using foam pads, then I glazed them to give a sheen. Finally, added a 3D blue butterfly - no idea if this is correct biologically (do butterflies flit in orange groves, or are they sprayed out of existence?) but the card looks nice.

The second image is of some cards for a Birds swap. This one was also to raise funds for the RSPCA by saving postage stamps - I had a freezer bag of them to go with the cards. It took a surprisingly long time to accumulate a modest bagful, as apart from Christmas and my ATC swaps, we don't tend to get very much personal mail - most of it is business post which is franked. Two cards are for the swap and one is a RAK for the lady organising. The bluebirds card was a plain white one which I inked using an ink pad (denim blue). Using a darker blue inkpad, I stamped random blue flowers over the base card. Then I stamped the blue image of the birds onto a piece of paler blue card and stuck it to the base, using blue floral self adhesive ribbon on the borders. The birds were coloured using an assortment of gel pens, silver on the body, and shades of blue for the wings and tails. Finally, an adhesive heart gem was set between the birds. For the pink birds, I covered a plain ATC in some Papermania pink spotted paper, and edged the card using an ink pad. On a strip of pink card, I used a chalk ink pad in shades of pink to give random swirly effects, before stamping on the birds with a damson coloured shade. This was adhered to the base card, and a piece of cream felt ribbon attached to the bottom border. The birds were coloured using my gel pens, and finally a heart and a butterfly gemstone were added to the card.

The third set shown is for a Hearts and Flowers swap - each card had to have both on it. For the pink one, I used a pink base card, and stamped an assortment of flourishes on to it. Then I added some die cut heart shapes with 3D foam pads and then carefully added lots of little mulberry paper flowers. These were glazed with a Stardust Stickles glitter glue and I added tiny pink gemstones to the centres of the flowers. This looked lovely when it was finished. Similarly for the lilac one, I started with a plain lilac card, and added purple flourishes with an ink pad, this time in portrait format. Two die cut heart shapes were added with foam pads, then I added more mulberry flowers, which this time I glazed with a lilac glitter glue. Finally added some butterfly gems to the card and it was complete. Both of these were very pleasing when finished.

Finally, a birthday card, although I have made two of the design. I have a faithful stamp which I use so often of a pretty bunch of flowers, then after the image is coloured you use a pricking tool on the dots and stitch it. In this case I used a plain white card and a charcoal ink, and a palette of Twinkling H2Os in purple, green, and irridescent oyster shades. The stitching was done ina variegated grey thread, and looked lovely when complete. The image was then trimmed and mounted onto a silver pearlescent card, and a pretty white patterned ribbon tied round the side. Finally I added a silver greeting on the base, and a couple of tiny butterflies to the top of the card. The recipient should have received it today for her birthday. Am now waiting to hear if she likes it!

Just a short little post on some ATCs tonight. I made some ATCs for this month's colour swap - the theme colour is hot pink. Photos attached of the two cards I made. One was a plain card. On top I used the inner box of some Clarins shower gel that Andrew gave me for Christmas in a really vibrant colour. I cut some bits off and edged them with silver ink. Then I added some fabric flowers. On the other side of the card, I applied felt ribbon and halfway down, used an irridescent brad to apply a bright pink heart I stamped onto shrink plastic. Then I added some silver glitter glue to the front of the heart and the centre of the flowers. Finally I used a gel pen to colour in between the curves of the felt ribbon. Lovely! The other ATC was a rectangle of bright pink check card with a glittered surface. Again, I added some of the shower gel box edged in silver and added some fabric flowers. Then I added a shrink plastic heart into the side of the ATC. Again, added glitter glue and some glitter strands to the centres of two of the flowers. A fiesta of pinkness.

Yesterday I went to Inkspot, my favourite craft shop in Cardiff. I bought a neat little template for making envelopes for ATCs. I put this to use with some Laura Ashley patterned paper and made two sweet little envelopes for the cards. After the cards had dried tonight, I put them in and they will be hitting the post tomorrow.

Last post for this evening. On Sunday I attended my first meeting of a local card making group. It was held in Llandrindod Wells in the volunteer bureau, in the afternoon. The club meets monthly. There were around ten of us, ranging in age from (I'm guessing here) about ten to eighty and various points in between. One of the ladies actually works with Andrew (small world) and another who was demonstrating, is a sheep farmer. Her daughter was the ten year old, and a remarkably accomplished and pleasant young lady. She demonstrated exploding boxes and we had great fun. I have seen these before on TV and the internet and it was fun to have a go at making them. Picture attached of my box.

Next month, the person demonstrating is going to be me. I've said I'll be doing something with ATCs as several of the ladies hadn't come across these before but now I have to think of what to do. Any ideas or suggestions gratefully received.

If you're reading this in anything like real time, you'll notice that photos are being added after text rather than with each post. This is because for some reason the photo upload bit of Blogger is being most unco-operative. Two birthday cards attached, one for my favourite auntie and one for a greyhound friend. Greyhound friend was especially challenging. The birthday is a milestone one, and she is a very un-pink sort of person - anything fluffy would have been inappropriate. I ended up in monochrome, and made a smart black card with glitter card attached, a ribbon, white and grey flowers with irridescent brad, and a couple of butterflies. Their colour looked stunning against the dark background - very happy with this.

TALKING ABOUT BIRTHDAY CARDS, IT IS NOW FEBRUARY AND I HAVEN'T HAD A SINGLE RESPONSE TO MY CARD OFFER. HARRUMPH.

Keen readers will recall my description of some cross stitched rose buds for an ATC. My eye was caught by a PIF swap on the forum I belong to, so I decided they would be perfect for it. PIF stands for Pay It Forward, and the idea is that the organiser invites participants. She then posts a list of all the names and everyone receives a card from the person above them and sends to the person below them in the chain. Great fun. In this case the card had to feature the word Love somewhere on it. I used a plain white ATC which I then coloured using a pink ink pad rubbed across it. Then I sprayed it with one of my Glimmer Sprays in pink giving a beautiful glistening effect. The cross stitch was trimmed, backed and mounted on the card, then I affixed two mini tags, one with the word Love the other with the word Cherish. Both were attached using brads, one heart shaped and the other a sparkly irridescent one. I decided to make an envelope to send the ATC - so used a template I have and a piece of plain cream heavyweight paper. Then I stamped the paper with alternating pink and green images with a pretty Laura Ashley stamp of a chrysanthemum flower before making up the envelope. Very happily, the lady I sent it to responded to say that she was delighted with it, and as a former cross stitcher herself was particularly appreciative.