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.

I'll probably do more than one post as I have a few things to write about. Firstly, I managed to find a little square frame for my friend's cross stitch. The frame came with a very boring cream mount inside, which did nothing for the design when I held it against the fabric. I used a couple of ink pads, one pink and one white to give a kind of raspberry ripple effect, which works very well with the pink tones in the script and contrasts well with the blue aida. Put the frame together and now it's ready to be swaddled in bubble wrap for its journey. I also bought my friend a dinky little fridge magnet, and used one of my K & Co preprinted gift boxes. These are great- you just press them out of the book they come in and fold. Then you decorate according to preference.

This is not going to be a very inspiring post. My cold has decided to take a turn for the worse, and I am not a terribly good patient. Didn't sleep very well last night, and have spent the day shuffling about, sneezing, coughing, eyes watering, neck aching and generally feeling like death warmed up. I've postponed my physio session tomorrow, as it's not fair on him, and I feel awful anyway.

This evening, I made a stack of get well cards, mainly as virtually everyone I know seems to be ill or recovering at the moment. Illnesses range in severity but I can't remember a time when I have known so many people to be poorly simultaneously. I don't generally like photographing get well cards - in the same way I don't with sympathy cards after a bereavement. The subject matter generally seems to be too sensitive to be placed on a blog and the card dissected. Maybe this is a bit over sensitive - I don't know. Sympathy cards are hell to make, not just because of the subject matter, but it almost seems wrong to be sending a beautiful hand made card - it feels like I'm saying "Look at the card" rather than concentrating on the sentiments it should convey. Recipients of card have often told me that in fact they value and appreciate a handmade card, and the skill conveyed, but it still doesn't stop me feeling awkward, and in the very rare times I buy a card, it is always a sympathy one. One other consideration in favour of a hand made one, no matter how sombre, is that the range of sympathy cards on sale (like get well cards) is surprisingly limited. When I had cancer, I was surprised by how many duplicate cards I received, and I know this is also the case for sympathy cards. I hasten to add this in no way diminished my appreciation of the sentiments, just an observation.

Anyway, after all that kerfuffle, what did I do today? I sat and cross stitched, that's what, swaddled in layers of fleece blankets, while Andrew went running with the dogs. I did have forty winks on the sofa, mainly because I didn't sleep very well last night. I made a small "Thank You" design - it's not destined for anyone in particular, but I like to keep a supply of these types of cards made up, ready for when needed. I used a variegated thread, in hues of blue and lilac for the main circle and added some seed beads to the centre of the flower. The original pattern suggested using black thread for the backstitch (for the lettering) but I thought it would look far too harsh so used a deep petrol blue thread instead. I then mounted on a little card blank (one of the set received free from a magazine) and added a row of adhesive ribbon along the bottom and voila! All ready.

Once that was complete, I stitched a very small design on 16 count aida (I normally stitch on 14)of three rosebuds. These are going to be mounted on an ATC for a Valentine's swap, so I will photograph these when fully loaded, so to speak.

Regular readers will recall my friend Leila for whom I made a quilt last year. Scarily, it will soon be her birthday again, so I attach a photo first of the birthday card I made for her. The design is taken from one of my recent cross stitch magazines and as soon as I saw it I thought of her, as she likes to cosy up on the sofa, under her quilt with a nice cup of tea. On the original design, there are French knots on the ends of the letters in red, but I substituted seed beads. I'm pleased with how it turned out and have mounted it on a little card, which was one of a set that came free with another cross stitch magazine.

For her birthday, I will be buying her some goodies, but after Christmas I bought myself a little LizzieKate pattern with charms attached, called "Stitching friends". The design was quite small, and like all Lizzie Kate designs, has no backstitch and is nice and simple. It was a pleasure to stitch. On the colour illustration, they showed it on green fabric, but I stitched it on a pretty blue fabric with a "cloud" effect, and instead of the centre of the flower being stitched, I added beads. I bought the beads just before Christmas when I needed some thread and fell in love with the colour, without at that time having any clear idea what I would be doing with them. Anyway, this pattern is just perfect. Instead of stitching with two threads, I used three, as this gives a fatter, denser look to the design and colours. Now all I need to do is find a little frame to pop it into, wash and press it, and away it goes.

I also attach a picture of another little card I made, which is going to be a get well card, but at the moment, there is a multiplicity of candidates for its receipt! Again, another little design from a magazine, featuring daffodils in a pretty blue vase, which I mounted on another of the free cards from the set featured above. This one featured butterflies, which chimed nicely with the butterfly and flower sequins I stitched onto the card design. Finally topped it with some pretty adhesive ribbon along the base of the card, and a couple of adhesive butterflies along the sides of the card.