Altered muffin tin

I got the idea for a Christmas muffin tin from Melissa Phillips. A bit like an advent tin, or countdown to Christmas, although with this mini muffin tin, there are obviously only 12 holes.

Fun to decorate something other than cards and to make something which I hope can be put out for a number of years to come.

I spray painted the tin and decorated it using Melissa Frances paper, Kaisercraft stickers and doodads, My Mind's Eye brads, Echo Park stickers, mini tinsel pipe cleaners, mini jingle bells and holly leaves, a Melissa Frances tree, vintage sequins and buttons and Martha Stewart tinsel glitter.

And a couple of close-ups:

Garden delights

Not much time for crafting at the moment as I'm trying to get the house and garden organised for going away. So I thought I'd show you some of my roses which are starting to come into bloom.

I have several rose beds - four with cottage and old fashioned roses and one with a mix of hybrid tea and floribunda bushes. Not sure what most of them are called as they were planted by previous owners of the property, but the colours and scents are lovely. Spring is definitely a beautiful time of year!

This is a damask rose with an amazing perfume

A cottage style rose bush which is just covered in pink blooms in the summer:

This is a self-sown banksia rose (no thorns!)
 

 

 A pink floribunda 

 And a new rose I bought this year - a hydrid tea called Paul Gauguin - love the stripes!

Another cupcake

I've got into the habit of making two cards in different colours whenever I can. Takes me so long to come up with design ideas that I need to maximise the outcome of the creative process! Here's another cupcake card which I'll pop into the stash for when it's needed:

Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted) 
Paper - kraft; Fancy Pants Hopscotch PP; doily
Stamps - Beautiful Butterflies
Ink - Versafine onyx black; tea dye duo
Accessories - cupcake svg file; cabbage rose ribbon; Prima flower; Stickles; sewing machine

Butterfly

Really scraping the bottom of the barrel now to find some cards I haven't posted yet (haven't had much time for crafting recently!)

This is one I made months ago with some layered frame dies. Great for mailing because it's pretty flat, but the 'Peekaboo' frame opens

To reveal the sentiment

Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - stamper's select white, kraft, raspberry fizz, aqua mist pattern pack
Stamps - Beautiful Butterflies, Framed Out 11
Ink - Versafine onyx black; Amuse
Accessories - Framed Out die, rustic cream button twine; SU Peekaboo Frames Bigz die

Masculine birthday

My Godson has his 16th birthday next month. Always short of 'boys' cards in my stash, so I whipped up this one for the occasion. It features Tim Holtz's Bitty Grunge set - perfect for masculine cards!  I'm sending Jonathan a cheque so he can buys something for himself.

 Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - kraft, enchanted evening
Stamps - Birthday Bash Sentiments; Tim Holtz Bitty Grunge
Ink - Amuse

In praise of cats

I recently sent this card to a friend in Christchurch. She also has a tabby (called Webster) so I thought she'd appreciate the 'lookalike'. The cat sticker is from Melissa Frances.

Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - rustic cream; Fancy Pants patterned paper,
Ink - Tea dye duo
Accessories - Melissa Frances sticker; cabbage rose ribbon; sewing machine; SU lace trim

Time for birthday cards

A few birthdays coming up in the next couple of months, so have been working on some more cards. Here's one I made for the daughter of friends. She's into baking in a big way, so will hopefully appreciate the cupcake :)

Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - kraft; Fancy Pants Hopscotch PP; doily
Stamps - Beautiful Butterflies
Ink - Versafine onyx black; tea dye duo
Accessories - cupcake svg file; cabbage rose ribbon; Prima flower; Stickles; sewing machine

More knitting

I've been doing a bit more knitting for my niece who is due any day now. This is a cardigan to go with a little purple outfit I bought. The wool is an alpaca merino mix and is super soft - perfect for babies.

I'll be working on some summer things next :)