Two Cards to Say Hi and photos galore

If you are here to look at my cards for today and don't want to read the trivia scroll on down.

Where have I been in the last week. Finishing off cards. I wonder how many people do the same

as me or are you all totally organised and each card gets totally finished each go. I make

and make, I colour and colour, I look for challenges and take lots of photos but then I put the

cards aside to finish off later.

That means adding the inside layer for people to write on, find the right envelope and a cello sleeve

to put the card in to keep it clean and undamaged.

They then go in this box that I made like 20 years ago and it just sat on the sideboard in my

room looking pretty but empty.

As you can see I have managed to not only fill it but also a large shoe box which since this

photo has been filled to capacity also. I am amazed how many are there as I constantly give

away bags of cards as gifts and also sell my cards through my hairdresser.

Since  stopping work to help with mum and dad deal with their Alzehimers, the Retirement Village then the Nursing Home I obviously have too much time to craft......nah never. It keeps me balanced

and calm through the heartache and changes. 

I also discovered this week why people purchase Envelope Makers. I have a terrible habit of making my cards and never measuring for them to fit particular envelope sizes. I just make the card then when envelope time comes I cant fit them. I have become fussy enough now that close enough is not good enough. So I bought my first envelope maker........what a beauty, I made like 100 odd sized envelopes to fit my odd sized cards. I am happy.

I then sat and wrote out a pile of cards for my friends overseas. If I mentioned parakeets to you. I got it wrong, its rainbow Lorikeets.

See this sweet bird, well we wake to approx 30 of them each morning in the trees in our front yard.

Apparently they sound lovely (a noise I cant hear but apparently wakes my husband each morning) We have four trees that are huge and get these cherries/berries in Autumn and fluffy white

flowers in Spring and these birds love them. They natter and eat and drops bits all day. At night

the bats come in and they eat and pooh purple and Aaron has a hissy fit every morning because he has to wash the purple pooh off his bright yellow car before it wrecks the sheen.

If you have stuck with me so far now come the cards. I bought myself some Polychrome pencils to try out as so many people rave about them. I coloured in today. One panel with Copics the other with Polychromes. Can you pick which is which??

Loved colouring but it was a killer on my hands. Copic colouring is so quick now and took me less than 1/2 hour. Pencil was layers and I think I may have been gripping the pencils too tight, I need to learn to relax. Love the colours and vibrancy but it took me a couple of hours till I was happy. But very happy for my first time with these pencils.

This is the copic panel.

The pencil panel .

 I loved how I could mix different coloured pencils and

blend with baby oil to get a nice mix i.e. the coffee cups and mugs.

First card

First I have die cut the Copic coloured panel with the 'hi' die from Winnie & Walter

then used the negative from the die cut panel for this card.

I then cut two layers with pink fun foam and one layer of gold then

glued them back in place;

I wasn't sure if it was too much but my judges (Aaron & Racheal) gave

the nod of approval for double foam and gold layer It didn't need anything

else.

This card I die cut 'hi' from linen cardstock then added the cut out

floral 'hi' and inset it so the card is one layer.

I forgot to mention this wonderful panel was given as a free download from Stamplorations

during the Spring Coffee Blog Hop as an image to use for the blog hop if you wanted.

 I printed it up but ran out of time to colour it. I assume its still okay to use it as 

long as I tell you where I got it and here's the link. Stamplorations - 

Shery Russ is so so generous and talented.

I love how this looks and have seen so many people use the large die cuts this ways and cant

believe I took so long to do so myself.

Thanks for coming to visit and I hope you enjoyed the long story as well as the cards.

Challenges:

Stamplorations Anything Goes Never-ending Challenge

Will enter the first card with gold 'hi'

4 Crafty Chicks #345 Flowers

The first card with the gold Hi and all those

flowers fit this challenge perfectly.

Inkspirational Challenge #132 ' Spring'

The first card with the gold Hi and

all those flowers just makes me think Spring.

HLS April CAS Challenge: Blending

Second card with the inset die cut. Blending of Copics

I hope this is right for the Blending Challenge if

not let me know and I will remove.

Addicted to Stamps and More #236 Anything Goes

Second card, inset die cut.

Darnell's NBUS #11 and  2nd Annual BooBoo Challenge

No BooBoo cause I forgot to take a photo of my mistakes and either

binned them or remade them. But something new - image and die cut.