A Card for Oliver

I always keep the cards that I make for our children. I intend to scrap them someday. This means added pressure to make something they'll like (and that I will still be happy with in years to come!) and not just give in and buy something from Tesco's! For Oliver's 7th birthday card this summer, I decided that he might like one of my manga-inspired robots. I added a piece of chain from a keyring, a press stud, a cog and part of an old McDonalds toy to add to the futuristic effect! I've been known to use can ring-pulls, old earrings, clothing tag barcodes and electronics components before now on this type of card. I'm nothing if not resourceful...

Cards to Welcome a Baby Boy

A friend recently asked me to make a personalized card to celebrate the arrival of her new nephew. I couldn't stop at just one, so made her a few cards to choose from, include one which folded out to spell 'Baby' on the outside with vintage images inside. I then went on to make a few more in similar designs, but for girls as I have several friends all with babies due over the summer. What better excuse to play around with some gorgeous vintage baby images and soft new-born colours.

Simple Sun Dress

Whenever I am organised enough, I like to make handmade gifts. Of course, not everyone appreciates them, but hey, I enjoy making them! My daughter Purdey has been a really popular little girl since starting at infants school this year. She gets invited to so many parties, which means sooo many presents! For her friend Maya's 5th birthday, Purdey told me that she wanted me to make Maya a pretty sun dress. I made a simple smock-topped dress in 100% cotton, which had co-ordinating wide ruched straps which can be worn on the shoulder, off the shoulder or with the straps tucked in to make it, well, obviously, strapless! Luckily, my wonderful Brother ES2410 sewing machine is a whizz at smocking, so it was a joy to whip up this little number.

As usual, the dress is modelled reluctantly by Purdles in our, rather overgrown, backgarden. Having given this dress a road-test, Purdey then demanded I make her atleast two, frogmarching me to my fabric stash so that she could pick out exactly what they should be made from. She most certainly is her mother's daughter!

Victorian Costumes

Each year, we take our three children to Rochester's Dickens' Festival. Not that they are really old enough to appreciate the works of Dickens, but they love the costumes, theparades, the Punch and Judy shows, the charity lucky dip stalls and, of course, the fun fair. This year, I decided to make them some simple costumes so that they could join in. They were filthy by the end of the day (far too many pale colours for three children under the age of 7), but they had a great time. The only low point of the day was when Purdey lost her hand-made sateen bonnet in a gust of wind! Never mind, it would be too small for her by the time next year's festival comes round anyway.

Carte Postale

Thought I would share a digital scrapbook layout I have finished this weekend, featuring my beautiful 5 year old daughter, Purdey. It is mostly using the gorgeous 'Carte Postale' kit from http://www.digital-crea.fr/ plus a few bits and pieces I whipped up in Photoshop. I love the vintage feel to the finished layout. When I create traditional 'paper' layouts, I tend to use hidden journalling so that I can keep what I have written fairly private unless I choose to share it. In my digital layouts, I rarely add any journalling, as I generally print the finished layout anyway (I am a paper-lover at heart) and then use the opportunity to slip a journalling tag between pages to write my thoughts/feelings/comments. Sneaky, I know, but I think it gives the page breathing space.