This week's efforts

As many of you might know, I stay in Bahrain and just now we are in the middle of a wave of anti-government protests. We are safe, well away from the main protest areas. However the school that I work is quite near the hospital that was at the centre of the focus last weekend. As a result we have had a few extra days holidays, but back to work tomorrow :(

Any what have I been doing with all this free time, card making of course. The first card is for my neighbours in Awali who are retiring. Will miss them heaps, but at least will see them at Sarah's wedding in August.

The second card is for Sarah's future mother-in-law. The decoupage was pre-cut which I layered up with silicone and foam pads. Mats were made using circle nestabilities - plain circle and crown circles. Finishing off with a happy birthday peel off.

The final card is for my Dad, who happens to share the same birthday as Sarah's future MIL. For this one I took out my Nested Owls nestabilities and cut an owl aperture. Then cut a larger owl aperture on a plain coloured mat. Distressing both the mat and card with Distress Ink - Brushed Corduroy. Stamped a couple of owls - BoBunny falling for you- and colouring them with a combination of Copics and Promarkets and decoupaging them. Finishing off with a couple of button embellishments.

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Mr Fix It

This is the final card for just now as I am heading home to chillier climes for a wee break. Well that's I would like, but reality is different. Heading home to do some more organising for my daughter, Sarah's big day in August.

The card will be winging its way over the water between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to a good friend, who is a bit of a Mr Fix It. The decoupage image again came from Crafts U Print and designed by Cheryl Seslar.

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Mama Tone

This card is from to Lynn that I work with. Lynn is my commuting and gym buddy. She is a bit of a rock chick and is locally know at 'Mama Tone'. Her kids, Gary (guitar and lead vocals) and Gill (the drummer), are members of The Boxtones. So thought this image was quite apt, again it came from Craft U Print, designed by Chris and Steve.

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More School Birthday

A couple more birthdays at school this week, or should I say on Saturday.

The first one is for Celia. Used a decoupage image from Cheryl Seslar which I found on a great website - Craft U Print. The backing mats were just scraps that I had lying about and border punched one with Fiskars Threading Water.

The second one is for Lynn. Used another decoupage sheet from Craft U Print but this one designed by Rebecca Brindley.

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With sympathy

This card is for one of the girls at work who lost her grandmother last week. A sympathy card is one of the types of cards that I don't really like having to do. For sympathy cards I prefer go down the simple route.

For this one I chose paper from Papermania Exquisite paper collection, which trimmed down to fit my card. I took another sheet and trimmed it down to 4 squares and rounded off the corners and matted it on a piece of white cardstock again with the corners rounded off. Using the same white cardstock punched out a 2" square rounding off the corners and stamp a 'with sympathy' sentiment. Mounted the two mats using two different thicknesses of foam pads.

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New Home

One of my son Will's buddies, Susan, and who also happens to be our photographer for Sarah's wedding has just moved into a new home. So here's my card to wish her many years of happiness in her new home.

The image is from Digistamp Boutique's New Home set, coloured with promakers and made into a mat with Nestabilities Labels Ten. Adding some black gems and a printed sentiment. The cardstock on this came from Bo Bunny's Alissa range with the black cardstock being edged with Fiskars Threading Water border punch.

Pop over to Paperdoll Photography to see what Susan come up with. I can only speak from experience to say that a photo session at Paperdoll Photography is a very relaxed affair and I think she captures the essence of who she is photographing. Our session was a silver wedding anniversary present from our kids (photo 2 in images - celebrations).

Haven't entered any challenges or competitions recently, so have entered this one into Digistamp Boutique's February Competition.

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School Birthdays

Since the New Year there have been a few birthdays at school. The first birthday was Lanie's, followed by Claudette and finally Layla.

For Lanie's card I used a cupcake stamp which are coloured with copics and promakers. The rest of the card was made using bits and pieces that I had lying around.

The image on Claudette's card came from Hero Arts' Four Dolls range and coloured with promarkers. The backing paper is wrapping paper that I bought a few years back but have never got round to use. I mounted the 'chinese' doll on mats of black and embossed gold mirri card using plain and scalloped oval nestabilities and adding a peel off birthday greeting.

The latest birthday is Layla. The image came from Digistamp Boutique's Doodle Flower set and coloured with promakers. The mats were again bits of cardstock that I had lying around. The edges of the white card are soften with Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Spun Sugar. All finished off with a paper flower, gem and peel off greeting.

Have entered Claudette's card into Moving Along With The Times - Red Challenge and Layla's card into Digistamp Boutique's February Challenge.

Thanks for popping by.