To A Forever Kind of Friend

Who remembers Flower Fairies? The poems and drawings by Cecily Mary Barker originally published in 1923 and are still being published to this day. During the 1980's Hornby, famous for its train sets, made Flower Fairy dolls, which I received and still have (see the end of this post!).

Whilst I was having a clear out of my stash with a view to Vinted, I rediscovered some of my Stamping Bella Garden Girls and decided it was time to put them to use again to make three cards to send out to some friends who have been hugely supportive of me recently. Forever kinds of friends.

I have inked up the Lily of the Valley girl several times and she was the starting point for my design. I coloured her in very lightly with Stampin' Blends - Cloud Cover, Granny Apple Green and some of the creams and browns.  

Of course I was going to use her with the Valley In Bloom papers - they were meant to be together!

Supplies:

• Granny Apple Green card - 14.8 x 21cm scored and folded at 10.5cm
• White card 14.8 x 10.5 cm
• Frame Die - mine is an old WPlus9 set
• Small frame die for sentiment - mine is of unknown origin!
• Valley in Bloom Papers 
• Lily of the Valley Stamp Set
• Versafine Onyx Black 
• Stampin' Dimensionals
• Tombow Multipurpose Glue
• Stampin' Blends in Granny Apple Green, Cloud Cover, SU100, SU600, Peach Pie

Method:

1. Stamp your image onto alcohol pen friendly cardstock and colour as you wish then fussy cut.
2. Die cut your frame from white card and cut a piece of Lily of the Valley paper to fit behind it. Mine was 12 x 9cm.
3. Glue your paper to the back of the frame and then the frame to the front of your folded card base.
4. Pop your image onto the card using foam pads
5. Stamp your sentiment onto some card and die cut with a small frame and pop it onto your card with foam pads.

I loved making this with variations below (Morning Glory and Chrysanthemum) and hope that the recipients also love them - and the sentiment that goes with them. I've known them all for a very long time and have stayed with me through a lot. Definitely Forever Friends.

I found my flower fairy dolls and I've rescued them from the bottom of the box they were living in. They deserve to see the light and flit about now and again when I'm not looking.

Is it time to go through your stash and see what you have you can revisit?

I've started so I'll finish...

As with many crafty folks, I have a habit of starting things and not quite finishing them. This dates back to childhood and I've never quite managed to shake it. I like trying things out, but when I come a bit unstuck, or a bit bored with the project I'll leave it. Ask me about a skirt I started making in 2003 that I've still not finished, and is very much unlikely to fit me now!

I very much enjoyed the team retreat in the middle of May, and Kylie is always very good at giving us more projects than we may be able to finish, so I came home with several incomplete. 

I was determined this time to not live up to my usual expectations and leave them languishing in a pile on my desk then move them to a drawer for years on end, so yesterday I finished the last two. They were slightly more complicated than your standard card, so I forgave myself for leaving them until I had brain space to do it.

Here's the first one, this amazing folding box card. The theme of the event was my favourite Valley in Bloom Suite and I loved having some more inspiration - I'm very much getting the most out of mine and welcomed getting some more papers as I'm about to run out of mine!

Looks impressive, but in reality it actually wasn't as complicated as I had initially thought. All I needed was some time to sit down and focus. This folds flat to go into an envelope.

I am thinking that I need to adapt this card for some upcoming classes, so I will get some instructions written up soon.

The final card was this extremely large one that was a 'Sampler' of all the different papers in the set. Being an occasional quilter, a sampler felt very fitting and I enjoyed deciding which papers I should use and where to place them.

I also feel like I've found a nice spot in my crafty basement to take photos finally!

So there you have it, I bucked my usual trend and finished off my projects from the Team Retreat. Now to start working on projects for my next classes - Card Café is coming up on 23rd June!

Procrastination is the thief of time and this time, it didn't win. Happy crafting ;)

Lily of the Valley - Clean and Simple

I've been playing with my new catalogue pre-order purchase this past week in preparation for some upcoming classes - take a look at My Events page for what is coming up - and I cannot wait to share them with you.

You have one whole week before you can get hold of all the new goodies in the May - August 2026 catalogue and I know you're going to love what's in it.

I adore the Lily of the Valley stamp and die set, and, as I stepped out of the door to head to work on Friday last week, I noticed that our own Lily of the Valley have popped up by the fence. I leave them to their own devices really, because they are such a simple and beautiful plant, I really wouldn't mind if they took over the whole front garden. 

I've always been a very CAS card maker - that's shorthand for Clean and Simple. I don't have a huge amount of time to spend crafting, and I also want to share quick and simple makes to show how easy it is to do, plus that you don't have to have a lot of supplies to make cards. 

This one that we made at April's Card Café is a good example of making something Clean and Simple, but also classic without needing to break the bank to make - Darling Duckling Cardstock, Basic White Card, an Oval Die,  Lily of the Valley Stamps and Dies and some Granny Apple Green Card, although you could just use white and stamp the leaves too. 

Whatever you are up to this week, I hope it involves a little bit of a beauty and a little bit of simplicity, and a whole lot of joy too.

Happy Crafting Everyone!