Cards for friends

I know why I don't have to time to make Christmas cards in the middle of the year (Electra, are you listening??)..... everyone I know is having a birthday this month,  Herewith two cards made with the contents of the latest Key Ingredients kit from Taylored Expressions........ 

I love the summery colours even if here in Melbourne its cold and wintery (and it snowed somewhere very close to home last night).  The patterned paper is just beautiful no matter which side I turn it, and the name of the pack "Sweet Threads" doesn't really give you a hint of the lovely things inside. It looks like linen because of the cross-hatching all over it.  Love it, and as usual I get carried away with the paper and dont use all the embellishments.

.....but there are brads, and pieces of ribbon, and for once the only things from the shelves of the busy room are the white cards I've used as the bases and two SU embossed flowers.

Happy Birthday Ann and Maureen.

Gemini birthday explosion #2

This is slightly mis-named because one is for a June Gemini, but the other is my sister-in-law whose birthday fell a few weeks ago when she was away. The Japanese influenced one is for my brother-in-law whose birthday is any day now. I've put them together because the family is all getting together this week to celebrate the other two Gemini birthdays, mine and my son's, over the next couple of days. Haven't made my son's card this year as I found the perfect quirky one at Readings (in Carlton) the other day....hope he remembers to sneak into the busy room to make one for me.

I love the Taylored Expressions window and I think it looks better with these flowers with it. They're SU Eastern Blooms with a grey pearl in the centre of each one. The background went through the cuttlebug to simulate timber. Looks like I was drawn to these colours for both... even the ink for the monkey which is from a set of chinese stamps featuring the 12 years. I looked up the characteristics of people born in the year of the monkey, and it suits my brother-in-law to a T. The creamy coloured paper is the last piece of papyrus in my stash.