"I Don't Want To Talk..."

"...About Things We've Gone Through"

or do I? Of course I do. Since when did I not want to talk??

So, gentle reader, what's the reason for the obscure lyrics in the post headline this time?, well my son and future daughter-in-law chose number one from their wedding invite options (pictured below), my son even going so far as to say it was beautiful, which is practically gushing if you know him. He plays his cards very close to his chest at all times does my boy, never knowingly using seven words when one will do, you would think that there was a word shortage and he is the only one with this valuable information!!

Card Number One

Before sending them, we changed the colour of the bow tie to brown, and put it in the top right corner of the wraparound at a 45 degree angle and it made a world of difference to the finished product.

If anyone finds out you are a card-maker and they have a wedding planned, my advice to you would be; think very, very hard about it before committing yourself. I volunteered to do Liam and Holly's and we only had to do 34 Daytime and 26 Evening. Granted we did leave it to the last minute to pull our fingers out and actually start making them, but 60 cards literally took me and my wife a week to do and that was putting in quite a few hours a day, especially for a pair who can't sit in a chair too long without ending up being in crippling pain!!

The job that took up the lion's share of the work was having to cut out the two front panels. I used a die from Create and Craft called Couture and that heart is now officially retired, if I ever see it again it will be too soon. It was a bit of a nightmare to cut out too, having to go through the Grand Calibre for at least three or four passes before getting a halfway decent cut out of the whole die!!

Having said all that and not a word to Jo, I actually enjoyed it and working with my darling wife made a really pleasant change.

On to today's post and I came up with this...

I got the amazing Krazy Kats and Bird Crazy stamps and dies a few months ago and after trawling through Pintrest for some inspiration, I have made quite a few cards now and the birds are officially my favourite set of stamps EVER! The things you can do with them (I have decoupaged the bow tie and I NEVER decoupage anything!), the occasions they are suitable for (especially if you but the accessory stamps/dies too!), the mediums they can be coloured with and the techniques you can use to make their backgrounds with are multitude. I just love these birds to bits, so funny and so forwards thinking of Tim Holtz to even come up with such a clever concept in the beginning is just brilliant. So expect to see a few of these animals peppered throughout my posts through the coming months.

The alpha is from my stash of old Sizzix alphabet die boxes, which should have cost around £75 each and I got them direct from Sizzix for between £5 - £10 each. Of course this was in the good old days when Sizzix used to have a kick-a** sale over Christmas and New Year and you could get some amazing deals, not like today!!

So that's me, busy for a change and loving it. I have just started reading 11:22:63 by Stephen King, a mere pamphlet of a book at just over 1000 pages (Phew!), I am also watching the American TV adaptation at the same time and it is remarkably faithful to the book, it just seems to pack a lot into one show that I doubt I will ever catch it up (especially as it is on episode 7 already!!). Anyhoo, the book is a fantastic read, go try!

So I will bid you adieu and hope to be back really soon,

take care,

love and hugs,

Andyene

xx

Entered Into:

A Beautiful Mess Challenge 001 - Always Anything Goes

Aliciabel Challenge 017 - Anything Goes/Spring

Brown Sugar Challenge 192 - Anything Goes

Chocolate, Coffee and Cards Challenge 106 - Spring Is In The Air

Crafting-With-Friends Challenge 17 - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz Challenge 318 - Decoupage

Creative Artiste's Challenge 14 - Anything Goes (with option to use Chipboard/Stencil or Flowers)

Creative Fingers Challenge 106 - Always Anything Goes

Art By Miran Challenge 55 - Anything Goes

Dragon's Lair Designs Challenge - April Anything Goes

Pattie's Creations Design Challenge 121 - April or Springtime

PDE Linky Party 117 - Anything Goes

Simply Papercraft Challenge 26 - Anything Goes