a special commission

i was asked to make a special card for a 60th birthday recently. the theme was fishing and drinking, is that really what you guys get up to on the riverside???

anyway here is my creation, a fishing jacket. this was crafted from simple cardstock, hand stitched around the edges, a fishing hook and completed with a wine bottle in the pocket.

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a special birthday card for a special person

it was my friend, jen's birthday on wednesday and i knew i had to make her a very special card. now, one thing about jen, apart from the fact that she is my best friend in the whole world, is that she can sew. seriously, she is a demon with the sewing machine, i don't think there is anything she couldn't put together. so, the card i made her has a sewing theme. a lot of work went into this card, 6 hours to be precise, but i am pleased with the way it turned out.

here are some close up shots of the elements to the card, the paper collection is the 8x8 pad from graphic 45 called 'ladies diary', the button card is a jenni bowlin stamp, the spools are from the tim holtz sewing die and the needles are a quickutz die

the lace i purchased from ebay, quite often the best place for vintage items in bulk

the flowers were made from a marianne die that jen actually gave me for my birthday!

i had planned to use a tim holtz hanger, but i had to improvise as goodness only knows what i did with the pack i bought for the occasion!!

finally the scissors, there were also a quickutz die.

happy birthday jen xxx

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some more christmas cards to share

this one is simple and elegant, i do think it needs a sentiment, which i may add at a later date.

this one is a very near copy from one in a magazine i saw, i can't remember which magazine so apologies if this is yours as i can't credit you with the design.

these two robin cards are for a custom order, the brief was 20 cards, which must contain robins and glitter. now you can't really see the glitter as it doesn't photograph well, but it is there, believe me!!

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the start of the christmas cards

i like to get started early and this year is no exception!! here are three of the cards i have designed so far:-

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thankyou

i made this card for a very special person, my best friend jen, and her partner aj.  jen's been there for me over the years through the good times and the bad, never judges and is the best friend i could wish for.

last sunday was my birthday. i hate my birthday, i always have and honestly i really rather wish it just would just mosey on by as just another day in the year and that everyone would ignore it and usually they do, so, i was really worried when jen said she had a special day planned for me and that i had to be at her house at 9.30am on sunday.

anyway, being the dutiful friend i am, i turned up. she had a lovely champagne breakfast on the table with lovely warm croissants and a whole heap of presents.

and that wasn't all. she still wouldn't tell me what we were doing, but presented me with an envelope to open, inside was a tube ticket, so we were off to london.

we made our way into town, she still wouldn't tell me where we were going!!

we made our way to leicester square and had a nice lunch in tgi fridays. they sang me happy birthday at the table, which was highly embarrassing, and then she presented me with another envelope.

this contained tickets to the show 'stomp'. well, what can i say, it was fabulous!!

i made this card to say thank you jen and to aj for helping to organise everything, for being a fabulous friend, and for making my day really special, i had an amazing time and am truly blessed to have you in my life. xx

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a special commission

i was asked some time ago to come up with a card for an 18th birthday. now, this is not the norm, the young lady in question is a real girlie girl. she has loved cinderella since she was tiny and her grandmother really wanted this reflected in the card.

i made a side step card, complete with fairy castle, carriage and pumpkins, there are even tiny mice running around the castle!

a close-up view of the left hand side

a close up of the castle

and of the pumpkins and horses

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gift card holders

these are new at oxford tattoo, if you want a gift certificate, they will now be presented in a range of gift card holders. at present, there are three to choose from, more will come soon!

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a 50 year celebration

my parents celebrated their golden wedding anniversary yesterday and had a celebration for them. we held a party of close friends and family at the didcot railway centre. my dad has been involved with the society from before i was born and so it seemed a fitting venue, especially as many of their friends are involved with it too. we used two of the coaches which were originally dining coaches. i love these with a passion, they are simply beautiful and i knew that when dressing these for the occasion i wanted it to be simple and classic, but stunning at the same time.

obviously i wanted to make a card that matched the occasion and this is the design that i came up with. i'm thinking that you might be seeing more of this style soon as i need to start planning for christmas!!

so, here are some images of the coaches when we had finished. i managed to find my mum's wedding dress and so we had this on display in one corner, together with a canvas i made. the picture doesn't really show the detail of this, i used the same flowers and leaves as in the card above and entwined a t&e (my parents initials) onto one of the numbers.

i also displayed their wedding photographs and a mini album i made for them.

on each of the heating vents we made some beautiful ribbon bows in gold and white.

and in the other coach, we had the food. a table laden with cupcakes made by a work friend of mine. she made several designs, but 2 special ones with a t & e decorated on the top. the wreath was bought from peter harvey in high wycombe (my new favourite shop!), i used some simple white and gold roses, sone gold ribbon and another papier mache 50, which i painted up and attached with one of their wedding photo's.

for the food, we had a 1962 themed finger buffet, it was surprising when i researched this, how much of the popular items around then are still now seen in traditional buffets.

we also made a stunning flower display as the centre piece for the buffet table.

we even had a cheese and pineapple hedgehogs!!

red & white bunting and a 50 mortar board completed the look.
we had a lovely day. it was lovely to see my mum's childhood friend and bridesmaid again, she made the journey all the way from kent, many friends and of course, all my wonderful family.
thank you to everyone who came and made the day really special. xx
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lucy's wedding

so, i've been busy over the last few weeks preparing for lucy's wedding. lucy is a good work pal and so when she asked me to make her invitations, i knew i wanted something classic, simple and in black and white. her husband to be is a big newcastle united fan and so i knew the magpie's colours had to be in there somewhere!

these are the daytime invites, they open in the centre with the panel overlapping the two sides.

i used the same papers for the evening invites, but these were easel cards

i have to say i'm particularly fond of the favours! i used a pillow box shape, the same black and white theme and a punched shape for the name-tags, it was quite a good idea to have the favours double up as the place names. inside the favours were tiny white organza bags stuffed with black & white m&m's.

next we have the seating plan and table name cards, these were too big to get a really good picture unfortunately, but you get the gist!

here is a close up of the table names, there are all paul weller songs, the groom is a fan!

i also incorporated the same roses and pearls into the seating plan. i have to say that i have thoroughly enjoyed creating all the different elements of this wedding. i managed to incorporate lucy's desire to clean and classic with elements of the groom's interests.

congratulations lucy and steven, i hope you have had a truly lovely day xx

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show preparation

i've been so busy preparing for the show that i forgot to blog my creations, so warning, this post is picture heavy!! some of the cards i have recreated from those already on sale at oxford tattoo, so they may look familiar, but these are the ones that have been popular so far.

all the cards i have made are ready for personalisation and sentiments will be added on the day.

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