Sports Day

Well, not exactly sports day, but rather it's been a sports month or two over here. I have mentioned before that my family is somewhat sports - well, football - mad, and it does seem to spill over into my work from time to time. I have been creating football cards again, this time the new Hull City shirts, for a small shop I supply in Hull, England, where I am originally from. My Dad was in the shop and happened to tell the owner about the football shirt cards I had

previously made, and thus a new order was received for the black and amber Hull shirts. I am becoming somewhat of an expert on English football team strips!Not a Hull related card this time, but definitely sports related, the card above was requested for a 10 year old badminton fan. I actually received an e-mail from a friend asking me "How are your "shuttlecocks"?". The e-mail was sent from an address I did not immediately recognise, and it took me a moment or two to realise what it was all about! For a split second I thought someone was sending me a rather rude message...

I have mentioned to you before that I am member of the Etsy Greetings Team, a lively team of greeting card artists who collaborate to promote their work through Etsy.com. One of my fellow members, Adore by Nat, recently nominated me for the Craft Diva Award by Debbie of NYPapercrafter. I am always flattered to receive these awards and very much appreciate them being presented to me. Thank you so much.

We are going away for a few days next week, to Israel's southernmost city Eilat, so you won't be hearing from me for a short time. I'll be back very soon, hopefully with some great photos from our little trip away. We are all very excited here!

Cards For The Boys

I seem to be creating more and more cards 'for the boys' lately and am not so stuck for ideas as I once might have been. The card above was for a 70th birthday celebrated last week. I was asked to create a card for a gentleman who is a keen gardener and so garden tools seemed the obvious choice to illustrate his favourite pastime. This particular card came together very easily and is simple but, I hope, effective.
Last month I was excited to tell you that I has been contacted by someone who had seen these cards online. He wanted to know if I would be interested in producing a large quantity of handmade cards featuring various football team strips, to be sold in his online store. I mentioned in a previous post that I had been busy creating the paper shirts. I am now happy to show you the finished cards, which have been delivered and well received. The photograph below gives an idea of the quantity I made. The online store has not yet gone live, but is called Flatbackfour and will be selling bespoke football shirt designs and other football related items. It was fun to make the cards and a pleasure working with the company.Yesterday some friends came over for lunch and I decided to have a go at making Chocolate Tiffin Cake, a recipe I discovered some time ago on Simmy's Echoes of a Dream blog. It was extremely quick and easy to make and tasted delicious. Actually, a little too delicious... I ate two more pieces with my cup of coffee this morning!