Echos across the heart

Tonight I have made two cards. It was going to be just one, but then my male birthday card ended up a little too feminine, so I had to make another.

Here is the initial card:

I used a free stamp from a magazine and my oldest ink pad, which is a cheap black ink pad with no name on it, but it is still pretty good condition considering it must be over 10 years old! I coloured the image with promarkers (after heat setting it to stop the ink from smudging) and blended the colours with the promarker blender pen. Peel-offs were used around the image. To the side I used a gold sheer ribbon and stamped another free stamp onto card and then die-cut out and adding to the bottom of the ribbon.

This is for the following challenges:

OLS13 You Blend!

Quirky Crafts Love is in the air

abc-challenge C is for Cupid

Sweet Stampin' Love
MIM Hearts and Flowers
Stella Says Sketch 302

Art Impressions 152 Have a heart
Live and Love Crafts #32 Hearts
SOS #187 Getting Inky
ilovepromarkers#255 Lots of love

And here is the quick and easy replacement card:

For this card I simply layered two ribbons on top of each other to make the candles. Then a sheer gold ribbon was cut diagonally to make the flames and a 'Happy Birthday' topper finishes the card off.

This card follows the theme at:

Crazy4Challenges C4C271 Male Birthday
crafting by designs Anything Goes

craft your passion 247 Anything Goes
Simon Says Monday H is for - Happy Birthday
open-minded crafting #29 No Red and No Pink
CASology 132 Hot
papertake weekly Anything Goes

I also have an update on my fish tank cross stitch:

This is now at 75 hours.


Audio Book Review

Echoes across the Mersey

This story is based in Liverpool during the first world war. Sarah is one of the working class who falls in love with the bosses son. Luckily for her the son reciprocates her feelings. However, he is having trouble with his father and in the heat of the moment volunteers for the army. When this brings on his fathers’ early death he realises how silly he has been and has to find a way to ensure the family business continues to thrive whilst he is at war. This gives Sarah a great opportunity and the story shares the trials and tribulations from each of the main characters points of view, through to the end of the war, with deaths and births a major aspect of the story.

The way the book is written works very well as you really get to know the characters. It also has a few twists to the story and some areas where you are almost certain you know what is going to happen, even though you wish it wouldn’t. A very good period drama that is well written and read, making it an excellent choice for listening to on long journeys.

Thank you for looking

Hugz Tinz