Getting Ahead of Myself

This morning I've managed to make a card in plenty of time, wonders will never cease. I think it may be some kind of subconscious New Year's resolution! It's a birthday card for a friend. Her birthday is not until the end of the month but I can post it here as she doesn't read my blog.

It also fits in nicely with this week's dare over on Daring Card Makers:

We'd like you to do your bit for the planet and make a card using some recycled items.Yes, we know we've done similar challenges in the past, but some things are good to revisit and this is one of them - it gets us looking at stuff we might be throwing away and asking ourselves if there's some card-making mileage to be had from it.And besides, it's FREE! If you can use something rescued from Christmas rubbish (scraps from cards, decorations etc) - then you get double points! lol

Here is a couple of shots of the finished card:

As you may now from previous posts I am an avid collector of coffee cup sleeves, so they quite often find there way onto my cards. In addition to this I printed the greeting onto a scrap of card which was lying on my craft desk, and the chipboard flower was made using a scrap of mount board which was also lying around.

Non-recycled items on the card are K and Co Amy Butler papers, Dovecraft brad, and Papermania felt ribbon, felt flower cut using a cuttlebug die, with inking and pen stitching to finish.

Yesterday morning I ventured out in the freezing cold with my camera hoping to get some nice frosty shots in the garden. I didn't find anything frosty worth shooting, but I did find some fungus on a tree stump:

After seeing these shots Mr Crafty Blogger declined my offer of a mushroom risotto for tea. I can't think why!

In the afternoon I ventured out with Mr Crafty Blogger to the East Lancashire Railway to take photos of trains and ride on them. (It's a Mr Crafty Blogger thing, although he has said if I come along then he doesn't need to worry about the photo bit as I take care of that, and he can presumably concentrate on riding on the train, which obviously takes a lot of concentration.)

It wasn't a brilliant afternoon for photographing, but we still stood in a field in temperatures hovering around zero and I did get one shot of the afore mentioned train:

There was method in my madness for venturing to the East Lancashire Railway as there is a craft shop right opposite the train station at Ramsbottom. So on the return journey I left Mr Crafty Blogger and his friend on the train so I could have a look round the craft shop. Everyone's a winner - he gets to stay on the train for another 15 mins and I get a peaceful mooch round the craft shop.

I did make some purchases, the felt ribbon used on the card above, and some friendly plastic. I have to say the friendly plastic seems to be harder than it looks and we are not quite getting on at the moment! More practise needed I think.

Cheers

Ruthie x