Another year of challenges begins :o)

 

Here we are again, Liz, Terri & I, with challenge parcels galore to get through :o) This month's choice was Terri's & she chose *Love & Hate*. She wanted us to send each other those background papers, toppers, embellishments etc. that we loved & hated, in the hopes that we'd find something to love about everything !!

 

Oh, how wrong she was . . .

 

I'm really sorry Terri, but I hated your love parcel & your hate parcel wasn't much better !! :o)

 

For her love parcel, Terri included fairies & butterflies, neither of which float my boat & she just HAD to include red, which she loves & knows I hate !! Apart from at Christmas, that is :o)

 

 For her hate parcel all she gave me was 4 pieces of  green card - which happenes to be my favourite colour - one piece of purple card & a picture of a dog. Yep. THAT was it. Now, as much as I love dogs, green & purple, I was at a complete loss as to how to use it, but after a good talking to from Liz,  I set to & I have to say, I'm quite pleased with what I came up with.

 

So. Here are my 4 cards from Terri's parcel:

 

 

This card is from the hate parcel.

I die cut the dog card & embossed the dark green card from the parcel. I then had a root about in my stash & came across the red & green tartan type card. So, I just die cut a piece to mount the dog pic on & used a strip of it on one side of the cardstock. I then added a plain green strip down where the green & patterned card met, stuck the dog pic on & that was it.

 

 

This card is from the love parcel.

Now, I love the colours, but I'm not particularly fond of butterflies, so I wasn't sure what to do. In the end, I die cut the silver glitter card, glued the butterfly on it & then mounted that on a piece of die cut purple card I found in my stash. The birthday greeting was also included in the parcel so I just added that & the card was finished. I have to say, I rather like it, more than I thought I would when I first saw the contents of the parcel.

 

This card is also from Terri's love parcel. Considering it's red, I like it. A lot :o)

She had included a piece of plain red card & I thought it would look good with the agapanthus stamp I'd been given for my birthday. I mounted it on a small piece of cream coloured card & then covered the cardstock with the flowery background paper, which was also in the parcel. From my stash, I added a plain red strip, the green card candi & the happy birthday sentiment.

 

 

This is the last from Terri's hate parcel.

It was just a plain piece of green card. That was it. So, I embossed it with my Christmas wreath folder, found a small topper left over from last Christmas & plonked that in the middle. I then added the glitter strip, greeting & holly & berry.

Plain and simple :o)

 

Now on to Liz's parcels.

 

 

This card is from her love parcel.

The butterfly die is one of her favourite things. As I said earlier, I'm not over fond of things like fairies & butterflies, but I do like the way this card turned out. All I did was cover a card with the blue background paper, mount the butterfly on a stamped piece of card, stuck the ribbon & card candi on & added the greeting. I had a small bit of ribbon left, so decided to add that to the greeting.Other than the greeting, everything came from the parcel.

 

 

 

This card is from her hate parcel & I have to say - I'm not keen on it, either !! I like the background paper, but that's it. I die cut some green card & white card that I had in my stash, stuck the flower sticker in the middle & then stuck it to the card. I added the sentiment & green bow & that was all I could think of.

Not one of my best, I'm afraid.

 

 

 

 This red card is also from Liz's hate parcel.

The red card I had in my stash, so I just embossed that & stuck it on a plain white card. From my stash, I  added the red strip, the greeting & silver card candi & then cut 3 flower toppers from a small square block of 4 that was in the parcel.

 

 

 

Lastly, another from the love parcel.

Yes, it's that butterfly again !! :o)

I just have NO idea when it comes to butterflies, so all I did was stick it on the netty type ribbon & then wrap it around the cardstock that was included in the parcel. I stuck the whole lot on a plain card & added the sentiment from my stash. Again, it's not a favourite of mine.

 

I now have a week or two off before attacking February's parcels, the topic being 1, 2, 3 & chosen by Liz.

 

GULP !! :o)

Family Talents

 

Every member of every family has a talent of one sort or another. Some are more practical than others, but that doesn't mean that those of us who can't make anything at the drop of a hat are completely talentless :o) It just means we might have to dig a bit deeper & plod on through life a bit more before we discover the one thing we're better at than anyone else in the family :o)

 

I have two brothers & a sister who have various talents that I don't possess. My older brother has a very scientific mind. He also writes music & composes crosswords. My younger brother can grow almost anything in his garden & can tune up a car by ear. My sister is very good at art/drawing.

 

My husband can look at something or a picture of an object & can figure out how to make it without instructions or measurements. A beaded tree decoration springs to mind, as does the unit he made me to store all my Cuttlebug cutting plates, dies & folders.

 

Between us, we have 10 nephews & nieces, each, I'm sure, with talents galore and this blog is about one of those nieces :o)

 

She is learning how to decorate cakes & is, I believe just beginning the 2nd year at college. She sent me these photos of her practice pieces & in my opinion, I think she's amazing. Yes, I know I'm biased & I'm sure she'd be the first to say that she's still got lots to learn, but if this is what she's doing now, then her future work is going to be stunning.

 

These are all so lovely, it'd be a shame to eat any of them :o)

 

 

I think this gorgeous teddy cake would make a lovely 1st birthday cake for a little girl.

 

 I love the penguin & lady bird on these cup cakes,

 

 

I know a Thomas mad little boy who would LOVE to have this birthday cake - Grandson 1b :o) He doesn't just love trains, he's completely obsessed with them.

 

 

These trees are just so sweet.

 

 

I can't believe how brilliant she is at figures - that elephant is just gorgeous.

 

 

Another assortment of lovely cup cakes. The sunflower is my favourite of this batch :o)

 

 

Now, I can make a Christmas cake, but I don't have the talent to decorate like this. If I try to pipe icing, none of the rosettes are the same size & none of the lines are straight.

 

I could never get a star shaped like a star, it would be all of a wonk & probably halfway down the side of the cake :o)

 

Thank goodness for ready made decorations, I say :o)

 

These animals are so good. I love the little pandas & the giraffes :o)

 



 

I KNOW I couldn't do it - the standing joke is whenever I knit anything that requires a face, no matter how hard I try, it  ALWAYS ends up looking like a serial killer, so I'd hate to think how I'd get on with food type faces !! :o)

 

I love this cake - it's simple & elegant. A lovely birthday cake for a Mum, Aunt or Grandma.

This is such a sweet little cake - perfect for a Christening cake, I think.

 



 

Such a lovely teddy on this cake & the bow & rose look so life like.

 

 

A lot of little girls love Peppa Pig, don't they ? Perfect for a birthday cake.

 

So, there we have it. I was absolutely gobsmacked when she showed me her work. I can bake all sorts of cakes, but I can't, for the life of me, decorate them to look even half as lovely as all of these.

 

If she carries on the way she's going, I think she's going to be even more amazing than she is now :o)

 

So says a very proud & bragging Aunty :o)

 

As for me & my one real talent - I'm still digging & plodding on !! :o)