A gift in a card

A family friend turned 80 recently and had requested no presents.  Whilst thinking about making her a card I came up with the idea of incorporating a small momento into it.  This means she will have something lasting a little longer. 

I cut the numbers out of some silk fabric paper I had made, and blanket stitched them to a piece of silk.  Then I stitched little flower sequins on, held in place with a tiny bead. I love the way these flower sequins are shaped rather than laying flat.

Then I made it into a lavender bag, filled with dried lavender from my garden, and put a running stitch around each number stitching through the whole sachet in order to keep it flatter.  The final thing was a ribbon attached with bows and some of the little beads.

The ribbon slid tightly over the card, in order to do this I had to open the card flat and curve it a little, but being so tight meant it could not fall off.  A few of the flower sequins and beads were glued around to decorate the card itself but it really didn't need anything else.

Signs of spring

The snowmen in my garden were only just reduced to small heaps of snow and a pile of branches when I spotted signs of Spring in a neighbours garden.

The first snowdrops peeping through, and bright sunshiny aconites.

I spotted them whilst walking down the road and went back with the camera especially.  It is lovely to see them and definitely bought a smile to my face.