A Masculine Card and other 'Stuff'

I'm back !  Just had a few days away from home, hence nothing much has been happening here on Stamping Grandma recently - now that I'm back, I hope to get a little more crafting done than of late. 

As a start, here's a card made for a man - I never find masculine cards easy to make, but this one came together quite easily once I'd decided on a design.

I've had the 12 x 12 Graphic 45 Communique paper pad for quite a while and had only cut into a couple of sheets.  I decided the colours and designs were perfect for my design for this card.

All of the backgrounds, images, labels and wording are from the Communique pad and as you can see there's a lot to choose from.

This was created as a birthday card, but I didn't feel a 'Happy Birthday' sentiment would fit onto the front, so stamped an appropriate message inside.

During my little trip away from home, I met up with a lovely crafting pal - thanks so much for such a lovely afternoon Lauren.  We visited a craft village in Essex called Barleylands and found lots of lovely things we never even knew we needed Ha Ha !   Here's my crafty haul from our trip.

I'm so looking forward to playing with these new goodies. I did also manage to pick up a few little Christmas gifts too which was an added bonus (of course I haven't included them in the pic of my new stash).

I've had a little play on my sewing machine since I got home and - inspired by the gift tag on Lauren's fabulous gift of homemade jam and pickled beetroot  - I stitched a couple of fabric tags.  These are my first couple of attempts and I'm sure I'll find ways to improve my production methods and designs!    I used one of my newly acquired stamps to decorate the larger heart cut from calico fabric and the sentiment is a Stampin'Up! stamp and used a couple of scraps of patterned fabric for the other one.  I'm thinking I might add some lace around the edge of the next one I make to pretty it up a bit more.

I've included a few different items in this post to make up for the lack of posts in recent days, I hope you've enjoyed your visit.