A little bit of Inspiration...

I have a new addiction... browsing through people's blogs. It's like a never-ending world of ideas. For a long time I only looked at cookery blogs, as many of my friends blog on this theme, but I have recently started looking at craft blogs too, inspired by my Canadian friend Sandy who writes a lovely blog entitled By the Lakeside. Sandy makes me want to knit and sew. She modestly says that she can't imagine how anyone could be inspired by her, but anyone who has a young family, works full time, cooks wonderful meals and still manages to create beautiful things is inspirational in my book. I just love her sense of style. Sandy very helpfully has a 'blogroll', listing some of her favourite blogs (note to self, must investigate how to do this myself...) and it was through this that I stumbled upon another great blog, lovelydesign, written by San Francisco dweller, Sharilyn. Sharilyn has a sweet young daughter, Adelaide, and recently wrote this post about making invitations for Adelaide's second birthday party.

I thought these were gorgeous, and wanted to adapt the idea for my own use. So, a little more low-tech than the original, here is my Valentine's card for Rob:


The balloons were cut from the Cath Kidston catalogue. I adore these patterns and dream of furnishing my entire house in them... however for now I will have to make do with my CK bag, purse and iPod case. Oh and the gazebo! (Can't wait 'til Summer!)



The balloon strings and writing were done by me. With a biro. See, I said it was low-tech...



As I was in the groove, I made a thank you card for my teaching-assistant Bee too. Bee is fabulous and has been such a help and support during my first half term in this job, so I thought she deserved a hand-made card.




I am glad that I have rediscovered the fun of making my own greetings cards. I always used to do this, but somehow I just got out of the habit. At least now I don't have any excuse for being out of ideas...