This is a birthday card for my son's partner, Tracy, who is expecting our seventh grandchild in September.  The stamp "Willow dressing up" is from Whiff of Joy, and is coloured with copic markers.  The papers are "Exquisite" by Papermania, and the flowers are Prima, which I've coloured, and Nellie Snellen flowers and stamens which are punched.  The sentiment is computer generated, and the very pretty self-adhesive transparent ribbon, is now sadly finished, and I've not seen any more.  There's some bling in the form of Stardust stickles of course.

This was a card comissioned for a very posh wedding, where my son-in-law Bruce was an usher, and took the photographs.  He's a really excellent photographer, and we have some beautiful pictures of the grandchildren.  The card is made using the bookatrix board, with some lovely papers bought at a fascinating little stall at the NEC last year where there was loads of lovely paper!  The central flower is Prima petals put together with a lovely bead cap and pearl brad from Jill at the Hobby House, and the little ones are from Hobbycraft.  Large hearts are cut with nestabilities from Wendy at Stamps and Memories, and gold peeloffs edge each page.  I also made a box to match, with my scorepal, and peeloffs, and another flower.

This is a thank you card for some friends, based on a sketch on the "Gem of a Challenge" blog. 

The papers are Papermania "Honey and Hugs", with some coredinations punched with an MS eyelet edger from Wendy at Stamps and Memories.  The stamp is from  Pink Gem designs,coloured with copic markers, and all the little flowers and leaves are also punched.  Thanks very much to Jill at the Hobby House who kindly gave me the little pearls in each of the flowers: it was so kind!

a card for A Gem of a Challenge

This is a card for my grandson who will soon be three.  As Pink Gem designs have a new challenge, and I really love their designs, I decided to enter this with my card.

Papers are downloads from Aimee Asher, and the spaceman stamp "space Miki" is by Pink Gem of course, and is coloured with copic markers.  I've used a few self-adhesive stars, and some Stardust glitter glue.

A card for my husband using Kars Christmas papers, Nesties snowflakes, and some punched ones too.  The Sugar Nellie image is "Santa's Letter" and is coloured with copic markers.  I tried to get the little tartan cap as close as I could to the Baird Ancient tartan, but it needs a bit more purple really with a finer nib. 

This is the SCACD "Partridge in a Pear Tree" stamp by Elizabeth Bell, coloured with copic markers.  The little Petaloo flowers and poinsettias are also coloured, with some punched holly leaves.  I've used Daisy Bucket papers, and a round sentiment stamp.

Papers are Nitwits download, with punched snowflakes and a circular sentiment.

Just a few more cards from last Christmas, coloured with copic markers. I don't know why I didn't buy shares in Stickles glitter glue, as I used about five bottles of the stuff on my Christmas cards, together with about ten rolls of 3M dst. That's a lot of money on sticky stuff!

I love this Santa image from "Whiff of joy". Bps are from a Forever Friends pad, and poinsettias and the snowflake charm are from Jill at The Hobby House. There's a

short length of Anita's ribbon,and I used a large holly punch for the leaves.

Yet another great Santa stamp from "Whiff of Joy", which I made for my grandson. Flowers are petaloo, and bps are from Kars

A different version of the "Santa's little helper" stamp from Sugar Nellie at Funky Kits: this one was for my five-year old grand-daughter. Petaloo flowers, and punched holly leaves are coloured with copics again, and papers are the ones I used a lot from Daisy Bucket.

Another set of Christmas cards, with stamped images coloured with copic markers, for friends and family.



Sugar Nellie stamp "Snow Juggler", from Funky kits, is a really cheerful chappie, cut with hexagonal nesties, and a circular sentiment. Papers are from the Forever friends pad, and I used Martha Stewart punches for the snowflakes, and a fair bit of glitter.


"Confirmand Melinda" stamp from "Whiff of Joy", which has to be one of my favourites, and bps from Kars. Petaloo flowers and poinsettias are coloured with copic markers and sporayed with Glimmer Mist.

Another delightful image from Sugar Nellie, which is "Santa's Little Helper",and bps from Craftwork cards. Petaloo flowers, punched holly leaves and poinsettias are all coloured with copics to match, and I've also used glitter pens from Sakura, although it doesn't show up well in the photo!

This post shows some Christmas cards I made for December 2009.

I've just become a bit more confident with copic markers, although not at all proficient yet - I'm working on it! Quite a few of the cards were hand-coloured: what my son-in-law calls "paint by numbers"


"Angel Wishes" stamp by Sugar Nellie from Funky Kits, with papers by Daisy Bucket. Holly leaves are punched, and poinsettias come from The Hobby House and have been sprayed with Glimmer Mist. Quite a bir of stardust Stickles too.

A Sarah Kay "Noel Charity" stamped image from Sir Stampalot, with papers from Craftwork cards. Snowflakes are punched with Martha Stewart punches, and pearl brads in the centre. More stardust Stickles to give some sparkle.

This stamp is another Sugar Nellie design from Funky Kits, called "Christmas Kisses", again using Daisy Bucket papers. The petaloo flowers from Stamps and Memories, and white Poinsettias from The Hobby House, have been coloured pink with copic markers, and sprayed with Glimmer Mist. I've used some green spotted ribbon from Poppicraft, and a circle sentiment. Holly leaves are punched, and there's lots more stardust glitter!

Easter cards

No birthdays this month, so I made lots of Easter cards for family and friends:
This one was for daughter Melanie and her husband Garry, using Papermania and Bazzil spot papers, Prima flowers, and a stamped image with gold gems.

This one was for son Alastair and his partner Tracy using Papermania papers and stickers, Prima flowers and yellow feathers.

This one was for friends, and used Basic Grey papers, Prima flowers, punched leaves and borders and a stamped image decorated with pearls.

January and February cards 2009

These are just a few of the cards made at the beginning of the year. Our youngest Grand-daughter was 4 in January, but because my son and his family live quite along way away, we didn't get to see them until February half-term. Charlotte loves the Forever Friends bears, so this was an obvious choice for her!

We visited the family for her Mum's birthday, so it was lovely to see the whole family. Tracy's card uses peel-offs on black and white background paper, with a few pink lines and gems.

Our eldest grandson was 9 at the end of February, and he's a great fan of Dr Who, so thanks to some help from the Imag-e-nation forum members who kindly gave me some good images, I was able to produce the decoupaged card above: Connor was very pleased with the result!

I made fifteen thank you cards for all the volunteers that helped at the Dance Festival in February, so that kept me out of mischief for some time: just three of these shown above.

Welcome to the Ballerina Craft blog

Why ballerina?

Well you'll find lots of them on my blog, as I often make cards for dancers, having been a ballet teacher for more years than I care to remember. You can find former pupils of Woodley School of Ballet dancing in ballet companies in Britain and in Europe, singing and dancing in West End Theatres or touring the UK, or on cruises in far flung places, with several former dancers teaching at home and abroad.

I'm now semi-retired due to health problems, but still find time to teach dance and craft, as well as have fun with our five grandchildren. I have been married to my dearest husband Joe, for over 40 years, and we have three wonderful children, who are all happily settled with their own families, and we also have a dear step-grand-daughter, with her own cute bundle of joy, so family life takes up a lot of time! The beautiful Lladro ballerina above was bought for me by pupils and friends for the Ballet school's 25th Anniversary in July 2007.

New cards for March:

Jackie's card challenge on Imag-e-nation forum. Had to be from a card sketch with a lilac and green theme.

I used the green Bazzill dotted card-stock for the base (and the little leaves), with Bazzill Bling in purple, and Papermania papers. The image is stamped and coloured with Le Plume pens, and then added Prima flowers, ribbon, sequins and beads from my stash.