I've been playing...

...with my new crafting goodies. My prize from the Do Crafts November prize draw arrived after a slight delay and I've finally got to have a play with it.  A3 glass cutting mat, stamp edge cutting dies and two sets of urban design stamps. Love the cutting mat and the dies..and a bit out of my comfort zone with the stamps. Well I played about with them for a while and ended up with quite a few bits. Thought that I really ought to be able make a card with some of them so... I did.  It's my eldest's birthday today so he got the resulting card. A bit of a mix of things as most of my experimenting was using card and paper from my "bit bag."

An unusual colour combination but I think it works. You can't see it in the pic but I have stamped the main image in a very soft grey over the background, to match the base grey card

What have I been doing?

Not a lot!  I haven't been well for the last couple of months and the last few weeks have been worse. Don't know if it's a flare up of the M.E. or something else. I'm slowly getting back to what is normal for me but I'm still very tired. Everything is an effort. Luckily my two sons have been very understanding and are keeping the household chores at bay and doing the cooking. I'm still without my one of my hearing aids. I did have an appointment but I didn't make it....just wasn't well enough. I haven't made another appointment yet as I don't want to make one and not be able to keep it again. Mmeanwhile I have managed to make three cards so far this year. The first was for my youngest grandson's birthday and I struggled to make a card...wasn't very happy with it but didn't have time to make another. Forgot to take a pic before it was sent off. Second card was for the Crafters Re-united forum.  The challenge was a sketch from the lovely Jackie. My niece is due to have her second baby..a boy..in about 3 weeks so that gave me a bit of inspiration for a card. Third card for another grandson's birthday. I have to make yet another card for my eldest's birthday this weekend.
Here are the two cards that I did take a pic of.

The image is a Bently bear stamp from Adam Prescott. Everything else from my stash.

This one was made using a free download from my Craft Studio.  The letters were cut out using a die then applied glossy accents.