Father's day and Christening cards

Below is the card I made for a friend's son's Christening. I used the material from the card kit I had for the 'best wishes' card in the previous post, and I think it came out ok. I find Christening cards quite awkward to do, as I am not religious and think it would be a bit hypocritical to be all 'may God be with you' etc. if you don't really believe the sentiment.

I have found the material in this card kit difficult to work with. I think it's because of the busy background of the card designs.

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My Dad is into metal detecting, so I decided to create a card influenced by this. It does look a little odd, but I was trying to break away from the 'stick square here, then add caption there' format I have fallen into (see card above!).

For the base, I stained a card with antiquing stain. Next I dampened a section of cross stitch aida and dripped the same antiquing stain over it to give it an aged appearance. Once dried, I pick at the threads so it had a more worn look.
The embellishments are a couple of coins I had kept from France which I then set into some melted wax, and attached to the aida. I stuck some synthetic mossy material along the edge to give the impression of hidden treasure and finished the card off with some lettering tiles. I also personalised the envelope, as I wasn't convinced the metal detecting theme came across too well!

Cards, bookmarks, and wine.

Here are the cards I said I would blog about a month ago (ahem...)

The first is an anniversary card. It was from one of those build-it-yourself card kits I wanted to try out. It came out ok, but I object a little to the limitations imposed by a kit!

The next card was also from a kit, but I lost the chart so had to wing it a bit. I'm not a huge fan of the design, but as this was for my sister who loves both roses and tea, it seemed an ideal birthday card!

Finally, a cross stitch bookmark I made to accompany my sister's birthday present (a book, funnily enough). Unfortunately, due to poor planning on my part, the border of the bookmark resulted in some last minute chart adjustments as the working area was too narrow for the chart design. I also cut it a little too short hence why the design looks a little bunched at the ends. For the backing, I used the liner of an old jacket I have, which is a velvet-like material. It's called horse skin, but it isn't actually from the hide of an equine!
I like the design on this one, I just wished I'd measured twice and cut once! I blame the wine in the background. Evil vino, leading my crafts astray...