Not my forte!

Well, it had to happen, I suppose! The lovely ladies at Less is More have chosen the theme of "Masculine" for Week 7. Definitely not my favourite topic! Still, it's all part of the challenge, so here goes.

I really struggle with cards for men, probably because most of the men I know don't seem to go for typical male pursuits. So it's no good making them cards with footballs on, or beer glasses, or darts. Or even cars (unless camper vans count!) Anyway, I kept this one very simple - just a torn portion of an ancient text (Make Your Mark) and a column piece (Non Sequitur), with a sentiment by Anna Griffin. I'm not sure that any gentleman of my acquaintance will be likely to receive it! But there it is.

I really am enjoying these Less is More challenges. They certainly make me think. But after several weeks now of minimalism, I'm starting to get a bit of snow-blindness with all the white space! I'm getting the urge to go a bit wild with papers and embellishments, dies and decorations, ribbons and roses, borders and bling, and to fling as much on to a card as I possibly can! So watch this space! (Just until next week's LIM challenge, of course!)

So that's where my desk is!

The decluttering is going well. Most of my craft stuff is stored in the spare bedroom, as my work room is too small to hold much and still leave room to work in. I can now see the spare room carpet, and the bed! Three bags of rubbish went to the tip (yes, three!). Old magazines and stash I no longer need went to fellow crafters. Strangely, there doesn't seem to be any more room in the cupboards, but at least everything is tidy now and I know where it all is. Not quite finished yet, but enough done to make me feel a lot better.

I have also managed to make a bit of space on my desk, just in time. A friend who has recently had a bereavement asked me to make her a set of thank you cards, and she needed them quickly. So yesterday I made 15 cards, which must be a record for me all in one day! She asked me to deliver them through her letterbox, so not knowing how far they'd have to fall I thought they'd better go in a box to protect them. Didn't have one suitable, so I made one.

The brief was: Irises, shades of lilac/purple, black borders, and MS doily lace punch. Not having time to do lots of colouring, I used a printed picture of irises from the Dreamy Flowers CD by Hinny Bop Designs, and a Penny Black iris stamp. The sentiment is a very old one from Make Your Mark. I covered the box with some wrapping paper bought quite some time ago from Ikea.

My daughter and family are coming to stay overnight tonight on their way back from holiday, and then on Sunday I'm going up to Scotland to stay with them for a few days. After all my hard work of the past few weeks, I'm really looking forward to the break. Not that it will be a rest with my two young grandsons around (aged 5 years and 18 months) but we always have lots of fun. Because they live so far away we don't see nearly enough of them so any time spent with them is precious. They grow up far too quickly.

When I come home, my next job is to make a start on decluttering the kitchen. Hmm.....