Happy Easter 2026

To those who celebrate, Happy Easter.  Above are some of the cards I made this year.  I hope they have all got safely to their destinations.

The 'seasonal tree' in the sitting room is full of Easter decorations.  I enjoy changing these to reflect the seasons, months and celebrations.

Another card - I made a few variations on this one for my cat loving friends.

It wouldn't be Easter without some treats, so I made some butterfly cakes with a couple of Cadbury's mini eggs on top. 

Storm Dave is starting to make his presence felt today here in the UK, and it is certainly windy outside.  Enjoy the Easter weekend and celebrate new life and renewal, despite the weather!

Easter-ish round up

I didn't manage to post these photos before Easter, so though I would do an Easter-ish post. Above are the butterfly cakes with additional chocolate mini eggs which disappeared very quickly!

These were some of the cards I sent out this year and thoroughly enjoyed making them.

This card was for a friend's birthday and she really likes the slow drawing patterns.  

This morning, on my meander round the garden, I saw my old friend the unnamed fringed tulip.

A small Choisya 'White Dazzler' which I bought a year ago is flowering happily...

...as is Magnolia 'Fairy Blush'. I really should give this a bit of love and care - it has been somewhat ignored recently.

Finally, this morning the blueberries were a-buzz with bees, so hopefully we should get another good crop of berries later in the year.  We are due some hot (for the UK at this time of year - up to 27 degrees centigrade, which is ten degrees higher than usual for the time of year) weather this coming week, so I will be planning the watering regime for the pots carefully so that I make best use of this precious resource.

Easter

To all those celebrating Easter, may I wish you a Happy Easter.  It was a beautiful day yesterday, with sunshine and blue sky but today it has turned misty and cloudy.  I am sure that Easter egg hunts and other festivities will still be enjoyed by those taking part.  Above are some of the Easter cards I sent out this year.  The cat with bunny ears was inspired by Tim Holtz, who was busy putting bunny ears on some of his photos here. 

I have also made some Easter butterfly cakes which we will be enjoying over the next day or two, assuming they last that long!

In the garden, things are starting to look more Spring-like.  Muscari (grape hyacinth) are flowering...

...and the scillas are bringing their beautiful shade of blue.

Cardamine Quinquefolia has been really pretty but is starting to die down again now.

The tulips at the front door are supposed to be Orange Emperor, but they look decidedly red to me.  however, they are very welcome, whatever they are.

The hellebores in the border are still flowering.

Here are some of the Valerie Finnis muscari I bought late in the season and planted in December, I think it was.  Their shade of pale blue is so pretty...

...and works well against the other muscari shades too.  I keep finding them popping up in the borders where I had forgotten I had planted them, so it's a nice surprise!

It's also the start of tulips in the border, which have flowered once in a pot and then get transplanted.  So far, most keep coming back, which is a bonus.  I planted them deeply and I think they like that.  The ones in pots from last Autumn are in bud, but not near to flowering just yet.

Magnolia Susan is also starting to flower and scent the garden with the lovely lemony, fresh scent. 

There is so much to enjoy and this is my favourite time of year, from now until mid-June.

Some cards through the year - part 1

As you know, I enjoy making cards and I like to keep a record of what I have made.  So here are some of the cards from this year.  There are probably more, but I think two posts is enough(!).  The top one was for a friend's birthday - she likes pink.

The next one was for my brother-in-law.  I always find cards for men a little trickier.

I think this card was my piece de resistance this year.  It was for my colleague at work whose partner is an entomologist. My colleague has now become interested in insects, so I made this card for her.  There are pockets and 'slides' with various bugs and beetles on them.

On the back of the card were many bugs too...

Here you can see the 'slides'.

I also added a little money envelope inside.  The only problem now is thinking what to make her for next year!

There have been thank you cards.

Lots of birthday cards...

...some including collage.

Then there have been Mothering Sunday/Mother's Day cards...

...and Easter cards (I love this Tim Holtz/Sizzix rabbit die set)...

...and more Easter cards.

Finally for this post, another birthday card, following inspiration from Tracy Evans, who has been posting lots of helpful 'snippet' videos on Youtube here and I have a few of her stamps so can make my own interpretations.

Part 2 coming soon... 

Easter

The Easter long weekend was lovely and I enjoyed having some time away from work.  I had been busy making cards, using lots of different dies and making some Easter egg stamps which I used to decorate some of the envelopes.  The Tree of Life was a newish die set which also included blossom and leaves as dies too. I am looking forward to creating a four seasons tree picture.

Snarky cats made their appearance for a few friends who I knew would appreciate them.

I bought a couple of bunches of daffodils and we enjoyed their happy colours.

The paler ones were very pretty...

...I liked the apricot pink tones of the trumpet.  They lasted pretty well and gave the sitting room a nice splash of colour. Of course we treated ourselves to some little chocolate eggs - it had to be done!

In other news, much to my surprise, my Sansevieria (Mother in Law's Tongue/Snake plant) plant decided to flower.  Apparently, this is relatively rare but due to either stress and poor conditions and its roots being crowded, or the opposite.  As this particular plant is in a small pot and really needs a bit of care, I am assuming in this case, it is the first of these!  I really must take pity on it and pot it on.  The flower was very sticky but sweetly scented while it lasted.