I recently posted a summary of the first small batch of handmade cards I made this year. This time, I want to recap of the second batch of 2021 cards, with cards I made for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and my mum’s birthday.

If you compare these cards with my older designs, you’ll notice how I moved towards a more minimalistic approach, and started to make more use of all the scrapbooking papers I buy and hardly ever use. This is partially because I’m trying to utilise some of the craft supplies that have been sitting in my cupboards for ages, and partially because, frankly, a simpler design takes less time to make, and I don’t always have the luxury of being able to spend two days on one card these days.

The first of the cards was for Mother’s Day, which in Poland is on the 26th of May every year. Similarly to some cards from the first batch of 2021, this one has a cat in it. His Little Fluffy Majesty is the real prince in our family. 🙂

Next was a card for Father’s Day, which in Poland is always celebrated on June 23rd. It’s actually one of the cards I’m most proud of, and one of my all time favourites. I’ve always struggled with ideas for cards for my dad – pink flowers don’t necessarily seem quite right, for some reason. The tartan black and white background reminds me of my dad’s shirts, and the glass of beer is definitely stereotypically quite manly – and fits in a family obsessed with craft beers well. Another pretty simple card, but sometimes less is more!

The final card in this post is the one I made for my mum’s birthday. I used scrapbooking paper that matched the colour of the card blank, and then added a traditional floral quilling design in the middle. No cats this time! Since this is my most recent, and least rushed creation, I have photos of the process and not just the final product.

And this concludes the handmade cards of 2021! At least when it comes to 2021 family occasions – all of the celebration days are between March and July, so that’s my usual time for making cards. But, I’m planning to start making extra cards soon, just so that I always have a little stash ready (who knows when you may need a handmade card, right?). I recently bought a large book full of ideas and techniques for cardmaking in a charity shop, for just £1.25. I bought it without thinking, but admittedly I expected it to be targeted at kids and not teach me anything. I got back home and started browsing and boy, was I surprised! It’s actually full of brilliant ideas I’m dying to try!

• DIY