The birthday card .... ..

Went for pretty with the card

I covered the numbers with the background paper & inked the edges & mounted them on the circles which were cut with my nesties & placed on top of one another.

folded over the corner & secured with a large pearl brad. Backed the corner with blue bazil card, & inked the edges

I added the blooms 2 toning & one larger contrast.

Added the pearl strip onto the gorgeous heart lace along the bottom.

and added the butterfly which was given the sparle round the wings with silver stickles

Not forgetting the Happy Birthday sentiment which was matted on the toning papers.

Driving test pass card

Our niece has passed her driving test!

She was sneaky & didn't tell anyone that she was taking it! :-)

Congratulations!!

This is the card that I made for her.

I used green bazil card for the background & stamped it with the word freedom using my letter set.

*TIP* - I taped the letters together to make the word so that I could repeat it as a background.

I used my new nesties in the largest size to cut the map out

and placed it over the background papers.

I made the L Plate, coloured it with copics & outlined the L 

with a copic lining pen.

To finish I added the 'antique' used, worn AA key that had been

on my keyring for years!

special for my niece/goddaughter 

tied with red ribbon :-) to complement the red ribbon on the bottom 

& the congratulations sentiment

Retirement Card

Just heard that a friend of ours is retiring - so here is the card I made for him today.

It will be winging it's way across the pond to the USA very soon.

The sentiment seemed very apt :-)

Mounted on Nestie shapes

Retirement was cut out of mount board with my Sizzix Go slim alphabet (upper & lower case) which I inked & then mounted onto the ribbons.

The circular sentiment was a gift from a crafting friend :-)

and the person this is for is indeed Special! :-)

Wish the colours had come out better in the photo - it does look better in real life - honest :-)

Nephews Xmas Present ......

Started out like this

A plain plastic box.

It was based on this Recipe box that I made a few years ago for my daughter.

This one was made from scratch using mountboard.

as this photo of the inside shows.

I used the same paper that I covered the box with to make these reinforced corners to the box for added protection.

I used my Go Slim Sizzix alphabet to cut the Recipe letters & inked them for toning colour.

I finished it with a cardboard fastener which I again inked.

So back to nephews pressie ........

Firstly I inked all over using my alcohol inks.

As he has just left home for Uni life I've kept things quite simple

I mounted the title onto a label cut & embossed using my Nestie die, the paper was cut at the same time as the mountboard then stuck on & the edges inked to blend in ...............

I random stamped all over the box with the cover stamp from the Jan issue of Craft Stamper magazine (cup & saucer) but didn't have chance to take a photo due to the absconding camera!!

and the finishing touch was the ribbon 

which brings the eye to the opening lip.

I made sections inside using mountboard 

and added a few recipes ...

The idea is that relatives & friends can add to the box & so can he :-)

No doubt the local takeaway numbers will be included!! :-)

A Quick New Home card for a fella

Needed a New Home card (for a fella) quickly so popped into my craft room this evening & came up with this

I love the background paper - it's from the Green Stack by DCWV that I got from Australia.

I tried the flower soft that my Mum sent over for me - thanks Mum :-) but kept everything else very simple - just stamping!

I used my nesties for the matting.

Copics Blog Candy

This is my entry for the Crafty Goings On Copics Blog Candy

Apologies to Karen for not being able to link properly when I posted before - Mr Blogger was playing up! so please disregard the first.

I used copics to colour the image when I was round at Maddys for a crafty session a while ago

I used Stickles clear rock candy around the ruffles of the dress

I used my nesties for the matting & the stamp was the free one from Craft Stamper magazine stamped onto the scalloped punched circle

I added a heart charm tied with ribbon and 3 buttons to finish.

New Home card

My niece has just moved into her new flat so I made a new home card for her to celebrate.

I used the American Craft papers - just love the colours :-)

I used my Nestabilities to cut the scalloped circle mounts that frame the Paper Artsy birdcage, which I stamped onto the pink patterned paper.

The Home sentiment is on of my old favourites :-)

The future sentiment is also Paper Artsy treated in the same way.

I cut the branch & leaf motifs from the 12x12 paper (which you can see layered underneath uncut) & popped them over the top - they are not fully glued down so give a bit of dimension to the card.

The birdcage is 'hung' with a large pear brad & blooms finish off the card.

Hope she likes it!

Another Man card

I've been testing out my new Tim Holtz decorative edge die :-) & ended up making this man birthday card.

I love the new decorative edge dies but only have the one atm :-)

I also used my nestability labels die as I had my Big Shot ready to go!

I kept the embellishments low key.

Just the bit of plain co-ordinating ribbon with swirl & the metal buttons.

The image is 2 different stamps, the background is a section of one of my large wooden mounted stamps & the top image is from Paper Artsy - I love their stamps & seem to have 'acquired' quite a few ;-)

My Nesties Storage book

My Knight in Shining Armour.........

Helped me go from the above

to

This!

My Nesties storage book.

My Knight in Shining Armour is Calv who when he heard of my problem - solved it for me :-) 

I had finally got round to making my Nestibilities storage book & had covered the front & back covers then tried to use my Bind it All. I have an original blue Bind it All & had used official Zutter covers which I assumed (wrongly) would fit into my Bind it All. So I had my covers all ready for their binding but DISASTER!!

The covers wouldn't fit into the Bind it All!!!

After asking fellow crafters I found out that I wasn't alone with the problem & that was why Zutter had brought out the new Pink version of the Bind it All which addressed the problem. Not very helpful for those of us with the original!

So Calv came to the rescue & lent me his Pink (which is now white story here) Bind it All 

& SUCESS!!

I used the Zutter pages in black & then cut

Magnetic photo paper for the interleaves to 'stick' the nestibility dies onto.

I used some brown paper along three sides which overlap the pages as extra insurance when carrying my book around - I'd hate to lose any of my Nesties!!

This shows the book closed.

I used the Zutter Perfect Closure fastener. It has a real leather strap which I left plain but could have coloured.

I embellished the binding with beads ribbons & bits (you may recognise the keys from an earlier post :-)

The buttons were special, sent by a fellow crafter friend & the nail heads are one of my lastest purchases. The letters were cut on my Big Shot, it's the Go Slim alphabet & mounted on matts cut using of course my Nesties :-)

So I can now carry around my Nesties in a nice compact form instead of all the plastic packaging - I'm sure you agree that it looks prettier :-)

Pearl Anniversary Card

It's my sister & brother -in-law's Pearl Wedding Anniversary on Monday - Congratulations to them! :-) This is the card that I've made for them - it's in the hands of the Royal Mail now ........................

 

I used my Martha Stewart edge punch, my new nestabilities set & pearl embelishments along with the chipboard numbers which happened to be on the counter of the local craft shop when we popped in on Friday afternoon - great as they were just what I needed!!

I painted the numbers with acrylic paint & then use Tim Holtz crackle paint over the top & used alcohol ink in red to enhance the crackle.

I added blooms which I used pearl brads to follow the theme.

Anniversary card

I also share my birthday with my friends Wedding anniversary - we attended their wedding up in Scotland 7 years ago & it was a lovely day - can't believe it is 7 yrs ago!! This is the card that is winging it's way up to the Isle of Skye.



The image is coloured with copics & mounted on a matt cut with my round scallop nestabilities. I used my Martha Stewart edge punch & added blooms with a gem brad centre.




I really like the sentiment set that this sentiment stamp comes from.



I used my new sentiment stamp stamped out in opaque white stazon ink mounted on a scalloped circle which I punched out.