Zoo Babies in a Box !

Hello everyone, hope you are all enjoying the sunshine and avoiding the showers!

I wanted to share this cute little card I made yesterday for a special little Girl who turns 7 this week, not a 'Girlie Girl' ...she much prefers blue so I wrangled together all my blue inkpads and set about a menagerie of blue Zoo Babies in another Card in a Box , I love making these and they sure have the wow factor :)

I stamped all the animals using different shades of blue and added a Rich Razzleberry Zebra for good measure, the animals were all hand cut with my new SU Paper Snips, if you don't have these get them , they are so sharp right down to the tips of the blades, perfect for intricate cutting!

Some stars cut from Silver Glimmer Paper add a nice touch of bling, everybody likes a bit of bling even non Girlie 7 year old Girls !!! I also added some 'grass' using the Fringe Scissors , it really adds to the 3 dimensional look. All of the elements were mounted on clear acetate so they appear to float.

I've completed the card with a silver 7 cut on my Silhouette machine and stamped a matching envelope in the perfect size, this is so easy with the Envelope Punch Board.

So there you have it, a bespoke card full of fun and in her favourite colours, I can't wait to give it to her.

Happy weekend everyone.

Nicola xx

Happy Mothers Day !

Happy Mothers Day to all the Mum's :)

I hope you'll all have a lovely day and be thoroughly spolit !

You may remember the card I made for my colleagues wife's 50th ? Well this is a version made specially for my my Mummy ...I've gone for a classic colour palette of Ivory, Black and Champagne Glimmer Paper.

The gorgeous papers are Modern Medley , yes , the same as I used on Justin's card see how versatile this selection is ! 

I made a simple concertina and added punched the ends with my Scallop Tag Topper Punch, the individual panels are die cut with the Label Framelits layered in Black, Ivory and the yummy Champagne Glimmer Paper (second favourite to Silver !)

I used the Memorable Moments stamp set to stamp the top layer of the panels and the letters were cut on my Silhouette machine.

I made a bespoke envelope with my Envelope Punch Board to store this little keepsake in and finished with some pearls, tiny punched butterflies and Crumb Cake Seam Binding Ribbon.

Happy Mothers Day Mummy , I love you x

Nicola xx

Birthday Coupon Book

Hi again everyone, Friday at last !! 

I promised I'd share the Coupon Book I made for Justin's Birthday with you all and here it is ...

I used Midnight Muse cardstock on my Silhouette to create this fab little coupon book, it looks great with splashes of Real Red and Sahara Sand on the Whisper White pages.

I've used the Perfect Pennants Stamps and Gorgeous Grunge to make 'controlled' splodges and splatters 

A matching perfectly sized envelope decorated with Starburst Sayings stamps and Framelits too. The front had a little rhinestone bling and some Real Red ribbon.

A little sneak here of the 'coupons' :)

I think it's a really nice way to give some special treats or favours as a gift.

I'm going to be working on some Easter pretties at the weekend so please come back and have a look next time.

Nicola xx

Happy Birthday Justin !

Today is Justin's Birthday and I wanted to make him a card as special and unique as he is !

One of his great passions is gaming, XBox, PS4, PS3 you name it he does it but it gives a girl lots of crafting time ;)

I found a really cool cut file for my Silhouette cutting machine of a game controller and knew it would be just perfect for big boys and little boys that love to game.

Teamed with my Stampin' Up! supplies it turned out really cool and he was thrilled with it ...

I've used my new 'go to' set of Starburst Sayings stamps and the matching Starburst Framelits, don't they look fab layered up here and the largest one has been embossed with the Chevron Embossing Folder. The patterned papers are from the Modern Medley Designer Series Paper pack and they are so versatile!

My colour palette for this card is Raspberry Ripple, Black and Sahara Sand and I couldn't resist a little Silver Glimmer Paper , I don't know what I would do if that paper is ever retired maybe I ought to start stockpiling ! Once again I made a matching envelope with my Envelope Punch Board again what would I do without it ????

A little decoration on the inside as a finishing touch and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

I made a little 'coupon' book for him too which I'll share tomorrow.

PS - Don't forget last day for Sale A Bration orders to qualify for a freebie is Monday 31st March so let me know as I'll be placing a final order in the next couple of days :)

Nicola xx

Oh Happy Day !

Hi again everyone, the sun was shining today and it sure does make you feel happy !

Quite fitting that I should share this card I made with the gorgeous Starburst Sayings stamp set from the Spring Summer Mini Catalogue, cutting out the pinked circles is all taken care of with the matching Starburst Framelit dies, I LOVE our dies and it's my mission to have them all !

I made a fold back style card to give the sentiment pride of place and mounted it on a Gumball Green cardstock circle embossed with the Chevron folder...

The gorgeous Designer Series Paper is the Watercolour Wonder and as they are all double sided you get even more mix and matchability !

Here's the inside with a stamped greeting from the Perfect Pennants set.

A matching envelope made with my Envelope Punch board an another sheet of Watercolour Wonder and I think this card would brighten anyones day :)

That's all for now, thanks for joining me...

Nicola x

Concertina Card

A colleague in work asked me to make a special card for his wife's 50th birthday, he wanted something special and after seeing a gorgeous concertina card on Julie Kettlewell's blog here, I decided that it would have plenty of wow factor for this special occasion :)

It's quite a substantial card, more of a keepsake I think, I resized the original card so that I could use A4 cardstock in Raspberry Ripple and used the Scallop Tag Topper Punch for the end sections. The patterned paper I used is not Stampin' Up! but as a pink theme was requested it fitted the bill perfectly. I used my Silhouette machine to cut the letters and numbers out.

I loved using my Label Framelit dies for the first time , I layered up Raspberry Ripple , Silver Glimmer and Whisper White, the White section is stamped with the Memorable Moments set which is a must have for special cards as it has all the numbers you need and sentiments for birthdays and anniversaries.

Lots of bling and sparkle for the Birthday Girl !

The envelope needed to be deep enough to accommodate all those lovely layers and with the Envelope Punch Board it was easy peasy to make one that fitted perfectly.

Finally the section for writing the greeting on, see how fab the Memorable Moments stamp set is !

I really hope my colleague is pleased with how this turned out and I hope the Birthday Girl is thrilled with it.

I'm thinking of running this project as a class, what do you think ??

See you all soon

Nicola x

Another 'Cardalope' ...

Hi everyone , hope the weekend is going just how you like it, I've had a busy but nice day making cards mostly a keepsake Mothers Day card and starting on a commissioned 50th birthday card too, I'll share pics of those when I can ;)

It was a busy morning too as Virgin Media came to jazz up our telly , we've not had 'proper' telly for a few months now and it's strange to have adverts and the same old repeats again ! We've been very selective with our viewing and I must say that in itself gives much more quality crafting time! The changes mean my email address has changed too so if you need me you can get me at ..

nicolakerridge@virginmedia.com

One of my recent 'makes' is another 'cardalope', not sure where that name came from , did I hear it somewhere else or did I invent it LOL ??

I love making these and they are great as Thank You notes, this one uses the Sweet Sorbet paper from the Sale A Bration freebies and I can't believe we have a just over a week till SAB is all over for another year ! Let me know if you want to place a cheeky order while you can still grab your freebie !

Hope you enjoyed a peek at today's craftiness, I have lots more to share this week. 

Nicola xx

There's no place like home ..

Well that's certainly true when you can share your home with good friends and even better when there's a Stampin' Up! Workshop at home too !!!

On Saturday I held a small Workshop at home, it was exciting getting everything ready for the project that we were making and preparing for a spot of tea and cake too!

I laid all the kits out and generally got more and more excited in anticipation of an enjoyable afternoon chatting , sharing and stamping.

Soon enough my guests arrived and we set about making a 'cardalope' using the envelope punch board here's a close up of the outside showing the gorgeous SAB free Sweet Sorbet Design Series Papers and You're Lovely Stamps ..psst you can still get these with a £45 spend before the end of March.

Here's the inside, it's a great way to send a little note to someone special!

If you'd like to spend a couple of hours with friends or family creating and having fun let me know and I can bring a workshop to your home !

Thanks for dropping by again ...

Nicola xx

Hello ! I am so excited to have joined Stampin' Up! ...

And as it's Sale A Bration time it's a fabulous time to sign up :)

As a Demonstrator you get chance to order all the luscious new goodies first, how cool is that ! I've already been having a little play with some new stash and I have so many idea's buzzing in my head I think it might burst , I put that all down to the amazing products and the way everything co-ordinates just perfectly.

Anyway , without further ado here's my first 'official' Stampin' Up! card ....

I loved these refreshing colours , they really make me smile :) The palette used is Pool Party, Crisp Cantaloupe and Summer Starfruit. The gorgeous Designer Series Paper is the 'Sweet Sorbet' Collection , I've featured it on the card itself and the beautiful background paper is also from the set, the best thing is that its FREE during Sale A Bration when you spend £45, believe me there are so many lovelies to choose from you'll have no trouble LOL !

Here's a close up so that you can see the stamped flowers using the Mixed Bunch stamp set and matching punch and the cutest little envelope which was a breeze to make with the envelope punch board ...

Thank you so much for joining me on my blog today, I am so pleased to be sharing the journey with you all :) 

Till next time ..Nicola xx