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

Birthday Bright !

So, we had a little chat yesterday about saying goodbye to some of the retiring products making way for the new Annual Catalogue in July , I thought it would be nice to share another card with some of the Birthday Basics DSP whilst they are still with us...

This card is bright and cheery with a Tempting Turquoise base which has been embossed with the Chevron Embossing folder, I've created a 'window' of cardstock covered with strips of the patterned paper which a great way to use up scraps, this has a die cut aperture using a die from the Chalk Talk Framelits.

The sentiment is so cool , this is part of the Hip Hip Hooray Card Kit really great value at £17.95 as you can make 20 cards and then still have 3 great stamps left to add to your sentiment collection!

I've finished the card with Summer Starfruit ribbon which is a retiring In Color and sum stamped stars.

Hope you like it :)

*NEWSFLASH ...CARD CLASS DETAILS COMING SOON LOOK OUT FOR BOOKING DETAILS*

Have a great weekend everyone I'll be back tomorrow with more to share.

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

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

Zoo Babies Birthday

Hello again everyone, today I wanted a share a Birthday card I made for baby Ava , she was one yesterday and I thought the Zoo Babies stamp set would be just the job for her card.

I chose a combo of Strawberry Slush, Pool Party and Basic Gray and I couldn't resist a little sparkle of Silver Glimmer Paper !

Justin treated me to a Silhouette Portrait cutting machine for my Birthday and it cuts Stampin' Up! cardstock and the Glimmer paper beautifully , here I've used it to cut Ava's name.

Just a quick post today but I hope you liked the card, I 'm off to send a Newsletter to my lovely customers if you'd like it let me know and I'll send it to you too.

Bye for now ...

Nicola xx

It was a Very Happy Valentines Day

Hello Dear Blog readers, I hope this finds you well and enjoying a nice weekend even though the wind has been howling and it's raining yet again!

Yesterday was St. Valentines Day and oh my goodness what a lovely day I had ...Justin and I had a lovely meal courtesy of M&S and their fabulous Dine In selection , I don't know how they do it for the money and it sure was a bit of a bun-fight in there to get the best dishes !

I dressed our dinner table with jam jars decorated with doilies and die cut hearts tied on with bakers twine , i popped little tea lights inside and along with some heart shaped table confetti it looked very pretty indeed.

Anyway, on to the card ...

Having made several commissioned cards for the chaps in work I wanted something different for Justin . I deliberated over the flowers , too girly ? But then I thought what the heck it's a Valentines card and it's all about the romance right !

I used Real Red cardstock and the stripy paper is from the Fresh Prints stack available in the Spring Summer Mini Catalogue , I love the selection of prints in that set ! I die cut flowers and leaves using the Sizzlet Floral Fusions and Little Leaves dies and cut the banner using the Banners Framelits.

The sentiment and Eiffel Tower were from the Follow Your Heart stamp set. The die cut large heart is cut from my all time favourite Glimmer Paper in Silver.

Finally I decorated the inside with FREE Banner Blast stamps and matching punch which you can get as part of Sale A Bration by spending £45 before March 31st.

Don't forget to let me know if you'd like to to take part in my Virtual Hostess Club starting in March , I have a few places left and you can still join us :)

Have a Happy weekend.

Nicola xx