18th Birthday card

I am very pleased to let you all know that my son, Jonathan, turned 18 in April and I have been making him music themed birthday cards each year for the past 3 years. I did not know what I wanted to do for a card this year but wanted something different and special for his 18th. I was paging through the Splitcoaststampers website and came across a card that grabbed my attention. Its a play on the tri-fold card and although she did not give any measurements on how to make this card I figured I would be able to figure it out.

So this is the my twist on the Tri-fold card:

 Measurements are : 12" x the height of your card, I have used 12" x 6" card base. Measure off 2 inch from the top of the card and then using a craft knife cut on the 2" line from 2" to 10" . Then using a scoring board score the top piece at 2", 4", 6", 8' and 10". This makes 6 2" squares on the top. At the 6" mark score right down to the bottom of the card base to make a center fold for the rest of the card. Then decorate as you please. I have used paper from the Craft Concepts Vintage Grunge collection as it is music notes and piano keys. I have stamped stars and flourishes on the paper and embossed with black embossing powder to give it dimension. I have also used Tim Holtz vintage photo ink to distress the edges of the paper and then matted with cream on a black base.

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 The 18 is cut out with my Cricut using a gothic style font and also embossed with black embossing powder for effect.

These are two of the same style cards that I have made, the left for my son Jonathan and the right for a mate in Australia.

Hope this inspires somebody - enjoy your weekends and I will be back again next week

See ya

Stick pins

For a quite a while now I have been wanting to play around with the "Stick pins" as I have seen so many projects where these have been used and I absolutely love the concept. And with two Birthdays coming up for girlfriends I decided to put aside the Baby Album project and the Lapbook project that is taking up all my time and play around with this. Firstly, I do not have the right "Corsage pins", at least I think that is what the pins are called but I had some head pins in my beads stash so I decided to give that a go and surprisingly it worked as well. I do not think that it looks better than the beautiful pearl or rhinestone pins but for a first try I am extremely happy with the outcome. Now silly me, could not wait to put them on the cards so did not get a opportunity to photograph the pins on their own so I hope that you will be able to see. I must also apologise for the quality in photographs as its very overcast today and not the ideal light for taking photographs.

 This base is cream card stock, the background paper is also cream card stock, that has been dry embossed with Textile texture embossing file and inking up the top flap of the embossing file to create the colour, matted with natural craft and chocolate brown card stock. The Happy birthday flag is also cream with chocolate brown card stock.. The roses are my take on a rolled rose from the Splitcoaststampers website. The ribbon is gold and tied in a double bow, with a double bow mother-of-pearl twine and a rhinestone brad in the middle. A string of pearls and the pearl stick pin complete the card

The second card is a Petal card also from the Splitcoaststampers website using Couture Creations doily die and circle die, cannot remember the name of the die used. The card opens and closes like petals and is held closed with a belly band. I have attached the doily cutout to the belly band. The stick pin, happy birthday flag banner, double tied bow and Prima rose complete the card.

Please come back and visit my blog and I hoe that I am able to inspire somebody else

Happy Scrapping

Valerie

Greetings

Good morning all, I have been so busy the last 3 weeks with new projects ect that I have not had any time to update my blog with new cards and projects!! I have discovered a crafter on Youtube/blog and I am absolutely obsessed with her work!! I am busy with 2 of her projects at the same time, so something to look forward to in the near future!!

For now I have a few cards to post:

The base is Kraft card stock, matted with wood grain paper and navy card stock. The dotted patterned paper is also matted with navy and kraft card stock. The car is from the Graphic 45 collections but not sure which one. Some navy pearls and denim bakers twine and I handmade number plate complete the card.

I love Splitcoaststampers and each week I get an email with new techniques and ideas. I decided to try out two new techniques from the blog on this card. The first is the little crocheted hearts. Super easy and so fun to make and I think that it suits this card perfectly. The second technique is the white diamond shapes on the pink background. Its called pencil resist on the website but I used a white Wax crayon on mine. You require a stencil of which I choose diamond shapes. Stamp the image, the butterfly, on the card stock first and then the cover the paper with the stencil and colour in the diamond shapes making sure that you do not go over the stamped image. Then using ink or spray you cover the complete image with the colour, which is pink in my card. Remove the excess ink with a tissue and the colour of the paper under the wax crayon will show through. I then embossed the butterfly to make it stand out more and added all the  other elements.

Closer photo of the crocheted hearts!!

Ipod treat box and matching card made for a neighbors son.

Spilling out chocolate eggs!!

There are a few more cards that I have to show but unfortunately some of the Birthdays and Anniversaries have not come round yet so these will have to wait until afterwards.

Thank you for coming to take a look and hopefully I have been able to inspire somebody today!!

Stay tuned as I will be posting one of the projects that I have been busy with soon!!

See ya!!

Latest projects

Good morning all, Apologies for being so quite and not posting anything on my blog but I have been really busy with lots of other things. I have made a few cards which I will put all in one post.

The first card I got my inspiration from the new Docrafts Creativity magazine. It shows you how to make a camera shutter that moves. I made the shutter but then took it further but making it a complete camera. The rays above the camera are meant to be the flash,

The card with the shutter closed

The shutter is half open and you can now see the arm that you open it up with

The shutter complete open!! I absolutely love this card and it was made for a very special friend Tracy, that had a birthday last Sunday.

 The second card is also for a family member. Its a plain white linen cardstock, the branch is a die from Couture Creations and the owl is a Rosies stamp bought from the Warehouse and coloured in with my Spectrum Noir markers and then embossed with clear embossing powder.

The last card is very similar to one I made a few weeks ago for a friends husband. This card is also for a friends husband that happens to also enjoy fishing. I tried to make it look like the trout that is locally caught here but of course the fish stamp is not of a trout but figured I would be forgiven as its the closet I had to a trout. The gone fishing again sign is hanging on a piece of bakers twine, and the fish and background stamp is from the Kaisercraft Hunt and gather stamp set.

Gone fishing again.

Thank you for looking and I hope I have inspired somebody with my creations.

See ya

Little Princess

Good day everyone, I have been away for a couple of days as my husband has been on holiday. We spent athe time with some really good friends in Palmerston North. Not only was it really good to get away but I also managed to get in a couple of hours of shopping and raided the bargain bins at Spotlight. Came home with quite a few good bargains and while putting these all away I realized that I had missed out on another friends daughters birthday that was the past weekend. So I made her a card and this is what I came up with:

The dress card is cut from white linen card stock and layered with two different pink card stock. The bottom layer is embossed with Cuttlebug Japanese scale embossing folder and the top layer is done with the Cuttlebug Swiss dots embossing folder. There is a piece of white lace as a frill between the two pink layers and the bow is champagne silk ribbon. I used pearls and star to make a necklace and the Birthday wishes sentiment is a sticker from the Paper chic Christina Re collection adhered to a cream Spellbinders label die cut embellished with two pink stars. A white flower and plastic pink button and white string complete the card.

Hope you like and will come and visit again soon

Valerie

Kaisercraft Hunt and Gather stamp set

Greetings all, This is another one of the stamp sets I bought off E-bay in Australia and with a friends husbands birthday coming up this week I figured I would play around with this Hunt and Gather stamp set to make him card.

I wanted to keep the card very plain and because he enjoys going fishing I decided to make the fish the focal point of the card. I started with a white linen card stock base. Stamped "Happy Birthday" on the front and then on a piece of scrap white linen card stock I stamped the fish and coloured it in with my Spectrum Noir markers. I then embossed the fish with thick enamel clear embossing powder and while still hot I sprinkled over Twinklets diamond dust to give it some sparkle and represent the scales of the fish. Cut out the fish and adhered to the front of the card using gut and a gold bead so as to look like the fish had been hooked. I folded the washi tape to look like a flag. and Faux stitching and three green pearls completed the card.

The stamp set:

Thank you for looking and do come back again soon

Valerie

Kaisercraft Technologic

This is one of the stamp sets that I purchased on Ebay from Australia and I have been looking for a reason to use them, so with a friends sons Birthday coming up on Sunday I grabbed at the chance to open the packaging!!

The card base is blue card stock, the patterned paper is Rosies Boys and their toys collection, which is from the Warehouse here in New Zealand. This patterned paper is matted with a navy blue card stock. The circle is yellow card stock - stamped with the gears from the stamp set. The Happy Birthday is from the Sullivans words stamp set. The robot is stamped on cool grey card stock and covered with glossy accents. The heartbeat stamp is on yellow patterned paper. Stitched with my sewing machine and some denim blue stripped twine finishes the card.

I had so much fun making this card so I hope that you like it!!

Here is a picture of the Technologic stamp set:

Thank you for looking

40th Birthday

A good friend of mines 40th Birthday was on the 28th December and I unfortunately could not be with her on the day. I did make her a birthday card using one of my favourite techniques!! The egg shell mosiac technique and this is the result:

Its the first time ever I am have used two or more different colour cardstock on one flower/rose but the more I look at it the more I like it and it will probable be something I do more often!!

Thank you for looking

PS: Happy 40th Birthday Marinda!!!

16th Birthday

Its one of my son's mates 16th Birthday today and he is having a Pizza Pool Party for a couple of his friends and family. I find it hard to come up with ideas and get a card done for males but especially for young guys but this is what I have come with and hopefully he will like the end result!!

 Cream card base with yellow cardstock matted with a piece of navy cardstock. The patterned paper is from My Minds Eye Moments collection. A piece of light grey cardstock for the scalloped border running down the right hand side. The image is from Google Images called "neku sakuraba"  coloured in with my Spectrum Noir markers. Happy Birthday stamp is unknown - was a one off that I bought not from a set and the string is natural paper string from Spotlight. The little 16 square embellishment is a piece of  cream Shrink plastic stamped with the number 16 in Permanent black ink and shrunk. Three yellow droplets complete the card

It amazes me what difference light can make to a photograph. The first one was taken during the day and the second one at night with the light on! It gives you two complete different feel to the same card!!!

Thank you for looking

Egg shell mosiac

I was in Auckland last weekend for the Nickelback concert, which was awesome, but while I was there I decided to search the craft shops for Alcohol ink. I managed to find 6 different colours but to get tones and shades that complimented each other I had to take Light colours. This meant that the colours are still not fibrant on the egg shell mosiac technique. But with another 21st Birthday coming up I figured I would try the new Alcohol ink and see what I came up with. I could not find the Perfect pearls spray that I need for this technique but managed to find Tattered Angels Glam glitter paint which a copper tone to it so I have used this on the end result which gave it a slight shimmer.

 I originally cut out the shape in Spellbinders label but it ended up to big for the card that I was planning to make so I cut out an oval with an oval scalloped shape to mat it with. Handmade roses, pearls, organza ribbon and 21 covered with Glossy Accents finished the card.

Please let me know what you think by leaving comments

See ya

My brother

Greetings, Its my brothers Birthday on the 31st December but I have to post off to South Africa again so that is why the card has been made so early. As is I am not sure if I have enough time for it to arrive in time - with the festive season on our tales. Richard, my brother, is a very keen fishermen and golf player and with my Mum making him a fisherman themed Birthday card I figured I would go with the golf theme.

The stamp is from the Sullivan's Men stamp set coloured with Spectrum Noir markers - the patterned papers are both from the My Minds Eye 29th Street Market Designer collection and the white golf ball has been embossed with Cuttlebug "Seeing spots" embossing folder. A bit of red and white string and 5 red pearls complete the card.

Thank you for looking

Happy 40th Birthday

A friend of mine is turning the big 40 this week and I have made her a card for her birthday as well as a Birthday Calendar album. I came up with this idea from the Card Organizer tutorial at Splitcoaststampers but changed it to make it more of a notebook style album. My friend is always texting me asking if she has the right day for birthdays so I figured it would be the perfect present for her.

Here is the link for the tutorial at Splitcoaststampers:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/card_organizer/

and you will find the printable PDF file of the calendar months in the tutorial .

The roses are handmade from white cardstock, stamped with red brick tim holtz ink and a script stamp and then edged with the same colour ink. The background for the Birthday Calendar is also the same ink and script stamp.

Thank you for looking and please leave comments!!

More Invitations

It is with huge disappointment that I tell you all that the invitations I cut out and posted to South Africa for my nieces 21st Burlesque theme party have still not arrived - 6 weeks and 2 days later. Its crunch time on getting these invites out so I have had to re-cut 30 invites with tags to start all over again. However this time I decided on a different pattern for the corset and keep in mind that I have only cut out the parts for each invitation and sending it on to Shanna to decorate and complete.

 This photo is without the tag inside it. She wants to have red or silver ribbon to lace up the corset but I have used black ribbon because I did not have enough red ribbon.

This is with the corset tag inside.

Thank you for looking

Matchbox dresser

Last weeks "Weekly Inkling" at Splitcoaststampers is the "Matchbox dresser" and I loved the idea. With a birthday coming up and jewellery as the gift I figured it would be a really nice way to present the gift then a the normal gift box or bag.

If you are interested the link to see the original tutorial is here:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/matchboxdresser/

You are meant to use match box's but if you do not have the match box's then there is a tutorial in the one above giving you the measurements and instructions to make your own box's. I did not have the match box's so I used the tutorial to make my own box's.

Square box four sides with 6 draws on each side totaling 24 draws. I also could not find the metal Tim Holtz  handles and used wooden pushpins instead. I  bought a necklace and matching ear rings as the gift and had the velvet bags hanging out of the draws with a note saying "Open me"

 The other side also with a bag hanging out the one draw saying "Open me"

View from the top.

Please leave comments and let me know if you like or not

Thank you for looking

Valerie

Album gift

I decided to make my friends daughter an album using the photo's taken at her 21st  tea party and have been busy with this for about 2 weeks now. Each page of the album is a different shape - keeping with the tea party theme. But I have never done one of these before and I found it rather ...... I want to say "difficult" but it was not difficult - may be different!! Cannot find the words to describe this project really but I still enjoyed ever moment.

I had left over items from the invitations and thank you gifts which I have tried to bring into the album but I really wanted to stick to more photos than decorations. Not sure what she is going to think but I quite like the end result:

Let me know what you think!!

 There is a teabag holder in the teapot on the above picture which was used in the Thank you tea bag holders

 The stained glass window in the picture above is done with acetate, spectrum noir markers and alcohol blending liquid. Also the yellow roses are left over roses from the invitations.

 The thank you stamp on the cupcake page is also from the Thank you tea bag holders

Thank you for looking and please come back later this week, I am busy with another project - also a gift - matchbox dresser - only I have made my own boxes instead of using the match box's.

See you then