Happy Birthday Sweet 16

Hi, just a quick post today to show a card-in-a-box I made recently for a work colleague to give to his daughter who lives in America.

And the little 'handbag' shape card on the inside .....

I think one of the things that makes this card so cute is the size, being only 7.5cm square. He was very pleased with the card and said it made his day.

Cardstock:  Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink
Ink:  Melon Mambo
Stamps: Butterfly Prints, Season of Joy (Swirls)

Back soon, Julia



Nature Walk with Botanical Gazette Papers

Hi, it has been a lovely sunny start to the week here, and I now have a very tidy front garden thanks to my sister and brother-in-law who worked very hard today in the sun. My little two year old grand-daughter Daisy helped to pick up the trimmings transporting them to the garden rubbish sack in her little truck, and I am sure they couldn't have done it without her help!

Now on to cards, and today I am showing a card I made for my husband's Birthday later in the week. I like to use  papers on my cards and the fact that Stampin' Up make papers to match many of their stamp sets, and to co-ordinate with their card colours, makes it easy to design a card.

Stamps:  Nature Walk, Afterthoughts (Hostess Level 1)

Cardstock:  Old Olive, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla

Inks:  Old Olive, Early Espresso

Paper:  Designer Series Botanical Gazette

Ribbon:  Taffeta 3/8ths" Early Espresso

Punches:  1 3/8ths" Circle

Not too sure what my husband will think of ribbon on his card, but it just needs to be there.

Thank you for visiting,

Julia



Nature Walk - Butterfly Bees

I am still going strong with the Nature Walk set of stamps. This time using two bee images inside an aperture cut with the Butterfly Punch.

Punch a 7.5cm square of  Basic Gray card stock and emboss using the Square Lattice folder.

To line up the bees to fit inside the butterfly, I just placed the punched and embossed piece of card on a slightly larger piece of Very Vanilla and made a light pencil mark at the dip in each of the butterfly wings. I stamped the bees with Basic Gray ink, using my pencil marks as a guide and angling the bees towards the centre. The bodies of the bees have been coloured with a Daffodil Delight marker. 

To add depth, although it is not clear from my picture, when layering up the card I used dimensionals to fix the butterfly layer on top of the bees and used the Snail tape runner to fix this to a square of Daffodil Delight card. The Jewellery Punch and Tiny Tags stamp set have been used to make the little tag and this has been tied around the layers with some silver Elastic Cord, before mounting onto a Basic Black 10cm square card. Finally I added some Rhinestone Jewels to form the body of the butterfly.

Back soon,

Julia



Nature Walk - Pleated Front Card

Hi and thanks for visiting.

For today's card I have pleated some Botanical Gazette Designer Series Paper for the front and fixed this to a piece of 14.5cm x 10.5cm Not Quite Navy card for the back. This lovely paper design of bees has a honeycomb design on the reverse. I added a border of Not Quite Navy card shaped with the Scalloped Edge Punch to the pleated paper to add stability. The sentiment is from Occasional Greetings.

On the inside I stamped an insert using the bee from the Nature Walk set of stamps in Not Quite Navy. The wild flower image on the right is from the same set of stamps has been stamped in More Mustard.

The card closes flat to go into an envelope.

Something different here I think you will agree, and I have to thank a fellow Stampin' Up Demonstrator who brought a Christmas card made in a similar way to the recent Artstamps Show at Newbury.

Julia



Nature Walk & Butterfly Prints

Today's card uses the Nature Walk stamp set teamed with a sentiment from the Butterfly Prints set. Just three colours used in this one of Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive.

The wild flower border at the base of the card has first been stamped in Soft Suede using the second generation technique (by stamping one impression onto scrap paper before stamping onto your card). Then another layer of wild flowers has been stamped over the top using Old Olive for the leaves and Rich Razzleberry for the flower heads.

The butterfly and bees have been stamped using Soft Suede ink and the wings of the butterfly and bodies of the bees have been coloured by using a water brush to move the colour of the ink. I stamped a second butterfly and cut out one wing which has been fixed over the first image with foam pads to add dimension.

I then stippled a deep border leaving a clear area around the butterfly. I finished the card with a few jewels between the flurry of bees (not sure if they really work on a card of this style - but just felt the need to use some).

And for the inside .....

Thank you for visiting.

Julia







Nature Walk Collage Card

Back again with another card using the Nature Walk set of stamps. Today's card has been made using the same colour scheme as yesterday of Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry, Pacific Point and Old Olive. I have used a sponge dauber to ink the edges of the card and also 'stippled' ink in the blank areas of the card to bring everything together.

To add dimension I have fixed the front birdcage with foam pads, and added a metallic brad to each cage.

Back soon,

Julia





Nature Walk

Back at last - today I am sharing with you two cards made with the Nature Walk set of stamps. This was a set that I had overlooked, but I am so glad I decided to buy it. 

And on the inside .....

My colour scheme for both cards is Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry, Pacific Point and Old Olive which I will admit is an unusual combination, but I think they actually work quite well together.

And again the inside ......

I hope you like these cards, will be back tomorrow with another card for you.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Julia