Golden Wedding Anniversary Card & Box

Last weekend was the 50th Wedding Anniversary of my Hubby's Aunt and Uncle and this is the card and matching box I made for them.

Unusually for me, this card has no stamping whatsoever. I used a lovely pearlescent pale gold base card and gold mirri for layering and all the flowers, leaves, hearts and butterflies were punched from different shades and types of gold papers.

I thoroughly enjoyed making this card not least because I knew Aunty Janet would be expecting one handmade by me. She always says she loves receiving my cards to see what different designs I come up with and she keeps all the Christmas cards I've made for them and gets them out every year. Ah, isn't that nice of her?

I've had a really lovely day today. My friend Jo and I have been to the Artisan show, which was sponsored by Craft Stamper and Beads and Beyond magazines. There were some wonderful exhibitors there including the brilliant Leandra Franich (PaperArtsy) and we watched some fabulous demonstrations and made a lovely Stampbord brooch at a 'Make and Take' with Katy Fox, the Editor of Craft Stamper and Helen Chilton, whose work both Jo and I greatly admire. For anyone interested in jewellery making there were some wonderful items available. Some of the beads were stunning and there was a wide range of equipment as well. Unfortunately, it appears that attendance had not been good and I have to admit, it was very quiet today. Now this was lovely for us as shoppers as we could easily get round to see all the goodies and watch all the demos from the 'front row' but I am sure it was not so good for the exhibitors and must put in jeopardy the prospect of another Artisan show which is a great shame. We found the venue easy to find and accessible by road and although I drove us there today, Jo had checked out trains and buses and could have got there quite easily if I hadn't gone. There was also a very nice restaurant area with a pretty good menu available, including cooked meals at reasonable prices. I really hope that they do try again.

Two More of My Cuties

This is another of the cute cards I've made recently and again coloured using Distress Inks, this time the image is a Whiff of Joy stamp which I bought from The Hobby House stand when I went to the Harrogate Papercraft show earlier this year. The papers I have had in my stash for a long time along with the flowers and gems. The Nesties labels die and CB embossing folder were again from Once Upon a Stamp. Finally the paper lace ribbon was from Graphicus.

and here's another one using the same pretty image

The only things I used that were different from the first card are my Fiskars Threading Water border punch and some lovely little stickers I found at the NEC in March.

My daughter and little Granddaughter are coming tomorrow and staying for the weekend and I'm also going to a workshop at The Stampman with my friend Jo on Saturday, so my last two cute card makes might have to wait until Sunday evening.


Have a lovely weekend everyone!

A Welcome to Baby Ava

This is a card I posted today to my niece to welcome her new baby daughter Ava.

The pink pearlised 8" x 8" base card is from Craftwork Cards together with the co-ordinating card candy which I've used in the centres of the flowers. First of all I used Versamark and a Rollagraph design down the left edge of the card and embossed with clear detail EP. Of course, this is so subtle you can only just see it IRL let alone on a photo.

Next I stamped the image (which is a lovely Whiff of Joy stamp called Melinda blowing kisses) onto plain white cardstock using Black Onyx Versafine ink and coloured it with pencil crayons. I actually used some really cheap crayons (£1.50 for a set of about 30) from what used to be Partners because I loaned my good set to my son and, of course, he still has them. I used OWS to blend the colours a little. I used plain Rectangle Nestabilities to cut out the image and then added a little Tattered Rose DI to the edges. Next I used the scalloped Rectangle Nesties to layer the image onto ivory pearl card.

I cut a strip of design paper by HOTP and used a Fiskars border punch down both edges, attached this to the card just to the right of the clear embossed border and then tied co-ordinating ribbon from my stash. I positioned the image and used 3D foam tape to attach to the card. Next I positioned the Jones Craft flowers and the Paper Shaper Wave Flourishes which were also punched from the ivory pearl card. Finally I stamped the little sentiment which is from the Aspects of Design : Little Trumpettes stamp plate.

In my hurry to get this in the post, I forgot to photograph the inside where I stamped the other half of the sentiment - Sugar and spice and all things nice - and added a couple more swirls.

I enjoyed working on this size card and I was really pleased with the end result which I think made a change from cuddly animals or booties and rattles.