Pack a Picnic Gift Box Template

NB. The Pack a Picnic template is NOT free, it costs $5, and worth every penny... or cent :o) Also the small side panels do not come with the template, I made those myself.

OK, hold on to your hats, I've actually made something that ISN'T a card !!! I made this after visiting Raisa's Blog and seeing her lovely little handbags she made and decided it was about time I had a go at doing something other than a card, which for me was a rather scary prospect. I found a lovely template by Paper Tray Ink - My Timeless Templates - Pack a Picnic and decided to go for it and make a gift box from it...

Sorry about all the photo's but I couldn't decide which one I liked best.

The size of the box is 13.5 cm high (from base to top of lid) x 14 cm wide. There are two templates in the pack, this is the larger size. Right here goes with a list of stuff used to make the box.

1. Stardream pearlescent pink card for the main structure of the box.

2. Double sided ( dark pink one side, pale pink on the other) pearlescent thin card for the ovals, mount and flowers.

3. Heart Swirl DP is from Bearly Mine Designs Designer Extreme Vol. 1 CD ROM printed on to white hessian card. Who are looking for DT members, click HERE if you're interested.

4. Taffeta watermark paper used for the lip of the box ans punched with Martha Stewart's Doily Lace Punch.

5. The ovals were cut with Nestabilities Petite Large ovals and embossed with Spellbinders Impressabilities Flowers template.

6. Flowers on large side were made with Woodware 1 1/2", 1" and 3/4" Daisy punches, and the little nicks in the top of the petals was done with Woodware Teardrop punch and the leaves were made with Martha Stewart's' branch punch and Bazzill card.

7. Side flowers were made with Woodware 3/4" Daisy punch, Bosscut Flourish die and the leaves were made with Woodware 1 1/2" daisy punch and Bazzill card. The centers have Stampendous Raspberry Tart Fun Flock in them.

8. Butterflies are made with Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly punch, Stardream pearlescent card and heat embossed with Versamark pen and Heat It Up Pink EP.

9. Bow, handles and sides of box lid - Vanilla 1cm Grosgrain ribbon

10. Flat back pearls, 1mm rhinestones/gems and pearl brads for the finishing touches.

Well this took me a week to make, most of my time was spent making flowers. I did four different types before I decided which style I liked best. I could have saved a lot of time if I had used flowers I had already bought, but being a glutton for punishment I went for the handmade option :o) I did make a couple of mistakes but hopefully there's that much going on they're not that noticeable, and it's all good experience for my next one ... which won't be for a while yet. I hope you like it and have a wonderful Sunday.

Take care & keep smiling

Happy Fathers' Day

Well I wasn't going to show this box as it isn't that good but as I haven't posted anything for a while and I haven't done any crafting as such I thought "why not". So here is the box I made to put my Dads' Fathers Day card in ...










By the way my Dads' name ISN'T R. Bear and we DON'T live in Nutwood, that's Rupert's name and address :o) Anyway I was having trouble thinking of how to decorate the box, so I finally decided to do it like my favourite way of wrapping presents, brown paper and string. The "postage stamps" pictures I found on the internet and I wrote the name and address with a dip pen and ink as I wanted the writing to look like that old style of writing which wasn't to hard to do as I can't write with any type of ink pen so it turned out scrawly as intended and the string used was gardening string as it's a bit thinner than the usual parcel string. So there you go, not very exciting but I think my Dad will like it. Have a lovely Sunday.
Take care & keep smiling

Rupert the Bear Card - Fathers Day Card

I didn't think I was ever going to finish this card, talk about not knowing when to stop :o\

Well this card features the one and only Rupert the Bear, not many outside of the UK will probably know who this little chap is. He's a character that was created in 1920 by Mary Tourtel an English artist, for the Daily Express newspaper and when she retired the job of continuing the adventures of Rupert were passed over to Alfred Bestall. So successful were the stories in the newspaper that the first Rupert annual was produced in 1936. There have been 5 artists that have in succession continued the stories of Rupert, and all artists were carefully chosen to keep the drawing style of Rupert faithful to Mary Tourtels' style. The stories are STILL being published in the Daily Express and the Annuals are still being produced and my Dad collects them. The oldest original Rupert Annual that he has is 1964, but he has got some Rupert Facsimile's which are limited edition faithful reproductions of the original annuals. My Dad says these are some of the best fantasy stories he's ever read. Rupert is really a children's character, but I would say his biggest fans are all adults, you can see that when you try to buy an older annual, the prices these go for in auction are phenomenal, even the facsimile's can go for as much as £200 - £300 !!! Anyway that's the end of the history of Rupert for those who didn't know, so here's the card...

Card size - A5 - 21cm x 14.8cm

Card used - Stardream pearlescent card "Mars Red" and "Antique Gold" and to mount the front pictures and sentiment Colorplan "Bokhara Red".

The striped paper is a picture from the web which I coloured alternate lines with Marvy DecoColor Liquid Gold pen.

Martha Stewart Embossed Diamond edge punch.

Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirl embossing folder.

Nestabilities Labels 2 and Large Ovals.

Martha Stewart Frond punch. The leaves were scored with a very fine embossing tool to make the veins.

EK Success Retro flower punch (smallest one). The flowers were moulded with a Leone Em Shapemate so the petals didn't lie flat.

Cuttlebug "Frills" Border embossing folder set.

All Rupert pictures scanned from my Dad's Rupert Annuals.

The verse is from The Quote Garden.

Because I've waffled on enough I haven't gone in to to great a detail as to how I made the card, but if you see something and you'd like a bit more of a description feel free to email me, I promise I won't bite :o)

Now I'm off to make a box for it, so take care & keep smiling

Modern Wedding Anniversary Card

Hello :o)
When I made the vintage wedding anniversay card I also made a modern one. As I was making it for someone to give to her husband and not knowing him other than I know he likes football (for American readers - Soccer)I thought it best to do two completely different cards that way she could choose which one she prefered, and as it was she chose the vintage one...



























The card size is 16.5cm x 16.5cm/ 6.5" x 6.5"
All the white card used is Stardream pearlescent card.
The top half of the card is embossed using the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. Now because the folder isn't long enough, I embossed the card but made sure NOT to go to the end of the folder otherwise you get that nasty line, then I took the card and matched the dots up in the folder then I got an embossing tool and finished the dots of by hand to the end of the card. I know I'm a glutton for punishment, but that line REALLY bugs me, and I have tried erasing the line with a bone folder like some people do but I find it dulls the card when you rub it with the bone folder and looks worse. Well that's MY opinion, each to their own.
The hearts were made with a free stamp I got off a magazine, stamped with versamark ink pad and then heat embossed with Sparkle N Sprinkle Japanese Lacquer EP. Each were hand cut and jiggled about until I thought they looked nice :o)
The embossed lines were done just by placing the card on my Scor pal and scoring away.
The label is from Nestabilities. The white card was cut with the nestabilities die, but the silver mirri card was cut by hand after tracing around the die with a fine embossing tool.
The wording is taken from a quote by a sports commentator, the quote was actually "Football, it's a game of two halves" I just changed the wording to suit and it is computer generated.
The cord used on the label is Twilley's Goldfingering crochet wool. No I don't crochet, I just found the wool and thought it would look good on cards, needless to say I have several colours. Then it was finished off with some silver peel offs. Oh and here is the sketch I found on the web and used for the card...















Here's a link to sketch http://phutchsketches.blogspot.com/2007/01/love-is-in-air-february-sketches.html. The lady's sketches are mainly for scrapbooking, but with a bit of jiggaling you can make them fit a card :o)

Take care & keep smiling

Vintage Wedding Anniversary card Insert & Box

Here is the insert to the Vintage anniversary card I made, won't bore you with details, it's all pretty much the same as the outside of the card, but just in case you're wondering what die/die cuts I used for the numbers, I didn't, they're hand cut...








and here's the box I made for the card. Pretty boring I suppose, just wanted to play with that Tim Holtz mask again...

Whiff of Joy Challenge 33 - Once Upon A Time In Merry England

Here is my 4th card in my series of Once Upon a Time cards using the Whiff of Joy Medieval collection stamps and also my entry into the Whiff of Joy Challenge 33 ...






























Card size A5 - 21cm x 14.8 cm

Base up...

• Stardream Pearlescent "Chocolate Brown" card
• DP is from DCWV "Once Upon a Time" 8 x 8 pad
• Leaf Frame stamp is from Alota Rubber Stamps, coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils, Sansador and Sakura Gelly Roll clear glaze pen. I stamped the frame twice, but cut out the leaves on the second stamp to mount on top of the leaves on the frame with 1mm foam pads.
• The "bush" behind Charlotte I made from the Magnolia Tree with carved heart stamp from the Spring 2008 collection. I only inked up the leafy part of the tree and using a stamp positioner and masking, I stamped the image three times and coloured the with Derwents again.
• Rogue Charlotte of course is from the Whiff of Joy Medieval collection and coloured the same as above. She was then cut out and mounted with 1mm foam pads.
• The flower is from Prima Quick pick hydrangea Woodland, and the leaves are made with two different colour green Bazill card and Martha Stewarts' Frond and Branch punches. The frond leaves were scored with a fine embossing tool ant then the ends pinched.
• The "Once Upon a Time" stamp is from Hampton Art Fairy Tale Stamp set.
• The tag die cut is made with a Cuttlebug die. The ribbon and charm are from eBay.

I actually started making this card on Sunday and finished it yesterday, then I saw the challenge today and as it fitted the criteria decided to enter it into the challenge.

Thank you for looking and take care & keep smiling

Vintage Wedding Anniversary card.

Hello, well here's the finished card I made using the masked paper from the previous post...































This is a 6.5" x 6.5" / 16.5cm x 16.5cm card.
From the base up...

• Stardream pearlescent “Chocolate Brown” card.
• Main DP and Strip – Cosmo Cricket – Autumn. Mounted onto card from Pizazz 8x8 Christmas Cardstock Pad.
• Small SquaresDP - K & Co Vintage Collage Flat Paper. Mounted onto card from Pizazz 8x8 Christmas Cardstock Pad.
• “Photo” from Joanna Sheen’s “Fashion Boutique” CD Rom printed onto smooth pearl photo paper. Aged with Tim Holtz Distress ink pads – Antique Linen and Vintage Photo. Edges lightly distressed with Tim Holtz Paper Distresser. I thought I had ruined this TWICE!!! First, when I had gone over the photo with the distress inks the ink reacted with the black printer ink on the photo and turned it purple, but I decided it looked good. THEN, when I was messing with the Tim Holtz mask it caught the photo I had put to one side and took off the top layer of the photo, and that’s why there is a white patch on the womans skirt. But again I thought it looked good. That was after a whole lot of VERY bad words :oP
• The heart I made with a Tim Holtz Grungeboard flourish (see previous post). Went lightly over with Versamark pen and then heat embossed with Heat It Up Gold EP.
• The butterflies where made with Martha Stewart’s “Monarch Butterfly” punch from the same cardstock I used to mount the DP on. It’s a double sided card hence two different coloured butterflies. Again these where lightly gone over with versamark pen and then heat embossed the same as the heart.
• The “Once Upon A Time” stamp is from Hampton Art. I’ve got the matching "And they lived happily ever after. The End” stamp to go with this, which will be used on the inside.
• The lace I got as a freebie from a magazine a while back and then lastly I used Making Memories eyelets to decorate the corners.
• The sketch used for this card is one I borrowed from Just Magnolia week 5 challenge.

I made this card as a Wedding Anniversary card for a lady at work to give to her husband. That’s why it isn’t full of flowers and bows. I’ll be making her another card but with a more modern design so she has a choice as everybody’s tastes are different.

Right, I won't be blogging now for a while, my time just seems to be taken up at the moment with gardening and work, and I'm just too tired to keep up with challenges and just generally visiting my favorite blogs. So I'm going to take some time out. Thank you for visiting my blog and I'll see you around :o)

So until we meet again ... take care & keep smiling

Tim Holtz Mask - OK, I admit it...I'M HOOKED :o)

Grrrr, had to come in from weeding as it decided to persist down with rain, soooo I had another play with my new Tim Holtz Flourish Mask. What do you think?...

The paper is from Cosmo Cricket - Autumn. On the large paper I used the mask in the usual way with Antique Linen Distress ink (my favorite) and then on the strip I used the negative inked up with Antique Linen first and run through the Cuttlebug and I decided it was too pale. So I inked it up again with Vintage Photo Distress ink and because the negative (and the mask) are clear I was able to position my paper again in the same place and re-run through the Cuttlebug. To make things easier I reversed the Cuttlebug Sandwich ( you can make sure the mask is in the right position this way) on the second run, from the bottom up -

• A plate
• B plate
• tan mat
• 2 scrap pieces of card
• DP with pattern up
• mask, ink down
• B plate

And you can see I also did A Tim Holtz Grungeboard heart. Well actually it's a flourish, I cut it in half and positioned them to look like a heart, just got to get rid of the two sticky up bits at the bottom :o) HOPEFULLY this will end up being an Anniversary card, with a few more bits added of course. Anyway I just wanted to share my new toy with you and I can't wait to buy some more T H Masks, but they'll have to wait until next pay day UGH :o(
Take care & keep smiling

Tim Holtz Mask - Throw away the negative! I DON'T THINK SO

Right this is just a quick post as I was out in the garden getting rid of an over abundant supply of weeds... Grrrrrrrr. But the postie has just been and in a parcel that had some rather gorgeous papers was a Tim Holtz mask I had ordered. Well, have you seen the size of these things!!! They're HUGE. Had I have known how big these things were I wouldn't have ordered it. Anyway I went on to Tim Holtz's blog to see how to use it, and I'm sat there watching..."Hmmmm I think I'm going to like this" I thought, THEN he said "I just toss this" refering to the negative of the mask. EXCUSE ME, I don't "toss" anything. So I took the negative part and sponged Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress ink onto the negative. You'll feel ridges (the out line of the mask) and it was inside the ridges that I put the ink. I also used the distress ink as it stays wet for quite a while. Then I ran it through the cuttlebug. The same sandwich as you'd use for Nestabilities - A plate, B plate, Mask Negative (ink side up), card or paper, two layers of scrap card, Spellbinders tan mat and lastly another B plate. I ran it through twice (forward and backward), and here is the result...















I think it looks great for a first attempt and only on printer paper. You also get a slight embossed feel to it, though I don't know how long that would last as the mask is only a thin plastic and not really designed for use in the Cuttlebug. So there you have it and the moral of the story is... don't throw ANYTHING away. And if you have...buy another one :o)
Right back to the weeds.
Take care & keep smiling

Super Mario Birthday Card Insert - For Nathan

Ooooo, two posts in one day, I think I may come over all faint :o) I don't know if you remember but back in March I made a Super Mario Birthday card for my Dad to give to my nephew Nathan, who is a BIG Nintendo DS fan, well today I did the insert for it. I don't usually show the inserts to my cards as frankly compared to the outside they suck big time. I've seen so many of the inserts to cards made by other crafters out there and they are so superb I thought I'd make a bit more of an effort...








It's all computer generated, and all the images were sourced from the internet. The hollow lettering (Super Mario font from Urban Fonts.com)was coloured in with Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pens and the other lettering (comic sans) was gone over with atyou spica clear glitter pen. Oh and the octagon was made with my new Octagon Nestabilities my Dad bought me for my birthday :o)
Well I'm off to have a bath now as I've got to go to bed early tonight as I have to start work at 5am tomorrow, this is NOT my usual work hours, just covering for someone who is off ill, but I get to finish at 1pm and then Tuesday is my day off, so it's all good.
So goodnight, God bless and keep smiling