I see wonderful things...

The title to this post were the words uttered by Howard Carter in 1922 when he first looked into the tomb of Tutankhamun, and they were what I saw when I opened a parcel sent to me by Lotti. This VERY generous lady sent me the parcel as a thank you for the Whiff of Joy stamp kit I sent her. She said she was making something as a thank you, and I presumed she meant a card. Then the parcel came and I said to my Dad "Wow, that's one big card", then I opened it up and was totally lost for words...

Isn't it just lovely. And it's not just the gift.It's the time, effort and thought that went in to it that really makes it so very special. I've only done little photo's so as to fit them all on, so click on them to see the details.

In the first picture you can see some pink and yellow paper, that's a tea bag gift box Lotti did for me to make up myself, it was Lotti's tea bag gift box that inspired my After Eight gift box LOL, well I wasn't to sure if my friend would drink herbal tea, but I do know she likes chocolate and I always have a box of After Eights on my desk so there was my excuse for making one :o)

In the next picture is a fabulous little organizer (well that's what I call it), made from matchboxes and coasters, how cool is that :o) and she put all those little bits and pieces in. I've already used one of the little handbag charms, they're so cute.

In the third (that's my son's thumb, bless him) and fourth photo's she's made a folder with stamped images in, and let me tell you there are TONS of them, it must have took her aaaages to do all those. I really like the way she's used envelopes as the pockets, very ingenius. In the fourth phot is a small sample of the stamped images she sent, and I have to say I LOVE the little Pan stamp, and I had to show the one of the Stamp Shop.

Then next of course is the Tea bag gift box, I think maybe this is my favourite :o) I don't know why, I just think it's fabulous.

And lastly Lotti also put in three of the loveliest clear stamps, and here they are stamped up ready to go into my Stamp Catologue. Those children stamps are just gorgeous, they remind me of the artwork of Jessie Wilcox Smith, she did the most gorgeous paintings of children. And who wouldn't fall in love with that dog, I didn't realise he was a Dalmation till I inked him up, and he's got a wonderful expression.

So there you have it, my truly wonderful gift from an exceptionally talented and generous lady. By the way did you see all the links to her blog? Just a small hint :o)

http://stampalotti.wordpress.com/ LOL

Take care, keep smiling and don't forget to Blog hop, you don't know what you might be missing out there.

Tilda Insert and card box - Gift set card

Quick post, loads to do, but here's the insert to the Tilda card and the box I made to put the card in...
























Quote on the left panel from The Quote Garden, both sentiments are computer gererated. Fonts used - Monotype Corsiva and Kingthings Annex , free font from dafont.com (kisses). Spotty paper - Bearly Mine Designs and Tim Holtz mini mask in the corners. Stole the scalloped edge of the box idea from Emilie, have a look, it's sooooo pretty :o)
Right I'm off
Take care & keep smiling

Just Magnolia Challenge 12 - Tilda Gift Set Card

I didn't think I was going to get this card finished today, but I did and I'm very pleased with the result. This card is to go with the Pack a Picnic gift box and Tea bag gift box I made for my friend Michelle's birthday and is also my entry for the Just Magnolia week 12 Challenge - So Charming...

Card size - A5 - 21cm x 14.8cm

1. Stardream pearlescent pink card (base)
2. Heart swirl DP from Bearly Mine Designs Designer Extreme Vol. 1 CD Rom. The hearts were painted with Shimmerz Blingz Poinsettia Pink.
3. The ovals were cut with Nestabilities and the embossing was done with Impressabilities Flowers. To get the nice smooth edge (no embossing) on the dark pink card, I first cut the oval but left it in the oval die, then using this stack - A plate, B plate, Tan mat, card with nestabilitie (Nestie on top), Impressabilites plate, B Plate and then two pieces of card and then run it through my Cuttlebug twice. Found that little tip on the Wizard website, though it wasn't for the Cuttlebug, but I though I'd give it a go to see if it worked.
4. Tools used for the flowers can be found on my Pack a Picnic post. The leaves however on this card were made with L-Em Ash branch punch. I had to stand on this punch to get it to work !!!
5. The Magnolia Tilda stamp is coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor, and her shoes were painted with Smooch Siren. When I stamped Tilda I used Versafine Onyx black Cube so as to miss the little cross stitch heart on her apron, then after cleaning the stamp I inked just the heart with Versafine Crimson red and using a stamp postioner then stamped the heart onto the apron.
6. The charms and chain I got off eBay except the little handbag which was in the parcel that Lotti sent me (photo's of which will follow soon).
If I've missed anything it's because those details are on the Pack a Picnic post, so here's a photo of the whole Tilda gift set, just got to add chocolates and little prezzies :o) ...

Take care & keep smiling

Tea bag gift box - well sort of

Here's a little tea bag gift box I made to go with my Pack a Picnic gift box. Well it started out as a tea bag gift box, but I changed it to an After Eight gift box :o) For those of you who don't know what an After Eight is, it's a wafer thin after dinner mint, mint fondant covered in dark chocolate mmmmmm .......

I won't bore you with the details again they're pretty much the same are the gift box, except for the DP used for the tea bag envelopes was made by me on the computer, and the After Eight logo on the gift box was made by scanning the wrapper and changing the colours with my graphics program (the front and back of the box are identical). This was inspired by part of a gift sent to me by the extremely lovely and talented Lotti, I'll show you some photo's of the parcel she sent, I was overwhelmed by it, not only by the generosity of it, but by the time, effort and thought that went in to making it. BUT I'm afraid those photo's will have to wait until I've made the card to go with these gift boxes as I'm hoping to finish it in time to enter it into the Just Magnolia Challenge this week.

So take care & keep smiling

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