Male birthday card

Apologies for my absence last week.  We had a family holiday to Tea Gardens staying at The Boathouse, and I just ran out of time to post before we left.  We have had the best holiday weatherwise for a long time, beautiful sunny days with only one rainy night, overcast day and afternoon sunshine.  Spent lots of time lazing around the pool, got through 3 books and enjoyed a boat ride to Nelson Bay with dolphins frollicking through the water beside the boat on the return trip.  A perfect way to spend a holiday.  But back to reality.  

This is a card made for my nephew who is very into bike riding.  Nothing as boring as riding around roads though.  He loves the mountain bike riding, jumping from rock to rock, sliding down hills and the dangerous stuff.  

I have used a black marker to colour the bike image from Postage Due as I didn't want all the background stuff.  I would have preferred to use the front wheel, middle section and back wheel as a sort of triptych, but there was only half of the back wheel on the stamp.  

Cardstock Storage

I thought I would share with you today how I store my cardstock.  I used to store it in plastic A4 sleeves in a binder when I didn't really have that big a supply, and then graduated to a plastic storage box picked up in a junk shop as the collection grew.  The basic colours I use the most are in the front of the box; Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Smoky Slate and Basic Black, followed by In Colours.  I group my cardstock together in colours rather than colour collections like Brights, Neutrals, etc as I just find it easier to compare colours when grouped together.   

Recently I found side opening clear folders in K Mart*, a little easier than using A4 plastic sleeves as the cardstock slips in on the side (which is at the top of the box).  These hold all my cut into sheets of cardstock so when I only need a small piece it's the first spot I go to.  Stored behind each clear folder is about 6 full sheets of cardstock  and the rest of the packet is kept in a cupboard out of sight to keep the box light and easy to use.  

And then I found Cori Cozak  had printed out a pdf of colour tabs for her storage system which uses the round tab punch.  I guess you could always use any shape punch or cut around them if you aren't lucky enough to have your own round tab punch. 

So now I can see all my colours at a glance.  And it looks pretty too.   

Everyone has their own storage system, but this one works for me.  
 
*OfficeOne 10 pack letter file from K Mart $2.00 for a pack of 10.  Bargain!

An envelope pocket

We recently went to an engagement party and as we had already sent a card when we first heard of the engagement, I just wanted to make a simple gift card to go with the present.  I thought an envelope pocket might be the thing, but after stuffing around with various ideas, stamps, inks and frames this turned out to be not so simple.  Firstly I wanted this shape and as I didn't have the dies my very clever hubby drew up the shape for me on computer, then drew a slightly larger size, and I used those shapes as my template. 

So really this card took about 4 hours to make, and then in the end I decided it wasn't "quite right" and made a completely different card instead.   And then forgot to take a photo.  And it was beautiful.  It had two lovely little owls sitting on a branch and their clothing was made using both sides of the shiny wrapping paper.  

I have a spare card now if you want to do something that needs congratulating. 

A collage type card

Now I really don't know what the correct name for these sorts of cards is - if anyone does, let me know.  I just called it collage because it has lots of different images stamped together.

I have always admired people who seem to be able to put random things together, in any form, and make it work.  So I tried to do that with this card.  It has images from a few different stamp sets all stamped in black, and then a few of them are popped up for dimension.  Was trying to achieve a vintagey type feeling with the shading, but I think it needs a little more.  

As I haven't actually stuck the top panel down yet onto the base card, I think this is one I will go back and have another try at. 

 

Another Great Year copy

I found this card by Alisa Tilsner  on Pinterest recently and liked it so much that I ended up having to buy the stamp to copy it.  I think it was the lovely bright colours that sold it for me. 

This is my version of her card.  I think I still prefer hers though.  Maybe it's the way the sentiment is popped up, maybe it's the colour of the yellow cardstock,  maybe it's the angle of her sentiment or maybe it's the bling.

It's not a card

No card today, but rather a tag.  I like to make everyone who orders something a little thank you tag, and these are my latest lot of tags.

I think that little rabbit from Baby We've Grown stamp set is so cute, so it was an easy choice for the stamp to pick.  And then as Rich Razzleberry cardstock has been a bit neglected lately it was chosen for the colour.

I was really happy with the way they turned out.  Don't you love it when something just works.    

Another card in a box

This is another card in a box made recently for a friend of my sister who is shortly to turn 60.  Not sure about you, but I don't really like putting ages on cards for people over about the age of 15, I guess it just makes me think how old we are all getting, so this box was filled with flowers instead.  The flowers are from Fabulous Florets and Morning Meadow stamp sets, and the colours used were Limeade, Wisteria, Calypso and Summer Sun.  Once again I have put in my three bars across the box cause I just think it fills the space up better. 

I shared these card in a boxes with everyone at the class a couple of weeks ago now and most of them have had a go at making their own creations.  If only I could get to see them all.