Thank you card

Below is a Thank you card that I made for my son's French Horn teacher.  I didn't want anything too fancy, so it's a fairly simple card.

I actually modified a card that I had made in 2005, and it was still in my stash.

Here's what the original looked like.

Sometimes it's really interesting to see how my card style has changed over the years.

Regards
Vivienne.

Stamp storage idea

Hi.

I'm feeling quite proud of myself as I've come up with a new way (new for me anyway!) to store my clear, and unmounted, stamps.

And I'd like to share.  :)

Here's a pic:

If you'd like to know what I did, read below for some basic instructions.

You'll need

• A ring-binder folder - a nice big one, preferably with more than two rings.
• Clear plastic page protectors
• A4 card (or letter-sized if you are American)
• Sewing machine & thread
• Craft knife
• Ruler & pencil

On the A4 card, rule straight lines.  (In the pictures I'm going to show, I've ruled mine into 8ths.  But I've done other pages ruled into halves, or quarters, or any combination of the above!)

Place the card into the page protector, and then stitch along the lines.  Below is a pic of my stitched page.

Then, using your craft knife, very carefully cut a slit only through the plastic layer for each "pocket" on your page.  I like to cut at least about 5 to 8 mm away from the stitching, and I curve the cut up at each end.  I hope you can see what I mean in the couple of pics below.

Then it's simply a matter of putting the stamps into the pockets!

One thing that I love about this is that I can create my pockets any size that I would like.  Here's a page done into quarters, holding some of my beautiful Whiff of Joy stamps.

And I can mix & match sizes on the one page.

Hope this helps!

Regards
Vivienne.

EDITED TO ADD:
I've discovered that it is best NOT to sew more than one divide vertically (ie no more than two pockets going across), or the page buckles too much.  Especially when putting in the thicker unmounteds that are attached to EZMount.  Going vertically, I've divided it into 5 rows with no problem.

Anniversary Card

This is a late anniversary card that I made for my husband.  There was just too much happening around the time of our anniversary, and I didn't get to make the card for him then.  I'm fairly happy with it.

I'm submitting this to Dustin's current challenge.  The criteria is to use two of the colours from his blog header.  But it doesn't say to use only two!  So I think I'm okay with the blue, brown and red (the critters on his blog header have red noses!).

Details:
  Inspiration: from this beautiful card by "Jane's Lovely Cards".
  Image: from Dustin Pike
  Coloring: colouring pencils and baby oil.  Edges shaded using ordinary felt pens.
  Other Stamps: "Delicate Leaves" by Hero Arts; Star burst, Unknown; Rose bush Topiary by PSX.
  Other details: Happy Anniversary is a sticker.

Regards
Vivienne.

Fairy bear

Life has just been waaaaay too busy this year.  And my New Year's resolution was to not be so busy!  I've made hardly any cards so far this year.  I normally make 60+ (not counting Christmas cards), so this is pretty pitiful.

Anyway, I started this card more than a month ago, and now I've finally finished it.  It's for my little niece.  I'm almost too embarrassed to send this now, but I did make it for her, so I shall send it anyway.

Details:
  Image: from Dustin Pike
  Coloring: colouring pencils and baby oil.
  Flower: Synthetic flower from bunch from cheap shop.
  Other details: The "ribbon" is a string of sequins, I've used a star-shaped brad to attach the flower, the fairy bear panel is up on foam mounts.

I'm submitting this to Dustin's current challenge, which is to make a birthday card using one of his images.  By submitting it to the challenge, I receive "Pike's Points" - these are redeemable as a discount when purchasing digital stamps from him.  I figure this is a win-win situation, as his images are great, and they aren't that expensive to start with!

Regards
Vivienne.

More fairy cards

The fairy with the butterfly above was made for a little friend, and the flower one was for a niece.  I've used this fairy before.

Details:
  Image: from www.coloring.ws.
  Coloring: colouring pencils and baby oil.
  Flower: made using instructions by StampArtic.
  Stamp: C16K Butterfly by Crafty Kids (now known as Kaszazz - I really don't like the new name).

Regards
Vivienne.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

I made this card for my husband.  It's a direct copy of a card mady by "Kbear".  Though my bow isn't anywhere as neat as hers!

Details:

  Image: by Dustin Pike.  It's mounted up on foam dots.

         Kbear gave the link to the Valentine Subway Art background image

  Colouring: Pencils and baby oil.

Regards,
Vivienne.