Hostess Gift - Secret Garden

Wow, the weekend absolutely flew past!
I spent a really great couple of hours on Saturday at a party hosted by Lesley, a very lovely and talented lady who is always so gracious in welcoming me to her beautiful home.

I decided to make Lesley a hostess gift using the Envelope Punch Board. I take absolutely no credit for the box idea, there are lots of variations and videos on the internet showing how to create boxes of varying shapes and sizes using the board.

I prepared a matching card to go with the box, which I presented to Lesley as a thank you for hosting the party.

Thank you to the very appreciative group of ladies who attended, I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Supplies used:
Stamps - Secret Garden, Hardwood
Punches - Scalloped Top Tag Punch
Thinlits - Hexagon Hive, Secret Garden
Colours - Elegant Eggplant, Pistachio Pudding, Crumb Cake, So Saffron, Whisper White
Nikki
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Dictionary meets Papillon Potpourri

Has anyone else noticed the evenings becoming lighter now....I love it. Getting home from work while it's still daylight really does wonders for the soul.
I've had the Dictionary Stamp for quite some time now but hadn't even mounted it until last weekend! I'm not sure why it's taken me so long, as when I did finally get round to stamping with it the image turned out beautifully.
The background was created by stamping the dictionary in Basic Grey and then lightly sponging through the negative space of the Elegant Butterfly to create the slightly distressed look.

Supplies used:
Stamps - Papillon Potpourri, Dictionary, Happy Watercolour
Punches - Circles, Elegant Butterfly
Colours - Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Basic Grey, Whisper White, Real Red, Basic Black

Hope you enjoy the rest of the week.
Nikki
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Scalloped Tag Topper Punch

 

Sunday again already, and I'm playing catch up with housework today after spending a lovely day at Mj's crop in Thatcham yesterday with some very talented ladies who are always great company.

I was planning on entering the Freshly Made Sketches challenge this week, but ended up with a card a bit less 'clean' than is needed, so have sidelined that for another day. Instead I have a scrapbook page today, loosely based on a sketch I saw on Pinterest.

I have lots of old photos which have a slight yellowish hue to them, which tends to make it difficult to find papers to use which make the most of them...as I've mentioned before (yawn! I know I bang on about this!) I think the picture should be the first thing that you are drawn to. I've used the fab Retro Fresh DSP which I find is really working well with my old photos. I wanted to keep the page quite simple and have added accents with the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch, which draw your eye around the page. Both of these items can be found in the Spring/Summer seasonal catalogue, which you can view if you click on the image on my sidebar.

The title is the only thing which isn't made using SU products.

Thanks for visiting, I appreciate you taking time to take a look.
Have a great week.
Nikki
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Happy Watercolour

Hello,
During the week I was stamping with a very talented lady, luckily for me she is also a member of my team, and after seeing what she was up to I was inspired to use the lovely new set Happy Watercolour again, along with the Hexagon Hive Thinlit...the hexagons are a little smaller than the Six Sided Sampler and were just the right size for what I wanted to do.

The poppy is really great to layer up but I wanted to focus on the iris this time. Like most of my card making I've kept this really clean, and mostly simple ;-)

I stamped the iris onto my card blank in Basic Black, and then lined up the hexagons on my grid paper (first using a small dot of snail on the back of each - and tapping against my trousers to remove some of the sticky) and stamped the image onto them. Then it's just a case of lining them up. I raised the hexagons up on some dimensionals, but they could be left flat.

I wasn't sure which one I preferred so have posted them both, perhaps the second one just needs an extra little pop of colour now I'm looking at it, but I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

An afternoon watching some of the Winter Olympics is now in order I think.
Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the week ahead.
Nikki
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Last Valentine...



My last Valentine offering for you today. It's slightly ironic that despite making several Valentines cards it's highly unlikely that I'll actually be sending any... I'm beginning to think I might be getting a bit too fussy in my old age :-)

The colours I've used on this one are Raspberry Ripple, Sahara Sand, Basic Black and Whisper White.

Really quick post today as I'm trying to get my washing done a day early due to giving blood tomorrow evening. Wish me luck, it's the first time I'll be going on my own...not a fan of needles and it took some serious amount of persuasion from a friend to convince me in the first place, but in all honesty you don't even see the needle, and the ladies and gents who take you through the donation process are really lovely. If you've never given blood but have thought about doing it, and are a bit like me about needles, I'd really just encourage you to register - they are always looking for donors and it's not nearly as scary as you imagine it's going to be.

See you again soon.
Thanks for visiting.
Nikki
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Hello Valentine

February always seems like the bleakest month to me, not sure why, perhaps as I always think of it as the transition month from Winter to the beginning of Spring I just get a bit impatient for it to arrive! I love the thought of Spring being just around the corner... and it's wonderful to have seen a little sunshine today, and on a weekend too :-)

On to my card today and I'm back on a Valentines theme. I've used doily dies on this card as well as the little arrow from the Labelcard Thinlit (love the little elements in this set). The cute little 'hello' is from Perfect Pennants, a very versatile set featured in the Spring Summer seasonal catalogue. The colours I've used are Raspberry Ripple, Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Whisper White and Coastal Cabana.

Hope you have a great week ahead.
Thanks for taking time to visit.
Nikki
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