Charlotte is 4

Good Morning everyone.

My youngest niece Charlotte is 4 this month, which is scary.  

She starts school in September.  Ive been spending alot more time with her in the last 12 months which has been lovely as with the covid lockdowns we didn't see her much in the first 2 years. She has a close connection & natural instinct with animals and nature so for her 2 birthday cards ive gone with an animal theme.

A twist n pop card.  Approx size 6.5x5.5"  I made the twist n pop out of white card and then found some lovely papers in my stash to decorate inside and out.  A lovely craft friend sent me the stamped giraffes & pandas a while back so im not sure which brand they are.  I coloured them with alcohol markers and cut them out. 

I added the giraffes to the front with a stamped sentiment die cut into a speech bubble.

 

On the inside pop out i added die cut ovals to 3 panels and then the pandas. I computer printed the sentiment and die cut into ovals and attached.  I added a plain white oval to write the greeting on. 

Just  a close up. Knowing Charlottes sense of humour she will love these characters.

Id love to enter this card in the following:

https://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.com/2023/07/pretty-papers.html

https://creataliciouschallenges.blogspot.com/2023/07/challenge-264-anything-goes-with.html

https://pinspirationalchallenges.blogspot.com/2023/08/pinspirational-challenge-304-august.html

http://cutitupchallenges.blogspot.com/2023/07/cut-it-up-challenge-283-animals-on.html

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and card 2 is a little box full of butterflies

I found this lovely 12x12 paper full of printed butterflies, then the idea of them all flying out of a box.  I first fussy cut the butterflies, there were 2 sheets in the pad so i cut out both sheets so that i could have the same butterfly front and back.  I then cut half inch strips of thin acetate, i took 2 of the same butterfly and sandwiched the acetate inbetween, i then scored and folded the acetate and added the next 2 butterflies and so on, i added 15 butterflies in total.  I added lots of stickles glitter glues to the butterflies for some sparkle.

I added an eyelet to the top of the acetate strip and ribbon so that charlotte can hang it up and enjoy.

I then worked out what size box i wanted for it and made up out of cream cardstock, decorate with more pretty papers, added another butterfly on the top and computer printed sentiments to finish.  When you take the lid off the box the butterflies start to pop out with the spring in the acetate.

The box is 3x3x2" in size and the butterflies are 28" long

Just showing them hung up.  Yes the 2nd butterfly is upside down - after that hiccup i made sure all the rest were glued on correctly - Im sure Charlotte won't mind😁  Make&create paper pad from the works 'beau jardin' for the butterflies and little box.

Thank you all for stopping by.  Sorry ive not been round much lately, so much going on in my family recently and both of my brothers families and our parents are all moving home this summer so its a bit manic to say the least.  However it will be lovely once all finished as one brother and his family will be much closer to me so i will see those nieces more often.  Take care. Emmax

 

Fluttering butterflies

Good Morning everyone

My 4th niece Kitty-Bea will be 5 this week - thats scary where the years go, I got to spend some lovely time with her and her sister last week for half term and they are getting so grown up. 

For Kitty-bea's card from my parents ive gone for full on butterflies with a surprise hiding inside with a spiral pop up design

6x6" white cardbase.  I picked a paper with subtle rainbow hues for the front and die cut lots and lots of butterflies from patterned papers in a rainbow of colours.  Die cut the birthday sentiment and 5 today from white card matted onto gold glitter card circles and then arranged the butterflies.  I added a touch of glitter glue to the butterfly bodies.

and inside.....I actually did the inside first and then decorated the front.  I used panels from the same soft rainbow hued paper.  I then die cut a circle from acetate Id saved from some plastic packaging.   I then used scissors to cut a spiral into the middle of the circle.  Using red liner tape I attached one end of the acetate spiral to one side of the card, once that was secure i added red liner tape to the other end and closed the card onto it, doing it this way meant it was lined up perfectly so closed nicely without catching. 

I added large die cut gold glitter flowers over the ends of the acetate spiral to hide the glue and help keep them in place, i added a few more of the gold flowers around the panels.

I then arranged the butterflies onto the acetate spiral, gluing 2 back to back so that they clamped the acetate between them and looked nice from all angles.  I added lots of little butterflies and some flat orange gems to the centres of the flowers. 

Computer printed sentiment die cut into an oval to write the greeting on to finish. 

You can see the flying butterflies better here

Not having made anything like this before i was rather pleased with the effect and i think Kitty-Bea will have hours of fun opening and closing it

Items Used:

Sizzix  butterfly die set

memory box mini butterflies die

flower & birthday sentiment dies

Sizzix  oval die

Ranger stickles 'unicorn'

Papermania orange glitter dots

12x12 make&create paper pad 'ombre'

Thank you all for stopping by once again, I hope you all have a good week. Emmaxx

Id love to enter the following:

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2023/02/week-716.html

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http://daisychainchallenge.blogspot.com/2023/02/challenge-71-babykids.html

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http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.com/2023/02/challenge-201.html

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http://timeoutchallenges.blogspot.com/2023/02/challenge-232-happy-9th-birthday-time.html

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Exploding insert birthday cards

Good Morning everyone

I hope you all had a lovely festive season and wishing you all a Happy & Healthy 2023.  

After making my exploding insert Christmas cards, I decided to make a batch of birthday cards too, the 12x12 paper pads from the works are ideal for these as they are double sided.   

Card size 6x5.5" .  I first made the exploding inserts and attached to the inside.  I then cut patterned paper to fit the front of my card and used an old memory box circle burst die and cut into the top middle of the panel.  I added gold mirror card to the card base behind where the circle aperture will be and attached the paper panel to the card with foam tape.  I glued the circlar piece back into place with glue so that is flat, the gold mirror then shines through nicely. 

I stamped my greeting and die cut into circles and mounted in the middle with more foam tape.  Glitter glue highlights to the paper to finish.  Irises are one of my fav flowers so i just love this paper

Make & Create (the works) paper pad 'hummingbirds' for front and insert

and the insert, using a paper with a smaller version of the irises.  I computer printed my verse onto white card and die cut into an oval, a 2nd die cut oval added to the bottom panel to write the greeting on. 

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Version 2  again after doing the insert first i picked a co-ordinating paper for the front and used a soft satin gold behind.  I cut out extra flowers from the paper i used on the insert to decorate the card front.  

Make & Create paper pads 'vintage floral' & 'watercolour feelings'

and the insert

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Version 3.  Ive matted the papers onto a turquoise glitter card which picks up the blues in the paper.  The butterflies were die cut from off cuts of the papers as most of the papers in this paper pad have solid colours on the back.  I added pearls to the butterfly bodies to finish

Paper pad 'watercolour feelings' (make & Create) & 'Ladybird' by Prima

and the insert

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Version 4 using the same paper pad as the first card, the paper i used for the insert has small hummingbirds among the irises, another paper in the pad has extra large hummingbirds so i cut the large on out for the front of the card, pink mirror card behind.   I added a strip of irises paper across the bottom to break up all the pink.    I added glossy accents to the birds beak and eye and glitter glue to his wings

Make & Create paper pad 'hummingbirds'

and the insert

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This version i made for a good craft friend.  I found the cherryblossom paper in an old pad for the insert and then going through all my 6x6 pads found a smaller cherry blossom for the front.  Matted onto gold mirror card and then the base card is black pearl.  

Oriental stamps came free with a magazine many years ago, stamped onto white and cut out.  I found leaving them uncoloured they stood out better.

paper pad 'cherry blossom' by kaisercraft

and the insert.  Insert paper from make&create paper pad 'vintage floral'

I actually managed to make 10 variants, most of them have already gone to new homes.  

Items Used:

Memory box circle burst die

Studio Light butterfly dies

circle & oval dies

Patterned Papers

Oriental stamps

Clearly besotted Sentiment stamps

Thank you all for stopping by.  Im looking forward to another 12 months of crafting.  Hugs Emmax