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Seeing Spots.....

29/3/2014

Hi ! Welcome Back :)
I had fun with these cards and I think they are just "spotingly" adorable! There is no stamping or ink - but I did manage to get out my cuttlebug :)
A few weeks ago I ordered in some buttons and that is where the idea started. I love using paper straws, there are so many different colours and prints my collection is starting to grow! As you can see in the photos there were a few in my collection that matched the buttons and I also 'made my own' for the black and white. I sorted through my paper stash and found some spotty paper to match - here is how they came together......

I tied off the buttons with some ribbon - I just can't leave the holes empty - it always looks unfinished to me. I could also have used a stripy twine which I thought of after finishing the ribbon.
Here is where the cuttlebug comes into play - I cut the straws to size and then ran them through the plates to flatten them - and then I die cut some little hearts.

That's it for the fancy stuff - time to put it all together!

Can you see what I did with the hearts - matching leaves! I told you they were adorable :)

Thanks for visiting NICS :)

5 Comments

Invitation Tag

15/3/2014

2 Comments

Hi and Welcome Back!
Here is an invitation that I made using lots of techniques - stamping, embossing, blending, die cutting and even using 'Shrinky -dinks"!
I was inspired to use the tag shape from watching Tim Holtz tutorial's and really wanted to use some of the techniques. I have a love of butterflies - so had lots of fun making my butterfly army :)

I started with the butterflys - cutting them from acetate with the 'cuttlebug' die. I used the 'Ranger' alcohol inks from 'Tim Holtz' collection to colour the acetate and then used 'kaisercraft' stamps which had a nice swirl pattern, the butterflies were a similar size which helped with stamping. I used the 'Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink' to stamp the pattern so that it would dry on the acetate. 'Ranger liquid pearls' added the final touch - I used 2 colours - 'onyx pearl' on the ones I used for table decorations and 'platinum' for the butterflies on the invitation - I also used the 'platinum liquid pearls' on the swirls on the tag.

The small tag attached to the bottom of the invitation details had the date for the occasion - I don't have a close up photo of this - this brought back many childhood memories of shrinking chip packets in the oven - I had stamped 'shrink-dinks' shrink film acetate with a swirl pattern, coloured with alcohol inks and using a printed template on plain paper behind the film used a marker to write the details. I used my heat tool to 'shrink' them and they made the cutest little tags! Attaching it to the bottom balanced the dimension on the tag with the butterfly.

Making the tag itself - first was to clear emboss the swirl pattern - I used a stamp from my stash from 'Stampin' up' - this was used for the first step in the resist technique. I then layered stamps from the 'Stamp it' collection creating the background and used lots of ink to blend.
What ink do you ask? Well of course I used my favourite inks! 'Tim Holtz Distress Inks' - which blend beautifully! The tag base was white - so the colours all came from blending the inks.
The final step now for the resist technique on the swirl - I didn't want the raised edge from the embossing so I removed the clear embossing by layering with scrap paper - and ironing it. Yep - ironed it! The embossing melted and absorbed into the paper and left the beautiful swirl.
The final step was to put it all together and add the 'liquid pearls'.

There was a lot of work in creating these which made them really special. I love how they turned out!

Thanks for visiting NICS :)

2 Comments

70th Birthday Invitations

2/3/2014

4 Comments

Hi :) Welcome back !

Here is an Invitation for a 70th Birthday celebration. Along with the invitation cards I made a large size card in the same format for all of the family and guests to sign. There are a lot of techniques in this card and the colour scheme worked beautifully.

Here are the products that I have used - Starting with Ivory cardstock I used Versamark and clear embossing powder with the 'Judi Kins' stamp to create the pattern and number stamps for the 70 which was also embossed. Tim Holtz Distress Ink for the colouring, metal paste for the bronzed shimmer, spellbinders oval dies for cutting and shaping and tonic corner punch for the edges.

I randomly stamped the pattern with versamark and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I applied the distress inks over the top and this made the ivory cardstock really stand out.

I applied the metal paste to the central are with my fingertips to create 'shadow' and make the Ivory 'pop' even more.

After clear embossing and then cutting the ovals, I left the die attached to the oval and sponged the distress ink onto the oval - this created another border without too much effort and without having to cut another oval.

Using the 'Tonic Punch' on the corners and then added 'brads' finished the edges.

For that added touch I stamped the envelopes to keep the theme for the invitations.

This was used as an invitation but could also be used as a birthday card. It could be made for any age and also made more feminine by using flower pattern or swirls and more of a pink or green tone - so many ideas - I think I need to go and play!

Thanks for visiting NICS.

4 Comments

Seeing Spots.....

Invitation Tag

70th Birthday Invitations

Hi, I'm Nicole from NICS
I am looking forward to sharing inspiration and ideas with you.

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Seeing Spots.....

Invitation Tag

70th Birthday Invitations

Hi, I'm Nicole from NICSI am looking forward to sharing inspiration and ideas with you.

Archives

Categories

Hi, I'm Nicole from NICS
I am looking forward to sharing inspiration and ideas with you.