Now I hurridly routed around in my stash and found this wonderful background paper from the Transatlantique Collection by Graphic 45.

The sheet was a 12"x 12" but the center image fitted perfectly onto my 8" x8" card. I mounted it onto gold bubble foiled card and then a pearlescent brown.

The image was so rich and striking that I didn't really want to distract from it so I decided to keep the sentiments to the minimum and added no further embellishment.

The "60th" is a simple black peel off, mounted onto an oval cut from the pearlescent brown card and then framed with a scalloped edge gold foiled card. Both of these were cut using Nestabilities.

I fixed the ovals using double sided sticky pads to add dimension to the card.

For the insert I used a lovely warm sand colored sheet and kept it plain (i.e. without my usual punched corner!). For the outer edges of the inside of the card I used the cut offs from the original sheet which showed old shipping line posters.

I have to admit I was very pleased with the result and now only wished I'd bought more sheets of this beautiful paper as it is one I picked up from a bargain bucket and was reduced by 66%.

Motto of the story - even if you're not sure how you will use it, if it's a bargain buy it as you'll put it to good use one day!

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Her mother had organised a surprise party for her at Farington Lodge, a beautiful setting, where we all enjoyed a wonderful 3 course meal.

I'm delighted to say that Pam was thrilled with her card.

The card blank is the 8" x 8" size which I now use for all my "specials" - onto it I matt and layered pearlescent card in blue and pink and then used a very ornate butterfly design paper from K & Company, "Sparkly Sweet" speciality paper.

Unfortunately the camera hasn't picked up all the thick glitter on this paper, so as usual does not do the card justice!

The numbers have been cut using my Cricut and have been mounted using foam pads to raise them from the card.

Luckily in my embellishments box I had a couple of rubber butterflies which complimented the paper perfectly.

The finishing touch was the "Happy Birthday" tag which I embellished with 2 crystal gemstones.

For the insert I used the same parchment paper which I had cut the numbers from and then punched the doily edging using a Martha Stewart punch. A small butterfly punch in the bottom right hand corner completed the card.

The successful bidder has just asked me to make a card for a 15 year old teenage "girly" girl.

Well I have to confess I've really struggled with this one - it's due to be handed over tomorrow and I've sat for ages trying to decide what to do.

Ideally I would have liked to have put a rubber stamped image onto the card but despite having boxes of stamps I soon discovered none of them were really suitable - so this is my finished result.

I've used a white 8" x 8" card blank and after searching through my stash I found this girly birthday paper.

After matting it onto some pink Mirri card I wasn't sure what to do next!

Finally I decided to cut out 3 of the pictures from another piece of the same paper and mounted each of them onto an inverted pink Mirri scallop cut with Nestability dies. I mounted them over the original pictures using 3D fixing pads.

To give the card a bit more "umph" I've embellished parts of the individual pictures with stick on jewels. I toyed with the idea of putting a lilac ribbon over the top of the parcel picture but after trying it decided it was too much. As usual I don't think the photo does the card justice!

For the inside I cut up another paper from the same pad and put a border of girls along the outside edges before using a pink insert with a punched heart in the bottom right hand corner.

I just hope the bidder likes it!

Margaret is a very special lady so I wanted to make her a very special card. What makes her so special is that she has recently donated one of her kidneys to another member of our Church who was in desperate need of a kidney transplant.

Margaret is not related to the other person but felt directed by God to put herself forward for kidney matching. Now if you are not religious you might say that this is a load of rubbish - I'm not here to argue the semantics or rights of this I'm just reporting to you what Margaret felt she had to do.

None of the recipient's family were a match but Margaret was so the operation went swiftly ahead.

Margaret has saved the recipient's life because she was failing to respond to dialysis.

What a selfless act - at 59 years of age Margaret knew the risks and was prepared to take them.

Could I be so selfless? The honest answer is I'm not sure - I would like to think I could be but until faced with the situation I do not know how I would react.

As you can see on the card I have made a little bouquet from the floral embellishments which I got at Port Sunlight and I've used lots of pink gemstones to add life to the brown and pink cardstock I've used for the Toppers.

The backing paper is a spare sheet I've had in my "stash" and I thought the brown and pink made a nice choice rather than standard floral, silver or gold based papers.

The words and numbers are cut from the Cricut George cartridge. The base card is cream and I added a punched pink insert.

Anyway I hope you like it and after telling her story you can see why I think Margaret is so special!

Well you can do this easily by crafting a card using a Card Topper, and with a couple of quick additions the card can look really special.

For this card I covered a 12cm x 12cm (approximately 4½" x 4½") card blank with a mottled green paper. This was a piece of  loose paper I had floating around - remember never get rid of your off cuts - they will always come in handy!

I thought the paper complemented the card topper well.  The card topper is one from a sheet from E - Z Stick On Embellishments.

I tend to buy sheets of these card making embellishments when they are in a sale. I just choose ones I really like and then pop them in my embellishments drawer ready for when I need them.

This topper has a blank space on it for you to write a message but I opted instead to put a small clear "Happy Birthday" sticker onto it.

If I hadn't bothered to do anything else the card would have looked a little plain so I added a rose pink chiffon bow to it. This complements the lilac on the topper. I experimented with some peel off corners and thought about punching the edge, but in the end decided this was fine.  On a small card I do think you can overdo the decoration sometimes.

For the inside of the card I decided to use a pink card making insert . I chose pink because it is a nice contrast to the green background paper and also matches the ribbon nicely.

To give some interest to the insert I used a small thumbnail punch to punch a butterfly in the bottom right hand corner. Obviously the white of the card blank shows through - a simple and effective way to make your card that bit special!

This card only took a few minutes to make once I had decided what I was going to use but I hope you'll agree with me that the end result is a pretty Handmade Birthday card!

Susan from Cardmaking-Companion.

Technorati Tags: card making embellishments, Card Making Insert, Card Topper, Hnadmade Birthday Card

 This Home Made Birthday Card would make a great card for  a young teenage girl.

The card developed around the rubber embellishment which was another of the ones I got from the Manchester Show.

I decided to glue the embellishment to the inside back of the card - obviously in normal circumstances this wouldn't be seen but I used a Zig Zag Circle Nestability to cut an aperture in the front of the card.

 The front of the card has been covered with a Red and Pink Small Checks paper from Cardmaking Ideas.

I've had a sheet of pale pink peel offs for absolutely ages and never seem to have found the right card for them but I thought they might be just right for this one.

I used the Happy Birthday sentiment and then decided that the card looked a little bare so I stuck stars from the same peel off sheet around the embellishment on the inside of the card.

In the photgraph on the right you can see what the card looks like when opened up.

Anyway I hope you like this one - it's easy to make and just that bit different.

Susan

Technorati Tags: card making, card making embellishments, home made birthday card, peel offs

  My good friend Jean's birthday is in December so I thought I'd show you the handmade birthday card which I made for her.

Some card makers wonder  if they are making birthday cards for someone around the Christmas/ winter season whether or not they should keep the card to "appropriate" colours i.e. the winter blues, greys etc of the festive red and greens. My view is that the card must always be suited to the personality of the person you are sending it to, and reflect what you feel for them.

As usual I was on the last minute with this one but was fairly pleased with the result.

The base  card is white onto which I matted a pink pearlised design paper (this photo shows just how pearlised the paper is) - the paper was part of a Craftwork Cards gift set which I received free when signing up for an annual cardmaking magazine subscription.

I used the oval and scalloped edge Nestabilities to create the centrepiece and then rubber stamped a Sugar Nellie image with Versafine ink. Tiny pink gems embellished the scalloped edge.

The image was coloured using Copic markers and I used Candy Pink Stickles over the pinafore.

Finishing touches were a "Happy Birthday" card topper and a pink flower with a gemstone centre. The flower picked up the colour of the flowers on the pot plant which the girl is holding in the stamped image.

I'm pleased to say that Jean appreciated it!

Technorati Tags: homemade birthday card