Hollywood Glamour Birthday Card

I made these birthday cards a few months ago, ahead of time, as I knew I wouldn't be crafting for a while.

For my card base, I used a 7 x 7" card base to create this shaped card and layered these beautiful papers onto gold mirri card.

From Opulence by Design Crafts Hollywood Glamour Collection, I used the Lights, Camera Action cardmaking digital download kit along with Amanda's Fussy Cut Perfect Petal Pink Flower digital download sheet.

These fantasy flowers are beautiful and ideal for foiling too; there are samples of them online. I used my Sakura Twilight Gelly Roll pen around the edges of my blooms ( I use this pen all the time) and added gems in the centres. These flowers have their own faux gem centres that can be blinged up with a little glitter glue.

The Topper was printed onto glossy cardstock.  I used just one piece of my chosen backing paper for the card (careful trimming a little off the card base and maximising the paper left for the panels meant I used all the paper and didn't need to print more off). 

The backing paper was printed on 140 gsm Pure Print Paper from Craft Master.

I bought a pack when it was on offer from Highlight Crafts, and wanted to see whether it was as good as everyone told me it was. I must admit, I was impressed with the quality and choosing a detailed design paper was a good way to test that.

I have also used an iridescent glitter pen to add some shimmer to areas of my paper (this was a Crafters Companion one that still works) and added some foliage - a few rose leaves and fern leaves.  This is my favourite of both cards and designs.

For my second Birthday card, I used the Midnight Muse Cardmaking digital download mini kit from the Hollywood Glamour Collection along with Amanda's Fussy Cut Perfect Petal Blue Flower digital download sheet.

The topper was printed on glossy cardstock, and this time I used a sheet of Pink Frogs white Pearlescent paper to print the backing paper for my card.  This paper is really sturdy and is fantastic quality. It leaves a gentle shimmer on your paper and was a bargain at £4 when I bought it!

Experimenting with different mediums to print on can really extend how you use your digital downloads; sometimes it's trial and error to see what works for you, and I have found packs of unopened printable glossy card in charity shops, which are always handy to have in your stash.

I added gems and a little shimmer to my flowers along with the fussy cut single rose leaves. Again, I've edged these blooms with a Sakura Twilight gelly roll pen. 

There are quite a few of these beautiful flowers in this range now to complement your projects; the tiny flowers were die cut from pearlescent card.

I made a dimensional envelope for both cards, and as they were hand delivered, there was no worry about them getting squished in the post.

Thanks for stopping by today to view my little crafty space. 

Opulence by Design Crafts has a fantastic variety of digital download kits for your crafty needs, including a mini blog for inspiration. They also have a variety of crafting booklets for those who can not print their crafty designs. I use a lot of their designs because I really enjoy crafting with them.

Have a great weekend, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges
Creative Creases - fun folds
Creative Fingers - AG

CD Sunday Plus - AG

TicTacToe - birthday/funfold/fowers

PaperFunDay - fun folds

AAABirthdays -flowers

Allys Angels - AG

Creative Aunts -AG

A Perfect time to craft - AG

Crafts Galore Encore - AG

Do All Creative -AG

Creative Inspirations -AG

Let's Craft and Create -AG

Decorated Mdf Storage Box

One of the things I really enjoy doing is decorating boxes, especially as they are really handy for keeping all your crafting accessories in afterwards and if you have any favourite rice or scrapbook papers that you have been sitting on because it pains you to use them, this is a good way to use and enjoy them afterwards too.

I gave my box a light coat of white gesso; it helps highlight the rice paper.  I usually buy my large boxes from The Works, as they are the ideal size for me, especially since I like to stack them. However, the quality of these boxes has been getting worse, and it is showing up in all their designs.

I chose these rice papers from Stamperia's Magic Forest collection, which I have had in my craft box for a while.  I particularly love this beautiful image, and I've also used the Earth Queen mould from this collection to make a shadow box frame, which I posted in an earlier blog post.

For the inside base of my box, I painted it with Finnabair Art Alchemy sparks paint in night shadow. 

I chose another rice paper from a different collection as a contrast for the inside lid of my box, and painted the edge of the lid in Miss Moneypenny from IndigoBlu.

In my box of clay and resin moulds, I found these, which I thought I could stick inside the lid after covering in wax.  I  already know what I will use my box for, so the moulds inside the lid will not compromise the contents, and as I like stacking my boxes, I try to keep outside decoration to a minimum.

I used Cadence Magic Satin Bond and seal not just to adhere the rice paper but as a top coat to seal my box.  It leaves a lovely, slightly satin finish to your projects.

My box has also been edged with gold wax

I don't keep many of the things I make, as I usually craft them for a specific occasion or occasionally on request. 

Boxes always come in handy, as you always tend to find or need something to store in them, and why not decorate them to personalise them to your choice. I just need to buy better quality boxes to decorate in the future.

Until I can get back to crafting again, I have the wildlife that come into my small wildlife friendly garden to make me smile. It's looking more on the 'wild side' this year as I haven't been able to do any maintenance in it.

When the neighbour's cat is shading itself behind the pond and waiting for all the small birds to appear, they don't all play nicely in the garden together

Thanks for stopping by today to view my little crafty space.

Have a great weekend, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges

Try it on Tuesday - Make it Colourful

A Perfect time to craft - ATG

Mix it up -AG

The Outlaws -anything but a card

Crafts Galore - AG

Moving Along With the Times -Feminine

Creative Fingers -AG

Ally's Angels -AG