Happy Birthday Chris and Susannah

Two birthdays on the same day .... first my brother celebrates his 40th today - yep he finally enters the over 40's club - welcome Chris!

Isn't the little penquin cute - he's the two step owl punch with a slight adjustment to his ears - I chopped them off ... brutal I know - hence his startled look I think :)

The little balloons are from the Party This Way set and the numbers were cut using the Sizzix Timeless Type alphabet.  I really love the Celebrations Designer Series papers - they are just so bright.

And my second card is for my lovely friend Susannah who lives in Scotland.  We met at a painting class many years ago and have remained friends ever since.  

Another Fifth Avenue rose, this time in Rose Red - watercoloured and then cut out - I sponged the edges a little.  I used the Friendly Words roller and Versamark to create the background and layered up pieces of embossed card, leaves from the Two Step Bird punch and offcuts from the beautiful new Vintages trims to create this card.  The lace at the bottom is called Chantilly and I've added a few of the little self adhesive pearls - I think you can just about see them the photo - they are very tiny - and a quick spritz of shimmer mist.

Happy birthday to both of you.

Love from Nikki

xx

NOTE:  The latest Stampamemory challenge started today - if you missed this morning's post scroll down :) 

Just Add Ink Challenge #48

With the festivities over and enough food left to feed an army, I've had no more excuses for not sitting down and trying to find my lost mojo.  So yesterday whilst the boys were at the MCG watching the cricket, I made some of my new tea - Buddha's Tears  (the nicest green tea I have ever tasted) .... and thought I'd start with the latest JAI challenge.  Six cards later .... I think I've finally cracked it .... missing mojo found - YAY :)

So here's the first of many cards to show you:

The beautiful rose from Fifth Avenue Floral makes a lovely outline to watercolour.  I stamped it onto watercolour paper in black Stazon and then used an Aqua Blender pen and some Rich Razzleberry ink to colour in the image.  The Victoria Crochet Trim and a little Vintage Trinket from the Summer Mini are perfect to create a vintage look ... the little self adhesive pearls and some shimmer paint  to finish it off.  

Hope you are having a fun and relaxing time and find some time to create - hop on over to JAI for lots of inspiration.

Back soon with more .... need to start scrapbooking again too.

 

Art with Heart Team Blog Hop - Women In Our Lives

Morning and welcome to another Art with Heart Team blog hop .... celebrating the women in our lives.  You may have arrived from the lovely Ros Davidson's blog but if you haven't, don't worry, hop on board here and you won't miss a thing.

Now firstly I have to start with an apology ... my photos are shocking ... sorry ... only realised yesterday morning that as I hadn't yet finished my project I would have to take photos in artificial light ... ooops!

Now the title Women In Our Lives .... as I am sure most of you know the most important woman in my life lives in England .. yep my Mum ... there was another ... my grandmother who sadly isn't with us anymore but I had wanted to scrapbook a photo I know I have of all of us (mum, granny, Olivia and I) but do you think I could find it ... nope but I will ... and so that will have to wait for another day.

Other women in my life include all my friends, and I am lucky enough to have girlfriends scattered across the globe.  I decided it was too hard to choose just one group so I chose a favourite past time instead.  Lots and lots of my friends are avid readers ... in fact I belong to a book club and we meet once a month.  So here's what I have made ... 

This is the book I am half way through ... and yes book club ladies I know I am supposed to have finished it over a month ago but .... I've been busy scrapbooking and card making :o)  Do you see what I am using to save my page?  Yes a lovely bookmark.

And here it is in close up on another favourite 'book' of mine ... the latest mini catalogue (yes yes I know I am obsessed)!

These are so easy to make, quick and very cute.  I am planning on sending all of my girlfriends one of these - it might take me a while to complete this task but I know everyone will love them.  

I've used Fifth Avenue Floral, a recent addition to my collection to create the centre piece.  Card stock colours are More Mustard and Chocolate Chip.  If you would like the pattern leave me a comment and I will email one to you.

And here's a picture of this month's blog candy ... a pair of bookmarks to either keep for yourself or to pass on to another as a gift.

So how do you win this candy?  Continue through the hop and leave a comment on everyone's blog and then email me and let me know.  All the names go into a hat and a lucky winner will be drawn.  It's that easy!

So you had better hop along to the next stop Tanya Westwood.  Tanya is a star scrapbooker and the host of the Stampamemory site ... if you love scrapbooking bookmark this site - you won't be disappointed.

Off you hop and don't forget to comment and enter our blog candy prize draw.