Lucky Number 7!

Today our little baby girl turned 7. It's hard to believe that it was already 7 years ago that she came into our lives. She's been a true blessing for all of us. Happy Birthday, Renee! I hope you had a wonderful day.

This morning Ruben woke his sister bright and early (even though he'd been told not to), which meant we were all up quite early as she naturally wanted to open her presents. We really struggled to think of a present to give her this year, but after consulting with her we bought her an alarm clock like all of us have, as she was the only one that didn't have one. Unfortunately we couldn't get the exact same one anymore, but she's quite happy with the newer version. Ruben gave her the new Professor Layton game for her DS and Rebecca gave her Just Dance 2. This afternoon they already danced to Proud Mary.

Of course I also made her a birthday card:

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper | Patterned Paper + Die-cut stickers: October Afternoon (Fly a Kite) | Die: Spellbinder Nestabilities (Lacey Circles) | Clear Stamp: Papertrey Ink (Birthday Bash Sentiments) | Ink: Stampin'Up (Turquoise) | Ribbon: MemrieMarie on Etsy | Chipboard Number: Basic Grey | Glitter: Martha Stewart (Peridot) | Pinking Scissors

Just before her friends arrived for the party I managed to take some pictures of the birthday girl.

At 11.30 a.m. her friends arrived for the party. We were going to Doncaster to Build-a-Bear and afterwards we would come back and have a teddy bear's picnic. I made quite simple invitation, along the same concept as her invitations last year. (I noticed I left the address on last year's invitation, but only realised after I had handed them out, that I'd put our old UK address on them, oops!)

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper | Cardstock: Jillibean Soup | Ribbon: Be*Inspired | Clear Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Baby Button Bits + Round and Round) | Dies: Spellbinder Nestabilities (Circles + Lacey Circles) | Ink: Stampin'Up (Chocolate Chip) | Staples | Buttons | Twine: DMC

I made the invitations for the boys with a green background, but I didn't take a picture of them.

The party went smooth and the children had a lovely time stuffing their teddies and afterwards stuffing their tummies with sandwiches, crisps, tiny teddies and birthday cake.

I got the recipe for the cake out of the Good Food Magazine and baked it yesterday. For the first time I managed to temper the chocolate to make the chocolate curls for on top.

Because all the children had already gotten a teddy and outfit during the party, I'd made a simple lolly bag for them to take home and the end. I decorated them with a doily, felt letter and tag with 'thank you' on it.

Supplies: Sweet Bags: Be*Inspired | Doilies: Newsagent | Felt: Spotlight | Tags: Newsagent | Thank You Stamp: Papertrey Ink (Butterfly Dreams) | Letter Dies: Sizzix (Fun Serif)

It was a gorgeous day today! I hope your weekend will be as bright and sunny as ours.

Now that the party dust has settled I can finish my advent calendar, I have 10 days to finish it.

P.S. Thank you for all your lovely comments and emails I have been receiving lately. It's great to hear from you and discover your blogs too. Some great talent out there...

Number Cards

Last weekend Rebecca had a birthday party of one of the boys in her class. I had given myself about thirty minutes to create a card, so it couldn't be all too complicated. I rediscovered some of my KI Memories lace cardstock, and coincidentally the number 12 (how old he was turning), was in the right place. So I thought: 'Why not!'

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper | Lace Cardstock: KI Memories | Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket (The Boyfriend) | Clear Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Fillable Frames 4 + Birthday Bash Sentiments) | Ink: Stampin'Up (Real Red + Chocolate Chip) | Border Punch: EK Success | Buttons: Creative Café + Basic Grey.

My friend, Beth, her mum is turning eighty on Sunday and she asked me if I could make a birthday card for her. I think when you're turning that age, you deserve a bit of glitter. I initially wanted to do something with gold, but I'm not really a gold person, so I went for silver instead. Because I've been busy with the advent calendar, I had my chipboard numbers out and I still had an extra 8 and 0 left over, which were perfect for this card.

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper | Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye (Lush) + Amy Butler | Clear Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Birthday Bash Sentiments + Fancy Flourishes) | Ink: Stampin'Up (Pretty in Pink) | Pearls: KaiserCraft | Ribbon | Scallop Die: Papertrey Ink | Pinking Scissors | Butterfly Punch: Martha Stewart (Monarch Butterfly) | Glitter: Martha Stewart (Sterling) | Chipboard Numbers: Basic Grey | Doily: Newsagent.

I have one more card with a number, but I won't be showing that one until tomorrow, as it's the card I made for our baby who'll be turning 7 (not much of a baby anymore, but she will always be our little baby).

I wish everyone a splendid weekend!

Paper Crafts Publications

Recently I've had two cards published for the first time in Paper Crafts. The first one is in the November/December 2010 edition. This card was based on one of the sketch calls. It's quite amazing to see your own work in print still.

This is the front cover of the magazine.

Here's a scan of the page inside this magazine:

And here's a picture of my card that I took (so happy the sun's shining at the moment, gorgeous afternoon):

And yesterday I received my copy of Card Creations, Favorite Occassions, Vol. 2 from Paper Crafts in the post.

Again, the front:

The inside page (I'm sharing the page with the mega talented Heidi van Laar):

And finally a picture of my card:

Ever considered submitting your cards for publication? You can find Paper Crafts submission calls here. The above card were respectively my first and second submissions. I guess I just got lucky.

Thanks for your visit and enjoy your Monday!

Welcome to the World

Just a few days short of a month ago, Hanneke gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Nadé. Nothing deserves a card more than the birth of a newborn, so of course I sent her and her husband a card to congratulate them.

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper | Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye (Lush) | Border Punch: Martha Stewart | Border Die: Papertrey Ink (Medium Scallop) | Label Die: Papertrey Ink (Fillable Frames 5) | Clear Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Fillable Frames 5 + Night, Night Moon) | Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug | Rhinestones: KaiserCraft | Ribbon: Bella! + Paperchase | Ink: Staz'On (Timber Brown) | Button: Basic Grey

I'm currently busy making a new advent calendar, which is well under way. Should hopefully be finished in the next couple of days. Will post pictures once it's done.

Happy Birthday to You, Ingrid!

Today my SIL, Ingrid is celebrating her birthday. Something tells me that her card might not have made it there on time, because I posted it on Monday and I had in my head that her birthday (the 14th) was on Tuesday, which it is obviously not! Happy birthday Ingrid, unfortunately I won't be able to be there in person, but nonetheless I hope you have a great day.

In case you haven't received your card yet... here's what it will look like:

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper | Clear card: Sheetload Shortcuts | Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Urban Prairie) | Clear Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Year of Flowers: Roses, Damask Designs, Background: Text Style) Ink: Staz'On (Jet Black), Staz'On Opaque (Cotton White) | Label Die: Spellbinder Nestabilities (Lacey Squares) | Ribbon: Paperchase | Pinking Scissors: Spotlight.

Have a great Sunday.

Happy Birthday + Just for You!

After my previous post where I showed you the boy cards I created, I've also got two girly cards still unblogged. For both cards I used Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird papers.

The first card I created for Rachel, who celebrated her birthday in September. I remember it took me a lot of time to create this one. It seemed to go in a different direction than I'd planned out. Nonetheless I'm quite happy with the end result.

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Cardstock | Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket (Early Bird) | Border Punch: EK Success | Ribbon: MemrieMare on Etsy | Chipboard Elements: Cosmo Cricket | Pearls: KaiserCraft | Clear Stamp: Papertrey Ink (Birthday Bash Sentiments) | Ink: Staz'On (Timber Brown) | Marker: ZIG by EK Success

For the second one I decided to use a clear card base. I haven't used them for a while, but they still have a special feel about them. I love how you can stamp on them to give it that extra depth.

Supplies: Clear Base: Sheetload Shortcuts | Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket (Early Bird) | Border Punch: EK Success | Circle Border Die: Papertrey Ink | Ribbon | Sticker: Cosmo Cricket | Rhinstones: Me and My Big Ideas | Clear Stamp: Papertrey Ink (Fancy Flourishes) | Ink: Staz'On (Cotton White)

That's all for now!