21st Birthday Pop Up Box Card

It was our nephew's 21st birthday last week and I left it late to make a card.  My husband even offered to( heaven forbid) go and buy one!!  I had purchased a pop up box file from the Silhouette site a while ago so used this as a base.  The stars were also from my Silhouette library. 

 To illustrate how versatile the Cameo is, the 21 is actually a resized image that I had created myself as the base card for his brother's 21st birthday card. 

 I cut the same design on two 12" by 12" sheets of card so that I now have the resources to make another box card in the opposite colour way. I might not get myself in such a panic the next time I have to make a similar project. 



I have 5 years to come up with a very special card for my niece's 21st!!

A Card for a Musical Lady

This card is travelling to Crete to celebrate the special birthday of an ex music teacher.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the musical themed background and the piano and stool.  The Treble Clef was a free font that I downloaded from the internet. It is called MusiSync if you are interested.

I added the sheet music myself to finish it off.

Another Special Birthday Card

I made this card for a friend's sister. I had made cards for her previously so I had to look for something special that I knew she would like.  A visit to Bird's Cards proved fruitful. This lady is very generous in creating and allowing us to download her cutting files for free. Worth a visit if you own a digital die cutting machine.

 

 I downloaded the greeting from the site too.  The flowers were made using Tonic punches and the flourishes were cut using my Bigshot and a free die that came with a magazine.The bow stopper which allows the card to stand up was purchased from the Silhouette site. 

I do love CAS cards but enjoy the challenge of making these more complex cards on occasion.

 

A Skipper's Birthday Card

I was asked to make a 75th birthday card for a friend's brother-in-law recently.  He is long retired but was the skipper of a fishing boat that caught prawns - mainly off the west coast of Scotland.  I  searched the Silhouette store for appropriate cutting files to use with my Cameo and also decided to use a Kanban stamp of a sailing boat and lighthouse.  (No fishing boats in my stamp collection!)

The result was a double easel card -

 

 
I remembered from a long time ago that the recipient was fond of frogs so I added a stamped and coloured image of one at the last moment.  I'm sure that it would have made him smile.

It does take some time for me to finalise the designs for these special request cards but I do enjoy the challenge. Creating a card that has elements that are very personal to the person that is to receive it is so satisfying.

Up and Away

Such a lovely day here in Aberdeen.  I have been taking some photos in the garden that I will share with you. (The crocuses were photographed a couple of weeks ago).

I set out to make a one layer card today that would be suitable for the Less is More 166 challenge.
The colour challenge this month is:

A Touch Of Turquoise

 

I am also submitting it  to Virginia's View Challenge blog which requires the use of a stencil.

 

I had a die-cut that I had cut from card using my Silhouette so decided that I would use it as a stencil to create a background. The butterfly was stamped first before covering with a mask.  I used a natural sponge to lightly apply Peacock Feathers Distress Ink when the stencil was in place.

Sentiment - from a Hero Arts set.
Butterfly - from a Martha Stewart set

 

30th Birthday

I made this card recently for a 30th birthday as well as a sterling silver and pearl bracelet. 

The recipient has been a dancer from a young age and is now a dance teacher alongside her day job. So I searched the Silhouette America site for a download and found this very appropriate Scottish dancer file and set my Silhouette  Cameo to work. I am still surprised that I can find file downloads that match even the most obscure topic on the site  - bearing in mind that it is essentially for the American market. Mind you, there are probably many Scottish Country dancing societies across America!!

And... to make use of my Tonic purchase detailed yesterday, I used some of the dies to build the card. (The cutting of the dancer was not a straightforward affair as the file came with  separate elements which I had to join together and then cut as an outline.)
Text was also cut using the Cameo.

 Here is the Freshwater Pearl bracelet that accompanied the card.

 

Retirement Exploding Box

I must get back to posting more frequently.  At least I have a backlog of makes to include in future posts! I suppose it has been the garden that has occupied most of my time of late.



I made this exploding box for a friend and ex colleague who retired this summer.  She is moving to Spain so she is making huge changes to her life.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the Rennie Mackintosh Rose designs ( files purchased from Silhouette America)

 
 


I have long admired the designs of Mackintosh and own a couple of his style in stamps.  I also own the computer font.  I used this include some quotes that I felt that were relevant to her situation.
 







I used white card to cut the files and then used Promarkers to colour - so much quicker than using different colours of card. The base card is textured with a gold sheen.

 Since I took these photos, I have added a thin strip of black card to the sides of the lid. This made a much neater finish.