Happy 80th Birthday to my MIL

We had a very special birthday here last weekend, my Mother-in-Law, Renee, was 80!  She's amazing too- totally active and out and about! I made this book card for her, as she is a real fan of vintage and books!

For my card, I followed a wonderful tutorial here by the fabulous Tina - I've been blown away by her awesome book cards and have totally cased her work for my first attempt at one.

I made a pocket inside the card for some gift tags bearing some days out to some of London's most beautiful palaces.

Of course, Vintage is not complete without a generous helping of Frantage which you can see here on a Tim Holtz mirror die cut and some chipboard letters.

The papers are a mix of Basic Grey and Prima Fairy Belle.

The sideboard die is a Marianne die and the little bag and mirror are from my stash.  Renee is also a huge Bronte fan, and I think the little cabochon of Charlotte Bronte was from Renee!

A pic above of the back and then below, a picture of the card in a box that I had to make because of course, no envelopes were quite going to fit!

Lots of the bits and pieces I used are from Live and Love Crafts including the beautiful pink poppy flowers and some of the stringed pearls and the pink lace around the picture. Live and Love Crafts have some wonderful vintage goodies and my parcel came beautifully  wrapped in tissue -I love little touches like that!

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

It's All About the Vintage - use Lace

Creative Moments - Anything Goes with Swirls and Pearls

Crafts and Me - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and getting to the bottom of my picture-heavy post!!

A new challenge at Sketch N Stash

Hello there, today's card is for our new challenge over at Sketch N Stash where we are using the following sketch with an optional theme of real or faux stitching.

Our sponsor for this challenge is Pink Gem Designs and the DT were very lucky to be offered an image of our choice to work with.

I went with this gorgeous Victorian style digi image, called Martha, which you can find here on the Pink Gem website.  Making a card the other day, I was reminded of the cracked glass technique, where you triple heat emboss the coloured image with clear embossing powder and then once it has dried after the third time, you bend the image to create cracks for fabulous vintage style.  I then went over the top with some Vintage Photo distress ink to add some age.  I then added some Aged Gold Frantage round the edge - I just love the way this melts into the clear embossed layers - just remember not to overheat otherwise you lose all your cracks!

You can see the gloss finish below -  I think it gives a lovely Victorian feel, a bit like the painting on porcelain which was so popular in Victorian times.

I've used papers from a Webster's pages Xmas selection and then added some velvet ribbon edged with lace and a selection of flowers and berries, along with some vintage style gold foliage from my stash.  I've also added some aged gold to a couple of teeny xmas baubles and lots round the edge of my card!

I have to say, I'm really pleased with how this turned out - love the image and love the vintage feel.

My teamies over at SNS have made some stunning cards to share with you, so hop on over there and by inspired!!

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Christmas Card Challenges - Flowers

Crafting When We Can - Make it Sparkle

Simon Says Stamp - Christmas/Winter Holiday

Whimsy Inspiration -Vintage/Shabby Chic

The Hobby House Challenge - Roses