Venetian Mask Birthday Invitations

This time it has been a few weeks since my last post.  I have been busy making 80 birthday party invitations for my daughter whose birthday is in April.  We are having a party at the house and so I thought I best get started with the invitations before it was too late given that the party is on the school Easter holidays and folks need plenty warning :o)
I used my lovely christmas pressie from my parents.............spellbinders Caliber............an amazing piece of kit which completely stops you faffing about with adapter plates and such like when you want to use Nestabilities.  I already have a big shot original, then the express and then the pro BUT I spent more time trying to get it right with adapter plates and then cutting through the embossing mat that I more often than not gave up and did something completely different.
Now the days of faffing are gone, I use the big shot for dies and regular embossing folders, and the Caliber for nesties and marianne creatables, nellie snellen dies and for xcut and cuttlebug emboss plus slim folders.

ANYWAY the venetian mask invites............................
Debbi Moore CD which I adore, I think the ladies are so glamourous and elegant.
I let Courtenay choose her favourite mask and I played around with the size, and enhanced the colour to suit what she asked for.  Then I printed 80 of them, touched up with promarkers and added stickles and little swarovski crystals I bought and adhered them with glossy accents.
Then it took 5 days to prepare the masks and another full day cutting al of them out by hand using tiny decoupage scissors so I didnt lose any detail.
I cut 80 of the largest GRAND NESTABILITIES labels one using the caliber from gold and silver textured card stock I bought on sale at C and C between christmas and new year when they were offering postage back on purchases online. 
I cut 80 of the middle size labels one grand nesties from silk board from Clarity stamp, as my back panel with the details of the party on it.
Then I cut 80 of the labels 16 regular nesties out of silk board and stamped it with a custom stamp I had made at Clarity, TOM there is ever so helpful and did you know they can make you a stamp with whatver you want on it and it is not costing an arm and a leg like you woud expect.  Mine said it was Courtenays birthday party blah blah.
Then it took me another 2 days to put each element together.
I layered mask and labels 16 piece on the front using 3d foam tape for decoupaging.  When I was attaching the mask I curled it over the edge of my drawing board to give it a bit of dimension and then I stuck down one side and bent it outward in the centre to make it look more realistic. Then I used sticky strip on the back panel of silk board to fasten it and make sure it was secure.  Finally the job was complete.
I have not been allowed to post any pictures until now as the drama queen has been away on holiday in New York USA. The invitations were not ready to go before she left so I had to wait upon her return to post the pics :o)
I think it is worth the wait though and many people have commented on them since she has been giving them out on how intricate they are and so much glitter etc.
I am a happy mummy and a happy crafter knowing she likes them and the recipients do too!  They can come to the party and still have the invitation as a keepsake too :o)
Now wait for my next posts with the party favours and cake woohoo..........dramatic doesnt even cut it :OP

Panic not, the invitation details you can see here is a 'dummy' invite just so I could take a picture of the back and it looked realistic.  The date and venue are deliberately wrong ;O)

OWL you doing?

I had bought a cd from Crafty Catz back in October last year at the SECC hobbys and handicrafts show and well you know how it is, you use it for bits and pieces and never really get the chance to play properly.  So over the Christmas period I got to play a bit more with the cds I own and decided to make some pieces using the owls.  Here is one of them I made for a 40th card.  I sent pics to the designer of the cd and she loved it, so hey Im delighted to say I am now officially a sample maker for Crafty Catz cds and stamps, woohoo or should I say twit twoo!

card for my father in law from the kids

We set out to make a card for my father in law from my kids.  They call him papa which is what he likes so I had to put 'Papa'on the front of the card although I prefer granda or granpa.  They wanted glitter and stickers and shiny shiny bits so my three year old told me but I had to draw the line somewhere.  The card is a compromise between my creativity border and their wishlist.

I used Nestabilities to create the main shape of the card and simply scored them both 1 inch in and glue them together to create the card.  Then I used smaller nesties to create the layers.  The stamp is ELZYBELLS birthday bears and the inside is simply glitter girls peel offs with sparkly stars on them.  Then instead of an insert I simply stamped 'you are a star' inside to create a background instead of a verse.

Quick and simple but the kids and 'papa' loved it. Job Done!