Domino Accordian Book and Birthday Goodies

Hello Friends

Thank you so much to my followers, new and old.  I don't say it often enough but I really do appreciate that you take the time to look at my little offerings and to follow me.

I think I must be the luckiest crafty girl in the world, I had a birthday whilst I was away on holiday last week and I got some gorgeous cards, wonderful gifts and lovely messages - more about that later in my post.

Before I went away I was inspired by the amazing Candy Colwell to make a domino accordian book. Candy made the most wonderful domino accordian book for Simon Says and I used her exact instructions to make mine.  They were so easy to follow, Candy does the most detailed of tutorials, so I am not going to go into too much detail here.  Please do have a look at Candy's creation.  I did not have any small stamps but I wanted to make a little gift for my wonderful DH who has a birthday in a couple of weeks, so this is themed for him.

Please click on the photos for a better view.

This is the front of the domino book, which has been coloured with alcohol inks and I used one of Tim's Remnant Rubs (love them!).  We did a hot air balloon trip a few years ago and loved it.  The tie closure is elastic and I added a Greek 'eye' bead to remind him of our many wonderful holidays in Greece.

The edges of the book were covered with self adhesive Ranger metal sheet which was embossed and coloured with alcohol inks, basically following Candy's design and technique.

The inside is coloured with various Distress Inks/Stains and I used the spritz and flick technique to create an interesting background.  I then stamped with various Tim Holtz stamps from my stash and also stamped the words 'I Love You'.

I kept the inside back quite plain and I used another Tim Remnant Rub on the back, to represent DH's love of all things railway.  Thank you so much to Candy for her amazing inspiration.  If you have never looked at her blog, please do, she is one heck of a talented designer!

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Now, on to my birthday treats.    I did try to keep my birthday quiet this year but it was not to be.  Not only did I receive some gorgeous cards and gifts but lots of lovely birthday messages from so many crafty friends too - thank you all of you!  Crafty friends are just the best ever!  I am going to show you a few items, listed in the order I received them.  This is going to be picture heavy but I just wanted to do them justice and they each deserve to be seen!

This beauty is from my best and very talented friend Mo, there is so much to see on this fabulous card, she knows how much I love butterflies!   There is even a little calendar with my birthday marked on it.  Click on the photo for an even better view, there is so much detail.

These are from my wonderful and talented blog friend (one of my first blog friends) Rita.  Rita made me this stunning wall hanging (it is truly breathtaking), she makes the most gorgeous hand made flowers and I just love the card too.

This gorgeous card is from my talented and wonderful blog friend Jenny (Buttons).  This photo simply does not do this card justice, it is full of wonderful elements including the beautiful image from Nicecrane Designs, from the Ladies on Old Postcards design sheet - such a lovely touch by Jenny as we are both on the Design Team.  Isn't that dribbled embossing powder just fabulous?  I love Jenny's unique style.

The fabulous tag on the left was made by Rita's Daughter and my lovely friend, Annie.  I just love the wonderful image and the whole tag is very tactile.  Annie has such a wonderful eye for detail, as those of you who follow her will already know.

On the right is a beautiful card from one of my very first blog friends, Darnell.  Darnell writes the most amusing blog posts most days, she always keeps my (and many others) spirits high with her wit and charm.  Darnell loves clean and simple, this is another card that looks so much more beautiful in real life.  The colours are gorgeous.

Finally,  my lovely Flickr friend Mo (TwinkleToes2day) has made the gorgeous pink card for me, the butterfly is so beautiful!  On the right is a card from my lovely Craft Group ladies, Lynn (of Doodly Bird fame), Susan and Ruth.  I do believe that the card is actually created from a photo of a piece of Lynn's wonderful stitch work.  I am so excited because we are all meeting next week for some crafty fun.

And this is a shot of the fabulous gifts I received  from some of the wonderful crafty friends above but also a couple of RAKs (random acts of kindness) from Sandy (who sadly fractured her hip recently) and Suzanne, who is an absolute wizard with a Gelli plate.

So there you have it, I am so lucky - I have never had so many beautiful crafty things for my birthday! Thank you to all of you for your cards, gifts and so many lovely messages.  Big hugs, Anne xx