Sunday, April 3, 2011

Happy Birthday, Nikki Sivils (Scrapbooker, LLC)

If you're here for the April Bunny Hop, please click HERE to hop on over! 

Today I wanted to give an unsolicited shout-out to the creator of my most favorite lines of papers, Nikki Sivils.

In my opinion, Nikki has the most fun, refreshing designs in her papers ... and the quality of the paper is just wonderful. I love the versatility of each line, the vibrant colors and how each line inspires ideas on how to use it in a variety of ways.

And I'm giving the shout-out today because it's Nikki's 39th birthday!  (I passed that landmark a long, long time ago ... but strangely enough, my Mother still says she's 39!) 

My blog followers will recognize projects I made recently using Nikki's "We Are Family" papers.  I decided they would be perfect for Karel J's recent "Make Up Your Own Holiday" hop when I developed "Love ♥ Your Neighbors Day."  Do you remember this project?

Here is the inside of this neighbor's card.  Now, I first saw the Nikki Sivils' "We Are Family" line when all of the Design Team for The Scrapbooking Queen (Theresa) used the papers for a week-long hop. The only store near me that carries Nikki Sivils papers ... shout out to "Creative Inklings" in Lahaska, PA ... didn't have this particular line. 

Inspired by the design -- but unable to get the paper I needed at that moment -- I made this gift set using some nice October Afternoon paper and paper on hand: 

But I still neeeeeeded my Nikki Sivils paper!

I wrote an e-mail to Nikki to ask if she could recommend an online store that carries her line and I couldn't believe it when she took the time to write back with names of a couple of stores.

I got GREAT service from A Cherry On Top. Thank you Nikki for this recommendation!  They carried the full "We Are Family" ensemble:











I used it to make the neighbors' card (above) for Day 2 of the Holiday hop (that's how quick delivery was!), AND I used it for my honey's anniversary card:


And this week, I made THIS card (below) that I am sending to Nikki Sivils -- using her own paper, LOL -- to celebrate HER birthday.  Thank you, Nikki, for taking the time to provide GREAT customer service, and for your love and creativity that's obvious in your paper lines for scrapbookers and cardmakers like me!


Front of the card:
Made the ol' fashioned way -- no electronic cutting machines were used in the making of this card.  I stitched and glued ribbons onto the kite string, and designed/printed the complimenting striped paper and sentiment. The white part of the "fence" is fringed with Martha Stewart Fringe Scissors.  I cut the kite using the dotted Nikki Sivils paper, stitching it into a kite-shape. It's dimensional because I added a pop-foam strip down the middle of the kite.  The cloud was fussy-cut from the reverse side of Nikki's paper, though I added white gel pen dots for a little more interest.  The "butterfly" was actually a kite on Nikki's paper. Machine stitching throughout. 

Inside of the card:
I printed the sentiment using my Inkjet printer.
The (over-the?) hill image with trees was
fussy-cut from Nikki Sivils paper.

Nikki's papers have a lot of fun elements that you can fussy-cut (like the inside of the card) to use. And where she may not have the pattern (e.g., the grass on the lower part of the card's front, with the happy birthday sentiment), it's easy enough to create and print your own matching embellishment using her papers as inspiration.

So happy birthday, Nikki Sivils.  May you have many more creative years ahead!

4 comments:

Julie Tucker-Wolek said...

YOU ARE AWESOME Ellen!!! What a wonderful post about Nikki...and she truly is an AMAZING person!!! I just loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee what you made with her lines!!!! GORGEOUS!!! :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

~Tammy~ said...

I just discovered Nikki when she sponsored a challenge blog I design for, so I am not smitten too! Awesome work and so happy to be a new follower!

Emily said...

Beautiful!! I left you an award on my blog :)

Emily
http://www.coolcricutcreations.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

I have used the first two options you have mentioned & have outgrown them. My friend also uses an iris cart & with your backing of the iris cart, I know I am going shopping this w/e to purchase one for my scraps. Thank you for your ideas & may your adhesive be never ending!
http://www.dynaselimpex.com/paper-scrap.html