CD Sunday Year Of The Horse

As well as Cardz 4 Guyz celebrating the Chinese New Year, the theme is Horses at CD Sunday. I've used this fun image from The Best Of LaPashe 2012. The rosette is made from a scrap of DSP and a Spellbinders Spirelli die. The cup and sentiment are from a Marianne Design set

Technique Twist Bubble Background

The current challenge at The Technique Twist is to do a Bubble Background. Well I've shied away from this as I don't have any liquid inks or straws. But then I thought about the twisting part of the challenge and found an old biro and took the pen apart so that's my straw sorted. Now for colouring my bubbles - I've used coffee - you can see where a couple of granules haven't dissolved. It's given a great effect and the smell has totally evaporated now

For my card, I've followed this sketch from Seems A Little Sketchy

All the stamps are from the retired Stampin Up set A Sense Of Time and stamped with Close To Cocoa ink onto the bubble background card. The small clock is stamped again and triple embossed before sticking on with silicone

Year of The Horse at Cardz For Guyz

We had a great turnout for our second challenge at Cardz 4 Guyzhttp://cardz4guyz.blogspot.co.uk/  last week so thanks to everyone who played along. This week sees the start of the Chinese New Year and as 2014 is the year of the Horse, that is our theme for this week. It was quite strange that there were a lot of cards with horses on last week so at least we know there are lots of images and stamps about.

For my card I've used a very old stamp -  Anita's Horse Head. I've stamped it with black Memento and added some shading with Promarkers. The sentiment is by Stampin Up and stamped with black Versafine. The grey card I've layered it onto is from a John Lewis leaflet. I've just received my John Lewis "Me" card with vouchers for a free hot drink and cake every month until June and the little leaflet that came with it had some nice grey toned pages. I've applied for a card for hubby so I get another set :)

Now don't forget to pop over to the blog and see what the other girls have come up with for our  Horses themed challenge

We're In Love at Cuttlebug Mania

It's our second challenge of the year at Cuttlebug Mania and this time we'd like to see your Love cards.

I've used a new die to me - the Memory Box Heart Canopy. I've had the Memory Box Twiggy Tree for ages but thought the heart canopy was too expensive for the number of times I'd use it but I was lucky enough to pick it up in a sale so of course I had to have a play. I've cut the hearts into a square of white card and matted it onto red mirror card with some foam pads. the twiggy tree is cut from the red mirror card and glued onto the white card. The sentiment is another sale bargain - Tattered Lace Everyday Sentiments 2014. I then used some snippets of the red mirror card to cut some hearts for the corners. I only cut a few of these but the white hearts have followed me around the house. I'm trying to tell hubby that they're a show of love but I don't think he's fallen for it

Don't forget to pop over to the blog and see what the other girls have come up with

Cardz 4 Guyz Monochromatic Challenge

Well we had a fabulous response to the first challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz with over 50 entries. I'm so pleased that so many crafters joined in and here's hoping that we get just as many this week.

For our second challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz we want to see your Monochromatic cards. Choose any colour and use various shades of that and then link up your card. I must admit that this is my second attempt as I felt my first card had just too much white to qualify. I will show it later, just not as a monochromatic card

 I then found a set of Kanban Safari Animal toppers and some matching background card which came together for a very quick card. I chose this handsome looking leopard so as he's a big cat I thought I'd add it to the CD Sunday Here Kitty Kitty challenge too but then realised I've not used a CD! The sentiments are computer printed onto buff card and layered onto a strip of card which joined the images on the topper sheet. A few square gems to finish

Thanks to everyone that entered last week and I hope to see you at Cardz 4 Guyz soon

Patchwork Kitten

The challenge theme this week at CD Sunday is Here Kitty Kitty. I reached straight for my Ivory Cats CD and it was a disaster. Somehow it's picked up a virus and crashed my computer. I've no idea how this happened and it's definitely the CD as I tried it on OH's laptop and that crashed to - he wasn't too amused I can tell you!

Well systems restored this afternoon so with trepidation I got out my Giordano Puppies and Kittens CD and phew - all was fine. I've chosen this cute kitty from the patchwork section and made a patchwork background with a hexagon punch and lots of snippets of paper so I'm enerting this into Pixie's Snippets Playground. I then ran it through my Xpress with the XCut butterfly pattern A4 folder although it doesn't show to well in the picture. It's more to make sure all the piece are stuck than to add a pattern so it has worked for that. The delightful corner flourish is by Crafts Too and was part of my prize from Carol for winning a previous CD Sunday challenge so of course I had to use it on my next CDS card. Thank you Carol x

The border is but with my EK Success paw punch with some ribbon added and a few gems finish the card

Now, I'm stalking Ebay to try and get another copy of Ivory Cats 

1st Challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz

Yes it's finally time for our first challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz. I'm so glad that Caz has started this challenge blog and her timing couldn't have been better  after the sad news that both Cards For Men and Here Come The Boys have closed down. And I was delighted when Caz asked me to be on her team.

So to get you going we've given you an easy one to start with - Happy Birthday. You can make a card for any age from baby to granddad and anywhere in between. Don't forget to pop over and see the great cards the other girls have made and take a look around the blog while you're there.

Paper - Paper Cellar

Motorbike - Joanna Sheen Signature Die

Cogs - Spellbinders Dies

Stampin Up Greeting Stamp

Turquoise & Red?

I wasn't sure of using red and turquoise together but I quite like it. The colours were decided by the cute image from Joanna Sheen's Furry Friends CD and this weeks challenge at CD Sunday which is Tantalising Turquoise. The papers are from a very old mat stack by DCWV and I've hidden the join with some red and white polka dot ribbon so I can enter it into the Weekly Christmas Card Challenge. The snowflakes are cut from scraps of glitter paper with Cuttlebug dies

How Old Is Old!

The theme at CD Sunday this week is Pretty In Pink which is not a colour I'm good with so I've gone for a dusky shade. I've designed my card around this sketch from Feeling Sketchy

The image is from Joanna Sheen's Via La Diva's

Backing Paper - Dovecraft Garden Party
Marianne Design Border die LR0102
Crafts Too Numbers Embossing Folder
Pink Stickles
Gems, ribbon and card from my stash

Blurred Vision

No I haven't been on the vino! this is the current technique at The Technique Twist and they've also got a blog hop on so pop over and have a go and you may win the prize.

I've done my Blurred Vision Stamping two different ways. For the first one I sprayed the background card with water and then brushed the water so that there were no puddles. I've then stamped over the damp card with my Stampin Up Woodgrain stamp inked with Brushed Corduroy DI. The edges are lightly distressed with the same ink

The leaves are from Stampin Up's Gently Falling set and are stamped with the Brushed Corduroy and then I've gone over it with a blender pen rather than a water brush as I found this gave more control. The sentiment is from Petite Pairs and the frame is from Four Frames and cut with the matching punch

Now off to hop the blogs

First of The Year

Yes, my first Christmas card of 2014! I know I won't keep it up but I'm going to give it a go and join in with the challenges at Winter Wonderland. Their first theme of 2014 is Teddy Bears so I've used a Forever Friends bear for my topper and followed this sketch from Friday Sketch

Now this is a Thank You Christmas card for someone I usually forget to make a special card for - our postie Rob. He never complains about the amount of parcels and packages I get delivered and even signs for recorded delivery ones if we're not in. I had lots of snippets of mirror card from making my Christmas cards last year so I've used quite a few bits on this card. The holly is a Marianne Designs die and the Thank You is my new Tattered Lace die which arrived this morning. I'm also entering this into a new challenge called Christmas Fun and also Pixie's Snippets Playground

Now to find a safe place for it for the next 11 months!

Triple Stamping At Technique Time Tuesday

It seems it was only recently that I found the challenge at Technique Time Tuesday but it was last March and I've really enjoyed taking part and trying out all the ideas they come up with. I was stunned to receive an email last month asking if I wanted to be guest designer for January. Of course I said yes and was sent the details of the challenge. Now it's time to post my creation and I've realised the massive downside to this - I can't enter the challenge this month! I'm sure I'll be having another play before the month is out as this is a great technique

I started with some white card and cut a rectangle and then some white ovals with Nesties. Using low tack tape, I've layered them together and stamped the main image which is from Darkroom Door's Prague Volume 1 set with Majestic Blue Versafine. Take the tape off and layer each part onto black card slightly larger than the images and layer up together. This is just the basics - there's a link to a great tutorial on the TTT blog

For the background I've coloured a square of white card with Tumbled Glass distress ink and then stamped various images from Darkroom Door Prague Volumes 1 & 2 with the Versafine. The sentiment is from Volume 1 and cut with the same shaped ovals. To finish I've added some Versamark, bonding powder and silver gilding flakes. I do love these but always forget about them but they were still on my desk from the last card 

All Distressed at Cuttlebug Mania

It's time for the first challenge of 2014 at Cuttlebug Mania and we're all distressed. For my card I've started with the Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes embossing folder using Core-dinations cards tock. I've gone over it with a sanding block and also sanded the edges. The background card is from the inside of one of OH's Birthday cards - it was just too good to throw away :) I've used Chipped Sapphire ink to distress the edges and stamped over the bottom half with a stamp from Stampin Up's Gorgeous Grunge set and used heat and emboss powder and some silver flakes. The image is from another Stampin Up set Feeling Sentimental and stamped with Majestic Blue Versamark and cut out with a Nestie. I've used the Chipped Sapphire ink to give it a faux frame. The sentiment is from Itty Bitty Banners and cut with the matching die. Some small silver brads finish it off

Don't forget to pop over and see what the other girls have got distressed over and remember you have two weeks to enter your card

Quick Cards & A New Challenge Blog

First of all let me tell you about a new challenge blog that is starting on Tuesday 14th January called CARDZ4GUYZ

Yes, cards for those pesky males in our life. Pop over and sign up to follow so you don't miss out on the start

Now I had to make a couple of quick cards for my niece and nephew. My niece is moving home soon and is expecting her first baby in April so I wanted to send her some money so she can get a few bits and pieces. Her brother is looking for a new job and will need a car so I made a couple of New Year cards to send the cheques in - I had to check with DH that I had written the cheques correctly as it's so long since I've sent one!

For hers, I've used a Party Paws topper and backing card. The Happy New Year is stamped onto snippets of card and embossed then layered onto a snippet of silver mirror card. For his, I've used a Kanban topper and some Paper Cellar backing paper which matched the image colours really well. The sentiment is also done on snippets so I'm entering them into http://pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/pixies-snippets-playground-week-106.html. Why not pop over to the playground and join in?