Tuesday 25 February 2014

Cardz 4 Guyz Music Challenge



It's time for another challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz and this week we want you to show us your masculine music cards.

I've used this sketch from Sketch Saturday


My image is from the Kanban Wooly Bears Make a Noise set which was a bargain at £1.99 at The Works. I've coloured him with Promarkers. The papers are from the Papermania Spots and Stripes Jewels collection. Some die cut stars and star gems finish it off


We'd love to see how you interpret our music challenge - and remember your card can be for any age as long as it's masculine

Sunday 23 February 2014

Butterflies & Flowers

In case you haven't heard, there's a great new challenge all about butterflies simply called Butterfly Challenge and the first challenge is Butterflies and Flowers. I haven't got a card for this challenge but an altered mirror. This is how it started


I paid £3 for it from a charity shop  and it's been sat in the spare room waiting for an update. I coated it with acrylic paint and stamped all over it using some Kaisercraft stamps. The butterfly saying is by Stampin Up and the mirror saying is from the Indigo Blu set Take the Time. I've used some acetate packaging to make the flowers and butterfly. The flowers are Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and the butterfly is a Chocolate Baroque stamp. A couple more butterflies added with embossing paste to add texture. I've used some copper and pearl acrylic paint to distress parts of the frame and some copper Stickles to add to the stamped flowers and butterflies. The cream flower centre was from a bracelet - another charity shop buy - 6 large flowers for 69p

And here is the mirror. Not very good pictures - I had to cover  the mirror part for some photos. It's a shame all the glimmer and sparkle doesn't show up very well


 







Friday 21 February 2014

All About Spring at CD Sunday

There are signs of spring coming through now after all the rain. We have one daffodil out and lots of crocuses and the snowdrops on the village green have just about faded. So I was thinking flowers for the All About Spring challenge at CD Sunday but there were just so many images to choose from so I started with this sketch from Sketch & Stash


I'm trying to use up some of my paper stash and the Honey & Hugs pad by Papermania has hardly been touched so I thought the springlike papers would be perfect. Flicking though it to choose my papers I remembered this image from Joanna Sheen's Furry Friends - such a cute reminder that spring is just around the corner


Paper - Papermania Honey & Hugs pad
Image - Joanna Sheen's Furry Friends
Heart & flourishes - Marianne Design dies
Flowers from my stash


Tuesday 18 February 2014

Let's Feel It At Cuttlebug Mania

Our new challenge at Cuttlebug Mania is Let's Feel It. We want you to add some texture to your creation so you can use felt, foam, metal, texture paste - whatever you have to hand. Even embossing folders can add texture.

We are sponsored this week by Ooh La La Creations and they have offered a CD to our winner so it's well worth taking part

For my card I've used two backing papers from the Free Samples section of Ooh La La's website and gone with a garden them. The watering can and wheelbarrow are cut from funky foam with Marianne Design dies. The bush, pot and flowers are cut from flocked card, again with Marianne dies. The sentiment is from a Stampin up set cut with a Spellbinders ribbon die. I think this set was one of the first dies I bought when I got my Wizard machine



Clean & Simple at Cardz 4 Guyz



It's time for our 6th challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz and this week we want to see your Clean & Simple masculine cards. My card is a very quick and simple one. I had planned to make it on Saturday but with all the bad weather we had a power cut Friday night and it didn't come back on until late Saturday night so I had to make it quickly on Sunday. The sentiment is from Stampin Up's Happiest Birthday Wishes set stamped in Chocolate Chip and matted onto Chocolate Chip card. The panel on the left is embossed with Cuttlebugs Happy Birthday folder and matted onto the brown card. Some brads added to the corners of the panel and the i of the sentiment and the card is finished.


I'm also entering this into the Simply Less Is More challenge which is to create a masculine card

Monday 17 February 2014

Male Valentine

There are still lots of Valentine challenges around so I've made this quick one for my charity box. As the cards go to the troops abroad we don't know when they'll get there so I don't actually put Valentine on them but love cards always go down well. It's nice that Sarah who organises the collection of the cards gets some lovely letters from serving soldiers saying how grateful they are.

Now onto my card. The backing paper is printed from Craft Artist. The Marianne Design Anchor is cut from blue mirror card and the computer printed sentiment is cut with a Stampin Up banners die.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:
The Male Room - Valentine
Die Cuttin Diva's - Non-Traditional Valentine (No red or pink)


Tuesday 11 February 2014

Truly Madly Deeply

It's time for another challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz so of course we're celebrating Valentine's Day with our Truly, Madly, Deeply challenge. We'd like you to make something for any male that celebrates love

I've followed this sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday


I've used one of my favourite digi stamps - Tin Rose by Pollycraft which has sadly closed down. He's coloured with Promarkers and cut out with Nesties. The backing paper is made with a smaller version of the image and the sentiment if also by Polycraft.


Monday 10 February 2014

Love Always

Yes it's Valentine's Day this week so there are lots of Love challenges around in blogland and my card is for the CD Sunday Love Always challenge and the Kaboodle Doodles For My Sweatheart. My image is from The Rachelle Anne Miller Collection and I like that it's not the usual red and white. The image printed larger than I intended so I've kept the rest of the card quite simple with an embossed background, some die cut leaves and a punched flower. You can probably tell by the range of greens that the leaves were cut from snippets so I'm taking it to Pixie's Snippets Playground - hopefully the playmates haven't been washed away



Sunday 9 February 2014

Noah's Ark

Yes the rain has been horrendous and lots of local roads are flooded here, the pub garden is a duck pond and now poor Miss Di at the Playground is worried about us getting into danger with all those tools building an ark. So I've come up with a ready made one for us - do you recognise anyone from the playground? Lots of snippets used too. The backing paper is two pieces left from a 12x12 picece hence the band across which is itself two snippets. The little animals are Cuttlebug dies again cut from snoippets


Don't forget to pop over the Pixie's Snippets Playground and join in with the fun

Friday 7 February 2014

Celebrate In Style

I entered a really girly card in the CD Sunday Ribbon & Bows challenge so I thought I'd have a go at a more masculine card and this is what I've come up with. A really simple card, the image is from Joanna Sheens Furry Friends and the backing is card stamped with some Woodware stamps. Computer generated sentiment and ribbon across the corners. The bow is obviously his bow tie


Thursday 6 February 2014

Technique Twist - Sunburst Technique

The latest technique at The Technique Twist is Sunburst. I must say I find it hard to believe that this challenge gets so few entries each fortnight as I love to try something new. Even the blog hop a couple of weeks only had two entries! There's a refreshed design team who have done some lovely work so why not pop over and have a look at the blog and the link to the tutorial

Now this is a great technique for using up you snippets so hopefully some of the inmates playmates at Miss Diane's Playground will decide to have a go :)

I got all my black and white snippets out of the folder and cut them to size before sticking to a square of card. I then ran it through my Bug with an Embossalicious Floral folder. I used a Nestie to cut the middle and stuck it onto a black mat before twisting it and sticking it back with 3D foam pads. A greeting from Craftwork Cards finished this simple card.


Highland Painter

It's my SIL's birthday next week and I'm never sure what sort of card to make her so I asked my brother for ideas. The only thing he could come up with is that she's about to decorate their lounge in a Scottish theme so he suggested mountains, log cabins, deer, tartan and heather! It all sounded a bit masculine to me so I've just gone with the decorating, tartan and heather. I've based it on this sketch from Seems A Little Sketchy but it may not be close enough to the layout


The backing paper is from a Paper Cellar pad of tartan papers which I bought for use on masculine cards but this one was just right. Themain  image is an old one from The Digi Garden and is no longer available. The pot and brushes are from a Personal Impressions set by Cathie Shuttleworth called DIY Bits. I've used Promarkers to colour and added some glossy accents on the paint


I'm entering this into the following challenges

I Love Promarkers - Birthday
Country View Crafts - Painty Pleasures
Addicted To Stamps & More - Anything Goes



Wednesday 5 February 2014

Ribbons & Bows For CD Sunday

The challenge at CD Sunday this week is Ribbons & Bows. When I saw this I knew I wanted to use my new die but couldn't find a suitable image. Then I remembered my Joanna Sheen ATC Assistant CD. I always forget how many great images are on this so I've left it out on my desk for a while. I chose this one because of the lacy gloves. The die is an old Spellbinders one that my friend Pam (PeeJay) was selling but when I said I was interested in buying it she just gave it to me - thanks so much Pam, not just for the die but for reminding me of the old ones I have too. The corner die was also a gift - part of my prize for winning a previous CD Sunday challenge.


Tuesday 4 February 2014

Cuttlebug Mania - A Touch Of Red

It's time for another challenge at Cuttlebug Mania and following on from last time Love theme, we want to see a Touch Of Red on your cards. Of course this can be a Valentines card but I've gone for something completely different. The background is embossed with an Embossilicious 6x6 folder that I picked up in a charity shop last week. The motorbike is a Joanna Sheen die cut from red mirror card and then a grey metallic card and layered up onto a rectangular Nestie. The Brother is from the Tattered Lace Family set

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




Cardz 4 Guyz - Spots & Stripes

I think our last challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz had you a little stumped so thanks to those that managed to enter. Don't forget to pop over and see if you are in the top three. This week we have an easy challenge for you - we want to see your masculine cards with Spots & Stripes on. For my card I've sort of followed this sketch from Sketch Saturday - I hope it's similar enough to be allowed :)

I've embossed the background card on a scoreboard to give it some texture. The stamp set is Best Dad ever by Stampin Up. Spotty and striped paper from my stash as are the buttons. Obviously the smaller button shouldn't have been there  but when I picked the card up to photograph it, I left an ink smudge!


Don't forget to pop over to the blog to see what the other girls have created to inspire you