Playing at The Male Room

Now here's a challenge I've followed for a while, but never joined! Yes, I've made a masculine card inspired by Challenge #135 Sentiment in Focus.

I really love using this Simon Says Stamp Circle Doodle Background and decided to stamp it onto watercolour paper and break out the Distress Inks. It took a while to colour each circle, but I did find this very relaxing. A die cut 'Happy' and a gold embossed Labelled Messages from Mama Elephant finished this fun card. Rather than add sequins I decided to add little dots of embossing powder for added interest.

I hope that you are all keeping safe and that your mojos are strutting their stuff during these difficult times!

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #30 - Reminder

It's reminder time for Challenge #30 - Winter Wonderland (Create a Scene) over at Christmas Kickstart.

During April we've been inspired by fabulous guest elf, Jane from Purplejet Loves Crafts.

From reading your comments at CKC I know just how many of you were as 'wowed' by Jane's card as I was.  For my reminder card I decided to make an 'inspired by' version of Jane's sweet original.

I didn't add a sentiment to the front of the card, but may produce an inny with wording something like 'The first snowflake of Winter'. The dies I used are from Clearly Besotted, and Sizzix and the very cute bunnies are from a free 18 piece set given away in Making Cards magazine a little while ago.

Both myself and Jane hope you'll come and play along in this fun challenge!

Seize the Heroes!

Hi everyone, I hope that you are doing ok and managing to keep busy and healthy during Lockdown. I'm crafting up a storm when I'm not at work as I find it hugely helpful with keeping a positive mindset.

I was delighted to see that they lovely folk at Seize the Birthday have temporarily put aside birthday challenges and given us the opportunity to create cards to say thank you to some of the ordinary people who are stepping up and going above and beyond during these difficult times. What a sweet thing to do.

Here in the UK we are totally smitten with a ninety-nine year old former soldier who vowed to walk 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday to raise money for the NHS.

This is Captain Tom, and he's raised an amazing £28 million by slowly and patiently lapping his garden day after day until he reached 100 laps. It's his birthday on April 30th and thousands of us have decided to send him a card!

Here's the card I've made for him.

As Captain Tom is a former soldier, I wanted a slightly military look to his card - possibly like a cap badge or similar. After a little Googling I found his regimental colours and went with them as the palette for my card. As the card was mainly a die-cut creation it was very quick and easy to make.

There's still time to play along in this challenge. If you haven't any healthcare worker images, and would like to pay tribute to their courage and hard work you can find free MFT Birdie Brown digital images of doctors and nurses here.

Keep safe!

You're Unbelievable!

There's another fun challenge on offer over at Lost Coast and Carmen's Veranda...

and I simply HAD to play along!

I've had this cute stamp for a very, very long time. It's a Suzi Blu stamp called Elena Seaside and was produced by Unity Stamps about ten years ago. Isn't she a beaut? I can't believe that I've not inked her up until now. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's Loveable Legends set.

I knew I wanted to have her swimming in the sea, but wasn't sure how to achieve the look of water. Then I tried colouring some vellum with Distress Inks and discovered this worked perfectly! A little die cutting and I was done.

I'll probably give this card to my niece as it's her birthday next month, so I decided not to adhere the mermaid to the card for a little added whimsy and fun!

This would have kept me entertained for hours as a child, but I doubt my niece will be quite as excited as I would have been - I was a child of simple tastes who loved to make up stories!

This challenge runs until April 30th, so there's still plenty of time to play along!

Stay safe, and keep crafting!

Seizing the Birthday with just hours to spare!

Hi there, I hope you're all keeping well during these difficult times.

I've already played along in Challenge #187 at Seize the Birthday, but decided to do so again because they have a lovely theme for the toppings: Spring Fling!

I love this set from Clearly Besotted. Sadly, it's discontinued so I was delighted to find it offered for sale a while back by a blogging buddy, however Clearly Besotted do have a similar set which you can find here. The blossom is so pretty that I thought rather than colour it I'd leave it plain. I stencilled the background in Spun Sugar and Tattered Rose Distress Inks and added two sweet sentiments from a Jane's Doodles set called Doodle Butterflies. Finishing the card just required some sequins and a little layering in kraft.

The Seize the Birthday gang also have another challenge running until April 28th;

Isn't that great? What a lovely way to thank the ordinary people who are going above and beyond rightnow to look after us and keep us safe.

Stay safe everyone, and keep crafting!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #157 - U is for Upcycling

It's good to see that Edna is using her time at home productively and indulging in a little upcycling! 

Yes, we're all about reusing and recycling for this challenge and boy, did we ever have fun with this one. Our new Queen has come up with a very clever (and possibly relatable) take on this challenge, while the sisters have interpreted the theme in quite a variety of ways.

For my card I re-used a postcard sent from a clothing company, then added a die cut image from a magazine which I'd stamped with a fun, snarky sentiment from Picket Fence.

You'll love the inspiration on offer for this challenge, so why not head on over and play along? You have until Friday 1st of May to join the fun!

They tell me it's Wednesday...

Hi everyone, I'm just dropping by to share a birthday card made with stencils and a fun image from VLVS that I'll be sending to a lovely work friend. She's just a bit nutty (like me) so I think she'll enjoy it.

I'm not sure why this gal is practising yoga in her posh clothes - perhaps lockdown is proving a little stressful.

I'm Seizing the birthday with this card and deliberately went with Spring colours so I could grab the toppings too.  The current Always Fun Challenge is "CAS (clean and simple)", so I'm delighted to join the fun there too! 

Keep crafting, and keep safe!

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #30 - Winter Wonderland (Create a Scene)

Greeting friends, I hope that you're keeping well and coping during these difficult times.
I'm finding crafting and blogging to be a huge comfort right now - I think us crafters are well equipped to keep our spirits up by getting inky and staying in touch with friends around the world.

It's new month over at Christmas Kickstart and we have a new theme AND a new elf.

Challenge #30 - Winter Wonderland (Create a Scene)

I'm thrilled to welcome long-term blogging buddy Jane from Purplejet Loves Crafts as elf this challenge!

You'll love Jane's take on the challenge theme, so why not head on over and take a look!

Here's my take on the theme:

I love this fabulously haughty moose, which was a present from the lovely Gail. I've mixed two die sets, which are both Tim Holtz Thinlits from Sizzix.


My second card also uses the mountain die and features this adorable bear in his pom-pom jumper and hat from Sugar Pea Designs.  The set is called Hey Winter and I can see myself using it again and again as it has some lovely images.

The sentiment is a favourite oldie from Mama Elephant.

I'm linking both cards to Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge as their optional theme is Christmas Animals!

As always, there's a prize available over at Christmas Kickstart from Rudolph, so please come join the fun and make life in lockdown a little easier. 

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #157 - R is for Retro

Greeting Snark Fans, Edna and the Sisterhood have a fabulous new challenge on offer and it's one we feel sure you'll enjoy! Yes, we're playing R is for Retro and bringing you memories of simpler, possibly less complicated times!

Sister Lee has done us proud once again and as a result we have Edna rockin' a fabulous retro vibe to get the party started!

I just love this retro girl stamp from VLVS and knew I'd partner her with a little mock tie-dye background for a trip down 'what-we-we-thinking' memory lane.

As you can imagine our queen and the sistahs have had way too much fun with this challenge, so come take a look and play along.

Stay safe and well you lovely people.

Card Chain Challenge - March 2020 Reveal

It's Card Chain Challenge Reveal time again and I have to say that, to me, our little chain of friendship and creativity feels extra special and precious during these difficult and challenging days. 

During March we had 23 participants who exchanged cards across the globe using at least one of the following options:

Colour Palette Option

or

Sketch Option

Theme Options: Things with Wings/ Flowers/ friendship

Product / Technique Options:  Embossing/ Design Paper

I sent this little piece of craziness to Marga in Spain:

I switched around the sketch a little and found the perfect winged creature from Stampin' Up to sit on a die cut branch. The colour combo was spot on for this card, and I did some cloud stenciling to create a little interest on this otherwise quite plain card.

My sender for this month was my dear friend in NZ, Dawn. 

Unsurprisingly, a few cards have been delayed this month, but there's still plenty of loveliness on show over at CCC HQ, so why not head on over and take a peek!

If you want to join in the fun, you can sign up for the April Card Chain Challenge until Monday 6th April. 

Take care!