A Sporting Life

Over on the Daring Cardmakers Blog this morning we've announced the winner of the gorgeous goodies from Tea House Bridge.  Sadly, I didn't win - but as I wasn't allowed to enter, that was no real surprise, was it?  However, I'll be heading over there to buy some of Zuzana's lovely embellishments pretty soon - especially as thanks to last week's challenge I've had some to play with already.  I think the cotton buttons and some of the gorgeous antique lace will be first to hit the basket....
This week it's my turn to set the challenge and I've been rather self-indulgent, or at least self-interested 

"There are no fewer than 7 family birthdays coming up in May, and 5 of them are "boys".  I always struggle when it comes to making boy/man cards, and I know a lot of you will be just the same.   I thought we could all help each other out by challenging ourselves to make at least one masculine card this week - and to make it a little bit easier we'll go for a Sporting theme:

    The Sportsman
    So, a masculine card with a sporting theme - it can be for any age of "boy" you like - from baby boy to Grandads, just make sure it also has some sort of sport featured too - footie, rugby, fishing, weightlifting, golf, athletics....the whole sporting arena is yours to choose from"

The good thing about sport is that it does give you something to base the dreaded masculine cards around, doesn't it?  The really tough ones are those for those men who don't have something like that to latch on to!

Anyway, as one of our nephews reaches 18 next month, I've made a football themed card for him.  Now personally, I can't stand football and I really don't "get" the way it completely absorbs most of "my" menfolk - and some of the girls too, for that matter.

It's an easel card - I like the way they let you add plenty of "sticky out bits" which makes them a bit different, especially for a special birthday.

I made a template to cut on Craft Robo using some clip-out as a guide then cut all the different layers to build up the little footballer.  The numerals and letters are also cut using Craft Robo templates.  The three small footballs used on the band that keeps the card up are made from images found on the web - I resized the pictures to the right size for a small circle punch before printing them, and used plain card circle layers to make them nice and thick

I've just realised that I've forgotten to add some bootlaces....

Materials:

Bazzill card (beige, white, red, black

Paper from the scraps box for the hair and for the green circle background

All other papers Bo Bunny Weekend Market - I've used a mix of 12x12 and 6x6 sizes

Star brads (white, black, red)

White pen for trims on shirt etc

Tools:

Craft Robo (footballer, Numerals, Name)

Spellbinders plain circles dies, Small circle punch

I hope you'll join in with us this week and get at least one masculine card made and ready to send!

Thanks for popping in, please come again soon!

Catch the Bug

Something's definitely bugging me, but such is life!

Actually the title really refers to a couple of my "makes" for Crafty Templates this month.  The new set went live a few days ago and as usual I'm a bit late blogging my projects - though in my defence,I'm getting better as this is not as late as I've been in other months!

I thought I'd show a couple of cards today and save a third for tomorrow...or another day, anyway ;)!

I used the butterfly template to make this card

I cut the various butterfly pieces 3 times each and layered them up.  For the wings I first curled each one up slightly and only adhered them together at the points - to keep the rest of the wing pieces separate I added a tiny piece of waste card between the layers.

Next in the "Bugs" line up is this Happy Bee.  My original plan was to make more of a regular card, with a Ha-Bee Birthday message, but in the end I thought I'd have a go at making him into a shaped card

I was a bit worried about how his antennae would survive the postal system, so added a grassy background to the bee shape to give a bit more support.

I used some of the lovely fabric in the Crafty Goodies Kit to make the wings, then covered the ends where they are attached to the card with a flower made from the Kesi'Art blooms also in the Goodies Kit

Materials:

From the Crafty Goodies Kit: Most papers, fabric, flowers

Other supplies: MME papers, Seam Binding, Rangers Enamels for the Bee's facial features

Crafty Templates website is HERE

The Crafty Goodies Kit I was working with is HERE

Thanks for visiting

Maze Book Page

I've used the current Sketch File LO to make another page for my little "inspire" book of quotes.  It's a sort of occasional challenge to myself to make the sketches work for something really small.  I don't do ATCs etc, so these 7x7cm square LO are about as small as I go.

This is the page using the April Sketch

While I had these pretty papers out, I thought I'd just do a collage picture for the facing page - this was fun and didn't take long because all the paper elements are really simple - did I hear you say "childish"? hehe - and just cut free-hand with a pair of scissors - except for the butterflies which are made with a tiny punch

I used:

MME 6x6 pad Follow Your Heart "Be Harpy"

Pastel Buttons, Baker's Twine (Creative Treasures)

Flat-backed pearls and gems

Trees, flowers and tiny bird cut freehand from scraps

Liquid Pearls

Inks

Quotation is pc generated

It would be great if you'd check out The Sketch File blog and make something to share with us.  Keryn, Jackie, Carol and I try really hard to make things that will inspire our fellow crafters and it makes us sad when we don't see many people joining in - so why not pop over to see the sketch and all the things made with it over the last few weeks - there's still time to join in and share your own crafting with us this month too.

Thanks for visiting

Tagged!

Happy St George's Day to all who have the Good St George as their Patron Saint - that's not just the English, but plenty of other Countries, Cities, Groups etc too:

To quote from Wikipedia:

"Many Patronages of Saint George exist around the world, including: Georgia, England, Egypt, Bulgaria, Aragon, Catalonia, Romania, Ethiopia, Greece, India, Iraq, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Serbia, Ukraine and Russia, as well as the cities of Genoa, Amersfoort, Beirut, Fakiha, Bteghrine, Cáceres, Ferrara, Freiburg, Kumanovo, Ljubljana, Pomorie, Preston, Qormi, Rio de Janeiro, Lod, Lviv, Barcelona, Moscow, Tamworth and the Maltese island of Gozo, as well as of the Scout Movement^"

That lot would make quite a World Party if we all made the effort, wouldn't it? hehe 

 

I'm late again posting my DCM offering - and feeling thoroughly ashamed of myself too as this week it's a special challenge over on the Daring Cardmakers, not only is it Gez's first time setting the challenge, but we have a fab prize to give away too.  We're celebrating the opening of our own Zuzana's lovely new shop - more of that in a minute 

Hi, this week it's Gez here.
I am delighted to be your hostess this week, it's my first time so I am super excited and looking forward to seeing everyone's creations.
Tag You're It!
I would like to see a tag on your cards: large tags, small tags, focal point or embellishment - It's completely up to you how you chose to incorporate a tag into your design.

  

 I thought I'd make some pockets to put my tags in and whilst I was fairly pleased with that element, the rest turned out a bit of a dog's dinner - despite being pulled apart and put back together again for a second attempt.  I think I should have just kept to a plain white background and I may even go for a third try yet!

Hey ho, you can't win them all, can you? 

Zuzana's new online shop is:

link to shop

Zuzana has filled her shop with a wonderful treasury of pretty temptations and it would be wonderful if you'd go and check it out to see what she has to offer.  Joining in with our challenge this week will give you a chance of winning this selection of the unusual buttons and other goodies you can find there

Pop over to our BLOG to find out more about how that little lot could be yours!

Zuzana kindly sent each of the DCM designers a lovely package of goodies to use on this week's cards so it's a great way to see more of them.

On the photo above you can see some of the cotton buttons (the small pink, large white, and small white and pink ones) Zuzana sells - these aren't buttons in the regular sense as they have no holes, but they are soooo pretty, there's also the gorgeous turquoise "flower" and that pretty pink birdy - I added a bit of Stickles to mine.

Apart from the pretties from Tea House Bridge I used:

MME papers: "All Dolled Up" and "Fiddlesticks"

Various punches to make the flower, 

Various flat blooms and wired roses, Seam binding,

Spellbinders Dies

Do visit the Daring Cardmakers' blog to see some wonderful cards and to find out more about this week's challenger

Thanks for looking

Hats Off to You!

I love hats - my OH is always careful to grab my arm and steer me quickly through the hat department in John Lewis's - what a spoilsport!  For some reason he does the same thing in the bag section too!  Funny though, how pace slows as soon as we get into the "technology" department.....ahhh yes, it's all different then, isn't it?

Anyway, this week's Daring Cardmakers' challenge was set by lovely Zuzana and it's all about - did you guess? HATS!

Hi, this week is Zuzana here.

 With the more warm and sunshine weather I came up with idea to open  

The Hat Boutique

I would like to see a hat on your cards: straw, cowboy, top-hat, vintage, wedding, winter, baseball cap ...

It's completely up to you what colour and kind you prefer :0) 

We are really looking forward to seeing your creations. 
So get ready and let's start with crafting.

With Eldest Niece due to graduate from Uni in a couple of months time, I thought I'd "get ahead with a hat" and make a card featuring a mortarboard.  It was going to be much less complicated than the rather girly one I eventually made, but I'll save that idea for when Eldest Nephew finishes his degree in a couple of years time (if I remember!).

I know mortarboards are usually black, and I did start out by getting out more suitable, more muted coloured supplies, but hey, a small break with tradition and a little flight of fancy is a bit more fun  

So here's what I ended up with

Materials:

All papers from MME "Be Happy" 6x6 pad (from Follow Your Heart collection)

Bazzill aqua card (for sentiment)

Hand-made flower, tassel and scroll

Silver thread, inks

Own template for Mortarboard - please email me if you would like a copy

Tools:

Craft Robo (mortarboard, sentiment)

Zutter corner-rounder

Dies: Spellbinder Persian Accents, Memory Box swirly border

Punches: Punch Bunch flower, EK Success border punch, plain circle punch

 Isn't the swirly Memory Box die lovely?  I cut it twice to form the background for the sentiment, and trimmed each down slightly to fit better.

I made the paper flower using several punched flowers.  The scroll is just a piece of paper inked and rolled up, with a very narrow piece of paper used as a "tie"

 Looking at it now, I think I should have made the mortarboard a couple of cms larger, so I may go back and do that later.

To make the tassel I fringed a small rectangle of paper, added some strong glue to the uncut edge then rolled it up tightly around the end of the cord. 

There's a fab array of hats to see on the DCM BLOG this week, and we'd love it if you'd join in and show us your own Hat-themed cards.

Nothing exciting (or even vaguely interesting happening around here just now, so I'll just say "thanks for visiting" and head off to look at the new DT set of Crafty Templates that arrived yesterday and work out what to make this month.

Have a great weekend

Late!

It's been a busy few days - not much helped by tweaking my back the other day and being in a bit of pain since.  We've been doing more "house-reclamation".  Apart from all the downstairs remodelling work, we discovered that to get the funky new taps to work properly we needed to bring forward another job - fitting a new water-heating system.  So just as I was beginning to clear some of the mess, more mess was made!

This weekend, I am determined to reclaim the dining room - as much as possible, anyway!  Which is why I was crawling around the floor with the Dyson, trying to get at the muck and dust that I've not been able to reach for a couple of months, and during which activity I did something that hurt.

Anyway, it's not too bad (as in, it's been worse....) and I just need to take it easy for a few days.

We've had the "obligatory" Band Holiday trip to the dump, sorted out a bit more of the clutter, had a little shopping trip and now Hubby is busy putting up the bathroom cabinet, loo roll holder, new window blind and a picture in the new cloakroom.  I'm thinking that I might have a bash at doing a small canvas or two to put on the narrower wall in there too.

Enough waffle, I'm late blogging Friday's Daring Cardmakers card for this month's Colour Combo challenge.  Leo chose the colours this time and they are lovely sorbet shades - they make me think of our road trip in Italy a few years ago and all the ice cream and sorbets we indulged ourselves with in the carious towns and cities we visited! yummmmmm

We have loads of family birthdays in May, so it's good to get a bit of a head-start, and these colours seemed perfect for a 21st birthday card for one of our nieces.

This is the inspiration photo Leo had given us to work from:

My favourite MME "Howdy Doody" pad yet again provided the perfect papers for this challenge - so often recently this pad has been the one I've reached for, that I've pretty much used it up - in fact a parcel is at the sorting office right now with replacement pad and 12x12 papers in it - we were out yesterday when they tried to deliver - boohoo!!

Materials:

Papers: MME "Howdy Doody" 6x6 pad

Wired flower on bow, and flat petals used to make the other flowers all from Creative Treasures

2 shades of seam binding and Card Candy also Creative Treasures

Frosted Lace Stickles. Glossy Accents

Bazzill aqua card for numerals

Tools:

Memory Box border die (I cut a 2nd time in lemon, and then cut the flower shapes from it)

Nellie Snellen punch (flower centres)

Spellbinders Labels 18 (I think)

The flowers in the top left corner are all hand made - there's a coiled paper flower, and the other two are made from "flat" Prima petals and some of those tiny stamens you can buy from floristry places

Thanks for dropping in for a visit, I hope you'll come back soon

Happy Easter

Easter Trio

I've made these Easter cards using the lovely "Spring Has Sprung" download collection from the Fabulous Funky Hand.

Materials:

All papers: Funky Hand  "Spring Has Sprung" download

Imaginisce IRocks gems

PC generated sentiment

Tools:

Craft Robo to cut egg shape

scoring board to make ruffle

Memory Box die for outer petals, Tonic punch for inner petals

Materials:

All papers: Funky Hand  "Spring Has Sprung" download

Seam Binding and flattened Card Candy from Creative Treasures

Daisies cut from Funky Hand paper (printed out at different sizes

Tools:

Plain circle punch (medium)

Spellbinders large scalloped circles die set (smallest)

Craft Robo for "Easter"

See, I can be quick and to-the-point when I try!

Thanks for visiting, I hope you have a lovely, peaceful Easter weekend and that the sun shines on you wherever you are :)

April Sketch File

It's the first Tuesday of the month, so time for a new  LO idea for April on The Sketch File Blog - I hope you'll pop over there to see the sketch and the projects we are sharing on the firs of this month's posts.  We like to spread the ideas out a bit, so over the coming weeks there will be more pieces appearing there = so do go back regularly to see what's new!

Being a Last Minute Minnie to start with - and having a visit from the BFoP (Bad Fairy of Procrastination) to contend with didn't help one bit.  BUT I was brave and kicked her out of the house and in the end managed not only to do a page for my resurrected mini album, but a card too!  Wow! are you impressed? hehe

We gave ourselves a present for our Wedding Anniversary in July 2010 of a year's membership of the National Trust - the mini album is supposed to be a record of all the NT places we visited during that year. I'm doing (sort of) ok with the photo pages ( if you call still working on it a quarter of the way through 2012, "doing ok"), but the facing page for each LO is supposed to be more of a journal entry about the place - and I'm really, really behind with those.

For this page we're in Yorkshire visiting Beningborough House during our stay at the gorgeous English Heritage holiday cottage which is part of beautiful Mount Grace Priory.

 I used:

April sketch from The Sketch File Blog

Bazzill card for base page

All papers Bo Bunny Weekend Market 6x6 pad (Charmed Cards and Crafts)

Narrow green organza Ribbon, Blue Brads

EK Success Moroccan Lace border punch

Circle punch

Lettering cut with Craft Robo

This was my first dip into my new Bo Bunny papers - they looked so gorgeous that I bought the 12x12 set as well ooops! At the same time I felt compelled (as you do!) to invest in the Graphic 45 8x8 "Olde Curiosity Shoppe" pad too. It's a lovely "Steampunky" sort of pad with lots of collage effect papers plus lovely vintage designs and great colours - flicking through it was enough to get me cutting and sticking again!

 I used:

April sketch from The Sketch File Blog

All papers; Graphic 45 "Olde Curiosity Shoppe"  8x8 pad

 (Charmed Cards and Crafts)

Narrow brown/cream gingham ribbon

MS border punch

2 x Circle punches

I really enjoyed making this card - I like using papers, and bits of the designs on them collage-style.  It's often more interesting and more personal to build up your own designs using elements from several papers.

I'm thinking I might add a bit more to this card and make it into more of a collage picture - some flowers maybe, and some more ribbon.....maybe some good old steampunk cogs....

Anyway, thanks for visiting, please come back soon