Cards for Men Challenge 3- Valentines and love...

I know lots of people find making cards for men tricky and Valentines can be particularly hard. I know my husband would not list pink among his favourite colours! Hope you find some inspiration among the DT cards over at Cards for Men and have a go at our Valentines and Love challenge which runs until 13th February. Here's my offering...

This is for my husband but I think I should be safe posting it as he doesn't usually look at my blog unless I have computer trouble! We are sponsored by Prairie Fairy and this is one of their images- he is so cute! His nose and the heart were just crying out to be glazed with glossy accents, so who was I to argue! I have kept the rest of the design quite simple with positive and negative swirl papers from Pink Petticoat, red and black mats, pearlised black card candy and hearts cut with a Sizzlett die. The black heart is cut from Core'dinations Black Magic, embossed then sanded back to show the red core.

Prairie Fairy are offering 5 digi stamps for our lucky winner. The have lots of beautiful images so do pop over to the store for a look. See the Cards for Men site for more info about our sponsor, the rest of the DT cards and to enter the challenge.


I would also like to enter this card for:

• Craft you days away- love
• Charisma cardz- Valentines and love
• Paper Play- layer it up (The image is on two mats and I have used the positive and negative DP)
• Daring Cardmakers- Year of the rabbit
• Prairie Fairy Fridays- for a sweetheart

A Valentine for my son...

I always got a valentine as a child which I knew was from my Dad but it was lovely to be included, so now I  give Matthew a valentine too. He is 9 now so I was looking for something quite 'cool'! The image is Deacon Heart from Bugaboo and it was just what I was after. (They have Deacon Swing as a freebie this week.) I was struggling to find papers until Summer Driggs released her new freebie 'Dance with Me' earlier this week and I think they are perfect. The hearts are die cut with a Sizzlett die that has seen loads of action lately, lol. The brad is silver which goes well with the greys in real life but it has reflected something in this photo so looks a bit gold, which would be all wrong!

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:

• A Spoon Full of Sugar- Valentine
• The Sisterhood of Crafters- Anything goes
• Charisma Cardz- Valentines/love
• Do you stack up?- patterned paper (4 different papers used for this card)
• Totally Papercrafts- one for the kiddies (this is for my son)

Karate Teddy!..

I was asked to make a karate themed card by a friend but have got carried away and made these two and another two with a different image which I will try to post later! At least she will have a choice.

Both cards use the Karate Teddy image which was by Elzybells (now closed down). It is so long since I inked up a RUBBER stamp like this! I only got into digis after we got a laser printer, because it solved my smudging problems, but all I seem to have used lately is digi images and my rubber stamps are being neglected. The papers are from a new year themed blog train called 'Auld Lang Syne' but one of the designers chose to do Chinese New Year- the red paper says 'happiness'. The star is die cut from the same set of papers but reduced down in scale and cut out with a Sizzlett die. 
I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

• Teddy Stampers- anything goes
• Allsorts- for a man or boy
• Daring Cardmakers- Oriental feel card

Bugaboo birthday challenges- day 2

Well, I have done it!! I have taken part in all the Bugaboo birthday celebrations- I have followed the blog hop leaving comments, taken part in the weekly challenge and entered all 5 of the daily mini challenges. Here's keeping my fingers crossed for one of the many fantastic prizes they have on offer! xxx

This card is a little late because I had to wait until today to make it. There is a freebie image that had to be used so I couldn't work ahead  over the weekend and had to wait until I was off work today! The image is a Bugaboo freebie from the Catch the Bug blog to be used for the Tuesday challenge of 'Add some bling!'. It is hard to pick out on the photo but there are tiny gems in each of the flowers on the image then the larger ones in the die cut flower embellishments. I have used promarkers for the face and hair but painted the rest of the image with pearlised paints for extra bling- hard to see in the photo, I know. The papers are from a digi-scrap blog hop from ages ago called 'Summer Surprises'.

I would also like to enter this card for:

• Cute Card Thursday- 1,2,3 (I have used 1 image, 2 design papers and 3 flower embellishments)
• Do it with digis- pink and girly

Bugaboo Daily Birthday Challenges, day 5...

This card is for the final daily challenge at Catch the Bug of 'anything goes'. The papers are a freebie download from Shabby Princess called Sweet Sprinkles- again!- loving these at the moment! The image is JJ Birthday from the Tequila and Shoes Set, coloured with promarkers. I initially made this for the 'bling' challenge, before I realised a specific image was required, so I have glittered the top of her hat, the top of the cupcakes, her earrings and the edges of the sentiment then added 3 gems to the sentiment and one each to the centers of the flowers.

I would also like to enter this card for:

• Ooh La La- Bling it on!
• Do you stack up?- think pink
• Paper Cutz- your choice

Bugaboo birthday challenges, day 4...

Today's challenge at Catch the Bug is birthdays. The image is Golden Years from Gus Birthday, coloured with promarkers. He doesn't look like my Dad but the sentiment is perfect for him- he sometimes gets fed up with being old and says "I don't recommend getting old Ali!" to me! The papers are from a digi scrapping kit called One Year Older by Scrap Sisters. I treated myself to the card candy the other day because there is so much in a box that even I don't mind using it!

I would also like to enter this card for:

• Design Dollies- something freehand (I added the dot and dash border to the image with a gel pen)
• Sisterhood of Crafters- birthday

Bugaboo Birthday challenges, day 3...

Ok, so day 2 went a little bit awry! I had a card finished and ready before I saw that you had to use a specific image, but not to fear- I can use that one for the Friday challenge of 'anything goes' (which is the one card I had not finished) and you have longer to enter the cards than I thought so I should have time to make a card with the image and add it before the Tuesday challenge closes- phew!!

I'm hoping this isn't too cheeky- the recipient is 16 and has had a serious operation on her back, she now has an infection and I hear she needs some cheering up.

This card follows the sketch which is today's challenge at Catch the Bug. The image is ICU from the Nursing Stella Set coloured with promarkers. The papers are from a freebie download called 'Sweet Sprinkles' from Shabby Princess. The flower is made with Joy dies and the swirl is from a Marianne die with a couple of tiny gems on the ends.

I would also like to enter this card for:

• My time to craft- spots and dots
• The pink elephant- pink, orange and aqua

Blue for a boy...

Bugaboo stamps are running one day challenges all this week as part of their birthday celebrations and I'm going to try to enter them all. Today it is 'blue and white'- I know that could be for lots of things but it said baby boy to me.

I used Bugaboo's Cupie Baby stamp and made the circular greeting to fit around it. He is coloured with Promarkers. The papers are something I have had in my stash for ages and the mat has been cut with a Nellie's die. The word 'baby' and the little stars are cut with a Sizzlett die.

I would also like to enter this card for:

• Passion for Promarkers- baby card
• Paper Play- cutie patootie
• Totally Gorjuss- cuddly

Cards for Men DT card- Challenge 2...

There were some really great entries for our sketch challenge last time and this fortnight we have a theme for you - 'Let's Party!', so you could make a party invitation or a card for someone having a party. (As usual, it must be for a man or boy of course!) There are 4 digi images of your choice from Meljen Designs for our lucky winner.

The DT were lucky enough to be given some fantastic party digis by our lovely sponsor, Meljen's Designs, and I chose to make my card with this great party cat! It is well worth a trip over to her shop as she has lots of super cute images and loads of great freebies there like the sentiment I used here.

The papers are from the Stuff to Scrap January blog train 'Auld Lang Syne' and if you click on my card to make it larger you will see that the striped paper has silver ticker tape on it which I thought went really well with the confetti in the image! It is mainly coloured with Promarkers but I had to go back to my Whispers Brushmarkers to colour the lettering on the sentiment as they have a really fine detail end to them- my promarkers couldn't cope with that bit as I took the sentiment down to quite a small size LOL! Finished off with a couple of stars cut from silver scraps with an old Sizzlett die of mine. I love this die because it has a really tiny star and heart on it which are fabulous for making your own card candy but I am starting to have trouble with it because I have used it to cut quite thick card and that has squashed the foam so it can be a bit tricky if the star sticks in the die : (

Do please pop over to Cards for Men to have a look at what the rest of the DT girls have made and for more information about our sponsor. The challenge runs until 30th January so there's plenty of time for you to join in!

I would also like to enter this card in the following challenges:

• Craft Your Days Away- anything goes
• Totally Papercrafts- Happy Birthday (also sponsored by Meljen's!)

Bugaboo birthday celebrations...

Bugaboo Stamps is celebrating it's first birthday in style with a blog hop, a week long challenge and daily challenges starting on Monday. Of course there are lots of fabulous prizes to be won. I'm going to try to enter them all but this could be a challenge in itself, as I'm not usually that prolific in my cardmaking! This is my entry for the week long challenge on a birthday theme.

I have used this great Gus image that just makes me laugh and comes with the sentiment that I have used. The papers are from a Christmas blog train called 'The Greatest Gift'. The tiny stars are made with a Sizzlett die.

All Bugaboo Stamps are 60% off until next Saturday- I know I've added a few to my collection and I may still be tempted by more!

I would also like to enter this card for:

• One Stop Craft- a card for a male
• Sew many cards- birthday

A girly card for a change!...

I love making girly cards but as I have limited crafting time and more boys and men's cards to make I don't always get the chance to do it. The image is a trendy young girl by Pollycraft called 'Codi Stylin'' who has been coloured with Promarkers to match the digi scrapping papers that I downloaded from a blogtrain called 'Morning solitude' ages ago. The large flower was a real bargain from a large, cheap bunch which I bought at Wilkinsons and dismantled!
I had one of those 'AARGH' moments making this card! - I had just attached the backing paper with double sided tape when I realised that I still needed to put the brad for the flower through! I'm really fussy and could not bear having to cover the brad inside so had to flatten it on the flower then attach it with glue gel- saved!!

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

• One Stop Craft- for a child (I can see this for a 9 or 10 year old girl)
• Pollycraft- new things or those that you have had a while but not used (I got this lovely digi stamp quite a while ago but this is the first time I have used it)

Cards for Men DT card, Challenge 1...

Well, here we are starting a new year of challenges at Cards for Men. Thanks so much to everyone who took part in our blog hop and special challenges for our first birthday and congratulations to all our winners.

Our new challenge is a sketch by the super talented Shirley from our DT and this is what I did with it:

I used AJ with a sign from our sponsor, The Stamping Boutique, and added the sentiment in Photoshop. I printed him 3 times so I could decoupage him up and chalked the background to blend it better with the warm tones of the papers. The papers are from a Christmas blog train called 'The Greatest Gift' and I have used Labels 8 for all the shapes, which I have then inked to frame the shapes.

Our sponsor is The Stamping Boutique and they are kindly offering 5 digi stamps for our lucky winner.

Here's a bit about our sponsor: I'm Tracey Malnofski, the artist and owner of The Stamping Boutique. My team and I are very happy to sponsor Cards for Men. My store has been open since September 2009. I am currently a stamp artist for UnityStampCo. and I've worked for InStyleStamps, Squigglefly, and TheDigiShack in the past. I'm a professional artist and an active member of the Artist' Guild in my community. I have quite a busy household with a husband, 3 teenagers, 5 mini-dachshunds and an Appaloosa mare. It's noisy, but I love them all. I'm truly blessed. "The Stamping Boutique" is dedicated to quality products and original artwork. We not only provide wonderful digital images in our store, but also several lines of red rubber images. Our designers are chosen for their character and personality,as well as, their beautiful designs. We work hard to give you our very best. Thank you so much for having us as your sponsor this week.

The challenge runs until 16th January so don't forget to pop over to Cards for Men to see what the rest of our fantastic team have made and join in!

I'd also like to enter my card in the following challenges:

• One Stop Craft-  New Beginnings
• Totally Gorjuss- For someone special (this is for my son)
• Crafty Emma's- anything goes
• Creative Inspirations- use something new (new image and new papers)