The good life...

Another of my pre-stamped images from 'the box' - this time I used a rubber stamp that I have had for ages from Paper Nation- I tend to stamp a couple as they are in a crate and when I've got them out and inked them I might as well! I teamed him with one of my favourite digi-scrap papers from an STS blogtrain called French Tulips- this check (I know more checks!!) is so versatile for guy's cards. I printed the sentiment from TLC straight onto the paper and finished the card with some foliage cut with a Crealies die and a few Candi.

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

• Make it Monday- linky party
• Cupcake- Ooh la la (French Tulips papers- reds and blues)
• Cards for men- kicking back, relaxing
• Waste not Wednesdays- neglected stash (image stamped ages ago)

Job congrats and a FREEBIE senti...

Well, I'm managing to keep up with making the odd card and entering a few challenges and I even have a freebie sentiment for you today.
This card has been made with 'Maurice' by Pollycraft and he has been coloured with promarkers to match the papers from an LDS Blogtrain called 'Called to Serve'. The little stars have been cut with a Sizzlett die from card from my stash.

I made the sentiment and if you can use it please feel free to help yourself! (Click on the image to make it full size then right click and 'save picture as'.)

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

• Totally Papercrafts- male card
• Allsorts- 3 in a row
• Make it Mondays- always anything goes

Good Luck Meltham Footballers- at Old Trafford!..

I made this card for the staff of the school where I teach to all sign for the Year 6 football team. They have had an amazing season. They are now the National Champions for school teams after winning in our area, then region and finally in a regional tournament last weekend. This weekend they will play on the hallowed turf of Old Trafford in the Community Cup Final before the play off finals which could see Huddersfield Town playing in the Champion's League next season. Go Meltham! Go Town!

Update:
Meltham CE School football team won 2-0!
Pity Town couldn't match their success!

The card is a bit larger than my usual square as we all needed space to sign. (A4 folded)  They will be playing in Town kit tomorrow, as the Community Cup sees schools represent local teams, so the card has been done in blue and white. In my mind, they're stars already for getting this far, so I used my Crealies Die to cut stars for the card. The image is Papermania, the background stamp is Funstamps and the sentiment was computer generated.

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

• Charisma- Boy oh boy
• Digi Doodle- Anything goes
• Do it with Digis- It's all about the boys

Cards for Men challenge 5- Water...

I can't believe we're up to challenge 5 this year- where's the time going?! This time we have a 'Water' theme at Cards for Men and the challenge runs until 13th March so why not pop over and join in?

I was inspired by the image from Hope Jacare to go all curvacious with my card! Claire's images always strike me as 'curly, swirly' and are a joy for those of us who love colouring in. I had this wonderful digi paper set in a download from Mommy Me Time Scrapper called To The Sea and added the sentiment to the tag in Photoshop.
This card gave me a chance to have a first play with my new card cutting die from Go Kreate, available exclusively from Click on Crafts. It is designed to cut through a folded card to give you a shaped card but I had a little trouble at first- I think I cut my bases from quite sturdy card (which in the end the die had no problem cutting) but my Big Shot felt tight with all tabs and too loose with tab 2 off so I used an old slim calendar to act as a shim. It was perfect because I could adjust how many pages to put through until it felt just right. I used it on top of tab 1 on the multipurpose platform and under the cutting plate sandwich. As this is an easel card the brown front was one layer so this went through fine with all tabs then just needed a little hand trimming where the fold would be. I drew around the inside of the card die to shape my papers perfectly then cut them out by hand. The shape matched nicely with nesties Labels 8 which I used for the image.
The swirl is cut from an oddment of glitter card that I rescued from a card my son got ages ago. It matched so well- now I have justification for all the bits I keep! The easel is supported on card candy. I kept the embelishment simple because of all the curvy shapes- the only straight line on this card is the fold at the back of the easel!

We are sponsored by Claire from Hope Jacare and she is offering 3 digi images to our lucky winner. The rest of the DT have made fabulous cards with her images too, so do pop over to Cards for Men to see their work and for the rest of the challenge details.

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

• Shannon's Sentiments- fussy cutting
• Card Creations and More- sparkle
• Stamp, Scrap and Doodle- easel card
• The Stampman- curls and swirls
• Stampin' for the Weekend- monochrome
• Do you stack up? - anything goes

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)

New Home card...

Sorry about the awful photo! I can't redo it because it had to be made, photographed and given yesterday! This is for my husband's business partner and his family. I used a Pollycraft digi image and digi papers from the Family Home Evening blog train in warm autumn colours. I kept the layout simple as I did not have time for complicated but I couldn't resist doing the little dots around the mat and on the heart to pick up the dots on the image. The flower has been home made from felt with a Sizzix originals die and I cut the foliage with another die.
I would like to enter this card in the following Challenges:

• Papertake Weekly- any challenge from the last 3years- I'm doing 'check this out' from Feb 2010 with the gingham paper.
• Cute Card Thursday- 'make your own' with my felt flower.
• Charisma- 'Autumn colours'.
• The Stamp Man- Autumn
• Pollycraft- anything goes.

Cards for Men DT card- Challenge 19...

Our challenge this fortnight is to make a card for a man or boy on the theme of transport and we are being sponsored by Peachy Keen Stamps who are giving not 1, but 2 stamp sets to our lucky winner!

Here's a bit about our sponsor: Peachy Keen Stamps is a family owned and operated leading clear stamp manufacturer based out of Northeast Wisconsin. Our stamps are made with the highest quality polymer on the market today, giving them their unique peach tint. The whimsical images designed by Kathy Jakopovich coupled with their durability make them a favorite amongst scrapbookers, card makers, and artists alike. These stamps are sold exclusively online at www.peachykeenstamps.com and at independent stamp and scrapbook stores worldwide. Please visit our website for a complete list of retail locations.

I decided to make a 'congratulations for passing your driving test card' using this Elzybells stamp that was from the large order of stamps that I just had to have before they close! The torn up 'L' plate and the sentiment both come from a Woodware clear set. The papers are from a Stuff to Scrap blog train called 'French Tulips'.

Your Next Stamp have 'anything goes' as their challenge,  Fab 'n 'Funky have 'what'eva!' and Paper Cutz have 'any theme, any colour' so I am entering this for all these. The Creative Cottage have 'celebrations'- what better reason to celebrate than passing your test! Stamp Something have 'spots and stripes' and this fits with my backing papers. Finally, Crafty Creations also have 'transportation' as their theme.

You are not The Stig!...

If you aren't from the UK this sentiment may not make much sense to you! The Stig is a mystery (or now not so mystery!) racing driver on a car show called Top Gear.

I made it as a 'congratulations on passing your driving test card' and I made the sentiment, which reads "You are NOT The Stig! Well done and take care!" myself on the computer. I wanted a trendy, grungy look for this card with a young driver in mind but I'm not totally happy with it- I prefer the other car card that I made today but I can't show you that yet!

I'm entering this card in the Allsorts Challenge of 'New Beginnings' as it is for a new driver and the Karber Challenge of 'a card for a boy' as this is aimed at a 17 or 18 year old.

Ladies who lunch...

Margaret, who has been a support assistant in our reception class for 19 years, retires this summer so I made this card for her. She is 65 but so elegant and young minded that this card had to be a 'not -your-typical-retirement-card'! I chose to use this Elzybells image and paper pieced the dresses from the digi paper which I scaled to size with Photoshop. The papers are a free download from Summertime Designs and the colours are very her! I love using tabs for sentiments but this time I used the end of a nestie labels 8 to make a shaped tab and I think it works well. I really need one of those things to help tie bows- I rarely use them as I have so much grief making them!

I am entering this card for the Pink Elephant challenge of 'brown' because all the DT cards are something with brown and I have a brown bow, brown in my paisley paper and have matted with brown too!

Spotty and stripy New Home card...

My neighbour saw me photographing another easel card in the garden the other day and after admiring it asked me to make a New Home card for her neice so this is what I came up with. I have used the free download 'Festival' papers by Shabby Princess again because I just love the colours. The little image has been emphasised with several mats and layers and coloured with promarkers to match the papers.
Charisma Cards have 'spots and stripes' as their theme this week so I am entering this card.

Mummy-to-be card...

I'm really not sure if I like this card! It has taken quite a while coming together. I printed the front papers when I saw Colour Create's combo of pink, orange and green. They are a free download called 'Happy Mothers' Day' by Summertime Designs. But they have been sitting around for over a week because I was helping out at our Church Holiday club last week and, although we all had a fantastic time, I was too tired to craft in the evenings!

The design started to come together when I saw Friday Sketchers challenge. There were lots of curves which made me think of this Elzybells stamp, which I have had for ages but just not got around to inking up yet! I decided to follow this sketch and round the front of the card which meant I needed to go back to my DP and print a paper for the inside as it would show. About a week ago I persuaded my husband to answer loads of the things I wanted to do with Photoshop but couldn't and he even showed me some things I hadn't thought of! Refering back to my notes, I was able to lighten the pink by altering the opacity and overlay the flowers at the bottom and top corner before printing- I even impressed myself!

I had been thinking about Stamp Something's challenge to use a charm on your card- I don't have any charms! I decided to have a go at making one, so used a little bootie stamp from a Woodware clear set to stamp on shrink plastic. I used a hole punch to make the hole before cutting them out. I knew they were going to end up tiny because they were pretty small before I started but also because I checked them with my shrink plastic ruler (see end of post). They were so small that my heat gun kept blowing them away so I ended up heating them in a ramekin dish to keep them in one place! They are suspended from the mulberry flower by a fine silver thread as I do not have any jewellery making stuff.

Shrink Plastic Ruler.

I don't claim this as my own idea but can not remember where I heard it! Take an off cut of shrink plastic and, using a permanent pen, draw on a line with a ruler and mark off and number each centimeter. Shrink the 'ruler' and use it to give a guide of how small your shrinkies will end up. For example- Measure your stamp in cm. then find the same size on your 'ruler' to get an idea of their final size when shrunk. Sorry for the blurry photo but this is seriously small!

Yellow and black- not colours I often put together!

Papertake Weekly have a take-your-pick colour combi as their challenge this week. I have been looking at the colour choices for a few days now and then it suddenly struck me- I made this card a couple of weeks ago to thank the man who has run a Multi-skills club at my son's school but not posted it before! It did not fit any challenges at the time and I was beginning to wonder if it ever would! I am entering this because it is YELLOW and BLACK.

I painted the Jolly Nation football boy with brushmarkers using the colours of the school PE kit, adding the school logo to the top! He is 3D over a chalked background, mounted with some textured yellow and some mirri embossed with stars. I then stamped some more yellow with the 'You're a star!' sentiment and the two stars from the Playtime clear stamp set from Woodware. The sentiment is from my ever-trusty Elzybells clear greetings.

Scottish dancing retirement card.

I have been at the school where I work part time for four years now and it will be all-change next year because two of the three teachers that I work with are retiring. When I saw this stamp I had to have it for Mary's card- even though she has lived in Huddersfield for years now she is still a strong Scot and enjoys Scottish dancing which we had great fun trying to teach the children once! The place won't be the same without her.

I have never played along with The Sugar Bowl challenge before because I have only just bought my first four Sugar Nellies, but I have been dying to get the chance because I have been really busy with school stuff since I got them! I finished school on Wednesday with being part time so was able to have my first real crafting session in ages and this is what I made from the sketch with the 'please include' of ribbons and/or bows.

The design papers are all from a free download by Raspberry Road Designs. I paper pieced the kilt then coloured the rest of her with brushmarkers. The sentiment is made from my favourite Elzybells clear set which covers so many occasions!

New dog welcome card.

I used sketch #45 from Sketch Saturday for this card. Both stamps come from my new Elzys and I have been dying to ink them up! I coloured the image with my new Prismas and am quite pleased with how the dog came out, less so with the 'sky'! The background paper was a free download but I can't remember where from, sorry. Pink Elephant have a recipe challenge this week- use stamps,embossing and punches. I am entering this card because the little paw print is heat embossed to make it shiny and it has been punched out with a circle punch- a tiny detail, I know, but I didn't want to clutter the card up too much!

"You Passed" card.

I have a box of cards at the school where I teach part-time and there has been a test congratulations card in there for ages. Suddenly, last week, it sold and someone else asked where it was because she wanted to buy it too! Typical!

I managed to restock on pearlised paper to print onto at Holmfirth Mill and was really pleased because it can be hit and miss there and I had almost run out. The paper was printed from a Crafter's Companion CD that I got as a Christmas present and the red is also from the mill shop pay-per-box. The image and sentiment are from a Woodware clear set that I have had for ages and I water coloured it using Whispers pens scribbled onto an acrylic block and painted on. I particularly like to do this when using black because it gives a less solid colour so you can still see the detail of the stamp. The bumper and wing mirrors have been coloured with a silver gel pen. I followed a sketch on Mojo Monday week 77. Sorry the photo isn't very good, I had to take it in the early evening and the light was going.

Saturday Challenge #21 and Cupcake Challenge #57

Secret crafter Saturday Challenge was to make a card featuring 'Transport'. Cupcake Challenge was a sketch which I have rotated and made square- very square in fact! The stamp is Jolly Nation and the patterned paper is BasicGrey. I had fun experimenting with sponging ink around the edge of the rust card which is something I have not tried before but will definitely do again. I'm not a huge peel off fan but I think the 'Happy Retirement' works here because it matches the other gold elements. A square punch to fit these letter stamps was a good investment!

I'm very excited to say that one of my cards is in the showcase on Elzybells blog today- thanks Elizabeth.