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

An Anniversary card for my husband...

On Wednesday it will be our 15th Wedding Anniversary and we have been together for 20 years! (We are not as old as Stella and Gus in the image! We met at university. The image may be things to come though!) I love that sentiment, which actually came with a different Stella and Gus image, it is very us! We aren't big on lovey dovey- a favourite at the start of our relationship was, "Do you love me?", reply "I'm still here aren't I!" Well we are still here- and to think some of our friends said we would drive eachother mad and it wouldn't last!
The image and sentiment are from Bugaboo. The papers were a blogtrain download but I can't remember whose train! The little hearts are cut with my Crealies die and the top layer of the larger one has been glazed with Glossy Accents.

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

• Catch the bug- Dads, grads and other celebrations
• Secret Crafter- anniversary

Cards for Men challenge 11- no design papers..

It's time for another challenge at Cards for Men and this time we would like to see your guy's cards made without any design papers. Arrg! I was officially freaked when I saw this! I love my digi DPs and, after my image, they are where I start designing from.

Once I got over my panic I looked through my stash and found some amazing holographic card that I would usually consider too 'lairy', but had the perfect disco feel! Then I came across the midnight blue pearl card and my design started to come together.
The DT were lucky enough to be given images from our sponsor, Kenny K, and I have used 'Lets Party', which I have coloured with my Promarkers. The glitterball has been coloured with my Sakura Stardust pen to make it shine. I found the perfect sentiment to go with this as a freebie from Tracey Brossart, available here.
I decided to make a double stepped card to frame the image and to add interest as there are no DP. The back panels have been embossed with the Cuttlebug Christmas Stars folder, which is one of my favourites, and the stars at the bottom have been cut with a Crealies die.

As I mentioned earlier we are sponsored by Kenny K for this challenge and they have been super-generous and are giving 3 prizes!
1st prize- 3 digis, 2nd prize- 2 digis and 3rd prize- 1 digi. Wow!!
So with all these chances to win, as well as our usual top 3, why not pop over to Cards for Men and join in?
(I know I said 'no design papers' freaked me out but the rest of the DT have some fabulous inspiration for you!)

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

• ABC- unusual fold (ok, not that unusual but not the usual square)
• Digi doodle- embossing
• Totally Papercrafts- Don't be square
• Craft your days away- white + one (the purply blue)
• Mark's finest paper- tone on tone with the image popped up
• Paper sundaes- pop it up

Rockpool Fun...

I really enjoyed making this today! I bought the gingham papers from Pink Petticoat a week ago as I just love their fresh, clean look. The download includes plain papers to so I didn't have to search for matching card for the mats. The image is an old one from Sugar Nellie, which I think they have retired now. I have been admiring the bunting trend for a while now and have finally got myself a die. This is the Banner die from MTF Die-namics which I got from my friend Kitty's shop, My Mum's Craft Shop. I used this layout a few weeks ago for my dinosaur cards and liked it so much I decided to use it again for this. I decided to frame the image and sentiment with faux stitching rather than mat it to keep the look simpler. The card has been finished off with a couple of Card Candi.

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

• CRAFT- Happy Birthday
• Allsorts- photo inspiration of children on the beach
• Totally Gorjuss- water
• Challenge up your life- recycling (the narrow white ribbon that I have used to string the bunting was off the label on my new pyjamas!)

'Cupcake Inspiration' and lots of other challenges!...

As soon as I saw the photo at Cupcake Inspiration this week a card design appeared in my head and I have now found an evening to put it together!

The colours made me think of the 'Relax' papers from Summertime Designs and the birds reminded me of the bird stamps I got from the Elzybells closing down sale but had not inked up yet! - I know I'm bad!

The sentiment is a freebie from Scrap-a-licious Times and I printed it onto some of the DP by running it through my printer again. (Only do this on inkjets- my husband has warned me that it will do bad things to laser printers!) I coloured a white fabric flower with my Promarkers to match the papers and used a Papermania pearl brad in the center. I wanted this to be really feminine so have also added tiny pearls to the centers of the flowers on the image and 3 at the bottom of the card. The dark brown mats looked a bit too much on their own but when they are put with the other colours I think they work well.

This card also fits the following challenges:

• Daring Cardmakers- The Darling BUGS of May! (the bees)
• Paper Sundaes- Birthdays
• Corrosive- Birthdays
• Cupcake- In the Garden
• Spoon full of Sugar- Anything Goes
• Papertake Weekly- Bloom and Grow
• Truly Scrumptious- anything goes
• Do you stack up?- colour- celery, white and sea grass blue

Rainy days...

These 'Sonny Honeycloud' images from Pollycraft are so trendy! She is quite detailed so was rather fiddly to colour- but I like colouring so that was ok. The papers are a freebie from Shabby Princess called 'Sweet Sprinkles'. I recently 'rediscovered' this set, after going through a phase of using it loads a little while ago! The flowers are die cut with a Joy craft die and the swirl is a Marianne die.

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

• Charisma- under the weather
• Papertake Weekly- punches or die cuts
• Passion for Promarkers- for a teenager

Another dragon card...

When I printed off 'Clyde' from Bugaboo last time I ran off 2, so decided to use him again, but for a different card. The papers are from Summer Driggs Store and are called 'Fresh Start'. I have used quite a few of them but as they are all in the same colours I think it works?! The charcoal grey pearl card and the other scraps were in my stash. The fern leaves have been cut with a Crealies foliage die.

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

• Catch the Bug- Polka Dots and Stripes
• Stamp Something- anything goes

Cards For Men challenge 10- For someone special...

Time for our new challenge at Cards for Men, this time we would like to see a male card for someone special.

The DT were lucky enough to be given images by our sponsor, Digital Delights. You don't get more special than a new baby so I decided to use 'little dumpling' for my card.
I used a very soft colour scheme with yellowy cream and powder blue. The papers were a freebie download from Raspberry Road that I have had for ages. I picked up on the stitching detail from the bib and booties in the image and used a gel pen to border all the edges to give the design more definition as it is all so pastel.
The image has been mounted on 2 mats cut with a Nellies die and offset to give a lacy border.
The sentiment is a freebie, which can be found here. They come as PNG files so I was able to print it onto some of the DP using Photoshop. I cut the ribbon shape freehand and added a button.

Digital Delights  are offering 3 digi stamps of your choice for our lucky winner.
The rest of the DT have done an amazing job with their cards so please pop over to Cards for Men and take a look at all the inspiration.
The challenge runs until 23rd May so you have plenty of time to join in.

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

• Stamp something- use a digi
• Stampavie and more- baby
• Crafty Catz- quote or sentiment

A question for you...

I really like the Whimsey Stamps pennants die but as far as I can tell I can only get it from them in the United States. I have always bought my crafting stuff from UK companies and only bought digi stuff from abroad before.
I have heard horror stories about import taxes being charged in the UK and the Post Office adding another admin. charge for collecting them. This is putting me off a bit- has anybody got any experience of ordering from the US?

Tunes...

As my son is getting older I am trying to make more cool cards, as cute doesn't cut it anymore! So, when I saw this 'Jerry Tunes' image at Pollycraft I had to have it. The papers are a digi set called 'Play Ball' by Christi at Stuff to Scrap and the star embellishments are that Crealies die, yet again!
I tried something new for the sentiment. I printed the letters on my computer with spaces between them then cut them out so they were slightly uneven shapes. They have been attached to double sided tape behind the mat of the image before it was put on the card with 3D foam.

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

• Craft your days away- Music and dance
• Pollycraft- anything goes
• Paper Play- show us your style (male cards, colours from DPs, minimal embellishment)
• Papertake Weekly- anything goes

A dragon card...

I made this card for one of the men in my church housegroup. I usually have no problems making men's cards, in fact I probably make more guy cards than girl's cards, but this was a tricky one- I could not think which image to use for him. I then remembered that there are quite a few fantasy ornaments and pictures at his house so decided to use this cute dragon from Bugaboo which I coloured with my promarkers. The papers are a download from Summer Driggs called Easton and the tag was a freebie from Mudmaven Designs, printed onto the DP. I made the stacked star embellishment with a Crealies die that I have just bought.

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

• Stamp Something- things with wings
• Papertake Weekly- anything goes
• I love promarkers- song title- "Puff the magic Dragon"