Cards for Men challenge 20...

Well the last 2 weeks seemed to fly by! Our puppy, Bryn, is still keeping us really busy- especially when he got a upset stomach from eating clematis leaves in the garden! Sorry I didn't get around to visiting our entries until yesterday, but better late than never! For our new challenge at Cards for Men we are looking for your men or boy's cards on a Sport theme, so that should be a nice easy one!

My cousin is a mad, keen Liverpool fan so this is the card I made for him. I used the footballer from the Papermania 'Man's World' clear set, coloured with my Promarkers. The word stamp in the background is a wood mounted one from Funstamps. I have overstamped the red card with some mini football images but they don't really show up on the photo. Finally I used a personalised sentiment which I made on the computer and 3 tiny die cut stars.

Our sponsor is Peachy Keen Stamps. Check out the Cards for Men blog for details of the prize and to see the great cards made by the rest of the DT.


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

• I love Promarkers- include a number
• Southern Girls- anything goes
• Fairy Tale Challenge- sports
• Annabelle stamps- for a man
• Our Creative Corner- Numbers!

Cards for Men challenge 18 and a freebie sentiment...

Well, here we are, almost at the end of August. This time at Cards for Men we have 'G is for...' as our challenge. This one had me thinking to start with, but I eventually thought of green, grey, golf, Grandad, gnome, gardening and the one I finally used- guitar!

I dug out a wood mounted rubber stamp from Jolly Nation that I haven't used for ages for this one! Jolly Nation was my first stamping addiction, but not my last! My son plays electric guitar so I bought this to make a card for him. I coloured him with my Promarkers.
The papers were a freebie download  from No Reimer Reason called 'Americana'. I carried on the star theme by die cutting a star to mount the button on.
I made the sentiment myself and used a PNG file this time which allowed me to print it directly onto the paper. If you would like it, please help yourself!

We are sponsored by Letraset for this challenge and you know how I love my Promarkers! Pop over to the Cards for Men site for details of the prize and to see the rest of the fabulous DT cards. You have until 11th September to play along.



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

• Totally Gorjuss- Anything goes
• Challenge Up Your Life- For a man

Cards for Men challenge 17...

Well we are halfway through the school summer holidays here in England so we thought you might appreciate a nice easy one this time! So, we are having an 'Anything Goes' challenge at Cards for Men this time, but don't forget it must be for a man or boy!

The DT were lucky enough to have some Hope Jacare images to play with so I chose to use Trevor Turtle for this card and team him up with the brilliant sentiment from TLC. The papers are from an LDS Blogtrain called 'Fishers of Men'. I loved all the soft water and sand colours. After colouring Trevor with my Promarkers I cut him out and matted him on a circle of DP which I also used to print my sentiment onto. I made the little starfish 'candy' with a Sizzlet die and drew on the dots with a gelpen.

We are sponsored by Claire who draws the amazing digis at Hope Jacare for this challenge. Details of the prize can be found at Cards for Men. The rest of the DT have also used Claire's images so do pop over and take a look at the wonderful inspiration there and join in our challenge- you have until 28th August to take part.

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

• Ellephantastic- August- add some layers
• One Stop- at the beach
• Here come the boys- critters

Cards for Men challenge 16...

This time at Cards for Men we would like to see 'Clean and Simple' cards for men or boys.

I haven't really caught on to the trend for CAS cards, although I don't go mad with layers or embellishments normally either. I used 'Deacon bugs' from Bugaboo as my image and printed him out quite large, keeping some space around him when I cut him out. I coloured him with Promarkers, keeping to a limited pallette of mainly greens and browns. The small piece of DP is from the Stuff to Scrap 'Great Outdoors' blogtrain. I have also printed the sentiment on some plain DP from the same set. The sentiment is a freebie from Scrap-a-licious Times, finished off with a button from my stash which has been tied with baker's twine. Everything has been matted on some brown card from my stash.

We are sponsored by the wonderful One Stop Card Crafts website who are offering a £10 voucher for our lucky winner. The rest of our talented DT have made some fabulous cards so do pop over to Cards for Men for some more inspiration and to take part in our challenge.

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

• Delightful challenges- dog days of summer
• Stamp something- summer fun
• Polka Doodles- in an English country garden
• If the shoe fits- summer
• Fairytale challenge- summer
• Crafty Anns- summertime

Cards for Men challenge 15 and a freebie sentiment...

Welcome to our new challenge at Cards for Men. This time we would like you to 'Use a key' on your men's or boy's card. This challenge opens up all sorts of possibilities- new home, first car/test passed, 18th/21st birthday, Valentines or, like me, anniversary.

I've had this Prairy Fairy image called 'With all my heart' for ages and thought he would be perfect for my card. He has been coloured with Promarkers and the heart and his nose have been glazed with Glossy Accents.
The papers are a digiscrap set called 'Heart Attack' by The Latest Scoop, Too. I loved the fresh, slightly retro colours. I only posess 3 border punches- because I usually mat on card which they often won't go through- but I used printed red paper from the kit for this so I used my Fiskars heart punch to add a decorative border.
It's typical isn't it? When I don't need one I'm sure I saw key charms on the racks of £1 craft packs but when I want one- they don't! However after much searching and visiting 3 shops I found these little toppers and pulled off the tiny, metal key and padlock to make my own sentiment.

This is another of my own sentiments- I know it isn't perfect but I was experimenting with adding borders. If you would like to snag it as a freebie please do.

We are sponsored by Prairie Fairy for this challenge and if you haven't already come across their designs you are in for a treat. Pop over to the store to take a look. Please pop over to the Cards for Men site for details of the prize.

The rest of the wonderful Cards for Men DT have also used Prairie Fairy designs for their cards so do take a look at all the inspiration there. You have until 31st July to take part.

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

• Allsorts- free and easy
• Stamptacular- animal antics
• Ellephantastic- Celebrations

Cards for Men challenge 14 and a FREEBIE sentiment...

This time at Cards for Men we have a theme for you- 'Wild West'. So dig out your cowboy inspired images, make a card for a guy and join in!

Melissa at Meljen's Designs has some beautiful wild west images and the DT were lucky enough to be given some to make their cards with. I totally fell in love with the 'Get along little doggie' image and just had to use him for my card. I used digiscrap papers by Rainamoon Scraps called 'Stampedin'' from Stuff to Scrap. As well as using them for my DP, I paper pieced his little necker and cowboy hat using papers from the kit and printed my sentiment onto some more of the paper.

Lately I have been experimenting with making my own sentiments. They are still quite basic and I know there are far more impressive ones out there but I thought I would share the one I made for this card with you if you would like it. I thought the font looked sort of wild west- like a 'Wanted- dead or alive' sign!
Just click on the image below to enlarge it then right click and save it to your computer. Hope you can use it- I'd love to see some cards in the challenge with it!

I finished my sentiment off by matting it onto a nestie shape and adding a gold star that I thought looked rather like a sheriff's badge. I added a die cut fancy corner and some jute twine from Wilkinsons that I usually use for stringing up my peas in the garden! I learned how to do the 'looped figure of eight knot' by borrowing my son's Scouting Handbook- it gives a nice chunky but flat knot that would look even better on a smoother string.

Our sponsor, Meljen's Designs, is offering 4 digis for our lucky winner. Do visit her store and have a look at her beautiful digis- and don't blame me if you 'have to' have some! The DT have made some fantastic cards for inspiration, so make sure you pop over to Cards for Men to take a look at their work. You have until 17th July to join in with the challenge so why not give it a go?

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

• ABC- X for crossing ribbons (hope my rustic string counts!)
• Digi Doodle- anything goes
• Allsorts- free and easy July
• Here come the boys- spots and stripes

Cards for Men challenge 13...

This time at Cards for Men we would like to see your male cards featuring 'stars'.

We are sponsored by Stamping Boutique and, although we were given some images, I chose to use one I already had from them. If you follow the Stamping Boutique Blog Tracey posts occasional 24 hour freebies and I got this one a little while ago- you can now pick it up with a few others in her Birthday Set. I hope she will forgive me for using Photoshop to remove a flower from the heart shaped balloon to make it suit guys better! I find it really hard to colour balloons so they look light and transparent so I was challenging myself here- I think I got it with all of them except the red ones as I didn't have a shade of Promarker to fade to.

The papers are from The June Blog Train Blog 'Monkey-ing around'- they do blogtrains alternate months. The sentiment is a freebie from Scrap-a-licious Times and says 'Birthdays are good for you- the more you have- the longer you live'! The little layered star in the midle has been cut with a Crealies die.

Tracey from Stamping Boutique is kindly offering 5 digis for our lucky winner! The Cards for Men DT have made some great cards to inspire you- so why not pop over and see their work and join in the challenge? You have until 3rd July to take part.

I would like to enter the following chalenges:

• Do you stack up?- use a star
• Little Claire's Designs- Cards for men
• Paper Creator's crafts- for the men
• If the shoe fits- for men

Cards for Men- challenge 12...

Wow, that was a busy half-term holiday! I'm looking forward to getting back into the usual routine.
So here we are at challenge 12 and this time we would like to see your creations in blue and black. They must be for a male of course!

Sorry about the photo- it was taken in the last of the light to get it on the post in time! The DT were kindly given images for our cards by our sponsor, Heart Song Designs, and I have used this dreamy hot air balloon and teamed it with this lovely freebie sentiment from Scrap-a-licious Times. The papers were from a digiscrap kit called 'Little Spring Flowers' by Getting Scrappy with Britt.

Heart Song Designs are kindly offering 3 digi images, of your choice, for our lucky winner. The challenge will run until 19th June so there is plenty of time for you to pop over to Cards for Men and join in. While you're there, do have a look at the inspiration from the rest of the DT- lots of us have used the same image and it's interesting to see what we've all done with it!

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

• Charisma- something that flies
• Stamp Man- boys and men
• Stamp Something- digi day
• Paper Sundaes- lets get sentimental
• Cupcake Inspirations- I took- the blues, the domed shapes, the spirals reminded me of the Fleur de Lis and the plane linked with flight.

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

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

Cards for Men challenge 9- circles...

I haven't been around much lately because we have been away to visit my parents in Wales. The weather was fabulous and it was great to see them.
Our new challenge at Cards for Men is to make a card for a male using circles. My DT teamie Kitty set this challenge and it is a great open one for making any card you need. You could use a DP with circles, circle cutters, circular embellishments like brads or buttons or anything else you can think of!

The DT were lucky to be given images from our sponsor Fresh Brewed Designs. I used 'latte party' for my card and coloured it with a limited pallette of promarkers to match my papers. It has been double matted with a red pearlised card then a very pale, textured silver, both from my stash, which have been cut with nesties. The papers are from a blog train called 'Pirates not allowed' and I have used a spotted paper in both a light and dark colourway. I went back to my Fiskars circle cutter for the big circle- more fiddly than dies but it gets there in the end! The circle sentiment is a freebie which can be found here.

Heather from Fresh Brewed Designs is offering 3 digi images of your choice for our lucky winner and the challenge runs until the 8th May. Our new DT members are with us for this challenge and there is a great variety of cards for inspiration on the Cards for Men challenge site.

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

• Stamptacular Sunday- use 5 layers
• Sugar Creek Hollow- circles
• Polkadoodles- 3 patterned papers
• Meljens- Masculine
• The Rubber Cafe- polka dots

Cards for Men challenge 8- Easter...

We had some great entries for our embossing challenge and I tried to get around to all of you. For this challenge we are moving on to making Easter cards for guys- and I know some of the team found it quite challenging but there are some lovely DT cards so do take a look if you are in need of inspiration!

I used this cute bunny in an egg which was a freebie from Prairy Fairy for my card. My papers are from a purchased set from Summer Driggs store called 'Sit a spell'. I took my colours from the papers and kept everything quite natural- even though I have used dark brown for the mats I think it still manages to look quite springy. The sentiment is on a nestie ribbon slider and I drew around the inside of the die and cut out the oval freehand. I found some natural cotton tape that I had salvaged from some packaging in my stash and this was just perfect to thread the slider on. The corner is cut with a Sizzlet die from the offcut that the circle came from- waste not want not!

We are sponsored by Peachy Keen Stamps and they are kindly offering 2 stamp sets for our lucky winner. Do pop over to Cards for Men to check out these sets as they have loads of stamps in each and while you're at it why not join in? The challenge closes on 24th April.

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

• Craft your days away- spots and stripes
• Papertake weekly- anything goes
• Simon says- Easter
• CRAFT- animals/pets
• I love Promarkers- Easter
• Paper play- critters galore
• Paper cutz- image of a bunny. lamb,chick or egg
• Stampin' for the weekend- Easter
• Totally gorjuss- Something fluffy!

Cards for Men challenge 7- Embossing...

We had so many gorgeous entries for the sketch challenge and it's great to see that so many of you want to join us on the DT! We are now visiting all your blogs and Donna will announce the new team members on the CFM site as soon as we can decide!
Anyway, on to our new challenge- Embossing, which I'm proud to say I was asked to set so I hope you like it! I actually set it to challenge myself too because I often neglect my embossing folders but am always pleased with the results when I use them- lol. It doesn't have to be embossing folders, you can also do heat embossing with powders or hand embossing with brass stencils and a stylus. Don't forget- your card must be for a man or boy.

The DT were lucky enough to be able to choose images from our sponsors- Paper Pretties. I used the 'Go, go Gordon' digi image, which I have coloured with my promarkers. I quite often use the dotty technique that I have used here for grounding the image but this is the first time I have used it this much to make a background- I think it works?!
My papers are from a digi scrapping bloghop by Stuff to Scrap called 'March of the Animals'. I embossed a plain, distressed effect piece of the DP with the 'Christmas Stars' embossing folder by Cuttlebug (silly title- I use it far more during the year!). I then matched a piece of Core'dinations card to the greens and embossed it with a new border folder I got from Papermania called 'Tasty Trims' before sanding it back to bring out the core.
The ticket sentiment was a free digi from Mudmaven Designs.

The challenge runs until 11th April so why not pop over to Cards for Men to check out the rest of the great DT cards and enter for yourself?
Paper Pretties are offering a super-cute pirate clear stamp with loads of sentiments for our winner, details on the CFM site.

Did you notice my new watermark? Sarah, aka Rainmac, from our DT was kind enough to send me a voucher for Whimsey Stamps when it was my birthday and I used it to get this and a lovely shaped border digi that I'm hoping to get the chance to play with soon. Thank You!

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

• I love Promarkers- go dotty (DP plus dotty colouring technique)
• Sisterhood of crafters- let's hear it for the boys

Cards for Men challenge 6- a sketch...

Our challenge at Cards for Men this fortnight is a great sketch by our DT member, Mandy. We are sponsored by Letraset, who are offering a set of 12 Promarkers for our lucky winner. The challenge runs until 27th March so why not pop over to CFM for the rest of the details and to see the great cards the rest of the team have made.
Edited to add: We're having a DT call at CFM- details on the challenge blog.

So here's my offering-

I used this lovely little gardening teddy from Elzybells (now closed down) and coloured him with my promarkers. I printed this design paper ages ago then didn't use it so was glad to find the perfect card for it. The paper is from a Stuff to Scrap blogtrain called 'great outdoors' and I found matching cardstock in my stash. I was so chuffed when I remembered I had these brads- my husband got me them for Christmas years ago!

I would also like to enter this card for:-

• Paper Play- shades of green
• Colour Create- Green, brown, cream and black with an option of leaves
• Stamp Something- green and cream
• Allsorts- 'the luck o' the irish'- lots of green is fine

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 challenge 4- a recipe...

Well our Valentines and Love challenge was very popular and it was great to see all your entries. This time at Cards for Men we have a recipe for you- 1 image, 2 design papers, 3 embellishments (could be 3 different or 3 of one thing) and, as usual, it must be for a man or boy.

I used this cute Deacon image by Bugaboo for my card, but I used Photoshop to remove a little heart from the right of the boy's head when I was resizing it as I wanted the card to have more general appeal. My 2 DP are from a blog train download called French Tulips and, as you can see, I have used quite a busy check so I have teamed it with a simple tone on tone dot. I've added a tabbed sentiment and 2 die cut corners in the same card as my mats. My 3 embellishments are the card candy which seems to be cropping up on most of my cards at the moment!

We are sponsored by One Stop Card Crafts for this challenge. They stock a wide range of card making goodies- so do pop over and take a look at what they have. For more info on the challenge, the prize from One Stop Card Crafts and of course more wonderful inspiration from the rest of the DT see Cards for Men. You have plenty of time to take part because the challenge runs until 27th February.

I would also like to enter this card for:

• Simply Create- 'it's bright in here'
• Delightful Challenges- punches/ die cuts
• Little Claire's- anything goes

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

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!)

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)

Cards for Men is One Year Old and we have 2 challenges and a Blog Hop to celebrate!!..

Wow, can you believe it's been a year of challenges over at Cards for Men? To celebrate we have lots going on with tons of prizes available.
There are two challenges this time, both with a Christmas theme. You can make a card or a present or both, it's up to you. We'll draw a random winner for each category and top 3 as usual. You can get all the details and lots more ideas from the rest of the DT over at the main site. Here's what I made:

Firstly my card. I kept this quite simple- the holly design is some printed card from my stash which I have used to make my base card. The red and green have been cut with Nesties and my scallop scissors. The image is a digi by Bugaboo and coloured with promarkers and I made the sentiment on the computer. It reads 'If you stop believing in Santa you get socks for Christmas!'.

The gift is my homemade Green Tomato Chutney which I made from the plants I grew last summer (seems like a lifetime ago with my garden now covered with snow!). One thing I'm loving about digis is that you can resize them, so the image is a bit smaller here.

The topper was also made on my computer and now you can see how the set comes together. (You don't have to make them match- I just wanted to!)
I made two cards and decorated jars for two of the men in my church housegroup whose birthdays I missed when I was up to my eyes writing reports earlier this year. Here they are all together.

Also, we are having an Anniversary Blog Hop. If you didn't come to me from Donna I would hate for you to miss anything so you can get the full list of blogs on the Hop over at Cards for Men. At each stop there'll be a word to collect and a candy draw. I'm so excited to have 3 fabulous digi images of your choice from Hope Jacare to give away.

Here's a bit about Claire who draws these amazing images: "I'm a SAHM with three young children. I trained in Textile Design at the Glasgow School of Art and I love all things handmade, but especially papercrafts.  I love to doodle ... and my doodles are available to purchase as digital images through Stitchy Bear Stamps."

To be in with a chance of winning this great candy  at my stop you just need to leave a comment at the end of this post. A random winner will be drawn on 20 December 2010.

Each stop will have more fabulous candy and a word which you should collect to make up a festive phrase. My word is 'And'. At the end of the blog hop you should have 11 words, work out the phrase and leave it in the comments back at Cards for Men to be in with a chance of winning another great prize. The blog hop will run until midnight on 19th December 2010 and a winner will be chosen on 20th December.

Your next stop is Amy. If you lose your way you can go back to Cards for Men to get the full list. Hope all this makes sense and Good Luck everyone.