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)

Cards for Men Blog Hop candy winner...

I was lucky enough to be able to offer 3 fabulous digi images of your choice from Hope Jacare as candy on my blog and the lucky winner of this great prize is.....

Lindyloo

....congratulations hun and thanks for taking part in our first Blog Hop! Please email cardsformen@donnasden.co.uk to claim your prize.

If you followed the whole Blog Hop the rest of the girls are starting to post their winners or you can wait 'til later this afternoon when Donna is going to post all the winners at Cards for Men.

Have a fabulous Christmas everyone!

Hugs, Alison xx

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.