Polishing the Motor!

Good morning, time for a new challenge at Cardz4Guyz. 

This time we are looking for your masculine cards on the theme of -

SOMETHING BEGINNING WITH P

Here's my card, which I made for a friend's birthday earlier this month.

I used one of the fab digis from Lili of the Valley called Elbow Grease for my P, for polishing of course!

I started by cutting out two and 1/2 large scalloped circles from white card and two smaller plain circles. The smallest circle I embossed with a Sizzix brick wall EF, then inked with a mixture of Rusty Hinge and Fired Brick DI. The larger of the plain circles, I edged with a brown Copic marker, about 1/4" in, the embossed one was then glued on top leaving a brown border.

After printing off my digi, I used Copics to colour and then fussy cut him out.

To make my base card, I created a hinge on one of the circles by scoring a line down one side. To ensure the card will stand up, I ensure that at least 2 of the scallops are at right angles to the scoreline.

The 1/2 circle was aligned with the base card and excess cut away as required before adding back some of the missing background to the digi with a black fine liner. My image was then added on pads.

The sentiment is actually made from a Woodware birthday stamp, I just stamped it 3 times, inked the sentiments with the same mix of DIs and cut out the letters. The Ds became Ps by inverting them and the H was capitalised with a flourish of a black fine liner. The letters were then arranged onto the background and glued flat.

So where will the theme take you, we'd love to see your take in our gallery.

There's more 'P' inspired makes by the rest of the DT here if you need more inspiration.

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Embossing

Watercolour Snowdrops

Morning, I'm up over on the Uniko blog with some BA Inspiration using Spring Botanicals -Snowdrops. 

Here are my cards, details of which you will find here.

My stating point was the current challenge at CAS Mix Up as well as the one over at The Flower Challenge. Thanks ladies for inspiring me to get my watercolours out from the back of the cupboard!

All the details on the makes are over on the Uniko blog here.

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Color Hues #33

 Good afternoon. As we are over halfway through January already, it's time for a new colour combo at Color Hues. This time it was my turn to choose and I went with a wintery combination I hope you'll like. 

Here's my take using the new combination.

I made my card for my Son in Law's Grandparent's Platinum wedding. The platinum theme caused a bit of a mental block to begin with but I went down the silver and white route and they seemed to like the card.

I had a rummage through my silver card drawer, yes sad person that I am, I have one, and pulled out a variety of silver card, including some which when photographed has a shade of pink in it for some reason! Perhaps I had a pink top on when I photographed it, I can't remember! There was also some sparkly and flat white card and even some satin effect black with a hint of sparkle to give a little bit of depth.

After die cutting an oval into an A5 panel of white card, I added some texture paste through a STAMPlorations stencil and left it to dry. Once dry the panel was trimmed to leave a small border when added to my A5 base card. The flowers were die cut using Altenew's Rose Flurries dies and were arranged around the oval to create a pleasing arrangement.

The die cut sentiment is a mix of 2 STAMPlorations die cuts, C from Merry Christmas and elebrate from celebrate, I had to have a capital C and the celebrate is lower case! The 60 was cut using a freebie die and the stamped one is an ancient Uniko one long since retired.

So where will our colours take you? We'd love to see your take in the gallery but if you need more inspiration, check out the rest of the DT and our GD here.

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Sending Love and Hugs

Time for a new challenge at Perfectly CAS, so here is my take on this month's cue word.

I used one of my brand new, thanks Santa, wreath dies from Sizzix, some Altenew die cut flowers, Garden Picks, as well a their latest challenge colours and an embossed sentiment. My pinks aren't quite as vibrant as their cue card colours!

After die cutting my wreath from a panel of white card, I added a panel of grey paper from my stash behind it and stamped the sentiment and heat embossed with white EP. The flowers I already had, cut out and not used on an earlier project, so a few swipes of my Copic markers and they were assembled and added to my wreath. The finished panel was then added to a white base card. Simples.

So where will you go with the cue word, we'd love to see. Check out the rest of the team here for more CAS inspiration.

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Wallpapering

Morning all.

There's a brand new challenge starting over at Cardz4Guyz after our Christmas break. This time it was my choice of theme and I chose

SPOTS and/or STRIPES

Here's my take using just stripes.

I bought this digi from LOTV, he seemed the perfect subject for this first outing, on a stripey card!

The image was coloured to match the NitWits DP which I added as two small strips to replicate wallpaper. I even left one piece rolling back down the wall after the little man had turned his back, just for a little bit of humour!

Coloured with Copics to match the DP and fussy cut, he stands on pads on a matching carpet and against an off white wainscot made with a scrap of card, some scored lines and some more Copic colouring. The simple stamped sentiment is also LOTV.

So where will our theme take you? There's plenty more masculine inspiration over on the Cardz4Guyz blog from the DT.

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Week 658 A/G with option Something New

Challenge No #167 Theme: SIMPLE STARTS (CAS theme)

A New Year and a New Challenge at STAMPlorations

Good morning.

It's a new year so it's also a new month and time for a brand new challenge at STAMPlorations. Here's my take on this month's theme and photo prompt.

I was inspired by the multicoloured Cheerios and the theme of cups.

The cup is from  Always Tea Time, plus the freehand addition of a saucer and the multicoloured background panel was made using the smaller of the Bloomdala Bliss #14 Masks. 

After securing the mask onto a panel of white card, I inked through it with three DIs to create my rainbow of colours, Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry and Salty Ocean. Putting it to one side, I then stamped the large china cup from  Always Tea Time, and added a freehand saucer for it to sit on. I could have used the cup and saucer from the same set but wanted the larger image. The delicate floral details were coloured using Copics and then the cup and saucer were fussy cut. 

From an A6 panel of white, I cut a circular opening and popped my stencilled panel behind on pads before adding the teacup and saucer to the front. The sentiment from the same set was stamped in black to complete.

How will you interpret the theme or perhaps the photo will inspire you. If you are like me then perhaps both will kick start your design process. For more inspiration, why not check out the rest of the team here and join in, we'd love to see your take in the gallery link up.

Cute Christmas Penguin

Good evening.

It gets busy on my blog at the beginning of each month as new challenges start, so here is another card to share for the latest one at HLS CAS.

As this is an anything goes challenge this month, I've used one of my Christmas designs using an LOTV penguin as inspiration.

I wanted to use some DP that I had use a while ago but it seems that it had all been used up, so I went and made my own with some DI inking in Chipped Sapphire and a white pastel pencil. I chose pastel pencil as it is wont to smudge and that's exactly what I was looking for here, to represent the stars. I did add some white gel pen where I thought it too soft! The bottom half of the inky panel I masked off to create some snow drifts and depth. The finished panel was added to the back of a white die cut frame and my fussy cut, Copic coloured, penguin was added to one side. The sentiment is part die cut(STAMPlorations) and part stamped (Woodware). The part die cut was popped up on the same die cut in foam and the stamped element added on a banner.

So what will you come up with when you have free rein, just don't forget to keep it CAS!

There's more DT inspiration over at the HLS CAS page.

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Twas the Challenge before Christmas

Challenge No #51 Theme: CLEAN AND SIMPLE

Challenge No #166- CUTE AND CUDDLY CHRISTMAS 

no twist for me

Color Hues #32

Good afternoon and a Happy New Year!

I hope I find you you well, if not I send you all best wishes for a speedy recovery.

It's a new year, new month and a new challenge at Color Hues. This time we have a lovely bright, colour combination, just the thing to cheer on a dark, January day!

Here's my take.

I kept it pretty simple, blending the two colours on a pre embossed panel of white card.

The leaf spray is Memory Box and the sentiment is Mama Elephant.

The inks used were both from Altenew sets, Ruby Red and Ultraviolet, where they overlap they form a soft plummy shade of red. The colours change where the card has been stressed by being put through the EF, the name of which is lost in the mists of time! It could be a X-cut one I bought in Hobbycraft before Covid struck. 

The sentiment, heat embossed with white on black is from one of their large sentiment sets, Sending Hugs but there are some lovely small sentiments that work perfectly well on their own too.

The inked panel was trimmed and added to an A6 side fold card to complete.

For more fab red and purple inspiration, please check out the rest of the team and our GD here.