Tuesday 19 September 2023

A Rainbow of Stars

Good morning and welcome to a post for the new challenge at Cardz4Guyz.
This time our theme is:-

STARS

Christmas or otherwise this is quite a broad theme. I had lots of ideas but I kept coming back to a card I remember by my old Uniko buddie Sarah, (Sazzle Dazzle). It also appealed to me because I knew a certain grandson would love it too!


I chose a rainbow of inks from my Altenew selection and went ahead to stamp the large stars onto a panel of A6 white card, infilling the gaps with a few smaller stars in black, all the stars are from Uniko's Background Builder Seeing Stars stamp set.  Once I had covered enough of the panel, I stamped a Wplus9 happy and fussy cut it out. I do have the die cut but it isn't the same as the stamp and anyway I wanted a white border around the text. The birthday from the same Wplus9 set was stamped on a scrap of red and embossed with white EP. All the elements of the sentiment were then added to my panel with foam tape.

So where will you go with this new theme? Just keep it suitable for a male and you've cracked it but if you need more inspiration check out the rest of the team here.

Joining in over at:-


Wk 746 Masculine

Monday 18 September 2023

Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration

Morning all. 
I'm up over at Uniko with a little bit of Christmas card inspiration using the Season Of Beauty stamp set.


All the details are on the Uniko blog here.

Friday 15 September 2023

Color Hues #72 - Lindsey's Legacy Hop

Hi and welcome a day early for the new challenge from Color Hues.

Today, we have a very special challenge, in conjunction with our normal colour duo, the Color Hues design team along with a few guests, from our sister challenge Seize the Birthday, are participating in a blog hop! 

Collectively as a team, we are hopping in memory of our dear friend, fellow card maker, and design team member, Lindsey Martin-Penny, who sadly passed away last year from a rare and aggressive form of ovarian cancer. 

 

The purpose of this hop will be to honor Lindsey, celebrate her life and all that she loved, as well as spread the word to raise funds for Clear Cell Ovarian Cancer Research.  


How can you help? You can find all the details and the start of the hop at Emily's blog here!


In honor of Lindsey, the team has created a variety of cards using her favorite color combo of Purple and Red.


Here's my card.


This image is another blast from the past that I'd forgotten all about until I went looking for something completely different the other day! It's a Lili of the Valley stamp called Millie Just for you. 
After colouring with Copics and fussy cutting, I created a frame using a die from MFT and added some embossed white to the background. Originally I was going to use some flowery DP that matched the flower for the background but decided I needed something a little plainer so opted for this panel of purple card from my stash and a Uniko sentiment embossed in white EP.

The next stop on the hop is Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers.  Please be sure to leave a comment at each of the stops where you can learn more about Lindsey’s life, her loves and her legacy.

If you get lost along the way, please return to Emily Leiphart’s blog for the hop list and details. 


So where will you go with these new colours? We'd love it if you joined us here but equally we'd really love it if you joined in Lindsey's Legacy Hop.

Can't be late!

Good morning all.
I'm here to share my card for the last of my GD stint at Sparkles. This month our theme is:-

ALICE in WONDERLAND

Here's my card featuring the White Rabbit.


I've had this image from a colouring book in my stash for a few years, he was perfect for this challenge.
Coloured him with Copics, using a Googled image as a guide and fussy cut him out. I knew I had a sentiment in my stash that would be just right and stamped it onto a tag I'd cut from some scrap card that matched my base card, it came free with a mag a few years ago. 
The layout was down to a You Tube watch from Penny Black, always happy to find some good sketches, think this will be quite a useful one. Using an A6 panel of card I used for the base, I die cut the circle using a MFT die and glued the frame part of it back into the opening and secured with tape. On another scrap of card, I embossed some watches using a Tri Boss EF and glued it to my base card. Some jute twine was wrapped around the edge and the sentiment tag added along with a matching bow. The front panel was then added on pads,then the White Rabbit.

So how will you interpret the theme, we'd love to see your takes in the gallery. 
For more inspiration, check out the rest of the DT here.

Tuesday 5 September 2023

Prim Poppy

Morning all.
The weeks are steaming by and it's time for a brand new challenge at Cardz4Guyz where our theme this week is:-

POPPIES and/or REMEMBERENCE

I love poppies and this year the wild ones have run amuck in my flower beds at the back of the house, but I don't care!! They did strangle a few of the plants early on, but I was firm and yanked them out after flowering but despite this they are still showing red in and amongst the summer blooms. They've even managed to bloom through the long grass at the edge of the plot and much to my OH's dismay are making in roads on the hayfield! So here is my take.


I wanted to capture the full exuberance of the mass blooms of earlier in the year so I used a mix of coloured die cuts and die cut stamping for my panel. 
Using my neglected MB Prim Poppy die, I cut a few from MM paper and coloured them with Zig water colour markers. To create the softer background ones, I spritzed a panel of the same MM paper and laid the inked poppies onto it and pressed down. Carefully removing the die cuts, I placed them to one side as I was going to use them again. The background was soft and runny where there was more water and dry and patchy where it was dryer, so I went ink with my watercolour brush to wet these areas and the colour did it's thing! 
When dry, I cut a panel the same size as my frame from it and placed the now dry die cuts over the top. I did add some more colour to some of the die cuts to give a little bit of shadow and depth. Once firmly attached, I added my MFT stitched frame and then the whole panel was added to a matching base card with foam pads. The sentiment was left off as it was rather a busy panel and didn't want to detract from the image.
So where will you go with this theme? We'd love to see your masculine takes in our gallery and if you need more inspiration, why not check out the rest of the DT here.

Joining in over at:-


No stencil option for me

Saturday 2 September 2023

Happy Birthday To You

Evening all. As it's the start of a new month it's a busy time her on the blog and today sees the start of a new challenge from HLS Birthday where our theme is always:-

ANYTHING GOES

After a couple of kids birthday cards for my DT inspiration, I 've gone for a more feminine card that I made for the wonderful Loll, Stamping with Loll, for her birthday back in June.


This card uses a stencil from Altenew called Greenwood Flowers, no idea why as they remind me of anemones. A few of the stencils from Altenew have matching EFs but as far as I know this doesn't so I decided to make my own . I traced the outline of the blooms and leaves and cut them out three times from scrap card. I then layered them up and adhered them to a piece of copy paper before running it through my Big Shot with a piece of white card. The flowers and leaves were then stencilled over the raised areas, finally cutting the panel with a stitched rectangle die and stamped the Uniko sentiment.
Rather than put it square on my base card, I angled it and to ensure the embossed areas didn't collapse in the post, used foam tape behind those areas. A few PPP sequins complete.

So why not join us this month with your birthday creations, but if you need more inspiration be sure to check out the rest of the DT here.


Joining in over at:-

#268

Friday 1 September 2023

Color Hues #71

Afternoon and as it's the 1st of the month we have a new colour combo at Color Hues. Here's my take on this new duo.


When I first saw this duo I had to reach for this cute LOTV image, Halloween.
After stamping and colouring with Copics, I fussy cut it and put it to one side while I got the background done. This took a little time, for over a week the image was sat on my desk with inspiration missing! Eventually I found some NitWits DP and printed off a sheet. My printer is not behaving and the end result was paler that it should have been, so I took my Wilted Violet DI and inked over the top. Where there were white dots on the DP, they went darker for some reason, the DI must have reacted with the printer ink., but I do like the effect. 
So I printed off a sentiment from my computer and die cut it to make a background panel for my image to sit on, adding some lines to ground the image. The image was added with pads and the panel to the DP with them too. My DP was then added to an A6 side fold note card.

It all came together in the end. For more colour inspiration, check out what the rest of the DT have come up with here, they why not add your creation to the gallery?

Joining in over at:-