Male Room Challenge

For The Male Room challenge this time the theme is ANIMAL, AVIAN OR AQUARIAN and we have to choose just one of these to make our cards.  It so happens that I came across this image while I was sorting through boxes of bits and pieces and it fits the animal theme.  At the time (ages ago), I'd printed a whole sheet of images from a Jane Netley Mayhew CD from Joanna Sheen and of course had only used one of them, storing the remainder away for future use. Backing paper is also from the CD or at least I think it must be and because the image is quite large there wasn't much more needed to complete the card apart from a piece of embossed kraft card and a simple greeting.  There are some great examples on the challenge blog from their design team if you take a look by following the link.

Child's Play...

This is the theme at Make My Monday this week where they would like to see either a card suitable for sending to a child or a new baby card.  I've opted to use a stamp from Joanna Sheen to make a baby boy card.  Image coloured with Polychromos pencils, cut out with Spellbinder dies and layered up with a piece of checked background paper. The 'ric-rac' style strips were cut using  a Spellbinders border die.

MMM Challenge - Again!!

Well I felt I should try again to get it right for the Make My Monday challenge this week.After yesterday's carelessness in not reading the challenge guidelines properly I set to and looked for a stamp which I'd had for simply ages and not used and believe me the most difficult part was deciding which one to choose!!   I needed to make a card for my great nephew so chose this stamp from a set of Suzy's Zoo stamps which I bought from Joanna Sheen many moons ago - to date only one of the characters in the set had been used and the remainder stored away and neglected. Image was coloured using Coloursoft pencils; backing paper printed from a CD (Docrafts I think).  The text to personalise the card was produced on the computer and punched out using Stampin' Up punches;  the decorative border was die cut with Spellbinders dies.

Do follow the link, take a look at the cards made by the design team and maybe have a go yourselves if you happen to have any neglected stamps (or decoupage).

Blueberries

I know how popular House Mouse designs are and today I'd like to share a card made with this cute image of the mouse enjoying a yummy  blueberry pie. Image was printed onto Centura Pearl card and the border strips were made using a Sizzix (Stampin' Up) edgelits die and matching embossing folder. Greeting from the computer and cut with SU punches.

I hope the weekend weather is good for everyone but I'm not holding out much hope because the forecast doesn't sound too promising - never mind it could be an excuse to stay indoors and craft rather than tackle the garden chores.

Make My Monday Autumn

The Autumn theme continues at Make My Monday and this week they want us to use some vellum.  I came across this image on Joanna Sheen's Royal Horticultural Society collections CD.  It was printed onto both card and vellum and I've also used a strip of the matching backing paper on top of the main background of Prima paper.  The vellum was torn across and then layered onto the topper.  Edges of the papers were sponged with Cranberry Adirondack ink and the ribbon was also dyed using a pool of the ink spritzed on a glass cutting mat - fingers now an interesting shade so I really should remember not to get dye inks all over them!!  A simple stamped greeting finishes off this card.

I'm hoping the relentless rain eases off later because I  have to venture out to post off a birthday card today if it is to reach its destination on the correct day so it will be a case of donning waterproof footwear!!

A Late Owl

And why is this owl late you may be asking - well he was destined to be coloured with markers and made into a card for the challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More but unfortunately I completely missed the boat. Hopefully I can get something made in time for this week's challenge which is a 'bingo' card.  The owl is a stamp from Joanna Sheen and as suggested has been coloured using markers - a mixture of  Promarkers, Flex markers and Copic.  The image was cut out with Sizzix dies, backing paper is from a set of freebies given with a magazine, daisy border was cut using a Tonic punch and as I couldn't bear to throw away the 'waste' daisies, some of them have been used.  Corners were a die from Whimsy Stamps.

I hope you are all having a good weekend despite the horrible weather - lashing rain today after a cold but bright and sunny Saturday but the sun is at last trying to break through today as well so fingers crossed.

Vintage Fashion

The Make My Monday challenge is back after a well deserved break and their theme for this month is VINTAGE with VINTAGE FASHION being the specific topic for this first week. The card I've made also qualifies for Judith's Forgotten Friday because I've used images and backing paper from Joanna Sheen's Fashion Boutique CD set and I just can't remember when I last put these discs into the computer!! Two sizes of image have been printed and I've added a layer of card embossed using a Cuttlebug folder, vintage lace and  some paper flowers with a diecut leafy frond using a Marianne die. The MMM design team have made some lovely cards for inspiration - well worth a look and of course Judith is posting examples of her DT work for Chocolate Baroque using new seasonal stamps.

The Day Needs Brightening

Well it has been a really dull grey day so far with rain and more rain so I thought I'd post this sunshine-colour card which I made recently from some of my 'bits and pieces' in the oddments boxes.  Image and matching backing paper were from a Joanna Sheen CD and the other pieces were also scraps.  An X-cut punch was used for the border.

Forgotten Friday

If you pop over to Judith's blog you will see she has made two wonderful nostalgic cards for Fathers' Day.  My contribution for her Forgotten Friday challenge is this card using more items from my oddments boxes.  The image was printed with matching backing papers from a Joanna Sheen CD and had been 'extras' left over from a project made months ago so it is good to see them used up.  I normally print whole sheets of backing papers and put several images onto a page to fill up the paper and then inevitably some of them get left neglected, sometimes for too long. The die cut border and the shape behind the sentiment were cut from scraps too and the Top Note diecut shape was one of several given to me by a friend (cut from some of her scraps) and with luck it went very well with the colours in the image.  I've had a brilliant crafting day out today at a Stampin' Up Extravaganza with Jenny (Stamping Moments) who produced some wonderful projects for us to complete - what better way to spend a cold and damp Saturday??

The Time Has Come...

... for me to have a MAJOR sort out and organisation of my craft room but before I launch into this mammoth task it is also time for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge again so I've just made this quick anniversary card. Do go and take a look at her blog - some beautiful work to see and the current post is a Haloween tag using her forgotten or neglected stamps (mind you Halloween stamps are mostly a once a year thing anyway which is why I don't have any to speak of).
For my card I used three stamps from a set of frames and smaller stamps by Joanna Sheen which I have had for a very long time and haven't used for an equally long time - we're talking years here and the little heart motif had never been inked as far as I recall. Background paper is a piece left over from a recent project and is from Artylicious Seasons Greetings CD which isn't just for Christmas; the frame and bow were stamped using Versamark onto kraft card and gold embossed before being cut out; the Top Note die cut has been embossed using a polka dot mask (another item which I reckon has been used only once since I bought it; the sentiment was computer generated and cut out with oval punches from Stampin Up.

CD Sunday - Peacocks

The challenge on the CD Sunday blog is 'inspired by peacocks' and there are prizes on offer too. I did a bit of 'thinking outside the box' and chose an image of a peacock butterfly from Joanna Sheen's CD of Jane Netley Mayhew designs - printed  onto pearlescent paper and decoupaged. Background paper is from Artylicious Peacock summer Party CD (Chocolate Baroque) and the Art Deco peacock feather was a Tanda stamp embossed in gold.

Make My Monday challenge 12

The theme on Make My Monday is still 'things with wings' and it would appear we can use anything with wings this week as long as we use ACETATE!! I must say that this isn't one of my favourite things to work with and after rejecting several ideas I finally settled on printing this aeroplane image (from Joanna Sheen's Victorian Companion CDs) onto acetate, applying glue to the back and covering with gilding flakes. The backing paper is from Chocolate Baroque Echoes of Italy collection - I felt it suited the image - and I used a piece of Tim Holtz fabulous Kraft Resist paper, punched with an EK success punch and wrapped with raffia.  A Computer sentiment and a couple of brads and that's my acetate entry done!

CD Sunday challenge

The challenge theme this week on CD Sunday is nursery rhymes and it is a good job there was so much inspiration from the design team or I wouldn't have known where to start.  I searched out my Victorian Birthdays CD from Joanna Sheen and found this colourful image of 'three little kittens' - used backing papers from the CD and added a punched border, a few flowers and a greeting layered onto a variety of punched shapes.

Have A Mice Day

I paid a visit to StampNcraft on Monday and decided my one lonely wooden House Mouse Stamp which I must have had for 10 year or so should have some company and it was difficult to decide which set to buy but settled on this one.  Image was coloured with Flex and Promarkers and cut out using Nestabilities.  Backing paper from my stash with a bit of stamping around the edge, a strip of embossed whitewash core-d-nations card sanded to show the core colour and the greeting from the stamp set cut out with a Stampin Up punch. As the message says - have a mice day - although it is raining steadily at the moment!! I'm off to visit a patchwork shop later and will do my best not to be tempted.

Covering Two Challenges

It is rarely I have my act together enough to cover more than one challenge at a time but I've managed it this week with the St Luke's charity which is a seaside theme and the CD Sunday challenge where they are asking for buttons to be included (there is also a prize up for grabs here so trying my luck).  I chose the image and background paper from Joanna Sheen's Cardmakers Year CD which I've not looked at for a while but as I had no suitable stamps for the seaside theme I thought maybe there would be something on there amongst the summer months and I was right - several to choose from in fact.  I used a mask to emboss the stitchy grid, added some ribbon, flowers with button centres and a sentiment produced on the computer.

Bah Humbug Challenge 30

Week 30 at Bah Humbug which means I have at least that many cards ready for this year - thanks girls for the ongoing ideas and inspirations. The plan this week is to use lace in some form and I immediately thought of Joanna Sheen's Victorian Christmas CD and actually couldn'f find an image which included any lace but I selected a vintagey (is that a word?) one and matching background paper then added some punched lace instead using a Martha Stewart punch.  I added a die cut corner and poinsettia using Marianne dies and that's it - a card with lace.

Bah humbug Challenge 29

My lovely owl punch arrived from Stampin Up and I really wanted to have a play so I worked out a way to incorporate owls and the requested BEADS for the Bah Humbug challenge this week.  I turned two of them into Santa owls and sat them on chimneys - fine but how to use beads?  Then I had the idea of die cutting and embossing some trees and decorating one of them with tiny beads so now these two Santas are sitting on the rooftop with their own tree relaxing after delivering all the presents.  The sentiment is from a set of Joanna Sheen owl stamps which I remembered I had lurking around somewhere - I do love owls!!

Bah Humbug Challenge 25

The challenge this week at Bah Humbug is penguins so they aren't making things too difficult which is good.  I've chosen an image from a Jayne Netley Mayhew CD by Joanna Sheen which I've had for a quite a while but had almost forgotten about until I tidied up my CDs the other day so that I could see what was what.  I'm not sure how long they will stay tidy but that's another story.  I used matching backing paper and sentiment from the CD and the die cut poinsettia was cut from the same paper with a Marianne die.  This weekly challenge is a great idea because it is only June and I have at least 25 seasonal cards made already - thanks girls!!

Bah Humbug Challenge 16

The challenge over at Bah Humbug this week is - the man himself, Santa Claus - so I turned to Joanna Sheen's Enchanted Christmas CD set which has lots of Santa images.  I've chosen one of my all time favourites and printed it off in two sizes together with the accompanying background papers. I coloured a peel-off bow with a matching Copic pen, added a computer greeting with a bit of matting and layering and that's it really for this week.

A Hoot of a Day

There always seems to be something so appealing about owls and this little chap was die cut using a die from the Papermania Forest Friends range and because all the pieces are on one die (apart from the eyes and feet) I cut out a set in brown and another set in Kraft card and then I could mix and match to make two owls.  This one has been added to an easel card - background paper is from Kay & Co and he has been popped onto an embossed tree (Crafts Too embossing folder).  I added some quilled flowers made using X-cut quilling dies and the message was stamped onto a Spellbinders fancy tag using a stamp from Joanna Sheen's owl stamp set.