Male Room Sketch Challenge

We have been given a sketch as inspiration for a project on the Male Room Challenge and there are some great interpretations from their Design Team members.  Details of what I've used for my card are given underneath the picture. Apart from the backing paper which is from a really old Papermania collection, everything else has been cut from pieces in my bits boxes.

Backing Paper - Papermania
Car - Marianne die
Squares and layers - Spellbinder dies and Cuttlebug embossing folder
Banners - Sizzix thinlits dies (Stampin' Up)
Sentiment - Britannia die

Poppies

Would you believe I've actually made a card without die cutting although there is some embossing in the background.  I came across this watercolour image which I'd printed off some time ago and decided to bling it up a bit with a layer of micro beads.  All that was needed then was a bit of background and a sentiment so that is another of my left overs used.  Strange that the pile doesn't seem to get much smaller!!

Printed watercolour image covered with micro beads
Sue Wilson Heart Lattice embossing folder sponged with green Distress ink
Computer sentiment - punches from Stampin' Up.

Anniverseries

The theme on  Make My Monday this week is Anniversaries which usually (although not always) signifies a wedding anniversary.  Anyway I've made this card which could be for an actual wedding but I think it would also fit the bill for this challenge.  Die cutting certainly seems to be all the rage at the moment - I wonder what the next 'in thing' will be?  It is so interesting to look back over some of the older blog posts and see the every changing popularity of styles and techniques.  Is there anything completely new out there I wonder or will some of the old favourites come around again?

Background - Docraft Capsule Collection
Dies - Tonic
Sentiment - stamp from Tim Holtz

Pastel Birthday Card

The glorious weather continues so I hope you are all having a good weekend.  I've gone for pastel shades for this birthday card using a delicate frame which I find has to be removed from the die very carefully but I think it is worth the extra care needed.  It was cut twice from two colours of card so that I could re-insert the centre after stamping the sentiment.  Everything apart from the background was cut from oddments of card so this qualifies it for the Pixies Snippets challenge 130.

Dies - Deco Label from Stampin' Up embossed with Swiss Dots folder
          Spellbinders Die D-Lite Framed Floral
          Joy butterfly die
Border - Tonic border punch
Sentiment - from Stampin' Up Wetlands set

Beautiful Weather

We are having some beautiful weather at the moment and today looks as if it is going to be another scorcher so I certainly won't be doing anything too strenuous!  I find that people are often looking for cards to send to someone who just needs to know that they are in their thoughts - could be for a variety of reasons.  This is one such card made using embossing folder, dies and stamps.

Embossing Folder - Sheena Douglass (cream card inked with Distress ink)
Dies - Spellbinder circle and Marianne doily die
Stamp - Stampin' Up Faith in Nature set
Sentiment - computer generated on Spellbinder fancy tag

Free Stamps Again

I've used another of the free stamps today on a birthday card for my great nephew.  This stamp set was well worth the price of the magazine because there are four cute animals (fox, owl, badger and rabbit) as well as several patchwork style shapes, flowers and sprigs with some useful sentiments. I coloured this one with Promarkers but I can see they would lend themselves to paper piecing too.  I haven't put his age as I've lost track of what year he was born (he is still quite young) but included his name on the bunting.

Stamp - free set with Cardmaking and Papercrafts magazine
Bunting - stamps and matching punch from Stampin' Up (letters small unnamed set of letters)
Greeting - stamp and matching punch from Stampin' Up.
Papers - printed from Funky Hand Papercraft Factory

Easy Shaped Card

I spotted a shaped card on my friend's blog - Jill Stamps Up - and decided to have a try at making one.  If you are interested in doing something similar there seem to be numerous tutorials and You Tube videos out there  - just Google 'framelits cards'.  When I met up with Jill at the weekend she showed me a magazine which was giving away a lovely set of free stamps and guess what - it jumped off the shelf at me yesterday when I popped into the newsagents. I've used just one of the stamps for this card and left the rest of it fairly plain as it was my first attempt at the shape but I can see that there are lots of possibilities for adding embellishments on the side panels and/or the central one too.  I must also thank my friend Anne for a brief explanation of how to cut this and I have a feeling one of these might just appear on her blog soon.

Sorry the photo isn't too good but couldn't scan this one to show the shape
Dies - Sizzix Framelits labels for Stampin' Up, oval Spellbinder die
Image - Stamp from Oscar and Pals free set with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine
Greeting - stamp from set cut with Bitty Banner die