Little Row of Houses

I am a bit of a fan of colour challenges as I find they really focus the mind (and my mind needs a lot of focus these days -too much time wasted I fear!) Last week I found the Colour Throwdown challenge and I'm back for another go with these fantastic colours. I think the photo also inspired me to think about home/houses.

I used aTim Holtz die cut which has only had one outing before today.  It's a sweet row of little houses, just perfect for paper piecing with various colours.

I sponged the card blank with Luck Limeade ink and cut the base row of houses from the same colour cardstock. I added some houses, 2 in Marina Mist, 1 in Pacific Point, and 2 in the So Saffron, adding two stick on brads and some punched flowers.  The sentiment is from a freebie magazine set, which is quite old now. Want a closer look?

I don't use this long, thin card format very often, but I think it goes with this die cut very well.  I will be showing you another 'long thin one' later in the week!

Bring Out The Heat Gun

I must admit that I got a little carried away with this week's challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown. Ruth is our lovely hostess for one more week and for her final challenge she has chosen a technique for us all to play with

I decided to create a text background with the resist technique, which I did, and then cut most of it out with the Top Note die, to create an aperture. Well, the heat gun was out, it would have been rude not to make more use of it and so the heat embossing continued - the Love & Joy sentiment, a few baubles, and dasher (minus his antlers), all in silver on purple card. I placed the purple card inside and, once fussy cut, Dasher was popped up on dimensionals. A few purple gems add some Christmas bling.  Hope you like the less traditional colour scheme

Tilted Christmas

It's another Christmas card from me for today's challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches. It's the turn of the sketch this week and Karen has devised a deliciously simple one for us, which I must admit had me stumped for a while.  See what you think

It's so clean and simple, just the two tilted panels. Actually, I'm very happy with the outcome once I got ver my initial block

I knew I wanted to use the blue glittery washi tape (another Walmart bargain!) so I started with that.  I could have left the blue card plain, but decided to stamp and heat emboss the snowflakes instead. The embossing folder is fro Tim Holtz.  Just a few gems here and there and it was actually finished quite quickly.
Have a look at the other cards from my DT friends, there's lots of different ideas and I do hope that you give this sketch a go.  Happy crafting!

Kickin' Giraffe

Hello! Today I have a birthday card which I have made for the all masculine card challenge at The Male Room.  The theme for the challenge is Animal, Avian or Aquarian (or animal, bird or fish) and one of those should be your featured element on your project.
I've used my Zoo Review stamps again and given it a twist by using a kick-stand design. Take a look

I went to a workshop last week where kick-stand cards were demo'ed and I thought I'd give it another go, thinking that the tall image of the giraffe would suit the design.  I stamped and masked the giraffe image before adding the background with my brushes,  The grasses are a combination of a couple of stamps. Then I stamped another giraffe, coloured him and fussy cut him out, popping him up on dimensionals. The animal print border is some homemade washi tape. I stamped the greeting from Wet Lands on the inside and finally added a recycled wooden button from my local quilting craft shop. Hate to see a 'naked' button, so I've added some string. You can see what I mean by kick-stand better in this photo

Do visit The Male Room if you've not been there already, and don't forget you've got two weeks to add your creature feature!

Indiana Inspired Arrows

I was cooking the lunch and blog-hopping this morning as I had an idea for a card to enter in this week's Cas-ology challenge.

I was thinking about those arrows you get over a map, showing a journey - you know, like in the Indiana Jones films.
Problem was the colour choice,and that's when I came across The Colour Throwdown challenge.

Well, after lunch I found some time to put it all together. Here's my card

For the map background I recycled a piece of card from a free stamp set. I've used purple cs for my mats (not sure if it's Orchid Opulence, but it sure is close in real life). The arrows are brads, may be a little dark for Pistachio Pudding, but I hope it's not too far away- it was too good a chance to miss using them. I stamped the plane image, heat embossed it and cut it out, before using dimensionals to make it pop up. The sentiment is stamped in Brown Sugar- isn't it great-really made me think. Both the plane and the sentiment are stamps which were free with a magazine. Back to make some more cards, this time for my DT samples. Be back on Wednesday.

Silver Tree

Getting in the mood for making Christmas cards yet?  Those of you who are regulars at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown must have an impressive stash by now, like me! But, if you haven't made a start yet, this week's challenge is sure to get you going! Ruth is our hostess for the month of September and this week she's asked us all to make cards featuring Christmas Trees

I have lots of lovely Christmas tree stamps and I had planned to use one and then an idea got into my head for a less traditional tree, and here it is

The tree is a die cut, and I used silver mirriboard to cut it out of,  the baubles are of course silver gems. I've used a couple of matching DPs from Stampin' Up and the sentiment is from Whacky Wishes. The inside of my card looks like this

More paper, a tree without decorations and the other half of the sentiment.  I do hope you like my contemporary take on the good old Christmas tree theme.  Can't wait to visit your blogs and see what you come up with, oh, and do pop on over to the challenge blog to see the work from the rest of the DT.  Happy Crafting!

Mosaic Flower Thank You card

Here again for another challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches and I've used my Mosaic Madness stamp and punch set again, the colours this week were just right!

Don't you just love these three together - a last summer fling, before we become all Autumnal.

 I've used the punch to make a flower, added a few 'leaves' and used matching  DP. The sentiment comes from Vintage Verses and yes, you're right, there's a little stamping accident there, nicely disguised as a butterfly! Lots of white space on this one too.
Don't forget to have a look at the cards from the other DT members, oh, and remember, we're a card only challenge blog.  Have a Happy Thursday!

Holiday Memories

I'm Back!! After a few weeks break I'm raring to go again, so much so that I've come back a week early, well, I couldn't resist Ruth's colour challenge this week at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown -red, white and kraft

 It really is one of my all time favourites for Christmas and this time I've used the colours in a scene. I was really lucky to spend part of my summer holiday in Colorado, and in a small place called Estes Park I came across an amazing little craft shop....can you imagine my excitement (and my family's groans!). I met some lovely crafty ladies who were doing a card making workshop and browsed around finding so many gorgeous things. Here is a card I've made using some of my new goodies

 The aspen tree stencil is to die for, I've used kraft ink and aqua washed the stems a little to add the shadows- you can see better on this photo

 The elk are die cut, it's a stag, a doe and a fawn in the set but I used two stags and two does, adding glitter to the antlers before sticking them in the trees. The card base is kraft and the mat is red and, in honour of Ruth, I have popped the little fawn inside

The greeting is from Sassy Salutations, of course.I have entered the weekly Christmas challenge at Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge blog and I am going to enter my card in the challenge at Make My Monday too where they are looking for a scene, a wintery scene from me.
Do have a look at the cards from the rest of the design team, lots of inspiration for you, to get you started.  Can't wait to get visiting all your blogs again to see your projects.

Walmart Special

Sorry I didn't make last week's challenge folks, I was on a bit of a break, but I'm back this week for a fantastic sketch from Karen, our hostess for September at CAS Colours and Sketches.  It's such a CAS classic that I just had to play along

 I have moved the circle over to the right side, but apart from that I've pretty much stayed with it

My inspiration came from a couple of 97c bargains I had from Walmart, a ribbon and a matching stamp. Walmart- what a shop! Everything under the sun under one roof!  If you live in the UK as I do you may not know Walmart - well it's the biggest supershop EVER, think Woolworths the size of the french hypermarkets! We loved it and bought most of our holiday souvenirs from here - candy, biscuits, clothes, stuff for halloween and of course crafting goodies for me!

I chose a red and cream combination, picked up from the ribbon. The stamp was inked with the new Crushed Curry shade, isn't it vibrant! I scored the edges of the red mat to add finish without adding more to the sketch. I will leave the sentiment and then stamp inside when I know who it's going to.
Have a look at the other cards from the DT, if you like CAS this is the challenge blog for you. Really looking forward to seeing all your cards.

My Dad was A Golfer

I haven't really been away from The Male Room as I scheduled my posts before I went on holiday - it's a little bit easier as it runs biweekly instead of weekly.  I may however not have got around to commenting on all your lovely masculine cards, so apologies for that and I guarantee I will be leaving comments on all the entries for this challenge.  As usual we have a theme and today it is SPORTS AND HOBBIES - easy for a man I think.
I tried several different ideas for this one but this one is the best (and the quickest to make - isn't that so often the way!)

My Dad was a golfer in his younger days, I think he had to give up playing when he was about 76! Anyway, he inspired this card.  It is a pretty straight forward piece of paper layering.  I used a scalloped circle and a stipple brush to make the cloudy sky, ripped the edge of the green card to simulate grass and have used the debossed side of a swiss dots folder to make the ball. The golf balls my Dad had always had writing on them, so I've added the writing from Nature Walk - seemed authentic enough.The dark green mat is also embossed, this time with Mosaic Madness. A cocktail stick and a couple of hand cut triangles to make the flag and the tee, the flag is curled to add some dimension, finish the job.  The sentiment is from Happiest Birthday Wishes - such a versatile set.

I'm also going to pop this one into the challenge at The Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge, which I just discovered and where the theme is Sports and into this month's Male themed challenge at The Cupboard Trilogy, in the card challenge.

Baby Pink Silk

It's a new month and it's Tuesday so here's a new challenge for you from the DT at Technique Time Tuesday. It's called Faux silk and it is really easy and fun to do.  There is an easy to follow video tutorial here and you can use it with a whole range of styles, as you will see from the DT samples.  I chose clean and simple ( no surprise there then!) and a baby card.  Here are a couple of pictures

I used the faux silk technique to create the banners, using the pennant Punch, I really like the crinkly look you get with this effect.  I stamped the gold butterflies and added a twine ribbon. I always think that these Swiss dots, embossed, are perfect for a baby card, and the 'Congratulations' is from Sassy Salutations.
Four little baby pink gems,a 'baby' pennant and a baby pink mat complete my card.