Swirly Whirly Hippyy Card

At The Male Room, a challenge blog for masculine cards and projects, we have a fun technique challenge starting today,

I have done this a few times, but I don't have many reinkers, so when I found out you could use food colouring instead I was up for it. I also make a few sheets while I'm there to store away for another time as you can keep going with the same foam, getting a slightly different pattern each time. I have used mine as a background for a bold sentiment

The squares at the bottom are square, metallic brads. They remind me of cuff links and are great for a bit of bling on a masculine card. I bought them awhile back in Michaels, on one of my holidays and only have two more sets of 3 left 😞

I stamped the sentiment in Versamark before heat embossing in silver. Now, here's a thing; the embossing did not come up all crisp as I always prefer, oh no, it canme up a bit fuzzy. I am not sure why, as I had made the background the day before and it was completely dry. I had tried to brush off some of the excess

You will see what I mean in the close up shot above. But, in this case, I think it goes with the swirly whirly background, like a hippy tie die T shirt, if you know what I mean..

The others on the DT have made some fantastic cards using this fun and easy technique, Ian sure you will too. Tragically, I ripped the stamp when removing it from the block, so this is probably my last card using the image. Shame, as I haven't had it very long and I liked it particularly for masculine cards.

Yellowstone Christmas

 It's the first Saturday of the month and whilst you may not be thinking of Christmas right now here at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown we continue to create Christmas cards every week in an attempt to get ahead with the demand for holidays. We have a new hostess and this month it is the turn of our very own, lovely Ruth fromFlowersparkle. She's devised this rather good sketch..

  Feel free to interpret the sketch however you like, as long as we can still basically see the elements we're happy.

My card started with the least significant items- the three little elk brads. I bought these in a little craft store I discovered whilst on holiday in Estes Park, Colorado(?) last year. The stamp image is also from my travels, as I bought him in the Yellowstone Park gift store. He is actually in front of some trees, from Lovely As A Tree,stamped in Baja Breeze, but it doesn't show up well in the picture. The sentiment is a magazine freebie and the DP is from SU's Sweater Weather range. This is kind of a masculine Christmas card, I think, I will have to think of who to send it to ;)

Blue Cake Birthday

Here is another lovely sketch challenge from CAS Colours and Sketches.

and I have made a birthday card using the Sweet Cake stamp from SU which I chose to stamp in a very, non-cake like shade -Indigo Island.  I have added a pop of colour with the cherry though!  The DSP is from Festival of Prints, which shows that it's not just for Christmas! I made my banner in the same paper, matting it onto pale blue CS, to make it stand out and adding three gorgeous fabric covered brads.

Do go and look at the other cards from the DT - there are some more fabulous ideas from them.
 I am also entering this card in a (new to me) challenge blog, ABC Challenge Blog.  I've been meaning to join in with this blog since it started towards the end of last year and, as they are asking for CAS cards this week I thought I would play along.

Kraft Circles

I have wanted to make a card using kraft for a long time now, and this morning this is what happened

I have made a tent fold birthday card and the design was inspired by the sketch challenge at Simply Stamping.  I used a new stamp set too, Reason To Smile and stamped in Indigo Island and poppy Parade. It is more difficult to stamp on kraft card than I had thought.The main eyecatchers are the fabulous brads and I just love that DSP.  The beauty of using a tent fold card is that not all the paper is hidden by the circles and so I also stamped a birthday banner, using a sentiment from the Sweet Cake set.

Card for Ellie

I made this card for my daughter, who is doing something very exciting at the moment and living away from home for the first time.  We are awaiting exam results in August so I'm getting ready -  and, no matter the outcome I am very proud of all she has achieved over the last two years.  As she is 18, this card also meets the criteria forSt Luke's Charity Cards Challenge, where they are asking for cards for teenagers.

I chose some of her favourite things (see the little shoe?) , and,yes, that is a real i-tunes card.  I popped it up on dimensionals after mounting it on some foil paper cut out into a big note shape using my Big Shot and matching lime green cardstock. The ribbon and bow are made from some beautiful SU organdy ribbon in Lucky Limeade and I stamped a little 'Well Done', which is a bit understated, but she doesn't like a fuss!
August 6th - just found out this card was a runner up in the challenge, I'm chuffed to bits!