Penguin Power

Starting to get a bit colder these past few days, I for one would like an end to the rain and a bit of chilly winter weather, crisp frosty mornings, may be even a little snow. We never seem to want what we get, weather-wise, do we?
My card this morning will help a bit, it's a birthday card for my husband. With a birthday in January it's sometimes hard to get inspiration, but I made a New Years card with this spinning mechanism and he was very impressed, so I thought I'd make one especially for him. It did help that the sketch at CAS Colours & Sketches works perfectly!

I used my favourite method of making snowy backgrounds, ripped strips of white paper, layered over each other and a square of graduated card for the sea/sky. Using my nesting ovals I cut out the large aperture and the smaller centre.

First I placed the 'frame' on the card base and then I could position the inner oval using foam pads. I used the same foam pads to add the landscape panel.

Finally, I stamped and coloured a couple of penguins, from Zoo Review, and mounted them onto a another oval, this time cut out from white card.

Can a moving card be clean and simple? I think so, but maybe my ripped snow is not quite as CAS as I would like. There is a bare minimum of embellishment, with just a touch of Dazzling Details, as my husband is not particularly into sparkle and bling!  My idea was that the Penguins would dive in and out of the 'sea', which I have not really achieved but I still like the card and I'm not sure that he will even notice!

Anyway, I then went back to my crafting desk and 'distilled' this card into a much more CAS version

To improve on the design I gave my penguin some birthday balloons ....

...and no ripped paper or Dazzling Details!

The following three photos show that the card really does move, thanks to a 2p piece, inserted between the two raised parts. The difficult bit is getting the foam pads in the right place; close enough so the coin does not fall through and yet far enough away from the aperture so that it can run smoothly

We have a much bigger DT team now and so there are lots of beautiful cards to help you out with this sketch, as if you need it! Looking forward to seeing some awesome cards!

Monochromatic Marty

Sorry, I've not been around for two or three weeks due to a family bereavement but I am back now with a card for the new challenge starting today at The Male Room, where we would like to see cards made for guys which include washi tape.

I've not been papercrafting at all since I last blogged and today was the first time I felt like getting something going. I first started with a huge clear out of my cafting stash. Two charity bags and one very large bin liner bag of rubbish later I was ready to make a card.

As you can see I've kept it very monochromatic, using the zebra print washi tape as my starting point. the zebra image is from a set called Zoo Review ( don't use this as often as I should) and the sentiment is from Delightful Dozen.

On these two photos you can see the zebra panel is raised to give a bit of dimension. It's not obvious but the washi tape is shiny and so there is a bit of texture interest too.

I chose Fathers' Day as my sentiment as its only just around the corner and I know some people who will be asking for Fathers' Day cards (my children and my husband!)

If you are wondering about the title of this post Marty is the zebra character in the animated film Madagascar, a family favourite here in the Van Vuren household.

Well, I'm posting this bit a little later in the day, I decided to make another card in the same style, with washi tape.

This time I used the bird from Nature Walk and the thin let dies Hello You. I used the die to create a negative for the sentiment, I lost the infill for the h though, doh! 

I gave the bird a small black pearl for his beady eye

As you can see I made this card a tent fold. It's definitely a card for a guy

Steampunk and Penguin

Yes, I admit it, until today I was a Steampunk virgin - I'd never attempted this style of card-making before, and I had not really thought about giving it a go.  That was until I read Suzi's midweek motivation at Make My Monday challenge blog.  She made a gorgeous card, but it was the definitions of the style that really helped to inspire me to create my first Steampunk card....

...and I had so much fun!  The words 'whimsey' and 'romance' were really helpful' There's a lot of sponging and I used two Distress ink colours, Scattered Straw and China Blue, and a combination of stamp images, including a freebie from a magazine (the globe, clockfaces and cogs), Gorgeous Grunge, Zoo Review, and a Papermanai Urban Stamps set with images of London (forget the name, sorry).
The butterfly die cut is also a freebie, and the Victoriana tag and washi tape I bought in Ikea!. Here's a closer view

Can you see the gems on the penguin's crown?. I love the layers in this card, I think next time I should try to experiment with more colours and I am definitely going to look out for more stamps in the Steampunk style, although perhaps the secret is in combining different images in a quirky way.

Best thing is I had a ball making this!

Christmas Bird!

When I saw the challenge at Merry Monday Christmas Challenge I just knew I had to find the time to join in.  I love Christmas cards with birds, I especially love those red cardinal birds, I think they must be from the US since we definitely don't have them here. I'd love a stamp of one of those -I'll have to look out on ebay I guess.

My Christmas bird of choice is the penguin, this one's from Zoo Review and I've stamed him and used a mask before sponging a nice chilly scene for him, with a couple of shades of blue.  To add some Christmas sparkle and an icy touch to the 'snow' I have used silver Stickles

I used a sentiment from Merry and Type, heat embossed in silver with a couple of eyelets on the tag. A shiny blue snowflake, complete with matching gem in the centre for a little bit of Christmas bling and my card was complete.

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!

First class Male

Wow, I am so excited today as a brand new challenge blog gets under way, and I'm on the design team!! It called The Male Room and is for masculine cards only. When Jacqueline, the creator of this new blog, asked me to join I was thrilled, mostly because male cards are something which I find very difficult and I wanted to be pushed out of my comfort zone. A keen and talented DT has been put together and we've had a few chats about possible themes for the blog and they're really great, I can't wait.  My life is always fairly hectic, so the fact that the challenges run fortnightly was also a big plus for me.
Enough of the chatter, you want to see my first card, don't you?

I must admit, until I get more confident I've gone with my old favourite for men's cards, Zoo Review. I really like these zebras, there's something about their monochrome, geometric look which makes me smile. I've used the last of the homemade washi tape in the zebra print design :(  -I really will have to try to locate that Inkadinkadoo stamp and add it to my stash. The sentiment is from Best Dad Ever. I've used black cs for the card base, so I've stamped inside...

  Do have a go at making a card for this challenge, anything goes for our first one, and remember you have two weeks. I can't wait to visit your blog and leave you some love from The Male Room!

Wild and Free

Today I have a card based on a sketch which I posted on the CAS _Colours and Sketches challenge blog. It is very CAS I think, and I didn't have any particular idea in mind when I made the sketch.  But then, at our local craft club we spent an evening making our own washi tape, using a variety of masking tapes, some Promarkers and stamps, and the basis of my card was born.  Take a look at the sketch first

I thought rounded edges would be fun, and then almost forgot to do it! They are optional on the challenge.

My card has two homemade washi tapes, the wide zebra stripe and the narrower leopard skin. They were stamped using some Inkadoo stamps.  The lion, from Zoo Review, is stamped in Chocolate Chip. I've put the sentiment inside as you can see-not very original but it does fit the whole design. I've deliberately kept  colour out, using the Naturals Ivory card on a kraft base to give an African 'feel' to this masculine card. Speaking of cards for men, keep your eyes open for some very exciting news here very soon ;).

Ice Bear

The fun continues on 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown where the theme for week 3 in March is Christmas Animals. These days there are cards with all kinds of animals on for Christmas, cats, dogs, reindeer, camels, donkeys and I thought I would go for the very cold and icy polar bear. Her's my card

I know, I know, it's Zoo Review again, but I just love it! My polar bear is floating on an iceberg and you can see his reflection in the icy water (courtesy of my brayer). I made the icicles using a Tim Holtz EF and cut them out and added silver stickles, you can see them better on this close up.

The snowflakes are done using a resist technique, dabbing versamark overthe card with a cotton bud and then clear embossing. The inks are a blend of Pool Party and Indigo Island.  I think 'Peace on Earth' is a good sentiment for this card.

Spots and Stripes

When you think of spots and stripes do you think of geometrical cards? Well, I was working along those lines for the one-layer challenge at Less Is More when I opened my drawer of stamp sets and saw this set, my current favourite. So, here's my take on spots and stripes..

The spots were such fun, and I must admit I borrowed the idea for bubble wrap stamping from my lovely team mate over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown -Mynnette (check out her blog for more brilliant ideas, I am sure she won't mind!).  I think I should have stamped off first for a more subtle effect, but I do like it! As for the stripes, well you get it don't you! I sponged a little very light blue sky just to highlight the image. I added a sentiment to make what hopefully is a great masculine birthday card.
Off to create more now as I have the whole morning to craft, yipee!

Out of Africa for Dad

My safari with Zoo Review continued today as I made a card for the new challenge at Addicted to CAS. The cue word is Masculine. These are the hardest cards to make for me, simply because I don't usually see the potential in either the stamps or the paper but with Zoo Review it's pretty obvious.

I started with Naturals Ivory cardstock, which is quite yellow in colour I think- it was the right neutral for the very 'African' themed card I wanted to make. I cut a piece of mountboard ( to give dimension to my card) and covered it in animal print decopage paper  I stamped three images from Zoo Review and placed these on top, after layering them onto kraft card.  Some score lines stop this panel from floating in space on the card.  The 'Dad' is simply inked up die cut letters, made from grunge paper to add depth. The inks I have used are all naturals too.
My Dad never went on safari, and at nearly 80 years of age I don't think he's up for it but I know he would have loved to- may be my card will make up for that.

Christmas Zoo Review

This card came about as I played with my new Zoo Review stamp set for something I need  next month and it was so nice that I have decided to enter it into a couple of challenges, Make My Monday, where they are asking for ribbon AND buttons and  Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge, for which you need to have made a Christmas card with snow.

I stamped the bear onto a Top Note die, masked it and then added dots of versamark, which I heat embossed with clear powder.  I then brushed the ink over the top and the resist technique makes it look like snow. I added a bow and some matching buttons, all 'icy' blue colours.  The sentiment at the bottom is new too, from SU -Friendly Phrases, but the little Christmas greeting is a freebie (I found it in my stamp drawer, no idea where it came from, but I think I might be using it a lot from now on).  Finally, I sponged the edges. Do you think the polar bear looks like he's lost in a snowstorm? Just remembered I can enter this  card into Crafty Hazelnuts Extra Christmas Challenge for February - if you've made a Christmas card and posted it this month why not link up - lots of prizes for the lucky winners!