TMR - Theme ....

.... Good morning! We had a really super thumbnail display for our Easter challenge ranging from funny, cute to religious too. Lovely work and I'm so sorry that I didn't get round to comment on everyone - I'm still working on it! It's time for our new challenge at The Male Room - TMR#32, for the next couple of weeks we have the theme of :

MAGIC/FANTASY 

for your masculine styled projects.

As you know we moved house last week and we spent the Easter weekend unpacking boxes at our new house.  We've made great progress getting the kitchen, family room and bedrooms mostly done, however, I've not yet started on my craft room! Yes, I realise that this is a major shock to all who know me :) But family first this time! As a consequence, all my stash is still in boxes and I've not had time to make something new for this week's challenge, so I thought I'd share some cards that I made for my son when he was younger!

I'm starting off with a card that I made for Ben's 15th birthday in 2011, details of which can be found here. Ben has been a fan of World of Warcraft (on-line game) for many years and he really wanted his birthday card to be based on the game.  I found and saved the image from the game, added the sentiment in Publisher and printed it on photo paper.  I used my all time favourite stamps (Waltzingmouse, now sadly closed) to add the border.  On the original post you will see that I also decorated the inside and the envelope.

This wasn't the first WOW card that I'd made for Ben - I made some when he was 11 (2007) too! It's so easy making cards using screen grab images.

Fantasy themes have been a great source of inspiration for me when it comes to cards for Ben - this one for his 12th birthday (2008).  The image for this card comes from Dr Who - still a firm family favourite.

The cards for Ben's 11th and 12th birthdays were made long before I started my blog - so I think this is the first time they've been shared!

Our new theme has so many possibilities - do join in.  I look forward to seeing your creations. The deadline for submission is midnight (BST) Tuesday 12th April (7.00pm EDT).

That's all for now - I've got to finish off unpacking boxes - I really want to have my craft room finished by the weekend so that I can play!!  Bye for now.

CIC - Theme ....

... Hi! This is a scheduled post. We moved house earlier this week and I'm not sure whether our Internet will be on, and I know that I'll be busy unpacking boxes and not have time to make a card. It's nice to be ahead of schedule for a change!

It's time for our new challenge at Cupcake Inspirations - CIC#353 and we have a fun theme for you - Bunnies!! It's Easter Sunday today so I've made an Easter card:

Stamps: Fresh Brewed Designs: Happy Hopper Digi; Uniko - Some Bunny; Hero Arts - Single Starburst
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Kaleidacolor - Desert Heat
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Tangerine Tango; Cuttlebug EF - Bloom Dots; Copics

Our sponsor this week is Fresh Brewed Designs and I was supplied with this super digital image of a bunny and his very big carrot. I printed him on white card, coloured him with Copics and then fussy cut him out. I cut a mat layer of bright orange card. I cut a white panel slightly smaller which I embossed. I made the sentiment by combining several stamps from Some Bunny. I adhered the sentiment and image dimensional gel. On the inside I cut a mat layer of orange card and on the white panel I stamped an Easter greeting and added a starburst.

Check out our blog to see more inspiration projects from the rest of the Design Team. The winner of this week's challenge will get 3 digi images from Fresh Brewed Designs. Good luck!

UC - Spring/Easter Reminder ....

.... Hello! I'm back today with a card to remind you about this month's Uniko Challenge - Easter/Spring:

Stamps: Uniko - Background Builders Round in Circles, Flower Power #4, Pure Florals Cosmos
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versafine - Onyx Black; Kaleidacolor - Pastel
Dies: Spellbinders - Nested Eggs (S4-264) #1, #2 and #3
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear

I used up the Easter eggs that I made for last week's card on this one! I also had the Cosmos floral set on my desk, so I combined them to make a card for Spring and Easter combined. I coloured the flowers with Copics and added just a hint of sparkle with a clear Wink of Stella brush. The little butterflies were made using one of the tiny stamps from Flower Power #4. For more inspiration, do visit our blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have made. I'm submitting this to AAA Cards - AAA#60. That's all for today.

52CCT - Theme ...

.... Morning!  I'm running late with my card for our new challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT11-16. Our challenge this week has been picked by Julie and she's gone for a FUNNY SENTIMENT as the theme. Well, I've a few digital images that certainly work for this challenge. Here's my first card:

Stamps: Bugaboo Digital - Stella Christmas Boy List; Uniko - Stunning Snowflakes, Simply Said Christmas
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Brilliance - Starlight Silver
Dies: Die-namics - Wonky Stitched Rectangle Stax #3
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Basic Black; Kanban DP - Silver Stars; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear; Silver Glitter; Glossy Accents

I really like the Bugaboo Stella digis - the sentiments are always really pithy!! As I get older, I think I'm getting more like Stella :)) I printed her on white card, coloured her with Copics, added silver glitter to her hat and cut her out with a fancy edge die. I layered the image on black card and then attached it to a card which I had covered with grey and silver design paper (which I've had in my stash for ages!). I used a punch to cut out the matching sentiment - which really made me chuckle. I edged it with a silver marker and attached it with dimensional tape.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of the silver/grey DP and on the white panel I added a simple sentiment and some snowflakes.

I used the colours from this week's Merry Monday Challenge - MM#196. I have a couple more cards to finish and will upload them shortly. In the meantime, there's more inspiration on our blog from the rest of the team. Do play along! I look forward to seeing your creations.

Hi! I'm back with the other cards I made for our Funny Sentiment challenge.  They all have a common theme with the Bugaboo digital images.  This one features JJ:

Stamps: Bugaboo Digital - JJ Ornament Define Good; US - Stunning Snowflakes, Simply Said Christmas
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Brilliance - Starlight Silver; Stampin' Up! - Wisteria Wonder
Dies: Die-namics - Wonky Stitched Rectangles Stax #4, Wonky Stitched Ovals Stax #3
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Wisteria Wonder; Kanban DP - Silver Stars; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear; Glitter; Glossy Accents

I printed JJ on white card, coloured her with Copics, cut her out with a die and then added glitter and some glossy accents to her specs. I cut a panel of design paper on which to layer her. On the inside I cut a white panel on which I stamped some snowflakes and added a simple Christmas greeting. The colours for this card are from Colour Throwdown - CTD#384.

The last card I made for this week's challenge features Stella - she's got a theme going with being naughty!

Stamps: Bugaboo Digital - Stella Christmas Sled; US - Stunning Snowflakes, Simply Said Christmas
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Brilliance - Starlight Silver; Stampin' Up! - Watermelon Wonder
Dies: Die-namics - Double Stitched Square Stax #5
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Watermelon Wonder; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear and Gold; Glitter; Glossy Accents

The colours for this card are from CAS Colours & Sketches - CASC&S#165.

I had fun making a small set of cards with Funny Sentiments!  Do join in with our challenge and to get a good start on your cards for this year's stash! It's so much easier to make your Christmas cards slowly over time than rush at the end of the year.  Have fun!

UC - Easter/Spring theme ....

.....  Good Morning!  Spring officially starts on Sunday 20th March, and Easter is the following week, so our theme for this month's Uniko Challenge is SPRING/EASTER. I've made a fun Easter card, I like Mr Bunny hoarding his eggs!!:

Stamps: Uniko - Some Bunny, Background Builders Round in Circles, Fontiments Birthday
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Kaleidacolor - Pastel
Dies: Spellbinders - Nested Eggs (S4-264) #1, #2 and #3
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Wisteria Wonder; Copics; Cuttlebug EF - Kitchen Weave

I used lilac card to make the base. I cut a panel of white card slightly smaller and embossed a check pattern. I created the Easter eggs by stamping the circles on white card using a Kaleidacolor pad - love the variation in colour. I die cut several eggs. Next I stamped the bunny on white card, coloured him with Copics and fussy cut him out. I adhered the three eggs behind the bunny directly to the card. I put some dimensional tape behind the bunny's head, ears and arms and attached him. I finished by adding the smallest egg and sentiment with dimensional gel. On the inside I simply stamped the circles on the white panel and left a large space for my message.

I'm submitting this card to Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#228 and also to AAA Cards - AAA#60. For more inspiration do visit our blog to see more from the Design Team along with a card from our Guest Designer, Cornelia.

Aren't these just super!  Now, if you need more incentive to play along with the challenge here are the details of the prizes.

THE PRIZES

• The DT will choose a winner who will get a £20 gift voucher.
• The DT choose a Top 3 who will each get 50 Loyalty Rewards Points added to their customer account.
• We will do a random draw for all those who use A UNIKO stamp, and this winner will get 150 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account

You've got plenty of time to play along with this month's challenge.  The deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) on Friday 8th April (7.00pm EDT).

I've been really busy this week doing some decorating at our new house. I've painted Kat's bedroom and my craft room. Today I'm finishing off the painting with the office. Next week we move in, so apart from scheduled posts, I'm not going to be around much!  See you soon.

TMR - Theme ...

.... Morning! It's time for our new challenge at The Male Room - TMR#31, and I think you're all going to like it more than the last one!! For the next couple of weeks we'd like to see your masculine styled projects with an EASTER theme. I've made an Easter card for my son:

Stamps: Rick St Dennis Digi - Evil Flesh Eating Eggs; Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz - Crazy Talk
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Die-namics - Wonky Stitched Rectangles Stax #4
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Always Artichoke; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear

I've used my favourite zombie type eggs for this card - my son will love them!!!  I printed them on white card, coloured with Copics and added just a bit of sparkle with a clear Wink of Stella brush.  I used a die to cut out the image and layered it on some green card and then adhered it all to the card.  I finished the front with a simple greeting.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of green card and added another little egg to the white panel - lots of space left for me to write a message to Ben.  I've gone for a monochromatic green look - which just happens to work for this week's Colour Q Challenge - cQc#333 and also for City Crafter Challenge Blog - CCCB#303.

Here's a close up of the eggs - you can just about see the sparkle!!

Do visit our blog to see more inspiration projects from the rest of the team.  You've got plenty of time to play along - deadline for submission is midnight (BST) Tuesday 29th March (that's 7.00pm EDT).

That's it from me today.  I'm going to be spending most of the day painting the walls in my new craft room!  See you soon.

52CCT and CIC - I'm late ....

.... Apologies to my team mates on both Design Teams, I've been so busy with house stuff that I only managed to get into my craft room this afternoon to get these cards made!! I'll start with my card for this week's colour challenge over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT10-16. Our colours this week are GREEN AND WHITE - seems appropriate with St Patrick's Day coming up soon. Here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - Simply Said Christmas, Stunning Snowflakes, Peace on Earth
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress - Cracked Pistachio, Lucky Clover
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kaisercraft DP - Holly Jolly; Martha Stewart Punch - Snowflake; Gems; Stampin' Up Punches - Decorative Label, Word Window, Large Oval

I used the sketch from this week's MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge - MFTWSC#271. I found these lovely papers in my stash. I cut a panel of sage green with embossed crosses adhered it to the card and topped it with a strip of snowflake paper in a darker shade of green. I punched three snowflakes, attached them to the card and added some gems. I finished the front with a simple sentiment in black. On the inside I cut a mat layer of green card and on the white panel I stamped some green snowflakes and added a greeting label.

For more inspiration with our green and white colour scheme, check out the cards from the rest of the team - they're fab!!

Our challenge at Cupcake Inspirations - CIC#351 this week has the theme RAINBOW. We are being sponsored by The Ribbon Resource and I was lucky enough to get some ribbon from them to use on my card. I'm not great at bows and the like, so this is how I used the ribbon:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Groovy Love
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: SU/Sizzix - Hearts a Flutter; Waltzingmouse Dies - Simple Sprig
Accessories: White Lustre Card; The Ribbon Resource - Green Fuchsia Check, Shades of Orange, Shades of Blue, Pink Watercolour

I cut a panel of white card and covered it with double sided adhesive.  I then adhered the four ribbons in a diagonal pattern and attached the finished panel to the front of the card. The top panel is just smaller than the card and I used my MISTI to position and stamp the heart and sentiment.  Then I die cut a number of hearts and circles around the greeting.  I like the way the die cut spaces reveal all the different ribbons in a rainbow of colours!!  I've not done the inside of my card yet.

For more inspiration cards, do visit our blog to see what the rest of the team have made.

House moving preparations are well in hand now. I've got the removal firm booked and have been busy going through our stuff to sort out what we want to keep, what to throw away as it's old or broken, and also to see what can be recycled. On Saturday Jonathan and I took several large sacks of clothes to the Salvation Army store, and I think it's likely that there'll be more to follow this week. We also told Kat that she could pick a colour for her bedroom - she selected a really nice grey, but it was so dark. Fortunately we agreed on a nice light grey and I'll be starting the painting tomorrow! I am also painting our office and my new craft room!! Will post pictures once we're in and settled.

The clocks went forward last night and it's so nice to have light evenings. It would have been better to have a sunny day too, but the rain has stopped now. Have a good week! I'm not sure when I'll next get chance to play in my craft room, I suspect it's going to be next month.

Uniko - Revisit and Blog Hop ....

... Good morning! Sorry I've not been around much - busy getting stuff sorted out for the new house. However, I did make time to get into my craft room to create a card for the Uniko Revisit Blog Hop. Bev has a new release every other month, and on the off-month, we revisit an older set.  This month Bev picked Pure Florals Cosmos.  I think this is such a pretty set and it's perfect for the birthday card I've made:

Stamps: Uniko - Pure Florals Cosmos
Inks: Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! DP - Wild Wasabi; SU Card - Tangerine Tango, Wild Wasabi; Vellum; Gold and White Embossing Powder; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear

I've used the colours from Colour Throwdown - CTD#383 - so spring-like, and the layout is based on the sketch at Fusion - FUSION#50. I stamped the single flower repeated on vellum, heat embossed with gold tinsel powder and then cut them out.  I coloured the reverse of the flowers with Copic markers and added a touch of sparkle to the front with clear Wink of Stella. I used up some scraps of design paper and card to create the panel at the top.  I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed with white powder.  On the inside I cut a panel of green card for the mat layer and on the white panel stamped the cosmos flowers and a greeting.

Here's a close up of the pretty Cosmos flowers - I think you can just about see the sparkle!!!

This is a blog hop and you should have come to my blog via Bev's, however, in case you've arrived here directly, here's the Blog Hop list:

Bev (Uniko)

Deborah (that's me!)

Jane

Lindsey
Sarah G

Sarah P

Nicki

Here's a look at the stamps in Pure Florals Cosmos:

Finally, there's a prize on offer too.  Simply comment along the Hop to be in with a chance of winning this featured set along with an eGift certificate for £10 to spend in the store. If you win and already have the set, then you'll get an eGift certificate for £15 instead.  That's all from me for now!