Making Spirits Bright ....

... Morning! I hope you've all had a good weekend. We've had a good one - stayed in for most of the time as it's been really cold, but at least no fresh snow!! I was in my craft room finishing off some much needed Christmas cards. I got this idea from the wonderfully talented Jennifer McGuire - thank you!! I made a card last week for another challenge using the Concord & 9th Christmas Cheer turnabout stamp and I had such fun with it, that I made some more:

Stamps: Concord & 9th - Christmas Cheer Turnabout; Altenew - Majestic Mistletoe
Inks: Gina K - Black Onyx; Distress Oxide - Salty Ocean, Candied Apple, Lucky Clover, Wilted Violet
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Crumb Cake; Shimer Spritz - Frost; Signo White Pen

I used distress oxide inks to stamp the image, using lovely bright colours and lightly spritzed with a shimmer spray. I added a touch of white pen to highlight some areas. I cut the panel into two and adhered on part to the top of a white card, and the other part to the bottom. I finished each card by adding a greeting in black. I have left the inside of these cards blank for my own messages. I'm submitting the cards to a few challenges - Happy Little Stamper Christmas challenge - HLSXMAS#12, City Crafter's Challenge Blog - CCCB#392, and to CAS on Friday - CASOF#123.

It's Kat's last week at school - she's so looking forward to her Christmas break. I've got a busy week to get us all ready for our trip back to the UK. It'll be so nice to see the family. That's all for now! Bye!

Uniko - Happy 5th Birthday ....

.... Hello! Today is Uniko's 5th Birthday! We are celebrating with a Birthday Card Link Up Party! And, as it's a party, there'll be prizes too, but more of that later. Here's the card I made to celebrate Uniko's 5th birthday:

Stamps: Uniko - Simply Said Birthday, Big & Bold Wish, Background Builders Chevrons, Explosion!
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Night of Navy; Versafine - Onyx Black; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Pool Party; Clear Embossing Powder; Spectrum Noir Sparkle - Clear; Copics

I like making cards for men, so I've opted for blues on my card, although I think it would work in reds and pinks too. I've used a few challenges in the making of this card:

• CAS(E) this Sketch - CTS#208
• CAS on Sunday - CASOS#101
• HLS CAS Challenge - HLSCAS#02

I used my MISTI to create the chevron panel - this tool really makes it easy to line up the stamp perfectly each time. I stamped the large word wish at the bottom of the panel in black and embossed it with clear powder. On a scrap of white card I stamped the large explosion image which I embossed with clear powder. I stamped some words in the explosion and then carefully cut it out. I added some sparkle to the edge of the cut out image and used dimensional gel to adhere it to the card.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of pale blue card and on the white panel added a birthday greeting and some candles.

Now, earlier I said that this is a Birthday Card Link Up Party and that there would be prizes. The link up will be open until midnight (GMT) Friday 10th March over at Uniko. The prizes are as follows:

• Main Winner - chosen by the Design Team - will win the FULL February 2017 release stamps
• Random Uniko Stamps Winner - £25 eGift Certificate
• Top 3 - chosen by the Design Team - in stock £4 clear stamp set of winners choosing

Do pop over to Uniko to see more birthday cards from the rest of the design team. And join the fun helping us to celebrate Uniko's 5th Birthday. See you soon!

21 today ....

....  Ben, is 21 years old today. I'm sure that time goes on a faster path once you have children - it really doesn't feel like 21 years since I had Ben. My blond baby boy is a man - with black hair and a beard! I was really lucky to spend a few days with him over the new year period helping him get settled into his new flat. This is the card that I made for him:

Stamps: Visible Image - Tomorrow Doesn't Exist, Rays of Light, Music Speaks; Uniko - Simply Said Birthday
Inks: Kaleidacolor - Blue Breeze; Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Stampin' Up/Sizzix - Large Number Framelits
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Black Gloss Card; SU Card - Basic Black; Doodlebug Sprinkles - Black; Clear Embossing Powder

I'm not sure whether or not Ben will have received the card yet! Some of the post I send to the UK gets there quickly, other times it takes ages. I've made a really clean and simple card for Ben - he tends to like them that way. I used my favourite ombre blue inks - Blue Breeze from Kaleidacolor - to ink up the sound waves and sun ray images. I die cut the numbers from some black gloss card and also from some plain black card, layering them together to give some thickness to the number. I adhered them flat to the card front. I finished the front by adding some simple black enamel dots. On the inside I cut a mat layer of black card. On the white panel I stamped another of the sound wave images and added a birthday greeting which was made up from stamps from Uniko and Visible Image. I heat embossed them with clear powder.

I really like the Visible Image sets - they work so well for masculine style cards!  I'm submitting this card to several challenges:

• Less is More - LIM#310 where they have a Colour challenge and they want an ombre look
• CAS on Sunday - CASOS#99 where they want Black, White & one other colour - I picked blue
• Cardz 4 Guyz - C4G#152 where they want to see Birthday cards
• City Crafter Challenge Blog - CCCB#344 where they want you to cheer up someone and use blue
• The Male Room - TMR#51 where we have an ANYTHING GOES theme

I actually made this card before any of these challenges were posted - it's amazing that it works for them all :)

Before I go, I'm going to share a several pictures of my young man Ben, after all, it's his 21st birthday:

Ben dressed up in a knitted suit. Get a load of those specs I'm wearing!!

One of my favourite photos of Ben - pure joy on his face - he was 11 months old here.

One of my pageboys at our wedding in April 2001.

 It's super Ben - Canterbury. 

Ben and Jonathan - family trip to Pontin's in August 2006. Ben was 10 years old here.

Taken on a very cold morning at the Detroit Thanksgiving Parade in November 2014.

And this is my most recent photo of Ben taken on 1st January 2017 in Hastings railway station. We'd been shopping and Ben walked me to the station to get my train back to London. It was pouring with rain and we both got soaked! I hope that Ben has the most wonderful birthday and send him all my love and best wishes.

That's all for today.

52CCT - Pick a Previous 2016 Challenge ...

.... Good morning! This year is flying by and we've reached December. I hate to scare anyone, but there are only 21 days to Christmas! However, if you've played along with 52 Christmas Card Throwdown every week you should have at last 47 cards in your stash. If you don't and if you still need some inspiration to make your cards, then this week's challenge of PICK A PREVIOUS 2016 CHALLENGE - 52CCT48-16 will be a great help. When you visit our blog, click on the tabs to see all the challenges. I actually have 100 cards in my stash, but still need more, so I've made 3 cards today all with the same design, but different colours. Here's the first:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Star of Light
Inks: SU - Calypso Coral, Tangerine Tango
Dies: SU/Sizzix - Starlight Thins
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Peekaboo Peach; Peach Glitter Paper

I like making Christmas cards with non-traditional colours, so this one is based on the colours I picked for January - shades of orange. It's quite different to the card that I made in January, as this time I've gone for a very clean and simple look, but still with lots of sparkle! I've actually used a couple of other challenges too - the sketch from October and also to use dies which was our May stash challenge. I die cut the beautiful star from peach glitter paper that I'd previously adhered to some Stick It. I used my MISTI to stamp the trail of stars in a coral colour and then the sentiment in dark orange. I attached the star after stamping the front of the card. On the inside I cut a mat of peach card and on the white panel stamped a subtle star in the background and greeting in dark orange. I'm submitting this card to Love to Craft Challenge Blog - LTCCB#5 where the theme is ANYTHING GOES. This challenge is new to me, but I hope to play along again.

My next card is soft shades of blue:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Star of Light
Inks: SU - Soft Sky, Marina Mist
Dies: SU/Sizzix - Starlight Thins
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Midnight Muse; Ice Blue Glitter Paper

The process on this one is the same as above. Once again the previous challenges are the October sketch and the May stash challenges. I'm submitting this one to CAS on Sunday - CASOS#97 where they want CAS Christmas cards - check!

My last card goes back to non-traditional colours. I'm submitting this one to CAS Colours & Sketches - CASC&S#202 where the team want us to use any of their previous 2016 colours to make a sesaonal card. Here it is:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Star of Light
Inks: SU - Blushing Bride, Rose Red, So Saffron
Dies: SU/Sizzix - Starlight Thins
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU DP - Blushing Bride; Yellow Glitter Paper

I used the 2nd June colours - CASC&S#176 for my card. I actually played along with this challenge and made a Christmas card then - but this one is so different.

I had fun making this trio of cards and they bring my total Christmas card stash to 103. For more inspiration using some of our previous challenges, do visit our blog to see more from the Design Team. As this month gets very busy for everyone, we will be running the challenge for the whole of December. Submission deadline is midnight (GMT) on Wednesday 28th December - so you can keep any special cards a surprise and upload them after the 25th! That's all from me for today - but do stop by again tomorrow!