Olympic Sports .....

.... Are you enjoying the Olympic Games?  I am!!!  The TV coverage here is good - although it is obviously focused on Team USA.  I would so like to see more of Team GB!!  I was so excited when London won the games.  So you can imagine being in the US, while it's absolutely fabulous, is a bit of a downer for me!!!    I have really missed the build up with the torch being carried around the UK.  The atmosphere in the UK, London particularly, must be fantastic!!  And what has sports and the Olympics got to do with cards and craft?  Well, it's time for the St Luke's Charity Card Challenge and this month our theme is:

Olympics/Sports

I've made two cards this month - and it will come as no surprise that my first card has an Olympic/London theme.

Stamps:  Papermania - Portobello Road Urban Vintage (PMA907126); Waltzingmouse - Freespirit Boy; Personal Impressions - 1st, Tennis
Inks:  Distress - Mustard Seed, Festive Berries, Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean, Black Soot; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories:  Clear embossing powder, Spellbinder dies to cut Olympic rings; Official London 2012 Logo; Card from stash

This is a large card, 10" x 7".  I started off by masking the edges of the card - 5cms in from each edge and then stamping St Stephen's Tower (often called Big Ben) and embossing with clear powder.  Then I sponged on colour, using my distress inks, in the order of the Olympic rings.  Next I randomly stamped images representing sports and London.  To cut out the rings I used #3 & 4 of the large Spellbinder circles, taping them together to keep the rings equal.  I cut the rings from foil card - you can't see the shine in the photo above, but I think it looks fab in the view below.  I was going to stamp London 2012 above the image, but I really like the official Games logo, so I printed it off, cut it out and attached it to my card.

My second card is perfect for a tennis fan.  It is really quick and easy to make too!!  I used some Kanban paper to cover the base of the card, then stamped the tennis racket, shoes and ball twice onto white card.  I used Promarkers to add some colour to the image.  I cut out one image in full and just the ball and front shoe from the other image, then layered them.  I finished off with a simple birthday greeting.

Stamps:  Hobby Arts - Happy Birthday; Personal Impressions - Tennis
Inks:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  Promarkers; Kanban designer paper, Card from stash

We have a super prize this month - a full set of stamps from Waltzingmouse Stamps.  This lovely set, Blessed by You, is just fab with lots of wonderful sentiments and sweet images.

For more inspirational sporting themed cards, check out the DT's cards, by clicking on the links below or going directly to our blog for full details of the challenge and how to donate cards to St Luke's Charity Card Challenge.

Tara Cardwell

Jenny Mullens

Anne Forrest

Sylvie Colledge

Lynne Atkinson

At the time of typing this post (5.38pm) Team GB have four medals - two Silver and two Bronze.  Huge congratulations to the GB Men's Gymnastic team for getting Bronze!!  China and USA are tied on 23 medals each, but China have more Gold!!  Hopefully Team GB will get some more medals soon.  That's all for now.  

Edited:  Just seen that my cards fit in with the challenge at Paper Play Challenges - PPC30 - Sports/Olympics - so I'm linking up to this challenge.  Just been catching up with the Olympics - the US Ladies Gymnastic team were brilliant and I'm really pleased that Michael Phelps has got the record for the highest number of medals for a swimmer.

CR84FN10 ...

... it's that time - a new challenge starts today at CR84FN.  We'd love you to come and play along; we have such pretty colours to play with - but aren't they always?  Who can resist such pretty sorbet soft colours? 





As always, the pictures are by Leslie at A Creative Mint - well worth a look - such lovely images.

January is a busy month for me - so many of my family have birthdays in January that it is sometimes hard to keep up.  My Aunty Sue had her birthday yesterday, so I decided that I would feature snowflakes on her card - very appropriate as we have had so much snow!  And this colour palette really works with snowflakes.

It's a large card - 8" x 8" - but it needed to be special.  I decided that I'd used the colours to make some pretty layers, with the top layer featuring the snowflakes.  I used glossy card for the top layer and started off by stamping various snowflakes in versamark and clear embossing them.  Then I used the brayer technique (still getting used to that one) with Big 'n' Juicy.  In my practise run I had the lilac on the inside, but realised that it looked better with green on the inside.  I was quite pleased that it came out so well.  I distressed the edge of the card with Mustard Seed and just a hint of Tumbled Glass.  I found the bright yellow ribbon in my stash an wrapped it around the layers.  Once this was mounted onto the card, I realised that it still needed something.  So I made a few flowers and snowflakes - in matching colours.  Finally, I added the birthday greeting using my favourite (at the moment) Spellbinder dies - Labels 14.  I used the co-ordinating Waltzingmouse stamps for the frame and then added the greeting.  My husband really liked the card - that's praise indeed!!!

Stamps:  Personal Impressions - Christmas Sparkle; Stampin' Up! - Serene Snowflakes; Waltzingmouse - Holiday Labels No 14, Teeny Trees, Very Vintage Christmas Stamps

Inks:  Memento - Tuxedo Black, Dandelion; Distress - Tumbled Glass, Mustard Seed; Big 'n' Juicy - Happy Birthday

Spellbinders:  Labels 14

Accessories:  Ribbon and papers from stash; Martha Stewart snowflake punch;  Woodware flower punches

Don't forget to check out the rest of the team's cards - you can get to their blogs via the link on my sidebar, or via the CR84FN site.  Please have fun and play along with Create for Fun!!