TMR - Theme ....

.... Hello! I hope that everyone has had a really enjoyable holiday break and a great new year. We got back from the UK on 30th December - it was a super holiday and we had a lovely time with all the family. Sadly, Jonathan and I also came back with a stinking cold!! We've had a rough few days and spent most of our time just chilling in front of the TV.  We also came back to some of the coldest weather we've had for some time!

Anyway, I'm here this morning with my card for the new challenge at The Male Room - TMR#76. I had a break from the challenge at the end of last year, and am back now with my mojo intact and full of enthusiasm for all our upcoming challenges. It's also great to be working with our new team members. We have a really fun theme for the first challenge of this year - NEW BEGINNINGS. This gives you so much scope, but for me, I think that a New Year is always a time for new beginnings. Here's my card:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - It's A Celebration
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress - Festive Berries, Salty Ocean, Wilted Violet, Spiced Marmalade, Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn; Gina K - Black Onyx; Versamark
Dies: Die-namics - A2 Stitched Rectangles Set 2 #9
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Tim Holtz Water Colour Card; Zig Clean Colour Brushes; Shimer Spritz - Frost; Clear Embossing Powder

I stamped some of the firework burst in Versamark and heat embossed them with clear powder. I used my Zig Clean Colour brushes to lay down the colours of the rainbow and went over them with my water brush to blend. Once dry, I stamped on some more firework burst in Distress inks and finished the front with a greeting in bold black. I die cut the panel with a stitch edge die and added a touch of black to the edges and adhered it to the card. As a final touch I spritzed the card with some frost shimmer spray, sadly you can't see it in the photo!! On the inside, I cut a panel of white card, added a greeting and stamped a lot more firework bursts all over.

I opted for rainbow colours and fireworks as so many cities around the world see in the New Year with wonderful firework displays. I'm safe to share this card today, as I posted this card to Ben yesterday, and I don't think he's going to see this post!! I'm submitting this card to TIME OUT challenges - TOC#99, as they also wanted to see New Beginnings!

Now, don't forget to visit The Male Room blog to see more inspiration projects from the rest of the team. You've got plenty of time to join in with our challenge, deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) on Tuesday 16th January. See you again soon.

Christmas Joy 2 .....

.... Hi! It's turned a bit mild here. Most of the snow has melted away and it was quite nice when I was out earlier! I've not been in my craft room much this week - busy with holiday preparations. The cards I'm sharing here today were actually made last week and based on the one I made for The Paper Players challenge. Here they are:

Stamps: Concord & 9th - Christmas Cheer Turnabout; Stampin' Up! - It's a Celebration
Inks: Gina K - Wild Wisteria, Blue Lagoon, Blue Raspberry, Wild Lilac
Dies: Concord & 9th - Joy
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Smoky Slate; Shimmer Spritz - Frost

I stamped several card panels when I had my Christmas Cheer turnabout stamp in my MISTI. For this panel, I used pale grey card and cool coloured inks, and I added lots of shimmer with the Frost Shimmer Spritz. I die cut the word 'JOY' from the stamped panel. I used the panel with the negative space on a plain white card and added the die cut word to a white card onto which I stamped some firework bursts. They were both quick and very easy to make. I left the inside plain for my own message.

I'm submitting the first card - with the die cut word Joy to Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies - HLSAG#12 challenge, and the second card with the negative space to Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge - HLSXMAS#12.

Kat has now finished school for a couple of weeks and Jonathan is on his Christmas break too. We are all very much looking forward to going home to the UK to see our family. So excited!! That's all for now. Do drop by soon.

TMR - Colours ...

... Good morning! We had so many fabulous projects submitted for our Halloween challenge at The Male Room - thank you all! And today sees the start of our new challenge at The Male Room - TMR#47. We have a colour challenge for you ORANGE, YELLOW AND BLUE - you can make them as bright or pale as you want, you can add neutrals of black, white, cream, grey, brown, gold or silver but NO OTHER COLOURS!!! Here's my card:

Stamps: Carabelle - Metre Steampunk, Etiquettes Grunge; Visible Image - Glimmer of Light; Stampin' Up! - It's a Celebration
Inks: SU - Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Pacific Point; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card

I've made a one layer card with a freeform, collage look. I've based the design on this week's sketch at The Paper Players - PP#318. although I flipped the sketch vertically. I'm also playing along with AAA Cards - AAA#76 as they want to see masculine cards.

I used some new stamps from Carabelle Studio which I found at my local craft shop. They're fantastic and work perfectly for masculine style projects. I started with the metric measure in yellow, then the grunge labels in orange, the sentiment in blue and finished with the light buld for that glimmer of light. On the inside I simply stamped another of the label stamps. It was really quick and easy to make this one!

For more inspiration using these colours on your masculine projects, do visit our blog to see more from the Design Team. Have fun!