TMR - Include an unexpected item ....

... Hi! I can't quite believe just how busy I've been since getting back from the UK; I've had no time to play in my craft room as we've been doing family stuff!! I'm here today with my card for our new challenge at The Male Room - TMR#90. We have a super fun challenge - we want you to include AN UNEXPECTED ITEM on your masculine project. The possibilities are endless. I went for something silly and fun for a boy's birthday card:

Stamps: Uniko - Balloon Bash, Simply Said Birthday, Birthday Sentiments; MFT - Pretty Pocket
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Blueberry Bushel; Gina K - Lucky Clover; Versamark
Dies: Die-namics - Pocket
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Blueberry Bushel; White Embossing Powder; White Gel Pen; Black Micron Pen

I made a clean, simple card. I made the base from dark blue card and cut a panel of white card slightly smaller. I die cut the blue card to make a pocket on which I stamped a stitched edge and a simple birthday greeting, embossing them both with white powder. On the white card, I stamped balloons and added details with white and black pens. I stamped some stars in blue and green on the panel and then used dimensional tape at the edges of the pocket to attach it to the card front. I finished the card by putting a green balloon - my unexpected item - inside the pocket. On the inside of the card, I cut another panel of white card on which I added a greeting and some more stars. I'm submitting this card to Inkspirational - INK#165 where the word prompt is birthday.

Here's a photo of the card next to a blown up balloon:

I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome Wei and Lise Mariann to The Male Room DT - so glad to have you on board. Don't forget to check out The Male Room blog to see more inspiring projects from the rest of the design team and also from our guest designer, Ana.  You've got plenty of time to join the fun - deadline for submission is midnight (BST) Tuesday 31st July - that's 7.00pm here in the States. See you soon.

Christmas Wishes ....

.... Good morning!  It's the last day of our long holiday weekend, we've all had a really good time.  It's been mostly lazy, but I've also had time to play in my craft room.  I've another Christmas card to share with you this morning:

Stamps: Uniko - Essentially Christmas, Balloon Bash; Waltzingmouse - Tis the Season
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Kaleidacolor - Blue Breeze
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Tempting Turquoise; Gloss Card; Clear Embossing Powder; Pearlescent Embossing Paste; SU Punch - Christmas Ornament (discontinued)

Yesterday I shared a couple of cards that I'd made using some brayered gloss card - I had a bit left over, so I punched out three Christmas Ornaments.  I used the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch! - CTS#150 for the layout and, as I've used some left over stash, I'm also playing along with Jingle Belles - JB:15:24 where the team want us to create a card with left over bits.  Finally, as the colours here are white, blue with textured snowflakes, I'm playing along with Merry Monday - MM#181 - I've managed two cards this week!

I turned the sketch to make a landscape card and stamped the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black and heat embossed it with clear powder.  I ran the ornaments through my Xyron to make them self-adhesive and attached them to the front of the card.  I added string to them and finished with some fancy bows.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of turquoise card.  On the white panel I added a simple Christmas sentiment and a few blue stars.

Today I'm off to the regular monthly meeting of the Scrappy Chic Kitchen Roll Sprayers club - where we get to work on our art journals.  It's the perfect way to bring this weekend to a close.  I hope that all my American friends have enjoyed the holiday weekend.  Be safe and see you soon.

UC - Summer .....

.... with a twist!!!  Hello, it's time for our August challenge at Uniko.  You don't have to use Uniko stamps on your card, but we'd love it if you did!  This month our theme is SUMMER and there's an optional twist of being inspired by our photo.  Here's my take:

Stamps: Uniko - Home Sweet Home, All Occasion Sentiments #1, Balloon Bash
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Memento - Tuxedo Black; Stampin' Up! - Melon Mambo
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kaisercraft DP - All That Glitters; Copic Markers; Wink of Stella - Clear

As you can see I've been inspired by the photo!  I think that little house is just so cute.  The layout of this card is based on last week's Freshly Made Sketch - FMS#199 which I didn't manage to play along with.  I cut a strip of design paper with pretty summer roses in the corner and adhered it to the bottom of the card.  I used my MISTI to position and stamp the sentiments - I do love this tool.  The house was stamped four times twice on design paper and twice on white card.  I added some colour to the roof and walls and then adhered the pretty scalloped paper.  I colour the window and door with Copic markers, cut them out and adhered them to the main house.  I finished the front with a touch of sparkle on the curtains, front door and the little heart on the roof.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of dark pink design paper and added a balloon and some stars to the white panel.  There's plenty of space for my message.

As usual we have prizes for the winner of this challenge.  The DT picks a winner who will get a £20 eGift Certificate.  The DT also pick the Top 3 who will all get 50 Loyalty Points to be added to their customer accounts.  And there's more!  For those who use Uniko stamps on their card, there will be a random draw and this winner will get 150 Loyalty Points for their customer account.  We also do a random draw for all those who have gone with the optional twist (inspired by the photo) this winner will receive 100 Loyalty Points added to the customer account.

Now, why not visit our blog to see more inspiration from our Design Team and from our two fabulous Guest Designers - Darnell and Wiebke.  You've got plenty of time to play along closing on Friday 4th September 8.00am BST (3.00am EDT for those of us in the States).  I can't wait to see what you make!

AC - Happy Birthday ....

.....  Morning!  I hope you've all had a super weekend.  Mine was mostly okay - I'll explain later.  In the meantime, it's my turn to host a post at Airless Chambers where we share Rick St Dennis's darker, more alternative images - zombies, horror, monsters, steampunk, and other things that go bump in the dark.  My birthday card features a monster:

Stamps: Rick St Dennis Digi - Snailian Digi; Uniko Studio - Label Love Birthday, Balloon Bash,  A Gift for You; Stampin' Up! - I Think You're Great
Inks: SU - Tangerine Tango, Hello Honey, Island Indigo; Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Lil Inkers - Dual Stitched Rectangles #3
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Basic Black; Copic Markers; Wink of Stella - Clear; String; SU Marker - Basic Black

I actually think this monster is kinda cute!!  I used the colours from this week's Colour Q - cQc#293.  I printed the digi on white card, coloured with Copic markers and cut it out with a scalpel. Love the Snailian's mad eyes!  After I cut him out I added sparkle - he's an alien monster, so he should sparkle!  I stamped a number of balloons on white card and cut them out.  I stamped the round yellow balloon on a patterned stamp from SU and used the stamped oof image for my balloon.  I added a birthday greeting to the balloon.  I attached some string to the balloons and attached them to the card with dimensional gel.  I hide the strings behind the snailian.  I used Lil Inkers dies to cut the black mat.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of black and added a birthday present to the white panel.

Here's a close up of the cute monster Snailian - he really does shimmer and sparkle, especially as I took the photo in bright sunshine!

If you like this little monster - Snailian Digi, you can find him and several of his friends at Rick's Zibbet shop.

Now, the reason that my weekend was only mostly okay is that I had to weed the garden.  Last Friday I had a visit from the Northville Ordinance Police - someone had reported my garden as having too many weeds (they're not wrong), but I was rather taken aback!  While I love a pretty garden, I actually hate gardening!  So I spent three hours on Saturday morning pulling out the weeds on the front and sides of the house.  I've still got the back to do, but that's a job for later today.  The rest of the weekend has been great.  I did manage to get into my craft room on Saturday and had lots of fun.  Then yesterday Kathryn and I went to a photo shoot in Pontiac with one of our favourite models, Rachel!  Such a beautiful women - inside and out!

 
Jonathan is away for a few days at a photography course in Illinois.  And this is Kathryn's last week at Meads Mill Middle School - she's got some finals this week, but finishes on Thursday and then is on holiday for 3 months!!!

That's all for now - got to go and finish the weeding.  Do come back tomorrow!  See you!!

Uniko Studio - Simply Said Birthday ....

...  Good morning - so pleased to see you.  Today we are introducing the fourth and final new mini-set from Uniko Studio - Simply Said Birthday, which is full of lots of birthday greetings in a selection of fab fonts!  Here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko Studio - Simply Said Birthday, Balloon Bash, Classic Numbers
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Pretty in Pink, Early Espresso, Smoky Slate; Memento - Peanut Butter
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Early Espress; Cuttlebug EF - Chevrons; Wooden Arrow; Vellum

I used a couple of challenges in creating this card.  I used the colours (but not the theme) from The Card Concept - CC#28 and when I saw the MUSE challenge - MUSE#104 I knew I had to play along.  I cut a mat layer of brown card slightly smaller than the base card and adhered it to the card.  I embossed white card with this fab dotty chevron pattern (similar to the MUSE card) and then lightly ran over the pattern with grey, pale pink and sand coloured inks to define the dots.  I stamped the birthday sentiment in brown on vellum, wrapped it around the card and adhered it to the base.  I finished the front with a little wooden arrow which I over stamped with stars!  On the inside I cut a mat layer of brown, and on the white panel stamped a birthday greeting and more stars.

I like the contrast of the scripty font on this birthday greeting and the geometric chevron pattern.  On the inside of the card are a couple more fonts!

Click on the links below for more inspiration with our new mini-set - Balloon Bash:

Bev - Uniko Studio
Amber
Deborah (that's me)
Erika
Gillian
N@ Ali
Nicki
Sandie
Sarah

Here's the release schedule:

Saturday to Tuesday - we're introducing each set day by day.  The DT will have examples of how to use the stamps - lots of inspiration guaranteed.

Wednesday 11th February - you will get to see all the products and be able to purchase them HERE on the website.  As tradition holds, there will be a Design Team Blog Hop with a chance for a lucky person to win the ENTIRE release!!!

Now, you won't want to miss out on any of the fun on our intro days as we will be drawing totally random winners for mystery prizes.  We are not giving any hints as to the prizes or their value, you'll just have to join in on the fun!

Places to join in on the fun and possibly win a prize are by commenting along the way on the Uniko Studio Blog, DT, liking the Uniko Studio Facebook page, following on Twitter and Pinterest!

I do hope you've enjoyed seeing my cards introducing the new Uniko Studio mini-sets.  Do come back tomorrow - I'll be sharing more inspiration cards using these sets and, more importantly, you can get them from Bev's shop at 9.00am.  See you soon.

Uniko Studio - Classic Numbers ....

... Hello!  I hope you're all having a super weekend.  Today I'm introducing another of the new mini-sets from Uniko Studio.  I think you've realised that this release has a birthday theme.  Well, today we've a numbers set for you - individual numbers so that you can create whatever age or date that you need, or be totally random like me!  Here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko Studio - Classic Numbers, Balloon Bash
Inks: Versamark; Versafine - Spanish Moss, Majestic Blue; Stampin' Up! - Pacific Point
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Pacific Point; Embossing Powders - Verdigris, Moss, Blue Glass, Black, Lapis Black Aurora; Cuttlebug EF - Diamonds in the Rough

I used the sketch layout from CAS(E) this Sketch - CTS#109 and also use the embossing challenge at Happy Little Stampers - HLSFeb CAS.  I decided to use just the 1 and 0 numbers and create a random binary look for the side of the card.  I stamped the number in Versamark and then embossed with a selection of powders in shades of blue, green and black.  I cut a panel of white card on which I stamped a sentiment and then dry embossed, once completed I adhered this to some blue card and then attached the lot to the card base.  On the inside I cut a blue mat and on the white panel I finished the sentiment and added some star confetti!  I think this is a nice clean, simply masculine card.

 Click on the links below for more inspiration with our new mini-set - Classic Numbers:

Bev - Uniko Studio
Amber
Deborah (that's me)
Erika
Gillian
N@ Ali
Nicki
Sandie
Sarah

Here's the release schedule:

Saturday to Tuesday - we're introducing each set day by day.  All the DT will have examples of how to use the stamps - lots of inspiration guaranteed.

Wednesday 11th February - you will get to see all the products and be able to purchase them HERE on the website.  As tradition holds, there will be a Design Team Blog Hop with a chance for a lucky person to win the ENTIRE release!!!

Now, you won't want to miss out on any of the fun on our intro days as we will be drawing totally random winners for mystery prizes.  We are not giving any hints as to the prizes or their value, you'll just have to join in on the fun!

Places to join in on the fun and possibly win a prize are by commenting along the way on the Uniko Studio Blog, DT, liking the Uniko Studio Facebook page, following on Twitter and Pinterest!

Don't forget to come back tomorrow to see our third new mini-set - this is a really pretty one!!!  See you soon.