TMR - Theme ...

... Hi! Are you watching the Winter Olympics? I am! I really enjoy watching it all - particularly the ice-skating, but the skiing is fun too. I have to admit that I only watch - I fall over if I try to go out in the snow and ice 😉 This is all leading up to our theme for The Male Room - TMR#79. For the next couple of weeks, we'd like to see your masculine projects with a Sport/Winter Olympics theme. I actually got a bit carried away - I made three cards, here's the first:

Stamps: Uniko - All Occasion Sentiments #2, Background Builders Seeing Stars, Extra Time
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Gina K - Wild Dandelion, Blue Denim
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kanban Toppers - Extreme Sports; Stampin' Up! Card - Night of Navy; Clear Embossing Powder

I knew exactly what I was going to use to make my cards for the Sports/Winter Olympics theme. I've had some Kanban toppers in my stash for about 8 years. I got them from QVC and they come out everytime I need something masculine. I clipped out this skiing photo (this works for the Olympic Sports theme) to use on a square card. I didn't want to hide the photo, so I stamped the greeting directly on the image and heat embossed it with clear powder. I adhered the panel to the card using dimensional foam. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of dark blue card and on the white panel, I added a greeting and some stars stamped in the same colours as the ski suit. This was so quick and easy to make. I'm submitting it to Love to Craft Challenge Blog - LTCCB#19 where Anything Goes!

My next two cards are not based on the Winter Olympics but on more regular sports of football (or soccer to my American friends) and rugby. Here's the football version:

Stamps: Uniko - Background Builders Seeing Stars, Time
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Gina K - Red Velvet, Blue Denim
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kanban Toppers - Football; Stampin' Up! Card - Night of Navy

This time I clipped out three of the smaller images featuring football. I stamped the stars on the card using colours from the photos and finished the front by adding a fun sentiment. I attached the two images on the side flat to the card and used dimensional pads to add the image in the middle. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of navy card and on the white panel added a simple message along with some red stars top and bottom. I used the sketch from Reverse Confetti Sketch for you To Try - SFYTT#57 for the layout. This was another quick and easy card to make.

And the last card features rugby images, which is sort of appropriate as the NatWest Six Nations Championship is running at the moment:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Gorgeous Grunge, Greatest Greetings; Uniko - All Occasion Sentiments # 2, Fontiments Birthday
Inks: SU - Island Indigo; Gina K - Blue Lagoon
Dies: Die-namics - Circles Set 2 #4 and #6, Stitched Circles #4 and #6
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kanban Toppers - Rugby; Stampin' Up! Card/DP - Island Indigo

I used the same sketch as before but changed out the shapes for circles. I used dies to cut out the images and card for matting. I stamped the spatter and sentiment directly on the card and adhered the circle images on top. On the inside, I cut a layer of teal design paper for the mat layer, and on the white panel, I kept it very simple with a bold birthday greeting. I'm submitting this card to Addicted to CAS - ATCAS#129 where they want us to use the colour teal!

Don't forget to visit The Male Room blog to see more from the Design Team and also from our guest designer, Laurie. Do have fun with this theme, I can't wait to see what you create. You have plenty of time to join in, the deadline for submission is midnight GMT on Tuesday 27th February (that's 7.00pm EDT in the States).

That's all from me for now - I'm off to watch the ice-skating. I have my DVR set up to record the programmes and I watch them while I iron!! See you soon.

Uniko Challenge - Something Old, Something New ....

.... Morning! It's time for our first challenge of the year over at Uniko - USC#45. Our challenge this month is SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW with the optional twist of LOVE. If you carry the verse on, it goes 'something borrowed and something blue' and is very much associated with a wedding. While I've included blue on my card, it is not a wedding card, it's a birthday card:

Stamps: Uniko - Decorative Doilies, Today Tomorrow & Always Time
Inks: Gina K - Powder Blue, Kraft, Black Onyx; Versafine - Onyx Black; Versamark
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Sahara Sand; Uniko Stencil - Lattice; Stampendous - Kaleidoscope Embossing Powder; Vellum

I interpreted the challenge to mean an old Uniko stamp set and something from the new range. I used Decorative Doilies, probably my favourite stamp set, along with Today Tomorrow and Always Time for the words, along with the new lattice stencil. I used the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch - CTS#255, the colours are from Colour Throwdown - CTD#476, and I'm also playing along with CASology - CAS#283 where the cue word is GLIMMER.

I sponged on some pale blue ink through the stencil fading it out at the edge. I stamped the doily on kraft card in Versmark and embossed with a shimmery embossing powder, and then I fussy cut it out. I stamped the birthday greeting on vellum and adhered it to the centre of the doily. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of kraft card and on the white panel, I added a greeting, along with a clock and another doily. This card is going in my stash as I've got quite a lot of birthdays in the next few months.

Here's a close up of the shimmery doily - love the iridescent colours:

Don't forget to visit the Uniko blog to see more inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and from our Guest Designer - Anita.  We have prizes too, and they are as follows:

• Main winner chosen by the DT - £25 eGift Certificate
• Random twist winner - £4 in stock clear stamp set of winner's choosing
• Random Uniko stamps winner - £4 in stock clear stamp set of winners' choosing
• Top Three chosen by the DT - 150 Loyalty Reward Points

You have plenty of time to join in with the challenge, deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) Friday 23rd February - that's 7.00pm EDT in the States. Have fun!

Uniko - Theme .....

.... Hello! I'm here this morning with my card for our theme challenge at Uniko. This month we want you to create a card that has been INSPIRED BY A SONG TITLE. This card was inspired by the song Hip to be Square by Huey Lewis and The News - see clip at the end of this post:

Stamps: Uniko - All Occasion Sentiments #6, Background Builders Squared, Time
Inks: Memento - Summer Sky, Pear Tart, Rose Bud; Stampin' Up! - Rich Razzleberry, Lucky Limeade
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU DP - Rich Razzleberry

I've used the colours from this week's Colour Q Challenge - cQc#356. I've made a really clean and simple card, but it took a while! I really like these squares, but it took a while to line them all up. I cut them into a panel, slightly smaller than the card base and edged it with some dark ink. I finished the front with a bold sentiment. On the inside I cut a mat layer of design paper and added some decoration to the white panel.

Do visit our blog to see more inspiration from the rest of the team. The challenge actually started last week and I knew immediately the song that I would use - Yellow Submarine - and I had just the right stamp! And, then I realised that it wasn't a Uniko stamp :)))) As I couldn't get the song out of my head, I had to pass, but this week was much easier.

And here's the song by Huey Lewis and the News:

Uniko - Masculine ...

... Morning! I'm here with my card for the Uniko Challenge - USC#32R where we have a theme of

MASCULINE WITH THE OPTION OF FATHER'S DAY

I've made a masculine birthday card:

Stamps: Uniko - Time, Extra Time, Simply Said
Inks: Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black; Brilliance - Galaxy Gold
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! DP - Basic Black; Couture Creations EF - Work Shop; Stampendous Frantage - Aged Black Enamel, Aged Gold Enamel

My card is reasonably clean and simple. I cut a panel of white card slightly smaller then the base, embossed it and edged it with a gold pen. I stamped the cogs in Versamark; heat embossed them with aged black and aged gold enamel, and then cut them out. I attached them to the card with dimensional gel. I added a very simple greeting. On the inside I cut a mat layer of black design paper and on the white panel added a greeting and gold clock.

I used the layout from this week's CAS Colours & Sketches - CASC&S#175 and, as this is a birthday card, I'm also submitting it to AAA Cards - AAA#65 where they're celebrating their 2nd birthday.

Do visit the Uniko blog to see more inspiration cards from our Guest Designer, Tanja, as well as the rest of the team. And before I go, there are prizes - so do play along. Here are the details:

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 Uniko customer account.

• We will do a random draw for all those who use A UNIKO stamp. This winner will get 150 Loyalty Reward Points added to their Uniko customer account.

• We will do a random draw for all those who twist with us and create a Fathers Day creation. This winner will get 100 Loyalty Reward Points added to their Uniko customer account.

You've got plenty of time to play along with this month's challenge.  The deadline for submission is midnight (BST) on Friday 10th June (7.00pm EDT).

Uniko - Revisit & Blog Hop ....

.... Good morning!  So pleased you stopped by today as it's time for the first Uniko Design Team Blog Hop of the year.  If this is the first time you've come across Uniko - here's some information for you.  Bev "normally" releases new stamps every other month, and in the "off" month we revisit one of Bev's older sets - and have a play.   It's not long until Valentine's Day, so Bev decided we'd all revisit - Always and Forever.  Before we get to my card, we also have a new member to the Design Team - Lindsey from Doodlings is joining us, so please do say hi.  And now, here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - Always and Forever, Beautiful Blooms 1, Background Builders Lattice, Time
Inks: Versamark; Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Melon Mambo, Blushing Bride
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Crumb Cake; Copic Markers; Wink of Stella - Clear

I had so much fun creating this card.  I combined several of Bev's sets with the wonderful flower heart being the focal image.  The colours are from this week's Colour Q - cQc#323 challenge.  I started by making a base from Crumb Cake card and stamping  the smaller flower from Beautiful Blooms in Versamark to create a tone-on-tone look.  In the small gaps I stamps one of the sentiments from Always and Forever.  I cut a panel of white card and stamped this pretty lattice border on a diagonal and coloured it with Copic markers.  I stamped a birthday sentiment above the lattice and then carefully cut along the border.  I stmaped the flower heart in bright pink - I used my MISTI so was able to stamp the image twice to give really good definition to the image.  I then carefully cut it out and adhered it to the card with dimensional tape.  Prior to adding the heart to the card I used my clear Wink of Stella brush to add some sparkle to the coloured parts of the lattice and also to the white flower in the heart, sadly you can't see it in the photo!  On the inside I cut another white panel and added another flower along with a simple greeting.

Now, I mentioned earlier that this is a Design Team Blog Hop.  You should have come here from Bev's blog and the next stop is Jane, but you can follow along by clicking on the links below:

Bev - Uniko

Deborah (that's me!)

Jane

Lindsey

Sarah P

Here's a quick look at the stamps in Always and Forever:

Before I go I should mention that we have a wonderful GIVEAWAY 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 store.  Or, if you win and already own this set, an eGift certificate for £15 will be awarded. You have until midnight (GMT) Sunday 17th Janaury to comment, and the winner will be announced on Monday 18th January.  That's all for now!

TMR - Stash: Newsprint ....

..... Morning!!  It's time for our new challenge at The Male Room.  For the next couple of weeks we'd like your masculine projects to include NEWSPRINT.  I'm sure that like me, many of you have got newsprint design papers in your stash and this is your opportunity to use some of it!  Here's my take:

Stamps: Uniko - Time, Extra Time
Inks: Versamark; Stampin' Up! - Early Espresso
Dies: Memory Box - Postage Rectangle Layers (30052) #4
Accessories: Cream Lustre Card; SU Card - Early Espresso; Papermania DP - Bookprint; Gold and Silver Embossing Powder

I had fun going through my newsprint stash and found this lovely piece with an old pocket watch - which happens to fit nicely with this week's challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz - C4G#84 where the theme is "It's About Time".  And, as I used some metallic embossing powders on the card, I'm also submitting to this month's House of Cards Challenge - HOC#8AUG, where they want to see Metallics.

I randomly stamped a pocket watch image around the border of my card in Versamark and then heat embossed with a mixture of gold and silver powders.  I used my new Postage Rectangle die to cut out the newsprint and added some metallic embossing to sections of the image using my Versamark pen.  I layered the finished piece on some dark brown card and adhered it to the card.  I finished the front with a simple sentiment mounted flat to the card (for ease of posting).  On the inside I cut a mat layer of dark brown card and added a greeting on the cream panel, along with a couple more clocks!

Don't forget to visit our blog to see inspiration pieces from our Guest Designer Sue and also from the rest of the team.  You've got plenty of time to play along, deadline for submission is Tuesday 1st September midnight BST (for those of us in the States that's 7.00pm EDT).  And remember you can make any kind of papercraft project - we always enjoy seeing scrapbook layouts, 3D projects as well as cards.  Have fun!!!