Hip Hop Birthday ....

.... Good afternoon! It's a really dismal day here in Northop Hall - dull, grey, wet but mild! So I've been playing in my craft room. A friend recently asked me to make a birthday card for him, so I came up with some ideas and made the one he liked. But I had a few idea left over, so I made one of them today. Here's a birthday card for my stash:

Stamps: Visible Image - Hip Hop Girls, Tomorrow Doesn't Exist, Random Art of Kindness, Rays of Light; MFT - Bitty Birthday Wishes

Inks: Gina K - Wild Dandelion, Sweet Mango, Bubblegum Pink, Key Lime, Powder Blue; Versafine - Onyx Black

Accessories: White Card; Visible Image Stencil - Cosmic Skies; Clear Embossing Powder

I'm submitting this card to Seize the Birthday - STB#208 - I going for the Anything Goes option, to Just Us Girls - JUGS#572 where they want to see rainbow colours, and to Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge - HLSSC#02 Anything Goes.

This is a one layer card. I started by stamping the hip hop dancer in black ink and heat embossed with clear powder. I covered the image with a mask and then stamped the numbers to act as a ground for her and added the rays of light behind her. Again they were stamped in Versafine black ink and heat embossed. Next I stamped the birthday greeting and embossed that. I finished the front by adding rainbow colours through a stencil. It has a very grungy feel. I've left the inside blank for my own message.

That's all for today. I'm going back to messing about with paints and inks. I've been doing an online class with Dyan Reaveley - Distinctly Dylusions 12 - where we've been using her wonderful hexagon stamps and stencils. I've lots of pages prepared to colour. I'll share some in the next few weeks. See you soon.

Sweet Sixteen .....

.... Good Morning! It's Kat's 16th birthday today. By some strange miracle Kat was up early this morning :) We wished her a Happy Birthday, she spoke to her Nanny in Leicester and she's opened her card. She loved it!!! Yea. To celebrate we're having a birthday brunch at Fox Hill Golf Club - they do a wonderful spread. Kat started her birthday weekend with dinner on Friday night with her best friend Alyx at The Cheesecake Factory in Novi (we dined there too, but at a different table). The girls spent yesterday together at The Heritage Festival in Northville and then at home - I think they spent the day chatting, laughing, listening to music and just enjoying being together. Last night I finally made Kat's card:

Stamps: Visible Image - Sing, Tomorrow Doesn't Exist, Rays of Light; Uniko - Simply Said Birthday; Winnie & Walter - Moonlight; Your Next Stamp - Whatnot Sentiments One; Stampin' Up! - 25 Days
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Gina K - Cherry Red, Black Onyx; Distress - Black Soot
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Basic Black; Clear Embossing Powder; Wink of Stella - Clear; Lindy's Starburst Spray - Rudolf's Nose Red; Dylusions Stencil - Cobweb Lg

I got the idea for this card from Kat, she sings all the time, she loves all things Goth and Halloween, and she's very fond of black and red. I spritzed Lindy's red spray over the cobweb stencil. Once dry, and after cleaning the stencil, I lightly sponged over the edges of the stencil with black distress ink. I rubbed over the surface with an antistatic bag and then stamped the number and singer in black and heat embossed with clear powder. I positioned the musical notes to come from the microphone, stamped and embossed that image. Then I stamped the star burst and word 'birthday' in cherry red ink. I finished the front by stamping the word 'happy' and adding just a touch of sparkle to the dress with a clear wink of stella brush. I used a sponge to define the edges of the card. On the inside I cut a mat layer of black card. On the white panel I stamped some cobwebs, some pumpkins, added a greeting and finished with some stars.

I'm submitting this card to Inkspirational - INK#143, where they have a photo for inspiration. My take on the photo is to use a silhouette image of a singer (another of the arts), the musical notes floating in the air, and to create an overall background that suits my daughter. I'm also playing along with Love to Craft Challenge Blog - LTCCB#14 where it's Anything Goes!

Before I go, I have to share few photos of my gorgeous girl:

Our Goth Girl - it's actually a handbag she's holding! Taken by Alyx.

Kat - photo taken by Alyx, her best friend.

And this one is Kat, Pluto and Alyx - taken in April when we went to Disney. They're still little girls at heart!!!

That's all for now. Have a great day.

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.

Birthday Girl ....

...... Good morning! Half-way through December - time is going by so fast! Only a week until Christmas. But, before that my niece, Georgia, is celebrating her 16th birthday today. She's grown into a beautiful young woman, and this is the card that I made for her:

Stamps: Visible Image - Tomorrow Doesn't Exist, Rays of Light; Uniko - Simply Said Birthday; CAS-ual Friday Stamps - Whole Shebang; Stampin' Up! - 25 Days
Inks: SU - Rose Red, Sweet Sugar Plum, Pink Pirouette; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Sweet Sugar Plum; Clear Embossing Powder

I decided to make a one-layer card as it's so much easier to post. I know that teenagers today are so much more "with-it" than when I was 16, but they still get excited by turning 16. I used this wonderful girl jumping for joy as the main image. I stamped her and the word Happy in Versafine onyx black and heat embossed them with clear powder. I cut a mask to protect the girl and then stamped the fireworks. I stamped the number 16 over the palest of the firework burst and added the word birthday to finish the front of the card. Fairly clean and simple. On the inside I cut a mat layer of pale plum card and on the white panel added a fun greeting along with a few more firework bursts.
I'm submitting this card to Love to Craft Challenge Blog - LTCCB#5 where this month is ANYTHING GOES.

Hopefully this card will have arrived in Plymouth and Georgia has it on display along with the rest of her cards from family and friends. That's all for today.