TMR - Theme ...

.... Morning! It's time for our new challenge at The Male Room - TMR#31, and I think you're all going to like it more than the last one!! For the next couple of weeks we'd like to see your masculine styled projects with an EASTER theme. I've made an Easter card for my son:

Stamps: Rick St Dennis Digi - Evil Flesh Eating Eggs; Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz - Crazy Talk
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Die-namics - Wonky Stitched Rectangles Stax #4
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Always Artichoke; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear

I've used my favourite zombie type eggs for this card - my son will love them!!!  I printed them on white card, coloured with Copics and added just a bit of sparkle with a clear Wink of Stella brush.  I used a die to cut out the image and layered it on some green card and then adhered it all to the card.  I finished the front with a simple greeting.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of green card and added another little egg to the white panel - lots of space left for me to write a message to Ben.  I've gone for a monochromatic green look - which just happens to work for this week's Colour Q Challenge - cQc#333 and also for City Crafter Challenge Blog - CCCB#303.

Here's a close up of the eggs - you can just about see the sparkle!!

Do visit our blog to see more inspiration projects from the rest of the team.  You've got plenty of time to play along - deadline for submission is midnight (BST) Tuesday 29th March (that's 7.00pm EDT).

That's it from me today.  I'm going to be spending most of the day painting the walls in my new craft room!  See you soon.

52CCT and CIC - I'm late ....

.... Apologies to my team mates on both Design Teams, I've been so busy with house stuff that I only managed to get into my craft room this afternoon to get these cards made!! I'll start with my card for this week's colour challenge over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT10-16. Our colours this week are GREEN AND WHITE - seems appropriate with St Patrick's Day coming up soon. Here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - Simply Said Christmas, Stunning Snowflakes, Peace on Earth
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress - Cracked Pistachio, Lucky Clover
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kaisercraft DP - Holly Jolly; Martha Stewart Punch - Snowflake; Gems; Stampin' Up Punches - Decorative Label, Word Window, Large Oval

I used the sketch from this week's MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge - MFTWSC#271. I found these lovely papers in my stash. I cut a panel of sage green with embossed crosses adhered it to the card and topped it with a strip of snowflake paper in a darker shade of green. I punched three snowflakes, attached them to the card and added some gems. I finished the front with a simple sentiment in black. On the inside I cut a mat layer of green card and on the white panel I stamped some green snowflakes and added a greeting label.

For more inspiration with our green and white colour scheme, check out the cards from the rest of the team - they're fab!!

Our challenge at Cupcake Inspirations - CIC#351 this week has the theme RAINBOW. We are being sponsored by The Ribbon Resource and I was lucky enough to get some ribbon from them to use on my card. I'm not great at bows and the like, so this is how I used the ribbon:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Groovy Love
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: SU/Sizzix - Hearts a Flutter; Waltzingmouse Dies - Simple Sprig
Accessories: White Lustre Card; The Ribbon Resource - Green Fuchsia Check, Shades of Orange, Shades of Blue, Pink Watercolour

I cut a panel of white card and covered it with double sided adhesive.  I then adhered the four ribbons in a diagonal pattern and attached the finished panel to the front of the card. The top panel is just smaller than the card and I used my MISTI to position and stamp the heart and sentiment.  Then I die cut a number of hearts and circles around the greeting.  I like the way the die cut spaces reveal all the different ribbons in a rainbow of colours!!  I've not done the inside of my card yet.

For more inspiration cards, do visit our blog to see what the rest of the team have made.

House moving preparations are well in hand now. I've got the removal firm booked and have been busy going through our stuff to sort out what we want to keep, what to throw away as it's old or broken, and also to see what can be recycled. On Saturday Jonathan and I took several large sacks of clothes to the Salvation Army store, and I think it's likely that there'll be more to follow this week. We also told Kat that she could pick a colour for her bedroom - she selected a really nice grey, but it was so dark. Fortunately we agreed on a nice light grey and I'll be starting the painting tomorrow! I am also painting our office and my new craft room!! Will post pictures once we're in and settled.

The clocks went forward last night and it's so nice to have light evenings. It would have been better to have a sunny day too, but the rain has stopped now. Have a good week! I'm not sure when I'll next get chance to play in my craft room, I suspect it's going to be next month.

Uniko - Revisit and Blog Hop ....

... Good morning! Sorry I've not been around much - busy getting stuff sorted out for the new house. However, I did make time to get into my craft room to create a card for the Uniko Revisit Blog Hop. Bev has a new release every other month, and on the off-month, we revisit an older set.  This month Bev picked Pure Florals Cosmos.  I think this is such a pretty set and it's perfect for the birthday card I've made:

Stamps: Uniko - Pure Florals Cosmos
Inks: Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! DP - Wild Wasabi; SU Card - Tangerine Tango, Wild Wasabi; Vellum; Gold and White Embossing Powder; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear

I've used the colours from Colour Throwdown - CTD#383 - so spring-like, and the layout is based on the sketch at Fusion - FUSION#50. I stamped the single flower repeated on vellum, heat embossed with gold tinsel powder and then cut them out.  I coloured the reverse of the flowers with Copic markers and added a touch of sparkle to the front with clear Wink of Stella. I used up some scraps of design paper and card to create the panel at the top.  I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed with white powder.  On the inside I cut a panel of green card for the mat layer and on the white panel stamped the cosmos flowers and a greeting.

Here's a close up of the pretty Cosmos flowers - I think you can just about see the sparkle!!!

This is a blog hop and you should have come to my blog via Bev's, however, in case you've arrived here directly, here's the Blog Hop list:

Bev (Uniko)

Deborah (that's me!)

Jane

Lindsey
Sarah G

Sarah P

Nicki

Here's a look at the stamps in Pure Florals Cosmos:

Finally, there's a prize on offer 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 the store. If you win and already have the set, then you'll get an eGift certificate for £15 instead.  That's all from me for now!

CIC - Colours ....

... Morning!  It's time for our new challenge at Cupcake Inspirations - CIC#350.  As always our colours are taken from our fabulous cupcake photo.  Don't they look just yummy? Our colours are light and bright and perfect for a spring card - Chartreuse, petal and goldenrod.  Here's my card:

Stamps: DRS Designs Digi - Leaf Butterfly Spray; Uniko - Some Bunny, I Love Tea
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Daffodil Delight
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Pear Pizzazz; Cuttlebug EF - D'Vine Swirls; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear

My layout is based on this week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#226.  I'm also submitting to the new Time Out Challenge - TOC#51, as their theme is Spring/Easter and I've made an Easter card. I received this beautiful digital image from DRS Designs which I printed on white card. I coloured it with Copic markers and then carefully cut it out. As I'd already printed a second image, I decided to layer the butterflies for some depth.  I added sparkle to the butterflies and flower buds with a clear Wink of Stella brush. I made the base from green card and embossed the white panel with elegant swirls. I stamped a simple greeting on the horizontal border.  On the inside I stamped a couple of pretty flowers at the corners.

I've taken a close up photo of the butterflies so that you can see the dimension as well as the pretty sparkle:

For more inspiration with these pretty colours, check out the blog to see more from the Design Team.

Our sponsor this week is DRS Designs, who kindly provided me with this pretty digital image.  The winner of the challenge will receive a $10 Gift Certificate for use in the DRS shop.  Have fun!

52CCT - Sketch ....

... Hello and Good Morning!  As I type this post I can see a winter wonderland from my office window - snow all over the ground and houses, but with sunshine and blue skies - so very pretty.  I just hate driving in it!!  Anyway, it puts me in the mood for making Christmas cards, which is good as it's time for our new challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT01-16.  Our host this month is Julie and she has a super sketch for us to use.  You can flip, rotate, adapt and add embellishments, but we must be able to see the sketch in your design.  Here's my take:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Free Spirit Boy, Compliments of the Season II, Chief Elf
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Die-namics - Wonky Stitched Squares Stax #4, Wonky Stitched Circles Stax #4
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kaisercraft DP - Say Aloha; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear

 

My card has a totally tropical feel, which is the theme over at this week's Merry Monday challenge - MM#194.  I thought it would be fun to make tropical style Christmas card and I used stamps from my all time favourite company - Waltzingmouse (who are, sadly, closing on 31st March).  Our sketch lends itself to using lots of design papers (and I have a huge stash!).  I used co-ordinating papers from Say Aloha to create the layers.  I used dies to cut the centre square and circle.  I stamped a fun Christmas sentiment in the centre of the circle. I stamped these lovely hibiscus flowers on scrap card, coloured them with Copics, cut out and added sparkle with a clear Wink of Stella brush.  I adhered them to the card with dimensional gel.  On the inside I cut a piece of design paper as a mat layer and on the white panel added a Christmas greeting and some more hibiscus flowers.

As this card has multiple layers, I'm submitting it to the current challenge at Jingle Belles - JB:16:15. I am also linking up to our Farewell Blog Hop over at Waltzingmouse Fanatics.  If you're a fan of Claire's super stamps, please join us and share your work - Tara and I would like to show Claire just how much we Waltzingmouse Stamps and how much she'll be missed.

Don't forget to visit out blog to see more inspiration Christmas/winter cards from the rest of the team. As the sun is shining today (Friday morning) I've been able to take some photo of the fabulous sparkle you get with Wink of Stella:

That's all for now - have a great weekend!

TMR - Technique ....

... Good evening! It's been a really busy week here at Chez Frings! I've started to sort through our stuff to try and reduce what we take to the new house - it's taking much longer than I expected. We have accumulated so much stuff! Hey ho! I decided that I'd spend some time in my craft room today and I finally made my card for our new challenge at The Male Room - TMR#30. I must apologise to my teamies for being so late! This week we have a technique challenge - we want you to MAKE IT MOVE. Your masculine themed project must have moving part(s). Here's my take:

Stamps: Lawn Fawn - Bon Voyage; Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz - Schoolhouse
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Stampin' Up! - Brocade Blue
Dies: Lawn Fawn - Bon Voyage; Spellbinders - Circles Sm (S4-116) #5 and #6
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Island Indigo; Teresa Collins DP - Far & Away; Copics

I got the theme from the photo inspiration graphic at The Challenge - TC#62 - I used the map on the back wall as the inspiration. The colours are from Colour Q - cQc#331 - the shades of blue work really well for a masculine card.

I took advantage of the videos on our blog and decided to make a spinner card. I cut a mat layer of island indigo card. I cut two panels of map design paper, one was adhered to the card and I cut out a circle (as per the video instructions) from the other piece. I stamped the plane on white card, coloured it with Copics and cut it out with the matching die. I stamped the sentiment on the paper before attaching the panel with dimensional tape. I used a penny to make the spinner part of my card. Here are a couple of photos showing how the plane moves around the circle:

On the inside I cut a mat layer of island indigo and on the white panel I stamped a globe which I coloured with copics. This card is going into my stash.

Do visit our blog to see more inspirational projects from the rest of the team. You've got plenty of time to join the fun. That's all for now!  See you tomorrow.

Artistic Muse ....

... Hi again!  Another quick class review today.  I've just spent a wonderful crafting weekend with my daughter, Kat.  I've been trying to get her interested for the last few years with very little success. However, I recently introduced Kat to Dylusions sprays and suddenly she was hooked!  Yea!!  Last month I took Kat to the regular meeting of our Art Journal club and she loved, so now we're booked to go each month.

This weekend, we've been lucky enough to have two craft events.  The first, on Saturday, was run by Valerie Brincheck at my local craft shop, Stampeddler.  It was called Artistic Muse.  We were a small class of six, some with experience and some, like Kat, complete beginners.  The aim was to create our own artistic muse, to help us find inspiration and push past the mojo blocks!  We started by selecting polymer clay faces and some wings to personalise as our muse, and then built a collage with found objects. We built up layers, painted with black gesso, added more layers and more black gesso and finished off by adding some colour with metallic paints.  It was fantastic.

Here's my finished Artistic Muse and not in my go to cool colours either!!

This is a 6" × 6" wooden block decorated with lots of wonderful found objects (kindly provided by Valerie).  We got gloriously messy.  And here's a photo of Kat's Artistic Muse:

Once again, it's a 6" × 6" wooden block that Kat decorated.  I love the colours she used to finish the piece - blues, violet and purple - lovely!

Here are photos of the ones that Valerie made, two are 6" × 6" and the other two are 8" × 8".  They are all stunning:

This one is 6" × 6" and was the example that Valerie put on display in Stampeddler.  When Kat saw it she just loved it, so I asked if she wanted to have a go at making one herself.  And we had the most marvellous time.  These are the colours I normally tend to use!

Another 6" × 6" example.  This glows in the light and I just love the steampunk theme.  Check out those cute little googles on the face!

An 8" × 8" example.  I would love to make one this size.  There are so many lovely details in here. Check out the pen nibs in the headdress.

And I think this i my favourite of them all.  Another 8" × 8".  Valerie made this for a friend of her.  I would love to get a gift like this!  And this one includes all my favourite colours.

If you live in the Northville area, keep an eye on the class schedule to see if Valerie runs this class again - it is so worth going.  Thanks to Valerie for the inspiration, to our classmates and to Margene for the use of the class in her shop - Stampeddler!

On Sunday we went to the Art Journal club.  Kat spent the whole session working on a spread in her journal.  I don't have a photo as she's not finished it yet, but I'll share it as soon as she's done!  That's all for now.