A masculine 18th birthday

Hello, crafting friends!

 

The birthdays are coming up fast in our family, including those masculine ones that are a bit more challenging to create cards for. I am always very grateful for challenges that inspire me for those!

 

This card features a background made with an off-cut of green/blue card overstamped with Stampin' Up's retired Hardwood stamp using a darker green/blue ink. I trimmed it to size with a Heffy Doodle Stitched Rectangle die, then gave it a bit of interest by cutting it in three with Lawn Fawn's Stitched Hillside border dies and then glueing it all back together on a card front.

 

The popped-up focal tag was cut from a snippet of white card using a Heffy Doodle Stitched Rectangle die. I used some washi tape to mask off two horizontal lines and then sponged the rest with red ink. I loved the way it showed off the stitched framing. The number 18 was die cut from a tiny snippet of navy card, and I punched the star from it too. The Stampin' Up sentiment is a very handy one that is a gazillion years old (give or take a few years!)

CHALLENGES

All of this card was made with snippets except the card base, so I shall skip over to The Snippets Playground with my homework. No need for a brolly of course because the sun ALWAYS shines there!! The card was heavily inspired by the challenge Inspired By, where they always have the most amazing photos to get our creative juices flowing. I also took inspiration from Inkspirational where the word prompt is Frame - I have the stitched frame on the focal tag and the background acts as a frame too. I shall also link up with Ellie and Pauline's I Spy With My Little Eye challenge where the theme is Something for Boys or Men.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

My eldest son lives locally and often pops by to say hello. Today he came bearing a box of chocolate truffles he'd found at Marks & Spencer. "I've brought you some essentials," he said.

 

Then he added: "I don't know who this Marc fellah is but I hope they'll be nice!"

We opened them up to check and can reveal that they are very tasty indeed! 10 out of 10, would recommend!

Sending hugs,

21st birthday arches

Hello, crafting friends!

 

You know that moment when you realise you have to get your niece's birthday card in the post straight away and then you remember it's her 21st birthday... eeek! Well, you know my mantra: When in doubt, reach for the stencils!!

 

The Greetery's beautiful Mistletoe Arches layered stencil set has done sterling service in the Craft Square Metre with wedding, sympathy and birthday cards as well as the Christmas cards it was designed for. So why not a 21st birthday card?! After stenciling the arches, the sentiment was put together with a couple of stamp sets from Uniko and some dies for the 21st bit.

 

This photo was to try to capture the different colours and textures of gold. The leaves were finished with Wink of Stella gold, and the berries a deep gold using a marker. The 'fabulous' was heat embossed in gold and the '21st' was cut out of sparkly gold paper.

Hope she liked it!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Allsorts where Lorraine has chosen the theme Anything but a Square; Inkspirational has a Use Stencils challenge this month as does Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where Anything Goes; I'm also joining in the Happy Little Stampers Birthday challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

At the bottom of the fields behind our house there's a hedge and, for those in the know, a little hidden archway in it. The arched tunnel leads to quite a steep bank and down to a stream - one of Eva's favourite places to play! It's getting harder for the old joints, but I can still duck through the archway and navigate the bank, hurling myself across the stream at the bottom and up the other side. This is a short cut to the park with its enticing river and means Eva and I don't have to pound the pavements through the town to get there the conventional way! But that archway gets overgrown so, the other day, I performed the annual clipping to ensure we can still get through. That evening I was out with friends and at some point in the evening, while pushing my hair back, brought out a twig!! Honestly, I remember the days when I could still scrub up reasonably well for an evening out!

 

Me on an evening out!

Sending hugs,

A bright and hopeful new year

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Well, 2023 is here and I'm rolling up late to wish you all a happy new year! Top of my new years resolution list this year is to be more punctual but erm... oh well, maybe next year!!

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time you may remember that my youngest son used to take quite an interest in my crafting when he was growing up. One of my fondest memories is of him comparing Stampin' Up ink names with those of his War Hammer model paints - Soft Sea Foam versus Poxwalker for example, or Melon Mambo versus Doomfire Magenta. Ah, good times!

Anyway, nothing has changed! Opening his Christmas present to me this year, I was so touched to find some clear stamps inside. One of them was a floral that I couldn't wait to try, so I used it for a new year card for a friend.

 

It's quite a large stamp and perfect for a bit of colouring fun! Once I'd stamped and coloured my meadow scene, I trimmed it to size with a Crimped Frame die from The Greetery.

 

I mixed it up with a variety of colouring media: alcohol markers for the bright flowers, coloured pencils for the grasses and leaves and sponged blue ink for a soft sky.

 

For the sentiment, I stamped one of my much-used PreText sentiments from the Greetery using pink ink and added die cut numbers beneath it. I used some basic number dies from The Works, cutting them from card stock that had been sponged with orange ink to give a bit of extra interest.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Little Red Wagon's New Beginnings challenge; also Make My Monday, where the theme is Something New; and Inspire Create, where the challenge is New To You; and last but not least, I'm joining in with We Love Stamping, where they want to see us use some favourite colours.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Just a bit more about Christmas and then I'll move on I promise! Every year, I place a few little gifts for Eva under the tree with the rest of the family's presents. We always open one gift at a time so we can really appreciate them and Eva gets her turn just as we all do. She knows just how to open a present but never peeks before Christmas day!!

 

This one was a paper cup that had a squeaky ball in it and was wrapped in several layers of newspaper and a paper bag as well as the final gift wrap. She had SO much fun getting the wrapping off and shredding it, enjoyed playing with the paper cup and making us laugh by carrying it about over her nose, and then FINALLY found the squeaky ball! It reminded me of when the children were little and they pleasure they got from the boxes their presents came in.

Sending hugs,

Congratulations to the tassled one!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Thank you so much to those who sent me messages of support and encouragement as I recovered from the various illnesses that tripped me up over the last couple of weeks! The main thing on my mind was that I really, REALLY wanted to go to my youngest son's graduation ceremony but luckily I bounced back to full fitness for that. (I'm still wanting to know who thought it would be a great idea to do graduation ceremonies a couple of weeks before Christmas though... it's got to someone who has never had to organise a Christmas event in their lives hasn't it?!)

 

Before setting off on a beautiful frosty morning, I rustled up this graduation card. I started by sponging yellow ink into a diamond-shaped stencil Inkylicious, taped at an angle off the top edge of my card base, and adding a little red ink on one side to add a bit of depth.  This stencil was a gift from a lovely friend and is SO useful!

 

 

I used a tiny snippet of blue card to cut the numbers using a die from The Works, glueing them to the card front. A congratulations sentiment was stamped on a white off-cut of card in red, snipped out and layered over the top. I thought I had a graduation cap stamp but I couldn't find it, so I had to draw one! It took a couple of tries (and a few more snippets!) but I think it passes as long as you don't put your specs on!! I added a few enamel dots and stars to distract the eye ;)

CHALLENGES

I turned to CAS Colours and Sketches for colour inspiration for this card, so I'm linking up there. I'm also sharing this card at The Snippets Playground - I used blue snippets and white snippets for the numbers, the congratulations sentiment and the grad cap.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Poor Eva was not impressed when she saw both of The Staff getting togged up in frocks and suits - she knows what that means!! But then she discovered that her human sister had come to look after her and airily waved us away.

 

This photo arrived on my phone while we were en route and I would say she wasn't missing us one little bit!

You'll be glad to know that the graduation ceremony went very well and that my son doffed his cap to the chancellor at just the right moment. Afterwards, we kept our strength up with a slap up meal before returning home to the girls.

Sending hugs,

Ready for a new year

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Do you remember a few weeks ago when I posted this card as guest designer for the Uniko Challenge? Well, I'm back again with a reminder that there's still plenty of time to join in and give yourself the chance to win some fabulous crafty goodies from Uniko!

The challenge is Celebrate with an optional twist of Reds and Greens. Instead of reds and greens, this time I'm going with a silver and gold colour palette and a celebration of a new year just round the corner!

 

This is the simplest card and perfect for multiples if you decide to cheer everyone up in the new year with messages of optimism :) I stamped the Floral Vines image directly onto a thick card base, then turned it upside down and stamped it again, making sure I left enough room for my numbers. The images were coloured with metallic pencils in silver and gold, with touches of black.

I could have stamped the numbers from Uniko's Alphabet Outlined but I don't yet have that set. Instead I die cut some numbers from some gold foil and glued them in place. I finished the card with a silver sequin and a couple of clear gems.

So, now it's over to you! Uniko owner Beverley and her team of talented Brand Ambassadors have some wonderful inspiration for you so do hop over to the Uniko Studio blog to check it out, as well as more info about the prize. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post too so that you can link up your own creation. Good luck!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Addicted to Stamps and More where there's an Any Occasion challenge; and also Watercooler Wednesday, where Heidi is hosting the All About Occasions there :)

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I had a surprise visit from my youngest son the other day - always a delight! He was full of plans for the festive period and encouraged me to go on a quest for a Christmas tree. Although I felt it was a bit early, I seized the opportunity to have a strong young man heft a large tree into the car! On the way home, it started to snow and just because he's at university now doesn't mean he can't become infected with the spirit of Christmas... 

 

He decided to delay his journey back so that he could help me get the tree up and decorated :) There was festive music, singing, Christmas jumpers and mulled wine and everything! Have we peaked too soon?!

Sending hugs,