Let's Squash It! Challenge #21 - Make it Manly!

 

We're Making it Manly over at Let's Squash It! until 30th June. 

I don't know about you guys but I am someone who needs inspiration and ideas when it comes to making cards for the Misters. Gail and our Empress of Squash, Joanne, totally smashed it with their fabulous creations and I have to say I'm quite pleased with the cards I've created for this challenge. Seems that an embossing folder is a great place to start for making it manly! 

I was inspired by Joanne's card as I loved the 'pop' of gold she used against a dark, embossed background. Here's what I made:

The embossing folder and stamp are from a magazine freebie I've had tucked away for years. Unfortunately, the packaging doesn't appear to give the magazine details so I can't share them. It's a great little set as you get a folder, a selection of stamps AND some dies. The 'Cheers' die is from Sugar Pea Designs. 

There's still six whole days to join the challenge and Joanne, Gail and I really hope you'll decide to Make it Manly and join the fun! 

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #63 - Reminder

They say 'better late than never'! yes, I'm finally here with the reminder post for the current challenge over at Christmas Kickstart!

It was my birthday on Thursday and hubby surprised me with a few days at a lovely hotel in the country. I thought my posts were set to auto-post, but it turns out I was totally wrong!  

  Our theme for this month is 

Challenge #63 - Pawfectly Pawsome Christmas

Thankfully, my brilliant elf, Diane, was on the ball and posted this gorgeous card on her blog to keep things rolling. Thankyou, Di, I'm so sorry to have totally messed up.

Here's what I made. I was inspired by the way Di used DP on her first card for our challenge and so used the same technique on mine.

It's interesting that both Di and I went with Birdie Brown/MFT images for our cards. I do miss Yoshi's images at MFT so much.

Rudolph's Random Raffle has a lovely prize on offer in the form of this gorgeous stamp set from Creative Expressions. The images are quite large and even nicer than they look in this picture.

Di and I both very much hope you'll come and play along with our fun challenge! You have until June 30th to create your Pawesome cards.

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #212 - T is for Tags

 

We're all about TAGS for the next two weeks over at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers and our Graphics Goddess, Lee has created yet another fabulous Edna to get us in the mood. 

I made this card for my friend Jill who has two gorgeous ginger kitties. The snoozing cat is from MFT and the sentiment from The Ink Road set I'm currently loving.

The sistahs have done a great job with this challenge, so please come on over and join the fun... tag, you're it! 

Let's Squash It! Challenge #21 - Make it Manly!

 

It's all about the guys this month over at Let's Squash It! as we play Make it Manly! Birthday cards, Father's Day cards, anniversary cards, birth announcements... the choice is yours, just make sure it's one for a male!

Let's be honest, I really struggle with masculine makes, but was very pleased how quickly this card came together after I'd chosen a few key elements. The image and sentiment are from Stamplorations and the EFs I used are Darice - Square Patterns and Creative Expressions - Distressed Lines. It's not easy to tell but the embossed card was carefully coloured with black Distress Ink.

We have a fabulous guest with us and I know you'll love her stunning creation. Gail and I really hope you'll come on over and join the fun for this challenge. 

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #63 - Pawfectly Pawesome Christmas

I'm delighted to welcome back the lovely Di as our elf for this month at Christmas Kickstart! We had a blast together when we played Christmas Snippets in November and so I just had to invite her back to inspire us all once again! 

Our theme for this month is 

Challenge #63 - Pawfectly Pawsome Christmas

We'd love to see anything with PAWS on your Christmas cards, please. Dogs, cats, mice, foxes, rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, bears and even weasels: are all welcome!

To see what Di made, please head on over to the Christmas Kickstart blog.

For my card, I just had to create something fun and feline. 

This card is such a mix of products! I started by using a mask and some stencil paste to make the brick wall. Then I die cut an oval from Gemini by Crafter's Companion Open Window and did a little trimming so I had a fireplace shape. I used an embossing folder to create the mantlepiece and logs, I stamped and coloured and snipped the gifts from a Hero Arts background stamp (no longer available) and finally stamped the cats and the sentiment from Simon Says Stamp Meowy Christmas. It took a while but was fun to do.

My second card makes use of another of the die cuts that Arlene sent me for our Slimline Challenge together last month. Once again, I inked and embossed the die cut.

The cats are from a magazine freebie and the sentiments are from my stash - so could be from anywhere! I do love the cat in the middle, don't you?

Rudolph has been busying hunting for a prize for his Random Raffle... and has done us proud with this gorgeous stamp set from Creative Expressions. The images are quite large and even nicer than they look in this picture, so why not play along with this challenge to go into his random drawer to win this prize?

Di and I both very much hope you'll come and play along with our fun, new challenge!

May 2022 Card Chain Challenge Reveal

Hello and welcome, it's time for another fabulous Card Chain Challenge Reveal!

We had 33 participants who exchanged cards across the globe this month and our total number of cards exchanged thus far by Card Chain Challenge participants is 3,657. 

All the cards exchanged this month used at least one of the following options:

Colour Palette Option

 

(Exact matching is not required.)

Sketch Option

(Orient as desired.)

Theme Options: Desert / Dessert / Friendship

Product / Technique Options: Embossing Powder / Fancy Fold

I loved Gail's theme choice of Desert or Desserts and so did our participants! 

I sent this card to Patricia in Texas, USA.

I went with desserts, while my sender, Joanne, went with deserts!

Great card, Joanne - thanks so much!

Our sign up for June 2022 is still open, so why not make this the month you come and play along? Send a card, receive a card - it's a win win!