Cardz 4 Guyz: Something Beginning with C

Today's challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz is to make a card featuring something beginning with C.  I thought about making a card featuring something typically masculine like cars, or cricket or cogs, but I like to be different so I went with cats instead and created this card using some of my Tim Holtz Crazy Cats stamps.  I think they work well for a male card because they're more comical than cute.

I stamped the cats onto white card, coloured them using Polychromos pencils and then cut them out.  Then I layered them onto some die cut rectangles and some patterned papers.  The papers are from the Zip-a-dee-doodle collection by BoBunny and I love using them for men's cards.

I hope you can join us for this week's Cardz 4 Guyz challenge.

Sian. xx

Cardz 4 Guys: Shaped Cards

Good morning.  This week's challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz is to create a shaped card.  When I first saw this one I panicked and thought I might have to buy some new stash (because of course NOBODY wants to have to do that 😉).  I didn't have any shaped cards in my stash and I didn't have any dies big enough to cut one.  However, when I gave this some thought I decided that I ought to be able to create an octagon shaped card fairly easily out of a square card, so that is what I have done.  The down side of course is that I didn't get to go craft shopping.  I have to say that I really enjoyed working with a different shape, so I have drawn around my octagon so that I can make more of these cards.

After starting off with my newly created octagon card, I cut some navy blue card slightly smaller than the card and layered it onto the card, then cut my patterned papers slightly smaller than the navy card and attached them on top  I then cut a smaller octagon out of patterned paper and also layered that onto navy blue card.  The papers I've used on this card are from the Prince Charming Paper Pad by Recollections.  I think these are usually only available in the US from Michaels, but I was fortunate to find them in Home Sense (if you happen to go in on the right day, they sometimes have craft items that you can't usually get in the UK).

I stamped the cat (at least I think that's what he is) and the sentiment onto white card using grey ink.  The stamp set is from Susana Loves Stamps and the set is called "Those Days".  I coloured the cat with Polychromos pencils, cut him out and layered him onto the smaller octagon, which I then stuck onto the card.  I matted and layered the sentiment onto patterned paper and navy blue card. 

I find it difficult to find embellishments for male cards, so I try and keep them simple.  I added buttons and some wooden stars  to this card, in colours to coordinate with the paper and card.

Watch this space, as I will be creating more octagonal cards!

I hope that you will join us this week at Cardz 4 Guyz.

Sian.  xx

Moonflower Digistamps - Meet Lilly!

Good morning everyone.  Today I am sharing a card I made using Andreia's beautiful new character Lilly at Moonflower Digistamps.  The image I have used is Lilly Snow White, and you can find her here:  https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/502314917/lilly-snow-white?ref=shop_home_active_2.

I didn't want to use traditional Snow White colours, so I went with red and white, as I thought this colour scheme would work well with the apple and the roses.

I coloured Lilly using Polychromos pencils and mounted her on a red die cut circle, then added some die cut hearts in a slightly darker shade of red.

On the rest of the card I have used patterned papers, lace and ribbon roses.

I hope you like her!

Sian.  xx

Make My Monday: Black, White and a Pop of Red

Good morning!  This week's challenge on the Make My Monday challenge blog is to create something using black, white and a pop of red.

I created this card using an aperture card.  I cut some patterned paper just smaller than the card blank and die cut a circle in the centre just smaller than the card aperture.  I then stitched around the edges of the paper using white thread and stuck it onto the card blank. 

I die cut a trellis from black card and stuck it to the inside of the aperture.I then added some patterned paper to the inside of the card so that it could be seen through the aperture.  The papers I have used on this card are from the Noire Luxe pad by Trimcraft.

I die cut some flowers from black, white and red card and shaped them and inked the edges to give them some depth.  Then I added some pearls to the centres.  I stamped the sentiment in Versamark on black card, and embossed it using red sparkle embossing powder, then I added some smaller flowers to the edges of the sentiment.

I hope you can join us this week at Make My  Monday.

Sian.

Cardz 4 Galz: Movie Madness

This week's challenge at Cardz 4 Galz is Movie Madness.  I found it quite caleenging to create a card based on a movie without actually using an image from the movie itself, which would have been a breach of copyright.

I decided to based my card on the film School of Rock (a great film that had me laughing all the way through, and worth a watch if you haven't seen it.  I used this stamp by Kenny K, which I think is perfect for a card for a teenage girl, and coloured it with Polychromos pencils.

I layered my image onto various patterned papers (these are from the Gorjuss collections by Santoro), and added a sentiment and some die cut stars.

I hope you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Galz.

Sian.

Cardz 4 Guyz: Triple Matting Technique

Hello everyone.  I am really pleased to have been invited by my friend Caz to join the design team on the Cardz 4 Guyz challenge blog.  This is my first DT card.  This week's challenge is to create a card using the triple mat technique.

I created this card by firstly creating a background with Distress Inks and layered stamping.  I won't describe the triple mat technique as you can see a tutorial by clicking on the link above.  I then created a collage on top using various stamps.  I layered the triple matted image onto a background created with Distress Inks and water and matted onto brown pearlescent card and then added a piece of twine at the bottom.  Finally I added the wooden sentiment.

This is a bit of a deviation from my usual style of card at the moment and more like the kind of things I used to create, but I am hoping to get back to using multiple techniques now I have a bit more spare time!

I hope you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Guyz.

Sian.

Make My Monday: A Winter's Walk

Good morning.  It's time for a new challenge at Make My Monday, and this week's theme is "A Winter's Walk".  I though this would be a great opportunity to use this cute James Bear stamp by Lili of the Valley.  I stamped him in grey ink and coloured him using Polychromos pencils, then hand stitched around the edges and layered him onto white card.

For the background of this card, I used pearlescent blue card and a die cut snowflake background, which I glittered using Stickles glitter glue.  I also die cut the branches and added some gems and pearls to some of the berries to make them stand out.  Normally I like to glitter my snowy scenes, but I thought this card was sparkly enough already, so I left James as he was.  I hope you like him.

If you would like to join in this week's challenge, you can find it here:  http://mmmchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/

A bit of Violet

Good morning everyone.  Today I am sharing something a little bit different.  This is a card I made using an aperture card blank.  I cut a piece of card slightly smaller than the card blank with an aperture slightly larger than the card blank so that it forms a frame.  I then attached a trellis die cut to the back of the aperture.  The die is a Hobbycraft Intricut die.  I have two of these now and I love them!

I die cut the flowers and inked them in various shades of purple, then shaped them using an embossing tool.  The flower dies are all by Crafter's Companion.

I stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink an embossed it using white embossing powder.  I layered it onto white card and then stuck it onto the middle of the trellis.

Finally, I attached patterned paper on the inside back of the card so that it can be seen through the aperture.

I would like to enter this card into this week's Alphabet Challenge, which is V for Violet.

Sian.

Cardz 4 Galz: ATCs

Good morning everyone, and Happy New Year!  This week's challenge at Cardz 4 Gals is ATCs (Artist Trading Cards).  Those of you who have been following me for a while will know that I used to make LOTS of ATCs, but I haven't been making them regularly for quite a while, mostly due to lack of time.  My desk is in a corner of the living room, so if I make a mess I also have to clear it up.  As card making is generally less messy I tend to mostly stick to that now.

I decided to make a set of 3 ATCs.  It was great fun to make them after such a long time, and it also gave me the opportunity to use some of my Christmas presents, the Crazy Cats Stamps by Tim Holtz.  I made the backgrounds using Distress Spray Stains and mica sprays with stencils, experimenting with different colours until I liked the effect I had.  I then added some stamped writing, which I stamped with Distress ink, and added some distress ink around the edges of the ATCs.  I stamped the cats directly onto the ATCs to start with, because I didn't want to have to try and cut out the whiskers.  Then I stamped the cats onto a separate piece of card and watercoloured them with Distress Inks.  I then cut them out (excluding the whiskers) and carefully stuck them onto the ATCs.  I added some black and white lines around the edges of the ATCs using pens, as I think this really makes the bright colours stand out.

The fish skeletons on the middle card are hand drawn.  There is one that comes with the stamp set, but I wanted them to both look a bit different so I drew my own.  The final step in these ATCs was to add a little bit of Glossy Accents to the cats' eyes to make them shine.

I realy love working with bright  colours, so these were a lot of fun to make.

I hope you can join us at Cardz 4 Galz, and I look forward to seeing everyone's creations!

Sian.