this card's been tango'd!

If you don't like the colour orange then please look away now lol.
I do like orange, but other people seem to be able to use it better than I can on a card :/

I chose orange because the intended recipient of this card is a Wolves fan (Wolverhampton Wanderers) and orange is the closest colour I have to one of the team colours (even though some people say the colour is gold, which, btw, I have also used on this card) The other team colour is black, which, as you can see, is the colour card I have used to die-cut his name from.
Anyway, i'm hoping he likes this card when I give it to him for his 21st birthday...

The image is another I won from Kenny K, and is called 'cheers dude' :)
The extra beer glasses above the 21 and the text behind the image are both from SU's cheers to you stamp set, and the text background paper is from a Kanban CD 'male bacgrounds'.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Seize the Birthday - sketch & masculine card
Creative Inspirations - one for the guys
Simon Says Stamp challenges - anything goes
Allsorts - masculine


I actually counted all the cards I have made for this month and I think i've hit a record for me... 16 (well 17 actually, because I have made a card for a forum challenge that I can't show until tomorrow).
So January has been a very productive month for me, even better that I won 2 challenges and now own some fabulous digi images, and also came in the top 3 at Cards for Men too. Go me!
I hope February's cardmaking time is just as good, as most of my family and friends birthdays are in the first few months of the year, so have plenty to do.
Thanks for stopping by and seeing what i've been upto this month, and thanks for your lovely comments too xx

she loves me

This card will be given to my Mom by my son for Mothers Day. I really hope that my Mom doesn't stop by my blog before March 10th, I can't put photos on facebook yet but i'm hoping i'm safe to on here.

I have used another of my latest 'winnings', 'she loves me' from Crafty Sentiments. Isn't he a cutie? coloured as per usual with my trusty promarkers...

I'm entering this card into the challenge over at Passion for Promarkers - add sparkle, and the challenge over at Oldie but a Goodie - Glitz and Glam (my old stash is the leaf patterned paper and the crystals) I have actually had the leafy paper for about 4 years now, it is from a pad by Provocraft and is called 'windswept'. The sparkly, glitzy part is of course, courtesy of the pretty gems added to the pale blue piece cut using my cArt-Us 'drops' border die. The yellow (barely banana) piece was punched with my SU eyelet border punch then I glued the 2 together before adding the little crystals.
I'd also like to enter it at Creative Card Crew whose theme is girly, & Pennys Paper Crafty, whose theme this week is One for the girls, presuming that means a card for a girl and not a girly image (Pennys & CCC DTs, please delete my entry if it doesn't fit the theme for your challenges).

Thanks for stopping by xx

on a roll...

Morning all, look at me? haven't posted so much for aaaaaages! and i'm here again with a few more cards I've made.
BTW, I'm so glad to see the back of all that snow, aren't you? or do you still have some?
We have rain today and the sky is overcast, so I apologise for the dull photos.

My first card is for the challenge over at Simply Less is More and uses their sketch, the image is called Flowers and Bumblebee and is by Heart Song Designs, I sponged the sky background with bashful blue SU ink before colouring the image with promarkers. I added a thin strip of card top and bottom and punched out the handwritten sentiment.

I'd also like to enter this card at Totally Gorjuss' challenge which is 'flowers'.

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This next card will be entered at the challenge over at Seize the Birthday, who also gave us a sketch to use for our layout, this time they want to see a feminine birthday card...

and on the inside i've handwritten "...it's your birthday"

This card was in fact my second attempt at the sketch (scroll down a little to see my first).
I used Mo Manning's oh so cute 'Two Jill' and coloured her with promarkers. I will also be entering this card in Mo's  DP2 challenge, which is 'emboss it with a Mo', I used my stylised flowers embossing folder on the pink piece behind the image.

I'd also like to enter this card at:
Top Tip Tuesday - layers
Creative Card Crew - girly
Pennys Paper Crafty - embossing

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So this is the card I made with Seize the birthday's sketch before realising i'd made a Mother's Day card instead of a birthday card lol, no matter, it's a lovely sketch...

I won this Kenny K image along with 4 others over at the challenge at Totally Papercrafts last week "YAY!!"
How lucky am I eh? HUGE thanks to the Totally Papercrafts team and of course to Kenny K for my prize. This little beauty is called Happy Hour, and straight away I knew I wanted to use this for my Mom's card for Mother's Day which is March 10th this year.
I coloured her to (sort of) match the paper which are both from a set called Sew Pretty and were free in a craft mag.
'mom' was cut using Die-namics dies and the sentiment is handwritten.
The beautiful border edge to each side of the image is a cArt-Us die.

I'd like to enter this card over at:
Charisma Cardz - hearts and flowers
Crafty Calendar Challenge - 'New' (in my case, it's stash, the image, papers and border die are all new this week)

Hope you like, and thanks for stopping by today xx

January Rudolph challenge

I always leave my christmas cards til it's too late. Ok, I do make the occasional one throughout the year, but I always need to do a last minute rush in December (happens to you too eh?) Anyway, this year, i'm determined to have a nice little stash of crimbo cards all ready. Over at Auntys forum, the 25th of each month will now be Rudolph day. January's challenge is a sketch and the option of a recipe (glitter, button, patterned paper and a stamped image)
So here are my first 2 Rudolph day cards...

Image: Gillian Roberts 'kitten christmas nap' coloured with promarkers
Papers: Stampin Up old olive DSP, Sizzix 'little sizzles - country', & Holly Hobbie christmas joy.
Others:  Woodware leaf punch, SU eyelet border punch, mulberry roses, red seam binding, computer generated sentiment.

I'd like to enter this card at:
Creative inspirations - anything goes (option of flowers)
Craft Us Crazy - The colour RED
Stamping for Pleasure - Rudolph day
The Paper Shelter - anything goes
Christmas cards all year 'round - anything goes

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Image: LOTV 'deck the halls' coloured with promarkers
Paper: Sizzix 'little sizzles - country'
Others: kraft, pale blue & gold cardstock, SU eyelet border punch, glitter, ribbon, button & charm from stash.

I'd like to enter this card at:
I love promarkers - anything goes
MAWTT - bling it on
Crafty Catz - cute as a button
Sweet Stampin - ribbon
Top Tip Tuesday - layers

Thanks for stopping by today xx

little bookworm

I love pink and brown together, such a lovely colour combination, don't you think?

The layout of my card made today was from Inkspirational's challenge last week, I'm too late to enter but still wanted to use the layout because I had the perfect image to use with it, a freebie from DigiStamp Boutique, who gave it out via facebook. The character is called Zoe, you can't find this particular image on the website (well I can't find it) but there are LOADS of others to choose from.
Here's the card...

The patterned papers are both by HOTP. Zoe is coloured with promarkers. The pretty scalloped edge was made with a xcut punch (think it's called 'sparkle'), talking of sparkle, I added some pretty pale pink gems along the same edge. Girlie, but not OTT girlie. Lovely.

I'd like to enter this card at:

Stampin' for the weekend - something girlie
Creative inspirations - anything goes
I love promarkers - anything goes
The paper shelter - anything goes
MAWTT - bling it on
Crafting by designs - polka dots
The pink elephant - inspiration photo
 also into DigiStamp Boutique's January competition

For Mom & Dad's special day

March 20th will be my parents 48th wedding anniversary.
I hope they like this card i've made for Jake to give to them...

Last week I was very fortunate to have won a prize over at Charisma Cardz *YAY!!* I got to choose 3 images from Crafty Sentiments Designs, and this is one of them, it's called Poppy and Henry, and I love it, it's so adorable and perfect for any card that is for a couple. Thank you again Charisma girls and of course thank you to Crafty Sentiments too :)

Again, I used my trusty promarkers, Poppy using tan, cinnamon and umber, her dress using denim blue, cornflower blue and pastel beige. And Henry using caramel, burnt sienna and umber.
I used this weeks fab sketch at Sketch Saturday *waves to the Saturday Girls*
I layered up my papers, which are all by SU (bella bleu collection).
Th kraft border piece was punched using another SU product,the eyelet border punch.
I added a bit of shine by using gold mirror card for the punched hearts and also for matting and layering.
The Sentiment is handwritten.

I'd like to enter this card at:
Charisma Cardz - Punch it! 
Sketch Saturday - sketch #242 
Crafting By Designs - use alcohol markers
Card Crafters Circle - layers
I {heart} Promarkers - layer it up 
Pennys Paper Crafty - teddy bears

FILs 80th

Exactly one month after my Dad's 70th will be my Father In Law's 80th birthday, this is the card I have made for him...

 

I started with the sketch, provided by Seize the Birthday challenge blog, who also want us to make a masculine card too.

The image is a Pollycraft one, and is called 'Maurice- Daddy Cool'.

Maurice is coloured with promarkers.

The kraft base card was stamped with a few number '80' and I used SU markers to crosshatch the pattern within them. Then faux stitched around the edge and around the image with the chocolate chip marker.

As you can see, I used my argyle embossing folder on the blue piece.

I'd like to enter this card at:
Seize The Birthday - Use the sketch AND make a masculine birthday card.
MAWTT - birthdays.
Totally Papercrafts - embossing

Dad's 70th

My lovely Dad will be 70 in March, this is the card i've made for him, plus I added a short sentiment inside... 

My Dad snoozes, infact he snoozes a lot more than he used to, well he is almost 70, so is entitled to eh? but of course, according to Dad, he's never able to drop off to sleep! ;)
I was going through my pooter and saw this digi which made me think of my Dad, although Dad isn't quite as hairy lol.
The image was a freebie and is saved on my pooter as one by Jens Digi Stamps, so I searched for the image on the website, but can't find it to link to it :(
I coloured bear with my promarkers (caramel, cocoa and umber) then stamped the '70' and coloured that with caramel too.
The checked paper is by sizzix.
The word 'Dad' was die cut using die-namics By The Letter dies, I cut it from blue cardstock but used the negative from it by putting kraft cardstock behind it so that it looks debossed.
I printed off the sentiment from the pooter, originally I wanted to add it to the front of the card, but then decided to put it inside instead.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Here come the Boys - BINGO
(blue, free, image) or if the die cut negative counts: blue, die cuts, patterned paper
Sentimental Sundays - negative space.
Totally Gorjuss - K.I.S.S
MAWTT - birthdays
Pennys Paper Crafty - Teddy Bears

Happy New Year!

oooooh long time no blog eh? 

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, and I hope 2013 will be a great year for you all.

So this is my first post of the new year, the first of many I hope, because I'm going to try to get more cards and blogging done this year.

The following card uses a policeman decoupage image which was left behind after a previous card make a few years ago, I glued it to some cardstock before cutting it out so that the image would be sturdier than decoupage paper as I wanted to use foam pads to raise it from the base card a little.

The checkerboard design is from Tiddly Inks, I printed it straight onto the card blank. The little handcuffs charm in the top corner was put there because I loosely followed last weeks sketch from Sketch Saturday.

challenges:

cards for men - men at work

Tiddly Inks challenge - anything goes

Simon Says Stamp challenges - black & white and a splash of colour

This card uses 'Beer Bear' from Di's Digi Downloads, coloured with promarkers.

challenges:

Here come the boys - sketch

Totally Gorjuss - spotty

I love 'Tulips' from The Stamping Boutique, it's such a joy to colour (in my case, my trusty promarkers), it is a little fiddly to cut out for layering but the end result is so worth it imo.

The name was cut using 'By The Letters' dies by Die-namics.

The sentiment is a combination of 2 clear stamps from my stash.

challenges:

lexi's creations - anything goes

The Crafty Bloggers Network - flowers

MMCS blog - anything goes

MAWTT - floral delights

This little cutie is by LOTV and is called 'Me & My Cat', again coloured with promarkers then cut and layered with foam pads to stand out.

I used the same Die-namics dies for 'mommy'

(note to self: save up to buy uppercase and numbers too)

challenges:

charisma cardz - happy birthday!

Stampin for the Weekend - anything goes

This is my final card (for now), using a cuthbert image from Pollycraft from a while back. The number was handcut and glittered.

challenges:

TPE181 - celebrate

Pennys Challenge 109 - anything goes

I hope you like them, and I hope to be back real soon! 

Jo xx