You're a Star - Just For U

This is the third male version of a Just For U card I've recently made using the large word Woodware stamp and it was for a friend's son.

The patterned papers for this version are also from the never ending bag of papers from Costco along with a gingham patterned paper printed in greyscale from Cuddly Buddly's A Patchawork of Papers Blue.  The Costco papers are double sided and usually hae a bold print on one side and a toning subtle print on the other which is great for mixing and matching.  Grey pearlised and plain black card stock were also used.

The Just for U was stamped and embossed on to a subtle patterned paper using VersaMark ink and Disco Black embossing powder from Stampendous.  It was then stamped and embossed on to two of the bolder patterned papers..  Alternate letters were cut from each patterned paper design and paper pieced on to the main topper.  The topper was then dry embossed using the Cuttlebug Falling Snow embossing folder.  This welds the paper piecing to the card and adds texture which I hope you can see in the picture.  A stitched border was added once the topper was framed and layered using square Grand Nestabilities dies.

Spellbinders star nestabilities dies were used to make embellishments to add to the topper.  Whole stars and star frames were cut in different sizes and layered up in plain and foiled card.  Star sequin waste was added behind frames and small peel off stars were added inside a frame.  Small silver stars which were waste from a Marianne border die were added around the die cuts.

Silver stitching was also added to the base layers and along with black grosgrain ribbon and silver star brads these were the added embellishments.

Thanks for reading today

Liz xxx 

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges

Simply Create Too Challenge 62 - Father's Day or For a Male

Hiding in My Craft Room Challenge 150 - Let's Hear It For the Boy

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge 30 - One for the Guys, Big or Small

Crafting For All Seasons - Boys Will Be Boys

Paper Pretties Challenge 312 / Father's Day/ Masculine Cards

The Paper Shelter Challenge 160 - Make It Manly

Ruby's Rainbow Challenge 80 - One For The Boys

Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge 167 - For the Boys

Fan-Tastic Tuesday Challenge 37 - Anything Goes

Just Inspirational Challenges May 27th - Paper Piecing

Through The Craft Room Door Challenge May 27 - June 2 - Anything Goes

Daring Cardmakers Challenge - Wish Upon A Star 

CRAFT Challenge 261 - Paper Piecing

Just For U - Husband

This is the second masculine card I've made recently using the Woodware Just For U stamp and it was for Alan's birthday.
 

The patterned papers for this version are from the never ending bag of papers from Costco along with Stampin' up's Certainly Celery card and plain black card. The Costco papers are double sided and  usually have a bold print on one side and a toning subtle print on the other which is great for mixing and matching.

The Just for U was stamped and embossed on to a subtle patterned paper using VersaMark ink and Disco Black embossing powder from Stampendous.  It was then stamped and embossed on to two of the bolder patterned papers..  Alternate letters were cut from each patterned paper design and paper pieced on to the main topper.  The topper was then dry embossed using the Cuttlebug Falling Snow embossing folder.  This welds the paper piecing to the card and adds texture which I hope you can see in the picture.  A stitched border was added once the topper was framed and layered using square Grand Nestabilities dies.

To personalise the card bunting was made using a stamp from Stampin' up's Banner Blast along with the matching punch.  These were stamped, punched and layered up and then peel off letters were added on top.  Gold letter peel offs were coloured using a black Promarker pen and then layered over gold peel offs to give a shadow effect.  Bunting was also added to the corner of the main topper to personalise it with Alan's age.

Black stitching was also added to the base layers and along with black grosgrain ribbon and gold brads these were the added embellishments.

Although I've enjoyed making the floral versions of this card with the stitching flowers I've equally enjoyed making the male versions.  For such a simple wording stamp it is so adaptable and well worth its £5.99 price tag.

There's another male one to share with you next time.  Thanks for reading today.

Liz xxx

I'd like to ever this card in the following challenges

Crafting For All Seasons - Boys Will Be Boys

Paper Pretties Challenge 312 / Father's Day/ Masculine Cards

The Paper Shelter Challenge 160 - Make It Manly

Ruby's Rainbow Challenge 80 - One For The Boys

City Crafter Challenge 213 - Birthday Banners

Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge 167 - For the Boys

Fan-Tastic Tuesday Challenge 37 - Anything Goes

Just Inspirational Challenges May 27th - Paper Piecing

Through The Craft Room Door Challenge May 27 - June 2 - Anything Goes

Created With Love Challenge 82 - Lots of Layers

Crafting From The Heart Challenge 20 - Anything Goes

Come and Get It Challenge - Lots of Layers

Hiding in My Craft Room Challenge 150 - Let's Hear It For the Boy

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge 30 - One for the Guys, Big or Small

Simply Create Too Challenge 62 - Father's Day or For a Male

Wags and Whiskers Challenge 129 - One for the Boys

Paintballing Birthday

Back again this week with the Woodware Just For U stamp and the first of three different masculine themes I've used around it recently. This one was for Rhys, a friend's grandson, whose passion is paintballing. The colour theme for his card was taken from the foiled Kanban paint splatter patterned card which was in Club Members free gift from Create and Craft. There were lots of nice masculine themed toppers and backing papers in this kit. The happy birthday paper was printed from Cuddly Buddly's A Patchwork of Paper Red on to blue card.

 

The Just for U was stamped and embossed on to pale blue card using VersaMark ink and Disco Black embossing powder from Stampendous. Over the top of this a layer of splatter patterns were stamped using green, red, orange and blue ink and then marker pens in the same colours were spritzed over both these layers. This created a paint splatter effect to compliment the Kanban card.

Individual letters from the stamp were then stamped and embossed in the same way on to scraps of the patterned Kanban card and also scraps of red, blue, green and orange card. These letters were paper pieced on to the prepared topper before the complete piece was dry embossed using the Cuttlebug Falling Snow embossing folder. This welds the paper piecing to the card and adds texture which I hope you can see in the picture. A stitched border was added after the topper was framed and layered using square Grand Nestabilities dies. A stitched border was also added to the other two panels of the card.

Stampin' up's red stitched grosgrain ribbon was used to make a bow and to wrap around the card and silver brads were added to two of the corners. Added to the top left corner of the main topper are layered up Quickutz paint splatter die cuts. Gold number peel offs, coloured black using a Promarker pen, were added to the die cuts to personalise the card with Rhys's age. On the left of the topper a stamp from Stampin' up's Banner Blast set, the matching punch and coloured peel offs were used to make flags to personalise the card with Rhys's name.

On the inside of the card the edge of the insert was masked off and stamped using the splatter stamp and the same ink colours as used on the front topper.

Here's a photo of the birthday boy ready for action.

Thanks for reading today

Liz xxx

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges
Come and Get It Challenge May25th - Lots of Layers
Hiding In My Craft Room Challenge 150 - Let's Hear it for the Boy
Simply Create Too Challenge 62 -  Father's Day or for a Male
Wags'n'Whiskers Challenge 129 - One for the Boys
Fan-Tastic Tuesday Challenge 36 - One for the Guys
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge 30 - One for the Guys Big or Small
Brown Sugar Challenge 95 - Anything Goes
Jellypark Challenge - Bold and Bright
Natalie and Amy's Challenge 20 - Rubber Stamping

Blue and Lemon Flowers with a Twist

There were double celebrations on Rory's birthday as he shares it with his Mum Julie and this year we were all waiting expectantly as baby number three also shared its due date with them. Baby Kendall decided to wait a little longer before arriving so she'll have her own date to celebrate her birthday. 

This is the card I made for Julie and is made from bits and pieces left over from this Lemon and Blue Just For You card. It was also another chance to make some more of those layered flowers using a mixture of Marianne ribbon, stitching and layered flower dies with Card Candi for the centres.

Along with navy, pale blue and lemon card stock a shaded backing paper from Fred She Said's Blue Pansy Coloured Collection was used behind the flowers. The flowers were layered on to squares cut using Spellbinders scalloped and plain square dies with navy thread wrapped around the corners to add an extra frame. This thread was also used to add a stitched border to the backing layer.

 

The sentiment was made using a stamp from Stampin' up's Oval All stamp set and Versafine Majestic Blue ink.  It was then punched and layered using their plain and scalloped oval punches.  A bow using lemon grosgrain ribbon was added above.

It wasn't until choosing the photos for this post that I realised that the flowers were at a strange angle and not straight up and down as I'd meant them to be. When making a card I build up everything on the base layer of card and the last thing I do is attach this to the card blank. However, when putting this one together I must have given the base a quarter turn to the left after attaching the flowers and before attaching the sentiment which explains why the flowers are at a jaunty angle. As my Mum would say “Them that's running for their lives will never notice it”.

Thanks for reading today and hope you have a good weekend.

Liz xxx

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges
Emerald Fairies Challenge 55 - Flowers, Ribbon and/or Lace 
Dies R Us Challenge 2 - May Flowers
Ladybug Crafts May Challenge - Favourite Embellishment (flowers)
Crafting From the Heart Challenge 19 - Anything Goes

A Big Roar for Rory

Another grand-nephew celebrated his birthday last month and this is the card I made for Rory.

The little toppers on this card are decorated with animals which have been die cut using Quickutz dies.  I'd bought these dies with the intention of using them to make cards for boys but have never got around to putting them to use until making Rory's card.  These little dies are great for using up leftover pieces of card and lots of different shades of brown pieces were used up to make these toppers.

Two different patterned papers were used on this card.  The green birthday paper is from the Nitwit Collection Candles and Cake and the wood grain effect paper is from Pink Petticoat.  Lines of stitching were added to the green paper to divide it in to sections for the toppers to sit in.  the same thread was used to wrap around the corners of the square topper  My favourite topper is the monkey character and he could quite easily be used on his own to create a cheeky four square card.

For the centre section a personalised message was printed from the computer and die cut using an X-cut speech bubble die.  The plain and scalloped circle and square layers used to build up the toppers were die cut using Spellbinders dies.

A bow made from Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon from Stampin' up, peel off dots and punched leaves were the extra embellishments added to this card.  The leaves were punched using Stampin' up's build a bird punch.

A verse and message were printed out and added to the inside of the card.  This was another fun card to make and I can see that cheeky monkey making an appearance sometime soon again.

Here's a recent picture of Rory monkeying around on the swing on a fun day out.

Thanks for reading
Liz xxx

I'd like to enter this cad in the following challenges
Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge 166 - Happy Birthday 
Through The Craft Room Door Challenge May 20th - 26th - Anything Goes
Crafting From The Heart Challenge May 19th - Anything Goes
Glitter n Sparkle Challenge 85 - Cards for Males or Male Colours
Crafting At The Weekend Challenge 1 - Anything Goes
A Creative Romance Challenge - One for the Boys
Craftitude Challenge 65 - That's Die-licious (Use a Die)
Crafts 4 Eternity Challenge 176 - To Die For
Rhedd and Rosie Challenge 33 - No Flowers/Nothing Floral 
Ruby's Rainbow Challenge 79 - Animals
Animal Friends Challenge 14 - Happy Birthday (Must have an animal on it)
Fan-Tastic Tuesday Challenge 36 - One for the Guys
Just Inspirational Challenge - Birthdays
4 Crafty Chicks Challenge 195 - No Stamping Zone

Cascading in to Space

It was a grand-nephew's birthday last month and this is the cascading card I made for him.  I've liked this style of card for some time because it can look 3D but can also lie flat for posting.  It can also be adapted to suit any occasion theme for either male or female.

The cascading part of the card was made from a 12" x !2" sheet of card with the connecting arches cut using Spellbinders plain circles.  The patterned papers and elements were taken from the Nitwit Collection Spaced Out and resized using My Craft Studio.  The small circle embellishments were resized so that they could be punched out using Stampin' up's one inch circle punch and the larger image at the front of the card was framed using Spellbinders plain circle dies.

The spaceship and star embellishments were die cut using Quickutz dies and then attached to strips of acetate so that they looked as though they were out in space when attached to the card.

When I'd got the cascading part made it felt flimsy compared to the usual cards I make so I decided to attach it to the front of a card blank instead to give it strength but made the error of setting it too high up the card instead of along the bottom edge so that when the card was set up it fell forward.  Two pale blue circles were added to the front corners as props to lift the card and stop it falling over.  Happy accident.

The only other embellishments added to this card were silver peel off stars and red elastic tied around the spine of the card.

The insert was also decorated with punched out images and silver stars.  It was fun to try something a bit different and I may try this again.

Thanks for reading today

Liz xxx

I'd like to enter this cad in the following challenges
Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge 166 - Happy Birthday 
Through The Craft Room Door Challenge May 20th - 26th - Anything Goes
Crafting From The Heart Challenge May 19th - Anything Goes
Glitter n Sparkle Challenge 85 - Cards for Males or Male Colours
Crafting At The Weekend Challenge 1 - Anything Goes
A Creative Romance Challenge - One for the Boys
Craftitude Challenge 65 - That's Die-licious (Use a Die)
Crafts 4 Eternity Challenge 176 - To Die For
Rhedd and Rosie Challenge 33 - No Flowers/Nothing Floral 

Just For You Brenda

Brenda is one of the crafting ladies who comes along to the monthly craft group I meet up with.  We all have our different crafting styles and I would say that Brenda favours ink and stamping techniques with a bit of die cutting thrown in.  She takes part in online classes and usually brings along her samples to show us and I would say that some of these are better than the original class examples.  This has given her a fantastic reference library of colour and techniques at her fingertips when Mr Mojo goes walkabout.

I went back to the Woodware large word stamp Just For You to make Brenda's birthday card.  The addiction to this stamp, the stitching dies and mixing and matching papers and embellishments around them continues and there are more cards to share besides this one.

The patterned papers for this version are from the Nitwit Collections Promises and Snow Princess Solids and plain card in toning colours were chosen for the backing layers and the flower embellishments.  The Nitwit Collections are ideal to use with all their matching papers in colour and design.

The flower embellishments were made using a mixture of Marianne ribbon dies, layered flower dies and stitching dies with Card Candi from Craftwork Cards in their centres.  The little flowers were punched using the X-cut small flower punch and have crystal dot peel off centres.

The Just for U was stamped and embossed on to the Snow Princess patterned paper using VersaMark ink and Disco Black embossing powder from Stampendous.  It was then stamped and embossed on to two of the patterned papers from the Promises Collection.  Alternate letters were cut from each patterned paper design and paper pieced on to the main topper.  The topper was then dry embossed using the Cuttlebug Falling Snow embossing folder.  This welds the paper piecing to the card and adds texture which I hope you can see in the picture.  A stitched border was added before the topper was framed and layered using square Grand Nestabilities dies.

 

A stitched border was also added to the other two panels on the card and along with the flowers, ribbon , a bow and brads were the extra embellishments.

It takes time to stitch these flowers but it's something which is quite relaxing to do and I enjoy the challenge of trying to match up colours of thread and card to layer and co-ordinate with the different patterned papers. This project was an indulgence in using my favourite colours.

Thanks for reading today

Liz xx

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges

Crafty Creations Challenge 263 - Recipe (Flowers, Die Cut, Ribbon and Purple)

Creative Moments Challenge 42 - Bingo (Flower, Die Cut/Punch, Ribbon/Bow)

Inky Impressions Challenge 159 - Flower Power

Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge 310 - Embellish  

Rhedd and Rosies's Challenge 32 - It's All About Texture

Crafty Sentiments Designs Challenge - Flowers

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Pretty Pastels

Love to Create Challenge 115 - Friendship

Emerald Faeries Challenge 55 - Flowers, Ribbon and /or Lace

Bearly Mine May Challenge - Flowers

A Gem of a Challenge 119 - Your Favourite Colour Combo

Crafty Girls Challenge 18 - Anything Goes 

Crafty Ribbons Challenge 89 - Anything Goes with Ribbon

Seize the Birthday Challenge - May Flowers

Dies R Us Challenge 2 - May Flowers
Ladybug Crafts May Challenge - Favourite Embellisment (flowers)

Blue Floral Origami Box

Along with a floral wreath card I made a matching origami box to give Alan's sister for her sixtieth birthday.  We had decided to give Vicky money towards her Australian trip so to follow on this theme I made an origami box and put travel sized toiletries in it.  To find out how to make this origami box base then follow the following link to find an excellent video tutorial.  http://www.card-making-magic.com/origamiboxtutorial.html

Decorating the lid and sides of the box gave me the opportunity to make flowers using the Marianne stitching dies, layered flower dies and the English Rose die which are my favourite ones at the moment.  The small flowers were punched using and X-cut small flower punch with peel off stickers added to their centres.  A few self adhesive pearls and blue satin ribbon were the other embellishments.

Navy and pale blue card were used for the layers on the lid, the lining layers inside the box and to cover the base of the box.  Nestabilities and the first die from the Grand Nestabilities Labels 1 sets of dies from Spellbinders were used to cut these layers.  The lace edges on the triangle flaps were made using a Stamping up border punch. Nestabilities circle dies were used to make the holder for the ribbon handle.

I made an ATC envelope to put the money gift in and decorated it with a bow made using a die set from Sue Wilson.  The same bow die was also used to decorate the box for the birthday card.  These dies cut a dream and make up a really lovely embellishment.

  

Here is the finished card, gift box and money envelope.

If you've read the previous post can you spot the difference on the card in this photograph from the one in that post.  Recently I wrote of my dislike of peel offs but had used one to frame the number sixty on the original card.  Unfortunately it wouldn't stay stuck to the card and kept springing up again so it was replaced with a frame cut from matching card using Spellbinders circle dies.

Thanks for reading today

Liz xx

I'd like to enter this box in the following challenges
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes
Dream Valley Challenges 81 - Anything Goes
A Little Bit Crafty Challenge - Flower Power
Dies R Us Challenge 1 - Anything Goes
Ladybug Crafts May Challenge - Use Your Favourite Embellishment
The Cupboard Trilogy Challenge 22 - Flowers
4 Crafty Chicks Challenge 193 - Flowers
Delightful Challenges May 7th - Petal Power
Crafty Creations Challenge 262 - Anything but a Card
Creative Moments Challenge 42 - Bingo  (Flowers, DieCut/Punch, Ribbon/Bow)

Wreath of Flowers for a 60th

Continuing with the blue theme this is the card I made for Alan's sister Vicky who celebrated a special "0" birthday this year.  With the arrival of a grandson and grandaughter and celebrating her special birthday it's been quite an eventful start to the year for her.  There's more to come at the end of the year as her youngest son is getting married and she's planning a trip to Australia afterwards with one of their brothers to visit another brother and his family.

For Vicky's card I cased the one I'd make for Mother's Day and added the age to the centre of the wreath.  One of my favourite sets of dies is the Marianne English Rose one but at the beginning of this year I came across her stitching ones and have been stitching lots of these flowers and leaves ever since.  This design was inspired by the floral wreaths I've seen made using kits from Craftworks Cards.

Along with the Marianne dies an X-cut small flower punch and one inch circles punched, cut and rolled like the roses were used to make up the flower embellishments  The paler blue rolled roses were sponged with Encore blue metallic ink to create shading and on top of this a Sakura clear glitter gel pen was used to leave a dew effect.  The wreath was built on to circle layers using card in the same colours as used for the flowers and then attached to the front of the card using 3D foam.  The number in the middle was printed from the computer.

 The patterned papers used on this card were from Papermania's Parisienne Collection which is a lovely set of papers.  They were layered on to coloured card matching those used for the flowers.  A stitched border was added around the patterned papers to add an extra frame and to link with the stitching on the flowers.

 

A ribbon wrap and bow, silver brads, peel-offs and self adhesive pearls were the added embellishments for this card.

Vicky had a gathering at her son's house to celebrate her birthday and Alan travelled north to attend it.  This is Vicky cutting her cake and in the background their youngest sister is in the middle of the photo and their eldest brother is at the back to her right.

I chickened out of travelling to Orkney that weekend as the weather forecast was predicting strong winds and I'm not a fan of sailing at the best of times.  Below is a link to a video clip of the ferry leaving Stromness on it's way to Scrabster on the Sunday morning.  Fortunately by the time Alan travelled back the following Tuesday the sea had calmed enough that he even had his breakfast during the trip.  I dread to think where all the breakfasts landed on this trip.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152055273090905&set=vb.603300904&type=2&theater

Thanks for reading today

Liz xx

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges
4 Crafty Chicks Challenge 193 - Flowers
Delightful Challenges May 7th - Petal Power
Penny's Challenge 176 - 2 or more Patterned Papers
Creative Moments Challenge 42 - Anything Goes/Bingo  (Flower, Di cut/Punch, Ribbon/Bow)
Through the Craft Room Door Challenge May 6th - 12th - Always Anything Goes
Top Tip Tuesday Challenge - Numbers
Crafting From The Heart Challenge 17 - Anything Goes
Crafty Boots Challenge - Milestone Birthdays
Love To Create Challenge 114 - Say It With Flowers

Stitched Flowers and Squares

The month of April is a busy month for birthdays amongst Alan's family with his two sisters having birthdays one day after the other.  This is the card I made for his youngest sister this year and combines my favourite nine square layout with the stitched flowers.

Since the beginning of the year I've been trying to use up left over pieces of blue card and patterned papers without success for as well as using up these scraps to make backing squares and flowers I end up cutting up more card and printing off more papers for the larger backing layers which results in more leftover pieces.  The patterned papers for this card are from the Cuddly Buddly download A Patchwork of Papers Blue.

 

Marianne and Joy dies were used to cut the layers for the flower embellishments and added to their centres are Twilight Candi from Craftwork Cards.  The backing layers for the flowers were cut from navy pearlescent card and the Cuddly Buddly patterned papers using the Spellbinders scalloped and plain square dies.  After layering them up navy thread was wrapped around the corners of these squares and the flowers added to the centres.  These nine toppers made up the top tier of the card.

The middle tier was the backing panel for the squares which was navy pearlescent card, pale blue card and patterned papers layered up with a grid of nine five centimetre squares stitched on top of the patterned paper.  The flower toppers were attached to the centres of these squares using foam pads.  Foam pads were also added to the back of the completed middle tier before it was attached to the bottom tier of the card.

 

Layers of the blue cardstock and patterned papers from Cuddly Buddly made up the bottom tier of the card. 

The personalised sentiment was printed from the computer and cut and layered using Spellbinders circle nestabilities.  A satin ribbon bow and navy self adhesive pearls were the added embellishments to this card.

There are a few more blue creations to come before I realised I was chasing my tail and the blue scrap box was actually growing instead of being used up.

Thanks for reading today

Liz xxx

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges
Through the Craft Room Door May 6th-12th - Anything Goes
Crafting From The Heart Challenge 17 - Anything Goes
Love to Create Challenge 114 - Say It With Flowers
My Craft Creations Challenge 28/4 to 10/5 - Anything Goes
Challenges 4 Everybody 114 - Anything Goes
Dream Valley Challenge 81 - Anything Goes
The Ribbon Girl May Card Challenge - Flowers
Speedy Fox and Friends Challenge 210 - Flowers
Coffee and Cards Challenge 64 - Circles and Squares
A Little Bit Crafty Challenge - Flower Power