Father's Day at Crafty Cardmakers

Evening Everyone

 Today we have a new challenge starting over at Crafty Cardmakers. Our host is Feebsy, who has chosen the theme of  'Father's Day'
As it's Father's Day here in the UK on 16th of June Feebsy would  like to see anything you've created for or have been inspired to make by an important male figure in your life. 
It could be anything from a card, a scrapbook page, a knitted scarf or a piece of altered art. It does not have to be specifically for Father's Day ( I don't want you spoiling a surprise for anyone) but let us know the inspiration behind your work. 

Whenever I think of my Dad, now sadly no longer with us, I always think of the garden and wild birds.
I can close my eyes now and see him sitting at the table under the window watching the wondrous array of wild birds that graced the bird table and assorted shrubs and bushes.
And there were certainly lots of them from common sparrows and blue tits to much rarer goldcrests and tiny wrens.
He could name them all.
Unfortunately in later years he was no longer able to work on the garden, and when he could it was the vegetable patch that was always his baby and flowers my Mum's province.
I remember one year when we were very young, my sister saved a baby thrush from the cat.
Surprisingly it survived and we spent that Spring digging the vegetable patch from one side to the other (and it was a very large stretch) in search of worms to feed Gus (the thrush).
That stretch of garden was never dug so well, before or since, and miraculously we were able to raise Gus until he was old enough for us to take to the local Bird Sanctuary.
So you can see why I chose this lovely stamp from Stampendous for my card.

The sentiment stamp on the right hand side is also available through WOODWARE CRAFT COLLECTION who are one of our wonderful sponsors with a £12 voucher to be spent at one of their Retailers. 

Our other sponsor this time is THE PAPER SHELTER with a $20 Gift certificate. 
Now I am not good with digi images but they do have some fabulous Digital Paper Pads so I bought a couple of them and used some of the designs from one set on my card. 

The feathers and buttons are also from Woodware.

I would like to enter this in to the following challenges

Brown Sugar Challenge - Masculine Birthday

Sweet Stampin Challenge - Fathers Day

ABC Challenges - Masculine Cards

I hope that you pop along and join us this time. 

Don't forget that the Girls from Woodware will be playing along with us every day this week so stop by and show them some love as well as the rest of the CCM  team.

Happy Crafting.

hugs Kimx

A Nautical Birthday Card

Evening Everyone
I hope that you are all well and looking forward to your Bank Holiday weekend, well if you are in the UK at least.
I have managed to cross another project off my 'To Do List' today.
A friend has asked me to make a card for her Dad for his birthday. He was in the Navy for a number of years and so when I asked her if she had any suggestions for her card she just said 'Maybe something Nautical'.
I won't share the card that I made for her yet, I don't like to, at least until she has had a chance to see it :O).
However I did have quite a few left over bits, so in my 'use it all up' mode I made another card to add to my stash.

I had ordered several new 'Nautical' stamps from Woodware which arrived yesterday, so I used a couple of them here.
Woodware Clear Magic JGS163 Old Map Frame and JGCL554 Frigate and Stampendous CRR163 Cling Old World Map have all been used here as well as Aged Bronze Frantage Embossing Enamel and Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

I stamped and Embossed the 'Old Map Frame' onto white card stock using Sepia Versafine ink and clear embossing powder and sponged it with Vintage photo Distress Ink before tearing round it.
The circular panel with the Sailing Ship has been created in exactly the same way with the addition of a little Stormy Sky Distress Ink.
The sails have been painted with thin undiluted bleach.

I added a Compass charm which I found in my stash. I think that it came from The Hobby House at one of the shows that I have attended. They have a fabulous range of items and all so very reasonably priced.

The embossing on the background to the card has been created using 'Cling Old World Map' and Aged Bronze Frantage Embossing Powder.
I would like to enter this into the challenge at Tuesday Throwdown where the theme is 'Sail Away' and ABC Challenges where they want 'Stamped Backgrounds'.
I still have the instructions to write for the class tag tomorrow, but I think that I had better leave that for now as it may not make any sense if I try and write it now while I am tired.
Hugs Kimx

It's a Baby Girl

Evening Everyone
Another card tonight made with a couple of specific challenges in mind.
This time I took my inspiration from the photograph at
Totally Tilda Challenges

and the Sketch at Sunday Sketch and Stamp.
I would also like to enter it into the challenge over at ABC Challenges  where F is for Favourite Tilda Stamp.
The little cutie that I have used on my card certainly has to be one of my favourites, and is definitely the most well used of all my Tilda stamps.

I have stamped and embossed her onto watercolour card and then coloured her using Brushed Corduroy and Victorian Velvet Distress Ink.

The background paper is a double sided sheet from a Lost and Found 'Blush' 6 x 6 pad.
Once again I have used my favourite Martha Stewaert border punch along the bottom of the panel, and added some Faux stitching around the edge.

The heart has been cut from a piece of white card which was first dry embossed using a Cuttlebug folder.
After cutting the heart out using a Nestie, I sponged it with a combination of Brushed Corduroy and Victorian Velvet ink before adding Walnut Stain Distress Ink around the edge.

By allowing the ink to dry before adding the final coating of Walnut Stain around the edge I was able to heat emboss the edge using clear embossing powder.
The greeting is from Lili of the Valley cut out using a circle punch. I added some tiny dots around the edge.

I'm trying to be good with the envelopes, it is a great way of using up the little left over pieces.
Off to bed now, my cold has really kicked in and I am having trouble breathing, time for some medication I think.
hugs Kimx

Love is in the Air

Evening Everyone,
I hope that you have survived Monday unscathed.
I seem to be going down with a cold, can't breathe and sneezing like there is no tomorrow, but never mind.
My card tonight was made specifically to enter into a couple of the challenges that I checked out at the weekend.
I have started to get really organised, or sad, and I make myself a list on a Saturday of challenges that I fancy entering including printing out a picture of the sketch or the colour challenge, and listing when the challenge closes.
It may be sad but it does make it easier when it comes to posting them and I don't have to try and remember where I saw this particular item in Blogland, or if I am too late for the challenge which is always a bit annoying.

Now I am not usually a CAS type of a girly so this was definitely a stretch for me, but I knew exactly what I wanted to make as soon as I saw the lovely sketch over at CAS Colours and Sketches.

The central Heart has been die cut from a piece of white card using a Nestie. the card had been dry embossed using a Cuttlebug Heart Embossing Folder.
I sponged Antique Linen Distress Ink around the edge and then mounted it onto a Scalloped Heart cut from Gold card.

The background papers are from my stash, and I used a couple of DooHickey dies to cut the bottom flower and leaves. The top flower is a Martha Stewart punch and the sentiment is from an Impression Obsession stamp set WP16 Sentiments 1.

Once again I used some of the left over bits to embellish the envelope.
I would also like to enter this into the following challenges
Penny Black and More - Love is in the Air.
ABC Challenges - Valentine's Day
Hugs Kimx

Here's to a Happy and Prosperous 2013

Hi Everyone,
Happy New Year to You All.
I hope that you have not been suffering too much after all of the revelry last night. At work today we could tell when people got out of bed as we didn't start to get busy until about 11am lol.
What I want to know is who stole 2012 out from under me?? It seems to have positively flown by. Lets hope that 2013 slows down just a little or it will be Christmas again before we know it.
I'm not one for New Year Resolutions, although I did manage to blog every day last year until I had Internet issues when I was away in August, so lets see how far I get this year.
Did you make any resolutions?
I have been checking out the Christmas challenges already. As my friend Anne remarked Christmas cards are always so much easier to make once the pressure is off.
I shall definitely be following the challenges and adding to my card stash each month, it certainly made life easier last year. Maybe I should even consider writing them as I make them though since that is the bit that always seems to let me down.

This is the card that I made for my lovely Mum, she should finally have received it by now :O)
I just love this wonderful little bird from Stampendous.
He reminds me of winters as a child spent sitting watching out of the windows as the birds ate the berries and the food that we left for them. It always seemed to snow in the winter when I was a child, now we seem to get nothing but rain which I have to say I much prefer, I'm definitely getting old!!

The image has been painted using Distress inks and then cut out using Nestabilities Labels 18.
The lefthand background panel has been created using a Christmas Greetings Embossing folder which I spritzed with Goosebumps Shimmer Texture Spray and then coloured with Iced Spruce Distress Ink.

The Gold Embossed panel on the right hand side of the card has been created using a Holly Rollagraph, once again coloured with Distress inks Evergreen Bough and Festive Berries.

I added some stitching with a fine black pen, as well as some Glossy Accents and Stardust Stickles glue.
The ribbon was spritzed with water and screwed up before drying the creases in with a heat tool.
I would like to enter this into the following challenges.
ABC Challenges - E for Embossing
Crafty Hazelnut Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes
Have a very Happy New Year and a big hug from me.
Thanks for stopping by, I really do appreciate it.
Kimx

Birthday blooms for Mandy

Evening Everyone.

I hope that you have all had a wonderfully relaxing weekend, or have you been catching up with all of those things that you don't manage during the week like the rest of us lol.

I have been enjoying a quiet house as the family are all on holiday. 

If I'm honest I do prefer some noise going on around me, but it is nice to be able to lay things out on the dining table and not have to put them away, so my crafting area has expanded while I have the chance.

My card tonight was made for Lorraine to give to her friend Mandy. I'm sorry that the picture is not very good, it really doen't show it at its best even if I do say so myself.
Easel cards are always so hard to photograph aren't they!

The main panel has been created using one of the Hobby Art sentiments from the Birthday Collection.
This is one of my favourite sentiment stamps at the moment.

The flowers have been added using the Embossed Resist technique, Versamagic inks and a lovely floral stamp set from Stampendous called Scripty Stems.

The butterfly has been cut using a Cheery Lynn die. Of course I added a little colour and some glitter.

Lorraine wanted her friends name added to the front of the card, and a little bit of bling so I added some ribbon and a diamante slider.
I would like to enter it in to the following challenges
Crafts and Me - Challenge 90 Birthdays
Allsorts Challenge  - In Bloom
The ABC Challenge - S for Surprise (Show us your best)
Penny Black and More  - Summer Blooms
Crafty Calender challenge - Flowers in Bloom
Off to bed now, and back to work tomorrow :O(
Hugs Kimx

A day for Celebrating with Hobby Art.

Evening Everyone
Well yesterday really was a day for celebrating. As well as my friend Danny's 50th it was also the birthday of my sister Tracy (I will be nice and not let on which one lol) and Haider one of the guys that I work with at the BP garage.

This is the card I sent my sister. It was made using Floral Border and Floral Branch, both from Hobby Art.

I stamped and embossed the images onto blue card stock and then painted them with thin undiluted bleach. You might have to experiment with your card stock since not all will bleach out.

 Once this has been done I then coloured the images with colouring pencils. Because you have bleached the card to start with the colour of the pencils shows up much better.

The card I gave Haider was also made using a Hobby Art stamp, Koi Carp Jewel.
I used the same bleaching technique only this time I painted the Koi with dye based ink.

Both cards have been mounted in a similar manner using a combination of torn card and woollen threads.
I have been working all weekend on some new Hobby Art samples for Jenny's next TV show.
She will be on Create and Craft channel 671 next Sunday (29th January) at 2pm and 7pm, unless they change the times on us.

I would like to enter these into the following challenges
Birthday Sundaes - Challenge 40 Birthday Wording on the Front.
Lets Ink it Up - Challenge 19 Anything Goes
ABC Challenges  - H for Happy Birthday

Hope you have had a good weekend.
hugs Kimx

My lucky day.

Today really is my lucky day, I found out that I have won 2 challenges!!!

The first one is the card that I entered into G is for Green over at ABC Challenges. I will let you know exactly what I have won when I get it sorted out.
I nearly missed this one as with all of the Internet problems I haven't been checking Feline Playful regularly. Thank Goodness they left me a message on my blog.

My second winning card is the  'Reindeer with a beauty spot' that I made for 52 (Christmas) Card Throwdown where I got the Top Honor .
Maybe I should go quickly and buy a lottery ticket, what do you think??
Hugs Kimx

G is for Green at the ABC challenge

Evening Everyone,
Hope that you have had a good day.
I have been a very busy bunny, DT work, ironing and a marathon catch up session on the current series of Merlin that we had recorded on the Sky box. I think the grown ups were probably more engrossed than the kids but that just goes to show that we are all big kids at heart lol.

This is another of the numerous 'Thinking of You' cards that I have had to make just lately, and it fits perfectly into the ABC Challenge where G is for Green.
The little boy fishing is by Clarity as are the leaves that have been white embossed in one of the background papers. The leaves have also been stamped on the main card with versamark.

The other papers are from my stash and have been run through the cuttlebug using a couple of different embossing folders. The greeting is from Woodware.
I have used distress inks to add colour, some glimmer mist, stitching with a fine black pen and some card candy.
Off to bed now, all this activity has made me tired and I have to go to work tomorrow. And I have just noticed how late it is!
Love and hugs
Kimx