Cards for Men

Afternoon,

What a lovely day it has been today, for the first time in weeks I actually managed to get washing out on the line..........without making it rain!!

I don't know about you, but there are some months when most of the cards I need to send are for men, and February seems to be one of those.

Now I know that a lot of men are gardeners and therefore like flowers, but I do think they want something a little less feminine than a lot of my floral cards turn out to be.

I went through my boxes of cards and found several that I think are more particularly suited to the men of our acquaintance.

A bit of mop up background, a die cut border and some leaves.

More mop up here along with some fussy cut leaves and coloured berries.

I used the same leaf that I die cut in black to create the stamped background. Dies have so many fabulous uses.

A beautiful stamped image and some fussy cutting.

Stamping with bleach and metallic embossing powders.

And this card made more years ago than I care to remember, but one that I have always loved.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love and Crafty Hugs

Kimx

Christmas Embossing Folder

Evening All,

Boy was it cold this morning when I came home. We had to scrape the ice off the car windows as there was quite a frost. Time to swap out the summer shirts for the winter jumpers me thinks lol.

My good friend Gill Till has posted her Way To Go Wednesday challenge over on Facebook for Christmas Card and Papercraft Challenge.

The challenge is to use your embossing folders.
I made this card lots of years ago for the lovely Janice and Andy at SirStampalot. It uses an old Christmas embossing folder for the background.

I used Versamark ink and embossing powders on black card stock for a Letterpress look.

I also added a cute Penny Black image and some die cut holly branches.

Thanks for stopping by, better get my stuff ready for work tomorrow.

Stay safe 

Hugs Kimx

New Release

Evening Everyone,
Creative Expressions launched some beautiful new floral stamps yesterday, and they are absolutely gorgeous.

 I do love floral stamps, they are so versatile.

I think this design Blooming Day is probably my favourite from this release.

 I stamped the design on to khaki coloured cardstock using perfect medium ink.

I stamped and embossed the sentiment before adding the floral image as I didn't want the embossing powder to stick to it.
The background paper has been created using Mixed Media Dark Age embossing powder on cardstock.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs Kimx

Festive Circle on the TV

Evening Everyone,
Oh Boy, another scorcher. Time to cool it down with a nice Christmas card.

This is one of the cards that I made for Jane's show on Create and Craft tomorrow.

I stamped on to red card with a versamark ink pad and then added gold, silver and copper embossing powders.

I also stamped it again on black card and this time embossed with Fools Gold embossing powder.

I fussy cut some of the trees and added them to the circular panel and then also cut out a couple of triangles from the left overs as well as stamping and embossing a couple of the single trees from the stamp set.

Of  course you need some snow at Christmas, so I added some of the fabulous Fluffy Stuff and then heated it to 'puff' it up.
Don't forget to tune in tomorrow for Jane's shows at 12.45 and 6.45 on Create and Craft.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs Kimx

Quirky Christmas

Evening everyone,
Another boiling hot day here, so I only managed twice round the park before I had to call it a day. I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to the heat, and I look even more like a boiled lobster today.

I thought that I would share a couple of Christmas cards to help me cool down, at least in my head anyway.

This one is made with a fabulously quirky Christmas Tree stamp set designed by Jane Gill.

I have done some good old fashioned heat embossing, using a combination of metallic powders.

I have used the same embossing folder on both cards, highlighted with a little gilding wax.

Only gold embossing powder on this one, and the sentiment from the stamp set Fun Christmas Tree.

I tapped a versamark ink pad around the base card, and covered it in gold embossing powder to tie things all together.

My final card uses another stamp released at the same time Framed Trees

I used mostly silver embossing powder on this one, but the card that I stamped on was textured which shows up through the embossing powder.
I can't believe how warm it still is, even at this time of night. Thank goodness for air conditioning at work lol.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs Kimx

Happy Birthday Megan

Morning Everyone,
It's amazing what I forgot I had, in my not inconsiderable stash.
I was reminded of this on Wednesday when I was watching Gordon from beCreative  demoing on Create and Craft.

Today is a very special young ladies 20th Birthday.

Now I knew what image I was going to use for her card a long time ago.

Megan is not a 'flowery' Girl, as I was reminded last year, when a conversation with her prompted a very last minute change of plans for her card. So as soon as I saw this image from LOTV I knew that it was perfect, down to the long hair, and tiny waist lol.

Finding the image was fine, but how was I going to turn her in to a card, and that's when I remembered the stunning butterfly background stamp.

I created a piece of background paper using my Gelli Plate, Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink and  Dots and Spots Grunge background stamp from Clarity.

I stamped the 7x7 Butterfly Splash Background onto this using a combination of Hickory Smoke and Black Soot DO inks. This is where a Stamp Platform of some description comes in very handy. It enables you to stamp the image using a variety of colours, one at a time.

I embossed the stamped image with a combination of gold and platinum embossing powders.

Some sentiments completed the card.

I had a strip of the gelli plate background left over so I stamped the Butterfly background onto it and embossed it using a combination of platinum, gold and silver embossing powders.

I stamped the Butterflies again onto a piece of mixed media card using a combination of Hickory Smoke and Black Soot Distress Oxide inks and embossed with clear powder.

I matte and layered both the strip and main panel onto black card and then placed the thin panel directly over the main image, making sure to line them up.

Sentiments matte and layered on black and then added using silicon gel complete this second card.
It will be a strange birthday celebration today. It is also my Mum and Dad's wedding Anniversary. It would have been 70 years this year and of course I won't be able to visit her.
Megan was actually born the morning of their Golden Anniversary and attended their party at a few hours old. She's been a bit of a party girl ever since lol.
Have a great day, stay safe and craft.
Happy hugs
Kimx

Ally Pally Playtime Part 2

Evening Everyone,
I had better get this post done quickly before my computer starts acting up, as well as my phone.
Why is it that anything involving technology just does not seem to work for me. It should be so easy to download all the photos off my phone onto my computer, or so all of my children and Grandchildren tell me. At this point I am ready to get Emma, who is three, to give it a go cause it just ain't happening for me. GRRRRRRRRRR
Anyway. Rant over. Here is part 2 of the class on Saturday where we all played with our purchases from Ally Pally the previous week.

Part of my contribution to playtime were some Tonic Nuvo Shimmer Powders which I used to create this fabulous watercolour background.

I also used one of my new Woodware stamps designed by Francoise,

and a 'With Love' die also from Tonic.

This piece of mopup background was enough to make two cards.

I stamped and embossed another of Francoise stamps onto it,

and then painted it with bleach for the flower petals

and Shimmer powders mixed with water for the flower centers and leaves.

The background to this card was created using Green Parade Shimmer Powder and glycerin.

 It was something that I saw my friend Paula Pascal do on one of her TV appearances for Tonic,

and was the reason why I just had to try out the Tonic Shimmer Powders even though I own all sorts of other types of powder including Brushos, Colour Bursts and Pixie Powders lol.

This card uses another of Francoise stamps which has been coloured with the Shimmer powders mixed with a little water to create a paint.

The background paper is from a Clarity paper pad which was also amongst my many purchases.

 I even managed a Christmas card.

One of the Girls brought along some Embossing powders and a lovely Christmas Tree stamp, so I just had to play with that just like everyone else.
I am going to admit defeat with trying to transfer my photos from my phone to my laptop and get my lovely friend Joe to do it for me. I can see him shaking his head now, but at least my laptop and phone should remain intact, as well as the nearest window :O)
Have a great evening.
Hugs Kimx