Nautical Birthday

Today's card is for a friend to give to her brother - she requested a nautical theme but something modern.

Okay!

I chose a red white and blue colour theme and kept it simple...

The patterned paper is from a nautical pad from The Range, and the embossing folder and dies are unbranded, though the dies are very similar to the SU Swirly Bird dies.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Crafty Catz #423 - wet or dry embossing
Crafting With Friends - anything goes
Shopping Our Stash #360 - anything goes
Simply Papercraft #59 - anything goes
Seize The Birthday - anything goes
As You Like It - favourite type of embossing - wet or dry? Definitely dry. I don't do rubber stamping so I haven't even tried wet embossing but I love the quickness of using an embossing folder and the perfect results every time.

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Christmas In June

OK - so it's 26 degrees outside and I've been inspired to make a Christmas card for my friend to give her son...

I'm not normally this organised but I was at The Range and I spied a mahoosive pack of Hunkydory's Christmas decoupage and toppers for £6 - started life at £25 so I got myself a bargain. They are beautiful quality - sturdy card and foiled highlights and there's enough to make about 30 cards. I've never been this excited since I found a Radley handbag in a charity shop for £3!!

I used an 8x8 inch silver base card and  some silver 'firework' patterned paper from my stash to give the effect of a blizzard. I added various bits of one of the topper sheets and the greeting was done using unbranded dies from my collection.

So easy but I have a real sense of achievement making Christmas cards in the summer!

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Fab 'n' Funky Challenge #400 - quick/easy Christmas TOP 5
Watercooler Wednesday's #176 - all about Christmas
The Holly and Ivy Challenge - ag (Christmas)
The Sisterhood of Crafters - what's that up in the sky?
Sparkles Christmas Challenge - Santa
Crafting By Designs - get ready for Christmas (June)

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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CASE'd Penguin Birthday Card

Needing to make a penguin themed birthday card I turned to Pinterest for inspiration and found a gorgeous card to CASE...

It's quite an old card by Teneale Williams but I love it!

I was inspired by the layout, the cute die-cut penguin and the balloons.


Here's my interpretation...

I didn't have a penguin die so I adapted an owl die by cutting the ears off! The gorgeous papers are from a pad from The Range and rather than use real ribbon I used a cute bow die.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Crafting With Friends #70 - anything goes
Aud Sentiments #206 - anything goes
Seize The Birthday - anything goes
Craft Rocket Challenges #49 - birthday - TOP 5!
Crafty Creations #368 - anything goes
Crafty Gals Corner #168 - anything goes

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Cheers Jim!

Another quick male card to share using the super blokey 'Jim' from the Digistamp Boutique (not sure if he is still available)...

I've coloured him using pro-markers, matted then re-matted on black then white card and used a co-ordinating scrap of red, white and blue striped card from The Range. The 'cheers' greeting die is from China.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Digi Stamps 4 Joy #149 - AG + for the men 
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #84 - AG
Pearly Sparkles #29 - masculine
QKR Stampede Challenge #300 - AG
Daisy Chain Challenge #20 - for the men
Crafty Catz #421 - AG

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Classic Car

Today's card is to add to my growing collection of male cards...

The car image is from a Buzz Craft topper sheet and I've used a checked patterned paper from my stash. I've used a cream linen card for the base to add a more 'vintage' feel.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Creative Craft Cottage #108- anything goes
Daisy Chain Challenges #20 - for the boys/men WINNER
Create and Inspire #75 - anything goes
Always Happy Birthday (June) - anything goes
Jo's Scrap Shack #238 - anything goes

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Embossed Birthday Cake

I love decoupage and one of my favourite brands is Anita's Die cut - they are so quick to put together. Today's card is made with one such topper, mounted on an embossed birthday greetings panel...

It looked a bit basic so I added a single piece of bunting and a number of sparkling gems.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #83 - anything goes
Creative Knockouts #249 - anything goes
CAS On Friday #134 - embossing
Crafting With Friends #69 - anything goes
Jo's Craft Shack #237 - anything goes


Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Birthday Ties

A work colleague asked me to make a card for her brother which gave me the perfect opportunity to use a tie die that came with last month's Papercraft Essentials. Following the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches I made this...

I've used some glittery black and white patterned papers from The Range and a large dot embossing folder for the background.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Freshly Made Sketches - sketch

Crazy 4 Challenges #438 - masculine
Crafty Friends Challenge #85 - happy birthday
Crafty Calendar (June) - 3 of something
Unicorn Challenge #33 - masculine
Get Creative #70 - monochrome

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Retirement

Today's card is a clean and simple quickie for a work colleague who is retiring...

I've printed the greeting directly onto white card then simply added a fussy-cut image of 'Jim' (from the Digistamp Boutique) using foam pads. He's coloured with Pro-markers - a nice bright turquoise to match the border colour. It's quite a large card (A5) so the image was very easy to neatly cut - it's about 4 inches tall!

Sorry for the bad pic - the light is so bad here with the fog!

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Crafty Cardmakers #213 - for a man/boy
Dream Valley Challenge #180 - for a man/boy
Crafting By Designs - for the boys
Simply Create Too - for a male
Scribbles Designs Challenge #65 - make it masculine


Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Grandma's Birthday

A friend from work asked me to make a cute card her young son could give to his Grandma for her birthday...

I used a very cute digi from The Digistamp Boutique (called Joe) and coloured him with pro-markers. I then fussy-cut the image and using foam pads attached it to a split background -  part patterned paper from my stash and part white embossed. I printed the greeting in a very large font (The Urban Way) to make it the focal point of the card. This was die cut in a circle and framed.

Finally I added a trio of die-cut hearts.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Digi Choosday #22 - anything goes
A Gem Of A Challenge #220 - use 3 of something (hearts)
Passion For Pro-Markers #446 - anything goes
Through The Craft Room Door - anything goes
Die Cuttin' Divas #371 - anything goes

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Grey Anniversary

Today's card is for a friend to give her parents on their anniversary...

I found some gorgeous grey textured card at a craft fair recently which is lovely to use - I used it for the A5 card base and the die cut pieces. The backing paper is from a pad from The Range and I've used dome heart pearls as the main embellishments with some smaller ones dotted about.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Craft Rocket Challenge #48 - use embellishments (pearls)
Crafty Creations #367 - anything goes
Jo's Scrap Shack #235 - anything goes
Crafty Sentiments - anything goes
Creates and Makes #21 - anything goes

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Sunshine Style 30th

Oh my - where has the last week gone!!

A quick post tonight to share a card I've made for a friend's 30th birthday...

It's for a man but I wanted something bright and cheerful - most of my male cards are navy or brown.

I teamed up various scraps of mustard and black and white patterned papers from my stash and created a hand-cut  a sunshine effect behind the number - time-consuming rather than difficult!

This is such a fab way to use up those small scraps of patterned paper we all keep.

Everything else was die-cut which helped!

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Always Fun Challenge #59 - anything goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #82 - anything goes
Pixie's Snippets Playground #326 - anything goes
Allsorts Challenge #468 - Happy Birthday
Seize The Birthday - just a number
Crafting From The Heart #207 - anything goes


Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Penguin Love

When did penguins become such a thing - I'm always being asked to make penguin themed cards!!

This one is for a work colleague to give to her other half on their wedding anniversary...

The penguin image is free clip art I downloaded from the web, simply coloured with pro-markers. I've matted the image on to a grey scalloped die-cut then mounted it 'off the page'. The diamond embossing folder is a very old Sissix folder and I've added the heart with a tiny foam pad to give some depth. The greeting was created in Publisher using Bebas font.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Always Fun Challenge #58 - dry embossing
Crafty Cardmakers #211 - no patterned paper
Crafty Catz challenge #416 - anything goes (cute)
Crafty Calendar May Challenge - things with wings 
Aud Sentiments #203 - cute and a sentiment
Crafty Friends Challenge #83 - animals
Watercooler Wednesdays - all about occasions
CAS On Friday #132 - CAS and cute

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Princess Robyn

Today's card was a request for a little girl who is about to turn 4...

I used an image of Disney Princess Aurora I found via Pinterest and layered it on die-cut circles. The backing papers are from my ever increasing stash and the greeting was printed in Publisher.

It's soooo pink!! I'm sure it will be very appealing to a 4 year old!

I'm entering this card into the challenges at: 

Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #19- anything goes

Seize The Birthday - just a number

Crafting With An Attitude #39 - anything goes

Creates And Makes #21 - anything goes 

Creative Craft Cottage #107 - dies or punches

Thanks for visiting

Hey Mickey You're So Fine

Today's card was inspired by a tune I heard on the radio this morning...

I got a load of Mickey and Minnie Mouse stuff from the craft selection at Poundland a few weeks ago and with this annoying tune going through my head made some birthday cards for my box at work.

Cute or what!

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #81 - anything goes
The Corrosive Challenge Blog #5 - anything goes
Crafty Friends #83 - animals
Crafting From The Heart #205 - anything goes
Hiding In My Craftroom #351 - freestyle
Creative Fingers #146 - anything goes

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Lillies and Lace

Today's card is made with a decoupage lily image that I put together some time ago and was sitting in my 'ready to use' box. I do love decoupage, it's one of my favourite crafting techniques, especially the die cut kits.

I've kept it simple, mounting the image onto some sage green leaf patterned paper then mounting with foam pads on to some lighter daisy polka dot paper. The sentiment is an old one by Desert Diva

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Crafter's Castle #5 - anything goes
Through The Purple Haze #144 - pearls or lace
Always Happy Birthday (May) - anything goes (flowers)
Watercooler Wednesdays - anything goes (feminine)
Pause Dream Enjoy #18 - lots of layers

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Best Wishes Orange Flower

Today's card was inspired by this gorgeous photo at Just Us Girls:

I loved the colours, the flowers, the patterns - what a marvellous start point for crafty inspiration!

I focused on the background colour, the black and white pictures and the orange flower and produced this:

I used solid moss green textured card for the background and die cut squares of various black and white patterned papers from my stash, The greeting is an unbranded die and I punched the orange flower, adding a yellow pearl for the centre. I rounded all the corners to add my own touch to the design.

I'm also entering this card into the challenges at:

2 Sisters On The Blog #15 - 3 of a kind (the squares)
Crafting By Designs (May) - anything goes
Creative Inspirations May Challenge - Clean & simple or Fussy & Fancy
Crafty Gals Corner #164 - anything goes

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Scruffy Little Cat

I'm in the process of sorting a huge pile of craft magazines going back for years and I came across an issue of Creative Cardmaking (now defunct) from 2014 with some lovely Scruffy Little Cat toppers...

I matted the topper on black card and mounted it using foam pads on DCWV patterned papers. I've added a handmade flower embellishment which I made using circles of dress-lining silk burnt around the edges with a flame - a wonderful idea I got from Jen at Wear Crafts - a local craft company. The leaves are punched and the flower centre (from the wedding section at Home Bargains) coordinates with the strips of gems.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Creative Friday #204 - for a woman
Seize The Birthday - anything goes
Crafty Friends #82 - flowers
Crafty Gals Corner #164 - anything goes
Crafty Cardmakers #210 - birthdays
Crafting From The Heart #204 - anything goes
Always Fun Challenge #56 - flowers

Thanks for popping in

Sharon
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Birthday Mix-Tape

Do you remember trying to tape the Top 40 on a Sunday evening as a teenager (in the 80s!) - having to make sure everyone was quiet and trying to stop taping before the DJ started to talk?! Recording all your favourite tunes on one cassette tape to listen to over and over again.

Well when I got asked to make a card for someone who loved 80s music, instead of using an image of a singer or group from that era, this is what inspired me...

I used some fabulous patterned paper that came in a mixed pad from The Range and I created the tape myself with various basic die shapes and a hole punch.

The greeting and the name on the tape were created in Publisher and I used a sheet of grey linen effect A4 card to make an A5 sized base.

I've put a further greeting inside - 'if it was still the 80s I'd make you a mix-tape'!

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Crafty Gals Corner #164 - anything goes
Crafty Cardmakers #210 - birthdays - TOP 5!
Penny's Paper-crafty Challenge #377 - anything goes
The Paper Shelter #336 - die-cuts
Die Cuttin Divas #366 - birthdays - SHOWCASE PICK!
The Paper Players #390 - sketch below:

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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