Consider Yourself Vintage: A Birthday Card for Rod

My hubby turns 48 tomorrow, and as usual I left it to the last minute to create a card for him.  Male cards are definitely not my forte.  I decided to combine one of my new Carabelle Studio Stamps with some vintage collage images and create a card with a fun but grungy vintage feel.......

I started by using four shades of Distress Ink (Faded Jeans, Peacock Feathers, Pine Needles and Aged Mahogany  to color in a piece of white cardstock for my background. Once dry I stamped with Versamark the Layered Strips Stamp from Carabelle Studio and heat embossed with Black Embossing Powder.  I then used various torn paper strips and added these over the top before coloring once more with my Distress Inks.  I also added some stamped polka dots (Darkroom Door Texture Stamp) with black archival ink to complete my background.

A piece of text paper, a vintage ticket collage image and a Vintage Gentleman Image were all used for my foreground along with the stamped sentiment (Unity Stamp Co KOTM) which was layered onto black cardstock.  To tone down and give a more aged appearance to the white cardstock of the Gentleman Image and Sentiment I used Antique Linen Distress Stain.

A piece of black cardstock embossed with numbers was used to add further interest to the bottom of this card.

My sentiment Consider Yourself Vintage shows on the outside of the card, while inside I have added and just like a Good Wine you'll only get better with age.

I am entering this card into the following challenges.

• Come and Get It Challenges - Layer it On!
• 613 Avenue Create - #112 Anything Goes with Optional Twist Birthday
• Frosted Designs - Friday Challenge Get Messy x 2 (Distress Inks, Embossing Powder, Glue for Collage of torn papers for background)
• The Male Room Challenge - #04 Create Background Paper

Cards in Envy - Happy Birthday Challenge

There is always a birthday to celebrate right?  So this fortnight the new Challenge at Cards in Envy is allowing you to do just that.........we want to see your birthday creations.

My card today is something a little different in color choices for me, a bit more soft and subdued then normal.  The vintage papers are from Prima, stamped cupcake and sentiment are from one of my Unity KOTM's and the collage butterflies are leftovers from a collage sheet from Altered Pages.

Sadly after I think three terms.....since Feb 2013 this will be my last time as a designer for Cards in Envy, as I have decided to step down from the team as life lately has afforded me little time to meet my commitments as well as I would like to. But I do hope to play along with the challenges still when I can.

For more Happy Birthday Inspiration be sure to pop over and view all the other Design Team creations and while there get all the details on how to play along too!

Adding a Touch of Color for a Male Birthday Card

Hi Everyone!  This week I have been been thinking a lot about cards for Males (probably because hubby's birthday is next week), so over on the Altered Pages Blog today I am sharing another one along with a technique for adding a touch of color to your black and white photos or collage images.

The star of this technique is my  Niji Waterbrush Pen from Yatsumoto and their Pearlescent Water Colors which are available from Altered Pages, along with the wonderful lighthouse collage sheet I took this image from.

I do hope you will pop over to the Altered Pages Blog and take a look.  While there be sure to check out some of the other blog posts as the rest of the DT have been sharing great ways of using your Waterbrushes this month too.

A Manly Stamped Collage Card (Video Post)

Today I am sharing quick stamped collage card for a Male Birthday.  It was created using a selection of the new Altered Pages Art Stamps.  They all came together wonderfully to create my background, and the main image called Thin and Thick is also available from Altered Pages.  I brought it a few weeks back with creating male cards in mind.  My Sentiment is from one of my Unity Sentiment Kits.

  

For added interest I have simply layered under my collage a strip of scrap paper and simply by changing the position of the paper strip you can easily achieve a different variation of this card. (See photo below).

You can see how I made this card by watching the video:- 

Thanks for stopping by!

My Birthday Blog Candy

Chocolate Cake my Hubby made for my Birthday!

Today I turned 42 and spent a wonderful day out shopping and having lunch with the boys and then was surprised with birthday cake and the family for afternoon tea.  Tonight we are planning our traditional B'day Menu of Chinese Takeaway and more cake!

Anyhow whatever you are up to today, I hope you are enjoying yourselves and without further ado its time to announce the lucky winner of my Birthday Blog Candy.

Thank you to everyone who left me a comment and told me their favorite time of the year.   There were 29 comments in total left on my Birthday Blog Candy post including one I deleted and one left by myself in reply to a comment, I used the Random Generator Number at Random.org and generated the random winning number which was 21.  

And the lucky winner who left the 21st Comment on my Blog Candy Post is - House of Bears!

CONGRATULATIONS

Here's another peak at what you have won!

Can you please email your address to me at daniemay71@gmail.com and I will get this in the post to you pronto.  Congratulations again and I can't wait to see what you create with all these items.

Birthday Blog Candy!

Winter is well and truly gone, which means my favorite time of the year has arrived.  It's Spring which means beautiful weather, holidays, and also my Birthday.  We actually will be celebrating three birthdays in my immediate family here at home in September and a number of my other family and friends also celebrate turning another year older over the coming month.

So to celebrate I thought I'd give you a present with some Blog Candy.  In order to win you simply need to:

1. Become a follower of my blog, if you are not one already.
2. Leave me a comment letting me know what is your favorite time of the year.  It may be your favorite season, the month of your birthday, the time of year you take holidays.  
3. This one is optional, but I would love it if you tell your friends and share the chance to win.

Whatever it is let it be known.  And come the 22nd of September which is my actual Birthday, I will randomly pick a winner to receive this wonderful present of some of my Mixed Media Favorites.  So be sure to spread the word and tell your friends.

The includes 1 x The Crafter's Workshop Fish Scales Stencil, 1 x 5 x 7" Canvas, 1 x Faber Castell's Metallic Gelatos Set, 1 x Dream Big Itty Bitty Stamp from Unity, 1 x Inspire Word Stamp and some Burlap Flowers.

I do hope you will celebrate with me.  Good Luck!  and Don't forget to tell your Friends.

Cards in Envy Background Challenge

Hi Everyone, it's time for another challenge at Cards In Envy.  This fortnight we want to see you create your own backgrounds.

Earlier today I shared a card I made for my mum and dad's wedding anniversary which was done with my Gelli Plate and the Damask Stencil by Donna Downey.  I have used it again for my card for this Background Challenge but this time rather than applying paint over the stencil, I used it to lift paint off the plate which gives a totally different look.

There are so many wonderful ways to create your own backgrounds and my fellow Design Team Members projects this week share just a few, but as always are sure to inspire you to try something new.  So be sure to pop over and check them out!  We'd also love it if you played along too!

Clean and Simple Birthday Card

Hi Everyone!  I hope all my readers/followers who are mother's had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday.  I spent a lovely day with both my own and my hubbies mum who has been staying with us for a few days whilst recovering from a recent operation.  My sister also joined us for the day which was a surprise for mum.

I have another CAS Card to share today, playing along with a few challenges.

This uses one of my favorite background stamps which I love inking up with my pastel toned chalk inks and a simple patterned butterfly stamp and sentiment all of which are from Unity Stamp Co.  My card base is a soft lilac colored cardstock from Stampin' Up!  (I forgot the name of the color).

I am playing along with the following challenges.

CAS on Sundays - Challenge #8 Pastel Pretties.
Less Is More - Week 119 One Layer - Colored Card Blank
Creative Corner Challenges - #18 Things with Wings
Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Clean and Simple
Totally Papercrafts - #166 CAS

Cards In Envy Sketch #4

Hi Everyone, this will be the first of two posts today!  It's that time again for another sketch challenge over at Cards in Envy!

For this one I have turned it on its side and gone with another CAS Card this time with a male birthday in mind, whilst trying to use some un-inked stamps.

The stamps are from one of my Unity KOTM.  The papers are from the Bo Bunny Enchanted 6 x 6 Collection.

I am going to use this wonderful sketch again, as I found the rest of the design team had so many wonderful ideas for this one, so be sure to see them for yourself here.

The Robin's Nest Blog Hop - Daisy Days

Hi Everyone!  Welcome to the Robin's Nest Design Team Blog Hop.

Firstly let me tell you that the team have some gorgeous inspiration for you with a magnitude of projects to share all incorporating daisies in some way.  For each blog you visit, follow and leave a comment you have a chance of winning a $15 Daisy Prize pack from The Robin's Nest which includes Tear Drops, Paper and Embellishments.

At home April is when we celebrate both my mums and my MIL's Birthdays so with this and the Daisy Theme of our Blog Hop in mind I grabbed some of my Dark Room Door Stamps and the Pretty Daisy Teal Stripe Paper from the Robin's Nest and made this card.

Starting with a piece of the Daisy Teal Stripe Paper from the Robin's Nest.  I layered a 12cm x 12cm square of this onto my 13 x 13 cm Card Base.

I then got out my Darkroom Door Stamps, some Blue Ink, Antique Linen Distress Stain and some Water Color Pencils to create a secondary backing Paper which would coordinate with my Daisy Stripe Paper using repetitive stamping of the small daisy flower.

 

And to this I added a eyelet border punched strip down one side.

I also used these same mediums to color the background for my sentiment.  And for an added touch I took a small piece of ribbon to form a loop to be layered under my main images layers.

My main image was a larger Daisy stamp with a script background this I layered onto a piece of the Daisy Stripe Teal Paper and then onto a piece of my blue cardstock.  I then layered all my pieces together.

The end result a Pretty Birthday Card for My Mum incorporating Daisies.

For more inspiration and for a chance to win your own Daisy Goodness be sure to visit the rest of the team as well as leaving me a little love here.

Until Next Time!.

Cards In Envy - Sketch Challenge #3

Hi Everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!  We sure did, lots of chocolate, lots of laughs including a couple this morning for April's Fools Day.  Did you pull any pranks today?

"A" was every few seconds trying to be funny in the name of April's Fool, so much so that it became rather annoying and his jokes/pranks were getting pretty lame, that my husband  and I decided to pull one good prank on him each.  The first one involved pretending there was a spider ('A' hates all types of bugs/insects) in his bedroom which resulted in Rod pulling his already made bed apart, to catch it..........the joke was he would have to remake his bed which is a job he hates, whilst the second joke involved placing a rubber snake in the car where he sits, as we had to drive his sister home today as she had spent Easter with us.  "A" usually is the first one to jump in the car.......the squeal and look on his face was priceless.  Needless to say the first part of our trip was rather quiet....lol.

So today sees a new challenge, a new sketch challenge over at Cards In Envy and I do hope you will play along.

My design was inspired by the three star-burst elements on the sketch and would be perfect for a Male Birthday.  The sentiment is from Unity Stamp Co and this card would have been suitable for last weeks challenge also, as instead of ribbon I have used a strip of paper which I have pleated and distressed with some white ink.

For more great inspiration using this sketch be sure to pop over to the Cards in Envy Site which is where you can link up your card if you play along too!

Happy Birthday!

Hi Everyone!  I hope you have all had a great weekend.

We have had further wild and wet weather here but it didn't stop the boys and I heading off for a long weekend away for Rod's Birthday.  One fine day (Saturday) out of three wasn't bad we went for a walk, explored a little and the boys also had a swim and a bike ride later in the day before we all settling down with a good book for the night.   On Sunday we had a lovely catch up with some of my cousins who we hadn't seen for some years and we all enjoyed a yummy lunch at Babalou Restuarant at Kingscliffe.

Here's a picture of hubby posing for the camera after just being for a swim.

Prior to leaving for our weekend away I once again had some fun with my Gelli Plate creating some more grungy male oriented backgrounds so I could make a quick card for hubby with lots of Unity Stamps and Dew Drops too.

My monochromatic 80th Birthday Easel Card is for an order I received from one of my regular customers through the shop I sell my cards at.  It is using one of the prints I showed the other day, which incorporated the Medallion Stamp and Splash Inks.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Lexi's Creations - #84 Monochromatic

Sentimental Sunday's - #143 Flowers, Flowers and More Flowers

Here is a general Birthday Card using another piece of my first ever Gelli Plate Print, which was done using the Splash Inks and Large Bubble Wrap. 

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Created with Love - #30 Bright and Cheery

Pan Pastels UK - #8 Happy Birthday

For this card I used a White Posca Pen to draw circles around the imprint of the bubble wrap and my sentiment is stamped onto a piece of Blue Metallic Painted Cardstock I had in my stash.

That's about it for me today, I had better be off, I have lots of commenting to catch up on as well as some more cards to make.  Have a great week everyone and thanks so much for dropping by!

Everything is starting to Gel!

Hi Everyone!  I am back again with yet another glimpse of all the fun I have been having on my Gelli Plate.

My very first print I made upon opening the box and with my Splash Inks was the one used for the Background on this card.  It was done using the large bubble wrap that my Gelli Plate arrived from Altered Pages packaged in.  So its very fitting that this is what project I am featuring over on the AP Blog today for my DT Post.

The butterfly was a fussy cut stamped image I had sitting on my desk from the last time I had played with some shaving foam and dye re-inkers.  To this shape I added a smaller die/cut embossed butterfly, some gold foiling and Gold Metallic Dew Drops from the Robin's Nest.  A little gold foiling was also added to the background.  I stamped my sentiment on white cardstock and then took my watercolor pencils to shade this in to tone in with the background also.  A tulle ribbon bow adds a little more interest and lift to the butterfly.

I can relate using your Gelli Plate to the quote by Forest Gump -'Life is like a box of Chocolates!'   As you never know what you are going to get!

For more Gelli Print Inspiration you can also view the other Altered Pages Design Team members in action over on the Altered Pages Blog, where Becky has used it to cover her mailing boxes and Leslie has created her own Tape.  

I played some more last night with mine, layering color upon color wanting some more manly looking and grungy looking prints, so I will share the end results/projects with you soon.  

Honeycomb and Chocolate!

Hi everyone I have a scrap layout for you all today, which is my DT Post for the Robin's Nest, and where I got to play some more with my New Gelatos from Faber Castell.

I don't use brown/orange tones much but when first I saw the Distressed Honeycomb Paper from The Robin's Nest, I fell in love. So much so that I had to add to my honeycomb addiction and get more of the wonderful paper Robin's Nest variations in this color such as Glitter Brown Daisies on Honeycomb and, Honeycomb Linen Fleur both of which have stripes on their reverse sides. 

Just like the honeycomb you eat its a perfect match with chocolate.  This combination is perfect for a male themed scrap page, mine today is some photos from my hubby's 45th Birthday earlier this year.

For my layout my background is a piece of Distressed Honeycomb Paper and I have used the other papers I mentioned above for accents.  I have stamped and stencilled and scribbled over the background using ink and my Gelato Pens, and a combination of stamps from the Unity Stamp Company's SMAK Kits and a piece of Punchinella. The two little banners were made by punching hearts in the striped and fleur papers and threading them on some paper cord.

31 Day Card Challenge Days 12 - 15

Hi Everyone!  I didn't get a chance to post my cards for the 31 Day Card Challenge over the weekend, as I got busy doing some other things with the family as well as making 80 basic 6 x 6 Album Pages to be donated to the Southern Cross Kids Camps via their Memory Page Drive on Facebook.

I am back today to share Days 12 - 15 of the 31 Day Card Challenge which are all using the cute images from the Digi Garden.

Day 12 - Use Material

I don't sew so didn't have anything on hand other than some felt, so I made the flower for this card, using my Sizzix Circle Dies and cutting the leaves by hand.  

The image is called Lil Ladybug and I have played along with the sketch challenge at Sweet Sketch Wednesday #175 (I have turned it to the side).

Day 13 - Not your usual method of coloring.

My normal method of coloring of late has been mostly my Tria Markers, so for this card I used my Water Color Pencils instead.

The image is called Patches the Scarecrow.

Day 14 - Use Glitter

I am not a fan of loose glitter, so have decorated this card with some Lilac Kindy Glitz.  I have swirled it around my background and used it for the icing on the cupcake. 

This image is Ursula's Cupcake with a Cherry.  I have played along with the sketch which is Challenge #40 at Charisma Cards.  I am also entering this card into the following Challenges:-

Crafty Ribbons:- #30 Children's Birthday

Milk Coffee Challenges: - #Show Us Your Favorite Treats

Paper Play - Week 41 Simply Cute

Simply Create - Linky Party #6

Day 15 - Use Your Punches

I have used a mix of punches and dies for this card, which includes Photo Corner Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Eyelet Border Punch, and my Spellbinders Leave Die. 

I have used the image Emily's Harvest for this card, hence the Autumn Leaves and am entering this card into the following Challenges.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Challenge Up Your Life - #80 Autumn/Halloween
Color Me Creative -  #A Touch of Red
Scrappy Frogs - Fall/Halloween Challenge
Stampalot Challenge - October Challenge - Punch Away