The Male Room - Opens Today

Hello and Welcome to our very first Challenge at The Male Room a new challenge blog specifically for male orientated cards, scrapbook pages, altered art, mixed media, tags, bookmarks, Memory Books, ATC's, Fat Pages, whatever you wish to enter into the challenge as long as it fits with the theme and of course is for a male person, whatever age. Please pop over to our blog to see the wonderful work from the Design Team and of course those all important pesky rules. We are opening with a firm favourite to get you into the swing of things - ANYTHING GOES - no theme, no restrictions. Just dive in with a male project. We would be thrilled if you become a follower of our blog, I look forward to visiting you over the next two weeks.

Recipe for my card.

White card, Dark Brown and Kraft Cardstock

Mixed Papers from LOTV Country Gent 

Crafty Individuals stamp - 3  Wise Gentlemen CI 077

Fiskas Oval punch for Greeting

3 Brown buttons

Tim Holtz DI Vintage Photo 

#56 Anything Goes @ ATSM

Hello, once again we find it's time for Anything Goes ( #56)  at Addicted to Stamps and More. I try during the Anything Goes weeks to step away from making a card, though this is not what the swap means, you can do anything at at all, giving you an opportunity to try something new or show us the latest successful technique you have learnt, as it say ANYTHING GOES. Some weeks ago my small class asked to decorate some boxes, the set above are my teaching sample, they were at various stages for the class, I have since finished them. I am going to put these to an extra use, by sending them to my partner at a Yahoo group called StampersUK, where we hold a monthly swap, this month it too, is Anything Goes,  my partner will receive these before this post appears on my blog. 

Recipe

A set of 3 boxes, paper mache type, cost less than £2

White emulsion paint (cheaper than Gesso)

Green Acrylic paint

White Tissue paper

Stazon ink pad

Diluted PVA glue

Selection of Steampunk style stamps from

Stampendous, Kanban, Non-Sequitor from The Stampman

Flower forming dies, Marianne and Spellbinder.

Paper Piecing

This week at Make My Monday Fliss has chosen for the theme a technique, Paper Piecing. I know it is self explanatory but for those who may be new to crafting, it means, once designed, either stamped or a photo image, areas can be changed by either stamping on a different piece of coloured paper, or re-printing your design with different colours, then adhering these pieces to your first drafted image. In my case I used a Stampendous Stamp of the mermaid and from Crafty Sentiments the rock and seaweed. Using different papers I have covered the mermaid's fish end and tail, the two lower shells, the seaweed and some of the seaweed at the top and bottom of the card. I coloured the remainder with Promarkers. The background was created using Distress inks, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Stormy Sky and Broken China. I added a pearl to her hair and Glossy Accents to the seahorse and bubbles. If you haven't tried this technique before I do hop you will accept the challenge, you'll be pleasantly surprised at the changes you can make. Have fun.
I am also entering this card into the Craft a Scene - Under the Sea Challenge for the month of July.
Also into Quirky Crafts challenges - Octypus's Garden (in the Sea)
PS Pleased to add the card was chosen in 3rd place in the Top 3. Thanks girls.

Garden Pleasures

We in the UK are being blessed with a real summer, dry days, heat and lots of sunshine, best we have had in years, so how appropriate for us to be wanting to spend time for some Garden Pleasures at CD Sunday Challenges.  I have used an image from a Debbie Moore Shabby Chic Gardens CD. There are some wonderful designs on this CD. I really didn't feel it needed much of embellishments so only added a greeting and three card candy dots. I did round off the corners of the main card to fit in with the rounded edges on the image. If you can tear yourselves in from the garden during this unbelievable hot weather to make a card, we thank you, I find it easy to do for I am an indoor plant, I prefer shady areas. 

3 days to go till NEW blog Opens

Only THREE days to go, when the NEW blog  THE MALE ROOM  will be starting it's fortnightly challenge. The design team are so excited, especially after the wonderful response from our visitors during our 7 day introduction period. To remind you if your new today, The Male Room will be setting you challenges, the main theme running will of course be your project MUST be for a Male person. From a baby to a great -grandfather or if on a scrapbook even beyond. Yes, we aren't just for cards, we love to see all forms of paper crafted or mixed media  projects. For my display today I have decorated a gift bag with a matching card,  for a young male. don't forget to pop back tomorrow to see which of our design team will be displaying another project for you. 

The Recipe for my card is;-

Paper lunch bag from any supermarket, mine is from Home Bargains

White and dark blue Card stock

Patterned papers from Grace Taylor Playtime Scrapbook Pad

Stamps - Toby - The Pirate from Crafty Sentiments

Happy Birthday - from Papermania

Skull and Crossed Swords and Doubloons from Tandastamps,

 who sadly are no longer trading. 

Ahoy! Matey - Computer produced from Word.

Tim Holtz DI Salty Ocean and Chipped Sapphire 

Blue/White Twine

Twinchies Challenge 3 Music & Lyrics

Thanks to everyone who has left me a comment on my first entry to the Twinchies Challenge  HERE . As there is no limit to entries and the challenge closes next Wednesday, I thought I'd enter a second time with a lighter and brighter Twinchie. The music is from a La Blanche stamp and the little bird is a £1 Twinchie stamp from Inkylicious. Coloured with Time Holtz Dusty Concorde and Stormy Sky Distress Inks. As I was colouring it the tune from South Pacific went through my head, 'When ever I feel afraid, I whistle a happy tune' and so on. Hence the lyrics I chose. 

A Taste of Things To Come

We, the Design team of a NEW challenge Blog  - The Male Room - are so excited, it is only a week before we begin our new adventure, a challenge for MALE ONLY cards. Not a new idea, but we believe there are still lots of card makers who are still finding male cards more of a challenge than any other kind. Over the next seven days till our Grand Opening on Wednesday 31st. July, we the team will be showing you a card and giving a little introduction of ourselves. Our challenge will be for any male person in your life, no matter what age, from babies to great - grandfathers. We are going to be a fortnightly challenge, so lots of time to enter into the challenges, we are kicking off, with one which is a firm favourite ANYTHING GOES. Please enjoy the next seven days of our introduction, hopefully we'll be seeing you after next Wednesday.

Here is a recipe for my card

Background striped paper from LOTV Country Gent.

Astronomical stamp (part of) from Inkadinkado

Gentlemen from Tim Holtz

Tim Holtz DI Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain. 

Fiskas oval punch for greeting.

#55 Photo Inspiration at ATSM

Hello everyone, well believe it or not it is time for #55 of our challenges at Addicted to Stamps and More 

which is a Photo Inspiration challenge, showing the happy birthday candles above. We are once again delighted to have Melonheads Illustrations as our sponsors, the details of their prize and the wonderful                                          projects from the Design Team are all to be found on the main blog. 

 For my Design Team project i used a piece of black card which was later matted onto a piece of silver mirri then onto a white DL card.  Using Versafine I stamped the candles with a wonderful candle stamp from Whispers -  Do Craft company. There are 30 candles, but this can be used for any age, with a little cutting, either removing or adding more candles. Once stamped I patted various mica powder colours, across the candles, finally adding Glossy Accents to the flames with a small sprinkling of gold glitter, I really wanted the flames to be very bright, hope I've managed.  The Happy Birthday letters, being honest, have been re-cycled from a card I received a few years ago, I kept the letters knowing one day, I would find a use for them. Once again I look forward to visiting you to see how you have been inspired by #55 Photo Inspiration.

Thanks for popping by, your visits and comments are always greatly appreciated. 

Photo Inspiration at MMM

Hello once again from Make My Monday, this week our host is Jan who is challenging us to create a project using the above photo as inspiration, with very pretty pastel and feminine colours for you. My card is below,  I saw lots of elements , I wonder why my eyes were directed to the cupcakes? 

I used pretty pink papers from a Papermania pink Capsule papers. Made the pennants, threaded with a piece of ribbon. The large cake and cupcukes are from a Flippen Women set of stamps of The Dieter. The cake stand is actually a dress form stand from the Jasper set of Steampunk stamps by Kanban. I coloured the cakes with Promarkers and edged the pennants with Tattered Rose Distress Ink. the cherries have been glazed with with Glossy accents. I am really looking forward to see how you have been inspired by the beautiful photo, have fun.

Dreams and Dragons

This week at CD Sunday Challenges Sue T has chosen, Dreams and Dragons. I made an 8 inch square card. The backing paper is from Debbie Moore and Leonie Pugol Shabby Chic Songbird CD. I punched around the edges with an XCel Lace Trim. the main image is from Crafting Qween Spellbound Mysteries CD. I added flowers, leaves  along with a few die cuts and pearls. A touch of green and crystal glitter added to the fair maiden. Have fun ladies, I greatly look forward to visiting your blogs. 

L is for Lace at Alphabet Challenges

For the next two weeks at Alphabet Challenges it is the turn for Team B and Avril has chosen for the letter L - Lace, a wonderful choice. This is an ideal opportunity to think of soft, feminine,  romantic, may I even suggest, sexy? This is what Lace conquers up in my mind, what about you? I have recently taken part in a new tag swap where we are going to be challenged to different techniques each month. We are starting with simple yet effective Black stamping. Producing the coloured textured background was my start. I blended Stormy sky, Peeled Paint and Mustard Seed. Edged around with Iced Spruce, sprayed water into my palm, threw on large blots of water, dried it quickly with a paper tissue, then used the heat gun. When completely dry, I first stamped the dress form from Creative Expressions - Antique Dress forms, masked the dress form, then stamped accessories from a Crafty Inspirations Set  #CI 328. Finally adding the piece of lace, ribbon and button. I do hope my partner will like her first tag in the swap. I am now looking forward to visiting you to see your lacy projects. Some of you may realise I have been missing for a while, this has been due to my husband being ill, but he is fully on the road to a good recovery, following heart surgery, I am so thrilled to be back to as much a normal life as normal is for me.

Mid Week Motivation at MMM

Every week on a Wednesday the Design Team member of Make My Monday, who chose the challenge theme provides you with a Mid- Week Motivation project to hopefully guide, instruct or simply inspire you. I decided to make 3 bookmarks where I have used the same new stamp but in different ways, hoping to give that inspiration if you need it.

The Bookmark on the LEFT is a simple Monochrome approach, using a white piece of card, and a black ink pad for the stamp. I have also added further interest stamping a few leaves from another set of stamps. I dragged around the outer edge with the chisel nib of a black marker pen. Added fibres and ribbons.

The CENTRE example shows how my adding pretty papers to your bookmark, you don't need to add any further colouring to the background. I have only coloured the birds, made a small flower using a stamp and again added fibres and ribbon.

The final bookmark on the RIGHT is more of a Vintage style, I coloured the background with TH Distress inks Old Paper, Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain. All the stamping was done using a black ink pad. I added a piece of lace and a fancy button, along with the fibres and ribbon to embellish it.

Stamps Used----

Left -Bird Cage with two birds from Inkylicious. My non - inked stamp.

Left - Leaves - Paperartsy - Flora and Fauna 3

Centre -The small flower - from Dreamees

Right Border top and bottom from La Blanche stamps.

#54 Addicted to CAS

Here we again at ATSM for our # 54 challenge which is Addicted to CAS - please be sure to check out our rules and guidelines on our blog, so many folk have totally differing ideas on what CAS is, so the best thing to do is actually check our rules for our challenges. For my CAS card this time round, I decided on  stamp I haven't used in a long while, it belongs to a Debbie Moore Butterflies and Dragonflies set, I do like the impressions that rubber stamps give. Even the tiny additional butterfly is from the same set. I coloured he background with old paper then used a few pale blue Promarkers to colour, used a Quickie Glue pen and added some crystal  Glamour Dust glitter to a little shine. I die cut a patterned round shape or a mat. the lovely sentiment is from HobbyArt Ltd. I do love visiting you and look forward to seeing your CAS projects.

A Non-Inked Stamp or a New Decoupage

Hi everyone,  For this week, at Make My Monday, it is my time to choose the topic. I would like you to use a stamp you have, which has never seen ink or had any application of any kind. It may or may  not be a NEW stamp, how many of us, some time ago,  have bought a stamp and are still to use it?  This is THE time. Or if your not a stamper, whether from a CD or a purchased sheet of decoupage, now is the time to use it, in a project.
Challenge then is A Non-Inked Stamp or A New sheet of Decoupage. Hope you have fun everyone.
For my card, I firstly had some difficulty in deciding which of my unused stamps to add ink to for the first time, I decided upon the one with the pretty young girl from Crafty Individuals CI 110. I have had her for a few months now, so am glad to find a suitable project  After choosing the stamp, I then looked through my stash of papers, finally choosing a a booklet of Botanical papers from Prima, which was free with a magazine. I edged all of the edges with Stormy Sky, also using Old Paper and Iced Spruce (my latest TH purchase).The embellishments added are flowers from a die cut, lace, pearls and metal corners. I photographed it resting on a plant which grows within the cracks of an old stone wall next to my house, the first person who adds on  my comments,  the name of the plant,  which is obviously a weed, but such a pretty weed,  providing me with some visual evidence, for me to confirm, I will send them this card , sorry only available to those in the UK. (It's just a bit of fun). I hope you enjoy the challenge I have chosen.

P.S THE CARD HAS BEEN CLAIMED by Acquarius  - the flower is called Ivy-Leafed Toadflax.

Christmas in July

Wendy has chosen the challenge this week at CD Sunday Challenges,  which is Christmas in July, I know I agree, it's far too soon for the 'C' word, but not for many card makers who like or need  to start early. Sometimes, I wish I had started early, but I do find I work best to  shorter deadlines. I do think the Pickles and Podge at Christmas Quick cards on The Best of La Pashe 2012 are wonderful cards, so easy to make and so cute and effective. I shall be making many more of these this year. With a Quickie glue pen I added some Chrystal Glamour Dust which I am hoping will show on enlarging the card. Thanks for visiting, looking forward to viewing your cards, I love to see other crafters' ideas. Have fun and take care.

Twinchies - Music and Lyrics

Hi , I have always enjoyed making small projects, so I am delighted to have found a special challenge blog for Twinchies ( a piece of art on a 2 inch square) I also love Inchies,  and now a new concept is Rinchies ( a circle 1 inch in diameter). This challenge group Twinchies Challenges is a monthly group which also has a Facebook page, if your interested. For their challenge in July #3 is Music and Lyrics. I coloured the background piece of mountboard with TH distress inks, Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed and Stormy Sky, edged  with Iced Spruce. The image is part of a stamp from a Paperartsy set, H PI006

#53 Addicted to Colour - ATSM

 This week at Addicted to Stamps and More is time for us again to be challenged with this colour palette
You don't need to use the specific colours below, I used the nearest I could find to suit from various sources.

For my card I used papers from my stash, used several dies for the embellishments along with a pretty rose.  The stamp is from Kanban,  sadly no longer in business, I do miss them. I used Promarkers to colour the stamped image. I do hope you will be either tempted or inspired to enter the challenge, pop over to the blog

the Design Team have again produced some wonderful inspiration for you. Have fun, I did. 

Our wonderful sponsors for this week, yes, there is a prize, are 

Christmas in July (Again)

Hi, my second posting today is suitable for two challenges, firstly Christmas in July at CAS on Sunday and next for challenge #49  BLING at Artistic Impressions.   At present the trees don't show much bling but I am hoping when enlarged the Bling is more clearly visible. My tree stamp is from a small company called Dreamees, designed by the daughter, supported and assisted by her mother at various events, they also have a web site.  A simple but very effective tree when decorated. the sentiment is one I collected on my searches of reduced bins. I used Peeled Paint to colour the trees, a Quickie glue pen, gold glitter and small red gems. 

Balloons at MMM

Jacqueline has chosen for our challenge, at Make My Monday this week BALLOONS. We all know there are various forms of these so let your creativity go wild. I first created my country side background, using a field stamp from a HobbyArt Ltd - Flypast set. The clouds are from a stamp in the Coastal Set from Creative Expressions. I used Distressed Inks as watercolours to complete. The front Balloon is from a Crafty Individual stamp CI 336,  the two balloons behind are from a stamp in a Creative Expressions Vintage Aircraft set. I coloured the balloons using Promarkers to get a stronger tone. Have fun everyone, looking forward to seeing your balloons. 

Hats - Thanks to Jem's Designs

We, at CD Sunday Challenges,  have all had a week of indulgence with the use of the wonderful CD from Jem's Designs Ltd. with the fabulous CD Hat Box Confections. I first made the above card then decided I needed to try another shape, and use up more the embellishments I had printed, which is why I am showing two cards this week. I had to stop myself for I could have made more and probably will soon. 

The only additions I have made arewhite and black card, a few black flowers, red ribbon, spot of glitter and a few jewels (Top)  for the white and black card,  Glitter and jewels. Have fun with your Hats this week everyone, looking forward to visiting you again. 

Make Your Mark Zentangles

At Addicted to Stamps and More (ATSM) this week our Make Your Mark Challenge # 52. Recently my husband has been in hospital for 5 weeks,a  long, lonely and worrying time. During this time a friend suggested I tangled, I knew about tangling but hadn't really given it a try beyond simple applications. However, I decided to give it a go, it certainly becomes a stress - releasing thought processing way to pass time. I used a Woodware stamp of a rose, which has lots of open spaces. With the help of many Zentangle patterns available on the internet, you only need to Google Zentangles you will be swamped with web sites, of course those in the USA have a huge community and following of this form of art.  I used a Micron Pen ( a fine pointed marker pen) to create the patterns. if you enlarge the picture you will see it in more detail.  I look forward to visiting you to see how you have Made Your mark over the next week. Have fun.

Thank you to our sponsors this week 

Christmas in July at MMM

This week, at Make My Monday,  Laura has chosen for our theme - Christmas in July- I know I agree too soon for the Christmas word, but we crafter's do like to get ahead, and by making the odd one here and there it's amazing how quickly you'll find your last minute dash won't be as many. I always enjoy the first 25 or so and then it becomes a job not a fun element. Here we go, what did I do? I stamped with a Crafter's Companion stamp of Christmas Owls, coloured them with Promarkers, added a few snowflakes with a  small stamp, added Crystal Glamour Dust, must buy some more soon. Matted onto silver mirri card, layered onto a piece of  12 x 12 paper, added further sprinkles of glamour dust and a lovely sentiment from a Katy Sue stamp set. Have fun everyone, with your Christmas in July challenge.