Sorry I'm late....

I normally post my 'Cards for Men' card first thing on Monday morning.  I know I should schedule it to make sure but I never get round to it.  This week I woke up on Monday Morning at the usual 6am (or should I say the kids woke up at their usual 6 am) but I just felt rotten.  All day yesterday I was sick and in bed, got up today and I'm fine - just a bit washed out.  So there we have it my reason for the late post but hopefully it was worth the wait.

The challenge this time over at Cards for Men is 'Embossing' and we have a fab new sponsor 'Paper Pretties'.  If you haven't been before please take a trip over to their site.  If you have you'll already know how fab they are.  You can find all the details of the challenge, the sponsor and their wonderful prize over at the main site.

We were lucky enough to get images from Paper Pretties and the one I chose is called Desmond Donkey.  I loved it as soon as I saw him and it really was a dream to colour.  He's coloured using my promarkers.  The sentiment was created on the computer and both are mounted onto some Basic Grey DP.

For the background I used a sheet of brown cardstock and stamped all over with a Papermania Cupcakes stamp that came free with a Creativity mag.  Then I sprinkled some sparkly embossing powder over and had a go at heat embossing.  It wasn't overly successful but not bad for a first attempt.  It's also upside down, lol.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Charisma Cardz - Birthday for A Teen
Craft Us Crazy - Cupcakes and/or celebration 
The Rubber Cafe - Embossing
Southern Girls - Add An Animal
Stampin' B's - Masculine Card
Card Makin' Mamas - animals
Fairy Knoll - happy!
Phindy’s Place - all about animals

A Sketchy Challenge on Cards for Men .....

...... and a DT call too!  Yep, that's right, if you fancy joining myself and the other girls on the DT then this is your chance.  You'll find all the details over on the main post as well as lots more ideas.

The challenge this time is a fab sketch from Mandy and the prize is a 12-pack of promarkers from Letraset.  Please take some time to pop over to see our sponsor and the other team-members because they really are a treat.

I made my card with my youngest son in mind.  He'll be three at the end of March.  The image is a Hanglar & Stanglar stamp which I got as a RAK a long while back.  I've coloured him with Promarkers.  I made a bit of a mess with the trousers but I can live with it.  I'm still learning how to shade and blend.

The cards stock is Bazzill Basics and the DP is October Afternoon (Campfire) which I love.  The brads are Basic Grey - Archaic and the star/no. 3 were cut on my Cricut using the Don Juan cartridge.

I'm quite pleased with my finished card although I did think I might glitter the edges of the star before I give it to Robert.  I'm going to enter it into the following challenges:

Bearly Mine - Birthday card
Creative Card Crew - No Flowers
Top Tip Tuesday - Happy Birthday
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
Crafty Sentiments - Just For You
Floweret - play/kids birthday

Cards for Men and some Easter cards

I've been mad busy this last week or so and, unfortunately, I never got my DT card done for Cards for Men.  Luckily the rest of the team made fantastic cards so it's not noticeable, lol.  The theme this time on Cards for Men is 'Water' and the prize is 3 digi images from Hope Jacare.  Claire has always supported Cards for Men, in fact she was our first sponsor, so I'm really sorry not to have a card to show you.  Please take the time to visit her shop and also pop over to Cards for Men to see the great DT work.  I hope to see your cards over there.

I do have some cards to show though.  These were made a few weeks back for Crafty Ribbons.  I was lucky enough to get some free ribbon samples from their Easter range in return for a couple of samples.

 Both cards have decoupage images which were die-cut so nice and quick.  All ribbons were from Crafty Ribbons and the papers, cards and chipboard stickers were from an Easter issue of Let's Make Cards (had since last easter!).  I found it quite hard making cards for somebody else and really worried whether they'd be up to scratch.

I have to say, though, when I saw Ali's photos I was quite proud.

I'd like to enter these cards into the following challenges:

Guylou's Inimitability - anything goes
Little Claire's - Anything Goes
Dream Valley Challenges - anything goes
Gingerloft - Furry friends
Crazy Challenge - Here comes spring
Incy Wincy Designs - spring is in the air
Paper Take Weekly - Anything goes
By the Cute & Girly - Springtime 

A quick wedding card

I made this card a couple of weeks ago for my cousin's wedding and have finally got round to putting it on here. I was a bit last minute making it so fell back on a decoupage kit I had.  It's a Forever Friends one and it was a doddle to make.  Even the peeloffs (which were very sparkly) came from the kit.  I have some in my leftover stock which you can find here.

I'm going to enter this card into the following challenges:

Guylou's Inimitability - anything goes
Crafty Calendar - Love
Little Claire's  - Anything Goes
I Did It Creations - Anything Goes
Scrappy Frogs - Love
Partytime Tuesdays - Anything Goes
Do You Stack Up? - anything goes
Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes
Paper Romance - anything goes
C.R.A.F.T. - Colour challenge
Creative Cowgirls - Hearts
Gingerloft - Furry Friends
Paper Pretties - Glitter (My peeloffs were glittery)

A Recipe Challenge At Cards For Men

This week over at Cards for Men the challenge is a recipe.  Your card/project must have 1 image, 2 design papers and 3 embellishments.  You can use 3 of the same embellishment, as I have or 3 different ones.  I cheated a bit and made my embellishments from my second Design Paper because I wanted a fairly clean design.  I actually made three cards using the same format because I have three young sons.  You can see the other two at the end of this post.

The prize up for grabs is a £10 voucher to spend at One Stop Card Crafts, an absolutely fab shop.  You can find the full details over on the main post.

The stamp I used in this (and the other two) card was from a Sweet 'n' Sassy set that I bought last year to make Valentines.  I'm ashamed to say, this is the first time they've been used.  The sentiment is part of the image so it's all done in one go.  I coloured the image with promarkers.  The design papers are both from Basic Grey - Origins range and I used my Cricut to cut out the hearts.  The card base is a scrap of Bazzill Basics I had in my stash.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

A Spoonful Of Sugar - show some love
Bearly Mine - for men/boys
Oldie But Goodie Challenge -  add a heart
Paper Take Weekly - have a heart
Passion for Promarkers - let there be love
Creative Card Crew - for a loved one
Penny's Paper-Crafty - hearts a flutter
Scrapbook Sisters - my Valentine
Sisterhood of Crafters - in love with Valentine's
Stampin' Royalty - hearts
Tiffany Doodles - Valentine's
AiFactory - Valentine's Day/Love
C.R.A.F.T. - Valentine's
Crafty Purple Frog - Valentine's Day/romance
Crafty Sentiments - Valentine's/Love
Cute Card Thursday - hearts & flowers
Delightful Challenges - get punchy/use punches or die cuts
Guylou's Inimitability - hearts
Paper Crafting Journey - love is in the air
Paper Romance - clean & simple Valentine card
Pixie Dust Studio - be my Valentine
Rainbow Lady's - it's all about love
Samuel Taylor's Challenge - use Copic or Promarkers
Card Makin' Mamas - valentine
Crafty Ann's - love is all around
Crafty Catz - Valentine's/Love
Fairy Knoll - hearts
Fun with Shapes & More - love/heart
Raise The Bar - Valentine's Day card with no pink/red
Sew Many Cards - Valentine
Stamp Something - something for your Valentine
Stampin For The Weekend - Valentine's Day
Stampin With The Dragon - anything goes
Totally Papercrafts - clean & simple
2 Sisters - Hearts
BasicGrey - BG ITEM and Hearts




Here are my other two cards: