Happy Birthday CJ

First of all, sorry for the poor photograph of this card, we are in the middle of a massive snow storm at the moment and the birthday man is coming round so I needed to take photo before he sees it.

Christmas Day heralds the birthday of a very special man, my nephew CJ is 14 (can't believe he is 14 and he is taller than me, mind you that's not hard at 5'4" LOL)

Anyhoo, I luvs him to bits. He was quite a difficult child for a number of years but thankfully he grew out of that stage and is turning into a lovely young man who I am very proud of. He is in the Army Cadets, previously in the Sea Cadets and the sense of discipline it has given him has completely transformed him and got him back on the straight and narrow.

He is really good at football and until recently that was his sport of choice. He is now playing Ice Hockey and goes skating for 5 hours on a Sunday. He has my utmost admiration, I honestly don't think I could manage 5 minutes. I've never tried it but knowing how accident prone I am I am pretty sure it would not be a good idea......

Obviously, I wanted to incorporate his new sport into his card so went searching for a suitable image on the tinterweb. I happened upon this one which was from a colouring book site. I have coloured it in with Promarkers and added a bit of Sakura clear glitter to the puck and the blades of the ice skates. I used sketch #7 at Crafters Companion for the layout of this card.

The spotty patterned paper is a freebie from an issue of Creative Cardmaking Inspirations. The starry paper is from a Dovecraft male set. I only have a couple of scraps of it left, it has been one of my most used papers.

I used a Martha Stewart punch for the edge of the mirri card, I thought it would emulate the edge on the ice skates and it embosses as well, it is the first time I have used it and I have had it ages. It was a particularly good Ebay purchase.

The chipboard circles are from a Colorbok kit I got from QVC, the birthday sentiment is from Craftwork Cards and the gems are from Paperchase.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges :-

• Crafter's Companion #7 - Card Layout
• One Stitch At A Time #43 - Anything Goes
• I Did It Creations #34 - Anything Goes
• Gingerloft #8 - Distressing (sanded edges on Chipboard and ink around paper)
• Crafty Pad Challenge #102 - Anything Goes
• Aly's Sunday Sketch #31 - Anything Goes
• Totally Gorjuss #61 - For Someone Special (Nephew)
• Sweet Stamping Challenge - Celebrations
• Craft Your Days Away #10 - Punch It Out
• Allsorts #83 - Anything Goes
• Patties Creations #9 - Punch or Punches
• Character Cafe - Shiny Mirri Card
• Sugar Sweet Paper Treats - Anything Goes
• Hodge Podge #6 - Blue & Silver
• AI Factory #61 - Anything Goes
• Paper Pretties - Birthday Card
• For Fun Challenges - Anything Goes
• Digistamps 4 Joy #9 - Anything Goes
• Top Tip Tuesday #15 - Get Embellishing
• Passion for Promarkers #80 - Anything Goes
• Digital Tuesday #90 - Lets Celebrate
• Creative Card Crew - Birthdays at Christmas
• StampFairy - Anything Goes
• Design Dollies - Colours of Tan, Chocolate Royal Blue & Orange
• By the Cute & Girly - Children (for my Nephew)
• Aud Sentiments #18 - Anything Goes
• Crafts & Me #20 - Anything Goes
• Whimsie Doodles #61 - Birthday
• Scrapbook Sisters #16 - Male Card
• I Love Promarkers #46 - Anything Goes
• Crafty Ann #30 - Anything Goes
• Creative Craft Challenges - Anything Goes
• CES Challenges #17 - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp - Time to Celebrate

Happy Birthday Paul

It is my hubbie's birthday on Friday and this is the card I have made him.

I was having a mooch around my digi collection and found this adorable little poochie from the Character Cafe. I have coloured him in with Promarkers and textured his fur using my blender pen which is a fab technique I have seen whilst hopping around blogland. I was amazed how different the effect is just by randomly blobbing the coloured are with the blender pen.

The papers are all from the Wild Asparagus range by My Minds Eye. I used a Martha Stewart punch on the edge following the latest sketch #93 over at Card Patterns. The cupcake and sentiment are both freebie's by Pattie's Creations. I have used loads of Crystal Effects on the balloons and on the eyes, nose and pads on the doggie's feet. Last but not least I have added some Stickles glue and Sakura pen to the cupcake to add a bit of bling.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

• Card Patterns #93 - Layout
• Woodware USA #4 - Happy Birthday
• Think Ink #34 - Use Punches or Diecuts
• Party Time Tuesdays #24 - Include at least 1 balloon
• Passion for Promarkers #80 - Anything Goes
• Creative Card Crew - Anything Goes
• Fresh Brewed Designs #26 - Sparkle & Shine
• Paper Pretties #131 - Use a Punch
• Digi Doodle Shops Best #37 - Animals/Insects
• Hodge Podge Shop #5 - Birthday Cards
• Moving Along With The Times #76 - Lots of Spots
• Lots To Do Challenges - Words
• One Stop Crafts #109 - Coffee or Tea Inspiration (colours, the main doggie colour is the perfect colour for a cup of Yorkshire Tea mmmm.....)
• Catch the Bug - Anything goes
• Order of the Opus Gluei #82 - Glitter

Happy Birthday CJ

Wow, where did December go? One minute it was the 1st December, then it was Paul's birthday (10th) and then it was our Christmas do and before you know it, it's Christmas Day. The whole month has flown by in a blur. Thank goodness I started to make Christmas cards early this year or else they would not have been posted (albeit in the very last posting day.....)

Anyhoo, Christmas has come and gone and I am now full of a snotty, headachey cold so it seems like the perfect end to what has been a pretty crappy year.

Christmas day however is also our nephew's birthday and this one was special as he was 13. He is the only child I have seen from being in his mummy's tummy to actually being born and we've watched him grow up. He's had his trials and tribulations like a lot of kids, but he is growing up into a young man and it is really weird to see. Not having children ourselves was a conscious decision and one I still stand by, but I am happy to see what was a troubled kid turn out into a really good kid who still loves his huggles with Aunty Mandy. I hope he doesn't grow out of that too soon.

I adapted a card I had made earlier in the year and personalised it with his age. Papers are Dovecraft, stars are from my stash and the peel off letters and chipboard numbers are from Brenda Pinnick kits from QVC

Crafty Cardmakers 10th Challenge

It's a sketch challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers and as I didn't have a lot of free crafting time on my hands I decided to use it to make my husband Paul's birthday card.

I used the sketch as a layout inspiration for an A5 card. The base was made from an A4 sheet chocolate coloured cardstock with papers from Basic Grey Cupcake pack.

The matted layers were cut using Nestabilities dies. The stamped image is from Lili of the Valley and is the perfect image for my car game mad hubbie's birthday card. I have coloured the image with Promarkers and Sakura pens

The gift parcel in the top corner is a cardstock sticker from the paperpack. The sentiment in the bottom corner is a Letraset rub on and I have added Stickles glue to add some highlights to the patterned paper.

Paul loved his card as he thought the image was perfect for him, it's the little things like that that makes me so happy when I make personal cards.

I've also been able to complete an older 365 Cards challenge for Day 154 which was to incorporate a mode of transportation in your card.

365 Cards Day 163

Day 163 at 365 Cards is all about trying a new technique - masking. I'm sure many people have already done it but I am not the best stamper and have never done it before so it was nice to try something different.

We are going to our friend Scott's 50th birthday party on Saturday and I needed to make a card for him. I made him a super card last year so had to try and top it. I made a sidestep card as I think they look fabulous but are actually really easy to make once you know where to cut and fold.

The stamp I used is Forever Friends by Papermania and originally only had one balloon. I wanted to do a collection of them so I could put the numbers inside a couple of them. Following the tutorial link on the post at 365 I used a couple of post its to mask the first full image an then played about with where I wanted the extra balloons. I coloured the image with Promarkers. I don't have many colours at the moment but I am really pleased with how it turned out. I just love that you can't see the brushmarks like you do with Marvy Le Plumes. It even makes my colouring in look good but I've got a hell of a long way to go to be as good as my friend Lisa, her colouring is brilliant, just look at the beauties on her blog here.

The main card is covered with a freebie paper from Simply Cards & Papercrafts magazine. The balloon paper, stickers and candles are all from the FF kit from QVC. The birthday sentiments are from magazine freebies. All these elements have been put on card to strengthen them and mounted on 3d foam. I used a littlwe mulberry flower in the hair of the bear and changed the colour with a Sakura glitter pen. The lettering is Doodlebug stickers that you apply glitter to which is very apt as 365 are sponsored by Art Glitter this week. I love glitter and any excuse to use it is fine by me ! LOL

365 Cards Day 127

It's Paul's Grandad's 89th birthday tomorrow and we are going round for a little party today with other family members as considering he was so ill and nearly died in hospital it really is something to celebrate.

I have made this card using a fabulous Forever Friends kit from QVC. They had it as a TSV a couple of months ago and I really wantd it but just couldn't afford it whilst being out of work. One of my friends Helen lives in Warrington and they have a QVC clearance shop up there and she bought the lkit to offer to her forum pals. I snapped it up! It's a heavy kit and even with postage it cost £18.50, and absolute bargain for what is in there I can tell you.

I have used an older sketch from day 127 at 365 Cards for the layout. I am so behind on their challenges now :( I really want to try and catch them up but now I am working it feels like I am fighting a losing battle. I'll keep trying.

I used a pale blue sheet of A4 card for the base and the 1st spotty layer is from a FF decoupage pack. The second blue layer is from a HOTP cardmakers pack and the balloon paper is from the QVC kit. The ribbon is from my stash. The decoupage is to show Grandad chilling out in his chair. Since he has been home from hospital he has had to rest as much as possible as he developed a sore on his heel that ulcerated and it needs to get better before they will do the 2 operations he needs. The balloons tied to the chair are cardstock stickers raised on 3D foam. The sentiment is from the pack too edged with a little black ink pad. The chipboard tag started life as a horrible colour so I covered it with white card and used a Promarker to add colour to it. The cupcake is an embossed transfer which took a while to rub off the carrier sheey but has a lovely shine to it. I added some little star stickers to finish it off and a piece of silver ribbon.

Oh my gosh a Card !!!

Stop the world I want to get off !!! The last couple of weeks have been so hectic at times I haven't known what day of the week it is. The card is for my brother in law to be. I had 3 male cards already made but Paul didn't like any of them so I had to make a card quick. I made this card on Monday, scanned it in and posted it and today is the first day I have been on my computer to be able to blog it.

The card uses the sketch layout for Day 120 over at 365 Cards (I've now got 42 of their challenges to catch up with and I was doing so well :( ....... ) and challenge #4 at Pile it On to use at least 4 buttons. Charisma Cardz also has a challenge for buttons this week so I have added this one over there too :) The challeng this week at Daring Cardmakers is Blue and Green so I have entered it for this also.

The base card is a textured cardstock from The Papermill. The patterned papers and decoupage are from a Daisy & Dandelion pack from Papermania. I bought a couple of these from the Glitterpot and this is the first time I have used any of them. There are 6 layers in some places and it is very raised. Definitely a large letter stamp on this card I can tell you!

The sentiment is from my stash, matted onto brown card and raised on 3d foam. The buttons are from Papermania and I have poked brads through the holes, a technique favoured my one of my crafty friends Lisa and looks really effective.

Thank you for the good wishes for Paul's Uncle Roy. He has recovered from the heart attack but is still in hospital at the moment. They think he may have developed type 2 diabetes and he has had to be injected with insulin twice a day. He has to see a specialist diabetic nurse on Monday who will be able to give us more information. In the meantime Grandad is in a bit of a state and has needed a lot of TLC, as well as practical help with food shopping, bills and money as Roy did all the finances. It's been a bit hectic but one way or another we'll get through !

Di Hickman March # 1 & 365 Cards Day 9

I have made a card for our friends birthday using Di Hickman's Sketch and Day 9's challenge over on 365 cards to only use scraps of paper.

The base card is covered with the left overs of a freebie sheet from Crafts Beautiful magazine. The lower spotted paper is from a sheet I made Paul's 40th card in December !! The blue strip was cut from a scrap which has dots on it butthey were very pale so I have added some bling to it. The slide mount was a horrible pattern so I have covered it with a scrap from my little box.

The ribbon is HOTP, all gems are Papermania and the little cupcakes are from Paperchase. The sentiment is from Lets Make Cards 

Happy Birthday CJ

Our nephew was born on Christmas Day 12 years ago and this is the card I made for his birthday.

I based it on Laura's 15th Sketch at 2 Sketches 4 You . I had some cardstock stickers from Doodlebug which I thought were quite fun for 12 year old lad. The central panel is one of those, the ribbon strips and the circular ones are too, all with liberal smatterings of a Sakura clear glitter pen for a bit of bling.

The patterned paper is HOTP from the Creative Cardmakers Citrus pack. I do love the bright papers in this pack and am going to be gutted when they finally run out.

Happy 40th Birthday Hubby

Happy Birthday to the most wonderful husband in the whole wide world. Sorry girls, he's mine and you can't have him :)

Paul has been so very worried about turning 40, I couldn't resist teasing him even more !

This almost A4 sized card was made using a background paper which I bought forthe hearts on the other side but it was too busy so opted for this side instead.

The numbers were cut from card using templates I had made in Xara. To these I have added rubber stamps from Penny Black and stickers from Papermania's Forever Friends range. The images are coloured using Marvy le plume pens and Sakura glitter.

Inside the card I have used some of the Forever Friends paper and an Anita's peel off, but you can't see that as there are lots of slushy words to my beloved :)

I love this card, it says everything I wanted and the new stamped set is just absolutely perfect for this.

Matts 30th Birthday

This card was made for a commission for a friend of ours who was turning 30. I was asked to encorporate some of his favourite things in it, A Team, Star Wars and Spurs football team.

I'd seen a tutuorial on YouTube of how to make a diamond fold card and I wanted to have a go at one, but the tutorial made the card quite small. I used a sheet of A3 card and it came out 6" square.

I used Google to get some images suitable for the card and as soon as I saw the Star Wars one I KNEW I had to use it as it is a 30th cake with all the figures around it.

Really pleased with how it came out, looks spectacular and both the giver and receiver were delighted with it.

Susie Sketch # 2

This card was made for a friend's birthday who we went out for a curry with on Friday night.

The layout of the card was inspired by Susie's Sketch #2. This is a really versatile sketch and I could see me using it a lot.

The card blank was covered with Dovecraft Birthday paper and the central strip is a scrap of card embossed with a cuttlebug folder (he loved the texture and kept playing with it all night, it was sooo funny to see a guy do that!)

The centre panels were cut with a Nestabilites die set. The cake is a Pink Petticoat printable image coloured in with permanent pens. The gems are from Paperchase and the sentiment is Dufex.

He was so enthusiastic about this card, amazing for a guy really!

2 Sketches 4 You - Laura # 8

Another sketch, another birthday card done!

I have used the latest sketch from Laura at 2 Sketches 4 You as the basis for this card.

The PP's are from the Dovecraft Birthday pack which I bought ages ago specifically because I had received a card made with the birthday writing background paper used here and loved the bold colours.

The cake image is from Pink Petticoat. I have recently sorted out my downloads and printed a load out in the effort to ACTUALLY USE THEM (faints in shock!) I used some applique paint, applied some glamour dust and puffed it up with a heat gun. Still amazes me how cool that is!

I used some ric rak from my stash to hide the join and did a bit more doodling around the edges to tie the elements together.

This card is for my old boss' birthday on Sunday so I hope he likes it.

Laura's Sketch #7

This card is for My Father in Law's birthday on the 7th September. The lucky so and so is flying off to Mauritius on Friday so I am popping it in the post to him tomorrow.

I used Monday's sketch at 2 Sketches 4 You. Both Laura & Kazan design some great sketches and they get well over 100 people taking part every week. I've not seen any other sketch site that gets as many as that so they are obviously very well regarded by the crafty community. I am just ovwerwhelmed by how many great cards are uploaded, they are very inspirational. I'm a bit late this week so won't be added to the list, serves me right for my tardyness.

The card is a textured one from Papermill, love filling those boxes. When I first started making cards I went to the Liverpool one on the train a couple of times. I managed to get the train tickets so cheap it was worth the travel and I have still got loads of the card left.

The papers are from Dovecrafts Masculine pack, HOTP cardmakers Earth tones and the speckled one is from the recent Making Cards for Men special edition as is the sentiment. The golf embellishment is from LMC and the ric rac was from Ebay some time ago.

As he is a very keen golfer I am sure he will love this but I bet he likes his holiday better !

Ingrid's Bonus Sketch

Another birthday card and this time I used Ingrid's bonus sketch at 2 Sketches 4 You.

It'e our neighbours lad Dale's Birthday tomorrow and he is 17.

I used hammered card as the base and a slightly textured glimmer paper for the dark blue square. The circle paper is from a huge Rob & Bob pack that I had from QVC some time ago. There are some really funky papers in it and this is a piece that I had left from another project some time ago.

The striped paper is a magazine freebie one. I have a huge amount of these as I am determined to start using some of the better quality ones.

The cupcake is a chipboard one from a Colorbok pack from QVC. I added stickles to the frosted top and candle. I used Tulip paint to add little dots to the outside edge. This is mounted on the dark blue paper and then a Kanban die cut frame. The gifts are from LMC packs and the sentiment is recycled from a birthday card.

Grandad's Birthday

It's Paul's Grandad's Birthday tomorrow and this is the card I have made for it.

He loves watching his sport on TV and I used the Dovecraft Masculine paper pack as the main inspiration.

I used an older sketch from Tamara as a base for the design.

The main backing paper is HOTP from a floral creative pack I had as a QVC TSV.

I used borders of football and crixket balls to frame the design and cut out elements from one of the papers for the centre. I decoupaged the football and cricket bat from another sheet.

The sentiment in the middle is recycled from a shop bought card.

I think the recent blog hopping has influenced me again as I would not normally make a card that is 'wonky'. everything would normally be very neat and square and I think I am learning that it's okay to put something at an angle and 'live a little'. It's great to see so many other designs and I really think I will learn from them.

Just got to get him a present today now. What on earth do you get for an 88 year old Grandad ?

WBA 40th Birthday card

I had been asked by some work colleagues to make a cards for one of the guys who is turning 40 and it need to be a West Bromwich Albion theme if possible.

There will be about 40 people signing it so I needed to make it quite large, the finished size is just under A4.

I have a template for a smaller square card so I resized it. It took a couplr of attepts to get it right as I tried to hinge it at the top and it wouldn't stand up so in the end I did a concertina fold on the left hand side at the bottom.

The base card was white so I layered strips of navy pearlised paper for the stripes using photo references from the internet for placement. The club badge and advertising are printed off onto photo paper and mounted on 3D foam. The ball is a Sizzix die cut and the 40 was written by hand.

The back of the card was embellished with a number panel I printed and the lettering is chipboard from a QVC TSV.

I didn't have any A4
envelopes and wanted to make it a bit posher anyway so I decided to have a go at making a gussetted bag/envelope for it. I used 2 sheets of 12 x 12" DCWV textured card, laid some more stripes on the top and a WBA badge that I had previously printed to do a different style of card.

I am really pleased with how this came out and Paul just said WOW! Can't get better than that.

Naval 60th Birthday

I was asked to make a birthday card by one of my colleagues for a gentleman who had been in the navy.

She obtained a photo of him which is the only one of him in existence from his Naval days. It was in pretty bad state so my wonderful hubby used his Mac to colour in a huge crease, fix the edges and recolour it. I am so pleased with it, he did a fantastic job.


Looking on the internet I found the emblem for a Chief Petty Office which I printed off onto photo paper. I used ribbon from my stash for the spine of the Bookatrix and the gold braid is from Docrafts.

The Navy paper is one I made myself from repeating an image I obtained from the net. This is printed using a 50% transparency setting onto hammered white paper. The sentiments were printed onto pale blue vellum.

The box is embellished using peel offs from Docrafts, papermania and a vellum sentiment.

Denise absolutely loved the card and cand't wait to give it to her friend next week.

Football Birthday Card

I was asked to make a birthday card for someone who is a Liverpool FC supporter. I made a card similar to this before and was very pleased with how it turned out so based it on that.

I printed the badge off onto glossy photo paper as I like how much more vibrant it makes the image. This is matted onto red and black card to make the design pop out from the background.

The backing paper is printed onto hammered paper from staples with a 65% transparency setting. The banner is from my stash and the football is a Sizzix diecut.

I have just heard back that Martin's friend loved his card so that is another happy customer :)

Steve's Birthday & Di Hickman Challenge June #1

Paul's Sister Jill has been going out with Steve for a couple of years and he has been a fabulous influence on our nephew CJ. I made this birthday card using a Di Hickman template and we gave it to him at a party on Sunday 29th.

It wasn't his birthday until Monday but I was absolutely gutted when it became apparrent that it was his 40th Birthday and I hadn't encorporated it onto the card. Paul said he knew and was surprised it wasn't on my card - I wish he had told me ! Bloody men !

Anyway the glitter cardstock used on the card is DCWV, the glittered S is from a recent DCWV QVC TSV (Phew) The ribbons are Anita's and one from Little Silver Hat. The black panel is accented with liquid pearls and the card banner is from my stash.

Love this design for a man, got a bit of bling on it but sophisticated at the same time.