Aaaargh another man card!

Hey!

I hope you're all having a fab weekend, the weather managed to hold for the weekend - hurrah!

This weekend was my Dad's birthday, in fact it was his 70th though he certainly doesn't look 70 (I'm hoping I've inherited his genes for aging LOL!)

So another dreaded 'man card' to make! I'd been putting it off until I couldn't put it off any more (e.g his actual birthday!) and immersed myself in my crafting corner. After 4 hours - I kid you not! This is what I came up with:


It's certainly not worthy of 4 hours work but I must have spent 3 hours out of the 4 making much needed cuppas and pondering what I was going to do!

Fortunately I had some stamped images from a swap that really suited my dad (Thanks Alison!) he's an avid gardener. I didn't really want to stick a huge 70 on the front - I wanted to focus more on the main images. You can't tell on the pic but the sentiment says "Best Wishes", it's much clearer IRL!


If you've never taken part in an image swap I recommend it. It's a really cool way to get some images that you may never have thought of playing with before. Plus it's a great justification to use that stamp set that you 'needed' but haven't cracked open yet! It's also very handy in emergencies such as this one LOL! I get very excited when I know some images are going to pop through the post for me to play with!

For a finishing touch I decided to distress the edges with distress ink. I really like the effect this gives - especially for male cards. I do think I went slightly overboard with it on the top section of the card though!

My Dad really like his card anyway - though he did need his specs to read it Bless!

Card Recipe
Stamps: From a swap (Alison can you remember ?!)
Ink: Distress Ink - Walnut Stain
Card: Double Sided DP from COSTCO
Accessories: Promarkers, Die-cut Sentiment from Craftwork Cards, Brown Ribbon (Poached from Choccies), 3-D Foam Pads


Finally, I played along with the 'A Passion for Papertrey' blog. I really enjoy the challenges both Steph & Kate create, it really gets my brain ticking and encourages me to use up my crafting goodies so I can purchase more LOL!

I confess I did make this card earlier (Wednesday) but I really wanted the intended recipient to receive the card before I posted it up here. I really hope it's been received as I posted it first class on Thurs, really sorry if it's not!

I loved making this card! I love playing with my PTI goodies, I know I keep babbling on about them but they're just AMAZING in quality! Such sturdy card and dp and the stamps - even though they're clear - give such a crisp image with the palette inks!

Card Recipe
All PTI Unless Stated!
Stamps: Around & About Sentiments, Inkadinkado - Delicate Branches
Ink: Ripe Avocado, Memento - Tuxedo Black
Card: Raspberry Fizz, Bitty Dots Basic Ripe Avocado, Kraft-coloured Card - The Paper Mill Shop,
Accessories: Ripe Avocado Ribbon, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, Pink Gem - Hero Arts, Corner Punch

Just one more thing, I owe a HUGE thank you to Emma for nominating me for a blog award! It's the same one Alison nominated me for so I've already passed it on. Being nominated twice meant the size of my cheesy grin was twice as big LOL! If you haven't checked out Emma or Alison's blog then what are you waiting for?! Alison is very skilled with her Copics and Emma has created some AMAZING projects!

Right then that's enough babbling for now, thanks so much for stopping by!

Catch ya later!

Aimes
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Papertrey Challenge No.4

Hey!

What a gorgeous weekend we've had here - fantastic sunshine + crafting time = bliss!!

Kinda sad to be going back to work tomorrow after an amazing 2 weeks off but I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things after a couple of days back into the hectic workplace!

So to make the most of my last day off I just had to play with some of my new crafting goodies and now I've got some PTI goodies to call my own I thought I'd play along with A Passion For Papertrey's challenge (to use scallops). In typical Aimes style I'm cutting it as close to the deadline as possible LOL!

So here's what I came up with:

I combined the PTI goodies with my new Stamp Barn set I purchased in Canada - I'm lovin' that little birdie! I'm only starting in my ever-expanding PTI goodies stash so a couple of the embellishments are from other companies but one day I'm sure I'll have quite a few more PTI goodies to create with LOL!

As I had a few scraps I decided to go to town on decorating the inside of my card.
Hope you like it and had a fabulous weekend whatever the weather! Only 5 more working days until the next weekend - yay!


Card Recpie
(All PTI unless stated!)
Stamps: The Stamp Barn: Sunshine Designs
Ink: Versamagic Chalk Ink: Aquatic Splash, Jumbo Java, Hint of Pesto
Card: Ripe Avocado, Dark Chocolate, White Card (Paperchase), Bitty Dot Basics - Aqua Mist and Dark Chocolate
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, Ripe Avocado Ribbon, Brown Dotty Ribbon (Hobbycraft), Buttons (Basic Grey), Fabric Flower (Papermania)

On a final note: I have some pics - hurrah!! Turns out that cups of tea are the way to persuade my boyfriend to get a move on LOL! So here are a few I've selected for here - if you're interested you can check the rest out on my flickr account or facebook (I'll insert a link when I find time to upload them properly!). We took LOADS of pics so I just picked a select few to upload - I guess the same pics get quite repetitive LOL!

Firstly - Toronto at night!
Secondly, the skyline of Toronto!
Last but not least, the majestic Niagara Falls!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Aimes
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Men!

Hey - thought that post title would get your attention LOL!

I confess that I have now managed to force myself to scoff some chocolate Easter goodies. I think I've probably munched a weeks worth in one night but it just went so perfectly with a good cuppa I couldn't be left with tea and no choc LOL!

Well I was really hoping to be able to post a couple of pics from my holiday tonight as my boyfriend said he'd get round to uploading them today, however, although he's managed to turn on the PC, log-on, check his e-mail and catch up on his own techie forums he's yet to plug the darn camera into the machine! I'm not quite sure how to get him to do it, I don't want to nag, I hate nagging but then if I attempt to do it myself I'll do something wrong or his camera will break and it'll all be my fault! How do you lot get men to do stuff? Any suggestions welcome!

Anyways, on a much less nagging note I've been nominated for a blog award - yay!!!! Thank you so much Alison - I love visiting your blog and if any of you haven't pop across now and check it out!
So now to nominate some people for this award myself. I always find when I get to this point that the people I've nominated have already received it at least once so I'll apologise in advance if you have LOL! I'd love to give this award to a number of people who have already had it but will try not to!

So it gives me great pleasure to pass this on to the following:

1.Alex
2.Karen
3.Kate
4.Steph

Right then off to nag, ooops! I mean coax my boyfriend into getting these pics sorted!

Catch ya later!

Aimes
x

I'm back!

Hey!

I'm back! Sorry it's been a while but it took me a little while to get over my jet lag and on top of that I had to visit loadsa family and collect some surprise Easter treats as well as delivering some Canadian treats too! I hope you all had a lovely Easter break too! I've not started any of my choccie treats yet, surely that proves just how hectic things have been - not even time to scoff chocolate!

Canada was AMAZING! I just love to visit that country! I do have pics but to transfer them from the camera to the PC involves my boyfriend as we used his camera (his is much better than mine!) and so I'm hoping he'll get a move on and do it tomorrow so I can share a couple with you.

You won't be surprised to find that I did manage to visit a couple of craft shops out in Toronto and spend a little. All in aid to help the economy you understand LOL! Although I could have visited a few more stores, I don't think my dollars would have stretched any more than they already had!

So in between unpacking, sleeping and visiting I did manage to visit my little piece of Heaven known as my crafting corner! It's my nephew's birthday tomorrow so I had to whip up a card quick, the perfect excuse to crack open some of my new purchases to play with!
As you can tell, I'm becoming quite a fan of grungeboard. It's so fab and funky to play with! I coloured the shapes with acrylic paint, adding a bit of detail with my beloved white gel pen. The 'today' sentiment (if you can call it a sentiment!) was done with my old Dymo label machine that I found whilst rooting through my shelves for something completely different! To add a bit more depth I sponged the edges of the blue and green card with ink, the camera doesn't pick this up too well but it's more noticeable IRL - honest!
I decided to try to decorate the inside of the card too - something I'm beginning to do more and more! I used the die-cut sheet of grungeboard as a stencil for the skull and arrow shape and coloured using a promarker; I wished I had a lighter grey as I was hoping for a more subtle effect but hey, it doesn't look that bad!

Card Recipe
Stamp: Personal Impressions: Happy Birthday (Inside the card!)
Card: Doodlebug Bazzill: Swimming Pool, Limeade; Cosmo Cricket: Twist & Shout
Ink: Adirondack Stonewashed, SU! Old Olive
Accessories: Grungeboard, Acrylic Paint, Dymo Machine, White Gel Pen, Promarkers, Brads

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully I'll have a couple of pics from my holiday to show you next time! Don't panic, I won't post a slide-show that will last for hours!

Right then, off for a little blog hop to see what you've all been up to while I've been away!
Catch ya later!

Aimes
x

Papertrey Challenge 3

Hey!

This will probably be the last post from me before I go away on my long-overdue holiday to Canada on Sunday! I'm soooooo excited - I can't wait!!!

As I'll be away for my Sis-in-law's birthday I've been organised and made her card early. This gave me the perfect chance to play along with the recent challenge on A Passion For Papertrey. For this challenge you had to produce a monochromatic card with at least one PTI product. Seeing as the I still had some PTI goodies from the amazingly generous Steph I could play along - yay!

I decided to focus on shades of orange. Not a colour I use much at this time of year - it's much more prominent in my Autumnal creations, though I think it makes a nice, bright, cheery card.

I didn't have any patterned paper in any orange shades so I had to think outside the box a little. I created the circle pattern using versamark on glossy card and brayering over with SU! Pumpkin Pie ink - I think it's worked pretty well!

Card Recipe
Stamps: SU! - Be Happy, Penny Black -Concentrics, Personal Impressions - Happy Birthday
Ink: SU! Pumpkin Pie
Card: PTI - Summer Sunrise, DCWV Cardstock Stack - Brights
Accessories: PTI Ribbon Summer Sunrise Swiss Dot, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, Brayer

Right then, that's it from me for a little while! I now need to get my essentials organised for my trip - E.G looking up the local craft stores to check out so I can come home with some goodies to play with LOL!

Catch ya later!
Aimes
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