Rocking Out at The Male Room

     Welcome to a new challenge for The Male Room, this fortnight we would like to see a masculine card with a music theme.
     I know I've used this stamp a few times before, but it's one of those very useful ones for teenage boys. For this card I've used some background paper with circles on and a colourful but grungy look to it, I have no idea where it came from but it's worked well for this.
     I have stamped and black embossed on to the background paper, then cut it to fit an A6 white card blank, very simple but effective and perfectly non fussy for a teenager.
     There is a lot more inspiration on The Male Room's blog so please take a look and come and join us with your creation.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

One Stitch At A Time - Anything Goes with For Men

Eclectic Ellapu - Purple Team - It's A Man Thing

MHK Designs Challenge #8

      I hope you liked the new releases this week, I have chosen to use one of them for the new challenge at MHK Designs which starts today.

     The photo prompt has a pansy on it so what else could I use but Pansy Corner for my image. I have printed a small panel using the centre of the pansy, tinted using my photo package. The beauty of png files is you can overlay them so that's what I did with the greeting.
     The image panel has a dark purple mat layer before being put on to a tinted layer of backing paper from Country Farm, this is on a white card blank.
     To continue the pansy theme and to add a little interest I have printed three tinted pansies of various sizes and cut them out, they have a tiny yellow centre for a small pop of colour.
     You don't have to use an MHK Designs image to join our challenge but we would love it if you did, there are ways to win some stamp sets over on the MHK Designs blog so why not come and join us.

August Challenge

Pansy Corner 

Country Farm

MHK Designs - Pansy Corner

      This is our last new release for August at MHK Designs. I chose to use this image in a vintage style card.

     I have overlaid the faded brown image of the pansy bouquet with a full strength sentiment and added a small butterfly for luck on to cream card. I have used my photo package to alter the colouring and fade the pansy image, digi stamps can be changed around to suit your project making them just as versatile as a rubber stamp.
     The image panel is die cut and mounted flat on to Kraft card. The corners of the Kraft layer have been cut with a reverse corner punch and then a hole punched dot is stuck in each corner making it all look a little like an old style plaque.

Pansy Corner

Butterfly Wisdom

I would like to enter this card in the following challenge:

Digitally Sweet - Floral

MHK Designs - Halloween Party

     For our fourth new release at MHK Designs we have a Halloween set for you. I love making projects for this holiday as I get to use black, orange and purple a lot more than usual, I think black is very under-rated neutral.
     The tag is die cut from thick black card then overlaid with a torn strip of backing paper from Trick or Treat. There are two silver cobwebs and a white ghost added to the tag, these are from a Halloween confetti pack that's been in my stash for a while.
     The image panel is coloured with Graph-It markers and stuck over the paper strip at an angle. The greeting has been printed and then die cut, coloured before removing the die gives it that perfect white edge, it's mounted on foam pads. The final touch was to add some ribbon to the tag, a mix of orange and black organza.

Halloween Party

Trick or Treat

I would like to enter this tag in the following challenges:

Wonderful Wednesday - Anything Goes

Not Just Cards - Anything Goes

MHK Designs - Thankful Thoughts

        Day three of the new releases from MHK Designs is a set for Thanksgiving, in the UK we don't celebrate this holiday but this set works just as well for Christmas.

     With a garden full of berries I often make jam and sauces as gifts so this set is perfect for making the tags to go with them.
     Printed on Kraft card the turkey is teamed up with a sentiment from Holiday Deer and die cut. The image is coloured with a white gel pen and a red Sharpie just to give it a little more interest and then the edges are gold embossed.
     To finish the tag off there is a length of gold and white cord through the punched hole to tie it to the gift.
     This would also be good for making place cards for that celebration dinner, just make sure the image is printed closer to the bottom of the print area so you have some card left to fold over, either print, stamp or hand write the names.

Thankful Thoughts

Holiday Deer

I would like to enter this tag in the following challenges:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Red, Black, Kraft

Creative Moments - Anything Goes

Decorate To Celebrate - Anything Goes

Sea Foam

        We have a technique challenge for you at The Male Room this fortnight, we would like you to use shaving foam to marble your project, there are tutorials for you to watch if you haven't tried this before.

     I love marbling this way because the foam holds the patterns you make when water would continue to move, it's also a great thing to try with children.
     I used a couple of mica sprays on the foam and this piece is one of the end results, the first couple show some of the mica but after that it's mostly just the colour that sticks.
     All it needed was some beach type stamps to go with the swirling water effect, these were clear embossed over blue ink.
     Please pop over to The Male Room and join us, if you haven't tried this technique then watch the video and have a play.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Little Red Wagon - Surf's Up

Deep Ocean - Seaside / Beach

MHK Designs - Beautiful Bottles

     Today we have a gorgeous set of bottles from MHK Designs to showcase, there are also three different sentiments in the set.

     For this project I chose to print out one of the bottles to fit a DL card blank, making it the entire card instead of an image on a card.
     The bottle was coloured and cut out, then mounted on to the DL card blank. I cut around the bottle making sure to keep the fold on the main body of the bottle.
     The sentiment is printed on white card, cut to shape, then edged with silver embossing powder with a tiny purple gem added before mounting on the neck of the bottle on foam pads.
     To add a finishing touch the golf club heads are coloured with a silver gel pen just to add a tiny bit of shine.

Beautiful Bottles

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Send A Smile 4 Kids - For The Girls
Great Impressions - Anything Goes

MHK Designs - Tweet, Tweet

     Welcome to the first of the new releases for August from MHK Designs, we have five new sets to show you this week.

     This set is called Tweet, Tweet for obvious reasons, it has three cute little birds to choose from. They can be coloured, paper pieced, tangled or all three. I chose to print mine on MHK Designs backing papers and add a little colour.
    The card is coloured with a tree stencil and a little background colouring to set the scene, then the birds are cut out and mounted on foam pads.
   The sentiment is printed on white card and die cut, then coloured before removing the die. This die has little holes so you can use brads to mount it but I chose to colour the dots and put them back in the holes so they look like brads. This sentiment plate is also mounted on foam pads, the whole image panel has a browm mat layer on to a white card blank.

Tweet, Tweet

Damsel In Distress

Country Farm

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Crafting When We Can - Things With Wings
Pile It On - Make Your Own Background
Creative Fingers - Anything Goes

MHK Designs August Inspiration

     Hello and welcome to my inspirational project for August at MHK Designs. I have chosen to use the Butterfly Wisdom stamp set again because there are so many things you can do with it.

      This is just a simple card that makes a great everyday greeting,  you can jazz it up to be a birthday card or a get well message.
     I have printed the main image panel from the set at 70% opacity so it comes out a little bit lighter than the usual black. Using an alcohol marker I have coloured the background but not the butterflies.
     The acetate butterfly is printed at full strength black on to medium weight printable acetate and also coloured with alcohol markers, fussy cut and stuck down on the body only. It is a little smaller than the one on the card but it doesn't seem to show  much because he's got his wings bent up in flight.
     The image panel has a narrow dark green mat layer on to a white card blank, very simple and relatively quick to make too, you could make a set of these in different colour ways for a gift.
     MHK Designs blog has lots of inspiration to show you as well as a challenge for you to enter, you don't have to use one of our images to play along but we would like it if you did, you also have the chance to win a stamp set just by entering.

Butterfly Wisdom

   I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

The Sisterhood Of Crafters - Close To Nature
Inspiration Destination - Anything Goes

Pedal Power at The Male Room

     The new challenge at The Male Room is Olympics/Sport with a masculine look.
     I have a few toppers that I thought might work well for birthday cards for my sons friends, this is one of them. It's a very simple card but then that's what the boys like, nothing too fussy.
     The topper is mounted on black card,stuck on foam pads and put at an angle over a layer of 'number' paper. The topper has some little silver foil mini dots on it so no other bling is needed.
     This challenge will run for two weeks so you have time to join us with your creations, please take a look at the DT projects, if you haven't already, just in case you need a little inspiration.

All tied up at House Of Cards

 

     This month at the House Of Cards we have 'Twine and/or Colours' prompt for you. It took me a little while to think about the twine and then I remembered Spirelli.

     I started by printing out the greeting from MHK Designs Eat Your Cake, then I die cut it with a scalloped circle and coloured it with the die in place using Distress ink. It was a stoke of luck that I had a skein of variegated embroidery thread in just the right colours.
     I cut another circle from gold card to stick the Spirelli disc on to to give it a bit more strength and to stick the threads down so they don't pop off and unravel.
     This gold circle is mounted on foam pads over a layer of MHK Designs paper from Damsel In Distress, edged with the same Distress ink as the sentiment panel on to a white card blank.
     To finish off I punched tiny flowers from paint charts that almost matched the colour prompt, shaped them and stuck a tiny yellow gem in the middle of each one.

Use Twine and/or Colours

     We have lots of inspiration for you over at the House Of Cards, so many different ways to use twine, do come and join us with your creation.

Fairy Toadstool light

      Fairy jars are very popular at the moment so I thought I'd make one too. I wanted mine to look like a fairy home so I made it like a toadstool.

     I found some small dessert bowls in the charity shop, they're plastic and fit perfectly upside down on top of a Hartleys jam jar.
     The inside of the bowl is sponged with red acrylic paint and the outside has small punched flowers cut in double sided sticky sheet, then covered with glitter.
     There is a black die cut fairy shape stuck to the inside of the jar, then the outside is sponged with white acrylic paint. I didn't sponge the inside as it was difficult to get it to look good, on a bigger jar it would be easier.
     There is a battery tea light inside with acetate strips stuck to each side so it can be lifted out without having to turn the jar upside down.

     Altered Eclectics is a challenge for all things mixed media and recycled, the only things not permitted are cards and ATCs. There is no theme to follow so just let your creative spirit loose and show us what you make.

Shop 'Til You Drop

      At CraftyHazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge we try and help you use some of that stash of gorgeous papers. This project was for my niece who just loves clothes shopping.

     The image is from The Stamping Chef and the papers have been in my stash so long I can't remember where they came from.
     The image is coloured with markers and die cut with a Spellbinder, then inked with Distress ink before taking the die off.
     The edge of a white card blank has been coloured pink before being covered with the patterned paper. Mounting the image panel on foam pads gives it a little dimension but not too much to get stuck in the mail.
     So have a look through all that gorgeous paper you have tucked away, be brave and use some of it, then show us your creation at CraftyHazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge.