All Taped Up At The Male Room

     A new challenge at The Male Room begins today, this time we are challenging you to use Washi Tape. If you don't have any then I have a little tip for you on how to make your own.
     I was very lucky a few years ago to win a bundle of travel related papers, tapes and stamps so making this card was simple. I stamped on white card, added the washi tape and then trimmed it to fit my square card blank. The edges are coloured with Distress ink to match the mat layer, this layer was white card but it's been coloured with an alcohol marker.
     The backing paper was trimmed to fit and then distressed with a pale brown ink to blend it into the Kraft card. There is a washi strip across the bottom of the backing paper and a washi film strip, over a washi map strip, across the top corner. The central panel is mounted on thin foam pads over the backing paper to finish.

     If you have no washi tape or what you have is not quite right you can make you own. Microporous surgical tape can be bought in most supermarkets and chemists in a variety of widths. This tape is very similar to washi tape in that it's slightly translucent, self adhesive and takes ink rather well.
     Lay your surgical tape out on your craft mat and stamp your own design, it will take a little while to dry, you can also colour it with inks and pens, just take care as some may soak through.
     You have two weeks to break out your tape and create a masculine project for The Male Room, see you there I hope.

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

Incy Wincy Designs - For The Men In Your Life

Ooh La La - For A Man or Boy

MHK Designs Monthly Inspiration

     These cards are a variation on this months MHK Designs challenge card, the same picture but with different words, the beauty of this stamp set is they are coloured images.
     I have written myself a little crib sheet so I don't forget how to do these again. My photo package sends the image to print out with the left hand side (viewed landscape) being the top of the paper, so to get the image on the righthand side of an A5 piece of card the correct way up I have to turn it around, then tell it it's a 6x4 card. It then prints it the correct way up on the right of the A5 card so I can fold it in half to make my CAS card. I printed the flowers first and then ran it through again for the sentiment.
     Sounds complicated?......it's not really, my explanation may not be that good but it does work, or should I say for my package and printer it works. I suggest you play around on copy paper to see what your set up can do.
     Making a batch of CAS cards like this is ideal for a small gift, a thoughtful way of saying thank you to someone.

Stencil In The Roses

Pretty Petunias

 

Male Room Music

     We have an Anything Goes challenge at The Male Room this fortnight, so as long as it's masculine you can create anything you wish.

      I started with some grey patterned paper and stamped music in grey at random. Then I stamped the wording across the bottom and embossed in black.
     The headphones were also stamped and embossed in black, then I masked off the ear pieces and stamped in blue between them. This grey paper was then mounted on a white card blank, wrapping the paper over the crease to cover the back by about 1/2 an inch.
     Once on the card I coloured the edge of the paper all the way round with Distress Ink. The small notice was stamped on to white card, embossed in black, cut out and coloured with amber ink, this is stuck flush to the card.
     There is no greeting on this card yet, that will be added when it gets used. I have to make a small batch of cards suitable for teenage boys to keep in the box, they are always needed at short notice so it's handy to have a few to choose from, with the exception of the music, all the stamps are from Visible Image.
     Our challenge is running for two weeks so please come and join us, if you haven't seen all the DT inspiration yet then please pop over and have a look when you can.

Jan 4th - Jan 17th

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

Love To Scrap - Anything Goes

Lemon Shortbread - Anything Goes

House Of Cards Forest Dwelling

      A new year, a new month and a new challenge at the House Of Cards. This month we have a winter scene with cool colours as our prompt.

     Just before Christmas I got a Tim Holtz tree line die from Sizzix so I decided to use this with some stamps I've had for years.
     I have used Memento ink Grey Flannel to stamp the castle part way up the white card. Then I cut the trees out and used the waste as a mask to create a forest in front of the castle. Distress Ink Hickory Smoke worked well for this, I just had to make sure I used very little to start with and got darker as I came down the card. The fog effect is the result of not inking much below the tree line leaving lighter gaps, I hadn't planned this, it's one of those happy accidents.
    The dragon is stamped in the same grey ink, as black looked a bit harsh on my practice piece. The castle has silver window shine that can be seen at an angle and the whole card has a dusting a pearl mice applied in a mister.
     To add a tiny splash of the dark red from the challenge prompt I added a thin mat layer to the image panel and then mounted it on a black card.
     The House Of Cards challenge will run until the end of the month, so when you get time please come and join us, we would love to see you interpretation of our prompt.

Add a building and/or colours

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

Fussy and Fancy Friday - Angels/Fairies or Winter

Southern Girls - Anything Goes

MHK Designs Challenge - Roses

     MHK Designs blog have moved their challenge date to the beginning of the month, so here is the project for January.

     I chose to make a CAS card using two of the gorgeous digi stamps from previous sets, the flower from Stencil In The Roses and the words from I've Been Framed.
     The flower image is increased in size to fit an A6 frame with a border, then I played around with my printing options to turn the image around.
     I wanted the image to come out upside down on the right of an A5 piece of card, so when it's folded in half the picture is on the front of the fold. I tried it out on a piece of copy paper first to check it was right. Then I put it back in the printer and added the words.

     Measuring an equal distance from the image to get the border right I scored the card down the middle. Once folded it needed a little trimming to tidy it up but that was it, a CAS A6 card, perfect for UK postage.
     The beauty of these images is they come already coloured, just right for a quick card or even a notelet set for a thank you gift, just change the wording or leave it off altogether.
     You have the chance to win a set of MHK Designs digi stamps just by playing along in the challenge and you don't have to use our stamps to join in, so please come and play along.

January 2017

Stencil In The Roses

I've Been Framed

     

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

Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
Digital Delights - Anything Goes

A Glass of Light Wine

     Happy New Year and welcome to the first of today's new challenges. This is for CraftyHazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge, anything goes as long as you use patterned paper.

      This gorgeous paper is from Chocolate Baroque, it's been in my stash for years so I took a deep breath and used it to make a lamp shade.
     I have a book with templates inside but I'm sure you could find some on line somewhere. I cut the shade from the semi-gloss patterned paper, it's a heavy weight paper so it bends easily but is firm enough to hold the shape well.
     I used my pricking tool on all of the leaves to make tiny holes that the light will shine through, I didn't want to add anything to the gorgeous paper but felt it needed a little something.

     All that was left after making the holes was to use red-line double sided tape to stick the shade together, I had to trim the edges slightly to tidy them up.
     I put an LED tea light in a wine glass and popped the shade on top. It's quite a nice way to add a little glow to your dinner table and if you make your other table decorations to match it can look rather smart.
     CraftyHazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge is a month long challenge that is just what it says....anything made with patterned paper, so come and join us, we would love to see your projects.

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:

4 Crafty Chicks - Anything Goes

Brown Sugar - Anything Goes