A Kiss of Colour at The Male Room

     The new challenge at The Male Room is black and white with a splash of colour, it doesn't have to be a card but it should be for a man or boy.

     The main stamp I've used here is by Visible Image called 'Bite Me', when I bought mine it was just the mouth and a word stamp, but now it comes in a set called Dare To Be Different with some other small stamps.
      I used Versamark ink and some red embossing powder , the inner part of the mouth was coloured black with an alcohol marker, the words are a Woodware stamp just stamped in black ink.
     The image panel has a narrow red mat layer before being stuck on a black embossed layer. The whole card is just over 5 inches square and quite flat for ease of posting.
     You will find lots of inspiration over on The Male Room's challenge blog to get you started so please come and join us, you have two weeks before the challenge closes.

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

International Art and Soul - Embossing

Artistic Inspiration - Anything Goes

Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Cards In Envy - Black and White  (sorry if my splash of colour is too much)

Spring Has Sprung

     Spring has sprung, the daffodils are up and the birds are busy building their nests so a bright and cheerful spring card seemed the right thing to make, two boxes of flowers exploding will be great for a Mothers Day card.

      I have used lemon gingham card but due to the folds of this card part of the white side will also be visible, so it has been coloured and stamped to co-ordinate with the gingham.
     The two sided are stuck and slotted together and the card bars stuck inside to hold the acetate strips.
     Each box has three card bars and six acetate strips to hold butterflies and flowers, these are attached with red line double sided tape.

      The flower heads were stamped on yellow card, cut out, then decorated with gold foil using the Stix2 glue pen and transfer foils. The secret of this method is patience, just wait for the glue to turn completely clear and the foils will stick.
     Each flower is attached with strong tape, you can vary the height of the flowers by trimming the strips accordingly, I would suggest they all start the same full height and you trim as you go along, this allows for a choice in arrangement of your flowers.

     The butterflies are stamped on a piece of scrap card that was underneath some tags when using the fabric spray paints, nothing goes to waste that way. These paints are designed for fabric but work very well on canvas and card too.
     These have also been given foil highlights, cut out and attached to the acetate strips, there are several different sizes in the stamp set.
     The whole card will fold flat for posting but will need a tall DL envelope so the acetate doesn't get creased.




Materials list - available from your  local craft shop

Stix2 Anything - Lemon Gingham / Intensive Yellow Card 
                        Project Acetate
                        Ultra Clear Tape 6mm
                        Glue Pen 2in1
                        Shiny Transfer foil
                        Fabric Spray Paints

Other Items      FRS639  Tatty Butterflies stamp
                       JGS491 Fancy Flowers
                       Distress Inks Squeezed Lemonade / Mustard Seed
                       Versafine Onyx Black

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

heARTful Stamping - Spring & a Stamp

Ooh La La Creations - Spring Is In The Air

Crafting From The Heart - Anything Goes

Toowit To Wood For The Male Room

     Welcome to the new challenge at The Male Room, this time we would like you to use wood, real, stamped, embossed or printed.
     I was lucky enough to pick up two sheets of sticky backed veneer a few weeks ago, so I die cut a Sizzix owl from it.
     The background card is Kraft, coloured through a stencil with some of the new Distress Oxide inks. There is a soft, almost sheen like effect with the inks, they feel very chalky smooth and cover dark colours really well.
     The eyes are glass cabochons coloured on the back with nail varnish, several different coloured layers scratched and built up, I need more practice at this as these are OK but could be better.
     This challenge will run for two weeks so pop and look at our inspiration on The Male Room blog and then come and join us with your creation.

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

The Crazy Challenge - Masculine

Come and Get It - Things With Wings

Lemon Shortbread - Anything Goes

MHK Designs Monthly Inspiration

     With Easter approaching here's a little project for table decorations using images from Tweet Tweet and papers from Egg-cellent Easter.
     The little bird house is cut from the patterned paper, with just a little ink added to the roof to darken it slightly. The birds are printed out twice for each design, with one image flipped to face the other way so they can be stuck together once cut out.
     I have chosen to 'tangle' the birds but this would be an ideal make for children as they could colour them in themselves. The only part that is not stuck together is the feet so they can stand up freely, they could just as easily be hung by a thread from a decorative tree branch arrangement.
   

Tweet Tweet

Egg-cellent Easter

   

    We have many more gorgeous designs available in the Etsy shop so please pop over and have a look.

    Our monthly challenge can be found here, you'll find lots of inspiration and an opportunity to win some stamps so this is well worth a look.

It's Friesian At The House Of Cards

     House Of Cards has a photo prompt and colour chart for you this month that will help you think of warmer days to come. As I had some farm themed stamps in my stash I decided to follow the prompt very closely and make sure I had some cows on my scenic card.
     To follow the colours I have used Distress Inks Stormy Sky and Iced Spruce, the cows are stamped in black Versafine, but the pop of yellow didn't look right so I left it out. Using Distress Inks meant I could blend the stamped images in places to create shading, it's also used on a white mat layer to make it blue. The greeting is typed in Word and then printed and die cut, coloured and mounted on foam pads.
     House Of Cards challenge runs for the whole month so pop in and join us with your creations when you can, we'd love to see your scenic cards.

Make A Scene and/or Colours

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

Crazy Challenge - We Love Animals   (Winner)

Imagine That - Anything Goes

MHK Designs - March Challenge

   A new challenge at MHK Designs begins today with a photo prompt to inspire you. Easter is next month but it doesn't hurt to get making those Easter projects now, so that's what I have done.

     Using some papers from the Egg-cellent Easter set I have folded an egg stand following a You Tube origami video. The egg that's sitting in the photo is an Emu egg, it's a beautiful dark green, this one is about the size of a standard chocolate egg to give you an idea for display.
     The greeting is from Bunny Love, die cut and coloured, then stuck on to a band of paper matching the stand.
     A very simple idea but it could be used to great effect for an Easter display as you can make the stands in various sizes by starting with a different size paper square, your egg doesn't have to be chocolate.
     The challenge on MHK Design blog runs all month so please have a look at the photograph and come and join us with your interpretation.

Bunny Love

Egg-cellent Easter

   

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

Digi Choosday - Anything Goes

The Paper Nest Dolls - Anything Goes

Magazine Easter Basket

     Another project using magazine straws made for Altered Eclectics.  We accept anything recycled, mixed media and hand crafted with the exception of cards and ATC's.

      I have enjoyed using these straws so much that I have set about finding how many different ways I can use them. I could think of a few but once I started to look at You Tube I discovered many more. This one caught my eye in readiness for Easter. I have made corn dollies before but not baskets, if you follow the instructions it's not that difficult, especially as you can pause it whenever you wish and work at your own pace.
     I made a whole coffee jar full of straws and then began weaving, using clothes pegs to hold my work if I had to take a break.

     You need a little glue when making the straws but apart from that there is very little used when making this basket, it's a very inexpensive item to make.
     The biggest expense on this one is the spray paint that I used to knock back the colour of the print, but that's only a little from a large can of white primmer. These would be great to hide around the house filled with treats for Easter, the children may even like to make their own. If you make the straws for them they shouldn't even need scissors, just pegs and a little strong PVA glue.
     Altered Eclectics challenge runs for the whole month so you have lots of time to come and show us your projects we'd love to see them.

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

Hiding In My Craft Room - Any Holiday

International Art & Soul - Recycling    (Top 3)

We Love To Create - Anything Creative/Mixed Media

The Male Room Steampunk Travels

     Welcome to the Steampunk challenge at The Male Room, this challenge will run for two weeks for anything masculine and steampunk themed.

     Steampunk doesn't have to be dark and grungy if you don't want it to be. It's a science fiction/fantasy style with an historical setting, typically featuring steam powered machinery. I have a great set of stamps from Chocolate Baroque, called Steampunk Travel, which features several versions of everyday items with a steampunk twist.
     To start with I stamped the 'mobile home' and embossed in copper, then stamped a mask using Stix2 masking sheet and cut it out. With the image covered I used Distress Inks to colour a tag cut from mount board, making use of a cog mask at the same time. A spritz and flick with water to lift some colour and a run around the edge with the darker green finished off the Distress colouring.
     The image has been coloured with alcohol markers, because the tag is mount board the marker has not gone through to the back, which is a bonus. A little use of a copper gel pen on the cogs and a white Sharpie on the sail was followed with some Stix2 foils in the little window, then it was covered with Glossy Accents.
     The masked cogs were overstamped with the same Distress Ink colours and a small dot of bronze PVA was added to the middle of the large cogs.
     The addition of the sentiment, also embossed in copper, only left the need for ribbons in shades of green to complete the tag. It will be delivered to a friend who is building his own camper conversion since his caravan became very poorly.
     You have two weeks to join us at The Male Room with your steampunk creations, we have some inspiration on the blog to help get you started so please pop in and say hello.
   
   

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

Come And Get It - Creations For Males

My Time To Craft - Travel

Cardz 4 Guyz - Tag It   (Top 3)

Chocolate Baroque - Colour Challenge

Pop Up Puddy Tats

     CraftyHazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge sprang to mind as soon as I saw these great new stamps and dies from Stampendous.

     The patterned paper is die cut with two of the pop up tab dies before any decoration or assembly begins. I admit that most of the colouring and die cutting was done for me, so all I had to do was put it together but when faced with such an amazing choice of coloured cats and flowers it wasn't easy!
     The large cat is stuck on the smallest tab, while his friend is stuck to the larger, along with a flower. The large flower is stuck on foam pads and the butterfly only has his body stuck down, leaving his wings free to lift. Finally the whole patterned piece is then stuck on to the inside of the card blank.
     The outside of the card is decorated with die cut cats and sentiment, all cut from satin, silver mirri card. My favourite is the little cat sitting on the sentiment, my cat often sits like this, just waiting to tap your leg with his paw to ask for a fuss.
     CraftyHazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge is for anything as long as you use patterned papers, so come and join in with your creations.

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

Cupcake Inspirations - Cats

The Crazy Challenge - We Love Animals