Man Flu!

Isn't it funny how, when a woman gets a cold, it's just a cold but when a man gets one it's flu? The poor dears even get bigger tissues!

For this card I've made a tissue box top by die cutting a rectangle of black card with an oval die cut from the middle. I stencilled the words "Man Size" on it, using a white gel pen, then stuck a real paper tissue to the back to poke out through the opening.

I stamped a Get Well sentiment onto the card then added a tiny touch of colour by ruling parallel lines all around the card and colouring in the crossover areas. I raised the "tissue box" on foam pads to add interest and so that the tissue behind the opening wouldn't cause a bulge.

I am sharing this with
The Male Room - use an unexpected item (the real tissue)
Watercooler Wednesday - Anything Goes masculine 

That Script Reindeer again

Sometimes I wonder whether you are getting tired of seeing this Gummiapan script reindeer stamp on my blog, especially as I so often pair it with the Tonic Studios Winter Wonderland papers, but they just seem to work so perfectly together that I come back to the combination over and over again.

This time I have layered the tree paper onto a dark green background and added a strip of the stags head paper cut as a border and layered onto deep red card. The sentiment, also from the pad, is cut with a Gummiapan stitched Ovals die. The reindeer is stamped in deep red and used to top white, green and white layers cut using the Creative Expressions St Lucia die set. The most pleasing position for the reindeer left a rather large white space that spoiled the balance so I added a red die cut twinkling star. (Actually I think it's supposed to be a snowflake but it has the wrong number of points).

I am sharing this with
C.R.A.F.T challenge - Christmas
Crafty hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - use a die cut or punch or atg
Shopping Our Stash - Christmas in July
Jingle Belles - All Bundled Up (at least 3 layers)
Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - July

Inspired by a garden

Last weekend we went to visit one of the local gardens open under the NGS scheme - a scheme where private gardens open a few days a year in aid of charity, giving the public a rare chance to see some amazing private gardens.

Because of the current drought, the garden we visited was looking terribly thirsty, apart from the cut flower garden. They grow flowers for cutting on a fairly large scale, large for a private garden that is, so presumably they provide them to a nearby florist or church as there were far too many for just one house to enjoy.

Anyway, among the flowers were some stunning bright orange zinnias, and the air above them was shimmering with butterflies, hence the inspiration for this card.

The flowers are stamped with Uniko Flower Power #2 stamps and cut with the matching die set and the sentiment and butterfly are stamped with a magazine set that is supposed to go with the "That Folder" series of embossing folders - I thought the sentiment made a great "grassy patch" for the flowers to be springing up from.

I'm sharing this with
Butterfly Challenge - spin the wheel O - I've used olive and orange
Less is More - Olive and Tangerine
Inkspirational - Birthday
Use Your Stuff - Birthday

Sunflowers

It's taken me a while to steel myself for it, but I've finally cut into my wonderful Graphic 45 "French Country" pad.

I used papers from the 12x12 pad, fussy cutting lots and lots of sunflowers from one of the papers, playing around with the layers until I was happy with it and then finishing with a ribbon threaded through one of the matching chipboards.

I am sharing this with
Allsorts challenge - Flowers all over
Craft Rocket Challenge - Summer

Men's Fashion at Cardz 4 Guyz

The new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz is Men's Fashion.

I used the Papermania Heritage Press  stamps, tag and a scrap of one of the matching papers along with more of my Hot Off The Press snippets and a collection of random buttons.

I am sharing this with
A Bit More Time To Craft - anything goes 
Just Add Ink - Just add T (tie, tag and tweed)

Butterfly in the Wisteria

I've spun the wheel of fortune at the Butterfly Challenge and came up with the colour Wisteria - mainly to give me the chance to use some of this beautiful double sided BoBunny paper which is not only wisteria coloured but features glorious wisteria blooms too!

By slashing the paper I was able to show off both sides of the beautiful paper, and it also gave me a great spot to position the sentiment. Rather than creasing the folded back paper flat, I've given the card dimension by gently curving it back and holding it in place with dragonfly brads. The butterfly is stamped with an old Linda Luckin stamp.

Gone fishin'

The school holidays are drawing near and, like many craft-loving parents and grandparents, I'm starting to think of some fun projects to keep the children busy on rainy days. That's if we ever get any rainy days ever again! One idea is to use stamps and/or digis to create some easy-to-colour toppers, then let them loose on the paper and ribbon scraps boxes and see what they come up with. Here is the card I have made to inspire them.

The image, complete with sentiment, is a digi - I didn't  keep a note of where it came from - which I've coloured with Promarkers. The fishy background paper is left over from a future project (well, I know what I'm talking about even if it doesn't seem to make sense!) and I've finished it with a scrap of ribbon.

I'll print off a selection of fairies, animals, superheroes and butterflies and let the children copy this simple card in their own way!

I'm sharing this with
The Male Room - Fish/Fishing
Sweet Stampin - Occupations or Hobbies (fishing)