the birthday

Hello there. Today I do not have any papercrafts for you. I haven't done any this weekend but I have done lots of cooking.

Below is the birthday boy and I spent the weekend making all sorts of goodies to make his day special.

This is the tiramisu' that we had for pudding today and even if I say so myself it was delish.

We had conchiglioni ripieni for starter and roast pork with veg and potatoes for main. Sorry no pics of these.... demolished before i took any.

but this is what I was most proud of.... the piece de resistance. I know it is by no means perfect but I am very pleased with it and more importantly, he loved it.

It was also the first time I air brushed a cake. And i made it to match his birthday card which you can see here.

Here he is blowing the candle and cutting his cake......

My little boy is growing up......

hugs, Theresa xx

new year monochrome

Hello my crafty friends. It's time for another Fussy and Fancy challenge and it is Team A's turn to offer some inspiration.

Our theme this week is monochrome. This was chosen by Nikki who is hosting this challenge.

The sponsor this time is The Paper Shelter. It is worth paying the site a visit as they have some beautiful images and they come with some background papers as well. You can find the shop here.

This is my inspiration for this time. I know it is a bit late for new year wishes but this card was finished in December.

I started by stamping the skating couple in black archival ink on glossy card and on post it notes so i could make a mask.

I masked them off and then stamped the sentiment in versamark and embossed in white detail powder. Both stamps are from Claritystamp Ltd.

I added a moon mask and added masking tape to all 4 edges. Then I brayered weathered wood distress ink along the bottom part of card and mermaid lagoon for sky.

I then coloured the couple with distress markers and a damp brush using the same colours. The other colours there are tattered rose for the skin and fossilized amber for hair.

I mounted it onto some pearlized blue paper and then onto white base card. Then I decided to add some embellishments. I cut a couple of Tim Holtz snowflakes and embossed them.

The inking is again using the same inks. I added a pearl in centre and some sparkle with a clear wink of stella pen.

I also added a treble bow in twine underneath the lower snowflake and viola'! It was finished.

So come and join us in this challenge. It will run for 2 weeks. For further inspiration you can visit the FFFC blog and see what the rest of the team have come up with, hugs Theresa xx

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

Simon says stamp Wednesday challenge - anything goes

Word art Wednesday - anything goes

blast off......

Hello friends. It must be Tuesday again, so it is time for another TTCRD challenge.

This week our sponsor is Dr Digi's House of Stamps who are offering 2 images to the lucky winner.

The image I'm working with today is Retro Rocket that can be found here.

This is the card I came up with. It is my little boy's birthday card and he is pretty chuffed with it although his birthday is on Sunday. He has seen me making it and thinks it's fantastic but I guess he is biased.

Details of how I made it will be in the next TTCRD magazine which will be available in early March.

I hope this inspires you to join us in this challenge. For more inspiration you can have a look at what the rest of my team mates produced for this week here.

teenage friends

Hello there my blog friends. I am sure most of you struggle with male cards like I do and then add teenage years to the mix and I just end up banging my head against the wall hoping for some inspiration.

Luckily i found the inspiration while putting away some old birthday cards in a box to put in the attic.

 

So 2 of my son's friends have their birthdays within 4 days of each other. As they will not meet, I thought it was safe to use the same design for both.

Stamps: Mechanics,Ink splats, sheet music - all from IndigoBlu

Inks: Archival- hydrangea, forget me not,dandelion, orange blossom and red                           geranium

         Distress - old paper

Dies: guitar from tonic, sentiment and stars from Tim Holtz selections

         numbers cut on slice using vintage sd card

Black wink of stella

I folded an A4 piece of white card in half and opened it up again. I did all the stamping on the inside. I started with the mechanics die and then radiated various splats from it. I used all 5 inks on the stamps overlapping them to give an ombre effect.

                                     

I then went round the outside edges with the long ink splat. I stamped a bit of the mechanics on both the right corners so the images kind of continued through.

I then stamped the sheet music after I had blotted it (second generation ink). I just wanted a little faded something just to break the starkness of the white.

I diecut all the elements out of black card. Birthday is made up from different words as I didn't have it. I think I used bright and everyday.

I stuck them down as shown. Before sticking down number I wanted to make sure that when I folded back the card, it would overlap.

I then stuck it and cut around from fold it a craft knife leaving a narrow edge. I went around cut edge and all outside edges of card with a black sharpie pen.

Finally I went round with the black wink adding some sparkle. Now in real life this really twinkles abut it is hard to capture on photos.

The second card is more or less the same apart from number and a couple of other stamps I used.

The melody and sentiment are from Claritystamp. I stamped them in black archival and also embossed the happy birthday with crystal embossing powder.

                     

I also added a couple of gold mirri stars.

So which one do you prefer? please do tell. I am biased as I made both.

 

 

                            

I would like to enter these cards in the following challenges:

IndigoBlu blog challenge - all that sparkles
Simon says stamp Monday challenge - best friends
Word Art Wednesday - anything goes
Simon says stamp Wednesday challenge - ombre

                                                          

 

a little note with a flourish

 Hello there fellow crafters. I have  CAS offering for you today. I needed a thank you card and didn't have a lot of time so  I came up with this.

I stamped the leafy flourish in black archival ink. Then I added the bird in flight and the little sentiment. All these stamps were free with a magazine.

Then I added some colour to the leaves and flowers. I used distress markers and a waterbrush. The leaves are coloured with twisted citron and the flowers with fossilized amber and wilted violet.

I then went round the card with a black micron pen and drew squiggly lines as shown. i coloured them in with the same markers.

I also added some clear wink of stella to flowers but this is really difficult to photograph.

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

Less is more - one layer - add a flourish

CASology - open

Sweet stampin' challenge - flowers

coffee?

Hello my friends. And don't groan. I can hear you. I know it's January and this is a Christmas card. But I made this in December, so please forgive me.

I had lots of fun making this card and as soon as I saw the file I needed to work with I knew I was going to make this for a friend of mine. She is an avid consumer of these coffees so I thought this was just the card for her. I must say she found it very apt and hilarious at the same time. She also told me it will be displayed in a special place.

This is my inspiration for this weeks TTCRD challenge. 

This week our sponsor is A Cutting Cafe. You can get all sorts of files for your silhouettes from here. I don't have one but luckily my file was pretty easy to fussy cut.

My template was the coffee cup shape 2 which you can find here. I think I will use it again as I had fun playing with it.

As always our theme is always anything goes so anything you make will be fine.

For further inspiration please visit the blog to see all the projects submitted by my team mates.

All the details will be found on the TTCRD magazine which can be found here.

Incidentally the new magazine is out and you can see a preview of it on my sidebar.

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

Fat-tastic Tuesday - warm and cosy (coffee cup)

Card Mania challenge - winter fun