Krafty Chicks challenge #780 - birthday

Good morning lovely friends. I hope you're all doing ok and having a great week so far. It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 1; as always the theme is 'birthday' and Leanne is our hostess. It can't get any easier than this week's challenge so we hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

It was Willow the cat's 4th birthday at the beginning of the week so of course I had to make a card for her!  Like most cats she is in love with cardboard boxes; any size, shape, colour, if we have a box it is soon hers lol!  Of course I decided that I had to make a box card for her, which even if I say so myself, turned out super cute.  There are a few extra photos today as it was really difficult to capture everything.  I hope you like it too.  

Here is my box card:

A closer look at the cute kitty image:

Some extra views to capture the details:

I tried to make my own Amazon logo lol!

Here is the crazy kitty which was my inspiration:

I used a die to cut out the box using kraft card as I wanted it to look like cardboard.  The die has a beautiful decorative edge to the flaps but I didn't want that look for this project so simply trimmed that part off with my paper trimmer.  I used double sided tape to secure my box together.  I also die cut 2 of the inside pieces of the box from kraft which supports the box plus allows you to arrange your images and fill up the box.  I stamped all the images onto alcohol marker friendly card, coloured them with Promarkers and then used the coordinating dies to cut them out.  I die cut the letters to spell her name and also the number 4 x 4 times from white card and stacked them up using liquid glue.  I originally was going to put some of the smaller images onto acetate and secure them higher for some extra interest but I didn't really like it so cut the acetate off except for the fish which is still raised a little higher.  I arranged the images where I wanted and adhered them with liquid glue.  I added the name and number onto the front of the box and also added a birthday sentiment onto the front flap.  At the last moment, for a bit of fun, I attempted to draw my own Amazon logo on the side of the box; it's not perfect but it made me chuckle lol!  I think it turned out super cute.

I would like to enter my box card into the following challenges:

Allsorts challenge - animals

Aud Sentiments challenge - any shape (except rectangle) and/or washi tape +s sentiment

Craft Rocket challenge - animals

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Creative Creases challenge - ATG with a fun fold

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Hearts Quest for Shaped Cards & Tags challenge - ATG

I Love Promakers challenge - ATG or black and white

Show Us Your Pussycats challenge - ATG featuring a cat

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - happy birthday 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - quite quirky

The Paper Funday challenge - ATG optional twist '4 legged friends'

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'birthday' challenge and I cannot wait to see your creations in our linky. Please leave some love for my fellow chicks - Leanne, Diane and Lori.
Thank you so much for stopping by; I appreciate your lovely comments.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Studio Light - exploding box die (SL-ES-CD116)

Neat & Tangled - kitty's favourite things stamp & die

Neat & Tangled - puppy's favourite things stamp & die (for present, cupcake & hat)

Promarkers

MFT - little letters die-namics

Spellbinders - simply perfect alphabets (for number 4)

Gina K Designs - large strip sentiments dies

Crafter's Companion - 280gsm kraft cardstock

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - but they do have 280gsm silky smooth white card available here - but limited numbers

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now closed

Krafty Chicks challenge #766 - birthday

Good morning lovely friends. I hope you're all doing ok and having a great week so far.  I can't believe we are already at 1st of May - where has the beginning of the year gone?  

It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 1; and as always the theme is 'birthday' and Leanne is our hostess. It can't get any easier than this week's challenge so we hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I have a fun card for you today!  It was recently our puppy Wesley's 1st birthday so of course I had to make a card for him and I thought I would share it with you today for our birthday challenge.  Before I share the card here is a photo of my gorgeous birthday boy:

Isn't he just the sweetest?  He is definitely a wild child and tries to eat everything he shouldn't but he is so much fun.  Anyway onto the card (and the reason you are really here).

Here is my card:

A closer look at the cute images:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I started my making my card base from light grey card to 5" x 7" and then trimmed the top to create a 'roof' shape.  I scored the front to resemble shiplap boards and then made a roof front from black card (using the card shape as my template) and added that with liquid glue (I also added one to the back).  I cut an arch shape from black card for the door opening and again adhered that with liquid glue.  I stamped all the images onto alcohol marker friendly card, coloured them with Promarkers and added some white gelly roll pen highlights.  I used the matching dies to cut them out (apart from the banners, which I fussy cut, as I don't have the dies for those).  I die cut his name from white card 4 times and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I adhered the name above the doorway and the banner below it, both with liquid glue.  I added the dog and ball in the doorway with foam squares and the other small images either side, again with foam squares.  As I had a bone left over I decided to add that under the roof again with liquid glue.  As an after thought, I didn't think the scored lines stood out enough so I carefully went over them with a very light grey Promarker to add some definition.  For the inside I used the card shape as a template and sized down to create a white panel which I adhered with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and as I had lots of left over die cuts arranged them in the left lower and right lower corners with liquid glue. Finally I added another banner at the top with liquid glue.  A really fun card and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - make your mark

Allsorts challenge - inspired by a song - hound dog by Elvis Presley

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG but must include an animal

Crafty Gals Corner challenge - adorable....puppy

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - animals

Halloween & Other Occasions challenge - birthday

I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG or masculine

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

Tic Tac Toe challenge - die cut/birthday/stripes

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'birthday' challenge and I cannot wait to see your creations in our linky. Please leave some love for my fellow chicks - Leanne, Diane and Lori. 

I'll be back in an hour with my card for this month's AAA Birthday challenge so I hope you can pop back and check it out.  Thank you so much for stopping by; I appreciate your lovely comments.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Neat & Tangled - puppy's favourite things stamp & die

Promarkers

Mama Elephant - B2B arches die set

MFT - little letters die set - retired

MFT - sweet birthday wishes (for balloon) - retired

MFT - sending sweet celebration wishes (for banner) - retired 

Simon Says Stamp - fog card (for card base)

Hobbycraft - A4 black card

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - they do have 300gsm bright white card available here

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card

AAA Cards challenge - guest designer

Good morning lovely friends.  Well can you believe we are almost at the end of March....where is the time going?  It only seems like 5 minutes ago I was wishing everyone a Happy New Year lol!  

I'm here today to share a card I made for the new AAA Cards challenge.  I won a challenge at the end of last year and was invited to be a guest designer, which I immediately accepted.  Their challenges are always 'anything CAS goes' but there is an optional theme, which this time is '1+1'; which means you use the centre prompt and choose 1 other prompt from the outer circles.  

here's a closer look at the graphic:

I wanted to make a card for a friend's birthday and had this fun stamp set in mind so I chose to pair silhouettes with geometric or organic shapes (although it would also fit pets) as my 1+1.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at my funny cat:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" and using a stencil and some cool ink colours created my organic shaped background.  I then stamped the cat image in black ink and the sentiment just below him.  I adhered the panel to the card base with foam tape.  I didn't add any embellishments or extras as I wanted to keep my card as CAS as possible.  For the inside I cut another white panel and stamped the sentiment in black ink in the centre (it's an inside joke as that is what my friend and I used to call each other) and also stamped another smaller cat in the bottom right corner.  I adhered the panel to my card base with double sided tape.  A super quick card but it turned out really fun.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Addicted to CAS challenge - masculine

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - any occasion

Crafter's Cafe challenge - ATG optional clean & simple

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - one for the boys/men

Just Us Girls challenge - ATG stencil week

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

I can't wait to see what you create for this challenge; there are lots of fun options for this one. I would like to thank Maaike and the Team at AAA Cards challenge for the opportunity to be a guest designer; please go and check out their amazing creations and leave them some love. 

Thank you so much for stopping by; I appreciate you taking the time to visit me and leave me comments.  I'll be back on Tuesday with my card for the AAA Birthday challenge so I hope you can call back again and check it out.  

Love and hugs,

card ingredients:

Funky Fossil Designs - what meow? stamp set

MFT - paint strokes stencil

MFT - smitten kitten stamp (for outside sentiment)

Neat & Tangled - kitty's favourite things (for inside sentiment) - store sadly closed

Gina K Designs - ink pads - lucky clover, ocean mist and blue raspberry

Versafine - onyx black ink 

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card (currently not available but this 250gsm smooth white card is an alternative in stock here)

AAA Birthday challenge #71 - Masculine

Good morning friends and welcome to March and the first day of meteorological spring *yay*.  I'm sharing my card for this month's AAA Birthday challenge and this month our theme is 'masculine'. Now I know we all prefer to make pretty, girly, flowery creations but we do occasionally have to make cards for the men in our lives lol!  Please take on our challenge this month and get creating some masculine makes. Our guest designer this month is the lovely Ella so please pop over to her blog and leave her some love.

It was my nephew's birthday last week so it was perfect timing for my masculine make.  I had a new die set that I wanted to use so set to work.  This card would be suitable for males of all ages and full disclosure - my nephew was 36 this year!  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A close up of the monsters:

Plus I decorated the inside:

As my card was for a family member I made a 5" x 7" card size as always.  I began by cutting a panel from fog card 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" and used an embossing folder for some fun texture.  I added a black mat panel behind with double sided tape.  I die cut all the elements for the monsters from card in my scraps bin and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I stamped the 'monster' sentiment onto alcohol marker friendly card, coloured it with Promarkers and used the coordinating die to cut it out.  I also die cut the letters to spell 'nephew' from black card 4 times and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I stamped rest of the sentiment onto white card with black ink and used sentiment strip dies to cut them out.  Now that I had all my elements ready I arranged them onto my card.  I added the die cut monsters and 'monster' sentiment with foam squares and the remainder with liquid glue.  I didn't add any embellishments as I thought there was enough going on, especially with the embossed background.  Instead of adding foam tape for dimension I used 4 layers of scrap card behind my panel and added it to my card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" and adhered this to a black mat panel with double sided tape.  I embossed another piece of fog card and cut it into two strips, adhering one to the top and one to the bottom of the panel with double sided tape.  For a fun twist I partially die cut one of the monsters and adhered him at the bottom left of the panel so that it looked like he was peeking over the embossed panel.  Finally I stamped a sentiment in the centre with black ink.  The panel was added to my card base with double sided tape.  A really fun card and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  It could be sent to a 4 year old or a 40 year old I think!

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

As You Like It challenge - masculine or feminine (I do find feminine cards easier to make but enjoy the challenge of making masculine cards.  I have a hubby, 2 sons, and a nephew so had lots of practice)

Can You Handle The Pressure challenge - ATG embossing with a twist of masculine

Creative Knockouts challenge - finish the inside

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - fantasy/myth

Halloween & Other Occasions challenge - birthday

Mix It Up challenge - ATG optionals layers

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

The Male Room challenge - monochrome (blues with neutral colours black, white & grey)

Try It On Tuesday challenge - Boss it (I used an embossing folder)

The Design Team have created amazing cards as always so please pop over to the blog and check them out and perhaps leave them some love on their personal blogs.

I hope you will be able to join in with the challenge this month but don't forget it has to be birthday themed. I can't wait to see your creations in the linky.

Have a great day.

Love and hugs,

card ingredients: 

Spellbinders - monster love pop die set

Spellbinders - splatter embossing folder - currently on sale!

Neat & Tangled - little monster stamp & die set (for monster word) - store now closed

Promarkers

MFT - little letters die set - retired

MFT - purr-fect birthday stamp (for partial sentiment)

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips dies

Gina K Designs - on the inside - birthday stamp (for inside sentiment)

Simon Says Stamp - fog card stock

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - currently not available

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

coloured card from scraps bin

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now closed

Krafty Chicks challenge #740 - Anything Goes

Good morning lovely friends.  I hope you're all doing ok and having a great week so far.  It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and as we have a 5 week month we have an extra 'anything goes' challenge for you, which on this occasion is hosted by Lori.  As the theme suggests you can make anything you like.  We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us. 

It was my friend's birthday recently so I used this opportunity to make her a card.  I bought a few things a few months ago when Heffy Doodle was closing down and especially bought this hot air balloon die as my friends loves them.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A close up of the image:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by die cutting and assembling the hot air balloon.  It wasn't too difficult especially as Lesley at Heffy Doodle had done a quick how-to video that I could follow.   I decided to go for a pink theme as it looked pretty against my blue background.  I searched through my stash and thought this fox would look ok in the basket, so I stamped him onto alcohol marker friendly card and coloured him with Promarkers.  I did have to do some detail fussy cutting and used a memento marker to go around the edges to make it look more finished but overall I think it looks pretty good.  I attached him into the basket with liquid glue.  I cut a white panel 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" and used a cloud stencil and some sea glass ink to create my cloud background.  I decided on placement for my balloon but before I stuck it down I stamped my sentiments in black ink.  The hot air balloon was then added with foam squares.  I added a black mat layer and then the panel was added to my card base with foam tape.   For the inside I cut another white panel and ink blended some clouds at the very bottom.  I die cut some extra bunting from the hot air balloon and adhered it with liquid glue.  I thought it looked like it was trailing in the breeze.  I stamped a sentiment in black ink in the centre of the panel.  Again I added a black mat layer and the panel was added to my card base with double sided tape.  I'm really happy with my card and think it turned out super cute.  

I would like to add my card into the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - die cuts/stencils (die cut balloon/stencilled clouds)

Allsorts challenge - cute and/or cuddly (full list of supplies at bottom of post)

A Place to Start challenge - ATG optional theme: use the colour pink

Crafty Catz challenge - ATG optional use dies/punches

Day of the Month Card Club challenge - National Tic Tac Day - die/scene/friends

I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG or flowers

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - stencil it (cloud stencil in background)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

Stencil Fun challenge - must use a stencil optional theme: anything Halloween

The Cutie Pie challenge - pink and pretty

Try a Sketch on Tuesday challenge - sketch #657

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'Anything Goes'' challenge and I cannot wait to see your creations in our linky.  Please leave some love for my fellow chicks - Leanne, Diane and Lori.  

Thank you so much for stopping by; I appreciate your lovely comments. 

Love and hugs, 

card ingredients:

Heffy Doodle - hot air balloon die set (store now sadly closed)

Neat & Tangled - so foxy stamp set (store sadly closed in 2021)

Promarkers

MFT - mini cloud edges stencil (retired)

Gina K Designs - delicate flowers stamp set (for outside sentiments)

Gina K Designs - sea glass ink pad

Uniko Stamps - birthday wishes stamp set (for inside sentiment)

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card (currently not available but they have 240gsm in stock here)

Hobbycraft - A4 black card

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card (store now sadly closed)

Sakura - no. 10 white gelly roll pen

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

pre-made 5" x 7" card black

Seize the Birthday challenge

Hello friends, I hope you're having a great day.  I was lucky enough to win a recent challenge so I am guest designing (or the surprise guest as they call it) for the Seize the Birthday challenge this week.

The theme for this challenge is 'put your sentiment on a banner'.  I decided to use an image that already included a banner but you could make your own banner or use a banner strip.   I watched a YouTube video by Sam Calcott at Mixed Up Craft and she made a teepee card; it looked really fun so decided to have a go.  It's not 100% perfect but I am really happy with how it turned out.  There are lots of photos to show each side and how it lies flat.  Here is my teepee card:

close up of the adorable image:

This is where you would write your personal message:

and here is the other side:

 

here is it lying flat:

and here is how it would be in the envelope:

Isn't it just so much fun; I think all my cards will now be like this lol!  All you need is a velcro dot to keep it closed and it will stand up really nicely.  It is simply made with 3 x squares (any size) but I followed Sam's tutorial so mine were 5"x5" and it will fit in a 5"x7" envelope.  You can find the tutorial here.  I just matted and layered some kraft card and very old patterned paper, added my image onto a white circle and finally finished with some gold pearls.  The little butterflies were also from the stamp set.  All the images were coloured with Promarkers.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Craft Rocket challenge - use dies

Little Red Dragon challenge - things that fly (hope my dinky little butterflies are ok)

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - fancy folds

Allsorts challenge - birthdays or ATG

Aud Sentiments challenge - fun folds and/or summer + a sentiment

Get Creative challenge - more than one fold

I hope you will find time to enter this fun challenge.  

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Card ingredients:

Neat & Tangled stamps - so foxy (no longer available)

Authentique - glowing 6 x 6 paper pack (no longer available)

Crafter's Companion - kraft cardstock

Gina K Designs - pearl mix (black, gold, silver)

Tonic Studios - basic circle dies

Clearly Besotted - mini messages (for sentiment)