Big 4 O

And the last card I made this week was for my partner, who turned 40 yesterday! Happy Birthday, Babe!
I am fully aware it lacks inspiration and a lot of things, and that's being generous! but I was pretty tight for time and I had to come up with something at 6am before he got up! Not a card I am proud of, but that's the way it went!
Sentiment by TLC creations, Martini glass by Wendymade; old man drawing from the net.

Hope you are all keeping well. It has been another quick visit to blogland for me today, we'll see when my mojo is back and I feel like blogging properly again. Til then, all the best! xx

Cool Dude

This is the first of a few birthday cards I have managed to make in the last week. It was for an 11 year old boy; I used a Sans Designs image and Kraft card.
Simple, uh?

Teenage card

This was probably one of the quickest cards ever - you know the situation... "Could you make a birthday card for like...now!?" So I did. It is for a teenager I don't know much about, so kept it very very simple. Not sure the guy is the "Converse type", if you know what I mean, but it should do the trick, given the short notice :-)
The card itself is pretty small, 9x11cm; the Converse trainer is an image from a drawing tutorial (Dragoart), coloured with Letraset Promarkers. Paper leftover and Hero Arts sentiment.

Suitable challenges:

Crafts and me - Birthday

Craft your Passion - Anything goes + brown

Digital Tuesday - Anything goes

2 Sisters - Anything goes

You're HOW old?

My card today is for a good friend who celebrates his 45, I think (LOL), next week. Since the 40s are a bit of a sensitive age for some people, I decided to use a humorous sentiment (from TLC Creations, btw). The backing papers are a present from my dear friend Christine. The image is a colouring page which I coloured with Letraset Promarkers; Nestabilities die cuts; and I used twine and a wooden button to give it a more masculine touch.

Some suitable challenges:

Cards and THings - Colour challenge

Aud sentiments - Make us laugh

Card Making Mamas - Die cuts

Whimsy Stamps - Buttons

Inky Impressions - Anything goes

Charisma Cardz - Anything goes

Sweet Stamping - Anything goes

Happy Halloween!

Don't forget to change the clock tonight!

Ahoy Mateys!

I have to admit that my 7 year old son keeps me fairly busy in many aspects, and especially when it comes to crafting :-)
He has so many little friends and birthday parties to attend to (with handmade cards by mum, of course), he surely has a better social life than me!!
This particular card is for one of his best mates, Darragh, who turned 6 recently. For it I used
Pirate Ethan, from Pollycrafts, coloured with Letraset Promarkers. The fantastic backing paper is from Free Digital Scrapbooking (thanks, Marie! http://www.freedigitalscrapbooking.com/)
The sketch is an old one from Eat Sleep Stamp.

Some challenges:
Totally Stampalicious - Emboss it
Creative Inspirations - Friendship
ABC - Anything goes

Aud Sentiments - Anything goes
Penny's Papercrafty - Anything goes

Father's Day #82

Good morning! Another Monday and another challenge at Ooh La la; this fortnight we celebrate Father's Day (19th June) /Special Man so make sure you visit the blog and enter your card here. 

My card features the new Boys to Men CD; I just love these funny images!

Onto some challenges:

Creative Inspirations - Father's Day card

Crafts us Crazy - Father's Day

SentimentalSundays - Father's Day

Fab'n'Funky - Magnificent Men

The Stamping Boutique - Men Only

Mami Doodles - Card for a Man/boy

Secret Crafter- Male card 

The Paper Variety - For the guys

CCEE - Sports Theme

Have a lovely week!

Wizard

Apologies for the lack of posting - life has been busy, or busier than usual, I should say :-)  I did get to do a tiny bit of crafting in between bottles and nappies - a gift box for a newborn girl, which hopefully I will be able to post soon (as soon as I get the time to take a picture, edit it, etc, that is!), and a couple of cards for upcoming OLL challenges, but I hardly had any time to check out or comment on other blogs :-(

I've been meaning to use this digital image, Alfonzo, from Little Musings for ages - I think it is cute and ideal for a boy's birthday card. I finally got the chance last week when I needed a birthday card for my friend's 9 year old son. The image was coloured with Letraset Promarkers. I also used a digital star paper for the background, and wooden stars as embellishments; added some 3D gloss finish for dimension and a computer generated sentiment. Simple.

Onto some challenges:

Simon Says - Card for a child

Fussy and Fancy - Card for a child

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - One for the boys

Paper Sundaes - Childhood memories

Ladybug Crafts ink - Celebration

Totally Stampalicious - Anything goes

Earthling Birthday Card

Here's a birthday card for my partner's nephew. The boy is big into martial arts but I have made so many cards with this theme for him over the last couple of years that I thought I would try something different. He is turning 8 - you don't think the alien/robot theme is too childish for him, do you? Honest opinions, please :-)

All the backing papers are digis from Papercrafts Inspirations, and so is the alien; sentiment created in MS Office Word; circle Nestabilities.
I am entering the card into the following challenges:
Top Tip Tuesday - Birthday
Creative Craft World - Card for a male
FairyTale - Children
Stamping Vacation - No flowers
Creative Card Crew - No flowers
Simon Says - ANything goes
Send a Smile 4 kids - Anything goes
Paper Playtime - Anything goes

OLL challenge #75: A card for a man

Good morning and welcome to another OLL challenge!

This fortnight we are looking for Man cards.

I don't know you, but masculine cards are my least favourite type of cards - it is always such a challenge to find the right image or embellishments or colours - not too girly, not too colourful, not too fussy. But this time I used one of OLL CDs and I am happy with the result.

Blue base card; backing paper and topper from the Watercolour Memories CD; the birthday sentiment is a Hero Arts stamp; ther rest from my stash.

If you, like me, struggle to come up with ideas for man's cards, have a look at the OLL site for more inspiration and great designs!

Onto some challenges:
Crafty Ann - Birthday card
Fun with Shapes and More - Happy Birthday
Creative Craft World - For a male
Stamp Something - Use a digi
Kraftin'Kimmie - Twine or floss
Paper Sundaes - Stripes

Have a nice week!

Man card

A man card, this time for a golf player.

I decided to use the leftovers of the backing paper I used for this other man card; Papermania´s For him Golf stamps and Fourth Dimension stamp (golf ball); the buttons I made mysef with different shades of green Fymo; green and blue cardstock, blue felt and ribbon from my stash; Nestabilites; faux stitching.

Some challenges:
Inspirational Card Sketches - Sketch 102
Top Tip Tuesday - All stitched up
Colour Throwdown - Light green, dark green and blue
Creative Belli - Felt/Fabric
Fab'n'Funky - Make your own (buttons)
Creative Inspirations - Plain and simple

Thanks for looking!

Another male card

This week seems to be mainly about male cards. And god knows they are far from my favourite and I usually struggle a lot to come up with ideas :-(
But hey, they needed to be done and here's my latest, for a 14th year old relative. I know he likes rugby but for the last few years I have made rugby related cards for him, so I could just simply not do another one. Plus his parents were recently telling us how his "interests" are shifting slightly, like any teenager I guess... he has started developing an interest for...yes, you got it right... girls... LOL!

I hand cut several stars in different sizes, matt them and mounted them on 3D pads. Some other stars were punched/cut so that the (green or white) cardstock underneath could be seen. I stamped the sentiment HB2U to make it look "cooler" :-) and I finally added a piece of twine for extra texture. Paper and cardstock are leftovers I had in my stash.

My card enters:
AiFactory - Punch/die cut
Dutch Dare - Clean and simple
Pixie Dust Studio - About men/boy
Cute Card Thursday - Antyhing goes

Have a nice weekend!

A birthday card for a Chef

I cannot take all the credit for this card because my son, nearly 6, coloured the digital image with his own crayons. You see, this birthday card is for my youngest brother, his uncle, who is a chef, so my son wanted to participate in the making of it. And fair play to him, he helped me a lot! I am sure my brother will be very chuffed with such a creative card! ;-)

If I am not mistaken the chef image is from Bits of Cheer, coloured as explained by my son with his own crayons and highlighted with Stickles, mounted with 3D pads for dimension; the yummy ice-cream and cupacakes backing paper is a download, EHI Make a Wish; the sentiment was created in Word; Cuttlebug Happy Birthday embossing folder; Nellie's and Spellbinders die cuts.

Some challenges:
Crafty Cardmakers - Dry embossing
CRAFT - Dry embossing
One stop craft - Embossing
Top Tip Tuesday - Image/Sentiment
Sisterhood of Crafters - Birthday
Party Time Tuesdays - Photo inspiration
2 Sisters - Birthday
Cupcake Inspirations- cupcakes
Crazy 4 challenges - Square card
Fairy Tale - Anything goes
Lexi's Creations - Anything goes

Male card

I remembered only this morning about my friend's birthday on Thursday! Doh!
Because he lives in Amsterdam and the card needed to be on the post by this afternoon the latest, I momentarily got into a bit of a panic - the job could have ended in disaster with all the rush; however, I must admit I am pretty happy with the result. I actually feel it is a double winner: a quick AND a male card that I am satisfied with!? It must be a first ;-)
I think the reason why I feel so comfortable with the result is because of the great TLC image and sentiment I decided to use. Make sure you visit Paulette's wonderful blog, Create with TLC - she has LOTS of beautiful, funny and vintage images and sentiments, many for free!!

It is yet another CAS card, by far my favourite style; the lovely stripe paper, distressed, was a present from my good friend (non-blogger) Christine; the blue and green cardstock are from my own stash, as is the blue ribbon; image coloured with Letraset Promarkers, mounted on 3D pads and highlighted with embossing fluid for a bit of dimension.

There are a couple of challenges I can enter this card onto:
I used the Paper Tree Design sketch for this week; on Crazy 4 Challenges they are looking for Square cards and the ladies on Ladybug Crafts Ink want to see ribbon.

So that's it for me for today! Wrap up well! It's cold and windy out there! :-)
Thanks for your comments!

Whatever I want!

It's my father-in-law's birthday on Sunday and like every year this is a time when I am not looking forward to making a card. Why? Well, he is a lovely person, a real character, and a fun-loving man, who I know now, likes receiving only humourous cards. I have discovered that fact over the years and after a few disappointments. He does not do it on purpose, he simply does not like elegant or serious-looking cards so, much to my astonishment, he often used to discard my one after hardly reading it, while all the humourous cards had a special place on the mantelpiece! So as challenging as it is already for me to create a male card, it is a double challenge to come up with a humourous card for him every year.

And so this morning I set myself to the difficult task - nice cup of decaff latte in front of me, clean desk... And I got thinking which stamps were particularly funny and appropriate and would be worth considering for the challenge, and immediately Bugaboo came to my mind! Have you ever seen their digis? I have purchased a few over the last year or so and they are fantastic, especially if you are looking for a humourous style. I think this old fella is called Gus and maybe not so much his looks, but defenitely his attitude really fits my FIL's profile! LOL!

The beach huts in the background are a recent freebie from Little Musings. All images coloured with Letraset Promarkers and mounted on 3D pads to give some perspective. The beach effect I created with brown paper and distress ink; the birthday sentiment is a sticker from my own stash.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:
ABC - B is for Blue (My card is only partially blue so I am not sure they will accept my entry)
YNS - Bold Bright Summer colours
CRAFT - Photo inspiration (I have used the colours of the jellies as inspiration)
Cards for Men - Decoupage
Aud Sentiments - Anything goes
Stampin' for the weekend - Anything goes

Thanks for your comments! Have a nice weekend!

Birthday card for a guitar lover

Last card for today probably since my time in the internet cafe is nearly up! It is a birthday card for my friend's son, who turned 12 the other day. Gosh, time flies, I still remember when Sean was born, so cute, so small...and he's a teenager already!  He loves playing the guitar and I believe he is pretty good at it, so this Little Musing image seemed perfect to wish him a Happy Birthday. I coloured the image with Letraset Promarkers, my favourite means of colouring at the moment I must add.

I am entering the card onto the following challenges:

For Fun challenges - favourite colouring method

Stamp Something - use a digital image

Have a great weekend everyone!

For the Guitar lover

This is another comissioned Birthday card, this time for a guitar lover. 

Both the guitar and the musical background stamps are from Fourth Dimension; coloured with Letraset Promarkers; the papers are all scraps from my stash; Distress inks; PaperMania brads.

All sorts: Sketch
Aifactory: Distress it
Totally Gorjuss: For the boys
Incy Wincy Designs: Music

Nautical theme card

Good sunny day to you all! Today I have a few new cards to show you... Let's see:
This is an order for a Birthday card I received last night (in case you are wondering "Zorionak" is Happy Birthday in Basque). The gentleman the card is addressed to used to be (or would have liked to be?) a sailor hence the nautical theme.

The nautical paper is a download; the alphas are rub-ons; stamp by Crafty Individuals; Distress Ink; CoreDinations Blue cardstock; I took the idea of the rope from this card.

Some challenges
Aifactory: distress it!
Crafts and Me: Birthdays
Gingersnap Creations: shades of Blue
Rosie's D: Something Blue

Hope you like it.

Sit down and relax!

It's Father's Day on Sunday and oh boy- am I late with my cards! I only started with my father-in-law's one (which needs to travel and therefore should already have been on yesterday's post!) this morning, but I am quite happy with the result. God knows that the man needs a day off, put his feet up and relax, so I thought these images from BirdsCards were super suitable.
There seem to be a bunch of challenges this week with man/boy/father theme, so here we go:

Creative Craft - For the man in your life

E-Dink Digi Stamps - Father's Day

Tanda Stamps - For the Big man

Crafty Cardmakers - Cards for Men

CupCake Craft challenge - One for the Boys

Incy Wincy Designs - One for the Guys

Pear Tree Designs - Father's Day

Double Dutch Challenge - Father's Day

Stampacular - A Tribute to all fathers

Cards for Men - Father's Day

Male birthday card

Finally I produce a card! This one is for a golf lover; I kept it simple, man-ish colours.

I used Nestabilities and Fiskars punches; the golf ball stamp is by Dimension Fourth; the sentiments from different sets: Papermania For Him, Daisy and Dandelion, and Studio G alphas; paper and cardstock from my own stash.

Since there is a bit of green, my card enters the Stampavie and More challenge of this week.

Cowboy birthday card

I needed a quick birthday boy card yesterday and I created this one, inspired by LoubyLoo.

My card enters 4 challenges: Crafty Creations, For Fun Challenges, Aifactory Challenge, S2G - all with the theme anything goes.