Phoenix Inspirations

It's time for another fortnightly challenge in  The Male Room  and this time the theme is WOOD. It's not a problem making 'male' cards any more not when you have the fabulous Hardwood stamp -it's huge but creates gorgeous backgrounds - here is my card I have teamed it up with the equally manly Walk in the Wild - I really do love that moose! - and the Lovely as a Tree - always a great standby for male cards. Embellishments are the Modern Label Punch with a few gems - coloured black with a marker. This card is as we speak flying across the Channel to my Facebook swap buddy for this month - hoe she likes it! Bye for now xx

I think I'm actually going to be on time for a challenge for a change! Today at  Make My Monday  the lovely Suzi B would like to see SHABBY CHIC cards and projects. I'm not a huge fan of this but I must say I did have fun making this card - take a look I've used a couple of retired items - the dress form die cut and the ribbon flowers, and the pink ribbon was some I've had in my stash for ages but the rest is Stampin' Up. Daydream Medallions, Kraft, Crumb Cake and Pear Pizzazz card stock, leaves from Kinda Eclectic and the scallops were made by stamping and punching loads of little hearts from the Kind and Cosy stamp set - they were attached using Tombow glue to the underside of the card stock. Don't forget to pop over to the blog to take a look at all the other DT cards - there's loads more shabby-ness over there! Bye for now x

I should have posted this last Thursday to coincide with the new challenge at  CAS - Colours & Sketches  but it's been a very hectic end to the week - beading class, monthly workshop, art exhibition and charity auction to name but a few of the things I have been up to - phew! Crafting has taken a back seat but I did manage to rustle this up using a few scraps I had lying around on my craft table The main panel had been made for another card but didn't quite work a the time, the borders were offcuts from card prepared for my monthly workshop - luckily I hadn't cleared up after doing this else they would have ended up in the bin! All that was added was the label and rhinestones and the bird which was stamped, coloured with pencils and cut out and attached with dimensionals. Here's the sketch I was following I've jiggled it around a bit and rotated it but it's mostly all there. OK - off now to catch up on a bit of card making - see you soo

It's nearly time for my monthly craft workshop - here's what we will be making I found the inspiration for these cards on Monica's  BLOG  - she had used a different stamp set but I CASEd the colours and layout. So - if you are in or around the Malvern area and fancy a fun evening of craft, conversation and cake please get in touch on deezinesart@icloud.com.

I am just loving the new Holiday Home stamp set from Stampin' Up, it's really useful for quick one layer cards like this Which is lucky 'cos this is my card for the new challenge over on  Make My Monday . The theme is Halloween - can you tell which house is haunted? The images were all stamped in a basic black ink and a moon was sponged through a post it note mask with Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie ink - you have to use Pumpkin Pie ink on all Halloween cards - it's the law! It is very Autumnal here now and my garden is full of fallen leaves - it makes a very pretty carpet of reds, yellows and oranges. It's my favourite time of year and I love to paint Autumn leaves - just like this one in fact I painted this a few years ago but found it framed and forgotten in an old cupboard. I'm sorting out all my painting gear as I am thinking of starting to paint again and this was at the back of the cupboard where I keep my paints, brushes and paper

This week at  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown  we are having a One Layer Challenge So - quite a quick and simple card from me - take a look I stamped the images from Ornamental Pine on to Naturals White card stock and the images have a grainy textured look to them and it really was very quick to do: colour and stamp the branch with Baked Brown Sugar and Mossy Meadow in to opposite corners. Before re-inking stamp in to the other corners to give a very faint image. Ink up the pine cone with Baked Brown Sugar and stamp the the other opposite corners - again stamping before re-inking. Add the sentiment in Real Red and with the thin end of a Real Red marker draw in a partial frame. Simples! Don't forget to pop over the blog and take a look at the other dt entries - see you soon xx

I love colour challenges and all this month at  CAS - Colours & Sketches  I get to choose! Here's what I have picked for you this week Now remember - just because we have used Stampin' Up colour names you don't have to use Stampin' Up products. Please just use what you have closest in your stash: Light Peach, Dark Peach/Coral and a Dark Green. Here is my card So - apart from the above colours I have used two stamp sets: Kinda Eclectic and Beautiful Bunch. Today sees many Stampin' Up demonstrators whizzing off to Brussels as it's the start of the Annual Convention. I am a little sad that I'm not there and guess what? I won a ticket to go for free!!! Why am I not there I hear you ask? Well I would have needed to get a passport - essential I think unless I wanted to be chased by Interpol! Plus things being so unpredictable with my dad I decided to gift my ticket to one of my extended downline demos. So - all you lovely demos out there

It's time for a new challenge over in  The Male Room  - the fortnightly challenge blog specifically for male cards. The theme this time is - HALLOWEEN. Take a look at my card Made with images from the Holiday Home set this card measures about 4 x 4 inches - the perfect size for these dinky spooks, bats and pumpkins. Mainly just stamped in black I have added a touch of Pumpkin Pie - who wouldn't, some Daffodil Delight and a very light touch of Real Red which you can find in the sun behind the house. Thanks for looking - see you soon xx

The challenge this week at  Make My Monday  is numbers. I recently did a card class where we made number cards and here is one of the cards we made I'd made some number templates - large and small so that they 'nested' and the large ones formed both ends of the card. The word comes from the Project Life Day to Day photopolymer set and the baubles are from the now retired Holiday Ornaments set. There is actually loads of glitter on the baubles but the light hasn't been right for taking photos so it doesn't show up. Thanks for looking - see you soon xx

It's time for another colour challenge over on  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown  - they are pretty funky and not very traditional - but still very workable Here is my card This is a totally different approach for me as I have used MDS - My Digital Studio. It's Stampin' Up's digital card/scrapbooking program and it comes with loads of stuff. I'm still working my way around it - believe me I am such a techno-phobe - and this is my first finished piece. I printed off a piece of decorative paper with some snowflakes on - the snowflakes are in the Bright Hopes collection and I was able to colour them in Stampin' Up colours: Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, Regal Rose and Garden Green. I then printed off the main panel - the sentiment was digital too. I had a few offcuts of DSP so I cut out some snowflakes and added a few gems. It was printed on to Whisper White card stock and I used Garden Green for my mats. I'm not sure that I shall be doing

We have a fab clean and simple sketch for you this week at  CAS - Colours & Sketches  - take a look Here is my card I love Kraft card stock and Stampin' Up do it in 12" x 12" pages now. I love stamping on it and find that it takes colours very well. I've used both markers and Blendabilities on this this plus my white chalk marker. The stamp set is A World of Dreams and I've added a couple of strips of gold washi tape. Hope you like it - see you soon xx

Do you have difficulty creating cards for the men in your lives? Well if you do why not hop over to  The Male Room . We run fortnightly challenges and at the moment we have a lovely sketch designed for us by dt member Deborah - take a look Here is my card Materials - Stampin' Up Stamps: Traveler, Loving Thoughts Ink: Basic Gray, Early Espresso Card Stock: Kraft, Basic Gray, Very Vanilla Accessories:Washi Tape, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Basic Rhinestones To place an order for Stampin' Up products please email me on deezinesart@icloud.com - there will be a charge of £4.95 for p+p but anything you order can be dispatched direct to you anywhere in the UK So today is World Cardmaking Day - I shall be celebrating this by posting all the cards I have missed posting over the last few days - the above was no.1 - might also have a play too! Happy crafting folks xx