Phoenix Inspirations

  Hello - it’s a long time since I last posted but I was asked to be a Guest Designer in  The Male Room  and I jumped at the chance. I set up the challenge blog a long time ago but had to give it up due to personal reasons. Since then it has carried on splendidly and today is their 200th challenge - how cool is that? So here is the challenge brief: Now to be totally honest with you I am a cat person and I very nearly did a cat card however, a dog is man's best friend and after all this is a male card so.................. Here we have a very excited trio of woofers out in the forest on their walkies! I used Stampin' Up sets for this card: Trees For Sale, Campology and Grassy Grove. Don't forget to pop over and take a look at all the other fab cards from the DT and leave some love. J xx

Today is a very special day for me. Five years ago I set up The Male Room - a challenge blog strictly for male orientated cards. Sadly though I had to give it up a while ago as I was going through some personal problems. But the team did not give up and the challenges still happen every two weeks and they have just gone from strength to strength. Please do go and visit  The Male Room The best thing is though Jane asked me to contribute a card to celebrate the five year anniversary - I couldn't say no could I? Here is my card I have used my Waterfront set again to create a sunset scene. Lots of masking with post it notes and sponging with yellows, oranges and reds. The birds are from High Tide but make a lovely addition to the scene. The Happy Birthday image is from You're Inspiring. So as you know I'm staying with my daughter in Hereford - haven't got to the outdoor gym yet - maybe tomorrow! I did however fit in a trip to Hobbycraft where I ...

Today I have a card to show you that I have made to enter  The Male Room  challenge. It's a challenge blog which I set up but sadly had to leave earlier in the year - I always vowed I would try and take part in a few of their challenges and at long last I have this.......... the challenge by the way is here is my card Created mostly in Crumb Cake card stock and ink all that has been added is a little burlap ribbon and my washi tape. The tiny gold charm is an anchor that mum had floating around in her button box - so I nabbed it! Hope you like my card, tomorrow I will share a card I made for my daughter's boyfriend - I'm really into my male cards at the moment! See you soon xx

I managed to make a few DT cards before I came to mum and dad's last week, mainly because I was commissioned to make some Valentine's cards. I based them around my DT requirements and here's one created for  The Male Room  - the theme being VALENTINE I used World Map, Traveler, Gorgeous Grunge and One in a Million stamp sets and a colour combo of Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake and Early Espresso inks. I punched a small heart from Glimmer Paper and coloured it with a Cherry Cobbler Blendie. Dad is not so bad today and has gone out to lunch with mum - leaving me a little time to get this post up - thanks for stopping by xx

Good morning - it's a Wednesday and we have another new challenge ready for you in  The Male Room . This week the theme is SHADES OF BLUE. Blue always reminds me of water so that's what I did. I used the Wetlands stamp set with that gorgeous goose image - take a look Night of Navy is the main blue used on this card with some Soft Sky thrown in for good measure! Thanks for looking - see you soon xx

Golly it's cold this morning in my little cottage. The garden is looking very bleak and the wind is making the trees sound very spooky indeed - I can't wait for Spring! Meanwhile we have a new challenge this morning in  The Male Room  - the theme for the next two weeks is - NEW BEGINNINGS. I didn't make a card this time but another desk calendar -take a look I cannot take credit for this as I followed the video tutorial over on Paula's blog  HERE  -it's a lovely clear tutorial and very easy to make so do have a go! I have used Soft Suede and Early Espresso card stock for this with a little Very Vanilla too and the image is from the Traveler set. The base has also been stamped with the World Map stamp - it's huge and perfect for manly backgrounds such as this. Don't forget that this is a very special time at Stampin' Up - if you want FREE goodies take a look at my post  HERE  and drop me an email to place your orders.

It's time for a new challenge in  The Male Room  and this week the theme is CHRISTMAS. So this is the card I will be giving my other half this year - he never reads my blog so he won't be getting a sneak peek! Here it is take a look This card is inspired by some artwork I spyed recently at a local craft fair. The artwork in question was enamel on metal by an artist called Kevin France and both myself and Clive fell in love with it - it's very expensive however so this will have to do till we win the lottery! I've used soooo many stamps to create this: stamps I've made myself, some Barbara Gray stamps and of course some Stampin' Up stamps. The foliage stamp at the bottom actually has a moose attached to it - I just coloured the bits I needed with a marker! To make it a bit more Christmassy I was going to add some glitter - I didn't think my hubby would like it so I left it off - shame, I LOVE glitter! Thanks for looking - do pop over to the blog...

Well that's a tall order - all the men I know would not appreciate having ribbon on their cards. However a bit of burlap perhaps?? What do you think? The card was one I made a while ago when I was asked to demonstrate masks at a local craft club. It's one I borrowed so I don't know the make - sorry. The mask was placed on to Kraft card stock and I sponged over it with Stampin' Up's Craft White ink. Early Espresso was used to stamp the leaves and the tiny wooden acorn was attached with a strand of the burlap ribbon. This is the theme of the challenge over in  The Male Room  and I really do look forward to seeing what everyone else does to 'Make Ribbon Masculine'! Bye for now xx

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

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

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

It's time for another challenge in  The Male Room  and this time we would like to Autumn and Fall projects. Don't forget that your cards or projects need to be male only - no fancy frills here please! Here is my DT card for this challenge A very clean and simple card from me today - a tree with a background of autumnal splodges! The sentiment is stamped onto a piece of card stock punched with the Decorative Label punch. The sentiment itself is from a new set that can be earned for FREE by placing orders of £200 or more before p+p - that's in addition to all the other benefits that go along with orders of that size. The set itself is called Good Greetings and includes words in a beautiful font for any occasion You only have until October 31st to take advantage of this offer so please do get in touch with me if you would like to place an order or book a party. You can get in touch by emailing me on deezinesart@icloud .com Please don't forget to...

It's time for another 'Male Only' card over in  The Male Room  and this week the theme is STARS. For my card I have taken inspiration from one of my stamping heroes - Michelle Zindorf and I have tried to recreate this card I found on Pinterest  HERE . Here is my card Materials - Stampin' Up Stamps: Lovely as a Tree Ink: Island Indigo, Not Quite Navy, Black Stazon, Craft White, White Chalk Marker Card Stock: Whisper White To order any of the above current items or items from the Annual Catalogue please e-mail me on deezinesart@gmail.com - a catalogue pdf can be found in the side bar. Items can be delivered direct to you - just £4.95 p+p any size order. Also see the special offers above in the top tabs - thanks So before you get too starry eyed looking at this please do check out all the work by the stars in my dt! xx

Now pink is not a colour that springs to mind when thinking about men ........usually! However this week in  The Male Room  we want you to do just that - Make Pink Masculine. Here is my card I found loads of tutorials on YouTube for this kind of folded shirt and I just so happened to have some lovely pink DSP with shirt like stripes on it. The teeny tiny pearls were coloured with a black marker. Materials - Stampin' Up (except Kraft card base) Stamps: Morning Meadow (retired) Ink: Basic Black Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Basic Black Paper: Subtles DSP (retired) Accessories: Big Shot, Windows Framelits, Basic Pearls To order any of the above current items or items from the Annual Catalogue please e-mail me on deezinesart@gmail.com - a catalogue pdf can be found in the side bar. Items can be delivered direct to you - just £4.95 p+p any size order. Also see the special offers above in the top tabs - thanks You can also shop directly from my Stampin' Up ...

It's time for another challenge in  The Male Room  and this week the challenge is to make a male inspired project using the theme of GEOMETRIC. I really had to get my thinking cap on for this one! But after reading up the definition in the dictionary Characterized by or decorated with regular lines and shapes: a geometric pattern I came up with this card So I'm really hoping this qualifies! Materials - Stampin' Up Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Morning Meadow (retired) Ink: Lost Lagoon, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake Card Stock: Whisper White Accessories: Mosaic Embossing Folder and Punch, Modern Label Punch, Dimentionals (To order any of the above current items or items from the Annual Catalogue please e-mail me on deezinesart@gmail.com - a catalogue pdf can be found in the side bar. Items can be delivered direct to you - just £4.95 p+p any size order. Also see the special offers above in the top tabs - thanks). You can also shop directly from my Stampin...

In honour of our Dads this week  The Male Room  have a Father's Day themed challenge - here's my card Very clean and simple this card just using monochrome off cuts of DSP, a label from the Apothecary Accents die set and a sentiment from the Delightful Dozen set. The label is tied on using white bakers twine. Hope you have fun looking at all the other dt cards today over on the blog! (To order any of the above current items or items from the Annual Catalogue please e-mail me on deezinesart@icloud.com - a catalogue pdf can be found in the side bar along with the NEW SPRING/SUMMER MINI. Items can be delivered direct to you - just £4.95 p+p any size order. Also see the special offers above in the top tabs - thanks). You can also shop now directly from my Stampin' Up website - click  HERE  to take a look. Please don't forget that for a limited time you can join my Stampin' Up Team of deeziners for just £50 - take a look at the details -  HERE ...

It's time for a new challenge over in  The Male Room . We make male only cards and projects and this week we want to see some TREES AND LEAVES. Well - out came the Lovely as a Tree set - my go to set for men - but this time I thought a different style of card was in order - a BOX CARD - take a look I also used the fabulous Hardwood stamp for this. A gorgeous background stamp and it's huge. However I have a tip for you - buy the wood mount style. How awful would it be if you bought this wonderful stamp, opened it up and realised that you didn't have an acrylic block big enough?! So I'm thinking that this will be my dad's Father's Day card - what will yours be? Can't wait to visit and find out! Hope you have fun looking at all the other dt cards today over on the blog! (To order any of the above current items or items from the Annual Catalogue please e-mail me on deezinesart@icloud.com - a catalogue pdf can be found in the side bar along wit...

This is one of my favourite quotes from one of my favourite films - I also had a huge crush on Michael J Fox back then too! So really I don't know why it took me so long to figure out what I was going to do for this week's SCI - FI challenge over in  The Male Room . It was also very fortuitous that crafty friend Louise was around at mine having a play and had in her bag Rev Up The Fun - check it out - it's a fab set. Here is my card For anyone not familiar with the film the car drives until it reaches 88 miles per hour and then goes back in time to the date set. I just love the flames coming from the exhaust pipe. Materials - Stampin' Up (except die cut numbers) Stamps: Rev up the Fun Ink: Basic Grey, Smoky Slate,Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Crushed Curry Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Basic Grey Accessories: Dimensionals (To order any of the above current items or items from the Annual Catalogue please e-mail me on deezinesart@icloud.com - a catalogue pdf can...

This theme used to fill me with horror - I used to dislike vintage so much but with The Open Sea from Stampin' Up it's easy, and just right for this week's new challenge over in  The Male Room . There is a gorgeous sailing galleon that is just begging to be made vintage and teamed with the old style World Map looks great - take a look Materials - Stampin' Up Stamps: The Open Sea, World Map, Loving Thoughts Ink: Chocolate Chip Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Baked Brown Sugar, Chocolate Chip (To order any of the above current items or items from the Annual Catalogue please e-mail me on deezinesart@icloud.com - a catalogue pdf can be found in the side bar along with the NEW SPRING/SUMMER MINI. Items can be delivered direct to you - just £4.95 p+p any size order. Also see the special offers above in the top tabs - thanks). You can also shop now directly from my Stampin' Up website - click  HERE  to take a look. Please don't forget that if your or...

I have a brief day off from hospital visiting today so I can actually (I hope) write a decent post! Today's challenge in  The Male Room  is a colour challenge -                   BLUE ,  GREEN  and  BROWN Here is my card - don't forget it has to be male Gorgeous Grunge is great for male cards and doesn't need much else with it. I don't do messy stamping if I can help it so this set is perfect for me to add a bit of grungy distressing! Materials - Stampin' Up Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge, Morning Meadow Ink: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip (To order any of the above current items or items from the Annual Catalogue please e-mail me on deezinesart@gmail.com - a catalogue pdf can be found in the side bar along with the NEW SPRING/SUMMER MINI. Items can be delivered direct to you - just £4.95 p+p any size order. Also see the special offers above in the top tabs...