Let’s try that again….

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So much for my plans of posting up a Christmas card a day in December…..
For those of you who haven’t heard my sad news, my beautiful niece Jacqui, passed away suddenly on the morning of the 3rd of December.  Jacqui was only a couple of years younger than me, we grew up together, were like sisters but perhaps even closer because we weren’t sisters and didn’t live together.  We have shared so much over the years, supported each other through the hard times and shared the laughter.  I am finding it incredibly hard to believe she is no longer with us.  However, one thing I do know, is that Jacqui would want us to go on enjoying life, living with a smile, having fun and heaps of laughter, and to make sure Christmas is a happy occasion for us all, even in the circumstances.
Here is a photo of the two of us together.


So, I am back with more Christmas cards! 🙂 Just one for now, and another a little later.

Again I am featuring those gorgeous baubles from the Delicate Ornaments Thinlits dies, along with some cute Santa paper from the Home For Christmas DSP.  The photo is not the greatest, but I am sure you can see it well enough.  I have kept this card fairly simple, those baubles don’t need a lot of extras to make a special card.
I am going to enter this card into the current SUO Challenge (Stampin’ Up! Only) – Cards for Children.  I am sure this one would be lovely for a child, with the cute Santa paper, although who doesn’t love Santa 🙂
Happy stamping!
Chris

The Male Room wishes you a Merry Christmas

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Today we have a Christmas challenge at The Male Room, and a special message to wish all of you a Merry Christmas.


I have two cards that I made up for this challenge, both using some of the music print from the Home for Christmas Designer Series Papers, along with some of those gorgeous baubles from the Delicate Ornament Thinlits dies.  I love this combination for masculine cards, the gold and black together are quite striking.
I do hope you will share you Christmas projects with us at The Male Room, and look forward to a whole new year of challenges in 2016.
Merry Christmas,
Chris

Christmas Owl

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Isn’t this little owl just too cute? 🙂


I was sorting through some retired Stampin’ Up! papers recently and came across these ones from a few years ago, and couldn’t resist making up a cute card.  The only thing stamped on this card is the Happy Christmas sentiment, just lots of papers.
Back tomorrow with more Christmas inspiration!
Happy Stamping!
Chris

A Month of Christmas Cards

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That is my plan, to post up a Christmas card each day of December – whether or not the silly season takes over, is yet to be seen, however I will give it my best shot, to give you some inspiration for your own Christmas cards.
And since today is the first day of December, here is my first Christmas card for you! 🙂

 

I have made a few in this style, so you might see a couple of these (is that cheating?). It is basically a one layer card, apart from the bauble.  I have embossed the card front with the Boughs and Berries textured embossing folder, then cut a plain bauble out of the gorgeous Red Foil, then one of more elaborate baubles to go over the top in the Very Vanilla cardstock.  Both baubles are from the Delicate Ornaments Thinlits dies.    The Merry Christmas sentiment comes from a retired stamp set called More Merry Messages, however you could use one of your own favourites.  You could also stamp it directly on to the card front if you are game (or like using stamp positioners), for this one though, I chose to use a separate flag the layer above the embossing.
Stay tuned for more Christmas inspiration.
Happy stamping!
Chris

Masculine Thanks

Posted in Cards, Masculine by

This fortnight at The Male Room, we are celebrating Thanksgiving with a Thank you or Thanksgiving masculine project.

Thanksgiving is another of those celebrations that doesn’t happen here in Australia, although personally I would like to see it being celebrated more, I think it is a wonderful tradition.
I have made a thank you card for my project.

It uses The Wilderness Awaits and Endless Thanks stamp sets, fast becoming firm favourites, and backed the image with some unfortunately, retired, Stampin’ Up! patterned papers.  The image has been roughly coloured using inks and blender pens, and I say roughly as I was trying to make it look, well… rough. 🙂  Textured.
Hoping to see all your wonderful masculine projects at The Male Room again this fortnight.
Happy stamping!
Chris

Remembrance Day at The Male Room

Posted in Cards, Masculine, Sympathy by

Today, all over the world, Remembrance Day is celebrated, although here in Australia we tend to focus more on Anzac Day than today.  There are special parades and remembrance services going on today though, and it is still a day for contemplating and remembering.
At The Male Room, we are asking you to create a project using the Remembrance Day theme, or Sympathy.

I have made a Sympathy card for my project, using a technique that I really like for this type of card.

The technique I have used for the background is the direct ink technique, in this case, the ink is put directly onto a clear mount block (without a stamp on it) and then directly onto the card stock.  I have swiped some different coloured inks across my block, and before pressing the inked block onto my cardstock, I have stuck a circle of punched out Post It note down, to create the white circle “moon”.  I think the subtlety of this background is perfect for Sympathy cards.
Over the background ink, I have then stamped some images from the Wetlands, and The Wilderness Awaits stamp sets.
I hope you will join in with us at The Male Room again this fortnight.
Happy Stamping!
Chris

Birthdays at Pattie’s Creations

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This month’s challenge theme at Patty’s Creations is Birthdays.
I have chosen to use the Roses in Milk Bottle image for my card.

I have again coloured it using Copic Markers, and combined it with some stamped images from the Stampin’ Up! Cottage Greetings stamp set.
Come on over and check out the rest of the Design Team’s birthday cards here.
Happy stamping!
Chris

Autumn / Halloween Challenge reminder

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Share your Autumn and Halloween projects with us over at Crafty Boots Challenges for the next week, before we start a new challenge.
I have another Autumn inspired card for you today, again using the Sheltering Tree stamp set.

Lots of lovely Autumn colours!
Now, I know I promised you some Halloween photos from the weekend, however, we ended up cancelling our Halloween plans in favour of going to a fireworks display.  Just goes to show how little Halloween means to us here in Australia.  Despite the incredibly strong winds coming off the ocean and rather chilly temperatures, we had a good night and enjoyed some pretty spectacular fireworks!
Anyway, I hope you will join us with your Autumn projects, at Crafty Boots Challenges.
Happy stamping!
Chris

Hardware

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The theme for this week’s challenge at The Male Room is to use some of your stash, in particular, some Hardware!

I had some fun with this one, and thought I would feature some brads, but also a different form of “hardware”…..

a Robot!
Mr Robot comes from the stamp set Boys Will Be Boys and is heat embossed onto the back cardstock with Silver embossing powder.  The photo is not great, I had difficulties trying to find a good spot to take a photo of this card with all the silver.  Make sure you check out all the fabulous projects from the rest of the Design Team at The Male Room.
Happy stamping!
Chris