You better grab a cuppa for this one - I have lots to show and tell (I needed a couple of cups of tea just to write it - waving to my English friend Kerry as I write that :) ).
Male Birthday Cards
I've been busy with some male cards over the last couple of weeks, many inspired by my fab friend Nicki Tidbold who has 3 sons and is always inspiring us with her male goodness. Check out Nicki's blog, her cards and scrapbook pages are awesome.
This first one was inspired by card Nicki gave us as a swap at Palm Cove. I LOVED how she used the reef knot between the jumbo eyelets (even though I had to google it and mine still didn't look like hers, lol). I white embossed the image from Seaworthy and really liked how that turned out. The colours are Kiwi Kiss, Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze and Whisper White.
This one just uses some patterned paper (Urban Garden DSP) and an embossed image from On Your Birthday.
For this one I have used the surfing image from Seaworthy, and more of the same DSP.
This last Stampin' Up! male birthday card uses Urban Garden DSP again, and lots of circles using my Circle Scissors Plus. I also did some paper piecing on the surfboard and shorts. Again this one was inspired by some Nicki recently had on her blog in red and grays. Thanks for all the inspiration Nic!
Male Valentines Card
Next up I have my Valentines card for hubby. Yes I know I sometimes complain about him (you can stop laughing now Christine!) but in reality he is a fabulous husband and father who loves me, shares the parenting of our gorgeous but very active boys (he's off out now taking the boys to the Museum, they were so excited), knows I need some me time and helps me get it, does his fare share of the housework and cooking (OK, sometimes more, lol) and thinks my idea of going on an overseas trip next year with my Mum and Sister to visit our scottish relatives is a great idea. So I wanted to remind him how much I love and appreciate him by making him this card.
This card was based on a sketch over at Card Positioning Systems, CPS 153.
More Free Tutorials to You from Me!
I wanted to let you know I have added more tutorials to my page where you can download them for free. This includes the written instructions for the neverending Card / Valentines mini book I did as a class last year called '10 Reasons Why I Love You'. This ad shows some images from the finished project - the actual class isn't running again though, so just ignore the text as that was last year! The freebie tutorials (and there's a few different ones now) are here on my blog. Let your friends know about them too!
Stampamemory Update
Don't forget you still have until tomorrow night to upload your layout for SAM Creative Challenge #3, and be in the running for a free heart punch of your choice. You just have to create a layout using the word LOVE. The next challenge will go live Monday morning, and I will announce the winner that day too. We have 10 entries so far and I would love to see some more before tomorrow night!
While I'm on the subject of stamping on your scrapbooking layouts, you have to check out this absolutely amazing stamped layout that Tanja Westwood has just uploaded to the Stampamemory site. I have to say it's the most amazing stamped layout I think I have ever seen. Tanja is so talented, you must check out her work.
Well I think that's it from me today. If you made it this far, it might be time to get up and stretch your legs and enjoy the fabulous day ahead.
Claire xx