O Canada.....

Hi Guyz... Well, that's the folks packed off to Canada for a well deserved Holiday.. Up at stupid O’clock Yesterday to drop them off at the Airport. Some might say "to make sure they actually went" ... how very dare you... But yes, they did actually go, and after a long but rather comfortable flight with Air Canada they have arrived in Calgary safe and sound... Any of our Canadian followers out there, if you see em, don't forget to say hi... At the weekend it was my mate Tony's 40th Birthday "shin dig". And from what I can remember of it, it was a pretty good night.. Like many of you, I struggle when it comes to cards for the guyz.. And I came up with many connotations before I settled on the card I actually sent him... I have no idea what possessed me, but my original idea was to do the whole thing in Monochromatic (mono). Perhaps I was, in a way getting ready for next week’s Mono lesson? Not only did I decide to do Mono, but of all the colours I could have chosen I chose GREEN!! eeekk....

In some way, I kinda like this, but not suitable for this particular Birthday card...

I then tried Black & White.. Now Tony is Italian.. and this could have worked, but I kept getting the "Italian Gangster Mafioso" image in my head.. You don't want to offend an Italian now do you?

It looked equally good in White and Black, but still not what I was after... So, in the end, I plumped for mono Creams and Browns. It worked so well on my recent Skating card that I thought I couldn't go wrong..

And I was right... finally!! Hope these give you some ideas for cards for the guyz in your lives..... Thanks for checking us out. See you soon... Andy..

It's not Terry's......

Hi everyone.. After the excesses of Christmas, I guess the next big event most of us can look forward to to legitimately pig out on Chocolate is Valentine’s Day...
So, here is an idea for you to make for your loved one and the best part about it is NO calories!!!This is an idea I got from Sam Poole, take a look at her wonderful Blog, she has some great crafting ideas for you....I started off by cutting out 20 x 1" and 20 x 3/4" squares using Chocolate Mocha coloured Core'dinations card stock. I used my Cricut to cut out the Squares for quickness, but a couple of Punch's of these sizes could just as easily be used..I then went around the edges of each of the Squares with a Copic Pen. Any dark colour or Pen, such as a ProMarker can be used as it is really just to add an element of shadow to the Squares. Although I did all 40 of the Squares, you really only need to do about half of each size as some of them will be covered up later on in the project.Once coloured I layered the smaller Squares on top of the larger ones using double sided foam pads.Next, I cut a piece of the Chocolate card stock at 4 1/2" x 6"and spaced out the layered Squares to form my Chocolate bar..Take a 6" x 6" piece of candy stripe paperand tear it towards youand then wrap it around the Chocolate Barto form some wrapping.I stamped my sentiment (taken from Sam Poole's set called - Chocolate) onto White card stock using some Distress Inks in complimentary colours to suit my projects, Festive Berries, Broken China and Brushed Corduroy. Each sentiment was cut out using Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Four.To line up my sentiment with my Ribbon, I found it easier to stick the label to the Ribbonbefore applying it to the project..The bar of Chocolate was then applied to a complementary luxurious piece of card stock, (well, it is for Valentine’s Day after all!) adding a Big Chocolate Box Ribbon to the side of the project to finish it off....So, that's one for her,One for Him,One for someone else,And I'd be happy with this!! No, it's not Terry's, it's mine!!
Thanks for checking us out..
See you soon.
Andy..

One for the boys!!

Hey blogland.. It's all too easy to do cards for female friends and relatives, but when it comes to us guys, even I struggle... That said, there are a lot more images and products around now than there ever used to be, so it is getting slightly easier...For this card I used a digi stamp from Mo Manning..It was coloured with Copic Pens and Glazed with Glossy Accents.Whilst it was drying I had a play with my Cricut Machine and Gypsy and welded some Mobile (Cell) Phone shapes from the Smiley Cards cartridge to a Rectangle from Plantin Schoolbook and cut them out on some Silver Mirror card.Once the image was dry I matted it onto the rectangle and added some Black Mobile Phone shapes to make them stand out a little more..After matting one more time onto some light Blue card stockI attached the image to my base card.I then cut out a tag using a die from the Spellbinders Ribbon Tags Trio Three (S4-323) set.Added a peel off sentimentand then threaded some ribbon through the loops before adding it to the card to finish the project off.So, just an idea for some of the younger guy's in your life..
Thanks for checking us out.
See you soon.
Andy.

What a day!!!!

Hi Everyone. Well, the most anticipated Royal Wedding for decades has come and gone.. Was it worth waiting for? You bet your socks it was!!! If ever there seemed a perfect Wedding, then that was it I think!! Even the notorious British Weather was on side!! Which is saying something for April!!And did they? Yes they did!! Twice!!
The future of the British Monarchy looks is very safe hands..
Today I wanted to share with you my last 40th Birthday Sample... Having made this one and having no more time to make anymore before the party I have made my decision on which one to give...Again, this one is very simple in it's make up but think the colour combination really makes it stand out!I punched a couple of border strips using the Martha Stewart Garden Gate Trim Deep Edger Punch in Some Red and White Polka Dot card stockadding them to a prepared Easel card. I also added some Red Gem Stones to the centre's of each flower shape.Using an image form one of the new Kanban Sassy Soho Ladies, I matted it onto some Red Mirror cardand applied it to the side panel of my Easel card.I then cut out my sentiment in the same Red and White card stock used for the base card. I used the Plantin Schoolbook Cricut Cardtridge, using the shadow function to give each element some depth.The sentiment was applied to the front of the card,but can also be seen when the side opening easel is put together...So, which one have I chosen to give this afternoon?This one....
So, once I've finished teaching today I'm off to party!!!
Have another great bank holiday weekend everyone and thanks for checking us out.
See you soon..
Andy.

1971, a classic year!!

Hi folks. I hope you all had a good Easter Weekend break? If, like me you were working then, just like buses there will be another long Bank Holiday Weekend along very soon. This weekend in fact, courtesy of the Royal Wedding on Friday and then the May Day Bank Holiday on Monday!!
Along with the wedding I have another celebration this weekend. Many of my friends are turning the BIG 4 Oh! in the coming Months, myself included!! And this weekend sees by best mate's Sisters' (tenuous link I know) 40th Birthday Bash...
I've had lots of ideas as to what I want to do for her card but I'm not sure whether to make it serious or comical. So over the next couple of post's I'll be sharing with you some of my ideas. And hopefully by the end of the week I will have made a decision!!
So here's the first one. A bit of 1970's retro!I started off by cutting out my silhouette image in Black Mirror card at 5" from the Forever Young Cricut Cartridge. I also cut the Trouser Suit at 5", remember the machine will size the other elements to the largest image. It's that clever!!!I then layered the two images together.Next I cut a plain circle and a scalloped circle using the Spellbinders Grand dies through the Grand Calibur machineand layered them together adding letters which I had cut at 1" using the Plantin Schoolbook Cricut cartridge...For the base of the card I decided to make another twisted easel.
I found some brightly coloured card stock, ok not totally 70's but it's on its way!!I scored it in half and cut it to make a 5 3/4" square, then scored the front of the card from corner to cornerand folded it to form the twist!I then cut two triangles from a separate sheet of cardusing one to form the stopper for the easeland using the other one to cover one of the White side panels.I then added my image to see how the whole this was coming along.For my sentiment I printed the words in a 70's style font from my PC, matting and layering it using a plain circle and scalloped circle Nestabilitie and applied it to the card."Yeah Baby"! Sorry, couldn't resist!!!I made sure that the card would lay down flat and go into and envelope before finishing off the card. I've been caught out like that before!! Oh you have too!!!So, just to finish it off I added some pre made Prima Flowersto give the project a bit more of a 70's flourish...I hope if I decide to give this one to her that she gets the concept of the card, after all, 1971 was a classic year! It was the year I was born! And aren't we all grateful for that!? Answers on a post card... nah, forget it!
Thanks for checking us out and see you soon..
Andy..