woody like it... masculine birthday card

I love blog hopping around, there are so many talented peeps out there and so many inspirational challenge blogs.

Rubys rainbow are having a masculine themed challenge, I was super chuffed as I had a wood grain embossing folder I really wanted to use.

The stamp is by clarity stamps and the little critters are from... sheesh I need to be better organised!!!!

I am sharing this with Rubys rainbow and hope you hop off for a nosy

Thanks for popping by

Tracey :)

Balloon die cut birthday card for my bro

I made this card for my brother who celebrated his birthday yesterday, we had a great evening at Mum's, lots a giggles playing the "logo game" if you are from a family that likes games I definitely recommend it.

 I recently bought paper smooches balloon dies and have had a lot of fun with them and am still having ideas I'd like to try, however, I got an added boost of inspiration from Brenda over at Vintage Journey and Tennyson's poem "ring out the old, ring in the new" that she has chosen to inspire us all for this challenge. I have chosen to interpret this challenge by including my favourite new die, the balloons with my fav old die the umbrella man.  Also my brothers birthday, being the 3rd of January is the end of Christmas for us as a family and the first card of a year I make for a family member. Imagery wise I see the balloons of last year as floating away taking bad bits away yet still tethered by the fond memories we have and lessons learnt over the past year.

This is my favourite balloon project so far... I think ;) but am def sure it is my brothers taste. As mentioned I used Tim Holtz umbrella man die but chopped off the umbrella.  This die is one of my favs as I find it so versatile.  The negative works great for iris folding and the positive can be chopped into easily to get more use from it.  I used a crafters companion embossing folder and lots of brown distress inks for the background.

I cut the letters for "Happy" using a lawn fawn die and mounted them on the balloons using lashings and lashings of glossy accents, I love the 3d kinda spherical look this gives them and there's no way them little letters are going anywhere!

As I waffled on earlier I was inspired by Brenda at Vintage Journeys so am entering this card over at their fantastic challenge blog dedicated to Crafting in the style of Mr Holtz.

I am also sharing for the 2nd time over at Darnell's place, I have no idea how long I have had that embossing folder for!!!! get your NBUS on and get on over there ;)

Thanks for looking and hope the new year rings in lots of true for you.... and you :)

A card for my Bird loving Bro

My Brother is really into animals,  his latest addition to the family is a stunning falcon.  He also loves, motorbikes, cider and anything outdoors and messy.

I treated myself to the Pinflair rust it mediums and love them,  such messy fun and a fab result, it even feels like rust.

I didnt use the pinflair on the falcons I used crackle glaze, embossing powders and distress inks,  a bit of gilding wax and two grungy but fabulous falcons, even if I do say so myself ;)

Some really cool manly papers and embellishments came with the rust it kit and they gave me loads of choice for this card.

I popped in a couple of real feathers for some lush texture and used foam pads on the for you letters.I crackle glazed the garage sign and distressed the edges.

I have had these fab little tool split pins for ages, I ised the rust it to distress them as they were silver and am really chuffed with the look for this card.

I built a decoupage motorbike from the kit and highlighted some of the bike with glossy accents.

I squished some bottle tops with my embossing machine and added a greeting to one and a cider logo to the other,

I used a few more bits from the kit for the envelope and job done.

I am entering this card in the following comps
 Eclectic Ellapu's "texture"
Simply Create Too "lots of orange or Halloween"
And over at the Outlawz for the October challenge and the Friday colour challenge.