The Male Room Challenge #181 - Christmas

Good morning all, 

This month at The Male Room Challenge we are of course celebrating Christmas, so join in and show us your masculine Christmas makes.

I have made a Christmas gift box and although it incorporates pink, I think this is very suitable for a modern male. Lots of lovely die cutting and the stamp set is from Uniko called Background Builders: Winter Wonderland. 

Lots of very lovely inspiration by the rest of the Design Team over on The Male Room blog. Be sure to visit, leave some lovely comments and join in the festive fun! 

Much love

Steph x

Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #478

Hi everyone, 

Welcome to this week’s Color My Heart Color Dare challenge #478. This week we have a colour theme which includes neutrals and just ONE other colour. Gold and silver can be added too but do not count as either your neutral or your colour choice.

For my neutrals I chose Kraft card (box), dark brown (coffee beans) and white and for my one colour I used burgundy. I needed to make a gift box for a gift card present to a well known coffee shop (can you guess which one?!). 

First I wrapped my ready made box with burgundy card and secured in place. I then used a coffee bean stencil and dark brown ink to create the pattern at the bottom. I heat embossed the coffee cup in white before cutting out. The lid is die cut along with the ‘steam’ swirls. This was a quick make as I didn’t have a great deal of time but I’m pleased with the result and under daylight it’s a much better colour match to the coffee brand than this photo seems to show.

Head over to the Color My Heart Color Dare blog to check out the other Design Team makes and to join in the fun. Be sure to let your friends know about our challenge too.

Also, I note that we have not yet had any entries into challenge #477 which is such a shame as the inspiration photo is so beautiful. Will you be inspired to create something as lovely as the photo? 

Much love

Steph x

Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #464

Hi everyone, 

Welcome back for another Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #464 and today we have a very interesting colour inspiration for you! 

We reference Close To My Heart colours but you are free to use any colour as long as it is a very close match. 

So what do these colours inspire you to make? 

I decided it was time to make something other than a card so I opted for a pillow gift box instead. I have some very strong black card so I made the box from this using Sizzix dies and then decorated with flowers, tags and leaves in the three colours from the challenge. 

I really enjoy making gift boxes so when I get a bit of a crafting lull, or lose my mojo, I make a gift box and it gets me back on the creative track! 

Don't forget to hop over to the Color My Heart Color Dare challenge blog and check out the fantastic makes by the rest of the Design Team and join in the fun!

Much love

Steph x

The Male Room Challenge #154

Morning all

Welcome to a new challenge from The Male Room. Challenge #154 has the theme ‘Natures Bounty’.

I struggled a bit with this theme. I think I was overthinking it but I just couldn’t get my head around what it meant! In the end I went with something produced by nature...honey!
 

This is a gift card holder where the outer sleeve is the beehive and the gift card holder is the honeycomb that lifts out.

I used Uniko stamp set Bee Happy which I’ve been struggling to get inspiration for but I think it was perfect for this project! The bees on the yellow card were stamped, heat embossed and masked before I stamped and heat embossed the honeycomb. I know the hexagons don’t line up perfectly but it wasn’t that easy to do!! I then coloured the bee wings with a white gel pen.

The sleeve was created from cream card before I added the wood effect panels. The wood effect was stamped on using Stampin Up! Hardwood stamp and Momento ink in Toffee Crunch. The bees on this layer are heat embossed onto yellow card and fussy cut before adhering the body only and lifting the wings for dimension. 

I’d love to see how you interpret the theme so I do hope you’ll join in the challenge fun! Pop over to The Male Room blog and check out the rest of the Design Team’s terrific creations as well as our Guest Designer for the month.

Thanks for stopping by.

Steph x

The Male Room Challenge #148

Good morning all

This is my first post as part of the Design Team for The Male Room Challenge so I’m very excited to get straight down to business!!

So here it is! The Male Room Challenge #148 is anything but a card. 

I chose to make a gift box because they are always very handy to have ready. I have had this fabulous paper pack for quite a while and it’s perfect for masculine males.

The centre piece is in fact from the cover sheet that came with the pack but it was the perfect size for my lid so I cut it out and layered it on. I made the box from strong white card and used red tape to secure all the folds. I added the Waffle Flower mini 3D bow and a selection of buttons and brads for some more interest. 

Now hop on over to the blog and see what marvellous creations the rest of the Design Team have made and let us see your brilliant work by joining in the fun! Don’t forget to keep it masculine. ☺️

Much love

Steph x

Happy birthday Mum

Hi all

It’s my Mums birthday today and I have made her a set of cards in a coordinating box. I thought this might be useful since my parents aren’t going out to the shops currently. I used a lovely card making set which came with an issue of Papercraft Essentials. 

I don’t usually like the card kits and these cards are definitely different to my usual style but I really enjoyed making them and layering up the beautiful papers. In fact I’ve started making a lot more layered cards thanks to these. I am determined to use up my large stash of patterned paper!! 😂

What I also found with these was how quick they are to make when you don’t have to do any stamping or colouring.

Well better dash, we are off to visit my Mum to wish her a happy birthday (socially distanced of course) and the girls have baked her some Smarties cookies...which I guarantee will be eaten by my Dad!! 

See you again soon

Steph x