Hello Crafty Friends! I'm so happy to be hosting the current challenge at Seize the Birthday.  I've chosen 'Embossing' as the Topping. Any type is ok - Dry, Heat or Paste. If you are not in to our "toppings" option, you can make any kind of  Birthday Card.

I used a sweet stamp from Penny Black, called Vivid.

I initially stamped with Distress Ink Antique Linen and then coloured with FB Polychromo pencils.

I have been non-weight bearing for 3 months, so I've spent some time practising my colouring techniques. It wasn't the correct paper for this, but I was patient and kept adding layers and blending. However, I decided to re-stamp it and Gold Emboss, because it wasn't as good as I'd like. 

In the background of the window I have used some precious paper, my Daughter brought for me from Japan. 

We have a new Surprise Party Guest Johanna Rundell, joining us for the rest of the year and Rachel Ball Guest Designing for this challenge.  You can see their beautiful cards  and our own talented team at  Seize the Birthday Challenge blog.

I hope you'll find time to join us. Remember, the topping is optional, so if you prefer Anything Goes, that's fine,  so long as it's birthday themed. 

   Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! I love to read your comments:)

                                                                

Seize the Birthday #312 Black & White

 Hi there Crafty Friends! It's time for another Seize The Birthday Challenge.  

Linda is our host for this challenge and she has chosen  'BLACK & WHITE' as her Topping.  If you are not in to our 'toppings' option, you can make any kind of  Birthday Card.

The Panda is a freebie from Scrapbook.com and I thought he was perfect for a Black & White themed card.

The window die and sentiment are from MFT.

You can see more from our talented Surprise Party Guest, Karen Letchworth and the rest of the team at  Seize the Birthday Challenge blog.

We also have a talented new Designer joining our team - Nancy Salkeld joining our team.  Welcome Nance!

I hope you'll find time to join us. Remember, the topping is optional, so if you prefer Anything Goes, that's fine,  so long as it's birthday themed. 

   Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! I love to read your comments:)

                                                                

Seize the Birthday #311 No Flowers

 Hi there Crafty Friends! It's time for another Seize The Birthday Challenge.  

Jules is our host for this challenge and she wants us to make a Birthday card with  'No Flowers' as her  Topping.   If you are not in to our 'toppings' option, you can make any kind of  Birthday Card.

I really enjoyed making this card with bold colours - very different from my normal white background.

The dies are from Tim Holtz (Sizzix) - Happy Hour. I used Distress Inks for the blending.

Here is another bonus card...

You can see more from our talented Surprise Party Guest, Karen Letchworth, as well as Cassandra our Guest Designer and the rest of the team at  Seize the Birthday Challenge blog.

I hope you'll find time to join us. Remember, the topping is optional, so if you prefer Anything Goes, that's fine,  so long as it's birthday themed. 

   Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! I love to read your comments:)

                                                                

Seize the Birthday #308

 Hi there Crafty Friends! It's time for another Seize The Birthday Challenge.

Glenda is our host for this challenge and she wants has chosen 'FOOD &/or DRINK' as her Topping.   If you are not in to our "toppings" option, you can make any kind of  Birthday Card.

I have used all Altenew products in this card, including 

Altenew Mini Delight: Birthday Wishes Dies and  Hotfoil plate for the background. 

It's a very sparkly card!

You can see more from our talented Surprise Party Guest, Karen Letchworth, as well as Julia Ashton our Guest Designer and the rest of the team at  Seize the Birthday Challenge blog.

I hope you'll find time to join us. Remember, the topping is optional, so if you prefer Anything Goes, that's fine,  so long as it's birthday themed. 

   Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! I love to read your comments:)

                                                                

Seize the Birthday #307 - Fancy Fold

 Hi there Crafty Friends! It's time for another Seize The Birthday Challenge.

Barb is our host for this challenge and she wants us to include a 'FANCY FOLD' on our Birthday Card.   If you are not in to our "toppings" option, you can make any kind of  Birthday Card.

I am very challenged by these types of cards, possibly because I have a problem with adhesives and fiddly things:) But I own a fun box card die from Lawn Fawn, so here is my attempt at Fancy Fold.

The pretty paper is from my unfinished stash and the stamp set is MFT Otterly Love You. I actually deconstructed an old card to get the stamped Otters. I used a MFT Die for the waves. The sentiment is from Altenew.

You can see more from our own talented Surprise Party Guest and the rest of the team at  Seize the Birthday Challenge blog.

I hope you'll find time to join us. Remember, the topping is optional, so if you prefer Anything Goes, that's fine,  so long as it's birthday themed. 

   Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! I love to read your comments:)

                                                                

Seize the Birthday #306 Use a Frame

 Hi there Crafty Friends! It's time for another Seize The Birthday Challenge.

Ashwini is our host for this challenge and she wants us to include a 'FRAME' on our Birthday Card.   If you are not in to our "toppings" option, you can make any kind of  Birthday Card.

I used Pinkfresh Decorative Frames Press Plate with Gold Foil - it worked beautifully!

The flowers and sentiment were also Hot-Foiled. 

You can see more from our own talented Surprise Party Guest and the rest of the team at  Seize the Birthday Challenge blog.

I hope you'll find time to join us. Remember, the topping is optional, so if you prefer Anything Goes, that's fine,  so long as it's birthday themed. 

   Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! I love to read your comments:)

                                                                

Seize the Birthday #304 Stencilling

 Hi there Crafty Friends! It's time for another Seize The Birthday Challenge.

Shirley is our host for this challenge and she wants us to include some 'Stencilling' on our projects.   If you are not in to our "toppings" option, you can make any kind of  Birthday Card.

I had fun creating this card with  my favourite Altenew Craft Your Life Project Kit: Translucent Foliage. I used stencils to colour the petals and then blended with some water and pearlescent powder. The sentiment dies are also from Altenew.

We have the lovely Leslie joining us as our Surprise Party Guest.

You can see Leslie's card and more from our own talented team at  Seize the Birthday Challenge blog.

I hope you'll find time to join us. Remember, the topping is optional, so if you prefer Anything Goes, that's fine,  so long as it's birthday themed. 

   Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! I love to read your comments:)

                                                                

Seize the Birthday #303 Layer It

 Hi there Crafty Friends! It's time for another Seize The Birthday Challenge.

Nancy is our host for this challenge and she wants us to create a Birthday Card with lots of layers.   If you are not in to our "toppings" option, you can make any kind of  Birthday Card.

I had lots of fun creating layers with Memory Box and Poppy Stamps dies/stamp.

I also dry embossed the background. 

We have the lovely Leslie joining us as our Surprise Party Guest.

You can see Leslie's card and more from our own talented team at  Seize the Birthday Challenge blog.

I hope you'll find time to join us. Remember, the topping is optional, so if you prefer Anything Goes, that's fine,  so long as it's birthday themed. 

   Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! I love to read your comments:)

                                                                

Seize the Birthday Challenge #302 Milestone

 Hello Crafty Friends! I'm so happy to be hosting the current challenge at Seize the Birthday.

I recently had to make a card for my Mother in Law who was turning 90. This made me think about my next Milestone Birthday and was shocked to realise it will be my 70th!!! I've still got a few years to go, but I thought I'd start making some cards for friends because time does fly!!!

So I have a Twofer to share with you...

I off-set the black numbers with pink for a shadow. All dies are from Spellbinders and the stamp from Altenew.

This time I combined Hot Foiling and Betterpress to make this pretty card. Again I've used Spellbinders products as well as the beautiful sentiment from LDRS Creative.

We have 2 wonderful Surprise Party Guests joining us - Leslie and Renate.

You can see their cards  and our own talented team at  Seize the Birthday Challenge blog.

I hope you'll find time to join us. Remember, the topping is optional, so if you prefer Anything Goes, that's fine,  so long as it's birthday themed. 

   Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! I love to read your comments:)

                                                                

Seize the Birthday #300 No Stamping

 Hi there Crafty Friends! It's time for another Seize The Birthday Challenge.

Julie is our host for this challenge and she wants us to create a Birthday Card with 'NO STAMPING'  for the topping this week. If you are not in to our "toppings" option, you can make any kind of  Birthday Card.

I have used foiling, die-cuts and a bit of ink blending on my card, using Spellbinders Products.

We have the lovely Chris from Chrispy's Creations joining us as our Surprise Guest.

You can see Chris's card as well as Amanda our continuing Surprise Guest and our own talented team at  Seize the Birthday Challenge blog.

I hope you'll find time to join us. Remember, the topping is optional, so if you prefer Anything Goes, that's fine,  so long as it's birthday themed. 

   Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! I love to read your comments:)

                                                                

Seize the Birthday - #299 Add a Heart to your card

Hi there Crafty Friends! Happy Valentines Day ❤️❤️❤️ 

It's time for another Seize The Birthday Challenge.

JoAnn is our host for this challenge and she wants us to 'Add a Heart'  for the topping this week. If you are not in to our "toppings" option, you can just make a birthday card.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use this gorgeous die from Penny Black to add a splatter of hearts to my card and then pair it with my fave Hedgie stamp, also from PB. 

The sentiment die is Pink Fresh Studio and the trim was made with a die from The Greetery. 

We have the lovely Julia from Create with Me, joining us as our Surprise Guest.

You can see Julia's card and more from Amanda our continuing Surprise Guest and our own talented team at  Seize the Birthday Challenge blog.

I hope you'll find time to join us. Remember, the topping is optional, so if you prefer Anything Goes, that's fine,  so long as it's birthday themed. 

   Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! I love to read your comments:)

                                                                

Seize the Birthday - #298 Kraft b& Red

 Hi there Crafty Friends! I have some wonderful news to share. I am so excited to be joining the amazing Design Team at Seize the Birthday Challenge! It was such a lovely surprise to be asked and of course I was delighted to say yes! So here is my first post as DT member.

Glenda is our host for this challenge and she's picked a fabulous colour combo for the topping this week. 

To create my card, I embossed the kraft card and die cut the gorgeous bow and sentiment from red shimmer card.  I added some shading to the bow with a Copic Marker and added a white off-set layer to the sentiment. To finish, I mounted this on a white card base. 

Embossing Folder: Spellbinders Tufted

Dies: The Greetery Big Beautiful Bow

We have the lovely  Amanda from 'Did you Stamp Today?' joining us as our Surprise Guest.

You can see Amanda's card and more from our talented team at  Seize the Birthday Challenge blog.

I hope you'll find time to join us. Remember, the topping is optional, so if you prefer Anything Goes, that's fine,  so long as it's birthday themed. 

   Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! I love to read your comments:)

                                                                

Seize the Birthday - Surprise Guest #5

   Hello there Crafty Friends! I'm back again with my last card as Surprise Guest at Seize the Birthday Challenge. I've had lot's of fun over the last weeks and appreciate the honour. The theme for this challenge is 'CAKES' but the themes are always optional, so you can enter any card, as long as it's a Birthday Card.

I wanted the cake to take centre stage so I kept the background white, although I coldn't resist adding texture to make it more festive! I hope I didn't go to far:)

The cake was coloured with Zig Markers and I used the sentiment from the same stamp set. 

Concord & 9th Eat Cake & Celebrate

Die: Reverse Confetti Diagonal Scallops Cover Plate; Penny Black Full Bloom & Stitched Stacker

I hope you'll visit  Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the design team and then join in the challenge with us. 

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! I love to read your comments:)

Seize the Birthday - Surprise Guest #4

   Hello there Crafty Friends! I'm back again with my 2nd card as Surprise Guest at Seize the Birthday Challenge. The theme for this challenge is 'FAUX or REAL STITCHING' but the themes are always optional, so you can enter any card, as long as it's a Birthday Card.

I  included some real stitching in the centre of the rose. I chose the Pinpoint background, because it's like stitching without the thread:)

The dies are from various Altenew die sets. I have them all mixed together, so I'm not sure of the name of the sets.  I die-cut the flower from a smooshed background. The leaves were coloured with Karin Markers and Cosmic Shimmer Powder. 

Dies: Altenew Flowers; Memory Box Pinpoint Leaf Plate 

Stamp: Inspired by Stamping (sadly no longer around)

I hope you'll visit  Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the design team and then join in the challenge with us. 

I'm also entering the following challenges:- 

Lots of Layers

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! I love to read your comments:)