Dude Time Sports at Pile It On!

Dude Time Doodles is sponsoring the Pile It On Challenge this week, so we have the theme For/From a Man (emphasis on sports).

I used Football Phil by Dude Time Doodles/Bonibleaux Designs, along with some of my Smirk brand papers & stickers, to make this motivational card:

I cut the metal strip with a Sizzix border die, and then heat-embossed the whole thing with a shiny blue.

Inspiration/Challenges:

1. Pile It On Challenge #27: For/From a Man (emphasis on sports)
2. Crafty Boots Challenge: Sports
3. Here Come the Boys Challenge #30: Metal and/or Embossing
4. My Time Made Easy Pretty Patterns #65: Sketch
5. Waste Not Wednesday Week 24 - Use your forgotten stuff (I haven't pulled out my Smirk papers in forever! I also haven't used eyelets in a long time) 

Thank you for visiting,

Manly Sports at Dude Time Doodles

Happy Wednesday! This week's challenge theme at Dude Time Doodles is Sports. Wait till you see the gorgeous projects my DT teamies have come up with for this one!

I've noticed lots of "for a Man/Boy" challenges going on right now, so this is a great time to make some of those tricky male cards. So grab one of the great sports-themed images from Dude Time Doodles/Bonibleaux Designs, check out the current challenges on Feline Playful, and join us this week at DTD!

I used Youth Football, Football and Pennant by DTD/BDD to create this bright Boy card. I colored the digis with Copics; What can I say, the Green Bay Packers has one of my favorite color schemes, so my football cards always have a lot of Packer pride (much to the joy of my family in Wisconsin)! I used the Chalkduster typeface to make the sentiment. I curled up the pennant after coloring it, and sprayed it with a matte coating to keep its shape.

The background is cut/embossed with a Spellbinders die in my BigShot, and I added all the stitching with a black Copic microliner. The clouds are from the Lucky Day stamp set by SP & Company. I still don't have a good greenery stamp, so I cut the shapes from scrap rubber and stamped them in green. I added some dimension with my microliner.

The yellow background paper is Bazzill Prismatics Cardstock that I bought online from Artist Supply Source. The ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons, and the baker's twine is from the Twinery, via CYDI. I had so much fun making this, as I'm sure you can tell! Looking forward to seeing your sports-themed projects for men!

Inspiration/Challenges:

Aud Sentiments Challenge: Anything Goes (+ GDT call)

Crafty Catz Challenge #130: Anything Goes

Daisy Doodles Challenge #58: One for the Boys

Daring Cardmakers: The Sportsman
Dude Time Doodles Challenge: Sports

Fairy Tale Challenge #40: Green + Yellow

Going Grey With Scrap-Creations Challenge: It's a boy thing!

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 157: Sketch (right)

That Craft Place: One for the Boys

Update: Two years after I made this card, my cousin met a fellow Green Bay Packers fan & they created the sweetest little new fan! I sent them this card to celebrate this special birth.

Thank you for visiting!

Dude Time Doodles November Holidays Challenge

I'm so excited to be a guest designer for the month of November at Dude Time Doodles! They are such a fun and talented group.

This week's challenge at Dude Time Doodles is
November's Special Days (pick one):

• World Hello Day (Nov. 21)
• U.S. Thanksgiving (Nov. 24)
• Stay at Home Because You are Well (Nov. 30)

Hope you'll join us!

I chose Thanksgiving, so that I could use Ted Tightend & Paul Pilgrim from Dude Time Doodles. I made a "Pigskin Time" sentiment to play on the traditional ham & football so many of us enjoy on that day!

I made a horizontal Notch Swing Card (my vertical notch swing card & SVG templates available here), so that images can take turns being in front! I paper-pieced them, and used Copics to add details. I added some football-like hand-stitching. It's really very simple, and looks so good! The patterned papers are embossed Black Magic Core'dinations; one is a light yellow + black, and the other is light brown + black. The interior paper is a DP I had in my stash...those swirls are kinda pig-tail-y, right?!

And the back:

Stamps: Ted Tightend & Paul Pilgrim from Dude Time Doodles, front sentiment generated with Chinchilla font, interior sentiment stamp from Fiskars, leaf stamps from stash
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Cricut, SCAL, HP printer & ink, Tim Holtz paper distresser, sandpaper, Sizzix Texture Boutique & embossing plate, Cuttlebug embossing plate, awl, needle, Marvy heat tool, Martha Stewart detail scissors
Paper: Core'dinations, Recollections, Hammermill
Embellishments: Copic markers, Offray ribbon, Recollections brads, ZING embossing powder, nameplate from stash

Ravens everywhere!

So this morning I decided to make something for this week's Fresh Brewed and Midnight Madness challenges, so I ask my Baby for advice, and he said, Ravens. Perfect, I thought. I'll do something Halloweeny but kinda grown-up, as is the MM sketch. I was envisioning raven cutouts, but ended up making a broadside with the first 8 stanzas of The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. Living in Baltimore, both have become synonymous with Halloween.


However, as I finished up this pretty purple poem I realized that the Ravens were playing the Patriots. Oh, I thought. Those Ravens. Perhaps the color challenge of purple and black, which I had told Baby, is related to all of this. What? I like the color combo, regardless of our home football team's famous colors.
I finished the first project just in time to watch a very exciting overtime in the Ravens game. The Patriots won 23-20, but Ray Lewis always makes me swell with as much team pride as I'll ever manage to swell with. So, I made this ridiculous 3x3 card for the clean&simple sketch #112:


The image on the left is supposed to be "offense", like "off [the grass]" + "fence". What? The only thing I know about football is that a great defense is worth nothing without a good offense. And I didn't want to leave anybody out.