Challenge No. 1 - Winner

Well I think our first challenge can safely be called a success.  We had 29 entries and a lot of positive comments from followers.  The standard was excellent and I've had a hard time picking a top three (so hard I needed the DT members to help me out).  Without further ado, our top three cards were

Payne Holler Cards

Mel X

Jana M

Congratulations girls, you can take our 'Top 3' badge from the sidebar and wear it with pride.

And now onto the winner of the challenge prize...

I used random.org and typed everyones names in (will have to sort out mr linky) and here is the result

So congratulations to Nicky, send your details to blogcandy@donnasden.co.uk and I will get the prize out to you as soon as possible (hopefully you'll get it before Christmas).

A big thanks to everyone who entered and look out for our next challenge on 1st January 2010.

Our new challenge is here, woohoo!

I hope everyone is looking forward to this new challenge as much as we all have been.  There's been lots of really positive comments over the last few weeks which have been very encouraging.  So given that our challenge is starting on December 1st, I've set the theme of Christmas.  There are a few rules:

1. The card must be for a man/boy.
2. You need to follow the theme/sketch that is set.
3. It must be a new card.

That's all, I don't mind if you combine challenges with other blogs or anything like that.  I haven't been able to sort out a 'Mr Linky' so please just leave a comment on this post with a direct link to your entry.

What's the prize, you might ask?  Well since it's our launch and nearly Christmas, our sponsor,

 has put up the prize of a Crafter's Companion Ultimate Pro.  You can find out all about it here.

Now isn't that a great prize.  Now onto our Design Team, who have been very busy behind the scenes.  We're all quite new to this but raring to go...

Donna

Lisa

Patricia

Shirley

Viv

Kath (no blog)

So you've seen all of our ideas, now it's your turn.  The closing date is December 14th 2009 so hopefully the prize will get to it's winner before Christmas.  Hope everyone has fun.

Sneak Peak No. 3

So here's the final set of sneak peeks.  Sorry it's so late but I'm cutting it close tonight.  Tomorrow we launch our new challenge and since it's nearly Christmas the prize will be a goodie so make sure you check us out.

Well on with the peeks...

Donna (that's me)

and I also have a card from my Mother-in-law who doesn't keep a blog but who has kindly done a card for us.

Kath

So there we have it, no more teasing, tomorrow it's all for real.  Bye for now.

Sneak Peek No. 2

So here's the second of our sneak peeks.  Have you guessed the theme yet?

Lisa

Viv

Hope your all gonna join us on Tuesday.

Back tomorrow with the last of the sneak peeks.

Popcorn Bear Candy Winner

I am so sorry for the delay in drawing the winner but I'really have been snowed under lately.  Without further ado,  I checked all the entries and used random.org to generate the winner.

As you can see the winner is Jackie.  Well done, Jackie, send me your address on blogcandy@donnasden.co.uk and I'll get your prize out to you straight away.

Don't forget, the challenges start on Tuesday 1st December.  Keep on looking.

Sneak Peek No. 1

So only a few more days to go before our challenge starts, so  I thought I'd give you a sneak peek of the Design Team cards.

Shirley

Patricia

Back tomorrow with a couple more and the winner of the candy.

Candy now closed

The candy is now closed.  Will check the entries, put them into random.org and get a winner announced sometime over the weekend.

Bye for now.

Candy Time!

I noticed my visitors passed 1,000 recently so I thought I'd run a candy giveaway.

The prize up for grabs is a Popcorn Bear CDRom (the Mens one of course) and I'm going to keep the candy open until my middle son's birthday which is 26th November. I'm currently working on my card for him and here's a sneak preview of my practice colouring....

It's a Mo Manning image ( I just love her work) and if the winning entry correctly names the image I've used, I'll throw in a surprise.

So what do you have to do:
1. Leave a comment on this post.
2. Post about my candy on your blog or in your sidebar.
3. Become a follower if you're not already.

Good luck everyone, I'll draw the winner on 27th November 2009 and post it here.

Birthday Card for Matthew

Here is my finished card for my son who will be 4 on Thursday.  You'll have to excuse the timestamp in the photograph.  I didn't realise it was there until I uploaded the pic and it's not even the right date!

So I've used a piece of Red A4 card folded in half.  The papers used are from Dovecraft's Kids papers.  I won't mention the name of the image as it's part of the candy above but it is from the wonderful Mo Manning.  I've coloured it using my Prismacolours which I think I'm starting to get the hang of.  The photo doesn't do it justice.

Anyway, hope he likes it.  I'm sure he'll just toss it aside for the pressies.  After all, he's only four!

UPDATE:  I've just found a challenge to enter for boys cards over at Cute Card Thursday so have entered this card.  Pop over and give it a try.

Have you seen my blinkie?

In anticipation of my new challenge starting up at the beginning of December, I asked my husband (sorry web developer) to make me a blinkie. 

What do you think? To add the blinkie to your sidebar, just copy the HTML code from my sidebar and paste it into a 'HTML gadget' on your own blog.

Bye for now. Back tomorrow with some candy, yeah!

Drum roll please......

I said I'd announce my DT team today and here I am, better late than never!  I was really pleased and impressed with all the entries and had a jolly hard time deciding, but decide I did.  So without further ado ....

Shirley Chalmers

Viv Holden

Lisa Nowacki

Patricia St Martin

I'd really like to thank everybody who sent me their work or best wishes and to welcome all my new followers.  Our first challenge will be on 1st December so please come back and join in with us.

DT Call now closed

Thankyou to everyone who entered my DT call and those of you who left good wishes or posted about it.  I'm going to deliberate for the next few days and aim to announce my decision here on Monday.

I have a tough decision to make!

Woohoo! I'm looking for some DT members....

That's right I'm going to start setting a monthly challenge on my blog and would like to invite all my friends out there in blogland to come along and 'try out for the team' so to speak. Anyone interested should leave a comment on this post with a link to your entry. Remember we're interested in boys/mens cards. If you don't have a blog you can email me on dtcall@donnasden.co.uk. The closing date for entries is Friday 30th October 2009.

So, good luck everyone. I can't wait to see the responses and even if your not entering, please spread the word around. Thanks so much.

This post will stay at the top so scroll down for more recent posts.

Great Blog Candy! You won't want to miss this....

This wonderful blog candy is up for grabs over on Crafter's Kitchen.  I stumbled across it when following a blog hop for Digital Pencil which is one of my favourite sites/shops.  Go and check them both out, you won't be disappointed.

Paper Inspirations

I found this great card whilst blog-hopping this morning.  It's from Danielle over at Paper Inspirations and she has some more great cards for you to see.  I think she is absolutely right about this style of card being very suitable for men which is why I decided to show it here.

This gives you another view....

Have a look over on Danielle's blog for some more examples and a link to the card-fold instructions.

Have a great Sunday, everyone.

Boo!

I bet you thought I'd gotten lost, didn't you. I've had such a hard time keeping up with things these last few months. But hey, hopefully, we'll be better this time.

I've done this card for Challenge 4 - 3D Elements over at Crafty Cardmakers Blog which is a new blog (to me) that is excellent. It's ideal for novice and experienced crafters alike, the prizes are great and there are super tutorials to boot. I really recommend hopping on over for a look.

So, onto my card. the base is from a box of textured cards from DCWV that I stock over in my shop. The decoupage was a digi-download from Pollycrafts and the "Boo!" Brad is from a set of HOTP Brad Buddies which I love.

These Brads are great and I stock lots of them in my shop. Each pack has six large brads (two of each design) and you can see from my card they're a good size. Why not pop over now and take a look here?

Well, that's me done for now. See you soon. Why not take a look at my other blog to keep up to date with the goings on in my shop.

Super new stamps on Simon Says...

Aren't these stamps just great for a fun card for a little boy?  There's a chance to win a set (or to buy it, if you can't wait) over at Simon Says Stamp so why not take a look now.  The winner is drawn on Friday 24th July so it's quite a hurry.

Funky Fairy Inspirations - free downloads

There are some great Christmas downloads at Funky Fairy Inspirations that are absolutely free.  They had quite a few decoupage sheets that I thought would suit our masculine cards, like the one above.  If you download and use the free stuff, then make sure you link back to Funky Fairy Inspirations from your blog and acknowledge their input.  Just a short post tonight as it's rather late.  Night night.

Fathers Day Card for the Die Cuts Dreams Challenge

This is my card for Father's Day for my Dad. I'm also entering it in the Die Cuts Dreams Challenge which has the theme 'Greenfingers'. The pictures haven't turned out quite as I would have wanted but I'll keep practicing. The decoupage image is from Craft UK as is the background paper on the inside. The card is made from a sheet of Bazill Basics (colour Guacamole). The backing papers and ribbon on the front were from a blog candy I won a while back. If you follow the links you'll see the items available in my shop, http://www.donnasdenofcrafts.co.uk/.

And the winner is......

Well after checking everyone's blogs to make sure there was a link then numbering all the entries I finally have a winner.....

 

Number 14 was Julie from Julies Crafty Creations.  Congratulations Julie, send your address to blogcandy@donnasden.co.uk and I'll post your items out straight away.  Thanks to everyone who left me comments and better luck next time.  My shop counter is nearly at 5,000 so there'll probably be some candy soon on my other blog, http://donnasdenofcrafts.blogspot.com

100th Visitor Candy

I've reached my 100th visitor point which I'm really pleased about so I decided to celebrate with a little bit of Blog Candy. As we are devoted to 'Cards for Men' the candy is made up of the more masculine ranges.

There's a 6x6 pack of Dovecraft Masculine and Abstract papers, a DCWV 4.5x6.5 Metallic Stack, a pack of 5 Embossed cards 'Sports' with envelopes, 'Masculine' funky brads and a packet of Metallic Brads.

The closing date for entrants is midnight BST on 14th June. I'll post first class so that you can finish off those last minute Father's Day cards. To be in with a chance leave a comment on this post and add a link on your blog. If you want to become a follower that's great but not required. Good luck.

P.S. if you don't win all of these products are sold in my shop, Donna's Den of Crafts. We'd love to see you pop in.

Sporty Billy Stamps

Take a look over at Pink Cat Studio for details of how to win their forthcoming range of 'Billy' stamps. If their other stamps are anything to go by we're in for a treat.

Another inspiring blog.

I've followed Nikki's blog for a long time and find her work to be fun and inventive.  Here are some great examples,

 
 

As you can see her cards are clean and crisp and if you take a hop over to her blog you'll find a good mix of male and female cards.  Thanks very much Nikki for letting me show your work.

Sorry...it's been a while.

I know it's been a while since I've updated any of my blogs. I've just been so busy the last few weeks and to top it all I hurt my hand which has made me reluctant to use the computer too much. I have been researching though and have a line up of great cards to show you that I have found whilst blog-hopping.

First up is Katharina Frei who I'm sure you will have seen before. Her blog Stamping with a Whiff of Joy showcases some great work using the stamps sold by her own company. I really love this particular card that she made for her son's birthday.

The calendar wheel is available from Maya Road and you can get all the details about Katharina's card here. I'll be back later in the week with more fab cards and hopefully I will have some of my own. Thanks so much Katharina for letting me show your work.

Great card and blog candy over at In My Minds Eye

This wonderful card is NOT mine.  I saw it over on Kadie's blog In My Mind's Eye.  She's giving away some blog candy until 21st April so hop on over and take a look.

I think the theme of her card and colours are great for our men's cards and I will certainly be following her blog more.

Back soon.....

Have you seen these...

....wonderful cards by Rach.

The first card, found in more detail here, uses an image from Sugar Nellie called 'where's mine?'.

The second uses a Whiff of Joy image called 'King's Jester Charlie'.

In all of Rach's cards (including her girlie ones) it's not just the image that I like but the unusual papers used in the background. I wonder does she choose her background before colouring or vice-versa? Her attention to detail is second to none.

I know that she colours her images using copic markers and has actually produced a detailed tutorial on her blog showing her processes. Go and have a look at her site http://papercraftsbyrach.wordpress.com/, it's well worth it.

Hope you find it as inspirational as I do.

Birthday Card for my Dad

Well this is my first entry on this blog.  As you can see it is a card I made for my Dad whose birthday is on Easter Sunday.  I am also entering it in the Crafty Goings On blog candy in the vain hope of winning that wonderful set of Copic Markers.  To make it I've used:

• Card - Bazill Basics Classic - Carob
• Image - Gardening George - downloadable image from Crafty Goings On
• Paper, Chipboards, Ribbon - Dovecraft Masculine range

With the exception of the image, the items are for sale in my shop http://www.donnasdenofcrafts.co.uk/.  This is the first time I've attempted my own image and I found it very therapeutic.  I've certainly gained the confidence to give it another go.