Challenge 18 – Cards 4 Men x

Hi guys, hope you’re all keeping well and happy x It’s been another quick one this month and I’ve been wishing the days away as we’re off on holiday on Tuesday :-D It must seem like I go away all the time as on my challenge last post we were heading out the door to Ireland for a long weekend but we’re just taking our holiday’s a bit earlier than normal (I’ll be feeling sorry for myself in the 2^nd half of the year, I’m sure).

I’ve got a lovely friend who lives in Lyon and we’ve been meaning to go out and visit her, and her partner, for a while now. We were just going to visit for a long weekend originally but decided that as we were headed over to France it might make sense to squeeze Paris and Disneyland in and extend the holiday to a week. I’m super excited! Mr C was not as giddy about Disneyland as myself but has come around to the idea after seeing a number of attractions he is interested in at the Disney Studio’s park. I just know that once he’s there he’ll be skipping about like a happy man child :-D I’ll pop some pics on my personal blog when I get back x

Right, on to challenge business :-) We had another amazing challenge last month – so many beautiful creations. I was really inspired – being relatively new to the card making world myself I hadn’t realised how many gorgeous designs could be made from adding a few extra folds!! My card to do list is getting quite big now!! Thank you to everyone who joined us – we’re so grateful for your entries x

I've run the numbers through the random number generator and the winners for the February challenge are:

Darlene Pavlick

TRACEYMO

Kelly L

Gloria Shirr

Congratulations ladies – I’ll get your cards added to the winners wall today. You can grab your winners badge from the sidebar – any probs let me know x Please email your choice of 4 digi's to flatfriendsboutique@gmail.com and I'll get them over to you straight away. 

Kelly, as your card featured a Flat Friends digi you'll also get 50% off in my Etsy store for a month - I'll email the voucher code over along with your digi's xx

Okay, onto the next challenge – we're going for cards for men this month and I've been really looking forward to this as I don't tend to stumble upon many handmade male cards on the internet. It will be fun to see more - fingers crossed a few of you will play along :-) xx

The winner(s) will be chosen using the Random Number Generator and announced on the 1st of next month when we launch our April challenge. 

We've got some seriously cute inspiration from our lovely DT ladies this month - a massive thanks from me to them for their beautiful work xx

Digi hugs and xx's

Hello, Angela here!  "Man Cards" are always a challenge for me...I have a hard time stepping away from the glitter!  Emma's darling image reminds me of warmer times to come...soon I hope.... After all, doesn't everything taste better on the grill?  I can't wait to see what you create for our challenge!

Audrey here and I am loving the New Male Releases from Flat Friends this month!  I have used "Gamer" for today's card.  I love this image because this is exactly what my 11 year old son looks like when he is playing on his gaming system.  I colored this great image with Copics and Atyou Spicas and cut with dies from Frantic Stamper.  Corners also done with a die from my stash and sentiment is from a clear stamp and cut with Nestie.  Sure hope you like it and will come play in our challenge!!

Hello everyone! Laura here! I had fun making this Guy Card and used the new Gamer Digi as well.  I kept the paper simple by Bo Bunny and the sentiment "BRING ON YOUR BEST GAME AND YOU WILL ALWAYS SUCCEED" is from Papertrey Ink and I thought I perfect match.  Hope you all have a great month, and look forward to seeing your projects. 

Hi there, Sally here. I love these new images from Emma Canning.  Great for young men and boys. This card I have made for the challenge but also my friend's son whose birthday is coming up soon. I found some striped cardstock I had in my crafty stash and roughed it up around the edges and adhered it to the card blank.  I coloured the image with Graph'it markers using they greys, except for the hair and skin of course.  Cut a ribbon strip and added a sentiment. There it is. I hope he likes it.

Hi guys, Em here x I’ve never done a boy card challenge before so I was excited about this one. My card it pretty simple (as usual) – I decided to go with the ‘Music Time’ digi, coloured it with copics, and added a couple of boy-friendly papers to the inside of the card. The striped paper is from the Lost and Found ‘Blush’ paper pad, and the grey plain paper is from the Indie Chic ‘Saffron’ paper pad (both My Mind’s Eye). I hope you’ll join us for this challenge – I’m really looking forward to seeing more boy cards xx

Remember that you don't need to use a Flat Friends digi to enter our challenges anymore but there is an extra prize on offer if you do :-) A list of the challenge rules can be found on the tab at the top of this page xx

February Releases :-) xx

Hiya, I just finished up on my new digi's for the month - thought it was time to add some more boy ones to the collection :-D

Hope you're all happy and well - I'm absolutely loving the cards this month - please keep them coming :-) See you next week for the winner's announcement and a new challenge, Em xx

Challenge 17 - More Than 1 Fold x

Hiya :-) Thanks for popping by xx I can't believe it's been a month since our last challenge - last time I was writing one it was the early hours of New Year's Day and I was getting ready to crawl back under the duvet :-D Today I'm in a much more excitable mood as the hubster and I are off to Ireland in a couple of hours for a long weekend with a couple of our best friends. 

My Grandma, who I was very close to, was born in Ireland and I've always wanted to visit so we jumped at the opportunity when we were offered somewhere to stay. Unfortunately we're not there long enough to travel to visit my Irish relatives as they are quite a distance from where we're staying but I'm sure once we've been we'll be keen to go back :-D I'll try to remember to take some pictures in between the drinking and eating so I can put them on my personal blog when I get back xx

Anywho, the reason I'm telling you all of this is that I'm having to write my challenge post a bit earlier than I would normally as we haven't got Wi-Fi in the house we're staying at in Ireland. The challenge linky widget has just expired so I thought I had better get this post typed up now and schedule it to go live tomorrow morning. I'll add any more DT cards on when we return on Tuesday xx

As always, it was an absolute delight to see all of the gorgeous entries - a massive thank you to everyone who entered xx We had so many entries again that I've decided to tier the number of winners we have moving forward as 1 winner doesn't seem enough when the entry numbers are high. Moving forward if we have 1-10 entries there will be 1 winner, 11-20 entries 2 winners, 21-30 entries 3 winners, and so on. Hope that makes sense :-) xx 

So, I've run the numbers through the random number generator and the winners for the January challenge are:

Heather Mills

tmd

Susan Kennedy

Crafting Vicky

Congratulations guys – I’ll get your cards added to the winners wall asap. 

Please email me with your choice of 4 digi's to flatfriendsboutique@gmail.com and I'll email them over to you as soon as I can (I'll have access to the internet from Tuesday the 4th of Feb) xx

Right, onto the next challenge – we're going for cards with more than 1 fold this month and I think it's going to be a fun one - I can't wait to see all the cool designs that pop up :-) 

The winner/winners will be chosen using the Random Number Generator and announced on the 1st of next month when we launch our March challenge. As always, I've put some inspiration from our awesome DT ladies below for you - a big thank you to them from me - absolutely stunning creations as always xx 

Sorry guys, I know I've talked a lot today but I did want to say one last thing before I head off on my hols :-) Unfortunately for us our lovely Sarah has had to step down from the design team. I just wanted to say how much we'll all miss her - she's been an absolute pleasure to work with over the last year or so and such a great help to me in the background as I fumbled around not having a clue what I was doing :-D You can still follow her gorgeous work on her blog at http://createdbysarah.blogspot.co.uk/ - if you're not already familiar with her site you should pop on over there when you have a mo. Right that's enough from me - off to finish packing. See you next month - have a lovely Valentine's day whatever you're up to, Em xx

Digi hugs and xx's

Hello, Angela here!  I hope you enjoy our challenge this month...I thought it was super fun!  The biggest challenge for me was deciding what to make after I started researching all the "fun folds" out there!  I decided that candy was perfect for February and went with a "Treat Box Card"; it really was quite simple to do.  I hope you will play along with us...I can't wait to see your "fun fold"!

Hey everyone! Kathy here with a circular easel card to share. This is my favorite "go to" card for a fancy fold type challenge. This one will be my husband's Valentine. I used the new Be Mine? image that Em just released, isn't she cute! There are lots of tutorials on the internet for different sorts of folds, hope you will join the challenge and play along with us.

Hi Everyone ~ Laura here! I really enjoyed today's Challenge, and I know you will too. It is your chance to make something a little more involved than normal, and that is always fun! Being understated is not really my strength.  :-) The tutorial I used, as well as the supplies, are all listed on my blog here. Thanks for peeking and have a Happy Valentine's Day!  

Sally - Hi there.  This month's challenge is "More than one fold" card. I made a gatefold card and covered the front with matching paper. Made a banner and adhered it to the right of the card. Printed out this little guy holding a heart cushion and coloured him in using Graph it markers. For the inside I wanted to have a focal point. I used some embossed cardstock, then cut a die cut heart, two little hearts and a key.  To finish off, I printed out a sentiment saying "You hold the key to my heart".

Hiya guys, Em here x I really loved making my card for this challenge as it pushed me to do a more complex design than I’m used to :-) I thought a box design might be a cute idea for a valentines card as you can put a love voucher in or something :-D I coloured my digi with copics and glued her onto the inside of the box (leaving the balloon string unstuck to give a little bit of a 3 effect inside). On the outside of the box I used a couple of My Mind’s Eye papers and made a little slip to hold the box closed. I've put links for the products and box card tutorial I used on my blog xx

Remember that you don't need to use a Flat Friends digi to enter our challenges anymore but there is an extra prize on offer if you do :-) A list of the challenge rules can be found on the tab at the top of this page xx

January Releases :-) xx

Hiya, hope you're well xx I draw a new handful of digi's each month so I thought I'd start sharing them on here so you know when new designs have gone live. I've gone for a love theme this month as Valentine's day is just around the corner :-) 

Hope you all have a lovely week - I'll see you on the 1st when we launch our next challenge, Em xx

Challenge 16 - Anything Goes x

Hiya lovelies, sorry I'm late today - we  stayed over at a friends house last night and I couldn't get on their internet. I hope you've all had an amazing Christmas break and lots of fun last night to see in the New Year :-D We had the most wonderful time down south with our friends and family - couldn't have wished for a better stay :-)

I won't natter on for too long as I'm desperate to go and veg out on the sofa for the day now we're home :-) I want to say a massive thanks to everyone who entered our challenge last month - the cards were absolutely gorgeous and it was lovely to see all of the different colour combo designs xx I've run the numbers through the random number generator and the winner for the December challenge is:

D at Designs by Dragonfly

Congratulations hun – I’ll get your card added to the winners wall later today. As your card featured a Flat Friends image you will receive a 50% discount voucher for my Etsy shop for the month along with your choice of 4 free digi's. Just email me at flatfriendsboutique@gmail.com once you've chosen the images you would like and I'll get everything over to you xx

Right, onto the next challenge – we're going nice and simple this month as it's an 'Anything Goes' challenge so you can literally create anything you like :-D We thought it might be a nice way to start the new year as you're probably all a little tired after Christmas :-) I've put some inspiration from our lovely DT gals below for you - stunning creations, as always, I'm sure you'll agree. Thanks so much ladies xx

A winner will be chosen using the Random Number Generator and announced on the 1st of next month when we launch our February challenge.

Right, I'll leave you to it now :-) Hope you all have a very happy and healthy 2014 xx

Digi hugs and xx's

Hello, Angela here!  Happy New Year to you; hope you have had a lovely holiday season!  I couldn't resist using one of Emma's New Year images to bring in 2014 with style.  This beauty is sure to be the belle of the ball in her sparkly gown!  I can't wait to see what you come up with for our Flat Friends Anything Goes challenge! 

Hi everyone and Happy New Year! It's Kathy here, I've used this fun image called Christmas Shopping today to make a birthday card. I'm always scrambling at the last minute and thought this image would make up a cute for a girl friend's birthday. Maybe with a gift card tucked inside to go along with the shopping theme. Hope you will take the time and play along this month, anything goes is such an easy challenge for everyone!

Hi Crafty Friends - Laura here! I have no idea how this sweet little farmer card came about, since it is completely non-seasonal (but that's the fun of Anything Goes!), but here she is!  I love the little concerned look on the dogs face.  The Anything Goes challenge is so fun, especially when you are playing with Flat Friend images, and I can't wait to see all the gorgeous creations you all come up with! 

Sally - Happy New Year Everyone.  Let's hope its a good one!  Here is my first card of the year for Flatfriends DT Challenge.   Guess what I had for Christmas?  Yes, new Graph'it markers (Greys) and Metallic Pan Pastels!  So I put them to the test today with my lovely image! I coloured her hair, dress, boots and balloons in the warm greys. Used the metallic copper colour to highlight the dress, hair and balloons and then the background!  Oooo.... I do love these! I then printed a sentiment and cut it out using a balloon punch. Matted her onto a Spellbinder die and then onto a Kraft cardstock card. Voila!

Hey guy, Em again xx It's Mummy Canning's birthday this week so I thought I would make a card for her this month. We've got very similar tastes and she loves simple cards so I've gone for a CAS design. I used my 'Birthday Wishes' digi, coloured her with Copics, and mounted the image with foam pads. To finish off the design I punched along the side of the card with my Martha Stewart 'Daisy' edge punch to add a bit of decoration. That's about it - nice and simple :-) I hope you'll play along with us this month - really looking forward to seeing all of the different designs on this anything goes challenge :-D xxx

Remember that you don't need to use a Flat Friends digi to enter our challenges anymore but there is an extra prize on offer if you do :-) A list of the challenge rules can be found on the tab at the top of this page xx

Merry Christmas :-)

Hey, hope you're all having a lovely December getting ready for Christmas :-) I try to do a few new designs each month and figured as it's Christmas I'd give them away as freebies - if you click on the pictures below you'll be taken to the black and white PNG files for download. Hope you enjoy them and I'll catch you in the New Year when we launch our next challenge on the 1st. Lots of love, Em xx

Challenge 15 - Colour Combo x

Hey guys, Happy December!! I hope all of our friends in America had an amazing thanksgiving this week xx I'm very excited to officially be in December now - Christmas is by far my favourite time of year so I'll be skipping about with a big grin on my face until the new year :-) 

I can't believe how busy it got here last month - it was such a treat to see so many beautiful Christmas cards!! I know I had said that there would be one winner for the challenge but I would feel like a bah humbug scrooge if I only did one after we received so many gorgeous entries - I genuinely hadn't expected to see so many (I guess Christmas cards is the most popular challenge as so many people celebrate it) :-) 

I decided to run the numbers through the random number generator 3 times this month and the winners for the Christmas Card challenge are:

Peggy R

Bev Cole

Jenee Todd

Congratulations ladies – I’ll get your cards added to the winners wall and if you email me with at flatfriendsboutique@gmail.com with your choice of 4 digi’s I’ll get those over to you xx

Right, onto the next challenge – as you can see from the title we're doing a colour combo challenge this month so we're looking for cards with green, blue, and pink on them. Our DT ladies have done us proud again with some really beautiful cards - I'm very thankful to them as always for their hard work and wonderful skills xx

A winner will be chosen using the Random Number Generator and announced on New Year's Day (when we launch the January challenge).

Right, I'm off to get Mariah on loop and dance around the house putting the Christmas decorations up :-D Hope you all have a lovely month - see you in the New Year!! xx

Digi hugs and xx's

Hello, Angela here!  Can you believe we are welcoming December?  With a new month comes a new challenge and Emma has picked some beautiful colors for us to work with.  I have to say that color challenges are a bit tough for me, but I remembered this pretty paper I had in my stash and paired it with Puppy Love.  I hope you will join us for our challenge...I'd love to see what YOU do with this color combo!

Hey, it's Audrey here and I have chosen to make a Christmas card as well using this awesome color combo.  I chose the adorable image "Christmas Dinner," which I have colored with my Copics and cut out with Lifestyle Crafts dies.  I see that Kathy and I have the same taste in designer paper as I also used this awesome Carta Bella pack for my card.  My cardstock is Doodlebug Designs and SU, bling flourishes are from Prima.  My sentiment is from Flourishes clear stamps and cut with Lifestyle Crafts die.

Hi everyone, Kathy here. Such a pretty color combo Em has selected for us to use. I've decided to do a holiday card, since they are quickly approaching now. My image is called Baublegown. Isn't her holiday dress so cute? I got lucky and found some patterned paper that fit the color palette well. Hope you will take some time and play along with our challenge this month!

Hi there, crafty people! Laura, here with my version of a Clean and Simple card.  I love the cheerful colors in today's Color Challenge! Since flu and cold season is sneaking up on us, I took the opportunity to make a "get well soon" card. The Digi I used is appropriately called "Get Well Soon"! 

Sally - Hi there, it's Flatfriends Challenge time! This month it is using the above colour combination.  At first I wasn't too sure, but I went through my crafty stash of cardstock and papers and found some that look quite good together.  The image I chose is one of Emma's first digi images and it is the first time I have used it.  I coloured here with my Graph'it marker pens and cut her out.  I then made a Union Jack background out of my bits and bobs scraps.  I added a sentiment and here she is. Cute eh?

Hi there, Sarah here - and it's officially Christmas card making time, so what did I do?  Make a non-Christmas card!!  Though I suppose it could be used as a winter birthday card, if you fancy. I used a lovely digi called, Christmas Shopping coloured her in with my ProMarkers, die-cut it out and chalked the background.  I then added some extremely old papers that I adore (and have almost run out of!) in the gorgeous colour combo that Emma picked! Added some die-cuts, a sentiment and hey-presto one finished card.

Hi guys, Em here xx I've been crazy nervous about this card - it was my birthday this month so I decided to ask for money to finally start my colouring pen collection. I've been having a lot of fun over the last week starting to learn the skills of colouring by hand and, needless to say, I am addicted already!! I'm in love with my Copics and can imagine all my spare time will be spent colouring from now on :-D I decided to just focus on the colouring of my digi this time so the card layout is about as simple as you can get (sorry) xx

Remember that you don't need to use a Flat Friends digi to enter our challenges anymore but there is an extra prize on offer if you do :-) A list of the challenge rules can be found on the tab at the top of this page xx