Welcome!  I am happy to be participating in this international blog hop started by my friend and fellow Gentlemen Crafter; Rene Guenther from Leipzig Germany. I am sure we will see lots of fun and bright spring projects from the, almost 20, participants in the hop.  Let's get started.

Star Wars has always been a favourite of mine, and many of my family and friends as well.  My nephew's birthday is coming up this weekend and he is a big fan, so I decided to make him a very special card.  I'm using the very popular "explosion box" card layout. These little boxes allow for lots of interaction and 3D effect, while folding flat for envelope mailing.

It's time once again for the monthly Gentlemen Crafters Design Team Blog Hop. The Gentlemen Crafters Design Team (#TGCDT) are a group of male crafters & Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators from around the world, that love to share our creative side with you on the 2nd Friday of each month. Be sure to visit all the presenters in this month's hop - links can be found at the bottom of this post. 

I am absolutely taken with the new Butterfly Bijou Designer Series Paper - the whole butterfly suite is just gorgeous in fact, but I know that you don't have to break the bank all at once to create beautiful projects. I decided to limit myself to just the designer paper for this blog hop, and what I ended up with I am quite happy with.

"Timeless Tulips" is one of my most favourite stamp sets, and one I will probably keep forever as I find myself pulling it off the shelf time and time again.  Today I was thinking about the snow finally being gone and the tulips and crocuses pushing their way up though the soil very soon - so I decided to make some cards for Easter and Mother's Day too.