Challenge Card #2

Well I've got another addiction..... challenge blogs! At least this addiction only costs me my time and not my money, and uses up some of my ever increasing stash lol. This card is made for a challenge on http://poeticartistry.blogspot.com/ from a sketch (second picture). I liked how versatile the sketch was and will definitely be using it again, but not sure this one has the desired effect. I decided to make another Valentines card as I have joined various Secret Valentines swaps. I firstly sponged some pink pearlescent paint on to the base card and on to the rectangle of card and inked the edges with black StazOn. I cut strips of Crafty Individuals backing papers and again inked the edges with black StazOn and stuck them to the base card. I cut a Crafty Individuals Miniatures into a heart shape and backed it onto card. I used rub-on words on the pink rectangle and stuck this onto the card. I used foam squares on the back of the heart shape to raise it a little.

Challenge Card

OK, so now I have my blog I can take up some of the fab blog challenges. I made this card initially for
Pinkle's challenge- You must use ink a stamps and this weeks theme is LOVE
But as I read through some of the other challenge blogs I realised it would also qualify for;
DCM-Foiled
Papertake-Hearts desire
Srummy Stash Cafe-Ribbons
How cool is that? (I hope it's allowed too, if not can someone shout and let me know)
The card base was coloured with Distress Inks, fired brick. I stamped the pad onto a craft sheet, spritzed with water and rubbed the card over the mat. I then used a heart stamp in tattered rose Distress Inks and randomly stamped over the card (it doesn't show up too well in the photo but it is there honest). The largest rectangle was coloured again with tattered rose and cut and dry foam, then I embossed it with a Cuttlebug embossing swirl folder. The next rectangle was coloured with tattered rose and the spritzing technique used on the card base, then embossed again with a cuttlebug folder. I then rubbed the fired brick pad over the top to highlight the embossed detail. The small square was done as the card base, then tapped directly with the fired brick ink pad. The heart was cut out of mount board then covered with tin foil and embossed with the Cuttlebug swirls folder. The small hearts are punched out of a scrap piece of card coloured as the card base, stuck on then covered with glossy accents. The ribbon was attached to tie everything together. That all sounds a lot harder than it was! I just hope now I don't get stopped by the police coz my hands are covered in red ink and I look like I've committed a mass murder lol

Mens Cards

If there is one thing that I dread it's making men's cards! This month I have made a total of 7 :-(. Here are 3 of them (don't want to bore you with them all lol). The 1st two are for rugby fans, made with the new Dovecraft Masculine papers (very impressed with these). The last one is for a painter and decorator (just in case you hadn't guessed lol),the papers are from my ever increasing pile and the image is from google.

Beer Mat Calendars

I love altering beer mats! OH has collected quite a stash for me, infact the landlord of our local pub got so fed up with there never being any on the tables when OH was around that he gave him an unopened sleeve with 50 in!!! So expect to see loads more beer mat projects.
I made these into calendars for some of my virtual friends on Lots to do forum. All the papers and chipboard embelishments are from Brenda Pinnick, the calendar blanks are from e-bay.

CUTTLEBUG

My cuttlebug has taken a back seat recently as I've been busy 'altering' things. I have quite a few cards to make this month so decided to dust him off. These two cards are using my favourite embossing folder 'stylized flowers'. The embossed parts I have painted with some pearlised paints. There are a few new embossing folders that have just been released and I "need" them all.

POP-UP CARDS

I bought these pop-up templates from Lakeland whilst I was in the Lake District between Christmas and the New Year. This is the first time I've used them and I quite like the results. The shoe and handbag printed images on the front of each card are from "Lola's Boudoir" CD from Pink Petticoat. The patterned papers are from Brenda Pinnick (blue) & Rob & Bob Studio (pink).