Aaaaah, it's the ....

.... weekend!!  Thank goodness, that was an intense three days back on the chain gang - our acting principal turned to me at the end of Wednesday and said, with all seriousness "Are you always this busy?"  Welcome to my world, bud!!!!  Got some happy news yesterday and today - my card from my last post won Sketch Saturday and got Top 5 on Stamp Something.  I am so chuffed - a voucher from one and a blinkie from the other, happy days!!  I have to apologise for the lack of commenting I've done this week, I've missed seeing everyone's work, and intend to get a good look over the weekend.

I was talking in my last post about having to make a card for a 19 year old, well it's taken a few days but I finished it this morning.  Here's what I made:

I used the sketch from this week's Truly Scrumptious and also the optional extra to use a knot somewhere on the card.  I'm also entering it into Double Dutch (favourite challenge - mine is #38 - Boys only), Creative Cottage ("celebrations") and SFTW ("shabby or vintage").

I laughed when I first saw the Mo Manning digi that I got for this card, it's the living image of the birthday boy, right down to skateboard, hat and all!!! I used a lot of orange on the card, both in colouring and the papers, as it's his favourite colour.  I made the numbers from chipboard, covered with orange paper, inked and crackle glazed.  Here's a close-up of the image:

And I thought I'd pop in a side-shot of the layers and dimension too:

Recipe:

Image: "Simon" by Mo Manning

Papers: Basic Grey "Archaic"

Colouring Medium: Distress Inks

Other: Cuttlebug Embossing folder, hairy string, WRMK eyelets, glossy accents, crackle accents, needle + thread

Thanks for looking!

Back in action ....

.... I had no choice, I had a lot of cards to make this week.  Some of my son's classmates are having their first holy communions on Saturday - he was invited to two of their parties, but sadly for him, his great-grandmother's 90th birthday party is on the same day and he has to go to that.  He is not one bit happy and I don't blame him, what 8 year old boy would pass up on bouncy castles and mountains of sweets to go to a meal with a bunch of geriatrics and an accordion player?!!!!

Anyway, this is what I made for his friends, and it's also my PaperPlay DT entry for this week.  Set by the lovely Deirdre, it's called "Up in the Air"  - "We want to see things that fly. It can be butterflies, fairies, aerplanes or even balloons."

I don't have any religious-y stamps or embellishments, so I went with a Hero Arts dove that I've used before for communions.  I also stitched a little cross beside the name.  Here's my card:

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Archaic" and "Basics - Kraft"

Stamp: Hero Arts "Holiday Doves"

Colouring Medium: Prismacolour Pencils and Sansodor

Other: Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Tea Dye Distress Ink Needle + Thread

I've used the sketch from this week's Double Dutch Challenges, and am also entering it into A Spoon Full of Sugar (celebration), Creative Inspirations (distressed), and Quixotic Challenges (Emboss it).

Thanks for looking!

One card a week ....

.... oh, this is just too bad. I'm so thankful for my DT position, it makes me make time to craft once a week even when things are crazy busy. I'm about to off-load a voluntary secretary job that I've been doing for the past 5 years, it takes up a lot of my time on a sporadic basis, especially at this time of year. It's the AGM at the weekend, so all I have left to do is take the minutes, transcribe them and then hand over to my "lucky" successor. That will surely leave more time for crafting!!!

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Anyhoo, this week's challenge on PaperPlay Challenges is called "Love Notes", given the time of year and all that!!!

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Here's my DT sample, it's my card for my husband, who would recoil in horror if I made something pink and frilly with hearts on, so I made black (and red and green and gold) with hearts on!!!

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I'm also entering this card in Fussy and Fancy Friday, their challenge this fortnight is "Hearts" and Simon Says Stamp,who this week have a photo challenge of red roses on a green background (I've taken the colour scheme and shabbied it up a lot) and Double Dutch, their challenge is "Be my Valentine".

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I used the divine BG Scarlet's Letter papers, they are the first BG I saw and I still love them. Great for manly Valentines cards!!! And I've put a little joke on DH on the card - he is NOT a fan of MS punches, I won't tell what he says about them, it's not repeatable. See those little black hearts, they are the throwaway bits from the middle when you punch using the Valentine's Lace punch. I got them out of the bin and put Crackle Accents on them. He'll never know there's MS punchwork on his card!!!

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Here's a little close-up:

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Recipe:

Papers: BG Scarlet's Letter

Stamps: Hero Arts stamped in Gold with Gold E.P.

Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Old Paper, Fired Brick, Black Soot

Other: MS Valentine Lace Punch, Crackle Accents, needle and thread

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Thanks for looking!!