One for ....

.... the old man!!  Hee hee, my husband turned 50 a few weeks ago.  How on earth did that happen, I'm sure it's no time at all since he was 40!  We went to a lovely place in Co. Meath with a group of friends last weekend to celebrate, and I was, as usual, up late the night before finishing his card.  Started with some lovely orange paper and a Tim Holtz hot air balloon stamp - but before long realised that the card was beginning to look like a hot air balloon trying to escape from the fiery pits of hell.  Back to the drawing board.  This is what I ended up with:

I'm entering the following challenges: Crafty Cardmakers ("Winter Birthday"), Craft Your Passion ("Anything Goes"), Creative Card Crew ("Sprinkle") and Papertake Weekly ("Let it Snow").

I used a new stencil (that I got for making my Christmas cards) and texture paste, combined with tiny black stars (made with a die that I also got for making Christmas cards - decided it's too much faff to cut out dozens of tiny stars!) covered in glossy accents, tangled up thread in two colours, and some more stars - here's a side view of all the dimension and texture:

Recipe:

Stencil: Simon Says Stamp Stencil "Falling Snow"

Paper: Basic Grey "Urban Prairie"

Die: Mama Elephant "Lots of Stars" 

Fonts: "Impact" and "Bambi Bold" - dafont.com

Other: Texture paste, glossy accents, Basic Grey button, thread

Thanks for looking - now I have to get on to start making the aforementioned Christmas cards - wish me luck!

Cards all around the ....

world!  I've noticed the Card Chain Challenge before, as you might have too, but this was the first time I've gotten organised enough to join. Due to some serious work commitments, our Card Chain Challenge hostess, Deborah, was forced to push the October Reveal back a few days until now.

I got a lovely card from Jo in England.  She sent me this gorgeous cat, with a very funny sentiment.  I love the colouring of the cat's eyes and the cheese.

There are various themes/a sketch/colour combination that the participants can choose to make their card.  I went with the theme of friendship, and my card winged it all the way to Robyn in Australia (very impressed with the postal system, it only took 8 days to get there).  Here's the card I sent to her:

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Archaic"

Stamps: Papertrey Ink "Simple Sunflower", Hero Arts

Font: "Throw My Hands up in the Air" - dafont.com

You can take a look at all the other participants cards by visiting Deborah's blog here and if you're tempted to become a link in the January chain (we skip December) you can click here to find out all the details.

Thanks for looking!