Last day of ....

.... freedom - oh, I'm so not ready to go back to school, but alas, I have no choice.  I practised getting up early today (8 o'clock!!) and I did not like it, what'll I be like tomorrow when the waking hour is SEVEN!! I think the kids will be prising MY fingers from the doorframe and pulling ME out the door by my ankles!!

In keeping with the week that's in it, the theme on Creative Card Crew this fortnight is "Back to School".  We are sponsored by Simon Says Stamp and the winner will receive a $15 store credit.  Check out what my talented teamies have made.

I had no school themed stuff, so I decided to buy one of Mo Manning's beautiful images, it's my first one of hers.  Here's the card I made:

Update 3rd Sep: This card was picked as a Top 5 on Stamp Something - thank you, ladies - another blinkie - yayyyy!
Update 4th Sep: This card was picked as Winner on Sketch Saturday - thanks so much!

I've used the sketch from this week's Sketch Saturday.  I'm also entering it into the following challenges: Fussy & Fancy Friday ("Back to School"), Stamp Something (another "Back to School"), Cute Card Thursday ("Dieing for a Punch" - no punches or dies), Shabby Tea Room ("Old/New" - my old is the papers, new is the image) and a new challenge blog, CES Challenges ("Anything Goes").

I think I may have finally beaten my digi troubles.  I printed the image in "everyday" setting rather than "normal", and heat set it with my heat gun a few times and left it overnight before I coloured (with distress inks of course!) and I am pretty happy with the result.  Thanks to Mina for the printing hints, and also to Deirdre and Sandie for the "Adjust contrast" photoshopping hints (what a difference it makes!)!!  Here's a close-up of my image:

Recipe:

Papers: Fancy Pants "The Daily Grind"

Stamps: Hero Arts "Apple" and Mo Manning "Erasmus"

Colouring Medium: Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Other: Fancy Pants ribbon, scallop edge scissors, needle + thread

Thanks for looking!