Wuv, Wuv, Wuv ....

.... as my son used to say in those long-ago toddler days when he couldn't pronounce his Ls!!!  Valentine's Day has been and gone and I was only a day late making my husband's card - oops!!  Here's this year's offering:

Update 18/02 - this card was chosen as Top 3 on The Kraft Journal - many thanks!

I'm entering this in the following challenges: Less is More ("Masculine"), Totally Papercrafts, Creative Inspirations, The Kraft Journal ("Valentine/Love"), Papertake Weekly ("With a Heart"), City Crafter ("Love Bug") and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge ("Get Krafty").

I got some new crafting goodies during the week - first time in ages and ages - and I was itching to use the embossing paste.  I've seen it all over blogland in the last while and I knew I'd like it.  The Tim Holtz hearts stencil was out of stock, as was the plain white paste, so I got the stars stencil and the pearlescent paste and I'm glad - more hearts would have been overkill and the pearlescent sheen is just lovely.  I hand-drew the red heart, slathered it in a thick layer of glossy accents, and then cut it out when it was dry.  Here's a side shot of the card:

Recipe:

Stencil: Tim Holtz "Stars" stencil

Font: joeHand 2 - www.dafont.com

Other: Pearlescent embossing paste, glossy accents

Thanks for looking!

A bit of a ....

.... departure into the land of clean and simple!!  When I was crafting at my friend's house a few weeks back, we were inspired to do a bit of CAS by some pictures in an American magazine (didn't get the title).  I finished it this week, as my DT sample for Sentimental Sundays - our challenge this week is called "Child's Play" and we are sponsored by Sweet n Sassy. Here's what I made:

No need for any side-shots to show dimension - there isn't any (apart from the popped-up balloon and the string!).  No need for a supply list either, since I can't remember where the stamp is from and there's no patterned paper!  The original image said something different, but I wanted this to be a thank-you for a sweet kid in school who gave me some homemade soda-bread for an end-of-year present, so I printed out the sentiment and inked, cut and stuck down over the original words.  My son commented that the little girl "looks like she's sulking at a party!", so I gave her mouth a little upturn with a black sharpie!!  I don't have any balloon stamps, so I drew one!

I'm entering this into Less is More (colour challenge - gorgeous autumnal, mustards, browns and greys) and Our Creative Corner ("Words, words, words").

Thanks for looking!

I put slightly too much ....

effort into what turned into my DT entry for PaperPlay this week!!!

Our theme is "Distressing" - hey, I can do that no problem!!  I had plans to make a gorgeously ripped, inked and torn confection .... but I got a bit side-tracked. 

Remember my son's birthday party a few weeks ago?  I had taken photos of all the boys as they climbed, and then I thought that rather than emailing the pics to their parents and simply texting thank yous for the presents (as would be the norm around here!), why not combine the two and make thank you cards that incorporate the pictures?  Genius?  No, a flippin' week's work that pushed everything else aside!!  Here's a few of the finished cards:

Each boy's card has a picture of him on the climbing wall on the inside, with a peep-hole cut to show just a little bit of him through to the front of the card.  Each card has the hole in a different place, depending on where the boy was on the wall in the photo.  You can see it better on this close-up.

I used a new Hero Arts "inside of an envelope" stamp, that I got with a voucher I won a few weeks ago, to make the pattern on the plain white card I used for the front.  And I made the sentiment on the computer, highlighting the T with glossy accents and popping them up over the twine for a little dimension. 

I'm entering them into the following challenges: Crafty Creations and ABC Challenge are both looking for stitching and, a first time entering a clean and simple challenge for me, Less is More ("Masculine").

And that's it - I think they look far too simple for the amount of time they took, but I think the boys (and their Mums) will be happy to receive them, and that's what matters.

I posted them all this morning, so now I can get back to all my lovely papers and do REAL distressing!!

Thanks for looking!