Happy Hallowe'en ....

.... to everyone.  I'm posting a very quick post - Jed and I are about to go and carve pumpkins (I'll put up pictures of them tomorrow), bit under time pressure, so I'll get to my card.  It's a Hallowe'en birthday card for Jed's friend - his party was last night.  Again, I was under time pressure, then the crackle glazed bat didn't dry properly, then it was too dark to get good pictures (and so the excuses roll on!).  Here's what I made:

 

I used the sketch from last week's Deconstructed Sketches and I'm entering the following challenges too: Daring Cardmakers ("Spooky Birthdays"), Simon Says Stamp ("Anything Goes"), Crafty Creations ("Make it Yourself"), Card Crafters Circle ("Autumn Splendour") and Totally Gorjuss ("Spooky").  I made the letters from the birthday boy's name, and I also made a spring-loaded bat!  I glued several layers of black cardstock together, drew and cut out the bat shape, then liberally coated it with crackle accents.  Then I swanned off for lunch with some friends, confident that when I came back, the bat would be both dry and crackled. BUT, it wasn't!  Eeeek - what to do?  So I put it in the hotpress for another hour.  No difference.  Then I took a heat gun to it.  Eeeek - dry but blistered.  So, as time had run out, I stuck two googly eyes over the worst blisters, attached the spring (from an old notebook spine) and called it a day!!  Here's a terribly lighted side-shot of the bat:



Recipe:

Papers: Cosmo Cricket "Matilda" and Rusty Pickle "Costume Party"

Other: Computer generated font, googly eyes and spring from stash

Thanks for looking - for those who enjoy Hallowe'en - have a fun evening!!

Lots of ....

.... in-jokes in the project I'm showing you today. 

I rarely make very personalised cards, apart from adding a name or an age.  I can't imagine anything worse than having to make a card for a 70 year old school caretaker who likes drinking whiskey and betting on racehorses (this was a real card a crafting buddy had to make - I would have said "No" to that particular commission and ran screaming in the opposite direction)!!

Friends of ours had a joint 40th birthday party on Saturday night - it was a vinyl party, everyone had to bring old records - we had a very odd mix of 60s soul, 70s disco and 80s electronic, based on the age and record collections of those present!  The birthday couple, especially the guy, are big fans of Father Ted and can quote great chunks of the episodes verbatim, so we decided to get them a copy of The Specials "Ghost Town" as a joke present and base the card/gift holder around it.  Here's what I made:

Front cover:

Inside, with pocket for gift cards on left, and 7" record holder on right:

Here's a close-up of the Mo Manning dancing nuns image.  For embellishment, I typed out various Father Ted quotes and stuck them down, haven't put close ups 'cos some of them are a bit rude (nothing stopping you from clicking on the image, though)!!

It was a busy weekend, on Sunday we went to a car show.  The weather was glorious.   Here's a few pics:

The two Minis we brought - blue Traveller to the front, black Cooper behind:

Some fab VW camper vans and a divine Fiat 500:

The Minis all lined up in the sunshine:

And I was delighted to finally meet a fellow blogger, Margie.  She and I have been talking for over two years, but have never met in real life until now - it was an absolute pleasure to chat to her and her lovely niece, Rommeij.  Here we are in front of Margie's lovely Morris Minor Traveller - and see that necklace I'm wearing, it made an interesting pattern on my sunburn - the bit I forgot to put sunblock on.  Duh! 

(Iif you were wondering about the Father Ted/Ghost Town connection, here's a utube video of the piece of the relevant episode)

Thanks for looking!

Done and ....

.... dusted. Yup, got the teenage nephew's card finished!!!

It's for this week's PaperPlay challenge, set by Kate, and it's a recipe:

For this weeks challenge I'd like you to use this recipe for your project:
2 Patterned Papers
1 Ribbon
3 buttons
Add some creativity and mix it all together!

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I'm ashamed to admit that, yet again, I didn't read it properly, and I only have two buttons on mine. Can't think why this keeps happening - in real life, I'm a dotter of Is and a crosser of Ts!!!

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I'm also entering this card in this week's Daring Cardmakers - they're looking for cards using kraft cardstock (which I love!!).

And also Quixotic Challenges, this week they're looking for stitching. All my cards these days have stitching, I love the look it gives on cards. I really need to get into machine stitching, though, 'cos all that hand-stitching takes so bloomin' long!!!

Back soon with ..... cards for girls!!!! Woohoo!!!!

Thanks for looking!