Throwing my hat in....

I've been umming and ahing all month about whether or not to enter this year's Gallery Idol competition run by PaperCrafts Magazine.  I found the theme of "encouragement cards" a bit tricky and am not sure my card making is up to "idol" standard.  But, as the saying goes, you've got be in it to win it so I finally had a go this weekend and these were my two efforts:

The sentiments on both cards are from the There She Goes Hang On set.  For the first I stamped a musical background, mounted 2 die cuts one in black card one cut from double sided sticky sheets and covered with Yorkshire Dales gilding flakes.  The second is just a tim holtz brick wall embossing folder on kraft with a little pumice stone ink, some black mats and a knotted "rope"