Framed Vienna

I'm working on submissions again today - deadline Monday and we're out tonight celebrating my friends 50th again so I've got to start to try to make myself presentable too - which all in all means I shouldn't be playing in this week's LIM challenge yet.......

So here's my framed entry for it!  http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/week-111-theme.html

I used part of one stamp from one of my favourite stamp ranges ever - the Uptown Girls from Stamping Bella and this one is Vienna on her Vespa but I masked off some of the Vespa so I could fit her into a Polaroid style frame (cut on my cameo).  She is coloured with copics and then I added the sentiment onto the bottom part of the Polaroid frame.  I added a second thin green frame which was again cut on my cameo to add a little more interest to the edge of the card.

It's also my entry into the Anything Goes challenge over on Stamping Bella's Splitcoast forum http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/stamping-bella-f176/bellatastic-tuesday-7-scs-win-%2420-stamping-bella-goodies-t570150.html

Right, time for a bath so I can "attempt" to add some rollers to my hair - if all else fails I hear the shaved look is in thanks to Jessie J ;-)

Red Noses

Just a quick post - my nod to red nose day and the good work of Comic Relief over the last 25 years.

I remember the first day well, and the second even more when my school friends and I blocked the exit to a garage and only let the cars out when they put money in our bucket!

If you can spare some cash and haven't already donated call 03457 910 910 or check out http://www.rednoseday.com/

Stamp is PTI funky florals, glasses and mouth cut on cameo - red nose is a rolled up bit of tissue paper - border is washi tape.

Shades of Green

There's been an awful lot of pink on my blog this week - which is really not one of my normal go to colours, so I thought it was about time we got back into my green and blue comfort zone and today is all about the green.....

Contrary to popular belief (and according to my DH who is a Japanophile) Ninja's never wore black, just dark colours so colouring this little fella green isn't as daft as it seems!  I coloured him with copics, added come glitter to his cupcake frosting and stamped the gift onto DP before colouring the ribbon with copics again for depth.   It's actually for a birthday tomorrow but I'm pretty sure the recipient doesn't look at my blog so we're safe to post it without spoiling the surprise.

The challenge at There She Goes which is the company that makes the two stamp sets I've used here is to use shades of green http://tsgclearstamps.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/tsg198-color-challenge.html and was the inspiration for the card.   However, with it being so close to the day the world turns green (St Patrick's if you don't know) there are quite a few other challenges that also want to see green so I'm entering into the following challenges as well:

http://thepinkelephantchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-pink-elephant-challenge-tpe190.html

http://just-add-ink.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/just-add-ink-157.html 

Be dazzling

I've not played along with a Kraftin Kimmie challenge in ages and I have so many stamps that have yet to see ink that I thought it was time I joined in again and this weeks CAS challenge was the perfect one to draw me in http://kraftinkimmiestamps.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/challenge-169-clean-and-simple.html

I inked up the delectable Lana and coloured her with copics, pencils and shimmer paints on her dress and shoes.  Fussy cut and mounted onto a nestie shape embossed with a sizzix folder for some added luxury in the form of texture.  I added a strip of washi onto a white panel, added a suitable sentiment and a few hand drawn lines around the shape to tie it all together and she's ready to be papped on the red carpet!

Easter Bunnies

 

The bunny photo inspriation challenge at Inkspirational was the perfect excuse to play with my newly arrived Waltzingmouse stamps before I filed them into my storage system http://inkspirationalchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/challenge-11.html

I made some little 3 x 3 Easter cards using A Good Egg and Folk Art Medallion - I think I should have used a different colour to the teal as it makes it feel a bit cold and not very "spring" - just like the current UK weather lol!  I love the little matching bunnies in this set - well all the matching animals they are really cute.

Tea and Balloons

Now normally - I play along with Less is More every Saturday morning - or by that evening at the latest - but this week I am very late to the party as I spent Saturday throwing a surprise tea party for my friend's birthday.  I'm finally joining in with my one layer card featuring spots and stripes and sharing some photos from the party as I've been giving my cameo a good workout making decorations for it!

I used a couple of Hero Arts sentiments stamped in black and then added some floating balloons using mama elephant stamps with distress inks but there was only a spotted one so I added the stripes with a tiny line stamp.  I hand drew the strings.

If you're interested - then this is what has been keeping me busy....

I've spent the last few weekends scouring antique centres looking for this china - isn't it pretty?  It's from the 1950's and is by Royal Stuart Spencer Stevenson - in their harlequin range so lots of pretty mixed colours.  I have everything except a milk jug but I hope to find one soon!  I got the antique linen on ebay.  I made little teabag shaped party favours and teapot shaped menus using the silhouette cameo machine (I really don't know what I did without this great machine)

I used the same teapot shape and added a cup to make a mobile and matching wall hangings - I got all 3 from just 4 sheets of 12 x12 paper with a bit of cotton and ribbon.

I made a couple of word banners - one tea party - and one saying Happy Fiftieth Birthday Maria (awful photo as it was over the window) - the cupcake embroidery was gift for my fortieth from another friend but it fit the them so stayed put.

I went to sewing class at The Craft Den last weekend and made this lovely cup themed bunting.   I'm not known for my sewing machine skills so needed lots of help from Lynne to get it sorted but I love the finished results.  (I bought the posters)

The final handmade element was a rainbow of tissue paper flowers to decorate the fireplace - simply made with folded sheets of tissue die cut with a large scalloped circle die, stapling the centre and patiently peeling and scrunching the layers.

And a final shot of all us of in our posh frocks before we poured the tea and tucked into all the finger food.   (I'm far right front, the birthday girl is far left seated)

I made all the food too - and if you want the run down on the menu then head over to my foodie blog http://craftilicious-thecraftycook.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/posh-tea-party.html

Stitched Flowers

I'm back again for another go at this week's "stitched" theme over at the Paper Players Challenge http://thepaperplayers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/paper-players-135-leannes-theme.html
 this time with a Mother's Day commission - the request was lilac and I immediately thought of a couple of new PTI stamps I have and this is the result.

I stamped the embroidered blooms in purple and lilac and fussy cut adding black liquid pearls to the centre.  I stamped the leaves a few times in two shades of green and fussy cut again (wish I'd got the matching die now!)  I stamped one of the ribbons from ribbons and bows in lilac onto a white panel and then arranged the fussy cut elements on top.  I added my favourite Mother's Day sentiment (Crafts Meow Parents) in purple and finished with a few lilac gems and a matching lilac mat before mounting onto a 7 x5 white base card.

I was really pleased with the results on this one - the embroidered detail on the flowers is so pretty and the sender was pleased with this card - hope his Mum is too!

I'm also entering this into the Spring theme - birds, bees, plants over at Moving Along With The Times - http://movingalongwiththetimes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-birds-and-bees.html

Quilted Leaves

Quite often I struggle with inspiration photo challenges - I can't seem to interpret them in any meaningful or artistic way - but this one at The Pink Elephant really spoke to me - I love grey and yellow and I was drawn to those leaves.  http://thepinkelephantchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-pink-elephant-challenge-tpe189.html   So I combined their inspiration challenge with the Paper Players theme of "stitching" http://thepaperplayers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/paper-players-135-leannes-theme.html and this is what I came up with:

I used a couple of stitched stamp sets from Crafts Meow - Stitched Flowers and Stitched Sentiments for this card and just two shades of ink - Momento Dandelion and Grey Flannel.  I used the single stitched leaf stamp to create a repeat background pattern taking inspiration from the quilt and then I inked the edges of the panel with the dandelion to add some brightness.  I stamped and embossed the stitched sentiment onto some grey cardstock and mounted it onto some yellow embossed dot card.  I stamped a button flower from the flower set and coloured it with pencils adding a white button coloured grey with a copic to the centre.  I stamped the two leaf sprays again in grey and coloured with a copic to finish.  If only I could find this inspiration in every photo challenge!

Inspired by Nature

I've not found time to play along with the Make My Monday challenges for a while - but this week's "inspired by nature" challenge http://mimchallegeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/inspired-by-nature.html  was the perfect opportunity to play with my new Spring Blooms stamp and die set from Clearly Besotted to make a couple of quick cards in time for Mother's Day (which is on Sunday in the UK)

For this first card I opted for the daffodil (although I think I used the tulip leaf!) and I die cut and decoupaged the flower and leaves using the solid and outline stamps together.  I stamped the jar onto the card and shaded lightly before adding the flower on top and finishing with another jar die cut from acetate.  The sentiment is from the Crafts Meow.  I added some yellow washi for a pop of spring brightness.

For the second card I suspect I used the daffodil leaves with the tulip heads!  Anyhow, this time I stamped them direct to the card except for the middle one which is cut using the die so I could position it lower on the stem.  The jar was stamped over and coloured with copics before adding glossy accents and glitter.  The sentiment is another from the same set by Crafts Meow.   As this one has the added sparkle, I'm also entering it into this weeks cupcake craft challenge http://cupcakecraftchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/cupcake-232-sparkle.html 

Donuts

Donuts are behind the colour inspiration this week at Less is More http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/week-109-colour-challenge.html and at first the colours totally freaked me out!  It is sooooo not my normal palette but then I remembered this card by the super talented Stephanie and thought that something using these colours and a similar stamp would work well for Mother's Day.

I stamped the same floral image in orange, yellow and two shades of pink (from a retired Elzybells set but the images in the set Stephanie used are very similar by the same artist now working for Penny Black) and then I stamped the greeting from Stephanie's own stamps (Happy Everything) over the top in black.  I trimmed the panel and then mounted onto a card.  Simples.

A Girly Ark

My friend at work for whom I made the nappy cake recently had her baby last weekend - a little girl - and now she's home and has her card I can share it...

I coloured the image with copics, added a little shimmer with luminarte paints onto the pink ark and then cut and matted with nesties.  I added a couple of strips of washi tape and personalised it with my favourite alphabet stamp (Elzybells no longer available)

I'm working on magazine submissions tonight so that's all I can share for now and have a busy weekend so may not have much to share.  Enjoy yours whatever you're doing!

Oscars Red Carpet Inspiration

Claire set a doozy of a challenge this week - to be inspired by the red carpet fashion of the 2013 Oscars ceremony http://waltzingmouse.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/red-carpet-challenge-links-open.html

My favourite dress of the night was without doubt Hale Berrie's Versace number - designed to make her look like a Bond Girl in ready for her to be just that in the next movie - and it was stunning - classy and elegant but making an on-trend statement with all that loverley metallic shimmer - yum!  However, I wasn't sure I could make a card purely based on this dress, so I decided to be a rebel and use my 3 favourites together in one card.

Gloria Rueben's deep purple ruffled dress adorned with a fluffy flower train looked wonderful (although I have no idea who made it or how she managed to walk in it!) and Nicole Kidman's uber-sequined and super shimmery dress was chosen by her husband Keith Urban - the encrusted top caught my eye but I was less impressed by the swirly bottom....

Anyhow, just like all the high street stores fashion designers, I took the bits that inspired me from each dress, diluted them to suit my price bracket, and came up with this:

I used a precious sheet from my all time favourite paper pad Paris Nights from GCD Studios to represent Halle's dress and I die cut a fancy frame from gold paper with a spellbinders die to represent the faux buckle on Nicole's dress.  I stamped the word Mum using the extremely useful Compact Family stamp set from Waltzingmouse using stazon ink so it stuck to the pearlised paper.  I added some texture to represent the folds on Gloria's dress by spritzing some purple card stock with water and roughly folding it.  Once dry double stick tape give you a nice tight finish and holds the pleats down.

Then I finished with a great big flower - again inspired by Gloria's dress - but I'm really thrilled with this flower as I made it myself from a quite unexpected source - the smallest die from Claire's exclusive Opera Tags compatible spellbinders die :-)   Simply cut 7 tags and use a tiny brad through the hole to hold them together, fan them out  and you have a pretty fancy flower even if I do say so myself!  I took further inspiration from Nicole's dress and used black, copper and gold sequins to encrust the centre of the flower - not as many sequins as on the dress itself I'm sure - but the feel is still there I think.

I can't wait to see which dresses inspired everyone and where they took this challenge - it's a really interesting one - thanks Claire!

Pierced Flowers

This week's Less is More challenge is to do paper-piercing - I got very excited when I first read it on my phone as I thought it said piecing not piercing as I love the former and do it often.  When I looked at the examples though I realised I was on the wrong track and piercing is not something I've done much before (even though I have one of those easy sew tools).

Anyhow - I vaguely remembered an embossing folder I had that I thought I could play with piercing on so I dug it out and came up with this:

I embossed the white card stock and all the piercing holes were actually little raised bumps - I simply popped the embossed card onto a pricking mat and then pricked every bump into a hole we we have the raised flowers with the dotted swirly holes in between.  I added a little pink stickles to the centres and some clear to the hearts and finished with a matching pink card strip stamped with a Mother's day sentiment from the Crafts Meow

Hi Ho Silver!

That's the challenge at CASual Friday's this week - to use silver on your project.   Well I was totally inspired by this awesome card by Clare Buswell - but I don't have her patience for such dedicated glue pen use - so I had an idea to use embossing for a similar effect and here's the results:

I dry embossed a 300 gsm sheet of white cardstock using the rose embossing folder (cart-us) and dusted it with powder tool.  Then I inked up my brayer with versamark and gentle ran the brayer all over the raised area taking care not to press too hard to preserve the white background.  I covered the whole sheet with WOW detail silver embossing powder and heat set it.

I decided to pair it with the new Quilled Elegance stamp set from PTI.  I stamped and embossed one of the stamps from it onto the same heavy card stock and added a sentiment from a Simon Says Stamp set in the gap.   I fussy cut the quill - mounted it onto a white card base and then filled in the quill with silver stickles for a different silver sparkle.  I finished with a few pearls in the rose centres and some corner rounding.

 I think it would make a gorgeous wedding or anniversary card and really like the double embossing technique so I'm going to try it on some other folders and see what happens....  

Floral Dash

I've only tried to the do the 10 minute craft dash once and I really struggled - I am sooo not a quick crafter!  However, I got some pretty sequins on Sunday that match one of the colours on this weeks challenge so I thought I'd give it a bash - sticking on a few sequins is quick isn't it?  Not when you're me apparently......

I just scraped in with 33 seconds to spare but I was really starting to panic!   I die cut my flowers from some brown DP (very old not sure who its by) - I then trimmed it to fit my square card - only I cut it too short - damn, panic, 3 minutes gone already - I had to crop a little off the end of the card to make the panel fit again - 4 minutes gone -eek!   I cut a panel of pink card and glued it behind the die cut  in the brown and got glue in the wrong place so had to waste another precious minute with my dry glue eraser - more panic.  I thought the sentiment would look best in white, but my white inks are not good so that required embossing - heat embossing wtih 5 minutes left - this is never going to happen - but it did (just don't look too close cos I didn't have time to find my embossing buddy so there's a bit of loose powder hanging around....)  I was now down to 8 minutes - quick add some strips of teal mirri tape to match the sequins and then spend a full minute faffing with the placement of 6 sequins - stop the clock - PHEW!   I thought crafting was supposed to be relaxing - I need more practice at timed challenges obviously!!!!

As it's also eligible for the current Dies to Die for challenge which requires you to feature flowers, I'm entering it into their challenge too - http://cuteycrafts.blogspot.co.uk/p/die-ing-for-challenge.html

Babies, buttons and bows

I wasn't sure how to incorporate buttons and bows into a CAS design for a baby so thought I wouldn't be joining in with the Paperplayers latest challenge but then I had a flash of inspiration and came up with this...

My flash was to use a button to replace the 'O' in One which I spelt out using my Elzybell's alphabet stamp set and I added a tiny bow using twine through the button.  I added the yummy polka-dot nellie from the new to me PTI Sweet Baby stamp set using pool party ink.  I added a few dark blue hearts and a matching mat to finish. 

Here's the link to the challenge http://thepaperplayers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/paper-players-133-clean-simple-theme.html

Muse meets Retro

I've been having a bit of redesign on the old blog - time for the fussy header to go and be replaced by something much more CAS and modern - what do you reckon?  I had fun designing it so hope you like it too.

I became a member of the  MUSE card club when it launched, but I haven't had the chance to play along as yet only managed to vote, but the lovely muse inspiration card this week really spoke to me so I made a little time to play last night and combined the inspiration with this weeks retro sketch.

Here are the links if you want to play along - http://musecardclub.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/muse-challenge-5.html  -  http://retrosketches.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/retrosketches-51.html and here is my interpretation:

I loved the amazing colours on the washi tape on Marion's Muse card - I love teals and turquoise but had never thought to pair that colour with orange and yellow but it works so well so I was inspired to play with those colours and see what I could do with them.  I started with PTI roses in shades of yellow and orange (I hope I'm allowed green leaves - they looked odd in blue!) and then I combined the stripes of the washi tape but in my case in the form of DP strips (My Minds Eye) with the overall sketch at retro for my layout.  I added some tiny buttons in orange and yellow to finish and an orange sentiment (also PTI).  I think I'll be using this colour combo again - hope you all like it.

Doilies

It's Blog Party day over at Waltzingmouse again - sometimes the 17th creeps up on me and I have rush to make a project last minute, but not this month, oh no sirree not me!  I have not one, but two doily creations all ready to share with you.  I had a couple of birthdays this week just gone that I thought a doily card would be suitable for so I made them in advance and saved the blogging of them ready for today :-)

This is the "academic year" that my school friends and I reach one of those milestone birthdays we'd rather all forget!  Mine was last year, but I have a number of friends who ares till to take their turn and this one was for Vikki.  I die cut the doily using a cut file from the silhouette store from DP and using the offset function created a matching mat to layer it on.  The centre was again cut on my silhouette cameo and I distressed the edges of it.  I stamped the greeting using two sentiments from Compact Sentiments and added a subtle 40 in the corner using Woodenheart Alphabet both in crumbcake ink from SU.  I carefully (very carefully with my sharpest pointiest scissors!) cropped the word "sweet" from the beginning of the Birthday wishes stamp (sorry Claire!) - it still goes back together perfectly for when I want to use it but it gives me a little more diversity from the stamp set when I don't ;-)  I finished the card with some washi tape stripes and a little pool party inking around the panel onto which I mounted my doily - deliberately hanging it over the edge and trimming it off flush.

The second card was for my second Valentine's Day birthday - two of my friends were born that day - and I found another cute cut file in the silhouette store to make this adorable doily banner.  I swapped out the line and bows from the cut file for some twine to give it a more real feel.  I used DP from Craftwork Cards and embossed it with a spellbinders double folder.  I added a doily-style border (spellbinders die) across the bottom and fussy cut the Eiffel Tower from another sheet of DP (which bearly shows in the photo but does IRL).  The sentiment uses my trimmed Compact Sentiment again but this time I shadow stamped it using pool party and cocoa brilliance inks onto a die cut kraft label.  I used pool party ink to stamp one of the labels from Very Vintage labels No 10 onto the edge and finished with a couple of soft pool pearls.  In hindsight, I should have used a little distress ink on the edges of the DP for more definition and a more vintage feel.

Can't wait to waltz around and see what doily creations everyone else has come up with - I'm off to get a cuppa and a slice of cake - on a plate with a doily naturally :-)

Up in the air

Quick post this morning as I need to go antique hunting today......

Whilst waiting for the washing machine to finish though, I did manage 10 minutes to make a quick card for today's Less is More challenge where the ladies want to see something "up in the air"

 

I used the plane and banner stamp and die set from PTI (Fly Away) stamped in green ink and flat coloured with copics and joined with a bit of twine.  I popped them up dimensionally onto a blue card strip which I edged with washi tape and made clouds using a mask and sponging moonlight white ink through.  A quick fun card for a young boy.

I'll pop back later to browse the other entries when the antique shops have shut.

 

Red and sketchy

This is probably my most CAS card ever but I really liked the simplicity of it - I did play around with some star sequins but decided it was better without it.

It uses just one stamp set - Document It from MFT - with red and grey ink.  The arrow is cut out and popped up dimensionally.  The inspiration came from the sketch from CASE this sketch and the cue word of RED over at CASology.  For me arrows just have to be red - especially one telling you to do something!



http://casethissketch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/case-this-sketch-challenge-15.html

http://casology.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/week-31-red.html

Geek Chic

No hearts and flowers around here today - I have a couple of friends with the misfortune to have their birthdays today (not much fun when you want to go for a meal on your birthday and can only get the couples specials!)  I'll be sharing one of their cards at the weekend, but I can share the masculine card today.

I teamed up Kraftin Kimmie's Computer Nerd (from the nerds range) with a sentiment from There She Goes and some mathematical washi tape in the background.  The image was coloured with copics with glossy accented glasses.

I love the Smarty Pants stamp set and the washi tape soooo much that I decided to have another little play just for fun.  This time I went girly:

Again the image was coloured with copics and fussy cut and mounted over the washi tape - I decided to go for a little splatter this time for extra decoration.  I used some luminarte shimmer paint and my thick waterbrush (I think I must have done that before I did the washi tape but I can't quite remember now).  I love the sentiments in this set - they are all so funny!

Faux airbrush

When I picked up my magazine at the weekend, I decided to have a go at the new technique challenge over on the Craft Stamper Magazine blog http://craftstamper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/new-take-it-make-it-blog-challenge.html   The challenge was to have a go at faux airbrushing and there is an article in the March issue that shows you how to do it.  This is my first attempt - I think the technique lends itself to a slightly wider stencil than the one I chose to use but I think the effect still shows just about.....

I used peacock feathers and mowed lawn distress inks through a sweet poppy peacock feather stencil.  I added a couple of shades of stickles to the feather centre.  The sentiment strip is a banner cut from a strip of water colour paper that I made using more distress inks (peacock feathers and salty ocean) using salt to get the mottled effect.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

What to Draw?

I've not played along in a Mo Manning challenge in a while, but I LOVE her images and have loads of them, and this week I needed a card featuring one of her images - what to draw - and luckily there is an anything goes challenge this week that I can enter it into http://mosdigitalchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/challenge-171-anything-goes-wmo-image.html

Coloured with copics, fussy cut and then mounted onto black and fussy cut again to make it stand out against the background better.  The DP are digi papers from Sherry K Designs.  The sentiment is from a set by Woodware.

One Layer Music

Last week may have been LIM's 2nd birthday, but this week is my second anniversary of playing along as I only found the challenge on week 2.  The theme this week is to make a one layer card featuring music  http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/week-106-one-layer.html

I didn't use many supplies for this card but I did use a lot of techniques - all quite simple - but useful in the one layer arsenal.   I started by masking off a horizontal stripe on my card where I knew I wanted to put my sentiment.  I then decided to use a kissing technique to get some musical notes onto my bauble.  As I didn't have a solid bauble of the size I wanted I simply turned over one of the largest stamps in the Waltzingmouse 2011 Holiday Ornaments set and inked up the side you normally stick to your acrylic block with pool party ink.  I inked up a Tim Holtz musical note stamp which was designed for the kissing technique so it comes out the right way round (hope so anyway Chrissie as I can't read it!)  Kissing the two together gives lots of interest to your one layer card.

I removed the mask and then stamped a greeting from Hero Arts Very Merry Christmas in versamark and heat embossed in detail silver.  I also heat embossed the bauble top in the same silver ep.  I finished with a little black hemp cord tied in a bow so the bauble wasn't floating in mid air.  I think I may make a set of these ready for Christmas.

Inspired by a song

I was really pleased when I saw the theme for this weeks' CASual Friday challenge - to be inspired by a song you love.  For me, it was a very easy choice - You and Me by the Wannadies - it's "our song" and we danced like maniacs to it at our wedding - here's a link to song if you don't know it - do have a listen it's short and sweet but fabulous!  http://www.muzu.tv/thewannadies/you-me-song-music-video/516943/

The chorus of the song goes "you and me, always, and forever" and that was what I took as my inspiration.....

I used a cute little person pair stamp from "good times" by Mama Elephant and stamped a line of people in grey but highlighting the pair of us in red.  We are a very close couple and sometimes we do feel a little like it's just the two of us against the world so I felt that this layout was the perfect visual metaphor for our relationship.  I then used a retired Elzybells alphabet set to spell out the chorus of the song in black and finished with a tiny die cut heart cut from black glitter paper with a simon says stamps die.

I'm entering the following challenges with this card:

http://cas-ualfridays.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/cfc89.html

http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/love-is-in-air.html

Salt

I liked day 8 so much I stayed up late to try another new technique.  This card was such fun - who knew that salt into the craft room could be as useful as it is in the kitchen but a lot more exciting!  Some distress inks, some water, salt and watercolour paper and a little magic appears :-)  I thought the outcome looked a little like the distant galaxies my hubby shows me on the sky at night so I took the card down that theme.    I finished the card with some embossed stars, some stars die cut from white vinyl and glitter card and a sentiment from Mama Elephant stamped in stazon onto a washi tape banner with a couple of hearts for an extra colour pop.