A Few Cards ...

Despite being on holiday for a week and a half, I've done remarkably little in the cardmaking department. The first week, the weather was awful - so hot and sticky - and I just didn't have the energy to do anything. (Seriously, I know other folks don't approve, but give me cool and grey any day - at least you can do things!) And this week, we've been in a major turmoil. Our younger son is heading off tomorrow to start a year abroad for his degree. Because he's doing both French and German, that means he spend one semester at university in each country, and because he didn't do any German before university, he's got an extra summer course in Germany this month. So far, so good. He'd been warned not to expect a quick response to his application for accommodation at his French university, so when he hadn't heard anything, wasn't too worried. Then, he found a Facebook for Brits going to that university and found that others had heard. So, panic set in. It looks as though his application has fallen through the cracks, and we've been trawling the internet to find him something for 1st September. No luck so far, although we're waiting to hear from a couple of places which might have something for the first couple of months, although he'd have to look elsewhere after that. So, not conducive to cardmaking. But, I have done a few bits, and here they are!

This is the second of the pair I've made for my husband's twin brothers. I did the first one ages ago, designing the background in Photoshop Elements and adding some embellishments I've had for ages. This second one took only a few minutes since the background was all ready to print again, so I don't know why it took me so long!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Dude Time Doodles where the theme is 'travel',
Anything Goes where they want anything but a square,
Digital Tuesday where they want monochromatic,
Crafting when we Can where they want monochromatic,
Kaboodle Doodles where they want birthdays,

This is the first of two cards I've made with some Whimsy Stamp images I was lucky enough to win last year. Although I chose the images, I got them a little late in my Christmas Card making cycle to use them much last year, but I've got several of both printed and ready to go for this year. In these two cards, I printed onto watercolour paper and pulled out my Aquamarkers. I'm not nearly as comfortable with watercolour as a technique as I am Promarkers, but I was fairly pleased with the result. I've added some sparkle to the angel's wings with Twinkling H2O in Heavenly white. I cut the image using a Spellbinders die, then decided it would look good with some gilding. So, I got out my ink duster brushes, and some Versamark. Then, I brushed on some Perfect Pearl in gold, and that's what I got! I suspect it's something I'll do again. The background paper is from the Papermania Capsule Collection, and I've added some stamped, embossed snowflakes in blue. The sentiment is hand-written on a Spellbinders label die cut and I've matted with blue mirror board.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Inky Impressions where they want embossing (dry embossing in the die cuts and heat embossing in the background.)
Die Cutting Divas where they want die cuts!
Lexi's Creations where they want Christmas in July,
Paper Playtime where anything goes,

Again, the image is watercoloured with Aquamarkers and the wings with Twinkling H2O. this time, I cut round the image, and mounted it on some die cut paper from Kars. I added some red mat, and some backing paper from the same Kars pad and finished with a couple of pieces of ribbon.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Ribbon Carousel where it's Christmas in July,
Sassy Cheryl where the theme is 'pretty papers',
The Crafty Pad where they want 'things with wings',
Cutie Pie Challenge where it's Christmas in July,