Exam congrats!

My boys came up with the goods so I've stolen their cards back so I can post pictures of them here. Well done, chaps!

Men's cards

Four men's cards to make this week. Very testing. So I'm keeping it simple. This was the first time I've used an acetate layer. I hope the fibres on the binding are not too feminine. The neutral colours in the fibres seemed the perfect complement to the card. The only stamping on this is the greeting, which is mounted on the acetate.

The next is not my usual kind of card at all. But I try to make cards to suit the occasion rather than to suit me. I deliberated over this one for a long time. I prefer to use stamping and a minimum of ready made embellishments but I didn't have a suitable stamp for this 50th birthday. I finally chose this bottle peel off, which I stuck onto acetate and then curved before attaching to the card with hidden brads. The wine label was made on the computer and stuck on behind the acetate. The number is just cut out of mirri card. My son thinks this is one of the best cards I've ever made. I hope that isn't a comment on my taste or my stamping!

The next two cards I have to start work on tomorrow are to congratulate my sons on their respective exam results. I really hope that's not tempting fate!

Swirling into infinity

How many swirls or flourishes is too many? Lucky for me flourishes are still hot. But I'm not sure what will happen to my stamping when they go out of fashion. Let's hope that's a long way off because I've just got two more luscious stamps from the US. They are both Inkadinkado, a make I haven't used before. I've been playing with them for most of the day and have had a eureka moment with my Glimmer Mists. I wondered why I wasn't falling in love with them like everyone else. Now I now what I was doing wrong. I just wasn't using enough! I have only three colours, Deep Plum, Candy Apple Red and Iridescent Gold. I never had any intention of using them all together but today I did and got this fantastic rich mix.

The image is embossed in Sparkle n Sprinkle Rust Fizz which gives a lovely sparkly finish.

The pale card the image is matted on is actually an apricot colour glitter card. Dodgy combination maybe but it seems to work, although on the photo you can't see the apricot colour, the glitter or the sheen of the Mists.

It's so quiet in here...

I can't believe it's so long since my last post. I have played quite a lot but not finished much, or certainly nothing I was particularly happy with. But the other day, after messing about with ink and glue for many hours and drawing a blank, I saw a stamp on the web that was a grungy wildflower silhouette on a distressed background. It hadn't really been inspiration that had been the problem but I pushed the laptop aside and dashed to the table where I'd already (almost) tidied everything away. This card was one of those that kind of makes itself while you're not looking. The main stamp is one of my very favourites. The 'buttons' down the side are made with the same inks and stamps as the main image but I've glazed them with Glossy Accents. I think there is still a little too much black space and there is a dodgy bit of background stamping, but at least I felt I'd made something by the end of the day.