Lady in Black...

Obviously I had already completed my card for the challenge at http://cuttlebugchallenge.blogspot.com/ , but when I saw this fabulous deep red embossed card at my favourite market stall yesterday I couldn't resist it.

The card was just perfect to use for distressing. One side of the card is coated in a very deep burgandy shade of red with very detailed embossing. On the reverse the card is a soft 'cardboard' colour and this runs right through the card meaning that when you sand it the 'cardboard' shade pops out.

As the embossing is a almost a minature version of the Diving Swirls embossing folder I thought they would work very well together.

The image of the lady in black is from the Fashion Boutique CD by Joanna Sheen, which is one of my all time favourites - although they are all good.

To draw the design and colours together I used the reverse of the card for matting and layering and for the inner of the little tag which has black organza ribbon running through it.

Distressing your finished Cuttlebug embossing by sanding it really does make the design pop out and it's great fun. Do have a look at the examples by other members of the Cuttlebug Design team and give it a go.

Cuttlebug Day...

Wednesday is the Be Inspired Challenge at http://cuttlebugchallenge.blogspot.com/. This week the theme is distressing your work in any way you like. It may be sanding the embossing as I have done in my card or tearing or you might even want to stamp on your card. I've felt like that more than once in the past ! The choice is yours!

For my card I used one of the folders from the Stitched Squares set to form a quilt like effect. Each square was cut out using my Nestibility die set and then embossed. I found that the squares tended to slip when put through the machine and after a couple of dud quilt pieces I tried out a small piece of tape on the rear of the embossing folder to hole the card in place. It worked a treat.

The heart images and flowers are from a set by
Elusive Images.

I painted them to match the DCWV card and as you can see in the photo I added foam squares to give some depth. I decoupaged the central flowers.

I hope you can see the subtle sparkle - after finishing the painting I added a touch of Sakura Clear Stardust using it scribbled on my acrylic block and then added with a wet brush like water colour paints.



I particularly wanted to create a quilt style card to match up with this wonderful sentiment stamp that I have used on the inside of my card....

I believe it's from a sheet of stamps from the company My Heart Stamps for You - a truly lovely sentiment.

I do hope you will find time to join in the challenge this week and...

Do make sure you visit http://cuttlebugchallenge.blogspot.com/ at the weekend as it is going to be a very exciting one - lots of inspiring projects, prizes and lurve around!!!

Check out the little poster in my sidebar for more information.

Spring is in the air...

Well perhaps not quite yet, but I so wish it was! This gloomy weather and the constant gloomy news everywhere is really getting me down. Good job we can get absorbed in our papercraft and forget about other things for a little while.

This is another Pollycraft download from the Phoebe and Maude Spring download kit at http://www.pollycraftdesigns.co.uk. I just love all the ones I downloaded and I got quite a few as there is a 15% discount if you spend over £10.

The sketch I've used is the one for the challenge for this week at http://sketchsaturday.blogspot.com/. A really great sketch and the design team over there have done some great examples using it.

Materials used:

• Pollycraft download
• Pink and green papers from stash
• Cuttlebug border bar
• Ribbon and white brads from stash
• Wizard Flower die cut

Again my card has both ribbons and flowers on and is ideal as another entry to the challenge at
http://pollycraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/.