More from Harrogate

One of the stands on our "must visit" list at the Harrogate show was of course that of Craftwork Cards. They had plenty of new goodies on display. I bought some papers, including some glitter-infused in gorgeous colours which will be great for Christmas cards. Also got some messages and embellishments in various shapes. And I couldn't resist some of the "Colour- me" ovals and butterflies. They also had some yummy new colour combinations of Card Candy, one pack of which (red, purple & lilac) inspired this card.



The Card Candy just happened to co-ordinate exactly with some Crafty Individuals background paper (from their Background Papers Book 1). I coloured the "Colour-Me" owls to match with Promarkers. The scallop border around the message is a bit of the glitter paper. Unfortunately, you don't see the effect very well in the photo, but it really is pretty. The stamped fleur de lys inner border is from a set of Just Rite stamps. I've only recently discovered these stamps, and bought the set at Harrogate, from Once Upon A Stamp. They work really well with Nestabilities, and the 1 & 5/8ths inch size fits beautifully round the Craftwork Cards in-circle messages. A silver peel off border around the background paper put the finishing touch to the card.

Outside the comfort zone

I haven't previously attempted any of the sketch challenges, so I thought I'd try some of those in Stampington's Take Ten magazines to begin with. One would have thought it would be easy to follow a layout, but I often think some of my better work results when I don't start with a clear idea of what I want to make, so sticking to a sketch proved an interesting exercise!

I limited myself further by deciding that the only patterned papers I would use would be those which came free with magazines. Very often they don't appeal much to me. Either they're too garish for my tastes, or the paper quality leaves a lot to be desired. However, I wanted to see whether I could make something with them that I would be happy with. There was, of course, the added bonus of feeling virtuous that in these financially difficult times I'd have produced a card or two that cost very little to make! Finally I decided that each would have to have some stamping somewhere, and since I'm still enthralled by my Nestabilities, they would also have to make an appearance.

Anyway, here are a few of the cards. I even managed to use a free stamp in the third one! The sheep stamp is by Magenta (all one stamp with three squares which I cut out separately and coloured with watercolour pencils) and the dots in all three cards are "Card Candy" from Craftwork Cards, who also sell the greetings diecut circles (as on the sheep card).

So was I happy with them? Well, I do like the sheep card. I particularly liked that layout, and the papers do suit the stamp. The other two I'm not so sure about.....