Happiness

Not a great photo...to be honest not a great card. I had in mind a design to use for the brand new challenge site Less is More, and as my resolution this year is to try and keep my cards simple I thought I would have a go... albeit with a budget make.

Possibly that is where the problem arose. I would have been happier stamping and using my punches for this. The theme of the challenge was black white and pink. The only heart sequins I had were quite a strong pink (yes I am one of those sad people at parties and weddings who gather up the table confetti at the end!) and the scrap ribbon I had, didn't really go...I should have stuck to all black.

To compensate for not being able to stamp the back detail I drew round a penny which did help create some uniformity...used an ordinary Berol handwriting pen but a smaller tipped graphic pen would have most probably worked better for such fine detail.

I am also trying to rein in on using to many new card blanks and use up some of the many off cuts that I have. I used two 10cm X 21cm pieces (I have many of these as I tend to make my own dl blanks from A4 so these are the left over pieces). I scored a 1cm hinge on the back black piece and attached the white front panel (this then had to be trimmed down slightly) I carried the faux stitching detail down the spine.

A simple sentiment printed in word finished the card....It was when I saw Creative Craft Challenge had a Hearts and flowers theme I decided to enter there as well but although my sequins formed stylised flowers I thought it should include another flower to qualify but bearing in mind Less is more it had to be subtle .... I found a little free clipart flower formed from heart shapes which I used as a watermark behind the word... and funnily enough, I really liked this one little element.

Finally I might enter this for PolkaDoodles With Heart challenge....I haven't used their products so it might not qualify but I have a big soft spot for Polka Doodle products (I once won a competition in Simply Cards Mag and I am sure using Nicky's great art work helped). It was lovely to visit their blog again. I could spend hours hopping around all the brilliant blogs out there...but if I did that I wouldn't have time to make cards or ....wash my mouth out ....do any housework!!!