Happy Birthday ....

....  Hello!  I've got quite a few birthdays coming up this month and in early January, and several of them are for teenage girls.  So I've made a slightly quirky birthday card suitable for a teenage girl:

Stamps: Stampotique - Moth Fab; Stampin' Up! - Gorgeous Grunge, Hello Love; Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz - Crazy Talk
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versamark; SU - Summer Starfruit, Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo
Dies: Die-namics - Fishtail Flags Layers Stax #6
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Melon Mambo; Kaisercraft DP - Blue Bay; Copic Markers; White Embossing Powder; Wink of Stella - Clear

I've based the layout of this card on this week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#215, and the colours are from Colour Q - cQc#319.  I stamped Moth Fab on white card, coloured her with Copic markers and cut her out with a scalpel.  I edged the image with a black marker to cover any white card.  I cut a large flag from wood grain design paper and adhered it flat to the card.  I added some texture to the card by stamping the grunge dots in several colours.  I cut a strip of pink card and stamped the sentiment in Versamark, and heat embossed it with white powder.  I finished the front by attaching the coloured image of Moth Fab.  I added lots of sparkle to her dress and handbag with a clear Wink of Stella brush.  I think she's a really fun and funky image!  On the inside I cut a mat layer of pink card and on the white panel added a birthday greeting and more grunge dots!

I apologise for the quality of the photos - it was really grey yesterday afternoon when I took the photos.  I really must get myself a small light box!!  Bye for now.

Newsprint love ....

....  Good morning!  I have a clean and simple card to share with you this morning.  I used a couple of challenges to make it:

• Less is More - LIM#195
• The Paper Players - PP#215

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Hello Love
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: Cream Lustre Card; Papermania DP - Bookprint; SU Card - Basic Black; Wooden Heart Charm

The recipe at Less is More is to use newsprint on your card, and it's taken me nearly all week to come up with something I like.  I was going through my paper stash, found the Papermania pad and in there was this super piece.  I simply cut the page to size, rounded one corned, added a strip of black card to the top and adhered it directly to the card.  I finished it with a sentiment and this fabulous wooden heart (which I think was free with a magazine).  I used the sketch from this week's Paper Players, but turned it to make a landscape card.  On the inside I cut a mat layer in black and a cream panel which I left blank for my own message.

I've included another photo of the card in a square format as I'm fed up of cropping my cards to fit the inlinkz button!  From now on this is how I'm going to post details of my cards.

We all went to the cinema last night to see a presentation of The National Theatre's Frankenstein.  The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Victor Frankenstein and Jonny Lee Miller as The Creature.  It was absolutely magnificent.  The film was directed by Danny Boyle.  It's so nice being able to see stage plays and operas at the cinema - you don't get the whole atmosphere, but you do get to see first class performances locally.

Frankenstein was originally a stage show at The National Theatre in 2012, where Cumberbatch and Miller alternated the roles of The Creature and Victor Frankenstein on a nightly basis.  They both won the Olivier award for Best Actor in 2012; having seen the film, I can see why - they really deserved it!

Before I go, I'd like to give a quick safety message.  If you have a tumble dryer in your house, make sure you get it cleaned on a regular basis.  I was using my dryer on Tuesday morning when I smelt burning, like burnt elements.  I turned off the machine, made sure there was no actual fire and called an engineer.  He came out that afternoon, confirmed that there was lint in the machine and that it had indeed been scorched.  Alf sorted it out and the dryer works fine again.  It was a good thing I stayed in the utility room to fold laundry, if I'd left it could have been so much worse.  Now I'm off to do the ironing that resulted after Tuesday's wash!

Have a great day and see you soon.