DCM Dares - Templates and Doodling

Well I've managed both of this week's Daring Card Maker challenges. First up was a midweek extra challenge set by Jo to use some doodling or pen stitching on card. I absolutely love Jo's work (check out her blog) so I hope I've done justice to her challenge :)

Here is my doodled and pen stitched birthday card for my MIL.

The papers are Basic Grey Perhaps, large silk bloom is from Dunelm Mill, the other blooms are from a fab kit which Tracy has put together at Creative Treasures. Everything else is from stash. I pen stitched the edges of the paper using a map pin and gel pen and there's a tiny bit of doodling on the centre of the flower.

Next up is this weeks main dare which is template based.
I don't tend to have much luck with doing template based cards but I was struck by inspiration for this one. I decided to spin the template on it's side and turn the circle and strip element into a flower.

Here's the card, it's a Mother's Day card for my MIL.

Papers are Basic Grey Blush, blooms are from the same Creative Treasures kit I used on the last card. The bottle cap embellishent is home made.

Last time I did a bottle cap embellishment someone posted a comment asking how I had done it so here's quick instructions.
- Flatten a beer bottle cap using a rubber mallet (unused ones seem to flatten better, I buy mine in Wilkinsons)
- Design the logo/greeting in Word or drawing software
- Cut greeting to size. I use the smallest circle on the Sizzix red die as it's exactly the right size
- Stick greeting on the inside of the flattened bottle cap. I use Wilkinson's transparent bathroom sealant for this (much cheaper than buying 'crafters' silcone glue)
- Cover with Glossy Accents or Anita's 3d Gloss and leave to dry.

As well as crafting I have managed to convert a couple of friends to the joy that is SingStar 80s on the playstation. We spent Saturday evening belting out such classics as 99 Red Balloons and Tainted Love - badly ;)

I can't get over how good the weather has been this weekend. Me and OH went out for a nice long walk this afternoon and couldn't believe how warm and sunny it was. It was more like May than February. I took my camera with me and here's one of the photos I took:

Cheers

Ruthie

Red, White and bending the rules....

....or not reading the dare properly!

I'm feeling a bit partied out today as I was at a charity ball last night and may have had a few drinks (as the photo of our table could suggest.) As part of my recovery I have spent this afternoon in my craft room doing this week's DCM dare:

We want you to design a card using only RED AND WHITE on your cards- it doesn't have to be a Valentine themed card - it can be any theme- as long as use incorporate RED and WHITE on it. So there you go !

So I set about doing the card, but had not read the word ONLY and came up with this which also incorporates black (oops).

I designed the background paper myself using Designfruit photoshop brushes and added ribbons and brad from stash, bloom from Creative Treasurers, flower shaped paperclip from Paperchase, mini flower punch, Cuttlebug circle stamp die, inking and pen stitching.

I found this dare much easier than last week's. In my delicate state I don't think I could have coped with a tough dare :)

Cheers,

Ruthie