Two for the men.

Out here in Spain, we have recently lost reception of most of the British television that we used to watch. It's a long story, but some techno folk are looking for alternative methods to view it. In the meantime I can honestly say I am not missing it much, and it has given me more time to spend in my craft room. So this week I decided to replenish my box of 'spare' cards, so that I have some ready when I need one in a hurry, and I started with a couple for men.

This first one was made using images from Joanna Sheen's "Times gone by" CD. I have used this photo taken at a slight angle to show how it was made. The front of the card is cut away along the top of the corn field, and around the horse's body and head.  The complete head, and then the face, are decoupaged so I could feather the mane and forelock a little. The inside layer is the same image as the front, printed paler, and complete with the sky. There is an unprinted oval behind the horse's body for writing on. It was quite quick and easy to do, and made a nice card.

For the second card I revisited a technique that I haven't used for ages. I found an off-cut of card from the Chocolate Box ColorCore Cardstock block, where every sheet is a shade of brown with a different colour core - in this case, very pale green. I embossed it with a previously unused Cuttlebug embossing folder, and sanded it to reveal the owl and frame.

I hunted through my green snippets box for some patterned paper that would go with it, and covered a white base card with it. I salvaged a piece from the centre just big enough to make the tag which was cut with the inner and outer edges of a wonky square die. The centre of it is made from another tiny snippet of plain green paper, stamped with a Crafty Individuals sentiment, and some Tapestry Stamp leaves. I hung the tag from  a strip of green ribbon glued across the top of the card, and added a matching bow. I decided that there was no reason why the men shouldn't have a bit of bling too, so I added tiny green gems to the owl's eyes, and a larger one beneath the bow.

Seeing as I used so many snippets to make the second card, I shall link that to Pixie's Snippets Playground. I am trying so hard to use up snippets before cutting into a new sheet of paper or card, but all my boxes are still bursting with bits and pieces!