The black ball

Some people are aware that I have a colleague who has recently had an operation.  It was suggested I make a card for him, but not knowing where to start, the colleague himself suggested an american "8" ball.  It took a while for further inspiration to strike, but I decided to attempt another new (to me) technique.   I am sure most cardmakers who read this are well familiar with the idea, whether or not they have attempted it, but I first saw it on Create and Craft when the Crafters Companion Ultimate Pro was being demonstrated.   I think it's called a pop out card.

My prototype attempt was with some fairly thin card, and I think I was a little enthusiastic with the scoring tool and went through the card in 1 or 2 places.  So I covered the folds with paper strips which were free with one magazine or another, but thinking it looked a little plain, I left it for a while whilst I decided what else to put on it.   After doing a bit of exploring in blog land earlier I discovered a site by an american artist called melissa jenkins  http://www.meljensdesigns.com/index.html  Using some of the fabulous freebies she has generously provided I added 2 bears to the front.

There is a hearts challenge out there that I wanted to enter this in, but I can't remember what it is, but as soon as I remember I'll be back to enter it.

I would like to enter this card into Challenge no 43 - Put your heart on it at http://meljensdesignsdt.blogspot.com/2011/01/challenge-43-and-new-release.html

Being fairly pleased with the prototype I progressed to the American Pool card.   For this, I was not quite so adventurous and cut out a square hole, and rather than attempting to cut out a circle, I used 2 circular gift tags and stuck them back to back.   I also used some images from a free colouring page.  It's quite plain, in fact it's very plain but considering it's really only a sample, then I'm ok with that.



Finally - I put together a card I've been messing about with for a while.  Still not sure what I think about it, but they we go.  It's from a MCS image, can't remember whether it's from Pure or whether it's the free download called Church Window.

I'm sure there is lots more I could say, but I'm all worn out now.

I may not get the opportunity to post again before next weekend, so have a good week everybody