It's that time of the year again....

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you have all had a brilliant week and have some crafty plans for the weekend. I'm celebrating my 5th wedding anniversary tomorrow but I don't have a card to share with you as I have a specific card in mind and the embossing folder I need hasn't arrived yet - fingers crossed it'll turn up today or I'll have to have a rethink. I do have something to share with you today - my entry for the National Cardmaker of the Year 2016 competition! Normally I keep my entry a closely guarded secret until the deadline has passed but that seems a bit daft really as I doubt anyone  would copy the cards exactly and even if they did - what a compliment!

I'm just going to share photos without details on how the cards were made or this post will be pages long, I may revisit each card at a later date especially if I hit a creative dry spell.

The first card I'd like to share is a circle gatefold card featuring the very cute Little Lady Bug image from Saturated Canary. I love the card I made so much with it last time that I decided to recreate it in a different style.

The second card for my entry is a gender neutral box card though with it's monochromatic theme (ok it's kind of three but two are black and white so I'm not counting them lol) it's very masculine in feel. It took ages to make because there's a lot of die cutting involved and each piece was done twice. It was actually quite a economical card to make because apart from the sheet of white stamping card I used to make the card blank, everything else was made using leftovers from other projects, even the acetate was recycled packaging.

The third and final card is my favourite which is why I've left it until last. It features Cowgirl Tatty Twinkles from the USA collection and some dies from Joanna Sheen.

Each card had a matching or coordinating envelope but I must have forgotten to take a photo of the one I made for the pop up box card. I used my WRMK envelope punch board to make the other envelopes but because of the size and positioning of the pop up elements, I couldn't find the right measurements to make an envelope using the board so I custom made one using a sheet of A3 cardstock.

The competition closes on the 16th and winners find out 2 weeks after that. It's a very long shot but I've had fun making the cards and it's good to know that a charity will benefit from my cards as the organisers pass the cards on to be sold if you tick a box on the entry form and include an envelope and plastic bag for each card.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my comp entry and if you have any questions or comments then please leave them in the usual places. I'll have another card to share with you either on Monday or sooner depending on how things go. My lovely husband has come back from town with flowers which are beautiful - I am very blessed. Chris has wanted a wooden Director's Chair for ages and they are quite frankly crazy prices but I've managed to get him one in a sale - as it's our wood anniversary I can't think of a more appropriate present and I can't wait for it to arrive. Have a brilliant weekend and until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxxx