Last Three Retreat Door Prize Cards

Finished up the last of the three cards today, and as I mentioned before, a couple of them are definitely more "masculine" (i.e., no flowers or bows - strong colors) although they could be used for anyone.  Again, I got all my inspiration from Stampin' Connection.  What a great site to have available as a demonstrator - to borrow whole card ideas, or just design elements to add to something else.  One of the best perks, and it doesn't cost me a thing!  Fortunately, non-demonstrators can see a lot of these ideas on individual blogs, but I like having one place to go to when I'm really just searching for card ideas.  Anyway, I digress...

First up, just to let you know, there is NOTHING WRONG with my camera (LOL!)  This card was meant to be in black & white.  The Designer Paper is from the Holiday Mini, called Night & Day Specialty, and I'm ashamed to say I never used it last fall during the time the Holiday Mini was active, so now I've got a ton of it to use up myself.  The cool thing is this paper pack came with two window sheets with black dots on them.  I'm sure I'll find a good use for those eventually.

The second one uses two of my favorite products: "To The Nines" Specialty DSP (it's cardstock weight, which is what makes it specialty) and the "Autumn Days" stamp set.  I initially got this stamp set with the new 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog because of the pheasant.  Being married to a hunter I'm always looking for stamps with an outdoor theme.   You can ask my Stamp Club, I think we used bits and pieces of this stamp set every month from September to December.  It is one of the most versatile sets I've seen!  The person who posted this card idea didn't mention whether or not they made it to be a "pocket" card, but I decided it would be fun, and most of my cards have been pretty standard except for a few fancy embellishments.  Being that this is definitely a "outdoorsy" card probably for a guy, the ribbon serves a utlitarian purpose, to pull the card out of the pocket.  And sponging with Basic Brown (the only ink color used) gives it a weathered look.

Last, another of my favorite sets, and I got it FOR FREE back last year when we had the Catalog Sampler and monthly specials with it.  I spent enough on one order to get any set in the sampler for free, and Flight of the Butterfly was the most expensive one, so of course I chose it!  I had to wait until I was able to place a bigger order though, so I had to be patient!  The DSP is very old, Spring Showers, from three years ago when I first became a demonstrator.  It was the first one they came out with that was double-sided.  I still like it.

So, hopefully tomorrow I will get these all packaged up and ready for the Door Prize basket.  There are a couple of other door prizes I need to package and/or make, so stay tuned!