So Speshal

It's Fabulous Friday again and time for something a bit different for the Daring Cardmakers....but before that here's a commercial break.....

Over on the friendly forum that is Scrapstars this weekend sees a Cyber Crop with loads of classes to join in with. Lythan is doing a card class, I'm doing a bit of Shrink Plastic and there are scrapbook LOs, a canvas class and something called a LOVE JAR oooooer missus!

I thought I'd give a sneaky peek here of some of the cards I've made with the shrink plastic I did for my little class - hopefully to tempt you to have a go!

And now back to our fab DCM challenge for this week.

"This week we're joining forces with the wonderful team of Scrapbookers over on the Everyone is Speshal blog. We're daring each other and you to make a Really Romantic Scrapbook Layout - but on a card!

Scrapbookers are challenged to downsize your usual a 12x12 LO onto a teenyweeny one - maximum of 6x6, which can be sent safely through the mail. Cardmakers - you're used to working on a small space, and you know all about the ribbons, brads and other bits and bobs - but can you take on board all the other little touches that are used on a scrapbook page - the titles, the journalling, the photographs etc?"

The DCM cards are on our blog, so please go and check them all out. The Speshal team will go live with their cards in a few hours time - we've seen a couple and they are fab - can't wait to see the rest! Hopefully we'll inspire you to have a go at this dare - it's a tricky one but such great fun to do = a real challenge!

My card uses photos from our very first trip away together, which was during the February half term (I was teaching then) so it was just coincidence that it was also Valentines Day while we were there. But it was a wonderful few days and full of lovely memories, and I tried to choose photos with extra memories attached. The day we went to the Arc de Triomphe was freezing cold, but sunny and bright with a beautiful light for taking photos - I had a cold and had lost my voice, not easy to go to a chemist and try to explain what the problem was! The Venus de Milo photo reminds me of the Louvre which was just sooo big and sooo exhausting that we learned how important it is to work out what you want to see and not just wander aimlessly because museum floors do something weird to your feet and they really really hurt after a fews hours traipsing! And also because Venus is from Greece and of all the places in the world, that's the one I love the most. Later that year we were to spend our honeymoon on the Greek island of Andros...The tulips in a cut off water bottle was so surreal it had to be photographed and it's probably my favourite of all because it was just so bizarre to find it just sitting on a wall outside the Pompidou Centre. So many memories of just a few special days - I could have gone with "Lenin's Place", the "French Loo" story, the "Is Robin Hood a Reeeealll Person" story, the "You don't take credit cards.......?" restaurant story, oh many more! I fell in love in Paris - I didn't mean to - I didn't even want too. But I did and I'm so glad I let him into my heart, I've never regretted it for a minute it's been a wonderful 13 1/2 years so far.....

All say aaaaaaahhhhhhh

or, if you've no romance in your soul go

aaaaggggggggghhhh