If you can't find them..make them!!!

Hi all, I am a happy woman today!! :-) Why? Because I made 2 cards and I am quite happy with the results. And secondly, because I have decided not to brood over the fact that all the crafty materials people the world over use for their cards are not available here! I think I will stick to my resolution of trying out at least 2 new techniques a month and make whatever is possible with the material available to me. :-) And I am moving in the right direction... I have tried quite a few techniques this month - the explosion box, a brand new water coloring technique, the dahlia fold flowers, the votive holder and ribbon blossom (both in this post)! Yay!!! I have every reason to be happy, don't I? :-)

About today's cards...
The first card is for Laura's sketch # 18. I don't know if it matches the sketch exactly but I have based it on that. I have used a ribbon blossom (tutorial on SCS by Pam Basset). Of course, mine doesn't look half as nice because 1) I have used less ribbon 2) I should have used organza ribbons.
I don't know whom this card is for. I want to send it to an ex-colleague and very good friend (her birthday is long past) but I don't think it can go by courier :-(.

The second card is votive holder. I got the tutorial through Sheetloads Shortcuts. Again, here I think I should have used thicker cardstock. What do you think? This one is again for Vineet. I don't know how many Valentine's Day cards I am going to give him this year ;-))) I think I will need to give one every 3 days in Feb. :D

I used the Mojo Monday sketch. Not really a good attempt, but I have been wanting to take part in the challenge for a while, so I will submit it anyway. They have a right to kick me off ;-))

By the way, I have used a playing card (not a fancy embellishment) here. My husband's very fond of playing cards and his current favorite pastime is playing 'Poker' on Facebook :D...

The king of my heart...

Cheers,
Smita.