After chatting with a friend, and being inspired by the idea of making a card set, I got working on four greeting cards for the Hawkesbury Show. The requirements were that each card had to display a different papercraft technique.

It was a bit late - manual entries were already closed but online entry was still available. I had about five days to get my entry finished.

To make it slightly easier, I chose an existing card as my starting point. The purple and pink Nuance/Brusho powder ink Mother's Day card. Noting the colour scheme and tulip stamp, I was inspired to watercolour the tulips and try some masking stamping.

The fourth card was trickier. I made a wedding card in the same colours but the tulips were embossed on white, so it looked out of place, not part of a set.

Stalled for a little while, I finally got some tulip stamp leftovers and cut them out to create my own decoupage. It seemed to work, so the last technique was a 3D build with a lovely texture paste pattern in the background.

Inside each card was decorated as well, and then they were mounted on a 12 x 12 backboard for display.

It was my first time entering a show for any reason, but the process was fairly simple. I entered the Craft (Miscellaneous) Open Greeting Cards category. There was no notification process for some reason, so on Day 2 of the show, I went with my family for a day out and got a huge surprise. I came first in my category! There was the blue ribbon and certificate!

One thing I can say is it has encouraged me to keep creating cards. Perhaps I underrate myself? Regardless, it was a pleasant surprise for a first timer, and not one I'm likely to forget.