Two Very Different Cards

One of the things I've been challenged by in making cards from calendars is that sometimes if the background is really light colored, the calendar lines show through from the back.  What I've figured out, is that if I put them on a black card stock base, the problem disappears!   You can see in this first card that lines that were VERY visible on a white card base totally disappear on black.

Card #1 (above):  Obviously, the background is from the calendar.  The inset is from the back of the calendar.  I also added black die cut sentiment (A2 Card & Box Set by Card Making Magic) & corners (Spellbinders' Lace Doily Accents).

Inside:

Another piece of the calendar makes a place inside the card for me to write a message - and is once again decorated with the die cut corners.

Card #2: 

This card is made from a Hunkydory Little Book page - the Floral Shimmer one.  I trimmed it down to the focal you see here - then triple matted it - plain gray, dark blue, patterned gray (from my stash).  At the bottom I added a scrap of blue patterned paper (also from my stash).  Then I used more of the gray and dark blue for the sentiment.  The gray was die cut with a die from Card Making Magic's "Ultimate Words".  It didn't have a shadow die, so I had to fussy cut one from the dark blue.  The butterfly is from the dollar store - decorated with Jewel Dazzles on it's body.

Inside:

A tulip cut out from another little book page, a scrap of gray for the stem, and then scraps of the two patterned papers from the card front decorate the inside - ready for my own message to be added.