Stencilled Anniversary Card

Okay, I confess, I've never used embossing paste before and this is a bit of a homemade attempt!
I made a set of swirl stencils from an old cereal packet which I ran through my die cutter, and well, to cut a long story short, it all got a bit messy.  But it was kind of fun too!
I'm entering this into

The Paper Players #190 Three Spree - I used 3 sequins, 3 stencils and 3 colours (blue, pink and green)
CASual Fridays #130 Good Egg
Virginia's View #2 Stencils

Stamped Mothering Sunday Card

I'm entering this card into three challenges -
The Paper Players #187 Clean and Simple, Spring
Less is More #163 Masking or Stencilling
Paper Smooches Sparks - Anything Goes

I loved the colours and flowers on the Paper Players theme picture and have tried to echo these in my card

I stamped the sentiment (with Paper Smooches Alphadot letters) and all of the flowers on to some scrap paper, then cut around each of them to make masks.  And then I did something really brave and stamped directly onto my card base (I don't do this very often!)
I quite fancied having the words on a coloured overlay so stamped them onto a piece of pink tissue paper which I then stuck on.
And finally, I had a go at a new technique and made a fork bow

Water Colour Mothers Day Card

I love making this style of card where I don't have complete control of what's going on and have to just wait and see where the colours are going to go and how they mix.
I stamped and clear embossed the letters before putting some very wet water colours over the top.  When these were almost dry I stamped the images in more water colours so that they blurred and spread out a little bit, then stamped over them again in ink for a slightly more defined look. I then added a bit of shading to the edges of the letters to let them stand out a bit. Finished off with a few sequins and a bit of (faux) stitching around the edges.

Am entering this into
Virginia's View Challenge - stamped cards with water colours
Polkadoodles - week 11, Mum's the word
The House that Stamps Built DCC312 - Flower Show
Addicted to Stamps #86 Anything Goes

Hot Chocolate

I wanted to make a special card for my son's birthday.  He loves hot chocolate so I figured I'd make him a card to look like a take-away cup.
I cut the base out of an old cereal box then wrapped red paper around so that there was an opening at the top for a sliding insert which looks like the lid on the drink.

I crimped some brown paper, stamped the label (with Paper Smooches Alphadot letter stamps), added the dotty details (also from the Alphadot set) and added the little bow to finish off the cup.

The insert was cut from some glossy white card, stamped and then layered with red, yellow and blue cellophane overlapped to get the rainbow effect.

Am entering this into
Paper Smooches Sparks - Anything Goes

Fashionable Stamping - Anything Goes

Love Birds

Well this card has definitely been created in my comfort zone!
Water colour background, overstamped in inks while still wet, then more stamping in water colour paints after the first layers had dried, more stamping, die cuts and some added bling.  Love it.  Well, I do, hope you do too!

Entering this into
Stamp Away With Me - Comfort Zone challenge (used Love Birds dies)
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Love Notes
Colour Q #227

Union Jack Seventy

I've been thinking about making this card for days - I've picked up lots of inspiration that's been firing my mojo and it's been a bit of a challenge putting it all together!

The top priority was to make a birthday card with a big 70 on it, and after seeing this weeks Runway Inspired photo where the fabric colours and the strap pattern of the model's shoes made me think of the Union Jack I wanted to add one to my card somewhere.

I played around with some ideas for a bit but didn't come up with anything until I saw this weeks Sketch Saturday, and everything just kind of fell into place

I started off with some water colour paper and laid a background muted colour wash, then while it was still wet stamped the Union Jack in more water colours so that it kind of bled and the colours ran around a bit, then left it to dry.
Meanwhile, I got out the craftRobo for my second attempt and used some thicker paper this time to cut out the numbers... it worked much better!  The sentiment was cut from the computer too.
Finished it off with a selection of sequins and gems.

I'm also entering the Friday Mashup - Birthday Themed Project (sorry, I wanted to use the twine too, but couldn't work it in!) and Papertakes Weekly Challenge - New Year, New Stash (I used my new CraftRobo for the second time ever and it's the first time I've used the Union Jack stamps)

Adventures with a Craft Robo

Happy New Year!
I've been busy playing with my new toys!
I cut out the sentiment with a Craft Robo.  It turns out that using normal computer paper is a bit too thin and it sticks to the carrier sheet a bit too well, it was quite tricky to remove the words but as it was my first try I was determined to see it the whole way through and use it on a card.
I stamped the circles (Paper Smooches - Pot Pourri) directly onto the card - I had to be very careful to line them up and mask the edges properly).  The white lettering didn't stand out very well  against the background so I mounted them onto some black card first which I hand cut.  Finished it off with the gold sequins and a thin black border.

Entering this into
Colour Q #222

and Paper Smooches - wk 1 Anything Goes