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

Farewell 365 Cards

Goodbye 365 Cards, today is the last day of four years of challenges, Pam and the team have done an amazing job of posting a challenge every single day.  Thank you for letting me be a part of it for the last five months, it's been fab.
I'm re-posting the first card I made for my DT stint as it's the one that kick-started my crafting mojo again!

Paper, scissors and flowers

Today at 365 Cards it's time to play with sharp objects  :-)
The challenge is to make a card using at least two different sharp tools to create your card.

I hand drew out my birthday greeting and flowery border on a sheet of plain white thin card and very carefully cut it out with a pair of very pointy scissors.  I punched holes in the flower centres with a hole punch then glued it onto a sheet of pink paper before sticking it on my card base and adding the sequins.

I'm entering this into Pinspired's final challenge, I love the layer of white icing on those snowflakes and was inspired to use a white cut out layer on my card.

and also entering this into
Papertake Pick of the Year (I've chosen the challenge from 20th Aug - Flower Power)
and The Pink Elephant challenge 231 - Anything Goes

Keep calm and eat chocolate

If you're here for the Lawnscaping Blog Hop either scroll down or click here

Today's challenge over at 365 Cards is Mixed Messages, where you incorporate images, stamps and even patterned paper that already have lots of words on so there's no single sentiment on the card.
I started off by making my own background paper for this card with lots of birthday messages for my intended recipient.  On to this I stamped the Keep Calm instructions, and then managed to find some Happy Birthday paper in my stash.
Finished off with my flower, swirls (die cut in pink tissue paper) and sequins