The Paper Players: Floral Mother's Day Cards...

Hey,

Despite all the virus craziness it is still going to be Mother's Day in the UK on Sunday.

I wanted both my Mother and my MIL to have cards that were bright and cheery and full of flowers, which they both love.

Handily both of my cards fit the current Paper Players challenge -

But I think the one for my MIL (on the right), is way more CAS and so fits the challenge better. This card uses a Studio Katia set 'A Cup of Thanks' and the sentiment is by Hero Arts.

I love the Studio Katia set and it gets a lot of use, here I kept it super simple and stamped onto watercolour card, and using distress inks I watercoloured the image and then added lots of shimmer with Sakura glitter gel pens.

The card for my Momma on the left uses Taylored Expressions 'Shiplap Background' and Concord & 9th 'Wonderful Florals'.
The Concord & 9th set is so stunning, so many possibilities for using it, I am itching to try out more ideas, as this was my first inking of it. I stamped it and coloured it using Copic Markers and Sakura glitter gel pens. I die-cut it out and using foam tape, mounted it to the panel that I had stamped the Shiplap background onto. Final touch was the sentiment.
I love how it came out and the colours are perfect for my Momma.

Two lovely floral cards, very different, for very different ladies.

Cx

The Paper Players: Love you pig time..

Hey,

This weekend I had fun creating Valentine's cards for a few of my girlfriends.

I saw the Paper Players challenge this week and thought my card(s) would be perfect.

I love making Valentine's cards and if I wasn't leaving for London on Friday, I would have made more than 8 of them!

I bought the cute little Pig set last year in the post Valentine's Michael's sale and this is the first time he has been inked (I wanted to write oinked..) up.

I stamped, coloured and cut 6 of the Pigs and the coordinating sentiment, which had it's own die - WIN. I dug out some random small square card blanks and used that as a template for which size heart die I would use.

The heart die is pretty new, I bought it at the end of December when I was in London, I just loved all the details - stitched, scalloped and dotted - swoon.

I wanted these cards to be super quick makes and so I grabbed an ancient 4x4 paper pad and just choose 6 papers I liked!

They came together so easily and I love how silly they are!

I think Valentine's Day is silly, love is a 365 day a year thing and we shouldn't celebrate our love for our partners, friends, family on just one day, we should remember that life is very short and we should celebrate love every day. It sounds silly, but I tell my Hubby every single day that I love him, even when I want to murder him.
All of this said, I still love the card making part of Valentine's Day - silly, overblown declarations of love and that is partly why I love being a card maker, for the silly moments in life.

Cx

The Paper Players 475: Dino-mite..

Hey,

Last weekend, I was looking for a challenge to play along with.

I really like a sketch challenge and the current Paper Players sketch made me want to play along.

I thought it would be fun to use the cute 'Dinky Dinos' set by Heffy Doodle.

I decided to colour the Dinos in all different colours for a bit of added interest. I heat embossed the sentiment from the set (it comes in parts, so you can build a variety of sentiments) and die-cut it using a banner die.

The scalloped, stitched, dotted die that I used for the white panel is from a random shop I like in the UK that sells a really random mix of stuff, I always pop in there when I am home in London.

A nice easy make for a Sunday.

Cx

The Paper Players: Grateful..

Hey,

The theme over at The Paper Players this week, meant I could bring out one of my fave stamp sets.

It was my birthday recently and I am super grateful for all the amazing people I have in my life, that took the time to think of me, come hang with me, send me cards, gifts, and lovely wishes. So this card and post are for them.

I used the 'So Very Grateful' set by Unity Stamp Co. I LOVE their flower jar stamp sets and I think I have them all now.

I stamped the flower jar onto watercolour paper and used distress inks to watercolour, I didn't really use fall colours, but I think that's ok. I love watercolouring these jars.

I am loving adding sentiments stamped onto vellum right now! So I did it again here.

Super simple make.

Cx

The Paper Players: Friendship

Hey,

So today is my Friday, as I have tomorrow off!

To celebrate I made a card for the current The Paper Players Challenge -

I have been playing around with this card in my head all week, so it was really good to FINALLY make it.

I love the 'Fashionista - Party Girls' set by Unity Stamp Co. and I use it a lot to make cards for my friends, I've had it a long time, but it is a firm fave.

I kept the whole card super simple, just stamped the image, coloured it with my new Copics (my skin tones are improving thanks to Copics) and die-cut the panel using a stitched rectangle die.

The sentiment is one of two that comes in the set and I love it, it sums up how I feel about quite a few of my friends.

I stamped it onto vellum and affixed it to my card.

A fun make to ease me into the epic playtime I am about to have at my desk :)

Cx

The Paper Players: Birthday Wishes...

Hey,

Happy Monday!

Yesterday I was having a little messenger chat with my friend Jen and she sent me a photo of the challenges she was planning on playing along with and I LOVED the sketch for this week's Paper Players.

Don't you love it when your friends inspire you?

I thought it would be fun to play with a piece of NBUS that I bought earlier this year on sale (Feather Wreath by Jen Long and Sizzix).

It seemed like the perfect fit for that circular shape, but in the end it was a bit too big. So I only used the sentiment and the small feather / heart shape.

But the feathers inspired by heat embossed black and white strip. The feathers I used for the strip are by Avery Elle from their Mardi Gras set.

To keep the circular shape of the sketch, I die-cut a small scalloped circle from vellum and used it to anchor the feather / heart shape.

I'm pretty pleased with the end result, it has made me want to heat emboss more feathers, they make such a great background.

Cx

The Paper Players: Happy Spring!...

Hey,

I thought it would be fun to try and enter a few challenges before I head to London on 22nd of March, as I won't have a full kit there, so it won't be possible.

Today I am entering the latest The Paper Players challenge -

Last year when my Momma came for a visit, she brought all the freebies from a couple of craft magazines that I had subscribed to. It was basically x2 years of goodies from x2 magazines = 24 freebie packs - YAY.

I was going to use a new stamp for this challenge, but then I remembered the big batch of goodies from Momma had a fun Spring scene in it.

I had great fun, playing with this little set. I die-cut the 'scene' die in white and then coloured the flowers and leaves. I die-cut it again in brown, so I could cut out the tree trunks, as I didn't really want to colour those in.

I die-cut the Fox, Rabbit and Butterflies and I added some details to the fox, as his face didn't really show up that well.

I used the scalloped circle mat die that came with the set, but added a smaller circle die of my own to create a frame.

To put my card together, I die-cut a piece of blue paper using a circle die and affixed that to my card blank, then I added the Fox, Rabbit and Butterflies to that.

I popped up the panel with the scene on it, so that I got some dimension. Foolishly I didn't add the sentiment before popping it up - ugh.

It's so out of my comfort zone, but I loved making it - really fun to make almost an entire card without any stamping and I have a recipient in mind.

Cx

The Paper Players: A harvest of blessings..

Hey,

I like to play along with a challenge before I go on a trip.

I am off to London tonight, so I thought as I love tic-tac-toe I would play along with the current The Paper Players challenge.

I chose the patterned paper - pumpkin - orange/rust row.

I've had the MFT 'Harvest Mouse' set for a while and have barely used it, so I thought it would be cool to use the cute little Mouse carrying the pumpkin.

The patterned papers are from my fave Lawn Fawn 'Sweater Weather' paper pack..I love this pack and it always reminds me of my first ever Jenn Shurkus loft art retreat. It holds sentimental value, because thanks to Jenn I got my NYC family :)

I stamped a sentiment from the sent onto some orange card and then added the Mouse using some foam tape.

And to keep with the orange theme I used a orange card blank.

A great way to spend the last night at my desk.

Have a great weekend, see you in London next week.

Cx

The Paper Players: You're So Berry Sweet...

Hey,

I love The Paper Players challenges.

And this week's one spoke to me immediately as it would mean I could use x2 pieces of NBUS - yay!

So I know Cherries are not strictly berries, but I think I artistic licence is allowed ;)

The large Cherry stamp and die are from Michael's and I got them a couple of months ago on super bargain sale. The sentiment is by Studio Calico and is a bit shameful as I have had it since Black Friday 2017 and haven't used it...

It is discontinued now, so here is a photo of the set -

As the theme asks for CAS cards, this was super easy to put together, I stamped, coloured and die-cut the Cherries (Mrs Cherry has a touch of Spectrum Noir sparkle pen on..).

I used this as a guide for where my sentiment should go and I stamped parts of it using red ink.

Super easy, super fun for a Monday night card.

Cx

The Paper Players: Negative Space...

Hey,

So today is the first full day of my Godson's trip to NYC.

I have a fun day planned for us..sadly it's a bit rainy here in NYC, but still humid as hell!

I was lucky enough to make 'The cut above' over at The Paper Players last week and as I will be in the UK for 2 weeks and unable to play along with challenges, I wanted to do this one, as my last one for a while.

I love using negative space on my cards, it's a great way to get two-for-one from your die-cuts.

One of my favourite sets to do this with is Concord & 9th's 'Give Thanks'.

I die-cut the corn?! out of a piece of textured tan cardstock and heat embossed half of the sentiment (by Hero Arts) onto the panel.

I mounted this onto my card using foam tape.

I added a die-cut thanks by Lawn Fawn.

I love the simple elegance of this card and as I have decided to sofa surf when I am in London, it will be the perfect way to say thank you to one of my hosts.

Cx

The Paper Players: Colour Challenge..

Hey,

One of the reasons I like challenges so much, is that they give me the opportunity to use my stash in ways I wouldn't have considered without a little prompt / inspiration.

The Paper Players challenge is one of my faves and this week does not disappoint -

I had an idea how to use the colours, forming in my mind.. and so that it would work with minimal effort, I tried something I have not done before.

I stamped the MFT + Pure Innocence Girl (now retired) onto two white panels. I coloured one using promarkers and spectrum noir sparkle pens. I applied Cracked Pistachio distress ink through my fave ancient (and most overused item in my craft room) The Crafters Workshop stencil.

I die-cut the coloured girl and popped her up using foam tape, covering over the girl that I had stenciled over. GENIUS..It meant that there was no masking needed and the dots are coming from behind the girl perfectly.

I know that I could have just stenciled the background, but I wanted the girl in a specific place, so that I could fit the sentiment on and not cut off too many of the stenciled dots, when I was die-cutting the panel to size.

I'll be doing this again!

I used a sentiment from the set, as this card is going to a friend to say thank you for an unexpected gift she sent me.

Cx

The Paper Players: Celebrate 400 challenges!

Hey,

Happy Monday to you!

And Congratulations to The Paper Players team for hitting the 400 challenge mark! Impressive!

I am a big fan of The Paper Players challenge and really wanted to join in the celebration fun..

I used one of my new Sizzix Embossing Diffuser plates to create that yummy centrally embossed circle. I love that I can stretch my embossing plates with these new plates. I opted for a star folder, it is a celebration after all!

I stamped, die-cut and coloured one of the bears and balloons from the MFT Beary Special Birthday set.

The sentiment is by Concord & 9th and from their Celebrations set. I decided to add the cheerful yellow banner to break up the sentiment a bit and to Anchor my bear.

Now I wonder what he's brought as a gift..

Cx

The Paper Players: New Piggies...

Hey,

Happy Monday!

I love the sketch over at The Paper Players this week -

I decided to break out one of the new sets that arrived this weekend 'Lovely Piggies' by Mama Elephant.

I stamped my Piggy onto watercolour paper and coloured her using Distress Ink. Then I die-cut her out using a scalloped circle die from The Works.

My background paper is actually from a pack of 'wedding invite insert' paper that I got on sale last December from Paper Source..It's sooo shimmery IRL.

The grey chevron paper is new from MFT and the flowery piece is an ancient scrap from a pad by Amy Tangerine.

To finish off my card I added a die-cut thanks and stamped the rest of the sentiment all from a Hero Arts set that Cheiron gave me.

I love the end result.. I think these Piggies are a great addition to my stash, good job I stamped and coloured them all at the same time ;)

Cx

The Paper Players: Toucan of Friendship...

Hey,

Sad day today, as my Momma leaves after being here for 2 weeks. It has been SO much fun hanging out with her and I'm super sad to see her go.

Momma and I in Philadelphia

So I love bird stamps, so when I saw the challenge over at The Paper Players this week, I knew I had to enter!

I wanted to use the great 'Toucan of Friendship' set by Reverse Confetti. I stamped and coloured one of the Toucan's from the set using Zigs.

I was a bit indecisive about the background and then came across some tags that I had forgotten about (from Paper Source) and I thought it would make a great backdrop for the Toucan. So I cut off the 'tag' part as it is a super long tag!

I stamped my sentiment also from the set in the top right corner and added the Toucan using foam tape..

I love him, he's so cheerful and is going to accompany a gift for a friend.

Cx

Paper Players: Monster Thank You..

Hey,

You know I love a sketch! The current one over at The Paper Players, just called out for a MOnster card...

I used one of my fave Monster sets by MFT 'More Monsters'. I love this set as you get separate stamps for the eyes and teeth, so you can mix and match them.

I chose a funky piece of background paper from Pink Fresh Studio and cut a circle from some scrap paper in a toning colour.

The sentiment is also from the same set and I love the punch that I stamped it on to - by Stampin' Up called 'Washi Tape', it gets a lot of use.

I mounted the Monster and the sentiment using foam tape and added some enamel dots and googly eyes for a bit of fun.

I love him, he's so bright and cheery!

Cx

Double Challenge: You are so Awesome...

Hey,

Happy Monday.

I was lucky enough to get an honourable mention for two of my cards over at CAS(E) This Sketch and The Paper Players.

How awesome is that?

I was going to play along with both challenges anyway and then JT's card inspired me by combining them.

This week The Paper Players have a colour challenge for us -

And here is the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch -

I needed to make a leaving card for a friend and colleague and thought this would be a great way to nail that project!

I rotated the sketch, as I thought it would work better for the idea I had in mind. I've had the Neat & Tangled 'Awesome' set on my desk all weekend, I've been itching to use it!

I pulled out papers from my stash that matched the colours for Paper Players, I thought I'd use a spotty piece for a bit of interest.

The awesome die matches the set from Neat & Tangled and I totally over use it!

I love the simple, bright and cheerful end result and I think the (rather picky) recipient will love it too.

Cx

The Paper Players: Tea Party..

Hey,

Today I am playing along with the current Paper Players challenge.

As I am English and tea is like blood / oxygen to us it seemed like a theme for me. It also felt like a great opportunity to use a bit of shameful NBUS...I have that this pretty stamp set 'Warm Solutions' by Clearly Besotted for over a year and it has seen no ink..

I don't believe that they sell it in the format I have it in anymore, but they do have lots of other versions of it.

I didn't go with the vintage tea-cup colours for my card, I decided that my tea-cup collection would be shades of blue!

I stamped the sentiment first, then stamped the first cup and saucer and masked the cups as I went, so I could create a little stack of cups.

I decided to add the little 'steam' heart and I'm glad I did, it really finished off the card nicely.

Cx

The Paper Players: Critter Crew...

Hey,

Happy Friday!

I am looking forward to the weekend, I get to see most of the Craftgang this weekend, as we are helping Ava pack up her craft room, as she is moving out of NYC (sob). We are sad, but happy for her.

I was lucky enough to make cut above in last week's Paper Player's challenge.. How lovely is that!

I love the sketch for this week's challenge.

The minute I saw the sketch, I knew what I was going to make..

I used the Avery Elle Critter Crew stamp and die set for my shape. I coloured the Critters using Promarkers and added Spectrum Noir glitter pens and Nuvo drops for shimmer here and there.

The paper background paper is by Stampin' Up and was a gift from my Retro Rubber teamie Debbie Mageed.

I used a scrap for my border and added a sentiment from the Critter Crew set and the Happy Birthday is also by Avery Elle.

A pretty cheerful and fun kids card I feel.

Great way to end the week.

Cx

The Paper Players..Magical..

Hey,

Happy Monday to you!

I had a fun weekend, I hope you did too.

I liked The Paper Players theme this week -

I love Unicorns and I especially love the large sentiment stamp I used here by Unity Stamp Co. It always makes me smile and I love making random cards with it to send to friends.

I masked off a small area, so I could blend some oxide ink to create an anchor for my sentiment and the Unicorn, but also to add a bit of interest whilst keeping my card CAS.

Sadly you can't see all the gold shimmer on my card, as I spritzed it with a gold shimmer spritz before adding the unicorn (Mama Elephant at Michaels).

To finish my card, I added a few clear droplets by Pretty Pink Posh..

Fun card, love it when a challenge make comes out this well!

Cx

The Paper Players: Hello Monster Friend...

Hey,

Happy Monday.

It is a very Happy Monday for me, as my work permit FINALLY arrived on Saturday, so back to work I go on Thursday.

To celebrate I am playing along with the current Paper Players challenge -

I love sketches and this one is super versatile.

As always I reached for my ridiculously large Monster stamp stash..I love this set (Monster Squad) by Jane's Doodles.

This is where a stamp platform comes in super handy. I die-cut my white panel and then lined up all my stamps using my Tim Holtz stamping platform. Super easy and quick.

I coloured my Monster using Promarkers and Spectrum Noir sparkle pens.

I pulled out a lovely piece of patterned paper by Studio Calico, I love their papers. I added a strip of ancient glittery DCWV paper.

I used foam tape to pop up the main panel and I added a matching enamel dot and a googly eye to the Monster.

Fun card and I know exactly who to send it to.

Cx