Project: Dance inspired projects for MAWTT

This week we're looking for projects inpsired by dancing! I'll be honest, I wasn't quite sure where to go with this one but I had a good dig through my stamps and decided to go for this 50s rock and roll piece.

The girl is sort of based on a stamp I had but as I cut her out I made her skirt fuller, gave her a ponytail and gave her flat saddle shoes instead of heels. Turned her from a domestic goddess housewife into a 50s poodle skirt girl.

The juke box is colored with ProMarkers in Poppy, Oasis and Yellow and I cut it out to give it more prominence. The greeting is also colored and die cut and layered over a yellow circle which I thought made it a bit retro.

I added some lovely little plastic dots that Claire made me for my birthday this year. All in all I was happy with the challenge and can't wait to see what others do as well!

Project 304: Super simple set with patterned card

My mom loves bright, artistic calendars and frames them month by month on her kitchen wall. 2015's calendar was from Papyrus and the monthly prints were really vibrant. When the year came to an end she sent it to me and, using some templates Papyrus provide, the papers can be turned into folders, book marks, boxes and patterned card. I have now used/distributed everything but the card stock so I decided to whip up a quick little set to give to my mom as a thank you for the calendar. You know what they say, one person's old calendar trash is another person's card-making treasure.

I used these little hummingbirds because I had a nice set of four images in different colors. I kept it super simple: trimmed down the paper to the same size, added a ribbon, cut down some black stock and added a white paper lining inside to make it easier to write on. Bish bash bosh: card set in minutes.

Project 303: Simple layout cards x2

This weekend I wanted to bolster my stash of cards for the office rather than focusing on challenges or personal makes. I was asked to make some more boy cards so I spent some time casing some old favourites, including dinosaurs like this, robots like this and trying out a few new ideas. I love the guitar from the retro Creative Stamping set from January 2015 and decided to try a super simple version with it as a hero.

I stamped the guitar onto plain stock and then cut it out - no matching dies here! - and then chose some scraps in similar colors. I used the greeting from the set as I thought it matched the retro vibe though it was hard to read against the stripes so I did the second one a bit of red scrap. Happy these two came together really quickly, using scraps and minimal tools.

While I was investigating my scraps I came across this embossed bird and decided to make a card that used her. She's from last summer's Creative Stamping (May? June?) and I made her for our purple MAWTT project (still time to enter until Thursday 17th March!) and when she came out kind of blurry I gave up on her. Not really fair to her as she's lovely, just not sharp enough for a DT make in my opinion. I decided to put her against black stock, using purple ribbon as an edge.

I added a sentiment and totally goofed by dropping the stamp. Doh. So I used a black off-cut from where I had trimmed the bottom of the card and used a different sentiment from Little Claire.  I heat embossed it in purple (you can't tell from the photo but you can sort of tell in real life) and then added some diamond gems for bling. I like it, don't love it, but I'm glad I was able to use her without it going to waste!

Project 302: Sketch color challenge featuring a new technique

I love it when a plan comes together. I saw the challenge at Retro Rubber and wanted to try a new techinque that Claire taught me.

What's more, I can case her card she made featuring my Fiskars hot air balloon stamp which my mom bought me (with her, I should mention) 2-3 years ago.

And when I saw the color combo at Color Throwdown this week I thought Yes. You are the colors I want.

I heat embossed the stamp in a pattern like the sketch and then I colored it with an aqua brush and Distress Inks in Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, and Mowed Lawn. Looks like watercolor, looks great.

I used a paper from an American Crafts paper pad and put it on kraft stock. The dots are beads from Claire that she melted for me. That is love. Finally the stamp greeting is from the oldest stamp set I own, my mom gave it to me years ago when I first started making cards. Love this little set, no idea where it is from.

Really pleased it came together for both challenges.

Project 302: Playdate fun with new techniques

Today's posts are a bit random but both feature new techniques and tools from a recent playdate with Claire. We were both feeling a bit weird so we decided to keep our focus on two cards rather than try to reinvent the wheel and end up frustrated!

The headline features a new technique she discovered where you heat emboss and then use distress inks and an aqua brush to fill the raised image. I went for this Little Claire image and by using the Spiced Marmalade distress ink I think it looks a bit like a monarch butterfly. The paper got a bit grubby with the embossing powder but I actually like it. The greeting is Recollections from a tag die and greeting stamp set Claire gave me. Great technique, will definitely do again.

The second card features a new die she got that punches out all these little leaves. It's a great double whammy where the punched leaves are great and the negative space left is great as well. I wanted it to stand out so I blended over the surface with Broken China distress ink and then layered it over a scrap of green paper that I already had lying around. The spotted ribbon and button were added because it looked a bit naked. Not entirely convinced but they definitely helped lift it. The greeting is from a sentiment set Claire gave me last summer that contains a greeting for any occasion you could imagine.

So much fun playing with my craft buddy, I'm always keen to try new things and it the session was such fun as we both made such great little makes.

Project 301: Happy Mother's Day UK

This is the card that I made for my mother-in-law and I thought it was the perfect project to showcase today.

The image is one of Claire's that I stole when I was in NYC. She had a file of digis printed out and I rifled through them and took what I wanted because I miss her stash! This image is so special, so pretty and with the big blooms I thought I could make them look like poppies, as I know my mother-in-law likes those.

I kept everything else really simple - just simple borders and nothing else. I looked at candies and gems and glitter but decided that this was better elegant and clean.

We are stopping by to say hello so I can give it in person which is always nicest. Hope she likes it!

Project: Purple cards for MAWTT

We have another great challenge for you at MAWTT this week! Our challenge is purple: my favourite color.

I wanted to make something that was simple and let purple be the hero so I heat embossed this great tropical flower stamp (from Creative Stamping magazine) and used Seedless Preserve purple distress ink to blend the background. The sentiment is Sizzix. The black background is embossed with a Stampin' Up for Sizzix embossing folder that I love. I just wanted something to give it a bit more edge and modernity.

Finally I have to confess that this started with a border punch but I hated it so I took it off...and ripped the edge in the process. OOPS. So I decided to double-down on the purple and add some spotted ribbon.

Can't wait to see what purple creations everyone else comes up with!