Kinda the Same

Today I had to make a couple of cards for a swap I'm part of. The brief was think Spring and friendship. To help with the colour choice I found this lovely subtle Spring palette at The Paper Players

I'm still playing around with my newest stamp set; Kinda Eclectic. This time I've combined it with stamps from an old set, Vintage Vogue. I think they go together really well. I love the sunburst behind the leaves and flower. This was the first card I made

Here you can see which elements are stamped flat and which are raised on foam pads. Like the little matching gem?

Next I made the second card, this time on a square base. This means it's all closer together. I changed the colour used for the sunburst.

This time different elements have been left flat or raised up. The letter is fussy cut out and mounted over the dots and I coloured in the centre of the flower before adding the gem

Here you can see both cards together. Which one do you prefer? I think the first is my favourite but it was fun to play around with an idea and try out different ways, I usually only make single cards.

Just for Robbie!

Oops! I was a little bit late posting this one - it's my DT card for the challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches, this week it's back to a colour challenge and we have these three lovelies for you....

Don't worry if you don't have the exact Stampin' Up shades, use your closest. Here's my card

I used my aqua painter to dilute the Primrose Petals into a beautiful pink sky.  When it was dry I stamped this image from a new set called Best Of Flowers, using the Gumball Green. I have been trying for a long time now to buy the original (retired) stamp of this image, called Upsy Daisy. I believe that it was only released in the USA and I love it so much, so when I saw this new mini version I just had to get it, and I'm glad I did!

I layered the image onto Cajun Craze card, then more Primrose petals.  Finally, I added cajun gems so that I could enter my card in the challenge at The Paper Players - for CAS with bling -just my thing!. The sentiment, from Perfectly Preserved, is bent to give more dimension and I've tied cajun raffia onto the two ends. You can see it all a bit better here

Must just tell you why I'm so late with this post.  My daughter and I went to see Robbie Williams last night in Manchester, about 3 hours from where we live - we got home very late (3am!) and so it was never going to happen this morning! The concert was AMAZING! We had so much fun, singing, dancing and he played all the best tracks from the past...brilliant. 

Inspired by Vicky

There's a blog which I visit almost every day because the lady there, Vicky, is so amazingly creative- she always inspires me with her fantastic stamping and brilliant ideas- if you haven't already, check out her blog  here.  Anyway, when I was over there yesterday I saw a beautiful card made for the challenge at The Paper Players and I so loved the colours that I thought I'd have a go too.

 Aren't they gorgeous! Combined with the challenge for CAS flowers at Make My Monday this is what happened

I love the idea of Pool Party to make leaves and Calypso Coral is a favourite of mine.  This two-step stamping set, Stippled Blossoms allows you to use a stamped off lighter shade of your colour for the base, adding the details in the full colour.  I've die cut two nesting ovals in the other two colours and added a button which is has So Saffron check and I dyed a piece of bakers' twine with my Early Expresso ink (very messy!).The sentiment is stamped in the same ink and comes from a set called Whacky Wishes. There are a few gems in the centres of the flowers.
I've added another flower stamped inside the card.  I am so taken with the combination of Calypso Coral and Pool Party that I think I might be back later with a slightly more CAS card for the Make My Monday challenge, depending on how much time I get later.