Christmas Card 2018: For the parents..

Hey,

To round of this week of Christmas Card fun (and a birthday card..), I wanted to show you the Christmas card to end all Christmas cards!

Ever since I was a little girl, my parents have given me a Christmas card from them and one of each of them individually, I am sure this is something to do with me being an only child..

So now I give them a joint card from Hubby and I and individual ones for each of them from me.

Today's card is the one I made as their joint card.

Isn't he gorgeous?!

I literally discovered perfect pearls a couple of weeks ago and I happened to have a purple pot of them and so I had a play and decided I liked them enough to invest in other colours. BUT then I realised how pricey they are and researched alternatives and came up with Jacquard Pearl Ex.

Pearl Ex need a fixative and Perfect Pearls do not, but Pearl Ex come in a large container for the same price as the teeny tiny Perfect Pearls ones..

So I bought x2 colours of Pearl Ex - Gold and Blue - I mean come on, my 3 fave colours are gold, purple and blue, so all good.

For this card, I stamped the Sizzix large snowflake stamp using versamark embossing ink and then dusted the gold Pearl Ex over the top, the result is just stunning. I've always been a bit meh about that snowflake stamp..no longer!

The large snowflake die is a set by Penny Black and I die-cut it from a shimmery red cardstock scrap I found in my red paper drawer. I used the smaller die from the set for the gold snowflake.

Then I die-cut a label and stamped my sentiment in versamark and dusted some Pearl Ex over it, so it matched the background. Cue approx 35 mins of ridiculous butter finger bow tying.. and the card was finished.

I can't stop staring at it, its so shimmery and feels super Christmassy.

I think my parents will love it.

Tonight we are heading back to London from Porto. Hubby and I fly home tomorrow, so I will tell you all about the trip next week.

Cx

Catch The Bug: Awkward Holiday Chaos...BINGO!!

Hey,

Happy Friday to you (from London)..

It's the final day of the Catch The Bug awkward holiday chaos challenge -

And we are going out with a bang with a freebie friday bingo!

We have this great Stella stamp as a Freebie today, go and grab her and play along.

I had so much fun playing with this image and I chose the 3rd vertical row - Sentiment / Non Trad Colours / Star.

I printed the image and the sentiment and coloured Stella using Promarkers and made her hat hot pink, not the traditional red. I then stenciled stars all over the panel using hot pink, lime green and electric blue - a fave combo of mine, but not at all traditional Christmas colours.

I love the end result, so much fun and a perfect way to end this week of fun!

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Christmas Card 2018: Monster Shaker..

Hey,

Happy Thursday from London!!

My card is a mini shaker that I made for Lisette for Christmas. I bought the MFT Shaker cups on sale and I haven't played with them yet.

They only fit the MFT circle dies, so I had to dig out a scalloped shaker circle die by MFT.

I die-cut the aperture first, so I could line up the circle with my background and stamp my little tambourine playing Monster (Monster Jam by Mama Elephant).

I added the bauble elements from a Tim Holtz foam stamp set, so the shaker looked like a dangling bauble.

The sentiment is stamped way lower than I had planned, but I forgot to stamp it BEFORE I put the shaker together, so had to stamp it on the foam tape - ugh.

Anyway, Lisette liked it and that's all that matters right?

Cx

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Hey,

Today is my Dad's birthday!

I am lucky enough for the 2nd year in a row to be here to celebrate with him.

We kick started the celebrations by going to a Football match on Sunday, meaning we got to spend some QT together.

I've written SO many posts about my Dad, so I'm keeping it to a minimum here. I love my Dad, he is awesome, funny and kind. Because of him I am a huge NFL fan and this season, we have done weekly pick ems' (including my Husband) and the trash talking has been hilarious!!

My Dad is one of the best at keeping in touch with me and I love him even more for that.

Tonight we are off to his fave curry house with a few surprise guests..

I am very pleased with his card this year, I used my latest fave star stencil and x2 distress oxide inks, I then stamped the sentiment over the top using Navy Blue Versamark ink.

The sentiment was made up of x3 stamp sets, the 'Daddy' was made up from Tim Holtz alpha foam stamps. The 'Happy Birthday' is by Concord & 9th and the 'You're a star' is by Lawn Fawn.

Happy Birthday Daddy, you crazy awesome dude.

Cx

Retro Rubber #101...Photo Inspired Happy Holidays!

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

Well wasn't that a fun 100th celebration?!

A big thanks from me and the whole team to all of the people that joined in the fun and left comments on our blogs.

The winner of my giveaway is Angel North (http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/). Congrats - Angel, use the contact me form on the right hand side of my blog to send me your address details - I'll be back on 10th of December and will post your package then.

This is our last challenge of the year and in spirit of the season we are wishing you Happy Holidays with this theme -

I went a bit off piste, so to clarify, I used the snow, hat and scarf to inspire my card LOL.

I decided to go all non-traditional colours, as I was using a Flamingo stamp! The stamp is by Inkadinkadoo and I've had it since 2016, the whole set is a lot of fun and not really traditional, which might be why I love it so much. It is no longer for sale, so here's a photo for you.

I dug out a sparkly tag from my enormous tag stash - if you don't know me that well, here's a bit of insight I am literally addicted to tags, I make my own using dies AND I buy them at any opportunity..if my Husband ever finds my stash, I swear he will divorce me!

I printed a piece of pink snowflake paper by Pink Petticoat that I have had for about 9 years..I love the subtle snowflakes peeking through. I cut it a bit shorter, so I could add a sparkly gold border to coordinate with the tag. Final touch was to add the sentiment from the same stamp set.

I love this overly girly Holiday card it makes me very happy.

Show us what the photo has inspired you to make and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends December 14th.

Don't forget to tell us the age of your stamp, that is part of the fun of our challenge and please only enter 10 challenges including Retro Rubber.

Cx