100th Post of 2013

Whoo Hoo!!

I can't believe I have managed a 100 posts by the end of August!! I am so pleased. My goal this year was not to slack off and to post at least 3 times a week. Go me for sticking to my guns, it's hard work, but I find it totally rewarding.

Obviously not working for a while helped :)

To celebrate I have decided to enter one of my favourite sketch challenges - Retro Sketches.

Retro Sketches - 78

JT has already entered - loving her work, think she'll like mine too. The main photo today is my entry, it has a vintage feel to it and I love being able to use the bargain £1 flowers from The Range. The papers are by American Crafts (I keep finding new pads for cheaps..). The sentiment I punched using the EK Success punch and I think it works well here.

Right I am off to work now, hoping to finish early so I can maximise the last of my time with Ma and Amy.

Cx

Squeezing in some crafty time..

Whilst my Ma and Amy are having a rest from their whirlwind tour of NYC..I have been at my desk making today's main photo!

It is my entry to the Avery Elle Challenge, this is the sketch -

It's a special challenge this month - the winner will be guest designer for October - whoopee!!

I love Avery Elle stamps and had just ordered some when I stumbled across their challenge blog..unfortunately my stamps have not arrived in time, so I used one of their free digital stamps (which is the sentiment topper).

This card has been in my mind all week and I am really pleased with the final outcome. I used the following
- Smash! Polka dot washi tape
- The reverse of a pocket pages (by MAMBI) journalling card for the grid background
- Orange cardstock from Michael's - which I embossed using a Cuttlebug giant dots folder
- Avery Elle 'Best Wishes' digital stamp

I like the flash of colour - loving orange right now!

Also this is my 99th post this year!! Hurrah, I have exceeded all my plans for posting this year and I have loved every minute of it.

Cx

WOYWW #221 - Wonderful WOYWW snail mail..

Hey there - it is indeed that time of the week already (WOYWW) and I am still excited by the fact that Ma and Amy are here!

I have to go back to work for 2 days tomorrow, then I have the weekend and Labor Day (Monday) with them before they leave..

So as usual I'll start my post by pointing you in the direction of Julia's blog - Stamping Ground..you can learn all about WOYWW there and join in the fun.

My desk is full of wonderful goodies this week - courtesy of my super talented and generous WOYWW friend Kimmie Hogan - the altered art is wonderful and she said in her letter that she wasn't sure if she should send it - WHAT!!! It is so amazing, I am finding it a frame today and hanging it above my desk as a reminder that friends come from all places.
Kimmie it is amazing, she hasn't been well, but manages to be such a generous being. She also sent me the goodies which are stacked at the front of my desk.
Due to my family being here this week, I haven't had time to take proper photos, so I promise to share what Kimmie sent me in full next week - including the gorgeous hand decorated envelope!

Thank you Kimmie, you made my weekend.

Happy WOYWW to you all - I'll swing by your desks later on tonight, once my guests are asleep..

Cx

Having fun..

 It's great having Amy and Ma here..

Yesterday we all went on a Circleline Tour of NYC - great to be on the river in the heat.

The main photo is of Ma and I - isn't it awesome, we cracked up laughing right at the last minute..

Here are a few photos of the rest of the day (taken by Hubby and I playing with the fisheye lens..) -

Hubby....

Me and Amy

Ma and the Manhattan skyline

Me and Ma

Statue of Liberty

Today we are off to Jersey Garden Mall to get our shop on..

Cx

It is the DAY!!!

So after much ado my Ma and Amy arrive today...

I have no idea how I am going to concentrate today at work, as I don't pick them up until Midnight NYC time...

So to distract me, I made this little beauty for CAS-ual Friday (CFC 112) this week. You had to use 3 colours - Aqua, Green and Orange.

My main photo is my entry - the Aqua is the washi paper tape, the orange is the scalloped heart and the green is the Celebrate stamp - which I think is appropriate considering my overexcited mood ;) Unfortunately I don't think the 'Celebrate' looks as green in the photo as it is in real life...partly because I chose a chalk ink by Versa Magic in Oasis Green, which is quite soft.

I am considering using the card for one of the many anniversaries I have in September.

WOYWW was SO much fun yesterday, such great creativity to look at, very inspiring.

I guess that I will now be AWOL for a few days, whilst I dedicate myself to being with Ma and Amy - reminding myself that it is a short period of time and every day spent with them will be precious..I promise you will see me in time for WOYWW next week.

Cx

WOYWW #220 - Super Excited!!

Hello everyone, hope you are going to join the rest of us and Julia over at Stamping Ground for the weekly desk nose.

I am super dooper excited, as my Ma and Goddaughter arrive tomorrow. I am an only child and being away from my family is hard - especially my Ma as we are very close. It's going to be amazing to have them here and I have a few days off next week so I can squire them around town.

So what is on my desk this week - a new stamp set by Inkadinkadoo, which was $1.99 from Marshalls, my glasses, a bone creaser, small glue roller, scissors, some printed digital stamps by Bugaboo for OWH cards, my fancy corner rounder thingy, my computer mouse (which I love, he is wireless..), the usual array of pens, pins, glues, glitter and tools. Reasonably tidy methinks.

I like to show you something pretty and not just my chaotic desk...so this week I thought I'd show you a card I made for the Son of a friend.

Card for Dexter

He is 5, so I thought he'd like the robots..he is the last birthday I have in August and I am working hard on September, which is Anniversary / Birthday madness.

This does mean that we are only 5 and a half weeks away from my 40th birthday!! I don't mind being 40 - I just can't believe it's nearly here already.

For those of you that don't already know, my bestie Lemon and Hubby's bestie Polly (with her hubby) are coming to celebrate with me / us and we are heading to Atlantic City!!! That will more than make up for the fact that for the first time in years I will be without my usual birthday posse...

Happy WOYWW.

Cx

Walking in the rain..

..with the one I love.

Is a line from a Barry White / Love Unlimited song and it's one of my faves.

The stamp I used to make the card in the main photo today reminds me of this song :) Apt I thing, as this is an Engagement card for friends of ours. The stamp is by Stamping Bella - Emily and Ryan under the umbrella.

I love this stamp, it's so cute and I like the fact that they are hidden under the large umbrella - which is strange as I detest umbrellas!

The stamp is actually quite tricky to colour - quite a lot of detail in the coat/dress and the flowers, but it is totally worth it..I am currently using it to make a whole raft of Anniversary cards for September. It would appear that nearly everyone we know got married in September.

The backing paper was a little bargain that I got from Marshalls, it was a pack of decorative scraps by K&Co - I sent half to JT :)

As I am so pleased with this card, I thought I would enter it into the same Colour Me Creative Marker Challenge #75 that JT entered - her card is awesome btw.
The theme is 'Anything Goes' as long as you use alcohol-based markers..I used Promarkers -
Umbrella - Vanilla
Coat / Dress / Flowers / Shoes - Pink Mittens, Plum, Orchid and Hot Pink
Skintone - Oatmeal
Shirt - Blue Denim
Trousers - Warm Grey 3
Shoes - Ice Grey 4
Foliage / Grass - Moss

I hope the happy couple love the card as much as I do..I now have to get on and make them a new home card too!

Cx

p.s 3 more sleeps and my Ma will be here...

Purr...

Hubby and I have a lovely guy that lives above us - Dr Kevin.

He got back from his holibobs last week and as I was still off, I popped upstairs and cooked brunch for us both.

To cut a long story short he had been on a trip to Maine and was writing out Thank You cards. I was sad because I really felt that the cards should have reflected the colours and the mood of where he had been.

So I used all of this as an excuse to purchase the new Beach Huts papers and Beach Cottage set by Pink Petticoat :) and make cards for Dr Kevin.

I decided I needed to focus whilst making these cards and whilst rummaging through Pinterest for inspiration, I spotted this Purr Tones palette on my colour board.

My main photo today is of one of the cards for Dr Kevin.

I struggled a bit when making these, as I felt that I needed an embellishment, but couldn't decide what it should be.

Fortunately my desk isn't as tidy as it should be, so I saw the die-cut bicycles cue a lightbulb moment.

The bicycles were already stamped and they fit my colour scheme perfectly. I added blue pearls to the wheels for a bit of stand-out.

Here is a close-up, as the Beach Hut paper is quite subtle.

Dr Kevin 'Thank You's' Close-up

Cx

Margaritas here I come!!

So my first day at work was fun - my new colleagues are really nice, I think I am going to like being there and it looks like I will be busy and that suits me just fine.

In honour of my first 2 days back at work, hubby and I will be drinking Margaritas at our fave local bar...to be fair we do actually do this most Friday's :)

The main pic today is of the card I made for my SIL - her birthday was at the end of July, but I saved it until now as I wanted to show it in a post with it's partner (below) that I made for our friend Lora. Her birthday was on Wednesday.

KennyK birthday card for Lora

JT gifted me this KennyK 'Happy Hour' Stamp and I love it, the dress is such fun to colour in! I like the layered tag die in colours that contrast with the dress. I really should use a plain layer more often, the one on Lora's card was die-cut using a DCWV glittered paper stack.

Have a great weekend - see you Monday...maybe Sunday if I am not feeling too lazy..

Cx

A little Pixie..

..well a Stamping Bella Paisley Pixie actually!

I saw this week's Retro Sketches sketch and knew that Paisley Pixie would work well. She was a bargain purchase and once again has been scanned in so I can resize her.

Here is the sketch -

RS #76 - Sketch

I needed to make a card to reply to a letter I got from my Grandma and thought that my finished card would work for her, hence the 'Just for you' sentiment.

The main photo today is my entry. I think that the purple tones work really well on this card and it totally has a CAS feel about it. The striped paper is one I have struggled to use from the DCWV Latte Stack and was really pleased that I got to use it here.

As I was working with Paisley Pixie, I also made this little beauty -

Pixie Baby

Works great as a girly new baby card methinks.

Happy Thursday! It was a great WOYWW yesterday and tonight I am off to eat Lobster (YUM) at a fave neighbourhood bar with Hubby and our friend Hari.

Cx

WOYWW #219 Back to work..

Hey there!

Happy WOYWW - as usual jump over to Julia's blog at Stamping Ground if you have no idea what WOYWW is and join in the fun.

Thursday will be my first day back at work - 2nd NYC agency. I had a nice week and a half off whilst I looked for a new contract.

I am writing this post on Tuesday evening, as I had originally thought I was going back to work on Weds.

My desk is reasonably tidy today because I got all frustrated yesterday with the state of it! So what can you see today..all the usual glues, tools, inks, etc along with my mouse on my cutting mat!, my glasses, a nice cool glass of water as it is HOT here, my large bottle of perfume seems to have joined the small bottle and some babygrows that I am using for cards.

I have been making lots of random things this past week, in part because I wanted to have some posts in my back pocket for when I am back at work. I haven't slipped this year with my blog posts and I'd like to maintain my momentum!

I wanted to show this card off, but had to wait until it arrived - it is the partner for JT's Snazzy Summer Crabs that she sent me, as part of our long distance card challenge (we set them ourselves!!). JT got all these random sea life die-cuts and had no idea what to do with them...so sent me half - charming :)

Sea life challenge - 'Sea you soon!'

I think my card is hilarious and I have no idea who she is going to give it to. I am giving hers to my friend Michelle in Hawaii, who is a fan of our random thoughts..

Happy WOYWW everyone, I'll be nosying at your desks when I get home from work later..so apologies if you get a late comment from me.

Cx

Pinterest comes in handy..

I love Pinterest. It is so handy for inspiration and for lusting after new tools :)

I saw this idea -

And thought that it would be a great way to use all the wonderful Pink Petticoat Papers that I have.

So I searched for a free babygrow digital stamp (or a onesie as the American's call them) and I found one here.

I pasted it into Publisher and then created little boxes of patterned papers and overlayed the babygrow onto the boxes like so -

Example babygrow + paper

As you can see my main photo is one of the finished cards - I changed the layout, not just because I don't want to steal someone's idea, but because it's nice to have your own twist on something.

I am very pleased with the end result and as you saw on WOYWW yesterday I am in the process of making more of them.

Here is a yellow version -

New Baby - Yellow babygrows

All the patterns are papers by Pink Petticoat - I love their papers and I think this is a great way to use them - the ones I used are -
- Mr Moustache
- Marshmallow (the elephants and zebra stripe)
- Little Check
- Chevrons
- Lots of really big dots
- Really big dots

I did have to recolour some of these, as I have Chevrons, really big dots and lots of really big dots in the new colour collection colours only!! Really must purchase the complete Chevrons pack...

Cx

Fishy start to the week!

Ha ha not really, but given the main photo today, I decided a bad pun was in order :)

I have been rummaging around looking for different challenges to enter, no real reason behind this search, I just fancied a change from my usual places.

I found a great site - The Alley Way Stamps - because they have superb freebies on their site. They also do a fun challenge and I decided to enter using one of their freebie stamps - the fishes in the main pic.

The inspiration for the challenge this time is -

TAWS #34 - Stripy Mug

As you can see from my card, I got lucky and had paper (by Crate Paper) that fitted the inspiration piece perfectly. I decided for a bit of fun to colour the fishes using colours from the mug. I added some bright Candi's to anchor my slightly wonky stamped piece - it's all a bit weird, but I like it and now have to find a home for him..

I have been up to all kinds of craft goodness this weekend, more about that later in the week.

Today I am doing what feels like a bejillion chores...mainly because I think I might be going back to work tomorrow, so would prefer to not have to do boring chores after work and have free time to craft and go out and play!

Cx

Colourful luggage....

WOYWW was fun this week - despite my lack of 'stuff' to show, I enjoyed looking at what all my online buddies have been up to.

JT entered a fun challenge this week  on the Designed to Colour blog and I thought I'd be a bit of a copycat and enter it too.

This week's challenge (#17) is based on a colour theme -

The challenge requires you to use a coloured image and to use 3 or more of the colours shown above.

I've had this Stamping Bella luggage stamp that I hadn't used yet and I thought it would be perfect for this challenge. I like to scan in stamps - mainly because then I can adjust the size of them.

The tricky part of making this card was getting the yellow in. Eventually I settled for using it for subtle accents on the cases. I decided I didn't really like the Stamping Bella 'Bon Voyage' greeting and so made my own - using the word window punch - big fave right now!

The Chevron washi tape is not actually tape, but sheets of washi tape paper by We R Memory Keepers - it's very useful and works really well on this card. The green grid paper is by American Crafts.

I'm happy with the how the card came out, it's kind of quirky!

Cx

WOYWW #218..not a lot happening..

Hello! Yes its that time of the week again, where we all join Julia over at Stamping Ground for the weekly global desk nosy.

My contract finished so I am having a nice relaxing week off whilst I look for my next contract.

My desk is a mine field this week mainly because I am rebelling against my normal Project Management self and being untidy...weird right?

Not a lot going on really - but there are a few new shiny things on my desk - this lovely punch by EK Success..it's changed my craft world and I am using it every where.

EK Success Punch

It punches multiple labels / tags at once and if you own the punch go here you can download a free pdf of pretty outlines for the punch. I love Vegas Girl At Heart...

Also on my desk as a newbie is this little box - it was dirt cheap and at the front is a lovely bunch of wooden pencils that my new NYC buddy / work colleague Rose gave me - beautiful right?

New storage

You can also see a chai tea candle that Rose gave me and a coaster that my friend Lexi gave me as a birthday card 'because card makers are impossible to buy cards for' ha ha

Finally - sorry Julia epic post - here is a pic of my NYC craft space, now that my stash has arrived..needs some work, but it feels like a piece of home.

My craft desk in NYC

Happy WOYWW ladies..I'm going to have a nose, after lunch with the Hubby who has a day off - YAY!

Cx

Challenging cutouts...

Hello!

Hope you had a nice weekend, ours was quiet after last week's extreme partying...

I have been making a few cards for sale (a local shop wants to stock my stuff) based on this idea - which I have modified to suit my tools.

It came to me that the ones I have been making would work perfectly for the CAS-ual Friday challenge this week - #111 Buttons and if I chose the sentiment carefully it would work as a card for a good friend.

So the main photo is my entry. I am really pleased with the end result and hope my friend will be too.

I used scrap paper for both the patterned paper (My Minds Eye) and the white spotty embossed paper. The butterfly is the teeniest die from an Xcut set I have. The sentiment was punched using my shiny new word window punch by Stampin' Up. The button and the twine are from my stash.

Here are the cards I had made before, which sparked the idea, you can see I switched out the Candi for a button -

Here is one on it's own, so you can see it in detail.

Cutout Heart - With Love

I love these cards - not just because they are super simple. but because I can use all the scraps I have kicking around.

Cx

Steampunk with a bit of burlesque...

To be fair, I don't really understand Steampunk, but I do love the Steampunk Burlesque stamps by KennyK and so when JT alerted me to the fact that the KennyK challenge for the next fortnight (#152) was Steampunk...I felt it would be rude not to enter.

JT has already made her entry, which I love and she's a bit meh! about it, I love it the colours and the use of Jettpack Jayne.

The main photo today is of my card and the image is Helga Frost by KennyK, I think she is a bit Vampiric, so coloured her skin tone in Ivory - way paler than I would normally use, but she now looks very icy - love it.

I matched all the colours of her outfit to the cog paper (which was a freebie and is the last piece of it). Great to have such a broad range of Promarkers to work with, means I can match colours on the stamsps to the papers I am using. I felt it was lacking something and so added the pinstripe Candi's here and there for a bit of interest.

I am not normally a fan of gold peel-offs, but I think they work well here. I added some glitter glue here and there - here are some close-ups so you can see the detail better.

Helga Frost detail

Glitter and Candi detail

I am SO over the moon with my card, it came out even better than I had visualised and it is rare for me to be so happy with a challenge card.

Because of this I decided that I would enter it into another the I love Promarkers challenge too, which also happens to be Steampunk.

Hooray!

Cx

Christmas in July..

Well not really and it is August!!!

In fact it is the 1st of August and so I am wishing my Ma a Happy Birthday - I wanted to do a longer post about missing Ma, being excited to see her in 3 weeks and more, but guess what...NO CARD PIC. Yep, I stupidly sent her the amazing card I made her (even if I do say so myself) and didn't take a photo...idiot!

Anyway, I have been making Christmas Cards for OWH and decided to enter the cute Rudi into the Always Playing with Paper blog Merry Monday Challenge - Christmas in July.

I love these Rudi's by Bugaboo Stamps. They are such fun and this card is so simple, because it's for OWH, so no bling, no glitter and not too much dimension. Meaning you can make stacks of them..very quickly!

I went with spotty paper, as I seem to have misplaced all my Christmas paper in the move...an excuse to buy more if ever I needed one :)

Whilst colouring a big batch of these Rudi's my Cinnamon Promarker ran out!! It's the first one in x3 years to ever run out - how crazy is that?! Total VFM I say!

Happy Christmas / Birthday Ma.

Cx