Totally Awesome...

Hey,

I bought some great stamps recently from CAS-ual Fridays, I bought the 'wait for it' set as I have been chewing through seasons of How I met your Mother and the set felt like it was based on a catch phrase from one of the characters...

I thought that they would work really well for Male cards.

Today's card was made using the set and some SSS stars is for a male friend's birthday.

I kept it super simple, 2 inks and 5 stamps - easy.

I am liking this ombre technique with inks, needs some work..

Cx

WOYWW #308..Card blanks...

Hey,

Happy WOYWW!

So my desk is looking ok today, the shot is from yesterday evening..

I get the Simon Says Stamp card kits every month and I have been stock piling the cardstock to make card blanks..I finally got round to actually doing it.

You can see them on top of my scoring board, they have been cut to size (4 1/4 x 5.5in) and I was in the process of scoring and folding. I've ended up with 40 card blanks in a variety of colours. Not bad for 15 mins work :)

If you are wondering why I am showing you my desk, it's that fab time of the week where we get to join the lovely Julia over at her blog Stamping Ground and have a global desk nosy..

My card for you this week uses some cool mini polaroid images that I bought over Black Friday online. I gave half to JT and kept half. I decided to stamp a sentiment onto some of them and turn them into a birthday gift for a friend -

I used small 3 x 3 cards and added a black piece of card to make the little image pop. I hope my friend likes them.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #13...Anything Goes (with a retro stamp)..

Hey,

It's time for another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

This time we are asking you to flex your creative muscles with an Anything Goes challenge..

Don't forget to use a stamp older than a year on your project.

As it's Anything Goes this week, I thought it would fun to combine my card with another challenge and I really liked the current one over at Crafty Cardmakers..Dots.

My card was fun to make. The Panda is so cute, I can't believe I've hardly used him. I really enjoyed digging through my stash to combine all kinds of fun things...

I used -
Papers - DCWV spots and glitter stacks
Dies - Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangle and dot line dies. MFT stitched rounded rectangle
Stamp - Panda from free set with Get Stamping 7
Sentiment - SMASH! label maker
Ink - MFT Hybrid Ink - Black

You have until May 8th to join in the fun - what can you do with Anything Goes?

Pop over to Retro Rubber to see the fun creations by my team mates and to enter.

Cx

Cheerful Critters..

Hey,

Hope you all had a nice weekend.

I am a cheerful critter today, as I got a cut above mention over at The Paper Players last week - cool and most unexpected :) Great way to start the week.

I thought I'd enter this week's challenge -

I had to make a card for a friend's Son and thought I'd use the sketch. I don't have oval dies (why?!) and so used MFT stitched rounded rectangles instead.

The patterned background paper is by My Minds Eye and I used scraps for the solid green paper and rummaged through my red and green scrap boxes to find things to use as banners!

The main stamp is from my new Cheerful Critters stamp set by SU. I also used Hooray! from the set.

I used distress inks (sage, picked raspberry, evergreen bough and mustard seed) and an aquabrush to colour the Critter's sweater - I love how this contrasts with the patterned background paper.

Final touch was to add the rest of the sentiment, from a very very old Papermania stamp set.

Once again another super simple card inspired by The Paper Players.

Cx

Simon Says Stamp.. Clean and Simple...

Hey,

Hope you are having a great weekend so far.

Hubby and I had a fun flying visit to Atlantic City on Friday night and are now having a low key Sunday at home :)

I was most excited when I saw the latest Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Clean and Simple.

The DT are using Hero Arts products and I just acquired a new Hero Arts stencil that I thought would work well for CAS.

I cut a piece of watercolour card to fit my black card blank and stenciled parts of the stencil using a dauber and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink..

I'm working on a DT make right now using a freebie stamp set I have. It includes the chinese word stamps and I thought they would look nice on my card.

I added a Stampin' Up Navy marker to my Distress Marker Spritzer, for a little splatter and voila! finished card :)

I'm feeling quite pleased with myself right now, this card feels so CAS and fresh!

I am going to use it as an Anniversary card.

Cx

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2015 - My April Tags...

Hey,

So I was a bit nervous about this month's tag..it looked complex.

I LOVED making these, they were fun and meant I got to get my sewing machine out!

I made a mistake with the first tag (Birthday Wishes) too close and too heavy handed with the spritzer...

You know I have this only one new product per tag rule..well I broke that this month, my new products are - the kraft tags, crinkle ribbon and the word dies. Sometimes a girl has just gotta spend :)

I adore the word dies and think that they will be getting a lot of use.

I was a bit concerned that my stamps wouldn't work as well as the TH ones, but I think it all turned out just fine - even with an oops :)

Here are some individual photos of my tags -

Birthday Wishes..blue slodge - oops..

    

Hello Love..much better spritz splatter here..

   

What did I use?

INKS/PENS: MFT Hybrid ink (perfect for colouring and watercolouring), Picked Raspberry, Pumice Stone and Evergreen Bough Distress Inks, Hero Arts Green Neon Ink. Peacock Feathers and Worn Lipstick Distress Marker,
PAPERS: #8 Kraft tag, Distress watercolour cardstock, black scrap paper from my stash
TOOLS: Distress Marker Spritzer, Paper Distresser, Craft knife, Ranger Heat Tool, ATG, xyron, Ink applicator, Aquabrush, Singer Sewing Machine
STAMPS: Bee Happy by Hero Arts (from Darnell last year!)
DIES: Sizzix / TH Adventure Words Block, Winnie & Walter Birthday die (The Big, The Bold   and Wplus9 Hello die
MISC: Crinkle Ribbon, water mister, t-ruler, metal ruler

These tags have been a lesson in trusting myself - good to see that stepping out of my comfort zone every now and then works.

I've decided that I am going to mount them to cards and use them for a couple of special birthday's that are coming up.

Cx

Moving Along With The Times...Lets Get Reading..

Hey,

It's time for another great challenge over at Moving Along With The Times..It's Hazel's turn and she has a fab challenge for us - Let's Get Reading..Use a page from a book or the title of your fave book.

One of my Simon Says Stamp card kits last year was all about books, libraries, etc and there were some great papers including the one on my card, featuring a page from Around The World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. Strangely enough one of my fave books!

It's also not a small book, so I think the stamp from the SSS stamp set really worked here.

Because I wanted to showcase the beautiful book page, I decided to go lo-key on the embellishing. I die cut a stitched tag from a SSS stitched die set, stamped the sentiment on it and attached it to the page using mini staples.

I also used mini staples for a finishing touch around a couple of the edges of my card.

Pop over to MAWTT and join in the fun, after you've checked out the gorgeous creations by my teammates.

Cx

WOYWW #307..My craft room exploded...

Hey,

Happy WOYWW.

My craft room didn't really explode it just looks like it!

I'm showing you my desk because it's that fab time of the week where we get to join the lovely Julia over at her blog Stamping Ground and have a global desk nosy..

My desk photo was taken around 11pm on Tues evening. I got home at about 9.15ish after a dinner date with Hubby (yummy burgers at Umami Burger) and got straight to work at my desk.

I wanted to finish my April tags for the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2015 and some Mother's Day cards that need to get delivered this week!

You can see my new die storage system. I was looking for a die and realised I needed to take a photo of my desk, so multi-tasked (I am a Project Manager after all).
The binder is supposed to be a recipe binder, it came with a lot of fab pockets, which make perfect die storage. I cut down the dividers to use in the extra pockets I bought (the blue gingham paper you see is the dividers) waste not, want not! The whole thing cost $9 including the extra pockets - score! America based ladies the binder came from Burlington?!

I popped into my local craft store on Monday and went a bit spendy, spendy, but the good news is that I also signed up for a Mixed Media card making class in 2 weeks.

I've labelled the rest of the mess items for your pleasure!

Here are a couple of fun cards that I made for OWH, there are 8 of them in total in a few different colours.

Thanks again everyone for the lovely kind words about my broken foot (you guys are the best!). It is on the mend and I am now as slow as a retired Greyhound!

A special shout out to Darnell, who sent me a wonderful card to help me stop wallowing in my own misery - I mean it was my fault after all - the wall doesn't move!

Cx

Retro Rubber #12...Embellishment Challenge..Brads..

Hey,

Welcome to part two of another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

This time it's a venture back into the embellishment zone - 

Like eyelets, my love affair with brads waned and I cast them aside..recently I have been toying with using them again. This challenge gave me the perfect excuse.

I wanted to use 2 things that were on my desk already - the gelato stamped tag and the happy beads. I am loving stamping with Gelatos right now and I bought the letter beads when I was at home in London in January.

I embossed a piece of white cardstock using a gingham embossing folder. I put a tiny piece of washi tape just off to the left, just under the embossing. 

Once I had fixed the tag to the card, I added the happy beads and secured them with teeny tiny little red brads. I used an earring wire for the beads and cut it down to size and created an additional loop, making it easy to affix to the card with brads.

I stamped birthday in red, to coordinate with the tape and the tag.

Fun techniques and a fun result.

Now its your turn. But first hop on over to Retro Rubber and check out the fab creations from the rest of the team. 

Remember to use a stamp older than a year on your project and the challenge ends on April 29th.

Cx

CAS Watercolour..

Hey,

Hope you all had a good weekend.

Mine was peaceful and I managed to wear flip flops instead of my hideous shoe bootie cast thing! It was nice, but I am still very slow..

Today I am joining in with The Paper Players challenge -

I decided to use a new stamp set that I got recently. I wanted some new simple flower stamps and came across this set by Inkadinkado..

My card was super simple to put together, die-cut the mixed media paper using an SSS stitched die, add a little patch of pale blue watercolour paint and stamp the flower and the sentiment.

It feels very CAS and I am loving the new stamps.

Cx

Make your own background...

Hey,

Hope you are having a good weekend so far.

Today I am joining in with the latest Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge...Make your own background.

The DT over at SSS are showcasing MFT products, so I used one of my MFT stitched rounded rectangle dies.

I die cut a piece of pale pink card stock and using a triangle border stamp from the SSS Sparkle & Shine set, I stamped all over the piece of card using white ink.

I added white embossing powder here and there, as I wanted it to have a kind of patchy feel.

I'm quite pleased with it, border stamps make such pretty backgrounds.

As the background is quite busy, I kept everything else simple.

The sentiment is from the same stamp set and I stamped it onto a die cut SSS stitched circle.

A sprinkle of sequins and stars finished the card off.

Cx

Zoo Crew...

Hey!

Happy Friday!

I am looking forward to the weekend..my first week back has been hectic and my foot is feeling the strain..

I recently bought a great set of stamps called Zoo Crew by Paper Smooches..

I've been using it to make all kinds of things - including tags for my work colleagues Easter gifts.

I wanted to make a set of cards for a friend for her birthday and I thought these would be right up her street.

I stamped onto watercolour paper and coloured all the images using Distress Inks and a aquabrush.

I added some colour under the animals, as I thought they looked a bit odd floating on the paper..

Fun cards for a Friday right? Here are a couple more, using sentiments from other stamp sets -

I hope my friend likes them.

Cx

Double CASE...

Hey,

The Paper Players challenge this week is a great set of colours that got me all inspired -

I turned to Pinterest for some layout help, when I stumbled across a Pin, which turned out to be a CASE..so my card is the Double CASE!!

I loved the idea of masking of a section for the sentiment and partly stamping the sentiment into the detail.

I die cut a piece of white cardstock using my SSS stitched rectangle die and masked off the bottom half so I could stamp the top of the card, I then rotated it and did the same thing for the bottom.

I used Favorite Flowers stamps by Simon Says Stamp in the 3 challenge colours (I used Tsukineko inks that matched, Turquoise Gem, Rose Bud and Pear Tart).

I added Recollections enamel dots and bling in the 3 colours for a bit of dimension.

Final step was to stamp the sentiment and I added a bit of bling for the i in favorite.

I love it!! Thanks again to Paper Players for inspiring me another great theme.

Cx

WOYWW #306...Getting my ATC on...

Hey,

Happy WOYWW everyone!!

I can't believe it's been a week and a half since I broke my foot..I am back at work and it's all quite painful and annoying!

However, I am feeling quite pleased today, as I managed to finish half my ATC's for the WOYWW 312 Swap. I am making 8, so with one for the peeps either side of me that leaves 6 for swapping with other lovely WOYWWers, so just leave me a message or contact me before then and I'll keep one aside for you.

For those of you that are wondering what on earth I am talking about, pop over to the lovely Julia's blog Stamping Ground and join us for the weekly global desk nosy that is WOYWW.

My desk this week, gives you a sneak peek of my ATCs, you can see the stamp sets I am using and some of the papers that I'll be using to make mini envelopes.

You will also notice that I have a thing for acrylic stamp blocks...I have to confess, this is a small part of my block 'Collection'...yes I have a problem!

As always a card for you -

JT and I recently bought a big batch of Bugaboo stamps and this was one of them. So much fun to colour and it uses 3 things that I learnt / bought at the loft art retreat last month - super easy banner technique, Lawn Fawn stitched square die and glossy accents for the glasses.

Have a great day everyone. 

Cx

Retro Rubber #12 - Embellishment Challenge..brads

Hey!

Yes it is time for another fun Retro Rubber challenge - this time around we are asking you to use Brads, along side your older stamps.

Go over to Retro Rubber to check out the first set of fabulous creations from the DT.

Next week, I'll be back with the rest of the DT to show you what we were inspired to create.

Time for you to dig out your brads and join in. Challenge ends on April 29th

Cx

Back to work...

Hey,

Hope you had a good weekend.

After nearly a week off work, today is my first day back..hope its gentle :)

I saw this week's I Heart Promarkers challenge and decided to play along..the theme this week is ink it up.

I decided to use some of the things that I learnt on the loftartretreat and I'm quite pleased with the results.

The stamps are all from the Gorjuss 'Little Red' set.

I stamped the frame first and then in the spirit of ink it up, I inked the edges of the paper in Victorian Velvet and used the matching stain for the inky splodge in the centre (more practice needed with Distress stains).

I normally just ignore the 'supporting' stamps in my sets, but Jenn taught us how to make the best out of them, so here I coloured and fussy cut 2 leaves and an apple and staged them behind Little Red.

The glittery accents were added using a quickie glue pen and some superfine glitter - another trick that I hadn't used before the retreat!

I used Promarkers for all the colouring -
Oatmeal, Poppy, Antique Pink, Rock Pool, Bright Green, Leaf Green and Burnt Sienna.

The final touch was stamping the Hello in the bottom corner.

I think this is a card, that will be going in my 'For Grandma' stash!

Cx

Online Card Classes - A Cut Above: Part 2 - Day One

Hey,

So a couple of weeks ago, I finally got around to doing Day One of my Online Card Class - A Cut Above: Part 2 Electronic Die Cutting.

It was a lot of fun and I learnt some new tricks and manged to use a few cut files that I've had for a while.

The first part of the class is about using background files (my main photo). 

I had this fun background that I bought ages ago, but found it a bit much every time I tried to use it. In the OCC I learnt that keeping everything else simple (including colours) helps.

I added a red Happy - cut with my Silhouette and some mini gold glitter letters for Birthday - keeping it all very simple, but effective.

The next part required you to use a cut file supplied with the class. It teaches you how to scale and how to get these fiddly beasts off of the cutting mat!

I decided to use a spotty background and heart button to bring my cut frame alive. I like it, simple but also effective.

Layering shapes is one of my crafting staples. So I loved this part of the class and got to use the layered butterflies that I have had forever and never used!!

I switched it up a bit here and cut 2 of the butterflies in fussy papers, adding a bit more drama to the layers. The button with it's gold ribbon knot was already on my desk - perfect! I added an embossed background, a sentiment sticker and some bling.

Fun class, I am looking forward to Day Two..when I find some time..

If you haven't taken an Online Card Class yet, you really should - they are fun, easy and the best bit is that they are ALWAYS there. So you can do them at your leisure, great idea and means I don't get stressed about trying to keep up with a live class.

Cx

April showers with some colour...

Hey,

So this week has been a bit traumatising for me - I broke my foot and I have a really bad cold / virus of some sort - sigh..

In an effort to be positive and cheery, I thought I'd combine 2 challenges -

Craft Stamper - Take It Make It, April - Colour
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday challenge - April Showers and/or Spring Flowers.

I saw this great card on Pinterest and it inspired by card.

What did I use? -
A new Neat & Tangled Cloud stamp - from the Clouds set.
Confetti stencil by Heidi Swapp.
SSS Stitched rectangle die.
Hero Arts sentiment stamp.
Memento inks for the hearts and the sentiment

I added some glitter here and there for some shimmer.

A really cheerful simple anniversary card..I will definitely be making variations on this using the other cloud stamps in the set.

Cx

Moving Along With The Times..Red's Photo Inspiration...

Hey,

Welcome back to another great Moving Along With The Times challenge...

This week hosted by the lovely Red, her theme is a photo -

I was inspired by the photo to dig out my SSS butterfly die..I've been a bit daunted by it, but Red's photo helped me tackle that :)

I decided to go with kraft, orange and brown papers.

I die cut the butterfly several times, to get the different coloured pieces and the dark brown outline.

Before I pieced it all together I stamped over all the butterflies in orange link, using a Stampendous leaf stamp that JT gave me.

I sprayed the entire card with glimmer mist, added the sentiment banner (heat embossed sentiment) and some bling here and there to finish the card.

I love it, so I thought as well as it being my DT make I would enter it into this weeks The Paper Players Challenge - Use Die Cuts.

Now it's your turn to get inspired by Red's photos - first go over to MAWTT and check out the beautiful projects by my teammates.

Cx

WOYWW #305....Trying Bokeh..

Hey,

Happy WOYWW to you all..

I am at home today, as I broke 2 toes and a metatarsal bone...long story, lets just say its painful and I feel foolish.

Join in the WOYWW fun, by popping over to Julia's blog Stamping Ground and desk nose with the rest of us.

My desk is unable to be photographed, as I cannot find my memory card..doh..

So instead I am showing you the Bokeh technique that I tried at the weekend. It seems to be everywhere. I found a couple of great tutorials on YouTube (my enabler) and rolled up my sleeves ready to get messy..

The one on the left is a bit subtle, I think my background colours were too light. The one on the right is way better, but I will need more practice.

I made 4 cards, 2 from each sheet.

From the left sheet I made these 2 cards -

Bokeh Background, Watercoloured butterfly stamp, SSS thank you stamp

Bokeh background, SSS celebrate you stamp

From the right sheet -

Bokeh background, Lawn Fawn Die, SSS age stamp

Bokeh Background, SSS happy birthday stamp

Super simple to make and use my stash and the backgrounds in different ways. It was fun to learn a new technique, that uses what I already have.

All the stamps except the Thank You are from the Simon Says Stamp April cardkit.

Cx

Retro Rubber #11 - Still time to get sketchy..

Hey,

There is still time for you to join in the awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

I love a sketch challenge..always great to see the various ways people interpret them.

Don't forget to use a stamp older than a year on your project.

The challenge ends on Friday April 10th.

Pop over to Retro Rubber to check out the latest creations from the DT.

Cx

Starting the week with a sketch...

Hey,

Hope you had a good weekend.

I had a nice relaxing one, which included a fun playdate with JT.

We decided to play along with Freshly Made Sketches this week -

We both really liked the sketch and it was such fun to work with. JT has already posted her card, I really like it, it feels like an elegant but fun girly birthday card.

I kept my card simple and used scraps. The scallop die is by Spellbinders and the Thanks die is by SSS.

It felt a bit bare..so I added the heart and now it all feels anchored!

I love super simple cards like this one..I think this sketch is going into my little stash of sketches - I used them when I have stash, but no inspiration..

Cx

Combination Challenge..

Hey,

Happy Easter!

As part of our playdate JT and I decided to make a card for the current CAS-ual Fridays challenge - twine, flowers and kraft.

I decided to combine my card with the Simons Says Wednesday Challenge, which is Happy Birthday this week, as the Weds challenge is celebrating its 6th birthday! Amazing..I love SSS exclusives..

I made a card blank using pink card stock from my SSS April Card Kit, the flower stamps (Flowers on My Mind) are also by SSS and from the March Card Kit, the Happy Birthday is also from the April kit.

I stamped the flowers in a random pattern and heat embossed them for some shine. I stamped the sentiment onto a mini kraft card and added twine and bling.

I love the simplicity and colour combination of my card.

The new Happy Birthday stamp is rocking my world and I can see it getting a lot of use.

Cx

Flowers and Chevrons...,

Hey,

Happy Saturday!!

I just had a fun playdate with JT, you will get to see the things we made over the next week.

I wanted to make a fun card for Jenn to say thanks for the fun times and all the things I learnt at her loft art retreat.

I decided that I REALLY wanted to use my new Lawn Fawn stitched squares, so settled on a square card blank.

I stamped the flowers and the thank you first and spotted the chevron paper on my desk and thought it would work really well with the flowers.

I'm feeling a bit smug right now, as this totes worked!

Super simple card - the stamps are from Flowers on My Mind by Simon Says Stamp and are from the March Card Kit.

I am so happy I relented and bought the stitched squares they are yummy!

Cx

Loft Art Retreat..the cards...

Hey,

Happy Friday.

Can't believe its nearly a week since the fabulous loft art retreat, hosted by the AMAZING Jenn Shurkus.

I learnt so much and my fellow crafters were fun and diverse.

We made 15 cards - no mean feat!

Most items were cut out for us and we had to stamp, colour, fussy cut and assemble. It was oodles of fun.

There were quite a few highlights for me...

- Jenn taught us that we can really stretch our stash and get it to work for all occasions

- Crafters love to shop and buy new shiny stash items, they are not embarrassed, they embrace it - amazing!

- Tips, tips all over the place - I seriously had my eyes opened

- Quickie glue pen..how have I lived without you?!

- The funny, kind, generous people - truly a delight to spend time with.

I'm only showing you a few of the cards...the rest are here, far too many for one blog post :) Click on each photo for a description of what we used and did.

The main photo today is one of my faves from the day..stencils, dies (Lawn Fawn), inks, bold stamps (Winnie & Walter) - awesome.

One more photo for you -

I love this card, so simple but fun. Layered squares, stamped flourishes, quickie glue pen so you can add glitter and a new way to make banners..Dies and stamps by Lawn Fawn.

Sigh..I wish I could go on the mixed media one this month..but I am hoarding my pennies for Ma's visit.

Happy Weekend everyone..you'll find me at my desk, skyping and playdating with JT.

Cx