Playing in the craft room...

Hey,

So recently I've been doing all kinds of playing, making random cards for my personal use.

I thought I'd show you a few of them.

The main photo is a fun birthday card for a guy - I used new-ish Neat and Tangled block stamps, a Crafty Cuts Happy die, a SSS stitched rectangle die and some inks. I die cut Happy out of white card stock and blended some distress inks to get the mottled colours.
It turned out well and I made a few more in different colours.

The card above I made purely to show a non-crafty friend what would happen when I used the new scalloped ovals and the stitched oval dies - both by MFT.

I thought they would work well with one of my latest freebie stamps - the birdcage. When I opened the package a bunch of patterned papers fell out - sweet! I based all the colours around the busy floral paper and kept it as clean as possible.

LOVE the new oval dies.

My final card uses my new Simon Says Stamp Lila's Heart stamps and dies. Aren't they gorgeous! I coloured the girl and the hearts using Promarkers. I stamped the different heart stamps in various colours onto the white background paper. One of the hearts was die cut and mounted for a bit more dimension.The sentiment is also by SSS and is from the Square Sayings set.

Fun cards - they use my stash really well and are already winging their way to new homes..

Cx

Mixed Media Play Time..

Hey,

Happy Friday!!

Before Ma was here, I had an epic play at my desk.

One of the things I made is today's main photo.

I created my own watercoloured background and then stamped over it with pale blue and pink inks with 2 difference size ball stamps by CAS-ual Fridays.

I used a fun stencil by Crafters Workshop with texture paste and embossing powder. Once it was dry I heated it to get the shine.

I die cut hello in white and inked it up in the same blue and pink inks and mounted it onto the card on top of a piece of washi tape.

Here's a close-up so you can see the inked die-cut -

This card ended up being perfect for a friend, so it has already left my desk..

Hope you have a great weekend, I am going to be continuing on with my OCC Maskerade class.

Cx

Online Card Class - Mask-erade..

Hey,

Fun WOYWW Anniversary ATC swap yesterday. I still have one to swap if anyone is interested :)

For the last 2 nights I have been racing out of work, so I can get to my desk and join in with the latest Online Card Class - Mask-erade.

So far it's been awesome, we've had great teachers so far - Shari Carroll, Kristina Werner, Jennifer Mcguire, Debby Hughes and Laura Fadora :)

I have learnt a lot and managed to make 3 of the 4 cards on Day 2.

My main photo is from Day 2 and I love it, worked out really well.
I made the card blank (from my SSS card kit card stash), used a SSS sentiment stamp, a Winnie and Walter die, MFT stitched rectangle die, Xcut nesting star dies, Hero Arts large hexagon stamp (from JT) and inks by Tsukineko - Lady Bug, Bahama Blue and Pear Tart.

Here are the rest of my cards - 1 is incomplete as it needed to dry and I still have x2 to do from Day 1 - no hurry..

Day 1- Debby Hughes 

Day 1 - Kristina Werner

Day 2 - Jennifer Mcguire

Day 2 Kristina Werner

Fun way to spend my evenings and I ran into some old friends in class and made some new ones..Yay!

Cx

WOYWW #312...ATC Swap Day!!!

Hey,

Happy WOYWW!!

You find me with mixed emotions today, I love ATC Swap Day at WOYWW, but my Ma left a couple of days ago and it feels a bit odd without her..

Well it's a good job I have you lovely people from WOYWW here with me.

No desk photo today, just the delicious ATC's and their wrapping!

Wondering what all this WOYWW chatter is about? 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..

This week we are swapping ATC's for the 6th Anniversary of WOYWW - you can find more info here.

I have 3 ATC's to swap (the one for my adjacent person not included) Julia if you are reading I do not have your address and I would love to send you something..

As you can see I made x2 kinds this year. Once again with their own mini envelope. The bigger envelope is what they are being posted in - all made by my fair hands, a Martha Stewart scoring board and American Crafts papers.

Thanks to Ma (she was my delivery girl) there is a little extra 'thing' in with each ATC.

I used Lawn Fawn and Newton's Nook stamps and a MFT stitched rounded rectangle die. All inks are by Tsukineko. All stamps coloured using Promarkers.

They were fun to make and I love how they have come out - that Lucky Waving cat is an "in" joke between JT and I :)

Anyway, msg me or leave a comment on my blog, if you want to be one of the 3 recipients. I am based in NYC by the way and happy to post anywhere.

Yay! I feel happier already.

Cx

p.s Kim - I just saw the post LOL - Thanks!!

Retro Rubber #15 - Vintage Lace

Hey,

Time for another great challenge over at the Retro Rubber challenge blog.

May flowers was very popular, big thanks to everyone that played along, hope to see you join in with us again soon.

This time our theme is -

Vintage Lace - fun times.

I sometimes struggle with vintage cards, but this time my card was kind of gifted to me :)

Majority of the elements were on my desk (paper, lace, scrap papers, dies) - I just had to find the perfect stamp.

The stamp is a freebie that I have had for years (at least 4) and is part of a sewing set (dressform, sewing machine, etc)

I stamped the sentiment onto a stitched die cut oval and I cut a scalloped oval in a contrasting colour to mount behind it for a bit more of a vintage feel.

The lace was a gift from my Ma and is actually really beautiful up close.

I'm glad that I managed to get this right - there are things we all struggle with.

Your turn now, but first check out the fabulous creations over at Retro Rubber made by my teammates.

Remember to use a stamp over a year old and the challenge runs until June 5th.

Cx

Bye bye Momma Bear...

Hey,

So my Ma left to go home a little while ago..sad times, but man did we have fun whilst she was here.

DC was awesome fun - hot as hell, but amazing to see everything and its so clean!!

We loved having her with us, but you know it's always nice to reclaim your tiny 1 bedroom apartment :)

Main photo is Ma outside the White House - waaay smaller than we expected:)

This photo is of Ma the converted slot machine player in Atlantic City...

She is a lot of fun my Ma!

We also had a great lunch date with JT's folks - Mike and Sally - they are amazeballs and I love them to pieces. So glad that Ma got to meet them. Whenever Hubby and I are with Mike and Sally we take a selfie..so here is the one from yesterday..

Cx

Moving Along With The Times.. Spring Into Summer..Colour Challenge

Hey everyone,

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

This week I'm hosting on behalf of Team B and I've chosen a colour theme -

You don't have to use all 6 colours - 3 will do..

I went with 4 of the colours - yellow, dark grey, light grey and light blue.

I recently bought a great stamp set from CAS-ual Fridays and it sparked an idea.

I punched 1 inch circles from scraps in the colours from the image, I made sure that the scraps had a bit of texture.

The dark grey background was die cut using a MFT stitched rounded rectangle die and then I stamped the sentiment on using Versamark clear ink and heat embossed using white powder.

I hunted for the right colour card blank and assembled the card using foam pads for the little 'balls'

Amazeballs! Simple and colourful..I made a few of them and they make me smile when I send them to people.

It's your turn to play with the colours and show us your creations, but first hop on over to MAWTT and see what my team mates have created.

Cx

Turning Ma into a Crafter...

Hey,

Late post from me, but I wanted to share what Ma and I got up to today :)

Yesterday when we were out, we bought a 10 pack of Lip Balm's as I wanted to try this excellent Pinterest idea..

Ma hijacked me and decided that they should be gifts for her work colleagues..who I am to argue!

As they were going to be gifts from Ma from New York, I dug out a great Deep Red Brooklyn Bridge stamp for us to use on the cover.

After a few tutorials from me, Ma did all the stamping, the scoring, the corner rounding and the ribbon threading.

I did all the 'stage managing', trimming, measuring, affixing of the lip balms (using glue dots) and the bagging up.

Fun times crafting with my novice Ma, but she got it and she later went on to make a bday card, that we did not take a photo of!

Cx

Retro Rubber #14..May Flowers - Still time to play

Hey,

There is still time for you to join in the current challenge over at Retro Rubber.

The theme is May Flowers and don't forget we want you to use a stamp over a year old on your project.

Here is the card I made for the challenge.. 

Your turn now! But first pop over to Retro Rubber and check out the superb creations by my team mates.

The challenge ends on May 22.

Cx

Atlantic City Fun...

Hey,

So Ma, Hubby and I had a fun Sunday/Monday in Atlantic City..

We introduced Ma to the joys of wasting your money in a Casino :)

Fortunately we managed to come home up ($264 in my case).

We also managed to hit the outlet shops (Hubby had a nap..) and do some damage.

We had a great trip and it was fun to see Ma in one of our fave places in the US, having a ball.

DC later in the week..

Cx

Happy Birthday Florence!

Hey,

So our Niece Florence is 2 today - she was born shortly after we arrived in NYC.

Sadly that means we don't know her as well as our Nephew, but we are getting there..

I bought the new Baby Party Animals stamps and dies from Simon Says Stamp with no real plan..

Then I realised I hadn't made a card for Florence...I think it's perfect for her and popping out some of the items really works (thanks Jenn)

I smudged the happy birthday to you stamp..but she's 2 and it's handmade..

Happy Birthday Florence..

Cx

Reunited...

Hey,

Happy Friday to you all!

I am super happy today, as my Ma arrived last night from London, she is here for 10 days and as from tonight, I will be off work, so I can hang out with her :)

Whoop Whoop!

Today's card is just something that I ended up with when I had a play at my desk one night with whatever was die-cut and on my desk!

Pretty much sums up how I feel today :)

I used a Lawn Fawn stitched square, a MFT stitched rounded rectangle, 2 Stampin' Up hearts - created using a die/emboss Framelits thingy, a mini staple and a stamp by Paper Smooches. All papers by Recollections.

It came out pretty well, so I made another similar one..

Today is also my Grandma's birthday - here is the card I made for her, using an April Tim Holtz Tag...

Have a great weekend..Hubby, Ma and I are off out to Vamos! tonight with our friends and then we are heading to AC for the weekend..

Cx

Earthy stars...

Hey,

So today is the day that my Ma arrives!!

Can't wait to see her tonight, its going to be a lot of fun.

I thought I'd share a quick little make for a colleague.

I was asked to make a small, simple earthy toned card for his girlfriend's 30th birthday...

Ok, fine..but there needed to be some girly in there right?

I decided to use only scraps.

I had an idea for the background worked out in my head, so I got to work!

I used brown recollections card stock, brown dew drop ink and a stencil girl honeycomb stencil.

How could I make it girly..this was foxing me and then I saw some stars on my desk...

I die cut 3 stars in 2 different sizes and with contrasting patterns and a glittery one for that girl zing! I attached the stars to the card with a mini staple.

Cute, but edgy methinks!

Cx

WOYWW #310...Getting all excited now!

Hey,

Happy WOYWW - missed you last week, but in the interest of honesty I must confess to being so hungover after the Cinco de Mayo festivities that I forgot about my post!! Outrageous!!

Anyway, I am here (sober) and super excited that my Ma arrives tomorrow for 10 days and I am going to be off with her!! YAY!!

We are starting the vacay right by heading to Vamos! Our fave margarita bar on Friday and then off to AC on Sunday for 2 days and then to DC later in the week for another 2 days - fun times!

So why is there a photo of 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 desk is a hot mess this week..I had a fun weekend crafting and then I just started dumping stuff on my desk!!

I don't know why the frame is there..I don't know why my foil is standing and I never ever leave my washed up items on my desk like that...

Random!

I just got the Deco foil to use with my (eek) new Laminator..I am going to do this at some point in the next week or so. The free die came with the foil..no idea why, no explanation..nice touch..

Here is a little card for you deskers..

Isn't it fun! I recently bought some on sale Stampin' Up treat cups..they make awesome (but cumbersome) shakers! The beautiful star paper is from my SSS May Card kit. 

The card is for Lemon who made it into the TA 300 Club - you have to look it up, too much to explain for now..but it's a big deal!

Have a great day.

Cx

Retro Rubber #14...May Flowers

Hey,

Can't believe that we are already at Challenge 14 over at Retro Rubber..amazing how time flies when you are having fun! 

The last challenge was a lot of fun and we had so many entries which is fantastic.

This time we have another great theme for you - 

This should be super easy for everyone if you are anything like me and have a bejillion flower stamps!

I dug out an old favourite - I think it was a freebie, but I'm not sure as I have had it so long (over 5 years!)

I started by stamping my flowers onto a die-cut stitched square (die by Lawn Fawn).

I then decided to get all adventurous and paper pieced all of the flowers! I chose pink scraps that co-ordinated with my backing paper (by Lawn Fawn). I coloured everything else using Promarkers and Stickles.

The sentiment is made up of a Wplus9 die and SSS stamps.

It was a lot of a work, but it was worth it and really brought my old stamp to life.

Your turn now! But first pop over to Retro Rubber and check out the superb creations by my team mates.

Don't forget to use a stamp over a year old on your project and the challenge ends on May 22.

Cx

Online Card Class - Stenciled - Day 3 - Working with Pastes..

Hey,

So this weekend I decided to spend part of Saturday doing Day 3 of the Stenciled Online Card Class.

It was really enjoyable and stretched my stencil / paste knowledge.

The only thing that was tedious was that because you are working with pastes they take a while to dry..so some things had to be finished on Sunday!

I'll list all my supplies at the end - so many things used!

The day divided into 3 parts -

The basics - showing you how to achieve different effects with different kinds of pastes...
The main photo today used Ferro Metallic paste in silver, I love this stuff, it's so grainy!

also made this one with white texture paste...but I didn't realise that the mist wasn't dry and so ended up with a blue-ish paste - oh well..

 Translucent paste - showing you how to achieve different effects with translucent paste...

Use as a resist with distress inks - I used Warm Honey and Festive Berries..

Leave it 'nude' for a clear effect on a dark background..

Adding to pastes - showing you how to add various things (inks, glitter, etc) to your paste.
I added alcohol ink to my modelling paste -

I am really pleased with all of the cards, but my least fave is the last one, I think I'll stick to adding glitter to my pastes :)

Hope you like them.

Cx

Supplies used -
Card 1 - Wendy Vecchi texture paste, K&Co chipboard embellishments, Dollar store flower, perfect pearls, Heidi Swapp navy mist, technique tuesday hello die, xcut butterfly die, sizzix swiss dots embossing folder, Midnight Sky Dew Drop Ink. Card blank from my stash.
Card 2 - Ferro Metallic texture paste, vellum, white embossing powder, heat tool, Bo Bunny stamps, Simon Says Stamp Grid Stencil, Hero Arts Stencil, Staz on black ink, grey textured paper.From my stash card blank and sentiment
Card 3 - Wendy Vecchi translucent paste, distress inks, ink tool, Simon Says Stamp Stencil, Simon Says Stamp Congratulations Stamp, Vellum, White embossing powder, heat tool, detail scissors, American Crafts ribbon, DCWV glitter paper. Card blank from my stash
Card 4 - Wendy Vecchi translucent paste, distress inks, ink tool, Neat & Tangled Sentiment block stamps, Recollections kraft paper, Sizzix flower dies, Papermania brad, Sizzix nesting square dies, Tim Holtz stencil. Card blank from my stash
Card 5 - Pebeo Modelling Paste, Alcohol ink, Heidi Swapp Stencil, Paper Smooches Handsome Stamp, Bahamian Blue Dew Drop Ink, Card blank, washi tape and star from my stash

Mixed Media Class...

Hey,

Hope your weekend is off to a great start.

Mine has started out wonderfully.

The class taught by Cheiron Brandon last night at The Ink Pad NYC, was AWESOME!!

Big shout out to Anna the owner of The Ink Pad NYC for hosting all these great classes.

Learnt loads of things, my table were a hoot -  another big shout for Vanessa, Lisette and Carol, I got to shop with a discount and made 4 fun cards along the way...

Fun, fun, fun!

These are Cheiron's examples of the cards we made -

The main photo today is of my version of the lady in the dress card - I opted to fully colour her dress and I splattered all over the card..both stamp sets are on order!

Here are the rest of my cards, I loved making them all and all are just a bit different to Cheiron's and that is the fun part about taking a class - interpretation..

This card was fun to make, lots of different techniques and mediums - paint, ink, stencils, stamps,

I love working with texture paste and glitter..loved the inking up the butterfly and learnt how to use multi matte medium!

This stamp is so busy, but when you watercolour it, it looks amazing! Loved dying the ribbon..

If you ever get a chance, take a class at The Inkpad NYC and/or one taught by Cheiron.

Enjoy the weekend..

Cx

Friday Kitty Kat Fun...

Hey,

Happy Friday.

I am super excited today as tonight I am off to a Mixed Media card making class - the teacher is the super talented Cheiron Brandon and it is being held at The Inkpad NYC.

The last class I did (Jenn Shurkus loft art retreat) introduced me to Newton's Nook stamps..so I decided to enter their latest challenge..

What a fun sketch!

I made an absolute mess of my first card (still hungover..), so was very pleased with this version :)

It was super simple to make.

I used one of my newly made card blanks and all the papers including the die cut square are scraps by Recollections and DCWV.

I kept my banners thin and positioned the square towards the bottom of the card.

The stamps are from the Newton's Day Dream set. I coloured it with Promarkers and Stickles.

I love it, so cute and I think it will make an excellent Birthday card.

Cx

Moving Along With The Times...Feathers or Birds...

Hey,

No post from me yesterday..I was recovering from the Cinco de Mayo festivities...

Welcome to another fun Moving Along With The Times Challenge. Hosted by my most awesome friend Jessie (aka Craft Buddy..).

Her theme this week is Feathers or Birds..excellent and very on trend.

I went with feathers, as I got a free feather die and matching stamp set when I was in London in February.

I die cut the feathers in black and white. Then I added some clear Versamark ink to the ends and added black embossing powder.

To make the glittery ones, I used Judikins sticky stuff (instead of ink), heat it for a moment and then added the glitter and heat it again for a minute.

I love that sticky stuff powder its magic!

I layered the feathers and secured them together before wrapping the twine around them.

I used my stitched rectangle die as an embossing plate to add a subtle detail to the backing paper, as the feathers are so full on..

Final touch was to stamp the sentiment, from the March SSS card kit.

It was so much fun to make this card, I made a few others in different colours and used different powders. Fun to play with a theme.

Now its your turn to play along..go over to MAWTT and check out all the fun creations from my teammates.

Cx

Retro Rubber #13... Anything Goes..there's still time to play...

Hey,

There is still time for you to join in the fun challenge over at Retro Rubber - this time it's Anything Goes - so you can get super creative!

Don't forget to use a stamp over a year old on your project.

The challenge ends on May 8th - go over to Retro Rubber and check out the DT creations.

Here's mine..

Cx

p.s Happy Cinco de Mayo for you US based Peeps and Happy Birthday to my lovely Lemon..

Monster time..

Hey,

Hope you had a good weekend, Hubby and I had a nice relaxed one.

The Lawn Fawn Monster Mash set I ordered FINALLY turned up, so I had a play and made a couple of cards for friends..

I popped a monster out on each card for a bit of fun and added googly eyes!

I love them both - they make me smile.

What did I use?
Lawn Fawn Monster Mash Stamps, Promarkers, Recollections Papers, googly eyes from my stash, MFT stitched rectangles, SSS Stitched rectangles, MFT Hybrid ink, SSS & Hero Arts Happy Birthday stamp.

Cx