NYC Playdate Part 2...

Hey,

So I am back in NYC - my birthday has been and gone - it was such a fun day and so many people sent me cards, gifts, emails, etc - I feel very lucky.

Today I am FINALLY showing the rest of the cards that I made when JT was here.

The main card was me naughtily playing with the brand new KENNY K stamp that I bought JT. You know how much we both love Kenny K..did not know that he made clear stamps until I saw them in the Inkpad.

I coloured her with Promarkers and added fun word bubbles from the Mama Elephant Small Talk set.

The next card, is another one using the fun spritz an inked stamp technique - I used a big Stampin' Up stamp - watercolour stripes and when it was dry, I die-cut the hello out of it (die by SSS). JT was the one that suggested it should go onto kraft card and she was right..

A slightly shorter post than the previous playdate one..

Cx

Retro Rubber #24...Travel..

Hey,

So slightly hungover here post birthday celebrations...but my fuzzy mind is being cleared because it is time for another great challenge from the Retro Rubber team.

This is one of my fave themes, I have so much stash dedicated to this..

Travel!! Yay!

As you might have noticed I do a fair amount of travelling myself.. 

So I decided to look at travel in a different way and went with the great stamp by Art Impressions, its part of their Girlfriends range and I've had it a couple of years and love it. 

But here is the thing..when I was looking for a link for it, it would appear that my stamp is completely different to the one I can find online!! If anyone can tell me why (because I have not a clue) then I will send you a little happy mail :)

So back to my card...It makes me think that this will be me in my old age with my girls..on a beach.

The sentiment is by Unity Stamp Co. and I thought it fit the image perfectly. I coloured the image with a mix of distress inks and an aquabrush and Promarkers.

Now over to you, to show us your fab travel projects, first pop over to Retro Rubber and check out the fabulous creations by my awesome teammates.

Challenge ends on October 9th and don't forget to use a stamp older than a year and tell us about it.

Cx

Happy Birthday to Me and Jade...

Hey,

So today is my birthday - I share it with my good friend Jade - she lives in Australia.

We are both crafty and always make each other fun things - she made me this one year.

I thought it would be fun to make her a little set of mini canvases. I am really pleased with the end result. Cheiron's tutorial inspired me.

I thought that this little project worked perfectly as my entry for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge this week - No designer papers..

Not a paper in site..

Here are my steps -

1 - Get your supplies together

I found the little paint pots handy for mixing paint to create a 3rd shade of blue and taping the canvases together was very helpful.

2 - Paint your canvases

I used 3 shades of blue and chose to paint them in a random way - no reason, just because I could.

3 - Now for the fun bit, stamp (my stamp is by Unity) on tissue paper and adhere to your canvas

I use Liquitex medium matte gel for this job - it is the bomb! (tip: clean your brush with a wet cloth as soon as you are finished, then let the brush sit in water until you are done and the brush will be as good as new..)

4 - Now decorate your canvases..

I used a mix of stamps, stencils, stickers, texture paste, glitter spray, distress inks and distress paints.

Oh and to be sure that there would be no smudging, I sprayed them with fixative - I just use a Blick own brand one.

Aren't they fun..can't wait to hear what Jade thinks.

I am not doing anything too heavy today for my bday, I have the day off, so might shop or play at my desk or just sleep off my jet lag..din dins tonight somewhere fun with Hubby.

Cx

Adult Colouring Books...

Hey,

So I am on my way back to NYC..ready for a week of birthday celebrations!

Today's photo is a little gift I made for Ma for her 60th birthday.

She had encouraged me to buy an adult colouring book when I was home in July and every evening when I was staying at JTs I coloured in this one page...

I wanted to do something with it, but had no idea what..then lightbulb moment. Chop it up, put it in a frame, voila! Birthday gift :)

She loves it, especially the fact that she saw it in its infancy and had no idea what it was going to become.

I really like this new wave of adult colouring books, I find them very therapeutic and easy to travel with, just need a little pouch of Promarkers.

See you in NYC tomorrow (I have the day off..)

Cx

1st Day of School....

Hey,

I am heading home tomorrow, in time for my bday on Monday :) So this weekend I am hanging with my family.

I wanted to show you the 1st day of school card I made for our Nephew Otis..funnily enough, today just happens to be my SIL's wedding anniversary.

I cannot believe Otis is big enough to start school - it seems like only yesterday he was this teeny tiny little thing!

Now he is cheeky, funny and gorgeous!

I kept the card simple and fun. He loves a Dinosaur - but quite frankly who doesn't!

My card ingredients are:
- Pretty Pink Posh frame die
- Recollections spotty paper, stickers and bling
- Paper Smooches 'Zoo Crew' Dino stamp
- Simon Says Stamp Happy and Day stamps (from x2 different sets and Day is actually Birthday that I masked off)
- Promarkers, MFT ink

It is times like these that I am glad I am not a parent, I feel quite overwhelmed by Otis starting school - I can only imagine what that must feel like as a parent!

Happy Weekend.

Cx

Get your happy hour on...

Hey,

Today's card is a fun one I made by combining two stamps from Unity Stamp Co.

The drinks are Hello Summer and the sentiment is Happy Hour.

I coloured the stamps using distress inks and an aquabrush, I kept it simple and just die cut it and mounted it onto a colourful card blank.

Simples.

Cx

Mixed Media Thanks...

Hey,

I gave a sneaky preview of these on Instagram..

I think that FINALLY I have something that fits in with The Mixed Media Card Challenge... I always seem to be a bit out of sync...

This month the theme is Friends..I love sending Thank You's to my friends for all manner of things - it's not all about gifts..sometimes its just because they had my back.

I hope that it's ok to enter them as a 'set'...

The lovely Cheiron is a gift that keeps giving.. and I was inspired by the techniques I have learnt from her this year.

Smooshing paper into spritzed distress ink, gives you amazing results, but it does terrify me because it is so random!

These came out so well - I can't actually believe that I made them LOL..they feel like little works of art.

So that I don't bore you with the myriad of things, etc that I used here is a very brief step by step of what I did.

- choose inks that go together, dab onto craft sheet, spritz with water, then smoosh your paper into the ink.
- pick up colour in random spots (card 8 bottom right) to add variety.
- ink and spritz stencils and lay on the inked paper (cards 1, 8 and 9)
- heat dry and then add stamps and ink splatter for variety
- add sentiment - I used Tim Holtz dies and used the die-cut pieces in a variety of ways.

Yay!

Cx

Never too late for love...

Hey,

So my Hubby's Great Uncle got remarried whilst we were in Mexico.

His wife passed away a few years ago and he met a lovely lady and they surprised everyone by just getting married quietly.

Isn't that lovely!

I wanted to send them a card and at first I thought it should be 'less' wedding, but then decided age shouldn't dictate what kind of card you get - its a joyous time.

I used the Simon Says Stamp Married stamp and die set and the paper is by Bazzil. I heat embossed the flowers for a bit of sparkle on the cake and added a couple of bits of bling.

I love stories like this, it makes me happy.

Cx

Retro Rubber #23...Ombre Effect..Still time to play along...

Hey,

There is still time for you to enjoy the current challenge from the Retro Rubber team.

Ombre such a fun theme.

Why don't you show us your projects - don't forget to use a stamp older than a year and tell us how long you've had it.

Go to Retro Rubber  and see the fun makes by my talented teammates.

Challenge runs until September 25th.

Cx

Mama Elephant..Potted Pretties...

Hey,

So here I am in London - starting my working week.

I made these pretty little thank you cards before I went on holiday.

I have wanted the Mama Elephant Potted Pretties stamp and die set for ages..I finally gave in and bought them.

I made 4 cards, but I am only showing you 2 of them..

I used distress inks for the backgrounds and I used the ink through a stencil to create the background for the second card.

I coloured the stamps using a mix of Promarkers and distress inks. The sentiment stamp is by Hero Arts.

Cx

NYC Playdate Part 1...

Hey,

So here I am in London, finally posting some of the cards that JT and I made LAST Sunday on our NYC playdate.

What a hoot that was - so much fun to have JT and her hubby here with us and for JT to finally get a proper play with my stash - how I miss the playdates we used to have when we were both in London.

The headline card is my fave out of this batch...

I used a fun technique of inking a stamp with Distress Ink and spritzing it with water and then you lay the paper ontop..

I then die-cut this using butterfly dies by Xcut. The sentiment is a freebie from Quick Cards that my Ma bought me - isn't it gorgeous!

The next card uses my new fave pineapple background stamp. I thought it went well with my new Avocado Arts Flamingo. The sentiment is by WPlus9. 

This card feels really Summery to me.

I bought the great new stamp and die set by Simon Says Stamp & Mama Elephant - Skater Kids. It is part of the special Stamptember releases and I wanted it so badly, I bought it online from Mexico!!

I love the fact that all the animals and shorts are interchangeable. The little skid marks are fun too. All the sentiments I used are from the set.

I kept the card simple to showcase the skating dog!

Final card in this epic post - using a great Simon Says Stamp die. I die cut it using 4 sheets of patterned paper by My Mind's Eye and a brown outline piece. JT and I got a set each and we pieced them together. 

I added another one of the great freebie stamps from Quick Cards and this card really does make me smile and feel happy.

I am so happy with all of these cards, can't wait to show you part 2.

You can see JT's cards here and here.

Cx

Jazzing up embellishments..

Hey,

Happy weekend..I am now in London!

Every now and again I am tempted by ready made embellishments..

They are always so pretty, but most of the time I buy them and then can't find a way to make them work.

I decided to have a play with some recent sale embellishments from Michaels - to make a little set of cards for a friend.

I kept it simple and so that they felt like a family, I used the same papers (Ruby & Kate and Michaels) I cut the patterned paper to size and then used a Lawn Fawn stitched square die to create the aperture and then a bigger stitched square for the embossed square.

I like the way these came and out and yes, I even managed to sneak in a shaker :)

Cx

Boo!

Hey,

Happy Friday.

I am off to London tonight, be back just before my birthday..its going to be a busy week.

As you know I played along with the MFT contest yesterday.

I recently bought a few new MFT items - the Mummy stamp and die were part of that little haul..

I wanted to make a Halloween card for a friend's Son, he hasn't been very well and despite his age (he's 5) he loves getting cards :)

To make it a bit different and not too spooky, I die cut the black card with a SSS stitched die, then I used a Tim Holtz stencil and white distress paint to create the background. I love the effect that I ended up with. I went over some of the lines with a silver wink of stella brush pen, to add some sparkle.

I stamped, coloured and die-cut the mummy and affixed him/her to my card with foam tape.

The stamp set comes with some really fun sentiments, but I decided to stamp Boo in random places in white on the background.

I am very happy with it, it fits my mental brief and I think Reuben will like it too.

Have a great weekend, my posts will be scheduled next week, so I won't be AWOL.

Cx

Aloha my friend..

Hey,

So I really wanted to play along with the MFT contest -

I love their stuff and thought it would be fun to have a play right now.. (I have been re-organising the craft room since my return from I Mexico).

I really wanted to make a fun birthday card for my friend Michelle - who happens to live in Hawaii..jealous much?

I recently bought the Pineapple background stamp by MFT - I am slightly obsessed with Pineapples this Summer..

I thought that would make a great base for my card and would tie in nicely with my new Avery Elle stay fresh dies, I didn't buy the stamps..sometimes I don't, sometimes all I need are the dies.

I wanted as much texture as possible, so used an embossed scrap (thank you JT for always giving me the basket weave embossed papers), a glittery scrap and heat embossed the sentiment onto a scrap of patterned paper. Here is a close-up so you can see all the delicious textures -

I really love the end result, it's fun, fresh and a bit unusual, just like my lovely friend Michelle.

Cx

Birthday shakers..

Hey,

Continuing on with my shaker 'series' I have a couple more fun cards to show you today.

These are a bit different as I used a Lil' Inker birthday die as the feature and the shaker aspect is kind of secondary.

I really love this die, one of my MAWTT colleagues used it a while back and I had to have it.

These cards were super simple to make, thanks to the Fuse. I added some glitter to my shaker mix for the blue card - not sure how I feel about this, I don't like the way it sticks to the shaker pouch..thoughts?

Here is another colour for you and a close-up of the blue one. Both papers are ANCIENT and have been in my stash for at least 5 years!!!

Pink birthday shaker

Close-up of the blue shaker

Cx

Retro Rubber #23...Ombre Effect...

Hey,

Well Mexico, was fun, it is about to be a very busy few weeks for Hubby and I.. 

But first lets congratulate the winners from last like and enjoy the latest awesome challenge from the Retro Rubber team.

Ombre is something I love, but I find it a bit daunting.

However this card came together really well..

I used 2 colours of distress inks to blend together to create the ombre effect. I used a fave stamps by Stamping Bella 'Little Birdie Jane' I've had it about 3 years.

For a final touch I scattered some bling around.

Now it is your turn to show us your fantastic projects, but first go to Retro Rubber  and see the fun makes by my talented teammates.

Don't forget to use a stamp older than a year (and tell us about it, that's part of the fun). Challenge runs until September 25th.

Cx

Fashionista..

Hey,

Bit late to the party today :).

I am back from Mexico - I am still off, as JT and her Hubby are in town hence the late post, we got to hang out with them yesterday and today :)

I made today's card for JT - I thought she would appreciate the sentiment.

As the stamps I have used are NBUS, I thought I would join in the lovely Darnell's 5th NBUS challenge.

The stamps are by Unity Stamp Co - they have this great range of Fashionista stamps..this is my first set, but I predict more in my future.

I coloured the card using distress inks and an aquabrush and Promarkers. It felt a bit flat, so I inked the edges with a distress ink - feels much better now.

The sentiment circle is an Simon Says Stamp die.

See you tomorrow for Retro Rubber #23

Cx

One die 3 cards...

Hey,

Happy Friday.

Well it is nearly time for Hubby and I to return from our Mexican paradise.

Today I wanted to show you some thank you cards that I made as part of a gift for a friend.

I used a fave thanks die by Lawn Fawn, I thought it would be fun to use this die to make 3 different cards.

The main card used a simple masking technique, I cut the thanks twice and adhered one of them (with removable adhesive) to my card and stamped the doilies all around it. I then carefully peeled it off and replaced it with the red version - cool right?

This card uses a very simple technique using distress inks and water. I inked up the Stampin' Up Watercolour Stripes stamp using 4 different distress inks, then I lay my paper on to the stamp. Once it transferred to the paper, I die cut it and then spritzed it with water before heating it to dry it.

The final card is a shaker - I couldn't resist. Super simple. love my shaker mix here - it uses some great Martha Stewart sequins from a Simon Says Stamp cardkit. The paper is by Stampin' Up.

As I said at the beginning of this rather long post..these cards were part of a gift for a friend. Below is a photo of the rather fetching little parcel I put together.

Cx

Still time to play along...

Hey,

There is still time for you to play along with the latest Moving Along With The Times challenge.

We have changed the format of the challenge - each team will now be doing a 2 week challenge - giving you more time to play along.

That means that this challenge runs until 15th September (closes at 6pm GMT)

The theme this time is Use an Animal and our hostess is Susan.

I'm showing you a couple of cards that feature animals :)

I recently bought myself the Mama Elephant three amigos stamp and die set..I love the ton of fun sayings you can stamp onto the amigos.

I made 2 different cards - flexing more new stash muscle LOL

The main card, I used my new Pretty Pink Posh filmstrip die - love this die, can't wait to use it more.

The card below uses one of my many shaker pouches and a new chipboard embellishment that was on sale at Michaels.

Really I love making these shaker pouches. It was fun making my own mixes to fill them with - Candi's and sequins are great, but it's nice to add extra bits. I used these great Tim Holtz dies to create teeny tiny little die cuts for using as 'shaker mix'

Yay!

Cx

A different new home...

Hey,

Shaker alert!!

One of the shaker pouches I made a couple of weeks ago made an excellent focal point for a new home card I wanted to make.

I added a house die cut - by Sizzix and Tim Holtz.  The congrats die and small scalloped circle are by Simon Says Stamp. The home sweet home stamp is by Fiskars.

The addition of the shaker pouch makes it a bit of an unusual new home card - me likey!

Cx

Retro Rubber #22..Anything Goes...Still time to play..

Hey,

There is still time for you to play along with the latest challenge from the Retro Rubber team.

Anything Goes is always a fave challenge for everyone.

Show us your awesome projects, but first go to Retro Rubber  and see the fun makes by my talented teammates.

Don't forget to use a stamp older than a year (and tell us about it, that's part of the fun). Challenge runs until September 11th.

Cx

Meow, baa, squeak..

Hey,

I am off sunning myself in Mexico this week with Hubby.

I hope you had a great weekend.

I recently bought a big batch of stamps from Unity Stamp Co.

I made the little set you see today for a friend.

The set is very cute and called Meow.Purr.Baa - I did not use purr this time, hence the name of my post.

I decided to go with mini cards to showcase the stamps.

I used Promarkers and Lawn Fawn dies.

Cx

Holibobs time...

Hey,

Happy Friday!

It's my last day of work before Hubby and I head off to Mexico - whoop whoop..can't wait and it will be nice to spend some QT with Hubby in the sun..

So after watching a great video tutorial by Kristina Werner..I decided that I couldn't avoid it any more and I had to buy myself a fuse.. please forgive me for the ridiculous amounts of shaker card that is going to be bestowed on this blog...

Let's start with these 2 fun anniversary shakers I made.

The Fuse makes it so easy to create the shaker pouches, last Friday night I think I made about 10 pouches..

I really like both cards, but the red one is my fave, I like the anniversary banner.

I used a mix of sequins, mini die-cuts and Candi's. The hearts are by Sizzix, the anniversary die is by Tim Holtz and the happy die is by wPlus9. The happy stamp is by Simon Says Stamp.

I'll be scheduling posts whilst I am away, I'll try and visit you when I can.

Cx

Moving Along With The Times...Animal Madness..

Hey,

Welcome to the new term of the Moving Along With The Times challenge.

We have changed the format of the challenge - each team will now be doing a 2 week challenge - giving you more time to play along.

That means that this challenge runs until 15th September (closes at 6pm GMT)

The theme this time is Use an Animal and our hostess is Susan.

I decided to show you 2 cards today..

Both use a distress ink blending technique that JT and I played with when I was home last.

The main card uses Lawn Fawn stamps and dies and the second card (below) uses a Stampin' Up Cheerful Critter stamp and sentiment.

On both cards, I am really happy with the contrast between the patterned papers and the distress ink panel.

Now it's your turn to show us your projects, but pop over to MAWTT and check out the other awesome Team B creations.

Cx

Back in the land of Challenges..

Hey,

So my Summer challenge break is officially over.

It was really hard to take a break, as I love challenges SO much. But with my new job and some other commitments I felt it was necessary.

I thought that it would be fun to re-enter the world of Challenges by playing along with a new to me challenge.

As I have recently acquired almost every stamp I could from the Unity Stamp Co, I thought it was only fitting that I play along with their challenge.

Unity are a recent discovery for me, via Rachel of RWKrafts fame - I love her work and recently she posted about a sale and I was there..LOL.

I kept my card simple, there is a bit more blue in there than the colour palette, but you can see the cream, red and orange in the gorgeous Lawn Fawn paper. I moved the band and the sentiment circle up a bit, so I am loosely true to the sketch :)

I love the To The Core stamp set - I can see me getting a lot of use out of it.

I heat embossed the sentiment and then stamped the apple in matching ink over the top - cool right?

All in all a happy challenge return for me.

Cx