Retro Rubber Challenge #55...Hearts...

Hey,

Time for another great challenge with the Retro Rubber team.

This time we have a theme for you..

I decided instantly that I wanted to use my Lawn Fawn 'Wheelie Like You' set (I've had it since 2015)and have a Valentine feel to my card, so I stamped, coloured and die-cut that first.

Then I decided to create a resist panel for the background. I stamped the hearts (by Simon Says Stamp from the Feb 2015 Card Kit) in white embossing powder, heated it and then applied picked raspberry distress ink over the top of it, using an aquabrush.

I have to be honest and say I was pretty darn pleased with the background, it came out even better than I expected :)

I thought it looked a bit flat against my card (originally white) so I added two strips of glitter paper and went with a red card blank - instant upgrade!

Your turn to show us your Valentine's makes - complete with hearts.. go over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things my teammates have made..

Challenge ends February 10th. 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

Card Concept - Fresh and Bold...

Hey,

So it's been a seriously rough week for me.

But I made this card and I wanted to post it.

I loved the Card Concept challenge image -

There were so many elements I wanted to incorporate in my card.

I opted for Clean and Graphic as my style and I incorporated these items into my card -

Pink and Yellow from the bed
Textured lines from the comforter
Circle / shape detail from the nightstand
Grey and black from the photos.

It was a great opportunity to use my new wonky stitched dies by MFT and the great border die by CAS-ual friday that I don't use enough. The awesome die is by Frantic stamper and the rest of the sentiment is by Neat & Tangled. I made my own card blank for this card.

So glad I got to share this one..I thought I might not be well enough to write this post.

Cx

Sketch Saturday #448...A Day for Daisies..

Hey,

This week's Sketch Saturday challenge is sponsored by A Day For Daisies who are offering a $12 gift certificate to their store.

Here is this week's sketch -

I fell in love with the Flowers in a Teacup digi stamp by ADFD when I saw it and I loved working with it, such a lovely stamp to colour (I used Promarkers).

This sketch instantly had me reaching for my Lil Inkers wonky dies and I die-cut the shape twice, once in the lilac and once in the blue. I trimmed the blue piece down to get that nice frame to match the sketch.

All the papers are by Recollections and I love these paper packs, they do ones that have all different shades of one colour and I can ONLY buy them when I have used all of the sheets..

I added a sentiment by Jilibean soup and a couple of Neat & Tangled sequins to complete my card.

I love it so much I don't want to give it away LOL.

Your turn to show us what you can make with the sketch but first go over to Sketch Saturday and be inspired by the rest of the DT makes.

Challenge ends 3rd February 7pm GMT / 5pm EST.

CASology: Glisten..

Hey,

This week's cue card over at CASology is an interesting one...

I bet Glisten means a lot of different things to everyone!

I have this amazing glittery paperstack by DCWV that I have had for years, I use it very sparingly. It is so glittery that to me it glistens. Whenever I use it, people say that it looks like I went over it with glossy accents.

So for my card today, I dug out a small bronze piece to use. I have been making lots of thank you cards whilst I have been off, to thank people for all the kind things they have done for me following my surgery.

I decided to use a Docrafts stamp at the top of my white panel and I stamped it in gold and heat embossed it with Ranger Gold Sparkle embossing powder, to add a little extra glisten.

Here is a close-up -

Final touch was a couple of pieces of co-ordinating bling.

I really liked using the top 1/3 of my 'space' felt very CAS and was something I don't do that often, I am totally a middle, bottom or bottom right kinda girl - I wonder why that is?

Cx

Poppy Girl...

Hey,

A simple post today of something I made whilst I was off on Christmas break.

I love these Unity Girl stamps by Unity Stamp Co, they are so pretty and versatile. I love the giant poppies here creating a built in backdrop for the girl.

I coloured her using distress inks and an aquabrush.

I left her without a sentiment, I do this sometimes. It's hand to have a blank card that you can add the appropriate sentiment to when it is needed.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #54 Let it Snow..There is still time to play

Hey,

There is still time for you to play along with the current Retro Rubber challenge.

This time we want you to  use snow on your card.

Before you get your snow on go over to Retro Rubber and see what my awesome teammates have been making and take a peek at the gallery too for inspiration.

Challenge ends on January 27th don't forget to tell us how old your stamp is, that is half the fun :) And please limit your challenge entries to 10 including ours.

Cx

Gotta love a freebie..

Hey,

I am a bit slow to the party today ;) Momma has gone home and Hubby is WFH to keep an eye on me!

After I post this, I will be going out on my daily 15min walk..

Last week JT sent me an English craft magazine that came with this great stamp set - 

I had to have a play pretty much immediately!!

I kept the cards simple - a) because that is all I could manage and b) I think the sentiments shine on their own.

I die-cut MFT Stitched Scalloped Circle frames in white and blue. I stamped the sentiment onto the white circle (the scalloped white piece goes in with the dies for use another time..)

I framed the sentiments with the blue pieces and decided they looked better popped up on foam dots.

They felt a bit plain, so I added some Nuvo drops to the white circles around the sentiments, I love Nuvo Glitter drops...I am totally overusing them!!

Love it when a gift triggers fun times at my desk.

Cx

Time to Celebrate...

Hey,

So I am slowly getting a tiny bit more mobile :)

I am now able to sit at my desk for a bit longer and decided to celebrate by playing along with the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge -

The minute I saw the sketch I knew it would be perfect for my new Helen Dardik and Waffle Flower stamps..

I chose to use Enveloper Birthday and I love it, I can't wait to play with it more.

I was slightly OCD and made sure that all 3 of my paper panels were cut using the same stitched die (by Simon Says Stamp) and I broke out my scalloped stitches dies to make the bottom border - also by SSS.

The background paper is by Lawn Fawn and from the Let's Polka Mon Amie stack.

The sentiment seemed perfect, as it felt like a celebration being able to be at my desk for a little longer.

On another note, Momma leaves today, she has been AH.MAZING.. Hubby and I would not have got through this week without her, we are super grateful for her coming in for the week to take care of me..sometimes you just need your Momma, no matter how old you are!

Cx

CASology: Cut

Hey,

So I am doing pretty good following my operation. I am able to move around and do normal stuff.  A bit stiff and no lifting, housework etc, but all good.

It has been lovely having my Ma here for a week.

This week's CASology cue card -

..Inspired me a lot.

Cut means a couple of different things to me - die-cutting paper and cutting fabric for sewing.

I decided to combine die-cutting and fabric and broke out some ANCIENT adhesive fabric paper that I bought years ago and have never ever used.

I die-cut it using one of my fave Sizzix border dies and added a few stitches to hold it firmly in place. You can just about see the stitches, so here is a close-up.

As I used fabric and stitching I thought that the sentiment from a Freebie set I have would be appropriate.

I love the simplicity of the card and the bright colours make it pop. I really must remember to stamp my sentiments in coordinating colours more often.

Cx

Pineapples can wear glasses..

Hey,

Today's card is very bright and fun.

I made it for a friend's 40th and it made me smile, as she is a bright, fun kinda girl.

I decided that I would be making her a Pineapple with Glasses card, no idea why, I just did.

I embossed the pineapple parts (Concord &9th dies) using a great basketweave folder that was a gift from JT, handily when I went to get the glasses die, there were already a bunch of them die-cut and ready to go - in bright green?!

I used a pineapple embossing folder to liven up the background, I love this folder, it is by Paper Source and was a sale bargain and is NBUS, so it means I can join in with Darnell's latest NBUS Challenge..

I recently got a set of Ken Oliver Color Burst watercolour powders..my first few tests were not that impressive, but they make great frames! I die-cut this one using MFT scalloped stitched rectangle frame dies - I love these dies.

Final touch was the sentiment,  I used a Dymo handheld embossing label maker (dirt cheap and handy). I thought the look that you get with these embossed tapes suited the off the wall feel of the card.

I hope my friend likes it, it made me smile a lot.

Cx

New leaf...

Hey,

I recently bought a great Simon Says Stamp leaf die in their sale.

But it is HUGE, so it was a bit daunting.

I thought it would be good to have a play with the die and see what happened, before trying to make something with it.

Below is what I started with - a Tim Holtz stencil, the leaf die-cut and two different green distress stains.

I placed the stencil over the die-cut and used the lighter green stain through the stencil first. I dried that and then used the darker green sparingly over it in random places.

This was the result - 

I was pretty happy with how it ended up and then I cut it in two and made two cards.

The main card uses a tag that I got as part of a prize and a Crazy Bird that I had coloured previously. JT gave me the set as part of our $20 challenge and the sentiment is part of the set. I think using the slightly bright bird makes the card less twee!

The next card was inspired by all the MFT flower stamps I had out on my desk. I used the Bold Blooms set here along with sentiments by Concord & 9th. The tag is from Paper Source and I bought a giant bag of them in their sale..to continue to feed my store bought tag addiction!

I ended up with two rather different cards, but I really like them both and think it was a great way to ease into the new die.

Cx

MFT Birthday Bear..

Hey,

I am a teeny bit obsessed with MFT stamps at the moment.

I managed to get a good haul of them over Black Friday last year at a variety of places.

I had the Birthday Bear stamps already and got the dies in the BF sales.

A few weeks ago, I die-cut and stamped the entire set and I am slowly making cards with them.

This card was made for a friend's Daughter and I cut a little slot, so the bear could hold the present. I coloured the bear, balloon and present with Zigs.

The sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp and so is the stitched square die.

I have had the background paper for ages, infact I believe it was the first thing I purchased when we moved to NYC in 2013!

The square kraft blanks are from JT, I love the big and small ones and I can't get them here and she buys them for me.

I like the simplicity of this card and it's matchy matchness (totally words..)

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #54...Let it Snow..

Hey,

Time for another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

This time we want you to  use snow on your card -

I am not a big fan of snow, living in NYC it can be a bit much for this Londoner... But I do like making pretty snow based cards :)

I learnt this awesome technique in Cheiron's holiday class last year.

Basically you blend together your inks, starting with the light one and work up to a darker colour. Then flick your blended paper with water and lay a paper towel over it - voila! Instant snow effect - ah.mazing!!

I love it and have totally been over using this lately..

Once I had my background I dug out two stamp sets by Simon Says Stamp (Hand Lettered Wishes from 2015 and Cute Snowflakes from Jan 2016 - both from SSS cardkits ).

I stamped the sentiment in Navy Blue and the snowflakes and flourishes in Grey. I wish I had considered stamping snowflakes in Grey before!! They look so much better.

I added a couple of teeny bits of bling to finish it all off.

I love the Wintry feel of my card.

Your turn to get your snow on, but first go over to Retro Rubber and see what my awesome teammates have been making.

Challenge ends on January 27th don't forget to tell us how old your stamp is, that is half the fun :) And please limit your challenge entries to 10 including ours.

Cx

Superhero Birthday...

Hey,

Today is the birthday of my friends Son, he loves Superheroes and is always asking if I have met Spiderman, as we live in the same City...

So I thought that I would make him a special Superhero card.

I stamped the Superhero Bunny (by The Cats Pajamas) and then masked it off using a Molotov masking pen - I love these pens, but they are pricey, so I keep an eye out for them in the sale.

No Superhero is complete without rays of light (right?!) so I stenciled in the rays using a Clear Scraps stencil and Mustard Seed distress ink.

Then you just rub off the masking fluid, I use an eraser to get the little bits that won't come off.

I coloured the bunny using distress inks and an aquabrush.

The sentiment was created using 2 stamps, the HB is by Clearly Besotted and I masked off part of the Superhero sentiment stamp from the same set as the bunny.

Really easy card to make, but the rays make it look trixsy.

Of course I included a personal note from Spiderman..

Cx

CASology: Forest..

Hi,

Happy Sunday to you.

Today I am with the Craftgang in Hoboken, making stuff, eating and gossiping.

I wanted to play along with this week's CASology cue card -

I had a few ideas, but none of them really grabbed me, then it came to me..

I went with a really lovely Neat & Tangled Maple Leaf die set (I have the stamps too), I love how the top die has all the little bits cut out.

I opted to keep parts of the die in, I thought it was more interesting this way and layering the plain brown paper and the glittery paper feels very impactful.

I listened to what the DT always say about 'white space doesn't have to be white' and so used a kraft card as my background.

Keeping the leaf and the embossed sentiment in the bottom left of the card sticks with the CAS 'rules'.

What you can't see is what it looked like before I traced over the heat embossed sentiment...I used a powder that didn't photograph at all!! It looked fine in real life, but this is what I got when I took a photo -

Cue - emergency fix..

I'm still pretty happy with this card, despite the slightly smudged nature of the sentiment (sigh) following the fix..super simple and easy and I think fits Forest nicely..albeit a slightly blingy Forest :)

Cx

Sketch Saturday #446...Miss Tiina...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Sketch Saturday.

This week our Sponsor is Miss Tiina and she is offering a $20 Gift Certificate.

Our sketch this week is fun -

I chose to use one of the great Sock Monkey Doodle digital stamps, I chose the thank you Monkey, as I love to make thank you cards.

I coloured the Monkey using Promarkers, the background papers are ancient and by Recollections. 

I have this tin of foam stars..obviously I wanted a red one and obviously there were none in the tin!! I then remembered that JT had given me a bunch of random 4th of July things and there was a red star in there!

Great sketch to work with, now it is your turn to show us your makes, first go to the Sketch Saturday blog and see the other DT makes.

Challenge ends Friday 20th Jan 7pm GMT / 5pm EST.

Cx

Some news...

Hey,

Happy Friday..

So I debated for a while about what to write today..

Today is my last day at work for 3 weeks as next week I will be having a Hysterectomy.

I guess people never really talk about these things and I have talked about it a lot.

In part this is the way I cope with tricky things, but also I wanted people to understand I am genuinely ok, this is just a long overdue thing that needs to happen. And on a happy note, because of this surgery, I get a bonus visit with my Ma, she arrives on Monday...I also have another surprise guest coming too - yay!

I don't want to bore you with a tale of 13 years of pain, surgeries and more pain. I'll cut to the chase. I have Fibroids, I keep getting them, they are a pain in the arse and they won't stop coming until I am post-menopause and goodness knows when that will be..

Anyway, that's it, I'll still be blogging, but majority of it will be scheduled as making things will be tricky, I am also going to be continuing on with my two DT commitments at Retro Rubber and Sketch Saturday.
Both teams have been 100% supportive and it will be a great distraction, looking at pretty things..

So what image do you share on your blog when sharing news like this? I opted for a card I made last weekend. The sentiment makes me smile.

The flowers are Bold Blooms by MFT and it is the latest addition to my growing collection of MFT flower stamps. Blue leaves are a new one for me, but I saw it somewhere and I liked it.
The sentiment is by Concord & 9th. The wonky die is by Lil Inkers and the kraft card blank was on super bargainalicious sale at Target and I bought them all - see...

Also - take a look at my 2016 highlights..what a fun craft year 2016 was and I have high hopes that 2017 will yield the same fun and success.

Finally a massive thank you to everyone that has known about this for a while and has been helping me navigate a difficult time with some semblance of grace ;)

Cx

Ohmygawsh you're on fire...

Hey,

My Auntie Connie LOVES Dragons and I mean LOVES them...

So when she saw one of my Instagram posts announcing the arrival of the MFT Magical Dragons set, she was all 'when am I getting one' LOL.

To throw her off the scent, I sent her another Dragon card using a Bugaboo stamp..

Last weekend I had a play with the MFT Dragons and created this card for her.

I coloured the Dragon and the flame using Zigs.

I die-cut the stitched square panel first, then I used a Dutchdoobadoo cloud stencil and distress ink to create the background.

The 'Ohmygawsh' is by CASual Friday stamps and I recently bought the set that it comes in second hand, mainly because it had 'AH-Mazing' in it and I say that all the time!

The second part of the sentiment came with the Dragon set.

Once I had put the card together, I added glossy accents to the flame.

I hope she loves it, it should arrive any minute now..

Cx

Kitty says Hello!

Hey,

Towards the end of last year I won a couple of challenges over at Bugaboo's Catch The Bug blog, that meant I got a ton of awesome new Bugaboo images.

So last weekend I printed them all over and got colouring..

I thought it would be fun to play along with the first CTB challenge of 2017 and as it is Anything Goes it's even more fun!

I decided to use the Cat block stamp - it all comes as you see it here and it was so nice to colour.

I felt that the Kitty was saying Hello? to anyone that was listening..hence my sentiment, which is by Technique Tuesday and I have had it for ages.

I coloured the Kitty using Promarkers (Spice, Ginger, Pale Pink and Ivory) and added a bit of shading using a Tea Green marker.

Super simple, but I thought the stamp spoke for it's self and didn't need much more ;)

Cx

CAS Mix-Up...Inky Flowers..

Hey,

Whilst I was looking at some blogs the other day, I stumbled across a link to CAS Mix-up.

I really like the idea and the January challenge was very appealing -

I chose to use alcohol inks as my liquid colour. I like working with alcohol inks, you can create such random shapes and patterns.

I decided I wanted flowers this time and these were really simple to do and I made a few variations, but this version was my fave.

All you have to do is take a piece of glossy photo paper, drop your ink on and blow on it through a straw to spread the colour. Simple.

I added the stamping with my sentiment (by Scraptastic Club) and in the flower centres (by Concord & 9th).

My choice element was the little black pearls to finish off the flowers.

I die-cut both panels using MFT stitched rectangle dies and I love how the small purple border makes the flowers pop.

I am hoping I followed the rules correctly and that my alcohol inks count as an 'art product' for the mixed media part of the challenge, no matter, I still love it and there's always the Feb challenge to master the rules LOL.

Cx

New Baby Heat Embossing....

Hey,

Happy Monday.

So as you all know I love making baby cards.

We have had a few new arrivals in the last couple of months and I was playing with an idea for a DT make - coming soon and thought it would also work for babies.

I stamped the hearts and words using Versamark and covered the panel with white embossing powder and heat embossed it to create a resist.

Using Picked Raspberry distress ink, I washed over the heat embossing and you get the awesome panel that you can see.

The first card was made at the start of December for a November baby and my new Lil Stinker stamp and dies by Neat & Tangled had just arrived, so I really wanted to use them.

I used Zigs to colour the Skunk and used some creative license to make the stripe pink, so she is clearly a girl Skunk..

The sentiment stamps are by Simon Says Stamp and are the handiest set ever for baby cards.

I added the gold strips so that the pink panel stood out a bit more.

The card below is pretty much the same, but I used different heart stamps and a slightly different sentiment.

I love these, they feel very modern and fresh, not at all like normal New Baby cards..

Cx

MFT: Combining the challenges..

Hey,

I wanted to play with a challenge or two this weekend, so I decided to combine the current MFT Sketch and Color Challenges -

I thought my fave MFT Pure Innocence Cupcake Day stamps and dies would be perfect for this combo.

I am happy to have my MFT hybrid ink pad back (he needed refilling..), so I can mix Promarkers, Zigs and Distress inks when colouring. I've decided I need more of these pads in various colours..

This time I used Promarkers and matched them to the MFT colours, I added the grey in the sentiment banner.

Of course the background panel was die-cut using my fave stitched rectangle dies, also by MFT - I consider these dies one of my best craft purchases ever.

The spots were created using a flower centre stamp from the MFT Large Desert Bouquet set, I use these randomly like this A LOT!!

I'm so pleased with my card, she is so cute and it's an excellent birthday card for a sweet little girl I know..

Cx

Circle Stencil Masking..

Hey,

Over the Christmas break I was taking down all of the cards I had been sent in 2016 and I came across a card from Cheiron that I really liked.

It was a masked off circle that has been stenciled into to, with a thank you popped up in black.

I thought I would CASE it, as I have been enjoying playing around with masking lately.

First thing I did was die-cut my circle mask out of a scrap of paper (I keep the inserts that come with stamp sets as they are pretty heavy duty and useful).

Then I positioned it over my piece of card and taped the stencil in place and went to work with x3 colours of distress ink.

I did this for all four cards, I changed the position of the circle and the colours for each card.

Then I die-cut the panels out using a stitched rectangle die and added the sentiments.

Super easy and you get four pretty cards, very quickly.

All my stamps are by Simon Says Stamp and are from x3 different stamp sets.

I can't decide if I should keep them and use them myself or give them to someone as a set.

Cx

CASology: Cold...

Hey,

Happy Friday!

Gotta love a short week...

I am super happy to be back playing along with the first CASology challenge of 2017.

The cue card this week is -

I have SO many stamps that would fit this word.

I decided to use my all time fave Lawn Fawn 'Yeti, Set Go' set and combined him with a Poppy Stamps tree die.

The sentiment comes in one block, so for my idea to work, the Misti, my new Jonas tape dispenser ($3.99 at Home Goods..yay!) and I had to do some serious masking, SO worth it.

In my head Yeti's are HUGE, so it was only fitting that my Yeti was behind the trees and a teeny bit taller than them!

I popped the trees up using foam pads and added some Stickles to the panel for a bit of shimmer. I decided at the last minute to add a couple of snowflake stamps and I am glad I did.

This card keeps making me laugh when I catch a glimpse of him on my desk..I love it when an idea tickles me continuously.

Cx