30 Days of Colouring March 2017...

Hey,

Happy Friday.

Sadly it is the end of the latest 30 Days of Colouring..hosted by Kathy Rac and her blog - The Daily Marker. Kathy is awesome, she has mad colouring skills and I love that she unites a whole community with the simple art of colouring.

I LOVE these 30 day bursts of colouring, it helps my mojo a lot!

Today I am showing you some of my fave things that I have made with the colouring from the last 30 days. This is not all of it, some of it warranted individual posts, coming next month.

I find colouring a small image sparks a lot of creativity.

Newton's Nook Snow Day stamps, coloured on an actual snowday, background made using distress inks and water

Newton's Nook Cake stamps and Reverse Confetti dies

Avery Elle stamps, Oxide Ink background

Avery Elle Band Camp Kangaroo stamp, background by Neat & Tangled

I love the fact that the ideas for all of these cards came out of a simple piece of colouring.

The main photo is a digital stamp by Tiddly Inks and she is a Catshark - I LOVE these images, you get x3 in the set and I have been overusing them.

Most of these cards have already left for their new homes, I love it when a big batch of making gets used immediately.

Have a great weekend, I am off to Atlantic City with Hubby - YAY!!

Cx

Floral Birthday...

Hey,

Today is a happy day for me, I got my all clear, 10 weeks after my op! Meaning I can now exercise, bend, run, etc - yay!

I have a friend that I met via a DT and we have become firm penpals!

This year I wanted to make Sue something pretty and Spring like for her birthday.

So I pulled out the MFT Flashy Florals and Large Desert Bouquet stamp and die sets and went to work.

I love the bold looks you get with these flowers, I used this card as an inspiration.

The Wonky Stitched die that you can see on the white panel is also by MFT. I LOVE these dies, its a great way to add detail to a card.

I tried the trick of adding interest to my leaves by first stamping in a light green and then stamping just the edges in a darker green. I really like how easy this is to do and how great it looks.

The die-cut Happy was not my original plan, but I think it works much better than stamping the entire sentiment.

Finishing touch was to add some bling..gotta have bling.

I've heard from Sue and she got her card and loves it - that made me happy!

Cx

Addicted to CAS: Seaside..

Hey,

The cue card over at Addicted to CAS felt perfect for me right now -

I am LONGING for Summer, this Winter hasn't been too bad, we have had amazing mild days..but when it has been cold..oh my.

Seaside made me think of trips with my family, food, flip flops and Crabs.. I think I think about Crabs too much!!

I thought my Your Next Stamp Flippin' Fabulous set would be great for this card.

I die-cut the white panel using a Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangle die.

I stamped the sentiment next, so I I knew where to put the double stitched circle die also by SSS to create the 'porthole' to the 'sea' (aka card blank).

Mount the Crab with foam tape and add a couple of sequins and voila! we are at the beach.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #59.. Get your Sketch on..

Hey,

Time for another fun challenge with the Retro Rubber team.

This time we have a sketch for you -

I like playing with sketches and this one was fun.

I thought it would be fun to use a great Hero Arts background stamp, it is a fave and is always being used..I just can't resist it, it is from 2015.

I stamped it using a Kaleidacolor stamp pad and spritzed it with water after to get some movement. I love the crazy colourful pattern.

I die-cut it with a stitched rectangle die, affixed it to my card and cut off the excess.

Because of the crazy pattern I thought the sentiment went perfectly - by Hero Arts from 2016.

Your turn to show us what you can do with the sketch and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things my teammates have made..

Challenge ends April 7th. 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

Just Add Ink: Colours..

Hey,

Happy Monday.

Today I am playing along with the Just Add Ink colour challenge -

I thought the colours would be great for a baby card.

I am a little bit addicted right now to using the Neat and Tangled Skunk for baby cards..

I stenciled some Turquoise ink onto my white panel using a Tim Holtz grid stencil and then added the pink spotty washi tape and a scrap of grey paper. Then I ran the whole piece through the Big Shot using a Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangle die.

I coloured (Zigs) and cut the Skunk out, as always using artistic license with the colour...

The Skunk is popped up using foam tape and the sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp.

I am loving the Pretty Pink Posh clear droplets right now and so added a few here for a bit of interest.

I am really happy, such a sweet card, I love making baby cards.

Cx

Happy Mother's Day..

Hey,

In the UK it is Mother's Day today.

I thought it would be nice to make my Ma and my MIL Mother's Day cards.

My Momma was a rockstar when I was having my op and the week after. My MIL was great following the complication with her daily updates.

Making their cards using a mix and match of my MFT flower sets. I love these stamps and I have four of the sets..for now..

The main card is for my Ma, I used Flashy Florals and Tropical Flowers. I stamped and die-cut the flowers first, then die-cut the white panel and set that up in my MISTI. I positioned the flowers and worked out how to stamp the leaves. The sentiment is an old wood stamp and I added clear droplets by Pretty Pink Posh as a finishing touch.

A new thing for me, I only popped up one flower and I think it really works.

Here is the card for my MIL, different for me as it is one layer..

I used Bold Blooms  for all the flowers and leaves on this card and I added the sentiment and the hearts by Lawn Fawn. For a finishing touch I added Nuvo Crystal drops.

I am really pleased with both the cards..I love playing with these stamp sets.

Cx

Sketch Saturday: #456...A twofer..

Hey,

So time for another great Sketch Saturday...

Our sponsor this week is Just Me Digital stamps and they are offering a prize of two digital stamps.

Here is the sketch.

I loved the images and the sketch so much I got carried away and made two cards ;)

The main photo uses Raining Hearts by Just Me and the sentiment came with it and I coloured it with Promarkers and Spectrum Noir sparkle pens.
I used papers from my Simon Says Stamp Sept 2016 card kit to complement the stamp. The big oval was die-cut with an MFT stitched oval dies..I love stitched dies.
Recently when sorting out punches to donate to charity, I came across the photo corner punch that I used for the little yellow corners..funny what you find when decluttering!

Here is the second card.

I used the pig stamp from the Everyday Animals stamps by Just Me.
Again I decided to dig out some SSS cardkit papers and these are from October 2014!!
The sentiment is also by SSS because I made this card just in time for Valentine's Day and the sentiment was perfect for my Hubby!!

Fun to make two cards using one sketch and they do look quite different.

Your turn now, but first go over to Sketch Saturday and check out what the rest of the DT have done with the sketch.

Challenge ends 31 March 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Cx

Marquee Messages...

Hey,

Happy Friday!

I bought the Stampin' Up Marquee messages stamp set a long time ago and I have only really played with it once.

A few weeks ago I thought it would be fun to have another play with it.

I stamped two of the large marquee stamp and then coloured them with Zigs, Spectrum Noir sparkle pens and stickles.

Both parts of the sentiment were stamped after, as there are a few messages and I was undecided. I like the pop of the black birthday, it works really well here.

I had stamped, coloured and fussy cut the Marquee Messages before my playdate with JT and was a bit at a loss as to how to use them.

JT gave me the idea to use a grey background for the yellow one, giving it a bit more of a masculine feel. I decided to use a Lawn Fawn grey spotty card blank and she was 100% right and so I used a pink spotty card blank for the other one.

I love Lawn Fawn mini card blanks, so pretty and they are also super handy.

Here are both cards -

I love these cards, they are so impactful, maybe more work than I would like..

Cx

Reverse Confetti..Playing with new goodies..

Hey,

I won the February Reverse Confetti sketch challenge, which meant I got a $20 voucher..obviously I spent more than that, but now I have all these lovely new things to play with.

Here is the March Sketch -

I decided to rotate it to the left, it worked better for my idea...

I bought the Bearing Gifts set because I loved the Bear in the car and thought it would make excellent birthday cards.

I had this crazy idea to create a scene and would you believe it, it worked!!

I really liked the current theme over at The Male Room -

I thought I could combine the RC sketch and The Male Room theme...I love how the DT have used wood.

I hunted and found a piece of wood effect background paper in my ridiculously large paper stash and die-cut out using a Simon Says Stamp stitched die and in the same paper stack I saw the blue piece of paper that worked as 'sky' in my opinion. I die-cut that piece using a smaller MFT stitched die.

Then I stamped the trees onto a green patterned paper and fussy cut them out. I stamped, coloured and fussy cut the Bear (I don't have the dies..yet).

I spent a while laying it all out before the glue came out...no room for mistakes here..I didn't fancy fussy cutting anymore!

I love the end result and feel like the Bear is driving through the woods to deliver gifts!!

Always fun to combine challenges.

Cx

Mini Canvases....

Hey,

Recently I started working out of an actual office (not my craftdesk) with two colleagues.

It's nice, but I miss being at home..

I thought on the first day that we were all together it would be nice to give them a gift, but as I don't Nicole that well, I didn't want to be too personal.

So I settled for 'initial canvases'.

I started with Blick 2x4 canvases and added texture paste to them through different Tim Holtz mini stencils.

Once the paste was dry, I chose 3 colours of acrylic paint and roughly painted over the paste - roughly because I wanted some of the white to show through.

Pretty right? That white 'palette' is a laminated piece of scrap paper, I have these in all different sizes and use them for ink, paint, messy mediums and when they wear out I just recycle them.

Final step once the paint dried was to add the initials, I had originally planned to spell out our names, but I thought just an initial was more impactful. I have these ancient black sparkly Thickers that worked really well here. I affixed them with Glossy Accents, because of the paste I wanted to be sure they held.

I love working with small canvases, it's a little slice of art.

My colleagues loved them BTW.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #58.. Anything Goes..still time to play

Hey,

There is still time for you to join in the latest challenge with the Retro Rubber team.

It's everyone's fave this time - Anything goes.

Your turn to show us your makes and be sure to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things my teammates have made..

Challenge ends March 24th. 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

CAS Mix-up March...Smooshing..

Hey,

Happy Monday to you.

I've been loving the CAS Mix-up challenge and I was overjoyed when I saw the March one...

I love to smoosh :)

Smooshing to me is when you put ink, crayons or paint or whatever onto a craft mat / surface and spray with water, then you 'smoosh' your paper in the ink, lift it up and then dry it and repeat this technique a few times to get a really beautiful background.

I smoosh  a LOT.

It is also CAS Mix Ups 1st birthday, so I thought a birthday card would be fitting.

I went down a more masculine route with my card..I think it would work for men/boys of all ages.

My choice is die-cutting.

I created my smooshed background by using 3 different distress inks. I die-cut the panel using a Simon Says Stamp stitched die.

I played with the idea of die-cutting out a shape from the main panel and then raising it with foam tape a few weeks ago and I like the way it turns out. So I did it again here, using a Lil Inker wonky die.

The Moose is a punch and I punched him out of chipboard and then stamped him using a Prima Marketing stamp that I always go to when I want an 'illegible' script pattern.

The sentiment is made up of stickers and a random stamp from my stash.

I added some clear droplets and bling to finish my card off.

I am super pleased..roll on April for more CAS Mix-up.

Cx

CASology: Foliage..

Hey,

Happy Sunday! I am hanging out with the craftgang today, making stuff, gossiping, eating!

The CASology cue card spoke to my stash this week...

I have a lot of foliage stamps and dies..

I opted to use the Lace Leaf set by Concord & 9th, it's so beautiful. First you stamp the 'splatter' then the leaf over the top. I did this and then die-cut the leaf out.

I wanted to send a friend a nice card, as she is going through a rough time and I know she likes this stamp set.

The sending die is by MFT and I die-cut it out of a piece of paper that I had smooshed in distress ink. The rest of the sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp from the Handwritten Floral Greetings set.

It was a really simple card to make and I'm pleased with it's quiet and gentle feel.

Cx

CAS Colours & Sketches: Sketch..

Hey,

Hope you are having a great weekend so far. Hubby and I had a big night out last night, so no doubt we are slightly jaded today..

I played along with the last CAS Colours and Sketches, colour challenge. This time I am playing along with their sketch challenge -

Obviously as I am part of the Sketch Saturday DT, I LOVE a sketch.

This one is great, so very versatile.

Forgive my slightly wonky photo!

I recently came across some Tim Holtz resist paper that came in a Simon Says Stamp cardkit.

I decided to use a piece here as my main panel.

I embossed the scalloped stitched circle die by MFT, I like the effect you get when you emboss dies.

I masked off the centre of the circle and using Wilted Violet distress ink I coloured it in, creating a focal point.

The sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp and it was a bit of a beast to stamp over the embossing, but I filled in the missing parts with a fineliner.

I thought it needed a bit of bling..so added a gold glittery heart.

I am super pleased with the end result, it's so simple, but fun.

Cx

Hero Arts Feb Cardkit playtime..

Hey,

Happy Friday to you.

I signed up to the Hero Arts cardkit recently, I thought it would be a good way to minimise my spendy, spendy...

This kit was unreal!! SO much stuff in it -

I got all the dies you can see, the stamp set, some silver thread, an ink cube, a sponge for daubing, vellum and washi tape!! BUMPER!!

So far I have made 2 cards, which I am really happy with.

The main card was so much fun to make. I found a 'living room' scene online and printed it out, so it fit behind my window frame. I only coloured in a few elements, as I wanted the focus to be the cat and the flowers.

The flowers are from a Concord&9th set and I stamped them repeatedly, coloured them and fussy cut them out to make a kind of flower window box for my card.

The sentiment came from a Jillibean Soup set.

I've already posted this card to my Ma, as it reminded me of her cat.

I love the sentiment on the next card, I love to get caught in heavy rain (weirdo..)..dancing in it will happen at some point I am sure.

All the elements, bar the background die (Lil Inkers) came in the set and it was fun to put it all together, I like that the girl looks like she is standing on the sentiment.

Hubby and I are having a fun date night tonight, we are off to dinner at Ocean Prime and then staying at the W in Times Square, courtesy of our airmiles. Time to celebrate, life and a bonus ;)

Cx

Gelli Plate Backgrounds...

Hey,

A couple of weeks ago, one of my art crushes Kim Dellow showed a great way to use your Gelli Plate on Instagram.

I had to try it out that day and I am so pleased I did.

I have been using the Gelli Plates with varying degrees of success, but I think now with this simple technique I will be getting much better backgrounds.

All you have to do is cover the Gelli Plate in a colour using a brayer, then stamp that onto paper (I chose to use watercolour paper). Then clean the plate and put a stencil over it and then add paint over that using a brayer. Remove the stencil and stamp over your solid colour - voila! amazing backgrounds.

Here are mine -

 Aren't they pretty?

From left to right clockwise, the stencils are by Dutchdoobado, Tim Holtz, Dina Wakely, Dutchdoobado and Recollections.

I have only made cards using 3 of them so far, the main photo is my fave, it makes me laugh.
I thought that background looked a bit Jungle, so it needed a Dinosaur (The Alley Way Stamps, sadly no longer in business) and I added balloons that are a mix of dies and punches. I coloured the balloons using distress stains and the Dino using distress inks. The sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp.

The next two cards use roughly the same idea, giant die-cut sentiment, finished with a stamped sentiment.

Wplus9 happy die, Neat & Tangled birthday stamp

Winnie & Walter birthday die, Neat & Tangled happy stamp

I'm pleased with the colour combos here and JT helped me choose the yellow for the scalloped background as I couldn't decide.

Cx

Playdate backgrounds..

Hey,

I know it's been about 3 weeks since my playdate with JT, but I completely forgot to post these cards!

Whilst we were gossiping and playing, I dug out 3 backgrounds that I had already made and finally turned them into cards.

The main card uses a background I stamped at Jamey's on a craftgang playdate, I loved the stamp so much I bought it! I added a tag and a chipboard heart and stamped the freebie sentiment (gift from JT). I think it makes a nice modern Anniversary card.

The next background was a 'test' of a new stencil, ages ago. I loved what I ended up with, but was at a bit of a loss about how to turn it into a card...

The freebie sentiments from JT have turned out to be most useful and the Happy Birthday is so pretty, I thought it would look nice against the stenciled background. I added a few dots of black enamel accents here and there.

The final card is a teeny bit weird!

This background came about because I was trying to achieve a 'gold' paste..I got more of a shimmery brown LOL! I added the patterned die-cut circle along with the super blingy pineapple (from JT) and the aloha die-cut (Avery Elle). 

I love making backgrounds, background stamps and stencils are my fave tools when doing this, along with distress inks and a water spritzer. I have a little stack of them that I use for inspiration when I am stuck for ideas.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #58..Anything Goes...

Hey,

Time for another fun challenge with the Retro Rubber team.

This time we have everyone's fave challenge -

I thought it would be fun to play with the Tap Tap Tap set by Stampin Up. I have had it since 2015 and I used it a lot that year, but it has been sadly neglected since then..

I stamped the background using the border stamp from the set and then die-cut it using an MFT stitched rounded rectangle die.

The typewriter from the set, doesn't have a die and fussy cutting it is a bit of a beast, but worth it! I coloured it using Zig brush markers and the sentiment is by Clearly Besotted also from 2015.

To make the typewriter stand out a bit, I die-cut an embossed panel that was lying around in my stash (I love this giant spots folder by Sizzix) and added it to my card with foam dots.

I love the almost monotone feel of this card..I need to play with this set more!

Your turn to show us your makes and be sure to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things my teammates have made..

Challenge ends March 24th. 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

Strike up the band for Craft Buddy...

Hey,

When JT leaves me comments, I take note of them.

Sometimes this means keeping an eye out for an item she liked or is coveting..it's helpful for birthday, etc.

When I posted this card, she said she loved the Alligator. So I stamped and die-cut a bunch of them for her and make her this card.

The card blank is by Recollections and I die-cut an ancient piece of DCWV glittery patterned card stock using a Lil Inker die. I wanted it to be fun and mixing patterns achieves this easily for me!

I love this set by Avery Elle (Band Camp), I wanted it for AGES, I was lucky that it went on sale at Scrapbook.com at the start of the year.

It is so much fun to colour, I keep getting it out and stamping the entire set and colouring all the images.

I like it when I can send JT unexpected happy mail.

Cx

CASology: Landmarks...Space Needle..

Hey,

Yesterday was a fun day, hanging out with Lisette and Hubby. Today will be mainly me at my desk and also our new bed arrives - yay!

I liked this week's CASology cue card -

I am from London and live in NYC, so landmark's aplenty in both places, but I decided not to be obvious and go to my other 'home' Seattle. It has a special place in my heart, you can read why here.

I decided to use the Kelly Purkey for Hero Arts 'Seattle' stamp set, I love it and I also have the NYC version (there isn't a London one..)

First I die-cut the white panel - love the MFT wonky stitched dies, then I added a teeny bit of blue distress ink to make the Space Needle pop a bit.

The hardest part of this card was fussy cutting the Space Needle - it is SO tiny!!

I stamped the sentiment - 'rocks' I built using these great stamps by Prima. Seattle is from the same set as the Space Needle, but I messed up the 'S' instead of starting again, I added a blue sparkly Thickers 'S'..I think it works..

For my final touch I added some sparkly Nuvo drops.

I think this card will be winging it's way to my friend Michelley, who is responsible for my Seattle love affair.

And just incase you don't know this, the Space Needle was built for the 1962 World's Fair, you can get to the top in just 41 seconds with the super speedy elevators and it is worth it. Even if like me you are terrified of heights!

Cx

Sketch Saturday #454 Sami Stamps Whale Love...

Hey,

Time for another great Sketch Saturday sketch.

This week our sponsor is Sami Stamps and they are offering $12.00 to spend in their store.

Here's the sketch.

I love the sketch this week and thought the Whale Love stamp by Sami Stamps would work perfectly here.

I printed the stamp and die-cut it using a Simon Says Stamp stitched circle die, I also used the smaller ones for the other 2 circles. I coloured the stamp using Promarkers.

I couldn't decide what colour my other circles should be, so I looked for the background paper and that made it a bit easier. The background paper is by K&Co and I think it was a random TJMaxx find..

I die-cut the banner in the same colour as the other circles and added a Clearly Besotted sentiment and added some hearts. I affixed it to the card using a mini staple.

For interest, I added a gold glittery heart and a large piece of gold bling to the circles.

I really love the soft feel of the card.

It's your turn now, but first go over to Sketch Saturday and check out what the rest of the DT have done with the sketch.

Challenge ends 17 March 7pm GMT / 2pm EST