CASology: Fly..

Hey,

So a late post from me, I got back from Rochester yesterday and I felt the need to scratch my craft itch by playing along with the current cue card over at CASology..

I thought it would be fun to play with my Reverse Confetti 'Toucan of Friendship' set. Top fact, Toucan's DO fly, but only very short distances, so it counts!

I coloured the Toucan and the leaves using distress inks and an aquabrush. The panel was die-cut using an MFT stitched wonky die, the sentiment is from the set. I added a googly eye, I like googly eyes.

The card blank is new, as Paper Source are discontinuing certain colours in their stock, so I have been buying all these fun card blanks in different sizes.

It was fun to be at my desk, I think tonight is going to be a late one..

Cx

4 cards 1 stamp set: Wplus9 Happy Birds..

Hey,

So today is fun, as I am linking up with my friend Jen to show you the cards we made using the Wplus9 Happy Birds set.

Before we get into the cards, let me talk a bit about Jen.

She has been one of my online craft crushes for a long time. Then last year she reached out to me via my blog and BOOM huge friendship - she is awesome and her messages / emails make me howl with laughter. She is totally my kind of people. Thank god for the internet. We get to meet face to face in 4 weeks - OMG so excited I am wiggling as I type this.

You might remember her being mentioned here before as she sent me the Monster stamps I so desperately wanted! Anyway, check out her blog, she is wickedly talented, has the most excellent sense of humour and is an all round sweetie pie.

I used this stamp set recently and mentioned that I wanted to do 4from1 with it and she said wanted to do it too - hence our linked posts.

I did something a bit different for me and stamped, coloured and cut all the birdies first. It meant that I had to think about what I was going to do with them and so they were all coloured to suit their cards. I used distress inks and an aquabrush to colour them.

My fave of the whole batch is the one that became and anniversary card for my in-laws (45 years!!). I thought it was romantic enough to work, but not so girly that my FIL would be all eye rolling!

Just going to show you one more, so this post doesn't become war and peace!!

I chose the french fry card - I love the sentiment, I added a bit of texture paste to the white panel, so the bird stood out even more. The 'Happier' stamp is by Neat & Tangled  - awesome set, comes with so many fun sayings.

Confession time, it took me WAY too long to realise that the bird is holding a fry (DUH!!)

I can't wait to see what Jen has made.

Watch this space we'll be back with another 4from1 soon.

Cx

Retro Rubber #65 Get Sketchy...still time to play along..

Hey,

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

This time we have a sketch for you.

Show us what you can do with the sketch and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends June 30th. 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

ICAD17: Week Three..

Hey,

Happy Monday.

I am actually on my way to Rochester, NY for a 4 day workshop with my clients.

I get to see my colleagues from London and finally meet a client I really like face to face. So despite being away for 4 days for work, it's gonna be good times all round.

ICAD is currently in week 4 and because I am away this week and I didn't want to miss anything I spent a crazy 2 evenings making all my cards - fun, but mental.

I loved week 3, it seems like all of my cards involved some sort of stamping, I guess that shows where my head was at.

I really liked Alphabetise, but I decided to go with Day 19 - Gear or Gadget as my fave this week.

This is my fave mainly because I can't believe I got the resist to work on the index card, seriously index cards are the bomb!! They take paint, ink, water, heat embossing and pretty much anything else you can think of and they don't fall apart or smudge. Amazing.

Anyway, I stamped the cogs / gears using white picket fence Distress Paint and dried it, this creates a resist for you to blend over. My blending doesn't look so hot here, but in my defense this is actually the one flaw of an index card, it's so thin that it moves a bit when you are blending!

I added the strip of Robots and Gears, it's actually a punch that I have had for ages.

This whole ICAD thing is a lot of fun. I have had a hoot coming up with ideas and rooting through the depths of my stash for things that have been neglected.

Oh and I created a gallery, for you to nose at incase you want to see them all at a bigger size.

Cx

Cleaning my desk...

Hey,

Happy Saturday.

Hubby and I are currently in Philly visiting friends that live there - English friends, so it's gonna be a riot!

No I did not clean my desk really. What I did was realised I needed to make a few more girly cards to add to the batch that I was gifting to said friends...

I was a bit like 'ugh where do I start' then I looked at my desk and decided that I would try and use all the random nonsense that is on my desk.

The main card consists of these desk finds - Happy Birthday banner, tag (there are always tags on my desk..addiction), Flamingo stamped and die-cut!
All I had to do was stamp the awesome Flamingo background by Simon Says Stamp and die-cut the panel and then assemble the card - easy peasy. I went with gold staples to match the tag.

I stamped the background for the card above on a craftgang playdate, it belongs to Gina and as she knows that I love background stamps, she brought along a whole batch of them for me to merrily stamp. I die-cut it, heat embossed the sentiment by Stamp Market (I bought 10 stamps for $15 secondhand UNUSED!!!). I love how the heat embossed sentiment pops against the busy background.

The final card is a semi-cheat, as only the inks, sticker and the white die-cut panel were on my desk, so I dug out my fave Concord & 9th Give Thanks stamp set and ended up with what you see here.

So now my desk it slightly cleaner and I made 3 cards in 20 mins!

Cx

Baby Card Frenzy...

Hey,

Happy Friday.

It's not really a frenzy!! But I did feel like all my Christmasses had come at once, as I got to make TWO baby cards at once (joy).

I LOVE making baby cards.

These are both for my colleague Jim and his wife, who finally welcomed their Daughter a couple of weeks ago.

You will remember Jim from baby quilt fame.

I made two cards, one from hubby and I and the other from my other NYC based work colleagues to send to him.

The main card is my one, I used the Studio Calico 'Celebrate Animal' stamp set, I love it, I love Studio Calico stamp sets. To make everything pop a bit, I used distress ink through a stencil to create a soft background.

The second card was so much fun to make. I used Bo Bunny glitter paste through a spotty stencil - I love glitter paste, it ends up so shimmery when it dries. The onesie / babygrow is by Clearly Besotted and I wanted it to stand out a bit more from the background, so added a loop of twine. The sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp (stamped slightly wonky..oops).

Both cards were fun to make and are really nice modern baby cards, perfect for a designer and his newly expanded family.

Off to Philly tonight to hang with friends all weekend, then next week I will be in Rochester for work, so all posts will be scheduled.

Cx

CASology: House..

Hey,

So I got another Honorable Mention over at CASology for my Father's Day card. I'm super pleased to be on a roll with my HMs

This week's cue card is very appropriate -

Hubby and I are spending the weekend with friends who have just moved and I was about to make them a new home card and saw the cue for this week!

I got very lucky at a recent Craftgang playdate, Ava gifted me a great New Home set - complete with dies!

I used it here for the house and the tree - I thought a mini scene would be fun. The sentiment is by Clearly Besotted and I added a bit of stenciling behind the scene to make it stand out a bit more.

Super simple make, I really like the cleanliness of it, kind of how you want your New Home to be right?

Cx

Addicted to CAS: Cheers!

Hey,

I really liked the theme over at Addicted to CAS this time -

It seemed like the perfect excuse to break out my Winnie and Walter 'Cheers' die.

I smooshed various blue distress inks onto a scrap of watercolour paper before cutting out the cheers.

I love the Unity Stamp Co. 'Hello Summer' stamp, I use it a lot and I thought it would be great here.

I decided to try something different and not colour the image and place the cheers die-cut over it. I am really pleased with the end result and a little bit of bling to add a bit of interest really works for me.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #65..Get Sketchy...

Hey,

Time for another fun challenge with the Retro Rubber team.

This time we have a sketch for you -

I like playing with sketches.

I used two quite old stamp sets - Kinda Eclectic by Stampin' Up (starburst) 2015, Unforgettable Today by Dear Lizzy (bike) 2014. I heat embossed the starburst first and then also heat embossed the bike, I felt pretty brave.

I added some washi tape from my stash and the sentiment is a Concord & 9th stamp with a Pink Fresh Studio sticker.

I think it's going to work really well as a male birthday card.

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 June 30th. 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

ICAD17.. Week Two

Hey,

Happy Monday!

Today I am showing you my week 2 makes from ICAD17. See week one here and go to Daisy Yellow's blog for more info.

It was hard to pick a favourite this week, I love everything except my weird Tetrahedron..so hard to visualise in my opinion.

Anyway I've decided to go for Day.10 Sunshine Yellow as my pick for fave..

I covered the index card in patterned tissue paper and then painted over it using Mustard Seed Distress paint. Then I added black paint splatters.

I had originally planned to cover it in a bunch of the yellow MFT flowers that you see, but it didn't feel right, so I added a strip of chevron washi tape and dug around in my random die-cuts pouch and found the Deer.

It all came together so well accidentally, this is why I am loving ICAD random lovely things are created.

Cx

Happy Father's Day...

Hey,

Today's Father's Day.

My Daddy is a hoot and I can write a lot about him and generally I do (last year's post).

I've already blown the surprise and shown his card, so I thought I would use my fave photo of us, from his trip to NYC last year.

We were at an NFL game - Seahawks at Jets (I am a HUGE 'Hawks fan), we had so much fun, it was truly a special day, just hanging out together, eating and drinking beer (well I was).

I love my Daddy, he is bonkers, kind, funny and sport mad!

I can't celebrate Father's Day with him today, but I'll be home in August and no doubt, we will end up in one of our fave snarfing spots!!

Happy Father's Day Poppa H, you rule.

Cx

Sketch Saturday #468 Carrot Lover..

Hey,

Welcome to the latest sketch for the Sketch Saturday challenge.

Our sponsor this week is Scrap n Dipity and they are offering a prize of 1 digi stamp from their store.

Here is the sketch.

I loved the I Love Carrots too image, I love Bunnies, but I am not a fan of Carrots!

I broke out my fave Hexagon dies for the central shape and because there is a Carrot involved I went with orange as my theme colour. The background was made with Distress Oxide inks.

The awesome sentiment is by Sweet Stamp Shop and is part of a bigger sentiment that I masked off. I added a little piece of blingy washi tape and a gem to finish off my card.

A very simple but fun card.

Your turn to show us what you make with the sketch, but first check out what the rest of the DT have made over at Sketch Saturday.

Challenge ends 22 June 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Cx

Craft Classes..

Hey,

Happy Friday.

So last Sunday I did two classes with Cheiron.

I love doing classes, sadly none of the craftgang were there, but I coped ;)

The first class was all about Distress Oxide Ink techniques and how to use them. Because they are so different from regular Distress Inks I haven't loved them.. but the class really helped me and now I am itching to own more colours LOL.

I love all of the cards and we used a variety of techniques and products: water stamping, smooshing, spatters, distress glaze resist, stenciling, watercolouring..

So much fun and I got to meet some fun new peeps.

The second class was a mixed media class and we made this amazing tag -

Don't be fooled by my photo these new tags from Tim Holtz are 8x14inches - ridiculous!!

This was so much fun to make, again tons of techniques and I love it, it's so far out of my comfort zone. It's going to be a gift for someone...

Have a great weekend, I will be mainly at my desk and packing up my winter clothing as Summer has officially arrived here in NYC.

Cx

Monster Thanks...

Hey,

So you might remember that I stamped the Monster above when I was at Jamey's on a craftgang playdate a couple of months ago.

I fell in love with the stamp set and really wanted it. Sadly the company don't make it anymore.

So I put out a social media appeal, begging someone to sell it me!

My wonderful friend Jen left me a 'don't buy it' message and then about a week later this arrived -

Yay! How lovely are my friends and how lucky am I that they all indulge my Monster fetish,

Even better is that the card Jen sent with the stamps was made using a stamp set I sent her ;)

So I made her a thank you - not a surprise as I previewed him on Instagram.. I used Simon Says Stamp sentiment and heart stamps to help my Monster show his gratitude. He is so versatile..

Love my little craft world, makes me all warm and fuzzy.

Cx

Double Challenge: A-Moose Me...

Hey,

Today I am doing a twofer...

Playing along with this week's CASology cue card -

And joining in the fun at MAWTT with my old teammates, their theme is Heat Embossing.

I had no idea what I should make my Dad for Father's Day, then I saw the great Dad + Me set by Lawn Fawn and had a genius idea...

I die-cut the t-shirt from the Stampin Up Custom Tee set -

Then, I stamped the Moose from the Lawn Fawn set onto the t-shirt and coloured him. I stamped the t-shirt lines onto the t-shirt, not perfectly, I wanted it to feel slightly off, as my Dad's leisure wear can be..dodgy...

I heat embossed the sentiments directly onto the card - EEK!!! Moment of bravado, that I love, but sadly my photo is a bit blurry and it had to leave before I noticed, The sentiments are from the Lawn Fawn set, perfect for my Dad, the biggest pun master ever!

Super simple card to make, but I think it will make my Dad smile.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #64 Anything Goes!! There is still time to play

Hey,

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


This time, we have a everyone's fave challenge - Anything Goes.

Check out what the Retro Rubber DT have made and get inspired and join in.

Challenge ends June 16th. Don't forget to tell us the age of your stamp, that is part of the fun (and our rules) of our challenge and please only enter 10 challenges including Retro Rubber.

Cx

Monsters, Microbes and Aliens

Hey,

Happy Monday!!

Today is a quick post - just wanted to share the card I made using the awesome Monster set that my naughty friend Lisette sent me in the post.

In fact there are two sets, I haven't had a play with the other one yet.

This one is by Flonzcraft and called Monsters, Microbes and Aliens - LOL, right up my street!

I used the MISTI to help me stamp the Monsters, etc and then I die-cut them using a Lawn Fawn square stitched die.

I didn't want to cover the pretty image, so affixed a piece of vellum using staples to my card and added the sparkly RAWR!

Ha ha ha love it, love the stamps, love Lisette for being so thoughtful and for the amazing card -

Cx

ICAD 2017...

Hey,

Happy Sunday!

Late post from me, I just got back from all day classes taught by Cheiron.

They were awesome and I learnt alot! AND the weather is glorious here in NYC - Summer = yay.

Today's post is about ICAD 2017 (Index Card a Day)..It is run by Daisy Yellow and it's awesome fun.

The idea is to make something with a 4x6 index card as your base every day. Prompts are provided, but you can go off prompt if you want. It runs from June 1st to July 31st. You can jump in whenever you want.

I have LOVED the first week, I got to dig out some fun stuff from my stash and step out of my comfort zone. Plus side being that I now have 7 gorgeous pieces of art. In the photo above they are in day order from bottom left clockwise.

I used so many different techniques and got all experimental..

I've decided to pick a favourite one every week and tell you about it, instead of boring you to tears by describing each one!!

My fave from week one is - Day 3: Vintage -

I love this, it came together so well. I covered the index card in patterned tissue paper and then painted over it with various shades of distress paint. I added the doily and distressed the edges of it with ink. The dress form I stamped onto white tissue, so it would look more transparent when added to the card. The butterfly is from my stash and I added black ink to the edges of the card.

I love all the layers, so far out of my comfort zone!

Cx

HLS anything goes with dies...

Hey,

So today I am playing along with one of the June Happy Little Stampers challenges - Anything Goes with Dies -

I recently needed to make a quick batch of cards for male friends / family. I decided that I was going to use my Technique Tuesday Hipster Birthday stamp for all of them - to make it easier...

All I had to do was figure out the background.

JT gave me the awesome Chevron plate die by Sizzix as part of our annual $20 challenge. I love it, but it is a BEASTICLE to cut out!!

I bought a metal shim and it has made it easier, but there are still some pieces that won't come out - so that is accidental and not me being arty!!

Because the background is so bold, I decided that I would just affix the stamped sentiment to the card using coordinating staples (I LOVE coloured staples..).

Super simple, but very impactful and I made a whole bunch of these in various 'male' colours.

Cx

Happy Bird-Day...

Hey,

Happy Friday!

It's been a fun week here in NYC, one of the owners of the company I work for was here along with x2 other colleagues, so there has been much eating, drinking and gossiping.

I am excited as Cheiron is teaching two cool classes at Westbeth this Sunday and I am going to both.

I have a super early PT session tomorrow - ugh, but I am feeling better, stronger and smug, so totally worth it.

I made today's card for my colleague and friend Natasha, I adore her, she is my kinda people.

I thought some smooshing would be a fun backdrop for the birdie, but once I put it together I felt like it needed something else.

So I created a 'flower' using a scalloped circle die and a stitched circle die, I am much happier about how it looks!

The birdie and the stamped sentiment are by Wplus9  - this set is still out on my desk for a four from one playtime and the giant happy die is by Simon Says Stamp.

I am so happy with this card and it arrived safely and Natasha told me she loves it!

Have a great weekend.

Cx

CASology: Insect...love bug..

Hey,

I was hoping to play along with CASology last week, I had got two honorable mentions in a row!! Sadly, I did not have any stamps that worked with last week's 'Medicine' cue card.

This week however I am all in!

JT, gave me this great stamp set by Lia for Hero Arts, it's called Lovebug (either $20 challenge or Christmas giftt). I thought it would be fun to use here, as it is NBUS.

I die-cut my panel using an MFT stitched wonky die, I like to use this die with CAS cards, it adds a bit of interest.

I added some Squeezed Lemonade Distress Stain through a Tim Holtz Latticework stencil, so that my bugs had some colour.

I stamped the Dragonfly, the Grasshopper and the Bee in a stack and added the sentiment from the set, above and below the stack.

Another super easy card to make and I am happy that I finally got to use the stamp set.

Cx

Feeling Inspired...

Hey,

I was browsing through Pinterest and I came across a few ideas for using a stamp set I had, it inspired me to have a play..

The stamp set is Wherever You Go by Stampin' Up, a lot of people used the bridge with the compass stamped behind it and I liked that.

I decided to create a blended background and pulled out all the blue distress inks I have and went to work..I cheated a bit by using a stripe stencil, so I could control the colour application easier.

Once I had the background, I went over it with white ink, then spritzed it and dabbed it with a piece of kitchen town. It gives that softer mottled look.

I stamped the bridge, the compass and the sentiment using my Misti, so I could do it all in one hit!

I thought the black cardblank was perfect for making my panel pop.

Super simple make, I had fun with the background.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #64.. Anything Goes...

Hey,

Time for another awesome challenge with the Retro Rubber team.

This time, we have a everyone's fave challenge - Anything Goes.

I have had this awesome stamp set Seasonally Scattered by Stampin' Up since 2014 and I have barely used it, so I thought it deserved to see daylight for this challenge.

First I smooshed (technical term) my paper in the two distress inks - Spiced Marmalade and Festive Berries. Then I die-cut the panel using a Simon Says Stamp stitched die.

I chose to use the 'Thanks' stamp from the set and I heat embossed it using bronze Ranger embossing powder.

Here's a close-up

Pretty right? I love it!

I hope you are going to show us what you can do with the colours and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things my teammates have made..

Challenge ends June 16th. Don't forget to tell us the age of your stamp, that is part of the fun (and our rules) of our challenge and please only enter 10 challenges including Retro Rubber.

Cx

Themed Journal...Lyrics..

Hey,

Happy Monday..

I recently started a new art journal. It's smaller and landscape, as you can see.

I love my original journal, but I wanted this one to be more structured. Don't get me wrong, I still want to apply paint / ink / stuff randomly, but I thought an overall theme would be nice.

The background to this first spread inspired me to add the lyrics from a cartoon called Sealab (truly odd), Hubby and I love the theme tune and weirdly sing it all the time!

So I thought, why not make this a lyrics journal?

Here are a few more of my spreads..

I Know You, I Live You by Chaka Khan

Crazy by Gnarls Barkley

Fashion! by David Bowie

They are so easy to produce, I can't stop! There are actually a few more than these ones! I love interpreting the lyrics in different ways and it is fun thinking about what lyrics I should play with..

Way too many supplies to list here, if you are curious about anything leave me a comment and I'll reply.

Cx