Paper Players: Monster Thank You..

Hey,

You know I love a sketch! The current one over at The Paper Players, just called out for a MOnster card...

I used one of my fave Monster sets by MFT 'More Monsters'. I love this set as you get separate stamps for the eyes and teeth, so you can mix and match them.

I chose a funky piece of background paper from Pink Fresh Studio and cut a circle from some scrap paper in a toning colour.

The sentiment is also from the same set and I love the punch that I stamped it on to - by Stampin' Up called 'Washi Tape', it gets a lot of use.

I mounted the Monster and the sentiment using foam tape and added some enamel dots and googly eyes for a bit of fun.

I love him, he's so bright and cheery!

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: Wednesday Tutorial..Lipgloss Holder

Hey,

So part of my GDT stint with the Catch The Bug team means I get to create a tutorial!

I thought it would be fun to show you a project that I make all the time and I've even made them with my non-crafty Mother!

I seriously make these little lip balm / gloss holders A LOT. They are a super easy and inexpensive little gift to give and I like to have a stash on hand.

You will need the following supplies: image, white or coloured card, colouring medium, scoring board, single hole punch, glue dots, ribbon and a lip balm / gloss (I get mine in bulk from Amazon)

Step 1 - I chose to use 'I will accept' colouring page by Bugaboo. Print it out at letter size and it should look like this -

Step 2 - Cut your 'panel's' to size. 7cm deep by 17.5cm wide.

You will also need a piece of white or coloured card (not shown) and you will need to cut that to size - 8cm deep by 17.5cm wide.

Step 3 - Colour your panels. I use Promarkers, they are my fave markers. I always choose 4 colours, no idea why, I just do and I don't colour the entire image, I like to leave some parts white. This is the fun part :) Colour your panel however you like.

Step 4 - Affix the coloured panels to your plain panel, leaving a small border either side (not shown, but you will see what this looks like in the step 5 photo).

Step 5 - Place your panel on your scoreboard. Sadly we now have to work in inches! Your panel should be 6.5inches long. You need to score at 3 inches and 3.5inches, this will leave enough space for your lip balm.

Crease at the scorelines. And it should look like this -

Step 6 - Now open up your folded panel and add two glue dots to the central panel -

and then add your lip balm / gloss.

Step 7 - Fold the 'card' so the edges meet and then using your single hole punch, punch a hole for your ribbon. It is important that you DO NOT do this step until after you have added the lip balm / gloss.

Final step - add the ribbon, tie into a bow and voila! you are finished..

Aren't they cute?

Super easy to make, but feel free to leave me a comment here or on the Catch The Bug blog if you have any questions.

Cx

Quirky Birthday..

Hey,

Hope you had a great long weekend. I had a fun one, got to see a lot of my fave people.

Today's card I made like a year ago?! I loved it, but it said 'Happy Weekend' and I never really had a use for it.

So earlier this year I modified it, so I can use it as a birthday card.

I embossed a white piece of card using my fave Sizzix big dots folder and I had this great set of stickers by Pink Fresh Studio and I thought they would look cute poking out from something.

That something ended up being a Sizzix speech bubble die cut. Using Tim Holtz alpha dies, I die-cut the 'Happy' and added a piece of pink paper to make them pop and added some white gel pen dots to the speech bubble.

When I modified it for birthday use, I created a birthday label using my handheld Dymo mini labeler.

I love the clean, quirky end result and it is a 100% no stamping card!!

Cx

Double Challenge Fun...

Hey,

Happy Memorial Day!

So happy to have a 3 day weekend and it has been lots of fun so far.

I stayed up waaay too late last night playing at my desk.

One of the things I made was a dual challenge card..

Color Throwdown had great colours this week and I thought combined with the CAS Colours & Sketches sketch, I could make something fun.

I used the great 'Stars of Worn' background by Unity Stamp Co. to create the bigger panel from the sketch.

I played around with lots of ideas for the smaller panel, but decided it would be fun to partial stamp the sky scene from the new to me 'Super' set by Avery Elle. I used the sentiment from the set and stamped it in red.

For some more touches of red, I added a small strip of glittery tape and some red bling.

I'm pretty happy with this little make and I think there is totes enough white space for it to count as CAS.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: May Photo Challenge

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

Yay! It's Memorial Day weekend here and I will be hanging with my friend Lisette all weekend, as Hubby abandoned me and has gone to the UK for 2 weeks!

I'm still with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 

This week we have a photo challenge for you.

I thought it would be fun to use the Knobby Knees Fairy stamp, which is one of the newer releases and I liked the 'woodland' aspect of it, matching the photo nicely.

I coloured the image, using Promarkers, in tones that match the image. It worked out really well. But then I realised, where would I add my sentiment. Then I remembered the great vertical greetings set by Stampin' Up - a perfect fit for this card.

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see how you interpret the photo.

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Katya - INKED..

Hey,

Happy Friday.

I've had a pretty awesome social week this week, work has been tiresome, but that happens right.

The fun continues tonight with the Craftgang at class with Cheiron.

I made today's card about a week ago, using my April INKED subscription stamp (Katya) - you get a stamp every month and I prefer this to Cardkits, as I really have no need for all the paper, ink etc. Great idea by my new fave company The Ink Road.

I love this stamp, the girl looks so chilled out.

The whole card was a pretty simple make, watercolour Katya, stencil some dots, stamp a large sentiment by Paper Smooches and add some clear droplets for fun... boom done!

Hubby leaves for London later, he will be going straight to MY parents..so I am a teeny bit jealous, but I have fun Memorial Day weekend plans, so I'll be too busy to be jealous LOL.

Cx

Mini birthday cards..

Hey,

So I was making something for a friend and I stumbled across two great patterned papers I had forgotten about.

I thought it would be nice to make something using them, so they didn't get neglected again!

The main card today uses the constellation paper I found in my 'black' paper drawer. I think it is by Stampin' Up.

I thought orange would work well with it and so cut an orange mat and die-cut the sentiment by Lil Innkers out of orange card.

The next card is a teeny bit busy, but I still love it.

Don't you just love that busy leaf paper (by Recollections), feels like it would make great wallpaper and what you can't see here is that IRL the little dots are sparkly!

Again I went with orange as the accent colour and I think it really pops against the busy paper. The HB die is a freebie that I got with an English craft magazine - yeah you get FREEBIES..I miss English craft magazines..

Oh and the card blanks are my fave and JT gifts them to me all the time.

Two super simple makes, that have made another small dent in my patterned paper stash.

Cx

CAS(E) This Sketch: A little extra puff...

Hey,

When I saw the latest CAS(E) This Sketch over the weekend, I instantly had an idea.

I thought it would be fun to use the Puffer Fish and sentiment from my newest Avery Elle set 'Sea-prise'.

Instead of using the teeny tiny fish stamp that came with the set, I decided to play off of the sentiment and create a 'sea' of candles. The candle stamp is by Newton's Nook

I'm super pleased with the end result, it fits the CAS brief and it's also a lot of fun and I love how the candles do look like a 'sea'.

Love it when a plan works!

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #87 Feeling Sketchy..

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a sketch for you this time, created by me!

You know how much I love a sketch!

I decided it was time that a Monster stamp set got featured on one of my Retro Rubber cards, I swear that I haven't used one yet..which is so rare for me!

This Monster drummer comes from the 'Silly Monsters Rockstar' set by Your Next Stamp.. I love their monster stamps and I have had this one sine 2016 and sadly, I don't believe the drummer had been inked up yet.

I coloured him using Promarkers and then die-cut him using a stitched oval die by MFT. I decided to go for clashing papers for the background and border/banner strip. Weirdly they are from 2 different companies, but coordinate so well.

I decided to stamp 'on' onto the drum, so that (well in my head..) the sentiment would read 'Rock On! Do what you love, love what you do'. The sentiment stickers are by Tim Holtz.

Final touch was the large piece of bling and a handy masculine card (why are male cards so difficult..).

Show us your interpretation of the sketch and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends June 1st.

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

Nice as your butt...

Hey,

Happy Monday.

I thought I'd start the week with some positive vibes..albeit slightly cheeky ones ;)

I love this sentiment stamp by Unity Stamp Co, their sense of humour totally suits mine.

I made this card a while back when I was playing with shape stamping. I love the results you get.

For this card I masked off a circle, stamped the sentiment first and then stamped all the flowers and leaves.

All the flower and leave stamps are by Waffle Flower and MFT.

Because my card is flower focused I thought it would be a perfect fit for the current Papercraft Challenge theme, which is flowers. I am loving this new challenge discovery, not least because I won challenge #10! Yay!

I hope your Monday is as nice as your butt!

Cx

Freshly Made Sketches: Magical Birthday...

Hey,

So I decided that today was going to be a two post day as I wanted to play along with the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge -

Loved the sketch and yesterday a batch of Second-hand stamps that I bought arrived and I thought 'Magical' by Waffle Flower would work really well here.

I think I was right :)

I used an ancient piece of patterned paper for my larger rectangle, it is by Studio Calico and I think I've had it about 5 years!!

I die-cut the smaller rectangle out of cream cardstock and stamped the sentiment from the set. The 'Unicorn' I stamped and die-cut and kept the colouring super simple, as I wanted it to pop off the card.

I love it when new to me stamps work this well.

Happy Sunday.

Cx

CASology: Copper

Hey,

I liked the cue card over at CASology this week and so I whipped up a little card..

I thought that the large sentiment stamp from the 'Felicity' set by Pink Fresh Studio would work really well stamped in Copper.

I used Delicata 'Celestial Copper' ink and stamped the sentiment and the little leaf / flower bunch and then I added some clear embossing powder and heat embossed the entire thing.

I added a tiny piece of bling to the leaf/flower bundle as a finishing touch.

I'm a teeny bit sad that the 'm' in bloom filled in a bit, but I love it, so simple. so CAS.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: May Bingo Challenge..

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

Hope you are all excited for the Royal Wedding today ;)

I'm back with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 

This week we have another fave challenge - Bingo

I chose the Sparkle - 2 images merged - embossing line. I really wanted to have a go at merging two images :)

I think it turned out pretty well. I merged 2 faves of mine coffee time - expresso yourself and coffee time perk up. I have an ancient version of Photoshop, so I was able to layer the 3 cups from expresso yourself behind the perk it up image..looks like 1 stamp right!

I don't think my embossing is showing so well in my photo! But I used a fave Sizzix large spots embossing folder for the blue background and the sparkle part is pretty clear!

The sentiment is from a fun set by Simon Says Stamp.

I love this card, it came out exactly as I had planned, which is always fun when it happens.

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see what line you go with.

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Sketch Saturday #514..You Look Fabulous..

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you and welcome to the latest sketch for the Sketch Saturday challenge.

Our sponsor this week is Di's Digis and they are offering a $12 voucher to their store.

Here's the sketch, another one by me!

This week we didn't have any images from the sponsor, so I decided to use one that was created for me by a company that sadly no longer exists. They used to make great stamps in the style of the lady on my card and before they closed their business I asked them to make a couple of stamps for me.

I love how the card turned out AND I got to use a piece of ancient patterned paper - the very last piece of it!

I added hearts for 2 of the little boxes in the sketch and my lady stamp is the middle box :) I created the sentiment, using 2 different stamps.

A perfect birthday card for a friend.

I can't wait to see what you do with my sketch, but first check out what the rest of the DT have made over at Sketch Saturday.

Challenge ends 25 May 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Cx

Prima Princess: Victoria..

Hey,

Happy Friday!

I finally got my hands on this rather large Prima Princess 'Victoria'.

I have wanted her for quite a while, but she is SO big I won't use her that much, so I needed her to be at the right price point!

I decided it would be fun to stamp her onto a few watercolour postcards, meaning I get to fit most of her onto a 'card'.

For my first playtime with her I decided to follow the example on the packaging and I am super pleased with the end result.

I love leaving her un-coloured, it makes the flowers pop even more.

Hope you have a fun weekend planned..I am OBVIOUSLY getting up at the crack of dawn tomorrow am to watch the Royal Wedding..LOL..take the girl out of England..

Cx

A cozy day in..

Hey,

Today's card was made for a friend I made via Instagram.

Kathy Rac's 30 days of colouring always introduces me to new crafters and some are kindred spirits who become friends.

Cath and I had been exchanging photos of our cats (Crazy Cat ladies unite via Instagram!) and I thought of this stamp and so decided to make her a little card with it.

The stamp is 'Cozy Day In' by Newton's Nook. I love this stamp, it used to make me think of Hubby and I at home with our Cats..now we are a one cat family, it's not quite the same.

I watercoloured the stamp so that it looked like Cath and her cats.

I added white gel pen spots to the cushion, as my colours were quite similar and I thought this would help break it up a bit.

It arrived safely and Cath loved it.

Random Happy Mail strikes again.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #86

Hey,

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

The theme this time is May Flowers.

Show us your flowery makes and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends May 18th.

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

Double Challenge: You are so Awesome...

Hey,

Happy Monday.

I was lucky enough to get an honourable mention for two of my cards over at CAS(E) This Sketch and The Paper Players.

How awesome is that?

I was going to play along with both challenges anyway and then JT's card inspired me by combining them.

This week The Paper Players have a colour challenge for us -

And here is the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch -

I needed to make a leaving card for a friend and colleague and thought this would be a great way to nail that project!

I rotated the sketch, as I thought it would work better for the idea I had in mind. I've had the Neat & Tangled 'Awesome' set on my desk all weekend, I've been itching to use it!

I pulled out papers from my stash that matched the colours for Paper Players, I thought I'd use a spotty piece for a bit of interest.

The awesome die matches the set from Neat & Tangled and I totally over use it!

I love the simple, bright and cheerful end result and I think the (rather picky) recipient will love it too.

Cx

CASology: Just be-claws....

Hey,

Hope you are having a good weekend so far.

I am spending QT at my desk, now my MOJO seems to have returned..

This week's CASology cue card fits my love of the sea perfectly..

I have lots of Marine focused stamps, but I decided it would be fun to use 'Oh Crab' by Pink & Main..mainly be-claws..I lost it and then had to purchase it again,as living without it wasn't an option!

I used 'Falling Circles' by Neat & Tangled with a Blue Breeze Kaleidacolor ink pad to create the background.

The sentiment is from the Pink & Main set.

I'm pretty happy with the finished card, has a nice CAS feel to it and uses two thirds of the card, which is my fave CAS formula!

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: Say it with flowers...

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

I'm back with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 

This week we have a great theme.. Say it with flowers. Use flowers on your card.

The Sunbonnet Girls collection by Bugaboo is one of my fave digital stamp sets ever.. I have totally overused these stamps and saw no reason to stop now!

I chose Sunbonnet Flowers, she is actually one of my fave stamps in the set, so very versatile.

I coloured the image, using Promarkers and added some stickles to the flower centers.

I got a bit brave and die-cut my card blank using the biggest die in the oval window set by Xcut. I'm really glad I did, it worked out really well.

The sentiment is by Penny Black and I masked it off and stamped it twice, so I could create two little banners.

Hope you will be playing along too.

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Try it on Tuesday: Stencils and Dies and Monsters...

Hey,

Happy Friday!

I found a new to me challenge this weekend.. Try it on Tuesday.. I liked the current theme, Stencils / dies or both and so I decided to play along.

I went with both stencils and dies - I made a ton of gelli plate backgrounds a while ago using a fave Neat and Tangled circle stencil and distress paints.

I dug one out and die-cut it using a mini triangle cover plate - which I bought second-hand on a Facebook group, I think it is by MFT.

I love the end result, the big circles with the random triangles works so well.

No card is complete without a Monster..and for this card I decided to break out one of my faves by My Cute Stamp (a gift from Jen). I love this Monster so much, that I stamped him, scanned him in and die-cut a bunch on my Silhouette, as he has no dies.

For the final touch I added a sentiment by Hero Arts - which came in this set and was also a gift (from Cheiron)..my friends gift me Monster stamps all the time, they are WAAAY too kind.

I have just noticed that my Monster matches the pink background LOL..honestly that was an accident.

Cx

The Paper Players: Tea Party..

Hey,

Today I am playing along with the current Paper Players challenge.

As I am English and tea is like blood / oxygen to us it seemed like a theme for me. It also felt like a great opportunity to use a bit of shameful NBUS...I have that this pretty stamp set 'Warm Solutions' by Clearly Besotted for over a year and it has seen no ink..

I don't believe that they sell it in the format I have it in anymore, but they do have lots of other versions of it.

I didn't go with the vintage tea-cup colours for my card, I decided that my tea-cup collection would be shades of blue!

I stamped the sentiment first, then stamped the first cup and saucer and masked the cups as I went, so I could create a little stack of cups.

I decided to add the little 'steam' heart and I'm glad I did, it really finished off the card nicely.

Cx