Saturday, June 30, 2018

Catch The Bug GDT: Recipe Challenge Kraft + Colour Pop


Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

Hubby and I will mainly be recovering today from our crazy night out last night..long overdue a night of dancing.

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

This week we have a fun recipe challenge for you - Make it Bright - use Kraft and a pop of colour.

I love the Valentine Jar image by Bugaboo, I overuse it for Anniversary cards.

For this challenge, I coloured it in hot pinks!! Using promarkers and a spectrum noir sparkle pen, then I fussy cut it..I hate fussy cutting but I do it a lot!

I added black ink splatters to a white card blank, die-cut the pink embossed tag and added that to my card blank. The kraft tag is shop bought..because I love tags. I mounted the kraft one using foam tape and did the same for my fussy cut image.

I think I nailed the brief as the colour certainly does pop!

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see which image and colour you choose to use.

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

Cx

Sketch Saturday #520 Oddball Art...Stars


Hey,

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

Our sponsor this week is Oddball Art and they are offering a prize of 3 digis.

This week you can choose any sketch from 215 - 519, I chose #296, I thought it would rotate really well.
I really like the Oddball Art dollar images, they are super versatile and I fell in love with Hand Drawn Stars, I could visualise my card the minute I saw the stamp.

As you can see I rotated the sketch, so that the stamp would work better. I really like when I get to bleed off the edge of the white panel..

I coloured my image with Promarkers and added Nuvo drops here and there for some sparkle. The little flag is die-cut from an ancient scrap of glittery paper!

The sentiment was one of my first ever Lawn Fawn sets and it still gets a lot of use.

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

Challenge ends 6 July 7pm GMT / 2pm EST



Cx

Friday, June 29, 2018

Paperless Post and a Summer Party

Hey,

I've always been a fan of Paperless Post, now I know that might seem odd, as I am a paper lover.

But I find sending invites and sometimes cards digitally super handy.

A great example of how awesomely handy this can be is I recently forgot a birthday, this Unicorn card saved my bacon and a little girl got her own email card from Auntie Claire in NYC (phew!)

My work colleagues tasked me with handling the Summer Party / Leaving do for our boss, so I thought I'd build the invites in Paperless Post.

I used their latest product - Flyer.


The image on the right is actually an animated gif, so when the invitees open it, they will see the lady drinking from the straw - clever!

It was super easy to do and I can easily see who has RSVP'ed.

Go and check out the beautiful invites, cards and flyers that you can create on Paperless Post - they have a collab with Rifle Paper Co, that makes me swoon.. AND you can even get your items printed via Paper Source if you choose to.

Cx

p.s this was a sponsored post, I got some credits to play with...


Thursday, June 28, 2018

O-fish-ally awesome...



Hey,

I realised that because my Momma was here when it was Father's Day I didn't write a post about Poppa H and show his card!!

So today I'm showing you his card.

The base for my card was an old Stampin' Up cardkit, that I bought second-hand.

My Dad loves a pun, so I decided that I would use one from the great 'Dad + Me' Lawn Fawn set I bought last year. I added some Fishes from a set that I bought in the UK from The Works. I smudged some distress ink around the edges for a bit of interest.

Here is what the card looks like when the card is in it's pocket.


Momma took the card home with her for me..I believe my Dad likes it, but would rather see me :(

Cx

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

More piggies...


Hey,

So I am feeling a bit jaded today :)..one too many Planet Claire's last night..yes I was drinking something that has the same name as me..

On Saturday I got a big batch of booty from Ellen Hutson and MFT..

The Lovely Piggies set by Mama Elephant was in there and I stamped and coloured four of the Piggies, one I used for a challenge entry.

I made x3 mini cards with the other three Piggies.

I followed a little formula.. die-cut the Piggies using stitched squares or circles, use the new MFT chevron paper I bought as a background and add a simple sentiment.

I love how they came out, I might have to make a fourth one, so they are a set that I can give to someone.

Cx

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Retro Rubber Challenge #89...Tic Tac Toe... 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 have an awesome Tic-Tac-Toe grid for you.

Show us which row you have chosen for your makes and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends June 29th

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

Monday, June 25, 2018

The Paper Players: New Piggies...


Hey,

Happy Monday!

I love the sketch over at The Paper Players this week -


I decided to break out one of the new sets that arrived this weekend 'Lovely Piggies' by Mama Elephant.

I stamped my Piggy onto watercolour paper and coloured her using Distress Ink. Then I die-cut her out using a scalloped circle die from The Works.

My background paper is actually from a pack of 'wedding invite insert' paper that I got on sale last December from Paper Source..It's sooo shimmery IRL.

The grey chevron paper is new from MFT and the flowery piece is an ancient scrap from a pad by Amy Tangerine.

To finish off my card I added a die-cut thanks and stamped the rest of the sentiment all from a Hero Arts set that Cheiron gave me.

I love the end result.. I think these Piggies are a great addition to my stash, good job I stamped and coloured them all at the same time ;)

Cx

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Freshly Made Sketches..Whale Hello There!



Hey,

So I have been up since 7.45am watching World Cup Football. England won emphatically!

I love this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches -

I thought it was perfect for my new 'Ocean Pals' stamps by MFT that arrived yesterday (actually retiring, so I got it from Ellen Hutson). I stamped, watercoloured and die-cut the Whale stamp.

I embossed a white piece of paper and die-cut it a using MFT stitched rectangle die and I used the smaller die from the st to die-cut the blue panel.

The sentiment is from the Stampin' Up 'Message in a Bottle' set and worked perfectly here.

Love the clean simple card I ended up with, a great addition to my stash.

Now for more Football!

Cx

Saturday, June 23, 2018

Catch The Bug GDT: Colour Challenge..


Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

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

This week we have an awesome colour challenge for you -


I loved this colour palette and thought it would be perfect for the 4 block tulip square stamp - a firm fave of mine. I often make x4 card sets using it.

I kept my card super simple and just coloured it and mounted it onto a kraft card blank. Because there are Lady Birds (Lady Bugs to the American's) I added a teeny bit of red.

There is no sentiment, as I think I want to send it to my Aunt and so the sentiment might need to be very personal.

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see which Bugaboo image you choose to use.

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

Cx

Friday, June 22, 2018

CASology: Jumpy..


Hey,

Happy Friday to you.

I am looking forward to the weekend, but think it will feel weird without Momma for the first time in nearly 3 weeks!

I decided to drown my sorrows last night by making a card for this week's CASology cue card -


The minute I saw it, I knew it was time to pull out the Clearly Besotted 'Cheering For You' set - it's now retired, so here is a photo -


I love this set!

I die-cut the white panel first and used my Simon Says Stamp Firework stencil with distress oxide ink and then stamped the sentiment. I stamped, coloured and cut my jumping cheerleader Panda and mounted her, just above the sentiment with foam tape.

Super simple card that makes me super happy.

Have a great weekend, I will be at the gym and watching the World Cup.

Cx

Thursday, June 21, 2018

The Paper Players: Toucan of Friendship...


Hey,

Sad day today, as my Momma leaves after being here for 2 weeks. It has been SO much fun hanging out with her and I'm super sad to see her go.

Momma and I in Philadelphia
So I love bird stamps, so when I saw the challenge over at The Paper Players this week, I knew I had to enter!


I wanted to use the great 'Toucan of Friendship' set by Reverse Confetti. I stamped and coloured one of the Toucan's from the set using Zigs.

I was a bit indecisive about the background and then came across some tags that I had forgotten about (from Paper Source) and I thought it would make a great backdrop for the Toucan. So I cut off the 'tag' part as it is a super long tag!

I stamped my sentiment also from the set in the top right corner and added the Toucan using foam tape..

I love him, he's so cheerful and is going to accompany a gift for a friend.

Cx


Wednesday, June 20, 2018

CAS on Friday...Thank You...


Hey,

I recently found the CAS on Friday challenge and my first entry made top 3 :)

The current challenge is a Tic-Tac-Toe and you know I love these...


I chose the first vertical row - Thank you / Circle / Pink.

I used a new fancy circle die - my Momma basically brought all the freebies from my craft magazine subscription with her and this was one of those.

I die-cut it in a plain pink cardstock. I die-cut the Thank You (by Spellbinders) using a scrap that came from the first ever 12x12 pad that JT owned, her sister bought it for her and she gave me a piece of this beautiful pink paper and this was the last piece of it (sob).

I added 2 tiny gems for a bit more interest.

I'm super happy with my super CAS card. Also there is not a single bit of stamping!! 

Cx



Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Retro Rubber #89.. Tic-Tac-Toe..


Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

Time for another awesome Tic-Tac-Toe by Jan -


I really like Tic-Tac-Toe challenges, so many possibilities.

I chose the middle vertical row - Watercolouring - Patterned Paper - Congrats.

I love the shoe stamps in the 'Party On' stamp set by Studio Calico, I've had it since 2016 and the shoes are the main reason I bought it.

I die-cut the watercolour panel to size before I stamped the shoes, then I watercoloured them using Distress Ink.  The sentiment is from a magazine that JT gave me last year.

The patterned paper is seriously old, it is from the first 12x12 set I bought when I moved to NYC in 2013 and is by American Crafts!

Really fun and easy card to make, I actually made a bunch of them with different sentiments.

Which row will you choose? Can't wait to see your makes, pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends June 29th.

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

Monday, June 18, 2018

Stencil Backgrounds..


Hi,

Happy Monday to you!

I had a fun week off with Ma, back to work now, she is still here, but amusing herself in NYC and we are spending evenings together.

Today's cards are ones I made using one of the numerous backgrounds I created when I was having a mojo funk a few weeks ago. I showed you a card before using one of the backgrounds and there are more to come!!

The stencil I used for the first two cards is by Dina Wakely and I love it, it's so interesting. It's quite large, so I cut it in two to make the two cards you see here.

The main card uses stamps by Waffle Flower and Clearly Besotted.

The card below uses stamps by MFT... I don't love the colour of my bear, the brown feels wrong!


This card uses a stencil by Hero Arts, same MFT stamp set as above. I love the way the stripes are faded out in different places.


Restoring your mojo by playing with one thing is a great trick and it really worked for me. Now I have a lot of ready to go backgrounds and that's always a good thing.

Cx

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Catch The Bug GDT: Bugaboo Bingo...


Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

I had a great week off with my Ma, back to reality sadly on Monday.

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

This week we have bingo for you..I love a bingo challenge.


I chose to use the last vertical row - Button / Bugaboo Image / Sentiment.

I love the new Beach Duck image - not available until the 22nd of June, so this is a sneak peek for you :)

As usual, I coloured the image, using Promarkers and I used a spectrum noir sparkle pen for the darker blue stripes, so IRL you can see some shimmer.

I used a scrap of yellow paper that I thought co-ordinated well here and for some extra sparkle I added a glittery blue strip.

The button is from my VAST button collection..

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see which row you decide to use.

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

Cx

Sketch Saturday #518..Scrap N Dipity..Ice-Cream Mountain..


Hey,

Happy Saturday to you and 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 from their store.

Here's the sketch...


I loved the fun Ice-Cream Mountain stamp, it looked like it was going to be a lot of fun to colour and it really was.

I rotated the sketch and made the background using various scrap pieces of paper from my stash and a rectangle stitched die and a square stitched die. After colouring the stamp, I fussy cut it out (ugh) and mounted it onto my background using foam tape. I added a bit of Nuvo crystal clear dots for some sparkle.

The sentiment sticker is by Tim Holtz and it made me laugh, as I always want a crazy tower of ice-cream and Hubby says NO because I always spill it, drop it, etc..

I can't wait to see what you do 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

Friday, June 15, 2018

Throw on a Crown...


Hey,

Happy Friday!

Today is my last day off, Momma will be here until next Thurs, but I sadly have to go back to work.

A friend (Kelly) that I made via Instagram recently sent me x2 stamps..so sweet of her. She said they reminded her of me LOL.

One of the stamps was the awesome 'Crown' sentiment above..

I had a loss of mojo moment about 4 weeks ago and so I sat at my desk with my stencil drawer, distress inks and a water sprayer and just made tons and tons of backgrounds..some good, some bad.

I chose the one you see on my card because I thought it looked a bit like a palace and felt appropriate for the sentiment.

I'll show you more of the cards I've been making using the backgrounds over the next week or so.

Cx

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Llama tell you...


Hey,

I made today's cards a couple of weekend's ago when Hubby was away.

When Hubby is away I get to stay up late and craft - which is my fave time to craft. I can't do this when he is here, as my craft room is half of our bedroom...yeah who thought that was a good plan! That is sadly what happens when you live in a tiny 1 bed New York apartment.

I found a pack of x6 frames in Michaels for 50 cents and I thought I'd make a couple of random cards with them.

I used my Gerda Steiner 'Llama tell you' set for both cards and the same scalloped die for the background.

The first card was cracking me up as I made it, because of the expressions on the Llama's faces. It totally reminded me of Lemon and I when we take photos, one of us always has the 'what are you doing' expression.

Here's the second card, same format, but I found a random die-cut frame and thought it would be fun to use it here.


I love it when I can have a play at my desk and just make random cards for no reason. AND look how much patterned paper I used..not that my stash seems to be going down at all!

Cx

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Coffee and Books...


Hey,

All my posts this week are scheduled as I am on vacay with my Momma.

I made today's card a few weeks ago to accompany a gift that I was sending to someone.

Love this stamp by Unity Stamp Co..it was a really delight to watercolour. The sentiment is by The Ink Road and was from their April stamp club.

I used a MFT wonky stitched rectangle die to die-cut the panel and mounted it onto a co-ordinating card blank.

I like smaller sized card blanks and I often buy them on sale and they sometimes have text / images on. These ones have thank you on them, I loved the stripes.

Cx

Monday, June 11, 2018

Chalkboard Birthday...



Hey,

Happy Monday to you.

Momma and I are in Philly right now for a few days, tonight we are having dinner with JTs parents, tomorrow Ma is going to visit a friend and I am having lunch with a friend. Fun times.

Whilst Hubby was away in London I got to indulge in some late night craft adventures..which resulted in me finding a box of backgrounds that I had made and die-cut?! I seriously have no recollection of this, but yay!

So I made x2 cards using a couple of the backgrounds I found..I also found the chalkboard tags that you can see on the cards - there were at least 10 of them in the box and they have different patterns on.

I used a scripty stamp (Avery Elle 'Brushed') and white pigment ink to get that chalkboard effect - I'm super pleased with how the sentiment came out.

The two backgrounds I used were both made using Tim Holtz stencils and distress stains.

Here's the other card -


Won't it fun when I have a big enough craft room to keep everything sensibly organised (sigh).

Cx

Saturday, June 9, 2018

Catch The Bug GDT: Theme Make a Splash...


Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

My Momma is here and we are heading to Philly tomorrow, but today we will be lunching and loafing around in NYC.

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


This week we have a great theme - Make a Splash

I am a huge fan of all the Poppi stamps, so it was a no-brainer for me to use a Poppi stamp for this challenge. I chose 'Water Toy'.

I coloured the image, using Promarkers and then die-cut it using a stitched square die by Lawn Fawn. The background paper is also by Lawn Fawn. I added a glittery silver strip for a bit of interest.

The sentiment is from an old set by Simon Says Stamp 'Flip Flop Season' and it totally reflects my hopes for less rain and more sun!

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see which image you choose to use.

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

Cx

Friday, June 8, 2018

Crazy For CAS - Great Adventure...


Hey,

Happy Friday!

Today is my last day of work for a week, as my Momma is here and I am going to hang out with her.

I came across a new to me challenge this week - Crazy for CAS..I really liked the DT makes and thought I'd play along.

This time you have to CASE this card -


I decided I would use a NBUS stamp for this card - 'Rosie and Bernie love to explore' by Stamping Bella. I LOVE the Rosie and Bernie stamps and I have them all..

I stamped and coloured the stamp, I realised that none of my dies would cut it without chopping off part of the image, so I used my trimmer to cut the white panel to size.

Again in the interest of making my patterned paper stash smaller, I dug through the archives and found a great piece by American Crafts.

I popped up the main panel and added a Tim Holtz sticker for the sentiment, which seemed to fit the image perfectly.

Easy peasy and super CAS.

Have a great weekend.

Cx

Thursday, June 7, 2018

Color Throwdown: Monster Birthday Hugs..



Hey,

Today my Momma arrives for 2 weeks and I have next week off - whoop!

I saw the colours over at Color Throwdown this week and had to play along..


So many possibilities with this combo.

Of course I had to use a Monster ;)

I cut a black card black and adhered my coverplate die-cut to it (MFT Peek a boo dots).

I embossed part of a pale blue piece of card and added that to my card to anchor my Monster and the sentiment.

The Monster is from the Bo Bunny 'Monsters' set and was a gift from my friend Jen. I coloured him with promarkers and fussy cut him.

I added the sentiment using my label maker and a MFT die..

I love how it came out and the pale blue really pops against the black and white.. I think I'm going to make a whole bunch of stuff with this combo.

Cx

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Clumsy Kitty....


Hey,

I bought a whole bunch of stamps when I was in London last October.. and sadly they have been NBUS until now!

They are quite random!

They all feature a Cat and he has all kinds of random objects / critters with him.

Today's card uses the one with the Kitty holding a fishbowl. It also comes with a few 'spare' fish stamps.

Because of the look on his face I thought it would be fun to have a few 'leaping' out of the fishbowl.

The sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp and was a perfect fit here.

I haven't played with all the other ones yet..so watch this space.

Cx

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Retro Rubber Challenge #88.. Anything Goes...


Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

It's time for everyone's fave  -


Watercolor Wings by Stampin' Up is a fave set of mine and when I first got it in 2015, it got totally overused..sadly it's been a bit neglected over the last 6 months or so.

I stamped the pink and black parts of the butterfly using ink and the white parts were heat embossed. Once I had finished heat embossing, I spritzed it with water, to get the pink 'bleed'.

I have this random dot stamp on my desk (I can't find the set its from...6months..) and I thought it would look fun here to add it here and there.

The sentiment is a freebie from a UK magazine that JT gave me last year. I am hoping for more 'free gifts' this week, as my Momma arrives on Thursday for a 2 week visit.

This is the best bit about Retro Rubber for me, giving an older, slightly neglected set a new lease of life.

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

Challenge ends June 15th.

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