CTD: Oh Hello Awesome Friend....

Hey,

Happy Sunday to you..

I had a great birthday party on Friday night..I am still recovering a bit to be honest ;)

Yesterday I spent some QT at my desk, as I am leaving for London on Friday I wanted to make the time count, even with a hangover.

I love this week's colours over at Color Throwdown -

I bought the Fashion Forward stamps by Dina Wakely whilst I was in Tampa earlier this month and I had this idea that meant I got to play with them.

I stamped one of the ladies from the set and then stamped over it, using a stamp from the Avery Elle 'Texture Tiles' set in teal ink.

I thought that it would be cool to add the other two colours in the sentiment. The awesome die is by Neat & Tangled and I always forget I have it..  The green part was a piece of scrap paper and the glittery silvery grey awesome was cut from glitter vinyl.

I decided to add a few more stamped parts to the sentiment and they are by Studio Katia.

I am really pleased with the end result, it's going to make a great birthday card.

Cx

Catch The Bug: Saturday Challenge.. Recipe..

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

Yesterday was my birthday, so I have no doubt that today I am experiencing a rather large hangover!!

This week over at the Catch The Bug Saturday challenge we have a recipe for you -

Use 1 ribbon, 2 images and 3 buttons.

I merged two Bugaboo images together - Flower Puppy (which is the Friday freebie this week) and Rickety Fence, I thought they worked well together.

I coloured the images, using Promarkers and die-cut it using a stitched die. I added some twine (kind of ribbon right?) and Candi's for my buttons.

The sentiment made me laugh and is by CAS-ual Friday's and I think it will make a fun birthday card - I'm planning on stamping 'it's your birthday..' inside.

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see how you make the recipe work.

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

Cx

This is 45...

Hey,

So as you have probably realised I am so vain that I write birthday posts about myself. LOL.

I'm keeping this one brief, as I already wrote war and peace on getting fit earlier this year!

I am however sticking to the same theme as last year's post..

Essentially be grateful, be happy, be strong, be healthy.

Today as I turn 45, I am super grateful that I am heading into the last 5 years of my 40s in the best shape of my life - mentally and physically.

I have this ridiculously amazing Husband, a super supportive family and a posse of friends that essentially carry me through life.

There really isn't much more to say, I'm very lucky to have the life I have and I am super grateful for that and for all the people around me.

45 felt a bit daunting a few weeks ago, but now I'm all 'bring it on'..because age is just a number, how you feel and how you act (in my case like a 5 year old) are all that matters.

The main photo is a series of fun photos taken to celebrate my 45th birthday, here's another one.

I'm a little bit in love with how these photos came out!

As per the last 5 years in NYC, I will be heading to Vamos! to drink my body weight in Margarita's - everyone is welcome to join me..just don't try and match me drink for drink...

Have a great weekend.

Cx

Christmas Card 2018: Masked Stars...

Hey,

Today I am sharing a simple Christmas Card make.

I made 15+ of these.. SO easy.

The sentiment is by Pink Petticoat (digital stamps and papers) so I printed out a bunch of them and then die-cut the white panel to size.

I keep the 'inserts' from new stamp sets for exactly this purpose, as they are generally quite heavyweight paper. I die-cut a medium sized star out of two of these inserts, threw away the star and used the aperture as my mask - one for the red, one for the blue.

Then I blended ink through the masks and spritzed them with a bit of gold shimmer spray.

The adorable glittery angels were a gift from my Godson's mother to say thank you for his trip. They are self adhesive, but annoyingly they come with one awkward glue dot, so I removed those and affixed them using my fave Aleene's white glue.

Super easy, super cute.

Cx

Make a wish upon a Starfish...

Hey,

Last week it was my friend Kimberly's birthday and she LOVES Mermaids..

So I thought it was a perfect excuse to finally play with the Simon Says Stamp cardkit that has been languishing on my desk..

I stamped one of the Mermaid stamps in Versamark and added white embossing powder, so that I could blend over it to create a cool resist.

I used a new MFT waves stencil that I bought on sale to create the fun wavy shapes that you can see and I used four different colours of Distress Oxide to blend with.

Before I stamped the sentiment I spritzed the background with gold shimmer spray and IRL it was SUPER shimmery.

The sentiment came with the stamp set.

Love, love, love how this came out and I hope Kimberly did too.

Cx

Retro Rubber #96.. Get Your Sketch On!!

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a sketch for you this time, created by me, which feels even more special this week, as it is my birthday on Friday.

As it's my birthday week, I thought a birthday card would be appropriate. And it felt like the right time to bring out a rather neglected Avery Elle set - 'Pure Magic' that I have had since it's release in 2016.

I rotated the sketch, partly because I needed to fit in the gi-normous sentiment from the Waffle Flower 'Magical' set - I bought a $20 second-hand grab bag and to my delight this set and it's dies were in the grab bag..they are worth $20 alone!


I pulled out a bunch of scrap papers and die-cut all the pieces to fit the sketch. The little piece of gold sparkly paper is from approx 2012 and there is only 1 teeny tiny piece left!

I love how this came out, the mix of patterns and the cute bunny surprisingly worked really well together.

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 October 5th.

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(E) this Sketch: Oceans of Fun...

Hey,

Happy Monday to you...

I am obviously super excitable this week, as it is my birthday on Friday and I LOVE birthdays, especially ones that fall on a Friday. I'm going to be 45 and to be honest I'm a bit in shock, where did the last like 20 years go?!

Anyway, last Friday night I had a little playdate with myself as I wanted to play with some of the NBUS I have recently acquired.

I am a big fan of CAS(E) This Sketch and this week's sketch is to die for..

So much possibility.

I decided to create blended masked stripes. I used Distress Oxides (from top to bottom - Tumbled Glass, Broken China and Faded Jeans). I love to mask off stripes, they are so easy and you get such a great look.

I chose the blue tones, because I wanted to use my new Jillibean Soup/Hampton Arts 'Whale Done' set. I have been wanting this set for ages and I finally saw it on sale at my fave Etsy shop. I LOVE the Jellyfish so pretty..can't wait to heat emboss him.

I stamped him over the stripes and added a sentiment from the set.

I think this is going to get used as a birthday card and I might even crank out a few more!!

Cx

I doubt Vodka is the answer..

Hey,

Today Hubby and I will be heading home from Philly (in time for the first NFL game of the day) after a brief visit to celebrate our friend's 40th birthday.

Geck and Hubby went to school together and he and his wife moved to just outside of Philly shortly after we arrived in NYC. It is nice to have familiar faces not too far away.

I wanted to make him a cheeky card and went searching for inspiration. I stumbled across the Vodka quote and thought it was perfect.

I re-created the quote and printed it out. As it's about booze, I thought that some of the glasses from the Waffle Flower 'Currently Drinking' set would make a great backdrop for the big sparkly 40.

The 40 was die-cut from glitter vinyl, I bought a pack of 20 6x6 sheets on Prime Day earlier in the year and I am now wishing I bought more..

I love how the card turned out, a bit cheeky and fun and I really like the monochrome feel, which was a happy accident.

Cx

Catch The Bug: Saturday Photo Challenge...

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

Hubby and I are heading to Philly this weekend to celebrate a good friend's 40th birthday,

This week over at the Catch The Bug Saturday challenge we have a photo challenge for you.

I decided to pull out the colours and work with reds and greens.

I love the Cherry Bird stamp and thought it worked really well with the photo.

I coloured the image, using Promarkers and die-cut it using a stitched circle die. I decided that it would be fun to stamp leaves onto the red background, again matching the leaves in the image.

It accidentally turned out to be a fun Christmas Card!

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

Sketch Saturday #532..Fabrika Fantasy...

Hey,

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

Our sponsor this week is Fabrika Fantasy and they are offering 3 digis from their store.

Here's the sketch...

I chose to use Cute Hippos (the version on my card is no longer available, the link is to a newer version).

As this week's sketch is by my bestie Jessie, I thought it was only fitting that I used it to make a anniversary card for her and her hubby :)

I chose purple as my main colour, as I know Jessie loves her some purple LOL. I coloured the stamps and die-cut it out using a stitched circle. I added a heart punch border strip and some enamel dots to fit the sketch. The sentiment is by Mama Elephant.

I was pretty pleased with how this came out.

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 on my birthday! 28th Sept 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Cx

Toucan of My Thanks...

Hey,

Happy Friday.

I am pretty glad this week is over, it has been mentally and physically exhausting. 

My very sweet and well raised Godson Ben sent me a gift to say thank you for his 16th birthday trip (to visit Hubby and I in NYC for x5 days).

He obviously paid attention to who we are, as he sent us this amazing fridge magnet to go with the rest of the hideousness on our fridge - 

It fits perfectly!

Then he sent me a few crafty things, very well chosen and so thoughtful. The journal is lovely and he knows I love journals, we looked at a LOT of them when he was here LOL.

It was all accompanied by a thank you note, that made me a teeny bit emotional. It's all so very thoughtful and kind and personal. Love that a 16 year old boy can be so comfortable in his own skin, it bodes well for the future.

I obviously had to make him a thank you card, so I broke out the Toucan die that came in one of the gifts and went to work.

The background paper is from the massive stack we got given at Crop on The Cape. I love the Spellbinders Thank You die, it is one of the most used things in my craft room. It wasn't popping enough, so I added a piece of velum.

The Toucan was fun to put together and as I used my mini die-cutter to die-cut the 3 pieces to make him, I used a spotty embossing folder and if you look at Mr Toucan carefully, you will see the dots. Obvs, I added a googly eye. No creature is safe from my tin of googly eyes.

I hope Ben likes it and recognises 'his' Toucan.

Have a great weekend, Hubby and I are heading to Philly tomorrow for a friends 40th birthday.

Cx

p.s could not resist the punny title - Lauren Bergold would be proud x

CASology: Dress..

Hey,

So it's been a while since I have had the time to play along with any challenges and one of my faves is CASology.

So I was delighted when I saw this week's cue card -

I just finished the card for my amazing cleaner Paula - she is fantastic and she has been with us since 2013 and I literally don't know what we would do without her AND Boscat adores her. She got married on Saturday, so I made this card for her and her new husband.

I thought it would work perfectly for the challenge as the stamp (an all time fave by Stamping Bella) is really all about the dress.

I kept it all pretty simple and CAS, I die-cut the panel using a stitched rectangle die and added the great sentiment arrow die by MFT - LOVE these dies (no longer available). I used a scrap of sparkly pink paper, as Paula is a pink girl.

I made exactly the same card in yellows and gold for my work colleague Nicole who is getting married on the 29th Sept.

Love both of these, this stamp always makes such lovely wedding cards. Sadly you cannot see how shimmery the dresses are IRL from my photos.

Cx

Getting it done...

Hey,

Recently in the US office we got a new boss - Sarah.

She is pretty damn awesome and Nicole and I love her.

It's her birthday this week and so along with the gift we bought her, we wanted to give her a personalised card.

In her work bio they wrote that 'Sarah gets shit done.' hahahahaha - so true and perfect for a card.

I printed the text, then chose the awesome Daisy Girl by Unity Stamp Co. and stamped that just above the text.

Coloured with promarkers, added a bit of glitter glue for some shimmer and die-cut the panel out. I chose a cheery yellow card blank, as it matched the flowers and Sarah's sunny disposition.

Hope she loves it as much as we do.

Cx

P.s do you like my new backdrop for my card photos?

Retro Rubber Challenge #95..Photo Inspiration..Still time to play,..

Hey,

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

This time we have a photo challenge for you, get inspired by the image.

Show us what the photo inspires you to make  and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends September 21st.

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

Catch The Bug: Saturday Bingo Challenge!!

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you...

I'm feeling the burn today - 4 back to back gym sessions will do that!

This week over at Catch The Bug Saturday challenge, we have a bingo theme for you.

Here is the grid -

I decided to go with the middle vertical line 'Red, Washi Tape, Sparkle'. I thought this line would work well with the 'Big Books Girl' image that I wanted to use. 

I coloured the image, using Promarkers, adding some red accents to the books. I love this pack of new card blanks and I thought the b&w polka dots would work well with the red. I managed to combine all 3 elements of the line I chose - because my washi tape is sparkly AND red - result.

It looks super sparkly in real life. I opted to use a different sentiment (not the one that comes with the stamp), as I wanted to send this card to a friend.

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

Fishy congrats...

Hey,

So before my vacay I heard that my Godson Ben (who was here in July) passed his exams with flying colours!

YAY!!

I wanted to make him a card but ran out of time before I left for Tampa. So I made this card when I got back last weekend.

As I always play along with The Daily Marker colouring challenges, I generally have fun things coloured and ready to convert into cards.

I had stamped all the fun ugly fishes from my all time fave Avery Elle set 'That Bites' onto watercolour paper and coloured them using distress inks and a paintbrush. The smaller fishes are by Simon Says Stamp.

I added sparkly alpha stickers (purchased in a RIDICULOUS craft haul in Tampa).

I love how weird it is, totally perfect for a card from me to Ben.

Here is a photo of Ben, Charity and I at the top of The Empire State Building (Charity works in the building and got us free passes..whoop).

Cx

Christmas Card 2018: Fa La La La Llama..

Hey,

Llama's are everywhere right now.

I loved the 2017 Fa La La La Llama by Neat and Tangled and Cheiron managed to get hold of it for me.

These cards are a bit fussier than my normal Christmas cards. When you have a list of approx. 120 people..bulk easy make is best.

But these were the first ones I made and so I stamped and coloured the Llama's and the presents, which was a lot of fun.

I die-cut them all out and added them to my stamped and stenciled backgrounds (Falling Flakes by Neat and Tangled and Spiral Dots by Dutchdoobadoo).

I stamped the sentiment in different positions, depending on the background.

Fun cards. Love it when a stamp I really wanted turns out to be awesome.

Cx

Retro Rubber #95 School Days...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a fun 'School Days' theme, you can be inspired by the photo or great a School themed card..

The awesome challenge image inspired me to pull out my fave Clearly Besotted 'Apple of my Eye' sets (slightly different now) - there are x2 and they are from 2015 and 2016 respectively.

I had a LOT of fun creating the background -

Yes - 9 stamp blocks were used!! I have x3 different stamp platforms, but sometimes only a stamp block (or blocks) will do.

When Heffy Doodle first announced that they would be launching a stamp / die collection, I saw a Instagram post that featured the 'Happy Snappy Crocs' set and I had to have it.

I stamped one of the Crocs from the set onto green chevron paper and die-cut him out using the co-ordinating die, the beauty of these dies is that his 'hands / paws / claws' have a little notch for holding things. Cue a mad hunt for an apple in my stamps that was small enough to fit - I think the one I found is by Ellen Hutson.

I didn't want to cover my background too much, so I cut a piece of vellum and stamped the sentiment from the Clearly Besotted set using Stazon, directly onto the vellum.

I love this card, the little Croc really makes me happy.

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

Challenge ends Sept 21st.

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

Sketch Saturday #530.. Big Wet Kisses...

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you - Hubby and I will be having one last lunch with The Wife in Tampa and then heading home to NYC (boo), vacay has been a lot of fun.

 Welcome to the latest sketch for the Sketch Saturday challenge.

Our sponsor this week is Sparkle and Sprinkle and they are offering $15 gift certificate to their store.

Here's the sketch...

I loved the Big Wet Kisses stamp, perfect for me right now, as Sept and Oct is anniversary heavy!

I printed the stamp twice and cut one out to use as a mask. Then I masked off the top of the card to match the sketch and stamped over both masks using one of my fave Stampin' Up stamps - Brushstrokes (no longer available). I used a mix of distress inks and some water on the stamp to get the patchy watery feel.

Then I die-cut the entire panel and added some sparkly blue tape and stamped the sentiment (a freebie from JT).

It turned out pretty well and is a nice addition to my anniversary pile.

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 Sept 14th 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Cx

Catch The Bug: Saturday Challenge 'Make Us Smile'...

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

Today is the last day of my vacation, pretty sad to be leaving Tampa...

It's time for the Catch The Bug team Saturday challenge. 

This week we have a fun theme 'Make Us Smile'

When I saw this new release 'Stella and Gus Cards' stamp I laughed out loud!

I printed the image and the sentiment and coloured the stamp using Letraset Brushmarkers. I die-cut the white panel using a scalloped die (bought second hand, no idea who it is by). And I chose to affix the white panel to a fun striped card blank.

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

p.s the image should be in the Bugaboo store, but at the time of writing the post it wasn't released yet ;)

Christmas Card 2018: Merry Monster Christmas...

Hey,

Happy Friday.

Last full day of vacay today. We have had a very very relaxing time. It has been great to hang out with the Wife, I'm gonna miss her.

Today's Christmas card was a bit of an experiment. I bought a large 'Noel' banner in the sale from Hema when I was in London in August, I thought I could chop it up and use parts of it on Christmas cards.

The glittery tree thing is part of the banner and I dug out some awesome Tim Holtz Monster dies that Cheiron gave me and die-cut him in a Christmassy green. I added a red panel behind him to highlight his face better.

I used my Dymo labeler to create the sentiment and used a great piece of spotty paper (from JT) as my base.

It came together really well and I think I'll be making a couple more.

Have a great weekend, we'll be partying in Tampa tonight, lunching with the Wife tomorrow before we leave and hitting the sofa's for the first NFL Sunday of the season - WHOOP.

Cx

Christmas Card 2018: Newton's Nook..Sandy Christmas..

Hey,

And so it begins..

I normally start making Christmas cards around 1st of August, but this year I was in London at that time, so started a bit later AND I have 20 cards left from last year.

I stamped a bunch of Christmas stuff to take on my vacation and I have been busy this week colouring them, as I sit by the pool.

I did make a few things before I left though and today's cards use a fave Christmas set by Newton's Nook 'Sun Soaked Christmas'. There are several of these Christmas in the sun type sets out there and I have a few of them, it makes me happy to think about Christmas not being cold - one day..

Making Christmas cards like these is SUPER easy with a stamp platform, I just set it up and stamp as many cards as I want. Simples.

I coloured these using Letraset BrushMarkers and then die-cut them using a MFT stitched rounded rectangle die.

The card blanks are smaller than usual and are from the Target 'dollar' bins - 20 cards for $3..

A really easy way to ease myself into Christmas card making this year.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #94...Anything Goes..Still time to play..

Hey,

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

The theme this time is a fave for most people...Anything Goes.

We can't wait to see your cards and projects, pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends September 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

Smile..it looks great on you...

Happy Labor Day!!

Live from Tampa!

We are having a bit of rain this afternoon, whilst we wait for The Wife to arrive..

So I thought I'd share a card with you.

I saw this new Waffle Flower stamp 'Picture Perfect' and I had to have it. I love the fun combo of the Parrot, Snail and Monkey - so weird, so very me.

The sentiment is part of the stamp, but I am planning to make a version where I mask of the sentiment and use something different. For a first use of it, I wanted to use it as it came.

I stamped it onto watercolour paper, so I could colour it with Distress Inks.

Fun cheery card that feels a bit like my vacation...I'm going to have first dibs on saying I am the Monkey and Hubby and The Wife can fight it out for the other 2 creatures ;)

Cx

Catch The Bug: Anything Goes...

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

I'm currently in Tampa on my Summer vacation - whoop whoop...

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

This week we have everyone's fave - Anything Goes.

JT bought me the awesome JJ Coffee to Go stamp a while ago and it's one of my faves.

I printed both the image and the sentiment and coloured the image, using Promarkers. I wanted to keep it simple, as it's quite a large in your face sentiment (that I am sure we can all relate to..).

The background paper is super ancient and I think I started with 4 sheets of it like 10 years ago, but it just doesn't seem to run out!!

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