CASE: Kinda Eclectic..

Hey,

Happy Friday to you!!

Hubby and I leave for London tonight, part work, part fun. It is my companies annual Christmas trip - they take all of us employees and our partners on a 3 day European vacation - I know, unbelievable right?!

This year we are going to Porto in Portugal and we are leaving a week today, but before that we are heading to London for a few days with our families and a few days of working out of our London offices.

Today's card I actually made for a friend, then decided that it was too fussy for her (she is the Queen of CAS).

It's actually a CASE of a card I saw on Pinterest and realised that I have that stamp set!

The stamp set is Kinda Eclectic by Stampin' Up and I think it is discontinued now.

I kept most of the card as a straight CASE, but used a different large Butterfly (Clearly Besotted) and sentiment (Scrapbook.com own brand).

It's actually in my hand luggage, as I think my Momma might like it for one of her friends / colleagues.

Have a great weekend, I'll be napping, eating, hanging with my folks, going to SoccerBall with Poppa and missing my craft desk.

Cx

Love and a Cat...

Hey,

I have friends who are cat people and some who are dog people..

So generally when I am making cards for these people I try and think about what they might prefer, as I tend to use critters / animals / monsters a lot.

I wanted to make a fun anniversary card for my friends who have been married for like a bejillion years! And remembered I have this fun cat stamp by Unity Stamp Co, that I have hardly used.

This was another super simple make, I stamped the cat and the sentiment (I added the Happy Anniversary part), coloured the cat with Promarkers and added a bit of sparkle pen to his bow tie and the heart.

Die-cut it out and voila! Anniversary card.

I love the sentiment, it's pretty true in my house.

Cx

Big Birthday Stars...

Hey,

So I have been a bit blog lax recently, but it is all part of my 2018 promise to myself not to worry so much about a few gaps here and there.

But I realised that my 'to be blogged' folder is overflowing and it's time to share that bounty :)

Today's cards are super simple, quick makes that I did just before Vegas because I wanted to play with my new stencil. It's from The Inkpad and is one their random no label stencils that they sell, I like these a lot, as they are inexpensive and varied.

I love stars especially in stencils.

I used 3 colours of distress oxides for each card and then die-cut them out using a stitched rectangle die.

The Happy Birthday die is a new addition to my stash from a friend and it's by Stampin' Up.

Love the big impact of these simple cards.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #100 ...Blog Hop to celebrate - still time to play

Hey,

There is still time for you to join in our first ever blog hop for the Retro Rubber Challenge.

We are celebrating our 100th challenge!

Here’s the scoop…play along with our celebration themed tic tac toe challenge!

Then hop around to all of the design team blogs and leave a comment!

Each team member is offering up some surprise retro (new but older than a year) goodies to one lucky person who leaves a comment on their blog.  That means there will be seven winners!*

As always, we will be listing the five top picks with the winning pick receiving a prize for this challenge only.

Next in line is the lovely Neva Cole and here is the full hop list for you -

Donna Idlet
Maria Rodriguez
Jan Clothier
LeAnne Pugliese
Jane Knudsen

I hope you are going to hop along with us AND make a card, 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.

Challenge ends November 30th.

Cx

*You do not have to enter the challenge to win but you must leave a comment on the design team blogs in order to have a chance to win!

**I'll be posting my goodies to 'my' winner after the 10th December, as I will be out of the Country until then.

Catch The Bug: New Release Tuesday..Sunbonnet Girl..

Hey,

I am back with the Catch The Bug team, I had a little break due to the trapped nerve issue.

As today is Tuesday, it is New Release day..

We are celebrating the Christmas season with a new Sunbonnet girl. I LOVE these stamps and had them all even before I joined the team.

You will be able to find her over on the Bugaboo home page.

I coloured the image, using Promarkers and then fussy cut her out.

I have been itching to use the snowflake die by Penny Black (I bought it on super bargain sale a while back) and I thought it would work really well with this image.

I heat embossed the sentiment and it came together so well that I made a bunch of them!

I hope I've inspired you to swing by the Bugaboo store. Be sure to swing by the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes with this awesome release.

Cx

CASology: Girl

Hey,

I hope you have had a fun weekend so far?

I have had a really nice time, hanging with Hubby, shopping and playing at my desk.

I wanted to play along with a challenge this weekend, so I had a look at a couple of my faves and picked out a few to play with.

First up is the CASology challenge - here is this week`s cue card -

I liked the idea of making a `Girl` focused card, I have a lot of girls in my life.

My card actually combines three stamp sets. The main girl stamp is by Unity Stamp Co `Today I am Happy`, I stamped it onto my watercolour cardstock and used distress inks to watercolour her, I added some sparkle with Spectrum Noir sparkle pens.

I built the sentiment using two stamp sets - I masked off part of the `Girl Boss` stamp, from the Sweet Stamp Shop `Girl Boss` set. The second part of the sentiment is from the Jillibean Soup `Friends` set.

I always default to blues or purples...

This little card will be winging it`s way to a good friend shortly.

Have a great Sunday, I am heading to the gym and then planting myself on the sofa for NFL Sunday!

Cx

Weird Piggies...

Hey,

Happy Black Friday to you!

If you are in America, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

I had a great day, hanging with Hubby - basically watching him cook :) He is the best ever. I made a chocolate cake which is fave and there ends my contribution to the full Turkey dinner. We also watched all the NFL on offer and caught up with my parents and gave Boscat a mini Turkey dinner treat - which she LOVED.

Today, I am showing you a few little panels I made a few weeks ago. They did actually become fun cards, but guess what..I forgot to take photos of them before I sent them out! UGH.

Anyway...

The stamp is awesome and by Paper Artsy and was a gift from Cheiron. The minute she gave it to me I knew it would work really well with my current fave thing - Andy Skinner dots stencil.

I stamped the winged piggy and then masked him off and used distress oxides through the stencil over him.

I totally love the bright, fun, slightly weird end result and I'm going to mimic it, in my art journal.

Have fun today if you are shopping. I did most of mine in Vegas (which was so much crazy fun, I can't even begin to explain) and online. Today I will be just hitting a couple of local stores that I like to go to.

It's been a great week of vacay, sad to go back to work on Monday, but it will be nice to catch-up with the ladies.

Cx

Retro Rubber #100... Celebration Time..

Hey,

Welcome to the first ever blog hop for the Retro Rubber Challenge.

We are changing things up a bit to celebrate our 100th challenge!

Can you believe that?! I am amazed at how the time has flown by. I have been a part of the Retro Rubber team since the start and I can honestly say my teamies are pretty awesome!

Here’s the scoop…play along with our celebration themed tic tac toe challenge!

Then hop around to all of the design team blogs and leave a comment!

Each team member is offering up some surprise retro (new but older than a year) goodies to one lucky person who leaves a comment on their blog.  That means there will be seven winners!*

As always, we will be listing the five top picks with the winning pick receiving a prize for this challenge only.

For my card I chose the first vertical row - balloons / ink smooshing / glitter or sparkle.

I created my smooshed background using Distress Oxides (Wilted Violet, Stormy Sky, Picked Raspberry). I love Oxides and I love smooshing.

The balloon stamp is actually quite new, but I thought it suited the theme so well that I had to use it. I stamped it in Versamark ink onto my background and added WOW sparkly embossing powder, it is ridiculously sparkly in real life!

The Hippo 'holding' the balloons is by MFT and I have had him just over a year and the sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp and I've had it since 2015.

Love a combo of old and new and if I was physically able to be with my teamies today I am sure it would be a fab party!

Next in line is the lovely Neva Cole and here is the full hop list for you -

Donna Idlet
Maria Rodriguez
Jan Clothier
LeAnne Pugliese
Jane Knudsen

I hope you are going to hop along with us AND make a card, 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.

Challenge ends November 30th.

Cx

*You do not have to enter the challenge to win but you must leave a comment on the design team blogs in order to have a chance to win!

**I'll be posting my goodies to 'my' winner after the 10th December, as I will be out of the Country until then.

Sketch Saturday #540...A Day for Daisies..

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you, Hubby and I arrived in Las Vegas last night and I have no doubt that as you read this, we are sleeping off whatever mischief we got into last night ;)

Welcome to the latest sketch for the Sketch Saturday challenge.

Our sponsor this week is A Day for Daisies and they are offering a $12 gift certificate to their store.

Here's the sketch by me!

I love ADFD stamps, they are one of my absolute fave digi stamp companies. I fell in love with the Aloha Petals image and had to use her for this challenge.

I had this idea in mind about how to use an oval die (stitched ovals by MFT), but have the lady's hand poking out.. much research later and I FINALLY got it right (3 attempts).. I coloured the image using promarkers and added some detail to her swimsuit.

I used all paper scraps for this card. The heart papers are by Lawn Fawn and the sparkly blue paper is an offcut from a bigger sheet. The birthday banner is a random embellishment that I had on my desk and it had a longer sentiment, but I didn't want that, so I cut it down.

It's so bright and cheery, it made me long for Summer..sigh.

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 November 23rd 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Cx

CAS(E) this Sketch - Colour Pop Birthday..

Hey,

Happy Friday!!

Hubby and I are leaving for Vegas tonight - WHOOP!! And then we are off all of next week, partly in Vegas and partly at home celebrating Thanksgiving.

I loved the sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch this week -

So before the NFL last night I had a quick play with it,

The minute I saw the sketch I knew I wanted to use the Avery Elle 'Brushed' set to create the two 'stripes'. I stamped all three brushstrokes from the set in navy blue ink.

I embossed the non-stamped part using a new Becky Higgins folder and then I die-cut the whole panel using a stitched rectangle die.

I found a random square of navy polka dot paper, so die-cut a circle from it and because I wanted the sentiment to pop, I die-cut it in red.  The rest of the sentiment is by MFT from their 'Label Maker Love' set.

A super quick and easy card, love, love, love this sketch and how my card came out.

Have a great weekend, bar a couple of scheduled posts, you probably won't hear from me until after Thanksgiving!

Cx

Handsome Hipster Birthday...

Hey,

So today is a pretty exciting day for Hubby and I..after a 2.5 years we are off to our first Green Card appointment - WHOOP!!

I wanted to share a green card today, to fit in with the theme of the day :)

Today's card was made for JT's Dad for his birthday. I love the Tim Holtz Hipster stamps!

I blended a few distress oxides to create the background and then stamped the Hipster Goat. The sentiment is two stamps that I masked off to create the sentiment I wanted.

This card was so easy to make, I really should have made a bunch of them.

Only 2 more days until Vegas BAYBEE...

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #99.. Anything Goes.. There is still time to play.

Hey,

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

The theme is anything goes!

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

Challenge ends November 16th.

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.

And next week is our 100th Retro Rubber Challenge - WHOOP!! We will be having a fun celebration, so be sure to pop on over next Tuesday and see what we have planned.

Cx

The Daily Marker: 30 Days of Colouring Nov 2018

Hey,

Happy Monday to you!

Hope you had a nice weekend.

I am currently playing along with the current The Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge. Kathy Rac has mad skillz when it comes to colouring and I love playing along to see more of her wonderful work. But I also love seeing all the other talented colourers (a word?) out there. And I have made some friends along the way, as I believe this is my 5th time joining in.

Because of the shoulder issue I had at the start of the current 30 days, I decided it would be fun to use my semi-neglected stash of digital stamps as stamping with the shoulder was an issue.

So all my days look something like this -

The awesome weightlifting Monster is by Hambo - I love their digi's they are always humorous.

But yesterday I wanted to finish off a piece I have been working on (main photo) so used that as my Day 11 colouring.

I loved the sentiment, it was in a new colouring book I bought in London, so I recreated it using my lightbox, so that I could watercolour it.

I am super pleased with how it came out, I used Zigs, Aquamarkers by Windsor & Newton and a paintbrush to colour them.

I'll show you the full 30 days at the end of the month.

Cx

MAWTT - Winter Animals...

Hey,

I wasn't planning on posting today, but last night I was browsing through JT's blog and I saw her entry for the current MAWTT challenge 'Winter Animals'.

I just happened to have the Avery Elle 'Caroling Critters' set on my desk, that I have been meaning to use, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I stamped and coloured 3 of the stamps from the set and added the sentiment and a couple of musical notes also from the set.

It felt a bit bland, so I added some glitter glue to the critters and lamp post and stenciled in some dots to feel like a snowy background.

I'm pretty pleased with my late night make :)

Have a great Saturday, I am off to meet a Colleague for brunch that is in NYC on vacation. I contemplated the gym, but I opted to do a 20 min online yoga thing and I feel ok with that!

Cx

CAS(E) this sketch...Birthday Tweetings..

Hey,

Happy Friday!

I have to say I am pretty glad this work week is over..it has been HARD!!

Now that the nerve in my neck is slowly getting back to normal (big thanks to Dr Fanto and my amazing trainer Wendell), I thought I'd play along with a challenge for the first time in ages.

CAS(E) This Sketch is a fave of mine and I love the versatility of this week's sketch -

I was really inspired by the sketch and decided to use my newest MFT set 'Mod Birds' alongside a super old doily stamp by Bo Bunny.

I love the Mod Birds set, the stamps are so pretty. He looks lovely mounted over the blue doily.

I added a simple sentiment by Reverse Confetti and a little bit of bling and BOOM! finished card.

Have a great weekend. I'll be doing some friend stuff, some gym stuff, some desk time, packing for Vegas and watching NFL with Hubby.

Cx

Birthday melons...

Hey,

Today's card was made from random bits and bobs on my desk!

I love these Neat & Tangled 'Beach Day' stamps, but I actually don't own them, as I didn't think I would use them enough. Instead I borrow them from Jamey and Cheiron when I fancy a play :)

The cute little Hippo with her slice of melon I stamped forever ago at Jamey's and then I coloured it during the JUNE 30 days of colouring!! It has been on my desk since then.

I found the MFT birthday circle die-cut on my desk in white and coloured it in red to match the melon.

I added a circle scrap and a piece of MFT chevron paper to pull all the bits together into a card!

Love it when scraps and abandoned things become a card!

Cx

CASE it...

Hey,

So I wanted to show you a couple more cards I made using this great masking / blending / stenciling idea that JT and I CASEd recently.

The main card today uses some new birthday booty that I bought from MFT using money given to me by my in-laws.

You are familiar with my love of Monsters and I couldn't resist the new 'Monster Sized' set and the 'Sassy Pants Best Friends' set made me laugh a lot and so I needed to own that. The sentiment used on this card is hilarious and true of many of my friendships.

For both of these cards I used this awesome stencil by Andy Skinner - I am literally overusing it right now, it's so fun.

The next card uses more birthday booty - the amazing Cake stamp is by Sweet Stamp Shop and the sentiment is by Scrapbook.com - they do this awesome range of stamps and I loved 'have cake for breakfast' - I mean YES!!

I really need to use a different technique, I'm so hooked on this one, it makes card backgrounds super easy and fun.

Cx

Retro Rubber #99..Anything Goes..

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

It's that time again for another fantastic anything goes challenge..

I have made no secret of my love obsession with MFT flower stamps..

As I have several sets I thought it would be fun to pull a few of them out for this challenge.

I used a Paper Smooches 'Denim and Daisies' set for the pocket die, the sentiment and the small leaves. I've had this set since 2016 and it gets a ton of use. The pocket was die-cut out of felt, from a set of felt sheets that my work colleagues gave me for my birthday - so much fun to use.

I used x3 of my MFT flower sets 'Large Desert Bouquet (2016)' 'Bold Blooms (2017)' and 'Pretty Posies (2017). Everything was stamped using Tsukineko Dew Drop inks. I love the rich colour these inks give.

I have the matching dies for all the sets, so I stamped everything and then die-cut them all and stamped leaves and dots directly onto the white panel before assembling my bouquet.

I love how bright and happy it is, just what I need in this dreary dull time of year!

Looking forward to see which older stamp(s) you use, don't forget to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends March 9th.

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 #538.. Crafty Sentiments Designs..

Hey,

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

Our sponsor this week is Crafty Sentiment Designs and they are offering 3 digis from their store.

This week's sketch is by my bestie JT - I like it a lot!

I really loved the Happy Days image from Crafty Sentiments and I thought it would look great with JT's sketch.

My card came together really well. I used a piece of patterned paper by Studio Calico and for my 'stripes' I used glittery red paper that I thought toned well with the patterned paper. I wanted to use a congrats die for the sentiment, as it felt like a natural fit for the image and I found a scrap of paper that worked so well with my colour scheme - love it when that happens.

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 November 8th 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Cx

Real life playdate..

Hey,

Happy Friday!

Finally I am getting round to showing a couple of cards I made on the playdate I had with JT during my recent trip to London.

We basically found this very cool idea -

And then we CASEd it, over and over again!!

I've kept on using it..I'm totally obsessed. I have added stencils to the blending and different borders, it is totally the idea that keeps on giving.

One of the best things about playdates is getting to use someone else's stash and I loved being able to play with the Avery Elle 'Yappy Birthday' set that I bought JT as part of our annual Black Friday $20 swap. WHY did I not buy it for myself?! Adding the little white spots to the doggie's scarf made me very happy, as did the sparkly gold border.

Here is another version I made that is truer to the original idea and again uses JTs stash - the stamps and dies are by Sizzix -

I really want this cute set too -

How cute are the Elephant and the Giraffe?!

I love real life playdates with JT, especially at her house, as her Hubby is a great cook and just randomly makes yummy foods (this time a Spanish Tortilla..).

Have a great weekend, I will mostly be resting, thanks to Mr Trapped Nerve and watching NFL games.

Cx

A little late...

Hey,

Welcome to November.

I can't tell you about my Anniversary dinner yet, as this is a scheduled post..but I will do over the weekend.

I only made x4 Halloween cards and you've seen 3 of them already as they were for challenges LOL. So here is the fourth card, made for a swap.

I love this Waffle Flower Bear and Bird 'Boo' set. This is the first time I have used more of the elements. I heat embossed most of the smaller stamps from the set and I really like how it came out as a mini scene.

The sentiment stamp is by Amuse and I meant to use the set it came from to make a ton of cards this year, but just didn't feel like it, as there was so much travel and work earlier this month.

I also have a trapped nerve, so my making is going to be severely limited, good job I have been busy and have plenty of things to blog about.

Cx