CAS Colours and Sketches: Nice Things..

Hey,

Yesterday I had a fun playtime at my desk.

I decided to play along with a bunch of challenges.

I really love sketches, so the current CAS Colours and Sketches was perfect for me and a new stamp set..

The very cute Gus & Gertie set by Taylored Expressions arrived on Friday and I thought it would be perfect to ink it up for this challenge.

I stamped, cut and coloured the stamp and die-cut a stitched circle and scalloped square in coordinating colours and layered them and the image up.

The sentiment came with the set and it's just so cute! I am sure all dog/cat owners can identify with it!

Super quick and easy card that made me smile.

Cx

CTD: Word...

Hey,

Happy Saturday!

I had a nice morning, leisurely stroll to the bagel shop with Hubby and then we sat on a bench, enjoying the sunshine and our bagels.

I loved the Color Throwdown colours this week -

I thought I'd use a Zebra for the black and white part of the swatch. I smooshed some Broken China distress oxide ink and picked it up with acetate to get a more precise smoosh onto my white panel. I added some black ink splatters, which sadly were not dry when I put my card together (sigh).

The white panel was die-cut using a stitched, dotted, scalloped rectangle die from The Works in London. The Zebra is ancient (circa 2016 and he was second-hand then..), he is from the Waffle Flower 'Monochrome' set and I really should attempt to buy the dies, as I hate fussy cutting so very much!

The sentiment is by Recollections from their 'Creative Chaos' set and I felt like my Zebra would totally be saying this LOL.

I'm pretty pleased with him - I really need to use this set more!

Cx

CASology: Fart Glitter...

Hey,

Happy Friday!!

So WHOOP! I got an honorable mention in the last CASology challenge.

I thought I would play along with the current challenge -

However, my wonderful friend and CASology DT member Jen has already used my first choice of stamp!

So I had to go on a rummage. I remembered a stamp I bought a while ago by Rubbernecker Stamps and obviously I can't find it anywhere, so I looked it up and recreated the text - blurgh..

I love the Unity Stamp Co 'Damn Girl' set and I thought the lady in it, looked like she might say this to her friend ;)

I created the border and the text in PSE and printed it out and stamped the lady. I was going to colour her, but I think she looks so much better in black and white, I added a teeny tiny bit of glitter gel pen to her hat for impact.

Have a great weekend.

Cx

4from1: Neat and Tangled.. Later Alligator..

Hey,

A few weeks ago I gave the craft room a much needed clean and went through the newer items and rediscovered this awesome set by Neat & Tangled that I had bought second-hand from Cheiron. It is now retired.

I was inspired to make a few cards and this wonderful card by Kay Miller inspired me to get CASing!

I stamped, coloured and die-cut all the elements from the set that I wanted to use. Then I created the x3 backgrounds by smooshing distress inks.

They all came out so well and my colours are actually as vivid as Kay's but they got a bit muted with late night photography! My fave is totally the main card - with his little bow-tie! Meaning that snappy has a double meaning - he's a 'gator and he's also snappily dressed ;)

It's always fun to play with a stamp set for the first time and I always try and make a few cards, so that it gets a full use!

Cx

Playdate: Nom Nom Kitties..

Hey,

A couple of weeks ago JT and I had an EPIC playdate, it was the weekend that we should have been together in Atlantic City for our 5th Annual craft adventure weekend!

Obvs due to the pandemic we had to make do with Skype instead and it was totally fine, there was much laughter, gossip, booze and some card making LOL.

We started out with a recipe - fave animal, black & white, yellow, alphas - both of us struggled with the alpha part, so we cheated and left that out. My card is the top left one.

I had a clean of the craft room the night before the playdate and found the Nom Nom Kitties by Mama Elephant that I had forgotten about and never inked!! So I decided they would be my stamp set of choice during the playdate.

For our second card, we used an old card of JT's as a layout/sketch example and my card is top right.

Finally, the third card was just a free for all and as I had picked up the leftover yellow ink with a tag, I used that and the remaining Kitty and Sushi tray - this one went to JT along with an envelope of stuff I have had stashed for her.

All 3 cards came out so well and who knew I could find so many uses for Kitties eating ramen and sushi!

Better yet, it was a fabulously long, silly playdate. It wasn't AC, but lets be frank, our livers and our wallets are eternally grateful for virtual v face to face!

Cx

4from1: Craft Smart time to party...

Hey,

Hope you had a nice long weekend? 

Today Hubby and I go back to work after a week off - ugh!

I finally got around to inking up this stamp (by Craft Smart from Michaels) during the first weekend of our vacay.

I bought it mainly for this giant sentiment, that I thought would make fun CAS cards and I think I was right!

To add interest I inked the stamp using minimum of 3 colours, sometimes to create a vignette and others just for the solid colour. I used Memento Dew Drop inks for this, as I wanted to use a mix of colours, smaller pads are better for this technique.

Simple and easy. All they needed was some coordinating enamel dots and bling and they were done. Very very easy makes.

Cx

Color Throwdown: Hey Girl!

Hey,

So my friend Jen shared her card for Color Throwdown and I loved the colours so decided to play along too!

It also seemed like the perfect time to have a play with the 'Daily Wear' set by Concord & 9th - I bought it in their big blowout sale earlier this year. It comes with all different things that you can put the girl above / in to. I chose to use the letterboard.

I stamped the letterboard and the girl. I coloured them both with Copics and then I heat embossed a sentiment from the set onto the letterboard. I love this WOW! Embossing powder in Primary Yellow, it is so bright.

I pulled out a fave sentiment by Unity Stamp Co from their 'Kinda Sorta Miss You' set and heat embossed that onto grey paper using the same powder.

I decided to go with offset layers and the yellow spotty paper is by Stampin' Up.

To add a bit of shimmer, I went around the edge of the letterboard using a Sakura gelly roll glitter gel pen.

I'm pretty pleased with how this card came out, not bad for an impulse make!

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #135 Tic Tac Toe...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have another wonderful Tic Tac Toe board for you -

I love tic-tac-toe boards, so much possibility.

I chose the top row - Watercolour/Circles/Die-cut or Punch.

I stamped my little succulent first (by AALL & Create and only 6months old) and watercoloured it. then added dots around it from the awesome Bokeh Dots set by Julie Ebersole for Ellen Hutson (I've had this since 2018). I die-cut this panel using a stitched circle and found a nice big scrap of spotty paper so I could add another circle.

The scripty thanks die by Lawn Fawn is probably the most overused thing in my craft room, I've had it since 2014 and it gets used at least once a week! I love making thank you cards.

I thought it would be fun to mix my circles with a scalloped square card blank and I like how it turned out.

Which row will you choose? Pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends May 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

4from1: Scandinavian Prints..

Hey,

Happy Monday!

I am not working this week - Hubby and I are doing an epic de-clutter.

For today's card I used the great Neat & Tangled 'Scandinavian Prints' set.

I used pretty much every stamp from the set to create these x4 fun backgrounds.

I used all different stamps and techniques for the sentiments. I love how the heat embossed pineapple came out - I love WOW! embossing powders.

Sometimes it's great to pull out a set like this and just make a bunch of backgrounds and if you don't add a sentiment they will be ready for when you need to make a quick card.

Cx

4from1: Avery Elle Hot Dog!

Hey,

A few weeks ago Avery Elle had a great offer on their site and so I bought a few things, always feels nice right now to support a small business, especially one I am super fond of.

Today I am showing you my x4 cards made from the 'Hot Dog' set - I don't have the dies yet and I am a super reluctant fussy cutter, so no dimension on these cards. I used BG10 instead to create shadow and the illusion of dimension ;)

I had a bunch of white panels all ready die-cut on my desk, so I just utilised these for my cards, hence the variety of sizes.

I stamped all 4 cards including their sentiments in one big batch! I knew I wanted to heat emboss the sentiment for the top right card - what I didn't know is that my heat tool would overheat (and effectively die) mid emboss and leave me with a patchy mess. I try not to waste things, so I fixed it as best I could with a white gel pen. It's not perfect, but it's not in the trash.

All the cards are pretty similar, coloured with Copics and Sakura Starburst glitter gel pens. They have a nice mat behind them and are either on A6 or 4bar card blanks.

They are so pretty as a set!

Cx

Pawsome Love..

Hey,

Happy Friday!!

Hubby and I have the week off next week. It was supposed to be our week to de-clutter the apartment ahead of our move to Tampa. We are probably not moving this year, given the CV-19 pandemic, but we are still going to de-clutter.

I made today's cards right at the start of the lockdown because the Simon Says Stamp 'Pawsome Love' set arrived and I just had to play.

For the main photo I combined the cute kitty with clouds and house dies by Avery Elle. The card blank is by Concord & 9th and I love these.

I am so happy with how this came out and even though you can see a paw below the cloud (a mistake), I quite like that!

I had this cover plate die out on my desk and was determined to incorporate that into my card. I just wish I had used a more neutral paper behind it. I am loving the glittery hello die cut though - that die is also by Simon Says Stamp.

Have a great weekend.

Cx

CASology: Plant..

Hey,

Well I think the team at CASology have a camera on my desk :)

I went to check the prompt for the current challenge and it just happened to be -

Both sets I used on my card were already on my desk! WEIRD!

I decided to add a bit of interest to my CAS card, by die-cutting the largest of the Lawn Fawn scalloped, stitched, rectangle window dies. I love these dies, they always add a bit of interest/drama to a card.

Before I added the frame to my card, I added a small amount of Twisted Citron distress ink to the x4 edges of my card. Then I stamped the awesome plant by Flora & Fauna from their 'mini plant lady' set and added the sentiment from the Waffle Flower 'Pretty Foliage' set.

Add the frame, a teeny bit of Sakura glitter gel pen and voila! easy peasy completed card.

I love the little glow you get from the addition of the distress ink, for me it really makes the card.

Cx

4 from 1: Paper Smooches Space Cadet..

Hey,

During my period without the Big Shot, I decided to play with a smaller format.

I think the US size is 4bar - it's one I use mainly for my Christmas cards - smaller surface area is handy when you are making a ton of cards.

I created my own mask (see my Saturday 9th May post about this) and blended distress oxides through the aperture. I used Twisted Citron, Picked Raspberry, Carved Pumpkin and Peacock Feathers.

I haven't pulled out my Paper Smooches 'Space Cadet' set in a while, but it is one of my all-time faves and I have had it a very long time.

I used the little Alien from the set and I added sentiments from Unity Stamp Co, Hero Arts, Concord & 9th and Ellen Hutson. The little dots are by Simon Says Stamp and are a flower centre - way to stretch my stamps!

So simple and a lot of fun!

Cx

Unicorn Kisses..

Hey,

Happy Monday..

Flora & Fauna had a sale last month, meaning I got a few things that I have been longing for!

Including 'Love Bug Dress Up'.. so many ideas in my head for this set. It's now retired, so here is a pic of it -

I started with this fun card!

I used a piece of smooshed watercolour card that I had already (I smoosh giant panels and cut them down to use as I need them).

I stamped everything directly onto the panel and coloured the Unicorn part with Sakura Starburst glitter gel pens.

The sentiment came out well. I used Unicorn Kisses from the F&F set and added a Tim Holtz sticker and Birthday Wishes by Avery Elle.

Easy, quick, and fun.

Cx

4 from 1: Flora & Fauna Critter Valentine..

Hey,

So I have been a bit blog absent the past few weeks. BUT I am not going to get upset about it like I used to. I vowed in 2019 and beyond that my blog would go back to being a thing that made me happy and not a chore!

Now I post when I want and not based on the silly objectives I created for myself (sometimes it is hard being a project manager IRL).

Anyway today I am back with a fun set of x4 cards using the Flora & Fauna 'Critter Valentine' set.

I really wanted this set for a while and it was on sale, including the dies for a super bargain price at F&F, so I had to have it.

I have been planning on using it to create wedding and/or anniversary cards.

I think the first x4 came out really well.

The main photo shows the anniversary cards I made - LOVE the little critters in the VW-esque van.

I masked off a circle (I create my own masks using the card backing that comes with stamp sets and I cut them to A6 and then die-cut shapes out, so I can lay them over the paper I am using and I don't get ink where it shouldn't be) and then I stenciled hearts in the circle, using my fave Dutchdoobadoo heart stencil.

The rest of the card was pretty easy, stamp, colour and die-cut the van and x2 critters for each van.

The next x2 cards used backgrounds that I already had in my stash and when I made these I only had a die-cutter big enough to cut this mini size (my big shot died after x8 years). They are both made using different texture medium. The one on the left uses Nuvo Mousse in Indian Gold and the one on the right uses blue glitter paste (not sure where from, can't find it now).

I decided to make these ones 'Hello Friend' and I really like how backgrounds can just change the feel of a card.

Have a great weekend.

Cx

Retro Rubber #134.. Spring Flowers..

Hey,

Happy Cinco de Mayo (and Happy Birthday to my bestie Lemon).

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

This time it's all about Spring Flowers..

If you are anything like me, then you have a TON of flower stamps and this was quite hard for me to decide which ones to use LOL.

I decided to use the amazing Waffle Flower x Helen Dardik 'Enveloper Hugs' set. I love Helen Dardik's work and these stamps always make me smile. I have had this one since 2018.

I stamped and coloured the main image and x3 of the other flower images in the set. I used Altenew watercolour pens to colour the stamps. I die0cut all of the coloured stamps and layered them onto my stenciled cloud background (stencil by Dutchdoobadoo).

I created the sentiment by combining two of the Waffle Flower x Helen Dardik sets.

A really fun make that went to a good crafter friend for her birthday, as I knew she would appreciate it!

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

Challenge ends May 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

OCC: Spring Card Camp Days 1-10

Hey,

Happy Monday!

I have spent a happy 20 days taking part in the Online Card Classes 'Spring Card Camp'.

It was fun and the theme was 2 from 1, so I ended up with a TON of cards LOL.. like that is a problem right now, I am Hallmark (I worked out that I have made approx 250-300 cards in the 7 weeks we have been home - WTAF).

I can't show everything in this post, so I'll show you some of the cards from days 1 to 10 and then I'll do a part two.

The main photo is the cards from Day 4, I didn't show the first x3 days as I am not a massive fan of the cards I made on those days.
Day 4 was taught by Julie Ebersole - who I LOVE. I couldn't quite do exactly what Julie had done, as at that time my Big Shot had broken and I was waiting on the new one! Thank god for a tiny die-cutter meaning I could still die-cut smaller elements.
I really love these cards, it was a great way to use the Recollections Cactus Love set and I combined it with x2 fun sentiments - left is by Flora & Fauna, right is Hero Arts.

Day 5 was fun and taught by Debby Hughes, another big craft crush of mine. It was a bit fiddly, but I am pleased with the end results.

Day 6 was great, I got a TON of cards out of this one. Kristina Werner supplied a great template, that I didn't use, as I don't love working with an exacto knife that much, So I made mine smaller and stuck to easy rectangle shapes to create these mini quilt cards.

Day 7 came out SO well. I loved the graduated stenciling and the foam mounted sentiments really pop, Laurie Willison was a new teacher for me and I really liked her.

Day 8 I learnt a new trick - how to create a shaker box - easily. I need to try this again with different colours, I wasn't happy with my choices, they don't flow together that well. I also fell in love with Cathy Zielske!

Day 9 - taught by Channin Pelletier - generated x6 cards and this was my fave of all the sets - the rainbow one, basically, you blend through a stencil and then spritz the stencil and get a second paler imprint. FUN. I also have never ever used that red/orange embossing powder and it is AMAZING!!

I had a lot of fun with the first 10 days and I got to learn some new things and revisit some older techniques that I haven't used in a while.

If you particularly want to know what I used to create a card, DM me, there are so many supplies here, that I only listed the main photo.

Cx