Happy Birthday to me..2020 style..

 

Hey,

Well, we all know that I love to wish myself a Happy Birthday and write a little post.

2020 is a bit of a different one right?!!

With the global pandemic, this year hasn't been quite what any of us expected.

I won't be out partying this year or traveling somewhere to celebrate, but the truth is I am actually ok with that. I have actually had a really nice 6 months since the lockdown. Hubby and I found a new normal being in our tiny space all the time and we have tried out new recipes and the cake eating has been off the charts. Summer was wonderful, I spent a large amount of it, just sitting outside on a bench in our complex, reading and watching the world go by.

All of my family, chosen family, and friends are safe, happy, and as healthy as they can be right now, so to be honest that is all that matters.

I have learnt how to be at home, I am not always running from thing to thing and that is a really good thing for me. I have also become a digital scrapbooker - because I had time to teach myself Photoshop and it has been very therapeutic to go through my photos and scrap about me and my people. It's also been a great way to revisit fun times and memories, keeping me attached to what is important.

Here is one of my latest layouts - 

I have embraced wearing a mask, it is the right thing to do and I actually like the fun little twist the patterns add to some of my more somber outfits! Note that I had to show you a photo of me in a leopard print mask - if you know me, you know I LOVE Leopard print.

This week I will be at home with Hubby enjoying my week off and turning 47 quietly but happily.

I also have some awesome news to share with you on Thurs..so come back then for an update.

Cx

Christmas Cards 2020: Let's Prance...

 

Hey,

Happy Friday!!

I am super excited as it is my birthday on Monday AND I have the week off!

Continuing on this week with my Clearly Besotted posts - accidentally a themed week..

I love the Let's Prance set by CB. I have had it for 4 years since I saw Debby Hughes make these cards with it. I use it every year and I follow the same idea of creating a background and making a bunch of cards (as shown in the main photo) from that background.

This year I thought I would show you what my backgrounds look like once they are stamped and after they are watercoloured.

Stamped backgrounds - 

Watercoloured backgrounds - 

I always love the different cards I can make from one background. It's a thing I actually do quite a lot.

Have a great weekend.

Cx

You Are Amazing...

 

Hey,

Looks like it's going to be a Clearly Besotted week on my blog :)

I really like rainbow stamps and this cute set by CB creates lovely painty edge rainbows.

I added the stars from a Taylored Expressions rainbow set and the sentiment is by MFT.

This was a great way to play with my newish Concord & 9th inks, I'm not sure if I love them or not. I do like the colours, but the mini pads leave marks, so you can only use a certain kind of stamp.. more investigation needed methinks!

Anyway, the end result was a pretty, simple very CAS card.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #144 Anything Goes...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

I am counting down to VACAY!! I have my birthday week off next week, there is gonna be a whole lot of eating and crafting!

But before then, we have everyone's fave Anything Goes..

By now you should not be surprised to see a Monster pop up on most of my cards, I LOVE Monster stamps and I am so lucky that my friends are constantly gifting them to me. To date I have not had a duplicate, which is amazing.

I chose this Hero Arts 'Eat Cake All Day' set (I've had it since 2017) deliberately because it was given to me by my friend Cheiron, who I was introduced to by Jenn Shurkus who was the previous owner of the MFT Birthday Speech Bubbles set (Jenn bought it in 2016).

I love these ladies and I thought it would be fun to make a card that combines things from them :)

As you know I am a big fan of Altenew inks and I used x3 of them to stamp the bubbles here - Starlight, Tide Blue and Sea Breeze.

It felt like the Monster needed something and so I hunted through my dies and came up with a bow-tie for him from the Elizabeth Craft Designs 'Party Accessories' set. Perfect!

Your turn to dig out something neglected and show us what you can do with it. Also, pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends October 2nd.

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

Christmas Cards 2020: Clearly Besotted CASE

 

Hey,

Happy Monday!

I hope you had a great weekend.

Hubby and I are getting used to the NFL being back, we love it, but it does take some adjusting our lives to fit in 10 hours of football on a Sunday!!

I realised that I hadn't shown you all the Christmas card makes for 2020.. It all came together so quickly! I am now just making the 'special/fancy' cards.

This card is a CASE of one I saw on the Clearly Besotted website with their cityscape stamp. 

I didn't have that cityscape stamp, so I used a different one from my stash.

I stamped it in x3 colours, grey, navy and black to create the pretty skyline vignette you see. The Reindeers are by Clearly Besotted and I had already stamped and watercoloured a bunch of them, so I just fussy cut them out for using here. 

I didn't have the same sentiment as the card I was CASEing, so I used these great sentiment strips by The Ton Stamps.

Final touch was to die-cut the entire panel using Tim Holtz deckle edge dies.

Then I went over them with a nuvo aqua flow glitter pen, so IRL they are SUPER sparkly!!

I love them, I don't really want to send them to anyone LOL.

Cx

 

Happy (belated) Birthday Momma..

 

Hey,

So my Momma's birthday is 1st of August (I didn't forget..), but that was just as I was coming out of a crazy work period!

I love to make her cards that are a bit more involved for her birthday. This year I went with a bird slider! My parents have an amazing garden and they get all kinds of birds and I thought she would like this. 

She did (phew).

Here is a photo showing it after the 'slide'

The cute birds are by Elizabeth Craft Designs 'Feathered Friends' and the slider mechanism is also by them, from a set with all different kinds of slider channels. The papers are by Lawn Fawn and the sentiment is MFT with teeny glitter stickers.

I love easy interactive cards.

Cx

MFT: Picture Perfect Party Animals..

Hey, 

Happy Friday!

Hope you have had a good week?

I love the Birdie Brown for MFT Picture Perfect sets, I have the original set and when this one (Picture Perfect Birthday Animals) was released I had to have it. I already have the dies that match the selfie squares, so it made it all very easy.

Colouring them was a blast! I used all scraps of paper to create the frames for each card and I used the sentiments from the set and stamped them using Altenew inks. The sentiments on a banner, are by Taylored Expressions and are their simple strips - genius!

I got creative with the Lion below and he is actually a shaker. These x2 cards are my fave images from the entire set. The Hippos are just too much and I think I eat my cupcakes like the Lion!

 Have a great weekend, gym, NFL and desk time for me.

Cx

Hippo Queen...

 

Hey,

I love Clearly Besotted stamps.

I saw this great 'Love London' set of theirs on sale and had to have it.

I wanted to make a fun card for a friend who is based in London and this set made me laugh, with all the possibilities.

I stamped the bus and the taxi first, then masked that off and blended the blue bottom panel, using Chipped Sapphire distress oxide.

I stamped and fussy cut the Hippo wearing a crown. When I was getting ready to pop her up ontop of the bus, it felt like something was missing, so I added the little heart scatter from another Clearly Besotted set 'Happy Days'.

Fun, and a little bit crazy. Like my friend.

Cx

Dino-mite Dies..

Hey,

Happy Monday!

Today I thought I would share these fun cards I made.

I love Monsters and Dinosaurs and most people know that. 

JT sent me this great set of Dino dies by Sizzix. Then I found the great Dino papers by Echo Park on sale, so I bought us both a pad to go with the dies.

I love how these crazy little cards came out. I used Tim Holtz stacked deckle dies to cut the layers and used a little arrow die I have to create a fun little banner for part of my sentiment. The sentiments are by Avery Elle.

Also isn't everything just better with googly eyes?!

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #143 Colour Me...

Hey,

Can you believe it's already September?!

Time for another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

This time we have a colour challenge for you, use only yellow and green.

I thought it would be fun to pull out a set that I really haven't used very much and I have had it since 2018, it has been thoroughly neglected - Avery Elle Balloons & Banners.

I stamped my banner and balloons using Altenew inks - Sweet Leaf and Maple Yellow. I love their inks, they stamp SO well. I am slowly buying them when they have deals on :)

As I was putting it together with the pretty polka dot Lawn Fawn paper, I thought it was a teeny bit dull. So I was going to add my default Monster to jazz it up and then I thought how about an actually 'green' creature and went with the fun Croc from the Heffy Doodle Happy Snappy Crocs set (I've had this since 2017).

The end result made me smile a lot! I love a card with a happy Critter!

How will you use the colours? Be sure to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends September 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

Balloon Car..

 

Hey, 

Happy Friday!

If you are in the US, you are probably dancing for joy at the long weekend ahead of us (Labor Day). BUT it does mean that the Summer is officially over, which makes me so very sad.

I am excited for the weekend, as tomorrow, I reunite with most of the craftgang for a fun socially distanced playdate at Tiffs house! Yay! We haven't all been together since FEB!!

I am a big Avery Elle and own a TON of their stamps.

I really loved their Journey set, even though the car looks like it should be only used for Weddings, the set comes with sentiments that mean you can use it for birthday's too - which is what I did here.

I love that you can stamp in the license plate slot!

These were really easy cards to make, I stamped, coloured and die-cut the cars. I die-cut the white background panel - the die is from The Words and is one of my current faves. 

Before I added the cars to the card front, I stamped some fun confetti, streamers, and stars in coordinating colours. 

So simple and fun. And a bit of a surprise for the recipient.

Have a great long weekend.

Cx

Beach Please...

Hey,

Welcome to September!

I can't believe it is my birthday month already, this year has flown by!

I thought I would share a card that I made a while back during a coloring challenge. 

I love the Hero Arts mini stamp and die set 'Beach Please' it makes me laugh every time I see it, with the dog on the towel! The umbrella and the pineapple cocktail are separate stamps and dies and there is also a suntan lotion bottle!

I used a fave Dutchdoobadoo stencil for the clouds, I added a little Lawn Fawn stitched hill for the sand and a Lil Inker sun.

I always love how these cards turn out.

It also seemed appropriate to share it now, as I just got back from x4 days at the beach with Hubby and Lisette.

We had a wonderful time and it was SO good to get out of NYC and our apartment, even for a short time.

Cx