Fusion Card Challenge - Merry Joy Cheer

Hey,

Welcome to the last Fusion Card Challenge of 2020. 

I've really enjoyed being part of the team and I am looking forward to all the great things we have for you in 2021.

It's been a strange year, but I hope that we have kept your mind off of things with all the fun challenges. This time we are celebrating the holiday season..

Which will you try?

I loved both and wanted to fuse them, so it's a mini fuse if there is such a thing ;)

I think I might be the only person that doesn't have a Christmas Gnome set. I don't particularly like Gnomes.. So I went with a Santa instead and created a fun hand-stamped background for him, using a mix of ho ho ho stamps and some mini snowflake stamps.

I cut the hand-stamped panel slightly short and added red glitter strips at each end to mimic the sketch. An unexpectedly fun card for next year's stash (all my Christmas cards are complete and mailed as this goes live).

I used -

Avery Elle - Oh What Fun

Woodblock Ho Ho Ho stamp (the larger one)

Make sure you check out all the rest of the inspiration by the DT over at the Fusion challenge blog, and play along with your own creation! 

When playing along you may use the sketch OR the photo to inspire your makes. OR, if you are feeling adventurous, you can fuse them together (see what I did there!).

Can't wait to see your makes. 

Challenge ends on December 8th.

See you in 2021 for the next Fusion Card challenge.

Cx

Say yes to cake...

Hey,

Can you believe it is going to be Thanksgiving this week?!

2020 has whipped by!

I thought I'd share a couple of the things I made for the card drive that Ricky was doing.

When I was making the 100 cards for this drive I decided to properly play in my craft room, so that meant I used old faves or things that had only had 1 use.

I love the sentiment stamp I used here. It's by Stampin' Up and from their retired 'Amazing Life' set, I had to track it down :)

I paired with two different sets. The main photo actually uses a new to me Wendy Vecchi set 'Birthday Bash' it was a birthday gift and I love it. I coloured the cake with Copics and added nuvo drops in blue for a kind of 'royal' icing look. Royal icing was always my fave growing up, I loved it when my Momma made cakes using this technique.

The second card uses the Taylored Expressions 'Gus and Gertie' set - I love that Gertie is in a party hat here.

I loved how these came out, so I made doubles and kept them for my stash. 

The best thing about making for charity is being able to rediscover all of my stash, as there are not really hard and fast requirements, so you can make what you like.

If you are considering making cards for charity, Scrapbook.com run an all year round card drive called Cards for Kindness. I donate cards to them approx 3 times a year. I bet if you are a card maker you have a bunch of cards you've made for challenges, etc, donate them and share the joy.

Cx

25 Days of Christmas Tags 2020 - Tree Tags..

Hey,

Happy Friday! I am SO glad this work week is nearly over..

I recently stumbled across Tracey McNeeley's 25 Days of Christmas Tags..

I love tags, so it is surprising to me that I hadn't come across this before!!

I wanted to play along and the tags for Day 7 using Uniko products really are my faves so far!!

I don't have any Uniko products (that is about to change..) so I used what I had to CASE these tags by Lindsey Larsen - 

I used a new Tim Holtz stencil (it was part of the class kit from last weekend's virtual retreat) and blended distress oxides through the stencil (picked raspberry, worn lipstick, spiced marmalade, twisted citron, and mermaid lagoon). 

I made long strips that I then cut into two - because of this, my colour variation on each tag isn't quite like Lindsey's, but I'm happy with it.

I used x2 different stamp sets for the sentiment strips - Pink Fresh Studio 'December Days' and Studio Calico 'Jolly'.

The twine is actually from my friend Lisette and she had used it to wrap my birthday gifts this year - I recycle EVERYTHING!!

Here is a little shot of all x10 tags - I love how they came out and now I am off to buy all the Uniko things..

Have a great weekend.

Cx

50 and F*cking Fabulous..

Hey,

Potty mouth alert.

As I always say, this is my blog and I have a potty mouth, so you might need to go elsewhere if you are unhappy with today's content :)

One of my fave work colleagues recently turned 50 and she is a very outgoing person. So her scaled back 2020 style plans for her birthday can't have been easy for her, but she did not make a fuss about it.

I wanted to make a card that celebrates her! And as she is always eye-rolling at my potty mouth I came up with the perfect sentiment for her.

A couple of my friends sent me slimline dies for my birthday.  I had no wish really to get into the slimline thing, but if I get gifted them, might as well give it a whirl right? This particular set came with no packaging! So I have no idea who they are by. I love stars and this die is just amazing.

I had some neon paper from another project and thought it would work well here as the 'base' of my card.

I lightly traced the star 'holes' onto the pink base, so I would know where to stamp and where to position the finished top panel. I added acetate behind the stars, so I could turn the card into a shaker.

I used foam stickers for the '50' and stamped the rest of the sentiment, with the final part being a fabulous die-cut by Honey Bee Stamps.

It's such a fun and cheeky card. And my colleague (and friend) loved it and told me she will keep it always, how sweet is that!

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #148 Birthday...

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge - can you believe it is nearly Thanksgiving?!

This time we have a birthday challenge for you - 

I think we all love making birthday cards, they can be so very personal. And if you know me, you know I love Monster stamps and they generally find their way onto my birthday cards!

This one is a fave of mine (his teeny tiny hands are just amazing) and is by Ink Blot Shop 'Party Monster' he was released in August 2019 and I have had him since the minute he came out, I have a built-in Monster stamp radar!!

First I stamped the sentiment, as I wanted my Monster to look like he was sitting on top of it. After stamping him, he was coloured with Copics and a teeny bit of Sakura gelly roll starburst glitter pen. 

The sentiment is by Unity Stamp Co, from their 'Frankly Said' set that I have had since 2018 and it comes with the most amazing choice of sentiments. I bought another one of it and I gift the individual sentiments to my crafty friends.

The white panel was die-cut with my fave Tim Holtz + Sizzix deckle edge rectangle dies.

Have you got a fave style of birthday card? Can't wait to see what you make. Be sure to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends November 27th

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

Dancing Queen...

Hey,

Happy Monday!

Hope you had a good weekend?

I am a big fan of Clearly Besotted stamps and I was super happy when I saw this cute set 'Cha Cha Cha' was on sale.

I good friend of mine is a Disco DJ and she loves to dance and has a glitter ball.. so obviously, I had to make her the first card using this set.

I decided to do a loose CASE of this card -

I have the mini Cha Cha Cha set and so I needed a light beam. One of the things I really like to do is 'stretch' my stamps. So I used the beam from the Lawn Fawn 'Beam Me Up' set.

This card came out so well and my friend was very happy with it - I love #happymail!

Cx

Christmas Cards 2020: Scootin' by...

 

Hey,

Happy Friday!

Sorry I have been so AWOL!!

As I was recovering from the removal of my wisdom teeth and I was on vacation, I decided it was the perfect time to do the tedious Christmas card labeling.. UGH. 

This is an EPIC task, print the label for inside, print the address label, stamp the back of the card, stamp the envelopes with the return address, and airmail stamp. THEN finally write out the card and put it in the envelope, seal it, add the postage.

MEH.MEH.MEH.

As much as I LOVE sending my people Christmas cards, I take zero pleasure from making them and from the task of getting them ready to mail. Why do it I hear you ask? Because it is the season of goodwill and I'm a cardmaker. AND the number of lovely texts, emails, posts that the cards get is really nice, it's nice to send something small and make people happy.

Today's cards are some of the faves I made this year. The stamps are by Stampin' Up  - So Santa and I saw them on someone's Instagram and had to track them down! Does this happen to you too? Someone uses something older and I'm like WAIT WHAT!! I need that. LOL.

These cards were super simple, I stamped the Santa onto watercolour paper. I find if I want the cards to be quick, it's best to watercolour them. It meant I got to use some ancient Christmas papers (the spotty and striped ones), I have had them since I started cardmaking in 2008?! 

Now how about some irony?! This weekend, despite all my Christmas cards being finished I am doing the Jenn Shurkus Creative Retreat..where we are spending two days making x12 'holiday' cards. Yes I am nuts, but I love a Jenn Shurkus retreat.

Happy Weekend everyone.

Cx

Fusion Card Challenge: Thankful...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Fusion Card Challenge.

This time we have 'Thankful' for you! As always both the sketch and the inspiration image are awesome.

Which will you try?

I loved both, but it's not a true fuse if you ask me! I was inspired to use some of the floral elements from the photo and the pretty wreath style at the bottom of the table runner.

The sketch was made for me I think, I LOVE circles.

I die-cut x3 circles out of white cardstock and I stamped the large one, using a Waffle Flower set and then the smaller ones are both using a Christine Adolph flower stamp. I coloured them all in tones of lilac and purple. I added gold glitter gel pen for the centres and a bit of gold bling here and there.

It makes me smile every time I see it, it's so simple and why haven't I mixed flower stamps before?!

I used -

Waffle Flower w/Big Bear and Bird - Bear and Bird

Christine Adolph - Cheerful Bloom

Neat & Tangled - Gold glitter enamel dots

Sakura GellyRoll - Starburst Glitter gel pen

Make sure you check out all the rest of the inspiration by the DT over at the Fusion challenge blog, and play along with your own creation! 

When playing along you may use the sketch OR the photo to inspire your makes. OR, if you are feeling adventurous, you can fuse them together (see what I did there!).

Can't wait to see your makes. 

Challenge ends on November 23rd

Cx

Floral Die-cut Birthday Thanks...

 

Hey,

Sorry for the lack of posts this week! It was supposed to be a fun week off following my 11th Wedding Anniversary. But sadly thanks to my pesky wisdom teeth it's going to be a bit different.

As an emergency, I had to have the remaining x3 wisdom teeth out on Tuesday. I was SUPER nervous, but my Oral Surgeon was amazing and so I am all good and recovering well.

With all this in mind, I thought it was a perfect time to show you the thank you set I made for my birthday. If you are a long time follower of mine, you will know that I love to make 'sets' to say thank you for the generous and thoughtful birthday and Christmas gifts I receive.

Here are a couple from previous years for you (Do you think I have a Monster stamp thing?!) - 

2017 Monster Tag Birthday Thanks

2018 Monster Rockstar Birthday Thanks

For this year's cards I used the Concord & 9th die from the 'Big Thanks' Bundle and cut it from the pretty Lawn Fawn 'Fall Fling' Papers. I really wanted to use these papers and they worked so well on the brown Paper Source card blanks, that were gifted to me by a friend!

I love making sets and I usually get carried away, so end up with a few for my stash and/or charity.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #147 Anything Goes...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

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

I wanted to make a card for a friend, when I was due to work on my card for this challenge and I knew instantly it had to be Gull Friend by Newton's Nook - it's just over a year old and I love it.

I used the MFT Make Waves stencil to create the 'ocean' using distress oxides - Peacock Feathers and Mermaid Lagoon. The 'sun' is a fave Clear Scraps Sunray stencil that I have had forever. Do you notice that the Seagulls seem to be nestled in the sea? Well, that is the GENIUS set of dies by Lawn Fawn 'Ocean Wave Accents' - they are a set of all little wave cuts, so you can slot things in and they look like they are in the sea - genius!

It came together so well and I just added the sentiment and a bit of Nuvo shimmer pen and all done!

What are you pulling out of the archives to create with? Pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends November 13th

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