Lawnscaping challenge...

Hey,

Happy Friday!

I hope you are keeping warm - it is Snowmaggedon here in NYC..

I got to WFH yesterday, so it meant I finished on time and was home to make my card for Lawn Fawn's Lawnscaping Challenge Blog - this week it's Dots and or Stripes -

My Ma has been unwell and I thought it would be nice to make her a fun 'get well soon' card, but then I saw my Lawn Fawn Yeti, Set, Go stamp set and thought the sentiment 'need a hug?' would be much better.

I don't know why, but when I saw the stamp set, it make me think 'layers' - so layers we have!

I die cut a piece of white cardstock using a SSS stitched rectangle die and then I cut a circle aperture in the centre of it.

I traced lightly around the circle die, onto a scrap of card stock, so that I could position it correctly behind the aperture.

Then I used gelatos and an aquabrush to get the soft background, stamped and coloured the trees from the Yeti set onto the scrap paper, within the traced circle. A good quality eraser removes the lines.

To get the snowy hills that were in my mind (Topical?) I punched a circle and cut it in half, inking the edges using Versamark embossing ink and added silver glittery embossing powder before heating it up. It came out so twinkly!

The Yeti was stamped, coloured, fussy cut and hung from a piece of acetate, just over the snowy hills.

I put the front piece and the trees/hills together and mounted it onto a card blank using foam tape

For the final touches, I added some fun stripey washi tape in 2 corners with some bling and stamped the sentiment slightly over the tape.

I love him! Such a fun card and I think it will make my Ma smile.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Hubby and I will be heading to our usual Friday night spot to drink frozen Margaritas (YUMS) and this week, we have a good friend in town from London who will be joining us.

Cx

Playdate Fun...

Hey,

So last Saturday JT and I indulged in an epic 3hr playdate....

We played with lots of fun stuff and chatted and caught up - it was fun.

We based some of the cards on a Bo Bunny stamp set I had bought for each of us (you might remember them from my Jan Tim Holtz tag..)-

We also used our gelatos. I gave them to JT because I knew she would love them, as she loves Crayons and Gelatos are seriously the next step up from crayons :)
We stamped with them, it's a totally super crazy messy fun technique.

I also threw in some random stuff that was on my desk - tags (shop bought) and ready made pinwheels.. I used a ton of scraps too.

Here are the cards -

The main card today uses gelatos stamped onto watercolour paper. You spritz the stamp and colour the gelato directly on to it. It's a touch random, but I really like it. I die cut a piece from my larger piece using a SSS stitched die. I added a tag (shop bought) from my desk and a scrap piece of ribbon.

1 - Bo Bunny stamps, ready made pinwheel, heat embossed sentiment

2 - Bo Bunny stamps, tag (ready made from TJMaxx) from my desk, orange gem

3 - Bo Bunny stamps, scrap papers and a SSS stamp, Versamark Brick ink and SSS white ink

Such fun to make and I know - only 4 cards in 3hrs?! But we also consulted on our DT makes, showed each other what else we have been making, gossiped, you know like when you are in the same room :)

It's always fun, but it's bittersweet as it makes me miss my girl JT even more..

Cx

Simon Says Stamp..Something New..

Hey,

Hope you are having a good weekend so far.

I am having a great time playing at my desk, eating and shopping :)

Today I am entering another challenge - Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

This week the theme is Something New - stash, technique, home, baby, etc

They are also showcasing SSS products..I have tons and I used them yesterday, but this card just evolved without them..

I used a mixture of new stash and new baby. I needed to make a New Baby Girl card, so this worked perfectly.

The doily stamp background is new and I have a set of 6 different doily stamps. I didn't re-ink the stamp much and I like the result.

The bookplate is from my new Tim Holtz tag and bookplate die, I coloured it at the same time as Friday's tag - efficient! The drips and variation of colour on the bookplate make me very happy! I printed a sentiment from my computer and added bing for the final touches.

I've been loving the more modern feel to baby cards recently and I'm pleased with how this card feels.

Cx

Colour Throwdown NBUS...

Happy Friday Everyone!

I am a touch sad, as Lemon has left...but we have our Israel trip to look forward to, so its not all bad.

I really wanted to enter a challenge this week and remembered 2 in particular had made me get itchy craft fingers..

The wonderful Darnell's 3rd NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) and Color Throwdown -

So I combined the 2 challenges to get today's main card..

Let's start with the NBUS and Darnell is going to love this, there is oodles of it :) The tag and heart dies, the red gelatos (for the distressed background), Bo Bunny It is written stamp for the text and the black enamel dot.

All of my NBUS is from either Black Friday or Christmas..

I am really eager to make tags this year and I am going to be attempting Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2015. I saw this great tag on Pinterest and I liked the techniques so I did a bit of a CASE.

First I cut and embossed my tag - yep the hearts are embossed - cool right?

I then smeared red and pink gelatos onto my craft mat and then spritzed this with water, I smushed (technical term) the tag into it and dried it with a heat tool. I used the text stamp over the top of the dry tag in a contrasting red ink. I stenciled over this in black and grey and finally to make the embossing pop, I smudged red gelato around the raised hearts.

For the final touches I added ribbon, a punched embossed heart and the sentiment with a black enamel dot.

I love the flash of white to fit the CDT theme.

The whole tag is technique heavy, but I love it, such a wonderfully different Anniversary card.

WOYWW #286 - Almost time for Turkey...

Hey everyone,

Happy WOYWW to everyone, I missed last week, as I worked a bejillion hours on Mon/Tues, went home passed out and went back to work...

Anyway, enough of me banging on about that - it's fun to be playing along with Julia and the gang over at her blog Stamping Ground, for the weekly desk nose.

My desk is quite funny this week - everything I am working on seems to be to the left of my craft mat?! There is a random card on my mat along with my mouse and that is it! Funny thing is I really don't remember leaving my desk like this?!

As always here is a card for you -

This is one of x5 identical cards for the card swap group I am in, thanks SSG. I really like them and they are based loosely on my bee card from a couple of weeks ago. The yellow background behind the stamp was done using Gelatos and an Aquabrush.

For those of you in the US, heading out for the Thanksgiving holiday, have a safe journey and a happy holiday with your families. Hubby and I are heading to Atlantic City for some crazy fun!

Cx

WOYWW #284....Back To Reality...

Hey,

I've missed a couple of WOYWW's recently - it's been so busy! But I am happy to be back and joining the fun.

Feel like I am rambling? Pop over to Stamping Ground and join our leader Julia and the gang for some desk nosying...

I went back to work this week, after 10 days of sheer bliss in Mexico with Hubby. I am still all relaxed and happy, so work feels pretty easy right now.

Here are a few photos -

Mexico 2014 - Our terrace, Hubby and I, My Iguana Friend and Me!

Now on to my desk...yes, your eyes do not deceive you..brand shiny new distress paints on my desk..I took a little trip to Michael's last night and the paints were on sale $1.99. The consumer junkie in me loves this time of year in America! I also bought the mini glitter alphabet stickers - love these mini stickers. My glasses - unusually the pair that belong on my desk. There is also a stack of cards to be posted - there were a couple of new babies born whilst we were away and I also wanted to send thank you cards to my MIL and SIL for all the booty they brought us.

Here is one of the thank you cards -

Thank You Card

I CASEd a great card I saw on Pinterest. I used Gelatos and an aquabrush, the stamp was in our Anniversary card from JT - isn't that sweet! The sentiment stamp is by Hero Arts.

Happy WOYWW everyone.

Cx

Keeping it simples...

Hi,

Hope you all had a good weekend.

I had a great one - the spa was AMAZING on Saturday and I have spent the rest of the weekend in a post-spa blissful glow!

I recently discovered the Just Add Ink challenge blog - last week was my first entry. This week's challenge made me think of my lovely SSS Delicate Dahlia Dies -

I decided that as the finished flowers are quite fussy a more CAS approach would be good.

As I made 4 flowers it seems sensible to make a couple of cards. The main photo is my entry, the card below is the 'spare'

CAS flower card

I have just purchased Scriptalious Sentiments by Pink Petticoat and thought they would aid my CAS cards. I printed the sentiments as they come (next time I will try printing them in a co-ordinating colour) and used my Martha Stewart scoring board to add borders to both cards.

The Dahlias are coloured with a mixture of gelatos, distress inks and wink of stella brush pens. Thank you to Amber at Damask Love for the tips and encouraging me to buy the dies :)

Love the simplicity of both of my cards - finished off with a bit of bling...of course!

Cx

23 years and still going strong...

Hi,

Today's card was made for a friend that I have had for 23 years!

We met at University and even though she is from Seattle and I am from London, we have remained firm friends.

Michelley now lives in Hawaii - yeah I dislike her a little bit for this too :) And recently she sent me a book - yes an actual book that I have not read and is totally me! I was overjoyed and I've found a couple of notes tucked inside it from her!

The card was inspired by Michelley as she is a fabulous painter..very talented. I on the other hand can 'paint by numbers' but freehand, drawing and stuff..nope, not me.

I used a stamp that is definitely NBUS and watercoloured it using an aquabrush and gelatos. I dried it with a heat tool and then painted some goosebumps texture spray over it. The sentiment is by American Crafts and I used a new Studio G ink..love the colour.

I am very lucky and have a really great group of friends - male and female, some are newer than others, but this doesn't really matter. They are all amazing and never fail to astonish me at how generous they are with their friendship.

It's always nice to make something special and unique for a good friend.

Cx

See it...want it...

Hi,

Recently I was having a nose around Amber's blog - Damask Love. I really like her work and she has taught me a lot!

She used these lovely Dahlia dies by SSS

I decided I had to have them and ordered them, they turned up on Saturday morning, so I settled down to play..

I followed Amber's post and made the main photo and these cards.

I love them and working with Gelatos is such fun. The delicate die is a bit fiddly, but worth the effort. I also used my Xyron here, for getting adhesive onto the back of the delicate Dahlia..making them much easier to stick down.

Cx

Playdate Part 2 - Setting challenges for ourselves...

Hi,

Hope you had a good weekend.

Mine was oodles of fun - especially the Skype playdate with JT on Saturday, you saw one of the cards yesterday, today I am showing another 2.

The main card is based on an old RetroSketches sketch -

We each chose a sketch to play with.

I used an American Crafts stamp set for this. I stamped 2 flowers and some leaves onto my white backing paper and watercoloured them using Gelatos. I stamped an extra flower and leaves and then cut those out and mounted them onto my card using foam tape - for some dimension. The final touch of lilac bling really brings the card alive.

Very happy with how this came out - it's nice to revisit old sketches.

The next card is based on our fave recipe - x3 papers, x3 embellishments, x1 stamped/coloured image and x1 sentiment.

Sweet Birthday

My new Big Eared Bunny stamp got to come out and play here. I dug out a piece of my fave American Crafts ice cream paper and found 2 more contrasting papers also by American Crafts. I added 3 little bits of bling around the stamp and a sentiment that I created on my computer and then punched with my EK Success label punch.

This card just makes me smile - I must use the recipe more..its fun.

Cx

WOYWW #255..I did a bit of shopping...

Hi,

It's Wednesday, so time for WOYWW..join in the fun over at Julia's blog Stamping Ground and show us your desk :)

I would like to start by saying a big thank you to all the visitors from WOYWW last week who gave me lots of positive feedback on my ATC's and advice. It is greatly appreciated.

I am now working on the 'real ones' for the WOYWW exchange.

So..what is on my desk..well a whole heap of goodies..as I have been feeling a bit jealous of all these fab craft fair outings you have all been going on I decided to do a bit of sale stamp shopping..it will be my last haul for several months..I have to stop!! You can also see my zebra scissors, my fitbit, some tape and other bits and bobs.

At the top left of my desk, you can see my fun stack of 6 items for $5 from the Target $1 spot. I bought some stencils, a post-it pad, some cute button magnets, a pack of notebooks, some ribbon and a pack of alpha stickers.

All over the rest of my cutting mat are my new stamps that were all on sale at Joann's for no more than $3 an item - some of them were $1 too good to resist. Right at the front is a Stampendous scene stamp that I have wanted for several years, I have a magazine article with some great ideas how to use it, but it's always been too pricey. The feather set is by Technique Tuesday and I have also wanted that for some time.

All justified in my head..time to put my wallet away and get crafting methinks!

As ever here is a little fun make for you WOYWWers..I used an aquabrush and some gelatos to get the watercolour streaks and then stamped over it with a free stamp I got from a magazine that my MIL sent me. The sentiment is by Stampin' Up.

Watercolour card

Happy WOYWW everyone..I'll visit you all after work.

Cx

WOYWW #240..Leisure time

Hey there,

It is indeed that time of the week again where we join our wonderful host Julia for WOYWW. Pop over to Julia's blog Stamping Ground to find out all about WOYWW and join in the fun.

Leisure time I hear you ask? Well for me it is, I am sitting about waiting for my next job to start...which gives me time to focus on all the sewing projects that I have in my head. I have been busy cutting patterns, pinning squares together for a quilt and will start sewing tomorrow. It also means I get to stay in and avoid the horrid NYC weather (-14 with a real feel of -24 anyone?!...brr).

On to my desk..this week its rather busy..there are some Stamping Bella stamps that I have already coloured, some new teacup stamps, that I am going to watercolour - hence the box of Gelatos and an aquabrush. My glasses and a pencil.

At the back of my desk you can see a card that I have finished using a Stamping Bella image. Here is the close-up..can you spot the error?

Stamping Bella 'Vienna and her Vespa'

Now before Christmas I showed you the little advent calendar bags I had made for Hubby..I can't remember if I ever showed you a photo of it all hung up? Well here it is. He loved it and it was fun every day watching him open it.

Advent Calendar for Hubby

Finally before this post gets too epic, here is a photo of Hubby in his Pig Apron that I made him on Sunday! He asked for an apron and then decided he wanted a diagram of pig cuts on it!! His wish is my command :)

Hubby and the Pig Apron and a close-up of the diagram

Happy WOYWW everyone.

Cx

Moving Along With The Time...no design papers

Hello!

Team B are back this week over at MAWTT with a fun challenge from Sue...no design papers..which is challenging, but lots of fun, as you have to explore all other aspects of your kit.

I am very happy with my card, it's so cheerful! And I got to use lots of different parts of my kit.

I die cut a polaroid style frame using my Silhouette, paper doilies, a strip of blue paper, some buttons and twine. The image is a digital stamp by Pink Petticoat and part of the Beach Cottage image set..I love this set and it has beautiful papers.. I coloured the image using Faber Castell Gelatos and an aquabrush.

The lettering was tricky, because every time I tried a solid colour it fought with the blue strip..so I got creative and cut it out in white and then using a stencil I coloured it using 3 different shades of blue and a bit of white..complicated?! Maybe :)

Do pop over to the Moving Along With The Times blog and get inspired by the fabulous creations by the rest of the DT.

One more thing before I go...I just wanted to say Happy Anniversary to my Hubby..now I can finally give him his prize winning card :)

Cx

Teeny tiny bit obsessed...

Alright I admit it, I am slightly obsessed by Pink Petticoat... I have most of their papers, quite a few sets and some image stamps.

They print so well and are a joy to colour. I love Liz at Pink Petticoat (in fact I want to be her..), her style is so simple and easy to use.

The stamp is on my card today is one of my latest purchases and part of the Beach Cottage image set and there are papers too.

I decided to use a Studio Calico paper for the background, as I thought it toned well with the stamp...I had a small accident when placing the sentiment, hence it being wonky and not really where it should be..

I added twine and a button for a bit of interest.

The boat was coloured using my newish Faber Castell Gelatos and an aquabrush...I like the wishy washy effect. The star and the gulls were blinged (totally not a word) up with glitter glue.

This card was a fun thing to make on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Cx