Fusion Card Challenge - Kitchen...

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

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

Which will you try?

I decided to use the inspiration image only this time. I used a Clearly Besotted 'On the shelf' set it has all these great rows of items, they make super quick and fun cards.

I used the 'kitchen' row here and coloured it with Altenew markers. I love the sentiment that comes with the set, mainly because a friend and I are always messaging each other to 'spill the tea'. LOL. I finished it off with a MFT 'Wonky, Stitched' rectangle die and chose a card blank that coordinated, so my colouring would pop a bit more.

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 October 25th.

Cx

Fusion Card Challenge - Autumn Leaves...

 

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

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

Which will you try?

I loved both, so I fused them!

I was inspired by the colours and the leaves in the inspiration photo. I love this set by MFT 'Harvest Mouse'. It gets a lot of use!

I coloured the leaves to match as closely as I could to the colour palette and then used fun Autumnal coloured patterned papers to create my background. I finished it off, by adding a little glitter strip and one of the sentiments from the stamp set, which I cut up to work with my card layout.

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 October 11th

Cx

Peacock Anniversary...

Hey,

Happy Thursday!

There has been a bit of a post gap from me, I was on vacation for 6 days with my Hubby in Tampa and when we got back, we collected our new cat Clint!

Isn't he gorgeous! We are in love already and he has settled in really well.

I made today's card a while ago. I bought the awesome Peacock set by Avery Elle over Black Friday..

It actually comes with a 'Happy Valentine's Day' sentiment, but for my first use of it, I wanted to make an Anniversary card.

I stamped the Peacock repeatedly onto a piece of white card to create the background and because I wanted my bright and colourful Peacock to pop, I left them all uncoloured.

I added two different kinds of hearts and the sentiment to complete the card.

I love it, it was a good decision to leave the background uncoloured.

Cx

Happy Valentine's Day...

Hey,

I normally do a Valentine's Day card series, but this year because I have been sick and super busy at work, I just didn't find the time to get the posts ready.

Hubby and I are not into celebrating Valentine's Day, but I do love making the cards, so I send them to my girlfriends.

Every year I make Hubby a pun-tastic card, because he is not a fan of the punny cards, I always get an eye roll from him when I make them.

I bought the awesome Newton's Nook 'Pina Koala' stamp because I knew that Hubby would be all 'why?' hahahaha.

I printed out part of the sentiment, leaving a gap for the Pina Koala stamp. I stamped the cute Koala and then die-cut the whole panel using a Lil Inkers die. 

I mounted the white panel onto a Lawn Fawn cardblank.

Fun right?

Hubby and I are en-route to Tampa as this posts, 5 glorious days of sunshine and RR.

Cx

p.s I did make 10 VDay cards for my girls, but didn't photograph them..

Christmas Card 2018: Merry Monster Christmas...

Hey,

Happy Friday.

Last full day of vacay today. We have had a very very relaxing time. It has been great to hang out with the Wife, I'm gonna miss her.

Today's Christmas card was a bit of an experiment. I bought a large 'Noel' banner in the sale from Hema when I was in London in August, I thought I could chop it up and use parts of it on Christmas cards.

The glittery tree thing is part of the banner and I dug out some awesome Tim Holtz Monster dies that Cheiron gave me and die-cut him in a Christmassy green. I added a red panel behind him to highlight his face better.

I used my Dymo labeler to create the sentiment and used a great piece of spotty paper (from JT) as my base.

It came together really well and I think I'll be making a couple more.

Have a great weekend, we'll be partying in Tampa tonight, lunching with the Wife tomorrow before we leave and hitting the sofa's for the first NFL Sunday of the season - WHOOP.

Cx

Christmas Card 2018: Newton's Nook..Sandy Christmas..

Hey,

And so it begins..

I normally start making Christmas cards around 1st of August, but this year I was in London at that time, so started a bit later AND I have 20 cards left from last year.

I stamped a bunch of Christmas stuff to take on my vacation and I have been busy this week colouring them, as I sit by the pool.

I did make a few things before I left though and today's cards use a fave Christmas set by Newton's Nook 'Sun Soaked Christmas'. There are several of these Christmas in the sun type sets out there and I have a few of them, it makes me happy to think about Christmas not being cold - one day..

Making Christmas cards like these is SUPER easy with a stamp platform, I just set it up and stamp as many cards as I want. Simples.

I coloured these using Letraset BrushMarkers and then die-cut them using a MFT stitched rounded rectangle die.

The card blanks are smaller than usual and are from the Target 'dollar' bins - 20 cards for $3..

A really easy way to ease myself into Christmas card making this year.

Cx

Smile..it looks great on you...

Happy Labor Day!!

Live from Tampa!

We are having a bit of rain this afternoon, whilst we wait for The Wife to arrive..

So I thought I'd share a card with you.

I saw this new Waffle Flower stamp 'Picture Perfect' and I had to have it. I love the fun combo of the Parrot, Snail and Monkey - so weird, so very me.

The sentiment is part of the stamp, but I am planning to make a version where I mask of the sentiment and use something different. For a first use of it, I wanted to use it as it came.

I stamped it onto watercolour paper, so I could colour it with Distress Inks.

Fun cheery card that feels a bit like my vacation...I'm going to have first dibs on saying I am the Monkey and Hubby and The Wife can fight it out for the other 2 creatures ;)

Cx

Catch The Bug: Anything Goes...

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

I'm currently in Tampa on my Summer vacation - whoop whoop...

Today I'm with the Catch The Bug team for the Saturday challenge. 

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

JT bought me the awesome JJ Coffee to Go stamp a while ago and it's one of my faves.

I printed both the image and the sentiment and coloured the image, using Promarkers. I wanted to keep it simple, as it's quite a large in your face sentiment (that I am sure we can all relate to..).

The background paper is super ancient and I think I started with 4 sheets of it like 10 years ago, but it just doesn't seem to run out!!

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see which image you choose to use.

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Sometimes I forget things..

Hey,

So I am back from Tampa, we had a lot of fun!

Sad to hear about the incident in NYC, my thoughts go out to all that where affected.

Before we left for Tampa, I realised that I had totally missed a friend's birthday. I so rarely do that, but it does mean I get to break out the great 'Naughty Nautical'set by Simon Says Stamp.

I kept this card very simple, as I made it at midnight and we had to be up at 3.30am!

I like the bright green card blank, it's from Target and sadly was the last one.

Cx

13 years later...

Hey,

So today is the anniversary of my first date with Hubby and tomorrow is our 8th Wedding Anniversary!

I can't actually believe that we have been together for 13 years!

2017 has seriously tested us, complications from my surgery and losing our beloved baby Archibald, it's not been an easy year.

But this is when you know you have the right person, because no matter what we have experienced this year, we have still managed to find the happy side of life.

When I think of Sam I think of the word crazy! Because together we have so much crazy fun, infact we have so much fun that if you go out with us and survive our friends call it 'Being Granthamed'.

I genuinely love our life together, we always manage to weather storms in our life together with humor and booze, that's a great way to live life.

The photo today was taken just after we were declared married and we are walking back up the aisle, the couple we are laughing with are my Aunt and Uncle - which pretty much sums up our wedding day. Laughter.

Happy Anniversary baby, you are my Lobster (but I'd still trip you if Zombies were chasing us).

Cx

Trick or Treat: Smell My Feet...

Hey,

So we are in Tampa right now and today we are off to watch the Panthers v Buccs - can't wait!!

I made a TON of Halloween cards before I felt, but I foolishly did not photograph them all!

I thought I would share a couple that I did remember to take a photo of..

Main card today uses a Unity Stamp Co stamp - love the little girl in the dino costume, I would so wear a Dino costume if I did Halloween dressing up! The sentiment is by AMuse Studio.

The next card uses a stamp Cheiron gave me last year -

I love it, I use the ruder b*tch please version ALL the time.

I created a resist with the stamp, using white heat embossing and then I blended Cracked Pistachio and Wilted Violet Distress Oxide inks over the heat embossing (thank you Jenn Shurkus for this technique).

I AM so happy with the end result. I love these manilla tag, blending is a dream on them and I think this makes the perfect entry to the current MAWTT challenge - Tags or Charms.

Cx

Christmas Card 2017: Unity Stamps I tolerate you...

Hey,

So as this posts I am probably getting up to get ready to head to the airport for our trip to Tampa.

Showing you more of my Christmas Card makes. This stamp is also by Unity Stamp Co, strangely it is called 'I tolerate you'...

I loved the image and it's obviously very easy to colour, so you can produce a fair few cards quite quickly.

I added a sentiment and some glittery dots to finish the cards off.

I love easy makes like this, still very pretty, but really not a lot of work, which means I can spend more time making cards like yesterdays ones!!

Cx

Christmas Card 2017: Unity Stamp Co Christmas Bicycle..

Hey,

Happy Friday.

I am very excited today, as Hubby and I are off to Tampa tomorrow morning to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary and 13 years together!! I need some sunshine!

I am also excited as I have officially finished all my Christmas cards - whoop whoop, under 3 months for 130 cards..not bad going.

I actually find it way easier to create cards in little batches and this year with the MISTI on my team it's been a dream.

The cards today are one of my faves, I fell in love with the stamp by Unity Stamp Co last year, but it was too late to use it for my 2016 makes.

The stamp is quite a lot of work to colour, but SO worth it.

I still have a few more cards that I made for Christmas that I am going to continue to share with you.

Have a great weekend, everything will be scheduled until I get back on Thursday..

Cx

Belated Easter Bunnies...

Hey,

Sadly no WOYWW for me today, it's super busy at work because I am off for 2 days from tomorrow.

I didn't think I'd have time to comment on desks, so didn't want people to come and say hi, when I couldn't return the hello!

Randomly I am showing the Easter cards I made for my cleaning lady and my cat sitter :)

I didn't get a chance to post them last week.

As I made them in a blind panic before we left for Tampa, everything was a scrap!

The card in the main photo took about 2 mins to put together LOL.

I only had to colour the bunny. Everything else was ready to go, the beautiful egg paper is a digital freebie I found online and I had pre-cut and corner rounded it for something else. And I love mini doilies for dressing up something.

The next card I took a die-cut tag and stamped bunnies all over it, for a bit of interest. I've been doing this a lot lately and I like how it looks -

Again another card that shows you don't have to use the stamps for their 'intended' occasion. The bunny stamps are by Stampin' Up and the mini bunny I used on the tag is by Simon Says Stamp.

Cx

Today is a good day...

Hey,

So I got a bit distracted before leaving for Tampa and didn't get round to finishing off my posts about the Flamingo cards I made.

Today I am showing you the rest of the cards from my Flamingo playtime.

I moved over to Tim Holtz chit chat and small talk stickers.

I stuck with the theme of bright papers and used a piece of ancient Pink Paislee paper. Again, I dug out a fave shop bought tag. I love these craft tags..

I stamped all over the tag with a stamp from the same set as the Flamingo. I used brown ink instead of black, it fit better with the background.

I really like the bold colours of this card, softened with the brown accents.

The next card makes me smile a lot -

The chalkboard tag is by American Crafts and I got a bunch of them in all shapes and sizes on sale ages ago.

The papers are all scraps.

I had to make a new baby card for some friends and decided to use a Flamingo for this one too, as the new baby is a girl -

I decided to pull out a ready to go shaker pouch (gotta love the Fuse tool) and some foiled paper to make a rather glitzy new baby card.

I'm really happy with how it came out.

Cx

WOYWW #356...Pocket Letter...

 Hey,

Happy WOYWW.

Bit late to the party today, forgot to schedule my post!!!

That's what Easter in Tampa does for you :)

For those of you unfamiliar with WOYWW. It is that time of the week when we join our Hostess Julia over at her blog Stamping Ground for a weekly global desk nose - its fun.

My desk is from last night. I was mid create for a guest blog post I am working on, you can see the card peeking out from under a set of stamps. You can also see my glasses, a stenciled piece of paper, glittery washi tape, scissors, glue, embossing paste, ink, my mouse, a notepad and my sippy cup :)

Not complete chaos, which is good.

A couple of weeks a fellow WOYWWer Nikki C mentioned that she was making a pocket letter and wanted to swap. I reached out, because I have been wanting to make a pocket letter for ages..

Nikki's arrived in the post this week :)

Pretty Envelope

First view of the letter 

Full view of the letter

It's so lovely and full of wonderful little things in the pockets. Thank you so much Nikki - proper thank you coming your way.

I am mid-way through mine for Nikki, it's fun so far and less complex than I had thought :)

One last photo for you - of Aligators in Tampa - we had so much fun, it was warm and it was exactly what we needed :)

Have a happy WOYWW. See you later gators for some nosying.

Cx

Happy Easter..

Hey,

Well it's not quite, but it is Good Friday.

Hubby and I are in Tampa now, catching rays..

So as it's Easter I thought I'd show you another bunny that I rediscovered when making this card for Retro Rubber.

I love these Zlatoena Big Eared Bunnies..they are so much fun.

I coloured this one using Promarkers and added a bit of Wink of Stella here and there. I used a fab sentiment stamp by Hero Arts. It felt like it worked here.

A simple one-layer card.

Have a great Easter.

Cx

Do The Happy Dance...

Hey,

I am indeed doing the happy dance...

Today is my Friday - I have Easter off and Hubby and I are heading to Tampa tomorrow morning - whoop whoop sunshine here we come.

We have lots of fun things planned, see Manatees, visit the Big Cat rescue park and go to the Aquarium, fun times.

To celebrate this and Easter :) I had a play with a new-ish set from Michaels - the die is not made right and so not only did I get it on sale, but I got a gift card to apologise for the inconvenience - double yay!

 I made quite a few cards, so I'm going to split them over two posts.

For the main photo today, I stenciled the background, but I didn't like the stamping I did, so I covered it with the bright yellow panel.

I bought a pack of random Snap! sentiment stickers in a sale a while back and I thought Happy Dance would work well here.

Inspired by this first card I made 4 more - LOL!

Here is card number two -

I think this is my fave of them all..I found the random sparkly tag in my giant box of misc embellishments, tags, etc. I LOVE tags and buy them on sale all the time, even though I have all the stuff to make my own..

Again I used one of the Snap! stickers, I thought the sentiment went well with the bright colours. 

I really love how the Flamingo pops against the stripes and yellow.

More of these on Sunday.

Cx