Fusion Card Challenge - Bauble Triangle...

Hey,

Welcome to the penultimate Fusion Card Challenge of 2021! 

How quickly has this year whipped by?!

This time we have a fun 'Bauble Triangle' theme for you. As always both the sketch and the inspiration image are awesome.

I went back to my normal ways for this card and fused both the sketch and the inspiration image.

I used the colours and the Christmas theme from the image as inspiration for my card. 

I had a different idea in mind, I was actually going to put the circles over the top of the grey and white panels, but I didn't love that! So I got out a fun die by Simon Says Stamp that cuts 3 circles in a row and that created the look I had envisioned!

I am a big fan of the Flora & Fauna sets that feature a VW Camper Van, they are always so quirky! And this one features various things for you to dress up your van with! I went with Antlers (of course). I mixed in the snowflake and the sentiment banner and I opted to keep them all black & white, as I think the red base that is showing through the circles makes them pop.

I used - Flora & Fauna 'Driving to the Holidays', Pink Fresh Studio 'December Days',  A-Muse Studio 'Ugly & Bright', Simon Says Stamp 'Tri-Circle' die and the papers are all from my stash.

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 23.

Cx

Cards for Colleagues..

Hey,

Happy Friday!

Tomorrow Hubby and I leave for Mexico - WHOOOP!! So excited, can't wait to feel the sun on my body again. Summer seems to have gone by so quickly.

I thought I'd show you a batch of cards I made a while ago for a few of my colleagues in the London office.

The first one was a leaving card and the colleague in question loves a Llama. I forgot all about the great wooden Llamas that I had bought in London earlier this year and it seemed like the perfect time to use one. I kept the card simple. The sentiment is by A-Muse Studio.

The next card is for a colleague who got promoted, she has a French Bulldog, so I thought she would appreciate the headphone wearing dog. Again, kept super simple with a negative die-cut out by Tim Holtz.

The final card was also for a colleague that was leaving - yes you guessed it, she likes Cats! The stamp is from the same set as the dog above and I added the great self-adhesive sunnies! The sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp.

3 really simple, but impactful cards.

Have a great weekend. I know I'm gonna!

Cx

Giant Hug..

Hey,

So a while ago my boss asked me for some cards that were 'thinking of you' in style, but didn't actually say that.

Pretty clear brief.

I made a ton of cards for her, but the ones I made using the Altenew Leaf Medallion set are my faves and they all used sentiments from the A-Muse Studios 'Fierce' set.

I fell in love with the Altenew set and had to have it, I love the variations that you can get from one set (praise the lord for stamping platforms) and I also love that Altenew always gives you a short ideas/instruction leaflet with their stamp sets.

The green inks are also by Altenew. I have x3 sets of their oval inks (greens, pinks, blues) and it took me a while, but I LOVE them now, the colours are so rich.

I've remade this card so many times and used lots of different sentiments in the centre.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #109...Anything Goes...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have everyone's fave this time -

I ran my card by my fellow teamies, as I didn't want to offend anyone with my sentiment!

I masked off a circle and blended it to look like a 'rising red sun', then I stamped the sentiment from the 'Fierce' set by Amuse Studio, that I've had since 2017.

Then I printed and coloured the Ninja Chick stamp (by From The Heart Stamps 2014, sadly they are no longer in business), fussy cut her out and added foam tape to pop her up!

Love how she came out, fierce and fabulous!

Can't wait to see what you choose to use for this challenge, pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends May 3rd.

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

Retro Rubber Challenge #105...Sketch Challenge..

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge with a little twist this time, as we are partnering with Try Stamping On Tuesday!

We are featuring their sketch as our challenge.

You know how much I love a sketch and a challenge, so this is double the fun!

You can link up your entry with both challenges. Check them out at Try Stamping On Tuesday!

I had so much fun creating my card. First I masked off half a sheet of white card and created the blue part of my blended background, once that was complete I moved the tape a bit to create the green part.

I die-cut it out, so that I would get more blue than green to help me create a mini scene.

I used the grass and Cow stamps from a great AMuse Studio set 'Go Hog Wild' that I have had since 2017.

I mounted that little scene onto a spotty card blank and added the banners and the sentiment.

Love it! It's a bit off the wall, I mean how often do you see a birthday Cow scene?

Show us your interpretation of the sketch and pop over to Retro Rubber and Try Stamping On Tuesday and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends March 9th.

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 Card 2018: Ugly sweater time..

Hey,

I am back FINALLY from my trip to London and Porto!

It was a fun 10 days, but it is seriously nice to be home.

I am continuing to show you some of the Christmas Cards I made this year.

I love making ugly sweater cards - and I have an ancient Simon Says Stamp set that I use every year. Last year in a sale I bought another similar set by Amuse Studio, because I liked the sentiments.

So this year to switch it up, I decided to die-cut the 'sweaters' out of some traditional Christmas papers that reminded me of ugly sweaters.

As you can see I then stamped over them with the sweater stamp from the Amuse set.

I kept the cards really simple, just a die-cut stitched rectangle background in either red or kraft and then I stamped a mixture of sentiments from both sets.

I mounted the sweaters onto the cards using foam tape.

I made tons and tons of these, as they were so quick to do, as I die-cut the sweaters in batches, as with a Big Shot you can die-cut at least 5 sheets of thin paper at once, if you use a metal shim. And I used x3 stamping platforms and set-up the sentiments so I could just make in bulk.

Tools have come a long way since I first started crafting..

Cx

A little late...

Hey,

Welcome to November.

I can't tell you about my Anniversary dinner yet, as this is a scheduled post..but I will do over the weekend.

I only made x4 Halloween cards and you've seen 3 of them already as they were for challenges LOL. So here is the fourth card, made for a swap.

I love this Waffle Flower Bear and Bird 'Boo' set. This is the first time I have used more of the elements. I heat embossed most of the smaller stamps from the set and I really like how it came out as a mini scene.

The sentiment stamp is by Amuse and I meant to use the set it came from to make a ton of cards this year, but just didn't feel like it, as there was so much travel and work earlier this month.

I also have a trapped nerve, so my making is going to be severely limited, good job I have been busy and have plenty of things to blog about.

Cx

SIP - Say NO to Christmas!

Hey,

Happy Friday!!

My last working day until 2018 - whoop whoop!!

So my return to WOYWW this week introduced me to a new challenge that I came across when nosying at fellow WOYWWers desks.

Stamp Ink Paper have a 'Say No to Christmas' challenge on currently and it made me laugh, as I had to do so much Christmas stuff early this year that I am a bit 'blah' about it all!

I wanted to make a fun card for a friend and I came across the previously stenciled background you see on my card. I love this stencil by Tim Holtz. I played around with a few ideas but nothing was working.

Then I saw the A-Muse Studio 'Fierce' stamp set and inspiration struck.

Love it and it most certainly does not involve Christmas!

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, I will be eating, drinking, hanging with Hubby and our people, going to the gym, playing at my desk, seeing JT, drinking, sleeping and did I mention the eating?

Cx

Stencils and Distress Oxides..

Hey,

Over the extended Thanksgiving break, I decided to have a little play with stencils and Distress Oxides.

I am really loving the oxides, they are so buttery and blend so well that they make it look like I have nailed this blending thing, which I totally haven't!

The main card uses a stencil I picked up a while back from The InkpadNYC and is by The Crafters Workshop, I used Wilted Violet, Faded Jeans and Broken China oxides through the stencil.

The Monster stamp is by Bo Bunny and was a surprise gift from my friend Jen Wills, I coloured him using Zigs and then fussy cut him. The fun sentiment is by Waffle Flower.

I love the funky end result and he will be heading to a friend for her birthday (she likes Monsters too).

The next card uses a fave stencil of mine by DutchDoobaDoo, I totally overuse it..

I love how this came out, I think the colours worked out really well and I particularly like the flashes of pink and blue. I added the awesome sentiment from A-Muse Studio.

Both were really easy and fun to make, I love using stencils for backgrounds and making them the focal point of the card.

Cx

Birthday Scenes...

Hey,

Last weekend I was basically housekeeping my desk, filing and labeling and organising.

During this process I had some ideas for my new AMuse Studio 'Go Hog Wild' stamp set..

I made the 'Go Hog Wild' card first and liked it so much that I pulled out another stamp set that I thought would work with this 'scene' treatment - 'Bunny Hugs' by Unity Stamp Co.

The Bunny card uses all the weird toadstools and flowers from the set and I fussy cut the Bunny. I added an already cut and coloured bird by Lil Inkers.

The final card uses stamps from 4 sets by 4 different companies!! The grass I created using a stem from a Simon Says Stamp set, the Chicken is by Avery Elle, the flowers are by Lawn Fawn and finally the Cow and sentiment from AMuse. Phew!

It was really fun to pull out all these things and play, my desk was an epic mess..

I really like these weird little scenes, I need to do this more, it's especially handy for using all those tiny little stamps you get in sets.

Cx

Happy 50th Birthday...

Hey,

Happy Sunday to you.

My good friends Karen and Brant turn 50 this month, I actually hooked them up, they met at my 30th birthday party..14 years ago.

I made them both fun cards, but I am only showing you Karen's as I forgot to take a photo of the one for Brant!

I love the sentiments in my new A-Muse Studio Fierce stamp set. So I hatched a plan...

First I die-cut the numbers using sparkly silver card that is ancient and came from Poundland! I love these number dies, gifted to me by Cheiron in her great 2017 craft room clear out. They are getting some serious use.

I masked off part of the badass sentiment and went looking in my stash for 'and' ugh (I found one by Neat & Tangled).

I chose a purple card base, as the whole thing is very neutral I thought a flash of colour would be nice.

I think I'll be making more of these..especially as I know where to find 'and'...

Today Hubby and I are cooking and baking - him cook. me bake. And then we'll be doing a whole load of sitting whilst watching NFL..I LOVE Football season.

Cx