Christmas Card 2017: Festive Robins...

Hey,

Happy Monday from London.

I had a great long weekend with my parents, yesterday was bittersweet as we had a family football match for my Uncle that died recently. He would have loved the turnout of the old guard with the new, it was a great tribute to him.

So I have kicked off my annual Christmas card making.. I start at the beginning of August, as I love to send Christmas cards, so need around 160 cards - A LOT I know, but it's my fave happy mail of the year.

I used to make them all the same, but I have such a large Christmas stamp / die stash it seems silly not to use as much of it as I can.

I managed to make about 21 cards during the first week of August, so this week, whilst I'm in London and scheduling my posts, I'll be showing you most of my makes.

Today's cards were so easy to make, I think I'll be making a few more of these.

The stamp is by Lil' Inker Designs and it comes with various sentiments to use in the banner.

I watercoloured my cards using Distress Inks and an aquabrush and kept the rest of the card simple using a red mat and stitched rectangle dies by MFT.

I added some Nuvo Crystal Drops to the Robin's hat.

Simple, but so pretty!

Cx

I'll be brief...

Hey,

Happy Saturday.

Today I am sharing a few cards I made last weekend using new Lil' Inker I'll Be Brief stamps.

I love the cute animals in their 'briefs'.

Pretty formulaic, I watercoloured the stamps, added stickles accents, used a Paper Source cardblank and a blue stitched die-cut panel.

I switched it up to make one a Hello card, as I had a specific use in mind.

Very quick to make and fun too..more fun to be had playing with this set this weekend.

Cx

Get on the Bus...

Hey,

So I had a great time over the super long holiday weekend, I had brunch with friends and Hubby, went on a Macy's rummage with a friend and then Hubby and I hit the boat party. It was a lot of fun and I felt totally relaxed yesterday.

I also managed a couple of long sessions playing at my desk, which was nice after the 6 days away from it! I broke out old and new things to play with.

Today I am showing you two cards I made using my new Avery Elle Birthday Bus stamp and die set.

The main card is a bit of a CASE - I really liked the card Elena made and I have the cover plate die, so thought why not!

I watercoloured the bus and the presents, I made a mistake, so I had to fussy cut out the windows - ugh, but it does look nicer, I wish dies would do that..

I thought a piece of red spotty paper in the aperture would be a great foil for the blue card blank and the red bus. I stamped the sentiment from the set onto a piece of red cardstock and affixed it at a jaunty angle, to give the bus a bit of movement.

I stamped and coloured two of the bus and present stamps, so I thought why not make a similar card, using a different cover plate (I don't have as many of these as I'd like..)

I love the Hexstar cover plate by Neat and Tangled, it makes everything look good. The only different with this card really is the lack of fussy cutting, it probably would have looked nicer, but I just couldn't face it!

I love how they both turned out, giving me a couple of fun cards for my stash.

Cx

CASology: Fly..

Hey,

So a late post from me, I got back from Rochester yesterday and I felt the need to scratch my craft itch by playing along with the current cue card over at CASology..

I thought it would be fun to play with my Reverse Confetti 'Toucan of Friendship' set. Top fact, Toucan's DO fly, but only very short distances, so it counts!

I coloured the Toucan and the leaves using distress inks and an aquabrush. The panel was die-cut using an MFT stitched wonky die, the sentiment is from the set. I added a googly eye, I like googly eyes.

The card blank is new, as Paper Source are discontinuing certain colours in their stock, so I have been buying all these fun card blanks in different sizes.

It was fun to be at my desk, I think tonight is going to be a late one..

Cx

CAS on a Sunday.. Colour Chameleon..

Hey,

Bit late to the party today, but I have been having a slow weekend, hanging with Hubby and playing at my desk.

I came across a new challenge to me - CAS on a Sunday and it seemed apt, as today is Sunday...

This time you have to use repetitive stamping..

I thought it was a perfect time to break open my new Colour Chamelon stamps by Clearly besotted.

First I die-cut my watercolour panel using a MFT stitched wonky die. To help me stamp the Chameleon's in a straight line, I drew a pencil line - very helpful.

I decided to stamp my sentiment above and below the Chameleon's, this way I kept as much white space as possible.

I chose to use watercolour paper, because I wanted to colour using distress inks and an aquabrush, I pulled a little of the crayon colours into the Chameleon's, hoping to give the illusion that they were starting to change colour?!

So easy to make, I love these new stamps and this fun challenge.

Cx

Hipsters...

Hey,

So last weekend I managed to get my hand on these awesome Hipster stamps by Tim Holtz..

I love them, they are so weird!

I promptly created x5 cards (one for a friend and a set for another friend).

They don't need much work, stamp and simple colouring. I added fun words from other stamp sets as well as using the sentiments that came with the set.

The white panel was die-cut using an MFT wonky stitched die and I coloured the Hipsters using Distress Inks and an aquabrush.

Here is a closer look at one of them -

Love these, more of these being made this week.

Cx

CASology: Warm..

Hey,

Happy Friday!!

This week has been a busy work and gym one, looking forward to a gym day of rest on Sunday!

I haven't played along with CASology in a while, I really liked this week's cue card.

Because I have been considering spending Christmas in a warm place this year, the Newton's Nook Sun Soaked Christmas set came to mind.

I chose the palm trees and gifts image from the set, I coloured it with distress inks and added some stickles here and there. The sentiment is an old one by Avery Elle.

I am really happy with how my card came out, pretty CAS and makes me even more keen on a beachy Christmas.

Also the weather in NYC has been amazing this week, we have hit record temps, so lovely to be in sandals.

Have a great weekend, I am having a lo-key one. My only plan so far is a Skype playdate with JT on Sunday.

Retro Rubber Challenge #62...Use Flowers...

Hey,

Time for another awesome challenge with the Retro Rubber team.

I have a weakness for flower stamps, so my choice here was VAST!! I finally settled on an old fave by Stamping Bella - Pippa Loves to Plant. This was my first online purchase when we moved to NYC in 2013!! It was on sale at Walmart LOL.

Because the stamp is so detailed, I kept my card super simple. I really only had to colour the stamp (using Distress Inks and an aquabrush) and add the papers..
I used a MFT stitched rounded rectangle die for the stamp panel and I used a crop-a-dile on the pink paper to get matching rounded corners.

Your turn to show us what you can do with your older flower stamps, but first pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things my teammates have made..

Challenge ends May 19th. Don't forget to tell us the age of your stamp, that is part of the fun (and our rules) of our challenge and please only enter 10 challenges including Retro Rubber.

Cx

Too early?

Hey,

Happy Friday!

It has been a short week for me, so it's a bit cheeky to be glad that it is Friday, but I am.

Last month I bought a few new things from Lil Inkers, I coloured most of them including today's card as part of the 30 days of colouring.

I fell in love with the 'Oh Deer' stamp set and had to have it, it seemed a tad early for a Christmas card make, but I really wanted to colour it.

Isn't it gorgeous?

I used Zigs and an aquabrush - I have to keep reminding myself that Zigs work as watercolours.

I thought it was so beautiful that it should be made into a super simple card, so I die-cut it using a circle die and affixed it to a square craft blank.

I think I'll be making a lot of these come ACTUAL Christmas card making time.

Have a great weekend, I am hanging with the Craftgang on Sunday and tomorrow Lisette is coming to help me tackle the closet beast (ugh).

Cx

Coffee Time..

Hey,

Happy Easter..

Hubby and I have been in MM for the last couple of days and today we are heading to Lemon's to go raving tonight..it finishes at 6am tomorrow...ouch..

Anyway, whilst I was on sick leave I realised that I seem to have a lot of coffee focused stamps..

So I decided to break them all out and have a play.

I made four cards in the end, but I could have made so many more!

The main card uses a sentiment stamp by Whipper Snapper, a Bo Bunny ring stamp and the coffee cup and the hearts on the sleeve of the cup are by Simon Says Stamp and came with the Feb cardkit. It is my fave card of the bunch.

Here are the rest of the cards -

Simon Says Stamp sentiment, Concord & 9th cup stamp, coloured with Distress Inks

Whipper Snapper Coffee Monster, Simon Says Stamp sentiment, coloured with Distress Inks

Background stamp by Penny Black, Cup by Simon Says Stamp, Sentiment by Lawn Fawn, Coloured with Distress Inks

I used eight different stamp sets to create these cards - crazy right, especially as six of them are all about the coffee!!

I love mixing and matching my stamps its so much fun, I really need to set a theme for myself more often..

Cx

Fishy CASE...

Hey,

I am working really hard to play with older items and limit my purchasing of new ones..

I love Yana Smakula's cards, she is so creative and recently on Instagram I saw this beauty -

I instantly wanted to break out the Simon Says Stamp set that she used and CASE this card.

I ended up doing it as part of the 30 Days of Colouring last month.

I love to CASE cards that give me new ways to use my stash and I always like to add something or change something to the CASE.

For this card, I decided that it would be fun to add the ugly fishes from the Avery Elle That Bites set..and I am so glad I did, they made the card hilarious..they are SO ugly.

I used Zigs and an aquabrush to colour the fishes, the teeny tiny fishes are from the SSS set and the bubbles are from the Avery Elle set.

I am so pleased that this stamp set got a new lease of life. Thanks Yana.

Cx

Reverse Confetti..Playing with new goodies..

Hey,

I won the February Reverse Confetti sketch challenge, which meant I got a $20 voucher..obviously I spent more than that, but now I have all these lovely new things to play with.

Here is the March Sketch -

I decided to rotate it to the left, it worked better for my idea...

I bought the Bearing Gifts set because I loved the Bear in the car and thought it would make excellent birthday cards.

I had this crazy idea to create a scene and would you believe it, it worked!!

I really liked the current theme over at The Male Room -

I thought I could combine the RC sketch and The Male Room theme...I love how the DT have used wood.

I hunted and found a piece of wood effect background paper in my ridiculously large paper stash and die-cut out using a Simon Says Stamp stitched die and in the same paper stack I saw the blue piece of paper that worked as 'sky' in my opinion. I die-cut that piece using a smaller MFT stitched die.

Then I stamped the trees onto a green patterned paper and fussy cut them out. I stamped, coloured and fussy cut the Bear (I don't have the dies..yet).

I spent a while laying it all out before the glue came out...no room for mistakes here..I didn't fancy fussy cutting anymore!

I love the end result and feel like the Bear is driving through the woods to deliver gifts!!

Always fun to combine challenges.

Cx

Strike up the band for Craft Buddy...

Hey,

When JT leaves me comments, I take note of them.

Sometimes this means keeping an eye out for an item she liked or is coveting..it's helpful for birthday, etc.

When I posted this card, she said she loved the Alligator. So I stamped and die-cut a bunch of them for her and make her this card.

The card blank is by Recollections and I die-cut an ancient piece of DCWV glittery patterned card stock using a Lil Inker die. I wanted it to be fun and mixing patterns achieves this easily for me!

I love this set by Avery Elle (Band Camp), I wanted it for AGES, I was lucky that it went on sale at Scrapbook.com at the start of the year.

It is so much fun to colour, I keep getting it out and stamping the entire set and colouring all the images.

I like it when I can send JT unexpected happy mail.

Cx

Marker Pop...Adventure is calling..

Hey,

Despite being a frequent shopper at Marker Pop, I have only played along with their bi-weekly challenge once.

I really liked the colour theme they have for the current challenge.

You have to use a minimum of 3 of the shades and one neutral of choice. You also have to use a colouring medium that they sell at the Marker Pop store.

I decided to use the awesome new Topography stamp by Neat & Tangled. I heat embossed it in white onto watercolour paper.

Then I used 3 Zig brush markers (Dark Grey, Grey Brown, Light Grey) and an aquabrush to achieve the 3 shades of grey I wanted.

I LOVE how it came out, I am super pleased. I love background stamps and this one feels like it is going to be a firm fave.

I stamped 3 of the sentiments from the sent onto vellum and attached them to the background using mini staples, then I mounted the panel onto a card blank (when I am covering the entire card blank, I used a patterned card I don't like).

Big bonus is this was my day 7 colouring for The Daily Marker 30 days of colouring challenge - yay!

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge: Newton stays in...

Hey,

I stumbled across a cool challenge 2 days ago.

It's called Cupcake Inspiration and every week they post a different photo of cupcakes to inspire you. You don't have to use cupcakes to play.

This week's photo make me smile. I am a cat person..

This time they are also sponsored by Newton's Nook and I thought it would be a great excuse to break out my Cozy Day In stamp set.

I used the pink frosting to inspire my colouring..

I die-cut the image using an MFT stitched oval die and dug through my extensive paper stash for the right background paper and came across this ancient piece of floral paper.

I LOVE paper, but I have so much of it. JT and I declared paper amnesty about 3.5 years ago..we do not buy paper anymore, unless it is plain or neutral colours. No more patterned paper and it makes us sad, but it had to happen, I truly believe I have more paper than I can use in my lifetime..

Anyway I digress.. I stamped one of the sentiments from the set, onto a coordinating piece of pink cardstock and decided to make it a banner and affix it to my card with a staple.

A bit of a girly card for me, but I like it, I also quite fancy a cozy day in with my cats, a book and a blanket..

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #57..Colour challenge..

Hey,

Time for another awesome challenge with the Retro Rubber team.

This time we have a colour challenge for you - use the photo for the colour inspiration..

I was inspired by the jars in the image, so I pulled out one of my all time fave stamps by Unity Stamp Co. (Array of Vases from 2015).

I coloured it used distress inks (Squeezed Lemonade, Festive Berries, Mowed Lawn and Mermaid Lagoon) and an aquabrush to match the colours in the photo.

I decided that it would work best in a die-cut circle and thought the stitched scalloped version by MFT worked really well, as the image is so detailed, I didn't want to detract from it too much.

Final touches were to add a sentiment, stamp is by Kaisercraft from 2014 and the die-cut wishes is by Winnie & Walter - I LOVE their word dies.

I am a bit in love with this card, the vases really pop..might need to make a few more.

Your turn to show us your makes and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things my teammates have made..

Challenge ends March 10th. 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

Playdate challenge Flamingo's....

Hey,

Happy Monday,

So JT and I had a fun Skype playdate yesterday and she said she was intrigued by the sketch over at CAS(E) this sketch -

I loved the sketch, but I was concerned about the matching up..so after closer inspection of the DT cards, I came up with a way to cheat ;)

I also had an idea that struck me as either genius or plain weird..involving Flamingo's.

I stamped the Lawn Fawn Flamingo's onto a white piece of watercolour cardstock, but I had marked where I was planning on die-cutting the rectangle (cheat), so I knew how to stamp the Flamingo's and which ones to colour (distress ink in Picked Raspberry and aquabrush).

I die-cut the main panel and then the centre rectangle, affixed the main panel to the card blank and then using pop-dots added the centre rectangle - super clever cheat, will be using again.

The sentiment makes no sense to anyone else but my friend and her posse who live in California..

Weird, pink and wonderful..I think all playdates should involve Flamingo's.

Cx

Poppy Girl...

Hey,

A simple post today of something I made whilst I was off on Christmas break.

I love these Unity Girl stamps by Unity Stamp Co, they are so pretty and versatile. I love the giant poppies here creating a built in backdrop for the girl.

I coloured her using distress inks and an aquabrush.

I left her without a sentiment, I do this sometimes. It's hand to have a blank card that you can add the appropriate sentiment to when it is needed.

Cx

Superhero Birthday...

Hey,

Today is the birthday of my friends Son, he loves Superheroes and is always asking if I have met Spiderman, as we live in the same City...

So I thought that I would make him a special Superhero card.

I stamped the Superhero Bunny (by The Cats Pajamas) and then masked it off using a Molotov masking pen - I love these pens, but they are pricey, so I keep an eye out for them in the sale.

No Superhero is complete without rays of light (right?!) so I stenciled in the rays using a Clear Scraps stencil and Mustard Seed distress ink.

Then you just rub off the masking fluid, I use an eraser to get the little bits that won't come off.

I coloured the bunny using distress inks and an aquabrush.

The sentiment was created using 2 stamps, the HB is by Clearly Besotted and I masked off part of the Superhero sentiment stamp from the same set as the bunny.

Really easy card to make, but the rays make it look trixsy.

Of course I included a personal note from Spiderman..

Cx

Sketch Saturday #444

Hey,

Happy New Year's Eve to you!

I hope you have fun plans for tonight..I do :)

This week's Sketch Saturday sponsor is Bugaboo, who are offering a whopping 9 digis as a prize..

Here is this week's sketch -

Bugaboo make some of my fave digis and it was fun to play with Balloon Bundle for this challenge.

I printed the digi onto watercolour paper and coloured the balloons using Distress Inks and an aquabrush.

All the papers are by Lawn Fawn and Jen Hadfield.

The hardest part of making this card was figuring out where to put my sentiment..I was totally nervous about die-cutting it at the bottom of the paper pieced background - but now I am really pleased with the end result - phew!

Your turn to join in the fun - go over to Sketch Saturday and be inspired by the rest of the DT makes.

Have a safe and happy start to 2017, the challenge ends 6th January 7pm GMT / 5pm EST.

Cx