Retro Rubber #39...It's May and time for flowers...

Hey,

Time for another fab challenge from the Retro Rubber team.

This time we are celebrating the arrival of May with Flowers - 

I have SO many flower stamps, this really was a challenge for me, deciding which ones to use.

I settled on a fave Simon Says Stamp set - Favorite Flowers, I got it as part of one of my first SSS cardkits in 2014 and I use it A LOT!!

This time, I thought it would be fun to combine it with a few new bits and bobs - the sentiment is brand new and by Hero Arts and the leaf stamp is by Avocado Arts from last year.

I stamped the sentiment first and then masked it off, so that I could splodge (technical term..) two colours of distress stains around the while panel.

Then I stamped the flowers over the stain splodges. I used a paintbrush to dab in the green splodges and then stamped the leaves over them.

I had originally planned to mount the white flower panel and the pink panel onto the cardblank, but it felt flat, so I decided to create the background using the medium and large flower stamp -

I am so pleased with the whole card and I totally need to create my own backgrounds using one or two stamps more often.

Now it's your turn to get creative and show us your flowery creations. First pop over to Retro Rubber and see what my talented teammates made.

Challenge ends on June 3rd. Don't forget to use a stamp a year or older and tell us all about it - this is the best bit for us :)

Cx

Reminding myself I'm a crafter...

Hey,

So this is a scheduled post as I am now in London.

Yes, sometimes I do forget I'm a crafter, especially when I see shiny, pretty paper goods and stationery on display in shops..

I like to have a calendar hanging on my pinboard above my craft / work desk and last year I had a cute one from Michaels that was a dollar.

It came with the handy clipboard that you can see in my main photo.

I've seen lots of really lovely small hanging calendars and have been tempted to buy one..then when I was taking down my 2015 one, I thought - hold on, why don't I make one for myself..idiot!

So I trawled around for a calendar style I liked (very fussy about this) and came across a fellow WOYWWer Scrappy Sticky Inky Mess - she has a whole host of fabulous free printables on her blog and I found one that had a blank space for you to decorate.

I printed it out and cut it down to fit the clipboard (recycling points) and then I added a swipe of distress stain to the top of each month, found appropriate stamps and voila 15 mins later I had a calendar...

Nice to be reminded of the fact that I have an entire craft room at my disposal..

Here are photos of all of the months..

I used all different stamps for my interpretation of the months..Sept is cake because it's my birth month :) I did notice that I need one more distress stain colour :) because I had to reuse a colour...excuses for spendy spendy...

Cx


Stamps are by - Lawn Fawn, Simon Says Stamp, Quick Cards, Paper Mania, Avery Elle, Avocado Arts.

Moving Along With the Times..Still time..

Hey,

There is still time for you to join in the Challenge over at Moving Along With The Times...

It was my turn to host, so the theme is Thanks / Thanksgiving.

I made you another card this week :) using the fab sketch from Sunday Stamps -

I loved the sketch and thought it would be fun to make another Thank You card..

I decided that it would be fun to use one of the giant square cards JT gave me, along with some fun papers that I have had in my stash forever. I used a new-ish stamp set by Avocado Arts for the wreath and sentiment. I fussy cut around the wreath and coloured it using Promarkers. 

To bring it all together I used some sparkly green tape and a piece of twine.

Time for you to show us your Thanks projects, pop over to MAWTT and check out the designs from the rest of the team.

Challenge ends at 6pm BST Weds 9th December.. and don't forget I have a grab bag to give away to the first person out of my hat :)

Cx

NYC Playdate Part 1...

Hey,

So here I am in London, finally posting some of the cards that JT and I made LAST Sunday on our NYC playdate.

What a hoot that was - so much fun to have JT and her hubby here with us and for JT to finally get a proper play with my stash - how I miss the playdates we used to have when we were both in London.

The headline card is my fave out of this batch...

I used a fun technique of inking a stamp with Distress Ink and spritzing it with water and then you lay the paper ontop..

I then die-cut this using butterfly dies by Xcut. The sentiment is a freebie from Quick Cards that my Ma bought me - isn't it gorgeous!

The next card uses my new fave pineapple background stamp. I thought it went well with my new Avocado Arts Flamingo. The sentiment is by WPlus9. 

This card feels really Summery to me.

I bought the great new stamp and die set by Simon Says Stamp & Mama Elephant - Skater Kids. It is part of the special Stamptember releases and I wanted it so badly, I bought it online from Mexico!!

I love the fact that all the animals and shorts are interchangeable. The little skid marks are fun too. All the sentiments I used are from the set.

I kept the card simple to showcase the skating dog!

Final card in this epic post - using a great Simon Says Stamp die. I die cut it using 4 sheets of patterned paper by My Mind's Eye and a brown outline piece. JT and I got a set each and we pieced them together. 

I added another one of the great freebie stamps from Quick Cards and this card really does make me smile and feel happy.

I am so happy with all of these cards, can't wait to show you part 2.

You can see JT's cards here and here.

Cx