Retro Rubber Challenge #199 - Tickled Pink!

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

It was fun to see so many people in the gallery for the last challenge. I hope you will love this one too. This time we have a colour challenge for you.

I went with pink, white, and silver (I am using creative license here with my grey cat counting as silver).

This is one of my fave stamp sets - 'Pawsome Love' by Simon Says Stamp, I have had it since 2020. It has a great range of sentiments and critters. I really like the Palentine's Day idea, as I love to send Valentine's cards to my girlfriends.

I got all fancy and created my OWN folding banner using an ancient MFT banner die.. I have always felt the banners are too long and finally learned to fold my own!

Which colour combo will you use? Don't forget to pop over to Retro Rubber, and get inspired by the things the DT has made.

Challenge ends on February 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

FMS: Birthday Bear..

Hey,

Happy Saturday!

Continuing with the challenge theme I've got going for this week.

I tell you after all this wfh / isolation is done, my apartment is going to be knee-deep in cards!

Anyway!

I am playing along with the Freshly Made Sketches Sketch today.

I already had the Bear coloured and ready to go, as he was coloured as part of the #dailymarker30day colouring challenge. He is from one of my all-time fave sets by MFT 'Beary Special Birthday'.

I started by die-cutting the background pink spotty panel and then I dit-cut coordinating circles in plain and floral and layered them up, I hung them slightly off the edge of the spotty panel and trimmed off the excess.

The sentiment banner is by Taylored Expressions and is one of their genius simple strips stamps / die combo - if you don't have this, you need to check it out.

I popped the sentiment and bear up using foam tape.

I love the cute card I ended up with, making a nice addition to my birthday card stash.

Today I am going to attempt to clean my closet (UGH) and then as a reward I can play with Alcohol inks!

Cx

The Paper Players 475: Dino-mite..

Hey,

Last weekend, I was looking for a challenge to play along with.

I really like a sketch challenge and the current Paper Players sketch made me want to play along.

I thought it would be fun to use the cute 'Dinky Dinos' set by Heffy Doodle.

I decided to colour the Dinos in all different colours for a bit of added interest. I heat embossed the sentiment from the set (it comes in parts, so you can build a variety of sentiments) and die-cut it using a banner die.

The scalloped, stitched, dotted die that I used for the white panel is from a random shop I like in the UK that sells a really random mix of stuff, I always pop in there when I am home in London.

A nice easy make for a Sunday.

Cx

Sketch Saturday #568 Mmedel Illustrations..

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you and welcome to the latest sketch for the Sketch Saturday challenge.

Our sponsor this week is Mmedel Illustrations and they are offering a fabulous prize of x2 digis from their store and a discount code.

Here's the sketch...

I love working with angles..

I loved the Towel Girl stamp, especially as it is Summer, so it's time for going on vacay and relaxing.

I printed and coloured the stamp, using Copics. Then I die cut the white panel using a stitched rectangle and placed it at an angle over the yellow panel and the smaller gold piece. Once I trimmed off the excess I affixed the whole thing to a card blank.

I added the little sentiment banner and I kept my sentiment simple, as I felt like this card could be used for a variety of occasions.

I ended up with so much white space that I added a giant piece of bling to anchor the whole thing a bit better.

Love how it came out, I love angled cards and the simplicity of this one works so well.

I can't wait to see what you do with the sketch, but first, check out what the rest of the DT have made over at Sketch Saturday.

Challenge ends 21st June 7pm GMT / 2pm EST.

Cx

Peek-a-Boo Thank You....

Hey,

Happy Friday!

What a week!!!

Don't you love it when you see a stamp set and an idea, buy said stamp set and it's even better than you thought it would be?!

I saw these x2 great new releases from Avery Elle - Peek-a-Boo Car and Peek-a-Boo Scary Pals.

I had to have them because I loved that the paws for the animals are separate so you can position them on the steering wheel - it's the small things with me.

For my first use of the two sets I made a thank you card for a friend and I LOVE how it came out. It worked really well with the MFT peek-a-boo dots cover-up background die.

I added a Lil Inker banner - which I got in a grab bag and is fast becoming my default die. The sentiment is by Stampin' Up.

Hope you have fun weekend plans.

Tonight I am going to see a friend who is a physical therapist to see if she can help me with the foot / ankle.

Cx

A cup of thanks...

Hey,

Happy Memorial Day to you!!

It is a holiday here in the US and in the UK - whoop!

Today I am sharing a couple of cards I made a few weeks ago using Studio Katia 'A Cup of Thanks' stamps and dies.

This is a pretty new stamp set for me, I have only coloured it before now, I hadn't actually made anything using it.

I needed to make x2 cards - birthday and thinking of you. And I thought the flower-filled cup would suit both needs and suited the people that they are going to.

The thinking of you card, I die-cut the white panel first and then added splashes of yellow watercolour paint to create a fun background that coordinated with the colours in the stamp.

For the happy birthday card, I went with a spotty background paper, a touch busy, but I think it really makes the cup pop.

Both cups were coloured with Copics and Nuvo Aqua flow shimmer pens.

This stamp set ended up being way more versatile than I had expected, I'm looking forward to making more with it.

Cx

Hello Winter Baby..

Hey,

At the end of January our friends had their first baby, after a really difficult set of stillbirths. I think it's ok for me to reference that, as they are advocates for talking about it and support several charities, that bring this subject to forefront of people's minds.

To celebrate the arrival of Baby Rowan, I went baby stuff crazy and sent them a flat rate box of goodies and I am working on another project for them.

I also made today's card to go with the box of goodies.

As Rowan was born during the Winter, I thought it would be fun to make a Winter focused baby card.

I started by smooshing some distress ink onto watercolour paper. Then cue much fussing and fiddling trying out all of the background elements!

The Polar Bear stamp is by MFT and is one of my all time fave sets (Polar Bear Pals).

I love how it came together and is a really nice twist on regular new baby cards.

Cx

The Paper Players: Celebrate 400 challenges!

Hey,

Happy Monday to you!

And Congratulations to The Paper Players team for hitting the 400 challenge mark! Impressive!

I am a big fan of The Paper Players challenge and really wanted to join in the celebration fun..

I used one of my new Sizzix Embossing Diffuser plates to create that yummy centrally embossed circle. I love that I can stretch my embossing plates with these new plates. I opted for a star folder, it is a celebration after all!

I stamped, die-cut and coloured one of the bears and balloons from the MFT Beary Special Birthday set.

The sentiment is by Concord & 9th and from their Celebrations set. I decided to add the cheerful yellow banner to break up the sentiment a bit and to Anchor my bear.

Now I wonder what he's brought as a gift..

Cx

Sketch Saturday #510..Have a fantastic day!

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you and welcome to the latest sketch for the Sketch Saturday challenge.

Our sponsor this week is Star Stampz and they are offering 3 digi's from their store.

Here's the sketch (by me!)..

I loved the cheery Spring Sun Shine image, I thought it would be fun to colour and I was 100% right.

My background paper choices and the sentiment banner were influenced by the colours I had chosen to colour the image with (using Promarkers).

Both of the background papers are ancient and another dent in my large patterned paper stash, that I vowed I would use more of in 2018.

I can't wait to see what you do with 'my' sketch, but first check out what the rest of the DT have made over at Sketch Saturday.

Challenge ends 27th April 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

I'll be back later with my third GDT card for Catch The Bug.

Cx

MFT Creative Olympics 2018: Event 4..Speed Cardmaking..

Hey,

Happy Monday and Happy President's Day to those of you that are lucky enough to have today off.

This is the final event for the MFT Creative Olympics. I have really enjoyed making the cards and despite the fact that my first two will be disqualified, I still have 4 great cards for my stash.

Event 4, seemed to be perfect for me -

I am a pretty fast cardmaker, not intentionally, it just seems that is how I work and generally I am pretty well prepped for my cards. It is rare that I approach my desk without the supplies I want to use whirring through my mind!

For this event you have 20 mins to make a card. I nailed the time part -

1.25 left of the 20 min time limit.

But the emotional stress of it, kinda took the fun out of it for me. I kept looking at the timer!

I used the 'London Mouse' set (being from London, this is a fave of mine) and the 'Chevron Grid' background stamp for my card, the sentiment is from the 'Polar Bear Pals' set.

I stamped the chevron background first and then stamped, cut and coloured my scene. This took the most time.

Once I had everything ready, I die-cut the chevron panel and affixed it to my card blank. I then added everything else to the chevron panel. Some of the pieces I popped up using foam tape.

I decided I wanted a flag banner for the sentiment and affixed it to my card using a staple.

I'm pleased with the end result, but no more timers for me..

Cx

Sketch Saturday..A Little Hey..

Hey,

As you know I love a sketch challenge and I thought I'd play along with Sketch Saturday this week.

Cool sketch right?

I decided to pull out a Fox digital stamp by Pink Petticoat - who are sadly no longer in business..

I love Foxes, I used to see them a lot in my neighbourhood in London.

I chose some ancient papers by Recollections (Michaels), as I wanted the papers to tonally fit the Fox and I am trying to use things from the overflowing 'brown' drawer LOL.

It was all very simple to put together.

The sentiment is by Technique Tuesday. Both the scallop and circle dies are by Spellbinders and the banner was punched using the great Stampin' Up banner punch - a must have if you are like me and can't cut a banner correctly to save your life...

I added a couple of mini staples to the banner and a bit of distress ink around the Fox circle to give it a bit more interest and depth.

I'm pretty pleased with my little Fox.

Also I have thrown my hat into the ring to be a part of the Sketch Saturday DT - fingers crossed!!

Cx

Just a nautical note..

Hey,

I fell in love with this week's sketch over at Retro Sketches -

I decided to stick with the nautical theme implied in the sketch and some of the DT makes.

I wanted to break out a new (on sale) stamp set by Clearly Besotted 'Best Dad II', it has 3 great sailboat stamps and a die.

I stamped it using Majestic Blue ink by Versafine and die-cut it out..it came out so perfectly, I had to stare at it for a little while..

I embossed some grey card using an Anchor folder and dug out two ancient pieces of pre-printed Pink Petticoat digital papers (stars and seashells) for my layers.

The large banner die is by Simon Says Stamp and is from the first ever stitched set I bought, I over use the stitched rectangle from the set :) I wrapped a piece of pale blue / lavender paper twine around the top.

For the sentiment I punched a scrap of the grey cardstock using the Washi Tape punch by Stampin' Up and added a Jillibean Soup sentiment..

I love how it all came together, the colours are so soothing.

I have to confess that I did spend about 25 minutes trying different papers from my pre-printed Pink Petticoat box..but it was totally worth it.

Cx

Clearly Besotted In the Frame...

Hey,

I have had this Clearly Besotted In the Frame stamp and die set for a while.

I have played with it, but the results have been a bit meh..

So over the weekend I thought I'd try again and now with my shiny new MISTI the stamping is much better. It all felt over inked before, like I had pressed too hard on the stamp block.

The main card was such a fun easy make. I stamped the frame in purple ink, then die-cut it, then I stamped the sentiment.

I LOVE tags, I can't get enough of them, I have x2 sets of tag dies, but yet I am always buying them, I have a photo box FULL to the brim of them.. The glittery, spotty, vellum beauty used here was bought at AC Moore when I was in Philly for the family reunion, 6 for $1 and the plain card under was a bonus, I didn't realise they had that AND they came with that sparkly twine..swoon central.

I mounted the tag onto a card blank made using my fave purple Simon Says Stamp cardstock. I added the frame piece to that and voila! finished card..

Love it.

Banners made using a Stampin' Up banner punch

I made another one, which is winging its way to a friend -

Two different cards using the same set..loving stretching my stamps right and now and so happy I had another play with this stamp set and it worked out for me.

Cx

Bokeh flower fun....

Hey,

So over the weekend I thought I'd have a play with the new Lets Bokeh stamp set by Lawn Fawn that I bought when I was at the Loftartretreat.

Today I am showing 2 different cards, I also made a couple of Christmas cards - I'll show you those next week..

All the other stamps I used are by Simon Says Stamp.

I thought the circles would make really nice flowers. I used a stamp for the stems that is actually supposed to be a balloon string.

I used 3 different colour inks for each card and then I used my fave mini star burst stamp for 'centres' 

I kept the sentiment simple.

I used the outline stamp from the Bokeh set on the purple card and I don't really like it as much..

I think I'll be playing around with variations of these cards - I love the Bokeh stamp set..it's got legs.

Cx

Charming Mama Elephant..

Hey,

So I am back at my desk here in NYC.

Good to be home and be with Hubby - Mexico next - whoop whoop!

I bought a great new stamp set Charmed by Mama Elephant from the Inkpad before I went away.

I made today's card using the set and a Simon Says Stamp stitched circle die. I colored the stamps using Distress Inks and an aquabrush.

I didn't buy the dies, so I hand cut out the owl and the banner.

I stamped and coloured the owl onto the circle, so you would get a little shadow when I fussy cut another owl and popped him on top. Here's a close up for you - 

The banner and the sentiment are also from the set. I kept it all very simple and mounted it all onto a American Crafts card blank..I am loving patterned card blanks right now.

Cute stamps.

I am working on a little project with another Mama Elephant set, so watch this space....

Cx