Retro Rubber Challenge #186 - Sketch Challenge...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge. I hope you all had a fun 4th of July weekend if you are in the Americas, Hubby and I had a great weekend.

We have a sketch for you this time, you know how much I love a sketch!

I rotated the sketch and decided to use this gorgeous butterfly that was on my desk, it's by Clearly Besotted 'Elegant Butterflies' and I have had it since 2016.

I loved the colour I had stamped it in, so I chose papers that worked well with it and suited the sketch.

Here is a close-up, as the sentiment strip is foiled and is hard to photograph!

The floral paper is by Stampin' Up and everything else is a scrap, the sentiment strip is by Taylored Expressions. I love how pretty and delicate this card feels.

Show us your interpretation of the sketch. And don't forget to pop on over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends July 15th.

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

Fusion Card Challenge - Colour Palette - Blue Butterfly..

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

This time we have a colour palette with the image and of course a fun sketch.

Which will you try?

Surprise! No sketch for me this time. I fell in love with the colours and the butterfly, so went with that.

I used my all-time fave butterfly stamp by Stampin' Up 'Watercolor Wings' - it is a layering stamp and I am not normally into these, but this one is so fun and you get great results.

I stamped all the layers with Distress Oxides and spritzed and dried each layer before adding another one, I love all the drippy goodness. I used Salvaged Patina, Mermaid Lagoon and Blueprint Sketch.

I finished it off with a splatter of black ink and a heat embossed sentiment strip by Taylored Expressions.

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 May 10.

Cx

MFT Challenge - Slimline Birthday...

 Hey,

Happy Monday!

Today I got the first dose of the vaccine!!

I hardly ever join in card challenges at the moment, been a bit distracted by all my digital playing.

But the current MFT Slimline Challenge sparked my interest.

I used Pink Fresh Studio Slimline dies (as these are the only ones I have!) and created this fun card. I am OBSESSED with the mini and micro cloud edger stencils, I cannot stop using them and they look amazing on a slimline card - cue me making these cards forever LOL. I used the mini version for this card.

I stamped the sentiment repeatedly (from Essential Sentiments), not only to fill the space but to create a bit of interest. I love the Zippy Zebras set and the one on the scooter is my fave and I used the butterflies from that set around my sentiment on my background. The grass die is by Lawn Fawn.

Fun card, that I am super happy with - now who do I send it to...

Cx

Embossed Butterflies...

Hi,

I recently found a whole batch of ready to go backgrounds, so I thought it would be fun to make a few quick cards using some of them.

I have never used this freebie butterfly stamp from Die-Cutting Essentials magazine and I thought it would look awesome heat embossed.

Isn't it stunning?! The main photo was the first one I made. The background is a text stamp that I heat embossed in white to create a resist and then it has a watercolour wash over it.

The next two are so bright and fun - the yellow/blue one, uses a background that I stamped at my friend Jamey's craft space and the pink one uses a cut to size piece of patterned paper by Studio Calico (I think).

Using different colours of embossing powder and background papers created such a variety of looks. I love it when this happens. 

I added Taylored Expressions simple sentiment strips to all 3 cards.

Cx

CASology: Repeat Butterflies..

Hey,

Happy Friday.

So its been a while since I joined in over at CASology, with Christmas and everything getting in my way!

Seems like a great way to start 2020 by playing along.

I used the Stampin' Up 'Perpetual Calendar' set to make my desk calendar and it was still on my desk and I saw the butterfly stamp and thought it would work perfectly here.  I stamped it in a few different colours of Altenew Inks (which I LOVE) and I can't believe I haven't used the butterfly in this way before.

I added a few teeny tiny die-cut butterflies here and there for some added dimension, but you can't really see them that well in my photo.

Over the Christmas break (before I left for London) I organised my dies. I have a fair amount of stand alone dies and tbh I really had no idea of what I did or didn't have. Needless to say I stumbled across some forgotten faves, like the wonderful 'Love You' die by Simon Says Stamp that I used on my card. I die-cut it out of some pink self-adhesive foam.

Such a pretty girly card, so unusual for me to be this girly.

Have a great weekend, I will be on the couch watching NFL playoffs!

Cx

CAS on Friday: Butterflies..

Hey,

With all the traveling and working! I haven't been playing along with too many challenges.

So this weekend has I had some time, I thought I would play along with one of my fave challenges - CAS on Friday.

The theme is Butterflies.

I think my card feels pretty CAS..but we'll see what the DT think ;)

I smooshed half of my paper in distress oxide's and water and dried it before using a large rectangle stitched die to die-cut it to size.

I used my new Lil Inker stitched butterfly dies and embossed the large butterfly and a trail into my panel. I die-cut a smaller butterfly from the same set using a coordinating scrap of paper and popped that up on my card.

I finished it off with a simple sentiment.

I am really happy with how it came out, I really like the embossed butterfly that overlaps the coloured and plain parts of my background.

Cx

The Paper Players: Happy Spring!...

Hey,

I thought it would be fun to try and enter a few challenges before I head to London on 22nd of March, as I won't have a full kit there, so it won't be possible.

Today I am entering the latest The Paper Players challenge -

Last year when my Momma came for a visit, she brought all the freebies from a couple of craft magazines that I had subscribed to. It was basically x2 years of goodies from x2 magazines = 24 freebie packs - YAY.

I was going to use a new stamp for this challenge, but then I remembered the big batch of goodies from Momma had a fun Spring scene in it.

I had great fun, playing with this little set. I die-cut the 'scene' die in white and then coloured the flowers and leaves. I die-cut it again in brown, so I could cut out the tree trunks, as I didn't really want to colour those in.

I die-cut the Fox, Rabbit and Butterflies and I added some details to the fox, as his face didn't really show up that well.

I used the scalloped circle mat die that came with the set, but added a smaller circle die of my own to create a frame.

To put my card together, I die-cut a piece of blue paper using a circle die and affixed that to my card blank, then I added the Fox, Rabbit and Butterflies to that.

I popped up the panel with the scene on it, so that I got some dimension. Foolishly I didn't add the sentiment before popping it up - ugh.

It's so out of my comfort zone, but I loved making it - really fun to make almost an entire card without any stamping and I have a recipient in mind.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #104... Tic Tac Toe...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a Tic Tac Toe board from Jan -

I went with the top row, Butterflies/Green/Textured Embossing.

First I used a diffuser plate to create the circle of embossing you can see on my card, the big spot folder is ancient and my fave ever embossing folder by Sizzix, then I stamped the sentiment (by Newton's Nook from 2017).

I dug through my stash and found x2 butterfly embellishments (top and bottom). The middle one, I die-cut myself from a ink smooshed piece of paper using a Clearly Besotted die from 2016, I had planned to stamp this butterfly, but it just didn't work!

I love all the different tones on my card - earthy but with that bright green to liven it up.

Which row will you choose? Be sure to stop over at Retro Rubber 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

CASE: Kinda Eclectic..

Hey,

Happy Friday to you!!

Hubby and I leave for London tonight, part work, part fun. It is my companies annual Christmas trip - they take all of us employees and our partners on a 3 day European vacation - I know, unbelievable right?!

This year we are going to Porto in Portugal and we are leaving a week today, but before that we are heading to London for a few days with our families and a few days of working out of our London offices.

Today's card I actually made for a friend, then decided that it was too fussy for her (she is the Queen of CAS).

It's actually a CASE of a card I saw on Pinterest and realised that I have that stamp set!

The stamp set is Kinda Eclectic by Stampin' Up and I think it is discontinued now.

I kept most of the card as a straight CASE, but used a different large Butterfly (Clearly Besotted) and sentiment (Scrapbook.com own brand).

It's actually in my hand luggage, as I think my Momma might like it for one of her friends / colleagues.

Have a great weekend, I'll be napping, eating, hanging with my folks, going to SoccerBall with Poppa and missing my craft desk.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: Anything Goes..

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

My time as Guest Designer with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge is nearly over. I have had so much fun, but it's not quite over yet, I'll be here all the way through July.

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

I love the beautiful Flower Butterfly Vase stamp, I thought it would look lovely when coloured and I wasn't wrong!

Because the stamp is so beautiful, I kept the card really simple and just added a fave Concord & 9th sentiment.

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

Retro Rubber Challenge #88.. Anything Goes...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

It's time for everyone's fave  -

Watercolor Wings by Stampin' Up is a fave set of mine and when I first got it in 2015, it got totally overused..sadly it's been a bit neglected over the last 6 months or so.

I stamped the pink and black parts of the butterfly using ink and the white parts were heat embossed. Once I had finished heat embossing, I spritzed it with water, to get the pink 'bleed'.

I have this random dot stamp on my desk (I can't find the set its from...6months..) and I thought it would look fun here to add it here and there.

The sentiment is a freebie from a UK magazine that JT gave me last year. I am hoping for more 'free gifts' this week, as my Momma arrives on Thursday for a 2 week visit.

This is the best bit about Retro Rubber for me, giving an older, slightly neglected set a new lease of life.

Show us your makes and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends June 15th.

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

CAS Colours and a butterfly..

Hey,

Happy Friday.

Again my friend Jen is providing challenge inspiration, she is guesting over at CAS Colours and Sketches.

I love the colours this week -

I decided that I would use Ferro metallic paste for my 'smoky slate', I love this stuff. I applied it to my white panel through a Tim Holtz stencil.

The butterfly die is by Poppy Stamps and I die-cut it out of a piece of purple cardstock to match 'elegant eggplant'.

Once the paste was dry, I die-cut the panel and affixed it to my card, then I stamped the sentiment (a freebie) in purple ink and affixed the butterfly and added the yellow enamel dots to match 'crushed curry'.

I am super happy with my card, it came out exactly as I had visualised, with the added bonus of the perfect sentiment, that I had forgotten about!

Hope you have a great weekend, Hubby and I are brunching with Lisette tomorrow and we have our new bed (finally) coming on Sunday!!

Cx

CASE a Card....Cardkit...

Hey,

Hope you all had a nice weekend? Mine was very peaceful, after the excesses of Hubby's birthday :)

Recently I have been re-visiting my Card Ideas Pinterest board, partly because I want to use more of my enormous stash and also because I want to actually use my Pinterest boards.

I saw this card - 

Image courtesy of My Impressions Blog

It was made using the Feb 2016 Simon Says Stamp cardkit - which as you can see from the main photo I totally have!!

I decided to use a different stripey paper and dug out some ancient blue glittery washi tape. It changes the look just a bit and I added a blue enamel dot to the top of the heart - which I punched using a scalloped heart punch.

As the card uses such a straightforward formula and an entire Cardkit at my disposal, I decided to make a variant - 

I love both cards, they were super easy to make and I did actually make several variants:)

I did some more fun CASEing over the weekend, so I'll be posting those next week, whilst I am in the UK.

Cx

60th Birthday Butterfly..

Hey,

I am in London now, hanging with my folks.

My Ma loved the main card from this post so much that she asked me to make something similar for a friend.

So as it was going to be a CASE I wanted to change it a bit, so it wasn't identical.

I used a Tim Holtz stencil and randomly applied the texture paste through it.

The butterfly is a fave die by Poppy Stamps, that I don't use as often as I should! I channelled my inner Cheiron and put distress inks onto my craft mat, spritzed them and then smushed the paper into the inky mess, dried it and die-cut it.

It came out way better than I expected - yay me!

Here is a close-up for you -

I was planning on cutting the numbers out of the left over inky paper, but when I went to get the number dies, the 60 you see was waiting in the die pouch..it was meant to be.

To jazz it up a bit I added some bling (of course).

I love it. I have to try and make more butterflies using this method, but you know they will all come out horrid!

Ma loves it too, so all is well :)

Cx

Kaleidacolor playtime..

Hey,

Happy Friday..

So I am heading to London tonight for a week - looking forward to seeing everyone, as I had a month off from all of the travelling.

I acquired a new Kaleidacolor inkpad on my last class at The InkpadNYC... I could not wait to play with it.

Don't you love how beautiful the butterfly is in the main photo?

No real tips required for using these inkpads, just remember to try not to mix the colours, or you will ruin the inkpad.

I kept the several butterfly cards I made simple - basically its so pretty it doesn't need embellishing.

The butterfly is by Stampendous, the coloured card blanks are by American Crafts (I made the white ones), all papers by Recollections and the sentiment stamp is by Clearly Besotted.

Here are the rest - a few variants (including one with an inky finger print..oops)

These will be going in a gift box for my Hubby's Great Aunt.

See you in London!

Cx

Watercolour Wings

Hey,

Happy Friday everyone!!

I have had an eventful week..more about that soon..

I thought I'd share another fun little card I made using part of my Stampin' Up Demonstrator starter kit.

The butterfly is from the Watercolor Wings set -

I loved the idea of constructing the butterfly.

I stamped the various parts of the butterfly using Distress Inks onto Tim Holtz watercolour paper. Then I spritzed the butterfly with water and dabbed up any big drips and dried it with a heat tool.

It created a really cool smudged effect.

The sentiment stamps are by Paper Smooches.

I added the hearts and some splatter for my finishing touches.

Fun, can't wait to try different colour variants.

Have a great weekend..I will be resting my foot in hope of being healed enough to come out of the bootie on Tuesday.

Remember if you want to buy this stamp set you can find a link to my store in the sidebar.

Cx

Online Card Classes - A Cut Above: Part 2 - Day One

Hey,

So a couple of weeks ago, I finally got around to doing Day One of my Online Card Class - A Cut Above: Part 2 Electronic Die Cutting.

It was a lot of fun and I learnt some new tricks and manged to use a few cut files that I've had for a while.

The first part of the class is about using background files (my main photo). 

I had this fun background that I bought ages ago, but found it a bit much every time I tried to use it. In the OCC I learnt that keeping everything else simple (including colours) helps.

I added a red Happy - cut with my Silhouette and some mini gold glitter letters for Birthday - keeping it all very simple, but effective.

The next part required you to use a cut file supplied with the class. It teaches you how to scale and how to get these fiddly beasts off of the cutting mat!

I decided to use a spotty background and heart button to bring my cut frame alive. I like it, simple but also effective.

Layering shapes is one of my crafting staples. So I loved this part of the class and got to use the layered butterflies that I have had forever and never used!!

I switched it up a bit here and cut 2 of the butterflies in fussy papers, adding a bit more drama to the layers. The button with it's gold ribbon knot was already on my desk - perfect! I added an embossed background, a sentiment sticker and some bling.

Fun class, I am looking forward to Day Two..when I find some time..

If you haven't taken an Online Card Class yet, you really should - they are fun, easy and the best bit is that they are ALWAYS there. So you can do them at your leisure, great idea and means I don't get stressed about trying to keep up with a live class.

Cx

Moving Along With The Times..Red's Photo Inspiration...

Hey,

Welcome back to another great Moving Along With The Times challenge...

This week hosted by the lovely Red, her theme is a photo -

I was inspired by the photo to dig out my SSS butterfly die..I've been a bit daunted by it, but Red's photo helped me tackle that :)

I decided to go with kraft, orange and brown papers.

I die cut the butterfly several times, to get the different coloured pieces and the dark brown outline.

Before I pieced it all together I stamped over all the butterflies in orange link, using a Stampendous leaf stamp that JT gave me.

I sprayed the entire card with glimmer mist, added the sentiment banner (heat embossed sentiment) and some bling here and there to finish the card.

I love it, so I thought as well as it being my DT make I would enter it into this weeks The Paper Players Challenge - Use Die Cuts.

Now it's your turn to get inspired by Red's photos - first go over to MAWTT and check out the beautiful projects by my teammates.

Cx

Starting the week right...

Hey,

Hope you had a great weekend.

I had a really nice peaceful one, I felt a bit out of sorts by the end of last week and needed to find a zen place.

Part of that zen place included plenty of quality time at my desk and I managed to catch-up on some TV I hadn't manged to watch last week.

I wanted to enter Freshly Made Sketches this week..

As the latest Simon Says Stamp card kit (March 2015) had just arrived, I decided to use one of the pretty papers as my backing.

It will be Mother's Day in the UK soon and so I wanted to try out a couple of ideas. For this one I printed the sentiment using my computer and added some spotty American Crafts ribbon and 2 butterflies that matched the colour theme - butterflies are courtesy of JT.

Here's a close-up -

Such a clean and simple card..great start to what I hope will be a clean and simple week...

Cx

Erasers put to work..

Hey,

For a while now I have been eyeing this great pin and tutorial on one of my Pinterest boards -

I figured I could make this work as cards..

I die cut a star, a heart and a butterfly - all from nesting dies - this is important for later on. Don't use the biggest die. I rooted around and found some un-used pencils and acrylic paints.

I then used removable glue to stick the die cut shapes to Canson Mixed Media paper.

As my paints are seriously old and dry, I spritzed the eraser with water and dragged it across the hard paint!

Then I dabbed over the edges of the die cut, I did this until the paint ran out and then got a bit more paint and repeated this tons of times. Then taking the next size up die, I cut around the eraser dabbed shape.

Once you have the finished die cut, you might need to add some more eraser dabs. To tidy it up and fill in some of the white space, I inked around the edges of the die cut.

I mounted the shapes onto contrasting card blanks and added a sentiment.

Fun way to spend an afternoon..here are the rest of the cards.

Cx