Retro Rubber Challenge #222 - Winter Theme..

Hey,

Happy New Year! And welcome to the first fun Retro Rubber challenge of 2024.

This time we have a fun winter theme for you.

I decided to use a set 'Snow Day' by Clearly Besotted, that I have not used that much until Christmas 2023. I made a bunch of Christmas cards with it, so it was front of mind.

I created the little scene by masking the house and hippos from the set and then I blended distress oxides to create the wintery background. I added some white gel pen to give it all a snowy feel.

I love how this came out.

Which wintery stamps will you use? Don't forget to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends January 26th.

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 Blog Challenge - #197 - Merry Christmas - photo inspiration...

Hey,

Welcome to the last Retro Rubber challenge of 2022!

Where has the year gone?! I just got back from 17 days in London and it feels like boom Christmas is nearly here. 

I hope you have had fun playing along with us this year.

We have a Merry Christmas photo-inspired challenge for you this time.

I love mugs and cups in any form, so I was always going to be inspired by the mug in the photo.

I used a NBUS Unity Stamp Co stamp 'Warm Fall Hugs' that I got in September 2021! I think with the move last year it just got forgotten about! I decided to heat emboss it onto black watercolour paper, so I could use the amazing Iulie watercolours. If you have never used them, get a set on sale you will not regret it, the shimmer is amazing!

I then painted in all the details using the watercolours and then fussy cut it out. I wasn't sure what to do for a background and then I remembered the awesome Spellbinders wreath die that I had, it always elevates everything! I added a little bit of red bling and a tiny sentiment (die by MFT, sentiment by Clearly Besotted).

It is so pretty, it made me super happy when it was finished.

Here is a close-up, because I just loved all the little details.

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

Challenge ends December 16th and then we will be on our Christmas break returning in January with more fun challenges for you.

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 Blog Challenge - #196 - Tic Tac Toe...

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge - the penultimate one of 2022! That went fast!

We have a fun tic tac toe board for you this time.

Tic tac toe boards are so much fun! I went with the first vertical row - Orange/Pens/Pattern Paper.

How cute is my sledding Yeti!? I love this stamp set 'Baby It's Cold Outside' by Evelin T Designs... sadly I have had it since Sept 2021 and despite cutting him with Big Sexy (Brother Scan n Cut) he has never ever been inked!!

I recently sold all my Copic markers, as I decided I preferred Altenew's markers and that is what I used to colour him, along with my fave Sakura Gelly Roll Starburst pens, that add a ton of shimmer.

I added some glittery snow paste through a Clearly Besotted stencil (snow day) for a bit of additional interest and created the hill using a Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside'. The stripey paper is actually from a Halloween kit!

I love it and he is actually going into my 2023 Christmas card stash..

I can't wait to see which row you choose! Be sure to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends December 2nd.

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 - Gingerbread..

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Fusion Card Challenge.

This time we have 'Gingerbread' for you! As always both the sketch and the inspiration image are awesome.

Which will you try?

I loved both, so I fused them!

I love gingerbread, so gingerbread men are my faves!! I love the 'Tis The Season set by Ellen Hutson. I bought it second-hand and used it a lot this year for my Christmas cards.

To match the sketch, I stamped a row of gingerbread men, I used Rocky Shore ink by Altenew, I thought it was a good gingerbread colour. I kept it super simple and stamped the sentiment over the row and then coloured the bows using a Sakura glitter gelly roll pen.

So fun and easy.

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 22nd.

Cx

Fusion Card Challenge - Kitchen...

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

This time we have 'Kitchen' for you! As always both the sketch and the inspiration image are awesome.

Which will you try?

I decided to use the inspiration image only this time. I used a Clearly Besotted 'On the shelf' set it has all these great rows of items, they make super quick and fun cards.

I used the 'kitchen' row here and coloured it with Altenew markers. I love the sentiment that comes with the set, mainly because a friend and I are always messaging each other to 'spill the tea'. LOL. I finished it off with a MFT 'Wonky, Stitched' rectangle die and chose a card blank that coordinated, so my colouring would pop a bit more.

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 October 25th.

Cx

Fusion Card Challenge - Hello Hat..

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

This time we have 'Hello Hat' for you! As always both the sketch and the inspiration image are awesome.

Which will you try?

I loved both, so I fused them!

I loved the hat and I was going to go with a hello sentiment, but after I decided to use the super cute Budgie from Clearly Besotted 'Making Budgie Plans' I went summer-themed.

I used a fun pineapple embossing folder for the yellow panel and after I had stamped my sentiment on the white panel, I added a bunch of stars just for fun. The sentiments are both from Simon Says Stamp 'Warm Weather Animals' - this is one of my all-time fave sets.

I love how fun and summery this card is!

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 July 19th.

Cx

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 - Wheel Wreath..

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

This time we have 'Wheel Wreath' for you! As always both the sketch and the inspiration image are awesome.

Which will you try?

I went with the inspiration image this time.

I was inspired by the wheels and the wreaths. I love this Star Wreath die by Avery Elle, I find it can be used for any occassion! The bike is by Clearly Besotted from their 'Happy Days' set. I wanted to use the typewriter sticker for my sentiment, but it didn't pop off of my card blank, so I added a teeny tiny piece of glitter washi tape. Final touch, add a few bling bits!

Sadly you can't see how sparkly my wreath is, but you can see all the glitter that fell off it onto my card :(

Anyway, I love it and it's off to my friend who is a keen cyclist.

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 June 21st.

Cx

Fusion Card Challenge - Tulips..

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

This time we have a 'Tulip' themed image for you and as always a fabulous sketch

Which will you try?

No surprise, but I fused (but my tulips are orange as they are my fave!).

The pretty border stamp by Clearly Besotted from their 'Mr & Mrs' set inspired me to create a card with a simple Spring sentiment. I love this stamp, it's so fun and easy to watercolour.

I have been hoarding this very last piece of the patterned paper by Studio Calico.. I love it SO much. But this card is going to someone special, so I figured that they deserved the last piece LOL. The circle die is by Memory Box and it was featured in Jennifer Maguire's fave dies of 2021 and I use it a lot.

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 April 26.

Cx

CASology #397 Type - I Like Your Face

 

Hey,

Happy Monday!

I hope you had a lovely weekend? Hubby and I had our first houseguest here in Tampa last week, which was a lot of fun.

I haven't played along with CASology in forever, but I saw so many cute typewriter cards that fit Fusion Card challenge AND my friend Jen's card made me laugh so hard I had to play along!

I mixed a bunch of sets to make this fun simple card.

The pink swoosh is a stamp from the Clearly Besotted 'Brush it Off' set and I used Kitsch Flamingo Distress Oxide. Heidi Swapp turned me on to stamping with Oxides and I am HOOKED.

The cute little typewriter and small sentiment below it, are from Lawn Fawn's 'Just My Type'  set. To add the fun sentiment, I masked off an ancient fave by Stampin' Up, so that I could have it stacked, it's actually in one straight line -

I loved this card so much I ended up making a bunch of them as a gift for a friend.

Hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving Week. We are lucky enough to be going to spend ours with a friend.

Cx

Paw You...

 

Hey,

Just before Christmas 2020 my work colleague's small Daughter got Covid (she is fine now).

But it was rather upsetting for the whole family and I thought a small child would be very confused by what was going on. So not to downplay the situation, I made and sent her this little card, in the hope that a piece of mail just for her would cheer her up.

Apparently, it worked and she carried the card around for a while, how sweet is that?

I LOVE Clearly Besotted stamps and this cute 'Paw You' set was perfect for this card. I have this amazing die by Simon Says Stamp that cuts 3 circles in a row, so I cut it twice to create the 6 aperture's for my card.

I blended over the panel and then stamped the cats and the sentiments into the openings.

For a quick, random make it came out well and I liked the doubling up of the die.

Cx

Happy Travels...

 

Hey,

Happy Friday!

At work we are doing weekly fun crafty things, each week we can do a photography challenge and/or a craft challenge.

This week the craft challenge theme was Travel.

I thought it was a great opportunity to use a piece of NBUS from 2020 - Happy Travels by Clearly Besotted.

I stamped all the iconic buildings/statue's in different brightly coloured inks, which was a lot of fun and I used a variety of my inks, Colorbox, Tsukineko, Altenew and Concord & 9th. I tend to use blocks for this kind of stamping, I love using acrylic blocks for certain things, I have a big collection of them and I am very particular about how clean I keep them. I added the little sentiments from the set in black for stand-out.

I had a bit of a smudge with the orange Eiffel Tower, so I die-cut one and popped it up, it actually added a bit of fun interest.

Hope you have a great weekend, I will be at my desk tomorrow and watching my Buccs in the Superbowl on Sunday - GO BUCCS!!!

Cx

Masking and Stencil overlays...

 

Hey,

Happy Christmas Eve!

As it is Christmas Eve, I am showing you a card that I made for a friend who celebrates her birthday today.

She is a big fan of the Moomins (I mean who isn't?!) and I always think the gorgeous Hippos by Clearly Besotted look like Moomins.

I love using masking with stencils to create fun backgrounds. This card was a super easy version. 

First I stamped the Hippo and the drink and then stamped it again onto a sticky note and fussy cut it out (even if I have die's I tend to do this, so there is no white border). Now I have a mask.

I blended the grass first and then added the sunrays. Here is what it looked like.

Then all I had to do was colour in the image, stamp the sentiments and die-cut the panel to size. 

A very easy card that looks like it took way more work to create.

I used - Clearscraps - Sunburst stencil. Clearly Besotted - Coolin' Off stamp set. Distress Oxides in Squeezed Lemonade and Mowed Lawn.

I hope that you are having a great Christmas Eve wherever you are and it might not be exactly as you had planned/hoped, but if you are safe, well, and warm, it will be great.

See you next week, I'm having a few days of NFL over Christmas and not crafting..

Cx

Artsy Fartsy Reindeer...

 

Hey,

Today is my last day of work until 4th January - whooooop!!

I thought I'd share a card that I made for JT last year, I loved the idea so much that I made a bunch of them this year.

The photo shows it without a sentiment - because I foolishly forgot to take a photo of them when I added it!

I love super easy cards like this. I started by smooshing a piece of watercolour card in a variety of green distress inks. Then I die-cut the wreath's from this piece of card. The smooshing means the wreath gets a range of colour and intensity, making it feel more like a real wreath.

I used gold mousse through a stencil to create the background and to match the background the fabulous Reindeer was die-cut from gold glitter paper.

They looked so nice and shimmery and were a bit unusual. I love to make non-traditional Christmas cards.

I used Ellen Hutson - Wreath Die. Altenew - Festive Silhouettes stamp and die set. Clearly Besotted - Falling Snow stencil. Nuvo - Indian Gold Mousse.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #149 Merry Christmas...

Hey,

Welcome to the final Retro Rubber challenge of 2020.

And what a year it has been. I don't think any of us could have predicted a global pandemic that pretty much brought the world to its knees.

I hope that the weirdness of this year has made us all appreciate the little things in life - love, happiness, and family. The rest of it has felt like a nice to have, and I am very lucky to have a job that I have been able to keep doing from home.

As we are moving into the Christmas season, we have a photo inspiration for you this time.

I decided to focus on the colours and stars from the image.

I love stars, I have far too many star dies, stamp sets and stencils! The set I used here are by Clearly Besotted 'Super Star', which I have had since 2016. I added little stars from the Jillibean Soup 'Super Star' set that I have had since 2018. I stamped the stars using Concord & 9th Poppy ink - it is my new fave red ink!

I thought the Neat & Tangled 'Fa La Llama' set would work really well with my star scatter. I love this set, the Llama is so cute, I've had it since 2018.

I stamped, coloured, and die-cut my Llama before stamping my sentiment, as I wanted to see where he would sit first and work around him.

As this goes live, I have made and sent all of my Christmas cards, so this card will be added into my box for next year.

How will you be inspired by the photo? Can't wait to see what you come up with. Make sure that you pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends December 11th.

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.

We'll see you in 2021 for challenge 150!! All of the team will still be around in blogland, if you want to swing by and say hi or see what we are up to!

Cx

Dancing Queen...

Hey,

Happy Monday!

Hope you had a good weekend?

I am a big fan of Clearly Besotted stamps and I was super happy when I saw this cute set 'Cha Cha Cha' was on sale.

I good friend of mine is a Disco DJ and she loves to dance and has a glitter ball.. so obviously, I had to make her the first card using this set.

I decided to do a loose CASE of this card -

I have the mini Cha Cha Cha set and so I needed a light beam. One of the things I really like to do is 'stretch' my stamps. So I used the beam from the Lawn Fawn 'Beam Me Up' set.

This card came out so well and my friend was very happy with it - I love #happymail!

Cx

Christmas Cards 2020: Let's Prance...

 

Hey,

Happy Friday!!

I am super excited as it is my birthday on Monday AND I have the week off!

Continuing on this week with my Clearly Besotted posts - accidentally a themed week..

I love the Let's Prance set by CB. I have had it for 4 years since I saw Debby Hughes make these cards with it. I use it every year and I follow the same idea of creating a background and making a bunch of cards (as shown in the main photo) from that background.

This year I thought I would show you what my backgrounds look like once they are stamped and after they are watercoloured.

Stamped backgrounds - 

Watercoloured backgrounds - 

I always love the different cards I can make from one background. It's a thing I actually do quite a lot.

Have a great weekend.

Cx

You Are Amazing...

 

Hey,

Looks like it's going to be a Clearly Besotted week on my blog :)

I really like rainbow stamps and this cute set by CB creates lovely painty edge rainbows.

I added the stars from a Taylored Expressions rainbow set and the sentiment is by MFT.

This was a great way to play with my newish Concord & 9th inks, I'm not sure if I love them or not. I do like the colours, but the mini pads leave marks, so you can only use a certain kind of stamp.. more investigation needed methinks!

Anyway, the end result was a pretty, simple very CAS card.

Cx

Christmas Cards 2020: Clearly Besotted CASE

 

Hey,

Happy Monday!

I hope you had a great weekend.

Hubby and I are getting used to the NFL being back, we love it, but it does take some adjusting our lives to fit in 10 hours of football on a Sunday!!

I realised that I hadn't shown you all the Christmas card makes for 2020.. It all came together so quickly! I am now just making the 'special/fancy' cards.

This card is a CASE of one I saw on the Clearly Besotted website with their cityscape stamp. 

I didn't have that cityscape stamp, so I used a different one from my stash.

I stamped it in x3 colours, grey, navy and black to create the pretty skyline vignette you see. The Reindeers are by Clearly Besotted and I had already stamped and watercoloured a bunch of them, so I just fussy cut them out for using here. 

I didn't have the same sentiment as the card I was CASEing, so I used these great sentiment strips by The Ton Stamps.

Final touch was to die-cut the entire panel using Tim Holtz deckle edge dies.

Then I went over them with a nuvo aqua flow glitter pen, so IRL they are SUPER sparkly!!

I love them, I don't really want to send them to anyone LOL.

Cx

 

Hippo Queen...

 

Hey,

I love Clearly Besotted stamps.

I saw this great 'Love London' set of theirs on sale and had to have it.

I wanted to make a fun card for a friend who is based in London and this set made me laugh, with all the possibilities.

I stamped the bus and the taxi first, then masked that off and blended the blue bottom panel, using Chipped Sapphire distress oxide.

I stamped and fussy cut the Hippo wearing a crown. When I was getting ready to pop her up ontop of the bus, it felt like something was missing, so I added the little heart scatter from another Clearly Besotted set 'Happy Days'.

Fun, and a little bit crazy. Like my friend.

Cx