My Favourite Earthling..

Hey,

Happy Saturday!

Today's card I made for a colleague that is a good friend and he recently left the company I work for - today also happens to be his birthday!

He is pretty much the definition of G.O.A.T (Greatest, Of, All, Time) and he is very missed.

We have this space thing going on, so I wanted to make him a silly card with the Lawn Fawn 'Beam Me Up' set.

I obviously wanted the spaceship to be beaming up a Goat - LOL, obvs. BUT I suddenly realised that the beam that comes with the set is too small for my large goat (Paper Smooches - Green Acres), so I had to draw the beam myself.. I am pretty pleased with myself!

I made the background using a cover plate by Hero Arts 'Star Confetti' and neon paper. I added a little hill using Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside borders' and stamped the sentiment.

I'm pretty pleased with how well the idea in my head came out!

Have a great weekend, gym and brunch with a friend for me.

Cx

 

Good Luck...

Hey,

Hope you are all well?

I had a fun weekend in Florida with my girlfriends, a few makes from that trip will be posted soon.

Today's card I made for a work colleague that was leaving.

He is a copywriter, so it made sense to use the awesome pen stamp that I have - it's from a Technique Tuesday set 'Man Day' and the pen has never actually been used before this card!

I kept it super simple and used glittery Thickers for my sentiment.

Love it when a card in my mind comes to life so well.

Cx

Cards for Colleagues..

Hey,

Happy Friday!

Tomorrow Hubby and I leave for Mexico - WHOOOP!! So excited, can't wait to feel the sun on my body again. Summer seems to have gone by so quickly.

I thought I'd show you a batch of cards I made a while ago for a few of my colleagues in the London office.

The first one was a leaving card and the colleague in question loves a Llama. I forgot all about the great wooden Llamas that I had bought in London earlier this year and it seemed like the perfect time to use one. I kept the card simple. The sentiment is by A-Muse Studio.

The next card is for a colleague who got promoted, she has a French Bulldog, so I thought she would appreciate the headphone wearing dog. Again, kept super simple with a negative die-cut out by Tim Holtz.

The final card was also for a colleague that was leaving - yes you guessed it, she likes Cats! The stamp is from the same set as the dog above and I added the great self-adhesive sunnies! The sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp.

3 really simple, but impactful cards.

Have a great weekend. I know I'm gonna!

Cx

Mr & Mr...

Hey, 

So around the middle of August my work colleague, Emma asked me to make her a Mr & Mr card.

I immediately knew what I wanted to do as I had just bought the awesome 'Furry Friends' set by Concord & 9th and had seen this idea -

So with a few modifications I CASE'd it - LOVE how mine came out, it was so fun to make and the stamp set is so versatile.

I was so happy with it all that I made JT and her Hubby their anniversary card using the same premise.

The background papers that I used for both of the cards are by Pink Petticoat (no longer open) and are digital, so I just had to print off a sheet of each colourway - it comes in 48 colours - amazing!

Cx

Less is More: One Layer Crown...

Hey,

I was just getting ready to write about this card I made for a friend and realised it made the perfect entry for the latest Less is More challenge.

One of my work colleagues is also a friend and she's quite sassy and I thought the sentiment worked well for her.

My Insta friend Kelly, sent me the stamp last year and I have loved it using it.

This time I decided to keep the card simple, so it would be the focal point, I smooshed some distress ink onto my watercolour paper and dried it and repeated this several times until I got the colour I wanted. Then I added some splatters.

In lieu of a gift I sent her this inside the card -

Yes it is a crown..hahahahaha. Paper Source had a big sale shortly after Kelly sent me the stamp and they had these cards with crowns in on super bargain sale, so I bought all of them and now I send them when I make cards with this stamp.

I love it all and I am super happy I got to enter it into a challenge.

Cx

Sunny Days and Laughter...

Hey,

How I long for the Sunny Days I reference in the title of my post today..

I am really not a Winter person!

A while back a colleague and a friend in the London office left and I wanted to send her a little gift and it gave me the perfect opportunity to play with this gorgeous stamp set by Pink Fresh Studio (Let's Flamingle).

I CASEd one of the ideas I'd seen for using the stamp and heat embossed it onto watercolour paper, using gold embossing powder and then watercoloured it using distress inks.

It looked so lovely when it was finished, I was in two minds about giving it away LOL.

I added one of the sentiments from the set, as I thought it was perfect for the recipient.

Such a simple way to use a complex stamp.

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

Retro Rubber #99..Anything Goes..

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

It's that time again for another fantastic anything goes challenge..

I have made no secret of my love obsession with MFT flower stamps..

As I have several sets I thought it would be fun to pull a few of them out for this challenge.

I used a Paper Smooches 'Denim and Daisies' set for the pocket die, the sentiment and the small leaves. I've had this set since 2016 and it gets a ton of use. The pocket was die-cut out of felt, from a set of felt sheets that my work colleagues gave me for my birthday - so much fun to use.

I used x3 of my MFT flower sets 'Large Desert Bouquet (2016)' 'Bold Blooms (2017)' and 'Pretty Posies (2017). Everything was stamped using Tsukineko Dew Drop inks. I love the rich colour these inks give.

I have the matching dies for all the sets, so I stamped everything and then die-cut them all and stamped leaves and dots directly onto the white panel before assembling my bouquet.

I love how bright and happy it is, just what I need in this dreary dull time of year!

Looking forward to see which older stamp(s) you use, don't forget to pop over to 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

Vintage is in!!

Hey,

Happy Friday!

I am looking forward to being home in NYC this weekend and getting some QT at my desk AND watching NFLSunday with Hubby.

I was lucky enough to be in London to celebrate my friend and colleague Harry's birthday. None of us understand how he is only 30!! He has a wise head on his shoulders.

I thought it would be fun to use one of the LePetiteMarket 'Mermaids and Sailors' stamps, as Harry has a beard and I felt sure he would love to own a pipe (he confirmed this when he opened the card).

I printed the main part of the sentiment on my computer and added the 'Harry' the 'Vintage is in' sentiment is new and by Scrapbook.com I bought it as part of my birthday haul and the set has all these awesome birthday phrases.

I especially love 'have cake for breakfast' I can't wait to have a play with it!

It's always fun to make a card with someone in mind.

Have a great weekend.

Cx

Getting it done...

Hey,

Recently in the US office we got a new boss - Sarah.

She is pretty damn awesome and Nicole and I love her.

It's her birthday this week and so along with the gift we bought her, we wanted to give her a personalised card.

In her work bio they wrote that 'Sarah gets shit done.' hahahahaha - so true and perfect for a card.

I printed the text, then chose the awesome Daisy Girl by Unity Stamp Co. and stamped that just above the text.

Coloured with promarkers, added a bit of glitter glue for some shimmer and die-cut the panel out. I chose a cheery yellow card blank, as it matched the flowers and Sarah's sunny disposition.

Hope she loves it as much as we do.

Cx

P.s do you like my new backdrop for my card photos?

CAS(E) This Sketch: Girl Boss...

Hey,

So I have had this Girl Boss stamp set sitting on my desk forever..

And I haven't really known what to do with it..until I saw this week's CAS(E) This Sketch -

I thought some of the elements would work really well here and I feel vindicated as I LOVE my final card..

It was one of those super quick makes, I put the shoe, tote, sunnies onto stamp blocks and broke out my fave black ink for using with blocks (Stampin' Up's Basic Black) and stamped away.

I left a little space for the 'Girl Boss', which I decided worked best in purple.

Affix the white panel to the purple card blank and voila! finished card.

So happy with this and the fact that I finally used this stamp set. It also makes the perfect leaving card for my boss!

Cx

New Home for the Cats...

Hey,

First full day today in Boston with JT!!

One of my colleagues in London who is also a good friend, is moving into her new home on Saturday.

She reminded me that she would be on the look out for 'her card' LOL.

I specifically bought the BugKittyHomeScene stamp from Bugaboo to make her card. She has x2 Ragdoll cats - Francois and Bianca, and they rule the roost.

Bianca and Francois

I coloured the stamp to a) match the cats colouring and b) my fave red chair that my friend and her husband own (shown above..)

It's all pretty simple, just coloured using Promarkers and Nuvo Crystal drops. I added white gel pen dots to the blanket on the chair.

Bugaboo have a 'All Creatures Great and Small' challenge this week, so I am entering my card.

Cx

Crazy in Love..

Hey,

Happy Monday.

Still no work permit, so I continue to be on a forced hiatus.

So far it's been pretty good because we had the epic Bomb Cyclone snow storm, so I've had no choice but to be on house arrest.

One of my work colleagues in NYC got engaged over the Christmas break and her and her boyf are firm friends of mine, so I wanted to make them a fun card.

I actually don't have a lot of 'engagement' stamps and so I had to improvise.

I thought that the "Crazy Awesome" set by Concord & 9th, could work as an Engagement card, but then my heart sank a bit, because there are no dies for this enormous stamp and fussy cutting it is a pain in the arse.

So I broke out my Silhouette Portrait..scan in the stamped image and die-cut a bunch of them - yay!

Because the stamp is so in your face I opted for a simple background (Paper by Lawn Fawn).

I love it and I hope they do too.

Cx

A rude farewell...

Hey,

Happy Monday!

I am in London this week, as we head out to our Christmas party in Ghent on Friday.

One of my colleagues is leaving in January and I won't see him again before he leaves so I wanted to make him a card to deliver in person. He has been an amazing colleague and I am super sad to see him go, but it can't all be about me ;)

I have been trying to get my hands on the Heffy Doodle Snappy Crocs set since I saw it several months ago..I finally managed to snag it over Black Friday and it arrived last week..

I am 'famed' for my potty mouth, especially when working and so I thought a slightly rude card would be very appropriate.  The sentiments are a mix by Snarky Stamps and Paper Smooches.

I coloured the Crocodile using Zigs and a paintbrush.

I feel that this stamp set is about to become a fave..I love how versatile the set it, it comes with all these cool mini stamps. I went with the glass and bottle here as this is a 'good luck' card after all!

Cx

Hello babies..

Hey,

I have this strange love for new Baby Cards...

They make me so happy and I was lucky enough recently to be able to make two of them - one for a boy and one for a girl - yay!

The main card today is for friends of mine that just had a baby girl. As the female half of this particular couple is quite funky, I decided that a card to welcome her Daughter should also be funky!

In the clear out of box of shame I came across a host of ready to go backgrounds, including the one I used for this card, which is actually an oops that I couldn't bear to part with...

So glad that I kept it as it has worked out perfectly for this card. I die-cut a babygrow (onesie) from some precious ancient paper, love the sparkly stripes. I love the giant baby word die, it's by Lil Inker and I had to hunt it down after seeing it somewhere years ago. I stamped the rest of the sentiment, which doesn't show so well here, but it did pop on the card IRL.

The next card is for a client of mine and my colleague and I adore her and wanted to send her a nice personal card from us and the team. She has 3 Daughters already, so that was the theme of my card.

What do you think?

I love it, the cute stamp and die set by Mama Elephant worked out so well here. The sentiment was a gift from JT.

More babies please!

Cx

London Mouse Farewell...

Hey,

Sadly one of my work colleagues in London is leaving this week.

She has been a really good friend to me and I am sad that she is leaving and that I can't be there to booze  see her off ;)

I have had the London Mouse set by MFT for about 3 months now and I haven't used it!! So I stamped and die-cut most of the images to create a fun scene.

The sentiments are by Simon Says Stamp and I thought they were more fun than a typical good luck.

Following my playdate with JT where I admitted that I have a box of shame on my desk (no idea what was in it at that point), I took the box and cleaned it out. It is now all nicely organised.

In that box I found a whole bunch of backgrounds I had stamped at one of Jamey's craftgang meet-ups..

I have made x4 cards so far using the 'found' backgrounds. Love it when my messiness pays off!

Cx

Farewell London..Hello NYC...

Hey,

So after 2 weeks in London, Hubby and I are finally on our way home.

We have new visas, are slightly tired, but have had a hoot working in the London offices of our firms and hanging out with our friends and family.

One of the reasons I was back in London was for my Companies annual offsite meeting. The main photo today shows me dressed as a Pineapple...very long story, but to keep it short,  I was in the yellow team (vibrant, outgoing personalities) and as a team we had to create a symbol that represented our colour.

We chose a Pineapple and we only had balloons to create it and we needed a base for the balloons..this is where I came in.

I LOVE Pineapples, so imagine my delight and I thought I really did look like a Pineapple.

Here is another fun photo from the party afterwards, of me, my NYC buddy and colleague Nicole and George from the London office.

Cx

Eat, Drink and Be Married...

Hey,

Today has been a slow day, following the super fun day Hubby and I spent with Cheiron and her husband.

I acquired several new goodies from Cheiron's sale pile :)

I made today's card for a work colleague and his soon to be wife.

I  love this stamp and die set by Simon Says Stamp, I use it a lot! The heart stencil is by Dutchdoobado, I used Bo Bunny glitter paste - it is so shimmery!

I'm happy that the idea I had in mind worked.

Cx

Baby Card Frenzy...

Hey,

Happy Friday.

It's not really a frenzy!! But I did feel like all my Christmasses had come at once, as I got to make TWO baby cards at once (joy).

I LOVE making baby cards.

These are both for my colleague Jim and his wife, who finally welcomed their Daughter a couple of weeks ago.

You will remember Jim from baby quilt fame.

I made two cards, one from hubby and I and the other from my other NYC based work colleagues to send to him.

The main card is my one, I used the Studio Calico 'Celebrate Animal' stamp set, I love it, I love Studio Calico stamp sets. To make everything pop a bit, I used distress ink through a stencil to create a soft background.

The second card was so much fun to make. I used Bo Bunny glitter paste through a spotty stencil - I love glitter paste, it ends up so shimmery when it dries. The onesie / babygrow is by Clearly Besotted and I wanted it to stand out a bit more from the background, so added a loop of twine. The sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp (stamped slightly wonky..oops).

Both cards were fun to make and are really nice modern baby cards, perfect for a designer and his newly expanded family.

Off to Philly tonight to hang with friends all weekend, then next week I will be in Rochester for work, so all posts will be scheduled.

Cx

Happy Bird-Day...

Hey,

Happy Friday!

It's been a fun week here in NYC, one of the owners of the company I work for was here along with x2 other colleagues, so there has been much eating, drinking and gossiping.

I am excited as Cheiron is teaching two cool classes at Westbeth this Sunday and I am going to both.

I have a super early PT session tomorrow - ugh, but I am feeling better, stronger and smug, so totally worth it.

I made today's card for my colleague and friend Natasha, I adore her, she is my kinda people.

I thought some smooshing would be a fun backdrop for the birdie, but once I put it together I felt like it needed something else.

So I created a 'flower' using a scalloped circle die and a stitched circle die, I am much happier about how it looks!

The birdie and the stamped sentiment are by Wplus9  - this set is still out on my desk for a four from one playtime and the giant happy die is by Simon Says Stamp.

I am so happy with this card and it arrived safely and Natasha told me she loves it!

Have a great weekend.

Cx