Retro Rubber Challenge #210 - Sketch time!

Hey,

Happy 4th of July if you are in the USA!

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a sketch for you this time.

You know how much I love a sketch!

I used coordinating papers to match the sketch and create a bright sunny background for my girl. All the papers are by Recollections at Michaels. I used a new to me Concord & 9th stitched cover plate die on the yellow paper for some interest.

My girl is one of my fave MFT Pure Innocence girls and this one is 'Heart Bouquet' and I have had her since 2017. I added a sentiment strip by Taylored Expressions.

I am really happy with the matchy-matchness of my card :)

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

Challenge ends July 14.

Remember 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 - #191 - Sketch Challenge...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a sketch for you this time.

You know how much I love a sketch!

It took me a minute to decide how I wanted to interpret the sketch. Then I remembered that I have this awesome star coverplate die by Mama Elephant. I die-cut it, added acetate to the back, and created a shaker!

I added the super cute and fun 'Little Agenda Dinos' by Mama Elephant that I have had since 2020. The sentiment is a mix of companies and I think it worked really well and the whole card ended up as a fun interpretation of the sketch.

Here is a little close-up for you.

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

Challenge ends September 23rd.

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 #188 - Anything Goes..

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

This time it's everyone's fave 'Anything Goes'.

The amazing animal print die on my card, is new and I found it in a local Tuesday Morning for $2! It is by Momenta. The minute I saw it, I knew it would play nicely with one of my fave stamps by Ellen Hutson 'Brave Hearted' that I have had since 2020.

Super easy card to make, just die cut the background, stamp, colour and cut the lion and his crown. And then I stamped and fussy cut the sentiment, so it looks like it is coming out of his mouth.

What golden oldies will you use for your Anything goes? Be sure to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends August 12th.

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

Playing with Picket Fence..

 

Hey,

Happy Monday!

Hope you all had a great weekend? I got some quality desk time in, so I am pretty happy about that.

Today I am showing you a couple of cards I made a while ago. I really like the Picket Fence Studios 'beautiful girl' set of stamps. I was lucky enough to get a bunch of them on sale - with their dies - whoop!

The main card uses the 'Dany Girl' stamp and I chose this one because my Aunt really likes Dragon's and I thought she would love this! The background is one of my many 'ready to go' ones and was created with Dina Wakley gloss sprays through one of her stencils. Finished off with a Taylored Expression simple sentiment strip.

I bought 'Kendyll Girl' (below) because during a craftgang playdate last year Lisette's card for us used her and I have wanted her ever since. I thought she worked with the amazing cover plate die - I have no idea who it is by, I bought a second-hand grab bag and it was in there! Again finished off with a TE sentiment strip and I added some bling to the cover plate.

Both pretty simple, but fun cards.

Cx

Pawsome Love..

Hey,

Happy Friday!!

Hubby and I have the week off next week. It was supposed to be our week to de-clutter the apartment ahead of our move to Tampa. We are probably not moving this year, given the CV-19 pandemic, but we are still going to de-clutter.

I made today's cards right at the start of the lockdown because the Simon Says Stamp 'Pawsome Love' set arrived and I just had to play.

For the main photo I combined the cute kitty with clouds and house dies by Avery Elle. The card blank is by Concord & 9th and I love these.

I am so happy with how this came out and even though you can see a paw below the cloud (a mistake), I quite like that!

I had this cover plate die out on my desk and was determined to incorporate that into my card. I just wish I had used a more neutral paper behind it. I am loving the glittery hello die cut though - that die is also by Simon Says Stamp.

Have a great weekend.

Cx

CASology: Citrus..

Hey,

Happy Friday to you!!

It has been a busy week - hence why it has been a week since I posted!!

This morning I got up super early to do small group training with Wendel and another client of his, it was HARD but a lot of fun.

To celebrate the weekend I wanted to enter the current CASology challenge.

I haven't played along in a while and I thought it was just perfect for my new digital stamp set by Graciellie Design 'Tea for the Soul' I love their stamps, they are so pretty and beautiful to colour.

I printed, coloured and fussy cut the teacup stamp. I really wanted to keep the background clean, but it all looked a bit flat when I put it together, so I used the Lil Inkers Spiral Cover-up die on the bottom half of the card and it totally brought my card to life.

The sentiment is from the same set and it makes me laugh every time I see it. I added a few yellow enamel dots here and there to finish my card.

I am so happy I decided to play along, it made me very happy last night to make this card.

Have a great weekend.

Oh and here is a little montage from Hubby's birthday party last weekend!

Hubby with his candles on a half-eaten doughnut! Group selfie, Hubby at the after-party, The x2 3ft Subs!

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

Color Throwdown: Monster Birthday Hugs..

Hey,

Today my Momma arrives for 2 weeks and I have next week off - whoop!

I saw the colours over at Color Throwdown this week and had to play along..

So many possibilities with this combo.

Of course I had to use a Monster ;)

I cut a black card black and adhered my coverplate die-cut to it (MFT Peek a boo dots).

I embossed part of a pale blue piece of card and added that to my card to anchor my Monster and the sentiment.

The Monster is from the Bo Bunny 'Monsters' set and was a gift from my friend Jen. I coloured him with promarkers and fussy cut him.

I added the sentiment using my label maker and a MFT die..

I love how it came out and the pale blue really pops against the black and white.. I think I'm going to make a whole bunch of stuff with this combo.

Cx

Thank You Hearts...

Hey,

I recently bought a new heart coverplate die (generic craft company on Amazon) and I haven't had a chance to play with it, so last weekend I got it out to have a play.

I blended Picked Raspberry distress oxide ink and then spritzed it with water to get some bleachy spots. Then I die-cut it. The hearts have been saved for shakers, etc.

I decided it was a bit flat, so splattered some black ink over it..much better.

After mounting it onto a black cardblank, I added the fun Thank You stamp/die from AC Moore..I only bought this last week and it's already been used several times. It feels like something that I was missing from my stash.

I love the fun, modern and simple end result.

Cx

Stash Play: 4 Coverplates...

Hey,

I made a promise to myself this year that I would try and curb my craft spending (gulp) and dig through my stash more and really utilise what I have!

So you'll be seeing more 'stash play' posts from me.

Today I'm showing you the fun things I made using coverplate dies. I really like coverplate dies, but I didn't have a lot of them before 2017 black friday because they are SO expensive. I got some good deals on new and used coverplates.

I thought it would be fun to create distress oxide smooshed backgrounds to use with the coverplates and then I also decided I would add metallic spots over the backgrounds using my fave Penny Black 'Dots in Space' stamp. I use this stamp at least 3 times a week!! I am surprised it hasn't fallen apart.

I created two different coloured backgrounds, I thought it would be fun to have a mix of colours. Here are the backgrounds completed with their heat embossed metallic spots -

I then die-cut everything using the 4 chosen coverplates (clockwise from top left) -
Papertry Ink Harlequin and Mama Elephant 'Friend'
MFT Chevrons and Neat & Tangled 'Awesome'
MFT Peek-a-boo Polka Dots and Simon Says Stamp 'Heck Yeah'
Hero Arts Star Confetti and Spellbinders 'Hooray'

So that the cards would be versatile, I added a one word die-cut. Meaning later on I can add more text to them if I want, for different occasions - for example 'friend' could be 'happy birthday friend' or 'so glad you are my friend'. Its a technique I use a lot.

I love the end result, they are so pretty! And as a happy bi-product I got a little stack of glittery joy for use in shakers.

Close-up of the heat-embossed spots and the remnant shaker bits..

I had so much fun making these cards and they are a bit different and I got lots of fun leftover bits and bobs for use on other things.

I also thought that as these cards are pretty amazing and the stamped element is integral, I would enter the Craft Stamper January 'Take it or Make it' challenge, which is anything goes.

Cx

Get on the Bus...

Hey,

So I had a great time over the super long holiday weekend, I had brunch with friends and Hubby, went on a Macy's rummage with a friend and then Hubby and I hit the boat party. It was a lot of fun and I felt totally relaxed yesterday.

I also managed a couple of long sessions playing at my desk, which was nice after the 6 days away from it! I broke out old and new things to play with.

Today I am showing you two cards I made using my new Avery Elle Birthday Bus stamp and die set.

The main card is a bit of a CASE - I really liked the card Elena made and I have the cover plate die, so thought why not!

I watercoloured the bus and the presents, I made a mistake, so I had to fussy cut out the windows - ugh, but it does look nicer, I wish dies would do that..

I thought a piece of red spotty paper in the aperture would be a great foil for the blue card blank and the red bus. I stamped the sentiment from the set onto a piece of red cardstock and affixed it at a jaunty angle, to give the bus a bit of movement.

I stamped and coloured two of the bus and present stamps, so I thought why not make a similar card, using a different cover plate (I don't have as many of these as I'd like..)

I love the Hexstar cover plate by Neat and Tangled, it makes everything look good. The only different with this card really is the lack of fussy cutting, it probably would have looked nicer, but I just couldn't face it!

I love how they both turned out, giving me a couple of fun cards for my stash.

Cx