Fusion Card Challenge - Beach Tiers..

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Fusion Card Challenge.

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

Which will you try?

I loved both, so I loosely fused them!

I started by rotating the sketch, as I thought it would work with my image better. The pretty beachy paper is digital and by Allison Pennington, I LOVE her digital kits, I use them a lot in my digital scrapping. I didn't want to hide too much of the paper, so I used a piece of vellum for the other strip.

The cute girl is one of my fave from My Favourite Things 'Beach Cutie', the sentiment in the photo made me smile and this set came with that sentiment, so I got to use it here!

The card has left for my bestie, as we are beach girls..

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 August 2nd.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #162 - Sketch Time....

Hey,

Hope you had a great 4th of July Holiday if you celebrate it. Hubby and I had lots of fun, our last weekend together for a while, as I am heading to London to see our families!

It's time for another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a sketch for you this time, created by me!

You know how much I love a sketch!

I have a weakness for Whale stamps and decided that I would use one for this card, the curve of the circle made me think of Whales!

I used a piece of paper that has a watercolour fade to it for my background. I printed out a piece of ancient Pink Petticoat digital paper - it is my fave fish paper, which I die-cut using an Ellen Hutson Snow scene die - which how I got the water like bubbles!

My Whale is one of my faves, by Spellbinders from their 'Sunshiny Day' set that I have had since 2019. The spotty paper is a scrap and I stamped the sentiment in two colours using stamps from the Recollections 'Whale Hello There' set (from 2018).

So happy with this fun card.

Show us your interpretation of the sketch and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made -their use of the sketch has been nothing short of amazing!

Challenge ends July 16th.

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

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

Sketch Saturday #550 LeAnn's World...

Hey,

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

Our sponsor this week is LeAnn's World and they are offering a prize of 2 digital stamps from their store.

Here's the sketch...

One of the DT chose the Thessa image that I used on my card.

I decided to rotate the sketch. I printed and coloured the image and die-cut it using a stitched oval die, to compliment the sketch. As Thessa is a Mermaid, I decided to use nautical papers - the starfish paper is digital and ancient from the now defunkt Pink Petticoat, the striped paper is a scrap from a beloved MFT 6x6 stack!

The sentiment is by Stampin' Up.

I added a teeny tiny blue pearl to anchor it all.

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 15th Feb 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Cx

Retro Rubber #101...Photo Inspired Happy Holidays!

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

Well wasn't that a fun 100th celebration?!

A big thanks from me and the whole team to all of the people that joined in the fun and left comments on our blogs.

The winner of my giveaway is Angel North (http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/). Congrats - Angel, use the contact me form on the right hand side of my blog to send me your address details - I'll be back on 10th of December and will post your package then.

This is our last challenge of the year and in spirit of the season we are wishing you Happy Holidays with this theme -

I went a bit off piste, so to clarify, I used the snow, hat and scarf to inspire my card LOL.

I decided to go all non-traditional colours, as I was using a Flamingo stamp! The stamp is by Inkadinkadoo and I've had it since 2016, the whole set is a lot of fun and not really traditional, which might be why I love it so much. It is no longer for sale, so here's a photo for you.

I dug out a sparkly tag from my enormous tag stash - if you don't know me that well, here's a bit of insight I am literally addicted to tags, I make my own using dies AND I buy them at any opportunity..if my Husband ever finds my stash, I swear he will divorce me!

I printed a piece of pink snowflake paper by Pink Petticoat that I have had for about 9 years..I love the subtle snowflakes peeking through. I cut it a bit shorter, so I could add a sparkly gold border to coordinate with the tag. Final touch was to add the sentiment from the same stamp set.

I love this overly girly Holiday card it makes me very happy.

Show us what the photo has inspired you to make and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends December 14th.

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

Catch The Bug: Humour Me Wednesday..

Hey,

I am with the Catch The Bug Humour Me Wednesday challenge today.

We love to celebrate a 'holiday' with humour. I decided my card would celebrate today's National Chocolate Cupcake day!!

The Stella Kiss It stamp made me laugh and it handily had cupcakes in, so I could colour them to look chocolately, tying in nicely.

I coloured the image and then cut it out, leaving a white border, so it would pop against my pink papers. I have had these coordinating papers for AGES. I love the cake paper so much, it has been hoarded.

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

Random Desk Pile: Dinoversary...

Hey,

As promised, this week I am showing you all the cards I made from the random pile on my desk :)

Today's cuties are so much fun.

I had printed out Le Petite Market Dino stamps into various backgrounds - backgrounds are by Pink Petticoat.

They had all been coloured and matched with a card blank, but I hadn't adhered them or added sentiments.

As these stamps are called Valentine Dino's, there are lots of hearts on the Dino's, so I decided to make them all anniversary cards.

The sentiment banner is by Mama Elephant from their Occasional Labels set - love these little banners.

A fun set of cards, handy as I have a lot of people with September anniversaries.

Cx

Even more Christmas in July....

Hey,

So following on from yesterday's Christmas in July post, I wanted to share my Christmas make ;)

I bought these awesome Christmas Portraits stamps from Le Petite Market and couldn't wait a month to play with them (I start Christmas card making in August).

As with the Animal Astronaut cards, I retouched the images, so that they would be white against any background papers I added.

I coloured the images and added glitter glue, nuvo drops (coloured and glittery), spectrum noir sparkle pens and sequins / stars for interest.

Once I had stamped the sentiments, they looked a bit boring, so I added a glittery strip to the card blank, way more festive.

Feels pretty good to have the first batch of Christmas done.

Cx

Animal Astronauts...

Hey,

Yes I am showing you more Le Petite Market makes..

I can't get enough of their awesome stamps right now.

One of the very first sets I bought was Animal Astronauts -

I retouched the stamps so that they would print out white, meaning I could add a background behind them.

I decided to use some ancient star digital papers from Pink Petticoat (now The Lovely Studio), adding to the space / astronaut feel.

I coloured both of them and then made super quick cards.

For the main photo I heat embossed a Clearly Besotted sentiment onto a coordinating red panel.

For the card below, I added the sentiment (by MFT) directly onto my printed background.

These stamps have reignited my love for digital stamps and papers and means I have had plenty of playtime at my desk with a whole bunch of these stamps and various papers from my digital stash.

It's fun to rediscover parts of my stash.

Cx

Sketch Saturday #492 Christmas Flamingos..

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you, Hubby and I are landing in London as this goes live!!

Welcome to the latest sketch for the Sketch Saturday challenge.

Our sponsor this week is Sasayaki Glitter and they are offering a prize of 1 digi from their store.

Here's the sketch...

I love Flamingos, so when I saw the Winter Flamingos image it was an easy choice!!

I rotated the sketch and printed the Flamingo image onto a piece of stripey digital paper. My border is a very, very glittery piece of ribbon and instead of a bow, I used a gold glittery heart. I combined x3 sentiment stamps to create my sentiment, as I really wanted the word 'warm' in there!

To add to the extreme shine of my card, I added gold stickles here and there.

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 5 January 2018 at 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Cx

Sketch Saturday #478.. Fabulous..

Hey,

Welcome to the latest sketch for the Sketch Saturday challenge.

Our sponsor this week is Bugaboo (one of my faves) they are offering a prize of 4 digi stamps from their store.

This week the sketch is by our wonderful leader Kel..

I decided to rotate the sketch, because I really wanted to use the fun 'Ruby Fabulous at 40' stamp.

My card was a beast to photograph, as the sparkly paper strips kept giving me lens flare!

The sparkly paper and the leopard print papers are ancient, I think the sparkly stuff came from Poundland (like the dollar store) and the leopard paper is a digi by Pink Petticoat.

I was actually a bit brave and printed the image directly onto the leopard paper, so pleased that it worked out!

I coloured Ruby using Promarkers and Spectrum Noir sparkle pens and instead of twine or ribbon, I used a line of sparkly nuvo drops!

I love it and now I have a bonus 40th card in my stash!

Your turn to show us what you make with the sketch, but first check out what the rest of the DT have made over at Sketch Saturday.

Challenge ends 1st September 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Cx

ICAD17: Week Five...

Hey,

Happy Monday, hope you had a good weekend, mine was fun, starting with class on Friday, I'll show you pics later in the week.

So we are already mid-way through week 6, meaning we are only about 3.5weeks away from the end of ICAD17, so sad.

But let's not dwell on that..

I chose Day 31 Faux Wallpaper as my fave this week -

I got pretty creative here and added gold 'flocking' to a piece of Quatrefoil patterned paper, using a gold marker I'd forgot I had!! I added framed pictures to make it look like a wall. I love that I got to use the frames. I have had them for about 5-6 years, I think they came with me to the US!!

This is one of the awesome things about ICAD, I am using so many random parts of my stash, it is fun digging around in search of vaguely remembered items.

The photos are in day order, clockwise from the left and here is a link to the gallery with all the cards so far (including some week 6 ones!)

Cx

Sketch Saturday #466..Dino Girl...

Hey,

Welcome to the first fun June sketch for the Sketch Saturday challenge.

Our sponsor this week is Sasayaki Glitter and they are offering a prize of 1 digi from their store.

Here is the sketch.

You know I love Dinosaurs, so when I saw Dino Girl...I had to use her, she is coloured with Promarkers and Spectrum Noir sparkle pens.

I decided to pair her with digital papers by Pink Petticoat (sadly these ones are no longer available), the papers come in approx 30 colours, so super easy to co-ordinate. To bring it all together I die cut all the papers with stitched dies.

The sentiment is by Papermania and is one of the first stamp sets I ever bought!

I love Dino's, I can't wait to send her to someone.

Your turn to show us what you make with the sketch, but first check out what the rest of the DT have made over at Sketch Saturday.

Challenge ends 9 June 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

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

Belated Easter Bunnies...

Hey,

Sadly no WOYWW for me today, it's super busy at work because I am off for 2 days from tomorrow.

I didn't think I'd have time to comment on desks, so didn't want people to come and say hi, when I couldn't return the hello!

Randomly I am showing the Easter cards I made for my cleaning lady and my cat sitter :)

I didn't get a chance to post them last week.

As I made them in a blind panic before we left for Tampa, everything was a scrap!

The card in the main photo took about 2 mins to put together LOL.

I only had to colour the bunny. Everything else was ready to go, the beautiful egg paper is a digital freebie I found online and I had pre-cut and corner rounded it for something else. And I love mini doilies for dressing up something.

The next card I took a die-cut tag and stamped bunnies all over it, for a bit of interest. I've been doing this a lot lately and I like how it looks -

Again another card that shows you don't have to use the stamps for their 'intended' occasion. The bunny stamps are by Stampin' Up and the mini bunny I used on the tag is by Simon Says Stamp.

Cx

Valentine's Day Card Series - Day Five - Happy Valentine's Day..

Hey,

Happy Valentine's Day.

So today is the end, I hope if you celebrate you are having a good time with your special person. 

Hubby and I celebrate being together all the time, so today we will be slobbing around eating and listening to music, whilst recovering from whatever mischief we got into last night..

So yesterday I told you that JT and I set a challenge to make each other the most hideous, OTT card possible.

Here's my first attempt -  

Busy? Sure. Hideous? Not quite.

So I started again. The main photo today is the front of the card - nice and simple, seems like it's going to be lovely inside...

Nope..you get a busy paper, with a busy die-cut border, a stamped sentiment or two..and a pop-up monster that is winking at you! LOL. Now this is hideous.

Here's a close-up of the pop-up Monster

I had so much fun making these cards and I learnt how to create pop-ups in a card.

Wish I had given the Monster a googly eye...

Hope you have had a fun five days looking at all my Valentine's efforts.

Cx

Tic Tac Toe challenge..

Hey,

I really wanted to use one of my many new Bugaboo stamps this week, they are retiring some items and so they were a bargain!

JT has already used some of the ones that we bought :)

I also needed to make a New Baby card, so The Paper Players challenge this week was perfect -

I went with Any shade of yellow, Sequins and Polka dots.

I used Recollections yellow polka dot paper, my new Lawn Fawn stitched square dies, a Fiskars stamp and the Raccoon by Bugaboo.

I added some ribbon and inked the edges of my stitched square in Squeezed Lemonade distress ink.

For a bit of fun, I printed the Raccoon's tail onto a grey polka dot Pink Petticoat paper and paper pieced him onto the printed Raccoon - love this, it adds a little bit of dimension and fun.

Final touch to complete the Tic-Tac-Toe was to add sequins from my stash, I keep these to a minimum.

I'm visiting my friend at the weekend to meet her new Daughter, so I'll be giving her the card and it's matching Raccoon babygrow (onesie) that I made :)

Cx

Moving Along With The Times...Into The Wild...

Hey,

Forgive my blog appearance I am making some updates and I kind of lost my header..

Anyway, onto fun things!

It's time for another great Moving Along With The Times challenge.

Our hostess this week is Hazel and her theme is Into The Wild....you can use animals, people, the jungle, the forest. Whatever Into The Wild means for you.

I really wanted to use the beautiful Valentine's Fox stamp by Tam Hess from CMA.

I love Foxes and where I am from in London, they roam around, they are pretty harmless and I have spent many wonderful hours watching them play in my garden.

I decided to add a digital paper (Woodgrain in willow by Pink Petticoat) before printing the stamp. I coloured my little Fox using Promarkers and I added Glamour Dust to the tail to give him a bit of shimmer.

I die-cut the paper to fit my card blank using a SSS stitched rectangle die, then I tied a contrasting piece of ribbon around the paper before mounting him to the card blank.

I wasn't sure what to do about the sentiment..so I tried lots of things and ended up using a SSS Stitched circle die and heat embossed the sentiment onto the circle.

Such a sweet card...I'm very pleased :)

Now it's your turn - but first go over to MAWTT to check out the Wild creations by my teammates.

Cx

CASE..Early card rework...

Hey,

Happy Saturday, hope you are having a great weekend. Hubby and I are just chilling out.

So I was looking for something on my blog the other day and I came across this -

Not too bad for an early card / challenge entry. This is the sketch it was based on

I really liked the sketch, so I thought why not rework it...

As you can see from the main photo I switched things up a bit and turned the sketch on it's side. I kept the papers simple (the fancy moustache paper is by PinkPetticoat) and added a die-cut moustache instead of 3 little elements. I am enjoying this new topsy turvy sentiment stamping thing! Shame I smudged it...

I quite like the new version and despite the smudge it is going to someone for their birthday.

Cx

WOYWW #277...In progress...

Hey!

Happy WOYWW.

Short post this week, but first for you novice WOYWWers an explanation - it is that time of the week for joining our wonderful leader Julia over at her blog Stamping Ground for the weekly desk nose.

I was chilling out at home after a nonsense day yesterday and I had this genius idea (we'll see..) so leapt up, rushed to my desk and so what you see sprung from that moment!!

The pretty Pink Petticoat pumpkin paper is out because I made a wedding card (31st Oct) with it. The paper is covering a WIP DT make. My correct glasses are on my desk, a random bottle of nail polish and some gorgeous Papermania pinwheels.

Here's the wedding card. I have the stamp, because Oct 31st happens to be my wedding anniversary :)

Pink Pumpkin Wedding Card for a Colleague..

I'm a little in love with this card - the Stamping Bella stamp is a firm fave. The pumpkin paper looks so yummy!!

I will be having a nose later on.

Cx