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

Retro Rubber Challenge #142 Lets get Sketchy...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a sketch for you this time.

You know how much I love a sketch!

I recently made a large background panel for chopping up, I used a Dina Wakely stencil and Picket Fence Studios Golden Rose paper glaze. I used a piece of it for my card, as you can see.

The sentiment is from a cute set by Jillibean Soup 'All My Happy', that I got in early 2019 when I was on a road trip. I love that a lot of the words come with a shadow effect die. I stamped parts of the sentiment onto white paper and trimmed them down to create little blocks to work with the sketch. The 'wishes' I heat embossed onto gold paper. 

It felt a bit flat and I decided to get a bit brave and pop some gold thread (I never do this technique) under the sentiments and it worked SO well.

I am so happy with this elegant card, a perfect addition to my stash.

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

Challenge ends September 4th.

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 Challenge #117 Anything Goes..

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

We have everyone's fave theme this time -

Anything goes is always fun, but it does give me a bit of stage fright, all the things I could use!!

I had a fun playtime making my card today, it actually ended up spawning x2 cards!

It all started with this fun background that I made using a Dina Wakely stencil and distress oxides.

I used my newest tool the Wendy Vecchi Stay-Tion - it is amazing for stenciling.

I used a stitched rectangle die to trim down the stenciled panel, then I used a semi-circle die to cut a window. After I cut the window I decided that this card had to be a shaker!

The Dog stamps are Party Time by Hero Arts (no longer available) and I have had them since 2016 - true confession, this was their first-ever use..the shame.

I stamped the sentiment from a set I just bought second-hand (Pink Fresh Studio set) - directly onto the card blank. I love the sentiment and I thought it went perfectly with the happy dancing Dogs. I created the shaker piece and affixed it to the card blank. Then I added 3 of the dogs around the window.

I love it and I already sent it to a friend as a birthday card :)

Remember I said that I made x2 cards? Well here is the second card using the piece I cut out to create the shaker window and another one of the HA Dogs.

Looking forward to seeing your anything goes makes, be sure to pop on over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends August 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

CTD: Oh Hello Awesome Friend....

Hey,

Happy Sunday to you..

I had a great birthday party on Friday night..I am still recovering a bit to be honest ;)

Yesterday I spent some QT at my desk, as I am leaving for London on Friday I wanted to make the time count, even with a hangover.

I love this week's colours over at Color Throwdown -

I bought the Fashion Forward stamps by Dina Wakely whilst I was in Tampa earlier this month and I had this idea that meant I got to play with them.

I stamped one of the ladies from the set and then stamped over it, using a stamp from the Avery Elle 'Texture Tiles' set in teal ink.

I thought that it would be cool to add the other two colours in the sentiment. The awesome die is by Neat & Tangled and I always forget I have it..  The green part was a piece of scrap paper and the glittery silvery grey awesome was cut from glitter vinyl.

I decided to add a few more stamped parts to the sentiment and they are by Studio Katia.

I am really pleased with the end result, it's going to make a great birthday card.

Cx

Stencil Backgrounds..

Hi,

Happy Monday to you!

I had a fun week off with Ma, back to work now, she is still here, but amusing herself in NYC and we are spending evenings together.

Today's cards are ones I made using one of the numerous backgrounds I created when I was having a mojo funk a few weeks ago. I showed you a card before using one of the backgrounds and there are more to come!!

The stencil I used for the first two cards is by Dina Wakely and I love it, it's so interesting. It's quite large, so I cut it in two to make the two cards you see here.

The main card uses stamps by Waffle Flower and Clearly Besotted.

The card below uses stamps by MFT... I don't love the colour of my bear, the brown feels wrong!

This card uses a stencil by Hero Arts, same MFT stamp set as above. I love the way the stripes are faded out in different places.

Restoring your mojo by playing with one thing is a great trick and it really worked for me. Now I have a lot of ready to go backgrounds and that's always a good thing.

Cx

Happy 16th Birthday...

Hey,

Ever have one of those days, where the events of the day make you realise how OLD you are!

LOL.

Today my Godson Ben is turning 16, I can totally remember the day he was born, I can't believe he is already 16 and that his Mother and I have been friends for 30 years - EEEK!!!

Ben is totally into fashion and so I wanted his card to reflect that.

I smooshed a piece of watercolour paper in some distress ink and dried it off, I repeated this several times until I was happy with the background. I then stamped some stars randomly, to add a bit more interest to the background.

To tie in with the fashion aspect, I added a Dina Wakely Scribbly Man.

I didn't want to cover the beautiful image / background, so I heat embossed part of the sentiment (freebie from AMuse) onto Vellum and added a die-cut for the rest of it.

Super happy with this, I think it's perfect for a fashion forward 16 year old.

His gift is the same thing that I give all my godchildren at this age - a weekend away with me - Ben I think has drawn the lucky straw, as now that we live in NYC, this gift means he is coming here.

Cx

Adventure Awaits...

Hi,

Welcome to March and my first day back at work.

About a week ago I decided to have a play with a stamp set that I got in last year's $20 challenge from JT.

It's a bit arty, so I thought it would go nicely with one of the Dyan Reavely 'Ladies'.

I chose a piece of Ranger manilla paper, I thought it would suit the various mediums I wanted to play with.

I stamped the lady first and coloured her using Dina Wakely scribble sticks and a paintbrush. I dried it all with my heat tool for speed.

Then I used the stencil that came with the Fancy Lady stamps.

I then layered over this with the stamps from the Momenta Art-C set from JT.

I loved the end result, especially the pop of orange from the brightly coloured Lady.

I die-cut it out using a stitched square Simon Says Stamp die and also cut a blue panel the same size, so I could layer them on my kraft card blank.

Fun card, very different for me. I like to step out of my comfort zone now and then.

Cx

Margate Craftathon 2017: Part Four...

Hey,

Happy Saturday - I am probably in Mexico as you are reading this.

Nearly there with the Margate series of posts..just a couple more to go..I mean this is what happens when you make 24 cards!

Today's post is all about stencils.

I took a load as did JT and we mixed and matched and played with different techniques.

Main photo was to show JT what her new pot of Glitter paste would look like - sparkly is what! I love Glitter paste, its amazing.  The thank you die is JT's and I had to buy the set when I got home, because I used it SO much over that weekend (she's lucky I didn't pinch it!).

Below I used a different stencil - Dina Wakely - and just a mustard seed oxide ink. Simple, but so wonderful.

The final card didn't photograph as well as I had hoped. I used texture paste through a Tim Holtz leaf stencil and then blended over it once it was dry. The sentiment die is from that set that JT brought with her..

Fun to play with stencils, I am still slightly embarrassed by how long it took me to get the hang of them and now they are used all the time!

Cx

Themed Journal...Lyrics..

Hey,

Happy Monday..

I recently started a new art journal. It's smaller and landscape, as you can see.

I love my original journal, but I wanted this one to be more structured. Don't get me wrong, I still want to apply paint / ink / stuff randomly, but I thought an overall theme would be nice.

The background to this first spread inspired me to add the lyrics from a cartoon called Sealab (truly odd), Hubby and I love the theme tune and weirdly sing it all the time!

So I thought, why not make this a lyrics journal?

Here are a few more of my spreads..

I Know You, I Live You by Chaka Khan

Crazy by Gnarls Barkley

Fashion! by David Bowie

They are so easy to produce, I can't stop! There are actually a few more than these ones! I love interpreting the lyrics in different ways and it is fun thinking about what lyrics I should play with..

Way too many supplies to list here, if you are curious about anything leave me a comment and I'll reply.

Cx

Good or Evil?

Hey,

Happy Friday.

I thought I'd show you a fun little make that I made for a friend.

When the craftgang got together Lisette gave us a load of spare stamped sentiments and the wooden mermaids, so I grabbed one of my fave mini square canvases (super handy for making random stuff) and painted it gold using a Dina Wakely paint that Cheiron gave me for my birthday.

I cut up the sentiment and attached it to the canvas using Glossy Accents, same with the Mermaid.

Super easy and hilarious. I have no doubt the friend who it is going to will love the sassy nature of it.

Have a great weekend, I am off to lunch with Lisette tomorrow and playing at my desk and watching non-stop NFL - YAY!!

Cx

Stylish birthdays...

Hey,

So today Daddy and I are going to see an NFL game, super exciting.

My Ma asked me to make a stylish 50th birthday card for a friend of hers and I was so pleased with the result that I made another one :)

I used the watercolour background stamp from my new Concord & 9th Lace Leaf set and a Dina Wakely silhouette woman stamp.

I made the 50th birthday version using Worn Lipstick distress ink and Studio Calico sentiment stamps.

The version above uses Twisted Citron distress ink and a Simon Says Stamp sentiment stamp.

Fun cards that I can see myself making a lot of.

Cx

WOYWW #366..Learning and Laughing...

Hey,

Happy WOYWW to you!!

It is that time of the week when we pop over to join our leader Julia at her blog Stamping Ground for the global desk nosy.

She is still recovering from her op, so Lunch Lady Jan is still hosting us and doing a marvelous job.

My desk is a teeny bit dull after the excitement of the last 2 weeks.. Just my computer, my sippy cup, glasses, die pokey tool and a little pile of paper, cards and dies at the front of my desk. This little pile is something I am working on for a swap with Scrapbook Lynne...a fellow desker..

On Sunday I went to a great class taught by the one and only Dina Wakely (swoon), she is my new crush, she is awesome, hilarious and a great teacher.

Class was fun, as I sat with Cheiron, Jamey and Lisette (an unexpected surprise). I love these ladies, they make me laugh (out loud and a lot!), make me a bit braver in class and are just all round fun..needless to say margaritas and Mexican food followed...

Below is a little collage of my pages from class (and a pic of Moi and Dina)...

Here are a couple of pics of my finished pages, so you can see them in their entirety. We cut windows, so you could see each spread and Dina taught us a whole load of techniques, some of which were new to me..Like rubbing off paint using a baby wipe through a stencil - and my mind was blown!!

Warm spread, using 3 warm paint colours (pinks, oranges, purples)

Cold spread, using 3 cold paint colours (blues, greens, greys)

I'm off to London on Friday for a week, so no WOYWW for me next week - I schedule my posts when I am in London, it's easier that way.

See you all later for a nosy.

Cx

Hearts around the globe...

Hey,

Hope you had a good weekend...

I had a fun filled action packed one!!

Friends from home were here in the City and then I had class with Cheiron and two of the InkPadNYC class family (Jamie and Ava) - taught by the astounding Dina Wakely..she makes me want to swoon!

More about that later in the week.

Today I have a little card that I made for the Unity Stamp Show'n'Tell group challenge over on Facebook. Its a fun group and it's nice to see what others do with the stamps I have.

This time it was an itty bitty challenge - so use an itty bitty stamp - I chose the fun Hearts around the globe..its pretty new and I am LOVING watercolouring it right now..

I kept it simple and used a Hero Arts sentiment, so it can be sent to a friend with a gift.

Cx