Chalkboard Birthday...

Hey,

Happy Monday to you.

Momma and I are in Philly right now for a few days, tonight we are having dinner with JTs parents, tomorrow Ma is going to visit a friend and I am having lunch with a friend. Fun times.

Whilst Hubby was away in London I got to indulge in some late night craft adventures..which resulted in me finding a box of backgrounds that I had made and die-cut?! I seriously have no recollection of this, but yay!

So I made x2 cards using a couple of the backgrounds I found..I also found the chalkboard tags that you can see on the cards - there were at least 10 of them in the box and they have different patterns on.

I used a scripty stamp (Avery Elle 'Brushed') and white pigment ink to get that chalkboard effect - I'm super pleased with how the sentiment came out.

The two backgrounds I used were both made using Tim Holtz stencils and distress stains.

Here's the other card -

Won't it fun when I have a big enough craft room to keep everything sensibly organised (sigh).

Cx

CASology: Insect...love bug..

Hey,

I was hoping to play along with CASology last week, I had got two honorable mentions in a row!! Sadly, I did not have any stamps that worked with last week's 'Medicine' cue card.

This week however I am all in!

JT, gave me this great stamp set by Lia for Hero Arts, it's called Lovebug (either $20 challenge or Christmas giftt). I thought it would be fun to use here, as it is NBUS.

I die-cut my panel using an MFT stitched wonky die, I like to use this die with CAS cards, it adds a bit of interest.

I added some Squeezed Lemonade Distress Stain through a Tim Holtz Latticework stencil, so that my bugs had some colour.

I stamped the Dragonfly, the Grasshopper and the Bee in a stack and added the sentiment from the set, above and below the stack.

Another super easy card to make and I am happy that I finally got to use the stamp set.

Cx

New leaf...

Hey,

I recently bought a great Simon Says Stamp leaf die in their sale.

But it is HUGE, so it was a bit daunting.

I thought it would be good to have a play with the die and see what happened, before trying to make something with it.

Below is what I started with - a Tim Holtz stencil, the leaf die-cut and two different green distress stains.

I placed the stencil over the die-cut and used the lighter green stain through the stencil first. I dried that and then used the darker green sparingly over it in random places.

This was the result - 

I was pretty happy with how it ended up and then I cut it in two and made two cards.

The main card uses a tag that I got as part of a prize and a Crazy Bird that I had coloured previously. JT gave me the set as part of our $20 challenge and the sentiment is part of the set. I think using the slightly bright bird makes the card less twee!

The next card was inspired by all the MFT flower stamps I had out on my desk. I used the Bold Blooms set here along with sentiments by Concord & 9th. The tag is from Paper Source and I bought a giant bag of them in their sale..to continue to feed my store bought tag addiction!

I ended up with two rather different cards, but I really like them both and think it was a great way to ease into the new die.

Cx

Concord & 9th Class...

Hey,

So FINALLY a week later, I have got round to writing this post about the class I went to at The InkpadNYC last Tuesday.

Taught by my friend and mentor Cheiron we used Concord & 9th stamps and dies..Which of course led to a whole new batch of purchases :)

The main card today sums up the little 'lady squad' that we have at the Inkpad..These ladies have been so awesome to me, encouraging me, inspiring me and supporting me on my craft and personal journeys..

We are having our first group playdate on October 15th, so look out for the no doubt hilarious post that will follow that day of boozing, eating, gossiping and crafting!

We made a whopping 6 cards in class!!! It was fierce...

Here are the other 5 in no particular order -

Aren't they gorgeous and despite us all making the same thing, no 2 cards were identical, which is cool.

I bought the You're My Person (has the gang stamp..) and Eat Cake and Celebrate sets..I really want the Wildflower set that we used on the 'Thank You' card.

Cx

Hey Buddy....

Hey,

Hope you are having a good weekend so far.

Today I am entering the Paper Smooches Monthly Challenge..I loved the challenge image -

Ha ha - excellent.

The challenge is all about friendship.

I am hoping that I am still eligible as I went with 'Hey Buddy'...

I love the fun card I ended up with, I used Distress Stains through a sunburst stencil by Clear Scraps and then spritzed it with water and dried it.

I used two Paper Smooches sets for the sentiment and hearts (Simply Said and Kudos Two) I heat embossed the sentiment and the hearts in black, so they would stand out more.

A really simple card that went to a friend who needed it..

Cx

CASE a Card...Flowers..

Hey,

Happy Monday, I am off today, hanging out with Ma, following our weekend in Philly and Sunday spent with JT's parents.

Following on from yesterday's post, I thought I'd show you another of my Pinterest CASEs.

I chose this card - 

Image Courtesy of Cupcakes, Cards and Kim

I love this idea of scribbly circles as flowers..

I pulled out three stamp sets by Simon Says Stamp - Scribble Flowers, Favorite Flowers and Birthday Flowers to use on my card.

I also decided not to stamp the solid circles but used Distress stains and kind of splodged them onto my paper..

For the main card I used Abandoned Coral, Squeezed Lemonade and Peacock Feathers stains. It is a pretty straightforward CASE, no real modifications, but it was so perfect, I didn't want to change a thing :)

Obviously I made a whole bunch of these as they take about 5 mins to do, once you have got your colour splodges down.

Here is another colour variant, using Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn and Peacock Feather stains -

These were super simple to make and I really love working with Distress Stains, you get such rich colours and no mess!

Cx

Retro Rubber #39...It's May and time for flowers...

Hey,

Time for another fab challenge from the Retro Rubber team.

This time we are celebrating the arrival of May with Flowers - 

I have SO many flower stamps, this really was a challenge for me, deciding which ones to use.

I settled on a fave Simon Says Stamp set - Favorite Flowers, I got it as part of one of my first SSS cardkits in 2014 and I use it A LOT!!

This time, I thought it would be fun to combine it with a few new bits and bobs - the sentiment is brand new and by Hero Arts and the leaf stamp is by Avocado Arts from last year.

I stamped the sentiment first and then masked it off, so that I could splodge (technical term..) two colours of distress stains around the while panel.

Then I stamped the flowers over the stain splodges. I used a paintbrush to dab in the green splodges and then stamped the leaves over them.

I had originally planned to mount the white flower panel and the pink panel onto the cardblank, but it felt flat, so I decided to create the background using the medium and large flower stamp -

I am so pleased with the whole card and I totally need to create my own backgrounds using one or two stamps more often.

Now it's your turn to get creative and show us your flowery creations. First pop over to Retro Rubber and see what my talented teammates made.

Challenge ends on June 3rd. Don't forget to use a stamp a year or older and tell us all about it - this is the best bit for us :)

Cx

Stains and Stencils...

Hey,

Happy Monday from London!

I had a great weekend, hanging out with my folks and my godsons - who have grown to epic proportions since I last saw them!

It's always nice to be in the office for a week or so and work with my colleagues in real time, but London isn't my home right now, so I always feel a bit out of sorts until I get back home to NYC.

Wonder how I will feel next year when we move back to London for good!

Anyway enough of that!!

I was having a little play at my desk before I left, as I needed to make some cards for my personal use.

I love using stains through stencils, because I am never sure if it will come out perfectly and if it doesn't is it usable?

This one was a bit splotchy, so I spritzed it to make it look like less of an accident LOL.

The scalloped die-cut is by Gina Marie Designs and I love these dies, I bought them because my friend showed them on her blog and I had to have them!

I love the sentiment stamps that I used, they are newish and they are already being overused!!

Fun easy card - I made a whole bunch of them in different colours - great stash booster.

Cx

Sending Happy Mail..

Hey,

Recently a friend of mine organised a card drive for her Aunt who has recently been diagnosed with Cancer.

Such a lovely thoughtful idea and it seems her Aunt is thrilled at all the happy mail she has been receiving, so it worked.

I used the latest Simon Says Stamp card kit to make my card and a sentiment from a previous card kit.

I blobbed distress stains in 3 colours onto some watercolour card, spritzed it a bit and then used the flower stamp set over the top of the blobs.

The blue flowers got extra special care, I drew in some stamens...check me out!

I really like this idea of blobbing colour to create flowers...

Cx

Reworking Vikings..

Hey,

Happy Friday!

This week has whizzed by and tomorrow I'll be returning home to Hubby and my Furbabies.

I thought I'd join in the MarkerPOP challenge - #89 Anything goes.

I made my cards using the colouring I did during The Daily Marker colouring challenge.

I love the Viking stamp and die set by Avery Elle, I wanted it for so LONG.

I got it just in time for Valentine's Day and used it to make a whole bunch of Valentine's cards.

But I didn't want this really fun stamp to be limited to love related crafts.

I masked off the sentiment that is built into the stamp to create two blank stamps..

I made two cards, but the main photo today is my entry. I created a fun heat embossed background using a Hero Arts background stamp. I coloured the Viking with Promarkers and added a fun sentiment by Paper Smooches.

It came out so well I can't wait to send it to someone.

The second card was super simple -

I really wanted to put the Viking onto a star, but it looked a bit bland, so I used a distress stain through a stencil to brighten things up a bit. The sentiment stamps are by Hero Arts and they make me smile every time.

So glad that I had a go at masking off the stamp, I can't wait to try out more sentiments in his beard :)

Have a great weekend.

Cx

To be continued..

Hey,

So following on from yesterday.

I thought I'd show you some things I made using the die-cut remnants that I keep.

I started with these - stupidly forgot to take a photo before using and the hello is too damaged to be photographed..

I used Distress stains, inks and paints through the 'stencils' and then either stamped, stenciled or heat embossed over the top.

I am super pleased with the butterfly, as that is the Tim Holtz Lace stencil over the top of the Distress paint and I heat embossed it too...technique cray cray.

So the title of the post is the point of how these cards will be finished. Like the main card today, they will have no sentiment..

I like to do this, so when I need a card and I am low on inspiration I have something that I have already made ready to go and it helps me.

Then I just add a sentiment or an embellishment and they are ready to go. Fun to do when I have the time..

Cx

Aloha Monday..

Aloha!

Hope you had a good weekend and that it wasn't as cold as NYC!! It was -16c at some points!

I love this set by Simon Says Stamp..

It came with the March 2015 cardkit, which I loved, but I don't use this set as often as I would like, so when I saw the Quirky Crafts Challenge for Feb, I thought this was my opportunity to have a play..

The challenge is - use Red OR Pink + Black AND White

I die-cut a panel of card stock using a Lawn Fawn stitched square die and swiped some picked raspberry distress stain across it, leaving little patches of white.

I stamped the flowers from the set onto this panel and stamped one on it's own and fussy cut it, so I could pop it out.

The aloha die-cut is by Avery Elle.

I love simple cards and using distress stains to create bright backgrounds.

Cx

Moving Along With The Times..Things with wings..

Hey,

Welcome to another superb challenge from the Moving Along With The Times.

This challenge is hosted by Judith and she has chosen a theme of Things With Wings...

JT and I had quite a bit of chatter about this one, trying to decide what to use..as we have a lot of the same stamps..

I decided to dig out a newish set that I bought during my Black Friday blow-out at AC Moore -

I stamped the bird (bottom right) in a Turquoise ink and used clear embossing powder before heating it. It's actually really shiny.

It took me ages to choose a background for the bird..then I saw the panels I had die cut from some previous makes - 

I think it works really well and just like this card I think the bird looks like he is among the trees.

Obviously no need for a sentiment with the beautiful text in the bird.

Show us your fabulous creations featuring wings and go over to MAWTT have a look at the other inspiring makes by the rest of the DT.

Challenge ends on Feb17th.

Cx

Color Throwdown..lucky to have a friend like you...

Hey,

Happy Friday to you..

Today I'm playing along with the Color Throwdown challenge -

I fell in love with the colours and wanted to play with them.

I am really happy with my card, it came out exactly as I had pictured it in my head! That's pretty rare.

I broke out my MFT rounded rectangle dies..I don't use these as often as I should, whenever I use them I'm all 'why don't I use these more?'

I used Tumbled Glass Distress Stain through a new Crafters Workshop stencil, that I got given as a Christmas present.

I then covered a piece of scrap paper with Picked Raspberry Distress Stain and then die cut friend from it - the friend die and sentiments are by Mama Elephant.

I scattered some pink and blue bling around, as what card doesn't need a bit of bling :)

Have a great weekend.

Cx

Stencils and Stains...

Hey,

One of the things I really wanted to do during the Black Friday sales was to buy more of the layering Tim Holtz stencils..

I had about 6 of them already and wanted to add a further 6, but I could only find 4 of the ones I wanted.

I thought it would be fun to try out the stencils using Distress Stains.

The main photo shows the backgrounds I made using the stencils - From left to right clockwise - Scribbles, Grid, Scribbles, Tracks, Lace and Tracks.

Today I am going to show you two cards that I made using two of the backgrounds, I'll show more when I finish making cards..I haven't had much desk time recently.

The card above is the Thank You card I made for JT to say 'thanks' for all the lovely Christmas presents, for getting me my wonderful job and for generally being a superb person and friend.

The hearts were punched from a Scribbles background that is not in the main photo. I had originally planned to stack the two die-cut Lawn Fawn scripty thanks, but then I thought what if I created a shadow...

Here's a close-up - 

I'm super pleased with how well the shadow worked!

Funnily it arrived in the post last night when I was at JT's house LOL!

The card below uses a tracks background and it was a birthday card for our cat sitter Brad - we only started using Brad in December, he's amazing the cats love him, as do we..he's a bit older than your average cat sitter, but I think that makes him perfect for the job.

I wanted to include a cat on his card, as he loves cats, so I added a Mama Elephant cat - 

I actually think these the tracks backgounds look like mini trees.

I really love working with stencils..I am going to keep practising with the stains, I'll be trying distress paint next, could be interesting.

Cx

Reminding myself I'm a crafter...

Hey,

So this is a scheduled post as I am now in London.

Yes, sometimes I do forget I'm a crafter, especially when I see shiny, pretty paper goods and stationery on display in shops..

I like to have a calendar hanging on my pinboard above my craft / work desk and last year I had a cute one from Michaels that was a dollar.

It came with the handy clipboard that you can see in my main photo.

I've seen lots of really lovely small hanging calendars and have been tempted to buy one..then when I was taking down my 2015 one, I thought - hold on, why don't I make one for myself..idiot!

So I trawled around for a calendar style I liked (very fussy about this) and came across a fellow WOYWWer Scrappy Sticky Inky Mess - she has a whole host of fabulous free printables on her blog and I found one that had a blank space for you to decorate.

I printed it out and cut it down to fit the clipboard (recycling points) and then I added a swipe of distress stain to the top of each month, found appropriate stamps and voila 15 mins later I had a calendar...

Nice to be reminded of the fact that I have an entire craft room at my disposal..

Here are photos of all of the months..

I used all different stamps for my interpretation of the months..Sept is cake because it's my birth month :) I did notice that I need one more distress stain colour :) because I had to reuse a colour...excuses for spendy spendy...

Cx


Stamps are by - Lawn Fawn, Simon Says Stamp, Quick Cards, Paper Mania, Avery Elle, Avocado Arts.

Happy Birthday Beautiful..

Hey,

I made this card a while ago.

I basically had a stencil, distress stain and distress paint play at my desk.

I am just getting used to using the other ranger mediums and it's amazing how versatile they are.

I used a Tim Holtz stencil here and x3 distress stains.

The image is by Stampers Anonymous and the sentiment stamps are a mix of Simon Says Stamp and Paper Smooches.

A fun card and cool to play with the stains..it did mean that I found colour gaps. So I had to do a bit of stain shopping...

Cx

Cheiron ROCKS!!

Hey,

So this year I have made a great friend in the awesome Cheiron.

Not only is she an amazing teacher, but she is a totally fun and awesome person.

She has shown such kindness towards me and it's so nice to be friends with her. Case in point, just before I left for London she sent me a big package of pens / pencils for me, my ma and JT.

How nice is that!

Cheiron has a very cheeky personality. So when I was making a birthday card for her (in October...) I saw this Funny Bones stamp in my stash and it felt like something she is totally going to do when she is old!

I used distress stains, stencils and translucent paste because these are all the things that Cheiron has helped me to use better.

Both Cheiron and her friend Jenn (also a fabulous teacher and my friend too) are both advocates of using things better - not right..there is no right, as its all so personal. I needed to hear that :)

We are heading back to London from Lisbon tonight..no doubt hungover as hell!

Cx

Stencil playtime..

Hey,

So as you know I love stencils.

When my friend Denise was visiting she really wanted to have a play with stencils, so we broke them out and I ended up with 3 stencilled backgrounds.

I cut them down and ended up with 4 card sized pieces.

The main card uses distress stains and because they were quite juicy, I got the great blended effect that you can see. To finish off this card, I die cut the sentiment and heat embossed the happy.

The next 2 cards use the same stencilled background - a recent bargain find at The InkpadNYC - again using distress stains. I used a birthday stamp that the lovely Darnell sent me for my birthday and the Happy dies are by Wplus9.

My final card uses a fave Simon Says Stamp stencil that I have had for ages and this time I used distress inks in 3 colours to create a vignette of colour. I am a bit sad that my happy doesn't pop as much as I wanted it to..I might need to attempt a fix here..

I love playing with Stencils and the Online Card Class I did really helped me to use them in more varied ways.

Don't forget that you still have time to play along with the latest Moving Along With The Times challenge - Leaves and Trees. Challenge ends on Weds 11th Nov.

Cx