Shimmery Heart Congratulations..

Hey,

I am back from my trip, it was SO much fun, despite the travel difficulties.

I'll tell you all about it later in the week, but I was very sad to say goodbye to JT and to the crafty ladies that we spent 2 days with.

Today's card is actually for Cheiron's Sister, she got engaged recently and I wanted her card to be fun and a teeny bit girly.

I used a Simon Says Stamp Mosaic Heart stencil and mixed glittery texture paste with Picked Raspberry distress ink. IRL it is super shimmery.

I was a bit indecisive about the sentiment, I tried EVERYTHING and finally settled on the Simon Says Stamp 'Congratulations' die, which I cut out of kraft paper to co-ordinate with the card blank.

A pretty simple make and because I had so much of the pink paste mix, I made a ton of the stenciled panels for use another time.

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

Retro Rubber #44.. Colour Challenge - Lime Green, Aqua and Neutral

Hey,

It's time for another fun challenge over at Retro Rubber. 

This theme is all about combining your older stamps with colours...

Neutral to us means, black, brown, kraft, white and cream.

I needed to make an Engagement card for friends and I thought the colours would be really nice and modern to use for an Engagement card.

I used Distress inks to create the watercolour / marbled background - Twisted Citron and Broken China. I smooshed them onto my craft mat, spritzed with water and dipped my paper in and out until I got the colour mix I wanted. Then I took a paint brush and flicked some of the Broken China over the card.

As you probably know by now I LOVE to heat emboss onto vellum and I thought it would look lovely here. I used a Simon Says Stamp 'Congratulations' stamp from the set of the same name that I have had for just over a year.

Vellum is a pain to affix to projects and normally I use staples, but that didn't feel right here. So I fussy cut it out and ran it through my Xyron, this was an experiment so I am totally chuffed to bits at the end result! I love it..

A little sprinkle of lime and aqua bling to finish it off.

So, now it's your turn to show us your interpretation of the colours, but first go over to Retro Rubber and view the great makes by my teammates.

Challenge ends on August 12th. Don't forget to use a stamp a year or older and tell us about it that's part of the fun. Also, please limit your entries to 10 challenges including ours.

Cx

Walking in the rain..

..with the one I love.

Is a line from a Barry White / Love Unlimited song and it's one of my faves.

The stamp I used to make the card in the main photo today reminds me of this song :) Apt I thing, as this is an Engagement card for friends of ours. The stamp is by Stamping Bella - Emily and Ryan under the umbrella.

I love this stamp, it's so cute and I like the fact that they are hidden under the large umbrella - which is strange as I detest umbrellas!

The stamp is actually quite tricky to colour - quite a lot of detail in the coat/dress and the flowers, but it is totally worth it..I am currently using it to make a whole raft of Anniversary cards for September. It would appear that nearly everyone we know got married in September.

The backing paper was a little bargain that I got from Marshalls, it was a pack of decorative scraps by K&Co - I sent half to JT :)

As I am so pleased with this card, I thought I would enter it into the same Colour Me Creative Marker Challenge #75 that JT entered - her card is awesome btw.
The theme is 'Anything Goes' as long as you use alcohol-based markers..I used Promarkers -
Umbrella - Vanilla
Coat / Dress / Flowers / Shoes - Pink Mittens, Plum, Orchid and Hot Pink
Skintone - Oatmeal
Shirt - Blue Denim
Trousers - Warm Grey 3
Shoes - Ice Grey 4
Foliage / Grass - Moss

I hope the happy couple love the card as much as I do..I now have to get on and make them a new home card too!

Cx

p.s 3 more sleeps and my Ma will be here...

Playdate Fun..

I love Playdates with JT.

Basically we go to each other's homes and sit around crafting with the other one's stash - the guest brings a few things, but not too much as craft gear is heavy! And we all know it's way better fun to play with someone else's stash!

Last Sunday we had a playdate at my house, JT brought the snacks and the idea for the session (remember the joyfold tryouts happened during a playdate). JT is off to visit her family for Thanksgiving and has been asked to bring some card sets, so we thought we'd make them together.

It was really nice to do something that isn't CHRISTMAS (sigh) also it was lots of fun, we made 3 sets each and a few individual cards. Today's main photo is of my favourite set that I made - love the contrast of the zebra print paper and the yellows, think the flower softens it all.

Here is the rest of our output -

Hello Hearts by JT

Love this lilac card, utilizing one of our favourite embossing folders and the ink braying technique. The red foam hearts are from my recent trip to Amsterdam.

Flowery Wall by Me

I am currently in love with this brick embossing folder, I am also a big fan of this lazy string tying thing, so rewarding for so little effort!

Thank You Labels by Me

Thank You Labels by JT

Even though JT and I used different ideas from Pinterest, I think these 2 sets are very similar. I like the soft muted colours in both of them.

Mini Thank You Squares by JT

This was the first set JT made and I am very jealous that she finally found a way to use these beautiful V&A papers. I've had them forever and always found them really hard to work with. I love this card...can you make me some JT?

Personal Stash Thank You by JT

Whilst it's fun making for other people, there is nothing sweeter than topping up your own personal card supply! This card is so much fun and it uses the random Martha Stewart Halloween cupcake thingys (orange circle) that I got for 10c in TJMaxx in NYC!! I forgot to take a photo of my personal stash cards and they have been posted now...

Last but not least JT's sister got engaged - yay! And so we found time to make here these totally awesome cards...

Pink Hearts by JT

 JT went all out on the pink theme! Love it! I was a bit more reserved, as I have never actually met JT's sister, I thought low key might be best. Like the grey and yellow colour combo.

Grey and Yellow Hearts by Me

I need another playdate soon..please?

Cx

Engagement hearts

I made this lovely card for my friend Stuart and his shiny new fiance Amy. I'm seeing them this week for the first time since they got engaged, so I wanted to make them a card.

Stuart is a designer, so I had to make sure my card was funky and followed some design principles!

The big green heart came from Paper Presentation in NYC, which is possibly the most beautiful stationery / craft store in the world...I spent a lot of money in there, but the good news is that these hearts were in the sale and were dirt cheap, so I have them in black, grey and brown. The pink heart was punched using the Woodware heart punch. The white heart was punched using a new Woodware 2in scalloped heart punch - this is the first time I've used it.

I really like the 70's retro flower print paper that I used for the background. It came free with a craft magazine.

I am thinking about making a few more of these and adding them to the new website. What do you think?

Cx