Freshly Made Sketches: Give Thanks..

Hey,

Happy Thanksgiving!

As I had oodles of playtime at my desk last night, I thought I would play along with Freshly Made Sketches this week.

I decided I would dig out a very rarely used star wreath die by Fiskars, I love it, but before I got my metal shim it was painful to cut. I chose my fave and ancient sparkly silver paper for the wreath.

I used washi tape and a scrap of glittery paper for my strips and the smaller circle I die-cut from a scrap.

The 'thanks' die is by Lawn Fawn and it is one of my fave sentiment dies.

I love the happy sparkly end result. 

As it's Thanksgiving I can't leave without saying how thankful I am for my Husband, Family and Friends (new and old) that have been by my side this year through all kinds of ups and downs. They have remained my constant loving, caring, amazing support system. I'm also super thankful that I opened my mind and decided to exercise...it's a thing now and I love it.

Have a great Thanksgiving wherever you are.

Cx

Super Daddy...

Hey,

Happy Monday!

Today is my Dad's birthday.

As you know he came to visit for the first time in September and we had a pretty awesome time.

I wanted to make him a special card this year that hopefully reflects how awesome he is.

I saw this great set by The Cat's Pajamas and thought it would be perfect for his card.

I added the Bam! and Pow! and the stars from a Fiskars stamp set called Kapow! I've never had the opportunity to use them before, but think they work really well here.

And can we just pause for a moment and smile at how cute the Bunny is, in his superhero outfit!

Happy Birthday Daddy, you are totes my hero.

Cx

MAWTT..Still time to play along...

Hey,

Just a little reminder that there is still time to play along with the current Moving Along With The Times challenge....

I made a little cake card sticking with the current theme...Birthday Cake.

You have until September 28th (6pm GMT) to enter.

Cx

Retro Rubber #40...Get your Sketch on...

Hey,

Time for another fun challenge from the Retro Rubber team.

This time we have a sketch for you - 

Sketch challenges are one of my faves, gives me a good base to start with.

I decided to use a sun stamp from a Fiskars stamp set 'Flower Garden' I have had it since we moved to NYC in 2013, it was one of my first craft purchases that year.

I love this stamp, it is so versatile and I use it a reasonable amount unlike some of my other older stamps...

The hot air balloon is a newish addition to my stash (by Echo Park) and this is the first time its been used!

The sentiment is by Bo Bunny and from a set of mixed sentiments that I've had since 2014.

The whole card was pretty simple to put together. It turned out a bit brighter than I had planned, but that is never a bad thing :)

Now its your turn to get creative using the sketch, but first hop on over to Retro Rubber and see what the sketch inspired my teammates to make.

Challenge ends on June 17th, remember to use a stamp a year or older and tell us about it, also please limit your challenge entries to 10 including ours.

Thanks

Cx

A different new home...

Hey,

Shaker alert!!

One of the shaker pouches I made a couple of weeks ago made an excellent focal point for a new home card I wanted to make.

I added a house die cut - by Sizzix and Tim Holtz.  The congrats die and small scalloped circle are by Simon Says Stamp. The home sweet home stamp is by Fiskars.

The addition of the shaker pouch makes it a bit of an unusual new home card - me likey!

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

Kenny K Stamps

Recently I've shown you a card using Kenny K stamps and you've seen some others on my desk. I am really loving these right now and Kenny K and his Krew are making me want to spend my hoarded cash on more and more digital stamps.

So before I spend all of my money and run out of electric :) I thought I'd show you what I've been making using all these finished stamps.

I am also entering the Kenny K Challenge this week - Heart and Flowers - my main photo is Hubby's Valentine's card and it's my entry. I LOVE it!! I cut out the Devil Girl using a really cool tool - a Fiskar's finger tip swivel knife. I then used foam tape to make her stand out from the paper. The paper is by Pink Petticoat, the heart was made using my Woodware scalloped heart punch and the flower is one that I made using the tools I mentioned in a previous post. I added a bit of red glitter glue here and there, but it doesn't show up as well in the photos.

I hope Hubby loves it, a couple of people have seen it and said that they loved it, so here's hoping he feels the same. I should probably mention that I am have not yet mastered my own skin tone...I'm working on it :) Here are a couple of close-ups - if you look closely enough at the flower you will notice the little bit of bling is flower shaped too!!

Devil Girl Close-up

Heart and Flower Close-up

These cards were inspired by the rediscovery of a random corner punch - I can't describe it, you'll have to look at the photos...sorry!

I matched the backing papers to the main colour of the stamp and added a contrasting Candi. I also added the odd touch of glitter glue. I like the simplicity of these, as the stamps are quite detailed.

The next card is the one that was on my desk yesterday...I was going to use it for a friend's 40th birthday, but I decided it didn't contrast with the number chipboards that I have already decided I am using (?!). Anyway, it is now going to my Brother-in-Law, I'm not sure what my SIL will think, but I like it and I think Stu will too :)

I like the idea of her sitting on a wall, the sentiment didn't stamp quite as well, but imperfections happen when you make stuff by hand....right?

Originally I bought one of these stamps to make a special order, but then I decided that they were such fun to colour, I would just buy more and use them for practice. However, they are so pretty and have come out so well that they are begging to be used. So watch out, you might get a random Kenny K stamped card coming to you soon!!

Cx