Retro Rubber Challenge #143 Colour Me...

Hey,

Can you believe it's already September?!

Time for another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

This time we have a colour challenge for you, use only yellow and green.

I thought it would be fun to pull out a set that I really haven't used very much and I have had it since 2018, it has been thoroughly neglected - Avery Elle Balloons & Banners.

I stamped my banner and balloons using Altenew inks - Sweet Leaf and Maple Yellow. I love their inks, they stamp SO well. I am slowly buying them when they have deals on :)

As I was putting it together with the pretty polka dot Lawn Fawn paper, I thought it was a teeny bit dull. So I was going to add my default Monster to jazz it up and then I thought how about an actually 'green' creature and went with the fun Croc from the Heffy Doodle Happy Snappy Crocs set (I've had this since 2017).

The end result made me smile a lot! I love a card with a happy Critter!

How will you use the colours? Be sure to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends September 18th.

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

The Paper Players 475: Dino-mite..

Hey,

Last weekend, I was looking for a challenge to play along with.

I really like a sketch challenge and the current Paper Players sketch made me want to play along.

I thought it would be fun to use the cute 'Dinky Dinos' set by Heffy Doodle.

I decided to colour the Dinos in all different colours for a bit of added interest. I heat embossed the sentiment from the set (it comes in parts, so you can build a variety of sentiments) and die-cut it using a banner die.

The scalloped, stitched, dotted die that I used for the white panel is from a random shop I like in the UK that sells a really random mix of stuff, I always pop in there when I am home in London.

A nice easy make for a Sunday.

Cx

Welcome to 2020..

Hey,

Happy New Year from London!

Welcome to a brand new decade!

Hope you had a great NYE - I spent mine with my Parents and it was a fun day / night.

Today I am showing you the cards I made on Boxing Day - I had a bumper 10hr session at my desk and it was wonderful to just play and not have Christmas things to make.

I had an offcut of a smooshed piece of paper on my desk and it sparked an idea. I used the 'Flamingo Sunshine' stamp by Flora & Fauna - they have been my fave new to me stamp company of 2019..

I stamped the Flamingo onto the smooshed background and coloured the details in the few glitter gel pens I had - this was a new to me thing and I LOVE how much sparkle you get - cue me the next day in Blick with Cheiron buying more of them (Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust gel pens). I liked it so much, that smooshed x2 additional pieces of watercolour paper and cut x5 more squares from them so I could create x6 cards.

I die-cut the frame from patterned grey papers - the frame is by MFT stamps. I thought they looked a bit flat on the white cards, so I added a black piece of paper to make them pop.

I decided the sentiment's should be black and I used dies by Lawn Fawn, Taylored Expressions and Heffy Doodle. I was planning on them all being thank yous, but I needed a couple of birthday cards so switched it up a bit.

Love how they came out, I hope the recipients will too.

Cx

CAS(E) this Sketch - Colour Pop Birthday..

Hey,

Happy Friday!!

Hubby and I are leaving for Vegas tonight - WHOOP!! And then we are off all of next week, partly in Vegas and partly at home celebrating Thanksgiving.

I loved the sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch this week -

So before the NFL last night I had a quick play with it,

The minute I saw the sketch I knew I wanted to use the Avery Elle 'Brushed' set to create the two 'stripes'. I stamped all three brushstrokes from the set in navy blue ink.

I embossed the non-stamped part using a new Becky Higgins folder and then I die-cut the whole panel using a stitched rectangle die.

I found a random square of navy polka dot paper, so die-cut a circle from it and because I wanted the sentiment to pop, I die-cut it in red.  The rest of the sentiment is by MFT from their 'Label Maker Love' set.

A super quick and easy card, love, love, love this sketch and how my card came out.

Have a great weekend, bar a couple of scheduled posts, you probably won't hear from me until after Thanksgiving!

Cx

Retro Rubber #95 School Days...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a fun 'School Days' theme, you can be inspired by the photo or great a School themed card..

The awesome challenge image inspired me to pull out my fave Clearly Besotted 'Apple of my Eye' sets (slightly different now) - there are x2 and they are from 2015 and 2016 respectively.

I had a LOT of fun creating the background -

Yes - 9 stamp blocks were used!! I have x3 different stamp platforms, but sometimes only a stamp block (or blocks) will do.

When Heffy Doodle first announced that they would be launching a stamp / die collection, I saw a Instagram post that featured the 'Happy Snappy Crocs' set and I had to have it.

I stamped one of the Crocs from the set onto green chevron paper and die-cut him out using the co-ordinating die, the beauty of these dies is that his 'hands / paws / claws' have a little notch for holding things. Cue a mad hunt for an apple in my stamps that was small enough to fit - I think the one I found is by Ellen Hutson.

I didn't want to cover my background too much, so I cut a piece of vellum and stamped the sentiment from the Clearly Besotted set using Stazon, directly onto the vellum.

I love this card, the little Croc really makes me happy.

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

Challenge ends Sept 21st.

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

Helen Dardik inspired...

Hey,

I'm feeling slightly jaded today, yesterday was our 5 year anniversary of living in NYC, so Hubby and I went to dinner and too much wine might have been consumed.

Today's card I made a couple of weeks ago. I don't know who the Lion stamp is by, I bought a grab bag of stamps on Etsy and got this in it.

It reminded me of Helen Dardik's work (I have a MAJOR crush) and so I created a background for the Lion using some of the stamps from Helen's collaboration with Waffle Flower.

It came out much better than I expected and I felt rather brave leaving the lion uncoloured.

The sentiment is by Heffy Doodle.

Cx

Sending warm fuzzies...

Hey,

I wanted to send a friend who has not been too well a little card.

As she loves a Bunny, I thought why not recreate this card I made last year.

Instead of a gift in the basket, I added a bottle of wine and a glass - both by Heffy Doodle Stamps.

I also did a way better job with my cloud stenciling this time. Probably because I am totally addicted to this stencil (by Dutchdoobadoo) and have overused it since I got it last year!

The Bunny stamp and bike are by Poppy Stamps and again I added a road using Lawn Fawn stamps.

I have constantly got the Jenn Shurkus voice in my head when creating cards like this - you have a teeny tiny stamp somewhere that will be perfect for that basket.. It's a lesson she has taught me well and I totally stretch my stamps by mixing and matching way more than I did before I met Jenn (who is a legend and if you haven't been to one of her classes..find one and GO).

Final touch was the sentiment, I considered 'get well soon' or 'thinking of you' but I decided that 'Sending warm fuzzies' was perfect for this fuzzy card.

Cx

Happy Snappy Crocodile Birthday..

Hey,

Before I left for London I showed you a card I made for a colleague using my new Heffy Doodle Snappy Crocs set.

I had also stamped and coloured a couple more of the Crocs, but they were not made into cards.

So today you can see them all finished and ready for new homes.

I love this set, it is super versatile.

I am in love with the fact that I can give the Croc a bow-tie!!

I coloured both Crocs using Zigs and I kept everything pretty simple and just added some of the pretty Lawn Fawn papers to create a nice border.

I suspect that there is going to be a mad amount of over-using of this set..

Cx

A rude farewell...

Hey,

Happy Monday!

I am in London this week, as we head out to our Christmas party in Ghent on Friday.

One of my colleagues is leaving in January and I won't see him again before he leaves so I wanted to make him a card to deliver in person. He has been an amazing colleague and I am super sad to see him go, but it can't all be about me ;)

I have been trying to get my hands on the Heffy Doodle Snappy Crocs set since I saw it several months ago..I finally managed to snag it over Black Friday and it arrived last week..

I am 'famed' for my potty mouth, especially when working and so I thought a slightly rude card would be very appropriate.  The sentiments are a mix by Snarky Stamps and Paper Smooches.

I coloured the Crocodile using Zigs and a paintbrush.

I feel that this stamp set is about to become a fave..I love how versatile the set it, it comes with all these cool mini stamps. I went with the glass and bottle here as this is a 'good luck' card after all!

Cx