Retro Rubber Blog Challenge #202 - Anything Goes...

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

This time, it is everyone's fave 'Anything Goes'.

I made this card for my godson who turned 21 last week - how is that possible!? He loves graphic design and is studying photography. 

I used new Heidi Swapp 'Countdown Outline' stamps that were a gift from a friend, to create the fun background. The sentiment is by Taylored Expressions and is one of their simple strips series 'Birthday' from 2021. 

I wanted to add a camera, so I dug through my collection and came up with this seriously old stamp by Tim Holtz 'Mini Blueprints' from 2013 - why don't I use this set more? I stamped it, drew an outline, and then cut it with my Brother Scan n Cut.

I wanted a bit of shimmer, so coloured a few of the numbers using a Sakura gellyroll starbust gel pen.

It came out even better than I expected!

Time for you to rummage through your older stamps and show us anything you like! Don't forget to swing by Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends March 24th.

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 #125 Christmas Colours...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

As this is the last challenge from us for 2019, we have a Christmas colour challenge for you.

I thought it would be fun to use the colours with a stencil and finally settled on an old fave Heidi Swapp stripes stencil.

I blended red and green distress inks through the stripes and the parts that were not blended were left white.

I used the Hero Arts 'Merry' stamp and die set that I have had since January 2018 (post holiday bargain that hasn't ever been used..) I die-cut the Merry in white and stamped the rest of the sentiment in red. To complete my card I added red and green gems.

Love this colourful card and it was a handy addition to my Christmas card pile.

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

Challenge ends December 13th and then the RR team will be back in January for what I believe will be our 6th year!! WHOOP!!

Don't forget to tell us the age of your stamp, which is part of the fun of our challenge and please only enter 10 challenges including Retro Rubber.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #102... Black and White...

Hey,

Welcome to the first Retro Rubber challenge of 2019.

I'm excited to be back and I hope you are.

Sadly we said goodbye to Donna over the break, we will miss her amazing cards and fun personality.

This time we have a black and white challenge..

I instantly knew I wanted to use my fave Heidi Swapp stencil to create stripes for this card. And I could not resist adding a little black & white monster. I had to add googly eyes to all of his eyes!!

I love the monsters by Your Next Stamp and this one is from their 'Silly Monsters', set that I have had since 2016.

I stamped the sentiment, also from the set onto a white stripe.

LOVE how this came out, b&w can be so very impactful.

Show us your black and white creations and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends January 25th.

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

Hey Girl...Happy Birthday...

Hey,

Recently my desk has been a bit of a hot mess..

So I decided to give it a tidy up and gather a few of the items together to make a card or two.

I actually ended up with 3 cards with the one I am showing you being my fave.

I had a big stack of Heidi Swapp journaling items that I got on sale - that is the white, lined and tabbed item. The doily is actually only half of one. The pink tag is glittery and I had it out for a baby shower card and changed my plan. The Hey Girl die-cut (die is by Studio Calico) was also cut for something else but was languishing on my desk.

I layered it all together and added pop dots to the 'Hey Girl' and stamped Happy Birthday and ended up with this super fun girly card.

Love it when my slob like behaviour turns into something good.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #79.. Love is in the air..

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

The theme this time is one of my faves  -

I decided that the stripey plate would be my inspiration.

I created the fat stripes using a Heidi Swapp stencil and Distress Oxide Picked Raspberry with a giant dauber from Tsukineko. 

I had always planned to stamp the sentiment over the stripes, but I had intended to add a bit of colour to the word. Change of plan once I saw it. Too gorgeous to add colour..

The Love stamp is "Typography Love" by Woodware and I have had it since 2014. It actually says 'with love' but I masked off the with part.

I love a simple card like this..I might make a bunch for Valentine's day.

Show us what your makes and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends February 9th. 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

Macho Man cards....

Hey,

Happy Monday!

I am back in NYC - whoop whoop..I love going to London, but I miss Hubby and my desk..

So essentially, no-one is exempt from my year round snailmail bombing...

Not even the totally uninterested in receiving a card boys / men in my life :)

So every now and then I have to sit down and focus on male cards.. 

I decided that stencils would make a nice background for the cards. I used 3 different stencils x2 Heidi Swapp ones (spots and stripes) and a Simon Says Stamp grid one.

I used distress inks to stencil with and I really like the slight variations in colour where I didn't quite blend properly..

I dug out 2 fave stamps, the balloon is by Teresa Collins and the car was a freebie last year. 

I love how they look against the backgrounds, they really pop out.

The sentiments are by Hero Arts and Clearly Besotted.

I mounted them onto co-ordinating coloured card and then mounted the entire thing onto a white card blank.

Here are the other 2 cards that I made - 

Pretty pleased with these bad boys..I think I've found myself a super simple 'male card' formula LOL.

Cx

Repeat with a twist...

Hey,

So I needed to make a Anniversary card for JT's Sister and I decided I would re-work a card I made earlier this year...

You can see the new version is very similar to the earlier one - same stamps, same stencil, almost the same colours!

But with one new twist..I added little 1s to the raining hearts, as it is the couple's first wedding anniversary :)

Yay!

I am very happy with this one, I think the hearts are spaced out much better, partly because I die cut the card stock to shape first.

I know I'll be making it again, it is such an easy, fun and quick card to make.

Cx

Online Card Class - Stenciled - Day 3 - Working with Pastes..

Hey,

So this weekend I decided to spend part of Saturday doing Day 3 of the Stenciled Online Card Class.

It was really enjoyable and stretched my stencil / paste knowledge.

The only thing that was tedious was that because you are working with pastes they take a while to dry..so some things had to be finished on Sunday!

I'll list all my supplies at the end - so many things used!

The day divided into 3 parts -

The basics - showing you how to achieve different effects with different kinds of pastes...
The main photo today used Ferro Metallic paste in silver, I love this stuff, it's so grainy!

also made this one with white texture paste...but I didn't realise that the mist wasn't dry and so ended up with a blue-ish paste - oh well..

 Translucent paste - showing you how to achieve different effects with translucent paste...

Use as a resist with distress inks - I used Warm Honey and Festive Berries..

Leave it 'nude' for a clear effect on a dark background..

Adding to pastes - showing you how to add various things (inks, glitter, etc) to your paste.
I added alcohol ink to my modelling paste -

I am really pleased with all of the cards, but my least fave is the last one, I think I'll stick to adding glitter to my pastes :)

Hope you like them.

Cx

Supplies used -
Card 1 - Wendy Vecchi texture paste, K&Co chipboard embellishments, Dollar store flower, perfect pearls, Heidi Swapp navy mist, technique tuesday hello die, xcut butterfly die, sizzix swiss dots embossing folder, Midnight Sky Dew Drop Ink. Card blank from my stash.
Card 2 - Ferro Metallic texture paste, vellum, white embossing powder, heat tool, Bo Bunny stamps, Simon Says Stamp Grid Stencil, Hero Arts Stencil, Staz on black ink, grey textured paper.From my stash card blank and sentiment
Card 3 - Wendy Vecchi translucent paste, distress inks, ink tool, Simon Says Stamp Stencil, Simon Says Stamp Congratulations Stamp, Vellum, White embossing powder, heat tool, detail scissors, American Crafts ribbon, DCWV glitter paper. Card blank from my stash
Card 4 - Wendy Vecchi translucent paste, distress inks, ink tool, Neat & Tangled Sentiment block stamps, Recollections kraft paper, Sizzix flower dies, Papermania brad, Sizzix nesting square dies, Tim Holtz stencil. Card blank from my stash
Card 5 - Pebeo Modelling Paste, Alcohol ink, Heidi Swapp Stencil, Paper Smooches Handsome Stamp, Bahamian Blue Dew Drop Ink, Card blank, washi tape and star from my stash

10 years...

Hi,

Today Hubby and I have been together 10 years!!

Tomorrow we have been married 5 years and are heading to Mexico on our 'Anniversamoon'..I will save the gushing for tomorrow's post.

Today I wanted to show you the card I made Hubby for our 10th anniversary :)

Obviously being a card maker means that Hubby gets 2 cards..lets see if I get a card at all..ha ha

I looked at all kinds of ideas for a 10th anniversary card, but nothing was really inspiring me. Just as I was about to get all conventional, my letter/number stamps by Papermania fell off of a shelf and hit me on the head = inspiration.

I used the number stamps to stamp '10' all over the backing paper. I had already chosen the purple card blank, so used colours that toned with this.

I then stamped the Heidi Swapp 'I like totally love you' onto vellum (ooh fancy), added some embossing powder and heat embossed it. You can't see it that well in the photo, but the sentiment is slightly shiny against the vellum.

I am very pleased with this card - it's very Hubby - he likes my CAS cards and whilst this isn't truly CAS it's clean enough for him to like it.

Tomorrow you get the smushy post, but here's a little bit of smush for you.

I love being a crafter, it relaxes me and relieves the stress of my job. Hubby has been my no.1 fan all the way through, he has been patient and kind and generous about all this craft crazy and my ever expanding stash.... He has stayed up late into the night keeping me company when I am prepping for a craft fair, he has offered critiques of my cards and encouraged me to enter competitions / challenges and the like.

It's just one of the many ways that he supports who and what I am and I love him for that.

Cx