Masking and Stencil overlays...

 

Hey,

Happy Christmas Eve!

As it is Christmas Eve, I am showing you a card that I made for a friend who celebrates her birthday today.

She is a big fan of the Moomins (I mean who isn't?!) and I always think the gorgeous Hippos by Clearly Besotted look like Moomins.

I love using masking with stencils to create fun backgrounds. This card was a super easy version. 

First I stamped the Hippo and the drink and then stamped it again onto a sticky note and fussy cut it out (even if I have die's I tend to do this, so there is no white border). Now I have a mask.

I blended the grass first and then added the sunrays. Here is what it looked like.

Then all I had to do was colour in the image, stamp the sentiments and die-cut the panel to size. 

A very easy card that looks like it took way more work to create.

I used - Clearscraps - Sunburst stencil. Clearly Besotted - Coolin' Off stamp set. Distress Oxides in Squeezed Lemonade and Mowed Lawn.

I hope that you are having a great Christmas Eve wherever you are and it might not be exactly as you had planned/hoped, but if you are safe, well, and warm, it will be great.

See you next week, I'm having a few days of NFL over Christmas and not crafting..

Cx

Hippo Queen...

 

Hey,

I love Clearly Besotted stamps.

I saw this great 'Love London' set of theirs on sale and had to have it.

I wanted to make a fun card for a friend who is based in London and this set made me laugh, with all the possibilities.

I stamped the bus and the taxi first, then masked that off and blended the blue bottom panel, using Chipped Sapphire distress oxide.

I stamped and fussy cut the Hippo wearing a crown. When I was getting ready to pop her up ontop of the bus, it felt like something was missing, so I added the little heart scatter from another Clearly Besotted set 'Happy Days'.

Fun, and a little bit crazy. Like my friend.

Cx

Hip Hippo Anniversary..

Hey,

Only 5 more days of work for me before the Christmas break - I literally cannot wait.

December is the hardest month in my job, it's so intense getting everything delivered pre-Christmas and then planning for January, but it also feels pretty satisfying too, getting that much work done in such a short space of time.

I have good friends who celebrate their wedding anniversary in December, they got married the same year as Hubby and I and their wedding was one of my all time faves..

I bought this great Waffle Flower set 'Hip Hip Hooray' a while back and I hadn't used it, so I thought it would make a fun anniversary card for my friends - in part because they do a lot of things together and I thought these cute Hippos working out together summed them up.

I stamped, coloured and die-cut the hippos. I stamped hearts all over a mini kraft tag (I buy these from eBay 2x3.5inch and you get 100 for $2) using embossing ink and then dusted perfect pearls over them to create a fun background.

I stuck with the purple theme and mounted the tag onto a purple card blank, add the hippos and stamped the sentiment in a deep violet.

A slightly different anniversary card, but I love making things that are a bit personal for the recipients.

Cx

Retro Rubber #100... Celebration Time..

Hey,

Welcome to the first ever blog hop for the Retro Rubber Challenge.

We are changing things up a bit to celebrate our 100th challenge!

Can you believe that?! I am amazed at how the time has flown by. I have been a part of the Retro Rubber team since the start and I can honestly say my teamies are pretty awesome!

Here’s the scoop…play along with our celebration themed tic tac toe challenge!

Then hop around to all of the design team blogs and leave a comment!

Each team member is offering up some surprise retro (new but older than a year) goodies to one lucky person who leaves a comment on their blog.  That means there will be seven winners!*

As always, we will be listing the five top picks with the winning pick receiving a prize for this challenge only.

For my card I chose the first vertical row - balloons / ink smooshing / glitter or sparkle.

I created my smooshed background using Distress Oxides (Wilted Violet, Stormy Sky, Picked Raspberry). I love Oxides and I love smooshing.

The balloon stamp is actually quite new, but I thought it suited the theme so well that I had to use it. I stamped it in Versamark ink onto my background and added WOW sparkly embossing powder, it is ridiculously sparkly in real life!

The Hippo 'holding' the balloons is by MFT and I have had him just over a year and the sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp and I've had it since 2015.

Love a combo of old and new and if I was physically able to be with my teamies today I am sure it would be a fab party!

Next in line is the lovely Neva Cole and here is the full hop list for you -

Donna Idlet
Maria Rodriguez
Jan Clothier
LeAnne Pugliese
Jane Knudsen

I hope you are going to hop along with us AND make a card, 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.

Challenge ends November 30th.

Cx

*You do not have to enter the challenge to win but you must leave a comment on the design team blogs in order to have a chance to win!

**I'll be posting my goodies to 'my' winner after the 10th December, as I will be out of the Country until then.

Sketch Saturday #532..Fabrika Fantasy...

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you and welcome to the latest sketch for the Sketch Saturday challenge.

Our sponsor this week is Fabrika Fantasy and they are offering 3 digis from their store.

Here's the sketch...

I chose to use Cute Hippos (the version on my card is no longer available, the link is to a newer version).

As this week's sketch is by my bestie Jessie, I thought it was only fitting that I used it to make a anniversary card for her and her hubby :)

I chose purple as my main colour, as I know Jessie loves her some purple LOL. I coloured the stamps and die-cut it out using a stitched circle. I added a heart punch border strip and some enamel dots to fit the sketch. The sentiment is by Mama Elephant.

I was pretty pleased with how this came out.

I can't wait to see what you do with the sketch, but first check out what the rest of the DT have made over at Sketch Saturday.

Challenge ends on my birthday! 28th Sept 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Cx

Happy Birthday Die..

Hey,

Happy Friday.

I made today's cards right at the start of my 'enforced hiatus', but never got round to posting them.

I loved the Happy Birthday circle die by MFT, I thought it would be super versatile.

I cut a bunch of them in white, so that I could colour them anyway I wanted.

For the main card, I took a die-cut white panel (Stitched Wonky dies by MFT) and stamped just a section of the Unity Stamp Co. Star background stamp. I coloured the HB circle using Picked Raspberry distress ink and a paintbrush. I thought it would be fun to use the Reverse Confetti Alligator here and I think the end result is a fun card that would be suitable for any age.

With the next card I used the same technique for the HB circle, but with Broken China ink. I hadn't used the awesome Reverse Confetti scalloped die yet, so I thought it would work really well here and I added a MFT Hippo.

Both cards are a bit different but I think they both work for all genders / ages.

Have a great weekend, I will be finishing the baby quilt tomorrow for the baby shower on Sunday..why have I left it to the last minute!! Tonight is date night with Hubby..yummy prime rib, here I come!

Cx