Retro Rubber Challenge #198 - Warm Winter Wishes...

Hey,

Welcome to the first fun Retro Rubber challenge of 2023 - did you miss us? We missed you!

We have a theme for you this time - Winter...

I love snowflakes (not IRL) and I have tons of stamps, stencils, and dies. 

I wanted to make the little Fox stand out, so I used a fave Gourmet Rubber Stamps snowflake stencil with blue glitter paste (by Martha Stewart). All the reds and blues in the Fox's outfit really pop off the card. He is 'Holiday Fox' by AALL & Create and was a gift from JT for Christmas 2021.

What wintery items will you use? Pop over to Retro Rubber, get inspired by the things the DT have made, and welcome our new teamie, LeeAnn Mckinney.

Challenge ends January 27.

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 #46.. Its Critter Time..

Hey,

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

This theme asks you use a critter -

I love this theme, I have WAY too many critter stamps..I can't resist them..

Now get ready because I am going to show you how I made this card, end to end, so there are a few photos;)

I made this card for my Ma for her birthday, not only did I dig out older stamps (Mama Elephant Three Amigos from July 2015), but I also dug out an ancient folding tag card blank - I bought this from the Little Claire stand at a craft fair I went to with JT in 2012!!

I started by adding texture paste to my card through a Tim Holz 'scribbles' stencil, which I swear looks like roses -

Next put the stencil back over the paste and add 2 colours of distress ink over it (once dry) - 

Then stamp, colour, die-cut and stamp the critters and add them along with the ribbon to the card..stamping before mounting onto the card is best (yes a few critters were lost..) - 

Pretty cool right? The little patterned paper piece that the card is balanced on is actually the custom envelope I made for the card using my Martha Stewart scoring board.

Here is the final panel -   

I wrote my greeting on the 'plain' side, so it wouldn't show and then Momma can frame it, if she wants to. She really loved it, so I am super happy :)

Seems complicated, but it was super easy to do, partly because the card blank was already cut to size and shape...

Show us your critter makes, but first go over to Retro Rubber and view the great makes by my teammates.

Challenge ends on September 9th. 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

p.s As of the 3rd of Sept I will be in Mexico, so the fabulous RR ladies will be commenting and voting for me :)

Shaker Anniversary..

Hey,

Hope you are all well.

Today I am showing you a card I made for our friend's first wedding anniversary.

They are the ones that just moved to Philly. 

We went back to the UK last year for their wedding and it was a gorgeous day.

I wanted to make them a shaker card - not sure why, I think it might have been the gorgeous custom sequins by Martha Stewart that came with the Simon Says Stamp August Card Kit.

They are so beautiful, they are just crying out for a shaker card!.

So how about this for a bit of thrifty card making. See the stitched aperture? Well the stitched circle on Monday's card is the aperture offcut - sweet!

It was easier that most shakers to put together, I used adhesive foam and cut a slightly bigger circle in it..I am really tempted by a Fuse..making shakers easy!

I stamped hearts in 2 sizes in 2 colours all over the front of my card and I didn't re-ink that often, for a softer, slightly broken feel.

The fantastic sentiment is Dear Lizzy by American Crafts - its a great set.

Here is a close-up - 

I love making shaker cards, but they are so labour intense. This one was moderately easy, so made it even better..

Cx

Turning Ma into a Crafter...

Hey,

Late post from me, but I wanted to share what Ma and I got up to today :)

Yesterday when we were out, we bought a 10 pack of Lip Balm's as I wanted to try this excellent Pinterest idea..

Ma hijacked me and decided that they should be gifts for her work colleagues..who I am to argue!

As they were going to be gifts from Ma from New York, I dug out a great Deep Red Brooklyn Bridge stamp for us to use on the cover.

After a few tutorials from me, Ma did all the stamping, the scoring, the corner rounding and the ribbon threading.

I did all the 'stage managing', trimming, measuring, affixing of the lip balms (using glue dots) and the bagging up.

Fun times crafting with my novice Ma, but she got it and she later went on to make a bday card, that we did not take a photo of!

Cx

Retro Rubber #11..Sketch Time

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber Challenge, this time we want you to use our sketch...

Don't forget to add a stamp that is over a year old to your project..I love digging out old favourites.

I decided to flip the sketch and used a MFT stamp that I have had for about 2 years. I used a very loud scrap for the background, so I kept everything else simple.

I used an ancient Martha Stewart scalloped doily border punch for the decorative edge.

Final touches were the bling and the sentiment.

I love a sketch challenge.

Time for you to join in the fun, but first hop on over to Retro Rubber and check out the fab creations from my teammates.

Cx

Paper Players...Feathered Friends...

Hey,

I have been meaning to play along with Paper Players for a while, but its been crazy!

Then I discovered that my Retro Rubber teammate Debbie Mageed is one of their guest designers and it's fun to support your teammates and see what else they are up to. So I kept my eye out for a week I could join in.

This week is that week ;)

I love the theme..

I decided to make an updated version of a previous card of mine - I like re-using layouts. I also wanted to make something for my bestie Lemon, she is now officially in the TA (UK reserve army) SUPER proud of her and all her hard work. So she should get something fun and unusual.

The cloud paper is gorgeous, but over powering, so I used a small square of it. I thought it would be framed nicely by the white square card blank.

I used several scraps to build the rest of the card - the yellow sun, the spotty border, the blue strip for the birdies and the blue paper for the congrats die cut.

I adore my Martha Stewart bird on a wire punch, I have had it for ages..

The sentiment die is by Simon Says Stamp, it always comes out so clean. I attach these fussier die cuts by running them through a Zyron..always best for fussy die cuts, they stick so well and no messy glue everywhere!

I am super pleased with my card, it's a bit quirky, just like my girl Lemon.

Cx

Update: Just realised it is supposed to be CAS..how did I miss that?! Sorry!

Rosette tutorial...

 Hey,

It's New Year's Eve - Lemon is here and we are planning a fun bar crawl ending up with a party back at ours - Just the 3 of us - BLISS!!

Recently, I have been making rosette's (you'll see why soon enough), I've done it before, but with varying results.

This time I went in hunt of a tutorial and came across this one at Penniwigs blog - it was a massive help and I thought I'd make a version for you based on using a scoring board and not a die.

You will need the following supplies:
- 12inch long patterned paper
- contrasting paper to fit your circle (I like to use self-adhesive card)
- hot glue gun
- circle punch or die (size up to you)
- double sided tape
- Scoring board and score tool

1 - Cut x2 strips of  12inch x 3cm from your patterned paper - sorry for the mixed measurements..it's easier this way trust me!

To get the 3 different sizes shown in the main photo I used 5cm, 4cm and 3cm widths - bigger the width the bigger the rosette.

2 - Score the strips at 1/2inch intervals

3 - Fold the strips across their score lines, work out how you want to join them and add double sided tape to x2 ends

4 - Join the strips together to get the cookie cutter like circle

5 - Use a piece of scrap foam / cloth underneath your rosette, squeeze together to get the rosette shape and add hot glue to the centre hole and the folds nearest to the hole. Add the circle and press down firnly

6 - Flip the rosette over and repeat the instructions in step 5

Voila! A rosette!!

Love these, super easy to make and once dry, you can embellish the centre circle or add a sentiment.

Cx

Moving Along With The Times...Sparkle & Shine

Hi,

Its time for Team B over at Moving Along With The Times.

I am currently in Mexico with Hubby on our Anniversamoon!! But before I left I made my card for this week's challenge. Our hostess is Sue and her theme is 'Sparkle and Shine'

I decided to go with a jaunty birthday card. The sentiment stamp is by SSS, the balloons were punched using a Martha Stewart punch and they are the sparkle & shine part of my card :)

I love the soft lilac tones, its a bit different for me..

If you want to join in the fun and see the other fantastic makes by the rest of the team, pop on over to the MAWTT blog.

Cx

Keeping it simples...

Hi,

Hope you all had a good weekend.

I had a great one - the spa was AMAZING on Saturday and I have spent the rest of the weekend in a post-spa blissful glow!

I recently discovered the Just Add Ink challenge blog - last week was my first entry. This week's challenge made me think of my lovely SSS Delicate Dahlia Dies -

I decided that as the finished flowers are quite fussy a more CAS approach would be good.

As I made 4 flowers it seems sensible to make a couple of cards. The main photo is my entry, the card below is the 'spare'

CAS flower card

I have just purchased Scriptalious Sentiments by Pink Petticoat and thought they would aid my CAS cards. I printed the sentiments as they come (next time I will try printing them in a co-ordinating colour) and used my Martha Stewart scoring board to add borders to both cards.

The Dahlias are coloured with a mixture of gelatos, distress inks and wink of stella brush pens. Thank you to Amber at Damask Love for the tips and encouraging me to buy the dies :)

Love the simplicity of both of my cards - finished off with a bit of bling...of course!

Cx

WOYWW #268...I'm not an outdoors kind of girl...

Hi,

I missed WOYWW last week...just too much going on!! But I am back - although we are going on a work 'fun' trip today for 2 days, so no comments from me until tomorrow.

The trip is what sparked my post title..there will be hiking and rafting, neither of which enthrall me...

Back to WOYWW..hope over to join our hostess Julia at her blog Stamping Ground for the weekly global desk nosy.

My desk photo is a slight cheat...I took it late Sunday night (yoga night on a Tues)..it still looks like this to be fair.

I had a great play at my desk on Sunday...so you can see the remains of that..some paper, some Silhouette cut outs - looking for DT inspiration, there is a small rolled flower drying before I finish assembly, glasses, glue, scissors, my Fitbit, stamp press and the back of my Ma's card.

I visited my new local Michael's on Sunday and won an OttLite..so super excited about colouring with it..I have one, but its at the lower end of their range, the new one is way more impressive.

Here's a little card for you WOYWWer's - it's actually a make for OWH that I thought you would all like. I made a whole bunch of them using the sentiment stamps from the SSS July card kit and my new Martha Stewart balloon punch.

Balloon OWH card

I'll show you the ones I made with the mini envelope stamps tomorrow.

Happy WOYWW - remember I'll comment on your blogs on Thurs.

Wish me luck!

Cx

Moving Along With The Times....Snow Cute

Hi,

Yes it is that time again...Team B are up over at Moving Along With The Times...this week it is the turn of    Anne to be our hostess and she has chosen a theme of Snow Cute.

I bought a great Pink Petticoat Christmas set in the sale and decided that the text and the imagery would work really well for this challenge.

I did a bit of retouching and combined the text from 2 of the images, to get the sentiment exactly right. The snowflake paper is also by Pink Petticoat. I coloured the Donkey and the text using Promarkers and Martha Stewart glitter glue. I added the green doily and it works! I normally dislike coloured doilies :)

Go on over to MAWTT and check out the awesomely inspirational gallery by the rest of the DT and join in the early Christmas fun.

Cx

Happy Birthday Grandma...

Hi,

It's my Grandma's birthday today.

Now that I am in NYC, she writes to me every month, which is nice esp as we don't always see eye to eye :)

I write back with a pretty card - usually made especially for her.

As I now have the scoring board, I thought I'd up the ante a bit and match her card to her envelope.

I've had the floral papers since I first started crafting!! It is Rose Garden by Papermania and they are so fussy, that they are hard to work with, but suit my Grandma perfectly! I cut a piece of pale blue card stock to size and embossed the front using a free folder that I got with a magazine Lemon brought with her.

The label die cuts were made using my Xcut dies and I added grey adhesive pearls.

It's a bit fussy, but my Grandma is going to love it.

Cx

WOYWW #258...missing my friends...

Hi,

It is that time again - WOYWW...join Julia our fabulous hostess and the rest of the gang over at her blog Stamping Ground for the weekly desk nose.

So my desk was a bit busy on Tues eve when I took the photo. Martha Stewart scoring board out, some random place cards that I bought for a project and didn't use..now trying to figure out how to use them now, my glasses, my mouse, a pencil and a stray heart from ATC making.

I am missing Lemon, it's hard being away from our friends and family and nice that they come and visit. Hubby's mother and sister are coming out in October which will be awesome. As my SIL is a very close friend of mine (how I met Hubby) and for Hubby and I to get to hang out with her - sans sproglets will be fun.

I made this little card for Lemon, so she knows how much we appreciated her visit.

Miss You!

The stamp is a new one from Simon Says Stamp, coloured using Promarkers - I thought the leopard paper by American Crafts suited the stamp perfectly!

I'll be swinging by your desks later.

Cx

Mini envelopes..

Hi,

Instead of doing what I was supposed to on Saturday afternoon..I was once again inspired by Amber of Damask Love to try something new.

So I grabbed a 6x6 paper pad - Abroad by Studio Calico and set to work.

The main photo today shows the batch of lovely envelopes I made..and here is a photo of how the backs look.

Mini envelopes reverse

The Martha Stewart scoring board is really earning its keep!

I am going to send some of these to JT and use some of them for my WOYWW ATC's

Super easy and fun to make.

Once again Amber gives me a new trick :)

Cx

Fun card for a new friend

Hi,

What a fun WOYWW we had yesterday. I adore my WOYWW buddies, so helpful and friendly!

Today my main card is a card I made for a new WOYWW buddy for her birthday, as she has now received it, I think it is safe for me to post it;)

I wanted to make Carole a nice card and send her something nice, as she always seems to find the time to swing by my blog and leave lovely and encouraging comments.

Carole's card was made using a Penny Black stamp from the J'aime Paris set - I found it in Paper Presentation on sale a couple of weeks ago, I coloured it with Promarkers and Martha Stewart glitter glues. The chevron paper is from JT, as is the Make a Wish banner, which she gave me well over 18mths ago!! I thought it would be fun to mix the patterns and added a doily and a scrap of spotty Pink Petticoat paper. Like me Carole has ALOT of Pink Petticoat papers.

I'm pleased with the card and love the stamp set, need to make more using it.

Carole sent me an email saying how much she liked everything I sent her, which is lovely and is why I make things.

Cx

Superstar!!

Hello!

Well it would seem I am sticking with stars for the time being..

I do love stars and my Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas shopping frenzies seem to have boosted my collection :) I am working on a DT make right now and I do believe I've seen some stars in it!

I loved Color Throwdown last year, it was one my fave new discoveries. They are starting the year right and have chosen some of my favourite colours for us to play with this week (CDT #273)

I made this card back to front, I chose the papers and because my version of smoky slate was a scrap, I had to search my stamps for a sentiment to fit the space I had..hence the Superstar stamp.

My ingredients were -
Turquoise and White paisley paper by American Crafts
Basic Grey and Smoky slate papers by Staples
Turquoise ink and Superstar sentiment stamp by Studio G
Blue Topaz glitterglue by Martha Stewart
bling from my stash

To add a bit of oomph to my card I added glitterglue to some of the letters and a few bits of bling here and there...

I am very pleased with the outcome, simple and elegant.

Cx

Being prepared..

In my real life (aka my non-craft world) I am a Project Manager..I often find that my working practices spill over into my personal life...

Such as making things WAY in advance of needing them. Today's card is a perfect example of this.

I wanted to enter Pals Paper Arts #179 challenge this week, as the colours are so gorgeous and fit my stash perfectly.

I decided that I would turn my entry into my Thank You card for JT's parents (they are hosting Hubby and I for Thanksgiving) - bit early, but I wanted the card to be special, as it is very kind of them to invite us along.

I love corrugated card and I just bought a massive pack of it by DCWV on sale at Joann's, so decided to use a piece of it for the backing paper on this card. I happened to have 2 butterflies from the ones that JT sends me, that matched the backing paper and the challenge colour scheme. I used my Martha Stewart butterfly punch for the big butterflies, the Razzleberry die cut is from Paper Presentation (my FAVE store in NYC) and I cut the thank you with my Silhouette.

I am really happy that despite all the different elements and textures on this card, it doesn't feel too busy.

Cx

Three times lucky...

So I am super excited today, Hubby and I are off to our first live Basketball game since we moved to NYC...can't wait and we have great seats :)

As I am loving a challenge right now I thought I would enter 3 challenges with my card today...

RetroSketches - #85

Daring Cardmakers - Birthday Bunting and Banners

Stamping for the weekend - Anything Goes

I combined the sketch from RS with the Daring Cardmakers theme..I love the little bit of bunting around the beach hut and reminds me of a birthday party that was thrown for me when I was at Uni..The sentiment makes me want to open the card, which is always a nice touch.

Following on from yesterday's post about my obsession I have used another one of the Pink Petticoat Beach Cottage images :) Coloured with Promarkers and glitter glue. The orange paper is by Michaels, I used a Martha Stewart loopy border punch to create the border and the Heart paper is by Amy Tangerine for American Crafts and I used a Candi, to embellish the tag.

Love this card, I am thinking it might go in the growing pile of 40 for 40 :)

I'm also very pleased with my photo, as it was taken late at night using my new photo tent - thanks Hubby!

Have a great day.

Cx

WOYWW #224....10 days to go

Until I am 40 - wowzers! Don't forget to check out my 40 for 40 offer :) - link to the right.

 It's that time again and that can only mean one thing....WOYWW...come and join Julia and the gang for the weekly global desk nose..check out Julia's blog Stamping Ground for more info.

Today I am showing you LOTS!! Ha ha sorry Julia :)

Let's start with my desk..taken on Tuesday night about 10.45pm NYC time...I am in the midst of making party bags for my party, the beautiful Venetian Summer stamp (that I have wanted for ages) card is going in each of the 24 bags, the little stack of canvas at the top right of my mat is a gift I need to get finishing for a friends birthday, there are papers kicking around for my Goddaughter's birthday stuff, Promarker colour chart and Promarkers everywhere! Messy!

Here is a close-up of the card.

Venetian Summer Card

Love it, such fun to work with.

I spent last week and Saturday organising... A4 papers and smaller scraps are now colour coded and live here...

Drawers!

All the drawers hold different colours and there is one drawer for printed images. BLISS! The ones to the left hold punches.

Stamps live in these gorgeous folders...

Folders on their shelf

By Martha Stewart and Avery for Staples...on sale for 50 cents each - YAY!! Each folder is beautifully labelled using a Martha Stewart Avery printable kraft label and each folder has different groups of stamps (birthdays, weddings, etc)

Folder Label

Inside Birthday folder

I just love to organise.

Have a happy WOYWW everyone...next Weds my bestie Lemon arrives for the birthday celebrations...ATLANTIC CITY BABEEEEEEE....

Ha ha

Cx

Playing with Stamps

Hubby asked me to make a thank you card for his parents and I decided to try out my new stamp set that I bought a few weeks ago. They are really cool and made by Pebbles.

The main photo is my fave, JT will like this one, as she loves the lighthouse paper, it was a freebie, it's by Kirsty Wiseman and this piece is the 2nd to last piece of it :( The dark blue card is by Co-redinations.

Using the stamp to make the thank you card inspired me to make a few more, all with the same theme -
- use the label dies
- use the stamps
- use something decorative for the smaller die-cut or within it

Here are the other 3 cards I made

1 - love this digital stamp by Pink Petticoat (I don't have a printer yet, but I had a sheet of these). I coloured it using colours that fit with the backing paper, which is by My Mind's Eye and the ink is Chocolate by Martha Stewart.

1 - Hello Friend

2 - this version uses some of my paper flower stash, a self-adhesive pearl and a piece of pretty Hippie Chick paper by DCWV. The ink for the greeting is by Martha Stewart.

2 - Just a note

3 - the final card uses a flower (is it a flower?) from my last visit to the Range - x6 in a strip for £1 bargain!! The spotty backing paper is ancient and I believe my Ma bought it for me years ago..The red ink didn't stamp as well as I would have liked, but it works well enough. I like that the embellishment / flower has spots in, so matches the paper nicely.

3 - Hello

All in all, this was a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon in NYC and now I have x3 cards ready to go to new homes.

Hubby has the day off today, so we are going to ride the ferry down the East River, as we haven't done that yet.

Cx