Retro Rubber Challenge Blog - #190 - Tag, you're it...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

Our long-time teamie LeAnne is stepping down, we really will miss her and her beautiful creations. Best wishes to you LeAnne, I am sure I'll see you around in blogland.

This time we have a 'use a tag' challenge.

I love tags, shop-bought, handmade, or any kind. I have a big bin full of them, so I was super excited to use one of my faves here.

I chose the tag first - it is from Michael's and has a great holographic effect, so when it catches the light, it feels a bit like the ocean to me! Hence my stamp choice 'Mermaid's Crossing' by Newton's Nook, I have had it since I took a class using it in 2016!

I never bought the dies, but this is where my awesome Brother Scan n Cut aka Big Sexy comes in handy!

The image below shows how I stamped and cut a bunch of things all at once. I even cut out the sentiments, just draw a pencil line around them and erase after.

I coloured my mermaid using copics, I am pretty pleased with her pink hair. After mounting the tag onto the card, I placed the mermaid and the sentiment and then added some of my all-time fave Pretty Pink Posh clear droplets.

I love it so much, that I am not sure I want to send it to anyone LOL.

How will you use a tag on your card? Make sure that you pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT has made.

Challenge ends September 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

Halloween exhibits..

 

Hey,

So I made a bunch of Halloween cards this year, but foolishly I did not take photos of them before they went out in the mail (ugh).

BUT fortunately, I had to make an additional one and I remembered to take a photo of that one!

I had made most of my cards by the time I got this fun stamp set from Michaels, I think it is Tim Holtz for Michaels. I love all the funny little 'exhibits' and had this idea that they would make a fun 'horror wall' style card.

The background is Taylored Expressions 'Shiplap Background' stamp and I stamped all the little exhibit stamps over it and coloured them in.

I stamped the sentiment in orange ink for a bit of standout and to add a bit more spook.

I am very happy with the outcome and I think my friend will like it too.

Cx

4from1: Craft Smart time to party...

Hey,

Hope you had a nice long weekend? 

Today Hubby and I go back to work after a week off - ugh!

I finally got around to inking up this stamp (by Craft Smart from Michaels) during the first weekend of our vacay.

I bought it mainly for this giant sentiment, that I thought would make fun CAS cards and I think I was right!

To add interest I inked the stamp using minimum of 3 colours, sometimes to create a vignette and others just for the solid colour. I used Memento Dew Drop inks for this, as I wanted to use a mix of colours, smaller pads are better for this technique.

Simple and easy. All they needed was some coordinating enamel dots and bling and they were done. Very very easy makes.

Cx

The Paper Players: Love you pig time..

Hey,

This weekend I had fun creating Valentine's cards for a few of my girlfriends.

I saw the Paper Players challenge this week and thought my card(s) would be perfect.

I love making Valentine's cards and if I wasn't leaving for London on Friday, I would have made more than 8 of them!

I bought the cute little Pig set last year in the post Valentine's Michael's sale and this is the first time he has been inked (I wanted to write oinked..) up.

I stamped, coloured and cut 6 of the Pigs and the coordinating sentiment, which had it's own die - WIN. I dug out some random small square card blanks and used that as a template for which size heart die I would use.

The heart die is pretty new, I bought it at the end of December when I was in London, I just loved all the details - stitched, scalloped and dotted - swoon.

I wanted these cards to be super quick makes and so I grabbed an ancient 4x4 paper pad and just choose 6 papers I liked!

They came together so easily and I love how silly they are!

I think Valentine's Day is silly, love is a 365 day a year thing and we shouldn't celebrate our love for our partners, friends, family on just one day, we should remember that life is very short and we should celebrate love every day. It sounds silly, but I tell my Hubby every single day that I love him, even when I want to murder him.
All of this said, I still love the card making part of Valentine's Day - silly, overblown declarations of love and that is partly why I love being a card maker, for the silly moments in life.

Cx

Watercooler Wednesday: Halloween

Hey,

Happy Friday!

I wanted to play along with a new to me challenge - Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I love the theme - I am ALL about Occasions.

My wedding anniversary is actually Halloween! And this year we celebrate 10 years of marriage, so I really wanted to send a bunch of Halloween cards to our friends.

I loved this great set 'Mr Bones' by Tim Holtz that I bought from Michaels (you get stamps, dies, embossing folder) - it's a bit scarier than I would normally go, but I just fell in love.

I made a TON of these.. I used the embossing folder that came with the set with both black and orange papers to mix it up a bit. The awesome 'jagged edge' came from the Tim Holtz speckled edge dies.

I stamped 'Mr Bones' and used clear embossing powder over him to add that shine you can see, it wasn't necessary, but it felt like a nice touch to add.

I kept the sentiment simple, I punched a bunch of the little sentiment banners in orange and black and added an ancient Clearly Besotted 'Happy Halloween' to the banners.

I only realised whilst I was writing this post HOW many techniques I used - go me!

I am super pleased with how they came out. I figure this set will now be a fave.

Hope you have a great weekend, I am off to an all-day class tomorrow - super excited, I will be carving my own stamps - whoop!

Cx

Christmas Cards 2019: A mix..

Hey,

Welcome to October!!

My Christmas card making is actually complete - WHOOOP!! I just have special cards to make now (parents, hubby, etc).

So I'm showing you cards that have been made for over 4 weeks!

The main photo actually shows a batch of cards I made during a playdate with JT.

The top row uses a Pink Fresh Studio set 'December Days' and I found all the stamps you see on the cards ready to go (coloured and die-cut) in the stamp pocket - WIN! So I decided to see if I could get x3 cards out of what I had. Worked out pretty well I think.

The second row uses the great 'Party like Santa's not watching' stamp that I bought for JT and I at Michaels for $1 - YES!! 

The card on the left with the Monster was a challenge from JT to make a Christmas card on the playdate that combined non-Christmas items with a Christmas one to make a card. 

Of course, I defaulted to using a Monster stamp! I love the Your Next Stamp Silly Monsters and this stamp is from the 'Silly Rockstar Monsters' set.

A great batch of cards in a 2hr gossip, drink, gossip session.

The cards below were a CASE of a great idea I saw on the Avery Elle instagram page, so I immediately bought the stamp 'Holiday Skates'.

These cards took a LOT of prep / work, but they are SO worth it.

I was originally going to blend the backgrounds, but then when I realised I needed x4 leaves, x2 candy canes, x2 skates and x2 berries for each card, I was like NOPE. So I die-cut a circle out of blue paper and used glitter snow paste through a stencil to create the background.

Love this little batch of cards and you can see that making in batches means I get them done quicker. This year I started as planned on 1st August and I was done by the 5th September - 110 cards in 5 weeks, pretty impressed with myself.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #116.. Tic Tac Toe..

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a Tic Tac Toe board for you this time, created by our very own Jan

I love Tic Tac Toe, it always challenges my creativity.

This time as I have had SO many 40th birthday cards to make this year I thought I would use the challenge to make a masculine card for a friend.

I chose the top horizontal row - pattern paper, green, heat embossing.

First I heat embossed my sentiment - two parts from the same set 'Happy Day' by Concord & 9th - that I bought in early 2018 second-hand from a friend who had it since it's release in 2016. The green paper square is from a pad that I have had since I came to NYC on a trip in 2010!! I've been hoarding the pad as you can tell!

I then die-cut my 40 out of ancient green spotty paper from Michaels and after affixing the sentiment panel to my card, I popped the numbers up using foam tape.

Pretty easy fun 40th card for a male friend.

Which row will you choose? Can't wait to see your creations, don't forget to go over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends August 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

Oh Heck!...

Hey,

Happy Saturday,

It's been a short work week, but a long personal one.

Boscat is rather unwell and it's really stressful for Hubby and I, especially Hubby as she is the kitten he always wanted and they really bonded over the last 13 years.

I thought it would be nice to share a card I made for a friend. I forgot her birthday and she is totally a 'oh heck' kinda gal. I normally use a Simon Says Stamp 'Oh Ship' stamp for belated birthday cards, but I found this little beauty at Michael's and it made me smile.

The border is a stencil by The Crafters Workshop..I love it and I've played with it a lot.

A simple card but impactful.

This weekend Hubby and I will be watching wildcard games and hanging with Boscat and I bought a new unit for the craft room, so I will be slowly assembling that and transferring stuff into it (hopefully).

Cx

The Paper Players: You're So Berry Sweet...

Hey,

I love The Paper Players challenges.

And this week's one spoke to me immediately as it would mean I could use x2 pieces of NBUS - yay!

So I know Cherries are not strictly berries, but I think I artistic licence is allowed ;)

The large Cherry stamp and die are from Michael's and I got them a couple of months ago on super bargain sale. The sentiment is by Studio Calico and is a bit shameful as I have had it since Black Friday 2017 and haven't used it...

It is discontinued now, so here is a photo of the set -

As the theme asks for CAS cards, this was super easy to put together, I stamped, coloured and die-cut the Cherries (Mrs Cherry has a touch of Spectrum Noir sparkle pen on..).

I used this as a guide for where my sentiment should go and I stamped parts of it using red ink.

Super easy, super fun for a Monday night card.

Cx

Llama tell you...

Hey,

I made today's cards a couple of weekend's ago when Hubby was away.

When Hubby is away I get to stay up late and craft - which is my fave time to craft. I can't do this when he is here, as my craft room is half of our bedroom...yeah who thought that was a good plan! That is sadly what happens when you live in a tiny 1 bed New York apartment.

I found a pack of x6 frames in Michaels for 50 cents and I thought I'd make a couple of random cards with them.

I used my Gerda Steiner 'Llama tell you' set for both cards and the same scalloped die for the background.

The first card was cracking me up as I made it, because of the expressions on the Llama's faces. It totally reminded me of Lemon and I when we take photos, one of us always has the 'what are you doing' expression.

Here's the second card, same format, but I found a random die-cut frame and thought it would be fun to use it here.

I love it when I can have a play at my desk and just make random cards for no reason. AND look how much patterned paper I used..not that my stash seems to be going down at all!

Cx

The Paper Players..Magical..

Hey,

Happy Monday to you!

I had a fun weekend, I hope you did too.

I liked The Paper Players theme this week -

I love Unicorns and I especially love the large sentiment stamp I used here by Unity Stamp Co. It always makes me smile and I love making random cards with it to send to friends.

I masked off a small area, so I could blend some oxide ink to create an anchor for my sentiment and the Unicorn, but also to add a bit of interest whilst keeping my card CAS.

Sadly you can't see all the gold shimmer on my card, as I spritzed it with a gold shimmer spritz before adding the unicorn (Mama Elephant at Michaels).

To finish my card, I added a few clear droplets by Pretty Pink Posh..

Fun card, love it when a challenge make comes out this well!

Cx

Shopping Our Stash: No Ink...

Hey,

Happy Good Friday,

I saw Lauren Bergold's card for the current Shopping Our Stash challenge and I was intrigued by the idea of no ink!!

I mean, no ink at all, no markers, no ink pads, no sprays, etc...

So I decided to rise up to the challenge and shop my stash to make a card.

The starting point for my card was the awesome Llama sticker from Michael's, I bought it a while ago and it's just been sitting on my desk staring at me!

Also on my desk were 3 scraps of paper that I also used on my card - the lilac strip, a pink piece (Happy die) and a green piece (Birthday die).

I embossed a piece of turquoise paper using a leaf embossing folder - also from Michael's - to use as the central piece of my card.

I love the crazy, bright, weird card I ended up with.

I am betting whoever I send it to is going to be a little bit surprised by it's craziness.

Have a great weekend.

Cx

Unicorns, Balloons and Clouds...

Hey,

Happy Black Friday!

I have been 'crafty' shopping all week, so today I am off to the gym (working of Hubby's delicious Thanksgiving dinner) and then going to do some Christmas gift shopping.

We had a really nice relaxed Thanksgiving and dinner was amazing, actually a dual effort by Hubby and I. We had a friend join us for dinner and it was just really nice and simple.

Today's card is for a friend's Daughter who turns one next week.

I created the background first using a cloud stencil by DutchDoobaDoo and Broken China Distress Oxide ink.

The Unicorn and Balloons are from different Mama Elephant and Hampton Arts sets I got at Michael's on my recent jaunts around America (Tampa/Doylestown).

I used the sentiment from the Unicorn set..not sure I love 'eternal happiness' but it is what it is now.

I added a tiny number one, I like to make number card for the toddler years..

Pretty pleased with the end result, the balloons actually look like they are lifting the Unicorn.

Cx

Christmas Card 2017: Inkadinkado Flamingos..

Hey,

So whilst I was in London I managed an evening of stamping and colouring.

I stamped a lot of Christmas card stuff and this week I have been turning them into cards.

I bought this fun set by Inkadinkado last year in the post-Christmas sale at Michaels and I mainly bought it for the flip-flops, chair and the Flamingo.

I stamped the Flamingo onto watercolour paper and coloured them using Zigs and a paintbrush.

I die-cut them out using a MFT stitched rectangle die and added a sentiment to the bottom of the panel. I decided to get fancy and heat emboss the Simon Says Stamp Flamingo background stamp directly onto the card blank!! Don't worry I only make in fours..this would be a lot of effort for 100+ cards!

I like the end result, totally random, but a lot of fun.

I also made a slightly different more Christmassy version -

Cx

Christmas Card 2017: Neat & Tangled Ornaments..

Hey,

So as part of this week's colouring for the 30 day challenge, I decided to incorporate my Christmas card making, which has been a bit lax with the various trips!

I decided it was time to break out Christmas 2016 NBUS - Neat & Tangled 'Merry & Bright Ornament' set, I played with it at Cheiron's Holiday card extravaganza last year and bought it, but I had finished my cards by then.

I stamped the ornament, and then die-cut it. Sadly you lose the shoulder text when you die-cut it. I chose super bright colours (Promarkers), as I wanted to use more of the Michael's coloured paper squares.

The centres are coloured with a yellow Spectrum Noir sparkle pen. I am loving these right now. I tried the Nuvo glitter pens on a few, but they are so thick they over the black sentiment.

I popped up the ornaments for a bit of dimension and to separate from the bright backgrounds.

They really pop and I love them and I ended up with 7 cards - sweet.

Cx

Obviously More Monsters...

Hey,

Happy Monday from Mexico (kind of)...

I recently bought the new MFT More Monster stamps and dies...you know I LOVE Monster stamps.

I couldn't go away without having a little play, but as my time was limited I kept the cards simple.

A very long time ago I bought a stack of coloured paper squares from Michaels and it is still going strong and the best thing about them is that you don't have to trim them to size, if you use mini square card blanks.

I stamped all the monsters using the MISTI and then added all the details (eyes, mouths etc) that are separate stamps. Very efficient.

All the sentiments except RAWR (by Your Next Stamp) are from the same set as the monsters..

Super simple and quick and makes for a fun set of cards.

Cx

Sparkly Christmas Cards...

Hey,

Happy Monday.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

I had an excellent weekend, starting with the USPS finding all of my missing post on Friday. My playdate with the CraftGang was hilarious (photos later in the week) and hanging out with our friends from Philly on Sat and Sunday was the icing on the weekend cake.

I wanted to share the little batch of Christmas cards that I made last weekend.

Super simple. I had a bunch of watercolour paper squares that I got ages ago in a misc bag of paper die-cuts.

I dug out x6 of the squares, heat embossed a freebie sentiment that I like using Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder - which is the best metallic powder ever!

I bought a cheap garland from Michaels and chopped it up and mounted the pieces using foam tape on the square.

The mini kraft blanks were a birthday gift from JT.

Super easy to do and a great way to use up random items.

Cx

Girl with Wings...

Hey,

I am probably in the air as you are reading this today :) It was a quick trip, but a fun one.

I wanted to show you another of my super easy Christmas makes.

I die-cut 8 white panels using an MFT stitched die, then using the MISTI I stamped the sentiment (Recollections) and the Girl with Wings stamp (by HOTP).

Then I used the Zig Clean Color pens and an aquabrush to colour the girl.

Add some foam dots and mount onto a kraft card blank - simples!!

The main stamp is actually a birthday stamp...but I think she looks way more like a Christmas stamp, another example of stretching my stamps..

See you back in NYC at my desk tomorrow.

Cx

Happy Birthday to Jade...and me...

Hey,

So today is my birthday and I share it with a very good friend Jade who lives in Australia..

Jade is in the midst of home renovations, so I will be sending her a gift later in the year.

Today I thought I'd share something that is NOT a card...

It's pretty similar to something I'd make for Jade :)

Michael's had a big canvas sale a while back and I really liked the newsprint ones, so I bought a few of them in various sizes.

This one I kept simple, I added a stripe of glittery paint and pink paint, let that dry and then added some texture paste through a heart stencil.

The wooden 'Happy' is also from Michael's and I painted it black, so it would stand out.

I affixed the word to the canvas using Glossy Accents..so very versatile.

I love how it came out, a fun little gift for a friend (not Jade..)

I'm off to dinner at my fave Greek tonight, with my Dad and some of my friends - fun times.

Thank you to everyone for your lovely cards and presents, I felt very loved and spoiled this morning.

Cx

Today is a good day...

Hey,

So I got a bit distracted before leaving for Tampa and didn't get round to finishing off my posts about the Flamingo cards I made.

Today I am showing you the rest of the cards from my Flamingo playtime.

I moved over to Tim Holtz chit chat and small talk stickers.

I stuck with the theme of bright papers and used a piece of ancient Pink Paislee paper. Again, I dug out a fave shop bought tag. I love these craft tags..

I stamped all over the tag with a stamp from the same set as the Flamingo. I used brown ink instead of black, it fit better with the background.

I really like the bold colours of this card, softened with the brown accents.

The next card makes me smile a lot -

The chalkboard tag is by American Crafts and I got a bunch of them in all shapes and sizes on sale ages ago.

The papers are all scraps.

I had to make a new baby card for some friends and decided to use a Flamingo for this one too, as the new baby is a girl -

I decided to pull out a ready to go shaker pouch (gotta love the Fuse tool) and some foiled paper to make a rather glitzy new baby card.

I'm really happy with how it came out.

Cx