Retro Rubber Challenge #220 Tic Tac Toe..

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a tic-tac-toe board for you.

I was excited by this board and I chose - Snowman-Pattern Paper-Tag.

I am sad that Your Next Stamp is closing, I got my first ever Monster stamps from them and that sparked my obsession. I used one of my fave sets by them here 'Silly Monsters Chillout' I have had it since 2019.

This was such a fun and easy card to make. I love tags and I have a huge stash of them. This one is from Michaels and I love the glittery edges. My paper I found in my Christmas stash and worked perfectly here.

Which row will you choose? Pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends December 1.

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

Fusion Card Challenge - Front Porch...

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Fusion Card Challenge.

This time we have 'Front Porch' for you! As always both the sketch and the inspiration image are awesome.

Which will you try?

I loved the inspiration image, as I have a front porch and I love sitting out there. But I didn't have the right stamps for the image in my head.

The weightlifting monster stamp is by Whipper Snapper Designs and is ancient and one of my all-time faves, I always smile when I use him. I used one of my many on-hand smooshed distress ink backgrounds and added a strip of glitter paper to mimic the sketch. The little sentiment banner I created using planner stickers. I think these little stickers are so handy when you want a small sentiment.

Make sure you check out all the rest of the inspiration by the DT over at the Fusion challenge blog, and play along with your own creation! When playing along you may use the sketch OR the photo to inspire your makes. OR, if you are feeling adventurous, you can fuse them together (see what I did there!).

Can't wait to see your makes. 

Challenge ends on September 27th.

Cx

Fusion Challenge - Front Porch

Hey,

Welcome to another wonderful Fusion Card Challenge.

This time we have 'Front Porch' for you! As always both the sketch and the inspiration image are awesome.

Which will you try?

I was planning on fusing the sketch and the photo, as I have a front porch and I LOVE it!!

But I couldn't find the stamp to create what I had in my head. So I went with just the sketch.

The weightlifting monster is one of my all-time fave stamps by Whipper Snapper and it always makes me smile when I use him. I used one of my many on hand smooshed backgrounds and added a strip of glitter paper. The little banner I made using x2 stickers that are for planners, but I like to use them as small sentiments on cards.

Make sure you check out all the rest of the inspiration by the DT over at the Fusion challenge blog, and play along with your own creation! When playing along you may use the sketch OR the photo to inspire your makes. OR, if you are feeling adventurous, you can fuse them together (see what I did there!).

Can't wait to see your makes. 

Challenge ends on September 27th.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #176... Let's get Sketchy...

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a sketch for you this time.

You know how much I love a sketch!

I love Monster stamps, I have tons of them and the majority have been surprise gifts from my friends, who are trying NOT to give me duplicate ones. This set is by Jane's Doodles 'Monster Squad' and I have had it since 2017 and it is one of my fave sets - I use the monster I have used here a lot. BUT believe it or not, I don't think the arrows that are part of the set have ever been inked!

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

Challenge ends February 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

Retro Rubber Challenge #154 Anything Goes...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

This time it is everyone's fave - Anything Goes!

By now you are fully aware of my love of Monster stamps. I am a very lucky girl, because all my crafty friends know this and I am always being sent Monster stamps by them. As yet I do not have a single duplicate - just how many Monster stamps are there?! So generally for a anything goes challenge, I dig out a neglected Monster stamp!

You also know I am a fan of creating my own background and I love this Mama Elephant 'Monster Jam' set and the little Monster with the tambourine is my fave, so I created a background using just him! I coloured them all using Copics and Sakura Gelly Roll Starburst glitter pens.

The sentiment is from the set and it's pretty small, so it didn't cover too much of my fun background.

What will you dig out of the archives? Pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends March 26th.

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

Highlight Stamping...

 

Hey,

Happy Saturday!

Can you believe it will be March on Monday?!

I am sure it has been at least 2 weeks since you saw a Monster card from me LOL.

I love this set by Taylored Expressions - 'Little Monsters' and I saw this idea of repeating the stamp (by masking it) and only colouring one of the images, I believe it is known as a highlight stamping.

It came out so well and I'm super pleased with my masking here! I added a little strip of glitter paper and a sentiment from the set.

Hope you have a great weekend. I am playing at my desk and playdating with JT tomorrow.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #148 Birthday...

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge - can you believe it is nearly Thanksgiving?!

This time we have a birthday challenge for you - 

I think we all love making birthday cards, they can be so very personal. And if you know me, you know I love Monster stamps and they generally find their way onto my birthday cards!

This one is a fave of mine (his teeny tiny hands are just amazing) and is by Ink Blot Shop 'Party Monster' he was released in August 2019 and I have had him since the minute he came out, I have a built-in Monster stamp radar!!

First I stamped the sentiment, as I wanted my Monster to look like he was sitting on top of it. After stamping him, he was coloured with Copics and a teeny bit of Sakura gelly roll starburst glitter pen. 

The sentiment is by Unity Stamp Co, from their 'Frankly Said' set that I have had since 2018 and it comes with the most amazing choice of sentiments. I bought another one of it and I gift the individual sentiments to my crafty friends.

The white panel was die-cut with my fave Tim Holtz + Sizzix deckle edge rectangle dies.

Have you got a fave style of birthday card? Can't wait to see what you make. Be sure to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends November 27th

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

Floral Die-cut Birthday Thanks...

 

Hey,

Sorry for the lack of posts this week! It was supposed to be a fun week off following my 11th Wedding Anniversary. But sadly thanks to my pesky wisdom teeth it's going to be a bit different.

As an emergency, I had to have the remaining x3 wisdom teeth out on Tuesday. I was SUPER nervous, but my Oral Surgeon was amazing and so I am all good and recovering well.

With all this in mind, I thought it was a perfect time to show you the thank you set I made for my birthday. If you are a long time follower of mine, you will know that I love to make 'sets' to say thank you for the generous and thoughtful birthday and Christmas gifts I receive.

Here are a couple from previous years for you (Do you think I have a Monster stamp thing?!) - 

2017 Monster Tag Birthday Thanks

2018 Monster Rockstar Birthday Thanks

For this year's cards I used the Concord & 9th die from the 'Big Thanks' Bundle and cut it from the pretty Lawn Fawn 'Fall Fling' Papers. I really wanted to use these papers and they worked so well on the brown Paper Source card blanks, that were gifted to me by a friend!

I love making sets and I usually get carried away, so end up with a few for my stash and/or charity.

Cx

Fusion Card Challenge - Autumn...

Hey,

Welcome to another fab Fusion Card Challenge.

This time we have an 'Autumn' themed challenge. As always both the sketch and the inspiration image are fantastic.

Which will you try or will you fuse them?

Again, I loved both, so I fused them!

I was inspired by the wood floor and the mug. I created a little wood effect panel, using a Prima 'Salvaged Wood' background stamp and Altenew Mocha ink. 

I wanted to add a mug, so had a dig through my stamps and I actually found x2 fun ones. BUT as I am a HUGE fan of Monster stamps, it naturally had to be the Your Next Stamp 'Silly Monsters Chillout' one (YNS Monsters are my faves). I kept the mug white but added little grey dots at the top to emulate the one from the inspiration photo.

The little sparkly oval helped anchor my little mug Monster and matched the sketch.

This card is going to be going in a box of goodies for a friend, I think its a perfect use for it!

Make sure you check out all the rest of the inspiration by the DT over at the Fusion challenge blog, and play along with your own creation! 

When playing along you may use the sketch OR the photo to inspire your makes. OR, if you are feeling adventurous, you can fuse them together (see what I did there!).

Can't wait to see your makes. 

Challenge ends on November 10th.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #144 Anything Goes...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

I am counting down to VACAY!! I have my birthday week off next week, there is gonna be a whole lot of eating and crafting!

But before then, we have everyone's fave Anything Goes..

By now you should not be surprised to see a Monster pop up on most of my cards, I LOVE Monster stamps and I am so lucky that my friends are constantly gifting them to me. To date I have not had a duplicate, which is amazing.

I chose this Hero Arts 'Eat Cake All Day' set (I've had it since 2017) deliberately because it was given to me by my friend Cheiron, who I was introduced to by Jenn Shurkus who was the previous owner of the MFT Birthday Speech Bubbles set (Jenn bought it in 2016).

I love these ladies and I thought it would be fun to make a card that combines things from them :)

As you know I am a big fan of Altenew inks and I used x3 of them to stamp the bubbles here - Starlight, Tide Blue and Sea Breeze.

It felt like the Monster needed something and so I hunted through my dies and came up with a bow-tie for him from the Elizabeth Craft Designs 'Party Accessories' set. Perfect!

Your turn to dig out something neglected and show us what you can do with it. Also, pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends October 2nd.

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

CAS Colors & Sketches: Mmmm chocolate..

Hey,

More challenge loveliness for you today,

This time I am playing along with CAS Colors & Sketches.

I love sketches..

I know I always say this, but when I saw this sketch I knew exactly what I was going to do with it.

I love Monster stamps and this sketch felt perfect for one of my fave Monster stamps by Your Next Stamp from their 'Silly Monsters Chillout' set. I think YNS make some of the best Monster stamps and I have nearly all of them now :)

I used the Monster and the mug stamp from the set, stamped, coloured and cut him and I stamped and cut out the matching sentiment too. I cut a piece of white card stock and popped up my Monster and the sentiment using foam tape.

This card was obviously very simple to make and it makes me SUPER happy just looking at the Monster eyeing up the Hot Chocolate.

I know, I know, I am a giant kid!

Cx

The Paper Players: Monster Birthday..

Hey,

Hope you are all safe and well.

Being at home permanently means much more quality time at my craft desk.

This can actually be a bit overwhelming, so I have been turning to challenges.

First up for me this week is The Paper Players.

It's a sketch challenge and I LOVE sketches, so versatile AND it's by Claire Broadwater - I love her work and her general happy spirit, she's totes a craft crush.

I decided to rotate the sketch, I felt it worked better for me and what I had in mind.

I love Monster stamps and I am a huge fan of the ones by Your Next Stamp, so I used their 'Silly Birthday Monsters' set here.

I stamped, coloured and die-cut the cake monster and used one of the fun sentiments from the set.

I went with a mix of patterned papers for my layers and I love the bright funky look that it achieved.

Now I'm off to find a few more challenges I want to play with this week.

Have a great Sunday (inside!).

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #130 Sketch time..

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a sketch for you this time

You know how much I love a sketch!

I made a card that I really wasn't a fan of, so I decided to start again and I love the end result!

I rotated the sketch, meaning the sentiment is on the bottom and the 3 boxes are above it. I dug out two older sets that made me smile - Gerda Steiner Designs 'Llama Tell You' - for the sentiment and I have had it since 2016 and the 3 little Monsters are by Sweet Stamp Shop, from their 'Eye See You' set, that I have had since 2017 (which is now retired).

I stamped the sentiment and then carefully lined up the Monsters and stamped them above it. I had to add the little 'hi' from the Sweet Stamp Shop set, it just worked so well!

I coloured the Monsters with Copics and Sakura starburst gel pens.

It's so kooky and CAS, love it.

Now it's your turn to show us your interpretation of the sketch and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends March 20th.

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

Monsters: Repeat Stamping..

Hey,

Welcome to March!

You must all know by now that I LOVE Monster stamps!

A few weeks ago, I decided to pull out a couple of Monster stamp sets that haven't been used in a while and I chose Flonzcraft Monsters and Microbes and Jane's Doodles Monster Squad.

I thought a bit of repeat stamping would be fun.

The main photo uses the stamps by Flonzcraft, these are too much fun and were a gift from Lisette. I decided to just use x3 colours and x3 of the stamps - you get approx 20 stamps in this set!

I love how fun and bright it came out and it really pops against the orange mat, my sentiment pops more IRL.

Next up is my fave Jane's Doodles monster - I think I love him because you can use a large googly eye! The background for this card was created using an arrow stamp that came with the Monster set and I stamped it using Altenew inks - I have the Shades of Purple set - I LOVE their inks.

Super easy and fun monster cards.

Cx

Seize the Birthday: Monster Star Stencil..

Hey,

Happy Friday!

As promised today I am playing along with Seize the Birthday again - this time with the topping -

I LOVE using stencils on my cards and I am a big fan of the Tim Holtz layering stencils.

I have nearly all of the mini ones, so handy and they come in sets of 3 which I think is VFM.

For this card I made a fun stenciled background using the star shifter stencil - these stencils are great if you want to use multiple colours in different positions because the stencil actually has a star-filled in, so you can place it over the colour you have already done. Sounds complicated - honestly, it isn't, watch the master Tim Holtz demonstrate in this video.

I knew I wanted to colour my fave Monster in orange and green, so I used those colours to create my background.

The Monster is by My Cute Stamps, sadly no longer on sale and he was gifted to me by a friend. I coloured him using Copic markers AND my new love Sakura glitter gel pens - SO much sparkle.

I added a die-cut speech bubble so that I could add the sentiment and the little numbers, as this is a 1st birthday card.

I love how it turned out.

Have a great weekend, I am off to dinner tonight with some friends I haven't seen in forever.

Cx

MONSTERS!!!!

Hey,

So the Labor Day sales gave me the opportunity to buy some Monster stamps I have been longing for.

First up is the awesome Ink Blot Shop 'Party Monster' - HOW amazing is he?! I love his teeny tiny little hands, they crack me up every time I see them.  The stamp is pretty big, so I didn't have to do a lot here, stamp and colour the Monster and add the sentiment!

The card below features a Taylored Expressions Monster from their 'Party Monster's' set.

Again another card that was super simple, this time I combined two sentiments, as I thought this little Monster looked like he was ready to party ;)

Cx

Unleash the Kraken!

Hey,

Happy Monday!

I hope you had a fun weekend.

I unexpectedly went to see Billy Idol and Bryan Adams in concert, which was surprisingly awesome!

I am a big fan of the Kraken myth and when I saw the great Legendary stamp set by Avery Elle, I knew it had to be mine.

I stamped the Kraken and then masked him off so I could add the clouds, using my fave Dutchdoobadoo stencil.

Sadly as I started colouring him, one of my Copic's belched and did this -

Ugh..I mean ugh. There was no way that I was going to redo this entire thing... So I decided that my Kraken was bringing a cake to celebrate 'your' birthday. Nice save, even if I do say so myself!

To finish my card, I mounted it onto a white card blank, then I used a Lawn Fawn wave die to die-cut the top of my embossed 'sea' panel and added the cake and the sentiment.

Fun card, much more Kraken based cards to come.

Cx

Peek-a-Boo Thank You....

Hey,

Happy Friday!

What a week!!!

Don't you love it when you see a stamp set and an idea, buy said stamp set and it's even better than you thought it would be?!

I saw these x2 great new releases from Avery Elle - Peek-a-Boo Car and Peek-a-Boo Scary Pals.

I had to have them because I loved that the paws for the animals are separate so you can position them on the steering wheel - it's the small things with me.

For my first use of the two sets I made a thank you card for a friend and I LOVE how it came out. It worked really well with the MFT peek-a-boo dots cover-up background die.

I added a Lil Inker banner - which I got in a grab bag and is fast becoming my default die. The sentiment is by Stampin' Up.

Hope you have fun weekend plans.

Tonight I am going to see a friend who is a physical therapist to see if she can help me with the foot / ankle.

Cx

Monster Happy Mail..

Hey,

Happy Monday, live from London!!

Hope you had a good weekend? I had a fun one hanging with Hubby and my parents. Yesterday my Dad and I went to the first test game at the new Tottenham stadium - which was so amazing and epic for us.

In case you didn't know I am a life-long Spurs fan, thanks to my Dad and before I left for NYC, we were season ticket holders.

We have been waiting for this stadium a very long time, I'll show you a photo, later on, this week when my phone files have backed up.

For now, you will have to make do with x2 cards I made using a little cardkit my friend Kelly sent me. It was a totally unexpected piece of Happy Mail and she sent it to me because I said how much I loved her Monster stamps (that I had never seen before).

Kelly had stamped the Monsters and their sentiments and provided the patterned papers and the twine. So all I had to do was colour, cut and assemble..oh and add some googly eyes - OBVS.

I love random Happy Mail..unsurprisingly it makes me happy.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #106... Use Stripes..

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

This time we want you to use stripes on your card.

This was a super hard one for me, as I LOVE stripes and I had to go through all of my stash and narrow it down, as there are a lot of stripey things in there!

I settled on a fun but neglected set 'Eat Cake & Celebrate' by Concord & 9th. I stamped the striped block twice using distress oxide ink and added the sentiment stamps from the set. Obviously, I couldn't resist using a Monster and this cheeky one is by MFT from their 'More Monsters' set. I've had both sets since 2017.

This card made me so happy when I made it that I made a few more of them, using different monsters.

Show us how you earn your stripes and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends March 22nd.

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