Retro Rubber Blog Challenge #204 - It's Spring!

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

This time, we are all about Spring.

It was Mother's Day in Europe a few weeks ago - in fact my Momma was here in the US with me, so that was nice. I made my Momma and MIL these springy cards to celebrate them.

I love the flower stamp by The Stamp Market 'Floral Diamond' I have had it since 2020 and I love cutting it out with my Brother Scan n Cut.

This time I stamped it onto watercolour paper and heat embossed the outline so that I could watercolour it, for a softer look. The sentiment is by Lawn Fawn and I have had it for years, I don't even think they sell it anymore! It felt flat on plain white paper, so I embossed the white panel using one of my fave embossing folders by Creative Expressions - I think this came from the UK with me 10 years ago. It added some much-needed drama to the card and I love it.

Here is a close-up for you -

Can't wait to see your spring makes and don't forget to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends April 21st.

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

Happy Mother's Day...

Hey,

Today is Mother's Day in the UK.

In the last few years I have started making a card for my MIL.. Hubby is not a card guy and his Mum is ok with that..but for me as a cardmaker it feels really really wrong.

I actually haven't seen my Ma yet this year, as I was off work for 2 months (unpaid) so I haven't managed to get back to the UK yet. But we talk a lot and that helps - because I miss her a lot.

Just as I was thinking about what cards I would make 'The Mothers' x2 new sets arrived in the post.

My Ma's card (main photo) was made using the Avery Elle 'Mardi Gras' set. I don't have the dies yet, so I had to stamp and cut out the mask and then trace around it with a white gel pen onto the black card and then cut that out.

Because I don't have the dies yet, I didn't want to use all the little mask elements that come with the set, so I dug through my dies and came up with the beautiful flourish die by Simon Says Stamp. I die-cut it out of DCWV glitter cardstock and I think it works really well here.

I added some bling and gold marker to the eye area of the mask to complete it.

I had planned on stamping the sentiment directly onto the white panel, but I dropped the stamp and made a mess, cue a hastily heat embossed banner to cover my oops. To finish the card off I added a few gold stamped stars all over the panel.

I love it, can't wait to play with this set more.

For my MILs card I used my new Neat and Tangled 'Bloom' set, it is SO pretty.

I stamped and coloured the flowery panels using Promarkers and after die-cutting them out, I added a few drops of stickles here and there.

The sentiment is from Paper Source and I bought it on super bargain sale, because I loved the handwritten feel.

Because the flowers are so fussy, I decided to use a simple piece of spotty paper for the background. I love Lawn Fawn papers (Jenn Shurkus you enabler you.)

Both completely different from each other, but they suit the personalities of 'The Mothers'.

Happy Mother's Day Momma and Mandy.

Cx

Happy Mother's Day..

Hey,

In the UK it is Mother's Day today.

I thought it would be nice to make my Ma and my MIL Mother's Day cards.

My Momma was a rockstar when I was having my op and the week after. My MIL was great following the complication with her daily updates.

Making their cards using a mix and match of my MFT flower sets. I love these stamps and I have four of the sets..for now..

The main card is for my Ma, I used Flashy Florals and Tropical Flowers. I stamped and die-cut the flowers first, then die-cut the white panel and set that up in my MISTI. I positioned the flowers and worked out how to stamp the leaves. The sentiment is an old wood stamp and I added clear droplets by Pretty Pink Posh as a finishing touch.

A new thing for me, I only popped up one flower and I think it really works.

Here is the card for my MIL, different for me as it is one layer..

I used Bold Blooms  for all the flowers and leaves on this card and I added the sentiment and the hearts by Lawn Fawn. For a finishing touch I added Nuvo Crystal drops.

I am really pleased with both the cards..I love playing with these stamp sets.

Cx

New technique with existing kit...

Hey,

Hope you are having a good weekend so far?

I thought I'd share two cards today.

Both cards use the new technique that JT and I tried when I was in London recently.

You heat emboss your stamp and then watercolour in the detail. It's very effective and really makes the stamp pop off of the paper.

The main card is one I made for my Ma when I got home - belated Mother's Day card, as I totally forgot that MD was early this year!!

The flower and basket stamps were a freebie with a magazine from my latest trip home. The sentiment stamp is by Lawn Fawn.

I watercoloured both cards using Distress Inks and an aquabrush.

The card below was made at JT's house, using her kit (she talks about the stamps in her post)..I need to redo the sentiment, as I didn't stamp it very well.

I really love how the hot air balloons actually look like they are in the air!

If you heat emboss, this is a fun and easy technique to try out..give it a go.

Cx

Starting the week right...

Hey,

Hope you had a great weekend.

I had a really nice peaceful one, I felt a bit out of sorts by the end of last week and needed to find a zen place.

Part of that zen place included plenty of quality time at my desk and I managed to catch-up on some TV I hadn't manged to watch last week.

I wanted to enter Freshly Made Sketches this week..

As the latest Simon Says Stamp card kit (March 2015) had just arrived, I decided to use one of the pretty papers as my backing.

It will be Mother's Day in the UK soon and so I wanted to try out a couple of ideas. For this one I printed the sentiment using my computer and added some spotty American Crafts ribbon and 2 butterflies that matched the colour theme - butterflies are courtesy of JT.

Here's a close-up -

Such a clean and simple card..great start to what I hope will be a clean and simple week...

Cx

WOYWW #257...Still Hungover?!

Hi

Happy WOYWW..

Lemon's birthday visit has been epic and I believe I am still hungover from Monday - ugh! Too old for this!!

Why is there a photo of my desk? Well every week we join the lovely Julia on her blog Stamping Ground for WOYWW and have a global desk nose.

My desk is very tidy this week, because Lemon has been here, I have not been around much. The little stack of flowers are from my Ma and she sent them with Lemon, there is a bow (that won't stick) a card in progress covered over (as the person it's for reads my blog) the little jar of blue stuff is embossing paste and is flattening out my card and my mouse is there.

This week instead of one card for you lovely WOYWWers I thought I would show you some of the Mother's Day cards that I made for my work colleagues. I know some of you were curious. I made 40 of them in the end.

Mother's Day Cards

You will notice that there are some with names..Americans seem to give Mother's Day card to lots of different ladies!

I am very proud of them all but I really did bite off more than I could chew :) mainly because the flowery ones are so much work. They are based on the card I made for my Ma - fine when making one! The backing paper and the paper that the flower sit on are easy to put together. It's the hand colouring of the flower (with Promarkers), poking holes in the flower, threading the twine, adding the button and tying the bow that takes so long!

The butterfly and heart cards are simple to make. Did you notice the dog card? One of my colleagues has a dog crazy Mother and I was happy to oblige.

Sorry for the longish post :) I'll be visiting you after work.

Cx

WOYWW #256....using that new haul....

Hey there WOYWWers..

Hope you are all good - can't believe how quickly this week has gone, partly because my Bestie Lemon arrives tomorrow to celebrate her 40th birthday with Hubby and I :) Atlantic City here we come!! It seems like we have been planning it for ages and now it's time already!

Before we move on to my desk - which is busy this week. Let's talk about WOYWW shall we? For those of you still in the dark, join Julia our wonderful hostess over at her blog Stamping Ground for the weekly chance to coo and fuss over other lovely desks from all around the world.

My desk is busy, obviously because I don't have enough to do I took 20 orders for Mother's Day cards from my work colleagues (11th May here in the US) and now I am racing to get them done before the arrival of Lemon. You can see one standing up, some more on top of a box of cards that I was too lazy to move! Another one in progress, my ATG, foam tape, buttons for the cards, paper twine, pencil, scissors, mouse, tweezers and my coffee cup.

Last week I had a big haul of new stuff on my desk, so I thought I'd show you the 2 cards I have manged to make so far with some of this booty -

Hippo Birdie to you

Ha ha love the sentiment and my friend Kerry will love it too, so it will be heading her way very soon. The stamps and dies are by Lawn Fawn, coloured with Promarkers and I used my new distressed chevron stamp by Bo Bunny. I also used new Simon Says STAMP! inks..which are yummy.

This card is actually for OWH, hence the lack of bling :)

You Tickle my Fancy

The stamp and sentiment are by Technique Tuesday and the spotty card base is by DCWV..I recently realised that the DCWV boxes of patterned cards work wonderfully for OWH.

Sorry for the long post..but if you knew me, you'd know chatting is something I could get a gold medal at :)

Cx

p.s Hubby and I went to our first Baseball game last night..it was good fun.

Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day in the UK.

My Ma is pretty special, she is always there for me and last year when Hubby and I were relocating she helped us physically, financially and emotionally.

This year has been a bit traumatic for Ma and our entire family, a surprise Cancer diagnosis wasn't exactly the best start to 2014.

Ma has managed to deal with all of it with dignity and a smile on her face and I was overjoyed that I got to go home at the point where she needed company and policing (she's not the best patient!)

Now 6 weeks after her op she has been given an all clear, which is totally amazing for her and our whole family.I am pleased to see that she is utilising the time she has before going back to work by having a bit more rest and indulging in some hobbies - sewing, embroidery, crap tv, reading etc

I know for a fact that I couldn't have gone through everything she has with such strength, but this is why she is so special.

I wanted to make Ma a bright and happy card. I had all sorts of ideas most of which centred around the Pink Petticoat backing paper I have used. When I was home, Ma saw it in my travel stash and said that she really liked it, so I wanted to use it.
I got a teeny bit carried away and used a few different techniques.
I didn't have a yellow flower, so I coloured one of the giant Papermania using a Promarker and then I sprayed the flower with a Memento Fireworks mist in Canteloupe. This is a newish technique for me and a bit messy, but adds a really nice shimmer when dry.

Here's a close-up -

Flower Close-up

I also recoloured some white paper twine black, so that it matched the text. The text is a rub-on...It is not supposed to be all patchy, but (and this is why I hate rub-ons) it wouldn't go on evenly..and in the end I decided it looked quite modern and edgy :)

The button is special too, as I bought a little bag of them when I was at home and on a day out with Ma.

I hope Ma likes her card and has a wonderful Mother's Day, I will be skyping her later.

Finally I decided that my card fits the Love to Create bingo card this week...

I am using the 3 row across and down - so Sparkle, Yellow and Flowers!

Cx

Cutting it a bit fine..

I've been wasting time this week and not doing what I should be - bad Claire! But Mother's Day is finally up on the website!

Main photo is of one of the beautiful cards that JT and I made last weekend.

Here are a couple more.

Black stripe butterflies

Green button flowers

I've had a fun weekend, accidentally went on a bit of a bender on Thurs night and paid for it on Friday. Friday evening was a quiet fried chicken night with Lemon and the Hubby. Saturday I had a playdate with JT, which was lots of fun and I'll show you the spoils later on in the week, but her post is up if you fancy a look at some of the things she made.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Cx

WOYWW 195 - Thank You bloggers...

As usual, I can't believe a week has passed and its Wednesday already?! Time to pop along and join Julia at Stamping Ground for the weekly desk nose.

I am heading back to work next week it seems (already?!) and I felt it was appropriate that I thank Julia for WOYWW. Why? I hear you ask...well the blogging craft community has kept me and my little blog company for the last month or so and I've made some new virtual friends (Alison, Ria, Sandee, Darnell to name a few) they have provided tips, feedback and affirmation that I am not mad (hmm, well not fully).

So thank you to everyone that visits my blog on a regular basis and not just on a Weds.

Back to business before we get all weepy..my desk is exactly as I left it last night.

What can you see?

At the front and centre is a nearly finished card (needs to have the button stuck down), to the left of the card is the rejected Candi from the main card..they sparked an idea and I quickly laid it out before going to bed, so I didn't forget :) to the right is the next card waiting to be made - in the same layout as the main card. I keep the 'sister' card makings nearby, so I can change it up as I am making the first card...is that weird?! It makes sense to me, as I make 2 of everything. Right at the back on the right you can just see my WIP Mother's Day card. My watch seems to be there - I am assuming I got frustrated at having it on and took it off?! My glasses, a trusty pencil, some birthday sentiments and the usual bits and bobs lying around. You can also see a very small part of my well organised collection of flowers (there are more, many, many more..)

So as I've given you a small glimpse of it, here is  the card I finally settled on for my Ma, it's not finished yet it's a WIP, but I thought I'd share it, as you can see it on my desk..

I like it, I had to return JT's butterfly punch, but will be borrowing it again following our Saturday playdate. It might be time to invest in the same one.

Anyway Happy WOYWW, I'm off to have a nose about, before spending the rest of the day getting Mother's Day ready to upload to the website.

Cx

Mother's Day..already?!

Well, not quite, but as a card maker and seller it is the next UK event on my craft calendar. So I've been playing with some ideas.

I've been working on simple, easy to reproduce ideas for the website and more complex ideas for my Ma's card - as I might not be here this Mother's Day, I wanted her card to be special.

First up is the main photo, which has no sentiment, as I am not sure if this is 'the one' for Ma yet and also, I don't always add a sentiment, I like to think about who the card is for and if it's right for the occasion. Here is a close-up.

So what did I use -
Blue cardstock - pale blue - for the backing and butterfly and metallic teal for the die cut
DCWV Blue glitter cardstock - for the decorative strip and butterflies
Sizzix spotty embossing folder
Spellbinders Nestabilities frame die
Candi
Adhesive pearls.

I really like this card, but I'm not sure the blue is Ma. Maybe I'll try it in another colour.

Next up is a photo of some pretty little cards I've made for sale using a Bugaboo Stamp (mini flowers set). I've used 2 of the stamps and coloured them simply and added glitter. I have also added a Candi on one and a Pearl on another, not sure which I like best?

Yellow with pearl

Orange with Candi

I like the simplicity of these and I am going to try other colours. Oh and the ladybug needs to be finished off - oops!

My final card is the one below, it follows the same idea as the Valentine's Day cards, but instead of hearts I've used contrasting butterflies and pearls. Simple, easy and looks really pretty.

Finally before I finish, I have to wish my Craft Buddy (and Friend) JT - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I am hoping she reveals my gift to her on her blog, because I can't yet, as I'm not sure if it has arrived..

Happy Weekend everyone.

Cx