Retro Rubber Challenge #255 - Colour challenge..

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

This time we have a fun colour challenge for you. 

These are my kind of colours!

When I was digging through my stash, I found the amazing piece of patterned paper that you see on my card, it's like the colour palette for the challenge was built using this!

I stamped the sentiment (by Stampin' Up 'Best Butterflies' I've had it since 2022) onto a piece of coordinating solid cardstock using Altenew Lagoon ink. I dug out an ancient set of Happy dies by WPlus9 - I've had them since 2014 and they were my most overused dies for a while. I cut the Happy from lime green to coordinate with the palette.

Simple, easy card. That I tucked in my bestie's luggage before she left on Sunday :) She has been here for 3 weeks and it was lovely to have her here for so long!

How will you use the colours? Be sure to pop over to Retro Rubber, and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends March 30th.

Don't forget to tell us the age of your stamp, that is part of the fun of our challenge, and please only enter 5 challenges including Retro Rubber.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #245 - Tic Tac Toe...

Hey,

Welcome to the final Retro Rubber challenge of 2024! How quickly did this year go?

So much has happened to me this year personally and professionally, but it is ending on a high. I have a new job, that so far is more than I had hoped for. Hubby and I will be heading on our FIRST cruise together (this is my 5th cruise) in 2 weeks. 

I would like to say a big thanks to Jane who runs our Retro Rubber team for just being an amazing human and keeping us together and on point.

For our last challenge we have a Tic-Tac-Toe board for you - 

I wanted to play with all of the rows on this board! But I went with centre vertical - Texture, Greenery, Tag.

I love this tag die by MFT 'Trendy Tag' it is quite large, but it makes such pretty tags and it also comes with a scalloped piece that you can add to the front. I stamped Santa and the sentiment before I die cut the tag - the stamps are by Ellen Hutson 'tis the season' set that I have had since 2021.

I decided that I wanted to just colour Santa's hat, as it adds a nice pop of colour. I cut the second tag from an embossed piece of red card for the texture part of my tic-tac-toe choices. I have a big box of embossed pieces ready to go. Basically if my mojo is blah, I emboss cardstock :)

I was a bit stumped about the greenery part and then I realised that I have these beautiful scrapbook.com papers that I got as part of SCT this year so I used one of those for the background. My final touch was a little bit of ribbon that I tied into a surprisingly neat bow - my bows are always a bit of a hot mess.

Such a fun card, I think I might have to remember this idea for 2025 Christmas cards!

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

Challenge ends December 13th.

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.

Happy Holidays to you and yours, we will be back on 14th January for our 11th year!!!

Cx

Retro Rubber #244 Challenge - Sketch time...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a sketch for you this time.

You know how much I love a sketch and I knew the minute I saw it that I had the perfect stamp set for it!

Tiny Terranium by Waffle Flower (I've had it since 2019) is a gorgeous stamp set. I love watercolouring it, which is exactly what I did here. I tend to use Distress Inks to watercolour with, I find them easy to blend and shade with.
The sentiment 'holder' on the stamp is super small, so I punched my own banner and added the sentiment. 

The papers are by Scrapbook.com and I got them as part of Crop and Create this year, they are beautiful. I added some bling to match the sketch.

I love this card, it took forever to colour, but so worth it.

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

Challenge ends November 29th.

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.

If you celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you have a wonderful time with your family and friends. Hubby and I are spending the day with our wonderful friends and their family. We will see you after the Holiday for the last RR challenge of 2024.

Cx

Retro Rubber Blog Challenge #225 - Tic-Tac-Toe

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

This time we have a fun Tic-Tac-Toe board

I think everyone loves a Tic-Tac-Toe.

I went with the last vertical row - Pattern Paper - Gnome - Floral.

I have had the 'Spring Gnomes' set by MFT since 2022 and this is the FIRST time I have used it!! I am not normally a Gnome fan, but I love Easter stamps so I remember really wanting these! 

I stamped and coloured my cute little Gnome using Altenew markers, I actually cut him out using my Brother Scan n Cut, I don't normally do that for just one stamped image, but he was too cute to mess up with my dodgy fussy cutting LOL.

The Gnome Grown sentiment is from a set by Stamping Bella 'Oddball Gnome Family Sentiments' from 2022. I love the pun here and I added 'gift for you', which I created on my computer and then printed out.

The papers are both from my stash and I have no idea who they are by, because 3 years ago shortly before the move to Tampa, I started cutting my papers to 4x6 so I would use more of my ENORMOUS stash.

So that the heart and the floral paper didn't clash too much, I added a piece of die-cut vellum. I like this as a trick.

A super cute card that will accompany a gift for a friend.

Which row will you choose? Don't forget to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends March 8th.

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 #210 - Sketch time!

Hey,

Happy 4th of July if you are in the USA!

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a sketch for you this time.

You know how much I love a sketch!

I used coordinating papers to match the sketch and create a bright sunny background for my girl. All the papers are by Recollections at Michaels. I used a new to me Concord & 9th stitched cover plate die on the yellow paper for some interest.

My girl is one of my fave MFT Pure Innocence girls and this one is 'Heart Bouquet' and I have had her since 2017. I added a sentiment strip by Taylored Expressions.

I am really happy with the matchy-matchness of my card :)

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

Challenge ends July 14.

Remember 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 Blog Challenge #205 - Get your sketch on...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

This time we have a fun sketch for you.

I love sketches! I have seen a lot of cards recently with this folded-over corner, it showcases double-sided papers which I think is really clever.

I have been cutting all my 12x12 papers to 4x5 perfect for cards and it means they are all ready to go and I am using more and more patterned papers.

I chose a piece of paper by Recollections, I creased the top corner and folded it over, and I put a bit of foam tape under the fold, so it held its shape. I thought that a brown card blank would make all the bright colours pop.

The sentiments are by Pink Fresh Studio from their 'Simplest Gestures' set and I got it as part of my kit during the SCT Crop and Create in March 2022. I have recently been bringing out the sets from the crop and playing with them - it's like finding new treasures!

It was such a fun make, that I made another one!

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 May 5th.

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

Christmas Cards 2020: Scootin' by...

 

Hey,

Happy Friday!

Sorry I have been so AWOL!!

As I was recovering from the removal of my wisdom teeth and I was on vacation, I decided it was the perfect time to do the tedious Christmas card labeling.. UGH. 

This is an EPIC task, print the label for inside, print the address label, stamp the back of the card, stamp the envelopes with the return address, and airmail stamp. THEN finally write out the card and put it in the envelope, seal it, add the postage.

MEH.MEH.MEH.

As much as I LOVE sending my people Christmas cards, I take zero pleasure from making them and from the task of getting them ready to mail. Why do it I hear you ask? Because it is the season of goodwill and I'm a cardmaker. AND the number of lovely texts, emails, posts that the cards get is really nice, it's nice to send something small and make people happy.

Today's cards are some of the faves I made this year. The stamps are by Stampin' Up  - So Santa and I saw them on someone's Instagram and had to track them down! Does this happen to you too? Someone uses something older and I'm like WAIT WHAT!! I need that. LOL.

These cards were super simple, I stamped the Santa onto watercolour paper. I find if I want the cards to be quick, it's best to watercolour them. It meant I got to use some ancient Christmas papers (the spotty and striped ones), I have had them since I started cardmaking in 2008?! 

Now how about some irony?! This weekend, despite all my Christmas cards being finished I am doing the Jenn Shurkus Creative Retreat..where we are spending two days making x12 'holiday' cards. Yes I am nuts, but I love a Jenn Shurkus retreat.

Happy Weekend everyone.

Cx

Christmas Cards 2020: Wooden Tag Cards...

Hey,

Happy Monday!

I finished my Christmas cards weeks ago, so I really need to be sharing them here!

After Christmas 2019, Hubby and I went to London to spend 10 days with our families. One of the things I got to do, was to go post-Christmas sale shopping with my Momma.

Sainsbury's is a supermarket in the UK and near my parents, there is a giant Target/Walmart style version of it (sells, clothes, books, etc as well as food).

I bought x2 boxes of 20 wooden tags for 25p (approx 50cents!), I thought they would make great Christmas cards and they really did, it turned out to be a HUGE win for me :)

I also bought a bunch of amazingly cheap papers from a local store near my parents. I used these, glitter papers, stitched circle dies and a deckle edge die to create my cards.

1st card from the tags, the Christmas papers, and the Christmas tree tags

The main photo shows the cards using the first box of tags, which were all Christmas trees. The card below shows the cards made with the second box, which had trees, baubles, snowflakes and Reindeer/Moose. 

It was the easiest Christmas card batch make I have ever done. 40 cards made SO quickly, the hardest part was adding the super-strong red tape to the back of the tags and then peeling that off 40 times. 

But the rest of it was all very easy, I cut all the backgrounds and glitter circles at once. Then I stamped everything and then I affixed everything to the card blank, adding the wooden tags last.

I have asked my Momma to keep an eye out for the sale bargains again this year for me.

Cx

Embossed Butterflies...

Hi,

I recently found a whole batch of ready to go backgrounds, so I thought it would be fun to make a few quick cards using some of them.

I have never used this freebie butterfly stamp from Die-Cutting Essentials magazine and I thought it would look awesome heat embossed.

Isn't it stunning?! The main photo was the first one I made. The background is a text stamp that I heat embossed in white to create a resist and then it has a watercolour wash over it.

The next two are so bright and fun - the yellow/blue one, uses a background that I stamped at my friend Jamey's craft space and the pink one uses a cut to size piece of patterned paper by Studio Calico (I think).

Using different colours of embossing powder and background papers created such a variety of looks. I love it when this happens. 

I added Taylored Expressions simple sentiment strips to all 3 cards.

Cx

FMS: Birthday Bear..

Hey,

Happy Saturday!

Continuing with the challenge theme I've got going for this week.

I tell you after all this wfh / isolation is done, my apartment is going to be knee-deep in cards!

Anyway!

I am playing along with the Freshly Made Sketches Sketch today.

I already had the Bear coloured and ready to go, as he was coloured as part of the #dailymarker30day colouring challenge. He is from one of my all-time fave sets by MFT 'Beary Special Birthday'.

I started by die-cutting the background pink spotty panel and then I dit-cut coordinating circles in plain and floral and layered them up, I hung them slightly off the edge of the spotty panel and trimmed off the excess.

The sentiment banner is by Taylored Expressions and is one of their genius simple strips stamps / die combo - if you don't have this, you need to check it out.

I popped the sentiment and bear up using foam tape.

I love the cute card I ended up with, making a nice addition to my birthday card stash.

Today I am going to attempt to clean my closet (UGH) and then as a reward I can play with Alcohol inks!

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #131.. Tic Tac Toe..

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

I hope you are all safe and well. My company is WFH across the globe for at least another couple of weeks.

I do hope everyone is finding ways to keep sane, during this period of enforced isolation, in one sense it is very hard and odd, but in another it means we have to find other ways to be social. The RR team are going to have an online date next weekend, it is the first time in our history that we will have seen each other 'face to face' - how awesome is that. Trying to find a silver lining is very important right now.

This time we have a fun tic tac toe board for you.

These boards are always such fun, because you get such different interpretations of each line.

I chose the bottom row - Easter / Pastel Colours / Pattern Paper.

I decided that I wanted to use the cute bunny from the Unity Stamp Co 'Bunny Hugs' set (I've had it since 2016) and built my card around her! I stamped, coloured and fussy cut my bunny. I used all soft pastel colours to colour her - including a super pale lilac (BV0000) for her fur.

I stamped, coloured and die-cut some Easter eggs from the Neat & Tangled 'All the Bunnies' set (now retired) - one of my fave Easter sets from last year.

I wanted to layer up some papers to create the background, so I chose x3 papers from a random 6x6 pad that I have, the soft pink worked really well as a backdrop for my bunny and the little eggs.

The sentiment is also from the Neat & Tangled set.

Love how it all came together pretty much as I had envisioned and now I have another card for my little pile of Easter cards. I like to send Easter cards, I am not sure why maybe it's because I get to use all my bunny stamps!!

Can't wait to see which row you will choose, don't forget to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends April 3.

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

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

TicTacToe: Thanks for Always Being There...

Hey,

Happy Saturday!

Hope you are all safe and well, wherever you are.

Today I am going to be having a skype playdate with JT, I think we both need a distraction, because this is not the normal WFH situation!

I am playing along with the current TicTacToe challenge..

The current board was created by my Retro Rubber teammate LeAnne and randomly, I didn't look at her card until after I created mine - wouldn't you know it, we chose the same row!!

Blue, Umbrella, Designer Paper.

I chose x2 great Mama Elephant sets to work with. The sentiment and the Bunny with the Flower Umbrella are from the collab with Simon Says Stamp from Stamptember 2017 'Rain or Shine'. The cute Bunny holding a cupcake is from their 'Little Bunny Agenda' set.

Pretty simple card really, I die-cut a circle from the gorgeous gingham paper by American Crafts and figured out where I was going to position my bunnies and then stamped the raindrops. I popped the bunnies and the sentiment up using foam tape.

Such a cute card that will be nice to send to a friend.

I love the fact that my chosen umbrella is a bit unconventional, but I guess if I was a bunny, it would make sense to use a flower as an umbrella right?!

Have a great weekend.

Cx

Underwear and a Crown..

Hey,

Happy Friday!

CV-19 = crazy times. Both my UK and the US offices are now WFH for the next few weeks. I hope everyone will be safe and continue to observe the rules around handwashing etc, but lets remember not to panic buy and ensure everyone can get what they need.

Now onto nicer things.

Don't you love it when you find a 'new to you' craft company?

When I was back in London in Feb, I bought a craft magazine and they had a feature that included a stamp by AALL & Create (stocked in the US by various online stores, check their website).

I loved them immediately, the style is very similar to PaperArtsy and Carabelle.

I had to buy myself a few of their stamps including 'Pineapple Queen' that I used today.

It was a great opportunity to use the Taylored Expressions 'Shiplap background', which I stamped in soft grey, so it is barely visible. I stamped the girl and the Pineapples directly onto the background and then coloured them using Copics and Sakura glitter gel pens. I decided to stamp the crown onto a piece of patterned paper and fussy cut it out.

I wanted the sentiment to stand out, so I used the same gingham paper as the crown and die-cut it using a fancy scalloped circle die.

It came out so well, I am super pleased with the new set.

I made this card for my friend Jen, who is recovering from surgery and can't craft right now, so I wanted to make her smile and send her a stamp set for use when she is better.

The card arrived and Jen's message to me about it make me laugh she said 'imagine my husband's face if he came home to find me in just my underwear and a crown. LOL'

And that for me is the beauty of cardmaking, send some happy mail to someone, in return you get a message that makes you happy too.

Cx

Sunday Stamps: Colourful Mask..

Hey,

I cut it close, but I made it!!

I really wanted to play along with the current Sunday Stamps challenge.

I made Top Cup at the last Sunday Stamps challenge, which was awesome and I was super pleased, this is one of the reasons I wanted to play along again. It's always nice to play along after a win or a mention, that's what makes the challenge community so nice.

The colours and the image really spoke to me and were a perfect match for one of my fave stamps sets - Mardi Gras by Avery Elle.

I heat embossed the mask onto purple paper, weirdly I thought I had some darker purple in my stash..I don't - mental note to buy more purple paper lol. I love Liquid Platinum embossing powder by Ranger, it is my fave - you get such a smooth finish. I die-cut the feathers out of gold and green glitter paper.

I have seen a lot of people recently creating backgrounds using strips of paper, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I didn't want too much gold, so used more black strips.

I decided to add a Tim Holtz sentiment strip and I think it worked out really well.

I am pleased with the end result, it came out exactly as I pictured it.

Cx

Avery Elle: All of Us...

Hey,

I fell in love with this fun set by Avery Elle 'All of Us'.

I didn't really think about how I would use them and then I saw this awesome idea on the Avery Elle Blog - 

Awesome right!

So I coloured all x3 rows of critters using watercolours and I fussy cut them out and then cut the rows of critters in two, so I got x2 rows for my 'polaroid'.

I used the awesome MFT Selfie Frame die to die-cut the polaroid frame out of x3 different papers.

It was all super easy to assemble and with the addition of the 'hand' that holds the sentiment banner, they are just too cute!

Honestly, I have made at least 15 of these cards..they are so easy to make and suitable for everything.

Cx

MFT: Polynesian Paradise...

Hey,

I thought it was about time that I had a play with this set I have had for a while by MFT - I got it second-hand in a grabbag.

I bought the coordinating dies, as I prefer to have dies for things.

It's called Polynesian Paradise and it's a bit different to my normal style, but I love the way that the x3 cards came out.

I stamped, coloured and die-cut most of the elements from the set.

I thought it would be a good idea to try and use a 'formula' for creating the x3 cards. I settled on a patterned paper background and a die-cut scalloped circle frame (by MFT).

I grouped together the coloured and die-cut stamps and created x3 little scenes. The sentiments are all by Taylored Expressions using their simple strip stamps and dies.

Fun cards that pushed me out of my comfort zone a bit.

Cx

Snarky Sketch: This Could be Vodka..

Hey,

It's so nice to be home and back at my desk.

I thought I would combine two challenges today. I loved the idea of the Sunday Stamps sketch and tag challenge combined with The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers 'C is for Cat'.

I thought my newish papers by Craft Sensations would work really well with the sketch and I love tags and thought it would be great to use one of my all-time fave dies - Lil Inkers dotted tag die.

I really like The Cat's Pajama's stamps and the set I used here 'It could be Vodka' always makes me smile. I stamped the cat onto the tag and coloured it using copic markers. I stamped the cup again onto a scrap of patterned paper and die-cut it and arranged it so it hangs slightly off the tag.

I keep ALL the ribbon that I get on gifts, this particular piece was from my Christmas gifts from my in-laws 2 years ago.

I love the sentiment - I mean who knows what the Cat is sitting in!

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #127... Tic Tac Toe..

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

This time we have a fab Tic Tac Toe board for you!

I love Tic Tac Toe - even if several of us choose the same row, the cards are so different.

I went with the top row - green, twine, pattern paper. To be 100% honest, I was unpacking my suitcase from London and I bought a mini pack of paper that happened to have the gorgeous green and gold paper you see on my card and it inspired my whole card and row choice.

I wanted to maximise the amount of the paper that you can see on the card, as it is SO pretty IRL. I decided to keep it all as CAS as possible.

I added the gold twine to tie in with the paper and I stamped the sentiment, by The Ton (which I have had since 2017) onto coordinating green paper, that I die-cut using a Avery Elle banner die.

The Fashion Lady stamp, I have had since 2015 - I bought a 'grab bag' of stamps and got like 60 stamps!! I donated some, gifted some and kept a few. This is my fave one from the whole bag of stamps and works so well with the sentiment. I coloured the Lady in green tones, to fit the row.

A pretty fun, funky card that will make a great birthday card for one of my stylish friends.

Which row are you going to choose? Can't wait to see your makes, also pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends Feb 7th.

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

4 cards, 1 stamp set: Taylored Expressions..

Hey,

Well, I lied.. there are actually 5 cards!

And I am essentially entering ALL of them into the current Use Your Stuff challenge - which is 'Anything Goes'.

Basically, I have been hoarding the papers that you see, all from a 6x6 DCWV stack that I have had a few years.. naughty, naughty.

I bought the awesome Taylored Expressions 'B is for Birthday' set early on in 2019, but never used it. So I decided to break it out along with the DCWV papers and do another one of my 4 from 1 posts.

I love how the cards came out and I got lucky, because I didn't plan my colour choices when colouring, but fortunately found papers in the stack that coordinated really well.

My 'recipe' was pretty simple, I used Copic sketch markers to colour the stamped images and I added some details using a white gel pen. Then I die-cut them out using either a circle or small rectangle stitched die. Added a teeny bit of glittery washi tape to make the white panels pop a bit and voila! 5 finished cards.

Cx