Retro Rubber Blog Challenge #200 - Let's get Sketchy...

Hey,

Welcome to the 200th Retro Rubber challenge!!! 

Can you believe it! I have been on the DT since the beginning and I LOVE Jane our fearless leader and all my teamies - past and present. It is such a great way to use my huge stamp stash.

As it is our 200th post, if enter the challenge AND you comment on my post, I will pop your name in a hat, pick a winner and send you some random crafty stuff :)

This time we have a fun sketch for you this time.

You know I love a sketch!

I made this card when my OG craft buddy JT was in town last week, it was so much fun to craft with her.

I used a fave MFT background stamp 'Pineapples' that I have had since 2017, it is one of the most used things in my stash. I got the awesome MFT/Pure Innocence 'Pineapple of my eye' girl last year and this is her first outing, I feel like she is going to get a lot of use, as I love pineapples! I coloured her using my Altenew markers and added a couple of paper strips to match the sketch.

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 24th.

I'll be MIA until the 20th, as my Daddy is here in Tampa and we are going on a cruise later on this week - whoop!

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 - Hello Hat..

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

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

Which will you try?

I loved both, so I fused them!

I loved the hat and I was going to go with a hello sentiment, but after I decided to use the super cute Budgie from Clearly Besotted 'Making Budgie Plans' I went summer-themed.

I used a fun pineapple embossing folder for the yellow panel and after I had stamped my sentiment on the white panel, I added a bunch of stars just for fun. The sentiments are both from Simon Says Stamp 'Warm Weather Animals' - this is one of my all-time fave sets.

I love how fun and summery this card is!

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 July 19th.

Cx

Perfectly CAS - Make Pina Coladas...

Hey,

Well, I have been so busy being on teams and digitally scrapping that I haven't really been playing along much.

But I came across this awesome challenge over at Perfectly CAS - Tropical

I mean YAASSSS!! I just moved to Tampa in August, so I am all about feeling tropical.

I used x2 stamps - Sassy Crafting 'Feeling Fruity' and a wood Pineapple stamp by American Crafts.

I inked up the stamp with Distress Oxides - a bit of green bled into the Pineapple, but I kinda like it. I tried the sentiment a bunch of ways, until I finally settled on chopping it up and arranging it in a funky way!

I love it! SO not a Christmas card.

Cx

Random Desk Pile: Pineapple Thank You...

Hey!

Happy Friday to you!

I can't believe how quickly this week has gone..not long now until its time for my Summer vacay.

Today's card is another one using the random pile on my desk.

I had used a diffuser plate with a pineapple embossing folder to create this background. When I first got the diffuser plates, I made tons and tons of backgrounds. I am a big fan of the smooth centre so you can use a big sentiment stamp.

The stamp I used here is super old by Woodware and I also have the big birthday set too, these are the most overused things in my craft room.

This is a perfect card for a friend who gave me a Pineapple bracelet whilst I was in London last week..

Have a great weekend, I am going drinking tonight with a friend, shopping with Lisette tomorrow and hanging with Mr G the rest of the weekend.

Cx

Happy 30th Birthday..

Hey,

Happy Monday.

I wanted to make a fun card for JT's sister to celebrate her turning 30.

I made the card when JT and I were having our playdate a week ago.

The cover plate I used is new-ish and is by Avery Elle. I stamped a piece of white card using a Hero Arts tiny heart background stamp before I die-cut it.

I am loving the new Papertry Ink number dies that I got from Cheiron, they are proving to be most handy.

I also needed a gift card holder, so I pulled out my Silhouette to see what I had in my library and I came across this fun Pineapple gift card template.

Isn't it fun? It was super easy to put together and adds a touch of fun to a boring old gift card.

Hubby is back tonight..FINALLY and I am very excited to see him - sad that it's only for 3 days, as I leave for London on Thursday.

Cx

Pineapples can wear glasses..

Hey,

Today's card is very bright and fun.

I made it for a friend's 40th and it made me smile, as she is a bright, fun kinda girl.

I decided that I would be making her a Pineapple with Glasses card, no idea why, I just did.

I embossed the pineapple parts (Concord &9th dies) using a great basketweave folder that was a gift from JT, handily when I went to get the glasses die, there were already a bunch of them die-cut and ready to go - in bright green?!

I used a pineapple embossing folder to liven up the background, I love this folder, it is by Paper Source and was a sale bargain and is NBUS, so it means I can join in with Darnell's latest NBUS Challenge..

I recently got a set of Ken Oliver Color Burst watercolour powders..my first few tests were not that impressive, but they make great frames! I die-cut this one using MFT scalloped stitched rectangle frame dies - I love these dies.

Final touch was the sentiment,  I used a Dymo handheld embossing label maker (dirt cheap and handy). I thought the look that you get with these embossed tapes suited the off the wall feel of the card.

I hope my friend likes it, it made me smile a lot.

Cx

Totally Tropical...

Hey,

Hope you are having a good weekend. 

Hubby and I are in DTown with the Nixons, aka JT's folks.

No doubt we are eating, drinking, gambling, shopping and getting up to mischief.

I thought I would show you a set of cards that I made for a friend..unfortunately it would seem that I did not take a photo of the 4th card in the set, which is very odd, but these things happen!

I decided I wanted to make my friend a set of 'tropical' themed cards, because she recently moved to the beach and has a whole Flamingo theme in her office.

So I broke out my Lawn Fawn 'Flamingo Together' set and a Freebie Pineapple set that I got with a magazine.

I chose colours that felt tropical, so the main card uses a hot pink card blank and a random fabric hello sticker that I chose because of the bright colours. I added a beautiful gold word sticker to this, totally completed the card for me. I used the texture paste background as it felt like the pattern on a Pineapple.

The cards below continue the bright colour theme, the one on the left uses a watercolour striped background that I made ages ago when I was having a play with a Stampin' Up stamp. I added a gold strip and some Tim Holtz word stickers and star bling. The gold thread behind the Flamingo took WAY longer than it needed to.

The card on the right, uses another one of those 'Pineapple' paste backgrounds. I added some washi tape and then mounted the stamped and die-cut pineapple over the top of it.

Lots of fun to make and I used lots of pre made items, which is nice to do, sometimes I don't want to have to wait for things to dry (impatient? me?)

 I hope that my friend likes them, along with the other 'tropical' things that are in the box I sent her.

Cx

Pineapples can wear glasses too...

Hey,

I love Pineapples.

I love eating them and I love to use them in my crafty life too..

There has recently been a spate of fun stamp releases that include Pineapples..I have been trying to resist new stuff, but when Concord and 9th had a sale I couldn't resist this fun set - 

This means that I can play along with the lovely Darnell's current NBUS challenge - Never Before Used Schtuff..oh how much of this I have right now...

So before I went away, I had a little play and made the two cards you can see below.

I kept them super simple as I wanted the Pineapples to be the hero - the Aloha stamp is from the set and the baby stamp is from a Simon Says Stamp set.

Whilst I was away I said I would send a friend something when I got home, we both love a good pair of specs so I modified one of the cards to add a pair of glasses to the Pineapple.

It is cracking me up - simple things make me happy.

Like a Pineapple wearing glasses.

Cx

Fall Swap Box...

Hey,

Hope you are having a good weekend so far.

My friend Denise is here from San Diego and I dragged her with me to Cheiron's class last night - it was a hoot, more about that next week.

I wanted to show you the box I recently put together for my Fall Swap partner..check out instagram for more info - it is run by the talented Gillian and is a great idea.

I had a whale of a time, planning, shopping and making for my partner Amber.

The main photo is of the card and envelope I made for Amber to go on top of everything that is in the box. I used the Pinterest CASE that JT and I used last weekend as my inspiration.

Below is a photo of one of the cards I made as a set for Amber. I cribbed the idea I used for my friend Michelle's birthday card, but used a new spotty Penny Black background stamp for a slightly different feel.

Here is a shot of everything in the box - all neatly wrapped in Amber tissue paper LOL!! I had lots of fun stamping that and its actually given me a few ideas for Christmas.

 Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Cx