Retro Rubber Challenge #162 - Sketch Time....

Hey,

Hope you had a great 4th of July Holiday if you celebrate it. Hubby and I had lots of fun, our last weekend together for a while, as I am heading to London to see our families!

It's time for another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a sketch for you this time, created by me!

You know how much I love a sketch!

I have a weakness for Whale stamps and decided that I would use one for this card, the curve of the circle made me think of Whales!

I used a piece of paper that has a watercolour fade to it for my background. I printed out a piece of ancient Pink Petticoat digital paper - it is my fave fish paper, which I die-cut using an Ellen Hutson Snow scene die - which how I got the water like bubbles!

My Whale is one of my faves, by Spellbinders from their 'Sunshiny Day' set that I have had since 2019. The spotty paper is a scrap and I stamped the sentiment in two colours using stamps from the Recollections 'Whale Hello There' set (from 2018).

So happy with this fun card.

Show us your interpretation of the sketch and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made -their use of the sketch has been nothing short of amazing!

Challenge ends July 16th.

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

Mr & Mr...

Hey, 

So around the middle of August my work colleague, Emma asked me to make her a Mr & Mr card.

I immediately knew what I wanted to do as I had just bought the awesome 'Furry Friends' set by Concord & 9th and had seen this idea -

So with a few modifications I CASE'd it - LOVE how mine came out, it was so fun to make and the stamp set is so versatile.

I was so happy with it all that I made JT and her Hubby their anniversary card using the same premise.

The background papers that I used for both of the cards are by Pink Petticoat (no longer open) and are digital, so I just had to print off a sheet of each colourway - it comes in 48 colours - amazing!

Cx

Retro Rubber #101...Photo Inspired Happy Holidays!

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

Well wasn't that a fun 100th celebration?!

A big thanks from me and the whole team to all of the people that joined in the fun and left comments on our blogs.

The winner of my giveaway is Angel North (http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/). Congrats - Angel, use the contact me form on the right hand side of my blog to send me your address details - I'll be back on 10th of December and will post your package then.

This is our last challenge of the year and in spirit of the season we are wishing you Happy Holidays with this theme -

I went a bit off piste, so to clarify, I used the snow, hat and scarf to inspire my card LOL.

I decided to go all non-traditional colours, as I was using a Flamingo stamp! The stamp is by Inkadinkadoo and I've had it since 2016, the whole set is a lot of fun and not really traditional, which might be why I love it so much. It is no longer for sale, so here's a photo for you.

I dug out a sparkly tag from my enormous tag stash - if you don't know me that well, here's a bit of insight I am literally addicted to tags, I make my own using dies AND I buy them at any opportunity..if my Husband ever finds my stash, I swear he will divorce me!

I printed a piece of pink snowflake paper by Pink Petticoat that I have had for about 9 years..I love the subtle snowflakes peeking through. I cut it a bit shorter, so I could add a sparkly gold border to coordinate with the tag. Final touch was to add the sentiment from the same stamp set.

I love this overly girly Holiday card it makes me very happy.

Show us what the photo has inspired you to make and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends December 14th.

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 Card 2018: Masked Stars...

Hey,

Today I am sharing a simple Christmas Card make.

I made 15+ of these.. SO easy.

The sentiment is by Pink Petticoat (digital stamps and papers) so I printed out a bunch of them and then die-cut the white panel to size.

I keep the 'inserts' from new stamp sets for exactly this purpose, as they are generally quite heavyweight paper. I die-cut a medium sized star out of two of these inserts, threw away the star and used the aperture as my mask - one for the red, one for the blue.

Then I blended ink through the masks and spritzed them with a bit of gold shimmer spray.

The adorable glittery angels were a gift from my Godson's mother to say thank you for his trip. They are self adhesive, but annoyingly they come with one awkward glue dot, so I removed those and affixed them using my fave Aleene's white glue.

Super easy, super cute.

Cx

Random Desk Pile: Dinoversary...

Hey,

As promised, this week I am showing you all the cards I made from the random pile on my desk :)

Today's cuties are so much fun.

I had printed out Le Petite Market Dino stamps into various backgrounds - backgrounds are by Pink Petticoat.

They had all been coloured and matched with a card blank, but I hadn't adhered them or added sentiments.

As these stamps are called Valentine Dino's, there are lots of hearts on the Dino's, so I decided to make them all anniversary cards.

The sentiment banner is by Mama Elephant from their Occasional Labels set - love these little banners.

A fun set of cards, handy as I have a lot of people with September anniversaries.

Cx

Even more Christmas in July....

Hey,

So following on from yesterday's Christmas in July post, I wanted to share my Christmas make ;)

I bought these awesome Christmas Portraits stamps from Le Petite Market and couldn't wait a month to play with them (I start Christmas card making in August).

As with the Animal Astronaut cards, I retouched the images, so that they would be white against any background papers I added.

I coloured the images and added glitter glue, nuvo drops (coloured and glittery), spectrum noir sparkle pens and sequins / stars for interest.

Once I had stamped the sentiments, they looked a bit boring, so I added a glittery strip to the card blank, way more festive.

Feels pretty good to have the first batch of Christmas done.

Cx

Animal Astronauts...

Hey,

Yes I am showing you more Le Petite Market makes..

I can't get enough of their awesome stamps right now.

One of the very first sets I bought was Animal Astronauts -

I retouched the stamps so that they would print out white, meaning I could add a background behind them.

I decided to use some ancient star digital papers from Pink Petticoat (now The Lovely Studio), adding to the space / astronaut feel.

I coloured both of them and then made super quick cards.

For the main photo I heat embossed a Clearly Besotted sentiment onto a coordinating red panel.

For the card below, I added the sentiment (by MFT) directly onto my printed background.

These stamps have reignited my love for digital stamps and papers and means I have had plenty of playtime at my desk with a whole bunch of these stamps and various papers from my digital stash.

It's fun to rediscover parts of my stash.

Cx

Catch The Bug: Bugaboo Sketch Challenge..

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you! A rare double post from me today..

I am having an awesome weekend.

I won the Bugaboo Anything Goes Challenge (10 digi stamp prize!!) AND I made 'The Cut Above' over at The Paper Players for my Punny Valentine.

How awesome is that! I had already made the card for Bugaboo's latest sketch challenge -

I decided to use one of my fave Bugaboo stamps (Party Pig Trio), I always have this stamp printed out at the correct size for my cards and it gets used A LOT.

I coloured the stamp using Promarkers and Spectrum Noir sparkle markers, then die-cut it using a scalloped rectangle die.

I went with a glittery paper that I found on the floor in my craft room recently for the strip on the left and the 'happy' banner is an ancient print out from one of my fave digital companies Pink Petticoat. For a bit of interest I die-cut the banner using a die by Sizzix, kindly gifted to me by JT.

To finish my card I added the 'Birthday' sticker and some Nuvo crystal drops here and there.

You'll be seeing a lot more Bugaboo from me this week, as I am going to be playing along with their 8th birthday bash. I love their stamps and it's always fun to play with digi's.

Cx

ICAD17: Week Five...

Hey,

Happy Monday, hope you had a good weekend, mine was fun, starting with class on Friday, I'll show you pics later in the week.

So we are already mid-way through week 6, meaning we are only about 3.5weeks away from the end of ICAD17, so sad.

But let's not dwell on that..

I chose Day 31 Faux Wallpaper as my fave this week -

I got pretty creative here and added gold 'flocking' to a piece of Quatrefoil patterned paper, using a gold marker I'd forgot I had!! I added framed pictures to make it look like a wall. I love that I got to use the frames. I have had them for about 5-6 years, I think they came with me to the US!!

This is one of the awesome things about ICAD, I am using so many random parts of my stash, it is fun digging around in search of vaguely remembered items.

The photos are in day order, clockwise from the left and here is a link to the gallery with all the cards so far (including some week 6 ones!)

Cx

Sketch Saturday #466..Dino Girl...

Hey,

Welcome to the first fun June sketch for the Sketch Saturday challenge.

Our sponsor this week is Sasayaki Glitter and they are offering a prize of 1 digi from their store.

Here is the sketch.

You know I love Dinosaurs, so when I saw Dino Girl...I had to use her, she is coloured with Promarkers and Spectrum Noir sparkle pens.

I decided to pair her with digital papers by Pink Petticoat (sadly these ones are no longer available), the papers come in approx 30 colours, so super easy to co-ordinate. To bring it all together I die cut all the papers with stitched dies.

The sentiment is by Papermania and is one of the first stamp sets I ever bought!

I love Dino's, I can't wait to send her to someone.

Your turn to show us what you make with the sketch, but first check out what the rest of the DT have made over at Sketch Saturday.

Challenge ends 9 June 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Cx

Sketch Saturday #460...Relaxing...

Hey, 

So it's time for another great Sketch Saturday...

Our sponsor this week is Digital Stamp Boutique and they are offering a £10 gift certificate for their store.

Here is the sketch.

I really liked the Alyssa relaxing stamp and felt like a perfect fit for the sketch.

I decided to go with a muted lilac / purple colour palette and that informed all my paper / colouring choices. I embossed the deep purple background using a Sizzix spot folder, the floral strip is from my scrap box and by Pink Petticoat.

I printed Alyssa a couple of times in different sizes, as I wasn't sure which dies I wanted to use. I settled for ancient Spellbinders Labels 4 dies and die-cut the two panels.

My final touches were the fun sentiment by Hero Arts, some stickles and a blingy purple heart.

This has already left my desk and is on its way to a friend.

What will you do with the sketch? Check out what the rest of the DT have made over at Sketch Saturday.

Challenge ends 28 April 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Cx

Sketch Saturday..A Little Hey..

Hey,

As you know I love a sketch challenge and I thought I'd play along with Sketch Saturday this week.

Cool sketch right?

I decided to pull out a Fox digital stamp by Pink Petticoat - who are sadly no longer in business..

I love Foxes, I used to see them a lot in my neighbourhood in London.

I chose some ancient papers by Recollections (Michaels), as I wanted the papers to tonally fit the Fox and I am trying to use things from the overflowing 'brown' drawer LOL.

It was all very simple to put together.

The sentiment is by Technique Tuesday. Both the scallop and circle dies are by Spellbinders and the banner was punched using the great Stampin' Up banner punch - a must have if you are like me and can't cut a banner correctly to save your life...

I added a couple of mini staples to the banner and a bit of distress ink around the Fox circle to give it a bit more interest and depth.

I'm pretty pleased with my little Fox.

Also I have thrown my hat into the ring to be a part of the Sketch Saturday DT - fingers crossed!!

Cx

Just a nautical note..

Hey,

I fell in love with this week's sketch over at Retro Sketches -

I decided to stick with the nautical theme implied in the sketch and some of the DT makes.

I wanted to break out a new (on sale) stamp set by Clearly Besotted 'Best Dad II', it has 3 great sailboat stamps and a die.

I stamped it using Majestic Blue ink by Versafine and die-cut it out..it came out so perfectly, I had to stare at it for a little while..

I embossed some grey card using an Anchor folder and dug out two ancient pieces of pre-printed Pink Petticoat digital papers (stars and seashells) for my layers.

The large banner die is by Simon Says Stamp and is from the first ever stitched set I bought, I over use the stitched rectangle from the set :) I wrapped a piece of pale blue / lavender paper twine around the top.

For the sentiment I punched a scrap of the grey cardstock using the Washi Tape punch by Stampin' Up and added a Jillibean Soup sentiment..

I love how it all came together, the colours are so soothing.

I have to confess that I did spend about 25 minutes trying different papers from my pre-printed Pink Petticoat box..but it was totally worth it.

Cx

Valentine's Day Card Series - Day Five - Happy Valentine's Day..

Hey,

Happy Valentine's Day.

So today is the end, I hope if you celebrate you are having a good time with your special person. 

Hubby and I celebrate being together all the time, so today we will be slobbing around eating and listening to music, whilst recovering from whatever mischief we got into last night..

So yesterday I told you that JT and I set a challenge to make each other the most hideous, OTT card possible.

Here's my first attempt -  

Busy? Sure. Hideous? Not quite.

So I started again. The main photo today is the front of the card - nice and simple, seems like it's going to be lovely inside...

Nope..you get a busy paper, with a busy die-cut border, a stamped sentiment or two..and a pop-up monster that is winking at you! LOL. Now this is hideous.

Here's a close-up of the pop-up Monster

I had so much fun making these cards and I learnt how to create pop-ups in a card.

Wish I had given the Monster a googly eye...

Hope you have had a fun five days looking at all my Valentine's efforts.

Cx

Retro Rubber #19..Colour Inspiration Time...

Hey,

It's time for another awesome challenge from the Retro Rubber team.

But before I tell you all about the challenge, I wanted to wish my Hubby a very Happy Birthday (as I am still in London) - I was a good wife though and left him gifts ;)

I love the colours in the photo and colour inspiration is always a fave theme for me.

I was inspired by the photo to use a fave digital stamp set I have by Pink Petticoat - I love Liz's work, it always feels so fresh and the stamps are always fun to colour. I've had this set since it was realised in 2013..

I used Promarkers to colour the stamps and added a Wink of Stella here and there. The sentiments, came with the stamps. The papers behind the main image are scraps that were kicking around on my desk..

I thought these would work best as 3x3 mini cards and so made an entire set!

Now it's your turn to get inspired and show us your makes..but first pop over to Retro Rubber and view the awesome creations by my talented teammates..

As always don't forget to use a stamp that is over a year and the challenge ends on the 31st of July, so you have plenty of time to join in the fun.

Cx

Tic Tac Toe challenge..

Hey,

I really wanted to use one of my many new Bugaboo stamps this week, they are retiring some items and so they were a bargain!

JT has already used some of the ones that we bought :)

I also needed to make a New Baby card, so The Paper Players challenge this week was perfect -

I went with Any shade of yellow, Sequins and Polka dots.

I used Recollections yellow polka dot paper, my new Lawn Fawn stitched square dies, a Fiskars stamp and the Raccoon by Bugaboo.

I added some ribbon and inked the edges of my stitched square in Squeezed Lemonade distress ink.

For a bit of fun, I printed the Raccoon's tail onto a grey polka dot Pink Petticoat paper and paper pieced him onto the printed Raccoon - love this, it adds a little bit of dimension and fun.

Final touch to complete the Tic-Tac-Toe was to add sequins from my stash, I keep these to a minimum.

I'm visiting my friend at the weekend to meet her new Daughter, so I'll be giving her the card and it's matching Raccoon babygrow (onesie) that I made :)

Cx

Moving Along With The Times...Into The Wild...

Hey,

Forgive my blog appearance I am making some updates and I kind of lost my header..

Anyway, onto fun things!

It's time for another great Moving Along With The Times challenge.

Our hostess this week is Hazel and her theme is Into The Wild....you can use animals, people, the jungle, the forest. Whatever Into The Wild means for you.

I really wanted to use the beautiful Valentine's Fox stamp by Tam Hess from CMA.

I love Foxes and where I am from in London, they roam around, they are pretty harmless and I have spent many wonderful hours watching them play in my garden.

I decided to add a digital paper (Woodgrain in willow by Pink Petticoat) before printing the stamp. I coloured my little Fox using Promarkers and I added Glamour Dust to the tail to give him a bit of shimmer.

I die-cut the paper to fit my card blank using a SSS stitched rectangle die, then I tied a contrasting piece of ribbon around the paper before mounting him to the card blank.

I wasn't sure what to do about the sentiment..so I tried lots of things and ended up using a SSS Stitched circle die and heat embossed the sentiment onto the circle.

Such a sweet card...I'm very pleased :)

Now it's your turn - but first go over to MAWTT to check out the Wild creations by my teammates.

Cx

Yes Flamingos Can Fly...

Hey,

Hope you had a good weekend.

Hubby and I had a very relaxing weekend.
I also got a happy craft surprise, because I got a Cut Above mention for my entry to last week's challenge over at Paper Players. How cool is that!

I saw the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge this week - Things that Fly..I knew I had to enter, as I have a love affair with things that fly - birds. planes, etc but on the flip side, they scare me a bit :)

I decided to use a Pink Petticoat Flamingo, as I think most people don't realise that they can and do fly, but at night and for up to 300 miles without stopping - awesome right?

So I coloured the Flamingo using Promarkers and fussy cut him out.

I had the background on my desk already - made a few weeks ago using a Clear Scraps spiral stencil and Wendy Vecchi textured embossing paste.

To add a bit of sparkle, I got out the stencil and laid it over the embossing paste, using a super fine brush I added some metallic glitter paint over the embossing paste. It worked out well and my ancient pot of paint is still going strong!

I put the card together, but really couldn't find a sentiment that worked..finally I stumbled across some Birthday peel-offs and a light bulb went off in my head!

I'm pretty pleased with my card..despite the epic hunt for a sentiment :)

Cx

Paper Players...Colour Challenge..

Hey,

Happy Friday.

Today I wanted to join in with The Paper Players..

I love the colour palette and it was a great opportunity to use another one of my Meljen's Designs Divas, this time I used Flirty Diva.

Once again, oodles of fun to colour. You can see I have used some of the palette in her outfit and added more colours using the papers.

I am happy with all the little details..

Hope you have a great weekend.

Supplies used:
Promarkers  Soft Peach, Cool Grey 3, Buttercup and Pastel Yellow. Copic - skin white
Saffron pearl by Papermania
Glitterglue by Martha Stewart
Papers by Pink Petticoat in Saffron and Pistachio
Pear Tart Ink by Versamark
Wink of Stella Brush - Clear

Cx

I heart glitter...

Hey,

I love glitter, I know it gets everywhere but I can't resist it.

I recently got a big mixed box of American Crafts glitter pots - all different colours and textures...a new one for me textured glitter and OH how do I love it.

I decided to have a quick experiment session - using Silhouette double sided-adhesive paper, a punch and some glitter.

The hello card was on my desk unused from another project, so it because the base for this little experiment. The 'hello' is from Pink Petticoat.

I punched a heart out of the adhesive paper, peeled off one side and stuck to the front of the card. Then I removed the top piece and added my glitter.

Super simple!

Not only does it look amazing - all that texture - but it is amazing, as the glitter doesn't fall off when you shake the card?!

How is that possible?

Lots more fun to come with these sheets methinks.

Lemon arrives tomorrow - whoo hoo!! I am working from home awaiting her arrival and cooking Curry Goat in her honour!

Cx