Retro Rubber Challenge #252 - Get your sketch on...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a sketch for you this time.

You know how much I love a sketch!

I thought I would turn this one into a Christmas card! I love the Woodware 'Scratched Background' Stamp that I have had since 2023; it looks great when stamped in festive colours. Here I decided to use black ink, as I thought it would be a nice contrast for my green and red layering. The embossing folder is a giant one by Spellbinders 'Scattered Christmas' and this was its first use! I replaced the circle in the sketch with one of my fave Cardinal stickers and opted for no sentiment, since the background stamp is all Christmas words.

I might make a few more of these in different colours..

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

Challenge ends April 18th.

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 #240 - Sketch Challenge..

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a sketch for you this time.

You know how much I love a sketch!

Even though I only used 1 stamp, everything I used is 'Retro' LOL. The papers I have had since I moved to the US in 2013!! My stamp is from 2019 by Concord & 9th 'Geometrics' set.

This came together so well, that I made a 2nd one out of the scraps!


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

Challenge ends October 4th.

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 #236 - Sketchy time

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

I am super excited today, as my Goddaughter and her mother arrive today for a visit, fun times ahead!

This time we have a sketch with a twist. Time to make a slimline card.

I tried slimline cards, but I felt they were too big for my style, I am pretty CAS and they always felt a bit empty! Once I discovered mini slimline I was hooked.

For this card I rotated the sketch. I love this stamp set by Papertrey Ink 'Stacked Sentiments' I have had it since 2020 and it always stamps beautifully, you also get a large thanks, hello and today and a bunch of mini sentiment stamps to use along side the bigger ones, which I have done here. 

To create the border I used x2 of the tiny detail stamps that come with the set in the same colour ink and I added some bling to represent the little circle detail in the sketch.

It came together really well and I just love that Jelly Donut ink by Taylored Expressions.

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

Challenge ends August 9th.

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

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 - Pinwheel

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

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

Which will you try?

I loved both, but I didn't have anything even remotely related to a pinwheel in my stash.. gotta remedy that!

So I went with just the sketch and as I am in the midst of Christmas 2022 makes, I decided to make a Christmas card.

I just got the fun candy-striped papers and so wanted to use them. I cut a contrasting panel to match the sketch and die-cut circles in black, so my words would pop. I used some leftover sentiments from the  Lawn Fawn 'Winter Big Scripty Words' set and it worked out so well.

To finish it off I added a little bit of bling!

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 13th.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #180 - 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!

I thought it would be fun to use the super large 'Hello' background stamp by The Stamp Market and chop it up to match the sketch - I worked out all the measurements by 'sight' and luckily it worked! I have had the stamp since 2020, but it has not been used much, as it's SO big LOL.

I kept this super simple and just used x2 colours to colour some of the words. I added a foiled sentiment strip - these are Taylored Expressions toner sheets, which you foil and cut out using the die (from their Sentiment strips collection).

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 April 22.

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 #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 #172 - Get your sketch on...

Hey,

Welcome to 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 wanted to use the My Favorite Things 'Stitched Strip' dies, I got these earlier this year when I bought a fellow scrapbookers card stash. I stamped the Hero Arts 'Tiny Hearts background' stamp onto watercolour paper and spritzed it with water, so there is a teeny bit of movement. This is one of my fave stamps that I have had since 2017. I then used the MFT die to die-cut the strips.

I die-cut a heart in gold glittery paper and used a Love die-cut that my bestie sent me - she die-cut a bunch for me in all different colours. It's always nice to share kit. I stamped the sentiment using the same Kitsch Flamingo Distress Oxide that I had used for the hearts. The sentiment is a freebie that I have had since 2017, this set means a lot to me, as my bestie gave it to me when she came to visit me in NYC after the big operation complication..

Anyway, I love this card, I love making anniversary cards, celebrating love is always a nice thing to do.

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 December 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.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Hubby and I are heading to Sarasota to spend it with friends.

Cx

Fusion Card Challenge - Bauble Triangle...

Hey,

Welcome to the penultimate Fusion Card Challenge of 2021! 

How quickly has this year whipped by?!

This time we have a fun 'Bauble Triangle' theme for you. As always both the sketch and the inspiration image are awesome.

I went back to my normal ways for this card and fused both the sketch and the inspiration image.

I used the colours and the Christmas theme from the image as inspiration for my card. 

I had a different idea in mind, I was actually going to put the circles over the top of the grey and white panels, but I didn't love that! So I got out a fun die by Simon Says Stamp that cuts 3 circles in a row and that created the look I had envisioned!

I am a big fan of the Flora & Fauna sets that feature a VW Camper Van, they are always so quirky! And this one features various things for you to dress up your van with! I went with Antlers (of course). I mixed in the snowflake and the sentiment banner and I opted to keep them all black & white, as I think the red base that is showing through the circles makes them pop.

I used - Flora & Fauna 'Driving to the Holidays', Pink Fresh Studio 'December Days',  A-Muse Studio 'Ugly & Bright', Simon Says Stamp 'Tri-Circle' die and the papers are all from my stash.

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 23.

Cx

Fusion Card Challenge - Pumpkin Mug...

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

A bit of an absence from me, with the move, etc, but I am back! 

This time we have 'Pumpkin Mug' for you. As always both the sketch and the inspiration image are awesome.

Which will you try?

I loved both, so I fused them!

The pumpkins and the mugs inspired me. I used a fave set of mine by Waffle Flower 'Happy Fall' - are you like me and don't always use the tiny stamps in a set? Well this was a great opportunity to do that. I used a bunch of scrap papers to mimic the sketch and created a little pumpkin, pie, mug scene.

Sorry my photo is a touch dark, but I am still getting used to the light at night in the new house.

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 October 26th.

Cx

Fusion Card Challenge - Kitty Butterfly...

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

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

I decided to be brave and fuse them because I had a crazy idea in mind..

I used a pencil to recreate the sketch on my white panel and then I masked off all the individual areas and blended them using distress oxides. I was pretty pleased with the outcome.

I knew I was going to use this amazing stamp by Carabelle Studios x Birgit Koopsen 'Cat Angel' - isn't it gorgeous.

It came out exactly as I had imagined and I just added a simple Happy Birthday and it is now winging it's way to my boss in London.

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 August 17th

Cx

Fusion Card Challenge - Lemon Hydrangea...

 Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

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

Which will you try?

I loved both, so I fused them! The lemons were my inspiration and we all know I love a sketch.

I cut a scrap panel to match the sketch and blended Squeezed Lemonade distress oxide ink in the cutaway.

I then stamped 2 different lemons from the Sassy Crafting 'Feeling Fruity' set over the top of the blended area, using Mustard Seed distress oxide. 

To finish it off and add a bit of impact, I added a large sentiment from Concord & 9th from their 'Big on You' set.

Super fun and I am a teeny bit impressed with my creative use of the sketch ;)

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 August 3rd.

Cx

Fusion Card Challenge - Mother's Day

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

This time we have 'Mother's Day' for you! As always both the sketch and the inspiration image are awesome.

Which will you try?

As I am English, Mother's Day was back in March for me - why are they different dates?! So I went with the sketch and a more generic sentiment.

The stamp I used is new to me and I love it, I think I am slowly trying to own the entire MFT library! I am a sucker for little stacks of animals!

I chose the paper for my tag, before I started colouring so I could coordinate with it. I added two little banners (that were already cut in the correct colours - WHOOP!!) and used a sentiment from the same stamp set.

I popped the whole thing up using foam tape and added it to a white card blank, it pops off of white so nicely.

I used -

MFT - Birth-Yay!

MFT - Banner dies

Lil Inker - Dotted Tag dies

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 11th May.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #157 Time to get your Sketch on...

Hey,

Welcome to 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 actually can't provide a link to the stamp I used here, as it was a free gift from a Mama Elephant event in 2016 and I couldn't actually make it and my friend Lisette gave me hers, as she knows how much I love a monster!

I love this stencil cloud technique (stencil is by MFT and I have it in both sizes) - it is getting some serious overuse LOL. 

Here I stamped and masked my Yeti - I am a big fan of masking and then I blended the clouds in. I decided at the last minute to add the stars and little birds, but it worked out fine. The sketch is so simple I just used little scraps of patterned paper and an enamel dot to complete my card.

I'm crushing on this card a teeny bit!

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 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

Fusion Card Challenge - Merry Joy Cheer

Hey,

Welcome to the last Fusion Card Challenge of 2020. 

I've really enjoyed being part of the team and I am looking forward to all the great things we have for you in 2021.

It's been a strange year, but I hope that we have kept your mind off of things with all the fun challenges. This time we are celebrating the holiday season..

Which will you try?

I loved both and wanted to fuse them, so it's a mini fuse if there is such a thing ;)

I think I might be the only person that doesn't have a Christmas Gnome set. I don't particularly like Gnomes.. So I went with a Santa instead and created a fun hand-stamped background for him, using a mix of ho ho ho stamps and some mini snowflake stamps.

I cut the hand-stamped panel slightly short and added red glitter strips at each end to mimic the sketch. An unexpectedly fun card for next year's stash (all my Christmas cards are complete and mailed as this goes live).

I used -

Avery Elle - Oh What Fun

Woodblock Ho Ho Ho stamp (the larger one)

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 December 8th.

See you in 2021 for the next Fusion Card challenge.

Cx

Fusion Card Challenge - Old MacDonald...

 

Hey,

Well, this is pretty exciting!!

My first post as part of the Fusion Challenge team - yay! What a great birthday week!!

This time we have 'Old MacDonald' for you! As always both the sketch and the inspiration image are fantastic.

Which will you try?

As it is my first time as DT AND I loved both, I fused them!

I was inspired by the farmyard animals and the shiplap. 

So I stamped, coloured, and cut the Goat. I then stamped the shiplap background, which got die-cut and matted with a grey paper. The little banners were cut from paper scraps and I stapled them to the top of my card. You can't really tell, but my Hipster Goat is popped up using foam tape.

Really happy with the end result, it is going to be sent to a friend/colleague that recently changed job and I promised to 'spam' him with happy mail!

I used -

Tim Holtz Hipster stamps and dies, Taylored Expressions Shiplap Background, MFT Large Fishtail Banners, and the sentiment is a mix of Waffle Flower and Lil' Inker

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. 

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #142 Lets get Sketchy...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a sketch for you this time.

You know how much I love a sketch!

I recently made a large background panel for chopping up, I used a Dina Wakely stencil and Picket Fence Studios Golden Rose paper glaze. I used a piece of it for my card, as you can see.

The sentiment is from a cute set by Jillibean Soup 'All My Happy', that I got in early 2019 when I was on a road trip. I love that a lot of the words come with a shadow effect die. I stamped parts of the sentiment onto white paper and trimmed them down to create little blocks to work with the sketch. The 'wishes' I heat embossed onto gold paper. 

It felt a bit flat and I decided to get a bit brave and pop some gold thread (I never do this technique) under the sentiments and it worked SO well.

I am so happy with this elegant card, a perfect addition to my stash.

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 September 4th.

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

TMS: Happy Purr-thday..

Hey,

Hope you are all having a good week.

I was fortunate to be a prize winner over at Tuesday Morning Sketches, during their anniversary bash.

So I thought it was only right that I play along with the current challenge -

This sketch is so fun!

I thought it paired well with my new Lawn Fawn Dandelion papers that were a gift from Lisette.

I love the Newton's Nook 'Newton's Birthday Balloons' set, so I stamped, coloured and die-cut the main image from the set. The sentiment is also from the set.

I am super happy with the die-cut circles - both of them are from The Works in London and I have recently 'rediscovered' the fancier circle and it's getting ALOT of use.

Super simple and pretty card.

Cx