Newton's Nook Summer Challenge - June Week 3 - Floaty Goat

 

Hi,

I have been trying to play along with the Newton's Nook challenge this year and have failed miserably!

I finally found some space to join the June challenge - yay!

I love the water and I knew I wanted my card to be water-focused. I had totally forgotten about the amazing Floaty Goat stamp and it was perfect for this challenge.

I added some smooshed ink for water and clouds using a cloud stencil. The little water splashes are also from the stamp set, but my sentiment is from a different set.

I love this card, can't wait to send it to my BFF.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #243.. Colour Challenge

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

Hubby and I had a totally awesome anniversary week in Mexico, and I am thrilled to have returned to a new job!

This time we want you to use all the colours on your project.

I thought these colours would look really good smooshed together to create a background. So that is exactly what I did, I used Distress Oxides and it's so pretty. I added the sentiment by Neat & Tangled from their 'Awesome' set that I have had since 2016.

I can't wait to see how you use the colours, don't forget to pop over to Retro Rubber, and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends November 15th

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 #221 Merry Christmas..

Hey,

Can you believe that it's that time already? Time for the last Retro Rubber challenge of 2023.

We really hope you have enjoyed playing with us this year, it has been fun to see some new faces. Don't forget you don't have to have a blog to play along, you can link up using Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc

This time we want you to use the photo to inspire your card - colours or imagery, or both, it is entirely up to you.

I was inspired by the musical notes and went for a hunt through my Christmas stamps and came up with this beauty by StudioLight 'Essentials: Let It Snow' I have had it since 2020. I smooshed a Christmassy background and stamped over it. I remembered why I rarely use this gorgeous stamp.. it is a beast to stamp, it took approx 8 inkings to get it to work..

But so worth it, because this card makes me so happy!

We can't wait to see what you were inspired to make and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends December 15.

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 Christmas and we'll see you in 2024.

Cx

Fusion Card Challenge - Front Porch...

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Fusion Card Challenge.

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

Which will you try?

I loved the inspiration image, as I have a front porch and I love sitting out there. But I didn't have the right stamps for the image in my head.

The weightlifting monster stamp is by Whipper Snapper Designs and is ancient and one of my all-time faves, I always smile when I use him. I used one of my many on-hand smooshed distress ink backgrounds and added a strip of glitter paper to mimic the sketch. The little sentiment banner I created using planner stickers. I think these little stickers are so handy when you want a small sentiment.

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 27th.

Cx

Fusion Challenge - Front Porch

Hey,

Welcome to another wonderful Fusion Card Challenge.

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

Which will you try?

I was planning on fusing the sketch and the photo, as I have a front porch and I LOVE it!!

But I couldn't find the stamp to create what I had in my head. So I went with just the sketch.

The weightlifting monster is one of my all-time fave stamps by Whipper Snapper and it always makes me smile when I use him. I used one of my many on hand smooshed backgrounds and added a strip of glitter paper. The little banner I made using x2 stickers that are for planners, but I like to use them as small sentiments on cards.

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 27th.

Cx

ATC Swap Fun...

 

Hey,

And welcome to June FINALLY.

It was a super busy May for me, work wise and personally. 

I have loved getting back out into NYC, as things open and my friends become accessible again!

My little Craftgang and I started doing a ATC swap this year.

The first theme was Beach.

And as I am heading to the beach this week and the ATC's have all arrived, I thought I would share the ones that I made.

I had such a fun time making them. 

I smooched a large piece of watercolour paper to create the background for the ATC and then cut them to size. I then blended in a bit of yellow for the 'sand'.

The stamps were perfect and are by Hero Arts 'Beach Please' I added a teeny tiny Lil Inker Sun die.

They came out so well.

Here they all are together. 

Clockwise top left, Lisette, Me, Cheiron, Tiffany

Love it when we get to make fun things for no reason.

Have a great weekend. Hubby is in the UK - WHOOP, finally we can go home, I am here with Clint Catwood, having a fun solo week off.

Cx

Fancy Cocktail Cards...

 

Hey, 

Happy Monday.

Hope you had a great weekend?

Mine was exercise/sport fuelled - my new spin bike arrived last week, so I could use it all weekend and I did and it was great. Also, standard NFL Sunday in my house (10hrs of solid football) and it was a Grand Prix weekend, so Clint Catwood and I were up early to watch Lewis Hamilton make history.

I love Tim Holtz blueprint stamps and quite a while ago, we used the great Cocktail blueprints in a class with Cheiron. I am notoriously mean when it comes to buying things brand new and full price.. So I have never owned these, until a few weeks ago when I found them on super-bargain sale - whoop!

The fact is, I have SO many crafty goodies that I made a pact with myself to curb my spending there can only be sale goodies coming in UNLESS the thing is a limited edition (like the Tim Holtz SSS Stamptember cats!).

Anyway, I decided to put the new stamps to good use and make a set of cards for a friend as a gift. I thought they would look amazing heat embossed over fun backgrounds. And as I always have backgrounds on hand, I pulled out x4 that I thought suited the stamps. 

From top left and clockwise here are the techniques used for the backgrounds - distress oxide smooshing, stencil lift (I used the stencil with distress ink for another background, when done, spray the side of the stencil that is facing you, with water and then lay down on a piece of paper), gloss spray through a stencil, distress oxide smooshing.

Fun right! My friend loved them and I have made another set since. I can see a default, easy gift coming on here.

Cx 

Retro Rubber Challenge #137.. Sketchy Collab..

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge. This time we are teaming up with Double Trouble.

Our challenge is a sketch challenge so all you have to do for Retro Rubber is to make a card using our sketch and at least one stamp older than a year.

The Double Trouble challenge requirements are:

Thing 1 – Trouble Maker: 3-2-1 Recipe: 3 colors – 2 embellishments – 1 old stamp

Thing 3 – Twisted Sister: Follow our RRCB sketch but do not use ovals, circles or rounded corners.

Thing 2 – Double Dare (Optional): If you used the RRCB sketch and the 3-2-1 Recipe be sure to link your card Double Trouble’s challenge to receive an additional chance to be in Double Trouble’s random draw.

I combined the challenges like this - 

Thing 1 - 3 colours (gold, blue, yellow), 2 embellishments (x2 little blingy gems), 1 old stamp (Prehistoric by Neat and Tangled, that I have had since 2018).

Thing 3 - Use the sketch, but no rounded corners (I used a hexagon)

Thing 2 - Combine both - yay!

My background was created by smooshing distress inks, the vertical paper strip is SO old, I believe that I bought that paper with my Momma BEFORE I got married 11 years ago.. The hexagon die is by Spellbinders and was a gift from my friend JT, because I love Hexagons so much. I die-cut it from a glittery gold paper. The 'rawr' banner and the Woolly Mammoth are from the Neat & Tangled set and I got them second-hand from my friend Cheiron. The white banner is one of the awesome Taylored Expressions simple strips.

Show us your interpretation of the double challenge or just our sketch and pop over to Retro Rubber and Double Trouble to get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends June 26th

Don't forget to tell us the age of your stamp, which is part of the fun of our challenge, and please only enter 10 challenges including Retro Rubber.

Cx

CTD: Word...

Hey,

Happy Saturday!

I had a nice morning, leisurely stroll to the bagel shop with Hubby and then we sat on a bench, enjoying the sunshine and our bagels.

I loved the Color Throwdown colours this week -

I thought I'd use a Zebra for the black and white part of the swatch. I smooshed some Broken China distress oxide ink and picked it up with acetate to get a more precise smoosh onto my white panel. I added some black ink splatters, which sadly were not dry when I put my card together (sigh).

The white panel was die-cut using a stitched, dotted, scalloped rectangle die from The Works in London. The Zebra is ancient (circa 2016 and he was second-hand then..), he is from the Waffle Flower 'Monochrome' set and I really should attempt to buy the dies, as I hate fussy cutting so very much!

The sentiment is by Recollections from their 'Creative Chaos' set and I felt like my Zebra would totally be saying this LOL.

I'm pretty pleased with him - I really need to use this set more!

Cx

4from1: Neat and Tangled.. Later Alligator..

Hey,

A few weeks ago I gave the craft room a much needed clean and went through the newer items and rediscovered this awesome set by Neat & Tangled that I had bought second-hand from Cheiron. It is now retired.

I was inspired to make a few cards and this wonderful card by Kay Miller inspired me to get CASing!

I stamped, coloured and die-cut all the elements from the set that I wanted to use. Then I created the x3 backgrounds by smooshing distress inks.

They all came out so well and my colours are actually as vivid as Kay's but they got a bit muted with late night photography! My fave is totally the main card - with his little bow-tie! Meaning that snappy has a double meaning - he's a 'gator and he's also snappily dressed ;)

It's always fun to play with a stamp set for the first time and I always try and make a few cards, so that it gets a full use!

Cx

Unicorn Kisses..

Hey,

Happy Monday..

Flora & Fauna had a sale last month, meaning I got a few things that I have been longing for!

Including 'Love Bug Dress Up'.. so many ideas in my head for this set. It's now retired, so here is a pic of it -

I started with this fun card!

I used a piece of smooshed watercolour card that I had already (I smoosh giant panels and cut them down to use as I need them).

I stamped everything directly onto the panel and coloured the Unicorn part with Sakura Starburst glitter gel pens.

The sentiment came out well. I used Unicorn Kisses from the F&F set and added a Tim Holtz sticker and Birthday Wishes by Avery Elle.

Easy, quick, and fun.

Cx

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: H is for Headache..

Hey,

Happy Friday!

I got my very first Princess of Snark in December last year and I was very happy about it.

I really wanted to play along with The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - X Rated Christmas, but I ran out of time.

So I am joining in the current challenge -

I obviously have the same Tim Holtz snarky chit chat stickers as everyone else, but that is cool - great minds think alike.

I found a piece of older smooshed paper in my stash - loved the colours and as they are quite muted I think they soften the punch of the sentiment!

I die-cut the panel as a tag - using a Sizzix + Tim Holtz die, I love this die, as it cuts the larger sized tags that are perfect for mixed media projects.

It was a great opportunity to use my slightly neglected 'Damn Girl' stamp set by Unity Stamp Co. I used the main image of the 1920's woman and the 'Damn Girl' sentiment, which I masked off to work with the rest of my sentiment.

I'm so pleased with this and it is going to a friend who has a rude work colleague, this needs to be on her desk to ward off that person!

It's a long weekend here in the US, whoop! Have a great weekend everyone.

Cx

Pun Card Project..

Hey,

Back to normal now with Christmas and my trip to London done, I go back to work tomorrow..

I had a fun trip, it was great to spend so much QT with my folks and I got to hand over my pun card project to our friend Polly.

Polly is a big fan of my cards, which is lovely. Last year she made a comment about one of the cards I sent to her and it sparked an idea.

What if I made a pun card from every single pun set I have?! 

Well, 5 months (Aug to Dec) and 48 stamp sets later, I ended up with 55 pun cards and to be honest there are probably about 10-15 more sets I could have used, but I just ran out of time.

I used all the techniques for these cards - stencils, heat embossing, dry embossing, smooshing, watercolouring, gelli plate backgrounds, die-cutting, masking and marker colouring.

It was so much fun to do though and here are the majority of the cards!

Fun right?!

I might consider a similar project later this year - like all birds or something?

Cx

Welcome to 2020..

Hey,

Happy New Year from London!

Welcome to a brand new decade!

Hope you had a great NYE - I spent mine with my Parents and it was a fun day / night.

Today I am showing you the cards I made on Boxing Day - I had a bumper 10hr session at my desk and it was wonderful to just play and not have Christmas things to make.

I had an offcut of a smooshed piece of paper on my desk and it sparked an idea. I used the 'Flamingo Sunshine' stamp by Flora & Fauna - they have been my fave new to me stamp company of 2019..

I stamped the Flamingo onto the smooshed background and coloured the details in the few glitter gel pens I had - this was a new to me thing and I LOVE how much sparkle you get - cue me the next day in Blick with Cheiron buying more of them (Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust gel pens). I liked it so much, that smooshed x2 additional pieces of watercolour paper and cut x5 more squares from them so I could create x6 cards.

I die-cut the frame from patterned grey papers - the frame is by MFT stamps. I thought they looked a bit flat on the white cards, so I added a black piece of paper to make them pop.

I decided the sentiment's should be black and I used dies by Lawn Fawn, Taylored Expressions and Heffy Doodle. I was planning on them all being thank yous, but I needed a couple of birthday cards so switched it up a bit.

Love how they came out, I hope the recipients will too.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #124 Tic Tac Toe...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have our last Tic Tac Toe board of 2019, created by Jan.

Loves me some Tic Tac Toe.

This one was fun, as I got to pull out a ready to go smooshed background. I chose the bottom row - Birthday / Masculine / Twine.

I stamped some of the sentiments from the 'Large Sentiments' set by Studio Calico that I have had since 2017 and coloured them in using an Altenew Watercolour brush marker in 'Lagoon'. I added the little dots that are part of the set, you get stripes, dots and solids so you can decorate your sentiment.

I added some ancient (circa 2011) paper twine to finish it off and match my chosen row.

Perfect card for a male 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 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.

Cx

CAS on Friday: Butterflies..

Hey,

With all the traveling and working! I haven't been playing along with too many challenges.

So this weekend has I had some time, I thought I would play along with one of my fave challenges - CAS on Friday.

The theme is Butterflies.

I think my card feels pretty CAS..but we'll see what the DT think ;)

I smooshed half of my paper in distress oxide's and water and dried it before using a large rectangle stitched die to die-cut it to size.

I used my new Lil Inker stitched butterfly dies and embossed the large butterfly and a trail into my panel. I die-cut a smaller butterfly from the same set using a coordinating scrap of paper and popped that up on my card.

I finished it off with a simple sentiment.

I am really happy with how it came out, I really like the embossed butterfly that overlaps the coloured and plain parts of my background.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #104... Tic Tac Toe...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a Tic Tac Toe board from Jan -

I went with the top row, Butterflies/Green/Textured Embossing.

First I used a diffuser plate to create the circle of embossing you can see on my card, the big spot folder is ancient and my fave ever embossing folder by Sizzix, then I stamped the sentiment (by Newton's Nook from 2017).

I dug through my stash and found x2 butterfly embellishments (top and bottom). The middle one, I die-cut myself from a ink smooshed piece of paper using a Clearly Besotted die from 2016, I had planned to stamp this butterfly, but it just didn't work!

I love all the different tones on my card - earthy but with that bright green to liven it up.

Which row will you choose? Be sure to stop over at Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends March 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 #100... Celebration Time..

Hey,

Welcome to the first ever blog hop for the Retro Rubber Challenge.

We are changing things up a bit to celebrate our 100th challenge!

Can you believe that?! I am amazed at how the time has flown by. I have been a part of the Retro Rubber team since the start and I can honestly say my teamies are pretty awesome!

Here’s the scoop…play along with our celebration themed tic tac toe challenge!

Then hop around to all of the design team blogs and leave a comment!

Each team member is offering up some surprise retro (new but older than a year) goodies to one lucky person who leaves a comment on their blog.  That means there will be seven winners!*

As always, we will be listing the five top picks with the winning pick receiving a prize for this challenge only.

For my card I chose the first vertical row - balloons / ink smooshing / glitter or sparkle.

I created my smooshed background using Distress Oxides (Wilted Violet, Stormy Sky, Picked Raspberry). I love Oxides and I love smooshing.

The balloon stamp is actually quite new, but I thought it suited the theme so well that I had to use it. I stamped it in Versamark ink onto my background and added WOW sparkly embossing powder, it is ridiculously sparkly in real life!

The Hippo 'holding' the balloons is by MFT and I have had him just over a year and the sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp and I've had it since 2015.

Love a combo of old and new and if I was physically able to be with my teamies today I am sure it would be a fab party!

Next in line is the lovely Neva Cole and here is the full hop list for you -

Donna Idlet
Maria Rodriguez
Jan Clothier
LeAnne Pugliese
Jane Knudsen

I hope you are going to hop along with us AND make a card, 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.

Challenge ends November 30th.

Cx

*You do not have to enter the challenge to win but you must leave a comment on the design team blogs in order to have a chance to win!

**I'll be posting my goodies to 'my' winner after the 10th December, as I will be out of the Country until then.

PFS Floral Squares..

Hey,

Happy Friday to you.

I have been very under the weather this week, hence the lack of posts from me :(

As I am feeling a bit better, I thought I would show you a set of pretty cards I made for my Boss before I left for London.

I really really really wanted these amazing Pink Fresh Studio Floral Square dies -

I had this idea that they would look great die-cut out of smooshed scraps.

It worked out so well, they really pop, some colours worked better than others, I think vibrant scraps are best.

I kept the cards simple and just added a simple thanks sentiment by Stampin' Up.

I am thinking that I will try them with kraft paper next.

Have a great weekend, I will be at the gym, getting my oven repaired (finally) and watching NFL Sunday (GO HAWKS!!).

Cx

Happy 16th Birthday...

Hey,

Ever have one of those days, where the events of the day make you realise how OLD you are!

LOL.

Today my Godson Ben is turning 16, I can totally remember the day he was born, I can't believe he is already 16 and that his Mother and I have been friends for 30 years - EEEK!!!

Ben is totally into fashion and so I wanted his card to reflect that.

I smooshed a piece of watercolour paper in some distress ink and dried it off, I repeated this several times until I was happy with the background. I then stamped some stars randomly, to add a bit more interest to the background.

To tie in with the fashion aspect, I added a Dina Wakely Scribbly Man.

I didn't want to cover the beautiful image / background, so I heat embossed part of the sentiment (freebie from AMuse) onto Vellum and added a die-cut for the rest of it.

Super happy with this, I think it's perfect for a fashion forward 16 year old.

His gift is the same thing that I give all my godchildren at this age - a weekend away with me - Ben I think has drawn the lucky straw, as now that we live in NYC, this gift means he is coming here.

Cx