Retro Rubber Challenge #198 - Warm Winter Wishes...

Hey,

Welcome to the first fun Retro Rubber challenge of 2023 - did you miss us? We missed you!

We have a theme for you this time - Winter...

I love snowflakes (not IRL) and I have tons of stamps, stencils, and dies. 

I wanted to make the little Fox stand out, so I used a fave Gourmet Rubber Stamps snowflake stencil with blue glitter paste (by Martha Stewart). All the reds and blues in the Fox's outfit really pop off the card. He is 'Holiday Fox' by AALL & Create and was a gift from JT for Christmas 2021.

What wintery items will you use? Pop over to Retro Rubber, get inspired by the things the DT have made, and welcome our new teamie, LeeAnn Mckinney.

Challenge ends January 27.

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 #150 Winter Wonderland

Hey,

Welcome to 2021 and the first fun Retro Rubber challenge of the year AND our 150th challenge!! 

The majority of the team have been here since the beginning and I am super grateful for their talents and friendship. Big love to our leader Jane too for all of her hard work!

We love to start the new year with a Wintery challenge for you - it's pretty Wintery here in NYC (ugh!).

I really loved the quote from the Simon Says Stamp 'Winter Sayings' set that I have had since 2018 and barely used. It inspired my card and I paired it with 'Cute Snowflakes' also by SSS and it's one of my older sets, I've had it since 2016.

I stamped the background using 3 different colours of ink. I heat embossed the quote onto vellum - my fave thing to do if I want to show as much of the background as possible. The frame is actually from a tag set by MFT. I dug out an ancient freebie snowflake die, because I thought it looked a bit bare and then at the last minute I added some serious bling!

Here is a close-up for you.

I am super happy with how this came out. I love creating my own backgrounds.

How will you make a Wintery card? Be sure to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends January 29.

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

NND Inky Paws: Snow Day..

Hey,

Today I am playing along with the current Newton's Nook Inky Paws challenge..

It felt like it was meant to be as one of my fave Newton's Nook sets is 'Snow Day' (which I don't think it's available anymore) AND on Monday when I made my card it was snowing..

I started by stamping and colouring the cute bunny from the set. I then die-cut some slopes using Lawn Fawn stitched border dies. I die-cut a stitched rectangle from blue paper and then heat embossed snowflakes from the set onto the panel.

I LOVE how the heat embossing came out.

I assembled the whole thing and then stamped the sentiment also from the set and added that to my card. For a finishing touch I added some stickles to the slopes.

Fun card to make me feel a bit better about the odious weather..oh and the fact that I am off to Florida tomorrow ;)

Cx

NND InkyPaws - Ornamental Newton..

Hey,

Hope you are well and had a good weekend.

I am currently playing along with Kathy Rac's 30 days of colouring and Carabelle Studio's 30 days of ATStamps. Busy, but a lot of fun. I'll show you both of them at the end of November.

Today I wanted to join in the fun over at Newton's Nook. I really like their Inky Paws challenge and I was sad to hear recently that Newton had passed away. Always sad when we have to say goodbye to fur babies.

The current challenge is a colour one -

I love non-traditional Christmas colours and so I thought these colours would make a great holiday card and work really well with the lovely 'Ornamental Newton' stamp set.

I stamped snowflakes in green and teal (Snowflakes are by Simon Says Stamp) and die-cut the panel out.

I added a big teal piece of card to hold my sentiment and anchor Newton.

I love the bauble, so big and bright in the 2 shades of pink that I used. I hope it's ok that I coloured Newton in Grey?!

I added a few teal sequins here and there to finish off my card.

Cx

Addicted to CAS: Snowflake..

Hey,

So I thought I'd play along with a challenge tonight.. and I was looking at some of my faves and this popped up over at Addicted to CAS..

Just so happens I had a gorgeous Penny Black Snowflake die sitting on my desk :)

I thought it would make a great CAS card for a friend.

I die-cut the snowflakes (there are x2 pieces to the die) out of scraps of gold paper. The black background was die-cut using a stitched rectangle die and the card blank was a lucky find in my stash, it's a bronze/gold-ish colour. WHOOP!!

I stamped the sentiment from Simon Says Stamp 'Four Seasons Saying' using Versamark embossing ink and used gold Pearl-Ex over the top (still learning, hence the shimmer in the photo!). I then die-cut it out using a tag die.

Once I had affixed the snowflakes and the tag together, I punched a hole and tied it all together with a piece of gold thread.

I love how simple and impactful my card is and it was a great way to use a Snowflake not on a Christmas card.

Cx

Christmas Card 2018: For the parents..

Hey,

To round of this week of Christmas Card fun (and a birthday card..), I wanted to show you the Christmas card to end all Christmas cards!

Ever since I was a little girl, my parents have given me a Christmas card from them and one of each of them individually, I am sure this is something to do with me being an only child..

So now I give them a joint card from Hubby and I and individual ones for each of them from me.

Today's card is the one I made as their joint card.

Isn't he gorgeous?!

I literally discovered perfect pearls a couple of weeks ago and I happened to have a purple pot of them and so I had a play and decided I liked them enough to invest in other colours. BUT then I realised how pricey they are and researched alternatives and came up with Jacquard Pearl Ex.

Pearl Ex need a fixative and Perfect Pearls do not, but Pearl Ex come in a large container for the same price as the teeny tiny Perfect Pearls ones..

So I bought x2 colours of Pearl Ex - Gold and Blue - I mean come on, my 3 fave colours are gold, purple and blue, so all good.

For this card, I stamped the Sizzix large snowflake stamp using versamark embossing ink and then dusted the gold Pearl Ex over the top, the result is just stunning. I've always been a bit meh about that snowflake stamp..no longer!

The large snowflake die is a set by Penny Black and I die-cut it from a shimmery red cardstock scrap I found in my red paper drawer. I used the smaller die from the set for the gold snowflake.

Then I die-cut a label and stamped my sentiment in versamark and dusted some Pearl Ex over it, so it matched the background. Cue approx 35 mins of ridiculous butter finger bow tying.. and the card was finished.

I can't stop staring at it, its so shimmery and feels super Christmassy.

I think my parents will love it.

Tonight we are heading back to London from Porto. Hubby and I fly home tomorrow, so I will tell you all about the trip next week.

Cx

Catch The Bug: New Release Tuesday..Sunbonnet Girl..

Hey,

I am back with the Catch The Bug team, I had a little break due to the trapped nerve issue.

As today is Tuesday, it is New Release day..

We are celebrating the Christmas season with a new Sunbonnet girl. I LOVE these stamps and had them all even before I joined the team.

You will be able to find her over on the Bugaboo home page.

I coloured the image, using Promarkers and then fussy cut her out.

I have been itching to use the snowflake die by Penny Black (I bought it on super bargain sale a while back) and I thought it would work really well with this image.

I heat embossed the sentiment and it came together so well that I made a bunch of them!

I hope I've inspired you to swing by the Bugaboo store. Be sure to swing by the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes with this awesome release.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: Christmas in July - baby it's cold outside..

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

This is my penultimate post with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 4 months of GDT has flown by and it has been SO much fun, I am very sad that last week will be my last one.

This week we are kicking off the CTB team's - Christmas in July - a week of fun Christmas related challenges.

Today we are starting with -

Make a Christmas / Holiday card and use the theme 'Baby It's cold Outside'.

I love the Winter Birds and have all of them (oops) and so I chose Winter Bird Skate for my card - the cool bird wrapped in his scarf sums up 'Baby It's Cold Outside' for me! 

I coloured the image, using Promarkers. I dug out a fave snowflake embossing folder and embossed a piece of shimmery sparkly silver paper, to use as my background. To anchor my image, I added two little strips of paper, one is super glittery and sheds everywhere!

Hope you will be playing along all week!

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes and the rules for this special week.

Cx

p.s Today is also Hubby's birthday..more on that tomorrow or Monday!

Sketch Saturday #484 Dino Christmas..

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you and welcome to the latest sketch for the Sketch Saturday challenge.

Our sponsor this week is Drawn with Character and they are offering a prize of 3 digi stamps from their store.

Here's the sketch...

I love Monsters, Aliens and Dinosaurs, so when I saw the cute Happy Birthday Dino, I thought he would be perfect to play with!

I decided he wouldn't be a birthday card, as I am in the midst of Christmas card making! I used traditional Christmas colours for my card and used two snowflakes for the other circles. Finished my card off with a simple sentiment (using a die I forgot I had..), but decided at the last minute to add a bit of bling to the snowflakes..glad I did.

I can't wait to see what you do with the sketch, but first check out what the rest of the DT have made over at Sketch Saturday.

Challenge ends 13th October 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Retro Rubber Challenge #54...Let it Snow..

Hey,

Time for another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

This time we want you to  use snow on your card -

I am not a big fan of snow, living in NYC it can be a bit much for this Londoner... But I do like making pretty snow based cards :)

I learnt this awesome technique in Cheiron's holiday class last year.

Basically you blend together your inks, starting with the light one and work up to a darker colour. Then flick your blended paper with water and lay a paper towel over it - voila! Instant snow effect - ah.mazing!!

I love it and have totally been over using this lately..

Once I had my background I dug out two stamp sets by Simon Says Stamp (Hand Lettered Wishes from 2015 and Cute Snowflakes from Jan 2016 - both from SSS cardkits ).

I stamped the sentiment in Navy Blue and the snowflakes and flourishes in Grey. I wish I had considered stamping snowflakes in Grey before!! They look so much better.

I added a couple of teeny bits of bling to finish it all off.

I love the Wintry feel of my card.

Your turn to get your snow on, but first go over to Retro Rubber and see what my awesome teammates have been making.

Challenge ends on January 27th don't forget to tell us how old your stamp is, that is half the fun :) And please limit your challenge entries to 10 including ours.

Cx

Bugaboo Holiday Chaos... Day 6

Hey,

Again I am doing two posts in one day, but I really want to play along with all the days in the Bugaboo Holiday Chaos Challenge, and I am having a lot of fun playing along

Day 6 is Flashback..

The team want us to use an older image and older papers from our stash.

I chose to use a fave Rudi image, that I have had since approx 2011. It was one of the first things I ever bought from Bugaboo and JT and I have fond / horrific memories of this stamp.
It was one of the ones we used to make Christmas Cards during an afternoon way back in 2011 when we made 242 cards..what the HELL!!!

You will notice that the string is missing from the bottom of the ornament, I never loved it, so I retouched it out. I am sticking with my Promarkers and Stickles colouring for this challenge ;) I die cut the white panel using an MFT oval stitched die, I don't use these enough..note to self.

The snowflake paper is form 2010?! How do I know that you ask..well when I was digging through the paper box, I found a partial note about supplies for a craft fair I did in 2010, written on the back of this scrap! There isn't much left of it, hence the tiny strip used. So I added a bit of red paper to break up the white card a bit more.

The sentiment is by Clearly Besotted.

Another superb card for my stash..I have sent all my Christmas cards, but it would seem I am getting forgetful in my old age and I keep finding more people to send to LOL.

Cx

Exciting news...

Hey,

Happy Monday everyone.

So remember last week I said I had exciting craft news?

Well I made the Sketch Saturday Challenge DT - YAY!!!

I couldn't believe it when I found out 2 weeks ago, I love sketches and I have played along with Sketch Saturday a lot. So I am super excited to be joining this talented team.

So to celebrate this great news today I am playing along (but obvs not entering!) with the current challenge.

This week's sponsor is Digi Stamp Boutique, they are offering a £10 gift certificate.

I used one of the images from the Bailey Reindeer set and coloured it using Zig Clean Color brush pens.

The floral paper is by American Crafts and is ancient and I don't have much of it left, I paired it with a co-ordinating green square. I added a thin piece of red ribbon for a bit of extra interest and finished off with a snowflake and wooden heart.

The sentiment is by Papermania and both my stitched circle and square dies are by Simon Says Stamp.

I love it, such a sweet image.

Hope you will play along too challenge ends on Friday 11th of November and I'll be back on Saturday 12th with my first DT make for the team.

Cx

Tic Tac Toe...

Hey,

So last week turned out to be a fun craft related week for me.

I can't tell you about one part of it yet...soon I promise. But the other part was that I was the headliner over at The Paper Players challenge - how lovely is that :)

I thought that it would be fun to play along again this week with their current challenge #319, which is a tic-tac-toe - can you tell me if there is anyone who doesn't love a tic-tac-toe?

I chose Snowflakes, Washi Tape and Diecut for my card.

I dug out my ancient Sizzix snowflake background stamp, inked him with distress inks and spritzed him, then laid my paper over it. I love the effect you get by doing this, the snowflakes are slightly smudged and feel like they are slightly wet.

I have this roll of glittery washi tape that is seriously rationed because I can't find the colour anywhere and this shade of blue is my fave...

I used a piece of it here on my card and it's the perfect anchor for my sentiment (by Clearly Besotted) and the Sizzix snowflakes - I die-cut them in 3 different types of paper - vellum, embossed photo paper and shimmery white cardstock and layered them onto my card using mini staples.

Super simple to make and another great addition to my Christmas Card stash.

Cx

CAS Challenge..Christmas

Hey,

Hope you are having a good weekend so far.

I really wanted to play along with the Simon Says Stamp Weds Challenge this week..the theme is Clean and Simple.

I decided to break out more Christmas stamps...its a good way to increase the Christmas card pile :)

I love the Penny Black 12 Days of Christmas stamp set, but it can be super hard to use!

I thought the '3 French Hens' stamp went perfectly with the 'Eat, Drink and Be Merry' sentiment stamp by Papermania. 'Eat, drink and be merry' is my fave Christmas sentiment and I have several different versions of it. But I think this one is my fave, because the font is so nice.

I coloured the hen using Promarkers and added a little SSS snowflake stamp for some extra Christmas flavour!

Super CAS I think and a great use of my stamps.

Cx

Christmas in July...

What!!!

I know, I know.. it's too early to be thinking about Christmas right?

Paperless Post is doing a Christmas in July challenge and I was so excited to be invited to participate!

There are some really great party invites over at Paperless Post and it sparked an idea for creating my own one..wouldn't it be fun to throw a  Christmas party in July - what would it be like?

I like the idea of a beachy, bright Christmas celebration - like it would be if I lived in Hawaii..

So that is the theme for my imaginary party - Hawaii...

Here's my invite -

Invite template by Paperless Post (image not included)

Ha ha ha - see you are wishing that this party was on now aren't you!

As we are in 'Hawaii' I'd be hosting my party at the beach, we'd be barbecuing the Turkey and the sides and I'd ask everyone to bring a Christmas / Holiday dessert -

Like these fun Meringue Trees -

Image courtesy of Two Sisters Crafting

 Or these Christmas Tree cakes..yums!!

Image courtesy of Cuded Art and Design

How do you decorate a beach Christmas..

Wouldn't it be fun to add twinkly lights to these homemade Christmas Mason jars..

Image courtesy of Put it in a Jar

...then as it gets late, everyone gets a jar and it would feel all festive and intimate..

Of course everyone loves to get a present and I wouldn't let you leave my party empty handed.

Continuing the Hawaii theme, I stamped some paper with Pineapples, Christmas trees and festive wording and made it into mini Christmas boxes, complete with a Snowflake flower LOL -

Who knows what would be in your Christmas in July present, but whatever it is, I am sure you'll love it!

It is still a bit early for some people to be planning Christmas, but personally I think that it's always good to start thinking about these things...If you are not a crazy cardmaker like me, check out the great Christmas Cards on offer over at Paperless Post.

Cx