Throw on a Crown...

Hey,

Happy Friday!

Today is my last day off, Momma will be here until next Thurs, but I sadly have to go back to work.

A friend (Kelly) that I made via Instagram recently sent me x2 stamps..so sweet of her. She said they reminded her of me LOL.

One of the stamps was the awesome 'Crown' sentiment above..

I had a loss of mojo moment about 4 weeks ago and so I sat at my desk with my stencil drawer, distress inks and a water sprayer and just made tons and tons of backgrounds..some good, some bad.

I chose the one you see on my card because I thought it looked a bit like a palace and felt appropriate for the sentiment.

I'll show you more of the cards I've been making using the backgrounds over the next week or so.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #64.. Anything Goes...

Hey,

Time for another awesome challenge with the Retro Rubber team.

This time, we have a everyone's fave challenge - Anything Goes.

I have had this awesome stamp set Seasonally Scattered by Stampin' Up since 2014 and I have barely used it, so I thought it deserved to see daylight for this challenge.

First I smooshed (technical term) my paper in the two distress inks - Spiced Marmalade and Festive Berries. Then I die-cut the panel using a Simon Says Stamp stitched die.

I chose to use the 'Thanks' stamp from the set and I heat embossed it using bronze Ranger embossing powder.

Here's a close-up

Pretty right? I love it!

I hope you are going to show us what you can do with the colours and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things my teammates have made..

Challenge ends June 16th. Don't forget to tell us the age of your stamp, that is part of the fun (and our rules) of our challenge and please only enter 10 challenges including Retro Rubber.

Cx

Dirty Martini?..

Hey,

Happy Monday.

I have the day off today, as Hubby and I are heading back from Atlantic City today, no doubt nursing hangovers...

I have had the I Like It Dirty set by Unity Stamp Co. for a while now, but I hadn't had a good reason to use it.

It is a friend's birthday this week and like me she is a lover of a Dirty Martini, making this the perfect stamp set for her ;)

I used Concord & 9th Background Blocks stamps with distress inks and spritzed them to get create the background.

Another super simple and fun card.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #60...Baby Critters

Hey,

Time for another fun challenge with the Retro Rubber team.

I knew I had the perfect stamp set for this challenge. I bought a bunch of random stamps from a friend early last year and the Lil Hoot set by Hero Arts was in there, so I have owned it about 14 months and I think my friend had it for a couple of years before that.

I decided to use the Owl stamp, the baby Owl is so cute. I created the background using a Prima Marketing background stamp, I added a piece of scrap paper by Lawn Fawn, the pattern seemed perfect for this card.  Final steps were to mount the fussy cut Owls with foam tape onto a piece of kraft card stock and stamp the sentiment, also from the stamp set.

It's so cute, it feels like a 1st birthday card..

Your turn to show us your baby critter makes, but first pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things my teammates have made..

Challenge ends April 21st. Don't forget to tell us the age of your stamp, that is part of the fun (and the rules) of our challenge and please only enter 10 challenges including Retro Rubber.

Cx

Snail birthday CASE..

Hey,

Happy Monday.

Hubby and I will be heading back from Atlantic City today, no doubt with hangovers...

I have many craft crushes, one of them is Marion Vagg..I love her cards and she also seems to be a really nice person too.

I recently saw this tag she had made on Instagram -

I loved how she used the snail and having recently purchased the Avery Elle I'm late stamp and die, it seemed like a perfect time for a CASE.

I used a stencil by The Crafters Workshop for my sunburst with Oxide Distress Inks..I haven't been in love with these so far, but the Craftgang loves them, so I thought I'd try again and this is the first thing I have made using them where I love the results. The bleachy spots are great, so I am semi-onboard now!

I coloured the stamp using zigs and added some white gel pen spots to the shell, just like Marion's card.

I die-cut the panel using an MFT rounded stitched rectangle die, I die-cut it before adding the sentiment because I thought the Ohmygawsh might be too long..

The sentiment made me LOL, it is a combo of a CAS-ual Friday's stamp and a Simon Says Stamp one.

I love it, so bright and cheerful, a great interpretation of Marion's awesome card.

Cx

p.s Marion said on instagram that she loved it..swoon...

Happy Birthday Ben..

Hey,

Yesterday was my Godson's birthday.

He is no longer a teeny tiny baby or a curious toddler, he is a full blown, super tall, clever, sweet, teenager!

How did that happen?! And what on earth do I put on the front of his card?!

With all of this in mind, I opted for abstract / grunge!

I stamped the great lines background by Hero Arts in Chipped Sapphire distress ink and spritzed it with water for a bit more interest.

The sentiment is from a Simon Says Stamp set and I trimmed it out, to it in with the 2 random scraps I was adding to the card.

I stapled this all to the card, adding more staples than necesary for the grungy teenage boy feel (?)

I die-cut the entire panel and affixed it to the spotty cardblank, but it felt like it was missing something. Cue a few random enamel dots.

I think it's a fun card for a teenager, hope he likes it too.

Happy Birthday Ben.

Cx

Spotty Thank You...

Hey,

Last day of my Christmas break today..

Hubby is also off, so we are hanging out, playing video games ;)

I wanted to play with the HOTP acetate that you can heat emboss and it doesn't warp. So I decided to make a Thank You card for my parents.

I love how crisp the heat embossing came out. The 'Thank You' stamp is by Stampin' Up.

I created the background, by blending some distress inks and then I used a darker ink on my Penny Black 'Dots in Space' background stamp, spritzed it and laid the distressed panel onto it.

The die-cut is an ancient Spellbinders die, I love these dies and are always my default when I want an interesting shape.

The card is not a true shaker, I glued the bigger sewuins to the card base and added a few teeny tiny loose ones before adding my finished front panel using foam tape, so that the loose sequins don't fall out!

Simple, but elegant.

Cx

Boxing Day thanks...

Hey,

Happy Boxing Day to my English / UK based peeps.

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas.

I thought it was a perfect day for me to share a 'Thank You' card.

Before Christmas I had a playdate with some friends and I stamped a bunch of the backgrounds that you can see on my card today, the stamp belongs to Jamey. I LOVE this stamp, it is by Taylored Expressions and I think I need it in my life..

This one I stamped with Picked Raspberry distress ink, spritzed and dried.

I die-cut the panel using my absolute all time fave Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangle die and then stamped the sentiment, also by SSS.

The flower dies are shiny and new and this is their first outing, aren't they pretty! I ran a piece of black card through my Xyron before die-cutting them, making it easier to affix them to my card.

I added a few Neat & Tangled (freebie) sequins to the card to finish it off.

So pretty and simple, you'll see me using more of the backgrounds that I stamped over the next few weeks..

Cx

Shaker Snow Globe Tutorial...

Hey,

No Retro Rubber today, we are on our Christmas break, but we return on January 17th ready for a whole new year of fun, I do hope you will come and play with us then.

As it is nearly Christmas I thought I would share a tutorial with you..

I made this fun shaker as part of my Christmas card stash because I got a freebie snowglobe stamp and I wanted to play with it.

It was pretty straightforward.

Step 1
I stamped my globe and sentiment, using my MISTI. Then masked off my sentiment (by Clearly Besotted) using post-its.

Step 2 -

I inked up my snowflake background stamp (by Sizzix) added a spritz of water and then laid my paper onto the stamp. Remove the mask and this is the final stamped panel.

Step 3 -
I used a circle die to cut the aperture (badly..) for my shaker.

Step 4 -
No photo of this step, make your shaker pouch, affix to the back of the card and mount the card front using foam tape onto your card blank.

I added some Stickles here and there to make him shimmer a little bit more.

Super easy and look how pretty he is! Bar the dodgy aperture, but whatever, he is handmade and how many shaker snowglobe cards do you think the recipient will get? Ha ha.

Cx

CDT 423...A good day to be awesome...

Hey,

Happy Sunday to you.

I saw the great colours over at Color Throwdown this week and knew I had to play along..

I had a lot of fun making this card and the unusual colour combo really worked for me.

I decided I would put some Picked Raspberry distress ink onto my craft mat, spritz it and smoosh my watercolour paper into it, to create the hot pink background for my die-cut. I did this until I got the colour I wanted.

I used the Neat & Tangled Hexastar cover plate and boy is that hard to cut :) But It meant that I got some random triangles that didn't pop out and I actually really like it.

To enhance the hot pinkness I used a finger dauber and more of the ink around the edges.

I created the lime background using Lime Twist distress ink and a blending tool.

I used foam tape to pop the cover plate up and then die-cut the awesome from the Neat & Tangled set of the same name in red paper to fit the colour scheme. The rest of the sentiment is from the stamp set that goes with this die and I stamped that on a scrap of lime paper.

Finishing touch was to add a few lime and red sequins around.

It's bright and a bit in your face, but I love it, great make for a Saturday morning :)

Cx

Moving Along With The Times..Numbers or Letters...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Moving Along With The Times Challenge..

This time our Hostess is Judith and she wants us to use die-cut letters or numbers.

I made my card in October when I was at JT's house having a playdate. So none of the items you see on my card are mine - love playing with someone else's stash.

I used a great woodgrain background stamp that JT has and I inked it up with 3 different distress ink blues and spritzed it with water before laying my paper on top.

I love doing this, you always get a great effect and its a total surprise!

I decided that a word banner would work well and rooted through JT's stash and came up with this awesome Die-versions Cheers banner. I die-cut it in a coordinating colour and secured it to the card using mini staples.

It felt a bit bare, so I added some punched stars and some blue bling.

It has already left my desk and is winging its way to a friend.

Show us your creations, but first hop on over to MAWTT and see what the rest of the DT have been making.

Challenge ends on November 23rd at 1pm GMT. You can enter 3 times.

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

Happy Times...

Hey,

So Hubby and I are currently in DTown with JT's folks and today just happens to be her Dad's (Mike) birthday.

No doubt we will be doing an epic lunch celebration before heading home.

The main card I made for Mike, using the awesome birthday booty that JT bought me from Simon Says Stamp.

Mike is a wine fan - as am I and I thought this set was perfect for his card :)

I heat embossed the corkscrews in white and then smooshed the sheet in a variety of blue spritzed distress inks and dried it.

The sentiment is two parts - the 'happy birthday' part is from a different SSS set, but obviously the wine aerobics part came with this set, I stamped them using Staz-on black ink, onto vellum. I find that Staz-on is great for this, doesn't smudge, but you need to clean your stamps throughly because it ruins them!

I affixed this panel to the card using staples and then I added the two stamped and die-cut corkscrews using foam pads.

Love this set and the fun card I created here.

Happy Birthday Mike.

Cx

Monster Stripes...

Hey,

So last week  I had a play using the Stampin' Up brushstrokes stamp, distress inks and a spritz of water.

I love stripes.

After I made the backgrounds, I was rummaging around in my big box of random craft crap and came across a pack of misc Monsters!!

Where did they come from? No idea, but they made me laugh and I thought they co-ordinated perfectly with the stripey backgrounds and the Unity Stamp Co 'You're weird' stamp.

With this card, you can see that the stripes are not as vibrant. I don't re-ink the stamp, I just keep adding water to use what is left of the ink and it means you get a lot of variation in the backgrounds.

I added googly eyes to this Monster, because we all love a googly eyed monster :)

Cx

Small Gang...

Hey there...

Sneaking in a very early morning post, as I REALLY wanted to enter the running for the Concord & 9th Design team..

I really love their stamps and I'd be so honoured to be part of their first ever design team.

My Instagram Crush Jessica Frost Ballas is hosting the call.

I really like Concord &9th stamps, I was introduced to them by Cheiron and the Pop Art Pineapple set is one of my faves..

I made my card using a sentiment and dot stamp from the 'You're My Person' set.

I love this set because, I have a small gang of crafty friends and so this stamp reminds me of them and makes me happy.

My stripes are a stamp by Stampin' Up called Brushstrokes and I inked them up with distress inks and spritzed with water before laying my paper down on top of the stamp.

I mounted the stripey panel onto a piece of orange card and then mounted the whole thing onto my card blank. I added the dots randomly on top of the stripes, before positioning my sentiment and I added a green enamel dot as a finishing touch.

Love it. Simple and fun.

I'd love to make the team, but if I don't  congrats to those that do, I'll be playing along for sure.

Cx

Hey Buddy....

Hey,

Hope you are having a good weekend so far.

Today I am entering the Paper Smooches Monthly Challenge..I loved the challenge image -

Ha ha - excellent.

The challenge is all about friendship.

I am hoping that I am still eligible as I went with 'Hey Buddy'...

I love the fun card I ended up with, I used Distress Stains through a sunburst stencil by Clear Scraps and then spritzed it with water and dried it.

I used two Paper Smooches sets for the sentiment and hearts (Simply Said and Kudos Two) I heat embossed the sentiment and the hearts in black, so they would stand out more.

A really simple card that went to a friend who needed it..

Cx

CDT Red, Green and White...

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you, I am currently in Philly with Ma at a Family reunion.

I didn't have time to play along with the last Color Throwdown Challenge -

But because I loved the colours, I wanted to have a play with them anyway..

This new stamp set from Avery Elle arrived last Saturday morning -

I thought one of the ugly fishes would look great in green..

I stamped the chevron stamp in Barn Door distress ink and spritzed it with water and dabbed the excess around the page.

I added red, white and green bling and the sentiment by Hero Arts..

I love it, it's a bit weird, but perfectly so in my opinion.

Have a great weekend.

Cx

I hope your day is as nice as your butt...

Hey,

Happy Sunday!!

I think Ma and I are going to go off on a post brunch adventure today, but I can't decide where.

I am off tomorrow, so we get to spend more QT before she heads to Philly, I will be joining her at the end of the week.

I loved this stamp by Unity Stamp Co. it absolutely cracked me up. I made today's card for Lemon and she told me that it has already arrived.

I love this newish Wilted Violet Distress Ink, I am totally overusing it..

Here I smooshed (technical term) it into my craft mat and spritzed it with water, dipping my paper in an out to get the fun splatter you see. In between each 'dip' I dry my paper, you get deeper colours that way.

I heat embossed the sentiment stamp, I always think this looks so amazing against a smooshed background.

Cx

Moving Along With The Times...New Baby

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Moving Along With The Times Challenge..

This time our hostess is Beckie and her theme is New Baby...

Now you know I LOVE New Baby cards...

Friends of mine recently had a baby girl, they are a bit hipster cool (unlike me) so I wanted to make a card that was a bit out there and not very traditionally New Baby.

I made a bunch of distress ink backgrounds and thought this purpley / pinky one would be perfect for a New Baby card.

I have to confess I cut, coloured and stamped at least 20 critters until I got the sentiment looking how I wanted it too..LOL OCD time..

The critter stamps are by Mama Elephant and I love them, they are totally overused and they come a with a wide range of sentiments - except new baby!

The sentiment stamps are a mix of Studio Calico and Simon Says Stamp.

I added a few sequins and a bit of wink of stella here and there to finish off my card.

Your turn to show us your New Baby creations,  but first go over to MAWTT and see what fabulous things my teammates have made.

Challenge ends on July 6th.

Cx

Happy 30th Birthday...

Hey,

So my wonderful work colleague is turning 30..I adore her, she is awesome.

I wanted to make her something fun, because she is fun and keeps me sane.

I broke out two distress inks - Wilted Violet and Picked Raspberry - and dabbed them onto my craft mat, spritzed with water and smooshed my paper into the inky mess.

I find the first time you do this, you get a pretty standard watercolour effect. I like to go back in and pick up some of the colours in certain areas - you can see where I have done this, because you can see little speckles of colour and some fatter more defined splodges.

I like the colours I ended up with. I stamped the sentiment and used co-ordinating pink Thickers Stickers for the number..

I wanted to keep it kind of edgy, so affixed the whole panel to the cardblank using hot pink staples..love to co-ordinate.

Cx