Fusion Card Challenge - So Berry Sweet...

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

It's been a bit of a whirlwind the last week and a half. We bought a house and finally moved in last Friday. The craft room and my work desk were the first things I unpacked. The craft room is not finished, but it is totally open for business ;)

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

Which will you try?

I loved both, so I fused them!

I knew I had a set by Studio Calico that had fruit in it!! Fortunately, I packed my stamps in their bins, so it was easy to find!

I cut a piece of white cardstock to fit the front of an A2 card blank and stamped the strawberries on the piece that would appear below my glittery border. I coloured them using Altenew markers. The sentiment is from the same set and echoes the 'thanks' sentiment in the inspiration image.

I am super pleased with the first-ever card from my forever craft room.

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 8th.

Cx

Fusion Card Challenge - Tulips..

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

This time we have a 'Tulip' themed image for you and as always a fabulous sketch

Which will you try?

No surprise, but I fused (but my tulips are orange as they are my fave!).

The pretty border stamp by Clearly Besotted from their 'Mr & Mrs' set inspired me to create a card with a simple Spring sentiment. I love this stamp, it's so fun and easy to watercolour.

I have been hoarding this very last piece of the patterned paper by Studio Calico.. I love it SO much. But this card is going to someone special, so I figured that they deserved the last piece LOL. The circle die is by Memory Box and it was featured in Jennifer Maguire's fave dies of 2021 and I use it a lot.

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 April 26.

Cx

Fusion Card Challenge - Grey Christmas...

Hey,

Welcome to the last Fusion Card Challenge of 2021! How quickly did that go?!

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

Which will you try?

This time I just went with the sketch.

The background stamp is by Studio Calico 'Scandinavian Christmas' and is one of my all-time fave stamps. It's always fun to colour and worked really well with the scalloped die. I added a sentiment and the bow to finish it off and match the sketch.

This super fun card got added to my stash :) and will be heading out to someone soon.

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 7th.

If you are celebrating Thanksgiving today, Happy Thanksgiving to you, remember to take some time and tell your loved ones how grateful you are to have them in your life.

See you in January 2022.

Cx

25 Days of Christmas Tags 2020 - Tree Tags..

Hey,

Happy Friday! I am SO glad this work week is nearly over..

I recently stumbled across Tracey McNeeley's 25 Days of Christmas Tags..

I love tags, so it is surprising to me that I hadn't come across this before!!

I wanted to play along and the tags for Day 7 using Uniko products really are my faves so far!!

I don't have any Uniko products (that is about to change..) so I used what I had to CASE these tags by Lindsey Larsen - 

I used a new Tim Holtz stencil (it was part of the class kit from last weekend's virtual retreat) and blended distress oxides through the stencil (picked raspberry, worn lipstick, spiced marmalade, twisted citron, and mermaid lagoon). 

I made long strips that I then cut into two - because of this, my colour variation on each tag isn't quite like Lindsey's, but I'm happy with it.

I used x2 different stamp sets for the sentiment strips - Pink Fresh Studio 'December Days' and Studio Calico 'Jolly'.

The twine is actually from my friend Lisette and she had used it to wrap my birthday gifts this year - I recycle EVERYTHING!!

Here is a little shot of all x10 tags - I love how they came out and now I am off to buy all the Uniko things..

Have a great weekend.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #145 Tic Tac Toe...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge - OCTOBER already!! 

This year is racing by, not sure if that is good or bad, given everything that has happened.

You know we LOVE a Tic Tac Toe board! So here is our final one for 2020!

This was a bit of a no-brainer for me, show me the word metallic and I am SOLD.. LOL.

I went with the top row - yellow/one word/metallics.

Several years ago I bought a Studio Calico paper clearance box and it was a magical thing! All the papers I used here are from that box! Including the glittery paper - which I am counting as my metallic, because it's gold!

I die-cut all the papers with my stitched square dies by Lawn Fawn. The scripty thanks die is also by Lawn Fawn and I die-cut it twice, once in yellow foam and once in the pretty paper you see. The foam piece is underneath, to pop it up - much easier to do this, than cut a bunch of tiny little foam pieces...

I added the cute little Mama Elephant Monkey holding presents, he is from 'Little Monkey Agenda', this was given to me as a gift by a friend early in 2019.

I sent this card to a friend already to say thanks for something and she said she wants more 'Mini Monkey' cards LOL.

Which row are you going to use? Make sure to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends October 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

CAS(E) This Sketch: Age is Just a Number..

Hey,

I decided that I had to do a second post today, because the minute I saw the sketch for CAS(E) This Sketch, I knew I had to play along!

I used the long edge of the card for my version of the sketch, so my card would be landscape, as the stamp I wanted to use is rather long.

The number stamp us by Hero Arts w/Studio Calico from their 'Please Note' set and I only bought it because I had to have this number stamp, however the rest of it has been used!

I coloured my stamp using Copic markers in rainbow order - it's SO pretty, I don't know how I'm going to part with it..

I added a sentiment from the Concord & 9th 'Happy Day' set. To match the sketch, I stamped another '3' on some yellow cardstock and fussy cut it and popped it up. However, you can't really tell I did that in my main photo (sigh) so here is a close-up for you.

I also added a few enamel dots in coordinating colours as a final touch.

I love this super quick and easy make, I love sketches, so inspirational.

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

Splattery Birthday...

Hey,

Happy Monday.

Well that was a weekend and a half!!!

I went out with the girls on Friday night and did not get home until 3am and then had PT at 10am. Man that sh*t was HARD!!

Then I hung out at home and played at my desk, making all kinds of fun things.

Today's card, I made as an experiment, sadly it didn't photograph very well, because you can't really see the pale pink watercolour wash behind the sentiment.

The sentiment stamps are by Studio Calico and I stamped them over my watercolour wash and then added some blue ink splatters.

I love the simplicity of it, brought alive with the awesome card blank.

Have a great week, I am going to be working out a LOT this week, ahead of my crafting weekend away with Lisette, we are going on a road trip to do a couple of Jenn Shurkus classes in Conneticut.

Cx

Twofer Challenge time...

Hey,

Happy Friday..

This week has been crazy!!! Being very unwell last week left me with a backlog of work and personal things.. AND JT was here for a few days, so I really wanted to spend a decent amount of time with her.

I did manage to make a twofer card this week :)

I really wanted to play along with both of the current Less is More and Addicted to CAS challenges and I felt that they combined really well.

I love bird stamps and the most recent set I purchased Mod Birds by MFT is fast becoming a fave. I stamped all of the birds from the set in navy and yellow ink, fitting the LIM theme. I wasn't sure which of the birds I wanted to use and tried them all until I settled on the one you see.

I like masking off shapes so I can ink blend into them and so now I have a ton of ready to go masks - fun tip, I use the card inserts that come in stamp sets to create masks out of :).

I used Fossilised Amber Distress Oxide ink for my circle and added some stars by Studio Calico in navy around the edge of my circle.

The sentiment stamp is a magazine freebie and fit the overall theme perfectly I thought.

I'm pretty pleased with the ONE card I have managed to make this week.

I'm looking forward to some serious desk time this weekend.

Cx

Sketch Saturday #538.. Crafty Sentiments Designs..

Hey,

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

Our sponsor this week is Crafty Sentiment Designs and they are offering 3 digis from their store.

This week's sketch is by my bestie JT - I like it a lot!

I really loved the Happy Days image from Crafty Sentiments and I thought it would look great with JT's sketch.

My card came together really well. I used a piece of patterned paper by Studio Calico and for my 'stripes' I used glittery red paper that I thought toned well with the patterned paper. I wanted to use a congrats die for the sentiment, as it felt like a natural fit for the image and I found a scrap of paper that worked so well with my colour scheme - love it when that happens.

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 November 8th 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Cx

The Paper Players: You're So Berry Sweet...

Hey,

I love The Paper Players challenges.

And this week's one spoke to me immediately as it would mean I could use x2 pieces of NBUS - yay!

So I know Cherries are not strictly berries, but I think I artistic licence is allowed ;)

The large Cherry stamp and die are from Michael's and I got them a couple of months ago on super bargain sale. The sentiment is by Studio Calico and is a bit shameful as I have had it since Black Friday 2017 and haven't used it...

It is discontinued now, so here is a photo of the set -

As the theme asks for CAS cards, this was super easy to put together, I stamped, coloured and die-cut the Cherries (Mrs Cherry has a touch of Spectrum Noir sparkle pen on..).

I used this as a guide for where my sentiment should go and I stamped parts of it using red ink.

Super easy, super fun for a Monday night card.

Cx

Splattery Birthday...

Hey,

Happy Friday!

It is a glorious day here in London!

I am sharing a quick card I made for a friend before I left NYC.

The Studio Calico 'Large Sentiments' set is a fave of mine, I bought it for JT and I in their Black Friday sale last year and it was a great buy.

I stamped and coloured it using Tombow Brush Markers and added some inky splatter and some dots to the letters (comes with the stamp).

Mounted onto a fun card blank for a super easy and quick make.

Have a great weekend, I will be with JT and my colleagues in the pub tonight and off to see The Grantham family tomorrow.

Cx

Retro Rubber #89.. Tic-Tac-Toe..

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

Time for another awesome Tic-Tac-Toe by Jan -

I really like Tic-Tac-Toe challenges, so many possibilities.

I chose the middle vertical row - Watercolouring - Patterned Paper - Congrats.

I love the shoe stamps in the 'Party On' stamp set by Studio Calico, I've had it since 2016 and the shoes are the main reason I bought it.

I die-cut the watercolour panel to size before I stamped the shoes, then I watercoloured them using Distress Ink.  The sentiment is from a magazine that JT gave me last year.

The patterned paper is seriously old, it is from the first 12x12 set I bought when I moved to NYC in 2013 and is by American Crafts!

Really fun and easy card to make, I actually made a bunch of them with different sentiments.

Which row will you choose? Can't wait to see your makes, pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends June 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

Freshly Made Sketches: Magical Birthday...

Hey,

So I decided that today was going to be a two post day as I wanted to play along with the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge -

Loved the sketch and yesterday a batch of Second-hand stamps that I bought arrived and I thought 'Magical' by Waffle Flower would work really well here.

I think I was right :)

I used an ancient piece of patterned paper for my larger rectangle, it is by Studio Calico and I think I've had it about 5 years!!

I die-cut the smaller rectangle out of cream cardstock and stamped the sentiment from the set. The 'Unicorn' I stamped and die-cut and kept the colouring super simple, as I wanted it to pop off the card.

I love it when new to me stamps work this well.

Happy Sunday.

Cx

Happy Belated Cinco de Mayo Lemons...

Hey,

It was Cinco de Mayo yesterday and that just happens to be Lemon's birthday.

I am SO happy with her card. I actually bought this set (Cinco de Mayo by Life.Love.Paper) from Studio Calico last year to make her card, but promptly forgot about it..

So this year I made a note to self..

I am very happy with how it came out, the pinata, glass, cactus and sentiment are all from the Studio Calico set and I added some stars to fill in the gaps.

I'm not so sad this year that we can't celebrate Lemon's birthday with her, because we are going on a family holiday to Tampa in September. So we get 6 whole days with her (Hubby and I will be there for 4 days before her).

I normally write a bit about how special Lemon is to me / us, but I figure I am now just repeating myself, so go to last year's post and read all about this amazing lady that is my chosen sister, friend, wife and person.

Cx

Hey Girl...Happy Birthday...

Hey,

Recently my desk has been a bit of a hot mess..

So I decided to give it a tidy up and gather a few of the items together to make a card or two.

I actually ended up with 3 cards with the one I am showing you being my fave.

I had a big stack of Heidi Swapp journaling items that I got on sale - that is the white, lined and tabbed item. The doily is actually only half of one. The pink tag is glittery and I had it out for a baby shower card and changed my plan. The Hey Girl die-cut (die is by Studio Calico) was also cut for something else but was languishing on my desk.

I layered it all together and added pop dots to the 'Hey Girl' and stamped Happy Birthday and ended up with this super fun girly card.

Love it when my slob like behaviour turns into something good.

Cx

CASology: Fit

Hey,

Happy Friday!

I loved being back at work yesterday...weird right!!

Tonight Hubby and I are off out on the annual bonus dinner night, if Hubby gets a bonus, I get a fancy dinner and a night at a hotel - sweeeet!

I'm playing along with CASology today -

I love this cue card.  Fit means a lot to me, I have been on a getting Fit journey for 9 months now and it's totally changed my life.

So I decided to use an old Simon Says Stamp set 'Work Out' because the girl reminded me of me in the gym, but I might be a bit sweatier - lol!! I coloured her using Promarkers and Spectrum Noir sparkle pens. I decided to add a bit of detail to her top, because most of my work out clothes have a little bit of a pattern..I LOVE work out clothes

I wanted to anchor the girl, so I broke out a stamp by Studio Calico and Hello Forever, that I hadn't used yet.

I like how this little addition transformed my card.

Final step was adding the sentiment, I thought this one summed up how I feel about being Fit.

Have a great weekend.

Cx

CASology: Together..

Hey,

So I saw this week's CASology cue word 'Together' and knew it was for me.

As you know I feel that Monsters are appropriate for any occasion and I have a metric ton of Monster stamps.

The ones I used on my card here are rather special, as they came in the post..no note, PO box postmark and were unlabeled so I have a) no idea who they are from! and b) who they are by!

Seeing these Monsters on my desk, along with the word 'Together', sparked an idea...

I die-cut the stitched wonky rectangle die by Lil Inkers and stamped the sentiment by Studio Calico and One Little Bird. The sentiment is from a great set called 'Extrovert' and for me it represents together, as I know anytime I go anywhere with my crazy friends, good times will be had.

The Monsters didn't come with dies, so I coloured them and then fussy cut them - blurgh ugh - I hate fussy cutting.

I popped up the white panel and the Monsters and for extra craziness I added googly eyes. I also added a couple of enamel stars for some extra colour.

I love it and now I feel like I need to make a bunch and send them to my crazy friends!

Cx

Camera Background..

Hey,

So every year JT and I do the annual $20 challenge.

We do it around Black Friday and you have to spend $20 on crafty things for the other one. You also have to have one ridiculous bargain item and then add themes, but you are not limited by the themes.

This year the themes were stars, stripes and Margate inspired.

I did a pretty good job with JT's haul, Studio Calico had the most ridiculous sale ever, so I went crazy there for both of us. The haul I got from JT is pretty impressive and I am slowly working my way through it.

JT bought me this awesome camera stamp, she was right I do have a few camera stamps, but I love the detail on this one.

I thought it would be fun to make a background using the stamps and pigment inks. I chose pigment inks because you get a much more vibrant colour.

Fun right?

I have only made 1 card out of this background so far, I decided to keep the other piece for another time.

To make this card, I die-cut the background using a stitched square die, I stamped the 'you're' using an MFT label maker stamp and the die-cut 'awesome' is by Neat & Tangled.

The background works so well on this mini kraft background, I'm feeling very pleased!

Cx

Friend for Life...

Hey,

Last year my friend Ava sent me a link to a new stamp called Monster Selfie by Brutus Monroe.

Obviously I had to have it and I discovered all kinds of goodies on the Brutus Monroe site, including the Rockstar Pets.

I stamped the monster image ages ago and it has just been sitting unloved on my desk. I finally coloured it and made it into a card on Thursday!

I don't use the polaroid frame die much, but when I do I always think "why don't I use you more?".

The friend die is by Mama Elephant, the word stickers are by Tim Holtz and the awesome background paper is by Studio Calico.

This was a pretty quick make, despite all the elements.

Which monster are you? I'm the big jolly green one (I'm tall so I am always at the back!).

Cx