Retro Rubber Challenge #220 Tic Tac Toe..

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a tic-tac-toe board for you.

I was excited by this board and I chose - Snowman-Pattern Paper-Tag.

I am sad that Your Next Stamp is closing, I got my first ever Monster stamps from them and that sparked my obsession. I used one of my fave sets by them here 'Silly Monsters Chillout' I have had it since 2019.

This was such a fun and easy card to make. I love tags and I have a huge stash of them. This one is from Michaels and I love the glittery edges. My paper I found in my Christmas stash and worked perfectly here.

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

Challenge ends December 1.

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 Blog - #190 - Tag, you're it...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

Our long-time teamie LeAnne is stepping down, we really will miss her and her beautiful creations. Best wishes to you LeAnne, I am sure I'll see you around in blogland.

This time we have a 'use a tag' challenge.

I love tags, shop-bought, handmade, or any kind. I have a big bin full of them, so I was super excited to use one of my faves here.

I chose the tag first - it is from Michael's and has a great holographic effect, so when it catches the light, it feels a bit like the ocean to me! Hence my stamp choice 'Mermaid's Crossing' by Newton's Nook, I have had it since I took a class using it in 2016!

I never bought the dies, but this is where my awesome Brother Scan n Cut aka Big Sexy comes in handy!

The image below shows how I stamped and cut a bunch of things all at once. I even cut out the sentiments, just draw a pencil line around them and erase after.

I coloured my mermaid using copics, I am pretty pleased with her pink hair. After mounting the tag onto the card, I placed the mermaid and the sentiment and then added some of my all-time fave Pretty Pink Posh clear droplets.

I love it so much, that I am not sure I want to send it to anyone LOL.

How will you use a tag on your card? Make sure that you pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT has made.

Challenge ends September 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

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

4 cards, 1 stamp set: Making Cards Mag Freebie

Hey,

So having a little challenge gap day today :)

I wanted to show you x4 cards that I made using a freebie stamp set I got in the UK.

I love the stamps, they are a great addition to my stash.

I stamped x4 of the girls onto watercolour paper and used distress inks to colour them.

I decided that I would cut the main stamped images as tags and go from there.

I had a LOT of fun, I used so many scraps from my stash - including all the ribbon. Basically I never ever buy ribbon, I just save it from gifts I get given and recycle it in my crafting!

Fun cards that came out even better than expected.

Cx

Snarky Sketch: This Could be Vodka..

Hey,

It's so nice to be home and back at my desk.

I thought I would combine two challenges today. I loved the idea of the Sunday Stamps sketch and tag challenge combined with The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers 'C is for Cat'.

I thought my newish papers by Craft Sensations would work really well with the sketch and I love tags and thought it would be great to use one of my all-time fave dies - Lil Inkers dotted tag die.

I really like The Cat's Pajama's stamps and the set I used here 'It could be Vodka' always makes me smile. I stamped the cat onto the tag and coloured it using copic markers. I stamped the cup again onto a scrap of patterned paper and die-cut it and arranged it so it hangs slightly off the tag.

I keep ALL the ribbon that I get on gifts, this particular piece was from my Christmas gifts from my in-laws 2 years ago.

I love the sentiment - I mean who knows what the Cat is sitting in!

Cx

CASology: Dragonfly..

Hey,

Happy Friday to you!

I have the day off today, my Goddaughter Amy is here and we are going to be spending a day doing fun things, ahead of the first of my birthday weekend events!

I wanted to play along with the currently CASology challenge..

I actually thought I had a couple more Dragonfly stamps, but turns out I only have this teeny tiny one, which is by Pink Fresh Studio and is from their 'Itty Bitty Elements' set.

I love Dragonflies and one of the great things about living in NYC is that I get to see them flying around all Summer.

For some reason, I have had a hankering to play with a tag! So I used a Tim Holtz 'Mosaic' stencil with Spiced Marmelade and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxides to create the background on my tag,

I stamped, coloured and die-cut my little Dragonfly and after I figured out where I wanted him to sit, I stamped the sentiment onto the tag.

I then used foam tape to mount the finished tag onto my card blank.

Super happy with this, it came out just like I pictured it..that so rarely happens.

Have a great weekend.

Cx

Simon Says Stamp: Monday Challenge Tag It!!

Hey,

Welcome to May!

It has been AGES since I played along with a Simon Says Stamp challenge.

But my good friend Cheiron is on the design team for the Monday challenge and I LOVED her tag and it reminded me how much I love making tags.

In case you haven't figured it out, this week's challenge is Tag it.

As you can see from the main photo I got totally carried away and made x3 tags!

But my entry for the challenge is the middle one -

Bizarrely the actual tag I used here was a gift from Cheiron! I created the background by blending over the entire tag using Spiced Marmalade distress oxide ink and then I used a couple of the Tim Holtz layering stencils over the top. Clockwork in Chipped Sapphire and Schoolhouse in Black Soot.

I then stamped, coloured and fussy cut the weird Flamingo head and legs by Dylusions (Waddle Waddle) - I really love these weird stamps by Dyan Reaveley. I die-cut the body using a stitched arch die and a scrap. The sentiment is a fave and is also by Dylusions. 

It felt a bit flat, so I added a bit of washi-tape that I coloured with Dina Wakely scribble sticks and I added some stars using texture paste and a Tim Holtz stencil (Shifter Stars). When the stars were dry I coloured over them with Spectrum Noir sparkle pens.

I am SO pleased with the final tag.

The other two tags turned out great too and I am going to make a few more, now I am on a tag roll!

Cx

Inkspirational: Pop it Up!!

Hey,

Happy Monday!

I hope you had a nice weekend, I had a great first one back in NYC for like 3 weeks!

I got to spend QT with Hubby and at my desk.

I saw the current Inkspirations challenge -

I thought my special Easter card that I made for a friend fit this challenge really well.

There are lot of elements popped up on my card :)

I started by die-cutting the spotty panel as a background for my card. I then added a kraft tag - which I popped up with foam tape. I added the amazing Bear / Bunny by Neat & Tangled (All the Bunnies).

Then I die-cut the flower/grass using a die I got from The Works whilst in London and I coloured it using promarkers and popped that up, over the Bear. I added two smaller bunnies from the Neat & Tangled set and I popped them up too!!

I stamped the sentiment onto plain and spotty paper and cut it up and placed it randomly around my Bear.

I am so very happy with how this card came out. It's so Springy and happy.

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

Catch The Bug: Anything But a Card...

Hey,

Happy Monday to you.

It has been a hard weekend for Hubby and I, as we had to put our beloved Boscat to sleep on Friday. We are a bit of a mess, to be honest, but time will heal us. She was 13 and we know that she is better off, it just never feels like that!

It is a welcome distraction to have work and my blog to thing about.

Today I am with the Catch The Bug team for the Monday ABC post.

I love elaborate gift wrap and the Birthday Cake Tag stamp is one of my all time faves and I thought it would work really well with this little gift for a friend

I coloured the image, using Promarkers and die-cut it using a stitched circle die. Punched a hole and added a little piece of ribbon.

I hope my little tag gives you some inspiration of how to use the Bugaboo images in different ways.

Go over to the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Hip Hippo Anniversary..

Hey,

Only 5 more days of work for me before the Christmas break - I literally cannot wait.

December is the hardest month in my job, it's so intense getting everything delivered pre-Christmas and then planning for January, but it also feels pretty satisfying too, getting that much work done in such a short space of time.

I have good friends who celebrate their wedding anniversary in December, they got married the same year as Hubby and I and their wedding was one of my all time faves..

I bought this great Waffle Flower set 'Hip Hip Hooray' a while back and I hadn't used it, so I thought it would make a fun anniversary card for my friends - in part because they do a lot of things together and I thought these cute Hippos working out together summed them up.

I stamped, coloured and die-cut the hippos. I stamped hearts all over a mini kraft tag (I buy these from eBay 2x3.5inch and you get 100 for $2) using embossing ink and then dusted perfect pearls over them to create a fun background.

I stuck with the purple theme and mounted the tag onto a purple card blank, add the hippos and stamped the sentiment in a deep violet.

A slightly different anniversary card, but I love making things that are a bit personal for the recipients.

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

Retro Rubber #101...Photo Inspired Happy Holidays!

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

Well wasn't that a fun 100th celebration?!

A big thanks from me and the whole team to all of the people that joined in the fun and left comments on our blogs.

The winner of my giveaway is Angel North (http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/). Congrats - Angel, use the contact me form on the right hand side of my blog to send me your address details - I'll be back on 10th of December and will post your package then.

This is our last challenge of the year and in spirit of the season we are wishing you Happy Holidays with this theme -

I went a bit off piste, so to clarify, I used the snow, hat and scarf to inspire my card LOL.

I decided to go all non-traditional colours, as I was using a Flamingo stamp! The stamp is by Inkadinkadoo and I've had it since 2016, the whole set is a lot of fun and not really traditional, which might be why I love it so much. It is no longer for sale, so here's a photo for you.

I dug out a sparkly tag from my enormous tag stash - if you don't know me that well, here's a bit of insight I am literally addicted to tags, I make my own using dies AND I buy them at any opportunity..if my Husband ever finds my stash, I swear he will divorce me!

I printed a piece of pink snowflake paper by Pink Petticoat that I have had for about 9 years..I love the subtle snowflakes peeking through. I cut it a bit shorter, so I could add a sparkly gold border to coordinate with the tag. Final touch was to add the sentiment from the same stamp set.

I love this overly girly Holiday card it makes me very happy.

Show us what the photo has inspired you to make and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends December 14th.

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

Christmas Card 2018: Non-Trad Tag Christmas..

Hey,

So this year (like most) I made a metric ton of Christmas cards between Aug 1st and November 1st. However this year I haven't really posted them here.

Not sure why, but this week, I'm gonna show you a few of them.

Starting with today's beauty. I went to the Works and Poundland with JT when I was in London in October and I saw these beautiful tags and thought they would make nice Christmas card embellishments.

I created a background using digital stamps by Alexia Claire (LOVE their digi stamps), printed it out, coloured it and die-cut it with one of my fave dies ever..which shortly after I made this card fell down the gap between my desk and the expedit - UGH. Essentially that is more hassle than it's worth, so it will now live there until I move (not happening anytime soon).

I added sparkly gold thread to the sentiment tag and I used a blue gem to cover the 'tag hole' on the Reindeer - clever right?!

I love the end result, totally non-traditional Christmas and feels very modern.

Cx

Random Desk Pile: Thank you..

Hey,

Happy Monday!

I had a lovely weekend...

My Saturday AM gym session was amazing and terrifying all at once. I am now having to acknowledge how strong I am and that nothing is impossible...terrifying.

I also managed to get started on Christmas and was super productive, I cracked out 25 cards yesterday afternoon.

I also got a Cut Above mention for last week's Paper Players challenge, which was really nice, as I loved that card!

Today's cards are a few more from the random desk pile makes from a couple of week's ago.

This time, I had the flower / bouquet coloured and die-cut and the tags and papers were in a pile within a pile (honestly..)

So I stamped the sentiment onto the tags and die-cut the papers using a fun scalloped die that I bought second-hand and I am currently over-using.

The flower stamp / die is by Clearly Besotted and the sentiment stamps are by Hero Arts.

I love these cards, they make a wonderfully cheery set - here is a solo shot of one of the cards for you.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: Recipe Challenge Kraft + Colour Pop

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

Hubby and I will mainly be recovering today from our crazy night out last night..long overdue a night of dancing.

I'm still with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 

This week we have a fun recipe challenge for you - Make it Bright - use Kraft and a pop of colour.

I love the Valentine Jar image by Bugaboo, I overuse it for Anniversary cards.

For this challenge, I coloured it in hot pinks!! Using promarkers and a spectrum noir sparkle pen, then I fussy cut it..I hate fussy cutting but I do it a lot!

I added black ink splatters to a white card blank, die-cut the pink embossed tag and added that to my card blank. The kraft tag is shop bought..because I love tags. I mounted the kraft one using foam tape and did the same for my fussy cut image.

I think I nailed the brief as the colour certainly does pop!

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see which image and colour you choose to use.

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

The Paper Players: Toucan of Friendship...

Hey,

Sad day today, as my Momma leaves after being here for 2 weeks. It has been SO much fun hanging out with her and I'm super sad to see her go.

Momma and I in Philadelphia

So I love bird stamps, so when I saw the challenge over at The Paper Players this week, I knew I had to enter!

I wanted to use the great 'Toucan of Friendship' set by Reverse Confetti. I stamped and coloured one of the Toucan's from the set using Zigs.

I was a bit indecisive about the background and then came across some tags that I had forgotten about (from Paper Source) and I thought it would make a great backdrop for the Toucan. So I cut off the 'tag' part as it is a super long tag!

I stamped my sentiment also from the set in the top right corner and added the Toucan using foam tape..

I love him, he's so cheerful and is going to accompany a gift for a friend.

Cx

Catch the Bug GDT: Photo Challenge

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

I'm back with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 

Can't believe my April GDT stint is over, but don't worry I'll be here for another 3 months :)

This week we have a photo inspiration / colour challenge for you..

I love the Rose Flower Can stamp..infact ALL the flower can stamps are faves of mine.

I coloured the image, using the bulk of the colours, but added a grey for the watering can. I use Promarkers to colour and despite being exposed to Copics, these are still my fave alcohol markers.

I thought it would be fun to die-cut the panel that my image was on using a tag die. I love tags...

I couldn't believe my luck when I stumbled across the pretty background paper, that just so happened to have all the colours from the inspiration photo on it!

I stamped the sentiment in dark green ink onto a pink panel.

This came out far more elegantly than I had expected and as usual has already left my desk!

Hope you will be playing along too. How will you be using the colours? Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

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

Flower Tag Birthday...

Hey,

Over the Christmas break I was having a dig through my dies, basically I wanted to see if there was anything I hadn't used or had forgotten about!

I came across this awesome garden stems tag die by Simon Says Stamp, that I bought off of Cheiron in her destash sale last year.

JT gave me some really beautiful paper flowers when I saw her and an idea was born - 

I decided that I would put some distress inks onto my craft mat add some water and dip the tag in the greeny mess. This is the only thing that really pleases me about this card.

I actually think that the simplicity of my original idea is now lost that the card is finished..but my craft people say they don't think it's busy, they like it. So I am taking that as a win and not being as much of a brat about it.

I am going to try again and see if I can retain the original simplicity.

Cx