Christmas Card 2018: Merry Monster Christmas...

Hey,

Happy Friday.

Last full day of vacay today. We have had a very very relaxing time. It has been great to hang out with the Wife, I'm gonna miss her.

Today's Christmas card was a bit of an experiment. I bought a large 'Noel' banner in the sale from Hema when I was in London in August, I thought I could chop it up and use parts of it on Christmas cards.

The glittery tree thing is part of the banner and I dug out some awesome Tim Holtz Monster dies that Cheiron gave me and die-cut him in a Christmassy green. I added a red panel behind him to highlight his face better.

I used my Dymo labeler to create the sentiment and used a great piece of spotty paper (from JT) as my base.

It came together really well and I think I'll be making a couple more.

Have a great weekend, we'll be partying in Tampa tonight, lunching with the Wife tomorrow before we leave and hitting the sofa's for the first NFL Sunday of the season - WHOOP.

Cx

Smile..it looks great on you...

Happy Labor Day!!

Live from Tampa!

We are having a bit of rain this afternoon, whilst we wait for The Wife to arrive..

So I thought I'd share a card with you.

I saw this new Waffle Flower stamp 'Picture Perfect' and I had to have it. I love the fun combo of the Parrot, Snail and Monkey - so weird, so very me.

The sentiment is part of the stamp, but I am planning to make a version where I mask of the sentiment and use something different. For a first use of it, I wanted to use it as it came.

I stamped it onto watercolour paper, so I could colour it with Distress Inks.

Fun cheery card that feels a bit like my vacation...I'm going to have first dibs on saying I am the Monkey and Hubby and The Wife can fight it out for the other 2 creatures ;)

Cx

Birthday Monster Thank You...

Hey,

I always like the thank you cards I send for my birthday to be a themed set - this year I decided I would use as many of my Monster sets as I could.

I stamped the monsters (from Jane's Doodles, Paper Smooches, Sweet Stamp Shop) onto tags and coloured them as part of the 30 day colouring challenge.

I cut the cardblanks using A7 cardstock from Paper Source and used a strip embossing folder on the front panel, then added a strip of paper and washi tape.

The sentiment is by MFT and is a second-hand purchase from Cheiron.

Majority of this batch went out just before I left NYC and I was so lucky and got so many gifts that I think I will need to make some more when I get home!

Excited today, as we are seeing the wife, she is coming and getting us from my parents and driving us to our 2 week home in Notting Hill.

Fun times ahead for the next two weeks, alongside a crap load of work!!

Cx

Happy Cinco de Mayo Lemons...

Hey,

So it is that time of the year when we drink Margaritas and celebrate Mexico or something!

It is also that time of year when we wish the Wife aka Lemon a very Happy Birthday!

The photo today was taken of 'the family' on our recent trip home to London, before we went on a night out. We all look so happy!

I'm not going to write another post about how awesome Lemon is or how much I miss her, instead I will point you here and here to read more about this fabulous creature.

Instead I am simply going to say - I love you Melons, Happy Birthday.

Cx

p.s I couldn't show you her card because I forgot to take a photo of it!!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!!

Welcome to 2017...

This is the first New Year since we have lived in NYC that Lemon has not joined us.

Due to my operation in 3 weeks time, we opted for a more low key Christmas and New Year and we will be going on holiday with Lemon in April.

So I thought it would be nice to make her a special card.

I got these great stamps by Tim Holtz in a BF sale -

Awesome right?!

I figured that they would make an awesome NYE scene.. I chose the London one, as both Lemon and I are from London.

I blended the background first, using distress inks and created a darker grey panel for the bottom of the card to anchor the stamp a bit.

I used a bit of artistic license and went with a 'day' sky, not a 'night' sky which would have been more appropriate for fireworks, but it was what I wanted..

I stamped the London Cityscape..it worked out so well, I was super dooper pleased.

The fireworks were a bit of luck, I remembered that one of my Simon Says Stamp cardkits came with a firework stencil that I had never used, so cue approx 45 mins of hunting to find the teeny tiny little beast and voila! fireworks!! I used distress inks first through the stencil, then I used Spectrum Noir sparkle markers to add some shimmer.

I added the strip for the sentiment at the last minute, I was planning on stamping in the grey distress section, but I tried it and didn't like it, so needed a fix..happier now..

Of course there had to be bling..I mean what kind of New Year card would it be without bling?!

Happy with the final card (I kinda wanted to keep it lol)

Back to work in 2 days..that went quickly, but it's been nice, now let's hope it's not cray cray straightaway..

Cx