Retro Rubber Challenge #252 - Get your sketch on...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have a sketch for you this time.

You know how much I love a sketch!

I thought I would turn this one into a Christmas card! I love the Woodware 'Scratched Background' Stamp that I have had since 2023; it looks great when stamped in festive colours. Here I decided to use black ink, as I thought it would be a nice contrast for my green and red layering. The embossing folder is a giant one by Spellbinders 'Scattered Christmas' and this was its first use! I replaced the circle in the sketch with one of my fave Cardinal stickers and opted for no sentiment, since the background stamp is all Christmas words.

I might make a few more of these in different colours..

Show us your interpretation of the sketch, pop over to Retro Rubber, and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends April 18th.

Don't forget to tell us the age of your stamp, that is part of the fun of our challenge, and please only enter 5 challenges including Retro Rubber.

Cx

Fusion Card Challenge - Colour Palette Bird...

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

This time we have 'Colour Palette Bird' 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 love birds, I have become a bird nerd since moving to Florida! I have tons of bird stamps, but decided to use one of my faves by Pretty Pink Posh 'Hummingbird Thanks'. I love Hummingbirds and have a couple in my new garden!

I stamped and watercoloured the birds using distress inks, I got as close as I could to the colour palette. Then I used a couple of different colours to create the background clouds, which I created using my fave MFT 'Cloud Edger' stencil. The sentiment is actually from a Woodware set 'Paper Birds' that I got as a gift from a friend, perfect for this card.

I am so happy with it and it will be leaving soon to accompany a gift.

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 March 1st.

Cx

Random Desk Pile: Pineapple Thank You...

Hey!

Happy Friday to you!

I can't believe how quickly this week has gone..not long now until its time for my Summer vacay.

Today's card is another one using the random pile on my desk.

I had used a diffuser plate with a pineapple embossing folder to create this background. When I first got the diffuser plates, I made tons and tons of backgrounds. I am a big fan of the smooth centre so you can use a big sentiment stamp.

The stamp I used here is super old by Woodware and I also have the big birthday set too, these are the most overused things in my craft room.

This is a perfect card for a friend who gave me a Pineapple bracelet whilst I was in London last week..

Have a great weekend, I am going drinking tonight with a friend, shopping with Lisette tomorrow and hanging with Mr G the rest of the weekend.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #79.. Love is in the air..

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

The theme this time is one of my faves  -

I decided that the stripey plate would be my inspiration.

I created the fat stripes using a Heidi Swapp stencil and Distress Oxide Picked Raspberry with a giant dauber from Tsukineko. 

I had always planned to stamp the sentiment over the stripes, but I had intended to add a bit of colour to the word. Change of plan once I saw it. Too gorgeous to add colour..

The Love stamp is "Typography Love" by Woodware and I have had it since 2014. It actually says 'with love' but I masked off the with part.

I love a simple card like this..I might make a bunch for Valentine's day.

Show us what your makes and pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends February 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

Margate Craftathon 2017: Part Five..the end..

Hey,

Happy Friday.

So this is the FINAL part of the Margate series.

It was actually a lot of fun to write the posts and look at the cards in more detail.

Today's post is slightly different as these cards aren't really a 'family' - just random fun makes.

The main card used a Simon Says Stamp cardkit - I took a few along with me, for JT and I to play with and this one has fun scratch off stickers, so we totes had to play with that. I drew my own balloon string and I'm feeling pretty pleased about that.

Love this next card - in part because it is a total mix of our stashes. The background stamp (which I adore) is by Hero Arts and belongs to JT - she actually bought it second-hand from Jenn Shurkus. And as you can see there is that Thank You die again! The flowers and leaves are from my stash and are by MFT.

 Final card today uses a new stamp I bought whilst in London. It is called Party Pigs and is by Woodware, it actually has 6 pigs in a line, but I didn't have a big enough card blank! I love the stitched die that I used (belongs to JT, gift from me..)..why do I not have these?

I love the pigs, they are kind of kooky and I like that. And I like Pigs..so...

It was such a fun thing to do and sharing the cards with you has made me smile a lot, thinking about the laughs and JT, who is totes a friend for life, no way I am letting her go man.

Have a great weekend, sadly my time in Mexico will be up tomorrow (sob).

Cx

Christmas Card 2017: Sketchy Baubles..

Hey,

Happy Monday.

Today is a BH in England, so my work day will be nice and calm, as the London team are off enjoying themselves ;)

I could not resist this awesome stamp by Woodware when I was home..I already have way too many Christmas stamps, but these baubles really wanted to come home with me.

Yesterday I stamped and watercoloured 6 cards - all the same.

I love the end result, the sparkly Nuvodrops really make them come alive.

I love super quick Christmas makes that I can make a big batch of. Also the MISTI comes in super hand for this kind of tedious repeat stamping. I stamped the image and the sentiment in one go - result!!

Cx

$20 Challenge haul playdate..

Hey,

Last week as both JT and I were on Christmas break, we had an epic 5hr Skype playdate.

It also meant we could open the $20 Challenge BF haul we bought each other.

Here is what I got from JT -

Didn't I do well. I love it all and I am really looking forward to playing with it all a bit more this year.

All the cards today were made using the new goodies - I made two other cards, but one is a DT make, so you'll have to wait a while for that one and the other I already posted.

The main photo today used this awesome chevron die plate and as with all these bigger die-plates it was a beast to cut, but I am liking leaving parts in. I affixed it to a lime green piece of paper and added it to my card blank. The sentiment is ancient and a firm fave by Woodware. I added some coordinating enamel dots. Feels like a 'man / boy' card to me and I love it.

This card uses the great Your Next Stamp 'Silly Monsters Too' set, which I gave to JT as part of the BF haul. The gorgeous Hexagon Circle die is from JT and by Simon Says Stamp.

You get the background circle too, so I blended 3 green distress inks and die-cut the hexagon part using a shimmery green paper. I wasn't intending on a green monster, but JT preferred him to the blue one and she was right, so I went with it. I ADORE these mini square kraft card blanks and I cannot get them in the US, so JT buys them for me..

The final card uses the awesome mini Crazy Birds by Tim Holtz, this set is from Michael's and comes with bird stamps, sentiment stamps, dies and an embossing folder. I surprised JT I think with my delight at getting this set, I have been holding it and touching it for MONTHS, but was being mean about buying it..good job eh!

I created the background using a great stencil by Dutch Doobadoo, I love their stencils. I used tumbled glass distress ink through the stencil. The birds I coloured using Zigs and the sentiment is from the set. LOVE this card, it's so fun and was super easy too.

Great haul, love it all. Craft buddies that happen to be one of your besties are the best kind of friends..

Cx

Retro Rubber #20...By the numbers...

Hey,

It's time for another awesome challenge from the Retro Rubber team.

I love this theme..

Use numbers on your project..any way you like...as long as you use a stamp that is over a year old.

I decided to make a 40th birthday card for a friend.

The oldest stamp is the main sentiment, by Woodware and I have had it about 4 years.. I use it so much. I heat embossed it in purple metallic powder onto vellum. I affixed it to the background I created using mini staples.

The background I created using a mixture of Stampin' Up, Simon Says Stamp and Papermania stamps in 3 different colours of ink. Obviously I used one of my fave MFT stitched rectangle dies.

The whole thing got mounted onto a purple card base.

A fun card, for a fun person.

So over to you now, show us your makes..but first pop over to Retro Rubber and view the fantastic creations by my talented teammates..

The challenge ends August the 14th (when I next fly home..) so you have lots of time to join in the fun.

Cx

Stampin' Friday...

Hey,

Happy Friday everyone!

I thought it would be fun to show you some cards made using some of my new Stampin' Up products that I chose as part of my demonstrator kit.

I love Stampin' Up products and I am excited to be a demonstrator, but I am also craft crazy and have an enormous stash of other products too. Everything works together, which is the great thing about crafting.

I used the Brushstrokes background stamp and added distress inks to the stamp using ink daubers. I pressed the paper onto the stamp and rubbed over the entire stamp with my hand, so I could get a good impression.

I stamped 2 different colourways so I could make 2 kinds.

LOVE the watery effect of the stamp and my ink application was random, so I got some bleed which makes it feel more natural..

I also stamped and punched some of the stamps from the Six Sided Sampler set - I love hexagons and I have had this particular Stampin' Up punch for AGES..

Putting the cards together was fun, I just scattered the hexagons around until I liked what I saw and then I secured them to the background.

The main photo today is my fave..I added an Awesome die-cut, coloured in a matching Cracked Pistachio ink and stamped a Woodware giant Happy Birthday. Fun times..

I kept the card below simple and just used the simpler hexagon stamp from the set and a sentiment.

I mounted both cards onto black card blanks, as this really made the colours pop.

Super easy to make and fun to play with the Brushstrokes stamp.

You can shop with me if you want to for any of the Stampin' Up products - using this link.

Have a great weekend, I am going to be playing, playing at my desk.

Cx

Moving Along With The Times..To Someone Special..

Hey!

Its time for a new challenge with Team B over at Moving Along With The Times.

This week our hostess Shell is asking us to make a card 'To Someone Special'.

I really struggled with this theme for some reason?! Then a lightbulb went off and I made the beauty you see here for my Aunt.

My Aunt Connie aka AC, is totally crazy, cool and adorable. I often send her my challenge makes, as they can be a bit unusual and she seems to love them.

So this little card is just for her, for Christmas. I used an ancient Woodware wreath peel-off and then decorated it using bling, pearls and Stickles glitter glues in gold, red and turquoise.

The sentiment was from another set of peel-offs and the leaves are from the wreath sheet.

I had forgotten how much I love the wreath peel-offs. Isn't it great to rediscover parts of your stash!

Come and play along with us over at MAWTT and check out the fabulous creations by the other Team B ladies.

Cx

4 More to go...

Hey,

So yesterday was a great day for me - stupid busy at work, but I got a surprise induction into the 100% club - which recognises employees that give 100% all of the time. It made me feel all fluffy!!

The post title refers to the fact that I am only 4 posts away from this years goal of 200 posts!!! How on earth did that happen, it makes me so happy.

Today's card is one I made for the card swap that I do here in the US with a group of fellow crafters organised by SuperStampGirl - whom I met via WOYWW.

I re-purposed a previous idea, as I really enjoyed making it and thought that it would be great to do it again with a different colour palette.

Here I used a Recollections patterned card base, corrugated card for the heart, Bo Bunny graphic stamps, sequins, bling, Woodware heart punches and a Hero Arts sentiment stamp.

Cx

Stamptember is nearly over..

Hey,

A short post from me today..due to me feeling delicate after my birthday celebrations last night!

My day started well though, as I had a birthday skype session with JT, where we gossiped and opened presents - fun times!

Stamptember is nearly over and I wanted to enter one more SSS challenge this month - I've had fun in Stamptember and I have also acquired some of the Stamptember exclusives from SSS which I am looking forward to using when they arrive.

The Monday challenge this week is Stencils & Stamps.

I have recently bought a new Heidi Swapp chevron stencil and thought that this would be fun to use on my card. I used scraps of patterned papers and stamped the sentiment onto a punched circle - also a scrap. The flat heart button is by American Crafts.

I made four of these cards, as they were so easy to make and I thought they would be nice as a set. They are going to a friend as a little gift.

Cx

Shades of yellow..

 Hi,

Hope you had a good weekend. Alongside a brief playdate with JT, I've been running around trying to tie up loose ends before we leave for London on Thursday!

I thought to take my mind off of the planning / packing, that it would be a good idea to start the week with a new challenge.

I came across Seize the Birthday a while back, but have not entered yet.

The challenge is all about Birthday's but each week there is an extra 'topping', which you can add if you like - clever. This week the topping is 'Yellow'.

As you can see from my main photo my card is most certainly full of the topping.

All the papers are by Recollections at Michaels. I really wanted to mix my patterns and shades. I added the American Crafts navy and white spotty ribbon, to break up the yellow a bit. As I added some navy, I thought I would stamp the sentiment in navy too, the stamp is by Woodware, the washi tape circle and bling are from my stash.

Happy Monday

Cx

Simon Says Stamp..Card Kit May...

Hi,

Happy Friday!!

Lemon arrived last night - whoop whoop!

Today is also our 1 year anniversary of being in NYC! How quick the time flies.

To celebrate I thought that I would show off my makes from the SSS May card kit - this is my first one and I think it is total VFM and might help me curb my craft expenditure (yeah right)..

Here's the kit for May -

You get card stock, patterned paper, a stamp set and a few other things. This month we got a stencil, a mini Distress ink, a new mini round distress inker and a set of fun heart enamel stickers.

I have made 3 cards so far. The main photo is my fave..unfortunately I had to take the photo at night, so it's not the best..and my washi tape is lifting! But I tried a new technique..heat embossing with a stencil :) I used the stencil from the kit, I got a bit too much Versamark ink on the card, so ended up with the black line, but it kind of gave me a border! The stamp and the paper are from the kit too.

This card uses papers from the kit, love the patterned one and the Dude stamp. The Happy Birthday stamp is by Woodware. Love the simplicity of it.

My final card uses a paper and 3 stamps from the kit...loving the shoes and the spots.

I was always a bit nervous about joining a kit club, but this has really changed my mind.

Have a great weekend, we are off to Atlantic City to celebrate Lemon's 40th.

Cx

A new craft crush...

Hi,

Happy Weekend to you all.

I recently came across the work of Marion Vagg on Pinterest and fell head over heels in love.. I really loved the chevron paper piecing she did and wanted to have a go.

Here are a couple of examples of Marion's work -

As I don't have a chevron die, I decided to enlist the Silhouette to help me cut some chevrons. I cut a bunch of them - all the same size in 4 colours.

You can see my favourite example of how I used them in the main photo. As I was limited to just a few chevron strips I tried to use them in unusual ways to maximise the white space.

It was so much fun to do and I am going to cut a few more this weekend in different sizes and maybe even patterns and see what I can make out of them.

Here are a couple more of the cards I made.

Chevron Alien

Chevron Flower

What did I use? All papers by co'redinations, card blanks from Craft UK, frame by Dovecraft, flower from the Range, Alien from the Works - all UK based craft stores or manufacturers. The Alien has a peel off sentiment, the flower uses a Woodware stamp and the frame uses a Hero Arts stamp.

A fun way to start the weekend if you ask me! I am now off to brunch :)

Finally I have already thanked Marion for inspiring me with her beautiful work, but I just want to say it again 'Thanks Marion...you are my latest crush'

Cx

Fabulous friend...

I have a lot of fabulous friends, but this gorgeous card is for one in particular :)

I am feeling all pleased with myself, as I made this card for the Card Concept challenge this week -

Why am I so pleased..well I stepped WAY out of my comfort zone and had a go at 'Freestyle Collage'..now I am not entirely 100% sure if my card does fit the bill..I think it does and I love it whatever!

It was fun to work entirely in pink, I didn't realise how much pink stuff I had!

The base for my card was the recoloured Pink Petticoat image and from there I looked for things to complement it - the sparkly square, card base and doily are all by Papermania, the 3 hearts were punched using my fave Woodware punches. The pink flag, is actually a Vogue Weddings cake topper?! That I saw on sale in TJMaxx and thought one day they will be useful. For a final touch I glittered up the image and voila! Card.

Once again it was nice to step out of my comfort zone and do something a bit different. Not too different, just a bit.

Have a Happy Saturday, I am off to call my Ma, who is hopefully on the road to recovery following a couple of very difficult months.

Cx

Hearts, hearts, hearts..

Hey,

Today I am entering the latest Fusion challenge (#3) -

I loved the photo inspiration and the sketch and thought this was a good opportunity to have a go at 'Fusion'

My card has come out really well and feels very CAS.

I used 2 different Woodware heart punches and an ekSuccess mini star punch. I decided to add stars, as all hearts wasn't cutting it for a change!

I love spotty papers and so decided to make the central heart a spotty one, I threw in a couple of hearts punched with star paper, just for variety.

I considered using a musical note stamp, but lots of people have already done that with this one and better than my attempt, so instead I used a stripey diagonal stamp by My Mind's Eye (Hello) which worked much better for me.

The sentiment is by Hero Arts and one of my faves.

This card is going into a little bundle with others for sale at work.

Cx

Punching..

Hey,

I have a subscription to Cards Magazine. It is produced by Northridge Publishing and I love the cards that they publish..some of my fave bloggers get featured, which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on their behalf!

I recently noticed that they run a  Cards challenge on their blog.

The current challenge is "Cards with Punched Shapes" - given my ENORMOUS collection of punches, I figured that this would be fun for me to enter.

Because of the amount of punches I have, I was a bit unsure where to start..I rummaged through my punch drawers and came up with the idea of using all circles.

I wanted to step out of my comfort zone a bit and so punched the backing paper - I used Woodware circular punches for the big and medium circles, the tiny ones were made using an EK Success single hole punch. It looked nice with the cardstock showing through, but I wanted to co-ordinate more and so added some of the stripey paper behind the circles.

The big blue circle was embossed using a Tim Holz distressed circles folder and then I added some twine and a tag - which I made using a punch (see I told you I had lots of punches).

I'm pleased with the final card and think that it will be great for a guy.

Cx

100 Sketches later..

A big congratulations to the Retro Sketches team for reaching their 100th Sketch birthday!

I love their sketches, so hope they keep up the good work.

I am entering the 100th challenge this week. The sketch is a good one.

I had an idea in mind..but I tried that and it looked hideous :)

The main photo is my 2nd attempt, which I am much happier with.

Ingredients - 

Backing paper - Amy Tangerine Yes Please for American Crafts

Washi Tape - Travel theme by 3M

Corrugated card - DCWV

Card Candi - Craftwork Cards

Sentiment - Pink Petticoat

Punches - Tag and Circle by Woodware

Bakers Twine from my stash

I cut down the tag, as it was a bit fat for how I wanted it to look here. I love Corrugated card..I always want to touch it.

Overall a very pleasing make and a sketch I will be using again.

Cx 

Love..

Hey there,

Well only 3 more days before I am back at work!

So I am trying to make the most of the time. I had a fun weekend with Hubby, both here in NYC and in Atlantic City.

Before I left, I stayed up late on Saturday evening making stuff :) Among the things I made was my entry for
Pals Paper Arts - I love their challenges and the entire DT make me swoon...this week's challenge (#187) just screamed love at me!!

My card went through many, many changes..right at the last minute I decided to chop the doily in half and I am feeling pretty pleased with that decision!

I love the Thickers foam glitter stickers..I need more, but I bought them on offer and I am now being mean about paying full price...it's my 2014 strategy for not adding things to my ever expanding stash!

The textured sky blue paper is very old and bought when I first started crafting and it is rationed, as Kaiserkraft have never made it in this colour again :(

I punched the hearts using Woodware punches..I love heart punches I have one that is even teenier than the smallest heart on this card..

I'm thinking that I will use this card as an Anniversary card..what do you think?

Cx