Christmas Comes Early...

 

Hey,

Most people that know me, know I start making my Christmas cards on 1st of August (my Momma's bday) and they have to be mailed by 5th December (my Poppa's birthday). 

I LOVE sending Christmas cards, but I really hate making them... So I devised this system several years ago and it really works for me.

Because I start so early I miss all the fabulous Christmas / Holiday releases. BUT it does mean that I can get things in post-Christmas / New Year sales.

This year I ended up with a HUGE pile of Christmas sale goodies. So in January, I made at least one card with each of them.

The main card uses a set by Avery Elle 'Santa Jaws' - this was a must-have for me, I love Sharks and all things nautical. And the punny sentiment - just too much!

This set is by MFT 'Happy Llama Days' and I bought it second-hand because I loved it so much! How fun are these festive Llamas.

My friend and amazing teacher Jenn Shurkus, sent me a Christmas card using this set 'The Man, The Myth, The Legend' by Simon Says Stamp and I was like WTAF?! I have to have that. Isn't it amazing?!

The last two photos are of the cards I made using the Dino-Mite Christmas set by Ellen Hutson. I LOVE Dinos and they played so nicely with a bunch of scraps I had!

I actually made multiples of all of these cards and a few more, that I will show you at some point ;) and ended up with 40 cards - LOL. Yes, I am insane.

Cx

Digital Scrapbooking: Exciting News...

Hey,

Hope you all had a great weekend, I did, I went to Foxwoods with my friend (casino resort) and I won BIG. It was a hilarious weekend and was good to be out of the teeny tiny apartment.

I mentioned that I would have some BIG news for you...

Well hang on to your hats, I was lucky enough to be invited to be on the Creative Team for The Nifty Pixel!! TNP is owned and run by Em and not only is she super talented, but she is super nice too. I have been a very big fan of her designs since I started scrapping last year and I applied on a whim, not really thinking I would have the experience to make the team.

I was SO surprised, but thrilled. The Nifty Gals are a fabulous, supportive, hilarious bunch and it is an honor to be working alongside them.

My first x2 layouts (main photo and below) use the latest release Pick Your Destiny - now available for purchase! 

Then on Thursday, I got an email from Soco of Designed by Soco asking me if I would like to do a guest slot from now until June with her and her CT. WHAT THE HELL!!! Again, I applied on a whim, not thinking I was really ready for any of this. I am still on the fence about my skills. When it comes to cardmaking I am super confident, but I am still a bit surprised when people like my digital layouts lol!

I love Soco's templates and kits - it's the same for me with Em and TNP, templates are my weakness. It's a great way to start a layout, they give me a structure to build upon.

My first outing for Soco was with this little beauty below using the new BYOC Carefree kit - available for purchase now and I combined it with a Simply Clean No.9 template.

All in all the last week was the most amazing one so far and mainly because I didn't expect any of it, so it was all such a lovely surprise.

More layouts for you next week. 

Cx

 

Fusion Card Challenge - Green

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

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

Which will you try? As always, I loved both, so I fused them!

I was inspired by the green circles and so I created a background in multiple greens. I love using glitter paper and I had some scraps from Christmas that fit perfectly here. I actually wanted to use an oval for my sentiment, but it was too big! 

It felt a bit bland, so I added the gold twine (my all-time fave $1 Target purchase) and some bling to liven it up!

I used -

Concord & 9th - Dotty Turnabout stamp

Craft Smart - Shake Chic sentiments

The Works - Dotted, Scalloped, Stitched rectangle dies

Altenew Inks - Parrot, Hunter Green, Just Green, Minty Mint, Sweet Leaf

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 January 1st.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #153 Tic Tac Toe...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

We have an awesome Tic Tac Toe board by our very own Jan this time!

I think Tic Tac Toe is one of my faves. I chose the diagonal line birthday-the ocean-blue.

Three of my fave things!

I think this stamp by Sweet Shop Stamps is one of my all-time faves, it's called 'Hello Florida' and I have had it since 2017. For me, it really screams Ocean and with the little boat and the mermaid, I'm not wrong - right?!

The stamp doesn't need much, so to keep with the blue part of the ttt board, I coloured it mainly using blue Copics and stamped my sentiment in blue. The sentiment I feel pretty proud of, as I curved the stamp to get that effect, as I thought it emphasised 'swell' even more. It is from another all-time fave set 'Sea-prise' by Avery Elle (owned since 2018).

Sadly no matter how many times I tried to photograph it, I could not capture the beautiful duck-egg blue of my background paper, it looks a bit green, but I assure you it is blue!

I'm excited to see which line you will choose, don't forget to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends March 12th.

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

Digital Scrapbooking: All About Me...

 

Hey,

Hope you had a great weekend?

I had a pretty good one, I was on a high due to some good news, coming soon..

I thought it would be fun on Monday's to share some of my digital scrapbooking layouts!

Today I'm sharing just one. It was made for the Sweet Shoppe Design 15th birthday bash and it just makes me smile every time I see it. And it was a great way to document the things I like!

I used a template by The Nifty Pixel and most of the elements are from kits by Amanda Yi.

Jan and Feb were hectic in the digi scrap world, so many great events and challenges at many of the sites. I made myself dizzy trying to keep up!!

But I love documenting my life this way, it's a lot of fun.

Cx