Top Tips from Crafty Ladies..

Hey,

So one of the great things about going to Crop On The Cape, was being able to hang out with my craft buddies and a) use their stuff and b) get all the great tips.

Now this tip might be obvious to everyone.. but it has literally changed my life..

It seems that most of the ladies buy reams of paper and have them cut to size, so that they are the right size for their card blanks. GENIUS (ok, I know I am late to this party).

I love Neenah bright white, but it is cost prohibitive.. So I found an alternative by Hammermill - it has a slight gloss, but not enough to upset me!

Here is a shot showing a stack of the newly pre-cut panels and the Stampendous Laurel Birch tea-cup stamped and ready to colour..

Can you see how crisp it is? Loving the new paper.

The main card is the tea-cup all coloured and ready to go.

I got my panels cut just a bit bigger than my card blanks, then I can die-cut them (as I did on today's card) if I want to.

The new paper is a dream to colour and pretty much everything I have made since March 21st is using this paper.

Having ready to go right size panels is also a dream come true, it cost me $6 to cut the ream, which I think is a totally worthwhile expense. I'll be taking my watercolour paper in next.

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #83...Anything Goes, there is still time to play..

Hey,

There is still time for you to play along with the current Retro Rubber challenge.

The current theme is Anything Goes..a fave for everyone.

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

Challenge ends April 6th.

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

FMS: You Are Loved...

Hey,

Happy Monday.

Another challenge post from me today.

There have been some lovely sketches out there recently and I've tried to play with as many as I can, as I love sketches. They give you so much freedom.

Today's card is my entry for the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge -

This sketch is awesome, so versatile. The minute I saw it, I knew I wanted to use my new Memory Box 'Bundle Heart' die.

I had the heart die-cut already cut and coloured, I was playing with it at the Crop and the one I used on my card is one of several that I made at the crop. Sadly you can't see how sparkly it is, as I added some gold shimmer spray to it.

I die-cut a white cardstock panel using a SSS stitched die and then I stamped two of the brushstrokes from the SSS 'Brush Stroke Messages' set. The 'You Are Loved' sentiment is from the same set and for a bit of contrast I stamped it in red.

Final touch was to add some black ink splatters..I've recently got braver with my splatters and I am now using India Ink (EEK!!).

I love the end result, it's fun and modern and I think I might use it as an anniversary card.

Cx

CAS(E) this sketch: You are my favourite person..

Hey,

Happy Easter to you and welcome to April.

I loved the current sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch.

I thought it would be fun to break out a new to me set by Mama Elephant (Sticky Notes), that I bought second hand.

First I stamped the background using my fave Penny Black 'Dots in Space' stamp.

I die-cut the panel using a SSS stitched rectangle die and also die-cut a blue panel too. Then I used a MFT chevron die to cut away part of the blue panel, leaving me with the nice zig zag you can see, but with the same stitching as the white panel.

I stamped the 'notecard' from the Mama Elephant set and added the 'Just a Note' sentiment also from the set. The rest of the sentiment is by Pink Fresh Studio (So Sweet).

I added a blue panel behind the notecard and drew some lines on it, to match the notecard.

I am hoping that my card is not too busy and does count as CAS..but no matter, I love it and it's already in an envelope on it's way to a friend.

Cx

Shopping Our Stash: No Ink...

Hey,

Happy Good Friday,

I saw Lauren Bergold's card for the current Shopping Our Stash challenge and I was intrigued by the idea of no ink!!

I mean, no ink at all, no markers, no ink pads, no sprays, etc...

So I decided to rise up to the challenge and shop my stash to make a card.

The starting point for my card was the awesome Llama sticker from Michael's, I bought it a while ago and it's just been sitting on my desk staring at me!

Also on my desk were 3 scraps of paper that I also used on my card - the lilac strip, a pink piece (Happy die) and a green piece (Birthday die).

I embossed a piece of turquoise paper using a leaf embossing folder - also from Michael's - to use as the central piece of my card.

I love the crazy, bright, weird card I ended up with.

I am betting whoever I send it to is going to be a little bit surprised by it's craziness.

Have a great weekend.

Cx