Friday, September 30, 2016

Giant watercolour snowflake wreath...


Hey,

Happy Friday to you.

My Dad and I had a lot of fun yesterday at the baseball, we totally overate!!

I can't believe his time here is nearly over, it has gone so quickly.

Today I am showing you a card I made last week.

I recently rediscovered the giant Sizzix Snowflake Wreath die that I had bought during a black friday sale 2 years ago.

I have never used it because it is way too big..

Seeing it again, gave me an idea...So I cut a piece of watercolour paper to fit the card blank, (another superb one from JT), put some distress ink on my craft mat, spritzed it with water and dipped and dried my paper over and over again until I was happy..

I think it looks like the sea and I am SO happy with it...

The sentiment is by Clearly Besotted and I heat embossed it (clear powder over navy ink), I popped the wreath up with teeny tiny dots.

It all came out just as I had envisioned and so I am super pleased..

It was quite labour intensive, so I have only made two of them and to be fair they are a bit big for posting..

Have a great weekend, Daddy and I are off to hang with a friend today and going to watch an NFL game on Sunday before returning to the UK on Monday.

Cx

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Nutty Over You...


Hey,

I had a great birthday yesterday and it's not over yet :) Daddy and I are heading out to watch Baseball tonight...Yankees v Red Sox

But first, I wanted to enter the latest Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge, this time it's Powder Power, use embossing or pigment powders.

My October SSS cardkit arrived this week and the minute I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for Hubby's Anniversary card.

I pulled out a fave Hero Arts Lines background stamp and heat embossed it using Liquid Platinum embossing powder by Ranger - this is literally my fave powder ever!

I stamped the squirrel and sentiment from the cardkit stamp set and die-cut it out, I stamped hearts from the set too in a really pale pink and added one of the superb Acorn embellishments from the cardkit.

It felt a bit blah, so I added a bit of orange bakers twine to jazz it up - now I'm very happy and the orange fits the Halloween date of our Anniversary. LOL.

Cx

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Happy Birthday to Jade...and me...


Hey,

So today is my birthday and I share it with a very good friend Jade who lives in Australia..

Jade is in the midst of home renovations, so I will be sending her a gift later in the year.

Today I thought I'd share something that is NOT a card...

It's pretty similar to something I'd make for Jade :)

Michael's had a big canvas sale a while back and I really liked the newsprint ones, so I bought a few of them in various sizes.

This one I kept simple, I added a stripe of glittery paint and pink paint, let that dry and then added some texture paste through a heart stencil.

The wooden 'Happy' is also from Michael's and I painted it black, so it would stand out.

I affixed the word to the canvas using Glossy Accents..so very versatile.

I love how it came out, a fun little gift for a friend (not Jade..)

I'm off to dinner at my fave Greek tonight, with my Dad and some of my friends - fun times.

Thank you to everyone for your lovely cards and presents, I felt very loved and spoiled this morning.

Cx

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Retro Rubber #48..Lace, Ribbon or Twine..


Hey,

It's time for another superb challenge over at Retro Rubber

This time we want to see what you can do with Lace, Ribbon or Twine..use one or all..


I love paper twine, it is ANOTHER thing that I am addicted to LOL.

So it made total sense that I would use it on my card for this challenge.

I chose the Mama Elephant Potted Pretties (from early 2015) set for my card, because I love succulents and recent got a mini one for my desk (he is called Scott..).

I stamped, die-cut and coloured my chosen stamp from the set. I coloured the pot using a Cornflower Promarker because I knew that I had paper twine that would coordinate really well with it. I also happened to have a piece of scrap glittery paper that matched my colour scheme, so I used that to die-cut the congrats (the die is by Simon Says Stamp).

When I went to assemble all the elements, it all felt a bit flat, so I added a bit of Tumbled glass distress ink behind the succulent pot and it had the desired effect.

Finally happy, I wrapped the twine around the top of the card several times and tied a knot in it, because I suck at bows..

Link up and show us how you used lace, ribbon or twine, but first go over to Retro Rubber and view the great makes by my teammates.

Challenge ends on October 7th. Don't forget to use a stamp a year or older and tell us about it that's part of the fun.

Also, please limit your entries to 10 challenges including ours.

Cx

Monday, September 26, 2016

Staycation time...


Hey,

So I am currently on a staycation here in NYC, as my Dad is here for a week and it's my birthday on Weds - Yay!!!

So far it has been awesome having my Dad here and we have lots of fun things planned for the week. Hubby leaves tonight for London, he is going to visit friends and family for 10 days.

When I last showed you a card made with this stencil, I said I wanted to play with it more.. and play with it I did.

I had great fun playing with it, in all different colour combos.

The stencil is by Balzer Bits from TCW - I love these mini stencils from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and the sentiment is by Unity Stamp Co. and it seems to work here.

Again I die-cut the white panel using a Simon Says Stamp stitched square and popped it up with foam pads on a kraft square blank, which came from JT.

I'm not sure how much I'll be posting this week..feels like having my Dad here will make me a bit random :)

Cx

Saturday, September 24, 2016

ChristMoose Tag...


Hey,

Happy Saturday to you all.

My Dad arrived safely and this post is late because we have been having fun hanging out together. It is super awesome to have him here.

I made this card very quickly earlier this week.

I love tags, shop bought, ready made ones. Yes I have the ability and the kit to make them myself, but I am so easily swayed by shiny, glittery, fun ready made tags.

I have a big box full of tags..I have one condition for buying tags, they have to be either a) under $2 a pack or b) on sale....

This card took about 10 mins to make - tops.

I mounted the tag onto a white card blank using foam pads. The moose is an EK success punch that my friend bought me last year for my birthday.  I stamped the sentiment onto a die-cut banner (both are by Simon Says Stamp)

Simple!

Cx

Friday, September 23, 2016

Lets Prance...




Hey,

So I am SUPER excited today, as my Dad arrives for a visit for the first time ever and I have next week off to hang out with him and show him my adopted City.

I thought I would share a fun set of Christmas cards I made.

I CASEd Debby Hughes... her card is below top left...


I loved Debby's card so much and I love the Lets Prance set by Clearly Besotted. Once I had seen Debby's card it was totally a no brainer...must CASE.

It was so much fun to do I made a bunch of them..



I used distress inks and an aquabrush to colour them, I stamped the sentiments onto scraps and attached to my cards using mini staples. The main card was die-cut using a Gina Marie scalloped die, the 2nd card I added a little bit of sparkly paper behind the Rudolf panel.

Hope you have a great weekend. I will be posting sporadically next week, as I am running around town with my Pops.

Cx

Thursday, September 22, 2016

MAWTT..Still time to play along...


Hey,

Just a little reminder that there is still time to play along with the current Moving Along With The Times challenge....

I made a little cake card sticking with the current theme...Birthday Cake.

You have until September 28th (6pm GMT) to enter.

Cx



Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Leafy thanks...



Hey,

I just got a new set of mini stencils by Tim Holtz...


They are very cool.

I had a little play and love the results using the leaf stencil. I had fully intended to enter this CAS card into this week's Paper Player's challenge and then realised that I had read it wrong and it needed a 'fall treat' LOL.

No matter, still a lovely card.

Don't you just love that giant Simon Says Stamp thanks banner?

Cx

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Retro Rubber #47..There is still time



Hey,


There is still time for you to join in with the current challenge over at Retro Rubber

No restrictions (bar using an older stamp..), just let your imagination and your stash run riot..

Challenge ends on September 23rd. Don't forget to use a stamp a year or older and tell us about it that's part of the fun.

Also, please limit your entries to 10 challenges including ours.

Cx

Monday, September 19, 2016

Paper Smooches flower wreath...


Hey,

Happy Monday to you all.

Hope you had a great weekend, I had a very relaxing one.

I finished off a few things that I had started before my vacation.

This card was the result of a little play with the MISTI. I used this fave stamp set by Paper Smooches


I thought it would be fun to make a wreath style pattern, using all the different stamps in this set. This is super easy to do when you use the MISTI, as I just positioned the stamps where I wanted them and repeated it by rotating my paper.

I coloured it using Promarkers and then tried out a technique I have seen around a lot right now and added little dots here and there.

I am pretty pleased with how the stamping / colouring / dots turned out.

I die-cut the panel and added the sentiment (awesome die by Neat and Tangled) this weekend and it has come out even better than I expected.

I thought it would be fun to try out for the Paper Smooches October Guest Designer slot using this card.

Cx



Sunday, September 18, 2016

Daschund through the snow....


Hey,

Happy Sunday to you.

I am excited as always now that it is Football (NFL) season, I will be spending most of the day watching NFL games with Hubby.

It is also 1 week until my Poppa arrives - CAN NOT believe he is coming...

I made this card last week on the playdate with JT, but felt it needed it's own post :)

The idea for this card came to me on my lounger in Mexico. I love it..good things do come from laying around in the sunshine.

I used 3 stamps - Daschund from Scraptastic Club, Sentiment from set of the same name by Avery Elle and the antlers were a freebie with a magazine in December last year.

I kept it all super simple. I'd love to make more of these, but all the stamping. ugh.

Not ideal for Christmas.

I might try setting up all 3 stamps on my MISTI and see if that works.

Cx

Saturday, September 17, 2016

CAS Challenge..Christmas


Hey,

Hope you are having a good weekend so far.

I really wanted to play along with the Simon Says Stamp Weds Challenge this week..the theme is Clean and Simple.

I decided to break out more Christmas stamps...its a good way to increase the Christmas card pile :)

I love the Penny Black 12 Days of Christmas stamp set, but it can be super hard to use!

I thought the '3 French Hens' stamp went perfectly with the 'Eat, Drink and Be Merry' sentiment stamp by Papermania. 'Eat, drink and be merry' is my fave Christmas sentiment and I have several different versions of it. But I think this one is my fave, because the font is so nice.

I coloured the hen using Promarkers and added a little SSS snowflake stamp for some extra Christmas flavour!

Super CAS I think and a great use of my stamps.

Cx

Friday, September 16, 2016

Christmas Playdate..


Hey,

Happy Friday!!

Last Sunday when I got back from Mexico, JT and I had a great playdate (she has already posted her cards), we originally set out to try a technique we had seen - essentially a resist, but using your fingers..

But it morphed into a elaborate Christmas card make / gossip / sangria / coffee session.

The main card is my fave, because that giant Tree background stamp by Hero Arts has been my nemesis for 3 years..I kept trying to use him, but he never worked as I imagined he would. This time he delivered GOLD!!!
The bright red die-cut sentiment is perfect and I have JT to thank as she gifted the dies to me - by Tim Holtz.

The next four cards all use the same resist watercolour, but I finished them off in slightly different ways.



Does something ever really annoy you? The Christmas die above annoys me, Christmas is not one big die cut and I hate matching it up..sorry mini rant there!!

I love the bluey tones of this card though, the snowflakes really pop.

The next 3 cards use a great stamp by Lawn Fawn, I fell in love with it last year (I have WAY too many Christmas stamps)..


Fun times, I love a playdate with my girl, it makes things better always.

Have a great weekend, I am going to be hanging out with friends and hubby and playing at my desk.

Cx

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Moving Along With The Times..Let's Eat Cake...


Hey,

Today I am your hostess over at the Moving Along With The Times challenge.

As it is nearly my birthday (well, two weeks away) I thought we would go with a Birthday Cake theme.

Any cake will do, really I'm not fussy :)

I used a fave stamp Brittany the Birthday girl by Stamping Bella, I love her dress, it looks like cake... I coloured her using Promarkers and then masked her off, so I could stencil in the fun background. The stencil is by Dutch Doobadoo.

The sentiment is by Hero Arts for Stamptember two years ago and I thought it worked perfectly here, stamped onto a stray hexagon punch that was on my desk..love it when that happens.

Your turn now to join in the fun, show us your creations, but first hop over to MAWTT and see what the rest of the team have been making.

Challenge ends on Sept 28th (actually my birthday) at 6pm GMT.

Cx

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Choose Happiness..


Hey,

This is my first live post, since I got back from Mexico.

I wanted to share the card I made for a client who has become a friend. She is going through some hard stuff right now and I wanted her to have something 'empowering'.

Whilst in Mexico I realised that I have to remind myself - rough days are fine. It's ok not to love every day :) And the sentiment here by Unity Stamp Co. triggered that thought before I left as it was the last thing I made.

I love the stencil I used on this card, it's new and by Balzer Bits from TCW - I love these mini stencils from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, they are awesome to play with.

I used 3 distress inks with finger daubers on this card and just kept blending until I got the bluey green I wanted!

I die-cut it using a Simon Says Stamp stitched square and popped it up with foam pads on a kraft square blank (again JT giving me swoony card blanks).

Such a simple card to make and now I want to play with the stencil more..

Cx

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Retro Rubber #47...Anything Goes...

Hey,

It's time for another awesome challenge over at Retro Rubber

I just got back from Mexico and so my fingers are itching to play at my desk...

This time we have a fave theme for everyone - Anything Goes..


No restrictions (bar using an older stamp..), just let your imagination and your stash run riot..

I dug out an old fave stamp of mine - Venetian Summer by Penny Black. I have had it since 2013 and I used to use it a lot more..

I normally colour her with distress inks, but I opted for Promarkers this time. I love colouring her to be more vibrant than the background, so she really pops out.

I used a mix of sentiment stamps by Jillibean Soup (2016) and Wplus9 (2014)..add a lime green enamel dot and I ended up with a bright fun card.

Link up and show us your fab Anything Goes make, but first go over to Retro Rubber and view the great makes by my teammates.

Challenge ends on September 23rd. Don't forget to use a stamp a year or older and tell us about it that's part of the fun. Also, please limit your entries to 10 challenges including ours.

Cx

Monday, September 12, 2016

Make a Wish...


Hey,

Happy Monday...

Back to work for me, so not overly happy LOL. I like being on holibobs.. but who doesn't!

Do you think my cards are heavily cake and birthday focused this month because it's my birthday month?

I had just finished making these cards when I made today's card - I got all white heat embossing crazy..

I love the simplicity of the white heat embossing, you can do so much with it afterwards..

The candle and wish sentiment stamps are by Concord & 9th and the 'it's your birthday' is by Simon Says Stamp.

I have to say, the MISTI is really working out well. I am getting such clean impressions now, with these heavier stamps, why did I wait so long to buy it?!

Cx



Sunday, September 11, 2016

Glittery Awesome Birthdays..



Hey,

Yes I am back from Mexico, but this is still a scheduled post.

A few weeks ago I saw this on Instagram and wanted to have a go.

I decided to use a CAS-ual Friday stamp because it's so large and I love the font, I thought it might work well for the technique.

Go over to Carissa's blog and learn how to do it, her explanations are WAY better than mine LOL.

If you enlarge my photo today, you will get to see just how glittery the cards are.

It did actually work, not as well as the ones Carissa made, but with a bit more practice...

Maybe this week I'll be brave enough to try die-cut words like Carissa's...

Cx


Saturday, September 10, 2016

Distress Star...

Hey,

So sadly today is the last day of our Holibobs in Mexico - boo!

Back to reality and furbabies later on tonight.

I saw this great card by Laura Bassen on the August Simon Says Stamp cardkit sheet.

I loved the star and wanted to have a go..

I blended 3 colours onto a piece of card and then using the star die from the kit, die-cut the star, you have to cut around the edges to get the border. It came out so well!! So pleased.

Because I already had the yellow WOW! embossing powder out (see yesterday's post) I decided to stamp a Concord & 9th sentiment and heat emboss it.

A fab card for one of the ungrateful Male recipients in my life (I send them stuff, even though I know they don't care..)

Cx

Friday, September 9, 2016

Yummy Cake...



Hey,

Happy Friday...

I had to buy the Eat Cake and Celebrate set by Concord & 9th following Cheiron's great class a few weeks ago.

It is SO versatile, I have played with it a lot.

I roughly CASE'd the card we made in class for this one..

I die-cut a blank panel and stamped the stars and the sentiment from the set using Versamark ink, then I added some super bright yellow embossing powder and broke out my heat gun :)

I love how bright this powder is - it's a WOW! powder.

I coloured the cake using distress inks and an aquabrush, die-cut it out and mounted it using foam tape.

Then the whole panel went onto a yellow card blank.

So bright and fun, I think it will make a perfect kids card.

Cx

p.s I love cake..

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Ho Ho Ho..


Hey,

Following on from yesterday's post, here is another new Christmas stamp that had to be inked.

The stamp and die-set are 'Oh What Fun' by Avery Elle - I love their stamps, their sense of humour appeals to me.

Another very easy card, I stamped, die-cut and coloured Santa. I sponged some blue distress ink onto a white die-cut panel and stamped snowflakes from the stamp set in strategic places.

Then I added Santa using foam tape and added stickles glitter to his white bits :)

The sentiment is also part of the set.

Simple and again, one that is going to be overused this Christmas.

Cx

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Christmas Wreath..


Hey,

So I am not making Christmas cards yet..

I do not do that until after my Birthday (late Sept).

But I have acquired a couple of new Christmas stamps and could not resist inking them up :)

Today's one is by Papermania, I think it was released last Christmas, but I got it on sale recently and it's so simple, but really elegant.

I stamped it onto a white die-cut watercolour panel and coloured it with distress inks and an aquabrush. I added some gold wink of stella to the green parts to give it a bit of twinkly depth.

I can see me stamping and colouring tons of these :)

Cx

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Retro Rubber #46..It's Critter Time...There is still time to play..


Hey,

There is still time for you to play along with the latest challenge over at Retro Rubber

This theme asks you use a critter.

I love this theme, I have WAY too many critter stamps..I can't resist them..

Show us your critter makes, but first go over to Retro Rubber and view the great makes by my teammates.

Challenge ends on September 9th. Don't forget to use a stamp a year or older and tell us about it that's part of the fun. Also, please limit your entries to 10 challenges including ours.

Cx

Monday, September 5, 2016

Paste Congrats...


Hey,

Happy Labor Day!

I am in Mexico with Hubby this week, so my posts are scheduled.

I like holiday post time, because I get to show you things that have been languishing on my camera for a while LOL.

Today's card hasn't been hanging around too long.

I need a congratulations card for a colleague and I wanted to make something a bit different for her.

I used my new fave Dutch Doobadoo Fan stencil with some texture paste and once it was dry, I die-cut it to size using a stitched rectangle die.

The little border dies were cut using random scraps of paper and they are new because when I was last heading home JT asked me if I needed anything as she was doing a Craft Superstore order..I didn't 'need' anything but these awesome dies were on sale... She kindly bought them for me as a gift, but she was a bit ambivalent about them..

I really like them and thought the 3 I chose to use here worked really well, I secured them to the paste panel using mini staples.

I thought I had a couple of congrats dies to choose from, turns out I totally do not, I only have the one you see, which is nice, but was not what was in my head (cue purchase of new die). This one is part of a Simon Says Stamp set that I love  (don't think they sell it anymore), but I was thinking of a chunkier die here.

Anyway, I love the end result, leaving the paste as it is makes everything else pop and the random mix of colours and patterns in the border dies is fun.

Cx


Sunday, September 4, 2016

Happy Anniversary...


Hey!!

From Mexico (kind of)..

Today is the lovely JT's wedding anniversary..

So I am hoping that a) she is out celebrating and not reading posts and b) my card has turned up..

JT and her hubby and good friends to me and my Hubby, so obvs I pull out the stops for their anniversary card..

This year I decided to use a set that I bought for both of us (the Avery Elle bunny) and the 'magic' die that JT bought me (she has it too..)

I printed the sentiment out on my computer and die-cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die..I just about left enough room for the die-cut magic to fit on.

I coloured the bunny and die-cut him out and popped him out using foam dots.

I added some bling as a finishing touch because a) why not and b) it's for JT!!!

Purple was their wedding colour I believe, so I chose that as my accent colour here. I like the fact that the bunny has bling in his bow-tie!

Happy Anniversary crazy dudes, hope you have a great day..I'll drink a cocktail or two for you...

Cx

Friday, September 2, 2016

I love stripes...


Hey,

Happy Friday...

Hubby and I are off on our holibobs to Mexico tomorrow - YAY!!

So continuing on from Thursday's post I am showing you more of the cards I made using the Stampin' Up brushstrokes stamp, distress inks and a spritz of water.

I made tons of these backgrounds last week, I found it very therapeutic after a busy day at work!

I also have a big thing for stripes and this stamp was NOT cheap, but I had to have it...

I love the main photo today, so simple, but really impactful - I added a strip of red paper to my cardstock and then added the stripey background slightly over that.

I have a safety pin that has scraps of ribbon attached to it, hanging from my pinboard and I found the red ribbon there.

I stamped the sentiment after adding the ribbon, as I couldn't decide what it should say...

The 'It's your day' stamp jumped out at me and works really well here, it's from Birthday Bisque by Jillibean Soup.

Obviously I made another card using these fun backgrounds..


This one was super simple and the brushstrokes background was smaller - no trimming, I trim all the watercolour paper to size before I go crazy with the ink and the spritzing! So they look really natural.

I love these textured card blanks and I can ONLY buy them when they are on sale..

I die-cut the Ellen Hutson 'Treat Yo Self' in a contrasting blue and popped it out with foam tape.

Whenever I use this die, I stamp '..it's your birthday' inside..

I love making backgrounds, so much fun and super handy for when your mojo escapes you.

My posts will be scheduled for the next 10 days whilst I recharge my batteries with my boy, cocktails, good food and sunshine.

Cx




Thursday, September 1, 2016

Love / Hate Relationship..

Hey,

Welcome to September..

Today I am playing along with the fun challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays -


Black, white + one other colour.

Bizarrely I had finished making my entry when I saw that JT had also entered..we are way too in sync.

I decided to break out a set that hasn't seen ink yet..naughty naughty, but I love this range of Hero Arts and Kelly Purkey stamp sets. I have the Seattle one too and I want the rest of them..

I have this love / hate relationship with NYC. I love living here (summers, iced coffee, doughnuts, the inkpad, walking everywhere..) and I hate it (lack of manners, subway, smell, tourists everywhere, winters..) all at the same time. This week is a love affair week - summer, rooftop bars, mimosas, brunch..

I kept my card really simple, just stamped the images from the set (and an Apple by Avocado Arts) onto a die-cut white panel. I added the other colour to the heart in my sentiment and I like that teeny tiny pop of colour..

Super simple and I might make a set of them as a little gift for someone.

Counting down now, two more working days and then Mexico here we come...

Cx