1st card from the tags, the Christmas papers, and the Christmas tree tags

It was the easiest Christmas card batch make I have ever done. 40 cards made SO quickly, the hardest part was adding the super-strong red tape to the back of the tags and then peeling that off 40 times. 

But the rest of it was all very easy, I cut all the backgrounds and glitter circles at once. Then I stamped everything and then I affixed everything to the card blank, adding the wooden tags last.

I have asked my Momma to keep an eye out for the sale bargains again this year for me.

Cx

 

Hey,

Hello from London!

Last weekend, I decided I would have a fun playtime with x3 sets by Ellen Hutson and Julie Ebersole.

I LOVE how Julie draws Unicorn, they have a really feminine feel to them.

I used these x3 sets - Over it, Unicorns 'n Rainbows and Pure Magic.

First I stamped, coloured and cut all the unicorns I wanted to use, then I used them to decide where my sentiments would go. I should mention that right now I am obsessed with Sakura Gelly Roll glitter pens, they are AMAZING..so much shimmer.

For two of the cards I added clouds / rainbow behind the unicorn and I stamped and coloured these, before adding my unicorns, that I mounted with foam tape.

I love how simple these cards are and how much they POP on the hot pink card blanks.

Cx

Hey,

As I land in London it is JT's birthday!

I am super excited that I am going to get to do hangs with her next week and we'll see if I can make her bday party tonight (possible jetlag tbc).

JT and I have been friends for 8 years. But to me it feels like she has been a part of my life forever and quite frankly I am not sure what I would do without her.

She is a force of nature, hilarious, kind, crazy and if you are her friend, she will love and take care of you for always.

Keeping this short and sweet, as I gush about her every year and it might just be getting a teeny bit embarrassing! Her card will be posted in a few weeks as a Retro Rubber make :)

Read more gushing about her in my 2019 and 2018 posts.

Happy Birthday Man - you are one of the best chosen sisters any girl could ever ask for.

Cx

Fun right?!

I might consider a similar project later this year - like all birds or something?

Cx

Hey,

Happy New Year from London!

Welcome to a brand new decade!

Hope you had a great NYE - I spent mine with my Parents and it was a fun day / night.

Today I am showing you the cards I made on Boxing Day - I had a bumper 10hr session at my desk and it was wonderful to just play and not have Christmas things to make.

I had an offcut of a smooshed piece of paper on my desk and it sparked an idea. I used the 'Flamingo Sunshine' stamp by Flora & Fauna - they have been my fave new to me stamp company of 2019..

I stamped the Flamingo onto the smooshed background and coloured the details in the few glitter gel pens I had - this was a new to me thing and I LOVE how much sparkle you get - cue me the next day in Blick with Cheiron buying more of them (Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust gel pens). I liked it so much, that smooshed x2 additional pieces of watercolour paper and cut x5 more squares from them so I could create x6 cards.

I die-cut the frame from patterned grey papers - the frame is by MFT stamps. I thought they looked a bit flat on the white cards, so I added a black piece of paper to make them pop.

I decided the sentiment's should be black and I used dies by Lawn Fawn, Taylored Expressions and Heffy Doodle. I was planning on them all being thank yous, but I needed a couple of birthday cards so switched it up a bit.

Love how they came out, I hope the recipients will too.

Cx

Hey,

Happy Friday!

I just realised that I didn't show the cards I made on my 2 day playdate with JT.

We had a lot of fun, eating, drinking, shopping, gossiping and crafting.

It is always fun to hang with her and it's also a lot of fun to play with her stash.

The giant chevron stamp that you can see in several of my cards belongs to JT and I totally adopted it for 2 days - I fell in love. It was so versatile.

I think I have a similar stamp somewhere...I need to go on a hunt.

The big win was the bottom left interactive card,  made it, stamped it with that awesome Chicken Wire stamp and then was all 'hmmm it needs a critter..' and lo, JT pulled out one of the Hema Chicken stickers - WIN!!

We've had more epic playdates, but this one was one of the most enjoyable for me. I got to hang with my girl in her new home and just chill for a couple of days, we so rarely get to do that anymore it was nice.

Cx

Hey,

Welcome to April!!

Today I am heading to Lille with my Momma for a 2 day break, we will arrive just in time for lunch, so we are super excited about that.

I can finally share the card I made for my friend Marie's 50th Birthday. She is a dj and loves disco, so I really wanted her card to capture that and her fabulousness. She is so fabulous that Hubby and I asked her to sing the song (Disco Inferno) for our first dance at our wedding and she was amazing.

So I found a great digital image and retouched it a bit to get the look I wanted. Once I printed it out, I added bling, sequins and sparkly gold Thickers numbers.

It came out even better than the vision I had in my head.

Marie posted a photo of the card saying how much she loved it and that made me really happy and pleased that I nailed it.

Cx

Hey,

I am always seeing stamps that I really really want, but I normally wait until they are on sale or something. Because a) I want to not spend all the money I have on craft stuff and b) To gauge if I really want it.

I didn't do that with this beauty from Newton's Nook - 'Newton's Birthday Balloons' - I bought it and the matching die the minute I saw it LOL.

I had this idea in my head and it came out exactly as I wanted it to.

I stenciled the background using a fave cloud stencil by Dutchdoobadoo - they make the most amazing stencils.

I stamped, coloured and cut the stamp and before I mounted it onto the card, I stamped a sentiment from the set so I could figure out where to mount it.

I love the end result and used it as a birthday card for a kitty loving friend.

Cx

Hey,

Well it certainly is sunny in London, which has been a pleasant surprise.

Today's cards I made a couple of weeks ago.

I really wanted to play with a new to me MFT Pure Innocence set 'Beach Cutie'. I stamped, coloured and die-cut the stamp - I only used x4 colours to colour with and I love how they came out.

I wanted to use the 'Hello, Sunshine' sentiment that came with the set, so I hunted around for a die that would compliment it and pulled out a great freebie die that came from my old die-cutting magazine subscription.

I used cardblanks that coordinated with the stamp colouring and got really OCD by choosing my top panel and embossing powders to also coordinate!

I love the end result - they are both so pretty and were super simple to make.

Cx

Hey,

Happy Monday, live from London!!

Hope you had a good weekend? I had a fun one hanging with Hubby and my parents. Yesterday my Dad and I went to the first test game at the new Tottenham stadium - which was so amazing and epic for us.

In case you didn't know I am a life-long Spurs fan, thanks to my Dad and before I left for NYC, we were season ticket holders.

We have been waiting for this stadium a very long time, I'll show you a photo, later on, this week when my phone files have backed up.

For now, you will have to make do with x2 cards I made using a little cardkit my friend Kelly sent me. It was a totally unexpected piece of Happy Mail and she sent it to me because I said how much I loved her Monster stamps (that I had never seen before).

Kelly had stamped the Monsters and their sentiments and provided the patterned papers and the twine. So all I had to do was colour, cut and assemble..oh and add some googly eyes - OBVS.

I love random Happy Mail..unsurprisingly it makes me happy.

Cx

Hey,

Happy Friday!

Hubby and I are leaving for London tonight. I'll be gone for just over 2 weeks, as I have a week off - but next week I will be working.

Because this week has been so hectic with work, getting ready to leave for our trip, a gig and introducing Clint to a new face, I felt overwhelmed and couldn't really craft.

So I coloured a lot.

I have a colouring book that I really like, it's quite old and I dug it out this week and tore out a few pages and sat at my desk for 20 mins every night and coloured away. It was lovely and therapeutic and it was bliss to colour with my Tombow Dual Brushmarkers, I almost have a full set..

I thought I'd share my colouring, as it's all so pretty.



After Kathy Rac (aka the world's most awesome colourer ever) said that she finds using 4 colours to colour with much easier, I have been using that as a guide. It really works and helps make the colouring pages look less busy.

Have a great weekend, I am looking forward to hangs with my parents.

Cx

Hey,

Happy Thursday from London!!

My card is a mini shaker that I made for Lisette for Christmas. I bought the MFT Shaker cups on sale and I haven't played with them yet.

They only fit the MFT circle dies, so I had to dig out a scalloped shaker circle die by MFT.

I die-cut the aperture first, so I could line up the circle with my background and stamp my little tambourine playing Monster (Monster Jam by Mama Elephant).

I added the bauble elements from a Tim Holtz foam stamp set, so the shaker looked like a dangling bauble.

The sentiment is stamped way lower than I had planned, but I forgot to stamp it BEFORE I put the shaker together, so had to stamp it on the foam tape - ugh.

Anyway, Lisette liked it and that's all that matters right?

Cx

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you and greetings from London!

Welcome to the latest sketch for the Sketch Saturday challenge.

Our sponsor this week is Star Stampz and they are offering a prize of 3 digis from their store.

Here's the sketch...

I actually had a choice of several digis for this card, but I loved Christmas Tangle when JT used it early this year and so I wanted a play too!

I printed the image onto a white panel and coloured it with Promarkers, then I added a red scrap to create the border. The joy sentiment is a Tim Holtz die that I have never used, so was pretty glad it finally (3+ years later) got an outing. I added a blingy gold star to finish it off.

I can't wait to see what you do with the sketch, but first check out what the rest of the DT have made over at Sketch Saturday.

Challenge ends December 7th, 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Hey,

Happy Friday to you!!

Hubby and I leave for London tonight, part work, part fun. It is my companies annual Christmas trip - they take all of us employees and our partners on a 3 day European vacation - I know, unbelievable right?!

This year we are going to Porto in Portugal and we are leaving a week today, but before that we are heading to London for a few days with our families and a few days of working out of our London offices.

Today's card I actually made for a friend, then decided that it was too fussy for her (she is the Queen of CAS).

It's actually a CASE of a card I saw on Pinterest and realised that I have that stamp set!

The stamp set is Kinda Eclectic by Stampin' Up and I think it is discontinued now.

I kept most of the card as a straight CASE, but used a different large Butterfly (Clearly Besotted) and sentiment (Scrapbook.com own brand).

It's actually in my hand luggage, as I think my Momma might like it for one of her friends / colleagues.

Have a great weekend, I'll be napping, eating, hanging with my folks, going to SoccerBall with Poppa and missing my craft desk.

Cx

Hey,

Happy Friday!

Finally I am getting round to showing a couple of cards I made on the playdate I had with JT during my recent trip to London.

We basically found this very cool idea -


And then we CASEd it, over and over again!!

I've kept on using it..I'm totally obsessed. I have added stencils to the blending and different borders, it is totally the idea that keeps on giving.

One of the best things about playdates is getting to use someone else's stash and I loved being able to play with the Avery Elle 'Yappy Birthday' set that I bought JT as part of our annual Black Friday $20 swap. WHY did I not buy it for myself?! Adding the little white spots to the doggie's scarf made me very happy, as did the sparkly gold border.

Here is another version I made that is truer to the original idea and again uses JTs stash - the stamps and dies are by Sizzix -


I really want this cute set too -

Hey,

I am still in London and SUPER excited today.

I am off to watch the NFL at Wembley with my Dad and it's going to be great, we always used to try and get to the London games when I lived in London.

It will make up for not being able to watch a ton of games from my usual NFL Sunday sofa position.

I thought my card today was topical, as I made it specifically for my Parents wedding anniversary on 8th October. Top fact, my folks have only been married for 14 years..but together for approx 47 years!!

It was a great excuse to play with a piece of NBUS. The stamp is 'Heart Bouquet' by Laurel Burch for Stampendous.

I stamped it onto watercolour paper and used liquid watercolours to colour it and added a ton of Nuvo drops in a few colours. I added a simple sentiment, as the stamp is very fussy.

I'm pretty pleased with how it came out and my parents liked it too.

I am heading home to NYC tomorrow - Yay! It's been a fun week of parties, work, catch-ups and even a crafty playdate with JT, but I will be happy to get home to Hubby, Boscat and my desk.

Cx

I chose the patterned paper - pumpkin - orange/rust row.

I've had the MFT 'Harvest Mouse' set for a while and have barely used it, so I thought it would be cool to use the cute little Mouse carrying the pumpkin.

The patterned papers are from my fave Lawn Fawn 'Sweater Weather' paper pack..I love this pack and it always reminds me of my first ever Jenn Shurkus loft art retreat. It holds sentimental value, because thanks to Jenn I got my NYC family :)

I stamped a sentiment from the sent onto some orange card and then added the Mouse using some foam tape.

And to keep with the orange theme I used a orange card blank.

A great way to spend the last night at my desk.

Have a great weekend, see you in London next week.

Cx

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you and welcome to the latest sketch for the Sketch Saturday challenge.

I have just got back from a 12 day trip home to London (personal and work related). It was super fun to be back in the office for a week or so and to see my parents - especially my Dad, who I hadn't seen since December!

Our sponsor this week is LeAnn's World 101 - check the Sketch Saturday blog for Prize details.

Here's the sketch...

Kel, our leader really taxed me with this sketch, but my image choice made it so much easier. I loved LeAnn's range of teapot stamps and the one I used is 'Hummingbird Teapot'.

I actually got a bit technical with this card. I measured the die I planned on using, so I could print the teapots at the right size. I coloured them using a Pink Mittens and Blue Grey Promarker.

I die-cut a piece of ancient foiled paper that I thought toned well with the teapots. Then I arranged the little die-cuts onto the paper.

I added a simple sentiment banner and a clear droplet to finish my card.

I can't wait to see what you do with the sketch, but first check out what the rest of the DT have made over at Sketch Saturday.

Challenge ends August 17th 7pm GMT / 2pm EST

Cx