Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

Anything goes is always a popular challenge, it gives everyone a chance to dig deep into that retro stash!




What will you find in your stash to play with? Pop on over to Retro Rubber, and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends April 4.

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

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Fusion Card Challenge.

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

Which will you try?

I loved the inspiration image, as I have a front porch and I love sitting out there. But I didn't have the right stamps for the image in my head.

The weightlifting monster stamp is by Whipper Snapper Designs and is ancient and one of my all-time faves, I always smile when I use him. I used one of my many on-hand smooshed distress ink backgrounds and added a strip of glitter paper to mimic the sketch. The little sentiment banner I created using planner stickers. I think these little stickers are so handy when you want a small sentiment.

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 September 27th.

Cx

Hey,

Welcome to another wonderful Fusion Card Challenge.

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

Which will you try?

I was planning on fusing the sketch and the photo, as I have a front porch and I LOVE it!!

But I couldn't find the stamp to create what I had in my head. So I went with just the sketch.

The weightlifting monster is one of my all-time fave stamps by Whipper Snapper and it always makes me smile when I use him. I used one of my many on hand smooshed backgrounds and added a strip of glitter paper. The little banner I made using x2 stickers that are for planners, but I like to use them as small sentiments on cards.

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 September 27th.

Cx

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

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge. This time we are teaming up with Double Trouble.

Hey,

Potty mouth alert!

I don't ever apologise for using swear words on my cards, I have a potty mouth, my friends know this and it's my blog.

I have a great collection of the Unity Stamp Co 'after dark' stamps. The one on today's cards is one of my faves.

I wanted to have a proper play with some of my shifter stencils - by Tim Holtz. These stencils are pretty clever, you get the normal open part of a stencil, but you also get a closed shape too, so you can shift your stencil over and use a different colour or medium without the risk of getting it onto your first colour. Watch this video for a better explanation!

I decided that I would stencil over the great sentiment, first I used distress oxides and then instead of another colour I used x2 different mediums. For the purple card, I used Indian Gold Nuvo Mousse and for the green card I used Gina K Glitter Gel.

They both came out really well and I am head over heels in love with the shifter stencils.

Cx

Hey,

So before my vacay I heard that my Godson Ben (who was here in July) passed his exams with flying colours!

YAY!!

I wanted to make him a card but ran out of time before I left for Tampa. So I made this card when I got back last weekend.

As I always play along with The Daily Marker colouring challenges, I generally have fun things coloured and ready to convert into cards.

I had stamped all the fun ugly fishes from my all time fave Avery Elle set 'That Bites' onto watercolour paper and coloured them using distress inks and a paintbrush. The smaller fishes are by Simon Says Stamp.

I added sparkly alpha stickers (purchased in a RIDICULOUS craft haul in Tampa).

I love how weird it is, totally perfect for a card from me to Ben.

Here is a photo of Ben, Charity and I at the top of The Empire State Building (Charity works in the building and got us free passes..whoop).


Cx

Hey,

Happy Memorial Day!

So happy to have a 3 day weekend and it has been lots of fun so far.

I stayed up waaay too late last night playing at my desk.

One of the things I made was a dual challenge card..

Color Throwdown had great colours this week and I thought combined with the CAS Colours & Sketches sketch, I could make something fun.


I used the great 'Stars of Worn' background by Unity Stamp Co. to create the bigger panel from the sketch.

I played around with lots of ideas for the smaller panel, but decided it would be fun to partial stamp the sky scene from the new to me 'Super' set by Avery Elle. I used the sentiment from the set and stamped it in red.

For some more touches of red, I added a small strip of glittery tape and some red bling.

I'm pretty happy with this little make and I think there is totes enough white space for it to count as CAS.

Cx

Hey,

When a friend 'enables' you to buy Christmas stamps that you really don't need what do you do?

Make her a card using said stamps..obvs!!

The set in question is 'Naughty' by Kat Scrappiness.

I am feeling pretty smug about this card, it came out even better than the vision in my head.

Look at how the die-cut holes and glitter paper look like lights.. swoon..

Sorry, let me slow down and start at the beginning!

I coloured and fussy cut the awesome Reindeer lady by Art Impressions, I have had this stamp a few years and it gets dragged out every Christmas. I thought it would work perfectly with all the sentiments in the set my friend encouraged me to buy and I actually made 5 other cards using this combo. However they were not as detailed as this one.

I die-cut the white paper using the awesome snowfall die by GinaMarie Designs and added some glitter paper behind to get the twinkly look.

The fact that my die-cuts looks like lights shining through the sentiment is an accident..I forgot to stamp the 'naughty' first.

I love it and I believe it arrived and my friend loves it too!!

Cx

Hey,

Time for another great challenge with the Retro Rubber team.

This time we have a theme for you..



I decided instantly that I wanted to use my Lawn Fawn 'Wheelie Like You' set (I've had it since 2015)and have a Valentine feel to my card, so I stamped, coloured and die-cut that first.

Then I decided to create a resist panel for the background. I stamped the hearts (by Simon Says Stamp from the Feb 2015 Card Kit) in white embossing powder, heated it and then applied picked raspberry distress ink over the top of it, using an aquabrush.

I have to be honest and say I was pretty darn pleased with the background, it came out even better than I expected :)

I thought it looked a bit flat against my card (originally white) so I added two strips of glitter paper and went with a red card blank - instant upgrade!

Your turn to show us your Valentine's makes - complete with hearts.. go over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things my teammates have made..

Challenge ends February 10th. 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

Hey,

This week's cue card over at CASology is an interesting one...


I bet Glisten means a lot of different things to everyone!

I have this amazing glittery paperstack by DCWV that I have had for years, I use it very sparingly. It is so glittery that to me it glistens. Whenever I use it, people say that it looks like I went over it with glossy accents.

So for my card today, I dug out a small bronze piece to use. I have been making lots of thank you cards whilst I have been off, to thank people for all the kind things they have done for me following my surgery.

I decided to use a Docrafts stamp at the top of my white panel and I stamped it in gold and heat embossed it with Ranger Gold Sparkle embossing powder, to add a little extra glisten.

Here is a close-up -


Final touch was a couple of pieces of co-ordinating bling.

I really liked using the top 1/3 of my 'space' felt very CAS and was something I don't do that often, I am totally a middle, bottom or bottom right kinda girl - I wonder why that is?

Cx

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

Hey,

So my teammates tell me that I am always making my own background - LOL. I never really noticed, but I do love using stamps to make backgrounds, it gives them so much more mileage.

As you can see I decided to create an ice-cream background for this card..it made me want ice-cream..(mint choc-chip is my fave..) The ice-creams are coloured with Promarkers and I used a quickie glue pen and super fine glitter to add some shimmer.

The stamps are by Simon Says Stamp and were part of a 2014 cardkit. I don't use them that often and it's a shame, as the sentiments - also used here - are a lot of fun.

I heat embossed the sentiments onto vellum - love doing this, the embossing is always so crisp and I love bright embossing powders. As always there is the 'how do I affix vellum' issue, so again I circumnavigated this by using staples - my default solution for anything that is hard to affix.

Super simple card using a couple of fun techniques.

Show us your Summertime anything goes makes and go over to Retro Rubber and view the great makes by my teammates.

Challenge ends on July 29th. 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

Hey,

So I am heading home today.

I loved the Punchinella stamp by Neat & Tangled so much when we used it at the Loft art retreat, that I had to buy it!!

I didn't full ink it up, as I wanted it to feel a bit faded. It's actually a bit bigger than the panel you see, but I die-cut it down, as I didn't want a border.

I love the Lawn Fawn Winter Fox stamp and thought it would look great against the background.

Because the Fox has a cup of coffee, I dug through my stamps (I need more coffee stamps LOL) and I found the sentiment in a Simon Says Stamp Set. The banner die is also by Simon Says Stamp.

I practiced a new tip from Jenn, to add glitter to things without covering myself in it. Super simple and it works!

Have a great weekend..I am looking forward to going home to Hubby and the kitties.

Cx

As I loathe and detest making holiday cards, it is a painful exercise, so I used this challenge as a break from Santa's etc :)

My card is actually our Holiday card for my Husband's parents. I thought my MIL would love the shaker.

I stamped the Sizzix snowflake stamp (it's huge) in silver ink onto white paper, I added some quickie glue and some glitter to some of the snowflakes for a bit of shimmer. I've had this stamp for nearly 4 years..I love it and it gets broken out every year.

I then die cut the aperture and made my shaker pouch using the FUSE tool, the pouch is full of sequins / beads, etc that came in a big bag from JT.

I die cut the Die-versions Winter Wishes in grey cardstock and adhered to the shaker pouch.

Reasonably detailed card to make, but fun..I did only make one, as I like certain family and friends to get unique cards.

What do you love / dislike about the holiday season?

Show us your holiday projects, but first pop over to Retro Rubber and check out the fab creations by my talented teammates.

Remember to use a stamp older than a year and the challenge ends on Dec 18th  - we will be back on January 19th, following a break for the holiday season (I am going home next week, then returning to go to Vegas!!)

Cx

Hey,

Happy Friday.

So it has been a week since I left for the loftartretreat, hosted by the amazing Jenn Shurkus.

Cheiron gave me a ride and a bed for the night, she is a proper hoot! We had so much fun on the epic 7hr journey to Providence?! We then had way too many cocktails on Friday night.

It was such a fun day, I made some lovely new friends, caught up with some people I had met at the previous loftartretreat, made 13 cards and did a bit of shopping :)

All the products we used were Lawn Fawn and I got to sit next to the wonderful Amy who does all the kitting - amazing!

It was great to make so many fun Christmas cards, I don't really like making Christmas cards so it is fun to take a class where I get to boost my Christmas card stash.

The main photo is my fave card and here are the rest...

Hey,

Hope you had a good weekend, Hubby and I had a nice relaxed one.

The Lawn Fawn Monster Mash set I ordered FINALLY turned up, so I had a play and made a couple of cards for friends..

I popped a monster out on each card for a bit of fun and added googly eyes!


I love them both - they make me smile.

What did I use?
Lawn Fawn Monster Mash Stamps, Promarkers, Recollections Papers, googly eyes from my stash, MFT stitched rectangles, SSS Stitched rectangles, MFT Hybrid ink, SSS & Hero Arts Happy Birthday stamp.

Cx

Hey,

Hope you had a good weekend.

After nearly a week off work, today is my first day back..hope its gentle :)

I saw this week's I Heart Promarkers challenge and decided to play along..the theme this week is ink it up.

I decided to use some of the things that I learnt on the loftartretreat and I'm quite pleased with the results.

The stamps are all from the Gorjuss 'Little Red' set.

I stamped the frame first and then in the spirit of ink it up, I inked the edges of the paper in Victorian Velvet and used the matching stain for the inky splodge in the centre (more practice needed with Distress stains).

I normally just ignore the 'supporting' stamps in my sets, but Jenn taught us how to make the best out of them, so here I coloured and fussy cut 2 leaves and an apple and staged them behind Little Red.

The glittery accents were added using a quickie glue pen and some superfine glitter - another trick that I hadn't used before the retreat!

I used Promarkers for all the colouring -
Oatmeal, Poppy, Antique Pink, Rock Pool, Bright Green, Leaf Green and Burnt Sienna.

The final touch was stamping the Hello in the bottom corner.

I think this is a card, that will be going in my 'For Grandma' stash!

Cx

Hey,

So this week has been a bit traumatising for me - I broke my foot and I have a really bad cold / virus of some sort - sigh..

In an effort to be positive and cheery, I thought I'd combine 2 challenges -

Craft Stamper - Take It Make It, April - Colour
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday challenge - April Showers and/or Spring Flowers.

I saw this great card on Pinterest and it inspired by card.

What did I use? -
A new Neat & Tangled Cloud stamp - from the Clouds set.
Confetti stencil by Heidi Swapp.
SSS Stitched rectangle die.
Hero Arts sentiment stamp.
Memento inks for the hearts and the sentiment

I added some glitter here and there for some shimmer.

A really cheerful simple anniversary card..I will definitely be making variations on this using the other cloud stamps in the set.

Cx

Hey,

Happy Friday.

Can't believe its nearly a week since the fabulous loft art retreat, hosted by the AMAZING Jenn Shurkus.

I learnt so much and my fellow crafters were fun and diverse.

We made 15 cards - no mean feat!

Most items were cut out for us and we had to stamp, colour, fussy cut and assemble. It was oodles of fun.

There were quite a few highlights for me...

- Jenn taught us that we can really stretch our stash and get it to work for all occasions

- Crafters love to shop and buy new shiny stash items, they are not embarrassed, they embrace it - amazing!

- Tips, tips all over the place - I seriously had my eyes opened

- Quickie glue pen..how have I lived without you?!

- The funny, kind, generous people - truly a delight to spend time with.

I'm only showing you a few of the cards...the rest are here, far too many for one blog post :) Click on each photo for a description of what we used and did.

The main photo today is one of my faves from the day..stencils, dies (Lawn Fawn), inks, bold stamps (Winnie & Walter) - awesome.

One more photo for you -