Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

Hey,

Welcome to the final 2021 Retro Rubber challenge.

Can you believe it is nearly Christmas?! Where on earth has 2021 gone?

Hey,

Welcome to another fantastic Fusion Card Challenge.

This time we have 'Mother's Day' for you! As always both the sketch and the inspiration image are awesome.

Which will you try?

As I am English, Mother's Day was back in March for me - why are they different dates?! So I went with the sketch and a more generic sentiment.

The stamp I used is new to me and I love it, I think I am slowly trying to own the entire MFT library! I am a sucker for little stacks of animals!

I chose the paper for my tag, before I started colouring so I could coordinate with it. I added two little banners (that were already cut in the correct colours - WHOOP!!) and used a sentiment from the same stamp set.

I popped the whole thing up using foam tape and added it to a white card blank, it pops off of white so nicely.

I used -

MFT - Birth-Yay!

MFT - Banner dies

Lil Inker - Dotted Tag dies

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 11th May.

Cx

Hey,

It's so nice to be home and back at my desk.

I thought I would combine two challenges today. I loved the idea of the Sunday Stamps sketch and tag challenge combined with The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers 'C is for Cat'.


I thought my newish papers by Craft Sensations would work really well with the sketch and I love tags and thought it would be great to use one of my all-time fave dies - Lil Inkers dotted tag die.

I really like The Cat's Pajama's stamps and the set I used here 'It could be Vodka' always makes me smile. I stamped the cat onto the tag and coloured it using copic markers. I stamped the cup again onto a scrap of patterned paper and die-cut it and arranged it so it hangs slightly off the tag.

I keep ALL the ribbon that I get on gifts, this particular piece was from my Christmas gifts from my in-laws 2 years ago.

I love the sentiment - I mean who knows what the Cat is sitting in!

Cx

Hey,

Well it is almost Christmas, my cards left a long time ago and have been slowly landing with their new owners!

Today's cards are accidentally gorgeous!!

I had stamped and masked off the frame with the banner and added the stenciled dots. Then I coloured and fussy cut the cat and dog to sit in each frame.

I decided that it all looked a bit bland and flat...

Cue the translucent paste. I put the frame/banner mask back down and the stencil and applied the paste through the stencil. I was worried that I was going to smudge the dots, but it was fine and once the paste dried, the dots ended up with this amazing shine. Yay!

Now I feel like a genius, even though it was a random idea and I was crapping myself a bit as I did it, worried I might ruin my perfectly fine card because I was a brat!

Oh and the wonderful set is 'Seasons Greetings' by Lil Inker Designs and the stencil is by Clearly Besotted.

Cx

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Retro Rubber challenge.

This time we have another great Tic Tac Toe board from Jan..

I went with the bottom row - die-cut / monochrome / birthday.

I really wanted to use the Concord & 9th 'Dotty Turnabout' stamp that I have had since 2017, because I have always struggled to use it correctly and recently did a tutorial and it changed everything for me!

I stamped it here in black and white ink - obviously, you can't really see the white ink, so I used the outline circle stamps that come with the set to highlight my white circles!

I die-cut the great Boxed-up Happy Birthday die by Lil Inker in black and so that it would stand out from the background I added a piece of vellum.

Really simple card and actually quite masculine..well it better be, as it left in the post already to a male friend :)

Can't wait to see which row you will choose to use. Pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends October 18th.

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,

Happy Friday to you!!

It has been a busy week - hence why it has been a week since I posted!!

This morning I got up super early to do small group training with Wendel and another client of his, it was HARD but a lot of fun.

To celebrate the weekend I wanted to enter the current CASology challenge.


I haven't played along in a while and I thought it was just perfect for my new digital stamp set by Graciellie Design 'Tea for the Soul' I love their stamps, they are so pretty and beautiful to colour.

I printed, coloured and fussy cut the teacup stamp. I really wanted to keep the background clean, but it all looked a bit flat when I put it together, so I used the Lil Inkers Spiral Cover-up die on the bottom half of the card and it totally brought my card to life.

The sentiment is from the same set and it makes me laugh every time I see it. I added a few yellow enamel dots here and there to finish my card.

I am so happy I decided to play along, it made me very happy last night to make this card.

Have a great weekend.

Oh and here is a little montage from Hubby's birthday party last weekend!

Hubby with his candles on a half-eaten doughnut! Group selfie, Hubby at the after-party, The x2 3ft Subs!

Cx

Hey,

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

Our sponsor this week is Mmedel Illustrations and they are offering a fabulous prize of x2 digis from their store and a discount code.

Here's the sketch...
I love working with angles..

I loved the Towel Girl stamp, especially as it is Summer, so it's time for going on vacay and relaxing.

I printed and coloured the stamp, using Copics. Then I die cut the white panel using a stitched rectangle and placed it at an angle over the yellow panel and the smaller gold piece. Once I trimmed off the excess I affixed the whole thing to a card blank.

I added the little sentiment banner and I kept my sentiment simple, as I felt like this card could be used for a variety of occasions.

I ended up with so much white space that I added a giant piece of bling to anchor the whole thing a bit better.

Love how it came out, I love angled cards and the simplicity of this one works so well.

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 21st June 7pm GMT / 2pm EST.

Cx

Hey,

Happy Friday!

What a week!!!

Don't you love it when you see a stamp set and an idea, buy said stamp set and it's even better than you thought it would be?!

I saw these x2 great new releases from Avery Elle - Peek-a-Boo Car and Peek-a-Boo Scary Pals.

I had to have them because I loved that the paws for the animals are separate so you can position them on the steering wheel - it's the small things with me.

For my first use of the two sets I made a thank you card for a friend and I LOVE how it came out. It worked really well with the MFT peek-a-boo dots cover-up background die.

I added a Lil Inker banner - which I got in a grab bag and is fast becoming my default die. The sentiment is by Stampin' Up.

Hope you have fun weekend plans.

Tonight I am going to see a friend who is a physical therapist to see if she can help me with the foot / ankle.

Cx

Hey,

Happy Saturday!

So.. I am back in the gym today after a 2-week pause because I broke my foot. I am more mobile now and off to craft class at The Inkpad NYC tonight..

To cheer myself up, I thought I'd play with some challenges and I came across the current As You Like It challenge.

The theme this time is to show a project using your fave stamp company and you have to explain why.

NOT easy at all. I love SO many companies LOL.

I love Lil Inker Designs - they are a small company and they make really great stamps, dies and papers.

I always fall in love with their new releases and Laura that owns Lil Inker is an absolute sweetheart - she tries really hard to help you if need something (aka me on a hunt for long retired dies..).

I chose to use the 'I'll be brief' set for this card as it always makes me smile and to be fair - who wouldn't smile at an Alligator in underpants!

I stamped one of the 'briefs' from the set to create a background and coloured them using Copic markers, I made a mistake with my choice of black ink, but it didn't smudge too much..

I added a little border strip to house the sentiment also from the sent and I stamped, coloured and die-cut the cute Alligator.

I love using this set, everyone I've ever sent one of these to always contacts me and asks me to make them a little batch.

That is one of the reasons I love Lil Inkers, the cards I make using their products are so well received and that always feels so nice.

Cx

p.s if you ever get a chance to get a Lil Inker grab box BUY ONE - they are such good VFM and check out their annual Black Friday blowout sale, it's ridiculous!

Hey,

Happy Monday,

I thought I would play along with Seize the Birthday this time, as their 'topping' is Balloons - Yay!


My card uses a Studio Katia stamp set 'Kobi Bearing Gifts'.

I saw this one and A cup of thanks on Instagram and had to have them!

I stamped and die-cut Kobi and the balloons (it is not all one piece) and coloured them using Copics and Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens. I also used a quickie glue pen on the balloons and dipped them in glitter for a bit of added detail.

The background paper is by Lil Inker and it was from a pad I got in the epic mystery box I bought from them. I love the ombre fade and it worked so well with this image.

I stamped the sentiment from the set first, so I would know where I could place my bear and the balloons.

Fun card for a little girl that I know LOVES gifts :)

Cx

Hey,

With all the traveling and working! I haven't been playing along with too many challenges.

So this weekend has I had some time, I thought I would play along with one of my fave challenges - CAS on Friday.

The theme is Butterflies.

I think my card feels pretty CAS..but we'll see what the DT think ;)

I smooshed half of my paper in distress oxide's and water and dried it before using a large rectangle stitched die to die-cut it to size.

I used my new Lil Inker stitched butterfly dies and embossed the large butterfly and a trail into my panel. I die-cut a smaller butterfly from the same set using a coordinating scrap of paper and popped that up on my card.

I finished it off with a simple sentiment.

I am really happy with how it came out, I really like the embossed butterfly that overlaps the coloured and plain parts of my background.

Cx

Hey,

I normally do a Valentine's Day card series, but this year because I have been sick and super busy at work, I just didn't find the time to get the posts ready.

Hubby and I are not into celebrating Valentine's Day, but I do love making the cards, so I send them to my girlfriends.

Every year I make Hubby a pun-tastic card, because he is not a fan of the punny cards, I always get an eye roll from him when I make them.

I bought the awesome Newton's Nook 'Pina Koala' stamp because I knew that Hubby would be all 'why?' hahahaha.

I printed out part of the sentiment, leaving a gap for the Pina Koala stamp. I stamped the cute Koala and then die-cut the whole panel using a Lil Inkers die. 

I mounted the white panel onto a Lawn Fawn cardblank.

Fun right?

Hubby and I are en-route to Tampa as this posts, 5 glorious days of sunshine and RR.

Cx

p.s I did make 10 VDay cards for my girls, but didn't photograph them..

Hey,

Welcome to 2019!

I hope you had a great end to 2018.

Whilst JT and I were on Christmas break, we managed a pretty epic playdate. We pretty much used most of the Black Friday challenge NBUS and any other NBUS we had lying around.

I'm super pleased with my output..

The main photo are some of my Christmas thank you cards. I used new Lil Inker monsters (Monsters Ink) and a new spiral die by Sizzix that JT gave me as part of our annual $20 challenge.

I love these, they look really good and were super simple to make.

Next up some Tim Holtz magic.. this set comes with the man stamp and the harlequin stencil... a super quick way to make some male oriented cards.


Two randoms - the cake is a CASE of my own card because I love it and the fish card I made because I got these Hero Arts stamps on super bargain sale and I wanted to have a play. The background behind the aperture was stamped using Neat and Tangled stamps.



A super productive day and it has given me lots of ideas for the new year..

Back to work tomorrow after a 10 day break - ugh.

Cx

Hey,

Happy Monday.

I had an early start this morning..6am PT session - UGH.

Over the weekend, I didn't really get to spend that much time at my desk, but I did find the time to make a card for the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge -


Love this sketch, super versatile.

I found a Monster already stamped on my desk, so decided he should be coloured and go on the card.

I started with a black card base and used a coverplate die (Lil Inker) on a piece of white cardstock. I stuck this piece to the card base and then added my red piece of paper.

I wanted the sentiment to kind of look like it was coming out of my Monsters mouth. But I kind of mis-judged it a bit, so it looks like he is swallowing the stickers LOL.

I heat-embossed the fun sentiment onto a piece of black card... I love this sentiment, it is by Create A Smile stamps and was a set I bought with a prize I won.

I'm pretty pleased with the ONE card I managed to make this weekend.

Cx

Hey,

So I was making something for a friend and I stumbled across two great patterned papers I had forgotten about.

I thought it would be nice to make something using them, so they didn't get neglected again!

The main card today uses the constellation paper I found in my 'black' paper drawer. I think it is by Stampin' Up.

I thought orange would work well with it and so cut an orange mat and die-cut the sentiment by Lil Innkers out of orange card.

The next card is a teeny bit busy, but I still love it.

Don't you just love that busy leaf paper (by Recollections), feels like it would make great wallpaper and what you can't see here is that IRL the little dots are sparkly!

Again I went with orange as the accent colour and I think it really pops against the busy paper. The HB die is a freebie that I got with an English craft magazine - yeah you get FREEBIES..I miss English craft magazines..

Oh and the card blanks are my fave and JT gifts them to me all the time.

Two super simple makes, that have made another small dent in my patterned paper stash.

Cx

Hey,

I recently managed to get my hands on a second-hand Stampin' Up set 'Message in a Bottle'.

I've been doing this more and more, to try and keep my craft expenditure down and it's also nice to 'shop someone else's stash' LOL.

This is my first card using the set and I love it!

I thought it was a perfect fit for the current Shopping Our Stash challenge - Mythical & Magical.

I stamped the bottle first, then added the mermaid and masked off the edges of the bottle, so I could add a little bit of water 'in' the bottle.

The sentiments are also from the set.

I die-cut it using Lil Inkers wonky stitched dies and did the same with the already embossed and coloured anchor panel (which has been staring at me for weeks). No idea where the anchor embossing folder is from, probably Darice or Sizzix, I have a lot of embossing folders by them.

Simple card for one of the many mermaids in my life.

Cx

Hey,

Happy Friday to you!

Later on today I am off to Long Island to 'steal' more of JT's family :)

I am hoping my post title alerted you to the fact that there will be swear words on my cards today!

I have a potty mouth and sometimes my cards do too...

I made this batch of cards for JT and the rest of the gang that we hung out with at Crop on The Cape.

I used the free papers that we got given at the Crop and added the awesome sentiment by Unity Stamp Co.

The die-cut panel that the sentiment is on, is a fave of mine, it's by Lil' Inkers - Wonky stitched rectangles and I chopped off part of it to fit on my card and so the beautiful papers are not covered up.

I haven't had a chance to gather all of the March trip with JT photos and make one post, so here are a few photos for you.

Me, JT and Jamey at our Crop table

Me + JT and the family I am stealing this weekend..

From bottom left clockwise, JT, Amy, Kathy, Jamey, Liz, Cheiron, Me

Have a great weekend.

Cx

Hey,

So I saw this week's CASology cue word 'Together' and knew it was for me.

As you know I feel that Monsters are appropriate for any occasion and I have a metric ton of Monster stamps.

The ones I used on my card here are rather special, as they came in the post..no note, PO box postmark and were unlabeled so I have a) no idea who they are from! and b) who they are by!

Seeing these Monsters on my desk, along with the word 'Together', sparked an idea...

I die-cut the stitched wonky rectangle die by Lil Inkers and stamped the sentiment by Studio Calico and One Little Bird. The sentiment is from a great set called 'Extrovert' and for me it represents together, as I know anytime I go anywhere with my crazy friends, good times will be had.

The Monsters didn't come with dies, so I coloured them and then fussy cut them - blurgh ugh - I hate fussy cutting.

I popped up the white panel and the Monsters and for extra craziness I added googly eyes. I also added a couple of enamel stars for some extra colour.

I love it and now I feel like I need to make a bunch and send them to my crazy friends!

Cx

Hey,

So Hubby and I don't really do Valentine's Day, I make him a card. He makes me a hideous card. The end.

But I love making Valentine's cards..so for the last few years I have been making 20 cards to send to my girl posse.

The main card is the one I made for Hubby. I could not resist the stamp set from Recollections at Michaels AND it was on super bargain sale and the silly pun made me LOL in the store.

I am super pleased with my Avocado colouring..not something I had ever thought I need to master, but I guess that is the joy of making things, new, weird things become necessary!

I stenciled some hearts onto a tag using Picked Raspberry distress ink, then I spritzed it with water to get the patchy effect you see, it looks better IRL. I added some foam tape to my die-cut Avocado's and voila! finished card.

I made two different batches of cards for the girls.


I am still cracking myself up about these cards. I had wanted the 'your boobs look awesome' stamp by Unity Stamp Co. for AGES and it finally went on sale..so it had to be done.

However when I sat down to make the idea I originally had, it didn't work as the stamp is actually quite large. So I went with my default creative solution..add a monster!

The Valentine's stickers are very old and are Pink Fresh Studio and they came in a SSS cardkit (let's not talk about me on my hands and knees under my desk, looking for the right kit in the dark at 10pm when I remembered about them..)

I made 14 of the ones above and the final 6 cards were my original Valentine's plan (before the boob stamp came into my life).


As this is the year for me to use my vast patterned paper stash, I went through it all and pulled out as many Valentinesy papers as I could find. I die-cut them with the awesome wonky stitched dies by Lil Inkers and then I put the offcuts in the recycling bin..NO MORE SCRAPS.

I stamped and die-cut the Cactus by Jillibean Soup and stamped the 'free hugs' sentiment that came with the set. I added the Valentine's stickers here too and there are still some left!!

A fun assortment of Valentine's cards for my people..

Always nice to share the love.

Cx