Guest Designer at Retro Rubber Challenge

I'm Guest Designer over at Retro Rubber Challenge this week :)
It's always good to get some ink on those oldies, so if you'd like to play along there's a colour theme to play with ↑ and all you need is a stamp that's older than a year old.

For my card I used this oldie from Whipper Snapper that I got a couple of years ago.  I watercoloured the sky/grass just a hint and then added some Ranger enamel accents in matching colours.

• CAS on Sunday #102 - critters
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Moving Along with the Times - for a man
• AAA Cards #84 - watercolour
• Tuesday Throwdown #332 - things with wings

Sad Kitties

Hi All, I've keen kinda MIA all week, but I've been getting caught up with some DT work.  Plus we had such a crappy weekend of weather that I spent most of it spring cleaning in the hope it's coming soon!  So far today we've had sunshine, lashing rain and now clear skies so there will maybe be a frost in the morning.

This card is inspired by this week's featured stamper challenge over at Splitcoast - I always think this is a great challenge if you're struggling with your mojo like me!
Here's Karen's original.  I kept her spotty blue bg and window theme.  My kitties are from Eat Cake Graphics - don't they look sad!: Kitties in the window
Coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on dimensionals.

• Tuesday Throwdown #331 - favourite embellishment - mine's clear gems
• Crafty Creations #335 - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Word Art Wednesday #270/271 - anything goes
• AAA Cards #84 - watercolour

Happy Easter Bunny

It's time for a new sketch at Splitcoaststampers, so here's my DT card :)
Click here if you'd like to play along.

I've flipped Allison's sketch and used this cute little bunny from Eat Cake Graphics: Flopsy Bunny's got an egg

Coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on dimensionals.  I also covered the egg with my clear glitter pen and then some clear gloss.  My button embossing folder is an oooooldie that hasn't been used in such a long time. MFT stitched circles die and I think the heart die is from Taylored Expressions.

• Pixie's Snippets Playground #269/270 - I used my leftover snips from my heart die cut as little embellishments
• Crafty Cardmakers #182 - add some texture
• Die Cuttin Divas #305 - animals
• Classic Design Team Open Feb #11
• Word Art Wednesday #270/271 - anything goes

Some cheerful tulips

It was such a dull damp day today, but my daffodils are blooming, so I thought I'd go for a spring theme with this card.  I'm on a bit of a Penny Black run by the look of it!  This one is soooooo old, it's great that it still sees ink!

My card is based on this week's Featured Stamper at Splitcoast - Here is Beverley Sue's original.  I was inspired by her pot of flowers and brick effect base.  I thought my flowers would look 'jaunty' stamped off the edge, but my card-making-OCD wishes I'd stamped it in the centre ;)   Coloured with watercolour pencils and sparkle added to the tulips.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - fantastic florals
• Sweet Stampin - flowers
• Allsorts #403 - anything goes
• Happy Little Stampers watercolour challenge February - anything goes

Good Luck cards

A couple of quickie cards from me this evening - we've a couple of volunteers in work from Greece and Cyprus who are heading home after a year, so this is their goodbye cards.

I've rooted out some of my oldie Penny Black stamps and used this MFT alpha set yet again, it's proving to be a great investment!

On Gina's card I covered the balloon with sparkle and then clear gloss and added some blue and green splatters.  I also chalked in some clouds but thought the top corner looked a bit unbalanced, so added these Lawn Fawn cloud dies to fill it up!

• Balloon / text theme based on the pic over at PINspiration #184
• Tuesday Throwdown #330 - say it with words
• Word Art Wednesday #270/271 - anything goes

I liked how Gina's card turned out, so carried on with the same general design for Charoula's card which uses one of my oldest Penny Black stamps!  I masked it off so I could stamp extra butterflies, and then covered them with sparkle and clear gloss.

• Cute Card Thursday #465 - no patterned paper
• Less is More #316 - alphabet
• Addicted to Stamps and More #229 - clean and simple
• Crafty Creations #335 - anything goes

Naughty or Nice reminder

We're half way through February already, so it's reminder time at Naughty or Nice. I managed to ignore the optional colour theme last time, so I've mostly managed to use it this time, though I've just realised I managed to totally ignore the love theme LOL I'll be getting the sack as a Naughty Girl ;)

I don't really have any of those shades of pinks in my watercolour pencils, so this is as close as I could get.
I manage not to add any sparkle for a change!  My only accent was some clear gloss in those little coloured circles.

Splitcoaststampers Sketch #632

So this is the new layout for this week's Splitcoaststampers sketch challenge - click here to play along :)

I've gone all Christmassy with my DT card - it's certainly cold enough here!

I've used some oooooold and much unloved DP, but it actually looks OK with the simple white colours.  My snowman is from Eat Cake Graphics:
Snowman (assembled)
Coloured with watercolour pencils and sparkle added to his hat band and scarf.  I also added some sparkle and bling to my Paper Smooches snowflake dies.
Sentiment from Happy Little Stampers.

• Christmas at Sweet Stampin Feb - anything goes
• Happy Little Stampers - anything goes with HLS stamps (my sentiment)
• Merry Monday #235 - snowmen
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - use your favourite tool - mine most definitely is my Cuttlebug machine! 
• Colour theme from Cupcake Inspirations #394 - red, white and black

To the world

Oh Brrrrr it's been such a cold, cold weekend here.  I wouldn't be out with my Rubydoo without my hat, scarf and gloves, most definitely not T-shirt weather like my little girl in the card!

This was inspired by this week's Featured Stamper over at Splitcoast - here's Joyce Ann's original.  I kept her general layout and starry theme and the little girl in her card reminded me of this Eat Cake Graphics one:
To the world (scene)
This image comes with a black border, but as I wanted to use it in a bigger panel I just masked it off.

Coloured with watercolour pencils and sparkle added to her T-shirt.  Ha, I've just realised I stuck my DP on upside down.  Ah well, if I hadn't told you, you wouldn't have noticed ;)

• Colour theme from CAS on Sunday #101
  
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - cute
• Crafty Creations #334 - anything goes
• Inspiration Destination #121 - anything goes

Alexandra's birthday card

Ooops there's that brick stencil again ... I need to get this off my desk for a week or two ;)
This is hot off the press for my niece, I can't believe she's 7 already!  She's a Valentine's Day baby, so I usually try to include a little heart somewhere too :)

I don't think I've ever seen a pogo stick in real life, it must never have been a 'craze' over here!  Reckon Health & Safety would have a hard hat and elbow and knee pads on her now ;)

Tiddly Inks stamp - coloured with watercolour pencils, sparkle added to her dress and clear gloss to her pogo stick.  My '7' is cut from silver mirror card.

• Tiddly Inks #198 - love
• Tuesday Throwdown #329 - heart string
• Pile it on #126 - hearts on fire
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - young at heart
• Word Art Wednesday #268/269 - anything goes

SCS sketch challenge #631

So here's this week's layout for Splitcoaststampers Card Sketch challenge #631

For my DT card I've used Hadley and Kitty give Bradley a big hug from Eat Cake Graphics, a Paper Smooches heart and MFT alpha set.
Coloured with watercolour pencils, and I also watercoloured the background and a few splatters for good measure.
I also added some clear gloss and sparkle to the critters' collars and to the stripe in the heart.

• Time Out #76 - inspired by words - 'Friends are connected heart to heart, distance and time can't break them apart'
• Daisy Chain #5 - have a heart
• Simply Create Too #124 - love
• Addicted to CAS #104 - pets
• Sweet Stampin - love is in the air

Webster's on the porch

Heee, I love this little scene with some fab Eat Cake Graphics stamps featuiring my favourite puppy!
Webster's tilting his head
Porch with light
Bark (text)

Coloured with watercolour pencils and some clear gloss added to the glass light.  I also popped Webster and the bottom shrub/step up on dimensionals.  Paper Smooches tab die.

This card is also posted over at A Sprinkling of Samples and Techniques blog, where you'll find lots more loveliness from Eat Cake Graphics

• Penny Black and More February - your favourite stamp (my little dog)
• Happy Little Stampers February Watercolour challenge - anything goes, option use a die
• Stamping Sensations February - animal magic
• Just Us Girls #379 - dogs
• Pixie's Snippets Playground #267/268 

I should really have coloured my dog Ruby-white as she loves to sit on the step at our back door  .... most days she's in and out like a yoyo and our main job is to be a door attendant!   Unless it's raining of course, in which case a rocket wouldn't get her to go out! 

Elephant Thanks

Here's a wee quickie card for you.  I always think a bit of stencilling on the background makes it look like there's more effort has gone into it than in reality!
My Ellie is an oldie from High Hopes - coloured with watercolour pencils, sparkle added to the ribbon and balloon, and clear gloss to her nails.  Balloon is another oldie from Stampin Up

The inspiration for this card came from this week's Splitcoaststampers CAS challenge #415- old is new again - to pick an old card from your gallery and re-do it.
So here's my oldie I chose from 2008 ...


Bit of a difference eh?

• Get Creative #55 - red + 1 other colour (grey)
• Creatalicious #108 - anything goes, option to add some hearts
• Retro Rubber challenge #55 - cross my heart
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - the colour of love

I love Roo

Ha, would you guess this card was actually made for a paper piecing challenge? ;)  I started off with a different paper-piecable image, then changed the sketch I wanted to use, then changed the DP I had out, and then changed the stamp I used and forgot about the original intent!  So my paper peiced effort is .... that little heart LOL

My kangaroo is an old-oldie from Stampin Up - coloured with watercolours and popped up on dimensionals.  Pink paint splattered on the white cardstock.

• AAA Cards #83 - shape your love
• PINspirational challenge #183 - from the photo I used the pink / hearts theme
• Tuesday Throwdown #328 - love notes
• Love to Scrap #94 - who loves you baby
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - the colour of love
• Layout from Sketch Saturday #449 

Flowers and more flowers

 We had a beautiful bright sunny day today, the sun was beating through my kitchen doors (and showing up all the dust!!) so I got stuck into my kitchen cupboards and got them all cleaned out.  Best result of the day was getting my plastic containers which had taken up nearly 2 shelves, down into one half one! Next time you see me put a handy little container into the cupboard, please stop me ;)

This snazzy DP has been in my 'too nice to use' pile for such a long time, I reckon I never used it before as it's so busy, it's hard to know what to do with it!
I think that's why this sketch worked well with it as it covered a whack of it up!
I've used my old Whipper Snapper stamp - coloured with watercolour pencils and the flowers covered with my clear glitter pen.

• Layout from Sugar Pea Designs Mix it Up challenge #28
• Word Art Wednesday #268/269 - anything goes
• Addicted to Stamps #227 - make your mark
• Happy Little Sampers February watercolour challenge - anything goes

I couldn't get a good photo of this one, think it's all that white that my camera can't cope with.

This is an oldie Lili of the Valley stamp - coloured with watercolour pencils and then clear glitter over the roses. I also splattered some of the pink over my base, but it's not showing up well here.  I also went over my heart border with my clear glitter pen, so it's all nice and sparkly :)

• Crafty Calendar February - love is in the air
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - pet's corner
• Crafty Cardmakers #181 - love, love, love
• Roses/hearts theme from The Card Concept #66#
• Addicted to CAS #104 - pets

Naughty or Nice - Love is in the air

This month's theme at Naughty or Nice is Love is in the Air and it comes with an optional colour theme too (that I must confess I totally forgot about when I was making my card!)  It can be anything 'lovey' so Valentines, weddings, engagement, etc etc  Pop over to the blog and see what lovely creations the Troublemakers have made :)

So this is Greg's valentine, as usual not a lovey-dovey one from me!  I saw this sentiment used recently in blogland, but can't remember where - so if it was you, Thank You!  It's perfect for what I wanted.

I can't wait to get my new TH stamping platform, those letters might have been straight if I'd had it LOL

Tim Holtz doggies and I'm sooooo loving my new MFT alpha stamps.  Coloured with watercolour pencils, clear gloss added to their eyes and noses.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - The colour of Love 
• Love to Scrap #94 - who loves you baby
• Word Art Wednesday #268/269 - anything goes
• Curtain Call - XOXO

Splitcoaststampers sketch DT

Many many moons ago when I started cardmaking, the first site I ever started sharing my cards on was Splitcoaststampers, and I still love to join in with their challenges.

Anyway you can imagine how chuffed I was to be asked to be on the Splitcoaststampers Sketch DT for a term!!!!   Of course I jumped at it!   Here's this week's sketch ← and you can play along here.



I've used a couple of Eat Cake Graphics stamps on mine ...
The Boys (stick robots) and  Happy Birthday Block (text)
Coloured with watercolour pencils; googly eyes and clear gems from stash.

• Allsorts #400 - let's celebrate
• Die Cuttin Divas #302 - anything goes
• Polkadoodles #4 - anything goes
• Classic Design Team Open #11