Day 43: Guest Designer for Retro Rubber challenge #135

This is very exciting - I have been asked to be the guest designer for this challenge on Retro Rubber! 

The challenge is a tic tac toe, as below:

I have chosen - die cut or punch / birthday / bright colours.  Though the bright colours started out as the patterned paper element, but then went in this different direction!

I covered the card blank with the bright patterned paper from an old Bo Bunny paper pad.  Then used a Lisa Horton die for the overlay.  I love this effect!  The stamp is from SU, around three or possibly four years old, and is done with an SU punch.

See you tomorrow!

Day 42: Christmas card with holly

Another day, another Christmas card...... I just like making them!

Apologies for the poor photo, the light conditions weren't good today, the card is much lighter IRL!  The background paper is an old Simple Stories one and I had prepared the base card some time ago.  When I took it out of the box I noticed that the top of the panel wasn't cut straight, resulting in an uneven appearance to the card.  So I took some gold peel-off lines and added a frame, taking care to position the top line so that it covered the uneven gap.  The holly stamp and sentiment are from two different SU sets, stamped and heat embossed in gold.  

See you tomorrow!

Day 41: Cross stitch update

It's all going very nicely ... apart from the slight mistake in the bitty green part, which I will now have to fudge around as I counted to the next big bit of red from that mistake :-(  Never mind!

See you tomorrow!

Day 40: It's a mystery!

Some time ago, DH bought some mixed packs of bulbs from the supermarket, planted them into buckets, then promptly threw away the packaging and so forgot what they were ...... :-)  We have been waiting for the Big Reveal!

The first flowers have appeared and they are Anenomes!  A beautiful shade of blue.  Three or possibly four more to come in the future.

See you tomorrow!

Day 39: Christmas card with SU baubles

Playing around today with some Christmas stamps bought last year.

The patterned paper is from an old magazine freebie pack.  The stamped/embossed baubles and the sentiment are from two different SU sets, the baubles have a matching punch.  They are mounted onto foam pads and a peel-off line is used for the 'string'.

See you tomorrow!

Day 38: Cross stitch update

I started a little bit of green on the wreath today.  Unlike the larger areas of red, the wreath is very very 'bitty' .... fun and games ahead, I think!

See you tomorrow!

Day 37: Butterfly screen card

This one has been hanging around a long time.  It was actually all done apart from the sentiment, but I had run out of the purple scraps I had used for the butterflies.  

So I found a close colour-matched embossing powder and stamped/heat embossed the sentiment ....Simples...!!!

To make the screen card, you'll need an 11 x 6 inch strip, so you can make two out of a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock..  There is a full tutorial on my original Scrapbooks and Cookbooks blog here.

Day 36: Decorated box - completed!

This took longer than expected - the varnish kept raising the woodgrain and I had to keep sanding back and applying another coat.  Eventually it was done and I added the nailheads and cogs/gears over the top.

The papers are from Stamperia, the nailheads and the cogs/gears from stash.  very pleased with this - now all I have to decide is what to putin it!

See oyu tomorrow!

Day 35: cross stitch update

I am now a third of the way through the 100 day project!  I do like doing the last little infill bits on a section ... suddenly it goes from being 'gappy' to finished!

See you tomorrow!

Day 34: blog challenge - use flowers

Today I am joining in the current Retro Rubber challenge, which is to use flowers.

Yet another 'found' pre-prepped background ( I must run out soon...??), which was run through an embossing folder and over-inked with Distress Oxides.
So I stamped the image onto a die-cut panel (SU Butterfly Basics, from around 4 years ago, I think).  The coloured with various alcohol markers in yellows and greens.  I am very pleased with it, must do a few more in different colourways, I think it will be suitable for several sentiments.
Keyword RRCB134

See you tomorrow!

Day 33: Starting on decorated wood block

Several years ago, the Craft Stamper magazine featured a project using a wooden block, measuring 6 x 4 x 2 inches.  basically a 4 x 2 plank of wood, cut to 6 inch pieces.  DH cut the wood for me and I did process one piece into a Christmas ornament.  The rest of the pieces .... remained in the drawer!

So here is the start of the next one!  It does look flat in the photo, I assure you it is dimensional IRL!  I have primed it on all sides and it awaits the next step :-)

See you tomorrow!

Day 32: Cross stitch update

I am really pleased at the progress made on this.  Posting updates every three days has really focussed my efforts to do some each day.

See you tomorrow!

Day 31: Get well card

Another pre-coloured topper ... I must run out soon, surely??

The stamp is from Woodware, the sentiment from SU.  Coloured with alcohol markers.

See you tomorrow!

Day 30: Banana cakes

I have used this banana cake recipe for years, and have baked it into all sorts of shapes - from the original large loaf, to muffins .... to these mini loaves.

75g margarine
100g soft light brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 medium bananas
250g sultanas
250g self raising flour
1tsp ground mixed spice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Cream margarine and sugar.  Mix in the eggs, beating well.  Peel and mash the bananas and them to the mixture, together with the sultanas.  Stir in the flour and spices.  Pour into 2 greased 1lb loaf tins and bake at Gas 4 / 180C / 170C fan /350F for 35 to 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Adjust the timings for other tins, the mini loaves shown took 20 minutes to bake.  They freeze very well.

See you tomorrow!

Day 29: Cross stitch update

Today's update!

See you tomorrow!

Day 28: Thank you card

This is another 'found' pre-prepped topper, assembled  into a card.

The vertical sentiment and main image are from SU, with good use made of my stamp positioner!  The stamps are red rubber, so work well with being 'inked' up using watercolour pens.

See you tomorrow!

Day 27: Box in progress

One of my aims for the 100 day project is to complete UFO's and use items bought but never used.  This is both - I bought the box a fair while ago, dug it out after we moved at the end of last year .... and then stalled on it, after I had painted and crackle glazed it.  I was stuck for what to put on top, but then found these great papers from Stamperia.

So it has turned from a UFO to a WIP!  It needs another couple of varnish coats and some further embellishment, but I have a plan now :-)

See you tomorrow!

Day 26: Cross stitch update

Coming along nicely!

See you tomorrow!

Day 25: Gold on ivory Christmas cards

As promised yesterday, the second colourway for this stamped image, gold on ivory.

See you tomorrow!

Day 24: Silver on white Christmas cards

Some simple stamped/embossed/coloured Christmas cards today.

The stamp is from SU, I coloured in with watercolour markers, but it was very fiddly, so I think I may stick with the simply embossed image in future!  This is the silver/white colourway, the ivory/gold will be tomorrow.
See you tomorrow!

Day 23: Cross stitch update

Today's update!

See you tomorrow!

Day 22: Multi photo layout

Relatively simple layout today.  We went to a model village in Great Yarmouth last year and took so many photos, I had to find a way to put several on one page!

The main base paper is Stamperia, but there was a portion I wanted to cover, so used a scrap of some woodgrain paper on the right hand side, so old I don't know the brand.  The central panel is also Stamperia.  Then it was just a question of lining everything into a suitable grid and writing the legends underneath.  Title was cut on the Silhouette.
See you tomorrow!