Forget about the dirty looks

Good Morning & welcome!  Sweet Stampin' has another fab challenge for you this week, a very timely one if you're needing to make a Father's Day card or have an upcoming male birthday as it's CARDS FOR MEN.

Recently I spent a chunk of time sorting out my SU stamps.  Gone are the random words or images that I know I will never use & what remains has been re-organised to make more sense to me.  Which is really how it should be but for some reason I persisted in keeping them in their sets.  Those are SU papers too & I broke out the DI's for a spot of watercolouring.  I even did that thing of mopping up my excess ink.  Because I absolutely definitely need more backgrounds to use up, lol!

I needed some layout inspiration so I nipped along to the talented Jules' blogs & borrowed sketch number 54.  Thank you Jules.

Playing along with:

Thanks for dropping by.  If you're breaking out the MAN stash this week, come & join in the fun.  Have a great week!

The Genius (Occasionally!) xx

(I'm Not Okay - MCR)

Throw away the work to be done

Honestly, who returns to a challenge & then goes awol for several weeks?  Sweet Stampin' has a lovely 'flowers' challenge this fortnight which tempted me back & gives you lots of scope to get crafty.

I made this on my day off when the weather wasn't quite inviting enough to venture out.  I would tell you this is made with very old stash but 95% of my stash IS very old so that's not really news!  I am currently decluttering my craft room and there is a lot of rediscovery going on.  Also a lot of of getting rid which is incredibly satisfying.

Looking forward to seeing your floral creations

The Genius (Occasionally!) xx

{All night long by Lionel Richie}

A quiet return

Well hello, it's been a while!

Here I am sneaking back in to the blogging world via the Sweet Stampin' challenge.  Happy Birthday to the challenge, 16 years is something to be proud of!  Sharing a card I made for an incredibly special young lady who loves a bit of pink bit & also needs a card with lots of energy & personality.

So looking forward to catching up.

The Genius (occasionally!) xx

A Christmas Farewell

Well Hello!

How lovely to see you all again.  I'm popping back up to mark the retirement of the CaSS challenge.  Obviously this is a sad moment for me as I co-founded the challenge back in 2012.  But all good things must come to an end and I am marking the occasion as well as extending my love & thanks to all of my CaSS DT members.  I've met some amazing people & gained fantastic friends through the Sweet Stampin' challenges.

So in honour of the final CaSS challenge & all the wonderful people involved in it, I decided to try something new: Colouring on kraft.  Yes, I do realise i'm late to the party but i'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I also brought a never before inked stamp out to play to make this CAS creation.

So to all my CaSSette's & all the supporters of the SS Christmas blog: THANK YOU!

With much love,

The Genius (Occasionally!) xx

You'll never be alone

Well it's an emotional day for me today.  I'm finally hanging up my Sweet Stampin' boots. After more than 8 years, I've decided the time is right to hand over the challenge to the dream duo of Susan & Wendy.  Girls, I know you will do an amazing job & take the challenge from strength to strength.

In the meantime, we need to celebrate as it's our 9th Birthday!  Pop along, join in the celebrations

As for me, life has changed in those 8 years & I find myself seriously short of time!  I'm not even sure I will be blogging in the near future tbh.  So this is a bit of a see you when I see you post.  I've had a ball blogging, met amazing people, been so inspired by my fellow crafters and learnt so much.

This card is really made for my fellow SS teamies, they have been like a family to me and while it is the right thing to do for me, I will miss them beyond belief.  I would have loved it to say "You made MY world a better place" because they have.

Huge thanks go to Netty's Cards for the fabulous digi sentiment used above.

For now, keep creating & I will see you sometime.

The Genius (Occasionally!) xx

Sweet Home Alabama

I'm two days late with this offering to let you know that we have a Christmas in August theme over at Sweet Stampin' this week.  I've had this stamp for over a year but felt a little intimidated to ink & colour him.  But he was too fab to resist any longer & I got my watercolours out & coloured with those for a change.  I like the end result even though he may be too CAS for some. 

I organised a baby shower over the weekend, apparently these are now quite a big thing in the U.K.  Who knew?!  It was hard work but fun, lots of baby themed games & quizzes created lots of fun & giggles! 

I'd love to play with some other fabby challenges:

ABC Christmas Challenge - P for Plain

Allsorts - From boys to men

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas (optional girl)

Thanks for stopping by,

The Genius (Occasionally!) xx