Inkyfingeredcat

I couldn’t help making another scrapbook page in my projects for the design team as the blending brushes are great for adding interest to the background of scrapbook pages.

I started by just moving the brush in a circular motion in the middle of the 12×12 page. I used a mustard colour ink and then kept building it up until the circle was evident.

Next I took a stencil and blended ink through that too in the circle shape. Next I swapped brush to use pink ink and added that in a few places. I then added lots of black splatter as I knew I wanted to add black elements to the page.

This gave me a fun base to then start adding paper elements and my photo to.

I took some scraps of Kingston Crafts summer themed paper and cut them into 1.5” squares. This paper and the black/grey and white papers were from my 100 patterned paper challenge pile (I actually made this back in early January just after I made this page).

I then used black soot distress ink and a blending brush to add some subtle black to the edge of each piece of the paper.

I then stuck these down overlapping in a fun design down the page.

Next I chose some random pink and purple papers from the scrap pile and added layers to the photo along with one black/grey and white one too.

I also chose to punch circles from the pink one and edged those with the black soot too with the blending tool.

I placed these randomly around the squares and then some on the left bottom area for my other cluster area.

This is where I added my title using some random sticker letters from the stash.

I then pulled out these flat shiny stars that have also been in the stash for a long time – perfect to add to the page about the Starlight walk I was documenting.

I added a doily and a tag with some thread to sit behind the photo and then added my journaling.

A lovely page and really love how the blended circle worked.

Was so delighted to see this on tv last week – funny to think Beth has currently got a picture of me looking like this in her home in Baltimore! 🤣

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I love colouring die cuts with my blending brushes and so of course that had to be one of my projects for the design team for Kingston Crafts using their brushes. And of course I grabbed my favourite die set – Alex Syberia Christmas Bouquet – but instead of Christmas themed I went for beautiful yellows and oranges inspired by one of the ColourCube cards.

I die cut each of the pieces I wanted to use from white cardstock and then chose my colours from my SU inks and started blending the ink onto the pieces using the brushes. Sometimes I went heavy with one colour and on others I added different colours to a piece.

This gave some bits more variation like the large berries and the large yellow flowers and then on others they come out bold like the red berries and some of the leaves.

I then created a base with dark green cardstock and embossed it with a texture folder (painted texture) and then lightly inked it up with some green ink to just slightly darken the edge of the panel.

I layered this up with some scrap cardstock behind to give a tiny amount of dimension. Then I added the floral elements to the front in a L shape design.

I used a sentiment from Waffleflower and then added that as two sentiment strips.

I decided to finish with some Kingston Crafts glitter glue in the clear and the yellow colour to give a bit of sparkle to the flower centres which I had actually left as white rather than colouring them.

Really happy with this card pleased I chose some different colours based on the card from the ColourCube – I think it was a good call to choose one rather than just go for my standard colours!

Pleased to have these blending brushes in my crafting stash – especially with the stand to keep them organised when I am not using my them!

Once again this is an “as seen on tv” project from Wednesday!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

This months Make it Masculine was very much using bits off the desk as I’m currently clearing out the craft room to redecorate so limited supplies to hand.

I used scraps of scrapbook papers, inking edges to give definition to the layers.

Then I added the two birds from the Snowcapped Holidays die set which I had made up already on another crafting session to be the focal points.

The birds had been cut from scraps of cardstock and then some inking added to give some more shading and definition to the birds.

I chose a sentiment from the stash of ready prepped sentiments (I did have to go and find these as they had been boxed away into the other room!).

I popped the birds up on foam adhesive so there is a bit of dimension. Also the thread through the top of the banner adds some texture.

Inside the card I added the scrap of the striped paper and then another little sentiment strip.

A simple card and made quickly from bits and pieces. I videoed the process like usual for my Make it Masculine projects.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today’s project using the fab set of blending brushes from Kingston Crafts was this simple card where I ink blended the panels behind the digital stamp panel. – I did promise more samples after the show was aired last week.

Blending ink to make your own custom panels of patterned paper is so easy – I chose to go for shades of blue. I created an ombré panel with Bermuda Bay SU ink and Mermaid Lagoon distress ink.

Then the larger panel I used a mix of the mermaid lagoon and Night of Navy SU ink.

After I had done all the blending I splattered with water droplets and lifted some ink to give a mottled effect.

Then it was just a case of assembling the panels onto the card blank I made from navy cardstock.

I finished off with a die cut press plate sentiment from Dina Wakely, some wink of Stella for the stars and some glossy accents for the window on the rocket.

A cute card and so simple to make. And again this is an ‘as seen on tv’ as Beth showed my sample on Wednesdays show on Hobbymaker tv.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

This page I actually made a few months ago as part of the Scrapbooking Challenges – UK team winter event – but never got around to sharing on my blog because it was busy with other projects at the time. It is also one of my 100 patterned paper projects and I cut into three papers to make this! I popped the scraps back in the box for future use!

The pics are from our Boxing Day meal out and I loved how the restaurant had decorated – so many lovely baubles and warm fairy lights – really pretty!

I chose a green base, the wood plank background, some green paper (I used the reverse of the green to mat the photos with white) and then the baubles paper from Kingston Crafts.

I did a bit of stitching for the circles (this scored me points on the challenge) and added a layer of the gold angel hair to give the page texture and shine!

I had fun pulling elements from my stash like the chipboard tag to which I added the thread (points for the challenge), the white sequins and white flair button (more points) and the little tab of the ribbon.

I added journaling along the bottom of the page and decided that it was a finished page once I added the doodled line around the base.

The layout for this page was using a Freaky Fast Friday recipe … and that gave me an additional few points for the challenge!

So there you go – a page I made ages ago but only just getting round to sharing! And it’s a good job too as the craft room is in complete disarray as Operation Craft Room redecorate is underway and I currently have no craft desks and supplies are packed away in the lounge!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Gosh this was not an easy card to make – not because the card itself was difficult – but more because I have very limited supplies in my craft room as I am in the final stages of clearing it out ready to redecorate.

I had to hand a bag of scraps leftover from scrapbooking projects, some cardstock already cut into (enough to grab a piece big enough to make a 5.5 x 4 card base!). I still had my vintage photo ink and some ready made birds from Snowcapped holidays. I found the thread leftover from another project you will see next week (you will also see these birds again for that one too!) and half way through making it I ran out of tape runner so went back to my trusty glue!

Oh and that die cut stitched looking frame I’m pretty sure is a 49 & market and it’s been sitting on my desk waiting to be used for ages – now is it’s time!

The one thing I didn’t have was a sentiment so that required climbing over boxes to find the Christmas stash in the lounge and much disruption in that room – just for the sentiment!

I love these little birds and a good few months ago I die cut lots of them from scraps and inked them and stuck them together ready to go and they have been sitting in my basket next to the desk waiting to be used. I still have a fair few left so you may see a few over the course of the next few weeks as I try and grab bits of creative time in between the chaos of actually destroying furniture, decorating, buying and assembling new furniture for my craft room/ home office.

Inside the card I just added scraps of the paper if cut into banners and kept it simple.

A cute card and at least I didn’t miss a week for Festive Friday! 🎄

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I always love using paper not meant for Christmas as a Christmas card! So when I saw the green paper with the little crosses I knew I could use this for a Christmas card.

I started by die cutting the mistletoe cover die from the paper and then I decided to add some shimmer to the leaves of the mistletoe so I took the evergreen colour from the holiday shimmer spritz and painted it onto the leaves. Because there was a different intensity of the mica they are very mixed in colour tone – but I love this!

I left it to dry and whilst it was drying I cut a panel of the solid green in the pad and then made a card blank that would fit the size of the cover die.

I used the solid green to stamp and emboss the poinsettia image from an old magazine kit. I used the shimmer spray (santas sleigh and evergreen) to colour that and then left that to dry.

By this point the mistletoe die piece was dry. So I cut another one of the cover dies from some scrap dark green cardstock and layered it up before then glueing to the solid green panel.

I decided the card looked best landscape so I started glueing it all together and then added a die cut Christmas (again stacked) and the sequins to finish off.

Inside I added a panel of white to ensure there was somewhere to write the greeting.

So lovely to get some non Christmas themed products used for a Christmas project!

I’ve been saving all the holiday shimmer spritz projects to share with you until they were available on Hobbymaker – well Beth shared the spritz on the show on the last night so I can now share them (although I think they came close to selling out so not sure if available now!) – so funny to blog this when I made it back in June last year!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today on Hobbymaker.tv (7pm) there is a Kingston Crafts show and this time it’s Beth Kingston sharing the products as they are broadcasting from the US.

I believe that blending brushes will be back again … so time to start sharing the projects I made with them.

The Kingston Crafts blending brushes come with a fab stand and I chose the white ones … but the first thing I needed to do was of course make them colourful – best way to do that is a project with lots of colour!

I chose to scrap a pic of me at the crop last year and to fill the white page with huge amounts of gorgeous colour!

I used a 12×12 stencil and then chose a range of inks to create my rainbow of a sort.

Using the blending brushes to blend the colours is so easy – start with a light layer and then deepen it with more layers if you need to – with an overlap between the colours.

I absolutely love how this turned out!

I used mainly my SU inks, including some old ones (concord crush, perfect plum, orchid oasis, melon mambo, hello honey, gumball green) – and the dye based inks work so well with the brushes.

I chose to then keep the page pretty simple.

Black and white cardstock mounts for the photo. A couple of die cut bumpy borders (hey little magpie) and then die cut letters for the title.

I then did a heavy scatter of the sequins across the page to embellish.

I finished off by adding my journaling across the top and bottom border of the page.

Love how this came out – a great way to show off the brushes and create a super colourful scrapbook page.

Looking forward to watching the show tonight at 7pm to see if any samples I made get shown and will share more over here on the blog over the next week.

Edit: the programme was fun to watch and I get to say “as seen on tv”

Happy crafting!

Catherine

This is not just the DT contribution I made for the Birthday challenge.

It is also the card I made for my daughter for her 20th birthday!

Yes I now no longer have a teenager in the house – but a real grown up – of course she is still my baby girl!

Now I actually made this when I was half way through packing up my craft room ready for the redecorating and new furniture so was limited in my supplies (many were boxed up in another room) but I had also had a little splurge on Alex Syberia sale and got some new dies so as those hadn’t been packed away they are the main parts of the card!

I die cut all the elements once and then a few bits twice from white watercolour cardstock and then used ink and water to add colours.

I kept to the teal colours for the leaves knowing I would be using the papers in the background as I had pulled them out already – but then bringing in pink and peach for the flowers.

This die cut is like the Christmas bouquet one I am obsessed with. It is so easy to use with the layers and creates a super cluster but can be then used as elements in a different way. This time, as it was its first use, I kept the cluster similar to the design on the front of the packaging. Although I did turn it upside down! 🙃

I glued it together and added wink of Stella to a few elements of the flowers for sparkle. I know M loved using the wink of Stella pen when making Christmas cards so I think she would love that little element!

Then I ripped the background paper into the square to fit the 6×6 card and stuck that down with the opposite side of the paper for the panel down the right hand side.

I added a little pearlescent punchinella to just underneath as an extra texture. Then added the floral cluster onto the card.

Then I die cut the sentiment (also new dies from Alex Syberia).

I used foiled cardstock in teal for the top layer and white for the shadow layer. Such a pretty set of dies.

I then added lots of liquid pearls dotted around the card for embellishment. Of and you might have noted the background paper has some better press scribbles too – these were already on it from another project but thought it looked cool on the background!

Inside the card I added a leaf and a leftover flower with another scrap of punchinella just to finish off!

So happy birthday (it was actually last Saturday) to my princess!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Back in January I joined in with the Scrapbooking Challenges Winter team challenge and so made pages that I didn’t get a chance to share – finally catching up on this one now though as didn’t have a more recent project to share! Plus today is actually M’s birthday so going to be busy all day celebrating with the 20 yr old!

This one I scored points for the team by doing the following – using circles, stitching, layers, a white title and the final wildcard – a hot drink!

This was made from papers in my 100 patterned papers pile too – I added some extras from scraps for the layers under the photo too – but the main background, the red circles and the gingerbread all came from that 100patternedpaper pile of stash I have been working my way through!

Of course with the theme of the photos being the ginger cookies we decorated before Christmas I used the Christmas paper from Kingston Crafts and the acetate kit to include the cookies and the cocoa mugs.

I also used that cute bumpy border die from hey Little Magpie – such a fun element to include. I actually did the sewing to add texture to where it joined the panel above the die cut.

The title is a die set I have and I think it went perfectly with the cookie theme – I did have to ask for help from my scrapping friends to finish the title and someone suggested sweet memories and I knew that was perfect!

Such a fun page about our exploits with icing (we are far from good at this sort of thing!) and one of the Christmas activities we did in December 2025.

Happy crafting!

Catherine