Inkyfingeredcat

For Silent Night for day 6 of Christmas in July I decided on creating a peaceful nights scene and so went with the trusty northern lights inspired sky with snow drifts for the scene.

I of course added lots of splatter – both water drips and gesso splatter!

I then used the Indigo Blu stamps to create the scene – any silhouette stamp would work well with this kind of scene.

I added a scrap of ribbon, a banner and a die cut stamped sentiment for the finishing touch.

Then I created the card base from vellum and added white panels all the same size as the front to go on the inside to strengthen the card and to ensure adhesive was covered up!

Inside the offcut from the front became the element to draw the outside in.

Love this different card with using the vellum as the base – and such a beautiful way to create a scene!

And considering I made this card in the middle of a heatwave I think I did a good job of making a frosty scene!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Filming this during a heatwave was a funny turn of events! I imagine frosty would be a big old puddle if he was really in my craft room when I made this last week!

Anyways … the card actually was made over two days as I decided to add a layer of the texture glass bead gel paste – which of course needs time to dry – so after the layer of inking and the layer of paste I set it aside and came back to it the next day!

The panel itself is a layering stencil set I used last year and struggled with … and someone suggested using a paste so I gave it a try!

I love it! The snowmen look so frosty and fun with all of the texture and the gorgeous little hats and scarves.

Because it turned out so well I decided to keep the finish of the card simple – just a sentiment raised up and a panel of the purple to frame it.

Love it! Super frosty!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Can’t help but sing today’s theme (fortunately in my head – you don’t need to hear that!) – although I concentrated on the mistletoe part of the theme for my day 4 card for Christmas in July!

I made a shimmery panel using two colours of the Kingston Crafts shimmer spritz’s and then die cut the panel with the My Favorite Things die.

I stacked it with another plain layer and then mounted it onto the green cardstock.

Next I created the sentiment from the overlapping Christmas words stencil and die set from Waffle Flower.

Then I added to a card blank (I cut down a larger one) and then added lots of sequins to resemble the mistletoe berries!

Inside I added some scraps and then some more of the sentiment elements!

And then as I couldn’t bear to waste the background I had cut I made yet another card!

This one I cut the die from dark green and then pieced in the sections left over. I added this straight to the card base and then added the three remaining words and some of the stars.

I love the shimmer on the cards.

Inside I added a panel of white and the remaining star elements.

So a bonus card made as I couldn’t resist!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I decided that a wreath would work as deck the halls so went for a stamped wreath using some fab oldie but goodie stamps!

I used the Paperartsy stamps the lovely Darcy created and went with a heavily stamped and masked wreath and then used three green coloured brushos for the painting and two colours of red for the berries.

I then added the gold wink of Stella splatters to the panel which is so pretty!

I mat the layer with black cardstock which gave it a nice frame.

I stamped and embossed the sentiment and after adding the mat of the black I raised it above the rest of the card panel using my foam adhesive.

Then I realised I hadn’t got a 7×7 card base which I thought I had so I decided to improvise and used two of the 5×7 card blanks from Kingston Crafts to create a gatefold card.

I trimmed the front panels of the cards into 3.5” wide so that when placed edge to edge they make a 7×7 card!

I adhered the main topper to the left hand side only and then created a panel inside with more stamped and painted leaves.

This card is a clean looking design but lots of work with the stamping and masking. But absolutely worth it!

Love those different shades of green and the different pigmentation variations from brushos.

And how I managed to make a simple fun fold! Not like me but it worked well!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Sketch time for day 2 of Christmas in July and here it is…

I chose to use papers from the magazine kit I still have some bits and bobs left from a few years ago … and then kept the sketch fairly similar to the original although I did reverse it as my printed version had it on the other side! 🤣

It’s a patterned paper heavy card but I think the sketch is still visible!

I used two papers to create the mat and the background and the same for the circle. I also added the fussy cut wreath element.

I stamped and coloured the holly leaf images from the stamp set that was in the magazine.

I then added a thread bow and the sentiment banner above it with foam adhesive to give it some dimension.

Inside the card I added another panel of the solid red with a panel of white on top.

I also added another holly leaf and then a fussy cut flower.

Love how this came out. Not the biggest fan of the paper but I think it worked so well!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Now a sensible person would have planned to do this as a video and included in my CIJ series but I realised too late and so an additional card made for my design team contribution for Creative Knockouts. I’ve been given the image by Rachelle Anne Miller – Christmas Peace and this is the card I made.

I decided to print onto watercolour cardstock and then went for a lovely inky multi coloured watercolour finish!

I used two distress inks for the colouring and blended the colours together (I did use a separate colour for the skin) – once dry I then added some Perfect Pearls for adding shimmer on the star and the halo and the wings!

I then added lots of splatter over the panel – so pretty!

Next I chose some patterned papers from my stash and layered them up – then added a vellum layer which I embossed with a snowfall pattern.

Next I added a ribbon and a cluster of ribbons for the embellishment … plus a little star embroidered piece from a Hey Little Magpie embellishment kit.

I added the whole topper to a Kingston Crafts card base which I thought worked colour wise.

Next I added a couple of the scraps of the paper to the inside of the card – it’s not much but it helps to bring the outside inside.

So here you are, another card for the stash of Christmas cards made!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Here we go … day 1 of the mammoth undertaking that is Christmas in July! And I decided to start this year with a look back at last year and chose my favourite card to use as my inspiration!

To the left is the card I made last year and then this years to the right has a different sentiment, sequins instead of the stars and I used different cardstock for the die cut panels!

I cut the background panels three times … a garden green layer, a shaded spruce and then a glitter cardstock from Alex Syberia.

I then die cut the pine cones from crumb cake cardstock but added vintage photo directly to the panel before I die cut for the base shapes and then blended some ink on the top sections to give them some depth.

The sentiment was already cut and layered and then added those sequins to finish off!

Inside I added the panel of white, a strip of glittered cardstock and then a final pine cone!

A really lovely, die cut heavy card to start this year off! Wonder what day 2 will bring?

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Wasn’t sure I would manage it with all the projects I need to get through but decided as paint was on the desk I would just go for it and create this fun easy painty card for my Make it Masculine series over on YouTube.

Just three colours of paint and no real tools needed … an easy background and a painty panel to cut the banner from.

I die cut the letters from a scrap of glitter cardstock and then a separate banner with a stamped sentiment finishes the card off!

Inside a leftover bit of painty cardstock added and a sentiment stamped.

Love how quickly this came together and fun to play with paint again.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I knew when I saw the Kraft papers I had the perfect photo to scrap … a sepia version of photos from a photo shoot many years ago we had.

I went with a large panel of the scalloped stripe patterns onto the plain base. Then a few different scraps under the photo with white cardstock interspersed.

I then went to town fussy cutting elements from the floral paper.

I layered these up around the photo and then added some foam adhesive under some bits to give them dimension.

I then die cut the title using a lawn Fawn die set. I inked it to give it a little depth and stacked it three times to make it a bit chunky.

I added wink of Stella to both the title and centres of the flowers. Next I added some splatters of white gesso after covering the photo up so it remained clean!

Really love how the page came together – so pretty! A perfect pairing of photo and papers!

I’ve decided to give myself a bit of a break from scrapping for July as Christmas needs to happen and I have a lot on my plate – so no scrapbook pages for a few weeks! Sorry!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Well here we are half way through the year and that’s 26 festive projects made so far including today’s … and this one is also my Christmas in June project where our theme is Father Christmas!

Admittedly it was a last minute make! it was only after tea tonight when I went to update Instagram with today’s post did I realise I still hadn’t made it … so a chatty video whilst I made this card happened on a very messy desk!

I used the Avery Elle Polar Pals set for the jolly little Santa and coloured him with ink and then added the flock to the beard, tache and the furry bits on his suit!

I created the background panels using bits and pieces on the desk leftover from other projects I’ve been making including the die cut foliage.

I mean he is a sweet looking Santa and keeping to traditional colours makes life easy I think!

My lovely friend Karen has made and shared in the fb group a few Santa Claus cards – wondering if we will see any more before the month is out?

So check out the video to hear how I am prepping and getting ready for Christmas in July – plus some other stuff I chat about!

Happy crafting!

Catherine