Inkyfingeredcat

I think the little spring mechanisms are so much fun to play with … really does step up your focal element.

My first play with the mechanism was on this card where I turned the pretty birdcage sticker into a moving popped up focal point!

I started with some pretty floral paper panels from which I die cut a circle aperture. I used my blending brushes to add ink to the edges and then used lots of the foam adhesive tabs to give dimension between the top and bottom panel. Then I adhered it to one of the solid colour card bases in the 5×7 pack of card bases.

Then I added a small panel of the cardstock to the back of the sticker and removed any remaining stick by using the embossing powder bag! Then I adhered the spring mechanism and added it to the centre of the circle.

You can see from the side view this lifts it higher than the background popped up by the foam it it’s not easy to see the mechanism on the size of the element I chose.

I added the sentiment using stickers from the same set and then lots of sequins scattered over the front of the card.

I did also add some glitter glue to the birdcage and flowers just to step that up too.

But the fun part is definitely the wobble and movement – so here is a super quick video showing it moving!

I just love it! Really makes the card something special!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

My second project using the paper flowers pack from Kingston Crafts and I went to town with the flowers! I too a piece of cardstock that did actually have flowers on it as a pattern and using those flowers as a guide I stuck all different types of the flowers down to create a beautiful textural panel with bits of the orange background peeping through.

I then used the orange glitter glue to create the sparkle centres of the flowers.

Covering a whole panel like this may seem excessive but you get so many of the flowers in the pack you feel like you can be this generous!

Also because they are paper not cardstock they don’t create too much weight or bulk!

I decided to keep the rest of the card quite simple – a white base with a little bit of orange stamping with a hexagon random stamp.

Then the sentiment which is a stamped and die cut one.

I really love how this came out – fun and textural and pretty!

And look how many flowers I used – and there are still hundreds left to play with! Such good value – no wonder it sold out for Hobbymaker on Good Friday – I believe it is coming to HSN in May in the US though – so followers over there look out for that!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Another of the ‘as seen on tv’ projects from back when Martin was on Hobbymaker tv on Good Friday, where he shared the motion springs as a world exclusive!

Wanted to see how I could use the motion springs to enhance a scrapbook page and decided to go with an embellishment heavy page and add in the movement and dimension that the springs bring to a few elements! Love this!

I started with the summer paper kit from Kingston Crafts and split a paper with a 2” gap towards the top. I gave it a heavy distress edge and then adhered into place.

Then I decided to cluster the embellishments top right and bottom left. Once I decided on the layout I added some directly to the base. I lifted the sunglasses on both clusters up with foam adhesive and also the beach bag on the top cluster.

The passports however I added the motion spring mechanisms to so they both sit higher and also have the movement.

Next I added the photo with the mat layer of both the white and yellow cardstock. I also decided to add the aeroplane border into the gap section.

I raised the photo up on the foam adhesive to sit over the gap.

Then I chose a different sticker sheet from my stash for the title … I added the antistatic powder to the back and then glued a couple of strips of cardstock at the back before attaching the motion spring.

This really did add some fun to the page – love how cute those passports are wobbling around!

Finishing touch was just to add a snippet of ribbon to the left of the photo and my journalling about our exploring of Ciutadella de Menorca.

Happy this one was also briefly seen on tv – shouted to the hubby that he was famous when it appeared! 🤣

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Back to that super easy to play with Christmas Tags and More speciality dsp I bought last year. Really is the easiest little pack of stash to grab when you want something quick and easy to put together.

And whilst the flooring was finally done yesterday I haven’t had enough time to get anything much done in the room (we managed to build most of the desk last night) nor bring my stash back in the room yet let alone full on crafting!

So quick and easy was the name of the game once again and I made this last week when I made the one I shared last #festivefriday !

I went with a panel of the baubles paper which I mounted on some green cardstock with a thin border to frame. Then I added lots of shimmer using a shimmer gel pen.

This makes the patterned paper a little more special! But is so easy!

I added the die cut bows for the baubles … the green I stuck flat and then the red I doubled up and added the top one with the ribbon curved up so there was some dimension and a feeling of movement.

I then took a Tim Holtz sticker sentiment and mounted it on brown to go across the whole panel.

As I was looking at the card at this stage I wanted to add just a little extra touch – so I added glossy accents to the centres of each bow. This gives both some dimension and an additional texture.

Inside I kept it quite simple … some more paper from the kit cut into a banner and then another sticker mounted on cardstock as a sentiment.

A simple card with just a few hand drawn elements which make a difference!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Back with another project using the paper flower pack from Kingston Crafts – and this time I had fun colouring three types of flowers three different colours using my alcohol markers.

I actually ended up just making a small 4×4 card for this one … two layers of coordinating cardstock and a sentiment … because the flowers do all the work!

I chose the three sizes, then chose a colour for each size – blush for the top, coral for the middle and a rosy pink for the base. I had to be gentle colouring them in as they are paper but the alcohol ink dried quickly so very little damage to the paper embellishments.

Then a little dot of glue in the centre of each and then a gem to the centre of each to finish off!

As you can see here they are dimensional but the adhesive foam under the sentiment is slightly thicker so it is minimal bulk.

I arranged them in a grid shape and then added that foiled sentiment to finish off!

Love how this came out … I think it would be good to experiment with the colours for this too so may make some more notecards like this – or could go for a bigger card but with maybe a grid of 4×4 instead! As there are so many flowers in the kit I think I could easily do a set of cards like this in all the colours of the rainbow! 🌈

Happy crafting!

Catherine

So I know I said the product was paper flowers but in the pack you also get hearts (which I think are petals that are heart shaped) and leaves and … butterflies! So for this card I chose to use the butterflies!

I wanted to see how well the paper embellishments took a wet medium and so chose to ‘paint’ the butterfly with the shimmer spritz. Rather than spraying after mixing up the mica in the liquid I used a paint brush to coat the two butterfly pieces with the daffodil colour and then dropped a little bit of the peony colour into the centre whilst the yellow colour was still wet. This gave a lovely effect to mix the colours.

When dry it has lovely shimmer and also a little sturdier texture thanks to the formula in the shimmer spritz.

I layered the two pieces together so there is more texture to the butterfly – only adhering in the centre.

The card itself is one of those occasions card bases that Kingston Crafts had available last year (don’t think you can get them in the Uk at the moment) and then a panel of coordinating solid colour cardstock. I embossed some background sketchy scripty text stamping for the butterfly and sentiment to sit on with white.

I did add some scrap cardstock behind the panel to raise it slightly off the card base.

I decided to add the glitter glue to the centre of the butterfly as an extra bit of sparkle. The sentiment is a foiled one I had in the stash and I thought the colour worked with the butterfly.

Delighted with how this turned out – the shimmer spritz works so well as a pearlescent paint on the paper embellishments.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Another design team card to share this time our theme at Addicted to stamps and more is die cuts and stencils.

And I went with those Snowcapped holidays birds once again! Again this is mainly due to when I made this I had very few supplies to choose from as the craft room was in the process of being all packed up!

I chose paper leftover from scrapbooking that I couldn’t bear to throw away – such pretty colours in the striped paper. I added this to the yellow card base I made from cardstock to hand!

Then I gathered supplies for the focal elements – the three leaves leftover from the autumnal garland I made back in September but had leftover leaves I have hoarded!

Then the Snowcapped holidays birds and sprig of berries that I thought coordinated.

I lightly inked the leaves with vintage photo ink, adhered them in place and then splattered the card with the ink. Then added the birds and the sentiment.

The sentiment is one of those I did a while back using up scraps and foiling lots of sentiments that I then store ready to go. I added it with the foam adhesive to give a little dimension.

I still had my pouch of enamel gems on the desk so grabbed these orange ones to finish off the card.

Inside I used more of those scraps of the paper cut into banners to just finish off!

Love this bright and cheery card I made! Not bad with limited supplies! I still had some of the birds left in the pouch too – so probably more cards yet to make using these – definitely recommend the idea of making many layered die cuts like these at once and then storing them ready to go! Makes life so much easier when needing to put a cute card together without the fiddling!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I am back with another sample I made for Kingston Crafts using the fun spring mechanism. This time I decided to go to town with the die cut elements and then pop the bird up on the movement spring.

Isn’t the card so pretty? I started with the base using one of the 5×7 card bases to decide my colour combo.

I added the panel of white to give the die cut some grounding. Then I did all the die cutting!

Once it was all die cut out I added inking and then adhered together with the exception of the bird.

I also added glitter glue to the floral elements.

Then added the flowery branch to my card.

Next I added the spring to the back of the bird, lined it up to look like sitting on the branch and added it to the card.

Finishing touch was just the sentiment!

Such a pretty card! And the added element of that movement really steps it up!

And of course this was a ‘as seen on tv’ projects back on Good Friday albeit only briefly!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I really loved the look of the Sugarplum spritz when I opened the box so this is the first one I played with – I took a piece of lilac cardstock from the pastel cardstock and then totally coated the piece with the sugar plum and then for good measure I also added in the silver colour in a few places to add some different elements. Well as I went heavy this took a while to dry but wow! How gorgeous it is! I decided to go for a big die cut element for the focal point of the card and cut this from that gorgeous pink swirly shiny and shimmer panel!

I then took some of the pastel pink cardstock and partially embossed it with the embossing folder and then blended some ink onto it. Then added that to the card base made from the pastel pink cardstock.

I also cut the base outline panel for the big die cut from the same pink to give it some separation from the textured background.

I die cut a couple of the central pieces from the pink, embossing the sentiment onto the top one in silver and stacked them and added them.

Because the spritzed pink die cut is so shiny I didn’t need to do much more – just a few tiny silver gems dotted around and the card was finished!

I don’t think the photos quite show the level of beauty that the spritz created so I did film a few seconds of film to share with you …

I suspect this spritz colour will get used all year round – it’s definitely not just for Christmas!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Not sure quite what happened but I seem to have missed blogging about this page I made in February (just found the pics on my phone!) – although have to say I am grateful as still not able to do crafting in the craft room so wouldn’t have had a post if I hadn’t found this!

This was one of those page kits that I bought from HLM a while ago and I pretty much kept the sketch as per the original kit – there was a fair amount of fussy cutting of the flowers but I think well worth it!

The photos as from hubby’s birthday from 2024 when we went to Kingpins at the Trafford Centre.

Love all these bright flowers and the embellishments I added in.

I also added some stencilling to the background – it’s subtle but the dotty circles are such fun!

Lovely bright page!

Happy crafting!

Catherine