Inkyfingeredcat

Right straight back into the normal challenges – starting with using up the patterned paper stash … in this case the cute otter themed papers I got given by the lovely Tricia … so off we go with Kendras Card Challenge. I’m a bit behind so this is my first play with number 22 but I know 23 is already available – so that will be next months!

Today I have just the first five cards … but the video has the cutting and organising for all the cards on it!

Card 1:

I did some stamping of seaside elements prior to making the cards and fussy cutting of the otters from some of the leftover papers. These became the focal points ready to add onto the card.

I also pulled all my sentiments for these five from the ready made stash I have! I inked up the panels to give some depth of colour.

Card 2:

I decided on a mix of birthday and anniversary cards.

This one I twisted the sketch as I wanted the fish to go left to right not up and down!

I also added in the die cut from the silver glitter cards stock.

I added some dimension for the panel to be lifted above the background panel – and also under the otters.

For all the cards I added them to 5×7 card blanks as toppers as the templates are for US sized cards not UK 6×4 card sizes.

Card 3:

This one is probably my favourite of the first five … I added edges to each bit using a promarker pen and then added foam under the otter cluster too.

Love the colour and the sketch and of course those cute otters!

It was fun to get the gems out too and scatter them across the cards with some different colours!

Card 4:

This one I went to town inking to bring out the embossing on the background and to make sure the panels of paper worked well together.

And then that seagull is so fun!

Can imagine him grabbing your ice cream at the seafront! 🤣

Finally … card 5:

I wanted the otters to stand out more than they did against the bold patterns and so added the layer of vellum between the top elements and the background.

This worked perfectly to tone down the background but still have the patterns and colours coming through!

I used the placement of the top elements to choose how to adhere to the background so the adhesive is less obvious!

All in all a fun set of five cards – looking forward to making the other ten but I think the five in one go was more than enough for one day!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Ok now Christmas in July is finished – time to get back to sharing some scrapbook pages through my usual Scrappin Saturday! I made this page about my lovely parents back in May but only just getting around to sharing it … to be honest it is perfect for sharing today as the pic is of my parents at my Mums birthday last year – and today she turned 81!

I had put together the page kit to make this from papers from the #100patternedpaperchallenge pile and added in the leftover Love laser cut paper from Kingston Crafts.

I made this whilst at the crop in May and so I did add to the oat with the fab title Perspex piece.

I fussy cut the floral paper out to tuck the photo behind … I then adhered to the polkadot paper with some foam adhesive at the top part so it has some dimension.

I love how the laser cut piece looks too – perfect for a pic of my parents!

Really pretty page with those bold florals and the pretty embellishments.

We are off to a meal with the birthday girl this afternoon but later today I have another blog coming out (with a video) so please check back to see that!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Whoop! I did it! 31 days of Christmas projects all with videos over on my YouTube channel- what a lot of fun it has been, along with a fair amount of work obviously!

Final card was of course about Father Christmas!

And it ended up being a sewing themed card as I used fabric instead of patterned paper and buttons and the cool measuring tape ephemera I had in the stash!

Some fun textures and of course the gorgeous vintage Santa

Kept the fabric and sewing theme going for the inside of the card too.

What a fun and different style of card to end the month on! It really has been a full month of different styles and ideas – hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as me!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Final sketch of the month and I went with a grid background…

… but instead of patterned paper like I’ve used for the other sketches I made my own with a layered stencil.

So the poinsettia layered stencil for the background which I then cut into squares for the grid effect. With hindsight I would trim them smaller if doing this again so more of the gap would be evident and match more to the sketch – but hey hindsight is a lovely thing isn’t it?!?

Then used an old Waffleflower poinsettia layered stamp and die set for the focal point.

I die cut some circles from the plum coloured cardstock I had made the card base from and then added a banner under the die cut sentiment.

Love how the circles give some separation under the flower from the heavy patterned background.

Also think the gems look pretty that I added – nice to choose a slightly different colour scheme for the poinsettia too!

Inside I added the offcuts of the background to finish off.

Love this – but then we know I love a poinsettia themed anything!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Sorry in advance for everyone who watches my YouTube video as I couldn’t resist a moment of singing for today’s theme!

I made up for it though by keeping the video short and the card simple!

Emboss resist with bright coloured inks and one of my favorite ever stamps!

And a black mat and sentiment!

Done and dusted!

Inside a bit cut off the front panel and a repeat sentiment.

Sometimes simple is so effective I wonder why I bother with the more complex cards! 🤣

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I clearly had run out of ideas when it came to planning for this day – I just had a note of the colour combo in the folder – no supplies or ideas!

When I was filming the intro I had the idea to use some glitter paper for die cutting and so that started the process off – and then I went through the basket of dies and chose the Wreath Builder dies to make this super pretty but super simple card!

I chose silver glitter paper for the base bobbly wreath, black Matt cardstock for the leafy wreath and then red glitter for the bow and the flowers.

Then stamped the sentiment and those three little star elements.

Inside the card I then added a scrap of black and three flowers.

I love the simplicity of these wreaths and how pretty they are when layered – and obviously the glitter just adds the perfect festive finish!

Love it!

And as I enter these last few days I am starting to feel a little sad that CIJ is almost over. It’s a lot of work to do this but it’s also so much fun! Need to start planning for what my next challenge is and what might appear on the blog and YouTube in the next few weeks! But before that … last few days videos and projects need to be made!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today’s prompt led me to grab the Peace and Joy stamps and dies and that made me think of my lovely friend Martin and the card that he made back in 2020 where I first saw his work … and as they say the rest is history!

My card is above and it is very much made as a tribute to Martins card …

So different but very similar!

I encourage anyone who isn’t already – please go follow Martin – he is so creative and I love his style – helps he is also a lovely person too!

Added my own twist by both amending the placement of the wreath, using different leaves and adding the vellum rather than the white for the centre of the wreath.

But very much in keeping with his fab original!

Inside the card just added the leftover leaves as an overlapping strip at the bottom of the white panel!

My thanks go to Martin for the many creative inspirations he has provided over the years and for his friendship!

Martin’s YouTube – 

https://youtube.com/@martinsmayhem?si=DPOGF7grZtarZ7gC

Martin’s Instagram – 

https://www.instagram.com/martinmayhem?igsh=dnJmM2ZwZzNxdng0

30 day Christmas card making challenge – 

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1JL622pjoz/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Happy crafting!

Catherine

When I decided on the prompts I did use quite a few Christmas song titles and well I didn’t really think about what to make when I chose them. So this is one that made me think for a while but then I came up with the idea of a city scene in the snowglobe! So mixed together a magazine stamp set and the For the Love of Stamps set.

And it came out well … and used the lovely circle dies to create the circle card with all the layers.

Loads of lovely shine too from the foiled cardstock layer and love the mix of the white and silver embossing!

Inside I added another silver city scene and the sentiment on a panel I inked.

So quite a cool card and I think it fits the brief of Fairytale in New York – what do you think?

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I think when I grabbed the stash for this prompt I was going to go with the floral stamps and make a blue themed Christmas bouquet but I changed my mind and instead went with the house stamps and shimmery watercolor!

Instead a simple flat card with some gems but a beautiful shimmery finish was the result!

I mean how cute but how simple!

Bold stamping, shimmery finish and the lovely torn edge work so well for what could be a card to say hello but of course Christmas on the inside!

Loved making this – partly because those watercolours are so lovely to work with – but also because by this point I was on my third video of the day and needed a quick and easy project!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

When I use these cute reindeer stamps I always think of making cards for children – and so that was what was in my mind making this set of three cards – for me I thought of my great nephews and nieces – but also remembered making many cards for M’s classmates when she was younger that this sort of thing would be perfect for!

Gorgeous Avery Elle stamps with simple little panels of cardstock made into the small card bases – and then layers of solid and simple patterns – a touch of fun with the scraps of ribbon/twine and the die cut foiled circles!

Seriously cute right?

The video shows how easily they all came together – I love that they are all different but equally cute and could easily be replicated with different papers and colours or a different focal image!

I did decorate the insides too – could have kept this plainer and used the reindeers as the focal points for other cards instead – but this year I am all about the inside of cards so I went with the extra elements inside!

Hopefully some fun ideas for people making cards for children for the Christmas season – especially if you have a lot to make for!

Happy crafting!

Catherine