Inkyfingeredcat

I was given a box full of chipboard shapes and so decided to go mixed media canvas and make a spring themed piece of art!

I know it’s been a while since I’ve done this kind of thing but I really enjoyed this!

I started with a box canvas that started as a piece of art that was in our bathroom for many years but got removed when we had it renovated. As the canvas was still in good condition I thought why not upcycle it rather than get rid! I have it a thick layer of gesso and then Matt medium and started adding the chipboard shapes to cover the whole front of the canvas. Then I let it dry.

I tried to fit the flowers together with only small gaps and then filled in with the little circles also in the kit.

After a couple of coats of gesso I started with the shimmer spritz in three colours …

Of course I forgot that the big thing with this type of project is the waiting! So much waiting for each layer to dry! Patience is required!

So I left it for a few hours and then decided that what I wanted to make was a wreath … so grabbed the leaf shapes, popped them in the box and spritzed them too!

Once they were dry I then added them!

I then took the yellow flowers and white circle centres and then spritzed them with the yellow and orange sprays.

I added them all to the front of the canvas leaving a space for a bow to be added.

I then went through the ribbon box and found the ribbon. I tied it into a double bow and added that to the wreath too!

I did consider adding a word but decided in the end that this was perfect as it was!

I love the texture this created – and I am not joking I have enough chipboard shaped pieces left to make at least another two canvases … maybe in a different colour way?

For now though this has been added to my wall … this wall will be decorated sometime in the near future so not sure whether it will stay here or not … but for now it looks good!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Back again with a page I made a couple of weeks ago as part of the Scrapbook Challenges UK Winter Challenge and this one was such fun to do …

It was a scraplift of a page by Catherine Lapidge …

I loved the circle and the two floral clusters so thought it would work well with this picture from circa 1992 of me as a bridesmaid!

I grabbed all the papers from my stash for the #100patternedpaper challenge. I fussy cut the floral elements from the busy but beautiful floral paper with those gold foiled elements – so gorgeous!

The striped gold for the circle was from another paper from the same kit (expressions in ink). I think that helped to bring the photo out a little more and make it look more special as the photo itself isn’t great – but does show that fabulous floral dress I wore!

As I was doing this as part of the challenge I also included some other things like the paint splatters and the word happy and the yellow crochet element.

I love the big jute ribbon I also included – so in keeping with the Kraft background paper with the embossed floral.

I added a few other embellishments from my stash like the puffy butterflies and the fabric and crochet flowers to add softness and texture. The title is a Scrapinec laser cut – I must have had this in my stash for around 8 years so good to get it used!

As for the photo … this is the only time I got to be a bridesmaid. It was for family friends Enid and Colin. My mum made all the dresses for the day for the bridesmaids and the bride so it was a real family affair. Now whilst the design and the fabric might not be very fashionable now – I felt so fancy at the time! Albeit I was also freezing as it was terrible weather on the day with wind and rain hence the inside photos! But as for the hair – no comments please! I had the worst hair dos possible between the ages of 8 to 18 – this was my granny perm era! What on earth!?!

Talking of hair, I am currently sat in the hairdressers about to get the current mop sorted but hoping this afternoon I might get a little more crafting time … although lots of chores in need of attention so maybe not!

Anyways – more papers used up, more memories documented (I added journalling after the photo was taken)

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello! Back with another Christmas project – and this one made it on camera too so you can check out the video on my YouTube.

I put quite a lot of effort into the background but then covered most of it up with the Simple Stories Big Bits poinsettia – don’t get me wrong – I love it – but it amuses me when I go to lengths to create a fun and textural background and cover most of it! 😂

I created this one with layered stencils and the final layer includes modeling paste.

I also added the crochet trim too for more texture.

I kept changing my mind on the focal point but decided eventually on the poinsettia and to add to them I added glitter glue to the flower centres.

A foiled sentiment is of course my finishing touch for the card.

Inside the card I added a strip of the stencilled paper I cut off and some holly from the simple stories pack. I forgot though to take a picture of it! Ooops!

But there you go – another Christmas card made – love how this turned out!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Back with another design team project for Creative Knockouts – this time our theme is love and sponsored by Star Stampz.

This time I actually used a Star Stampz digital image I owned the KISSING valentine one which I think is so so cute! And I think is a great one for an anniversary card.

I printed a large version of the image (almost 6×4) and then die cut it after colouring in with my promarkers.

I chose circle shapes even though it was going into the 6×6 square card as I liked the idea of the circles radiating out from the left side.

I used Kingston Crafts card stock for the peach layer and then their laser cut card with the suns for the background – I thought this was a good way to brighten the grey day I made this card on!

I then used an old Paperartsy stamp for the sentiment and mat that with the peach coloured shimmer vellum to put a bit of a different texture on the card.

I also added the waxed thread bow underneath to give another texture.

I then used my wink of Stella pen to add a little sparkle into the image – just highlighting a few leaves and the heart and the kissing couple!

Such a cute card and must admit I am rather pleased with my colouring of the tree on this one – more arty than I normally achieve with my colouring! 😃

Happy crafting!

Catherine

So on the 2nd Jan I watched a Lindsay Ostrom YouTube video and it inspired me to make a junk journal for January. I didn’t actually follow her tutorials or anything but instead used some old Roald Dahl books that I had already taken pages from for other art journal work and created this journal. I was sorting out old papers on the day and found a couple of pouches of old magazine kits (crafters companion and indigo Blu ones) and popped them together along with other scraps to make a pouch for grabbing to decorate each page.

Each day I have done some free writing journaling and just scribbled what was in my mind at the time and then in the main it is then covered by the papers and scraps. Generally each page takes about 10-15 mins.

I’ve really enjoyed the scribbling of random thoughts – I know how much this can help with my anxiety and questioning my thoughts – so it’s been good for me – plus it really doesn’t matter what I wrote as I knew I was covering it up.

I used the same box of tricks for each page – a mix of sharpie paint pens and gelatos – and then most pages were constructed using the same papers from magazine kits – occasionally added to with other scraps of paper that I had to hand!

I didn’t manage every day and not the best art journal in the world – but a good arty project and a valuable lesson in taking just a short amount of time to create and to journal my thoughts – not sure I will do this for other months – but maybe something similar in future months when I want to be arty again!

I’ve done a talking flip through which you can see over on my YouTube.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

It’s becoming a bit of an obsession this 100 patterned paper! I am really enjoying grabbing bits from the pile, including scraps to create pages! This one I made last week after work for the Scrapbook Challenges UK winter team challenge.

Absolutely delighted to use that green panel up from the stash and on a none Christmas themed project even though the paper was originally from a Christmas pad from Kingston Crafts.

Also added in some scraps from a page kit I had made up (I must get around to photographing it and blogging it too!) so that’s the brown scalloped elements to the right.

I used quite a few little laser cut pieces from a 49&market pack for the greenery and tags and then stickers from other leftover sheets I had from other page kits.

I added the lovely lacy rub ons too – now these are really a blast from the past as I think I’ve owned them at least 7 years and hadn’t used them once!

My page needs journaling adding about how I am always waiting for my family to leave the house or in this case the lodge at CenterParcs – they are often trailing me by quite some distance!

Really love how the page came out.

Also a quick little note – apparently it is my WordPress birthday today – 14 years since I logged in on WP – I know I didn’t start this blog at that point though – think my original was still in operation at that point – and I know I regularly ‘clear the old stuff’ from here to stay within the storage limit – but still 14 years ago! A lot has changed in my crafting since then I can tell you! But still loving blogging and sharing my makes with the internet and friendly crafty folks!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Normally when it comes to this challenge for ATSM I choose to go with die cuts so I decided to challenge myself to instead go with stencils!

I chose to use an Altenew stencil and stamp duo that creates these fab letters and then also has the wobbly flower elements. So I cut myself a panel for a DL card and had fun selecting pinks, purples and blues for this card.

The insides of the letters are then stamped and so I went with black to make it bold which meant I then added the black elements to both the flower centres and the little dotty elements I chose to stamp as contrast.

I then heat embossed the second sentiment onto black with white embossing and chose to mount the panel on black to give it a really slim frame.

I think this helped to make the colours pop a little more!

I added the gems but wanted just something a little more – so I used my wink of Stella to outline the flowers and add a little definition to the letters too!

I kept the inside simple with just a strip of black – not exactly massively hard work – but I think it helped finish it off.

Hope you like my fun and slightly funky card! I am quite pleased with how it came out!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Back with the second session of the cards I am making using the Crafters Companion paper and the Kendras card challenge #kcc21 templates.

I videoed the process again and these five all had die cut elements and some also some foiling. I selected the card sketches that had the circle or the oval die cuts and did all that first and then had the idea to do some foiling so did that all in one go too!

Card 1

Card 2

Card 6

Card 14

Card 15

I mounted the card fronts onto 6×6 card blanks – so these become pretty special cards.

I still need to finish the other five in this series but it will be soon – so please keep an eye out!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

It’s the first of the month which means patterned paper time and this time using Kendras Card Challenge 21!

I made the first five cards for this first video – which also include the cutting and organising for all 15 cards.

I’m using a Crafters Companion paper I was gifted by a friend quite a few years ago and the great thing is that a few of the papers have some cut apart elements to I could use them to create focal points or embellishments on the cards.

I chose which cards to make at random …

Card 3

Card 4

Card 9

Card 10

Card 13

I picked a few different sentiments from my stash of ready made ones – but all birthday ones as those are the ones I need the most in my stash!

I chose to use a few different bits and bobs of stash … gems, doilies… to add bits of texture and finishing touches.

I also used embossing on three of the cards using embossing folders.

A lovely set of cards – more details will be on the instagram!

I’ve already filmed the making of the next five cards in the set – so watch out for those coming soon!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hi!

Today I’m sharing both here and on my YouTube the scrapbook page I made last Saturday!

This bright and cheerful page was a scraplift from Amy Kattenbelt…

This was a page she made for the Scrapbook Challenges UK for week one of our winter challenge and in week 3 we got extra points if we did a scraplift of one of the three choices we were given!

I used papers from my #100patternedpaper pile and most of the colourful ones were Kingston Crafts ones so I also pulled in KC embellishments from the Rainbow paper kit.

I added ink and splatters and references to happy and the colour yellow to also meet the challenge – plus you got points if you did two or more photos! 💛

Great to scrap these pirate golf photos from our holidays in Devon – great to turn the grey sky photos into a sunny page too!

Happy crafting!

Catherine