Inkyfingeredcat

Kingston Crafts released new colours of the shimmer spritz and I love the navy blue. I know they are called ‘holiday’ (as in Christmas) but I of course did samples that were also very much not Christmas!

For this one I went for a medium coverage on a white card panel I also added a spritz of silver.

Once dry I used the glimmer machine to foil the art deco type design. I love this for adding some elegance to the background.

Next I stamped and embossed the floral image from a magazine kit. I then coloured it and then went over the colouring with the spritz using it to paint in with the shimmer and shine!

I fussy cut out the floral and added it onto the panel.

Next I took the same glimmer plate set for the background and foiled and die cut the sentiment. Just love how this sentiment looks.

I stacked it a couple of times for dimension and added it to the front of the card.

I love this elegant card with all the shine and the shimmer!

And of course I couldn’t resist trying to show you the shimmer with this little video…

… and this card also proves that whilst these colours are great for festive projects they also work for other types of project too!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I made a page using lots of leftovers from other projects … this one is celebrating my great uncle and auntie whom I have such fond memories of from when I was a child.

Really happy with how this page came together and the fact that I could use those bird stickers on a page about my Great Uncle Alf and Great Auntie Lou as they had a budgie called Bluey! 💙

It was a fun page to put together and I’m glad I popped the camera on to record the process. So check out the YouTube channel to see how I built the page from the scraps with a panel of A4 white cardstock and the background.

I love that I could use so many leftover pieces of paper and stickers from several different sets.

A colorful page but also so lovely to remember my sweet great aunt and uncle.

This is I think (unless I find some random footage on my phone) my last YT video for a while as now have no space to film until the craft room is redecorated, new flooring laid and furniture built and stash put back in! I will however try and do bits of crafting when I can over the next few weeks and share it here for you. But if I am MIA you know why!

Now time for me to get coffee and make a start on painting the ceiling 🫟

Happy crafting!

Catherine

So I was very close to giving up and admitting I couldn’t make this weeks Festive Friday and this months Christmas in July/ March project – but then I cleared a bit of space on the work desk and picked out a few bits I could work with – and so my card for the theme of Pick up a Penguin which is our theme for this month in our Facebook group.

So I attached my ring light to the desk and moved the keyboard out of the way and got crafting!

I went with a super simple gelli printed background using two colours of ink and a little spritz of water to blend and move the colour.

I love the organic nature of these kinds of gelliprints – they are all unique and such fun!

Once dry I stamped the penguin image from a Creative stamping magazine in versamark and the same for the sentiment. Then I added grey colour to the penguins using Tombow pens that were on my work desk.

As the watercolour cardstock I had used was trimmed to be slightly bigger than the gelliplate I just went with a blue card stock and made the card blank and stuck the one layer onto that – this was enough to frame the image.

Inside I added the white insert panel with the same image stamped to keep it easy!

And there we have it – a simple stamped card with a fun inky gelliprint background and all made and videoed in a ridiculously small space with limited supplies!

I just need to finish decorating the room and get flooring sorted and then I can buy and build the new furniture and get my craft room back to normal! I can’t wait!

I do have a few projects still to share here for my DT work and a few other bits I made a while back but as soon as the craft room is back in use I have so many ideas and things I want to do and share so I suspect I will then be a very busy bee! 🐝

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello! I’m back with another blending brushes design team contribution.

This time I did a simple but beautiful blended background through a stencil and then went to town with die cuts – some of which I added ink with my blending brushes to them to give a little dimension to my birds!

I sectioned off a part of a Paperartsy stencil and added the inks in rustic colours – Early Espresso, Vintage photo and fired brick.

I cut the panel to give a lovely wide frame around the stencilling, created a mat in black and then added this to the DL card.

Then I took the Snowcapped holidays dies and used the branch and then two birds which were cut from lots of scraps – told you that you would be seeing these birds a few times over the past few weeks!

I added ink to the pieces of the birds using my blending brushes so they had more definition and dimension.

I then cut lots of leaves using a variety of dies – Alex Syberia Christmas bouquet and some Sizzix ones – again using scraps.

I also added just a few flowery elements too.

Then the final element is just the sentiment which I added.

A really cute card I think with the interest of the stencilling behind the fun scene with the birds.

I didn’t get a chance to see this one on tv last week- I know it was in Beth’s hand at one point but they moved products before she showed it off! 🤣

Happy crafting!

Catherine

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