Inkyfingeredcat

These balloon dies from my Dimond Press are perfect for birthday cards and I loved making these cards.

Let’s start with the bold and bright 18th birthday card! Used a mix of the three primary colours to make sure it was super colourful!

I love the balloons all popped up and the little stripes by bows I gave them!

Because I kept the patterns on the balloons and the background panel subtle it was fun to then grab a bold patterned card base as contrast!

This 5th birthday card I went with lots of pattern using some old patterned paper.

This time I inked the balloon cut from the bold patterned paper to give it more contrast and added a swirly ribbon to finish off!

The next card I combined two die sets – the background die and the balloons.

I cut the background from a patterned paper along with the oval panel. Then layered up with a coral red colour.

I then cut the balloon numbers from the same coral red and raised them up on foam adhesive. I then sandwiched a bit of gold angel hair paper between the top panel and the background panel to add a touch of luxury.

Then added the gold gems to finish off!

And finally this one which I added movement to…

You will see that fab background is the birthday background die which I cut from the rainbow cardstock (I cut it just to use some of the solid candles on another card I made but kept this background panel ready for another make!). I trimmed it down from the original 5×7 and instead made an American sized card 4.5×5.25.

Then some glitter paper added for sparkle and the pop up panel is green with the fab yellow balloons! I added movement with the ‘boinger’ mechanism.

And that was this card done!

Lovely set of number cards … and of course because the balloons are all separate you could make a card for any age … or indeed how about a special anniversary card too!

I went fairly bold with all mine but also thinking black and white with gold or silver would look great!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello! How quickly that fortnight passed! And also let’s recognise this is my third post today! It’s been so busy and so many things to share!

Time to share another Addicted to stamps and more design team card I’ve made – this time for our birthday theme!

I still love these Kraft papers from Kingston Crafts and this one I went full on florals with the full panel for the background, a spotty one in the middle with a little rainbow banner and then fussy cutting the floral out to rise above.

I just love those flowers – super cute! And it’s just one of the florals in a pack of lots of other designs – and of course the colours are perfect for the rainbow stripe too! Love it when it all easily coordinates.

I added some little chipboard stars as embellishments and of course the sentiment which I foiled in the rose gold and then die cut (it’s a spellbinders coordinating plate and die set)

I kept it simple with a white top folding card base and then inside just added the two banners of the remaining cardstock.

Simple but lovely and fresh!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I did say at the beginning of the month I wasn’t likely to do all sketches – but did think I might have done more by now than I have – ah well at least I managed this one for day 13!

Another page achieved using a sketch from the #30dscbl series 22 – this time provided by Briana from My Life on Paper

I love this sketch although had to slightly amend to make the photos work! but I think it is quite close!

I once again I used papers from my #100patternedpaperchallenge and love how it came out!

I added in the panel of the laser cut paper (Kingston Crafts) and then some bakers twine for the added texture!

I went less busy with the embellishments as a result of the busy page.

So mainly kept to the title, a wooden element and some stickers.

Hope you like it! Thanks Briana for the sketch!

Hope to get more done but still ploughing through design team work which is taking up most of my craft time available at the moment – so no promises. Video is here!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I wanted to make some little notecards with the chipboard as embellishment … and wanted to show how easy this would be with all those chipboard pieces to make lots of cards.

I started by using however one of the Everyday 5×7 card blanks and cut it in half to make two notecards. To each of these I added a little panel of vellum to just add in a different texture.

Then I took a small piece of the Holly Jolly Slimline paper to add to the front – I alternated the side showing for the two cards to show the different sizing on each side – such a clever Kingston Crafts thing to make the papers the same but function differently!

Then I chose my chipboard shapes.

One of them I went with the single tree to which I added some spots of the clear glitter glue where the lighter patches are on the artwork.

The other I went with three of the more graphic trees and added glitter glue to the central one to give it some real sparkle!

All the chipboard element take ink and glitter glue and shimmer spritz well so you can certainly step them up like this!

A fun set of smaller Christmas cards!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Back with five more cards from the #kcc23 challenge I started with the Indigo Blu magazine papers at the beginning of the month.

Love these papers so much! They made putting the cards together with the sketches so easy!

Card 6…

I added in the stamping to the back panel and then a little scrap of trim.

I love that the stamps go with the papers perfectly – such a pretty card.

Added a little edging to the layers too! Just helps to define the borders.

Card 7…

I went with a very purple theme for this card.

I also added texture with the embossing of the panel once the paper and card rectangles were added.

I also added some ribbon and the foiled sentiment too.

Loved the inking on this one too and that I coloured my ribbon to be matching!

Card 8 …

I added stencilling and stamping to bring interest to the background layer and then a little stamping to the patterned papers as well. I also inked each piece a little to make them blend a little better.

I think the dragon fly is one of my favourite stamps from the set – really love it!

Card 9…

I completely changed up the sketch for this one as I just didn’t like how it looked in the original format!

This one is very grungy with the stamping and ink blending on the background- but I think it works well with the paintbrushes image.

Probably my least favourite of the set – but still like it!

Card 10 …

This one I put together the papers and then added stamping and embossing for texture – this is what Indigo Blu sets are great for!

I love that focal image too – different from the sketch which had circles – but I think it worked well!

A great five more cards made using my Indigo Blu magazine! Great way to get a good batch going from the kit!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

So here we go with the first project I actually made with the new releases from Kingston Crafts – the Holly Jolly range and for this scrapbook page I went with three of the slimline papers and then some of the chipboard shapes.

Base is a cream leftover from last years Christmas papers which I inked the edge of with my Vintage Photo ink to blend with the gingerbread theme.

I layered the three slimline papers to create a cluster for under the photo element.

I was scrapping the three gingerbread houses we decorated in 2024 – it’s become a new tradition to do some kind of baked goods decorating – and each year we realise we are not exactly skilled in this – Maya however seems to have more of the knack!

So of course I chose the gingerbread themed paper, and put with it the candy canes and then the subtle patterned red one.

Next I chose some chipboard shapes I thought worked with the theme … firstly that fun title ‘baking spirits bright’ – I did ink it a little so it was in keeping with the page. Then that fab house on the stand.

I also added the pinwheel cookies/sweets as I liked the pop of colour against the cream.

I was going to add the chipboard gingerbread men too but for once I decided not to go OTT!

I added my journalling on strips of the cream and again inked them.

I decided I needed to edge the panels a little so I doodled some wobbly lines around and then decided this was finished!

Love the new designs – they have some familiar designs in the papers but slightly different colour schemes, although they still coordinate, and also there are loads of new designs too. And of course the stack of papers is huge so will definitely be working through these for a while after the design team work is finished!

And this is another of those “as seen on TV” projects from back in September when Martin was on – so enjoy this ‘famous’ page for today’s Scrappin Saturday!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Ok not going to tell a lie … I made these three cards back in June when I had some leftover waste from die cutting the Moravian star I made for a design team project and shared yesterday … and there were so many pretty bits of cardstock I couldn’t waste them and wanted to play with them … and these three cards are the result!

I photographed them at the time but never got around to blogging them until now as I wanted to share the Moravian star itself first!

The die cut waste came from panels I die cut that were like the triangle but in four colours of green and then I also had some hearts from red and yellow left from another die cut project.

I used a waste of the die cut as a template and glued all the little pieces into place and then removed the die cut.

I then cut the triangle out and layered it onto another piece of green cardstock and this created my cute tree.

Then a few layers of the bright green cardstock leftover for the base (I embossed one layer to add texture) and added the sentiment. Both the tree and sentiment raised up on foam adhesive for dimension.

Then went over the red hearts I added in with glitter glue for some sparkle!

Next I used the die cut waste as the template just for the little flowers and patiently stuck them down, then moved the template to create the background with all the flowers.

For each I added the yellow heart except the last one which I added a red one (again added the sparkle at the end with glitter glue).

This panel I added a wrap of the waxed thread and then added the sentiment.

I added a panel of the dark yellow to the base and then added the panel to that.

Finally I created a little shaker card to include some more of the die cut waste and then also added a few sequins too.

The front panel I embossed and then added the sentiment and the holly element as finishing touches across the shaker window.

Cute! But also visually interesting!

I love making cards from waste – it makes me feel like I get value for money – however I did end up then throwing away the rest as there was so much for me to do in July and this was not part of the plan! 🤣

So three cards made from stuff that was on the desk and was meant to have been binned! 💚❤️💚

Happy crafting!

Catherine

The Moravian Star die set makes three sizes of the star. I decided to make the middle size for my version!

There is a die for each of the sizes and then a die that fits each size that does the cut outs. For my version I only did the cut out on one panel for each point rather than all sides of the points – I wanted it to be more random than uniform!

I chose to make mine out of four colours of cardstock – so cut five of each colour.

The points are easy to put together – just one ‘seam’ to glue and then once you get your head around the construction it comes together quite quickly. But won’t lie there was a moment when I couldn’t get my head around it at all so there was about ten minutes of frowning and suddenly it clicked – but then I am well known for not being good at following instructions!

So this was it constructed … I then took it outside to make it shimmery!

Ignore the weeds in my garden but this seemed the most sensible way to spritz it without dousing the whole craft room in shimmer! I used the three colours of green shimmer spritz and kept turning the star so it was all over and then in about three minutes in the sunshine it was dry! (And the grass/weeds got a healthy dose of shimmer too!)

Seriously a fun project and although I am glad I chose the size I did for my sample I am curious how big the big one is and if the small also looks cute! I think if you think it through before the final stages of construction you could add lights inside and a string to hang and then these could look stunning dangling from the ceiling in a picture window. Might make up a few small white ones for the craft room window for Christmas with silvery shimmer mist – think that would look cute!

And this is definitely an as seen on tv project as Rosie couldn’t stop twirling it round on Hobbymaker when this was released.

What’s more it also made an appearance on their socials in the car park! 😀

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I know how to enjoy an afternoon off by filling it with medical appts! I am however just taking a pause now to grab some food so I’m updating my blog and sharing more of the fab Kingston Crafts products that were released at the end of September over on Hobbymaker.tv.

I wanted a way to frame one of the chipboard sentiment pieces on a card and realised it would be good to also showcase a few of the designs from the slimline paper pack.

I grabbed the navy for the background and then die cut six papers with the stitched square die. This created a lovely grid finish and were the perfect background for the large chipboard sentiment shape.

I decided to use one of the 5×7 everyday card bases in a lighter tone of the navy as the base and adhered it down and then grabbed three of the pinwheel sweet chipboards from the pack and add those.

I added wink of Stella to the three pinwheels and the little flower on the sentiment just to step them up a bit and give them some shimmer!

A cute card showcasing the papers but also a perfect base for one of those large sentiments in the chipboard pack!

This card got shared on the show on Hobbymaker and I have to admit I thought it looked fab – and as Martin said – it’s a good design for using up scraps.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today’s design team project share was made using papers from the Holly Jolly slimline stack of papers.

I decided to go all green and add in some subtle elements so that the paper can be seen.

So the background green is one of the papers – yes they give you coordinating solids along with the patterns.

I then added a panel of the leafy pattern. Pretty sure we saw a similar pattern in last years papers but in a different colour.

I decided to add just a bit of dark green ink to the edge to give it some definition. Then did the same with the panel of the check I put across the card.

Next I took some of the green and cut the holly branch using a cut and emboss folder I’ve had for a while and rarely remember to use.

With the colour being similar to the background I did sand it a little and then added some dark green ink to give it some colour variation. I think it might have been better to choose the darker green from the stack of papers but instead I stuck with this one. Actually I like the subtle look this has so not bothered that I didn’t do that!

I grabbed the red glitter glue and added dots to where the berries are which does give it a bit of sparkle and some contrast.

Then I added the linen thread bow and a sentiment which I raised on foam adhesive.

Love this – a very traditional type green card and I think this shows off that beautiful patterned paper and the coordinating solid from the stack!

Happy crafting!

Catherine