Inchies and Twinchies, Paper Pumpkin - Joy to the world

Advent twinchies 1 2 3

Catherine

So as with the last couple of years I signed up for the advent swap in the Inchies, Twinchies and more group on Facebook and this year we are doing Twinchies for our advent swap!

Here are my first three …

I used some plain white card and made a background using ink on an acrylic block with water to create a lovely organic look. I mainly used Just Jade ink but also added some Mossy Meadow for variation.

Then I stamped the wreaths and the Joy from last years Paper Pumpkin Joy to the World set and the flowers too.

I then cut down the twinchies, edging them with Mossy Meadow and pulled out a few other stamps to add some more pattern in the background.

Next I stamped the red berries onto the wreaths and added some colour to some of the leaves using my Stampin Blends.

I also added some gold dots using a gold paint marker.

Finally I added the number stickers I bought for this project… so have all the numbers ready!

This year I created the swaps as sets of three so that all three work together although each set is different from the others.

Will share each set after I know they have been opened so as to not spoil any surprises.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Design Team, Indigo Blu

DT: Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge

Catherine

Happy advent everyone! Hope you are all ready to enjoy the festive season!

As its the first of the month it is also time for me to share my Design Team contribution for Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge blog.

I made three cards using the Indigo Blu magazine kit I bought a few months ago that has sat untouched!

I started by cutting one sheet into three panels and then made each one a little different!

I edged each of them with the Speckled Egg distress oxide and then started playing with stamps and stencils in the kit to make them different.

The kit also has sone printed elements that you can cut apart for embellishments and sentiments.

I added some additional bits like ribbons and some wink of Stella too to add sparkle.

Love the fun colours and the grungy mix of images.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Biggest Wish, Gummiapan, Oh So Ombre, Playful Alphabet

Happy birthday Hugo

Catherine

I’ve been awol for weeks and weeks now because I’ve had zero time to craft. But my youngest great nephew turned 1 this weekend and I made this card for him.

Love the bright colours I chose and the cute paper from the stash. Used the Biggest Wish stamps and the Playful Alphabets dies to make up the sentiment on the front. Also those little heart dies I found in my stash in a gummipan set. So cute!

The little first I stamped using some mini alphas and then used wink of Stella and glossy accents to turn it into a raised sticker effect.

Had a lovely day yesterday celebrating with Hugo and some of his family.

Hoping to find myself a bit more craft time in the coming days to get back on top of the Christmas challenge that has completely gone to pot!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Banner Year, Biggest Wish, Design Team, Fancy Phrases, Happy Celebrations, Peace & Joy, Ribbons, Tidings and Trimmings

DT: Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies challenge

Catherine

Hello! Another month flew by and time for another DT contribution for Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies challenge blog.

This month I went to town stamping on a large tag in the stash and embellished with loads of different sized stars which I die cut from the Trimmings and Tidings bundle.

I added some stamped stars too and then made a title for the tag using a stamp set to make the start and the end of the title embossed onto black and then the Biggest Wish stamp to create the focal word.

Just love how this turned out. Fun to make the patterned paper with all those Happy stamps from the stash.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Design Team, Designer Series Paper, JOFY, Painted Texture, Stampin Blends alcohol pens, Timeworn Type

DT: Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge

Catherine

Happy advent all!

As its the first of the month it is time for a Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge blog design team contribution… and once again I shied away from a OSW and instead decided to play with old dsp and a JOFY stamp to make 4 slimline cards.

They are all individually made and all approx 3×6.5 inches in size so at some point I will also need to make bespoke envelopes but hey ho… aren’t they cute?

I stamped and coloured all the images first and then started pulling out papers that worked with the colours I had used. They were all retired dsps that were in my stack of 6×6 papers.

I also added a double embossed panel on each of them. What’s double embossing, well you add versamark to the inside of the embossing folder, then run it through to create the texture, then add embossing powder and heat. I used a pearl white powder and it have a gorgeous sheen and really stepped up some plain white cardstock.

I added a sentiment to three of them and some wink of Stella to the bow on a couple of them too.

Love how these came out…. mainly using scraps of cardstock and some old dsp!

Of course it helps that the stamped image is pretty fun too!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas 2021 challenge, Christmas to remember, Masks/Stencils, Ribbons, Stitched framelits

Christmas challenge #7

Catherine

Onto the second half of the challenges now … and this week it is snowflakes!

This time I’ve made one card only… but it is a larger card as its 7×7 in size.

I started with the snowflake stencil and blue inks and the blending tools and created a blended background and snowflake images. Once I had got all the ink down I then added versamark through the stencil and used a sparkly embossing powder to add some glitz to the snowflakes.

Love how this created some shine, but also the colour came through to give dimension.

Next it took three of the iridescent snowflake embellishments… these are so pretty. I created a cluster of them to go under my sentiment. I added some of the ink left on the blending tool to the sentiment to make them match.

I mounted the snowflake and sentiment cluster onto some foam for dimension and added the twine bow from some twine from the stash. I mounted the panel onto a 6×6 ombre paper from the stash and then added some more foam underneath to add more dimension.

Finally I added plenty of bling with the gems.

So happy with this card and think it might be going to my parents for this year as it’s one of the larger cards I’ve created. Sure they will love it.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Artistic, Biggest Wish, Delicate Dahlia, Distress oxide ink, Happy Celebrations, Lovely Inside and Out, Ribbons

Happy for Abbie

Catherine

My lovely colleague and friend Abbie has a new job and I am delighted for her as much as I am sad that we will no longer be at the same workplace together.

I had to make her a special card though to let her know how happy I am for her.

I started by stamping Delightful Dahlia stamps on cardstock in Versamark and embossing them in white and then plenty of distress oxides and the smooshing technique made a cool background. I also wiped away the excess ink with a piece of glossy photo paper which I ended up using in the card too.

I stamped a few of the smaller flowers for the card too and inked up using the same colour oxides.

I cut down the panel for the background and then got out the Artistic dies as I love the flower cluster one. I cut it from the photo paper and again from white cardstock so I could layer them to give it extra dimension.

Next I created the sentiment. I was inspired by the sentiment in the Delicate Dahlia set but wasn’t keen on the font so instead made my own using lots of other stamp sets and of course the Biggest Wish for that fab Happy part. I added the twine bow and plenty of foam under the sentiment and flower cluster so this is a VERY dimensional card.

I added lilac gems from the stash an a mount of the Blackberry Bliss cardstock. I then stamped (badly) the Dahlia onto the envelope and blended some ink over the corner.

And inside the card a strip of the background I had trimmed off and mounted it on blackberry bliss and added the final small flower.

Love how this came out. I know Abbie will appreciate the love I put into making her card and I hope she knows how much she will be missed.

Best of luck Abbie.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas 2021 challenge, Christmas Pinecone, Christmas to remember, Designer Series Paper, Ribbons

Christmas challenge #6

Catherine

Week 6 … already … oh my … running a little late on the posting today … but better late than never!

So it was time for the main man to arrive. Except then I realised I don’t own many Santa stamps. I ended up digging some old Making Cards magazine stamps out to make the focal image. I stamped the Santa’s and coloured them using my Stampin Blends.

I grabbed some of the dsp I got in Saleabration and cut some plaid panels and the mounts for the images.

I then die cut the christmas pinecones large foliage dies in white with an extra one which I could cut up and use for additional embellishments.

After putting the layers together I decided to also add some of those gorgeous gold leaves and some cherry Cobbler twine. The sentiment I stamped from the Christmas to remember stamps… wish I had used the stamp platform so I could have got the colour darker but hey you learn from your mistakes! And it looks lovely regardless.

Don’t forget if you are playing along to add #christmascard2021IFCchallenge so I can follow along.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Banner Year, Inchies and Twinchies

Autumn inchies

Catherine

Decided to make some inchies when clearing up the desk and I had some scraps of dsp and cardstock.

I grabbed the Banner Year stamps and onto the little 3/4 inch squares I stamped three leaf elements and then stamped the acorns on separate card and fussy cut them.

I decided to use tiny scraps of the Bedazzled speciality paper from Saleabration and also experimented with the edging of the panels and the way I laid them out!

Pretty chuffed with these little pieces of artwork. Sending them over to Sid for the UK stampers forum swap for this month!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas 2021 challenge, Heartwarming Hugs, Wreath Builder

Christmas challenge #5

Catherine

So I am at the point of the challenge where I wonder what my brain was thinking in giving myself the prompt of gifts. Turns out I don’t really have many gift stamps or dies in my collection. So I had to think outside of the box… in fact I had to make the box to think outside of!

I started by grabbing the Heartwarming Hugs dsp and cutting lots of squares and rectangles to make my gifts. Then I started die cutting bows from some scrap coordinating cardstock. This die is the one from the retired Wreath Builder set (I forgot there was a bow in tidings and Trimmings!). I also cut some slithers of cardstock too.

Next to construct my gifts and work out how to use them!

I decided to make piles of boxes and add dimension using shading and pen work… well sort of!

First I went in with my Sahara sand ink and inked the edges of the boxes and created a ‘surface’ for them to sit on.

Next I used the grey alcohol pens to add shadow and dimension.

And on this one I added some sketchy pen lines…

Think I actually prefer this last one of all three but maybe it speaks to my mixed media grungy messy heart.

I had some boxes left over so made three tags to match… so it became a little collection of cards and tags.

Love those bow dies … still think SU should never have retired this bundle! Ah well!

And love those papers… so pleased that they are still available!

Happy crafting!

Catherine