Make it Masculine – music

I went back to revisit a theme I’ve already done for Make it Masculine but this time using some different stamps and a very different creation!

Again as I’ve been poorly I was on the last minute with this one but managed to get to my Make it Masculine card (with process video) just before the month ends!

Not going to lie – it’s a busy card! But I think it is also lots of fun!

An inky stencilled background (my nod to the use stencil theme at Just Us Girls) and then my music notes stamped made it already quite busy … and then I added the stamped, coloured and fussy cut instruments etc.

I also added some silver splatter and the silver around the sentiment panel.

The instruments I raised up a little on scrap cardstock strips and then the sentiment on foam adhesive.

I also raised the full background panel on foam too – so quite a dimensional card.

Inside I added the stencilling again and stamped music.

Finishing touch was the grey enamel dots – they finished it off nicely I think!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Entering in the challenge at Just Us Girls

DT: ATSM #527 Christmas

I decided to go back to using those favourite dies of mine – Christmas Bouquet by Alex Syberia for this design team project for the latest challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More where our theme is Christmas!

I went with a totally non-traditional colour scheme with the aqua, pink and black … because … well why not?

My card base I added stamping to using the Altenew Poinsettia with the same colour stamping and then added a bit of watercolour – this just added a little bit of subtle pattern.

Then two layers of cardstock in the peachy pink and the black. This gave a nice base for the floral cluster to be added to.

I added glitter glue to the centre of the flowers and then shimmer spritz which I painted to the larger berry elements.

I had coloured the die cut elements with alcohol markers quite a while ago and put together the floral cluster at the time and then had these sitting in a pouch waiting to be used.

I used the die cut sentiment (again this was already done in a pouch) and then added the stamped elements using that same poinsettia stamp set from Altenew. I used that to also decorate the inside of the card with a subtle bit of stamping of the image and a sentiment.

Love how this card came out – a lovely modern take on a floral Christmas card.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

DT: Kingston Crafts – Holly Jolly chipboard

So I always try to come up with some simple projects that can be mass produced but have touches of individuality to them when I think of my design team projects as I think people start to see value for money … so that was what these cards were about as they just needed white cardstock, and embossing folder and ink for blending and glue … and of course the chipboard pieces – and goodness me there are so many to choose from in this box of chipboard elements!

Now I did choose two different embossing folders and ran them through with a shim that is missing the centre circle to only emboss the outer parts… then I gently brushed some ink over to highlight the embossing and to create a shadow behind where the chipboard would sit.

This one I added the lantern to and then just dabbed a little glitter glue onto the foliage for shine.

Because the embossing folder gives the words I chose not to add a sentiment to it and kept it clean and simple.

This one I added three chipboard shapes to and lifted the Santa Claus Lane one onto foam adhesive above the other two … again I added some glitter glue but this time just to the trees in the truck.

Love these simple cards that could easily be mass produced but with different chipboards from the many in the pack!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

DT: Kingston Crafts – Holly Jolly vellum

Finally the Holly Jolly products from Kingston Crafts have been released on Hobbymaker. I’ve been waiting so long to share my makes for these with you. It was good to see so many samples on tv yesterday with Martin – plus Martin demo’ed some fab samples too – I will have to do a copy at some point in the future of what he made as they were so cute!

So the Holly Jolly range of products are clearly designed with Christmas in mind but they don’t have to just be about Christmas – and so I made this appreciation card to prove it – don’t worry there will be plenty of Christmassy makes too – but this was my usual ‘what else can I do’ type project!

I started with the diagonal stripe vellum as the background on this card and then a panel of white before I added the floral elements which were cut from both the printed vellum (for the leaves) and the slimline papers (for the flowers)

I absolutely love those patterned vellum leaves – so so pretty!

And I loved mixing the patterned slimline papers for the die cuts with solid layers.

I finished the card with some enamel dots and the foiled and die cut sentiment.

Such a pretty card and not Christmassy at all proving that it is a flexible range of products.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

DT: My Diamond Press – alpha balloon dies

I really wanted to use the balloon dies that were launched this week on Hobbymaker from My Diamond Press to create a title for another scrapbook page and went with an 8×8 page – I’ve been enjoying working in this size!

I decided to scrap this collage picture of some of the scenes I photographed when we visited Lyme Park.

And of course green and blue are the colours of the day as we had such great weather at the bank holiday weekend in May when we visited.

The base is a very soft grey blue and then added the panel of white. I sandwiched below and above this panel a scallop that I had cut from the sky blue adhesive cardstock. Then I cut the balloon alphas to spell out Lyme Park in alternate colours.

I decided to adhere them in vertical columns with the base of the letters raised on foam but the top part flat – it was fiddly but I think worth it in terms of the dimension and design.

The photo itself I had mat it with the light grey blue cardstock so it was in keeping with the base. I then added my journalling across the top and bottom of the page.

I love this – very different scrapbook page for me but I think it really works! Love these balloon letters for adding a bit of fun to your creations!

And this is my Scrappin Saturday for this week!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Festive Friday 2026 #39 & Christmas in September

I’ve unfortunately been poorly over the past few weeks so I needed to make something simple for this months Christmas in September where I chose the theme of Christmas Pudding!

And then I realised I had NO Christmas pudding based stash! Doh!

So I went to Polkadoodles and found the cutest Christmas pudding themed digi stamp and this became the main focal point for my card.

I went with alcohol markers for colouring and then die cut the circle.

I then grabbed some scraps of Christmas paper from my stash to make the background!

To finish off I used an acetate sentiment from Kingston Crafts, some card Candi. some wink of Stella and glaze for the nose of the cute little hedgehog!

Inside I added a leftover bit of the paper!

Simple ! And you can check out the video here!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

DT: My Dimond Press – everyday word border dies

Today the my Diamond Press Bitsy die cutting machine has been launched on Hobbymaker and I have been waiting so long to share the samples I made with the products that went on sale today! Let’s start with the everyday word border dies …

The everyday word border dies from My Dimond Press are going to be a go to set in my life … 12 different sentiments and perfectly sized for a range of card sizes. And all can be cut using the new Bitsy machine – no need to get a big heavy machine out!

Today’s blogpost is all about the samples I made but be prepared you will see these die cut border sentiments appearing a lot in future!

Started with patterned paper panels for this one …

Coordinating cardstock for both the mat layer and the sentiment and then pulling the same into the flower die – makes this into a lovely coordinated card – and I’m imagining you could repeat this design easily with different papers and focal elements.

Next up I went with layers of vellum and three sentiments!

I thought the sentiment borders were perfect for edging the panel in the middle – and then finished off with the sentiment cut from the adhesive glitter paper from My Dimond Press too!

I did slightly raise that central one just under the words too by die cutting a couloir of other but cutting them at the end of the words and stacking them. Simple but effective way of boosting the impact!

And of course that was a different size of card … but the sentiment border lines tucked nicely round the panel.

Next up a DL card and whilst the border isn’t as long as the full panel I still think it worked well.

This one I kept pretty simple – two layers of pattern onto the DL and then some layering butterflies which I had inked and then spritzed and added the glitter glue to the bodies!

Pretty but very effective!

Next up I went with standard C6 sized card and this time I turned the sentiment to go on an angle.

Hindsight is a great thing but I wish I had stacked the sentiment to give it more dimension so it would sit as high as the puffy stars but hey ho … still fun and good to have a longer sentiment that works at the angle!

And finally … this floral and bright hello card is again C6 sized and this time the sentiment tucked around the width of the landscape card is perfect!

I love the mix of fonts and the different ways the dies are designed – just so practical for lots of projects.

Really happy with all the cards I made and how well the sentiments worked … and as I said earlier be prepared to see them many more times as I know outside of the DT samples I will be grabbing these often! oh and guess what – there are similar designs for Christmas sentiments too! So yes you’ll be seeing those soon too! 😍

And once again I am happy to say some of these are ‘as seen on tv’!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Making more cards from more leftovers

So the page I made in the last Scrappin Saturday there were quite a few leftover bits in terms of die cut ephemera so I thought I would make some cards with that and leftovers in the #100patternedpaperchallenge pile – I did think I was recording the process of making them but turned out I forgot to press record! Doh!

I used teal/duck egg blue and pink themed papers and cut two panels for the base and then used smaller panels for on top.

I added some pink scrap cardstock and the sentiments and then chose the house for one card.

And the butterfly for the other.

I did add in some ribbon on this one which was leftover from some packaging (nothing goes to waste in my house!) but otherwise kept both cards simple.

Both sentiments were foiled ones with the rose gold colour foil and I think that worked well with the colours of the papers and embellishments.

Inside both cards I just added leftover scraps of the patterned paper.

Such a cute pair of cards.

Good to out at least a couple of the elements to use that were leftovers – and a little more of those scraps of patterned paper from the challenge used! Hurrah!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Scrappin Saturday – Splendid & Precious

Used a page kit Sarah designed for our crop a while ago and made this page fairly consistent with the way Sarah designed it. Recorded the process of making this page so you can catch this on my YouTube.

Unusual for me but exactly the simple crafting session I needed at the time.

Pictures are from M’s 19th birthday and apart from adding a second photo I kept the page pretty similar to Sarah’s original with layout etc and did not add anything that wasn’t in the kit she put together with the exception of the adhesive and the photos!

Loved the pack of die cuts and vellum bits that she gave us to play with – love the diffeeenr textures and that large & with two layers was a genius addition to the page.

Loved these pictures and love the final page – thanks so much for a beautiful design Sarah.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Festive Friday 2026 #38

I had these bits of paper leftover from design team work and so put them and the little die cut birds that were already put together to use for today’s #festivefriday

I layered the papers onto card and then added some scraps of green and red too!

This created a fun cluster of the papers on the card base and then the birds and an acetate sentiment to finish off!

Such a fun but pretty simple card!

Love it when a card comes together easier!

Happy crafting!

Catherine