Author: Catherine

Final day of Martin’s challenge and I made a really cute little card for the theme of Wreathed in Joy.

I definitely struggled with doing Martin’s daily challenge and so after the first week and a bit I’ve not really managed to do much …. but I’ve kept the challenge so it’s always something I can go back to be inspired by. It’s also been amazing seeing everyone’s interpretation of the themes and given me plenty of ideas to try out in future.

It is a 4×4 card and using the fabulous bright and cheery Parakeet Party cardstock… not exactly your traditional colour for Christmas .. but it is cute and I love it.

I used the Arrange a Wreath stamp to stamp the wreath to the right of the panel and a few additional leaves which I fussy cut out to add.

Then the sentiment I added to a banner that I made with the banner punch.

Next up I found some bows I had already die cut from scraps one one of which was a light blue colour and the other white. I added the green ink to both … the blue one heavily so it became very vibrant and darker and the white with a blending brush for a softer look. I added blending too over the stamper wreath to give the card some depth of colour.

I raised up the banner for dimension and added some of the little iridescent snowflakes onto the wreath for embellishment.

So cute and with that … Martin’s Mayhem Christmas challenge is over! What a fab challenge it has been when I’ve joined in. If you go on Instagram and use the hashtag you will see all the amazing cards people have made. It has been so inspirational!

Just three more to finish for my own challenge and I think we can safely say I’ve done my Christmas crafting for the year!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

A little while ago I saw a video from Jennifer McGuire showing this technique of offset strips to make a cool background. I have tried this technique in the past and thought i would have another go but this time in a blue/green colour scheme.

This time I stencilled the white over the inked background rather than stamping. I also die cut the shape at an angle so the stripes don’t go vertically. I also added some white paint splatters to add a little brightness to the white as the white ink is quite muted.

As much as the background is lovely it is the focal image that I love most about this card. I used the fabulous Splendid Thoughts set and my Stampin Blends to colour the images.

I love how they turned out. I added a couple of die cuts behind each image to stack them (real Jennifer style!). The bowl shape I die cut from the blue cardstock but gave it a very heavy wink of Stella covering to make it very shimmery.

I finished with the gems to add more shine and a sentiment using Alpaca Pals stamps.

I mounted the background panel onto some blue cardstock and then the card base was made from a pale lilac cardstock from the stash.

Love this card so much. The background I wasn’t 100% happy with at the time but by the time the focal image went on it looked amazing!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello!

When I saw it was snowflakes I knew I wanted to use the Snow Crystal stamp as its one of my favourites but I decided to go a bit more graphic and spotted this paper in my stash that I thought was perfect for making me go a bit different with this stamped image.

As the paper is quite modern and a bit funky I decided to team it with kraft card and black card with the white embossed snowflake. I also added another layer to the snowflake with the laser cut embellishments too!

Each card is slightly different with the black panel slightly different in size and how I laid it out, but otherwise I kept the design simple with the square of dsp.

I also used the checked ribbon and some sequins to embellish.

Love this different look for a snowflake card… usually just go for pastels for snowflakes so it was good to use this very bright dsp and black and kraft instead.

Do you want more snowflake inspiration …. here is the card I made in last years challenge. Now hopefully this years challenge I will get a little further on as this was the last one I made last time. Fingers 🤞!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I found some pics on my phone from a card I made back in early November for the Martin’s Mayhem 30 day Christmas card challenge that I never shared with you.

The challenge was a colour one to use Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake and Evening Evergreen. I was also inspired by a book fold challenge another crafty friend was running on Facebook.

So this is the card I made. Crumb Cake base, cherry Cobbler coloured dsp, Trimmings and Tidings.

Then die cut out the star and backed the opening with more of the same stash of dsp but with an Evening Evergreen colour. Crumb Cake fancy star die cut twice and stacked. Some twine for the top.

Stamped the sentiment from Colorado Craft Company and die cut it twice and then embossed the stacked die cut twice so its a nice chunky and shiny embellishment. Added some Cherry Cobbler ribbon on the side and some clear gems for finishing.

Love this

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Up early today as off to get the hair sorted so thought I would pop on and update the blog just before I set off!

Last weekend I had some paper leftover and spotted the Alpaca Pals stamp set whilst I was looking for something else and knew immediately I had to make this card. Sometimes the inspiration just strikes and you have to go for it!

So stamped the Birds onto mixed media cardstock and the stripey paper and then the floral element onto basic white and then the flower part onto the remaining stripey paper and got cutting with my scissors.

I then watercoloured the birds and the leaves of the flower.

Then stuck the paper pieces into place.

I decided the flowers would benefit from a splatter background so used the same inks to splatter. I also added a little shading colour to the flowers onto the patterned paper to give dimension.

I stamped the sentiment strip and then added the birds on either end using foam to raise them up above the flowers.

I added some colour to pearls to coordinate with the colours in the card and then used Petal Pink for the base card and a mat panel. I then raised the mat panel up on foam again for dimension.

Love how it came out and for once it actually looked like how I imagined when the inspiration struck.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Last weekend my youngest great nephew turned two and due to bad weather I decided against popping along (it’s 2.5 hour journey) to see him and so instead posted his card and pressie so have had to hold off on blogging his card until it arrived.

Edit: I don’t think he reads my blog aged 2 … but his Mum might and the card is as much for her as him! Lol!

So here is what I made…

I used the digital stamp from All Dressed Up and some fun graphic papers from the stash to make a bright and cheery card.

I added his name using the Playful Alphabets dies and then a large foam number sticker that I coloured using the Stampin Blends.

Love the Parakeet Party and Tahitian Tide colour cardstock and how bright and fun the card ended up.

I did stamp Happy birthday inside along with some more of the paper but forgot to take a picture before I sealed the envelope so sorry you can’t see that.

So happy birthday Hugo for Sunday.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello! Another design team contribution for Creative Knockouts and this week we are sponsored by Mirtillamente Digital Stamps

As the theme is Time to be Merry I chose the Christmas Tree digital stamp to play with.

I printed off the image on Smoky Slate and then coloured it with my Prismacolour pencils and cut it out… so actually the fact it was a coloured cardstock base ended up making no difference!

I made quite a small (4×3) card this time so it’s really cute. I added some dsp with a green colour and then a panel of white. Then to finish off I die cut the blue Merry using the Tim Holtz dies. Finished off with the gems.

Cute and although the colouring took some time (and a some fiddling as the image is quite small) an easy card to make. There is a little bit of dimension as I raised up the main image and I stacked the merry die cut a couple of times.

I also added just a touch of sparkle with wink of Stella on the tree decorations and the gift trimmings.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

So I found this background I had made a while ago and left on my desk, and decided to make use of it and make it into a card…

I grabbed some of the True Love dsp flowers and a small section of the reverse pattern and this made somewhere for the Gorjuss girl to stand.

I coloured the girl using my promarkers using colours from the background and then added some foam so she has some dimension.

I added the sentiment which is a mix of the Biggest Wish and the Emma Godfrey Paperartsy stamp and then some gems to finish.

A very bright and fun card with the black cardblank to finish off the modern funky look.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I decided to pull out the pouch with printed digital stamps, some of which are already coloured and make up a card using them and paper from the stash… I’m in a use up old stash kind of mood at the moment!

Turned out I also had some stamped images which I think I got rid of the stamps for years ago so this really is a card made from ancient stash!

I had coloured it with my Prismacolours so it just needed die cutting out and then the right papers and embellishments to be found.

I thought these autumnal papers worked perfectly along with the peach/ coral coloured cardstock. I hand cut a mat for the image and also added the lace trim as something to soften the look.

Feels like the kind of card I made a lot of a few years ago and to be honest I really like it. Simple and pretty. Inside I added some more of the paper to decorate.

Might have to do more cards like this and actually use these already printed/ stamped/ coloured images I have to mix up my style every so often! Also it was a lot easier on the arms not doing lots of die cutting which seems to have been more my style of late!

Entering this into the Anything Fall challenge at Crafting Happiness Challenges

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Some cards come together easily, others I struggle with and this weeks santa I struggled with! I love this image but don’t use it often as I hate colouring it in… I never get the balance right.

I decided to paint him this time and used brushos as my watercolour medium. This worked quite well but not perfectly.

I decided to then add gold paint pen and also some fluff to the trim on his coat and hat.

I then went for simple card design of some dsp using magazine papers and then black mounts and as a card base.

I finished off with three black die cut stars as embellishments as they worked well with the graphic feel to the image.

Think the landscape one worked better than the portrait design but neither of these cards can I claim to love.

I think I may have to invest in another santa stamp at some point as this just never turns out as well as I would like.

What do you think?

And have you got some good santa images to play with? Why not join in with my challenge and let me know if you do on here or on Instagram so I can see what you make.

Last year for this theme I used a magazine stamp I have since got rid of. He was cute but very small … Will add ‘decent santa stamp’ to my wishlist for 2023.

Happy crafting!

Catherine