Author: Catherine

Hi… I have a tag I made using one of those leftover toucan images from the papers I used for the Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge I sharee yesterday. I’ve entered it into the swap at UK stampers forum.

So the rule is that there has to be stamping so I decided to create my own background for the tag using stamps from an old Creative Stamping magazine. The different tropical leaves work so well with the toucan image. I then added some of the remaining paper as a strip along with a piece of yellow washi that I thought added some additional colour and brightness as I had chosen a craft tag for the base.

Next I added an orange circle (again leftover from the cards I shared on the 1st) and then layered the image onto some foam so there was dimension.

Next I chose the sentiment and stamped and die cut the Avery Elle using an orange ink. I then embellished with some black heart die cuts which I added the black wink of Stella to so there was some shimmer and contrast.

I finished off with scraps of yellow and black and white ribbons and twine to coordinate with the tag.

Hope you like it. I think it is a fun to use images such as this in different ways.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

How is it the beginning of May already? This year is whizzing past!

So as it’s the start of the month that means it is design team contribution time for Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge blog. Once again I delved into the old Making Cards magazine papers I have had for ages and wanted to get used this year… and this time it was full of tropical toucans!

I had so much fun putting these together. Lots of fussy cutting was needed but I think it was totally worth it!

I cut more images out than I needed but ended up using 6 in total as I went to town on these cards. There wasn’t actually much patterned paper in the kit I had put aside, just the triangle one and the leaf one but it was enough to make the two cards and decorate inside and the envelopes but really the images take centre stage!

I decided that orange was the best colour to use with the patterns and images and also a little bit of green. I decided both needed to be cheerful birthday cards and so cut out Happy using Playful Alphabets dies and embossed the birthday in white onto scraps of green. A few of the images seemed circular so I went with some die cut stitched shape circles and used these to frame the images.

But then I wanted more greenery for my tropical birds to be nesting in… so I grabbed Christmas Season stamps and dies because three of the elements seem perfectly fine as tropical greenery to me even though they are meant for Christmas foliage!

I stamped them using different green inks from the stash … blending the coloured together by using my stamp platform then die cut them. Again I thought I had done more than I needed but I ended up using them all!

I finished them both slightly differently … glossy accents for one on the Happy and wink of Stella on the other.

I used up the papers and the images inside and on the envelopes…

… so some pretty fun and heavily decorated cards this month. Love them!

Those toucans make me smile!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I haven’t made any Christmas cards in ages … so when I stumbled across Kendras card challenge using 6 pieces of 6×6 to make 15 cards I thought it might help spur me on and help me get started on this years cards.

Of course I forgot using an American template would lead to card sizes that aren’t standard UK sizes so I made mine as card toppers and added them to 5×7 card blanks.

Kendra provides both the cutting guides and the layout/sketches with measurements so this made stage 1 (cutting, layering and grouping together) easy. Next step was to decide how to finish each of the cards off.

I used the Painted Christmas dsp for mine …

And teamed the papers with Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Pear Pizazz and Mossy Meadow cardstock … mainly as that was what I had to hand! I also added in some of the glittery speciality paper too for some fun.

I used different embossing folders, stamp sets, die sets and punches to finish off the cards… some I added inking too, some I kept plainer.

So there you go … 15 cards made ready for December. I always make lots of cards but I then gift them to my parents and my aunties for them to use too … so it helps to get lots done in one go … they then function as a set, although each is very different!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Happy Easter… whether you are a Christian or just enjoy the chocolate eggs I wish you all the best this Easter!

Back in July 2020 I made a One sheet wonder using some yellow dsp and used the Birds and Branches stamps for decorating a card…

… well I’ve never got round to using this card and I’m trying to work my way through existing cards so I grabbed this one and upgraded it and repurposed it into an Easter card for my parents.

I added some additional stamping in the background adding Calypso Coral and Pear Pizazz. Then I stamped and embossed in white on some Pear Pizazz cardstock the Happy from Biggest Wish and the Easter from Arrange a Wreath in Calypso Coral onto white.

I added these sentiments on foam with the scrap of green and white twine behind. Then added the gems to add some bling.

I think this is a nice upgrade and also good to repurpose the card and get it used!

We are off to see my parents for Easter lunch today so hopefully they will like the bright and cheery card.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Another month has passed and we are back to DT time for Happy Little Stampers.

And this month I have two Easter cards I’ve made.

So I started with some papers I had been gifted in a swap. As they had eggs and bunnies on them they clearly needed to be used for a specific season so I just went with it.

I started with the idea of a back panel and a smaller rectangle but then went a bit off piste and went for angled panels. It’s not often I do this so it was fun to play with different angles and layouts.

I decided to use the Playful Alphabets dies to create the main sentiment and use the Banner punch too.

I also added the Happy from Biggest Wish for this first one. Then I grabbed some of the flower die cuts I had already got in my box of bits (I have a session every so often cutting flowers and leaves and small die cuts from scraps so I have things like these to hand and I make use of my smaller scraps!). The flowers are from Arrange a Wreath and the leaves are from Forever Fern.

Next I added the small gems to the centre of the flowers.

The next card I only added the one small flower and leaf but also added the bird from Birds and Branches, and changed the colour of the die cut letters.

I love the funky bright feel to these cards, and am grateful that the gifted papers inspired me to create.

Now off to see what the gang have been up to at Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies challenge blog… please do go and join the challenge.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello!

Time to get tropical for this months CAS challenge at Happy Little Stampers.

I will start with a quick reminder of the rules…

Clean and Simple design with one focal point, lots of white (or open) space and minimal layers and embellishments

Probably for this one I added more than might be considered clean and simple but I just felt it needed the border stamping to finish off.

So for tropical I wanted to use the pineapple Lawn Fawn stamp and for some reason fancied a diagonal layout. I did a bit of planning for all the themes and this is one I had planned out in advance.

I stamped the pineapples and then watercoloured them using distress inks.

Once they were dry I added the border stamping using a BadAss Art Chick stamp.

Then I stamped the shades and die cut those to add to the cool pineapple on the end.

Once I had added the shades I added glossy accents to make them shiny!

Next I chose the hello stamp and die set from Avery Elle to finish off!

For the envelope I did simple stamping of the pineapple in green down the side of the envelope.

So a fun and I think definitely tropical card for this months CAS challenge.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Yes another 16th birthday card made for another of my daughters friends… and I had such a messy time making this… it was so fun!

I don’t know the recipient of this card very well but I know she has been doing textiles with my daughter so I decided to use Brusho and embossing to create the background and to dye some fabric. Then I did torn edges and rough hand sewing to give it a grungy but still pretty look.

I used some Visible Inage stamps both for the background and then the focal image and then used a mix of sentiments (Biggest Wish and Happy Celebrations … they are always my go to one’s now!) And found some coordinating sticker numbers for the large 16.

I finished off with some little green/blue iridescent gems for a bit of sparkle.

Inside the card I used one of the Butterfly images and stamped it a few times then coloured them loosely with coordinating colours of watercolour, and the envelope I stamped in turquoise so it coordinated but didn’t need water applying so it didn’t warp.

As you can see from the last image there was a bit of dimension added too for the top later of the card from the cardstock… I really like how textural this turned out… perfect for my daughters textile studying friend!

Joining in the Happy Little Stampers Watercolour challenge.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello there! Thanks for popping by. As it’s the first of the month it is time for a design team contribution (no April fools here!). This is my contribution for the Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge blog.

This year I set aside at the beginning of the year old Making Cards magazine kits with one for each month and challenged myself to use those for this challenge… this one was tough though as the kit mainly had these large images and not much in the way of papers but I worked with them and I think I got there with these two cards I made.

I decided the images lent themselves to be anniversary cards and so decided the Crafters Companion anniversary die would do the heavy lifting on this and kept the rest of the cards fairly simple with layered papers and a bit of cardstock.

What do you think?

Inside the cards I added some strips of leftover paper and the same for the envelope.

So simple for this month but I promise you getting these cards together took a lot of hard work as I couldn’t work out what to do with the kit I had put together at all! Ah well some more papers used from the stash and a couple more cards made!

Off to see what everyone else was up to with their patterned paper this month at the blog.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today I have the tag I made for UK stampers forum swap this month.

I used some lilac cardstock and then added stamping from the Very Versailles stamp set. Next I used a strip of the paper I have been using from Making Cards magazine this month. I tore it and inked it before sticking it down.

I then stamped and watercoloured the Jar of Flowers stamps and fussy cut the flowers out and punched the jar. I added these to the tag with some paper twine around the top.

I then stamped the sentiment and added that too.

Then added ribbon and some glossy accents as added texture.

Love this cute tag.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I’m writing this ahead of her day but still in disbelief it has been 16 years since my baby girl arrived. So proud of the woman she is becoming. Love her to the end of the earth (even although occasionally she drives me insane!).

Here is the card I made for her.

Green has become the colour of choice of late and we have just finished decorating her room with green panel effect wallpaper and light green walls. So I decided to use some of the last pieces of the Forever Greenery dsp I had in my stash and the gold die cut to create this 7×7 card.

Of course the Biggest Wish stamps got used… and some foam stickers for the large 16 in the middle!

I added some hand sewing and some lace (to reflect her love of sewing and textiles) and the fussy cut leaves reflect her wish to have lots of plants in her room (albeit fake ones as none of us are good at looking after plants).

I added foam between some layers so this has plenty of dimension and a white string bow to add more texture!

The inside I took some of the remaining paper and some of the die cuts to create a panel. Again a bit of sewing and sentiment stamped to finish off.

The envelope I kept really simple… just paper down one side.

So happy birthday dearest Maya … hope you have a fabulous birthday. We love you lots xxx

Happy crafting!

Catherine