Author: Catherine

This month I joined in the UK Stampers Forum tag swap and used the remaining papers I had pulled out for the Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge design team contribution.

This time after adding the papers for the background I grabbed my Tim Holtz stamps to add a stamped cocktail.

After stamping it, I coloured it in and cut it to size, mounting it on to some peach coloured card.

I added stitch effect doodles around the edges of panels and added the die cut circles and leaves I had in my little box of die cuts. This just added some extra zing to the whole thing.

Next I stamped and cut out the Happy from the Biggest Wish stamp set and stamped hour using little alphas.

I added some card candi to the top and some snippets of lace and ribbon.

Then I decided the glass needed to have something else to finish it off… glossy accents! Perfect!

A fun and bright tag for this months swap! Hope the recipient enjoys the fruity cocktail vibe!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello! How is it already the 8th of the month? Well that means it is a design contribution day for Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies challenge blog.

I am actually a little ahead of time for this as James’s birthday isn’t until the 13th but he is very unlikely so be following my blog so should be fine! Lol!

I started with the star cover die which I forgot I owned until I had a sort out of my dies box and when I saw it I knew I had to use it immediately!

I cut it from white cardstock and then played with my distress inks to create a splotchy effect in greens and blues.

Then I mounted it onto black cardstock.

Next I added a panel across the front and stamped the Biggest Wish stamps. I then die cut using the Tidings and Trimmings set the black and white star shapes.

Then I die cut James from black 4 times and stacked them up to create some dimension to his name and added those.

I added the panel to a Pacific Point 5.5×5.5 size card blank.

Inside I added a strip of black and added the white stars down the strip as embellishment. Then stamped and embossed the sentiment from Picture Perfect Birthday.

The envelope I added some faint stencilling using a Star stencil from the stash.

Hopefully James will like his star themed card when he gets it in a few days… until then… if you know James don’t show him this blog! 🤣🤣🤣

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Here I go again with another design team contribution… this time for Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge. This month Kylie has given us the theme Inky to work with… well given my blog name you know I am good with this one.

So remembering the rules for the CAS challenge….

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

Here goes…

I decided to add a panel of gelliprinting using distress oxides and the mini rectangle Gelli plate. I love love this technique as it creates really fun little watercolour effects with very little effort.

I then added the embossed silver heart and the sentiment below… perfect little card topper which I kept to just that … one topper for the finished card, no additional layers.

I did find it hard to resist adding more bling if I am honest but remembered the whole less is more phrase (usually I am a more is more kind of girl!).

Hope you like it. I must admit I love the Gelli plate and oxides ink technique. Could happily make lots of backgrounds using this technique!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello! Wow its the first of Feb already! Of course first of the month means design team time for another monthly challenge for Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge blog.

This year I decided to get a bit organised and have put aside specific papers from the old Making Cards magazine stash. I had too many still hanging around so have decided to just get things made… and to decrease the decision making I’ve put specific papers aside for each month… let’s see how that goes shall we?

This month I had bright cocktail themed papers and images to play with. Wow these are certainly bright and cheery!

As per last month I also used papers to decorate the envelopes and a little inside the cards too. It seems silly to eek out the paper when I have so much of it so making an effort to be generous with the paper from now on!

I decided to use bold big Happy sentiment stamps and embossed them using some old jewel coloured powders I have had in my stash for ages and fussy cut round quite a few of the images to create fun cards.

I also added the spellbinders circle die cut under the sentiment.

Both cards I also added card candi in the similar colours to the patterns and papers. Thought they were the perfect addition!

Inside I created little banners of different lengths from the papers and added another fussy cut image to go with them.

Love how these came together. Perfect and very cute bright and cheery cards.

Pleased that my get organised plan is working at making me get these papers used up! Off to check out the blog now to see what everyone else has been up to.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Not sure whether I will manage to make a set of Christmas cards every month… but in the hope I might, I’ve optimistically named this post Christmas in … January so I can amend each month accordingly!

These four book bind fold cards I made using some Indigo Blu papers from a magazine kit I bought last year. I also added some die cut stars and the SU laser cut snowflakes as additional embellishments.

I kept them all quite simple as the fold itself makes them quite special but did add additional paper inside the cards plus a strip on the envelope too!

Also there was wink of Stella and white posca pen added too!

For those who wonder why I make so many Christmas cards, I gift those I’ve made to my parents to send as well as sending them myself!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello… I’m awake at silly o’clock awaiting my pain relief to kick in as feeling pretty rough. So thought I would use my time productively to update my blog.

I have another swap I made using that fab paper from my Making Cards magazine stash… this time on a tag I created for a UK stampers forum swap.

I decided to add a Gorjuss girl as my stamped image and paper pieced her. Then added colour to the background so it looked like she was painting!

I also added the Art by Marlene stickers as the sentiments.

Finally some washi strips and some outlining to finish off.

So pleased I got a little ahead on projects so I can blog even though have jade little time or energy for crafting in the past week.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I decided to use some more of the patterned paper from Making Cards magazine that I had made the cards at the beginning of the month and made these three coins as swaps for UK Stampers forum.

I covered the bases and then heat embossed the Happy from Biggest Wish stamp set.

Next I added the pink strip of card and stamped mail using some alpha stamps.

Then I stamped and cut out the little envelope from Banner Year. I added some wink of Stella and then when dry did some additional doodling to highlight the heart.

Finally I added black to the edge.

Simple but cute coins for this months swap.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hi! Another design team contribution to share with you today… this time my Anthing Goes with Dies one for Happy Little Stampers.

I actually made this card a couple of weeks ago for my friend Valerie who is my Stampin Up upline as her birthday is New Years Day.

I took some old dsp in bright and cheery colours and cut three square panels. I then decided to cut and emboss the Merriest Moments folder and do some cutting and amending to make a square frame. It was Valerie who gave me this idea as I saw she had done the same with some Christmas cards.

Then I added the stitched shape square on top. I also watercoloured onto the leaves using Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight and Gumball Green to keep the colours bright in keeping with the dsp.

I stamped and die cut some foliage from the Christmas Season set using the same colours. Always like using Christmas themed sets in a different way!

I layered them up and added this to the card as the main element. Now for the sentiment.

Of course Biggest Wish got used, as did Artistically Inked for the sentiment… one in white embossing on the yellow cardstock. Then I die cut the Butterfly and added some bakers twine underneath as the embellishment.

Finally I die cut three little butterflies as final elements.

For the inside of the card, some banners punched from the paper, some small butterflies also die cut and the sentiment stamped on a strip of white.

I also stamped the flap of the envelope and added a die cut butterfly to finish off!

Love this bright and cheery birthday card for my good friend Valerie. Lots of layers and interest, plus using those Christmas stamps, dies and embossing folder for a totally none Christmas feel card!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

There was a space on the CAS design team for Happy Little Stampers so I thought why not challenge myself to make some CAS cards this year? I don’t often make in this style and yet I always admire those that do so I figured I would go for it! So here is my first one!

The theme for this month is actually anything goes… so first I would go back to basics and check the rules….

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

OK so my first card I went with a layer of simple stencilling (although I did add some embossing to give it a pearlescent shine) and some splatters, and then a simple stamped and die cut sentiment with a twist of ribbon sandwiched underneath.

What do we think? CAS enough? I think there is lots of open space, minimal layers and embellishments and one focal point so yup! I think this qualifies!

Hope you like it. Also added a bit of stencilling to the flap of the envelope to match.

Off to get plenty of inspiration for my next card next month. Why not play along?

Entering this into the Craftyhazelnuts Christmas challenge

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Happy new year! Let’s hope 2022 is kind to us all!

I’ve kept on with my DT contributions for Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge and decided this year to get a bit organised and have put aside specific papers from the old Making Cards magazine stash. I had too many still hanging around so have decided to just get things made… and to decrease the decision making I’ve put specific papers aside for each month… let’s see how that goes shall we?

So for January I have some stylish fashion images and black and white papers to play with.

And I grabbed the sewing machine and made two cards.

I even decorated the inside and the envelopes.

I teamed the images and papers with purple and cerise cardstock and black too of course and added some die cut stars as embellishments.

I love all the sewn details. I think it works well with the focal images.

Sentiments were from a range of sets including Artistically Inked, Biggest Wish, Tidings and Trimmings and Picture Perfect Birthday.

Inside the card I added a scrap of the paper and another star and a sentiment.

The envelopes I used a strip of paper across the front just to add some fun!

Hope you pop along to Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge blog and join in yourself. I bet I am not the only one with a stack of paper to be used! This year I am determined not to buy any new. I have too much already going unused. Wonder if I will stick to it or not?

Also linking the 2nd card to the Birthday Card Challenge at Cut it Up

Happy crafting!

Catherine