Author: Catherine

So the challenge of 1 2 3 card over on the Back to Basics blog took some explaining for me… it’s a card with 1 topper, 2 colours and 3 embellishments (gems, pearls etc).

I’ve never done one of these and I struggled I must admit.

Anyway I found this butterfly topper in my stash and decided to use this as the starting point… and added my three gems to that. Then I created my background panel using alcohol inks all in one colour scheme of the teal with a teal backing mat. Then I added the yellow trim that coordinated with the butterfly.

Not my usual style of cardmaking but fun to try.

And good to use up something I’ve had in the stash for quite some time!

Wonder what everyone else’s 1 2 3 cards will look like? Check out the blog to find out.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Happy April fools!

Did you get caught by any pranks?

As it’s the first of the month I have another DT project to share with you for Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge.

This month I have some cutsey cards to share I made from a paper kit I got over a year ago and hadn’t done anything with it!

So 9 cards made and at least a dent in the kit has been made and the card blanks that came with the kit have been used up.

Particularly love those ballerina bunnies so happy that the kit came with both stamps and the die cuts!

There were also two cards in there which used the more elegant floral elements from the kit just because I needed a break from the cute for a little bit!

Loads and loads of paper a left from the kit and die cuts and then stamp set so I’ve kept it packed together as a kit but hopefully will have another session of creating with this soon!

How about you? Do you have lots of kits like this you need to break into and get used… why not join us at the blog and use your patterned paper!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

The challenge for the next two weeks at Back to Basics and Beyond challenge blog is shaker cards. I must admit I don’t make these very often at all.

This one I made using Art by Marlene paper and die cuts and stickers as a fun card for a friend.

I filled the shaker with sequins I got as a gift in a swap and also added some punched trim down one side.

I need more foam tape to make more of these as they are such fun to make and then shake when finished!

Looking forward to seeing what others make for their shaker cards.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today I am sharing of the other side of the bunting I decorated in Marie’s circle journal.

I started with some distress stain added to the bunting panel and a little bit of stamping using some background stamps.

Once dried I layered some glimmer paste through a stencil. I love how this paste shows through the colours it is layered on.

Next a little more stamping with the Lynne Perella stamps.

Next I stamped and coloured one of the Lynne Perella stamps and fussy cut her out.

Love how dramatic this girl is.

Next I added some splatter of the sparks paint to the background to add a little more contrast with the watercolour background.

And now to finish off… some mark making with pens.

And adding the girl and a quote to the top.

This is so different from the other side and I love it!

Lynne Perella stamps always remind me of Marie (she once did a design team project using them for the Paperartsy blog – this must be why!) So hope she likes my Lynne Perella piece.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Another of my teal and lime pages for a circle journal and this one is for my raggy doll sister Marie.

She created a fab bunting journal from canvas sheets. And that gave me the idea of fabric and sewing. And given how poorly I was meant that I could do some of this crafting whilst in bed.

I started strangely with a piece of felt and sewed each scrap of wool, fabric, ribbon and twine onto it using hand stitching.

Absolutely love this background and must remember to do something similar again as I have so many scraps of twine and ribbons.

Next I took a Jofy stamp and stamped it onto some fabric using Archival ink. Then used Inktense pencils to add some colour to some elements.

Which I then sprayed heavily with water to activate the Inktense.

Once dry I started sewing in some details and added some sequins. I am far from the best embroidery person… but still it was fun, and easy to do in bed!

I cut it out and gave it a reasonable amount of a border so it would stand out on the busy background.

Next to prepare the bunting background which I decided to use Sparks paint in the black to sponge around the outside.

Then I added some black gesso as contrast to the sparkle and break it up a little.

Time to put it all together…

An Art by Marlene sticker for the title… and lots of glue to hold it in place.

I am soooooooooooo happy with this piece and love all the textures I added. Especially considering that I am ordinarily not a sewer!

Hope Marie likes it too. I will share what I made for the other side in a couple of days!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

How on earth has that happened? Our baby girl is now a teenager! Arrrgh!

So proud of our lovely young woman.

We are off out for tea tonight and have the joy of many 12 and 13 year olds coming to our house for a “sleepover” at the weekend to celebrate. Wish me luck!

So here is the card I made for our girl …

Lots of layers and sparkle and shine…

Happy birthday to our darling girl and happy crafting!

Catherine

It seems I rarely remember this stamp set apart from for sympathy cards which is a real shame as it is such a lovely stamp set to use. Ah well.. a small and simple sympathy card made for my husband’s auntie as her husband has passed away.

Had to be simple as I am still struggling with flu … after 10 days… it’s getting ridiculous!

So two colours of distress oxides… Iced Spruce and Peeled Paint for the images and versafine for the sentiment. Done and dusted. I love how easy stamping can make cardmaking.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Twinchies to go with the coins that are swapped are such fun to make. I really enjoy making these little gifts for the participants. And I like doing them in small batches till I have enough for all the people taking part.

This first set I embossed into the thick cardstock one of the Tim Holtz dies. Then coated the whole piece with the pebeo fantasy moon paint.

Next I heat embossed the star (Craft Stamped magazine freebie) with white onto the Tissue wrap.

Then the sentiment is a Kim Dellow one which I stamped in white craft ink onto black shrink plastic and heat up.

This makes such a cute sentiment embellishment.

This time I took a patterned paper and cut it into panels and then heat embossed in glittery gold the patterns from an Emma Godfrey set. I then used the same Kim Dellow sentiment and heat embossed that in gold onto the cream card.

This was a mixed media heavy panel… Dylusions covered with Tim Holtz tissue wrap with copper paint and then heat embossed the Kim Dellow pattern. Then cut it into the panels and added the same shrink plastic sentiment embellishments along with a little bit of a sparkle pen in black… because it needed more shine!

All in all 18 twinchies (all mounted on black card) ready for the swap.

But then… another 9 swaps arrived… so another 9 twinchies were made!

This time I used a die cut scrap as a stencil for adding the background stars using white embossing powder onto twinchies I had added Black Soot distress oxide to. Then the edges I added the black sparks paint using a sponge. Then I chose a Darcy Paperartsy star and embossed it onto the tissue wrap and cut them out to adhere on top.

Then a scrap coloured with the black sparks paint and embossed the word shine using alpha stamps.

Simple but effective little twinchies to finish off the most popular swap so far!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I have received so many nice gifts when swapping art so it was good to use some bits for this card, that then went straight back out to another friend as part of another swap.

The beautiful panel with the girls face was gifted in one swap and the sari silk in another. I added gold pen to the edge of both the panel and the patterned paper which is from a Making Cards magazine kit and happened to be on my desk at the time I made this. Then I tied a bow and added the ribbon to embellish.

Love how the two swap items work together.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today on the Back to Basics and Beyond challenge blog there is a bingo card to play with.

I chose to use the middle column… blue, flower, pearls… and made this card.

I chose patterned papers from the stash that had blue within them and mounted a few panels with blue cardstock. I teamed these with a doily to soften the background. Then I added the digital image I had printed and coloured with promarkers.

I added the stamped sentiment and then pearls and a flower so I could fulfil the bingo card.

Fun to make and a pretty card as a result.

Wonder what line you would make for your bingo? Why not join us at the blog?

Happy crafting!

Catherine