Author: Catherine

I am an on-the-side and increasingly up front papercrafter who loves nothing more than getting inky and creating pretty things with paper and stamps! I am also a wife to lovely hubby and mummy to a wonderful 14yr old princess.

One sheet wonder playtime

Catherine

I decided to grab one of the many pieces of 12×12 papers that was reasonably neutral and make a one sheet wonder.

No idea where this paper came from originally but it is a marbled and mottled effect with blue, teal and pink tones. So I teamed it with aqua, pink and brown.

I will sort out the cut instructions and post these later.

I also grabbed some glimmer paper and foiled cardstock to add into the mix.

Then I started making the cards up. I decided to keep to a theme and used the Art deco style stamps which were a magazine freebie a long time ago.

So here are the seven cards I made.

Layered pieces with the different coloured cardstock and the silver glimmer paper and then fussy cut two of the stamped images. Coloured both of them using Inktense blocks and a waterbrush. Stamped the sentiment in versamark and used white embossing powder.

Heat embossed the main image onto the paper and also the same with the single rose image onto the back panel. Then added colour with the distress oxides to give more definition to the bird. Also stamped and embossed the sentiment and mounted that onto the brown card too. I love this bird image so much.

Most of the one sheet wonder templates have a diagonal cut in them. I balanced this one with the diecut in the background.

I love the copper foil background I added with the elegant embossing.

I edged the patterned paper with both the stamp and a line of white embossing, then added the sentiment in the same. Next I added the flower image with some copper thread to add texture.

I went with a brighter pink for this one and grabbed this hot pink doily. It worked with the colouring on the flowers.

This one I went with lots of edging in black pen to give each panel a distinct edge. I also embossed the white panel with the embossing folder.

This final one I embossed the patterned paper, adding versamark to the folder first and then adding some jade coloured powder and heating it. This created a fabulous texture.

I then coloured the cardstock underneath with the same embossing powder.

I am super happy with all of these. I still have a couple of pieces left but not quite worked out how to use them…

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Flowery cuties

Catherine

Today I have two card using floral papers from the Making Cards magazine stash along with cute card toppers from a different collection from Making Cards magazine.

I adore these floral papers. The colours are so vibrant and beautiful. I adore as well the cute little dog. I added glossy accents to the glasses to add shine and dimension.

Think they make a lovely combination even though they are different collections.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Googlie eyes and monster cards

Catherine

Some of these monsters and dinos were made for googlie eyes… so of course I had to add them.

Some, where the eyes were too big for my googlie eyes stickers I added glossy accents to the eyes instead to ensure they still had dimension and shine.

Love these fun cards using the Making Cards magazine collection from several months ago. I’m really enjoying working my way through the backlog of these collections.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Gelli print background card

Catherine

I am trying to use up bits off my desk again rather than make anything new or create more bits to pile up and I unearthed a gorgeous gelli print background I had made and forgotten about! So immediately set about turning it into a card.

I kept it simple with some embossing and the printed image I had been gifted in a swap and a piece of ribbon. This way the gorgeous gelli print could speak for itself!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I see shiny inchies

Catherine

Today I have another swap to share with you … this time some shiny inchies. These are for a swap over at UK stampers forum on Facebook.

I am slightly obsessed with Art Alchemy paints at the moment… love the shiny and pearlescent finishes.

I coated the inchies in black gesso, and then a layer of opal magic paint. Then I added the eye stamp with black gesso.

Once it was dry I added some white pen details and the stamped alpha sentiment.

Just adore the shiny finish…

Love how funky these are.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Cheeky monkey cards

Catherine

Yes I am still working through the collection of card toppers and papers that came with Making Cards magazine a few month’s ago. Today I have a few monkey cards to share.

Isn’t it just the cutest monkey?

I still have lots more of these card toppers to play with so no doubt more posts to come!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Three crowned queens

Catherine

I’ve made three ATCs for the UK stampers forum swap where the theme is crowns of pointy hats… so i chose this image from Badass artchick stanps and added the crowns from some patterned paper.

I added the image to scraps of either gelli prints, wipe off or brayered backgrounds and cut them down to size for ATCs.

I added some colour using watercolour pencils and some water to add some definition.

I added more stamping using the Badass artchick stamps and then the titles using letter stamps.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Alcohol lift-ink experiments

Catherine

I’ve got the new alcohol lift-ink from Ranger and made a rather lengthy experiment video … here it is!

And here are the two cards I made by the end of the video…

Both rather difficult to photograph … but hopefully you can see what I made…

Love the lift-ink… think it opens up so many more options with alcohol ink backgrounds and of course with multicoloured stamping. Very very happy with my playtime.

Will share, of course, the other experimental pieces once they get made into something.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Three Rock coins

Catherine

Today I have another three Artist Trading Coins to share… and more with a music theme… although this time for UK stampers forum swap.

I videoed the process and decided to decorate the wooden coins using a piece of paper rather than direct onto the coins.

I used the art alchemy paints and embossing to add different textures and finishes.

I love the sparks paint in contrast to the metallique background and the black gesso stencilled images.

This one shows the embossed stars too… I really went to town on the different layers of colour and texture.

Super happy with these and hope that the recipient likes them too.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Stencilling backgrounds for cards

Catherine

Today I have some cards where I used stencils in the background to complement the card toppers I was using. It was fun to use my stencils for this rather than just the usual mixed media techniques.

For all three I had toppers and papers from a Making Cards magazine set but on the DL card I needed something else to make the card complete. So I grabbed these dots/circles stencils and stencil brushes.

I thought that as the papers were quite graphic and bold the softer circles and dots would work well.

Then adding the embellishments which were also circular helped keep with the theme.

For each of them I added glossy accents to the eyes and the nose for the monkey and shimmer with my wink of Stella to other bits.

Love these cards with the contrast of the stencilling and the papers.

Happy crafting!

Catherine