Author: Catherine

Today I have a little project for my Festive Friday using up supplies from a Christmas in July project. I had the afternoon off work to sort out something with the bathroom fitters (snag list needed discussing) and so I’m treating myself to some tidy up projects in the craft room! Starting with this!

I had made a masterboard to make loads of tags with the MFT polar bear stamps and but I had a few off cuts and a few extra images I had coloured and die cut so I set them to one side.

I decided to carry on with the tag theme and so made these two tags.

I used the off cuts to add strips across the tag panels which I made with dark green cardstock that was another scrap! You will have seen this technique before using scrap cardstock on quite a few projects previously including other tag projects in Christmas in July – well this worked just as well with the masterboard off cuts too!

The lovely masterboard has so much lovely shine and texture from the shimmer spritz and love the different colours from the oxide inks.

I added the cute polar bears and then the sentiments and then added the ribbon.

I then added the gems too as wanted to add that bit of sparkle.

A fun little project – and added to the collection of tags ready for the present wrapping stage some time in December!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today’s card is a fun fold … yes I’m actually being brave and doing another fun fold! But that’s because that’s the challenge at Creative Knockouts and so my design team contribution of course had to include one!

I included the lovely Daisy Panel from sheepskidesigns who sponsor the challenge over at Creative Knockouts this fortnight.

I actually included it twice … on the front and in the centre.

I don’t have a name for this fun fold as I made it up as I went along with a partial die cut to the right hand side flap which overlaps the left hand side flap and a book fold to the left hand side too for the ribbon!

I used a couple of large circle dies for the partial die cutting and then fussy cut the elements of the focal image that stuck out and then inside the image I fussy cut the whole image which is quite large as a panel.

Alcohol markers used to colour the image but kept the colour scheme quite simple as I was using the bright papers from the Kingston Crafts Rainbow kit for the whole card.

I added a die cut sentiment that I stacked and glittered with the Kingston Crafts glitter glue so it’s sturdy enough to hang off the circle and then a scrap of ribbon for the left hand side.

I also added three of the card candi to finish off!

I love this bright and cheery card. And proud of myself for attempting a different type of card with another fun fold!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I always like to do something a little different from any kits I get – and although obviously the Hello Life kit is made for the pocket pages and memory keeping – I decided to use some of the card as backgrounds for notecards and add in some of the stickers as embellishments along with some die cuts and a sentiment!

The colours in this kit are so cute – so I took four of the cards and then die cut some elements for popping on the top as fun clusters.

For each I added a sticker like the banner or the star above – or the heart speech bubble below to add to the clusters.

I did add the foiled sentiments and then the larger label is cut from the black foiled cardstock from Kingston Crafts which adds a different texture in!

I love that the kit has those stickers and the puffy stickers in that are quite generic so work well for adding to a cluster type card.

I made my card blanks just slightly bigger than the four inch cards and these were so simple to make.

This is a good way of using the cards in the pack as there are so many (it’s a massive stack of the cards!) – and I know I wouldn’t use them all for the album pages I was making!

These cards did get to be on the tv back in June …

… so I can say “as seen on tv” once again!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Last month in the midst of creating Christmas cards I had to have a change of pace and make a sympathy card as my friends Dad had passed away.

I used a stamp I have previously used a few times for sympathy cards – I think the loose sketchy blooms work well for a simple card.

This time I decided to stamp in some brushos I sprinkled onto my glass mat, spritzed with water and then stamped – this gave the image a lovely watercolour effect in the Prussian blue. I then picked up the watercolour from the mat with my brush and added some more colouring into the image.

Once the image was dry I mat it onto navy cardstock and then onto the white card blank.

I chose two sentiments from the spellbinders press plate set which has coordinated dies and used the gold foil to glimmer them onto a dark blue cardstock.

I then added the blue enamel dots as finishing touches.

A simple but I think effective sympathy card. Always a shame to need one but good to have a good go to image when you do need one.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

So I filmed my first use of the Stampwheel 2.0 which I recently splurged on … and from that made two cards!

First up this wreath based sending hugs card …

Wreath making was the main reason I wanted the stamp wheel and I love how easy this would be if I had chosen a different stamp set – but it was enough of a play to know that I was happy with this and can probably get rid of the template I have been using.

I didn’t make my first play easy though as I used the Rosy Outlook stamps from Altenew which are layering stamps and this meant lots and lots of stamping!

I love how easy it was once everything was on the wheel to make multiple colours of the roses and different greens for the leaves.

The second card I stenciled the background with the sticky mat in place in the base of the wheel and really happy with how securely the stenciled stayed in place on the bigger sticky mat.

For this card I then added the two clusters of roses and the gold panel for a bit of bling!

On the close ups you can probably see I didn’t align the final stamp on the large rose well so the shadows don’t fall as they should – but I also think you wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t pointed it out! 🤣

So two cards done – is the Stampwheel worth the cost – no – am I happy with it and glad I have it in my stash – yes!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Back in June I took some cards I had already made and stepped them up to personalise them for my niece and her son my great nephew… so I thought I would share these on my blog to show how I do this.

I made this card some time ago using my the gorgeous florals from the lovely Altenew florals but added a different sentiment.

I chose to add the foiled cardstock sentiment die cut and then a foiled die cut sentiment strip. Next I die cut and stacked the 30 from a coordinating colour foiled cardstock and added that on top.

This made the card really special and perfect for her 30th birthday!

Next up I went with one of the cards I made using the Cards by Kendra challenge and the Pet Collection kit and turned this into a fun card just for Henry.

Firstly I went with a large die cut 2 from the foiled cardstock. Then I added the die cut letters for his name and added the glitter glue to them to make them sparkly!

Really pleased with how this came out too!

I make so many cards with no purpose in mind – I create because I enjoy creating – but it was good to have these then become something very special for my niece and great nephew.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I said in last weeks post that I had managed to make two pages from the leftovers from the page kits I had made up at the crop. I always love using up the scraps and then making pages from what I have when I go to the crop and so these are the two pages I made …

I did this one first but then wanted to add something extra when I got home … so here is how it was when at the crop …

I had used up papers from the kits and some stickers etc plus some bits and pieces from my stash I took with me but felt that it needed something in the two plain corners – and because the base paper was actually white core I decided to sand it to expose the core in a few places and make it a little more distressed. It’s quite subtle but I think it works in just making it look finished!

The next page I used the larger panel of leftover from the page kit and then created a fun background using stencilling and some stamps I purchased at the crop.

The title was a funny title as we definitely didn’t have sunshine or blue skies for this open top bus trip around Cambridge but it didn’t stop Maya and I from having loads of fun!

Love how this page finished up – and thank you to Helen for helping me with splatters and some design choices along the way! We both had a productive but chatty day. Always fun to spend time with my creative friend!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

So here we are at the end of #dyicad2025 and the final five days are below. It’s been fun!

Started Sunday (day 57) with the Darcy stone wall stamp and created a full wall! And then just coloured it in! Zero doodling as obviously Darcy did all the doodles for me in the stones! ❤️ all the browns and greys were fun to colour in with!

But life in my house got crazy with renovations and busy work days so missed the next few days … so fast forward to the 31st and I made three cards one after the other …

Swallowtail is one of my favourite stamps of all time! Kept it simple with the striped background and a frame and made the butterfly colourful!

Chose a triangle stamp and did some pattern building and then coloured with the pink/red coloured alcohol markers and then some doodles in and around the triangles. Fun!

Went back to a flower stamped with a doodled background for number 60! Added in just a touch of colour with the blue section dividers in the background.

As I posted these onto Instagram I realised I was still missing the final one and as it was the 31st I had to get it finished in time! So I got myself back into the craft room and made one more!

I chose to use the cat stamps from MFT and then created some inky patches behind them. I decided that was a good way of creating a card that matched my crafting name!

And just like that I have finished #dyicad2025 and I loved that I kept them simple and so even when I went away it was something I could do. Obviously being at home and the house upside down and trying to still work has been a not ideal end but even creating four in one day wasn’t too onerous! It has also been giving me some ideas for future cards as I have been doing them so it will be good to flick through this as a resource for inspiration in the future!

Will try and film a run through of them all over the weekend and will pop back and edit this to include a link when I do it!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Ok so Christmas in July might be over but I find myself still making Christmas cards because I am back to the usual Festive Friday post – and because it’s the first of the month I am making use of patterned paper! I decided to do a few of the #kcc19 cards leftover from Christmas in July and also use up the images left from yesterday’s project… I think I deserve the keeping it easy after the mammoth amount of work CIJ was!

I made card sketch 2 for this one …

I slightly moved the central element and also made the strips behind a little bigger and the background panel cut down so it would fit on a standard UK A6 card blank.

I then added the large standing Santa for the focal element.

Next up is sketch 4 …

Again I cut down the background panel to fit the normal UK card blank and then stamped the sentiment in the gap. I didn’t bother with the circle shape for the piece at the bottom as I was adding Santa’s head there so kept it as a mat and layered square peeping out.

Unfortunately there was a little spillage accident so the top right has got a few splatters but I think it will be fine when dried and just adds to the vintage look if not! 🤣

Sketch 5 I used for this one …

I kept it to 5×7 card blank as the patterned paper goes across the panel too much to fit the standard A6. I used a red card blank and then added the doodled lines for the tag to help it standout. I also die cut the black pieces for under the Santa head image and the sentiment to help them pop too!

I love this one particularly – and it was good to get those images I coloured and cut used up quickly and out of the way and good to get a few more of the KCC done! I need to add the sketches into a pouch and then all the ready made envelopes so it’s in one place and ready to go next time I fancy using it!

Now is Christmas over? Well not exactly as I’ve agree in our Facebook group to do a monthly prompt so this months prompt is Christmas Florals so although I haven’t made my card for the group yet – have no worries that will be shared here too – plus of course my weekly Festive Friday continues!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Back with one final bonus Christmas in July themed project … I decided to join in with the UK stampers forum swap and made mine Christmas in July themed using some more of that fabric paper that I used on the final cards of the month and also another vintage Santa stamped image.

What I discovered was that the fabric papers are already adhesive backed and I hadn’t realised! So once cut I could just peel them back and add them to the tag!

I coated the full hardboard tag with the striped stitch pattern then added smaller bits of the others to create some interest.

I then stamped and watercoloured Santa and die cut him out. I chose two die cut light strings from the stash to go behind him and then glued it all down.

I then realised I hadn’t used buttons in my crafting for sometime so chose six buttons to add to the tag in colours that coordinated with the tag.

I also chose two sentiments which were already stamped and die cut ready for using!

I then went through ribbons to choose ones that would work and added them to the top hole.

A fun project and hopefully the recipient won’t mind this oddly out of season tag! At least it will mean they have some decor ready ahead of time!

Ok really finished with Christmas in July now- there will be a video sharing all the makes coming to my YouTube in the next few days but for now – thank you and goodbye to Christmas in July … oh hang on tomorrow is Festive Friday … perhaps I won’t tidy away the Christmas supplies just yet! 🤣

Happy crafting!

Catherine