Author: Catherine

I made this page months ago but because I was mid sharing design team projects I never got around to sharing on my blog at the time.

It was made in response to two challenges – firstly the sketch from the March 1 sketch 3 ways Facebook group that my lovely friends Helen, Sarah and Janet run. They provided this sketch …

And this is what I made…

I kept all the elements of the sketch in – but obviously added more stuff too!

The second challenge was at the Bash Your Stash Facebook group where the April challenge was to use flowers! So the floral paper worked for that along with the flower stickers and other elements I added in.

I didn’t film this one so I’ll explain what I did for it.

The picture is of my Mum at my graduation back in July 1999. And I think she looked amazing! Definitely better than I did that day! 🤣

The sketch suggested some mixed media in the background so I used the Kingston shimmer spritz but painted it roughly over the background rather than spraying it – this meant the mica was in different intensities for the background. I then added a large amount of white gesso splatter for contrast too.

I then set it aside to dry – I mean it looks like a right old mess! But I knew it would be fine once I covered most of it with paper!

I then grabbed the paper and cut it into 2.25” strips and then cut it down a by about 4” so it would work as a square block when I put it down over the messy background.

I added a white border to the picture and then the reverse of the flowery pattern is the black dots so I added that as a layer too. I also had some scraps of a pink textured type paper so I grabbed my Hey Little Magpie dies and cut the bumpy border for the left hand side of the photo and a tab for the top. These dies are so handy for these sorts of elements – that bumpy border is a real favourite of mine!

I then grabbed lots of bits and pieces from the embellishments box including the gold doilies from the February embellishment kit from Hey Little Magpie.

I chose my title from a Simple Stories puffy sticker set and then just worked through random stickers and the 49th & market embellishments to add layers behind/to the side of the photo.

I then added my journalling onto white strips of card to add to the page as I didn’t have anywhere clear to write my journalling.

It was good to use up bits from the March Hey Little Magpie embellishment kit too to add in the yellow… like the ribbon tab I made and the little fabric daisy.

I’m really pleased with how this page came out and good to get two challenges in one done for this page. Sorry it’s taken so long to share it here! But got there eventually! And also good for me to have a prepped post for whilst I am on my holiday!

I love how shimmery the background is too – I don’t think the photos show off the shine – but it’s super shiny!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

How is it already 20 weeks into the year? Wow!

Back with another Festive Friday project and this time I was experimenting with dies and my glimmer machine and decided to give a try of foiling a gelli print to see what happened – so what happened was the foil stuck in some places it shouldn’t – I suspect I need to adjust the sandwich a bit – but because it’s an experiment and already on something a bit different I went with it!

I actually think that the background was a wipe up piece from the gelli printing session rather than an actual gelli print but that means multiple colours and some odd lines and shapes! I used a mistletoe background die I got some time ago and haven’t yet used – so this was my first time taking it out of the packet! Odd that my first choice for using it was for this experiment but there you go!

I used the green foil and then trimmed down to the usual size of the die (the dies give an impression so it’s easy to see where the outline was) and then mounted it onto green foiled cardstock.

I then took another of those backgrounds from the gelli printing session – pretty sure this was a gelli print through a leafy stencil and stamped and embossed the Kate Crane Paperartsy tree and the mistletoe images and the Joy sentiment onto some white cardstock.

I then cut a black rectangle for the tree to sit on, and a circle for the sentiment to sit on (I punched the sentiment out).

I added adhesive foam under the black panel and the circle sentiment so it raised them up.

Once everything was adhered down I used my green glitter glue to add to the baubles on the tree – so there was yet more shine! Three different types of green shine in total!

Love how this came out – a bit grungy and very funky and a great use of the gelli print backgrounds that have been sat there for some time!

Also loved that die and glimmer foil experiment- again I suspect the over foiling came from not getting the sandwich right and maybe the paper was too thin so bent too much when it went through the machine.

Will need to continue to experiment!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

So when I was sent the rainbow foil cardstock from Kingston Crafts to play with for this set of design team samples I was told the black was lovely … and gosh how right that was!

And although masculine cards are normally my challenge I decided that this black would be perfect for a teenager style card – obviously skaters could be masculine or feminine – but potentially more for the male teenagers I have known than the female! – so don’t worry I know the image could be for girls too – just not the girls that I have had experience of making cards for!

I had in my mind the messy stamping and embossing on the black background and then the embossing on a pop of colour for the skater image.

I was delighted with how it turned out!

The good news is you can emboss on the foil cardstock but keep the heat in short bursts and don’t overheat as it can turn the foil slightly dull – in the case of the black I managed that fine – but on the green I did overheat it so it became more of a satin finish. To be honest for this small image I was absolutely fine with that and in itself it is quite a nice effect – I’m just telling you so if you replicate be careful if you want to maintain high gloss!

I wrapped some twine around the card under the image and popped it up on some foam square so it has some dimension.

Next I took some die cut banners and embossed the sentiments on – just so you know when it’s a sample for DT I make cards I don’t actually need to send – so this isn’t really a card for my brother (he definitely isn’t a skateboarder!) – but you know this is the sort of thing I do when I make DT samples – sometimes they are just showing the possibilities!

Anyways I chose to emboss with green to make it in keeping with the pop of green against the black and white.

I then added the little green hearts from the stash – these are normal cardstock but I think the matt finish works well with all the shine!

Martin did show this one on tv so once again I can say the words – ‘as seen on tv’! 🤣

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Here is another pair of cards made using Kendra’s card challenge.

For these I added focal elements of stamped and coloured images from the My Favourite Things stamp set that I’ve grabbed a few times when making these cards. By this point I was running out of dog die cut pieces from the kit so it works well to add in stamped images to carry on playing with the kit!

This one I wasn’t totally sure about as the wonky panel had a directional patterned paper but I think it looks ok.

I added a sentiment which was a foiled press plate from the Dina Wakely spellbinders set – I die cut it twice to stack it and think the green foiling on the yellow card is cute!

This one also used the Dina set of sentiments but a different one.

On both I added texture to the background with a dotty embossing folder – I chose to have one with the dots sticking out and the other with the dots indented.

I love how that texture looks so cut with the layers of patterned paper on top.

For the second card I added gems and the twine from the kit to add embellishments.

Love how both cards turned out – especially love that second card – love the navy and yellow – and that poodle image is just so cute!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Back with another pair of cards made using the Kendra’s card challenge – this time it is sketches 2 and 4.

For both of these the focal images were die cuts from the ephemera die cuts that came in the kit.

To one I added the sticker that is all the balls and had it hang off the card topper slightly at top and bottom and the other one I added some of the die cut balls as my embellishments.

This one I kept fairly close of the original sketch – I did add in some texture to the background using the Pinewood planks embossing folder. I popped the little dog up on adhesive foam to give some dimension. The sentiment is a foiled one which I had already got made from a spellbinders Betterpress set.

I love the pops of yellow that the mat layers added to this one along with the cute die cut puppy!

This second one I did vary the sketch by turning it from landscape to portrait and also moving the strip to one side as it worked better because my paper had direction to it – Kendra does give you an indication of the direction a paper will need to be used on her guides but I forgot to check that when choosing a directional pattern!

I wish I had added a little texture to that green panel in the background on this but already stuck things into place when I thought of it! Doh!

The sentiment is embossed into the white and fussy cut. It is a stamp from Amy Favourite Things.

I love how these both came together – I am not sure I would have ever found a good use for that wordy paper as a full sheet of 12×12 – but when you cut it into smaller panels like this it works well to create a cute card!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I decided to pick up the magazine kit again after putting it aside for other projects and made two cards where the focus was on the embossing folder.

As with the previous cards from this kit I filmed my process and it’s up on my YouTube channel now along with all the others in the Use up a Magazine playlist.

These are the two cards I made.

The first is using the embossing folder straight onto the pink card and then using white ink to highlight the line art and then painting the image with a pink ink to just give it more definition.

I also added wink of Stella to the bird to give it shimmer. Then I created a cluster for the sentiment and added in the gold coloured foiled cardstock to add some shine and richness!

I think it is pretty but was also really easy to make.

The next one I flipped over the folder and then added ink to the elements that were not debossed to darken the panel. I think this added an interesting finish and I love the texture my messy brayer added!

This time I did add some patterned paper to ground the panel on the card and again a little bit of foil to the mat of the sentiment to add a different texture.

For both I added gold gems and the gold thread which I think helps add some softness to the cards.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

So the last four cards in this Kendra’s card challenge are a bit different as they actually only used one piece of patterned paper cut into four different angled pieces – so I made four thank you cards and sneakily added in another pattern for some using the Best Friend laser cut paper from the Kingston Crafts pet collection kit.

For two I added in the kennel and dog die cut pieces, for the other two I added in the heart banner from the die cut pieces and a stamped dog from a My Favourite Things stamp set.

I added some dimension to all the cards by popping elements up on adhesive foam and also the die cuts are stacked up too. In this case I chose sentiments from the pouches where I make them in batches from scraps to have some elements of my cards easy to do with grab and go elements.

For this one I added dimension to the dog so he is raised above the background which I kept simple with the white mat, the yellow card with the laser cut, the patterned panel and then the die cut elements and one of the hearts I cut from the packaging.

This one I added more dimension as I raised the patterned paper, the kennel and the dog up on the adhesive foam to lift it away from the panel of laser cut paper. I added white behind this one with a yellow mat layer.

This one I decided to add just a small panel of the laser cut but added that with the foam tabs – I did have to cut the tabs to be half size so they didn’t show through holes in the paper but it worked well. I also added foam to the left hand side of the heart banner so it was the same height as the laser cut panel and then glued the rest of it in place.

I die cut the yellow circle twice to stack it for a little dimension behind the little stamped dog.

I hadn’t run out of the laser cut sheet but this one I decided to keep a little simpler with the background panel being embossed instead and a little orange ink blended behind the panel of paper. I lifted the banner of hearts up and then some of the same foam adhesive behind the dogs head and one of his legs so he sat at the same level.

I did vary this one a little too by adding in a brown mat layer – I originally was going to be doing a navy layer but it didn’t look quite right when I decided to use a kraft card blank so swapped it out for the brown instead.

I love how all four of these cards worked and it was a good reminder that even one piece of 6×6 can stretch quite a way and make the start of an interesting card when you cut it at an angle.

It is also good to mix things up sometimes and it was good to bring in the Kraft bases for two of these. You might also note I did flip over the paper for one of these cards and use the larger print – that’s one of these cool things about Kingston Crafts papers – it is the same but differently sized pattern on the reverse – so you can choose the right proportions for your project!

Obviously I did not make all my cards for the Kendra’s card challenge in one go – batching them into different groups makes it a less overwhelming task – 18 cards in one go would be a lot of effort! But happy I got another four cards made. Think I still have 10 left to share with you (some of which at the time of writing I have yet to actually make but know I will get there soon!). EDIT: now I am getting round to posting this I can confirm I did finish them all!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Back with another scrap page I made using the fabulous rainbow paper kit – it is so cheerful and I love it – although for this one I only included a tiny bit of rainbow and instead focused on the sunshine paper.

I went with the dark red base and then added a corner triangle of the sunshine – I did double up though to show the cool thing about the Kingston papers is that it’s the same design on the reverse just in a different size of pattern – so the bottom layer has the small suns and then the top layer the larger suns.

I distressed the edges of the panels and the same with the tag on the right hand side which because the paper is so thick it gives a great finish with the white core exposed.

I then added some pops of pink with the mat for the photo and the scattered hearts.

I did add in some of the foiled cardstock in the orange too just for a different texture.

The title was one of the die cuts in the kit and it was just perfect for my page – after all the hubby and child are my sunshine! ☀️

I added some twine to the tag on the bottom (again one of the die cuts in the kit) after all – my friend Helen tells me you can’t have a naked tag! 🤣

I then went in heavily with splatter with white gesso as the base panel just needed some mixed media! I am not good with a naked background either!

Love how this came out and once again I have to say I love this kit!

🌈❤️🌈

And once again – it was an ‘as seen on tv’ project – funny that Nigel thought it might have been a stock photo – clearly my pair looked like models! 🤣❤️

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hi

A few weeks ago I shared some little notecards I made for my design team contribution for Kingston Crafts – well I did an extra one for my Festive Friday challenge too!

Grey cardstock, a mask made by die cutting a circle from another piece of cardstock and then sprayed the shimmer sprays through the circle and left it to dry.

Then I added the die cut and used the same shimmer spray but this time painted it onto the die cut bow.

I used a Tim Holtz sticker for the sentiment and doodled a frame for the panel before adding it to a 4×4 card blank.

Easy and so pretty!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello! Back with another couple of cards I made using the Kingston Pet Collection kit and two of the cards based on the Kendra’s Card Challenge.

I love this kit so much as it’s so cute!

I really like playing with the sketches for the cards and the little sections of the paper that Kendra puts together to create cards that are a little different from what I might ordinarily put together.

I added three different colours of cardstock to go with the papers (as I had no solid left in the kit I just went with random cardstock from the stash) and created these bright dog themed cards using the embellishments in the kit and some other bits and bobs.

This first one I added a foiled sentiment to bring in a pop of red.

This one I stamped and embossed the sentiment and the bones from a My Favourite Things stamp set.

I also added in texture to this one with a wood grain embossing folder.

Love how cute these are!

Happy crafting!