Author: Catherine

Hello!

I’m back after a few days away from blogging as life got too busy to get crafty… having said that I have been putting a couple of videos up on my YouTube as I’ve done a few crafty hauls and some layout shares there … so whilst no blogging I have been trying to be present in the online world regardless of the lack of making! … anyway for today I am here with another Festive Friday project which I made a few weeks ago but only just got around to sharing – this time a gorgeous gnome image from Mirtillamente which gave a sparkly hat to!

So let’s start with the gnome – I coloured him with my stampin blends (except the nose which I watercoloured using blushing bride ink).

I then cut him out and set him aside whilst I then went to town on die cutting and embossing the background elements for the card.

The panel in the back I embossed the Kingston Crafts everyday cardstock and then sanded the top to expose the white core. I love doing this!

Then I die cut the Frosted Frames from green and then white to give a fun panel for my gnome to stand on.

I chose a sentiment from a pouch full of ready stamped and die cut (in this case white heat embossed) sentiments from a Pink Fresh studios.

Once I had adhered all the elements in place I then added the red card candi.

I then used the Kingston Crafts clear glitter glue to add to the rim and bobble of his hat to give it a sparkly finish!

Love all the layers and texture I created on this card and how cute that gnome is!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I could have used this as my Make it Masculine project for this month but didn’t think about it when I made the card a couple of weeks ago … so instead a normal blog post and process video today!

This is the card I made for James (my cousin’s son) using the Pet Collection kit from Kingston Crafts.

Look how cute it is! And it was so easy to make because all the elements tie in so well together – literally just added a sentiment otherwise it was all there in the kit!

I added some dimension between elements and also distressed the edges for a fun look.

I also added the twine and the enamel dots for some additional texture.

I then decided to do a large amount of decorating the inside of the card too as I know I am unlikely to make use of the dog based elements of the kit given I don’t own a dog myself!

All in all a fun project to make and hope James had a lovely birthday (posting this a few days after his birthday as it was the first chance I had to sort out the video!)

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Well it has been a while since I made AT Coins but I felt the urge to make some and join in with the UK stampers forum swap – I’m really trying to join in with more swaps this year and try and push myself to use different supplies.

There isn’t a theme for this month – so real freedom to do whatever I fancy! In this case I took a background I had put aside many months ago – it called to me to get it used now!

It is a large floral background stamp over some watery stencilling. I glued the circles I had cut from packaging to the back and then cut them out.

I edged them with some navy ink so it was a soft frame and then added some pink stamping and splatters to the discs.

Next I stamped the JoFy flowers onto some scrap white cardstock in dark blue and then splattered with some of the same ink.

I also added some pink colouring to the flowers.

I then found some stamped embossed leaves that were on the tray of things to be used and added those under the floral element.

Next I stamped, embossed and die cut the sentiment on some purple cardstock and added those.

I had a little hunt through the stash for the little purple gems and added those too.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hi

Today I’ve been at the crop that is held locally and I chose to start the day with the page kit that Sarah had designed for us …

Now you might wonder what happened when you see mine!

Yes it took a turn!

Firstly I didn’t read the instructions and hadn’t realised she had provided a template for the heart shape so I did my own and made it smaller than it should have been! Ooops! So from then on it was very much a wing it type of thing – but we all know that is pretty much my way of doing it!

I added some stencilling and splattering in the background, I trimmed the panel down to add it to the pink base panel I had with me in my stash.

I changed the position of the heart and the photo and then moved the title to split it up over the page and added more of the sticker embellishments!

I distressed almost all the elements and love how the page ended up.

Gorgeous inspiration from Sarah and a lovely kit to work with.

I actually made another couple of pages at the crop but will share them on another day.

Now I’m off to sort out tea and relax after a busy but fun day of chatting and crafting with friends!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello and happy Valentine’s Day – but really it’s Friday so I am all about Christmas!

I actually have a video this week as hadn’t videoed a festive Friday project in some time! So go give the YouTube some love for the process of this one – which was made from the scraps and leftovers from the last scrapping Saturday session!

Old papers, Tim Holtz stickers, fabric scrap, gingerbread men die cuts and card candi – oh and left over die cut letters!

Love this, love the vintage nature of the papers and those cute gingerbread men!

And that scrap of the red dotty fabric adds some softness that I think is important especially with the black elements I added in with the black mats.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I knew I wanted to use the Pet Collection kit from Kingston Crafts to make this years Valentines card for the hubby and I must say although it was a little fiddly to do with the sewing it went to plan and I love the final card.

Now shush and don’t show him this as clearly I’ve not given it to him today – but I couldn’t resist sharing it here as he doesn’t follow my blog or YouTube channel – and yes I remembered to video the process for you too! Check out the video here.

The amazing diecut paper is part of the kit (this is just a quarter of it as there is a whole 12×12 piece in the kit) and the hearts are fussy cut from the patterned paper – using both sides to create the different sized hearts.

Then I used the Everything dies and stamps from Altenew for the sentiment.

I adhered the hearts under the sentiment with sewing (fiddly!) and then added the gems to finish off.

Inside I added more hearts and a Lqen Fawn sentiment.

Hope you like the fun card I made!

Also a quick shout out to blog readers I’ve had a few days where I had the joy of seeing my makes on the tv again … so for those who don’t follow my instagram …

Genuinely brings me joy seeing them there and it was also fun having Beth talk about the products with such passion! ❤️

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I had a day off on Monday and managed to get a few of the swaps made that I like to join in with over at UK stampers forum … today I’m showing you the inchies I made.

This started off as a gelli print background which I added the gold dots to with the dainty dots background stamp from Altenew. I trimmed it down so it was just a tiny bit smaller than the one inch squares which I cut from a dark red cardstock scrap.

I then heat embossed part of a Darcy from Paperartsy stamp set – it’s three circles with angular hearts in it but this one is not connected to the other so good for cutting out and fitting on to an inchie!

After cutting them out I then found another scrap of the base cardstock and heat embossed the word heart on it and cut them out. I added a doodled border to the word using my white gel pen and called these heavily embossed gold and red inchies done!

I love how they came out – perfect for Valentines month!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I decided for this design team contribution to film the process which I’m not sure I’ve done with a DT contribution so that was fun. Please check out the video!

I went with two of the lovely Eclectic Bouquet images to fill – well over fill – the front of the card! I watercoloured very loosely and then added gold embossing of the line art over the top!

I added a textured and splattered card front.

I then added the sentiment using a teal cardstock I thought worked with the leaf colours!

Love this! Hope you do too!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Like last month I’ve made an effort to join in with more of the swaps over at UK stampers forum – these are my Twinchies!

I started with two pieces of card I had mopped up some ink with – I then blended some additional ink so I could cut four twinchies from it as the background.

The theme for this month on the twinchies is Swirls and Twirls so I used the swirl from a Paperartsy Darcy stamp set and stamped it in black versafine.

I cut down the inked background a little so there would be a frame and glued it to the black twinchies.

I then stamped the swirly flower image on the leftover inked card and fussy cut it. I chose to put the flower in the same place on each twinchie but rotate it onto the base twinchies.

I then stamped and embossed the word imagine four times and cut them out – I added them to the side of the flower centre. Then I added the blue sparkly gem from the stash to the centre of each.

I then used my white police pen to add a few little highlights to the twinchies – a doodled line and the white dots.

A fun set of twinchies made from scraps!

Doing these swaps is pushing me to use supplies I don’t often grab for and it’s fun to create without a real boundary (other than the theme or the artwork size of course!)

Next to make will be the inchies … hopefully they will equally fun!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Back again with another of the sketches that Martin has shared for #sketchmayhem365 – this time day 23

For this one I had some leftover embossed card pieces on my desk from another project so used that to look for a sketch rather than starting with the sketch and no ideas! And this sketch with the horizontal panel worked great.

I chose to use a floral to represent the circle and then a two part sentiment rather than a bow but otherwise the sketch is very obvious.

Used the Altenew Smile More stamp set and the Lawn Fawn for the sentiment.

The embossed and distressed panel were leftover from a project I will share soon (can’t do a spoiler as it’s for my Aunties birthday) – I used the Kingston Crafts cardstock throughout the card – love embossing and sanding it back to reveal the white core.

Raised the flower and sentiment up for dimension – the shadow from the sunshine when I took the photo makes this look very raised but it was only foam adhesive tabs!

Thanks for the inspiration Martin. And for those that like to watch a process video please check out my YouTube channel as I recorded this one!

Happy crafting!

Catherine