Author: Catherine

This year I’ve set myself the challenge to make a masculine card every month! This is definitely a challenge given that I don’t really like creating things that aren’t really ‘pretty’ – but I do have to give cards to the men in my life so it’s a good plan to get some done!

I have decided this will also be a series on my YouTube channel so please go check out the process video I made!

I made a fun distress ink background with stencils and the indigo blu stamps. Then I created the two panels for the slimline cards.

I then heat embossed the lightbulbs for the focal points in detail white and the same in the background using the baked texture Seth apter powder.

On the second panel I also added some patterned paper that I inked up too!

I also inked a panel for the inside with stencilling and stamping to link the front to the inside!

Love how these came out – and actually all things considered – I quite enjoyed making them which is a surprise given I don’t like making boy cards! 🤪

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Well I managed to do the February page of my calendar before January finished so I’ve got that to share with you today.

As with last months the idea is to use old stash – especially stamps – and give them a little bit of love… and love is the right word for this month as I went with hearts for theme (valentines and all that!) …

I actually started with the Tim Holtz collage paper which I’ve not used in forever so I grabbed some of that to put on the background of the card panel I had cut. Then I added gelatos to make the washy colour. I hadn’t used gelatos in a long time so it was fun to play with them a little.

I also stamped with a grey gelato too but it was just some random script text.

Next I added the white gesso stencilling through a Bramble Fox Club kit and also some splattering.

Once that was dry I added the Paperartsy stamping – the angular hearts and the spirals. I added those in black versafine.

Then I added the Paperartsy text heart stamp which I had stamped and cut out from another piece of card so it was bright white on the panel. I then inked the edge to frame it.

All the Paperartsy stamps were designed by my lovely friend Darcy and that text heart will always be one of my favourites.

Love how this looks and now February is all ready for in a few days time to turn over the page.

But for now I will keep enjoying the Swallowtail from last month…

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello! Time for another design team contribution for Addicted to stamps and more and I decided to dive into that pouch of digital stamps that have been printed for ages and just needed to wait their time before I got around to using them.

And this time it was this cute Lily of the Valley image!

I teamed it with some cute papers from the Spring Slimline papers from Kingston Crafts and then played with die cuts to make a cute card.

The die cut wreath from Natures Prints and then some pierced blooms flowers became the frame for the backdrop.

I then used the large birthday die for the sentiment with the shadow. I stacked the birthday twice to give it some dimension.

Then I found the Waffleflower die that cut the happy and stacked that twice too and added a peach layer underneath.

The image I coloured with promarkers and then fussy cut the image out.

I added a strip of tape to the horizontal panel and added some gilding flakes to it- to be honest it’s not that visible for the final card but I really wanted to make something shiny!

Love this textural card with those die cuts and love the gentle colours of this card!

Now off to see what everyone else did for the challenge of using stencils and/or die cuts.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Shrink plastic is fun to play with and the summer kit certainly had my mojo going thinking of all the uses that I could put it to! When I saw the pineapple image I immediately thought of the aloha stamp set I have in the stash so grabbed that to play with too!

Of course I actually started with the shrink plastic!

I chose to colour it with my stampin write markers and cut round the image with my scissors before having fun with the heat tool and shrinking it! This gave me a cute topper for the card. NB if you use a water reactive ink it is likely to react to any wet products you use to adhere your little embellishment – so be careful! I actually chose to adhere this upside down so the matt side was up but that’s because I think I prefer the mat to the shiny on this one!

Then I grabbed a panel of white and stamped aloha randomly around the centre point using the different coloured greens that I had used on the pineapple.

Next I decided that the main sentiment would be hugs so I stamped that and die cut it, stacking a few layers to it has dimension too!

Then I had a pause and had to decide how to finish.

So I grabbed the curved stitched rectangle dies and cut the aloha panel and some scraps of green and white. I then embossed the aloha panel with a Tim Holtz sunshine style folder and lightly inked it with yellow ink.

At this point I decided to use paper from the summer collection pack for the card base. Now whilst it is paper it’s actually quite thick so I find when I’ve added a topper and an insert it is sturdy enough to be used as a card base.

I corner rounded the edges for the card blank I made and then the same on a piece of white for the inside panel.

I then layered everything up for the front. I grabbed some white thread to make a little bow element to add some softer texture and then the green gems from the stash to finish off!

Really love this cheerful card!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I thought I would join in with Martin’s sketch challenge ( #sketchmayhem365 ) again – this time day 18. I also filmed the process so please check out my YouTube channel.

I went with some scraps of the yellow papers from the stash …

… and then die cut the square panel out. I then raised the front up on foam adhesive over the background with the floral paper behind. This added some dimension.

I stamped the floral element which is a magazine stamp and coloured in with my promarkers.

I added foam under the flowers that hung over the square but then just glued the rest so it laid flat but didn’t dip.

I added the sentiment and the bow like the sketch and then added the full panel to the kraft card blank.

I then added the square I die cut out and a second floral element on the inside with the white panel for writing on.

Love how this came together and how I used the sketch to inspire me.

Thanks Martin

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I made a few 8×8 pages using the Kingston Crafts Everyday stories kit – this time just for fun not for DT work.

Fun to put three pages together that were quick and easy to do!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Decided to mix things up a little for this weeks Festive Friday with some gift tags rather than a Christmas card project as I got very low in my stash by Christmas last year!

I made a whole stash of tags using a few strips of dark green cardstock and some patterned papers and cut apart elements from a magazine kit I bought last year.

These were such fun to make!

I cut the cardstock into the two inch strips and then punched the top with the scalloped tag punch. Then I added the bits of patterned paper. And then the cut apart elements.

I then stamped some sentiments and added those.

I then used a pen to add some hand drawn elements. This gives some fun edging and framing to the panels and sentiments.

I then grabbed the Kingston Crafts glitter glue and added either dots to the edges or to add sparkle to the images. This adds some fun to each of them!

I haven’t added ribbons at this point – I usually only add those to the tags as I gift wrap presents to that I can combine a bow or streamers with the tag so for now these sit in a box I keep with the cards ready to pull out in December when we get round to gift wrapping!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Our lovely friend had a special birthday so I made a special card for her! And I remembered to stick the camera on and video the process!

I decided on a purples colour scheme and that I wanted to use the Splendid Bouquet set from Altenew.

I loved putting this together and put lots of patterns together but think they worked well.

I also added in the foam numbers for the recognition of the special birthday!

Finished off with the little gems.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I did join in with this 1 sketch : 3 ways challenge a few times last year but haven’t had the chance to join in for a while. The challenge is to take the sketch and make it your own but Helen, Jackie and Sarah give you three interpretations as inspiration. Then we all share our versions on the Facebook group.

Well on Sunday I decided to join in and scrap the photo of me that is going to be my ID badge for my new role which I started this week and decided to make it a positive page to give me confidence ahead of my first day!

I used scraps from the yellow pouch for the papers and then lots of bits and bobs from the stash to add in words that helped me with the positivity and went with the colours of the yellow and turquoise.

The sketch itself has the big snowflake in the background but I went with the circle and the stencilling underneath as my background element.

I kept the circular element to the bottom left of the photo but reduced it down to one larger photo rather than the two photos.

I kept the border from the sketch and also the location of the journalling and the little top right cluster. It’s handy having the bright solid colours in that Kingston Crafts summer collection paper to create the colourful border!

Once I’d got the main elements sorted I then ignored the sketch and went with whatever I felt worked at the time.

I love the bright colour scheme – again radiating positivity and cheerfulness!

And the little pops of the turquoise I think work nicely. I would have preferred more teal coloured letters for the title but I didn’t have any so made the more green turquoise work by dotting those colours around in other places too!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

When I saw this gorgeous paisley themed paper I knew I wanted to cut it apart! I just had a vision of the paisley elements raised …not sure why that was but sometimes it’s just how it goes!

I decided it would work well with black too – so I added some mats of the black but for the base under the cut apart piece I inked the solid colour paper from the pack and added lots of shimmer paint splatters.

When I was adhering it all together I decided to rotate the cut apart piece and pop the sentiment in a different place from the original idea but otherwise I pretty much kept to the plan.

I added that Altenew stamped and die cut sentiment to bridge the two cut apart pieces with the same foam adhesive under the middle part to keep it level.

I also added the black gems to tie in a bit more of the black and made the card base from the solid papers in the kit. I’ve said before it’s a thick paper but not quite cardstock but I think when you add the layers on the front and inside it can function as a card base too!

I took one more piece of the cut apart paisley and mounted it on black and cut around that too to add to the inside and a wide border of the smaller print side of the paper.

I love the paper as it came so can’t wait to use it again but for now this was my first thought when I saw it and it came out perfectly!

And it got to be seen on the tv on the show 5th January. So exciting!

Happy crafting!

Catherine