Author: Catherine

This month will likely be about finishing off half finished projects, using up pouches of stash and trying to tidy things up for the forthcoming new year … today’s post is very much one of those!

I pulled out what was left over from the spring slimline cardstock I got a sample of for making my design team cards and enjoyed making these five cards using the fab Concord & 9th dies.

Let’s start with the DL shaped card …

This one I used three stripes of the paper to do the background to the die cuts. I then chose a rainbow I had made using the yellow, green, blue and lilac cardstock.

I cut a cloud shape and then also one of the suns from the set too.

Then I die cut the sentiment from the yellow with a white background die cut – I love a layered sentiment die!

I adhered it all together and then added glitter glue round the centre of the sun and the edge of the cloud.

Next up I carried on with the striped panel theme but this time just a small panel as a topper on a different background.

This time I chose the sentiment to be more of a focal point with white words and the peachy orange background.

I added the smaller sun as the die cut element and added glitter glue to the central part so it is super sparkly!

Next I used the strips of the cardstock to create a fun angled background panel.

This, along with the panels of the pastel cardstock from Kingston Crafts created a lovely base for the sun die cut.

I added glitter glue around the outside of the circle part of the sun and then grabbed the glimmer foiled sentiment. I also added the cute card candi to finish off!

Ok next up the square you made my day card…

This time lots of leftovers of the paper glued onto a square panel and then I created the square in the middle and added the gorgeous rainbow.

I added the die cut words which are from the same set using the negative die cut to position them.

I then added the funky pink and lilac sun to go with the colours on the card and stamped the little sentiment from another Concord & 9th set.

Lastly the left over strips from the kit – my usual technique of just creating stripes across a panel – this time adding in the blue and yellow stripes too – then added the fun die cut sun and the Altenew stamped and die cut sentiment with the card candi to finish off!

It was also fun to do this onto the blue card base too not a white one – inside I added a white panel for writing on along with another leftover strip of the patterned paper.

It was fun to do these rainbows in pastel colours rather than brights – and very cute to team with the spring slimline papers too I think! I still have a few ready made up rainbows too so they are left in the pouch ready for next time I fancy going rainbow! 🌈

I have only got a bit of the slimline papers left now which makes me a little sad – but know there are similar colours in the Hello Life EDS set so may have to pull them out to play with soon 😀 – but also happy as one of the main aims of this batch of cards was to get stash used up and this is one pouch of supplies that is almost finished – and that makes me feel good!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Yes I am late with my Make it Masculine card for November – but better late than never right?

I decided to use Creative Stamping Magazine stamp to create a scene and did some water colouring.

I videoed the process for you to watch. But here are the close ups!

I wrapped the ribbon, added a foiled sentiment and a little label with a thread nest to give some separation from the image.

I then chose a sand layer and a turquoise blue for the base to bring the colours all together.

Love this card – certainly suitable for either gender so it counts as a Make it Masculine card!

One more MIM project to do this month and I will have completed my challenge for the year! Hurrah! Actually although I still don’t enjoy making cards for males (where is the sparkle and pretty stuff?) I haven’t disliked any of the cards I have made – in fact I actually feel pretty proud of the ones I have made! (some might even be within my favourites of the year!)

Still undecided on whether to keep going with the challenge for 2026 – what do you think?

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today’s page was the final page I made at the crop in November- this time not a page kit – but instead using very old papers from the stash!

I scrapped a pic of me and hubby on our holiday in Devon in July – and I went with the colours of my dress to try and bring those tones into the page with those papers.

I loved the angled pieces and then that block of wooden drawer paper to bring the page to life.

I then grabbed Hey Little Magpie embellishment kit stash I had with me to use on the page.

I might have then had a little second mooch in the Hey Little Magpie shop Sarah brought along to get the letter stickers to finish off the page!

Loved putting this page together – a real contrast too from the two previous Scrappin Saturday posts which were very Christmas themed!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Final set of cards from the #kcc20 using the Kingston Crafts Christmas paper and acetate bits … this has been such a fab set to work with! Photo of the full set is at the bottom of this!

I did actually make these a few weeks ago directly following the last set but only just got around to editing the video and sharing.

I think that house worked perfectly in the space the sketch allowed … but had to fiddle a bit with the sentiment and then it came together nicely!

I popped up the acetate elements on the adhesive foam to give dimension and I think that the cute pops of pattern from those paper squares work so well!

I did cut a layer out from the design and that allowed the pattern from the card base to peep out too!

This next one I really loved the diagonal stripes of the patterned paper and decided to use the scoreboard to add to that with the stripes on the background panel. And I am delighted with the end result. Why do I not use the scoreboard more often?

I again fiddled with the sentiment and made it a little smaller so it got rid of the white trim and fit the card a little better.

I also added in the bakers twine for some more texture.

I hadn’t got round to using the nutcracker shapes and was determined to get them on at least one project so this final card was the perfect base for them!

Again I added twine and also a ‘wonky’ sentiment which just finished it off perfectly.

I went with a two layer of the same colour background and just distressed the edge to bring out the white core which was perfect for adding a little texture and framing!

Inside all cards I added the white panel and some bits and pieces of the scrap patterned paper.

So this has been one of the most fun sets of cards to put together and super super easy because of all those acetate pieces which just make it so easy to grab elements and just stick!

Then adding in a few softer elements with twine and thread to give different textures.

So there they all are! I must admit I went a bit mad with dimension but it was a delight to put them all together!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Our theme at Creative Knockouts is Winter Wonderland and I used this adorable All Dressed Up stamp Sledging all the way for my delicate winters card.

It’s actually quite a large 5×7 card as I printed an image that didn’t quite work on a standard card – but that’s fine – I have plenty of space then to make sure the image popped and still lots of lovely layers underneath.

I used m my intense pencils and water to paint the image and then used clear glitter glue to embellish on the fluffy bits and the snowflakes and of course the snow on the ground.

I then used magazine papers for the layers underneath in a mix of lilac and blue.

I also grabbed a silver doily from a Hey Little Magpie embellishment kit to just peep from the back of the focal point.

I also added a scrap of navy polka dot ribbon as a little tab which added some different texture.

Once all that was adhered I used a die cut sentiment.

This is stacked quite a few layers to make it chunky – helps to balance the ribbon tab and the layers underneath the focal point where I added three layers of cardstock to just give it some sturdy dimension – lower than foam adhesive but gives it just a little lift!

Loved this project – but then I am a big fan of All Dressed up digital stamps – the art work is always so pretty!

Off to see what the rest of the gang made for this challenge – would love to see you join our challenge with your Winter Wonderland projects!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I decided it was time to use up some of the very small scraps of cardstock and grabbed this gorgeous cup and books set of stitching dies and die cut enough to make a lovely display on my card. But I was not in the mood to stitch – which with these ones is absolutely fine and not necessary!

I mean aren’t they just gorgeous!

I layered up the cup with lilac peeping through the white and then the book with white peeping through the pale blue. I chose cream for the pages of the book and then chose all the scraps of green for leaves and mix of lilac, pink and pale blue for the flowers.

I decided to keep it simple and use a preprinted card blank from the Kingston Crafts ones that went well with the colours and this pink congratulations one was perfect.

I then added a foiled sentiment strip also saying congratulations and called it finished!

I love all the detail on these dies. The gorgeous floral elements are so pretty but that cup and those books are just divine!

Maybe next time I grab them I might actually sew them – but for now I will just look lovingly at this pretty card I made!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Earlier today I shared four cards I made and with the leftovers of the ephemera I had cut and inked I made a small panel – well I popped it away for a few hours but then was inspired to make it into a Christmas card … perfect for today’s Addicted to stamps and more challenge!

I layered the patchwork panel onto a piece of gold angel hair paper (I found lots of this when tidying the craft room so expect to see it quite a bit!) and then added the holly branch I had die cut and embossed when I first got the die/folder back in September.

I then added the foiled sentiment which determined a black card base would work well to tie it all up together.

Really pleased with how this looks! Going to have to remember this for future cards as still have a lot of those ephemera pieces left in my stash to work through!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

A set of four cards inspired by finding some chipboard sentiment pieces – and went back to a technique I used in October for Make it Masculine to make a patchwork background from pieces of ephemera.

I did stick the video on so if you want to see the process of making them!

The effort mainly went into making the backgrounds from those small elements and then once those panels were all adhered I did add extra ink and the shimmer spritz to give them a lovely shimmery finish.

The chipboard shapes were quite large and I should have thought about that at the beginning but fortunately most of the panels had elements both horizontal and vertical so I could turn the panel into a landscape card.

This one will need a slightly larger envelope though as it does hand over the edge – but I don’t mind that.

For all of them I added waxed thread to bring in the additional texture – a fun way to mix it up a bit.

Love how these turned out.

And probably took less than an hour to make four cards as the toppers did all the work of being focal points!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Yesterday I finished the 30 day christmas card making challenge – and there is a full round up video now on YouTube sharing all of the cards I made …

… but I’ve not quite finished festive cards for the year. The beginning of the month is always a patterned paper challenge and I did mix it up for this month and stepped away from the Making Cards magazine ones … instead I have some Christmas cards! 🤣

So back in my Christmas in July series I did all the cutting and organising of Kendras Card Challenge 19 #kcc19 and these two cards are using up some of the leftover pieces …

So I think this can be a perfect first of the month patterned paper project to share with you. In addition to the panels which are the sketches Kendra provided I also found leftovers of the same paper and did 5.5” squares for the background panels.

This used sketch 6 and had strips of the patterned paper and some plain cardstock ground across the panel so I added the stamped holly leaves that I coloured with my promarkers and then fussy cut and added to the panel.

I then added the foiled sentiment which I die cut and stacked.

I decided to then added to the holly berries with glossy accents to give texture and shine.

The second card used sketch 11

I love those five squares of the patterned paper and so added the holly leaves around them to frame where the sentiment was added.

For these I decided to change it up a little and added glitter glue to the berries instead of glossy accents. It’s fun to try different mediums.

Simple cards but good to work through old stash hanging around from way back in July!

And so the Christmas card making continues … not sure what else there will be in December except my regular Festive Fridays – maybe I ought to start making next years sets of birthday cards as my starting point – or clearing up half finished other projects to get them done before the end of the year.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Final day – I hadn’t intended to do all of them – but then I got on a roll!

With Merry Little Moment I knew I just needed a Merry for my project – and so I decided to revisit two of my fave bits of stash – foiled pine needles background plate and the pine cones intricate die cut.

Christmas on a card!

To see this card come together including the trick with bubble wrap packaging – check out my video.

I just love this earthy natural card with the amazing foiled background peeping through the foliage. 😀

So there we go – 30 projects (31 cards in total) and I am delighted with them all! Thanks as always to Martin for the challenge and all those who participate and share their projects on the group – so much inspiration!

And as tomorrow it is December I think it will be time to slow down on production for Christmas and instead start planning for the fun of the festive season. Festive Friday will of course continue but nowhere near as many Christmas projects to come in the next month as I’ve shared this month.

Now I need to actually go and write some cards ready to send in the post and hand deliver in the coming weeks!

Happy crafting!

Catherine