Author: Catherine

Hello! Today I have another design team contribution so a little break from the Christmas in July projects … I mean I could have done a Christmas image but it was nice to give them a break today!

The challenge for the next two weeks is to make your mark … basically colour in! and here is the card I made using an image from All dressed up and coloured with my prismacolour pencils.

I stamped a grunge background using a mixture of stamps and then cut the girl out. I pierced some holes either side of her waist so I could add the silk bow as if it was around her waist.

I found the cut heart gems in my stash and added them for a fun embellishment.

The Kraft base I pierced around the outside to give some extra detail and texture.

Really cute card. Love how it turned out.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Remember the masterboard I made a few weekends ago …

… well I played with another piece and made another card for my Christmas in July challenge.

I decided to take the bigger of the two pieces left and it pretty much filled the front of a C6 card with enough room for a mat. I did a mat using the soft sea foam and then made the card blank from starry sky, remembering of course to add an insert of white so there is something easy to write on.

I then added a die cut wonky circle and a white tree die cut that I stacked up a few times to give dimension. I also added wink of Stella on the top to give it sparkle.

I then chose a Tim holtz sticker sentiment and some enamel accent hearts for the embellishments.

I might get a chance to finish the other piece off too before the end of the month as I’ve already started on it … but this is todays contribution!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Final piece of that painty background I made back in May and finally got round to using the last bit of it for this card. This time it was only a small panel not a bigger one but I think it worked well against the embossed coloured cardstock with the white die cut.

I added some sheer ribbon for texture against the embossed panel and then raised the background piece up on some foam so it is quite dimensional. Then I stacked three die cuts together and this created a nice focal element. I added the sentiment and then the sequins to finish but I have to say it was a simple card to pull together as all the work of creating the background had been done in advance.

Oh just realised I also did the white posca pen outlines too which worked with bringing the white mat layer and the white tree together.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Todays project is a mish mash of two previously prepped projects!

The background I had made ages ago and kept it in the pouch of ‘to be used’ backgrounds. It’s a trapped ink under embossing technique with beautiful pinks and purples.

The topper with the embossed baubles I made a few months ago as part of playing with some old stamps and again just set it aside to use on another day.

Well I decided they were perfect together with the dark purple cardstock and that lovely handmade paper I had been gifted!

I grabbed a scrap of sari silk for the bow and then a Tim Holtz sentiment sticker for the finishing touch!

Very elegant and luxury looking card… but simple because all the hard work was done months ago making a background I could just grab and get going with!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

After yesterdays fail (ok it wasn’t a fail but it was a card I didn’t love) I decided to challenge myself to use another of the already prepped sheet load of cards layouts and see if I could do something I was happier with … and I did!

Maybe it is the smaller amount of the patterned paper or that fab embossed panel but whatever it is I love this card so much more than the one I made yesterday!

Maybe it is the amount of white that I love more … or just it is a card I feel more is my style than the last one? Who knows?

What do you think?

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Warning! This is not one of my favourite cards I’ve made so far this Christmas in adult season but I wanted to share it regardless. Once again I’m using the papers from a failed sheet load of cards I had set aside waiting to get used and this time I added the fussy cut tree from the magazine on the top and lots of gems.

In fairness the gems I added to try and detract from the fact I wasn’t loving the card but hey ho! I have no idea why this one just didn’t work for me but I also know it’s a perfectly acceptable card regardless hence it didn’t go in the bin and I am still showing you what I did.

I added the little embossed sentiment and made the card blank smaller to fit the topper.

What do you think?

Well it’s a card made and I never set out to make all perfect cards for this years Christmas in July season! So it’s going in the basket of completed cards to use!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Todays post has three cards made using brushos to stamp with and then wiping up the brushos ink to make a great card to emboss on and cut out the elements. They are also three small cards as I like to make a mix of shapes and sizes for my Christmas cards.

For these I used an old but still favourite Creative Stamping magazine set of stamps … they are modern and fresh looking and I love using them for something a bit different.

I started by sprinkling the brushos in ultramarine and emerald green onto my glass mat and then added some water I then stamped into the puddle of ink as if it was an ink pad… this creates the fluid looking stamping with pools of colour and some imperfect stamping. I love this. I also love that the brusho inks already create variation in colour for the image.

Once I had the background clusters stamped I wiped up the leftover ink with some scraps of white cardstock and then let those dry. Once dry I heat embossed some of the images and fussy cut them out. Some I used white heat embossing but the card above shows those I did pearlescent embossing.

Each of the panels I mounted onto the soft sea foam cardstock and then chose different ways to put the small card together but for each I did the same sentiment which I heat embossed using the Seth Apter Baked textures powder which has metallic elements in the green.

This final one I actually added a little of the purple brusho to the ultramarine in error … but turned out to be a great idea and worked well with the white embossing.

Love how sweet these cards ended up being and this splotchy but fun technique.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

This card was made like the one I shared yesterday from an old Making Cards magazine image and some of the paper leftover from another magazine kit. I actually found three of these images in the stash and decided it was good to get them used … so will share the final card on another day when I need something preprepared!

I kept it fairly simple with two panels of the paper cut at angles and the cute Soft Sea Foam cardstock as the base. Then the focal image, a Tim Holtz sticker sentiment and some twine for interest and texture.

Love the colours together on this card … so cute!

Happy crafting!

Catherine