Author: Catherine

I saw Jennifer McGuire using the zero waste flower die and thought it looked great but when I saw there was a leaf one I decided this was more useful as already have a fair amount of flower dies and plus more likely to use stamped images as the focal point than the die cuts … so I bought the leaf version instead.

I’ve used it a couple of times already before I made these but it didn’t cut brilliantly with my Big Shot (my Big shot has lost a lot of pressure so need extra shims and lots of pass throughs to get some dies to work) so although I could use some of the leaves and the circles it wasn’t a full cut of the whole panel.

So I learnt from this and made sure I gave it plenty of pressure and a few gos through the machine for each cut needed.

I die cut a piece of mop up paper that I had added distress oxides to. It was very watery though so not an intense colour.

I separated all the pieces and then die cut again from white a few times. I used one of the background pieces as a template straight onto the card blank and washi taped it in place and then like a puzzle I added the pieces back in using white for the first layer. I didn’t add all the circles (I got bored quickly as it was quite fiddly). Then removed the background and added a second layer of the white and then the third layer I added the colour pieces. I added a few extra circles of the colour flat onto the card blank as that was easy.

The inked background piece I added to dark cardstock and left that to one side for another time.

I had mopped up ink onto watercolour cardstock too so I took the Happy Birthday die and die cut it from the panel and inked it a little more once it was die cut as I wanted it darker… but then I also decided to add pearl embossing powder which made it change colour and get darker too. This gave it enough difference from the leaves. I stacked it twice on the watercolour cardstock for more dimension then adhered it using strong adhesive to the card front.

Then I added a few green gems and called it done!

I really love how this turned out and how pretty and delicate it looks although actually there is quite a bit of dimension and texture still.

It is quite fiddly to do but not impossible and a great way of using papers that have been inked as part of a mop up or to clean brayers … I think that might be my next use of this style… on a painty piece!

I still have the background to use … and also the piece I die cut the sentiment from as I saved all the pieces and purposefully cut it in the middle of the panel so I could put it back together again too!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today is the first day off of a ten day break from work. Not had this long off since last summer and really looking forward to giving the brain a rest. I’ve got a few days away planned but in between I hope to get some crafting in… in fact I’ve already allotted myself at least a 90 min play time this morning.

But todays blog is from the playtime I had last weekend …

I played with the Waffle flower stacking cake stencil and dies to make another 18th birthday card.

I didn’t give much thought to the final card when I started but instead just added ink and enjoyed putting together a cake.

So once I had a cake (which I layered up three times to create a sturdy cake because no one wants a floppy cake).

So once I had that made I looked through the stash of ready made backgrounds/pieces yet to be finished and found this mop up piece using another new stencil (a piece I’ve not yet finished) and figured the pastel would work well with the cake.

Grabbed balmy blue for layering and then a white piece for the background which I embossed with a dotty embossing folder.

I then grabbed some more white and added ink with blending tools and then used the number dies to cut out 3 18’s so I could stack them up and then embossed with clear embossing folder and this made it into a lovely embellishment to finish the card off.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Good morning from my craft room … and today I have the design team contribution I made for the latest ‘birthday’ challenge at Addicted to stamps and more blog.

I grabbed a painty background that was already made (back when my daughter did a photoshoot with my art supplies!) … and made this cute painty graphic bird card.

I actually used the other painty piece that was left to do some paper piecing for the bird for the wing and head and the birthday part of the sentiment.

The bird, branch and flowers were from a magazine set but the stamped words in the background came from a Funky Fossils stamp set.

The bird paper pieced elements I actually embossed with a pearlescent powder over the black to give a little extra shine and dimension.

Then I added black gems as accents to finish off.

I mounted the panel onto black and then onto a Calypso Coral card blank.

Cute but modern and a bit funky!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today I played a little differently with the new stencil I am obsessed with … and masked off part of the panel so I only added the colour to one part of the panel.

I used the same colours as the one I did the other day but this time onto the white so not as dark… but I did ink the background a little once I had removed the stencil but before I removed the mask. I did this so I could separate the two parts of the panel but then decided to add some very thin strips of cardstock and the sparkly paper to create a border so didn’t need to add the extra ink!

I then used the Treat Yourself stencil to stencil some leaves and flowers using the same colours that I cut out and layered up for the focal point as a cluster.

Then I added the sentiment which I cut into two sections to add to the front of the flowers.

Next I used some scrap of the glittery paper to die cut some circles using the Zero waste die … then added these as embellishments around the cluster on both the patterned section and the white section.

I layered this up onto the blackberry bliss cardstock and then onto a 5×7 card blank with foam between to give dimension.

Love love love 💗 this stencil and feeling really inspired playing with it… need to also try some of my other new stash soon … but this is so addictive!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I grabbed the Layered flower and leaf stencil again, this time on a background I had already inked up … this gave it a completely different look…

The purples and blues I used in the background made for quite a dark piece of patterned paper so I mounted it onto white to brighten and then decided the focal image should also be bright and cheery. I settled on this image which I had stamped from Alpaca Pals and added a loose watercolour to it using the same colour inks as I added with the stenciling .

I added two layers of ribbon to the background panel and then the floral image and then used more new stash for the sentiment with the lovely Oversized sweet stamp and die with the shadow die stacked three times to give it dimension.

I added three Matt purple enamel dots for the embellishment and then mounted onto the BlackBerry Bliss card blank.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

This week was exam results for my daughters AS levels and I am pleased to say she deserved the card I made for her!

We are definitely proud parents!

And it uses the piece of that layered stencil background that I made and only used the central piece from in yesterdays blog.

Along with an over the top wreath and some letter die cuts and stamps … and a stamp from the Treat Yourself set!

After die cutting the centre from the background and making the card I shared yesterday I was left with the 6×6 background missing the centre so I layered it up onto the Soft Sea Foam card with a little white trim around the edge. Love how this looks. But then couldn’t work out what to do … I made a frame for the ‘hole’ using a piece of rose gold speciality paper I’ve had for a long time.

Then I decided to make a wreath.

I used both the Wreath builder dies and some leaf dies I had cut from the zero waste leaf die that I had bought and used bits of the leaves chopped up in the background along with some cut from scraps using both forever flourishing dies and the wreath builder dies to add variation in colour.

The flowers were also from the Wreath builder dies. I went a bit overboard with the leaves and the flowers to really fluff out the wreath and the raised that onto foam so it stood a little higher than the frame.

I then die cut letters out of the inked cardstock so they had a colour variation and stamped both the sentiment stamp and the letters for her name using the Tranquil Tide and added those. Used a scrap of the rose gold to die cut some circles for embellishment and then mounted the panel onto a 7×7 card blank.

Love the stencilled background so much (see yesterdays post for all the reasons) and although admittedly this isn’t the best wreath I’ve put together I still love it!

And once again well done to our princess on her results … onto A Levels we go … and then all the joy of uni applications etc! My baby girl is all grown up!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Yes my no new stash in 2023 is well and truly over! Bought some more new bits and pieces (craft haul video) … and here is the result of my first play …

What is new? Well the layering stencils that I used to make that pretty background circle … and the wishes sentiment stamp.

I am absolutely in love with the layered stencil piece but it took some time for me to put together this into a card.

After enjoying the effects of the full 6×6 piece … I ended up die cutting the circle and just using that piece for this card. I will set aside the outer piece for another card … along with other things I originally tried for this.

I decided to add the little flowers and sprigs from the stash of ready cut die cuts, and the birthday sentiment die cut.

I also used the Painted texture embossing folder on the crumb cake panel.

The final bit of the sentiment was from the waffle flower stamp set I also bought at the same time!

But really this card is all about that layered stencil background… love that you can do any colours you fancy and add texture and shine with embossing or pastes… so cool!

And left from this first play is this excellent frame of loveliness…

… wonder when I will get round to using it?

Happy crafting!

Catherine

This card was once again made using the scraps off the table … some mop up paper and then prestamped sentiment, flowers and leaves … oh and some scraps of cardstock and text paper too!

Part of me wished I had thought to emboss the background panel but I started sticking things down early … but never mind… end result is still pretty!

Love the twine and the sequins too! Blogging early today as I expect I will have more stuff to blog later today too!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I’ve been enjoying making DL shaped cards on and off for a while and so decided to grab older stash and play again with the idea that the card my daughter made for my birthday again …

This time I went overboard with inking the background and also created a masked off area for the sentiment.

Unfortunately as I took the mask away the paper tore so I ended up having to add a strip of the cardstock over the top but I think it still worked well.

The jar I punched from the Pale Papaya cardstock and the flowers I coloured using stampin write markers.

I used my well used and most grabbed for sentiment set Biggest Wish (I’ve seen that there is a Christmas version of it in the new catalogue from SU so clearly I NEED that too!).

I embossed the happy into the mossy meadow strip and then fussy cut the birthday to add that separately.

I added sequins and twine to finish off … but really pleased with this card.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I’ve been in a bid to tidy and clean up the desk and also made another few simple scraps cards.

This tiny card was made using scraps of die cutting that were leftover from a design team project that I made a week or so ago.

Just die cuts, a stamped sentiment and some sequins on a tiny notecard.

Simple and sweet … the different colour variations from the original gelli plate play make them special! Note to self … Projects do not always need to be complicated!

Happy crafting!

Catherine