Author: Catherine

My lovely Dad celebrated his birthday today … he is actually having a few days away with my Mum so not celebrating with us at the moment. I did send the card with my Mum to give him today so hopefully he has seen it by now.

As usual it is always my challenge to make it completely different from the Father’s Day card given they are usually on display at the same time. So given the Father’s Day card was mixed media and a bit grungy I went clean and simple and fresh looking for his birthday card.

I started with a square piece of white card add stamped the leaf images from Natures Prints using brushos that I had sprinkled onto the glass mat and added water to and then stamped into to pick up the ink and then stamped down. This gave a really lovely imperfect stamping water colour effect.

I then mounted it onto black for a frame and added that to the card blank. Then I die cut the Happy Birthday die and stacked it up so it was a strong and more dimensional focal point. Added that and some gems and decided it was done!

Inside I took a smaller piece of the white card and added more stamping with the brushos. again mounted onto black just to add a little something to the inside of the card.

Just love how this turned out … simple but I think very effective!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today tag originated from wanting to use up stuff off the desk … like the die cut leaf, and a clean up paper that I created when wiping off my brayer during an inky hello plate play! I also created a shiny textural heart from a chipboard piece that had been handing around for ages and the die cut circle was also leftover from another creation!

Not bad for a boys and pieces creation!

So the paper started like this in the bottom left…

And I cut it down and then added the leaf stamping using one of the natures prints stamps.

I also edged the panel and stuck it to the brown ranger tag. Then I added inking to the circle die cut and added that so it hung off a little to the right.

Next I added the die cut leaf. I love this die cut … it’s so fun to play with.

Then I stamped the sentiment, inking that too so it coordinated.

Next I created that fabulous heart with lots of layers of the frantage embossing powder. Once dry I cracked it so it has the cracks in the surface.

I love how this looks and all the texture.

I finished with the sari ribbon and the iridescent green gems.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hi dear blog reader

Firstly a big Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there especially my Dad and my lovely hubby.

Here is the card I made for my Dad. I went all mixed media and painty and generally had fun making it.

I used the Paperartsy fresco finish paints for the background and then through some stencilling. Then posca pens to add doodling. I then added some strips of washi tape including the shiny rose gold one to add some shine.

I found some handmade paper and added that as a layer and then using brads added it to the background. Then stamped the sentiment in a rough and ready way.

Then I added a layer of Kraft card stock and decided it did the job perfectly and I had had fun making it!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello! Welcome to my blog (welcome back for those who have stopped by before)!

Today I have a design team contribution which is actually a card I made quite a while ago for a friends 40th birthday but I saved it as a design team project as I was so happy with it!

This is for the birthday challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More

I chose to use Kraft and white with lots of embossing and and a tiny pop of black with both the mat and the embellishments.

I made a background using a mixture of the Happy Celebrations stamps and some little Paperartsy ones and lots of white and pearl embossing powder and then I coloured in the open space with white Kraft ink and water. Then did lots of splatters of the Kraft ink to finish off!

I created the last part of the sentiment with embossing and layers of the card but then decided i wanted to add a die cut star as the focal point.

I cut the star using the Tidings and Trimmings dies and stacked it three high to give it some dimension. Then stacked under the sentiment to make that sturdy too.

Then I grabbed the black star embellishments from the stash to add some more fun. I layered this background with a few layers and then added it to the 7×7 card blank and then grabbed my foam letters/numbers and added that to the front of the card … after all it was a special birthday!

Inside the card some simple stamping and more of the black stars to finish off!

Really pleased with how this ended up and think it is a nice card style that can be adapted for different recipients with a change of colour or embellishment!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello! Time for another design team contribution and this time it’s for Happy Little Stampers and the anything goes with dies challenge.

This time I have a 5×7 card I’ve made using the leaf background die from Honey Doo Crafts.

I started by inking some white cardstock with different colour greens and then I die cut the whole panel. I did have to slightly trim the top and bottom to fit on the 5×7 card blank I have but it looks so fabulous covering the whole thing I think that is ok.

I then added the stitched circle die cuts and the Avery Elle sentiment stamps/dies to add the focal element.

I then added the little gem flower embellishments that I had in the stash … aren’t they so cute?

I love how the blended ink looks when die cut.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello everyone!

Today it is time for another design team challenge. This time the challenge at Creative Knockouts is Outside Fun and we’ve been sponsored by Dr Digis and I was gifted the golf clubs image to play with.

I chose to print it on both the card and the patterned paper to do some paper piecing.

So the base image on the white I coloured with my Stampin Blends and then I also added some shading to the golf bag to help the image stand out and look more dimensional. Then I edged the white with the same grey pen and then added some doodle lines around.

I used the same patterned paper for the background along with a strip of the reverse.

I decided to use some letter stickers for some of the sentiment and raised the main focal image on some foam for dimension. And that was pretty much it. Simple!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello!

Today I have the card I made for this months Design team contribution for Happy Little Stampers anything goes birthday challenge. I actually made this ages ago as a card for my Aunties birthday back in the spring! But I saved it to share on the blog.

I used some patterned paper that is quite grungy as the background and ran it through the Old Paper embossing folder.

I added a ribbon to give some more texture, choosing a wide grey grosgrain ribbon from the stash. Next I chose lots of panels of the dsp left in my stash from the patterned paper play I did a few months ago.

Next I chose to use some gorgeous stamped and coloured flowers and leaves to intersperse with the panels and tags.

I added some brads and the little metal key charm too to add some different types of bling from my usual kind of gems … nice to mix things up occasionally!

I then stamped and fussy cut the sentiment and added that on the top!

Love how it ended up … a bit different from the usual cards I have previously made for my auntie but I am sure she liked it even if not the usual pinks or yellows.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello! 1st of June which means another of my patterned paper playtime sessions. As with the other ones this year I took a piece of patterned paper and went to town with my scissors to cut elements out that I could use on the card.

This one was a pale blue background but still looks lovely fussy cut… and created a lot of pieces for me to play with and very little waste.

I left a few pieces of the paper intact so I could have elements of a the reverse pattern too and I used that in my card too.

I ended up making a 5×7 card as the floral images are quite large. I used Petal Pink for the base as I know that was one of the flower colours. Also night of Navy for the sentiment and the mat for the sentiment.

I raised the main panel up onto foam but the elements off the sides are flat onto the card base.

For the sentiment I embossed some vellum with the word hugs and then sewed it onto the patterned panel. Love how this looks and love the Pale blue sewing to pick out the blue in the paper pieces.

Finished off with some gems for some sparkle.

Inside the card I added a few more cut out pieces to decorate too.

Loved this very girly but quite modern feeling card.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello! Time for another Addicted to Stamps and More design team contribution and the theme has rolled back around to Christmas. Well I decided to get a bit painty for this one and made a whole A4 background with paints and stencils and stamps and embossing powder. I chopped it up and for this card used one big panel and one strip with a sentiment stamped on it.

I also grabbed the strip of patterned striped paper that I thought looked funky with the very layered background.

Then I decided to go the JoFY star as the feature and inked it with colours that went with the Paperartsy paints in the background.

I also grabbed my podcast pens and added some doodles and marks.

I finished off with some sequins just for a little bling.

As you can see there are plenty of pieces of the background left so they’ve been tucked away in my ready made background pouch for another day but I suspect it won’t be long before I grab them to use!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

When I don’t craft for a while (because life is busy and it seems crafting is the last thing I have time for) I get rather out of the habit and lose my creativity a bit. When this happens I just grab what is on the desk or already partly made and put something together … it might not be fancy or something I am proud of but just putting something together sparks some creativity and I am usually good to get going properly once I’ve done that.

Well this card is one of those just grab the scraps and put it together and see what happens.

Just a few pieces of patterned paper, some cardstock and a pre coloured stamped image. But I then grabbed my pen for some doodled lines, some brads to add enbellishments and then I was happy.

Ok not my most creative or fancy of cards but still it’s nice and I like that it got me creating!

Happy crafting!

Catherine