Author: Catherine

Todays card was inspired by a piece of mount board I found on the desk and a decision I wanted to play with blue inks… and then I just went with it!

I added inks to the acrylic block, sprayed with water and used it as a stamp. This gave it a fun background. Once it was dry I then added some stamping using a background wooden block stamp.

Then I took the fancy phrases stamp and stamped it using the stamp platform in both the brown and the black archival. This made it quite a dark brown colour as my black archival is very dry.

I used my watercolour pencils to add some more colour to the image.

I decided the Kraft cardstock would make a nice base for the card and also added the sentiment to some leftover cardstock and made a banner.

I know it doesn’t show in the photos but I also added wink of Stella to the flowers in the image to give some sparkle.

To finish off I added the sequins as embellishment and then decided it was done.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Last weekend I grabbed a stack of distress inks to make a background inspired by Jennifer McGuire but ended up not using the two that I made originally but instead the ‘fail’ background and made that into a card. If you fancy watching it come together I did video the whole thing.

If not … read on!

So the background was made by using distress ink resist mono print type technique. But this one didn’t come out very clearly so I decided as it was pretty to carry on playing with it regardless and come up with something. It ended up quite grungy and I love it!

I used the Gummiapan alphabet stamp and then lots of splatters. Then the Stampendous stamp that had been used as the resist pattern originally.

Then I picked out some new to me dies (I know no spend but I bought these with the money I had used selling stash so I’m not counting it as spends! – yes I’ve found a loophole in my no spend resolution I’m willing to work with!)

Anyways I die cut some leaves and the circle in white and stacked them up.

I grabbed the denim blue ribbon and added that before adding the banner and sentiment. I also die cut the little circles from the same cardstock and die set and added wink of Stella and used them as gem type embellishments.

I used Rich Razzleberry as the base and added a layer of white to frame the background panel and added white inside to make sure it was good for writing on (but didn’t decorate the inside).

Really pleased with this inky card and what’s more from the play I ended up with another three backgrounds to play with.

I did end up using one of them straightaway and filmed another video but I’ll blog about that once I’ve got round to editing and uploading it!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello February! And as its the first day of the month it is time to play with patterned paper. Like last month I actually prepped for this card quite a while ago by choosing a piece of dsp and going to town with fussy cutting!

This one ended up with a panel of the green and a pile of flowers (and of course a pile of rubbish.

So what to do with this… well I went for a funky green base and the fun Heffy Doodle sentiment die.

I decided to use a couple of strips of the flowers, one of which I raised up a little to give it some dimension.

I did stack the sentiment a little with 2 layers, and then added another flower onto the top!

I also added foam between the card base and the topper which gives a lovely finish.

Still got some flowers left in the pouch for another project or two. Really like this paper so good to get some use out of it!

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else makes with their patterned paper stash.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Todays card is one of those where I wanted to try and use a product up … admittedly one panel isn’t going to do it but it’s a start!

I no longer feel the urge to do art journaling so I am looking at some of my supplies and trying to find ways of using them … for example these Art by Marlene collage papers. Not all of them work on cards as the designs are quite large but I thought this one worked as a background to a larger size card blank like this one.

But then it needed something quite bold to work with it as the paper is so bright and so busy. So I cut some panels of cardstock and then used die cuts to tray and create a focal point above the busy background. I think this along with the stamped and embossed and fussy cut sentiment worked quite well.

I added in the little pearlescent flowers too to add a different texture.

So I’ve not exactly used up my collage paper stash .. I’ve still got a fair few pieces left but at least I found a use for one panel and quite like the card I created using it! Now what to do with the rest?

Happy crafting!

Catherine

This card was sort of inspired by both Jennifer Maguire (her video made me grab the stamp) and instagram YVON0202 who I had seen using this stamp with a few colours … but I did go for a different style in the end so inspired by but far from copied!

I used stampin write markers to colour the image in using lots of different greens and some water spray which helped to blend them. If you want to see how I made it I did video it!

I decided to then use the Forever Flourishing dies and Biggest wish stamp set for the main elements with an embossed white panel behind the focal image. The twine and the sparkly gems finished it off.

I took some pics the night I made the card but this next one shows the colours better in the daylight.

Love that twine bow and the colour mix in the background and love even more that I have a second background yet to be used.

Once again I also videoed the process which you can watch if you fancy it!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

A really quick card that I put together using scraps off the desk once again.

I made this card so quickly because I had already fussy cut the dsp flowers and the Art by Marlene collage paper was sitting on the desk ready for using!

These first few photos are taken in the evening when lighting is not great … skip to the bottom to see it in the light!

I used card Candi to embellish and those True Love dsp flowers are fab against that bright background!

Love this bright card with the black and white elements. Sentiment is in white embossing on the black with a tiny pop of the Parakeet Part my as a mount to the sentiment!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Yes I know that 2023 is no spend on new craft stash but I bought these between Xmas and New year so they don’t really count as spends! Anyway … I bought the Boho Butterfly layered stencils, dies and stamp set and this was my first play with the stencils and the dies (I used a few of the stamps the other day).

Do I love those layered stencils? Yes, yes I absolutely do! They are amazingly easy to use and the results are gorgeous!

I teamed these three with one of those spray backgrounds and some scrap orange cardstock and a Lawn Fawn sentiment I cut apart and mounted onto black to go with the black card base.

Each of the butterflies is stacked a few times and I used one of the sentiments from the stamp set to add to the background to also add in the pink colour.

Love how it turned out… and if you fancy watching the process there is a long craft with me video which shows me making it, along with my usual rambling and also a little tidy up section and haul section!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

This is a card I made a while ago, and I videoed it. It was just me playing with the leftovers from this months patterned paper playtime.

This is what I made.

I love how this came out. So sweet.

Such a simple card given I’d already done all the fussy cutting!

Happy crafting!

Catherine