Author: 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

Hello everyone visiting my blog. Today I have another design team contribution for you for the Addicted to Stamps and More blog. This week the challenge is Make Your Mark which basically means colouring in!

I chose this beautiful image from Alpaca Pals and coloured it in with promarkers.

I chose some bright spring like colours and then fussy cut the image out. I then had a little look through the pre-prepared backgrounds folder and found this glossy paper one which had been done with mop up inks after ink smooshing and I thought it worked well with the colours I had chosen.

I wrapped some paper twine around it and then added it to the vellum I had embossed with the wood grain folder as a soft background.

I decided to add it to the soft green cardstock I had found for the card blank. Then had a hunt in the die cuts folder where I have precut die cuts using scraps and it makes it easy for quick cards.

I found one with the soft teal birthday and some white backgrounds … I stacked them a couple of times to give it strength. I added this to the floral image and then added the floral image to the card using foam tabs to raise it above the paper twine.

I added the stamped happy above and then added the sequins for some shine.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I made some backgrounds a while ago playing with gelatos and some Paperartsy stamps and then set a couple aside … today I’m sharing the final card I made with one of them.

This one took some work before I got to a point of being happy with it. I added some of the cute layered stencil butterflies using the Concord and 9th set and added the gorgeous sari ribbon too. I then added the big Hi stamp and die cut from Avery Elle and some big blue gems for the finishing touches.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today there is a nice and easy challenge starting at Creative Knockouts … it’s an anything goes challenge!

We are being sponsored by Patties Creations and I was gifted this Lattee Love image for my playtime. I mean who doesn’t love a coffee??? So perfect as a little Hello card!

I chose to do some paper piecing to create my cups … and layered them so that they are also a little like decoupage.

I chose to use a patterned paper for the red cup and then coloured in the cardboard sleeve on white and layered that. And the same for the lid. Then I did the tiny heart too out of the same patterned paper although I then added wink of Stella and some glossy accents too.

I used the same patterned paper in the background along with white and black cardstock for layers and fun doodled type patterned paper I recently received in a swap. I also added some vellum and stapled that in place and then the little sentiment.

Now as I wasn’t sure exactly what my design would be when I started I did make a few other little cups so I used these and the scraps of leftover paper to decorate the envelope…

… and the inside of the card…

A fun project for sure and used up some older supplies and the gifted paper perfectly!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello!

Today I have a design team contribution for Happy Little Stampers for the anything goes with dies challenge.

I kept this one quite simple with a die cut inlay and then the sentiment raised above.

I say simple … but actually sometimes these simple ones take a fair amount of work. First die cutting the shape. Then diecutting the separate piece which is actually doubled up so a little thicker. Plus this die creates zillions of tiny bits so lots of cleaning up!

Then decided to put a patterned paper behind it and then adhering the leaves in place!

Next I added the banner strip on foam with the paper twine underneath and some sequins and then stamped and fussy cut the sentiment.

Inside the card I used paper scraps to finish off.

Love how this came out. Just love this die set.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today I wanted to play with a background I made up quite some time ago for a sheet load of cards project but never ended up finishing and decided to give it a different twist by not making it a Christmas card.

Instead I grabbed some fussy cut strawberries and made it into a sweet birthday card instead.

The design used the gingham paper alongside a not obvious Christmas paper and so I thought the gingham worked well as a sort of picnic blanket look!

After arranging plenty of the strawberries and leaves leftover from the patterned paper playtime session at the beginning of the month it was time to choose a sentiment so I reached the usual Biggest Wish stamp set using the Starry Sky ink for the birthday and embossing the white Happy. I added in a ribbon too that worked well with the papers.

Love how this came out. Added some clear gems too for a bit of bling.

I have another of these backgrounds left in the to be played with stash where the papers are reversed but still not ready to make with it so will have to wait until the inspiration strikes!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hi! Today I have another design team contribution for Addicted to stamps and more where our challenge is die cuts and stencils. Well I ended up combining the two by making a stencil out of the die cut!

I started by die cutting the background out of white cardstock and then making an inky background to go behind this … this created a pretty pink background on which I knew a floral element would look best.

I thought I would go for a wreath first of all but then decided not to stay with a wreath but to just put one down as a base and then I chose Jar of Flowers for the main feature. I coloured in the flowers with my promarkers before fussy cutting them out. I then punched the jar and added the little bow to it. I added a little foam behind to give it some dimension before adhering it to the background panel.

I decided it need tie in the black more so used the biggest wish stamps for the sentiment and used black for framing them.

Inside the card I used a die cut scrap to create the stencil and used the same pink inks to add a little interest inside the card.

I added the panel to the front of a 5×7 card and then added gems to finish off.

Pleased with how this came out. Must admit that background die creates a lot of little bits of card and the carpet is now rather in need of a vacuum but I do love the background regardless!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hi there! Hope you are doing ok. Thanks for popping by to see my blog.

Today I have a card I made as part of the design team for Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes Birthday challenge blog.

It is quite a vintage looking card and a bit of a change from the more modern cards I usually make. It was nice to use browns and more earthy colours to be honest.

I also added some sewing and this gorgeous wide linen ribbon too.

The image I have had for years …. probably about 10 years! It’s a Lily of the Valley one and I remember getting a pad full of images and this is one of those! So not just vintage in style but vintage in terms of stash!

I kept the whole thing quite simple… some patterned paper, inked edges and the fabric sewn on. The sentiment is embossed in gold and the card base made from Crumb Cake.

The image I coloured in with promarkers and my stampin blends so it is a bit of a mix. Inside I just added a strip of the paper to continue the theme!

Happy crafting!

Catherine