Category: Art and crafting styles

Back with another Kingston Crafts DT project using spring shrink plastic project where I made – a Christmas card!

Yes that’s right I used a spring themed kit to make a Christmas card!

I always like to find something different to make from a specific themed product and as we all know I love my Christmas themed projects!

When I saw the word Joy in the shrink designs I knew I would be able to do something with that and then I realised with a bit of additional line art in the colouring the flower images might become poinsettia type flowers.

Plus those leaf sprigs could be used for all different seasons so they would work!

I chose to use a piece of the summer collection paper for the card base. It’s a very thick paper and I just added layers to make it even more sturdy as a base.

Then a piece of the everyday cardstock which I embossed. I sanded the embossing to bring out the white core – I love this technique for adding texture.

To base my floral element on I then die cut the wreath from Spellbinders which worked well for the size of the 6×6 card (yes another wreath card!).

I raised the second flower up onto foam to help it overlap the first flower and the leaves.

I added the gingham bow to finish the wreath and the stamped sentiment to overlap the words and join them to the floral arrangement.

Oh and I added some red glitter glue drops to add a little sparkle too!

Inside the card I added panels of the cardstock and a stamped sentiment just to finish off!

So there you go spring and summer themed products used to do Christmas! My kind of fun!

Don’t forget that Martin will be demoing and showcasing on Hobbymaker.tv tomorrow the Kingston Crafts products and you might get to see some of my makes on display!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

So I have some news I’ve been keeping from you all – I’ve happily joined the Kingston Crafts Design team!

On Saturday the lovely Martin will be showcasing their products on Hobbymaker.tv and so you might get to see my projects on display! I will certainly watching and hopefully shouting at the tv ‘oh look I made that’ to everyone in the house! Plus watching Martin’s fab demos of course!

Here is the first project I made and believe me there are many more to come – I have been being a busy bee behind the scenes that’s for sure – so please be prepared to see lots of projects I’ve been working on for the last few months and then holding on to before I could officially start blogging them!

So for this first make I had a play with the Spring Shrink Plastic kit which had soooooooooooooooooooo many images to play with! I started with the rainbow and the clouds though!

So I cut them out of the sheets roughly to start with, then chose my colouring in medium (I chose prismacolor pencils) and then coloured them in.

Next I trimmed them with a border and heated them up and hey presto the cutest little shrink plastic embellishments!

For the card I used a few bits of the solid colours papers from the Kingston Crafts Spring Slimline papers to create a pastel rainbow across the white panel and then some layers underneath the white.

I added the clouds and then die cut out some circles and stacked them for dimension. I also added foam squares behind the circle so that it sat above the clouds and added my rainbow.

I decided to add a little gingham bow to the top of the circle.

I felt like the white panel needed a frame so hand drew the stitched line around.

Next I added the Be Positive sentiment which is an old Altenew one. It has a matching die so die cut it a few times to stack it so it matched some of the dimension on the other side of the card.

I hadn’t played with shrink plastic for years so it was fun to try something a bit different – but don’t worry it won’t be my last project with this kit – there are so many things I have made and still so much left to play with!

So for the next month or so expect to have a multitude of blog posts on the samples I made – it’s going to be busy over here and there are likely to be more than one post in the day with this and Martin’s Christmas challenge and other things I’ve got going on to share!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Back again with another card made for the 30 day Christmas card challenge. The prompt was Deck the Wreath and as regular visitors to my blog will know I love a wreath! So this was actually the first card I made for Martins challenge (not day 1!).

I started with a piece of green cardstock and used glitter glue through a stencil to leave a lovely glittery snowflake design.

Then I worked on the wreath… two layers of the die cut wreath from Arrange a Wreath and then three of the flowers. To the centre of the flowers I added a bit of ink too… then the circle behind the flower is a peach colour with some clear glitter on it.

I added a bow in the same colour as the centre of the flower.

There is so much sparkle from the background and also some glitter in the centre of the flowers too.

Because the wreath is raised up on foam adhesive it gives it so much dimension.

Finally added the waffle flower sentiment!

Added a mat of white to frame the sparkly layer and then added to a card blank made from the same green!

I videoed making this which has been uploaded for you to see over on my YouTube channel!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hi

Today’s card I used a few different bits and pieces but mainly the Patties Creations – Lighthouse 2020 image who are kindly sponsoring the challenge at Creative Knockouts. Our challenge is to make a ‘thankful’ card and I chose this image as I knew it would make a good all rounder for many occasions!

I decided to use patterned paper for the background to the image (more about this paper coming up on future blogs!). I cut all the panels to fit and then inked the edges of them to add a little definition to the layers.

I printed the image out and added colour with inks and water. As it wasn’t watercolour paper I printed on it did look a little odd with some spots where the ink soaked in more but I don’t mind it! It adds texture!

I die cut the image and then started assembling with the bright patterned papers and a shrink plastic embellishment that are from Kingston Crafts (this is a sneak peek of things yet to be disclosed – but coming up tomorrow!).

I created this very fun summery card (a great escape from the gloomy autumnal weather!) and then added my Thank you sentiment which I stamped in navy to match and then die cut and stacked so it was a similar height to the shrink plastic piece.

I finished off with card candi in pale blue to match the image.

Inside the card I added a panel of the shell paper and then a white panel. I painted another lighthouse and cut out just the lighthouse image and added that too. I think it helps to finish the card nicely!

Hope you like what I made.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I missed yesterday’s prompt which was a sketch as I just ran out of time and didn’t get a chance to get anything made!

Today’s I managed to get done but no video unfortunately- just not enough time to get it edited and so just a blog tonight!

Today’s prompt made me immediately grab the Trimmings and Tidings set for the lovely stocking images and I stamped them out several times with different blue colours.

I then grabbed scraps of blues and teals from the pouch of scraps and decided to make something from that!

I inked and splattered a pale blue panel for the background and then the other pieces I added as strips to the card base.

I added two stockings straight onto the inky panel and then the top three I added using the foam adhesive to give dimension.

Then I die cut from white some foliage to add and the stamped and die cut sentiment I grabbed from the ready made sentiment pouch!

Finally I added some blue gems from the stash for bling!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

A second blog post today because in between Christmas crafting I decided to try and make use of more of those indigo blu papers and so decided to make a tag for the Uk stampers forum with them.

I covered some scrap cardstock with one of the papers and then edged it with oxide ink and stamped onto it with the oxide and clear embossed – this added the shine and texture to the edge as well as that bit of text stamping at the top and bottom.

Then I cut some hexagons from the papers and inked the edge of them with faded jeans oxide before adhering them down to add to the background. I also added three slim rectangles too – again inking the edges first to add definition to the layer.

Next I stamped the image a few times onto different papers and some cream cardstock so I could paper piece.

Once I had paper pieced the image of the girl I cut out the butterflies and inked the edges of them. I did mount the large blue butterfly onto some scrap cardstock to give it some strength as I knew it would poke off the edges of the tag.

I added them all to the tag and then chose some of the printed words from the papers to cut out and ink and then adhere.

I then used my white gel pen to add a few little details to the elements. I think this helped bring the tag to life.

I used some dark green grosgrain ribbon for the top of the tag and decided that it was finished. So quite a patterned paper heavy tag for me this month but I think it worked well – especially to use that stamp image to paper piece.

Love it!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today it is a colour combo prompt for Martin’s challenge and not my go to Christmas colours that’s for sure!

I didn’t quite keep to the colours as I went for darker reds and blues than suggested – but close enough!

It’s a patterned paper heavy card with papers from a magazine kit I bought just to get some fresh ideas.

I added the vellum panel which I embossed and the brads to keep it in place and then the sentiment die I added the glitter glue to give it some sparkle!

Actually really like how this turned out considering I was totally confused by the colours when I started!

I videoed the process if you want to see me put this together.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

As opposed to yesterday’s card that took ages – this took less than 25 mins start to finish!

The theme was sleigh ride and I decided to make a nice sky for Santa and his reindeer to have a sleigh ride through!

I did make it last night so the photos aren’t the best but if you want to see it come together check out my video.

Lots of distress inks and then some embossing for the image and lots of splattering!

I added a die cut sentiment to finish off and just kept it as a lovely flat card with a mat of white and a dark purple card blank.

I did add lots of spots of clear glitter glue all over the sky too so there is some shiny elements but know they don’t show up so well on the photos.

Love how it finished up!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I decided last minute to join in with today’s challenge because I had seen so many lovely cards being shared on the group (please do check out the Facebook group!) … and I only had one idea with the prompt ‘gingerbread dream’ and that was to make the background from the little die cut gingerbread men! Didn’t think about how fiddly this would be when I started!

But look it turned out great!

I did video the process (don’t worry it’s in fast forward as it took ages to actually make the card!)

I added lots of splatters using gesso and then added the die cut frame, vellum circle and the Kraft circle for the sentiment – with a bit of dimension with the vellum raised up on adhesive foam.

The finishing touch was the little crumb cake hearts – and also a final gingerbread man inside the card (I forgot the photo of that!)

The sentiment die cut I think is exactly the right one for this card as this many gingerbread men would definitely bring me joy!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Two blog posts from me today!

Martin is doing his 30 day Christmas card challenge again and I’ve decided to join in – no promises of doing all 30 days but couldn’t resist at least making a start!please do go and checkout Martin and the Facebook group above as I know there will be loads of inspiration!

So starting off with day one Oh Christmas Tree I went for this very non traditional colour card…

I added in a strip of patterned paper left from the scrapbooking from a couple of weeks ago as the colours worked so well with the trees I cut from scraps.

If you want to see me put together this card head over to YouTube to see my process video.

I love all the textures in the card and the sparkle!

It was definitely nice to use up scraps to make this and fun to go with a non traditional colour scheme!

Happy crafting!

Catherine