Sew shabby

Hello lovely people,

Well, we haven't seen much sunshine so far for our cottage holiday in Dorset but have still enjoyed some lovely walks and a visit to Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens, which were beautiful.

Now it is of course time for a new challenge at In The Pink and our theme this time is...

VINTAGE / SHABBY CHIC

I have been enjoying making cards with a slightly shabby chic feel lately and the one I am sharing today was actually requested by my hairdresser for her Mum's special birthday.
It is very similar to a layout I did recently and it was so good I just had to use it again, but this time with a sewing machine image from Pink Petticoat.  It's a sweet and simple design but perfect for dressing up with lots of pretty embellishments.

And how timely that one of the magazines I subscribe to had a free gift of sewing themed charms so I added one on here!
I added extra prettiness to the digi image with liquid pearl dots on the flower centres and Frantage round the edge.

I've popped a little tag behind the image with the special greeting on it; it's a cute way to add an interactive touch I think.

Card recipe;
Image: Material Girl (daisies) - Pink Petticoat
DP: Vintage summer basics - Maja Design
Corner swirl stamps: set 68 - Corners - LOTV
Frantage: Shabby white by Stampendous - from Live & Love Crafts
Lace: Hermione - The Ribbon Girl
Seam binding / all flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Pearl head pins: The Ribbon Girl

Copic colours;
Sewing machine body: W00/0/1
Flowers: RV91/93/95 & BG93 for leaves

If you haven't already done so then do pop over to In The Pink and check out the gorgeous creations from the rest of the Pink Ladies.

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Hugs,

Kat xx

Challenges I am entering;
1.  Bunny Zoe (flowers and charms)
2.  Live and Love Crafts (inspirational collage)
3.  Inky Chicks (use a metal embellishment)
4.  A Creative Romance (girly cards)
5.  Simon Says Stamp (anything goes)

Happy 10th Birthday LOTV!

Hello lovely people,

I took the opportunity of the extra crafting time over the Easter break to make a card to celebrate LOTV's 10th birthday and for a couple of challenges.  I decided on a shabby chic look so the edges of the DP have been distressed, inked and stitched.  I also stamped a little scroll detail in 2 corners.

I experimented with a few new things on this card, one of which was adding a little pull-out tag.  Its a great way to add an extra little message and makes the card more interactive :-)

I also added lots of pretty flowers and another first for me... some pins to add to the shabby chic look.

This is one of the older LOTV stamps in my collection but I like to go back and make sure the older ones get loved too!
Of course, the shabby chic feel wouldn't be complete without a little scattering of Frantage so that's in there too!

Card recipe;

Image: Cake glorious cake - LOTV

DP: Vintage summer/autumn basics - Maja Designs

Lace: Hermione - The Ribbon Girl

Flowers: all from Wild Orchid Crafts

Seam binding / twine: The Ribbon Girl

Pins: Teardrop ivory pearl pins - The Ribbon Girl

Tiny tag: Sentiment tags (set 24) - LOTV

Large tag: cut by hand and letters are a Quick Kutz die alphabet

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/50/000/51/21 & R30

Hair: E42/43/44

Cake: YR30/E81/E41

Top / candle: B41/91/93/95

Skirt / cake icing: RV91/93/95

Flame: Y21/23/YR23

Wings: RV0000/000/91/93

Ground: T0/1/2/3/4

I hope you are all having a lovely Easter weekend :-)  I have been up to my parents with Dr Hubby and my brother and his girlfriend were there too.  We had a lovely time including an Easter egg hunt - you are never too old for one of those!  Ooh, and I made some mocha cupcakes decorated with mini eggs...yum!

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Hugs,

Kat xx

Challenges I am entering;

1.  LOTV (10th birthday card)

2. Inky Chicks (shabby chic)
3.  Bunny Zoe's Crafts (distress)

Shhhh...

Hello lovely people,

I can't believe it's time for another challenge at In The Pink already and our theme this week is...

EMBOSSING

So, this can be dry embossing or heat embossing or both as some of the Pink Ladies have done!

Even though I still have tons of Christmas cards to make I took a little break as I really wanted to use this fab Saturated Canary image.
No surprises that I have gone for Frantage as my embossing; I am a little bit addicted to the stuff!  I like a little sprinkling round the edge of the main image but this time I also added it on the corners of the DP and love how it turned out :-D

 The image is mainly coloured with Copics but I did paper piece her jumper and just added a tiny bit of shading to it.

I was in the mood for a little distressing with this card and roughed up the edges of the DP with a Tim Holtz tool and then inked and stitched them.  I used a die to cut the flowers from scraps of co-ordinating DP; it's always nice to use every last bit of DP!

Card recipe; 

Image: What the librarian reads - Saturated Canary

DP: a mix of Vintae Autumn Basics and Vintage Frost Basics - Maja Design

Flowers: Memory box die

Frantage - Shabby White from Live and Love Crafts

Lace: from stash

Sentiment: Happy Circular Sentiments - LOTV

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/000/00/21/11 & R30

Hair: E35/37/47

Eyes: E37/47

Skirt: E40/41/42

Bookes: RV91/93/95 & E40/41/41 & T0/1/2/3

Mug / pen: RV91/93

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Saturated Canary (distress)
2.  Bunny Zoe (shabby chic/vintage)
3.  Simon Says Stamp (anything goes)
4.  Top Tip Tuesday (be krafty)

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Hugs,
Kat xx

The return of James Bear

Hello lovely people,

I hope you have been having a lovely weekend and not getting too spooked!  We went to a Halloween Party last night and the costumes were wonderful; even Otto the dog had a little skeleton outfit on!

This is Dr Hubby, and if you don't recognise the costume it is the eponymous 'superhero' from the film Kick-Ass!

I went for a more traditional Halloween costume...

Back to business though and it's on with the Christmas cards for me, using the fab new sketch from the Papertake Weekly Challenge for inspiration this time;

So, I am absolutely loving this James Bear stamp and thought he would look fab teamed with some frosty colours and snowflakes.  I have gone for several layers as usual and distressed them with a Tim Holtz distressing tool before inking them just a touch and stitching them.

I have coloured James pretty much the same as my last card using him but with a different colour hat and scarf!  I also gave the snow some Liquid Pearls treatment :-)

The snowflakes are a new die for me and wow, they are just gorgeous - so detailed and elegant :-)  I have to say that the Impression Obsession dies are always such good quality, cut beautifully and look fabulous.

Card recipe;

Image: James Bear in the snow - LOTV

DP: Vintage Spring Basics - Maja Designs

Lace - Venice Petit - Live and Love Crafts (but I can't see it in the shop anymore)

Dies: Small snowflake set - Impression Obsession (available from Dies to Die For)

Sentiment: Handwritten Christmas Sentiments - Pink Petticoat
Pearls: from The Hobby House

Copic colours;

Fur: E40/41/42/43

Scarf / hat: T0/3 & B91/93/95

'White' bit of hat: T0/1/2/blender

Ground: T0/1/3/blender

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Papertake Weekly (sketch)
2.  The Hobby House (pearls)
3.  Top Tip Tuesday (seasons - mine is winter of course!)
4.  Simon Says Stamp (anything goes)
5.  Totally Gorjuss (anything goes with snow)

Thanks for visiting and I wish you all a good week :-)

Hugs,
Kat xx