Take note

Hello lovely people,

I am so excited that I can finally announce that I am now part of the Top Tip Tuesday DT; check out my gorgeous badge...

So, today is my first challenge with the team and our theme is...

HERE COMES SUMMER

We are very kindly sponsored by Bugaboo so I used one of their cute images to make a little post-it note holder.

 It's a really simple design using nice thick Kraft card for the cover and I popped a square of the spotty card inside to make it look nice inside and out!

Card recipe;
Image: Ladybug hello - Bugaboo
DP: Dottie card set 1 - Anna Marie Designs
Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Copic colours;
Ladybird: R27/29/46 & N8/9/10
Butterfly: Y15/17/19 & YR16

I hope you will pop over to Top Tip Tuesday and check out the fabulous creations and of course, the top tips from the rest of the team.  I hope you can join in for a chance to win 7 free digi stamps of your choice from Bugaboo :-)

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

Hugs,

Kat xx

Read all about it

Hello lovely people,

It's time for a new challenge at In The Pink and our theme this month is...

DIGITAL DELIGHT

So, we want to see you use a digital image and as an extra treat this time we are sponsored by the fabulous All Dressed Up Stamps!

Prize = 2 digi images of the winner's choice

No surprises then that my card features a gorgeous All Dressed Up image :-) I have been delving into my new stash of flowers again as you can see and I think it looks like she is sitting in the garden reading... and well she might with all this lovely sunny weather!

I do enjoy reading especially in the garden in the summer... now I just need to get myself a fabulous pink hat like this little lady!

Card recipe;
Image: Little Bookworm - All Dressed Up
DP: Sofiero - Maja Designs
Label shape: cut with Cricut
Flowers: all from Wild Orchid Crafts
Leaves: Leaf and swirl die - Magnolia Doohickey
Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl
Tag: Sentiment tags (set 24) - LOTV

Copic colours;
Skin: E0000/50/000/51/21 & R30
Hair: E42/43/44
Dress / hat: R81/83/85
Bow: B0000/000/00
Stool: E40/41/42
Book: T0/1/2/3 & YR30/E40
Ground: T0/1/2/3/4

Do pop over to In The Pink and check out the gorgeous creations from the rest of the Pink Ladies.  They have all been showcasing All Dressed Up images so be ready for overload of cuteness!

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

Hugs,

Kat xx

Challenges I am entering;
1.  Wild Orchid Crafts (use 3 different types of flower)

Button up!

Hello lovely people,

Yes, it is Thursday once again (where does the time go to?!) so we have another challenge for you at Crafty Little Fairies and our theme this time is...

BUTTON UP!

This week we are sponsored by the wonderful Whiff of Joy...

Prize - stamp of winner's choice

I am continuing with my attempt to do more male designs and my first choice for men/boys is always the fabulous LOTV.  I had the perfect paper pad to team with this image and used some twine to add a little texture and interest.

Aw, I just love this little chap with his HUGE boat, which was just crying out for some paper pieced sails to give a nice co-ordinated look.  Oh and yes, getting the twine stuck down how I wanted was proper fiddly but I do like the end result!

 Card recipe;

Image: Sailing Boat - LOTV
DP: By the sea - Maja Design
Sentiment: Happy Circular Sentiments (set 8) - LOTV

Buttons / twine: from stash

Copic colours;
Skin: E0000/50/000/51/21 & R30
Hair: E40/41/42/43
Shirt: B21/23/24
Trousers: B95/97/99
Shoes: E42/43/44/47
Boat: T0/1/2 & B95/97/99
Ground: T0/1/2/3/4

Head over to Crafty Little Fairies to check out the lovely creations from my teamies.  I have loads of buttons in my stash and bet you do too so I hope you will join in with our challenge :-)

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

Hugs,

Kat xx

Challenges I am entering;
1.  That Craft Place (buttons)

Celebrate

Hello lovely people,

I have had a lovely weekend with my sister-in-law, her other half and my niece and nephew but am properly exhausted now.  A Saturday night out at a Chaser gig accompanied by a few cheeky glasses (bottles?!) of red wine and a lot of dancing on the tables may have had something to do with that but oh, it was so much fun :-D

Earlier this week it was my other sister-in-law's hubby's birthday and I was running a bit late with making his card so opted for an easy CAS design and here it is...

I fancied a bit of black and white colouring and chose this fab LOTV image from one of the sketch pads, but it is also available as a rubber stamp.  The monochrome colouring proved to be a nice quick option as I didn't have to spend time matching all the colours to my DP!

Card recipe;

Image: Jack, Patch and Puss sketch pad - LOTV (rubber stamp version here)

DP: Flea Market 'treasure' - Crate Paper

Twine: The Ribbon Girl (temporarily closed)

Tags: Sentiment tags - LOTV

Enamel dots: MME cut & paste flair 'sweet'

Copic colours;

Dog: W2-4 & 5-8

Cat: W00-1 & 1-4

Cake: various W series

Ground: W00-3

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and it's going to be an early night for me tonight so I am fresh for work tomorrow!
Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Hugs,

Kat xx

Challenges I am entering;

1.  LOTV - name that tune (Celebration - Kool and the Gang)

2.  A Creative Romance (let's get sentimental)

3.  Totally Gorjuss (string's the thing)

4.  Top Tip Tuesday (stitching)

In the kitchen

Hello lovely people,

I did warn you I had a lot of cards to share this week and now it's time for the Crafty Little Fairies challenge, where we have the theme...

IN THE KITCHEN

It's a double sponsor week again with fantastic prizes on offer from;

(prize = stamp of winner's choice)

(prize = voucher)

Initially I wasn't sure what I was going to do for this theme but then I spotted the perfect stamp and had an idea for a CAS design with it so here it is;

I love this image but colouring the skirt is quite scary because it's such a big expanse of white!  I think it could be better but I am well aware I am my own worst critic so I guess it's not too bad.
I added stickles to some of the details and although it is a bit more sparkly IRL, you can actually see it in the photos for once!

Card recipe;

Image: Ava loves to celebrate - Stamping Bella

DP: Dottie card set 1 - Anna Marie Designs

Tags: Sentiment Tags - LOTV

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/000/00/11/21

Hair: E41/42/43

Dress: BG000/35/45/57/09

Cake / roses: E40/41/42 & YR30

Leaves: G61/63

Tray: T0/1/2

If you pop over to Crafty Little Fairies you can check out the fabulous creations from my teamies; there is a lot of cake so be warned, it may induce some drooling!

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

Hugs,

Kat xx

Challenges I am entering;

1.  Without Words (spots and/or stripes)

A Dressy Christmas

Hello lovely people,

Are you feeling festive yet?  I certainly am and have been busy today writing my Christmas cards and making tags for the presents :-)  And if you need a little something else to get you into the festive spirit then how about a new challenge at All Dressed Up with the theme of...

CLEAN AND SIMPLE

As usual, there are 2 newly released images and I have used the gorgeous All Dressed Up for Christmas.  This classy image works really well on CAS designs and is pretty speedy to colour.
I am going to put my Christmas decorations up later - not sure I will look as elegant as this lady; I would probably just fall off that pile of presents - lol!

I have kept the colouring to mostly black and white with just a couple of pops of red.  There are some little spots of glitter on the wings and the stars although my photography skills have yet again failed to capture them!

Card recipe;

Image: All Dressed Up for Christmas - All Dressed Up Stamps

DP: December Documented - Simple Stories

Twine: from The Ribbon Girl

Copic colours;

Monochrome sections: C series

Red: R29/59

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Bunny Zoe (wings)
2.  Divas by Design (anything goes)
3.  Cute Card Thursday (Christmas catch up)
4.  Sweet Stampin' (last minute Christmas)

The rest of the Dressy Girls have made some stunning CAS cards so do head over to the All Dressed Up blog and check them out.  The challenge runs until 14th January so you have plenty of time to get creating using any of the All Dressed Up images in a CAS style :-)

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

Hugs,
Kat xx

Nearly forgot...

Hello lovely people,

Apparently having a few days off work has led to me completely losing track of what day it is and very nearly forgetting to do this post for Crafty Little Fairies!  This wouldn't have been so bad except that I also forgot to take the photos of my card and spent a good yesterday evening while trying to get a photo that wasn't awful.  Special thanks to Dr Hubby for holding lamps whilst I played with camera settings.  UDATE: Photos retaken this morning; still not much light but better than last night!

Ok, onto our theme for this week and that is...

Autumn colours

Our sponsor this week is My Crafty Heart with a £10 voucher :-)

This was a tough one for me as I almost never use this colour palette but I did have a new (for me) LOTV stamp to play with and found a scrap of suitable DP hiding in my stash and this is what I came up with;

I hesitate to inflict another poor photo on you but here is the close up... *winces*

Card recipe;

Image : Take it Easy from LOTV

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/000/00/51 & R30
Hair: Y21/YR23/E31
Hat: E57/47/49
Chair (wood): E23/25/57/47
Chair (seat): Y21/YR23 & YR18/09
Dog: E40/41/42 & E42/43/45
Socks: E40/41/42
Drink: YR30/Y000/Y11
Grass: YG61/63/G94
Book: G94/99 & T0/5

Thanks for visiting and for bearing with my terrible photos,

Hugs, Kat xx

Baby baby

Hello lovely people,

Gosh, it's been a whole week since I last posted - bad Kat!  I have good reason though as many of you will know I was super busy organising the celebration of my parents' 60th birthdays.  We had a wonderful gathering of family at the weekend with lots of fun and games and, most importantly, lots and lots of cake :-D

All the Crafty Little Fairies have been bowled over by the support for our re-branding and by the fantastic number of entries last week so here's our theme for this week...

New Baby

We have the wonderful Live and Love Crafts as our sponsor this week with a £10 voucher up for grabs...the difficult bit will be deciding what to choose!

This theme came at just the right time for me as a work colleague has just had a little baby girl :-)  As you can see I reached straight for my LOTV Big sentiments...again!

I also got to play with my new Memory Box star dies - they are just gorgeous and cut perfectly even on the really skinny bow.  I used some rub-ons for the little letter tiles.

Card recipe;

Sentiment: Statements - Congratulations from LOTV

DP: Maja Designs - Vintage Spring Basics

Stars: Memory Box Precious Stars

Scalloped square: Spellbinders Nestie

Button twine: from The Ribbon Girl

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Inky Chicks (stitching)
2.  Sweet Stampin' (spots and stripes)

I can't wait to see what you create for our New Baby theme at CLF this week; check out the inspiring creations from the rest of the fairies :-)

Thanks for visiting,

Hugs,
Kat xx

A quick KISS

Hello lovely people,

This is a flying visit from me as I am currently trying to organise a weekend (this weekend!) of family celebrations for my parents who both turned 60 in the last month.  Thank goodness I have made lists for everything, and I do mean everything...the presents, the food, the jobs to do, and the itinerary is all planned out in great detail!

Our KISS challenge at In The Pink is still running for another two weeks so you have plenty of time to enter.  The big advantage of KISS is that it doesn't take long to whip up a card...for most people!   Even with my usual faffing and birthday planning I still had time to create a quick card :-)

I have just been introduced to the super gorgeous All Dressed Up digi images and started my collection with Abi Ballerina - isn't she the cutest little thing?!  Ballerina = pink and glittery, yes?  Oh yes :-D

Card recipe;

Image: Abi Ballerina from ADU - she's a FREEBIE!

Twine: from The Ribbon Girl

Tags: Sentiment tags from LOTV

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/000/00/51 & R30

Hair: E41/42/43

Tutu / hairband etc.: RV0000/000/00/10/11/32

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  A Creative Romance (CAS)
2.  A Little Bit Crafty (CAS)
3.  Cute Card Thursday (pretty in pink)

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Hugs,
Kat xx

Back to school

Hello lovely people,

I hope you all had a lovely bank holiday weekend.  Mine consisted of a beer festival on Saturday, recovering/working (yes, really!) on Sunday and then a long walk with Dr Hubby on Monday so pretty perfect apart from the working bit.

Today I have taken a mini break from DT work to create a card for a couple of challenges and I used the current sketch from Papertake Weekly;

This was a lovely versatile sketch, which I have rotated 90 degrees to the right and angled some of the panels.  This card seemed to demand a clean layout... just snuck in a little bit of stitching and some twine!  I punched the notebook edge with my Bind-it-all and ripped the holes a little.

I don't have any kids to send back to school but I just had to colour up this gorgeously cute little chap :-)

Card recipe;

Image: Genius from Tiddly Inks

DP: Fancy Pants - Park Bench

Twine: from The Ribbon Girl

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/000/00/51

Hair: E41/42/43/44

T shirt / shoes: BG10/11/13

Bag / shoes: W1-6

Ground: E40/41/42/42

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Papertake Weekly (sketch #82)
2.  Tiddly Inks (back to school)
3.  Simon Says Stamp (anything goes)

Thanks for visiting and please do say hello if you have time :-)

Hugs,
Kat xx

Hot hot hot...

Hello lovely people,

Well hello there weekend!  It's going to be a busy one as Dr Hubby and I are looking after our niece and nephew to give their parents a bit of a break.   So, we have activities planned, including crafty ones of course, and the house is stocked with cake, chocolate and ice cream as bribes ;-)

Firstly though there is the little matter of a new challenge at Totally Gorjuss and this week the theme is...

Hot Colours

I did groan a little at this one as it's a bit out of my comfort zone but that's what a challenge is all about isn't it?!
This Saturated Canary image immediately sprang to mind though and I hope this is hot enough for you...

This is the first time I have coloured up this gorgeous image and I really enjoyed it :-)  I had my colour advisor (AKA my Mum) with me and she was most helpful!

Card recipe;

Image: Bikini and Burgers from Saturated Canary

DP: 

Flower: from Wild Orchid Crafts

Twine / button: from stash

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/000/00/51 & R30

Hair: E23/57/59
Eyes: E23/57

Bikini: R27/29 & BG07/09 & Y15

Burger: E30/31/33 & YG25/17 & E47/49 & R27/29

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Saturated Canary (set your creativity free)
2.  A Creative Romance (beach babes)

For more hot hot hot cards head over to Totally Gorjuss to see what my teamies have created and if you enter our challenge you have a chance to win a prize from our sponsors, Crafter's Companion.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend whatever you are up to :-)

Thanks for visiting,

Hugs,
Kat xx

A little sunshine

Evening lovely people,

I was intending to post this earlier but I got sidetracked downloading some new software to allow me more options for editing my snaps and adding a watermark.  I was hoping to use it for this post but realised I'm going to need a bit more time to figure out how to do the stuff I want to do, so watch this space...!

The sun may have gone away, temporarily I hope, but I have a sunny little card to share with you :-)  I am also blaming the lack of sun for the slightly shoddy photos and will update them if the sun re-appears!

Yes, I have added another Tiddly Inks image to my collection; they are just such fun to colour :-)  I think you can just about see the little glitter sprinkles on her ice cream...

Ok, I'm going to share one more angled view so you can see the stepper design properly;

Card recipe;

Image: Sweet Treat Wryn from Tiddly Inks

DP: Fancy Pants - Park Bench

Scalloped edge: Martha Stewart edge punch

Twine: from The Ribbon Girl

Sentiment: Sentiment tags from LOTV

Butterflies: Impression Obsession die

Pearls: from The Hobby House

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/000/00/51 & R30

Hair: E35/37/47

Skirt/shoes: BG13/15

Top: BG10/11

Flowers: Y17/19

Ice cream & cone: YR30/blender & E53/55

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Tiddly Inks (summer treats)
2.  A Little Bit Crafty (summer sun)
3.  Cute Card Thursday (anything goes)
4.  As You Like It (favourite fancy fold - stepper card)

I hope that has brought a little sunshine to you and thanks for visiting,

Hugs,
Kat xx

It's Christmas...in July!

Hello lovely people,

Oh yes, it's beautiful sunny weather and I've made a Christmas card!  The reason for this is that it is time for a new challenge over at Lili's Little Fairies and this week we have the theme

Christmas in July!

Our sponsor for this week is Delicious Doodles who have a wide range of fab images available :-)

Now, I don't normally pull out the Christmas stuff until at least October...probably November...maybe December if I am being really disorganised.  Which Dr Hubby will tell you is pretty much all of the time!
So, this has to be the earliest I have ever made a Christmas card but it was kinda fun!

LOTV have an amazing range of Christmas stamps but this one is my absolute favourite and the first one I turn to every year.  I went for sepia toned colouring to complement the DP and since it is a Christmas card I just had to throw on some glamour dust :-)

I got to use one of my new dies for the pretty edging; it has a line of stitch holes just above the lacy edge but since I already had some real stitching I covered it up!

Card recipe;

Image: Christmas Bunnies - Stocking from LOTV

DP: Maja Designs - It's Christmas Time

Fancy edge: Marianne Designs stitch border die
Seam binding: Wild Orchid Crafts
Button / twine: from stash
Sentiment: Handwritten {Christmas} Sentiments from Pink Petticoat
Pearls: from The Hobby House

Copic colours;

All in various combinations of E40/41/42/43/44

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;

1.  Papertake Weekly (buttons and bows)
2.  Crafts and Me (anything goes)

So, that's it from me but if you pop over to Lili's Little Fairies you can see lots of beautiful Christmas cards from the rest of the Fairies :-)

I'm off to put those Christmas supplies away again...

Thanks for visiting,

Hugs,
Kat xx

What's new?

Hello lovely people,

The last few days have been very exciting as I have had several parcels of craft goodies delivered!  I often end up ordering lots of stuff all at once and then the fun starts!  I was also lucky enough to win some fabulous candy from Jen of The Tiny Blue Butterfly; if you haven't seen her beautiful CAS cards then I suggest a visit to her blog...after you finish reading my post of course :-P

So, some of the things I have treated myself to include;
- the final set of Copic sketch markers so I now have them all :-)
- some fab dies
- some frantage (eventually took the plunge!)
- an enormous load of flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts - well they were on sale so it would have been rude not to ;-)
- a huge pile of Maja Design papers as they are my favourites

Ok, after all that waffle I do have a card to share with you using just a few of my new items;

I had a go with the Frantage and got it all over my craft room floor and myself but had a lot of fun doing it!  I think  need a little more practice to get a slightly lighter scattering but I'm pretty happy with my first attempt and it is soooo pretty!
Talking of pretty, here is a close up of little Ava;

I have used lots of layers as usual but without matting them onto Kraft card or inking the edges for a change and really like the subtle effect.  You can see some of my new flowers on the corner of the card and one has had a little Frantage treatment as well :-)

Card recipe; 

Image: Ava from Saturated Canary

DP: Maja Designs - Sofiero (limited edition) - available from Live and Love Crafts

Seam binding / flowers / pearls; from Wild Orchid Crafts
Twine: from my candy win

Frantage: Shabby White from Live and Love Crafts
Sentiment: from LOTV
Leaves: Memory Box Lavish Branch die
Butterflies: Impression Obsession die

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/000/00/51 & R30

Hair: E51/53/55

Eyes: B91/93

Pink bits: RV11/32/34

Green bits: G40 & YG61/63

Shoes: E42/43/44

Pale grey bits: N0/1/2

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;

1.  Saturated Canary (Celebrate)
2.  A Creative Romance (ribbon or twine - both in my case!)
3.  Sweet Stampin' (butterflies and bows)
4.  The Ribbon Girl (add a bow)
5.  ABC (quite a few layers)

Thanks for visiting and for sticking with my super long post today.  I hope to be back soon to share some more new stuff with you all :-)

Hugs,
Kat xx

In the Garden

Hello lovely people,

I am always amazed how quickly Thursday rolls around and I get to share some more LOTV loveliness with you.  Yes, it's time for a new challenge at Lili's Little Fairies and our theme this week is 'In the Garden' so there are plenty of LOTV images that would qualify for this.

And look what you could win this week; these 2 fab stamps from Stamposaurus!  These would be a great addition to any stamp collection.

I have been trying to keep my cards simple so they are quicker to make but I still seem to spend ages playing with the layout... *big sigh.*  I thought if I left off any girly embellies this card would work for both male and female recipients.  I even left my usual stitching off this one; not sure if it looks a little bare now.

The image is from one of the LOTV Sketch pads which I have coloured with Copics and I just love this cute pair in amongst the flowers!  I love the animal images but I do find them tricky to colour... I guess I just have to practice some more ;-)

Card recipe; 

Image: from LOTV Sketch Pad 2 - Jack, Patch, Puss

DP: Bo Bunny - Welcome Home

Label shape: cut with Cricut

Sentiment: Personal Impressions Big Sentiments

Twine / heart button: from stash

Copic colours;

Dog: E43/44/47 & YR30/E40/E50

Rabbit: E41/42/43 & YR30/E40/E50

Grass: YG03/17/67

Flowers: Y11/15/17 & YR23/24

Don't forget to pop over to Lili's Little Fairies to see the rest of the Fairies' beautiful creations and I hope you are inspired to join in our challenge.

Thanks so much for visiting,

Hugs,
Kat xx

For Dad

Hello lovely people,

As this (hopefully) posts I will be just coming back from my holiday, probably a little bit heavier than when I went!  It depends if I managed to do enough walking to cancel out the cream teas and puddings!

Since it is Saturday that means time for a new challenge at Totally Gorjuss and this week our theme is 'For Dad' which is, of course, timed perfectly to coincide with Fathers' Day on Sunday.

I came over all CAS this week and made this super quick design to send to both my Dad and my Father-in-law.

I fell in love with this Tiddly Inks image as soon as I saw it and knew straight away that I wanted to print it onto Kraft card - the letters were added in Paint Shop Pro before printing.  A little doodling round the edges, a dash of twine and it was all done in record time - woohoo!

Card recipe;

Image:  For The Birds from Tiddly Inks

Copic colours;

Birds: B01/02 & B05/06

Paper: E40/41

This week we are sponsored by Heather's Hobbie Haven so I do hope you can join in our challenge for a chance to win.  If you need some more inspiration pop over to Totally Gorjuss to see what my teamies have created.

Thanks for visiting,

Hugs,
Kat xx