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

Pretty Tilly

Hello lovely people,

It seems like you weren't so keen on our last challenge of a sketch at In The Pink so it's time for a new and much easier theme...

Ribbons and bows

Simples!

I thought I would do something a little different this week and alter a can.  WARNING - lots of photos coming up!
Here's the cocoa can before it underwent a makeover;

And this is what it looks like now;

Ok, the image panel is maybe a little large for the can but I didn't want to try to fussy cut her as it's not one of my strong points!
I popped the image panel on some foam pads and added a bit of embellishment at one side, then scattered a few butterflies here and there.

These little heart stems are my new favourite die and I just know they are going to be so versatile :-)  You can also see the ribbon and lace bow - that's the theme sorted!

This parade of pictures wouldn't be complete without a close up of Tilly and I had fun trying out a funky deep pink hair colour :-)  There is a tiny touch of Stickles on her wing and spots of Stickles and pearl pen for the fairy dust but it's not so obvious in the photo.

Card recipe;

Image: Tilly - Saturated Canary rubber stamp (available from My Crafty Heart)

DP: Always and Forever paper pad - LOTV

Dies: Impression Obsession heart stems and butterflies

Seam binding: from Crafty Ribbons

Lace: from stash

Tag: Sentiment tags - LOTV

Copic colours;

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

Hair / bag: R56/39/59/89

Eyes: E57/59

Leotard: R81/83/85

Tights: RV0000/000

Tabard: RV000/81/83

Various green bits: YG61/63/G94

Socks: R81/83 & R56

Wings: RV0000/000/81

Ground: T0/1/2/3

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Saturated Canary (alter it!)
2.  Bunny Zoe (ribbon)
3.  Simon Says Stamp (anything goes)

The Pink Ladies have been busy creating some wonderful cards to inspire you so do pop over to In The Pink to check them out.

Thanks for visiting,

Hugs,
Kat xx

Party time!

Hello lovely people,

Hurrah, it's the weekend!  I am heading off to Supercar Saturday at the Castle Combe Circuit this morning; a day to raise money for the Stroke Association by enjoying some fast cars.  If the weather is nice we will drive there in our very own fast car, our little Caterham Seven :-)

Ok, onto the crafty stuff and I have a card to share with you using another of the wonderful All Dressed Up images.  I have used another of the sweet Party Girls and she just had to be pink and girly!

I am fast running out of this beautiful Maja Design Sofiero DP and it was limited edition - maybe I should get some more right now ;-)
I have seen people using wax paper to help 'release' intricate die cuts from the dies and thought I would see if standard greaseproof paper would do the same... it does!  These die cuts have been a nuisance in the past and they just popped right out :-)
Ok, I know you want a little close up of the star of the card so here she is...

Card recipe;

Image: Three Little Party Girls - All Dressed Up

DP: Sofiero - Maja Designs

Dies: Spellbinders timeless rectangles, Marianne Design Anja's vintage swirls

Flowers: from Wild Orchid Crafts

Sentiment: Kaisercraft mini stamp

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/000/00/21/11 (a new combo I was trying)

Hair: E23/57/59

Dress: RV0000/000/81/83

Ribbons: R81/83/85

Don't forget we still have our Halloween Challenge running and we would love to see your spooky creations - there are some super cute images available in the All Dressed Up store including a freebie!

Thanks for visiting,

Hugs,
Kat xx

Krafty James

Hello lovely people,

If you read my last post you will know that I have not got very far with my Christmas cards yet so yep, it's another one today!  At least I can put in more hours of crafting in the evening thanks to my new daylight lamp :-)  It was a bit bigger than I thought it would be but the light is fantastic and yes, I don't know how I have managed without one for so long!

Since it is Thursday it's time for a new challenge at Crafty Little Fairies and our theme this week is...

Anything goes

Our sponsor this week is Hot Shot Craft with a £10 voucher...
AND a second lucky winner will get a LOTV stamp kindly donated by our very own Squirrel :-)

I am now the proud owner of a couple of LOTV James bear stamps and a lovely paper pad from LOTV so couldn't wait to have a play and this is what I came up with...

The panel with the border is supposed to be at a jaunty angle but I am wondering if I should have made it even more angled so it doesn't look like I just stuck it a bit wonky by accident!

When colouring animals I have often ended up with quite a 'blended' look so this time I challenged myself to get more of a furry texture on James and hey, I'm quite happy with the result :-)

Card recipe;

Image: James Bear in the Snow - LOTV

DP: Krafty Christmas - LOTV

Twine: Ivory button twine - Ribbon Girl

Sentiment: Happy Circular Sentiments - LOTV

Fancy edge: Double dot scallop punch - Martha Stewart

Copic colours;

James bear: E40/41/42/43

Scarf ' hat: R27/29/59

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  LOTV (anything goes)
2.  Totally Gorjuss (string)
3.  The Ribbon Girl (brown)

The rest of the Fairies have created an array of beautiful cards to inspire you so do head over to Crafty Little Fairies to check them out :-)

Thanks for visiting,

Hugs,
Kat xx

How long until Christmas?!

Hello lovely people,

Christmas is doing the usual thing of sneaking up on me and I know this because people keep telling me how many days until Christmas or how many Saturdays until Christmas etc.  I am not a fan of this!
But it has made me evaluate how many Christmas cards I have made so far and that is a grand total of two!
So, time to step it up and here is number 3...

I used one of my all time favourite sketches from Papertake Weekly, which I love because it is so versatile and always results in a beautiful card.

I added a little stamp detail to the DP but decided not to add any embellies other than a couple of pearls as I really liked the clean design.

Card recipe;

Image: Christmas Angel - Saturated Canary

DP: Kaisercraft - On this day

Lace: from Live and Love Crafts
Stamped detail: Butterfly Flourish Swirls - Chocolate Baroque (and a random tiny snowflake stamp)

Sentiment: Handwritten Christmas Sentiments - Pink Petticoat

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/000/00/51 & R30

Hair: E41/42/43

Eyes: E44/47

Dress / baubles: BV0000/000/00 & BG90/93

Tights / wings: N0/1/2

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Saturated Canary (season's greetings)
2.  As You Like It (fave sketch)
3.  Simon Says Stamp (christmas/happy holidays)

I hope you all had a good start to the week and thanks so much for visiting me,

Hugs,
Kat xx

A good book

Hello lovely people,

It's Thursday again and time for your pink fix!  This week at In The Pink we have a fab sketch designed by our very own Rizzo...

I love a good sketch as it can take a lot of the effort out of deciding what to do and let me tell you, this is a *really* good sketch to work with :-)

As I was uploading the photos I noticed a couple of black specks on the card, which are not there IRL - just some detritus off my craft desk I think!  Anyway, I wasn't going to re-do the photos so maybe if I just ignore them they might go away...

This is the first outing for this Saturated Canary image that was kicking around in my digi collection waiting for just the right moment!  The hair was actually quite tricky to do but I'm fairly happy with it in the end.

The flowers were all white to start with and I coloured two of them with Copics to match the image/DP and curled the little wiry bits round a cocktail stick.

Card recipe;

Image: Princess Reading Beauty - Saturated Canary

DP: Maja Designs - Vintage Summer Basics
Scalloped circle: cut with Cricut
Sentiment: Kaisercraft mini stamp
Flowers: Sweetheart Blossoms - Wild Orchid Crafts
Ribbon: from stash

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/000/00/51 & R30

Hair/eyes: E25/57/59

Nightie: V91/93/95

Flowers in hair: RV91/93

Books W0/1/2/3 & YR21/31/Y32

Shoes: W00/0/1

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Bunny Zoe (ribbon)
2.  Wild Orchid Crafts (pretty pastels)
3.  A Creative Romance (pink)

If you pop over to In The Pink you can see if you can spot the difference between my card and all the other...let's just say the other Pink Ladies all love that die...!

Thanks for visiting,

Hugs,
Kat xx

A Halloween Treat

Hello lovely people,

I am super excited to be posting my first DT creation for All Dressed Up and our challenge theme this time round is...

Halloween!

Well of course it is, and we have 2 fabulous new images to share with you.  I almost couldn't decide which cutie to use...but the witch won in the end and I decided to make a little treat bag.

This has to be the cutest little witch I ever saw...

The treat bag has a criss-cross design front so that a tag can be slipped in the front pocket...

Here's the tag taken all the way out;

Card recipe;

Image: Magical Day - ADU

DP: some random scraps

Seam binding / twine: from The Ribbon Girl

Buttons: from stash

Tab / spider / text: cut with Cricut

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/000/00/51 & R30

Hair: E35/37/47
Dress/bow/stars: V12/15/17
Wings: V0000/000/12
Hat: T6/7/8/10 & 100
Tights: T0/1/2
Pumpkin: YR15/16/18

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Papertake Weekly (happy Halloween hues)
2.  As You Like It (favourite not-a-card project - has to be treat/gift bags)
3.  Sweet Stampin' (Halloween)

There is so much more fabulous inspiration from the rest of the Dressy Girls on the ADU challenge blog and I hope you will join in our challenge using one of the ADU images :-)  The winner will get 3 digis of their choice from the ADU store - how fab is that?!

There is also a new freebie for you - check out the Freebies page on the challenge blog.  We would also love for you to stop by our Facebook page to join in the fun :-)

Thanks for visiting,

Hugs,
Kat xx

Pink again!

Hello lovely people,

It's not my fault this time, I *had* to do it...you see our challenge theme over at Crafty Little Fairies this week is...

Pretty in Pink!

So, I had no choice...not that I was complaining though - lol!

Our fabulous sponsor this week is Live and Love Crafts and they have the most wonderful products to choose from, including some pink ones!

I had a rummage and found some pretty Maja Design DP that I hadn't used yet and decided it was about time I inked up Gardener Gayle again - my only SC not in digi form!
I have gone for a slightly distressed feel on this card; I roughed up the edges of the DP with a Tim Holtz distressing tool and added some ink to the flowers and tag.

She is so lovely to colour up and suits the pink perfectly I think!  I tried to keep the colours muted to match the DP and shabby feel.

Here's an angled shot to show you the pretty flowers - I really must use this die more often as it is so nice to cut the flowers from matching DP for that perfect co-ordination!  And no, I didn't drop a few pearls, I just thought I would try out a few sprinkled here and there and liked the effect :-)

Card recipe;

Image: Saturated Canary - Gardener Gayle (available from My Crafty Heart)

DP: Maja Design - Vintage Summer Basics (available from Live and Love Crafts)
Flowers: Memory Box - Fancy Blossoms
Tag: LOTV - Sentiment Tags
Lace / ric rac: from stash
Pearls: The Hobby House

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/000/00/51 & R30

Hair:E40/41/42/43
Apron / leggings: T0/1/2/3
Top / skirt layers: RV91/93
Gloves / dress layers / eyes: BG70/72
Basket: E40/41
Flowers: RV91/93/95
Leaves: G40/YG61

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Live and Love Crafts (pink)
2.  A Little Bit Crafty (a little bit shabby)
3.  Simon Says Stamp (use a rubber/clear stamp)
4.  Top Tip Tuesday (flowers)

Thanks for visiting,

Hugs,
Kat xx

A colouring marathon

Hello lovely people,

Last weekend I had a rare quiet weekend and tucked myself away in my craft room for a good long colouring session - happy days :-D
I thought these Tiddly Inks images would be perfect for my nephew's 8th birthday card as he loves Harry Potter and these do bear a passing resemblance!

Now, I could have chosen just one character but no, I decided to be 'clever' and merge the 3 together... cue LOTS of colouring time!
After all that colouring time I decided to keep the rest of the card super simple and just used a font I found online for an authentic looking sentiment.

Card recipe;

Images: Tiddly Inks - Wizard (2 versions) and Wizardette
DP: Bo Bunny - Timepiece

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/000/00/51 & R30

Harry's hair: E57/47/49

Hermione's hair: E41/42/43/44 & Y21

Ron's hair: YR12/14 & E15/17

Cloaks: T10/8/7/6/5

Trousers: T6/5/4/3

Scarves: R46/59 & Y15/17

Glow: YG00/06/23/17

Ground: T0/1/2/3/4

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Tiddly Inks (anything goes)
2.  Papertake Weekly (anything goes +/- Halloween treat bag)
3.  ABC (w is for words)
4.  Simon Says Stamp (going dotty)

This weekend I am relaxing after going to a wedding on Friday but also have to write a presentation for a job interview on Tuesday - eek!  It's too hard to do all at once so I have been doing a bit then 'rewarding' myself with a little bit of time in my craft room :-)

Thanks for visiting and Happy World Card Making Day!

Hugs,
Kat xx

Luscious lace

Hello lovely people,

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

Luscious Lace

There is not much better, IMHO, than the combo of pink and lace so I was in heaven with this one!  I also got to play with my beautiful new DP pad from LOTV - so pretty :-)
There are 2 bits of lace on here; the white one given to me by my mother-in-law and the pinky-brown one purchased in my local fabric/wool shop.  I popped in yesterday to get some more thread for stitching and a whole rack of gorgeous cotton lace caught my eye so I just had to have some...and then I just had to use it!

I paper pieced all the sections of the dress and added a little shading with Copics, then sprinkled Frantage all round the edge...and on my desk/floor/myself just for good measure!

Card recipe;

Image: Saturated Canary - Lovely

DP: LOTV NitWit pad - Always and Forever

Flowers / pearls: from Wild Orchid Crafts

Die cut leaves: Memory Box - Lavish Branch

Flower stamens: Memory Box - Cherry Blossom

Butterfly: Impression Obsession - Butterfly Set (available from My Crafty Heart)

Frantage: Shabby White (from My Crafty Heart)

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/000/00/51 & R30

Hair: E15/25/57

Dress shading: R81/83

Rose: R81/83/85

Leaves / eyes: YG93/63

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Saturated Canary (paper piecing)
2.  Inky Chicks (2 different dies - I hope 3 is ok!)

Do pop over to In The Pink to see what the cards from the rest of the DT; they are so beautiful, even if I am a bit biased!  I hope you will be inspired to join in our challenge and use some luscious lace...or maybe even buy some new lace ;-)

Thanks for visiting and for any comments you leave,

Hugs,
Kat xx