Saturday, 28 December 2013

Tags

Hello lovely people,

It was back to work for me on Friday but I thought I would prolong the festive spirit just a little longer and share the tags I made this year.
I decided to make my life as easy as possible and go for the same basic design in 2 sizes and just make each one a little different with the DP and snowflakes.
I used a circle die to cut the semi circle at the top and then cut the fishtail at the bottom by hand.


...


I used a variety of white organza and satin ribbons plus a little twine to tie them onto the presents.  Sorry for the poor photos but the light was terrible and I couldn't fit these all in my light box...and I couldn't wait any longer to get on with opening the presents!



Tag recipe;
DP: Maja Designs Vintage Frost Basics
Dies: Impression Obsession small snowflake set

I would like to enter the tags in the following challenges;
1.  LOTV (anything but a card - hope it's ok that I just used the sentiment stamps)
2.  Cute Card Thursday (anything goes)
3.  Top Tip Tuesday (Christmas)

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend; I am having a quiet one in my craft room playing with my new craft goodies :-)  Although I have stopped for the evening now as I'm not sure crafting whilst drinking mead is a good plan!

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

Hugs,
Kat xx

Thursday, 26 December 2013

Fairy magic

Hello lovely people,

That's it; Christmas Day is over for another year and I hope you had a fabulous day with your loved ones.
I had a lovely quiet day at home with Dr Hubby and my parents, eating lots of yummy food and sharing a few drinks.  I even snuck into my craft room for an hour or so, making for a perfect day :-)

I have a card to share today with a GORGEOUS little fairy drawn by the talented Wendy Burns of All Dressed Up Stamps.



Isn't she a cutie?  She isn't available in the shop so I apologise for teasing you but I just had to share her with you anyway!  I paper pieced the wings and added a few pearls to the butterflies.





Card recipe;
DP: MME
Sentiment: Kaisercraft mini sentiment stamp set
Fancy edge: Martha Stewart edge punch

Copic colours;
Skin: E0000/000/00/11/21
Hair: E57/47/49
Dress / bow: R37/39/89
Butterflies: YR30/Y21/Y23/YR21/YR23
Ground: T0/1/2

Today I will be checking in with all of Dr Hubby's family including our niece and nephews so it will doubtless be a much noisier affair than yesterday and involve more toys!

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

Hugs,
Kat xx

Thursday, 19 December 2013

Crafty Little Fairies - anything goes

Hello lovely people,

Christmas is so very nearly here but there's still time for one last challenge at Crafty Little Fairies and all the pink and blue fairies are joining in this time with our theme of...

ANYTHING GOES

We are lucky enough to have TWO sponsors this week;



Now, I am very happy to report that I finished all my Christmas cards and they were all posted on Monday :-)  However, I have a habit of buying lots of Christmas stamps and not getting round to using them all, and this year was no different with a gorgeous James bear stamp from LOTV un-inked.  Well, that just wouldn't do so here he is...



It is a bit of a 'greatest hits' card for me with my fave Maja Design papers, my fave snowflake dies and some seam binding tied with twine but it all just works for me :-)
James is in his favourite blue scarf and hat and there is a touch of sparkle from some Stardust Stickles on the snow.



Card recipe;
DP: vintage frost basics - Maja Designs
Dies: small snowflake set from Impression Obsession

Copic colours;
Fur: E40/41/42/43
Hat  /scarf: B91/93/95/97 & T0/1 on furry bits
Mallet / signpost: E44/47/49
Sign: T8/9/10/100 (hat) & YR18/27 (nose) & T0/1/2
Ground: T0/1/2

This challenge will run for 2 weeks to give all of us Fairies a chance to rest our wings over Christmas and we will be back with a new challenge on 2nd January 2014!  There are so many gorgeous cards to inspire you over at Crafty Little Fairies and I hope you find some time over the festive period to join in :-)

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

Hugs,
Kat xx


Challenges I am entering;
1.  Inky Chicks (Christmas)
2.  As You Like It (fave Christmas stamp - well, for now it is because I am so happy I finally got to use him!)
3.  Papertake Weekly (last Christmas)
4.  Top Tip Tuesday (snowflakes)
5.  ABC (blue, bows and bling)

Sunday, 15 December 2013

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;
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

Thursday, 12 December 2013

I'm dreaming of a PINK Christmas...

Hello lovely people,

I think I actually have enough Christmas cards made now but that hasn't stopped me making a few extras seeing as I have so many lovely Christmas stamps and some gorgeous Christmas DP!

So, if you are still enjoying making Christmas cards then our new challenge at In The Pink is perfect for you with our theme of...

PINK CHRISTMAS

I think pink is a fabulous choice for Christmas cards (surprise surprise!) and I just happen to have a wonderful selection of pretty pink Maja Designs paper to choose from ;-)






I really wanted to have a go at paper piecing this image as I thought it would look good and be a great way to have the presents co-ordinate with the rest of the card.  It was a weeny bit fiddly to do but I love the finished result :-)   I added details with my Copics and some Stardust Stickles to the scarf.

 I have made a border with my individual snowflake dies again and also used them behind the sentiment.  I've kept the layout really simple this time, just adding my fave ribbon/twine combo to finish it off :-)




Card recipe;
DP: Vintage Frost Basics - Maja Designs
Dies: Memory Box small snowflake set 

Copic colours;
Penguin: T8/9/10 & YR21/31 & T0/1/blender
Present details: R56 & E47
Scarf shading: RV91
Ground: T0/1/2/3

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Sweet Stampin' (ribbons)
2.  A Gem of a Challenge (anything goes)
3.  Papertake Weekly (Christmas creatures)

So come on and show us your pretty pink Christmas cards and if you are in need of any more inspiration, head over to In The Pink and see what the rest of the Pink Ladies have created :-)

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

Hugs,
Kat xx

Monday, 9 December 2013

A bit of fancy folding

Hello lovely people,

Oh dear, it seems I'm going to have to apologise again for not visiting you all as much as I would like and not posting much of late.  You see, there's this little thing called Christmas on the way and it has somewhat distracted me recently!  On the positive side, I think I have completed all my Christmas shopping and made all the cards I need :-)

So, I am sharing one of my Christmas cards today and it's another fancy fold card.  This is a buckle card that I first saw on Lynsey's blog here and thought it was soooo gorgeous that I just had to give it a go.


The buckle strip tucks in behind the image and into a slot cut in the front section - all the instructions are on an All Dressed Up blog post here.  The card will stand up if you just pull the buckle open a little.  You will see that I moved the buckle up a bit higher than on Lynsey's card; it's easy to adapt the instructions to do this.


I have used this LOTV image every single year since I got it and although it's hard to choose just one favourite, I think this would be it!
The stocking is paper pieced with matching DP; doesn't it look cosy?  Do you think I could get one in my size?!
I also added some fine white glitter to the fluffy bits on the stocking top and hats but as usual it's not showing up as well as I would like in the photos :-(


I kept the embellies simple, just some snowflakes and a swirl; I didn't want to cover up the gorgeous DP too much to be honest!



Card recipe;
DP: Vintage Frost Basics - Maja Designs
Dies: Memory Box small snowflake set, Spellbinders timeless rectangles, swirl cut with Cricut

Copic colours;
Bunnies: E40/41/42 & Rv0000/000
Hat (upper): B91/93/95 & T0/1/2
Hat (lower): B95/97/99 & T1/2/3
Leavs: BG93/96/99
Berries: R39/89
Bow: R89/RV99
Boot shading: T3/4

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  A Creative Romance (sparkle at Christmas)
2.  A Little Bit Crafty (Christmas cheer)
3.  That Craft Place (Christmas)
4.  ABC (A is for almost Christmas)

I hope you are all getting organised for Christmas and feeling the festive spirit!  Next on my list is to get some decorations up!

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

Hugs,
Kat xx

Thursday, 5 December 2013

Candy Stripes at Crafty Little Fairies

Hello lovely people,

I am having a lovely couple of days off work at the moment and trying to get organised for Christmas...not sure I'm succeeding all that well!

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

CANDY STRIPES

So we are looking for stripes of white and another colour, usually red, or maybe some actual candy canes on your creation.  I had to rummage for quite some time for something suitable before I remembered some Christmas DP I had left over from 2 years ago.  It was one of my favourite DPs and there were only scraps left so I had to be quite creative in using them.



This theme was the perfect excuse to use one of the Saturated Canary images that I got on a CD ROM with a magazine because she has a candy cane!  And she is just adorable and fabulous fun to colour up :-)


I'm enjoying making different fancy fold cards at the moment so did a stepper design here; it's great because once the panels are stitched and layered they don't need a lot of embellishment.  I did break out my new holly vine die which I have been waiting for the right card to use!


Card recipe;
Image: Candy Cane Elf - Saturated Canary (not available in the store)
DP: North Pole collection - Crate Paper
Dies: holly vine - Memory Box
Fancy edge: Martha Stewart edge punch

Copic colours;
Skin: E0000/000/00/11/21 & R30
Hair / boots: E44/47/49 (& black on boots)
Eyes: E43/44
Red on hat / leggings: R27/29/39
Green hat / leggings / dress: YG13/17/67
Candy cane: R24/27/29 & C00/0/1

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Papertake Weekly (anything goes)
2.  Divas by Design (feeling festive)
3.  As You Like It (fave digi - I adore the Saturated Canary images as they are so beautiful and fun to colour and the newest addition to my collection is always my fave!)
4.  The Ribbon Girl (christmas)


The rest of the Fairies have made some lovely candy striped cards so do pop over to Crafty Little Fairies to check them out.

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

Hugs,
Kat xx

Thursday, 28 November 2013

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; 
DP: a mix of Vintae Autumn Basics and Vintage Frost Basics - Maja Design
Flowers: Memory box die
Lace: from stash

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

Tuesday, 26 November 2013

Twinkle twinkle little star

Hello lovely people,

I have been playing with the gorgeous All Dressed Up stamps again and the only problem with them is deciding which one to use next!  The range of Christmas stamps is gorgeous and you haven't seen them all yet as there will be another release to coincide with our next challenge on 2nd December :-)

I have had another CAS moment with this card - I think it's because I like to let these sweet images take centre stage!
I often like to ink the edge of my DP but for CAS cards it doesn't always feel right so I have recently been dabbing some white acrylic paint around the edge instead and it gives a lovely soft finish.


This little cutie demanded a little touch of sparkle with some Glamour Dust and I cropped the star off the image then printed it separately onto DP and added it back on where I wanted it.


Card recipe;
DP: December Documented - Simple Stories
Acrylic paint: Adirondack Paint Dabber in Snowcap

Copic colours;
Skin: E0000/000/00/21/11
Hair: E41/42/43
Dress: BG10/11/23/13
Bunny / ground: T0/1/2/3
Wings: RV0000/blender
Presents: R81/83/85 and as for dress

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  Totally Gorjuss (a child's Christmas)
2.  Sweet Stampin' (cause for celebration)
3.  That Craft Place (stars)

If you like this card then you can buy the gorgeous ADU images in the Etsy shop, stop by our inspiring ADU blog (unless you already came from there!) and maybe even enter our current challenge.

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

Hugs,
Kat xx

Sunday, 24 November 2013

A pink Christmas

Hello lovely people,

This weekend is a fairly quiet one at home for me so I have been doing a spot of Christmas shopping and making some more Christmas cards.  The one I have to share with you today is a simple design that I can make several of fairly quickly and easily.

I recently bought some fantastic spotty card from Anna Marie Designs in 12 gorgeous colours but no surprises which colour I reached for first!



Yes, it's James bear again but he is showing his feminine side in pink today!  I coloured him a little paler than previously and added Stardust Stickles to the snowflakes and the snow on the ground.


There are some gorgeous snowflake border dies out there but I don't have any of them so I used my favourite snowflake die set to make my own!
I also sponged some white acrylic paint round the edge of the DP to add to the snowy feel and love how it turned out.


Card recipe;
Dies: Impression Obsession small snowflake set

Copic colours;
James bear: E40/41/42
Scarf / hat: R81/83/85

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges;
1.  LOTV (pink and white)
2.  As You Like It (spots or stripes - spots for me - I just think they look super stylish!)
3.  A Gem of a Challenge (sparkles)

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend, thanks for visiting me and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Hugs,
Kat xx