Sunday 31 May 2015

Teacher Appreciation

Hello lovely peeps, hope you are all well.



I had a dig around for some of my Gorjuss stamps so I could make a card for the Sugar Nellie challenge and found one of my faves. This is so me as a child, I always had my head in a book!

We didn't do thank you cards for teachers when I was at school (many moons ago) but if I could go back in time there's a few favourites I would definitely make a card for.
I thought Mr Williams (business studies) was the coolest teacher ever. He was always changing his facial hair and was a teensy bit of a socialist.  Mr Davies (physics) was very funny, made the subject interesting and was the image of a mad scientist. Mr Robertson was my tutor and art teacher and always encouraged me, even though I was very mediocre at art.
They, and many others, were a very positive influence in my formative years (although the only change I make to my facial hair is to remove it constantly :D )

I'm sure you'll join me in giving a big 'hurrah' for teachers everywhere.


So, for this card I have used:-
'New Heights' Gorjuss stamp
Hobby Art Alphabet TYPED set.
Gorjuss patterned paper Cuttlebug folder
Brown. black and burgundy cardstock
Buttons from stash
Black Memento inkpad
 Graph'It markers and a couple of promarkers


I am entering this in the following challenges:-
Sugar Nellie Challenge Blog - Anything Goes
Crafting From The Heart - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Thank You
TTCRD - Anything Goes
Your next stamp  - Colour combo


Thanks for visiting, I'll be back tomorrow with my first Design Collective card for June.
Katrina x

Wednesday 27 May 2015

Country Lady Bird House

Afternoon peeps, hope you are all well.
I've decorated a little wooden birdhouse shape I bought at The Range with some LOTV papers.


I die-cut the bird and swirl from plain card and papers from the Country Lady 8x8 paper pad then glued the layers together before attaching them to the house.
The (Bigz) die is called Bird Scroll by Brenda Walton.

 
The flowers are punched from another paper in the pad using a papermania punch.
These are shaped with a ball tool before adding black adhesive pearls.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:-
Crafty Calendar Challenge - THINGS WITH WINGS
Crafts Galore - Anything Goes
Dream Valley -  Anything Goes
Crafting From The Heart - Anything Goes
Crafty Sentiments Designs - Anything but a card
TTCRD -  Anything Goes

Millie has decided it's time to sit on my lap now, so I'll sign off 'til next time :D
Katrina x

Sunday 24 May 2015

...If you don't mind, it doesn't matter

Morning All.


Just a quick post to show you the card I made for my friend Graeme who was 60 last week. I'm sure he would like me to point out that unlike the character on the card he still has all his own teeth!


I used decorative papers from First Edition and My Minds Eye, plus textured burgundy paper from Papermill (bought donkey's years ago)
'One of a Kind' stamp by Crafter's Companion, coloured with Graph'It markers
hair: 9403, 3210
skin: 4115, 4155, 4175
trousers: 3245, 3250, 3255
top/socks: 5140, 6150
shirt: 7110
Sentiment from the 'Little Voice' stamp set by IndigoBlu 
Twine and buttons from my stash.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:-

Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes + Option of a Sketch!
Crafts Galore  - Anything Goes!
Crafty Sentiments Designs  - Anything Goes
TTCRD  - Anything Goes

Should get a bit of crafting in today, there's no sunshine here to lure me outside :)
Hope you all have a good day,
Katrina x

Thursday 21 May 2015

Birthday Book

Good afternoon lovely peeps. Hope you are all well.



I've been having a play with my new toy!



After being inspired by my fellow LOTV teamie Donna's address book, I had a go at a birthday book.

I covered the 6x6 greyboard that came with my my Cinch with paper from the Beach Bliss paper pad by Lili of the Valley. I then spelled out 'Birthdays' with the Hobby Art Alphabet TYPED set.

I have been itching to use my new Bird Set stamps from Hobby Art, so I stamped the Bird on Branch with black Archival ink onto watercolour card and coloured it in with Whispers pens and a damp paintbrush.


I doodled lines around the edges with a black fineline pen and then glued it at a squiffy angle onto the front cover. I've added a skeleton leaf, flowers and buttons from my stash.

The inside pages are just squares of white card with the months spelled out using the same alphabet stamps again (rather stupidly I did this after I'd bound the book, so held my breath the entire time).


It's finished off with some co-ordinating organza ribbon tied to the spines.



I'm entering this into the following challenges:-

Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes + Option of a Sketch!
Graph'It colouring challenge  - Anything Square

That's all for now folks, I'll be back at the weekend.
Katrina x

Monday 18 May 2015

Seeing Double

  Evening All, hope you are well.

First I'd like to give a very warm welcome to my latest followers. 
Counting my email subscribers too I'm now into double figures. Yay!

I've had a go at some Clean and Simple cards today.
  This one is using a stamp called Dainties by Impression Obsessions (sorry, I've no clue who the sentiment stamp is by - I bought them without the packaging)


I stamped it onto three different papers from the Boho Chic 6x6 pad from First Editions and cut the shapes out. They have been glued onto white card and then matted onto another paper from the same pad.  Surprisingly I couldn't find a good colour match from my dozens and dozens of rolls of ribbon, so I finally settled on some orange spotty organza :D

 I'm entering this first card in the Loves Rubberstamps Challenge 'Add a Sentiment'
and the CAS challenge at Sweet Stampin


 My second card also uses the Boho Chic pad, but this time the stamp is from the 'Daisies' set by Sheena Douglass. I coloured in the centres with a pear green Promarker.

 
The border paper is actually from the 8x8 version of the paper pad - the 6x6 was too small for my DL card. So glad I bought it in both sizes, an advantage to being a hoarder :D

I'm entering this second card into the 'In the Garden' challenge at Papertake Weekly

That's all for now peeps. 
No crafting tomorrow as I'm off to give Daisy and Issie their new door hangers

Katrina x

Saturday 16 May 2015

Joy Cards

Evening Peeps.
Hope you are all well.

As I hinted on Wednesday, we did Joy Fold cards at club on Thursday evening.
Thank you to Suzanne for running it this time. She was feeling shy and didn't want to show her card, but here is the card that Mandi made. Isn't it sweet?



And this is the one I made at club:-


I used papers from the Prima Botanicals 6"x6" pad
thin white card
'Happy' die from Memory Box
Branch die by Marianne
Bird shape cut on my Craft Robo
Papermania flower punch
white pearls


I also had an idea for another one on Thursday but didn't have time to do much of it. It's got a lot more decoration inside because I wanted three panels but I managed to finish it today

 

Here's a better view of the outside

and here's the inside

For this card I used 
Country Gent and Enchantment 8 x 8 Paper Pads, all from Lili of the Valley
Kraft card
Watercolour card and Whispers pens
Die'sire icicles die for the grass
Victorian Picket Fence die from Cheery Lynn Design 
Letters cut on my Craft Robo


OH has kindly got our tea ready, so I'll leave you for now.
Enjoy your evening,
Katrina x

Wednesday 13 May 2015

Re-Cycling

Hello Peeps.

Just a quick post to show the birthday card I made for my youngest nephew Connor.



I've had an old Ordinance Survey map of North Cornwall lying around for ages, just waiting to be recycled for crafty purposes. I've spent many a happy hour wandering car boot sales looking for stuff I can make use of in my cards, but this is actually a much used map of my Dad's (miss you Dad x).

Anyway, before I start getting teary over an old piece of paper, here's what else I used:-
An image from the Action Time Art Pad  by LOTV.
Sentiments stamped with Handwritten Phrases by LOTV (I chopped and changed a few around to get the wording I wanted)
Arrows hand cut from grey card
Paper from Always and Forever - Solids Paper Pad pack by LOTV
Sizzix Texture Fades Embossing Folder -Notebook
Old Paper Distress Ink
  Viva Tree die by Poppystamps & white card
Brown card
Buttons from stash

That's all for now folks, I'll be back soon (possibly with a 'Joy Fold' card which I'm looking forward to making at card club tomorrow).

Thanks for stopping by, Katrina x

Sunday 10 May 2015

Ice Cream ...

... or was that I scream?

This is 'Uptown Girl - Isabelle Loves Ice Cream' by Stamping Bella.


I was trying to salvage a card where I'd mucked up the topper but liked the background.
After dragging it out of my pile of half-done projects I miraculously found nothing sticking to it or unwanted smudges! So far so good :D

So, I just needed to colour in my stamp again. No problem, right?

Unfortunately I've not quite got used to my new graph-it markers yet. 
It took me over an hour just to get the skirt right and now I've lost the will to craft.



I'm sure it will be back soon (say, after I've had my lunch).

Any hew, these are the graph-it markers I used (plus a blender)
 

Hope you're enjoying the weekend, whatever you're up to.
Thanks for stopping by,
Katrina x

Thursday 7 May 2015

Butterfly Heart

Hello lovely peeps, hope you are all well.

Before I show you my second LOTV card for May, I'd just like to tell you about the current special offer on their website. There's 15% off selected products, including the Perfect Pair paper pad that I made my door hanger with.



So, onto my card. Sorry the picture is a bit dark, we haven't seen much of the sun here lately!


I covered a 5.25" square card base with a paper from the Antebellum paper pad (which is also included in the offer) then tied some ribbon around the spine of the card.
I used some low-tack tape to temporarily attach a heart die to the front of the card, then filled the space with butterflies. These were cut with another paper from the Antebellum pad and an Impression Obsessions die. I folded each one around my pokey tool and dipped the centres into some PVA glue.

 I stamped 'with love' from the Handwritten Phrases set with Versamark and sprinkled on white embossing powder before heat-setting.

There is a 'for you' tag in the Sentiment Tags set but I decided that the font from the Sentiments to fit scroll set matched better. So I took the 'for you' from the scroll set and stamped it inside the blank tag from the Christmas Sentiment Tags set. I don't half make life difficult for myself sometimes :D

Well, that's all from me for now, I'm going to be a good girl and go do my arm exercises.
Katrina x

Tuesday 5 May 2015

Thinking of You

Hello Peeps,

Just a simple card today which I made for a neighbour whose dog died.


Emboss the front of an ice blue pearlescent card blank (from Anna Marie Designs) using the 'Make a Wish' embossing folder by Die'sire.

Cut a tag shape from shrink plastic and punch a hole in it. Edge with pale blue pearlescent chalk and stamp the greeting in black Stazon ink - I used 'Written Greetings' from Stamps Away.

Heat with your heat gun to shrink it and then tie pale blue organza ribbon through the hole.
Attach to the card with silicon glue.


I'm entering this into the Papertake Weekly challenge - Anything Goes + No Patterned Paper!
 The winner will receive a Lili of the Valley voucher so I'm keeping my fingers crossed all week :)

Thanks for stopping by, hope you all have a great week.
Katrina x

Saturday 2 May 2015

Daisy's Door Hanger

Morning lovely peeps. 
Here's my first LOTV Design Collective make for May:-



Recipe:-
Stamp My Favourite Friends onto Neenah solar card, colour in the skin with alcohol markers and cut the whole image out.  Stamp again onto several different papers from the Perfect Pair and Always and Forever - Solids Paper Pads (all from LOTV). Cut out the dress, boots, drawers and bears from the patterned papers and glue them onto the coloured version.

Cover the door hanger with more papers and glue the finished image just above the border strip.
Add die cut letters to spell the recipients name (I used an X-Cut alphabet, I think it's called Centurion).
Decorate with an acetate butterfly, flowers, dotty ribbon, adhesive pearls and buttons (all from my stash)

I have also entered this into the following challenges:-
Graph It - Ribbons and lace
Crazy Challenge - Cute as a button
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Hope you all have a lovely weekend,
Katrina x