back to business

Wow, I can't believe it's two weeks since I blogged! I had a wonderful holiday in Switzerland which I ended up extending, and since then it's taken me a while to get back into the swing of things - not helped my a missing mojo - must have left it half way up a Swiss mountain!

Then this weekend came and went - almost entirely dedicated to cricket! (Although I did get a bit of crafting done while listening and a mammoth mountain of ironing done while watching, so not a totally lost weekend!)

Yesterday was a great great day - for cricket fans like myself, and non-fans alike I'm sure, who joined the nation's collective roar when we won back The Ashes. Now I love my Aussie friends dearly and I love Australia but there's not much love lost (in a very sporting sense of course!) when it comes to sport between our nations is there lol! (Plus it's nice to actually win something for a change isn't it!)

So what with one thing and another last week's Inspiration and Themes challenge on In Love With Stamping got rather delayed... I did get round to it eventually and chose a very simple 'baby' theme.

Here's my sample (which will be going to my cousin who's just had a beautiful baby girl):


Recipe:

Stamps - Fun and Fast Notes
Ink - Memento
Card/Paper - Whisper White/So Saffron/Pretty in Pink
Other - Circle Nestabilites/Tag Dies (Spellbinder)/ So Saffron striped ribbon/scallop edge punch/Copic Sketch markers/sewing machine

Any readers of our Papertrey blog might want to head over there for news of changes and a brand new challenge - this fortnight it's all about CAS cards, here's my sample:




And here's a little project I also posted on the Papertrey blog a few days ago using my Spellbinders butterfly dies which have been gathering dust:


Thanks for visiting!

Kate x

Inspiration...

This was the inspiration piece I chose for last week's Inspiration and Themes Challenge at In Love With Stamping:


I love the fresh and clean lines and colours of this bed linen from John Lewis - no wonder my eye was drawn to it - it's my favourite mix of aqua, neutrals and yellow.... in fact it's a pretty good match for the colours I chose for my blog design isn't it!

Here is the card I made based on the picture - the colours I chose were Sahara Sand, Whisper White, So Saffron, Close to Cocoa and Sage Shadow.

I used my brand spankin new Swiss Cheese fiskars punch for the bottom Close to Cocoa layer - fun isn't it! The Sage Shadow layer was stamped with the same colour ink with the Sanded background stamp and used Stampin Up markers to colour the sentiment. I really like this card (am I allowed to say that lol!)

Recipe: (Stampin Up unless stated)
Stamps - Occasional Greetings/Sanded backgrounder
Ink - Sage Shadow/Markers - Close to Cocoa, Sage Shadow, So Saffron
Card - Whisper White/Sahara Sand/Close to Cocoa/Sage Shadow
Paper - So Saffron DSP
Other - Scallop border punch/Swiss Cheese border punch (Fiskars)/Labels Four dies (Spellbinder)/buttons (Papertrey Ink)/linen thread/Kraft ribbon

For any Papertrey fans - we've set a new challenge over on A Passion for Papertrey today, to make a card with at least two flowers on it, here's my sample:


Thanks for visiting and have a great week, see you soon I hope!

Kate x

Inspired by

I forgot to post the card from last week's Themes and Inspirations Challenge on ILWS on here (must be the sun!) - here's the inspiration piece I chose:


It's a cushion I found while browsing through Etsy - the design immediately jumped out at me. Unfortunately I didn't bookmark the page so can't credit the designer so if anyone knows please let me know.

Here's my card based on the picture:

The gorgeous swirl is from the Baroque Motifs set, and I used the small flower from the set to stamp a border around the sentiment.

Recipe:
Stamps - Baroque Motifs/Sincere Salutations
Ink - Ruby Red/Basic Black
Card - Very Vanilla/Ruby Red/Basic Black
Other - Petite Oval Nestabilities/Sewing machine/stickles

We set a new challenge on A Passion for Papertrey this week too, here's my card for the challenge, all details on the blog.


Thanks for visiting today!

Kate x

Inspiration Challenge

Time for another Inspiration and Themes Challenge over at In Love With Stamping.

Here's the inspiration piece I chose - from The Designer's Guild, it's such a great place to find inspiration!


And here's the card I came up with based on the image - I love the black, white and pink combination,


I stamped the small flower stamp from Live Your Dream with black in to replicate the wallpaper. The main flower image was inked up with markers, then cut out.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kate x

Recipe:
(All Stampin Up unless otherwise stated)

Stamps: Live Your Dream/Sincere Salutations
Ink: Basic Black/ markers - Green Galore, Pink Passion
Card: Whisper White/Basic Black/Pink Passion
Other: Petite Oval Nestabilites (Spellbinders)/Crafter's Tool Kit

Rose inspiration

Happy Monday everyone, I hope everyone had a lovely weekend, wasn't the weather fab! I had a lovely morning on Saturday - I did a Stampin' Up! workshop for a lovely lovely group of ladies in Bridgwater. I want to say a big thank you to Rosy and all the lovely ladies at WestField Craft Club for making me feel so welcome!

This is the inspiration piece I chose for last week's Inspiration and Themes challenge on In Love With Stamping:


The picture is from Harlequin Textiles and Fabrics, and here is my card based on it:



Recipe:
(All supplies Stampin Up unless stated)

Stamp - A Rose is a Rose Ink - Regal Rose/Pretty in Pink/Old Olive
Card - Old Olive/Pretty in Pink/Regal Rose/Whisper White
Paper - Holiday Treasures
Other - Hodgepodge Hardware/scallop edge punch/Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder/Regal Rose Grosgrain ribbon

And today we've set another challenge over on A Passion For Papertrey, here's my sample for the challenge:



Finally I'd like to thank the Stamp With Us girls for choosing my flower pot card as one of their Top Five for last week's challenge - thanks so much and congrats to the other ladies who won too!

Thanks for visiting!

Inspirations

I love fashion, I love design and I love taking inspiration for the latest trends for my papercrafting projects.

For today's Inspiration and Themes Challenge over on In Love With Stamping I chose this picture from the current Boden catalogue. Oh yep, and I love Boden too! Such wonderful colours and fantastic design detail - always a great source of inspiration for stamping.... and a great way to use your credit card too ;)



I'm loving the grey and yellow combinations we're seeing so much this season so I chose the dress on the left for my inspiration.


I used Going Grey and So Saffron and aren't they just fabulous together!! The stamp set is Soft Summer in the new Mini catalogue, and I love it. I stamped the Polka Dot backgrounder with Grey ink on the So Saffron base layer, then coloured the image with Copic markers.

The sentiment is one of the Circle of Friendship stamps, with part of the side cut off. The white vertical strip is punched with the spiral punch.

Ok, that's it for me - I have some choc-chip ice cream and some Sex and The City episodes to kick back with, still love those gals (and New York....sigh!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe:
Stamps - Soft Summer/Circle of Friendship/Polka Dot backgrounder
Ink - Going Grey
Cardstock - Whisper White/Going Grey/So Saffron
Other - Crafter's Tool Kit/circle punches/white brads/spiral punch/Copic markers/grey taffeta ribbon/yellow button

lotsa circles

The Inspiration and Themes challenge over on In Love with Stamping yesterday was 'circles' - and these cards are what I came up with for it. I hadn't used my Seeing Spots stamp set much and fell in love with this colour combination - Real Red, So Saffron and Tempting Turquoise - so played around and made three different cards.

The first one is based on an old Taylor Van Bruggen sketch - the turqouise panels were embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder. I stamped the thank you circles in Real Red then used the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to position the flower stamp inside.



For the second one I used the same circle and flower stamps and again punched out the circles with the 1 1/4 inch and 1 3/8 inch circle punches.



For the last one I used the solid flower stamp from the set and used the scallop circle punch for the middle circle. I again rounded the bottom corners with the corner rounder punch.

So there we are - a whole lotta circles and a cheery colour combo on such a dreary day to boot!! I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend with plenty of stamping!

Recipe -
Stamps - Seeing Spots
Ink - Real Red/Tempting Turquoise/So Saffron
Card/paper - Real Red/Tempting Turquoise/So Saffron/Le jardin papers
Other - corner rounder punch/circle punches - 1 inch, 1 1/4 inch, 1 3/8/scallop circle punch/ crafter's tool kit/ swiss dots embossing folder/ brads/Stamp-A-Ma-Jig

Colour challenge

This was my card for the most recent Colour Combo Challenge set by Carole over at In Love With Stamping. We were challenged to use Basic Gray, Certainly Celery and Ballet Blue - I adore this colour combination! Very trendy!

Stamps are Pocket Silhouettes and the sentiment is from the Level 1 Hostess Set, Best Yet. The tiny butterfly is from Live Your Dream, cut out and adhered with glue dots.

I used my markers to colour the sentiment in the blue and green, layered it on punched out circles. The grey base layer of the sentiment was punched out with the scallop circle punch; I then punched out the scallops with my 1/8th circle punch to make the lacey effect. The ribbon was threaded through a ribbon slider from the hodgepodge hardware kit to provide some interest.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Recipe -
(All Stampin Up unless stated)

Stamps - Pocket Silhouettes/Best Yet/Live Your Dream
Ink - Basic Grey/Certainly Celery/Ballet Blue
Card - Whisper White/Basic Grey/Certainly Celery/Ballet Blue
Other - cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder/circle punches - 1/8, 1 1/4, 1 1 3/8/scallop circle punch/ certainly celery grosgrain ribbon/hodgepodge hardware/brads

male birthday

Yesterday's Inspiration and Themes Challenge at In Love With Stamping is men - or rather to make a card for a man, not easy is it?!

I like this colour combo for masculine cards - Bashful Blue, Choc Chip and Very Vanilla. The star from the In the Stars set was stamped in Chocolate Chip ink and punched out with the star punch - I love that it co-ordinates perfectly with this stamp...so easy!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Recipe
(All Stampin Up)
Stamps - In the Stars
Ink - Chocolate Chip
Card - Chocolate Chip/Bashful Blue/Very Vanilla
Other - Star punch/crafter's tool kit/cuttlebug embossing folder/linen thread

Spotty thank you

This was my sample for last week's Inspiration and Themes challenge on In Love With Stamping - I took inspiration from the Cath Kidston dotty fabric and came up with this. I wanted something clean and zingy and this colour combo dies the job!

I used the Seeing Spots set, masking the circles as I stamped them using eclipse tape.

Thanks for visiting today!

Recipe
(All supplies Stampin Up)

Stamps - Seeing Spots/Wonderful Words
Ink - Tempting Turqoise/Real Red/So Saffron
Card - Whisper White/Tempting Turqoise/Real Red/So Saffron
Other - brads/eclipse tape

colour challenges

Isn't all this snow gorgeous!! It's a particular big deal for those of us down in the West Country as a snowfall this heavy is a very rare ocurrence! It's just magical isn't it?! I love how quiet and serene everything feels with a heavy snowfall, just mesmerising! Even better that it brings out the little kid in us ;)

Today's cards are two Colour Combo Challenges from In Love With Stamping. The first is last week's effort - the combo was Lovely Lilac, Barely Banana, Chocolate Chip and Gable Green. This really was a challenge - that Gable Green just wasn't doing it for me! This is what I came up with after a lot of mucking around - it's been a while since I made a circle card....




The circles were die cut with nestabilities (making sure to leave a few scallops uncut as a hinge at the top), the Barely Banana layer is embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder.

The stars are from the In the Stars set, cut out and mounted with dimensionals. The '4U' are from On Board Lots of Letters (retired) that I coloured with markers.

Recipe:
(All supplies Stampin Up unless otherwise stated)
Stamps - In the Stars
Card - Chocolate Chip/Barely Banana/Gable Green/Lovely Lilac
Other - Circle nestabilities/cuttlebug/Swiss Dots embossing folder/linen thread/On Board Lots of Letters/Lovely Lilac and Gable Green markers



The next card is for a colour challenge from a few week's ago when I was without my laptop. The colours were Real Red, So Saffron and Regal Rose.




The flowers are from the Best Wishes and More set - stamped once in Real Red then again in So Saffron. I cut the flowers out then punched out the inner circle of the So Saffron flower with the 1/2 inch circle punch and layered it on the red flower.

You can't see it very well from the picture but the red base is stamped with the sanded backgrounder with Real Red ink.

Recipe
(All supplies Stampin Up)

Stamps - Best Wishes and More/Sanded backgrounder/Best Yet (sentiment)
Ink - Real Red/So Saffron/Basic Black
Card - Real Red/Regal Rose/So Saffron
Other - pink brad/scallop punch/1/2 inch circle punch/Real Red grosgrain ribbon

Thanks for stopping by - enjoy the snow if you have it, and keep safe and warm!

Belated challenge

Just catching up on posts I missed when I was 'off radar' - Carole's Colour Combo challenge last week on In Love With Stamping was a fun, bright one - she took colours from Stampin Up's Rainbow Sherbet papers - Tempting Turquoise, Gable Green, Green Galore and Apricot appeal. I don't think I'd ever have put them together but that's what great about challenges! Anyway, anything with turquoise is A-OK by me!


The flowers are stamped using the Polka Dot Punches Sale-A-Bration set (offer still on til Feb 28th - a free set from the Sale-A-Bration catalogue with every £45 you spend from the main catalogue - contact me if you're interested!) I punched them out with the 5-Petal Flower Punch which it's designed to fit. Turquoise brads added to the flower centres then mounted onto squares punched out with the Scallop Square Punch.

The sentiment is a single 'friend to friend' stamp from the Pocket Silhouettes set, stamped repeatedly with the help of the Stamp-a-ma-jig to get the placement right.

Such a wet, gloomy day here but I spied the first snowdrops of the year poking up through the earth, lovely to see the first signs of spring!

Recipe:
(All supplies Stampin Up unless stated )

Stamps - Polka Dot Punches/Pocket Silhouettes
Ink - Greet Galore/Tempting Turquoise/Basic Black
Cardstock - Whisper White/Gable Green/Green Galore/Tempting Turquoise
Other - cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder/turquoise brads/dimensionals

One of a kind

I love challenges - they really expand your creativity. Carole sets great colour combo challenges fortnightly on In Love With Stamping and this week's is Old Olive, Pixie Pink and Whisper White, I don't think I would have put this together myself so it was fun to play along! I ditched the first card I made (too much pink!) and much prefer this attempt.

The top half of the card is covered with paper from the I Wish scrapping kit, and on the bottom half I stamped the small flower from the set with Old Olive ink.

All stamps are from Stampin' Up's One of a Kind set - I stamped the flower in Old Olive ink, coloured it with a Pixie Pink marker then cut it out. The scallops on the pink layer were made with the scallop edge punch.

Right, gotta run - the final of Strictly Come Dancing is about to start -YAY, so excited! For my overseas visitors this is the UK version of Dancing With the Stars and it's safe to say I'm a HUGE fan! So if you're watching - enjoy! And a big hello to my blogging buddy Bekka who is going to a Strictly party - have fun girl! I think I'm going to get major withdrawal symptoms on Saturdays after this week lol!

See you soon I hope!

Recipe: (all supplies SU)
Stamps - One of a kind
Ink - Old Olive/Pixie Pink marker
Card/Paper - Old Olive/Pixie Pink/Whisper White/paper from I Wish scrapping kit
Other - Scallop edge punch/Corner rounder punch/silver brad from hodgepodge hardware/dimensionals/stamp-a-ma-jig

ILWS challenge

I've set a new Inspiration and Themes Challenge today on In Love With Stamping - I hope you'll be able to head over there and play along!

Taking inspiration from the Christmas ornaments I came up with 2 cards. The first uses A Holly Jolly Christmas set from SU.


I embossed the tree with gold ink and clear e.p and cut it and matted it with long-rectangle nesties. The bottom half of the card is embossed with the snowflakes cuttlebug folder. I paper pierced around the top of the card, rounded the bottom corners, added gold ribbon and gold dew drops.

Recipe:
Stamps - A Holly Jolly Christmas (SU)
Ink - Encore gold
Card - Very Vanilla (SU)/Gold (Papertrey)
Other - Long rectangle nestabilities/Cuttlebug/gold ribbon/gold cord/gold dew drops/Crafter's Tool Kit (SU)

The second card uses a Cornish Heritage Farms image - I stamped this with a glue pad and added gold glitter for some serious sparkle!




Again I used the cuttlebug snowflakes embossing folder, nesties, gold ribbon and some gold pearls.

Recipe:
Stamps - Trumpeting Angel (CHF)
Ink - Tsukinenko glue pad
Card - Very Vanilla (SU)/Gold (Papertrey)
Other - Scalloped nestabilities/Cuttlebug/snowflakes embossing folder/gold ribbon/gold pearls

Thanks for stopping by today !

Live your dream colour challenge

I really should start reading challenges more observantly!! This card was for In Love With Stamping's Colour Combo challenge last week - to use Really Rust, Basic Grey and Very Vanilla. That's Very Vanilla, NOT Whisper White as I used... Oh well! I'm pretty sure looking at it now I would have preferred the softer cream but hey-ho, not going to rip it apart and start over now!

I used a Really Rust marker and basic grey ink on the flowers from the Live Your Dream set then cut and embossed the image with the long rectangle nesties. Paper is from the retired Fall Flowers Designer Papers.

I didn't have any flowers that matched exactly so I coloured some with Copic markers, finally I paper pierced around the card and sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by today - I'll be setting a new Inspiration and Themes challenge on In Love With Stamping on Thursday so I hope you'll be able to play!

Recipe:
Stamps - Live Your Dream (SU)
Ink - Really Rust marker (SU)/Basic Grey/Versafine Black
Card/Paper - Whisper White/Basic Grey/Really Rust/Fall Flowers DSP (All SU)
Other - Long rectangle nestabilites/Cuttlebug/white flowers/Copic markers/Crafter's Tool Kit(SU)/ grey brads

Craft fair and a challenge

Happy Saturday everyone - I hope all your holiday plans are going well! This is a picture of me at a Christmas craft fair in my village today, actually this was the only time I sat down all day! I should have taken a photo at the beginning not half way through when I'd sold quite a lot and my table had got a bit messy but I was busy chatting to friends and customers and totally forgot!

For the fair I made lots of cards, reindeer food, journals, tree ornaments and a few other bits and bobs.... it was definitely worth all the effort of making everything. It was really interesting seeing which style cards and which projects people wanted to buy too.

I shared a table with a lovely lady who makes the most fabulous home-made soaps (even an amazing chocolate one...yummm!) and the village hall looked so festive - christmas songs, a roaring log fire, warm mince pies - a really lovely atmosphere and I had a great time!



Time for some cards! The Anything Goes challenge on In Love With Stamping was to create a card with no layers, but embellishments allowed. These have to be the quickest cards I've ever made and although I'm a kinda layer girl I had fun with the simplicity of these.



I made this one first and I think it's my favourite of the two but after i'd made it I wanted to see what it looked like reversing the colours. I also overcame my aversion to letting the ribbon show on the inside of the card (only cos I had to but it wasn't that painful LOL!!)

I used the tree from Stampin Up's A Holly Jolly Christmas and a sentiment from SU's Wonderful Words. On the black card I embossed the images with white ep, rounded the bottom corners, and added lots of blingy rhinestones.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Recipe
Stamps - A Holly Jolly Christmas/Wonderful Words (SU)
Ink - Basic Black (SU)/Versmark
Card - Whisper White/Basic Black (SU)
Other - white e.p/ black and white ribbons/ rhinestones/ corner rounder punch

Inspiration Challenge and Happy Thanksgiving

Today is Inspiration and Themes Challenge day on ILWS. For this week's challenge I've chosen a seasonal and topical for some of us in the UK - Snow!

For this card I wanted to create the homespun look that I love so much - red, white, kraft, gingham and stitching definitely achieves this rustic, homely style I think.




I embossed the snowflakes from SU's Best Wishes and More set onto kraft paper and sponged the edges with white pigment ink, then sewed it onto the real red card base. ( I have finally got my grandmother's sewing machine working again - yay! I love it, it's a pale blue 1960s Singer, not the most advanced machine ever but does the basics. My grandmother was the most amazing seamstress and I love that I'm now using her machine for my own craft work, she's not with us any more but I know she would have loved that. I also love it because it is truly vintage and y'know I adore anything vintage, especially when it's the real mackoy! It fits in perfectly with the vintage style of my craft room - thanks Nana!)

Back to the card :) The tag stamp is from SU's Perfect Presents set and punched out with the tag punch. The tags are 'hung' on gingham ribbon to look like a banner. I tied more gingham bows inbetween the tags, added those uber-cute red heart buttons that were tied with linen thread.

Thought I'd post these wooden heart decorations too - these are for a craft fair I'm doing next weekend. Again I wanted to make something in a folk art/homespun style, so again I went for red and white (yes it is one of my all time favourite colour combos!)


I painted some plain wooden hearts with red acrylic paint, stamped a polka dot backgrounder with white acrylic paint, sanded the edges and added a tin folk heart and bead onto the linen thread. I really like these and might keep a couple for my tree!

And finally! I want to wish a VERY happy Thanksgiving to all my Americal blogging friends and also to all those living in America. I hope you have a wonderful time with your family and friends.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe:

Card-
Stamps - Perfect Presents/Best Wishes and More (both SU)
Ink - White pigment(Adirondack)/Real Red (SU)
Card - Kraft/Real Red/Whisper White
Other - clear e.p/gingham ribbon/red heart buttons, linen thread(SU)/tag punch(SU)/sewing machine

Ornaments-
Wooden Hearts (Panduro Hobby)/red and white acrylic paints/polka dot backgrounder/tin folk hearts/red beads/linen thread/sand paper