Geometric challenge

Hi all! I'm just getting back into the swing of things after a fabulous salsa holiday in Mallorca last week - throwing 260 salsa dancers together in the Spanish sun, dancing all day and night makes for a very fun  holiday. Lots of laughs, lots of happy memories... dancing is the best thing for the soul!

So when I was away I didn't get to post my card for the latest challenge on A Passion for Papertrey. I had a lot of fun making my card, breaking out my Tranquility Trilogy set and dies for the first time. I die cut and stamped the triangles, then arranged them to make a hexagon.

Recipe: Stamps: Tranquillity TrilogyInk: Ripe Avocado, Versafine black Card: Stamper's Select White/Ripe AvocadoOther: Double Ended Banner Dies/gems

 So if you're stamping this weekend and have some PTI supplies to hand why not join our challenge?!

Wishing you a lovely weekend!

Hugs

 

Miraculous

Well, this is a minor miracle. I have made a Christmas card in September! That, I'm sure is a first. Now to keep them coming instead of waiting until the middle of December as I normally do!

This is my sample for our current challenge on A Passion for Papertrey - to make a card featuring a tag. I went for on of my favourite festive colour combos - red, cream and kraft.

Recipe:
Stamps: Tiny Treats Christmas, Fillable Frames 9
Card: Kraft, Vintage Cream
Paper: 2008 Bitty Dot Basics
Ink: Memento black, Vintage Cream
Other: Fillable Frames 9 die, Pure Poppy button, twine, Corner Chomper, Copic markers

Got to dash, Downton Abbey is about to start - I'm a sucker for a good costume drama!

Hugs, 

Happy New Year!

Recipe:
Stamps - Santa (Hero Arts)
Paper - Cosmo Cricket
Other - Aqua Mist ribbon (PTI)/Copic Markers/White gel pen/sewing machin/red brads/oval punches (SU)


So this my last Christmas card of 2009 to share, and now 2010 is just around the corner!

I'll be away in the US for the next two weeks so if I don't get a chance to stop by your blogs over new year I hope you all have a fabulous time and that 2010 is a healthy and happy year for you all - see you in the new year!

Kate x

Festive tidings!

A very belated Happy Christmas everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous day - I had a lovely time with friends and family and way too much food and drink!

I'm currently running around doing last minute packing and ironing as I'm headed off to LA for two weeks tomorrow to visit friends and family, I'm so excited because it's been a good few years since I visited them!

So here are a few more of this year's Christmas cards:

A trio of cards made using Stampin Up's Merry Moments papers and Tree Trimmings set:


And each one up close:






And some Papertrey cards made using the Holiday Button Bits set:




I'll have one final Christmas card to show tomorrow (if you're not too Christmas-ed out!) - til then, take care!

Kate xx

Not long!

Happy Christmas week everyone! Deary me, I've been a bad blogger recently! The past few weeks have flown by - so much to do! I hope you're all enjoying the run up to Christmas and are not too stressed out!

Here are a few more Chrissy cards that have finaly been sent! This is another Lockhart angel stamp, just love colouring these:


..close up:


Recipe: Stamps - Angel (Lockhart)/sentiment - Amuse Card - Blue Bayou (SU)/Jolly by Golly (Cosmo Cricket) Other - Blue Bayou ribbon/Labels dies (Spellbinders)/Copic sketch markers/blue brads

And here are some cards I just posted on A Passion for Papertrey - I ADORE these cute little gingerbread guys!


.. close up:

Recipe: Stamps - Holiday Button Bits/Fancy Flourishes (PTI) Card - Scarlet Jewel/Ripe Avocado (PTI) Ink - Versafine/Versamark Dazzle/Colorbox - Chestnut Roan Other - Scarlet Jewel buttons (PTI)

I'll be back tomorrow (OMG Christmas Eve!) with a few more Christmas cards - enjoy your day!

Kate x

Jolly Angel

Happy Friday! How is everyone? Not too many coughs and colds I hope :) I've had a cold all week which won't shift and is just really annoying me now! I'm really going to try to take it easy for the next few days as I'm going to Paris on Sunday for a few days with a friend. We only decided to go last night... I love impulsive travel plans!!

Here are a few Chrissy cards I made with the yummy Jolly by Golly Cosmo Cricket papers and one of the beautiful Lockhart angel stamps - I just love colouring these. (They're from Ellen Hutson in the US)


Close up:




Recipe:
Stamps - Noel Angel (Karen Lockhart)
Ink - Memento black
Card - Vintage Cream (PTI)/Blue Bayou (SU)
Paper - Jolly by Golly (Cosmo Cricket)
Other - Martha Stewart border punch/Labels Dies (Spellbinders)/Copic Markers/Blue Bayou ribbon

Here are the samples I made for our current challenge at A Passion for Papertrey - our theme this fortnight is 'Oh, Christmas Tree' - nice and easy for those of you who came to Steph's PTi Make and Take last week ;)


Close up:


Have a great weeekend everyone and thanks for stopping by today!

Kate xx

Fabulous Friends

When I started my blog and joined In Love With Stamping I could never begin to imagine that I would make such close friends - I doubted if anyone would ever even read my blog! But more than a year later I can't imagine life without two of my most cherished friends - Steph and Aimes; I met them through stamping but our friendship runs so much deeper.

I was having a hard time of things last week (hence no appetite for blogging) and these fabulous girls were there for me - listening to me, giving me a much-needed shoulder and cheering me up. Thank you girls, love you!

Speaking of fabulous friends, I also wanted to say a big hello to Emma - it was so great to chat on Sunday and can't wait to meet up hun!

I'm glad to say that I've my mojo has come back and I'm back on my Christmas card kick - another one using my favourite Medallion stamp from Stampin Up. I embossed the medallion with white e.p and dotted burgundy Stickles around the medallion - nice and sparkly IRL ;)


Recipe: Stamps - Medallion/Seasonal Wishes
Ink - Versamark/Bravo Burgundy
Card - Very Vanilla/Kraft/Bravo Burgundy
Other - Bravo Burgundy ribbon/burgundy Stickles/pearl/white embossing powder

Here's a bunch of cards I made for the challenge we set on A Passion for Papertrey on Monday, it's all about the bling!


A close up:


All card details, as well as details of the challenge are on A Passion for Papertrey.

Thanks for stopping by today!
Kate x

Addicted to vampires!

Morning! Well I'm very surprised that last night I didn't dream of vampires! Is anyone watching True Blood? Scary but as with all HBO series, great TV!! (Plus Stephen Moyer is veeery sexy!)

I watched last week's episode that I'd missed on the iPlayer then saw last night's eposide, and then spent an hour reading Twilight.... I know, I know, I'm way behind! Everybody else seems to have read the whole series and I'm only on the first one!

I'm totally addicted to it though and thought I could finish it last night but my eyelids had a different idea (isn't that annoying... needing to sleep lol!) So today I'm hoping to finish it then straight on to New Moon, yay!! I'd love to hear if you're into either series too!!

Onto cards.....another batch of Christmas numbers today using one of my favourite festive colour combos - gold and cream.




A nice, simple easy that's easy for mass producing! The tree (from Scandinavian Season) was embossed with gold E.P:


Recipe:

Stamps - Scandinavian Season (SU)
Card - Very Vanilla (SU)/Gold (PTI)
Ink - Versamark
Other - Gold Embossing Powder/Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder/ribbon/gold pearl/oval Nestabilities

Speaking of Christmas, this week the challenge we set on A Passion for Papertrey was also Christmas themed. Here's my sample:


All details of the card and the challenge are on the A Passion for Papertrey blog.

Thanks for visiting, I need to do some work but I want to get back to my fabulous vampires!!!

Kate x

Hark the Herald

Wow, where has this week gone?!! In spite of a busy week I had a chance to snuggle down in my craft room this afternoon - a large mug of hot chocolate and my Gossip Girl box set were the perfect companions to some inky fun:) (BTW any more GG fans out there?!!)

I've been making some cards for Taylor's sketch challenge - it's a fun one:


And here's one of my cards - I am making an effort to use some unloved stamps at the moment and as soon as I saw this yummy Cosmo Cricket Paper I wanted to pair it with this angel. I decided to flip the sketch around as I thought the angel should be facing inward.


Recipe:
Stamps - Trumpeting Angel (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Ink - ColorBox chalk/Antique Linen Distress Ink (Ranger)
Card/Paper - Vintage Cream (PTI)/Pure Poppy (PTI)/Jolly by Golly (Cosmo Cricket)
Other - sewing machine/scallop edge punch/buttons/linen thread

Thanks for visiting today!

Kate x

More queueing

Another card made using the fabulous new Queue Up set from the new catalogue, for a dear friend:


Recipe:
Stamps - Queue Up/Circle of Friendship
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Card - Whisper White/Taken With Teal/Pumpkin Pie
Other - Copic Sketch Markers/Circle Punches

Here's a couple of cards I recently uploaded to A Passion for Papertrey:

A Christmas card using a yummy colour combo - Aqua Mist and Enchanted Evening, using the Believe set:


And my sample for our current challenge - to make a birthday card using at least one Papertrey product. For details on how to enter... and ergo how to win a Papertrey goody bag head over to the blog :)


The above card was made for my lovely stamping and blogging buddy, Jo who's birthday it was on Sunday. I hope you had a really lovely day Jo!

And finally I want to thank the equally lovely Dawn for this award - thanks so much for thinking of me hun!


The rules of this award are that I have to share 5 things that I am addicted to, and then pass on the award to 5 other blogs I love:

1)Stamping....of course! How did I live without it!

2)Strictly Come Dancing - it's back, woo-hoo! I love everything about it - the dancing, the music, the glamour and the sequins. I'm a huge fan of big band music and those fantastic old singing and dancing movies, so I love that we're falling in love with ballroom dancing again. And the latin... oh I love the latin too! One of my lifetime ambitions is to learn to dance!

3)UGG boots - and only the real deal :) I bought my new autumn pair last week, they're so comfy I can barely take them off!

4)Chocolate! I love to finish a meal with a few pieces of really good chocolate, on the whole I manage to not scoff the lot! (Having said that I don't have much left from a shopping spree in Hotel Chocolate on Saturday lol!)

5)Keeping fit.... It's not so miuch about image as about feeling fit and healthy - I've always loved going to the gym and running and now pilates, yoga and bodybalance classes are an important part of my week. Plus it allows me to enjoy number 4 guilt free lol!

I'm going to pass this award onto the following fabulous bloggers:

1)Sara
2)Jo
3)Kim
4)Mandy
5)Emma

See you soon I hope!

Kate x

Baby's giraffe

Evening all, a quick post from me because I'm pooped and really need to hit the hay! I have my Godmother staying (all the way from California!) for the weekend and have spent today cleaning, shopping and cooking - including my new favourite dessert recipe, Raspberry Semifreddo, that I made with raspberries from the garden....yum! If I remember I'll share the recipe because it's a fabulous pudding that you freeze the night before.

Speaking of the delights of cooking with fruit from your garden, is anyone else loving Nigel Slater's new series? He's my favourite cookery writer and it's an absolute treat.

This is a card I made for a dear friend of mine's daughter who turned one last week:



Recipe:
Stamps - Gina K
Ink - Memento Card - Memory Box/DCWV
Other - Copic Markers/sewing machine/SU ribbon/buttons


I also just posted this card (along with full details) over on A Passion for Papertrey, I was so inspired by the new PTI Christmas releases that I've actually made a start on Christmas cards!


Thanks for visiting me today... nighty night!

Kate x

Sparkling bird

Happy Christmas week everyone - hope you're all managing to stay sane!!

This is a Christmas card using non-Christmas colours. I took inspiration for the colours from this beautiful May arts ribbon and used Always Artichoke and Really Rust Cardstock to match it.

I adore this Inkadinkadoo bird - I embossed it with some beautiful copper embossing powder - it's sooo sparkely IRL! I cut birdie out with labels dies, sewed around the edges of the card and finished up with some matching dew drops.

I've been visiting blogs quickly but haven't had time to leave comments I'm afraid. I'm loving seeing everyone's festive creations though! Thanks for visiting and enjoy the run-up to the big day!

Little man

Isn't this chipboard gingerbread man cute! He came in a scrappy kit I bought a few weeks ago so I made this card for my mum.

I adhered red card to the ends of his arms and legs and to his back so his buttons would also be red, then used white gel pen for some interest. His eyes and mouth sparkly red stickles. The white layer is dry embossed with the cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and sewn onto the green and red layers. Ribbons, snowflake, flower, leaves, twine, button and pearls are from my stash.

We're finally putting our tree up this afternoon, time to put on some festive tunes I think!

Thanks for stopping by!

Serendipity stocking

This Serendipity image was such fun to colour! I used my Copics, then added some liquid pears for the berries and heart button. I scored the background using my Scor-pal to create an embossed look.

A very quick post to do - plenty to do, including at some point remaking the fudge that yep, didn't set lol! I will use a sugar thermometer this time!!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're managing to grab some creative time int he midst of the seasonal chaos!

Recipe -
Stamp - Christmas Stocking (Serendipity)
Ink - Memento
Card/paper - Very Vanilla/Real Red/Handsome Hunter (All SU)
Other - Copic Markers/Liquid Pearls/heart button/twine/scor-pal/red satin ribbon/gold brads

Jolly St Nick

I love this jolly Saint Nick! He's from SU's Old Fashioned Christmas set, as is the sentiment. He's stamped with Memento ink, coloured with Copics and cut out and embossed with Spellbinders Labels 2 dies. Paper is SU's Holiday Treasures, finished with a few gold pearls.

I'm finally getting on top of cards and gifts - I've just been making some fudge to give to friends in our village but the jury's out as to whether it will actually set or not! That'll teach me to try and do it without using a sugar thermometer!

Are you making any handmade gifts this year, I'd love to hear about them!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe:
Stamps - Old Fashioned Christmas (SU)
Ink - Memento
Card/Paper - Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Holiday Treasures DSP (SU)
Other - Labels 2 dies (Spellbinder), Cuttlebug, Chocolate Chip ribbon (SU), gold pearls

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 !

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

Christmas Joy

The 1st of December? Already??!! Didn't that creep up on us a bit quickly?! I'm actually starting to feel a bit Christmassy now, which is kinda nice :)

This card is for the current Artygirlz challenge - to create a project using you favourite colour. To be honest my all time favourite colour is aquamarine but since I used aqua mist for last week's challenge I thought I'd use another colour combo I love - deep red and cream, a variation on my favourite red and white mix.

I've used some papers and other bits and bobs from a dreamkits scrapping kit. I love that shimmery star and had fun layering it with a poinsietta, thread, a brad and some fake greenery. The letters are grungeboard coloured with Copics, and I used the mega curved rectangle nesties to cut the papers.

Hope everyone has a good week!

Recipe -
Paper/Card - Very Vanilla/Bravo Burgundy(SU)/papers from scrapping kit (Dreamkit)
Other - cream grosgrain ribbon, mega curved nesabilities, cuttlebug, white gel pen (Ranger), chipboard star, embroidery floss (Bazzill), pearl brad (Making Memories), button, grungeboard (Ranger), Copic markers, burgundy organza ribbon, paper poinsietta

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

Only punches

Just a quick post from me this morning... this is for the current Ink and Rubber challenge which is to use SU punches. I went seriously punchy with this card! I used every size of SU circle punch!

Decreasing the circles as I built up the tree, the 'star' on top is from the Boho Blossoms punch. Also used the scallop edged punch for the strip below the Certainly Celery ribbon and the corner rounder punch to round (duh!) the top corners of the card.

Colours are Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Certainly Celery and Real Red.

Have a great day!