A bit of therapy

Hello crafty friends, I hope you are all well and managed to survive the storm of the past couple of days. It was such a wet and dark day yesterday that the only thing to do was to lock myself away in my craft room and this card is what happened. I have never done any "adult colouring in" before and a miserable day was a good day to start because it is so relaxing and therapeutic to do. I used all my Spectrum Aqua pens, all my Tim Holtz distress inks (as paints using a water brush) and a few pens I had forgotten about and they were strewn all over my desk like a riot of colour, how could the weather get me down when I had my own rainbow right on my work desk.

what I used:

Craftters Companion Crafters Inspiration issue 12 free CD

every Spectrum Aqua, Tim Holts distress ink and any other colours you can get hold of

black card

purple card

Craft Artist Crazy Girl Blond - for the sentiments

1cm burgundy organza ribbon

1cm AB dazzler

stickles crystal glitter glue

The image is on the CD and I edited it to exclude some flowers that I didn't want and generally made it more of a shape that would fit my card and just printed it out onto Hobbycraft white card.

OK this card is easy peasy to make, the colouring in took a while but it was so relaxing to do I didn't notice the time going by and I kept leaving it and then coming back to it as life doesn't always stop for crafting. I used all water based ink on this card as its what I`m used to and I would suggest that whatever you use make sure that it`s all the same format throughout the colouring in process. Having said that I did  I use a black alcohol pen to colour the background in once the colours were completely dry.

The sentiment was made in my Craft Artist graphics program and I typed the words, made them a suitable size, set the wording inside a lilac box and printed them out.

The rest of the card is just mat and layering and general jazzing up with glitter and ribbon.

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This card is for my sister who has a Birthday in December and she does adult colouring in all the time but never makes anything with her artwork so I thought I would show her via this card that she could be sharing her art with her friends (I have gotten her a sweary colouring in book for Christmas but I don't think she will be making cards with that).

and now for something completely different - I have wanted a camera tripod ever since I first started taking pictures of my cards but I wasn't sure if the screw on the tripod would fit my camera as my camera is tiny. Last week when I was doing my afternoon in the Lincolnshire Trust For Cats shop they had a tripod for sale for £5 so I bought it and hay presto it fits my little camera. I feel so much more professional now that I am not balancing the camera on a box, on a piece of polystyrene, on a fold away table and it saves me time setting up a shoot. So I just have to make more cards so that I can play with my new tripod toy, such a good investment I should have bought one years ago.

Whatever you decide to do with your day I hope you stay safe and dry and happy (I`m off to do some house work now so not much happiness there until its over).

Famous for 15 seconds

Good morning Crafty friends, today I am sharing another card which I made to launch the Crafters Companion Catitudes collection as it is still showing on Hochanda as a "one day special". I watched the show last night when they began the launch and I had my 15 seconds of fame because this card was at the front of the main display and got quite a lot of air time. I have to say that I didn't know the prices for any of the things I used when I was making the cards but after seeing the show I think everything is good value for money but especially the stamps (I haven't got the stamps so I may have purchase them today but don't tell hubby).

  

what I used:

Catitude CD (topper 73) 

Catitudes Heart Balloons die

Catitudes Delicate Florals embossing folder

Catitudes paper pad

6" x 6" base card

good quality 210gsm mat print paper

blue pearl card with white core

red card & black card

ring binder punch

Glossy Accents

5mm red satin ribbon

red embroidery thread

This card is quite simple as it is just printing off the image, a bit of embossing and then mat and layering.

The fancy pattern at the bottom of the card is made by embossing the blue pearl card and cutting out both ends of the design, then rub the design with a sanding block to reveal the inner white core (this is a lovely technique as the card feels like velvet flock after the core is exposed). Stick the two pieces of card together on the reverse with tape and cut to size.

The heart balloons were cut from red card, I used the embroidery thread to make the strings and when the balloons were stuck onto the card I covered them with Glossy Accents.

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Well after an exciting night watching my cards (and the rest of the teams fabulous cards) on TV I then watched a film so it was a late night for me and as the weather man had predicted snow over night I wasn't sure what I would wake up to this morning. The snow didn't arrive here in Lincolnshire but I have seen some pictures from my family in Yorkshire and they have had a bit of the white stuff and a scary trip into work this morning. I hope you are safe and snug today and keeping warm.

My dream job

Hello crafty friends, today I am so excited to be able to share with you my first Crafters Companion project. This is 1 of 9 cards that I have made using the Catitude crafting suite which consists of dies, embossing folders, stamps and digi stamps, a super fantastic CD ROM and a book of top quality backing papers. The Catitudes collection is launched today on Hochanda as a "one day special" and I can tell you now that this project was a dream job for me to work on because as you know I love cats, fashion/style (although I lack it personally) and crafting and it is all rolled up in this amazing set. I do hope my cards get an airing on the TV but I have seen the other projects made by my DT buddies and they are amazing and well worth a look at on the Crafters Companion Pinterest page.

what I used:

Crafters Companion Catitudes CD - topper 83 & sentiment 15 (re sized with graphics program)

Catitudes Perfect Patterns embossing folder

Catitudes paper pad (for flowers)

Crafters Companion Signature Collection, English Country Garden, Grand Floral dies

6" x 6" white base card

circle dies to make the hoop frame

green card & white pearl card

good quality 210gsm mat print paper

blue & green bakers twine and jute twine

pearl embellishment, small cotton bobbin & blue satin bow

This card is all about the finishing touches and the image is so lovely you couldn't really go wrong. The only bit that you have to think about is making sure that the printed image fits inside the smallest circle die that you will be using to make the frame.

The frame is made using the pearl card and two circle dies  and then wrapping the twines around it once it is cut out.

The pattern on the embossing folder is so classy and really pops when used on the pearl card.

Yes I would definitely send this card to myself, it ticks all my boxes.

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I have been waiting what seems like such a long time to share this Catitudes collection with you and it has been a real test for me because I love it so much and had such a fantastic crafty time making all the samples. I am eagerly awaiting my next project which I think will be with me this week but it will take a lot to beat Catitudes.

I have to go into work tomorrow for an allergen training course and snow is forecast here in Lincolnshire so I hope it waits till I`m safe home or even better doesn't snow at all. I hate driving in snow ever since I got stuck on an icy hill a few years ago and had to watch whilst lots of cars skidded into each other all around me, that was the year when they ran out of grit and didn't grit the roads. I hope you all keep safe and warm and snow free (unless you like snow and then you can have mine).

You don`t see many of these in November

Hello, it`s frosty out this morning and as we get further on into Autumn I think the only Butterflies to be seen will be on cards like this one. This is another card I have made using the new LC Designs Dinkie 3D Butterfly stamp. I love the bright colours of Butterflies and so I decided to paint this one in rainbow colours.

what I used:

LC Designs Dinkies 3D Butterfly stamp

small butterfly stamp

small sentiment stamp

VersaMark ink pad

5 1/4" base card

yellow & craft card & small piece of gold card from stash

open weave hessian type fabric

watercolour paper

gold embossing powder

gold Liquid Pearls

2 x brass brads

 

Stamp the 3D Butterfly and heat emboss using the gold embossing powder on water colour paper, then colour it using watercolours and a water brush (Spectrum Aqua).

The background layer of Butterflies is also made by heat embossing the gold embossing powder onto craft card.

Cut the embossed pieces to size and add gold Liquid Pearls to the edges.

Mat and layer the various components to create the card.

Finally add the sentiment which has been heat embossed onto gold card and brass brads added.

 

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The quilting fabric sale that I went to earlier on this week was a lovely day out with my friend but I only managed to spend £2, mind you I did seem to get quite a lot for my money but I felt a bit of a failure as it was to raise funds for the Lincolnshire Cat Trust. Today I have a free day and I am hoping to get some Christmas cards made to send out this year as it always seems to be a last minute push with my personal Christmas cards. My craft table is right under a big window and although its lovely to look out from its quite chilly now that the weather has turned frosty and I find my fingers get quite cold so I have invested in some fingerless gloves but I have no doubt that when I start gluing things they may have to come off. I hope you have a productive day today and manage to stay warm.