Kool Kitty Musings

DCM - Going Round in Circles

Good morning!

For this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge, I have definitely gone autumnal!

The challenge set by Jenny is to use circles. Well, although you can't see a very round circle on my card, there was definitely one involved in the making of this design:

Stamp: The Stamp Market - Scripty Sentiments
Dies: Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Woodgrain cover-up (r), Hero Arts - Infinity Nesting Circles, The Stamp Market - Mini Autumn Leaves

I started out by selecting one of the last few Kraft card bases in my stash. I'm not sure why my Papermania square card blanks always seem so wonky when folded. They are a pain to photograph and despite folding down the spines over and over with my bone folder, these cards never lay flat... but that's another matter!

I needed another shade of "kraft" to stand out enough against the card base, and Neenah Desert Storm was just right for this. It's a buff shade of "kraft" and a great neutral.

I ran the panel through my Big Shot with the Stitched Woodgrain die for some seasonal texture.

I then die-cut 2x each of the mini leaves from The Stamp Market in tone-on-tone cardstock colours. This didn't take all that long in the end, as the dies work nicely in the Sidekick and are a great way of using up small offcuts. This is the colour palette I used as inspiration.

I die cut a circle aperture so that the sentiment would peek through nicely, but also allow the leaves to overlap the edges and create that circular wreath frame.

It's definitely a simple design, but I don't think it needed anything else. Those pretty leaves did most of the work. ;o)

Make sure you check out the lovely cards from the rest of the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

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The Stamp Market - Scripty Sentiments stamps Shop at: MISC	Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Woodgrain cover-up die (r) Shop at: MISC	Hero Arts - Infinity Nesting Circle dies Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	The Stamp Market - Mini Autumn Leaves dies Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Slate ink pad Shop at: MISC	Neenah 80 lb smooth Desert Storm cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	The Stamp Market - Blush Pink cardstock Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Bubblegum cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Citrine cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Gravel cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Melon Orange cardstock Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Peach cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Rusty cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Sea Glass cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Slate cardstock Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Tropic Teal cardstock Shop at: MISC	Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - Oh the Romance!

Good morning!

This week over on the Daring Cardmakers Blog, Kathy is challenging us to embrace love and romance...

Here's my take:

Papers: Carta Bella - Flower Garden (r)
Stamp: Mama Elephant - Mixed Wishes Greetings
Dies: Mama Elephant - Oval Deco Frame, The Stamp Market - Postage Stamp, The Stamp Market - Tiny Tags

This card was actually created on a 5 x 7 card base, but trimmed down in height to match the scale of the oval deco frame.

I love how versatile this frame is. It's got that decorative detail, but doesn't make things look too busy, so it still pairs well with highly patterned papers.

I needed the sentiment I'd stamped on the largest die in the Tiny Tags set to stand out against those florals, so I used the smaller postage stamp die in the set from The Stamp Market to add some contrasting paper behind the tag.

Finally, I added a heart gem to the top of the frame for an extra nod to the theme of this challenge. :)

Make sure you check out the wonderful projects from the rest of the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

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Mama Elephant - Mixed Wishes Greetings stamps Shop at: EH | MISC | SHC	Mama Elephant - Oval Deco Frame dies Shop at: EH | SHC	The Stamp Market - Postage Stamp dies Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Tiny Tags dies Shop at: MISC
Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Taffy Shop at: AZ | EH | MISC	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	Carta Bella - Flower Garden - Bloom & Grow paper Shop at: SBC
Carta Bella - Flower Garden - Lovely Floral paper Shop at: SBC	Lawn Fawn - Hemp Twine - Natural Shop at: SBC | SHC	Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH
Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - September Elemental Inspiration

Happy Friday!

It's the first Friday of a new month, so time for a brand-new elemental inspiration challenge on the Daring Cardmakers blog.

Svenja chose this photo with some very clever little details:

I went with hand-stitching, sequins/gems, and a postage stamp style frame.

Paper: Cocoa Vanilla Studio - Daydream (r)
Stamps: The Stamp Market - Eat Cake
Dies: The Stamp Market - Eat Cake, Concord & 9th - Sew Striped (r), The Stamp Market - Postage Stamp

I decided it was time for some hand-stitching, so pulled out my Sew Striped die from Concord & 9th and a selection of rainbow colours in more muted tones that went with the background paper.

The colours look a bit more subtle in real life, September is the start of deteriorating natural light when much fiddling is required in Photoshop Elements...

Sight, the real end of summer is upon us! lol

Anyway, I didn't want to cover up the stitching too much, and realise I had some postage stamp style dies that could frame a sentiment.

Well, the smallest I've used here is a solid background, so I gutted the inside to turn it into a frame and used my bone folder to smooth off the cut edges so that it looks almost like a frame die.

I added some more paper from the Daydream collection behind the frame, stamped my sentiment and added it on some 3D foam tape for pop.

Finally, I added sequins and gems from Lucy's Cards for a little subtle sparkle.

Make sure you check out the wonderful interpretations from the rest of the design team over on the blog, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

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The Stamp Market - Eat Cake stamps Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Eat Cake dies Shop at: MISC	Concord & 9th - Sew Striped die (r) Shop at: MISC | SBC | SHC	The Stamp Market - Postage Stamp dies Shop at: MISC
Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	Cocoa Vanilla Studio - Daydream - 6x8 paper pad (r) Shop at: MISC	Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC