Kool Kitty Musings

Back to work tomorrow...

Just as I was getting used to being a lady of leisure during my staycation. :o(

However I do have some nice things to look forward to this coming week (but they are towards the weekend - typically!).

 

To round off my staycation I managed to get through a few reads and a departure from the Hist-Ro was a great "chicklit" book - cried my way through much of the latest Ciara Geraghty book - between the funny bits... I loved her first book, Saving Grace, and the second was good too, but this one had me crying very early on and I just had to read it all as soon as I could, didn't want to put it down. {sigh}

I've also got another chicklit to start tonight if I can stay awake long enough:

 

But first I need a good soak in the tub, went up to Bamburgh today in a rather scenic fashion and although it was initially sunny the clouds soon descended so I doubt any of my pics will have come out too well... Not like this: 

Source: flickr.com via Raquel on Pinterest

But it was just lovely to see those sandy beaches at last! And the chip-stop on the way home was very welcome. ;o)

On the creative front I have something lovely and new to play with this week:

 

My new haul of Waltzing Mouse stamps. I think we will be seeing a few cards soon featuring cameos in particular!

 

I couldn't resist the oval frames either as those cameos were also calling to me in addition to the frames!

Right off to pick my bubble bath!

Buttons galore...

We've got a fab dare over on the DCM blog for all you button addicts out there. :oD

Sharon's dare is to use buttons as a main design on your card, and with that objective in mind I knew just which buttons I wanted to use for my card.

That unopened pack of Crate Neighbourhood buttons!

 

Papers: Crate Paper
Buttons: Crate Paper
Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Dies: Papertrey Ink
Seam binding: The Ribbon Reel
Button twine: The Ribbon Reel
Other: 3D foam, embroidery cotton, Distress Ink, Copics, sewing machine

 

I really do love the book paper in the Emma's Shoppe 6x6 pad - in fact I think I've used my 6x6 pad more on cards than I have the Portrait collection and that was the collection I absolutely loved!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your button fun!

52 Cards Challenge: Week 30

I'm not sure how we managed to get to week 30 already, but here's the prompt we have to inspire us:

 

Hm, why is it that "simple" is usually anything but for me when making cards? LOL

I will be interested to see just how simple my card is when I come to make it later on. ;o)

Until then, happy creating!

Well, what do you know? I managed to catch up with this prompt and last week's. This one is for last week's prompt to use buttons, jewels and a frame:

 

I posted all the details here, but the jewels are around the rose, the film strip acts as a frame and you can see that lovely Crate button.

And as for this week's prompt, here's my "simple" card:

 

Paper: My Mind's Eye
Dies: Papertrey Ink
Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Pearls: Kaisercraft
Other: 3D foam

 

Until next week!

A quick catch-up

Here's the card I made for week 28's prompt in the 52 Cards Challenge. It called for yellow, cream, and brads...

 

Paper: Cosmo Cricket
Chipboard: Cosmo Cricket
Stamps: Waltzing Mouse, PTI
Dies: Spellbinders
Seam binding: The Ribbon Girl
Brad: Doodlebug
Other: 3D foam, sanding file, distress ink, Corner Chomper

 

In other news, weather continues to be less than wonderful. I've read a few more books and am debating between waiting to re-read...

 

The Devil in Winter from the library or just getting the Kindle version!

I really want to re-read it before I read...

 

A Scandal in Spring which is the next book in the Wallflower series. After reading...

 

It Happened One Autumn yesterday I realise how much I have missed Lisa Kleypas' writing... The new Friday Harbour series cannot come some enough! But in the meantime I have at least a couple of her books to enjoy. ;o)

Wish you were here... as long as it's sunny!

Those of you visiting this blog post from the DCM blog are probably wondering what on earth my card for Lynda's "Wish you were here" dare has to do with holidays...

Well, it's like this - I'm currently on my "holidays" which are actually a Staycation this year. In fact the only concrete plans I had for my Staycation were to spend any sunny times lolling about in the garden on my lovely beanbag, scoffing strawberries from a handy bowl nearby as I steadily munched my way through my current reading list.

However, this biiig plan has been very dependent on the weather and there has been no sunshine so far, well until yesterday.

So the Staycation card naturally features strawberries twinned with some nice summer colours! Had I been venturing somewhere further a field this year I might have been tempted to do a more exotic spin on the dare... ;o) But as I'm having a lazy summer holiday, I've made a lazy summer kinda card!

 

Papers: October Afternoon
Stickers: October Afternoon
Dies: Papertrey Ink
Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Pearls: Kaiserkraft
Other: Copics, 3D foam

 

Mind you, it does make me yearn for a nice garden party complete with bunting and lawn croquet to go with those strawberries and cream.

Happy creating!

Staycation off to a sedate start

So my staycation has been marred so far by the weather - showers and intermittent sun all the way this week according to the forecast, so not much chance of any outings.

But I am armed with a pile of books and have just polished off the first one:

 

Mr Knightley's Diary is a very nice retelling of Emma from the point of view of the wonderful Mr Knightley's, or Knightley as Mrs Elton so rudely calls him. ;o)

Makes me want to rewatch my Emma DVD yet again for a bit more Mr Knightley time! Apparently there are more retellings of Austen classics in this form by the same author, but I have to confess that Emma is the novel I am most interested in.

Sunday I was out all day shopping with my mum - looking for some nice new summer clothes in the sales. I came away with nothing but some new Paperchase additions:

 

Some new key caps (my cupcake key caps are looking the worse for wear) and some brand new kraft post-its. They had another book of post-its in the same range called study helpers I think, but I had to decide between the two and kraft won out!

Also got another bookend to go with my previous one as the baking book shelf needs shoring up from both ends now!

Thankfully no new A5 binders added to the line so I was safe from more mini-journals to start!

This afternoon looks like it'll be an outing to the garden centre for some bedding plants to fill in the gaps left by the pansies.

Then, I need to get my box of cards made so far this year sorted, envelopes matched and put in little baggies so they can go into the card basket ready to be used. I have been rather neglectful of the stack, but the organisation task is best performed in front of the telly! Or I might stick my Deathly Hallows Pt 1 DVD on...

It's all thrilling isn't it? There may even be time to catch up with the 52 Cards Challenge!

52 Cards Challenge: Week 29

I'm a bit late to the party this week, I've not even made my card for week 28 yet, but as I have just started my Staycation I think I'll be able to do some catching up soon - especially if the rain continues!

In the meantime here's our prompt for week 29:

 

For the jewel aspect this could be bling or jewel colours/tones. Or any other interpretation that comes to mind. ;o)

I will hopefully be back soon with some actual card examples!

Only a week late, but here's the card I made:

 

Papers: Crate Paper
Dies: Spellbinders, Papertrey Ink
Ribbon: The Ribbon Girl
Stickers and die cuts: Crate Paper
Rose: Wild Orchid Crafts
Button: Crate Paper
Pearls and bling: Prima
Stick pin: Nunn designs
Other: Distress ink, 3D foam, distressing file

 

Pinspired!

This week it was my turn to set the dare on the DCM blog and I went for something based on my current addiction.

You've guessed it, Pinterest!

The challenge is to make a card using a pin for inspiration, and well... there were just too many lovely pins to choose from, I couldn't narrow it down to just one.

Here's the little selection I was torn between:

Source: tinywhitedaisies.tumblr.com via Natalia on Pinterest

 

Source: pinkpaislee.com via Natalia on Pinterest

 

Source: flickr.com via Natalia on Pinterest

 

Source: inreda.com.au via Natalia on Pinterest

 

So with all that eye candy to look at what did I go and make??

 

Paper: My Mind's Eye
Stamps: My Favorite Stamps
Dies: My Favorite Stamps, Papertrey Ink
Seam binding: The Ribbon Reel
Flower: Wild Orchid Crafts
Punch: Martha Stewart
Pearl: Kaisercraft
Other: Distress Ink, 3D foam

 

For a bit of extra dimension I made a slit in the typewriter to feed the greeting into it, then curled the "paper" coming out so it looks like it's been through the rollers.

And I did warn you I'd be using this stamp and die set for some time to come!

Happy pinning and creating!

52 Cards Challenge: Week 28

Welcome to another Monday and another prompt!

Here's what we have to play with this week. :o)

 

Two colour accents this week which will be interesting, and brads - hm... the cogs are already whirring in my brain. ;o)

I'll be back with a card once I come up with something - who knows it might be later this evening?

ETA: so it has taken me almost two weeks to make it, but here's my card:

 

Go here for the deets. :)

Happy creating!

Sunday round-up

So here I was planning to have got a few things made this weekend... things did not go quite according to plan!

I spent most of the weekend chained to my PC sorting updates to it after installing some new software. {sigh}

I did manage to finish off one book and read another in one sitting:

 

A very entertaining read and I wonder how the rest of this new series will pan out with the Smythe-Smith quartet.

On the creative front I did manage to make my card for this week's 52 Cards Challenge, which was to use hearts, wood and corrugated card.

Well I have one heart accent punched from corrugated card and my wood element is wood background paper:

 

Papers: Crate Paper
Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Dies: Papertrey Ink
Sticker: Echo Park
Punches: Martha Stewart, Marvy
Lace: The Ribbon Girl
Pearls: Kaisercraft
Other: Chipboard, 3D foam, Glossy Accents, Distress Stickles, Floss, Distress Inks

 

I also wasted half an hour of my life trying to get my Martha Stewart butterfly punch to work again after it jammed trying to cut cardstock. Well it was so bad that I ended up taking a hammer to it and it has fixed the problem enough that I can still punch paper with it, rather than nothing at all. Didn't think trying to get a replacement from EK Success would get me anywhere as I've heard plenty of horror stories about the CS for dodgy Martha Stewart punches. Oh well, I've not lost anything as I would have had to buy a new one if the hammer approach hadn't sorted it. ;o)

I also forgot to post the rather dodgy photos of a card I made the other night - decent light had gone by the time I'd finished it.

Paper and die-cuts: October Afternoon
Dimensional stickers: American Crafts
Alpha stickers: October Afternoon
Other: 3D foam

And now I need to rustle up some tea and check out what's on telly. :)

Spammers

Sad to say but I have finally had to enable word verification on my blog. :o\

Over the past few months I have been getting bombarded with spam from the same sources, and despite blocking their IP addresses they just keep coming back.

I've got fed up of deleting tens of comments on the go and marking them as spam to flag up to typepad and it looks like the best way to crack down on them for now is to enable word verification.

So apologies if it takes longer to leave comments - I do love seeing genuine comments from people, they're great to receive and it's nice knowing there are other people out there reading my musings. ;o)

Anyway, I'd best get a few things unpacked from last night's crop and blend my new purchases nicely into my existing stash cabinet. <g>

How old does it have to be for it to be Retro?

I only ask because for my DCM card this week I am supplying you with a real blast from the past.

We're going back baaack baaaaack in time to 2002/2003 when at the height of my stash shopping jubilation I discovered Jolee's stickers.

Yes.

I do not jest.

I bought a number of these packs. Including the wonderful Beach Bikini set... And with it I have made perhaps the most expensive card of all time in my repetoire... for these little beauties cost me £3.50 a pop! All that hoarding has paid off though, for they were the perfect accessory for my suitcase themed card:

 

Papers: October Afternoon, Cosmo Cricket
Dies: Cuttlebug (leaves), QuicKutz (handle)
Bling: Prima
Stickers: Jolee's Boutique
Other: Distress ink, white pen

 

So yes, a veritable dimensional sticker sneeze but once you start clagging those Jolee's on, it's hard to stop!

I'm quite pleased with how my little DIY palm tree came out, complete with blingy coconuts!

Since I'm not going anywhere on holiday this year, I might hang onto this for my stay-cation in hopes that there will be more sunshine....

Is it too early to start my Christmas list?

Christmas stash list that is! ;o)

I have found the new must-have collection for this year's Christmas stash addition (OK so I usually have 3 to 4 additions to my Christmas stash each year....) and it will sit quite happily next to the left-overs from my Echo Park Everybody Loves Christmas leftovers.

Behold beautiful Christmas yumminess:

I love the back of loads of these papers - fab for cards, plus the colours are delish!

This one in particular had me drooling, I seem to be loving chevrons at the mo:

Mmm, so simple yet so versatile!

I've not really seen any other CHA sneaks that have got me a little excited... it's so sad. But all the better for my CC balance for the time-being!

I am ready for some CHA enabling so link me up if you spot anything nice!

52 Cards Challenge: Week 27

It's definitely come round quick, another Monday - another prompt!

Here's what we have from the prompt jar today:

 

An interesting one - I think I have just the elements to fit this challenge, but I'll have to come back later with my card for this week. Nothing new there eh? LOL

ETA: Here's the card I made for this prompt, go here for the deets.

 

Happy creating!

Taking a break from the sun

To come into the cool shade for a bit, it's blistering out there right now and my bean bag is a bit hot. LOL

So just the right moment to post the card I made yesterday for this week's 52 Cards Challenge prompt.

The elements required were:

• Bright colours
• Trim
• Tag(s)

And behold my creation!

 

Cardstock: Bazzill glazed, PTI
Paper: Cosmo Cricket
Stamps: My Favorite Stamps, PTI
Dies: My Favorite Stamps, Spellbinders, PTI
Trim: Webster's Pages
Other: 3D foam, button, thread, distress inks

 

I finally managed to play with my new little die and stamp set purchase. The Typewriter die and stamps are part of a set from My Favorite Stamps that you can find here. And the good news for us International customers is that the shipping is very reasonable if you are just ordering stamps and dies. :o)

I think you will get bored of seeing the combo on my cards, but I won't be able to help myself - that typewriter is just too nice! Plus I need to get my money's worth out of my little stash tool investment, right? ;o)

Back to the book I think!

Sweet Saturday

Had a lovely day out cropping today - progress on my mini album continues but the desire is waning, if I complete it before the end of this year I will be amazed! I also have returned home much lighter after donating a load of stash to those who will use and enjoy it, and a basket of loads of cards I've made to be sold for a good cause. Now I just need to fill my basket up again with new makes. ;o)

In addition to the crafty-time, there were some sweet treats to be had.

 

I baked Hummingbird Blondies last night for the crop. Another recipe tried and tested and may add a few tweaks next time, not sure...

On the way home Angela and I stopped off for something truly scrumptious at the sweet shop that has opened round the corner from me.

 

Alphabet candy.

 

Candy sticks.

 

And fizzy bubblegum bottles.

Plenty more in the shop to choose from but I had a bit of a craving for these! It's too hot for white mice and well, I was oddly not bothered about having foam bananas. Usually my fave...

Anyway, off to dive into a new book and enjoy my Razberri Stoli and lemonade. Ah, lazy summer evenings, don't you love them? :o)

Summer time...

Well, the first of July has arrived and let's hope it heralds the return of the summer weather as June was a bit of a wash out in these parts!

And as it's the first Friday in the month, it's another flower of the month challenge over on the DCM blog. :o)

July's flowers are Water Lilies and Larkspur.

I think the little guy on the front of the card kind of gives away which one I went for. <g>

 

Papers: Cosmo Cricket, SEI
Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Dies: Spellbinders, Papertrey Ink
Resin lotus flower: Webster's Pages
Ribbon and twine: The Ribbon Girl
Paper edge: Making Memories
Brads: Lasting Impressions
Other: 3D foam, goggly eyes, Distress Inks, Promarkers, Corner Chomper

 

Mr Froggy looks even more cute after the addition of some goggly eyes. I think I will need to add goggly eyes to more projects as I have quite a few to use up!

Don't forget to check out the fabulous cards from the rest of the design team (<------- on left there) and our wonderful guest designer for the month, Angela.

Happy creating!