Kool Kitty Musings

Looks like I have more ribbon sorting to do

I have been "gifted" some more Yankee Candle jars by my mum that need cleaning out and still smell nice and Christmasy.

Not sure when I will get round to it, but that's a good few colours to add to the ribbon shelf. :)

I also managed to pop out for my lunch today and nip into Debenhams to spend my £5 off voucher. It was quite difficult as they are in the middle of a remodel and well, I hope once it's done there will be a lot more stock in my local store! I had trouble finding the right place where they have moved Mantaray and John Rocha clothing to, then I went looking in homewares hoping to snag a bargain like the typewriter cushion I love....

But none to be seen. Nor any of the bedding from the Butterfly home collection that I really, really want:

Still waiting for this to be available (in full) in a sale... one day. I had no luck the last time it was in the sale in the summer as there were no pillowcases available in store or online, just the king duvet cover. It would have been sod's law that if I'd bought the duvet cover it would have been totally discontinued...

So I then wandered back down to clothing to look for Mantaray stuff again and was happy to find a few things that looked nice. I was after a new work-ish top and this is what I bought:

I then nipped into M&S to try and get some sushi for lunch before it was sold out, only to discover they only do two versions of sushi now - the snack pack or the medium fish sushi. I used to love the California roll selection and vegi sushi.

Oh well, looks like I will stick to Sainsbury's sushi from now on as they do a lovely snack set and a delish vegi sushi set for a less.

I did manage to pick up some of the popcorn packs from M&S which are apparently a good alternative to crisps - since I gave those up for lent. Intrigued to know how the strawberry and white choc popcorn tastes. Not enough syns left in my allowance today to try a pack, so will have to wait for tomorrow. ;o)

Back to crafting news, I am currently eagerly awaiting the big reveal of the new Waltzing Mouse Stamps tomorrow, I have my eye on the Compact Greetings set in particular (love the font!) and a few other peaks I've seen... also waiting for new CHA items to make it to the UK. Especially the vintage-y Pink Paislee line and hopefully once that is in I can finally order the odd few sheets of the new MME papers that I really, really want. Didn't seem worth making an order for 6 sheets of 12x12 paper. Question is, do I need the Miss Caroline Howdy Doody pad:

Anyway, I think it is going to be a relatively early night, time for a nice long soak and another chapter of my book.

52 Cards challenge - Week 9

Hi everyone!

I hope you had fun with last week's "easy" prompt. :)

This week I thought we'd try a proactive approach to using our stash...

It's definitely time that we address the "scraps" pile many of us have accumulated over the years. I'm really bad at throwing away left-overs from paper I've cut into - if I know I can fit it onto a card "some day" I just cannot part with it - just too wasteful. The problem is there are too many other days that arrive before "some day" and these scraps rarely make it onto a card any time soon.

A great way to make use of these scraps is to use them for punched accents or die cut with them.

Even thin strips of left-over paper and card can be put to good use with decorative edging.

So with all that in mind we're going to make a card that features:

• At least 2 decorative edges
• Scraps/leftover paper from your stash

If you manage to make a card where you've not cut into any "new" sheets of paper or card, well I think you'll be deserving some extra gold stars!

Here's what I made for this week:

Paper: Crate Paper, Cosmo Cricket
Dies: PTI, Memory Box, Magnolia
Stamps: PTI
Pearl: Prima
Other: Glossy Accents, chalk ink for edging

A really simple card, yet it's all made from scraps and left-over pieces that were just too big to chuck out.

I'm not sure if you can pick up in the photos but I applied Glossy Accents to the label around the greeting. It gives it extra pop against the background paper. :)

Anyway, I hope you have fun rummaging through your stockpile of scraps!

So I made something

My mojo is still eluding me but I thought I would check out some challenges and push some paper around in hopes that things would magically come together.

I must be in a mad mood, as not only has my mojo gone missing, but I decided to focus on purple which is the colour I most avoid in all crafting projects! Crazy!

Well the challenge I went for is the Needle and Thread challenge over on A Passion for Papertrey.

I had grand hopes for doing something fancy with my sewing machine but it all ended up looking too busy if I did anything more complicated than a wonky outline.

Anyway, here's what I made:

Cardstock: PTI
Dies: PTI
Stamp: PTI
Paper: PTI, MME
Other: Sewing machine, 3D foam

I finally had an excuse to use the "Thanks" set I kindly received from a fellow crafting friend. The purple was Boysenberry VersaColor and the teal is Prima chalk ink.

Anyway, I think it's time to check out the next task on my to-do list! Need to get some dies labelled and organised. Fun eh?

Sorted...

I have had a bit of a tough weekend with my mojo - alas I have hit a wall when it comes to cardmaking and didn't manage to make anything at Friday's crop.

Yesterday I decided to see if I could kick start things by having a little organizational kick.

So, I finally cleaned up all the used Yankee Candle jars I had under the sink and reorganized my ribbon storage to use them all up. :)

I've used my little used up jars for buttons and resin embellishments.

The flat-top medium jars are a nice way of storing seam binding without having to do a lot of rummaging. I have my Ribbon Reel seam binding in one, and my Ribbon Girl seam binding in another.

Anyway, here's hoping full on creativity returns. I managed to make a couple of cards but I'm not so keen on 'em.

Well, I may just try and see whether the mojo is back this afternoon.

Oh la la...

This week we have a very chic dare over on the DCM blog.

Sharon has asked us to create a Marie-Antoinette-inspired card.

This can be anything from featuring Marie-Antoinette herself, taking inspiration from the décor of Versailles, the rococo period, fashion of the time to a "let them eat cake" theme - although technically she never said that!

For my card I have drawn inspiration from the décor and fashions of the time - lots of frippery and flounces.

Oh and a rather obscure fact I read that Louis the XVIth made keys as a hobby...

Kraft cardblank: Papermania
Flocked paper: My Mind's Eye
Patterned paper: My Mind's Eye
Trinkets: Prima
Rose: Wild Orchid Crafts
Die: PTI
Stamps: Waltzing Mouse Stamps, PTI
Seam binding: The Ribbon Reel
Resin flower: 3DJean
Button: Upcycled from a tag by Ang (paper&ribbons)
Other: Cream and pearlescent white acrylic paint, chalk ink (grey and light beige), distresser

I was happy to find that one of the stamps in my recent PTI purchase nicely coordinated with the damask background, so I stamped it on the little greeting label.

The kraft cardblank has undergone quite a transformation to git it a vintage look. I first dry-brushed pearlescent white acrylic paint on, then dry brushed cream acrylic on to take some of the shine off. It looks very effective in real life.

I also brushed cream acrylic paint onto the flocked paper to age it a bit - love how that look turned out as it really complimented to overall look and feel.

I hope you take a moment to check out the inspiration from the rest of the design team - I think we pretty much covered all the bases on this dare. :D

Picked up some new books

Looks like I am back in Chick Lit territory for the foreseeable future. I've run out of regency romance reads. ;o)

Here's what's residing on my to be read pile:

But where do I start? ;o)

52 Cards challenge - Week 8

Morning everyone!

This week's challenge is quite a simple one. Create a card using just one design of patterned paper.

If you have time you could use up the entire sheet of paper to make some coordinating cards. ;o)

But this week we're keeping it as simple as it needs to be. :)

Here's what I made:

Paper: Basic Grey
Butterfly stickers: Basic Grey
Dies: PTI, MFT
Stamp: MFT
Seam binding: The Ribbon Girl
Rose: Wild Orchid Crafts

Happy creating!

Something cheery for a sunny Sunday

I managed to get some creative time in yesterday afternoon and used some of my new stash.

It's been ages since I've had time to join in with a sketch challenge, so I chose this week's Mojo Monday sketch (# 228) as inspiration and made this:

Paper: October Afternoon, MME
Dies: PTI
Stamps: PTI
Felt: PTI
Punch: Martha Stewart
Other: Sewing machine

So it looks like I'm not quite over grey/yellow/peach colour combinations just yet! I shall be needing some new grey paper as my existing stash is starting to dwindle.

Also I have had a late start this morning as I ended up reading Walking Back to Happiness from cover to cover... ok, page 30 to the end!

Five stars! And I need to restock my tissues. But what a fantastic read. I only have The Ballroom Class left to read and will then be eagerly awaiting whatever new book Lucy Dillon has to write, have loved all of her books so far.

Anyway, I had best get back to what I need to get done! ;o)

Going postal

Well it is Friday... almost the weekend! :D

Thanks to everyone who joined in with the hearts and doilies dare I set last week. This week on the DCM blog Rein has set us the challenge to create a card using postal inspiration.

My card as a bit of a nightmare to photograph but looks much nicer in real life where you can see all the Distress Stickles:

Actually it may look a bit better lying down:

Paper: Crate Paper
Stamps: 7Gypsies, Waltzing Mouse, PTI
Die: PTI
Twine: The Ribbon Reel
Chipboard elements: Crate Paper
Other: Distress Stickles, pattern wheel, distresser

I rather love that heart + heart chipboard. :)

Hope you have a creative weekend!

Two words

Haribo Eggstras!

My favourite Starmix in a bag all of their own.

Sweet! Literally!

It ain't over yet...

I have another card to share today that features plenty of hearts. ;o)

I made it for Crate Paper's recent colour challenge - using Peachy Pink, Tropical Coral, and Misty grey. The only other colours you could use were black, white and kraft.

This is what I came up with:

Paper: Crate Paper
Dies: Spellbinders, PTI
Chipboard: Crate Paper
Other: Distress Stickles, sewing machine

I am rather in love with bunting on cards at the moment, but more dimensional bunting. I ysed ny fab "Ingerdibly Tacky" glue from api to attached the folded little hearts and they keep that popped up position even after being shoved in an envelope as the glue is still flexible when dry. Will need to get a new one soon as I use it so much!

In other news it's been a bit of a sad day as we learned that Gizmo the cat died this morning. Although he wasn't my mum and dad's cat he did tend to live at their house part time, well.... quite a lot actually and had become part of the fabric of family life. Kizia wasn't so keen on him but he paid her no mind and was round more often than not, especially if food and spacious sleep space was available! It seems to have been a peaceful end if a mysterious one, but it will be very odd not to see him loping about the place. :o\

Something pretty...

Thanks for all the lovely comments I've had about the card I posted yesterday for the 52 Card challenge. Glad it went down well. :D

It actually cheered me up a bit as I was knocked for six by a yucky stomach bug early yesterday morning, and well, let's say I feel like a totally different person today, thank god!

So I now am in the happy frame of mind to really enjoy the contents of a lovely package that arrived:

I am sure the eagle-eyed will spot where it's from, and yes I was on an embargo, but well... weak-willed and the opportunity to share an order with a fellow-crafter was too much for me! LOL

Also what made it even more lovely were the items very kind fellow-crafter included for me. I shall look forward to using my stash in a card very soon!

But first I need to get my dies into their new home and get those two stamp sets assembled. ;o)

52 Cards challenge - Week 7

This week's prompt for the 52 Cards challenge is a colour prompt.

Here's your inspiration for our colour combo:

Cool pastels and off-white greys.

For my card I tried a technique I have been wanting to try for a while, and that's sewn dimensional hearts:

Paper: PTI, October Afternoon, Crate Paper
Stamp: Hero Arts
Other: Vellum, string, sewing machine

The little dotty paper is from PTI and coordinates with their cardstock. The grey spotty paper is from October Afternoon, and the background is from Crate's recent Christmas line - a very nice off white that doesn't scream Christmas. Also I wanted to use grey ink for the greeting to keep with the colour theme. :)

Hope you have fun playing with these colours!

A creative start to the weekend

Papertrey currently have some lovely card sketches on Nichole Heady's blog at the moment as part of their anniversary celebrations.

They are available as a free download here and look really handy.

I chose the first sketch:

And made this:

Cardstock: PTI
Paper: MME
Stamp: PTI (Sending you)
Dies: PTI (mat stack 5, heart prints, angled labels), Spellbinders scallop and regular circle
Felt: PTI
Buttons and twine: PTI
Other: Sander, 3D foam

I'd best get my desk tidied if I plan to get anything else made today! ;o)

Who doesn't like hearts and doilies?

Well I hope no one! As it's my turn to set the dare over on the DCM blog this week, and my choice was for my two favourite design features at the moment.

Pretty hearts and paper doilies.

Lovely stuff.

Now, as many on the team will attest creating the card for your own dare seems to be a cursed experience. It becomes a herculean task and rarely turns out how you'd planned or hoped.

My card this week is no different. It bares no resemblance to what I had in mind and well I sure hope the next card I made is a lot easier!

But here it is...

Ppaer: Crate Paper
Die-cuts and chipboard: Crate Paper
Doily die: MFT
Stamps: Waltzing Mouse
Other: Vellum, sewing machine

The vellum greeting is sewn on at the side and lifts to reveal bride and groom silhouettes.

Anyway, I hope you give this week's dare a go! Looking forward to seeing how these two elements get combined. :)

52 Cards challenge - Week 6

Welcome to another week and another prompt!

Well, this week our inspiration comes from three random elements drawn from the prompt jar:

Focussing on hot pink I knew immediately that I could kill two birds with one stone this week. I've had a scrap of Cosmo Cricket paper left over since last year, too large to chuck out, and just the right size for a card...

So get your shades on, because this card is BRIGHT!

Paper: Cosmo Cricket
Stamp: MFT
Dies: MFT
Felt: PTI
Bling: Kaisercraft
Punches: Martha Stewart
Other: White gel pen, 3D foam

Now, if hot pink isn't really your thing, you don't need to use it quite on the scale I did. Just one little accent that is hot pink is all you need. Or what about hot pink stitching?

Hope you have a lovely creative week! :D

Sunday's a walk in the park

After yesterday's snow I decided to venture over the road to the park today armed with my camera and a bag of bird food for the duckies.

Ahh, there is nothing quite like treading in fresh snow:

The sun wasn't really out when I started my walk:

But the hill behind the bandstand was already in full use with kids on whizzing by on their sledges.

I walked on down to the lake to feed those poor hungry ducks and geese:

One goose got a bit to interested in my bag of bird food and wandered behind me:

The sun finally came out when I was over the other side of the lake, transforming everything:

At least the lake isn't totally frozen over, but it looks flipping cold:

Last but not least, there was another little guy out looking for breakfast:

But alas I didn't have any seeds left to throw his way.

Must say it's nice being home and snug in the house. Just hope all the snow melts off my street before tomorrow!

Something unseasonal

I think it's safe to post these cards I made late last year for a piece in Simply Cards and Papercraft, the challenge was to make two cards on the theme of music.

The first one is really simple but I couldn't think of a better reason to use that label sticker from Echo Park, or in fact use a few stickers up in one go:

Pre-scored A6 kraft card blank: Papermania
Patterned paper: Echo Park - A Walk in the Park 12x12 collection
Stickers: Echo Park - A Walk in the Park and Sweet Summertime collections
Other: Mini and regular 3D foam pads

I am sure you all recognise the music reference here!

For my other card I created a little embellishment from old torn sheet music, nicked from the piano stool - which contains a lot of odd pages and scraps of old sheet music that will never be played, at least this way they get to be enjoyed again:

Patterned paper: Crate Paper - Emma's Shoppe 6x6 pad and collection pack
Stickers: Crate Paper - Emma's Shoppe
Die cuts: Crate Paper - Emma's Shoppe collection pack
Stamp: Waltzing Mouse Stamps - Big Day Additions
Brad: Crate Paper - Emma's Shoppe
Glitter: Distress Stickles
Other: Mini 3D foam pads, brown chalk ink pad, Versafine black ink pad, old sheet music
Tools: Green Corner Chomper - We R Memory Keepers, Tim Holtz edge distresser, silicone glue

So some sunny bright cards to brighten this very cold Saturday morning! I don't think I will be going out today, I have my toe socks on, and lots of crafty stuff around me so think I can crack on with the projects I need to make for next week. :)

Feb colour challenge

This month it's Jo's turn to choose the colours for the DCM monthly colour dare and thankfully she has gone for a combo I am rather partial to!

Pink and red

If you're in need of extra inspiration, check out the colour prompt:

And here's what I came up with for my pink and red homage!

Paper: MME, Crate Paper
Flower: Prima
Stickers: Crate Paper
Dies: Magnolia (zigzag and scallop lace)
Other: Sewing machine, pattern wheel

A rather girly Polish birthday card!

I went with black and grey as my other colours with this one. Have to say I am rather loving the edger dies I bought on sale made by Magnolia, they have a lovely teeny scallop and zigzag. I cannot believe the original price for Magnolia dies but for £13 (still pricey) I knew I'd get some use out of them. :)

And look at this using up one of those beloved Prima flowers I bought a few years ago - just had to have the red and teal packs and finally one has made it onto a project. Just 3 more to go!

Happy crafting!

Oh my toes

They have still not thawed out since this morning.

Despite being in double sock layers!

Brrrrrr.... I could do with some more knee socks, maybe like these pretties:

Source: ilovelowie.com via Natalia on Pinterest

 

I so wish I could stay at home tomorrow tucked under the duvet, but I can't...

At least it'll be Friday, which means it's almost Saturday! Hurrah.

Something tells me it will be a perfect excuse to catch up on my book pile and get some crafty stuff done. ;o)