Kool Kitty Musings

52 Cards challenge - Week 18

Welcome to another week and another prompt - time is certainly flying by at the moment!

I have been away for a scrappy weekend and unfortunately don't yet have a card ready to share for our prompt this week.

But... our theme this week is to use something translucent or transparent on your project. :)

So materials such as acetate, vellum or glassine envelopes...or anything else that comes to mind!

I'll definitely be getting my thinking cap on, but I have a pretty good idea which of the above I'll be playing with. :D

In the meantime here are a couple of projects I spotted on Pinterest that caught my eye:

Embossed acetate tag:

Source: Pinterest

Floating acetate card:

Source: Pinterest

Vellum flowers:

Source: Pinterest

DIY vellum envelopes:

Source: Pinterest

Heat embossing on vellum:

Source: Pinterest

DIY glassine favour packets:

Source: Pinterest

DIY glassine envelopes:

Source: Pinterest

52 Cards challenge - Week 17

Welcome to this week's prompt. :)

We're returning to the prompt jar this week for inspiration, and here are our three elements:

And here's the card I made with these elements:

Paper: MME
Stamps: WMS, PTI
Dies: PTI
Ribbon and twine: The Ribbon Girl
Button: Pebbles Inc
Pearls: Kaisercraft

So from the colours you might have an idea what this card is about, it's for a lovely friend and her hubby who have just announced they are expecting, and I couldn't be happier for them. :D That WMS stamp really does say it all!

Hope you have fun playing along. :)

Tags and treats

This week on the DCM blog the design team had the great pleasure of playing with some lovely stash from fellow teamy Zuz's new online shop.

Tea House Bridge sells gorgeous vintage-style buttons, resin, and findings that are just perfect for craft projects.

We got to combine that lovely stash with Gez's dare - all on the theme of tags!

There's also the chance to win some lovely items from the store when you play along with this week's dare. Check out all the details on the DCM blog here.

For my card I was still in the shabby vintage mood, and of course out came my Pink Paislee London Market papers again!

Items from Tea House Bridge: cream resin frame, baby pink resin bird, clear round buttons, white and pink cotton button.
Papers: Pink Paislee, Crate Paper, Echo Park
Label: Pink Paislee
Stamp: Waltzing Mouse Stamps
Pompom trim: The Ribbon Girl
Tag and envelope: Melissa Frances
Dies: Spellbinders, PTI
Other: heart doily, sewing machine, distress ink, thin silk ribbon

For the centre of the frame I cut a piece of text paper from Echo Park with the smallest scallop oval nestability die I had, and then snipped into each dent to give it a little frill effect when it was stuck down onto the frame. The frame also has a little eye at one end, great for threading ribbon or twine through.

I hope you enjoy playing along this week - the design team have come up with some lovely projects this week. :D

Why did no one tell me...

..that my local Boots now stocked Philosophy? And that I didn't need to visit John Lewis in Newcastle just to get my sniffing fix??

Well it came as a very nice surprise while out on my lunch break today hoping to get a pot of the L'Oreal make-up primer I'd tried in a copy of Marie-Claire.

A few more items came home to live with me, including the limited edition 15 ml size of Hope in a Jar which I wanted to try on my skin without forking out the £30+ price for the usual size.

Some Microdelivery face wash to try, and the new Summer Grace fragrance tester.

I was most impressed with the range on offer, and soon I will have enough Boots points to treat myself to a big sized bottle of the 3-in-1 shower, bath shampoo - do I go for Melon Daiquiri a previous favourite, Coconut Frosting or Raspberry Sorbet... Then again there is always my favourite, Inner Grace.

Anyway, I will definitely be trying my Hope in a Jar tonight plus the Microdelivery face wash. :D

Also I managed to snap some of the pots in the garden tonight between sun and rain and also after waging further war against the green fly that have set up camp on my roses and clematis - they are persistent little buggers, especially now all the ladybirds have gone awol.

I do love this time of year when azaleas and rhododendrons are coming out.

The dwarf yellow ones are doing rather well.

The dwarf pinks had a loss in number...

The big pink one only seems to have one proper flower bud at the moment. The other buds could be leaves, but I can't recall how this one looked last year when I got it. So it'll be a nice surprise once it does open up.

Just a shame about the return of frosty mornings after all that nice weather. The roses are loving the weather and thriving, my spring bulbs are a bit less enthusiastic!

Also I can't believe I've still not had chance to post the photos I took at Easter. I think I need to get some of them printed ready for my scrappy weekend away at the end of April - but there are quite a few photos I should get printed for that!

52 Cards challenge - Week 16

Good morning!

Welcome to this week's prompt - it's time for another colour challenge and this week's combination is all about fresh green, aqua blue and white.

Here's some photo inspiration to get you started:

Source: brabournefarm.blogspot.com via Natalia on Pinterest

Source: chiccheapnursery.com via Natalia on Pinterest

Source: houseofturquoise.com via Natalia on Pinterest

Source: houseofturquoise.com via Melissa on Pinterest

 

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via speckless on Pinterest

 

And now for the card I made. :)

Paper: Pink Paislee
Stamps: WMS
Chipboard sticker: Pink Paislee
Ribbon: The Ribbon Girl
Dies: MFT, PTI
Brads: KI Memories
Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Punch: Martha Stewart

So I had a little chance to play with my new stash over the weekend after getting work out of the way. The papers and chipboard stickers are from the Spring Jubilee line by Pink Paislee.

Hope you enjoy playing along. :D

Ribbon Girl Colour Challenge

This month's colour challenge on the Ribbon Girl blog has a fab prize up for grabs:

Lots of yummy pinks plus there is a £10 voucher for LOVTV stamps to win too. :o)

This month's colours are most yummy:

Pinks, orange and aqua - right up my street.

I made a couple of cards - because one wasn't enough! ;)

Paper: Crate Paper
Seam binding, twine, and flower: The Ribbon Girl
Envelope: Melissa Frances
Button: Pebbles Inc
Stamp: PTI
Die: PTI

I made a scrunchy flower out of the deep pink seam binding and added one of those lovely orange paper blooms to the centre.

For my other card I went with a more "advanced" ribbon flower using 25 mm wide satin ribbon folded in half to make a neater look:

Paper: MME, Pink Paislee, Echo Park
Satin ribbon, saddle-stich ribbon, and pompom trim: The Ribbon Girl
Stamp: Hero Arts
Felt: PTI
Dies: Sizzix, PTI
Other: Sewing machine, kraft pocket

I just love these colours together. :D

Hope you have fun checking out the lovely projects by the design team and have chance to play along. :)

Arrrrgggghhhh, shiver me timbers!

This week's dare on the DCM blog meant I had to get my thinking cap on... literally!

Zuz set us the challenge to create a card featuring some kind of hat, well it's a good job I remembered my little set of Pirate Boy stamps from My Cute Stamps, otherwise I'd still be sat here trying to come up with something. ;)

So here it is:

Paper: MME, My Little Shoebox
Stamps: My Cute Stamps
Dies: Sizzix, Memory Box, Spellbinders, PTI
Brads: Doodlebug
Other: 3D foam, Copics, Distress Inks

Well, this is as good as my close cutting gets, even with a glass mat temporarily borrowed from the kitchen. ;) I can't do that really neat and detailed cutting work that so many others excel at, but it's not so bad I don't think. *Ü*

I am quite pleased with how my waves came out on this one - those scallop edge dies are very useful indeed.

Lovely new stash...

Just not sure when I will actually have chance to play with it.

It has been a pigging long day at work, and basically it looks like I am going to be working every weekend of April - but not the very last one, God forbid!!!

Typically the stress has kicked in tonight with a tension headache and tomorrow is going to be an even longer day... followed by the joy that is Friday the 13th...

But even if I can't play with my new stash, at least I can look at it right?

First up, I finally got some Melissa Frances resin accents:

Some of the fab new Kaisercraft resin blooms as I just love resin flowers like these and the colours are lovely:

Then I went on a bit of a paper binge...

First, Simple Stories' Fabulous line of papers, all Jo Kill's fault:

A sensation of Pink Paislee's Spring Jubilee - the chipboard stickers are "interesting", much preferred the ephemera pack of London Market, but I can work with them...

I couldn't hold out any longer and got the Story Teller papers from Crate:

As well as most of the Pretty Party papers. Just waiting for all the other bits in these two lines to reach the UK....

A little top-up to my alpha collection:

And these have probably jinxed my entire creative time this month:

... page protectors that I hoped to get back into making a few layouts with, or at the very least planning for my scrappy weekend away at the end of April - but with work as it is I will be lucky to pack a trimmer and an ATG gun before that weekend arrives.

Right, think it's time to take some Migraleve to alleviate this headache before it becomes a migraine... :o\ Last Wednesday when I was having such a nice time in Newcastle and then out for a yummy Indian feels like it was last month... how things change!

52 Cards challenge - Week 15

Happy Easter Monday everyone!

I hope you've had a lovely extended weekend so far. :)

This week's prompt is a little different, it's a word prompt!

I want to see you make a card inspired by the word...

Happy

Now you can look at this in loads of different ways:

• Include the word happy on your card as part of a greeting
• Use colours that represent happiness
• Include images or a theme that will make the recipient happy
• Make something that makes you feel happy
• Feature items that make you happy

I went with a combination of using the word "happy" in my greeting and items that make me feel happy:

Paper and label: Pink Paislee
Stamp: WMS
Velvet ribbon: Making Memories
Twill: The Ribbon Girl
Heart bling: Prima
Other: Sewing machine, heart doily, buttons, cotton thread, 3D foam, distresser

I love the look of this black label from the Pink Paislee elements for London Market as it's got that chalkboard effect which is really popular now - especially twinned with the lovely font used in this set of greetings from Waltzing Mouse Stamps. :D

Happy Easter!

Or let me say it another way:

Paper: MME
Stamps: Pink Paislee, WMS
Ribbon: The Ribbon Girl
Dies: PTI, Spellbinders
Pearls: Prima
Other: 3D foam, corner chomper

In fact with that rain shower paper it's probably a more than accurate depiction of today! :D

I also wanted to quickly mention how chuffed I was to be asked by Mary and Andrea to joining them and the other Ribbon Girls as a guest designer this month. :D Although I use Ribbon Girl stash in some form on most of the cards I make anyways, you'll be seeing my favourite items a lot this month!

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter Sunday and enjoy your Easter eggs. I'll be tucking into our lovely Polish Easter breakfast this morning followed later by a wonderful Sunday roast no doubt, oh and the Malt-Easter cupcakes I made yesterday. :)

Good Friday = good mood

Well, it has certainly been a challenging week for my nerves, and I have been really looking forward to the 4 day weekend, I can tell you!

But first, something crafty and cheery. :D

This being the first Friday of the month we have a new colour challenge to enjoy on the DCM blog this week.

Leo chose some lovely sorbet fresh colours:

And seeing these colours the first time I knew exactly which stash to use - yep, my dwindling MME Howdy Doody 6x6 pad came out to play!

Paper: MME
Stamp: WMS
Flower: The Ribbon Girl
Dies: Sizzix, Cheery Lynn, PTI
Felt: PTI
Other: Buttons, ribbon, Distress Stickles, cotton thread, chalk ink

This card started out very differently but I'm quite happy with how it ended up - will definitely have to use bitty buttons more on things, they are very sweet. :)

On the non-crafty front I had a nice break from the stress of this week with a day out in Newcastle with Zoe getting some shopping done followed in the evening by a very delicious meal out at our usual Indian - with our usual pickles of course!

Here are my lovely purchases:

Rather uninteresting to some...

But I finally have an oven thermometer which will get tried out this weekend when I attempt to make Easter Malteaser cupcakes.

There had to be at least one Easter decoration - and I loved that little bowl from John Lewis.

Had to have this when I saw it - even if I don't use all the toppers on cupcakes, I could add a few to craft projects. But I just love Meri Meri design and Lakeland had lots of tempting sets, but I could only go for one and this was it!

Fenwick's foodhall is always a must stop place - and how nice to see them have packets of coconut M&Ms at last... and my fave white PB cups!

The main reason for visiting is always to stock up on Kolos rye bread, basically the best rye bread in the world! I bought a little loaf for myself, and two big loaves for the Easter weekend at my mum and dad's - Polish Easter breakfast of course wouldn't be complete without this bread! In fact once I finish up here I will be having some for my breakfast. :D

And finally the last thing I was expecting to buy was some new perfume, but when I saw the new additions to the Be Delicious range (I have quite a few...) I had to try them and to my extreme delight this creamy meringue perfume has a lovely fresh lemon zing to it without being overly sweet and sickly. And for once in the many years I have bought perfume I had a load of free samples dropped into the bag with my purchase. So look forward to trying those out, hopefully they are nice!

Right, I had best get my breakfast and get dressed - later on the menu it's a traditional Good Friday visit to the fish and chip shop plus Hot Cross buns somewhere in there as well. :D

52 Cards challenge - Week 14

Hope you all had a lovely sunny weekend.

Wow, it's hard to believe we're already into month 4 of this challenge. :)

This week it's the return of the sketch prompt, and here's what we've got to play with:

This is what I made:

Papers: MME, Pink Paislee
Stamps: JustRite
Dies: Sizzix, Spellbinders
Trim, twine, seam binding: The Ribbon Girl
Button: Pebbles Inc
Pearls: Prima
Other: Felt, sewing machine, Glossy Accents

Unfortunately it's a bit difficult to see the pale pink and grey stamped text in the pics but I'm definitely getting through that new set of stamps, one greeting at a time! LOL

At last...

Some of my daffs have come out. It's been looking a bit sparse on the ground until the tail end of this week. Hoping this lovely sunny weather sticks around through the Easter weekend - and with any luck the ladybirds that are still hanging around on my garden will have assisted in sorting out the greenfly population!

In other news I finally managed to get a baby boy outfit for the a new little chap that has finally arrived.

I cannot tell you how difficult it was to find something not overly cutesy and pale blue or an all-in-one outfit for a boy - I trawled the town from shop to shop, TK Maxx had a couple of fab items I would have bought had they been in something smaller than 6 months, Next was really disappointing, Boots used to have a great choice but have reduced their clothing section a lot, M&S had very little to choose from and in the end I went to Debenhams and got this:

I can't remember it being this difficult the last time I shopped for a baby boy - fabby girl clothing has always been available, but there was always a good choice of boy stuff - this time, not so much! But I am really glad to have found this little number, love it! :D

I'd best get it wrapped up ready to send off. :)