Kool Kitty Musings

A break from deleting spam comments...

Just logging into typepad and for whatever reason have had 15 spam comments in quick succession from different spammers... such a pain. I mean what is the point for them to do that when commenting is moderated on this blog.

Oh well, just makes things tidier for any readers I suppose as they don't have to see the casino-viagra-ugg-money-laundering "adverts" popping up here. ;)

So moving onto something nicer... Pinterest inspiration.

Here are a few things that caught my eye this week...

As my dad knows very well, I seem to be in a bulb obsession state right now. In fact I am rather obsessed with trying to cultivate some ranunculas this year, simple because I keep seeing beautiful pins like this:

...all the time. And well, I have bought some mixed bulbs to try out and if there is success this year may invest in some specific varieties and colours next year. Fingers crossed! I have also bought a cactus dahlia bulb, some fresia bulbs and possible a few begonia bulbs but can't quite recall... I am obviously hoping for a sunny summer!

I have also been intrigued by many freezer-meal pins I have seen, where the idea is that you buy a load of produce for a list of meals, prep them all ready to be cooked then put them in freezer bags and freeze until needed. Apparently it can save you money and also make life easier, but I am not sure how it will work for feeding one... perhaps I will need to invite the family round when I finally give this a go!

Next up, time for some gratuitous eye candy... who wouldn't want to try some of these?? Milk and cookie cupcakes:

And I love this DIY Easter egg garland, how cute!

And finally, I'll end on a bit of Patriotic glory - what an amazing quilt:

Wish I had the talent and vision to make something so beautiful and unique.

In the meantime, I shall just vicariously enjoy seeing what other much talented people come up with. ;o)

52 Christmas Crackers 2013 - Week 9

Better late than never, here I'm sharing this week's Christmas card. I had hoped to get my blog updated last night but I managed to zonk out on the sofa in front of the telly. It wasn't a very productive evening. ;o)

I am not sure this evening will be a productive one, despite needing to get ahead with my makes for next week. I think I might only be up to a soak in the bath with my current Jill Mansell read!

But first, here's the card I made for this week's "rose" prompt - allowing any Christmas plant to be a worthy substitute, I even threw some red rose colours in for good measure:

Paper: October Afternoon
Stamps and dies: PTI
Other: 3D foam

When I was in Florida I managed to stock up on some of the rustic cream and white cardstock from Papertrey, I quite like the rustic specks that run through it. But I am still very much devoted to Vintage Cream as my favourite go-to background colour. I'm very much looking forward to some more stores stocking Bazzill Cardshoppe in the UK - they're only planning to stock 12x12 which is understandable as there is more call for 12x12 in the target market here, but I would love for Bazzill to release some new shades. Will definitely have to get some more Rock Candy, Marshmallow, Taffy and Peanut cluster, fantastic shades. My my absolute favourite red: Wax Lips.

But first I need to wait for pay day and well... a new order of PTI stuff trying out their First Class postage option - really hope that's around to stay as it would be fantastic to be able to purchase regular small amounts straight to my door. :)

Right I suppose I should go and try pushing some paper around and see if a card gets made!

52 Cards challenge 2013 - Week 9

Morning everyone!

Well it's the last Monday of February and to continue on the Valentine/Love theme, this week our inspiration comes in the form of this particular flower:

Roses galore... For this week's card I want to see you feature a rose of your choice on your card. So it can be a rose in the form of:

• A resin flower
• A stamped image
• A rolled flower in felt etc.
• A die-cut flower
• Patterned paper featuring roses
• And any other rose you can find

As for the Christmas Cracker this week...

I understand it may be tricky to incorporate this particular flower on your Christmas card. If you happen to have Christmas roses in your stash collection, then you are already sorted! ;o)

But for your christmas card, take inspiration from roses in another way. Their colour for example, otherwise feature a plant/flower traditionally associated with winter/Christmas. There's plenty to work with there! :o)

In the meantime here is my card for the main dare:

Paper: MME
Stamps: PTI
Dies: PTI, MFT
Pearls: Kaisercraft
Other: 3D foam, pattern wheel

I've been really wanting to use my Sweet Life stamps from PTI again but wanted to try a new colour combination, this time I used Tattered Rose Distress Ink as the base, then Salmon Adirondack ink in the middle, followed by Rose Madder Archival ink for the darker accents.

Looking forward to seeing your rosy creations this week! I shall be back with my Christmas take on this prompt later in the week. :)

Weekend round-up

Well, Saturday saw an unexpected start to the weekend... the snow returned overnight and there was no way I was venturing down the hill to my mum and dad's house to pick up mother dearest. I managed to get turned around and wait for her, but even the 4x4s were struggling to get up it in the snow. Must have caught a lot of folks by surprise as usually loads of cars are parked at the top of the hill before snow hits and the main road between my house and theirs hadn't been gritted properly...

At least we managed to get to town for our hair appointments and then went off for a little cultural excursion to the museum before lunch.

Always love how much more decorative and special older documents and certificates were. Even this one from the Temperance Society - they really went to town on the art work. Case in point, my degree certificate from university looks like anyone could have typed it up, and worst of all it's just in Times New Roman font, most underwhelming when that arrived! The only thing that could have been worse is if they'd used Comic Sans!

After our museum excursion it was finally time for lunch at our favourite Italian place and it had to start off as it always does, with the yummy garlic bread!

After lunch I was definitely operating on less than half-steam ahead!

I didn't quite get chance to get the bedding changed this weekend to my lovely new Orla Kiely grey scribble stem set that I picked up in TK Maxx this week, but there's no huge rush, it'll get done! ;)

And today, I have got this week's crafty projects done and dusted, just need to get a head start on next week's as I'm away some of next weekend. ;o)

Right, best sort a few more things out then it's time for Sunday dinner en famille!

Chocolate withrdawl has almost kicked in...

And it's all the fault of Kathy over on the Daring Cardmakers blog.

So, having given up both chocolate and crisps for Lent this year, just what happens to be the topic of this week's dare... only bloomin' chocolate! LOL

It has been torture seeing some of the really imaginative creations from the design team.

I personally couldn't contemplate the actual stuff for too long when trying to come up with a card as it was making me hungry.

But as the dare allows for favourite centres and chocolate accompaniments I thought back to a lovely bar of either Milka or Rittersport white chocolate I once had with strawberry pieces in it. I don't usually like strawberry creams too much, but this particular chocolate bar was a perfect fusion of my two favourite sweet treats.

So, the theme on my card this week is strawberries!

Papers: Crate Paper, Basic Grey
Chipboard: Crate Paper
Die: MFT
Ribbon: SU
Button: October Afternoon
Other: Sewing machine

A rather summery card for this time of year but I have to say I am looking forward to when fresh and seasonal strawberries are finally available! :D

Don't forget to check out the fab (and most drool-worthy) creations from the rest of the design team. :)

52 Christmas Crackers 2013 - Week 8

Well, I hope you are getting on OK with this week's colour prompt:

I'm back to prove that you don't need to limit yourself to Christmas papers in order to make a Christmas card. In fact I often reach for my stockpile of "B-side" papers for just this purpose.

For the past few years I have primarily been buying patterned paper based on the reverse of the main design - this is especially true in the case of MME papers. It's just an added bonus when the main design is also a winner. ;o)

My card this week uses patterns from MME to create a very fresh and simple Christmas card:

Paper: MME
Stamps and dies: PTI
Other: 3D foam

There's not much faff to this card, in fact I used two tones/textures of white cardstock just for a little variation and so the snowflakes would stand out individually - but I believe the end result will look nice on anyone's mantelpiece this Christmas. :)

52 Cards challenge 2013 - Week 8

Morning everyone!

I was thinking while we are in February we need a sort of related colour challenge for this month.

Now, I have been wanting to use this pin for some time now as a colour prompt but it's never felt quite right.... but as I was flicking through my Valentine's purchases last week I noticed how many recent releases use colours that sit very nicely in this spectrum.

I would love it if you used the main shades together on your projects this wee, so red, pink, and aqua - even a smidge of gold if you are feeling ambitious.

But if this palette really isn't calling to you take inspiration from any of the colours in the photo - make it work for what you have to hand. :)

Here's my card for this week:

Paper: Crate Paper
Stamps and die: MFT
Brad: Basic Grey
Other: 3D foam

I don't think I am ever going to get bored of my typewriter die and stamp set from MFT - it has some very handy greetings - would be great if they released a Christmas/other holidays companion set. :)

Anyway, I hope you have fun playing with these colours - I look forward to seeing what you make!

Weekend workout...

Well, not of the gym variety!

My brain feels like it needs a good rest as I had to do overtime yesterday and some of today on a big proof-reading project for work... let's just say this time next week it should hopefully all have been completed and normal service can resume.

So, it's not left much scope for anything else.

Typical too, since it has been gloriously sunny in the conservatory and my beanbag was really calling to me for some 1:1 lounging and reading time! :(

I did manage to capture the hyacinths my dad bought for me in their glory:

Spring is definitely on its way! Hurrah! It's these kind of sights you miss out on when you're out of the house all week, and it is rarely gloriously sunny on the days you are at home!

I have managed to get my crafty jobs done for the week too, as there is a chance I will have to do more OT some evenings this week... here is a sneak peek:

I do love the convenience of snapping pics and blogging them with my iPad - but I really do need to get out with my camera more, so far this month the only photos I've taken have been on Instagram and of card projects. Tsk.

Anyway, time to get the last bits and pieces of the day sorted, finally watched Hunger Games today while doing my crafty session and that can at long last go back to Lovefilm!

Butterflies are in the air!

This week over on the DCM blog Zuz challenged us to use butterflies on our projects.

Well, I decided to be a very organized little bee this week and got all my cardmaking tasks done at the weekend. This particular card was always destined for a fellow-scrappy friend to celebrate a certain milestone birthday that will remain nameless. I was getting slightly worried when all my attempts to include butterflies were failing badly and it wasn't until everything else was down on the card that I dragged out the Martha Stewart butterfly punches I own for such emergencies and got to work "adding butterflies"! I may have gone slightly over the top... but hey, it's an important birthday after all!

So here it is, the finished number:

Paper: Crate Paper, Basic Grey
Chipboard elements: Crate Paper
Border sticker: Crate Paper
Die-cut cage: Pink Paislee
Dies: Cheery Lynn, MFT
Stamp: Hero Arts
Pearls: Kaisercraft
Punches: Martha Stewart
Other: 3D foam, Corner Chomper

And here are the butterflies in all their glory. What I was really pleased with about this card was how well that chevron paper from Basic Grey mixed in with the rest of the Pretty Party Crate elements. I hope the birthday girl likes it. :)

Don't forget to check out the rest of the gorgeous projects from the talented design team!

Just a little something I made...

So, I've not been able to share this card since making it at the weekend as I didn't want the recipient to spy it too soon!

My Friday night crop girls will probably recognise the clouds and background as that is about as far as I got at the crop last week.... yes, I apparently needed the rest of my craft room in order to finish the card as I had sort of envisaged... but I am much happier with how it turned out as a result. :)

Paper: October Afternoon, Echo Park, Basic Grey
Stamps: PTI
Dies: PTI, MFT, Memory Box
Button: October Afternoon
Other: waxed cotton, 3D foam

I really like this little stamp and die set from PTI - I don't really have any other cheery get well stamps and the sun and clouds in this set are handy for many other things. Definitely one of my better purchases of late! ;)

52 Christmas Crackers 2013 - Week 7

Well better late than never! Here's my festive card for this week using up some old Crate stash... always pays to look through what you have and can finally get rid of in a creative way. ;o)

Paper and chipboard elements: Crate Paper
Stamp: PTI
Pearl: Kaisercraft
Other: Glossy Accents

Short but sweet and perfect for winter lovers everywhere! Not that I am currently one of them, after the yucky hail-snow blizzard driving home. But now I'm tucked up nice and cosy with the heating on while my tea finishes in the oven...

Anyway, if any of you are struggling to work out how to feature a heart on your Christmas card... here are a couple of ideas.

Use hearts to create a garland for your greeting or as a decorative element:

Source: allaboutyou.com via Rachel on Pinterest

 

A heart + house design works really well with gingerbread themes - either to decorate a gingerbread man, or on a gingerbread house to decorate the door, or why not use use a heart to represent the puff of smoke from the chimney of a house:

Nordic hearts are a really nice Christmas theme - if you happen to have some Nordic stamps like the background stamps from Waltzing Mouse then you could easily incorporate them into your card - otherwise there are sure to be printables available online:

Include the word "heart" in your greeting:

Use hearts as baubles on the tree:

Or like I did for my first card this week, replace a letter in your greeting with a heart or use a punched heart or button instead of the dot on an "i".

These alphas come with a heart and were a nice and easy solution:

I look forward to seeing what festive treats you come up with. :)

52 Cards challenge 2013 - Week 7

Morning everyone!

This week the focus is on something we're seeing all around us at the moment by virtue of this Thursday being Valentine's Day.

Yes, that's right, I want to see you feature...

A heart on your card this week.

No matter how big or small, just one heart is all you need to include - or lots of hearts if you are really feeling the love!

Here's a birthday card I made that is destined for a birthday girl in Poland!

Paper: Elle's Studio
Letters: Basic Grey
Dies: MFT
Other: button, twine

A very clean and simple number but it needs to be flat-ish for posting to Poland and also it was a nice excuse to use those new papers and chipboard letters - which I love!

I'll be back later this week with my Christmas card for this prompt, but I look forward to seeing the heart-y creations you make this week! :)

And they're done...

The creative projects I needed to get done at Friday night's crop and this weekend are complete! :)

I wasn't  feeling the creative love Friday night and didn't manage to get anything done except a lot of gabbing, devour a nice Chinese takeaway, a piece of very nice cake and some grape Kool Aid slushy! It goes without saying we all had a very good night even if some of us were less than productive!

But I'm bang up to date on everything I needed to get done - success!

Love is in the air this week

...over on the DCM blog.

Come and join us for some pre-Valentines fun!

The theme of this week is all things L-o-v-e!

Well, I was really looking forward to breaking into my lovely new Valentines stash from Sarah's Cards to get my project made for this week's dare.... so many luscious items in my order it was difficult to choose just where to start!

But in the interests of using up "old" stash I made sure to combine the new with the old. :)

Paper: Basic Grey, Elle's Studio
Flower: Prima
Brad and chipboard: Crate Paper
Dies and stamps: PTI
Other: waxed cotton cord, sewing machine

So yes, any excuse for an aqua, pink and red colour combo from me! And I finally used the last flower in that packet from Prima. Had to swap out the brad as for some reason the original one had rusted... go figure!

After this little creative session I am really looking forward to using more of the lovely new Valentines product I picked up, including the sheet of paper that Sarah's Cards are sending through from my order. That's customer service for you - it's just a pain when the one item missing from your order is paper - it's such a mare of a thing to send in the post compared to say a pack of buttons! But never to mind, I will be put to good use when it arrives. :)

And no, I am not planning on turning my craft room into a valentine card sweat shop! The papers I chose are really versatile for so many other projects. But you know me, can't resist a bit of aqua, pink or chevrons!

Tonight it's crop night, but I've had little to no time to pack so it may just be a sorting session at this rate! I do hope to get using some more of the new stash, but we will see!

Don't forget to stop by the DCM blog and check out all the projects from my fellow design team girls. :)

A couple of recent likes

I've just been having a browse through pins I follow and here are some items that caught my eye. :)

It's always healthy to keep your stash wish list up-to-date. Really liked the previews of projects using this new set from WPlus9 - one of these days I may manage to make an order. :D

I obviously have a thing for not only vintage photos but terriers...

How gorgeous are these - so tiny and precise:

And finally, it's never too soon to look forward to spring! Just wish I had the talent and imagination to come up with something like this:

Right, I'm off to enjoy some treats my ma is cooking up as it's Tłusty czwartek in Poland and the only day of the year I get to enjoy Faworki! Mmmmm:

52 Christmas Crackers 2013 - Week 6

So here I am back with my Christmas card for this week's prompt focusing on breathing new life and love into old stash.

And it would seem I was on a roll re-loving my October Afternoon stash.

I would probably have passed over these papers and stickers time and again had it not been for this prompt...

I'm rather glad I stopped to take a closer look at what I had as this is one of the Christmas cards I'm much happier with:

Paper: October Afternoon
Stickers: October Afternoon
Dies: PTI, MFT
Stamp: PTI
Pearls: Kaisercraft
Other: 3D foam, pompom trim, glitter card, sewing machine

I was also inspired by all the Instagram and Pinterest photos you see of creating hearts with candy canes, and with two candy cane stickers left on the sticker sheet it would have been rude not to give it a go on a card. ;o)

I don't think today has really been my day!

So much for best-laid plans...

I have had a bit of a tiring day at work and didn't leave till well gone the usual time. Popped over to pick up my lovely order from Sarah's Cards at my mum and dad's then headed home - thankfully without stopping off to purchase some food as I had been intending... because I'd only gone and left my wallet at work.

This was deduced after much frantic searching of the floor and seats of the car to make sure it hadn't fallen out and also a call to my mum and dad's to make sure it hadn't fallen out of my handbag when I put it on the chair in the lounge... oh no... it was definitely still at work.

So off I went fully prepared to have to battle with the alarm system, but thankfully the cleaners were still in so I was in and out like a shot and back home for 8 p.m. wallet in hand.

It was time to finally open my lovely box of goodies and think about the project I wanted to get done tonight.

Lots of lovely Crate Fourteen, Basic Grey True Love and other assorted papers - including the new lines by Elle's Studio... But alas the paper I'd been intending to use is missing from my order. Never to mind, I will give them a call in the morning and see if they can send it through as typically it was my favourite pattern from the line and the one I had in mind for this project.

So after all that I don't feel fit for anything other than nodding off in front of the telly tonight. Will just have to hope I have my creative hat on tomorrow evening and work doesn't tire me out completely.

I also need to avoid TK Maxx like the plague.

I popped in yesterday to look at bedding and there was a lovely chevron set in aqua blue but only in Superking... so en route home I visited the larger TK Maxx store and they had it in King Size, but the Harlequin set I really wanted was only in double or super king. Boo hiss... I will have to make do with my nice aqua chevrons, new sateen sheet and matching pillowcases... but I have to wonder at the RRP prices they quote on the labels sometimes:

£120?? For a duvet cover and matching pillowcases by a company I've never heard of and cannot find any mention of online... hm... slightly suspect. But £24.99... I'm happy to pay that... I just need to draw the line at further bedding temptation!

52 Cards challenge 2013 - Week 6

Welcome to a new month and the first prompt of February.

As it's the month of love I expect we will have a few "love" inspired prompts coming our way.

This weekend I had a resort of my stash cupboard, in particular my patterned paper stash! Not just because I needed to make room for some new additions but because it had been bugging me for some time that there were so many pretty papers in there that I'd been neglecting and just couldn't reach them on a creative level - a bit like not seeing the wood for the trees... ;o) Anyway, all that's now changed and I have a very organised and nicely pruned patterned paper collection to play with now.

So this week's prompt is somewhat inspired by the discoveries I made during the epic paper reorganization of 2013!

This week's theme is all about giving some love to some old or neglected purchases.

Breathe some new life into your stash and re-love it by putting it to good use.

I had quite a few papers from October Afternoon kept in their entirety by collection - but I couldn't really envisage using them while the papers that I wasn't too keen on were still grouped with the papers I liked. So the unloved papers are going to a new home and now that it's just the re-loved papers grouped together I see so much more potential for using them and combining them with other product.

Here's the card I made - which includes re-loved October Afternoon stamps and a squidgy embellishment along with some other old papers:

Paper: October Afternoon, Luxe, Scenic Route
Stamps: October Afternoon, PTI
Dies: MFT
Embellishment: October Afternoon
Other: 3D foam, sewing machine, pearls

It was all rather liberating as before I probably would have felt constrained to use just papers from the same collection together as sometimes that always seems "easier" - but when you wheedle it down to just the patterns you really like then there is much more scope for mixing and matching with other lines.

I wonder what stash rediscoveries you'll make! I can't wait to see the results. :)

A little make for the day

I read some very nice news on Facebook yesterday that a school friend and her hubby plus little baby boy are expecting a lovely surprise come the summer - a brand new addition. :)

So I have made a neutral card to congratulate them - I wonder if it'll be a girl or boy this time. *Ü*

Back to the clean and simple style as it seems to work best for these papers.

Paper: American Crafts, MME
Embellishment: Basic Grey
Die: MFT
Stamp: WMS
Other: 3D foam, Corner chomper

Looks like cardmaking duty is over for today as the light is disappearing. I still need to finish my current read before I can start on "Life Saving for Beginners" so think it might be time to pop the fire on and curl up on the sofa.

Done and dusted for another year!

Today I finally got rid of that thing that has been niggling away at me and bugging the organizational part of my brain non-stop the past few weeks...

Today was the day to conquer the epic 2013 patterned paper purge... I retrieved all my papers from my stash cupboard and sorted them all out... it took a little over 3 hours. But everything I intend to use is now back in the stash cupboard ready to be re-loved and the items I am never in a month of Sundays going to manage to use are ready to find new and hopefully more appreciative homes. ;o)

I have just remembered that I do still have a bag of scrapbook kits to go through and sort out, but that shouldn't take long and I can do that one evening this week.

I had intended to get down to some serious crafting as soon as everything was organised, but I ended up catching up on some telly then watching The Enchanted Island operatic pastiche on Sky Arts right through to the end as it was very good.

At some point I also need to start my new book - been really looking forward to getting my hands on Ciara Garaghty's latest read, and it finally came in this week:

The problem is, I know I will want to read it beginning to end and who knows when I'll manage that!

February is the month of....

L-O-V-E....

And with it being the first Friday of the month, you know what Kathy had in mind when she chose this week's colour palette to inspire the Daring Cardmakers!

It's a classy combination of dark slate grey, light cloudy grey, white and cranberry red....

Most stylish!

Here's the card I made:

Paper: Echo Park
Stamps: PTI, WMS
Dies: PTI, MFT
Other: 3D foam, Promarker pen

So I had great plans in my head when sitting down to create this card, but once again the creative part of my brain decided to go on a little holiday... never to mind. I wanted to play with my new Rosie Posie stamps but obviously wasn't channelling the Veldman or other PTI design team ladies who have made such lovely projects with this set and matching dies that they make it look so effortless.

I did want my flowers to zing a little, so I added some accents with a red Promarker pen and the blender pen. And I finally used my MFT Jumbo Fishtail Banner stax dies the way I had intended to when I purchased them - I rather like the look of the greeting at the top hanging down. Will have to do that more in future as it opens up a bit more space on your card. :)

Anyway, don't forget to check out the other lovely creations from the DCM girls!