Kool Kitty Musings

Saturday snaps

Well, I am nearing the end of my to-do list and waiting for a few things to happen of their own accord before I can complete it.... So thought I'd pop on the blog and share a few snaps.

Despite the cold weather this Easter weekend, there has actually been - gasp! - sunshine!

And although I've not had time to sit in the conservatory and enjoy it all day, I managed a bit of reading session while my weekend bake was in the oven.

I have had some fun playing with some papers that I ordered along with the Echo Park Sweetest Day kit for an upcoming project. The papers were just add-ons to my order from the latest Crate release as I wasn't feeling the love for the entire release and had nothing in mind for those other patterns, but I liked these a lot:

I even got down to getting my card for this Monday's prompt sorted... I wonder if you can guess what the theme will be...

Then once I got my project photographed and ready to blog I turned my attention to the big item I needed to do today.

The all-important Easter bake for tomorrow's Polish Easter celebrations. I'd been umming and ahhing over trying this recipe from Mary Berry a while, as I love Yorkshire curd tart and Polish baked cheesecake is very similar to this recipe but I wanted to bake something that was aimed at the British baker (and my temperamental oven) rather than a seasoned Polish domestic goddess - which I am not!

It is currently on its second hour cooling in the oven and while that is happening I cannot put my last minute zesty flapjack hodge podge traybake in.

I ended up raiding the cupboards trying to work out if there was something else I could "bake" to use up the rest of the butter and unwaxed lemons I'd had to buy for the above recipe (since no one sells them loose around here and you have to buy a bag of 5 and I don't use lemons all that much except for baking) plus the porridge oats I had left-over from some other bakes... and well, a lemon ginger flapjack recipe was found online but unmercilessly doctored to also include dessicated coconut (since I ran out of loose oats and had to resort to plain oats so simple packets and some other dry goods to make up the measures...) and mixed chopped nuts (needed using up...) in addition to the sultanas in the recipe.

We shall see whether it is fit for human consumption later this evening when the oven is finally free or whether the birds in my area will have their work cut out trying to find nourishment!

In the meantime, I'd best get some tea...

Good morning, Good Friday

Well if you are in the "Spring" mood, there's a wonderful dare over on the DCM blog this week. :)

Beckie has challenged us to make a card featuring "springs" in some way.

I decided to cover my bases with this one and include a Spring theme as well as some DIY springs. I wonder if you can spot them:

Papers and printed ephemera: Pink Paislee
Stamps and dies: PTI
Nest: Michaels
Other: paper flowers, seambinding, acrylic paint, 3D foam

Once again I had great fun stamping with the Stitched Sentiments set from PTI and this time I finally used the embroidery hoop - I really love that needle stamp. I think I am also going to have to cave and get the Aida background stamp set too to get a subtle background for these sentiments as I have now seen it in use and well... those cards were lovely and the stamps really added the finishing touch.

So... can you see the springs?

Well, here's my DIY job:

I made little springs out of the stalks of the flower bunches. :)

Don't forget to check out the lovely springy cards from the design team!

Easter is almost upon us.

Hurrah!

I somehow doubt we will be seeing much in the way of Spring sunshine and warmth this Easter weekend, but to spread the Happy Easter vibes here are some lovely pins that have helped get me in the Spring mood these past few weeks. :)

Brace yourselves it was hard to pick just a few images!

OK, I am seriously tempted to try this on our onion-skin-died eggs for Polish breakfast on Sunday. I must dig out my white Sharpie paint pen and see if it is still working.

It's a shame they don't make these for "grown-ups" - oh if only I had one of these when I was little:

Continuing with the bunny theme - how cute??

But let us not forget about the chickies!

Source: potterybarnkids.com via Natalia on Pinterest

 

It wouldn't be Easter without a few spring blooms to brighten the house and garden:

I would love this jug of blossom on my table, I can tell you.

And what about some tasty treats? These biscuits are beautiful.

But there has to be chocolate right?

It just leaves me to wish you....

Or in Polish...

And one more for good measure!

52 Christmas Crackers 2013 - Week 13

Well, once again my Christmas cracker card is sadly reflecting the view outside my window!

So much for Spring in these parts... I sure hope it arrives by the weekend but I doubt it.

Anyway, the inspiration pins I chose for my Christmas card are these:

Creamy white and grey colour palette that's a departure from the traditional green and red. I really like it and it still looks cosy to me. :)

Beautiful white on white snowflakes with just a hint of frosty sparkle.

And a bit of winter bling - how gorgeous is this brooch?

I'm afraid photographing my card ended up being rather difficult. The light is really bad at the moment what with the grey dark skies and it's always tricky to capture frosty glitter in a photo without good light!

Impression plate: PTI
Die: PTI
Stamp: PTI
Bling: Prima
Glitter: German glass glitter in white, Rocky Candy Distress glitter
Other: 3D foam

I promise it does look a lot nicer in real life and sparkles nicely when light is on it. :) I made the mistake of using wet glue for the first layer of glitter (the white German glass glitter) which is quite dull, while it was still drying I tried out my spray adhesive and sprinkled on rock candy glitter for added sparkle and left the snowflake to dry over night. I think spray adhesive is the way forward for me. Good job I still have a scrap cardboard box to hand that I can use to spray into and not end up with spray adhesive everywhere. :)

52 Cards challenge 2013 - Week 13

Morning everyone!

This past week I've been doing a fair bit of Pinterest pinning and what I love most about Pinterest... tracing back pins to new sources of wonderful inspiration. I have been on some real tangents this week and have spent many a moment admiring yet more pretty things. And ultimately pretty pictures provide inspiration for all sorts of things in our lives.

So this week, I thought it would be rather nice to take something you have seen online or around you as your inspiration for creating this week's card. It would be really fun if you could share details or a pic of your inspiration with your card too. :)

It doesn't matter how small or great the inspiration is; it could be one little element like a button on a coat, the colours used in a home interiors shoot, some glittery sprinkles on a cupcake... whatever it is that caught your eye and made you think "oooh I could do that!", get it on your card and share it with us all! :)

For my main card the inspiration has come from looking at quite a few pieces of beautiful Polish Kashubian folk art online. Mostly embroidery styles, but also once again I was searching the net to see if any shop now sells the lovely light shade I saw on my first trip to Gdansk in 2010 during our regular family holiday to Poland.

It was at the Velevetka restaurant in case you ever get the chance to visit. ;) This shade would be just perfect over my dining table... If only Cepelia sold it, life would be much easier!

Kashubian folk art is very similar in style to the Swedish folk art designs you currently can see in Ikea. It must be that Baltic connection. ;o)

It really is beautiful and I love the symmetry of the designs and the elements:

Source: images.search.yahoo.com via N. on Pinterest

 

The colours are usually muted primaries, with lots of blues and yellows and the zing of red:

These designs feature on everything from textiles in the home, clothing, and painted floors to Easter eggs:

I must confess I was very happy when PTI came out with their Fancy Folkart stamp set as the designs are very Kashubian in style and I do love a bit of two/three-step stamping with different colours. I didn't use traditional colours for my card though:

Stamps: PTI
Ink: Prima chalk ink

It's very enjoyable to create something with just stamps and ink - it's one of the reasons I love papercrafting so much!

Plus it also means I can create "flat" cards to send to Poland - although it might be a bit like sending coals to Newcastle! ;o)

Last Easter bunny card for this year...

Well, with one week to go before Easter Sunday I think this could possibly be my last Easter card make for 2013.

I didn't manage to snag the Easter bunny die before it went out of stock, but I have definitely made use of the stamp!

Nevertheless I wanted to play along with this week's Passion for Papertrey challenge to create a card featuring a negative die-cut, so I set the scene with my Easter bunny another way. ;)

Stamps: PTI (Polka Dot Parade #1 and Striped Sweater background basics), WMS
Dies: Spellbinders, MFT, Sizzix
Paper: PTI (bitty dot basics), Rob and Bob, plus PTI cardstock
Pearls: Prima
Other: 3D glitter paint, twine

This card was also an exercise in using up some of those old Rob and Bob papers I had in my stash and never got rid of as I thought to myself, "ahhh, I'll use them for Easter cards..." - it's only taken 5 years or so to make those Easter cards with those papers. ;o)

Chalkboard heaven

This week over on the Daring Cardmakers blog it's my turn to challenge my fellow teamies and our blog visitors.

And well, there was one thing that immediately sprang to mind that I thought we'd all enjoy - recreating chalk art on a card.

Now, thanks to the fab tutorial by Betsy Veldman it's much easier than it looks - and it is really fun! And the results? Well, I've only had a go at it a couple of times, but I think the end result is really unique and fun.

One of my favourite chalkboard artists is Dana Tanamachi - what a skill and what a job she has. Truly amazing. I would love a bit of her art on my walls I can tell you. ;o)

Source: tanamachistudio.com via Natalia on Pinterest

 

The inspiration for my card came from this particular piece of hers which has done the rounds on Pinterest quite a lot - no surprise why!

Source: shelleysdavies.com via natalie | la designerie on Pinterest

 

I just love the branches that encompass the text in the middle. The closest I could get to it was by using the Stitched Sentiments set from PTI (one of my lovely purchases last month).

Paper: Crate Paper
Stamps: PTI (Stitched Sentiments and Fancy Folkart)
Die: PTI
Embellishment: Basic GRey
Other: Sewing machine, twine, white pencil, chalk ink (applied with cotton bud and cotton wool)

I applied some old Versa Magic chalk ink (which is a bit drier and so perfect for this technique) using a cotton bud around the stamping then a cotton wool ball for the overall chalky effect. I'm really pleased with how it came out, especially the fontage from the Fancy Folkart set, I sure hope some more greetings get released in that font and style as they are just lovely.

I really hope you'll give this challenge a try and play along. :)

A little more Easter delight...

So I seem to really be getting the most out of that $5 bunny stamp set from PTI.

I didn't manage to snag the die, but it doesn't mean I haven't been using it in all sorts of ways, the latest being for this card:

Paper: MME
Stamps: PTI
Impression plate: PTI
Other: Sewing machine

Once again the bunny rabit is in those lovely branches from the Stitched Sentiments set, this time I used green and some of my lighter inks to then stamp the flowers and buds on.

Also I had a play with the Linen and Canvas Impression Plate which is finally mine - it has only taken 3 or so years to get one... but finally I had a go with it on a card and decided to run the card blank through after a I had applied patterned paper to the front. Despite the chevron pattern, I think the checked impression adds extra depth. After I'd stamped the main panel I also ran that through on the other side of the impression plate for a little more texture before running it through the sewing machine.

I was under strict instructions to make a flat card - again headed to Poland and my grandma - so I hope it reaches her in one piece. :)

52 Christmas Crackers 2013 - Week 12

Looking out the window this morning you would be forgiven for thinking it can't possibly be the first day of spring, and it is definitely hard to imagine that this time last year we were basking in summer-like temperatures and... sun!

But my Christmas cracker card for this week definitely reflects our current weather system and climate...

Stamps: Hero Arts, PTI
Paper: MME
Pearls: Kaiserkraft
Other: Stickles

Yep, it's another very simple one this week, but I felt it about time I had a play with this cling stamp from Hero Arts that I picked up in Florida. I stamped in Prima "Worn Jeans" chalk ink, which is a lovely bluey grey. It's difficult to see in the pic but the background behind the image is a woodgrain paper from MME. And for a finishing touch I edged the whole thing with Frosted Lace Stickles for a little sparkle.

Now, if only the view outside my craft room window would brighten up I'd feel more like using bright colours and I could probably get some better photos too!

52 Cards challenge 2013 - Week 12

Good morning and welcome to a new prompt!

I was recently sorting my pile of envelopes into a more organised system and came across some little envelopes with no matching card blanks. So it got me to thinking it would be a good time to explore card sizes and switching it up a bit from the standard sizes we see.

So this week we're going miniature with our cards!

The beauty of this is you can also make something a bit more quickly or make a set of cards with the same design quite simply using the same product.

I decided to experiment with a cute little Easter card this week. The finished size is 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches:

Paper: MME
Stamps: PTI
Dies: MFT, PTI, Spellbinders
Other: buttons, twine, 3D foam, Stickles

I added some Frosty Lace Stickles to the bunny's tail for added pop. This is definitely a design I could do a few times and still have paper left over from a sheet of 12x12.

I look forward to seeing how small you go with your cards this week. :)

I'll share my mini-Christmas card later.

Weekend antics

Well, it has been a rather nice spring weekend in my household despite the poor weather this afternoon.

I got down to some crafty business yesterday with a mind to getting some Easter cards made:

I also managed to get caught up on the crafty stuff I needed to do, and I may get some more playtime in today before dinner:

I started off today reading this from start to finish as it's been on my book pile a while and I thought there was no time like the present:

I still have a weakness for Regency romance... but my next two reads on the pile are Chicklit. :)

Then by the time I was up for breakfast it was almost brunch time and I was rather craving one of these, as there's nothing better on a Sunday:

But as I didn't have muffins or bacon in the house, I had some toasted hot cross bun loaf instead. Mmmmmm.

Then I got the washing done and the washing up and decided it was the prefect time to get some Sunday baking done:

I haven't baked anything since Christmas and I was also in the mood for comfort baking rather than faffy baking so I made...

Fruity flapjacks! :)

I have managed to scoff one already and they are decidedly delicious.

Now I'm going to sit down and watch Moulin Rouge on Lovefilm Instant (can you believe I've never seen it all the way through?) and perhaps do a bit of stamping at the same time. ;o)

Look at it from another angle...

This week over on the Daring Cardmakers Blog Lythan has been challenging our geometry skills.

It's all about angles!

And as soon as I heard what the dare was going to be I decided it was high to to get using my hexagon stash again before that trend passes me by!

I also needed to get down to business creating some Easter cards.

And this is what was born:

Paper: MME
Dies: Spellbinders, PTI
Stamps: Just Rite, WMS, PTI
Resin flower: Webster's Pages
Other: hemp twine, 3D foam, sewing machine

Easter should actually be a very calm time of the year, but a little chocolate can really help, especially if you gave it up for Lent! I might make a few more cards in this style with the same greeting because it's not often I get to send "Keep calm and eat chocolate" cards! Got to make those stamps pay for themselves one way or another. ;o)

52 Christmas Crackers 2013 - Week 11

Here I am back to share my Christmas card for this week, however after all the unseasonal snow we had Sunday through yesterday it's just a shame there isn't a snowflake to be found on this project!

Instead I tried to use up some papers from a collection kit by MME. I think these papers are a case of less is more when combining them as the patterns and colours are so bright they tend to clash a bit when you put more than 2 or 3 together. Or at least that's my struggle with them.

Paper and die-cuts: MME
Other: Ricrac, 3D foam, twine, buttons

The stars were a bit of a fiddle to get aligned right as "bunting" but I'm happy with the end result, and it was nice to use up a bit of ricrac from the collection! ;o)

Here's hoping we won't be seeing more snow next week, I'm perfectly happy making Christmas cards in spring without the added inspiration of cold weather!

52 Cards challenge 2013 - Week 11

Morning everyone!

I thought it was about time we had a "sketch" prompt again.

Now, I've not managed to procure or draw a sketch this week, but I have made a card that I intended to use as a the base for drawing the sketch.

Paper: Pink Paislee, MME
Die cut elements: Pink Paislee
Stamps: PTI
Die: MFT
Bling: Prima
Trim: The Ribbon Girl
Other: hemp cord, 3D foam, buttons

So using this layout as inspiration, you can really strip your design back to a very simple look or go to town dressing it up with bunting, trim, and multiple layers.

I really look forward to seeing how you interpret this one! :)

I'll share my Christmas card later this week as I went more the clean and simple route with that one!

Is it or isn't it?

Ma and I were hoping to head up to the Metrocentre for a day of relaxing retail therapy - but it appears a snow cloud is hovering and causing disruption, until I can find out whether snow has fallen over Gateshead and is sticking around our plans are on hold...

So much for a nice Mother's Day outing including a trip to Ikea - that's the way we usually roll in this family on Mother's Day!

But back to crafty-related things. I can't share the card I made for Mother's Day just yet. Instead I had some time yesterday to play with some of my new PTI stamps and started on some Easter cards. The one I'm sharing today was inspired by the Passion for Papertrey 50 Shades of Grey challenge and so I made a card to fit it.

OK, so mine is more like Three Shades of Grey, but there is grey in there! ;o)

Paper: MME, Bo Bunny
Stamps and dies: PTI
Other: 3D foam

The branches are from the Stitched Sentiments set, as is the banner die, and the other stamps are from Polka Dot Parade #1. I used the heart from the inside of a Tremendous Treats Tag as all my other heart dies were just a bit too big.

A shame the light was a bit poor when trying to get this photo, as the colours of the flowers and leaves are so much clearer in real life.

Anyway, I was so chuffed with how it turned out that I even Instagrammed it last night:

I still need some practice aligning those branches better. But it's definitely not a candidate for mass production! LOL

I also got a couple of other cards made, including the cards for this week's upcoming 52 Cards Challenge prompt:

And I am looking forward to trying out my new ink order, the latest Prima Chalk inks in pastel to complete my collection and am giving this Adirondack red inkpad a go in my continuing quest for the perfect red inkpad!

Right, I'd best go try and determine the snow situation again...

Just my type of thing

This week's dare over on the DCM blog comes from Leo and is all about using typography on your card.

I must admit to being rather a fan of different typographical styles and well... I have pinned quite a few in the past!

Here are some of my favourites:

Source: rusticweddingchic.com via Natalia on Pinterest

 

I love the brush work and painting in the above - and the colours are just lovely. It's lovely enough to frame! :)

Source: instagr.am via Natalia on Pinterest

 

I love the flourishes and shading in this one - and the different sizes of text really make it eye-catching.

Source: tinywhitedaisies.tumblr.com via Natalia on Pinterest

 

And finally something apt for this time of year - a great quote and some lovely fonts!

Well, with my little PTI delivery this week it arrived just in time for me to make something for this dare with my new purchases.

Paper: Crate Paper
Stamps: PTI
Dies: PTI, MFT
Pearls: Kaisercraft
Other: 3D foam

I finally managed to get the zipper dies that go with the stamps I bought before Christmas - the pull tab is ripped back to reveal the rest of the greeting to "Wishing you...". Obviously can't show you here without ruining the card, but hopefully this will be fun enough to make up for a birthday card being late! The Turquoise greeting is from the new birthday stylish sentiments set and went really well with the challenge and rest of the theme for this card.

Don't forget to check out the cards by the design team, there are some really inspiring ideas for using whatever fonts and alphabets you have in your collection! :)

A few snaps

So it's been a while since I shared some non-card pics.

Last weekend I went up for a visit to and some lazy time with little Miss Anja:

She was a bit of a tricky customer when it came to the camera. Every time I hit the shutter she totally changed her expression from a wide smile or laugh to a glum or confused expression. LOL But we spent a lot of time playing peek-a-boo over the top of the jungle gym and she has discovered how to roll over but isn't so keen on ending up stuck on her front after having rolled over.

We had a couple of walks out in the pram including a nice late breakfast on Sunday:

Then it was back to work Monday - I've been working from home this week on a few projects that needed some extra hours putting in. But it did mean I managed to actually see my lovely spring bulbs in daylight and notice how quickly they've changed:

Yesterday brought with it some rather nice surprises in the post.

Firstly a lovely Easter surprise from Angela over at http://paperandribbons.blogspot.co.uk:

Such a gorgeous card but also an egg box filled with a surprise I don't want to discover until Easter weekend. :) It's almost too nice to unwrap, but the suspense will win out by the end of March!

The other package that arrived was my PTI order. And best of all - no customs charge!

I really like the way dies are all packaged together in a dedicated envelope now so they don't fly about the inside of your box:

Here's a snap of what I ordered:

Lots of fun playtime ahead - well, time permitting!

I have also recently bought the pictapgo app designed for the iPhone but being used on the iPad. I really like the filters but wish it was more compatible with Instagram and would allow you to crop the image to Instagram size and save it that size. I think more playing is required, but would be great if they could make it possible to enlarge the app just like Instagram can be enlarged on the iPad so you can see everything better.

Oh well I am sure feedback from users will lead to lots of new updates and improvements, but it's rather nice to have RadLab on your smart device. ;o)

52 Christmas Crackers 2013 - Week 10

Well finally I have a Christmas card to share for this week's number prompt.

I ended up looking through my Christmas stash looking for any stickers with some festive-themed numbers on them and came up short.

So it was my number dies that came to the rescue!

Paper: Studio Calico, Basic Grey
Dies: PTI
Stamp: PTI
Bling: Prima
Other: Pattern wheel, 3D foam

The bling was a last minute addition that proved to be a good way to use up odds and ends in an almost empty packet. :)

52 Cards challenge 2013 - Week 10

Well we've hit the 10 week milestone on our 52 card adventure!

And to celebrate I thought it would be fun to have a "number" themed prompt this week.

So, make a card featuring a number on it.

It could be incorporated as follows:

• An age/anniversary
• A date
• In word form
• Lots of random numbers as a background
• Vintage ephemera and tape measures/rulers
• Text speak

Now, if you are feeling stumped for how to incorporate numbers on your Christmas card here are a few ideas to get you thinking:

• The big one - 25th of December
• New Year wishes for 2014 - although that feels premature even to me!
• Famous carols and Christmas songs: Twelve Days of Christmas has lots of scope for including numbers there! The First Noel...
• A postmark from the North Pole with the date on it
• A countdown advent calendar style

I'm sure there are others, and hopefully they'll come to me when I sit down to make my Christmas cracker card later this week. :)

In the meantime here is my main card:

Paper and die-cut embellishments: MME
Stamps and dies: PTI
Other: 3D foam

I hope my friend Kelly likes it and that (after a good few hints and reminders last night) her DH remembers that he has a proxy role to play until little Miss A reaches the age of 10 at least!

Key Lime-licious...

Hello first day of March and the route to springtime and hopefully sunshine!

As it's the first Friday of the month we have a lovely new colour challenge on the Daring Cardmakers blog this week, supplied by Sharon!

Last week it was tough going what with all that chocolate temptation, and this week?? Well take a look for yourself:

Key lime biscuits...

Well, thankfully last night for tea Key lime pie made an appearance at dessert so my taste buds have been satisfied. As for this colour combo, here's what I made:

Paper: American Crafts
Stamps: PTI, Waltzing Mouse
Dies: PTI, MFT
Embossing folder: Sizzix
Pearls: Prima
Other: 3D foam

So I switched up the colour balance a little and only used green as a colour accent with neutral and brown leading the way.

I tried out a new neutral-tone colour combination for my Sweet Life roses using Versacolor vanilla, cement, and bisque ink cubes. I rather like the subtle look with the colours for a neutral palette. :o)

This card needed to be a bit more clean and simple as it is destined for an uncle in Poland. Nothing wrong with flowers for men, there are, after all, many avid male gardeners out there and these roses are so realistic looking. ;o)

Don't forget to check out the delicious creations from the rest of the DCM girls! Especially our new Guest Designer Svenja!

Happy weekend!