Kool Kitty Musings

Out of the tree of life, I picked me a plum

This week over on the DCM blog Gez has challenged us to focus on the sentiment or saying on our card.

Well, I just had to use the new sentiment added to my collection recently in the Avery Elle Laurels set.

The best is yet to come.... especially true as the weekend is almost here! It's definitely been an exhausting week and it's not over yet! Hoping to get a bit of crafting in tomorrow night but probably going to be working both days. Hey ho!

Paper: Crate Paper
Stamps: Avery Elle
Dies: Avery Elle, PTI
Resin flower: Crate Paper
Enamel dots: Studio Calico
Other: 3D foam, Distress Stickles

I'm loving these papers from Oh Darling by Crate Paper - I will never get enough of aqua and minty turquoise tones. :D The floral paper went really well this the Melon Berry cardstock from PTI which I used for the pinked oval - not that you can see much of it.

But, the biggest issue with this card is the fact that I couldn't get the song out of my head most of the evening after making it... so, if you want to hum along, please let Mr Buble accompany you!

 

52 Christmas Crackers 2014 - Week 9

I'm just popping in with my Christmas card for this week - have been working non-stop so far this week and feels like days and days have passed since the weekend but it's only Wednesday! lol

Anyway, thankfully I got my card made on Sunday and photographed yesterday in the daylight. :)

Here's the inspiration photo again:

{Pinterest Pin}

And here is my rather bright non-traditional festive number:

Paper: Crate Paper
Dies: PTI
Stamp: PTI
Enamel dots: Studio Calico
Other: vellum, glitter card

For this card I stayed with the colour palette and also added in some gold - alas not the vintage light gold of the photos, not these are the gold enamel dots by Studio Calico which are more of an orangey gold. I really liked layering the large snowflake die-cut over the smaller one for a change as you can make out the shape behind the vellum and it looks a bit more floaty with the vellum lifted off the card like that...

Right, I had best get a start on today's pile of work - hope you're enjoying this week's photo prompt. :o)

52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 9

Hi everyone!

It's time for a photo prompt and our image this week is this lovely number:

{Pinterest Pin}

So elements to be inspired by in this pic:

• Colours - white/mint/pink/gold
• Embossing
• Doilies
• Ruffles/pleating
• Ribbon
• Fancy buttons/brads
• Pearls
• Dimensional flowers

For my card I focussed in particular on the embossing and doily elements.

Paper: MME, Crate Paper
Embossing folder: Crate Paper
Stamps: WPlus9, PTI
Dies: WPlus9, PTI, MFT
Other: vellum, sewing machine, 3D foam, enamel dot

I ran a piece of vellum through the embossing folder and attached it to the card by stitching it on. The effect on vellum is lovely.

I look forward to seeing which elements you focus on in your projects.

Most of my time today has been spent...

...living up to this skill set of mine:

Such as finishing the book I started earlier this week:

I had to stop yesterday at a crucial point after reading The Letter when I had to go out, but it was a good point to stop and give my mind a moment to digest what I had just read.... this morning I finished the book and have to say it has been the best read so far this year. Yes, I know it's only February but it was a very good read and the tissues were out a lot.... I am not ashamed to admit it!

After that I needed a bit of a lift, so I got out some crafting items - including some of the items in my recent order from Sarah's Cards:

I bought a handful of sheets of paper from the recent Crate Love Notes and Oh Darling releases and 1 sheet from Styleboard. I wanted to finally get on the enamel dot bandwagon and bought all the new Studio Calico sets as they were the cheapest per dot, they are a fair bit flatter than other brands - the colours are a good mix... I also threw in a Freckled Fawn selection (alas no blue to choose from there) and also one pack of MME enamel dots, but I just don't understand why MME enamel dots need to cost almost £5 a pack these days. The ones I had were from an older release and the cheapest I could find. Also there were two sheets of alpha stickers by Studio Calico, but seriously I think they are expensive for what they are. So difficult to find nice mini alphas on a par with the October Afternoon mini market stickers.... :( But pricing is all relevant to what you consider good value and worth the expense... with paper almost costing a pound per sheet in some cases these days you have to be a lot pickier about what you buy. I'm glad I didn't invest any more in the latest Crate Paper release save the above sheets of paper, reading online the quality really has gone down hill sadly for non-paper products.... even more so than with previous releases. I was sad to hear yet another booboo for Crate Paper quality control while reading TwoPeas the other day - I am getting really sick of online photos not being representative of the final product and really wish manufacturers would provide videos showing their products or even properly photographed images of the product so you can see it in some form rather than the mocked up design views they provide at present.

After also reading about the problems with the Styleboard dies not cutting properly, I was apprehensive about how my embossing folder would turn out:

Well, you can tell the quality is inferior to Sizzix and other brands, my main gripe is that the hinge on the folder isn't very sturdy, it feels like if you opened it too far you would ultimately break it into two pieces, I would be a bit worried to use PTI/Cardshoppe weight cardstock in it on a regular basis, but vellum and paper would be ok.

I may sound like a right moaning Minnie, but more than anything I am just disappointed that my go-to company for the last few years has now become one that you are taking your chances with when purchasing anything other than paper, as there is no consistency in quality and even with online images you can't be sure that what you think you're buying is in fact what you'll be getting. I really hope it's not going to be going the same way for Pink Paislee now they are part of the American Crafts group, but I suspect the same issues will crop up there too.

But hey, I at least have some of that new Basic Grey product to look forward to - at least the quality of embellishments is usually top notch there. ;)

But moving on....

While playing with my stash in the afternoon I finally watched one of the DVDs I currently have out from Lovefilm:

...which provided a great transition into the closing ceremony of the Olympics this afternoon.

Now I need to get a couple of things sorted and then it's back to my big translation project tomorrow - it's going to be a long week!

Old but not forgotten

This week over on the DCM blog Sharon has set us the challenge of digging out some of our the very first stash/tools we bought when setting out on our crafting adventure.

Well, I think this challenge needs to be renamed to "Gone but not forgotten" - there is a lot of stuff I bought in the old days that I just never manage to use fully while it was still "on trend" if one can even think of it as that 12 or so years on! Needless to say, a lot of that stuff is gone - but I hung onto what I knew I could still use one day....

One of my big obsessions back in the day and which many people still remember about me (funnily enough!) was KI Memories. Oh I loved their stuff and would have had it all given half the chance. But I did manage to get a good chunk of their releases. However after a few clear outs and reorganizations I pared it down to what I still loved and the only collection I still have in it's entity, or as good as, is the Just Married collection from 2006 that I was going to use for a mini album project but didn't in the end.

But who knew this collection would actually be on trend again?

Filled with greys, mint accents, hand-drawn stripes, diamond doodles, and some lovely spring shades it has held up rather well in my book.

I started off making a wedding card since it is a wedding collection:

Paper: KI Memories
Stamps: PTI
Dies: PTI, Spellbinders, MFT
Enamel dots: Teresa Collins, Prima
Other: Stickles, 3D foam

The grey paper, mint card, and cream/pink striped papers were from the KI selection along with the grey circle which is the diamond pattern, not that you can see much of it, but I thought it a nice background to the stamped image.

While I had the papers out I thought it would be a good opportunity to make something for Spring and I also dragged out my KI Memories Pieces of Me rub-ons, only just managed to find all the letters I needed in one pack!

Paper: KI Memories (green and striped)
Rub-ons: KI Memories
Stamps: PTI, WPlus9, MFT
Dies: PTI
Felt: PTI
Other: 3D foam, sewing machine, Stickles

The green cardstock is from KI and totally representative of why I loved their colours! Fab shade and so vibrant. :) The stamped branches are from a Christmas set by WPlus9 but I thought they would bracket the bunny nicely as there was just too much blank space otherwise. And I dug out my little stack of chipboard coasters for the button, will definitely have to use these more for cardmaking as they make nice chunky die cuts if you want a bit of dimension without resorting to 3D foam.

And there's my first Easter card of 2014! Considering I have a couple more Easter items to play with I'd best get cracking on some of those. ;o)

Well I hope you have a crafty weekend - don't forget to check out the other DT blogs to see whether any of your past purchases have been used! hehe

52 Christmas Crackers 2014 - Week 8

So, as you may remember this week's 52 Cards challenge prompt is a sketch:

{Pinterest Pin}

Here is my wintry Christmas take on it:

Paper: Crate Paper
Chipboard and label: Crate Paper
Dies: Memory Box, Spellbinders
Other: enamel dot, Stickles, 3D foam

I love that little boy on the sledge and wanted to make it look like he was hurtling down the hill - OK, maybe I have been watching too much of the winter Olympics on telly... but in the absence of other festive inspiration that's what I went with! ;o)

I added a pop of colour with an enamel dot - but for even more pop I added a small foam pad under one end of the greeting - it's a great way to add dimension without adding too much bulk.

Hope you're having fun with this sketch. :D

Just stamping...

The other day I wanted to try and see what the Laurels set of stamps by Avery Elle looked like stamped out and layered:

I wasn't planning on making a card or anything, just stamping some random colours - so nothing was masked off, nothing is neat... I have the matching dies for the set, but didn't want to use them on this... in the end I thought I might as well use it for something after all:

Paper: Basic Grey
Stamps: Avery Elle
Other: Stickles, 3D foam, sewing machine

It's not the most balanced card, it's even a bit wonky, but that's fine for this one. Next time the dies will be coming out for a bit of extra pop. ;o)

52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 8

Morning everyone!

It's the return of our sketch prompt and for this week's inspiration we're using this sketch by PTI:

{Pinterest Pin}

There are plenty of ways to create different looks with this one and I look forward to seeing all of them. ;o)

As for me, I decided for this week's card that I needed to try out my new WPlus9 rose stamps (Coming Up Roses) and make a card featuring those.

Paper: Echo Park, Fancy Pants
Stamps: WPlus9, Avery Elle
Dies: WPlus9, Avery Elle, MFT, Spellbinders
Enamel dot: Teresa Collins
Other: 3D foam

Oh my, I cannot tell you what a lovely set of stamps they are to work with. I love 2 and 3 step stamping to create this look of shaded colouring and dimension, this set is a 2-step set but the end results are gorgeous, especially with the baby's breath accents. I also die cut and stamped the ribbon from my new Avery Elle Laurels set.

Definitely going to be playing with this set again soon!

Sunday sun!

Well, it's about time - I thought we were never going to see the sun again this month.

I've even got the washing out on the line I am feeling that optimistic about the day.

Yesterday the only sunshine to be found was indoors:

It did mean that it was a great excuse to read the rest of my book on the sofa by the fire with the Olympics on in the background under the watchful eye of my little deer book ends on the mantelpiece that I got for Christmas from my brother:

Later it was back to my craft room/office to get back on with some projects with the aid of a nice hot choc:

This time under the watchful gaze of Oliver Owl:

I played a bit more with this week's new arrivals - yep, I have been unable to resist temptation and bought some new additions:

Have to say those rose stamps by WPlus9 are amazing to work with. I'm so glad I got them. :) Will be sharing the first results very soon!

Here are some sneaks:

Well I'd best go get some lunch and do the washing up - great view this morning from the sink!

It's neon baby!

This week over on the Daring Cardmakers blog, the team was lucky enough to each receive a parcel of goodies from fellow teamie and Quirky Kits owner Leo! Our goodies all feature in the Jan/Feb Quirky Kit. Niiiice!

Leo's also put together a lovely prize for one lucky participant in this week's dare:

So if that doesn't get your creative mojo going, I don't know what will!

Check out all the details here on the DCM blog.

The challenge this week is to feature a pop of neon on your card.

I initially had a plan A, but then plan B quickly came to mind when I realised it would be the perfect opportunity to use that one stamp in this little WPlus9 set of fab greetings that I'd not yet used!

And here's what I made:

All elements apart from the "you" die and sentiment stamp are in the kit. I added some more pops of neon green and pink by punching some hearts from a journaling card in the kit. They don't pop quite as much as neon yellow cardstock, but they are just lovely. :)

I love how that aqua paper looks against the kraft and grey - very happy shades! It's a lovely kit indeed. And the cards from the design team are just fab this week - it's definitely a collection to chase away those winter blues!

And now, I have an ear worm.... think I shall be humming this song most of today!

Happy crafting!

Pretty pins

Well, I thought it was time to share the Pinterest love again. Here are some of the pins that have made me smile this week and also made me drool.... ok it was mental drooling, but drooling nonetheless!

Happy cat - I think he knows Friday is on the way:

{Pinterest Pin}

I think this is a fantastic piece of art:

{Pinterest Pin}

I don't know what it is about old phones, but I just love them in happy colours:

{Pinterest Pin}

This lovely teapot caught my eye, but it doesn't look like it'll be a good pourer!

{Pinterest Pin}

And finally, this really made me laugh - want a dog? Why not crochet yourself one?:

{Pinterest Pin}

52 Christmas Crackers 2014 - Week 7

Evening folks!

It's been absolutely freezing in these parts, never mind the Wizard of Oz weather going on outside the window. So it doesn't feel so odd to be sharing a Christmas card this evening!

As you may remember the week 7 colour prompt is this pic:

{Pinterest Pin}

Hm... I bet you are wondering what kind of Christmas card features those colours....

How about this?

Paper: Crate Paper
Stamps: WPlus9
Seambinding: The Ribbon Girl
Pearls: Kaisercraft
Other: Pattern wheel, Stickles

I went more with the aqua and spearmint tones with this card - but included blues in the stamped fronds and bow. All the stamps are from the same set by WPlus9 - Silver Bells. All the stamping is using Distress Inks, I traced an oval with a pencil to try and get everything more or less lined up and because the inks are dye inks there's no smudging when you come to erase the pencil marks when you are done.

Right, I suppose I'd best get thinking about next week's prompt! ;)

Lovely layers

Thought I would pop in and share the card I made for this week's WPlus9 birthday celebration challenge (Step It Up!) and also the Romantic challenge over at Make the Day Special. :)

The WPlus9 challenge details are here - I added lots of dimension with bling, 3D foam, Distress Stickles, pleated ribbon. I got my Valentine Wishes stamps out again which I ordered not so long ago from Make the Day Special and also used a smaller greeting in the banner from another WPlus9 set, and finally used another sentiment from my recent Avery Elle purchase also from Make the Day Special. I'm really glad to say my new stamps are getting a lot of action! :) Phew!

Paper: American Crafts, Studio Calico, Basic Grey
Stamps: WPlus9, Avery Elle
Dies: PTI, MFT
Crystal heart: Prima
Pleated ribbon: The Ribbon Girl
Other: Distress Stickles, 3D foam, pattern wheel

There's definitely lots of love packed into this card. :) I'm also starting to run low on that arrow paper from last year's Basic Grey Valentine release, it's so versatile. :)

Right, I'd best get my tea in the oven!

52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 7

Morning folks!

It's time for a colour prompt this week. :)

I usually download a new desktop wallpaper calendar to my PC and phone/iPad each month - my first port of call is usually the Basic Grey website but I often check out the designs over at Going Home to Roost as Basic Grey can sometimes be a bit too dark for my taste. I love zinging patterns, especially this time of year!

Their February desktop is just gorgeous and is our colour prompt for the week:

{Pinterest Pin}

So we have a mix of cream/white, spearmint green, blues/aqua/turquoise to play with.

I really wanted to replicate the blue roses in my card so turned to my trusty 3-step stamping set from PTI called The Sweet Life.

Paper: Crate Paper
Stamps: PTI
Dies: PTI
Other: 3D foam

I love this ombre paper from the current Valentine release by Crate Paper. I used a large post-it note to mask off the paper below the white line that starts the aqua section then stamped various leaf designs from PTI's Turning a New Leaf with Aloe Vera Versamagic - I even stamped a little filler leaf in the same ink on the large branch. I love this way to build up colour without having to invest in another ink shade to do the job. :)

Due to miserable daylight conditions when photographing these pics, unfortunately the blue of the roses is a bit off to how they appear in real life, which is a bit closer to the original pic.

Have fun with these colours! I'll pop back to share my Christmas card later. :)

Watercolour experimentation

This weekend has been spent mostly doing housework and a spring cleaning clear out... However I have managed to watch some of the Winter Olympic coverage from Sochi and while doing that make a few cards.

The first one my list was to try out the watercolour technique shown in this post over at WPlus9.

Unfortunately I don't yet have any medium-to-large-sized solid stamps from WPlus9 yet - that could be about to change with those new February release stamps going on my wishlist! - so I decided to try the technique shown on my large woodgrain background stamp from Hero Arts.

I inked up the stamp in Dried Marigold Distress Ink, gave it a few spritzes of water, then stamped onto cream cardstock. I also flicked water at the background while it was drying and after cutting it out, edged it with more Dried Marigold and used a waterbrush to blur the edges.

Paper: Crate Paper
Stamps: WPlus9, Hero Arts
Dies: WPlus9, Magnolia
Other: 3D foam

I then combined it with a strip of lovely aqua paper from Crate Paper and of course some lovely Fresh Cut Florals that I'd already stamped after die cutting lots of spares last week ready to use on cards. And finally, I added a greeting from Fresh Cut Florals directly to the background paper.

I'm hoping to try out the next challenge over at WPlus9 later this afternoon. I suspect Fresh Cut Florals could make another appearance. ;)

Mellow warm tones: grey, yellow and orange

Well, it's the first dare of a new month over on the DCM blog this week, and the lovely Leo has chosen a gorgeous colour palette for us to work with:

Nice eh?

So, I had a few ideas running around in my head, but I definitely wanted to combine those orange and yellow tones.... and use some grey chevrons!

Here's the end result:

Paper: Studio Calico, Crate Paper
Stamps: PTI, Avery Elle, WPlus9
Dies: PTI, Cheery Lynn
Other: 3D foam

Alas my Peach Bellini orange ink looks a little washed out due to the lightning I had to do on my pics - ugh hate this dark daytime weather we are having, it's much more vibrant in real life! Perhaps I should have gone with a more zinging orange though. ;o)

Anyway, checkout the lovely design team projects on the blog - the colours are fab!

52 Christmas Crackers 2014 - Week 6

Well here's my festive number for this week's "Collection pack" prompt!

And for a change, it's not Crate Paper stash galore, but Basic Grey - the Jovial line to be exact. :)

I am really starting to run low on that Snowman background paper - I love it so!

Paper, chipboard and stickers: Basic Grey
Die: QuicKutz
Stamps: PTI
Other: seam binding, 3D foam, Glossy Accents

Lots of bits from that line on this card, I added Glossy Accents to the chipboard elements to give them a bit of definition. And the seam binding finished off the look nicely as it was looking a bit flat in terms of colour and texture. :)

Now I just need to start thinking about Monday's prompt.... hm....

WPlus9 Comfort Zone Challenge

WPlus9 are having some fun birthday celebrations this month, not only lovely new stamps and dies to add to my wish list (yay!) but some great challenges too!

The first one this week is the Comfort Zone challenge (details can be found here).

As the name suggests the card I made is right slap bang in my comfort zone, not only in terms of style (always got to have a flag strip for my greeting if I can!) but colour (hello?? aqua tones and blush pinks...), my favourite WPlus9 stamp sets (for non-Xmas projects anyway!), and (dare I say it) a tried and tested card layout...

It took a few goes to get a photo that actually was accurate - the aqua shades are so much more vivid in real life:

Stamps: Wplus9 Freshcut Florals, Strictly Sentiments 1
Dies: WPlus9, MFT
Paper: Crate Paper
Cardstock: Bazzill Cardshoppe Marshmallow and Taffy
Other: 3D foam, Adirondack dye inks and Distress inks

I just love how those leaves stamped in Adirondack Lettuce green pop against the aqua and my favourite pink ink combos too - plus I threw in some yellow/peach tones just to break all those pinks up a bit and really like how it all turned out - that's the nice thing about working in your comfort zone! :)

And speaking of pinks, I totally love the new pink shade of cardstock from WPlus9 called Cashmere - it looks like a proper pink blush. Such a shame cardstock isn't something that can be easily shipped to the UK - will have to content myself with my Bazzill Cardshoppe stockpile of neutral tones and hope they bring out some more shades!

52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 6

Morning everyone!

Last week I was doing some stash sorting and rifling and realised how in the past I usually bought collection packs much more so than I do these days and because they are bulkier I usually store them away in my shelved unit rather than in my go-to Artbin box that sits next to me when I'm crafting. Nowadays I am much more likely to buy individual sheets of paper and the odd embellishment pack that will go with various different things....

That got me to thinking that I really do need to dip into those collection packs a lot more and I thought this would be a good challenge for everyone, not just me!

So for week 6, the challenge is to create a card where the vast majority of items on it are from the same collection.

That shouldn't be too hard right? ;o)

I dragged out my Echo Park - A Walk in the Park collection pack for my first card, and it was trickier than I originally thought it would be!

Paper: Echo Park, AC
Stickers: Echo Park
Stamp: Avery Elle
Dies: MFT, Memory Box, PTI
Other: 3D foam, Stickles

The only bit not from the collection pack was the red polka dot paper - I really needed some pop on this card and the other papers in the pack were just a bit too dark for what I wanted. Enter a bit of AC paper!

I'm looking forward to seeing which collections and product lines you choose to focus on. :)