Kool Kitty Musings

So much to do, so much to do...

I shouldn't even be on the computer right now, but I am just quickly popping in to share the reason I am going to be kept so busy today and tomorrow at my craft desk....

Thursday was a very eventful day in our family.

You may remember this lovely couple - my cousin Lukasz and his wife Aga:

Well, they welcomed their baby daughter Emilia (or Emilka for short) into the world on Thursday morning. :D

What a cutie. :D We're very much looking forward to meeting her when over in Poland this summer. :)

I have 4 cards to make to celebrate her birth! Busy, busy!

Also on Thursday, this pair....

...my brother and Kate were off for a little break in the country. 

Little did Kate know he was going to pop the Big Question that evening and she said....

YES!!!

We couldn't be happier for them! We popped in to congratulate them yesterday when delivering my house guest Buddy the school rabbit safely back after his overnight stay at my Pet hotel. ;o)

Kate has now started a Pinterest board... say no more. ;o)

So... yes, I'd best get back to the craft desk and ignore the presence of the Internet!

Wish upon a star!

It has been a very eventful 24 hours - lovely events in fact. Thursday is usually such an uneventful day, nothing exciting happens on a Thursday does it?

But anyway, until the various parties involved share their news officially on Facebook, etc. I will have to reign in the excitement. Needless to say though, there will be cards aplenty that will need making!

With all that going on it feels like it should be a Saturday today, but it's not, it's a Friday and that means it's time for a brand new dare over on the Daring Cardmakers blog, courtesy of Zuz this week. :)

The challenge this week is to focus on stars! Any variety and any setting...

I went the party route!

Paper: Crate Paper
Dies: WPlus9, Lawn Fawn, MFT, Mama Elephant
Stamps: Lawn Fawn, MFT
Enamel dots: MME
Other: 3D foam, star sequins, hemp twine

So I was channelling Betsy Veldman's recent Sprinkles kit for Papertrey Ink when I started working on this card. I don't have the kit, but I loved the colours in it and I wanted some hot pink, aqua and yellow accents.

It was also a perfect excuse to bring out those lovely star balloon dies from WPlus9 - after die-cutting them I stamped on some dots in rose bud Memento ink. The little stars are all holographic gold sequins from a very old QVC purchase of Jones Tones laser gems and glitter. Very useful for this current sequin trend. I shall have to dig out the opalescent sequins and see what else that kit included. :)

There are lots of different stars featured in the cards from the design team - so do stop by the DCM blog for a look. :D

Happy weekend!

Crate Paper - Oh Darling - Cutie	Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes Styleboard - Inspiration	Lawn Fawn - Stitched journaling card	Lawn Fawn - Sophie's sentiments stamps
MFT - Darling dots stamps	MFT - Die-namics sentiment strips 2	WPlus9 - Whole Lotta' Happy dies	Mama Elephant - Dainty bow die
My Mind's Eye - Kate & Co - Cambridge Court - Enamel Dots	Hemptique natural hemp cord

InLinkz.com

52 Christmas Crackers 2014 - Week 22

I'm back to share my Christmas card for this week's "50 Shades of Green" prompt.

Here's the inspiration pic again:

{Pinterest pin}

So, I was going through my various Christmas papers looking for something that was mostly green, and I struck gold with this lovely tree paper from Crate Paper's Bundled Up collection:

Paper: Crate Paper
Journaling card: Crate Paper
Snowman: Crate Paper
Die: Lawn Fawn
Other: 3D foam

Naturally the perfect green companion to that paper was another journaling card from the same collection. I used my Lawn Fawn die again to cut the stitched detail and rounded edges. :) Then of course I needed something to add that finishing touch - enter Mr Frosty there.

Crate Paper - Bundled Up - Christmas Trees

Crate Paper - Bundled Up - Journaling Cards

Crate paper - Bundled Up - Ephemera

Lawn Fawn - Stitched journaling card

InLinkz.com

A new technique to try

In a recent video by Jennifer McGuire she shared the technique I have been wanting to try for a while - partially cutting a script die to create your own script border. Well, I fancied trying it with a Lawn Fawn scripty die, and the only one I have at present is the Hello die - seriously I wonder how many cards I can get away with using "hello" on - as my favourite "word" dies are these blessed hellos, from Lawn Fawn and WPlus9, plus some mini ones from Paper Smooches!

Anyway, here's how I got on - I was slightly inspired by the PTI blog hop colours for May, which I was too late to join in with but hey ho...

Paper: Crate Paper
Dies: Lawn Fawn, Mama Elephant
Stamp: WPlus9
Enamel dot: Teresa Collins
Other: Stickles, 3D foam

Loving that dainty bow die by Mama Elephant - I cut the two bows from the same sheet of paper I used for the top of the card. And giving my new heart dies from Lawn Fawn their first outing. I also used the large heart from the Journaling Card set too.

I wonder what other word dies I should give this technique a go with - might be time for it to feature on a Christmas card soon! :)

 

Lawn Fawn - Scripty hello die	Lawn Fawn - Hearts dies	Lawn Fawn - Large stitched journaling card	Mama Elephant - Dainty bow die
WPlus9 - Strictly Sentiments 1 stamps	Crate Paper - Oh Darling - Happy Day	Teresa Collins - Family Stories - Enamel dots

InLinkz.com

52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 22

Welcome to week 22 and a new colour prompt!

I like to call this week's prompt...

50 shades of green!

Because that's what we're focussing on - thanks to this lovely pic I found:

{Pinterest pin}

The overriding colour on your card needs to be green - of any shade.

I still had some scraps of paper out from last week's prompt so I decided to finish off the lovely green paper - which has to be my favourite from Crate Paper's DIY shop collection - for this card and try and accessorise it with other items in my stash.

Here's the end result:

Paper: Crate Paper
Journaling card: Crate Paper
Stamp: WPlus9
Banner die: Lawn Fawn
Chipboard: Simple Stories
Resin flower: Webster's Pages
Enamel dots: MME
Other: 3D foam, sewing machine

I managed to find a good match for the green in this lovely journaling card from the Storyboard collection, and after a little experimentation found that good old Impress dye ink was the best for stamping on the slightly shiny surface. Versafine didn't dry and I didn't want to use Staz-on on my nice clear stamps. So good to know that Impress Jet Black dye ink is going to get used for something other than stamping for Copics, etc.

I look forward to seeing which end of the green spectrum you go with your cards. :D

Crate Paper - DIY Shop 12x12 pad	Crate Paper - Oh Darling - Happy Day	Daily Grind chipboard stickers	Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes Styleboard - Journalling Cards
My Mind's Eye - Kate & Co - Cambridge Court - Enamel Dots	WPlus9 - Valentine Wishes	Lawn Fawn - Stitched journaling card

InLinkz.com

Trying something new on the old blog

I've long been a fan of blog posts by crafters where they share the items they've used to create a project - and ideally images of the main products like papers, dies, stamps, etc.

I signed up at free user level to Inlinkz this weekend to see to what extent I could add an image product list to my blog posts as a UK blogger who isn't affiliated with any stores, etc. Since the Project Manager tool is geared towards US stores I don't think it's going to be too easy to do, but I'd love to be able to add links to the UK stores where I've actually bought the product so at least you can go for a virtual window shop. Sadly, this has been only partly successful.

But if nothing else it will give you a visual idea of what I've used and I usually mention where I've bought something - as you know!

In fact, my little order from Make the Day Special arrived the other day and I've already put everything away into new storage pockets, filed in my trolley ready for use.

More about those new product later, first I'd like to share a card for the day using very old and very new stash. ;o)

Paper: MME
Dies: Lawn Fawn, WPlus9, MFT
Alpha stickers: Doodlebug
Chipboard: Simple Stories
Other: 3D foam, Glossy Accents, Promarkers

I used some very old paper by MME, I think it's from an Abbey Road collection, for the background and then a cloud pattern from the Away We Go 6x6 pad cut with the journaling die by Lawn Fawn.

The little birdies and speech bubble stamps and dies are new to my collection. Believe it or not, the 1 numeral is cut from the same card as the branch, but Glossy Accents make it look like it's black.

Anyway, fingers crossed, here's the product list for the main elements:

Lawn Fawn - Spring showers dies	Lawn Fawn - Stitched journaling card	Lawn Fawn - Sophie's sentiments stamps
Lawn Fawn - A birdie told me dies	Lawn Fawn - A birdie told me stamps	Daily Grind chipboard stickers
WPlus9 - Modern Numerals die	MFT - Branch with leaves die

InLinkz.com

And as for the new product I purchased from Make the Day Special, there are a good few items to play with.... :)

Fold, fold, and repeat

This week over on the Daring Cardmakers blog we are going mad for Origami! Leo has kindly set us the challenge of featuring this beautiful Japanese paper craft on our cards. There are some truly amazing creations from the design team, and that's before they even added their origami to their cards!

As for myself, I went a rather simple route - I had looked at youtube videos for origami hearts, stars, dresses... but then I realised an origami shirt might make a good addition to a Father's Day card - so I promptly entered that into the search box and came across this very simple video.

Note to self, MME 6x6 paper was not the best choice for this craft! Despite it being thinner than most patterned paper in my collection it didn't hold up to well to the bulkier folds - I should have dug out some old KI or something. ;o)

Paper: MME, Crate Paper (DIY Shop)
Dies: Lawn Fawn (journaling card), PTI (tiny tags)
Alpha stickers: American Crafts
Enamel dots: Studio Calico
Other: 3D foam, hemp cord

The final card is so much more muted than I originally had in mind - but maybe that's not such a bad thing. I purposefully went in search of patterned paper that would have a shirt look to it, and that's where my MME 6x6 pad called Away We Go came in - very handy little pad of paper that!

Well, I think that should do it for the Father's Day cards this year - I had a couple of requests and need to keep one for myself, but which one it'll be remains to be seen. ;o)

I'm hoping to take delivery of some new dies and stamps today - so if the weather continues to be rubbish the rest of this weekend I won't mind overly much. ;o)

Happy crafting!

Pretty pins returns

It's been a long while since I shared some recent pins I've come across on Pinterest, so I thought it time to revisit my Pinterest boards and see what caught my eye.

They all seem to be in a similar colour palette...

First up this lovely vintage book spines - probably from the 50s and 60s - I am sure there are a few of these on the bookshelves at my mum and dad's:

{Pinterest pin}

I just love the botanicals in this interior design - oh for such high windows and a balcony, and I love that twig branch lamp stand:

{Pinterest pin}

Hoop embroidery and wall hangings are a very popular trend at the moment, but it's been a while since I've seen such a lovely piece of art:

{Pinterest pin}

And finally, why won't Pyrex re-release some of their fantastic original designs - I'd love some Pyrex dishes in these shades - what's not to love?

{Pinterest pin}

52 Christmas Crackers 2014 - Week 21

Well here I am back to share my Christmas cracker for this week's sketch prompt which can be found here.

I have to say this one did come together a bit easier than Monday's card - thank heavens:

Paper: Crate paper
Border sticker: Crate Paper
Dies and stamp: PTI
Other: 3D glitter paint, Glossy Accents

I went rather retro with my paper choices - still a good few sheets of this old winter collection from Crate Paper to use up. I don't know if I'll ever manage it as I'm beginning to fall out of love with it sadly. The my favourite pattern from the collection is long gone (diagonal teal on aqua stripes naturally) and my second favourite pattern was this snowman paper....

I'm not sure how easy it is to see in the pic, but every dot of white "snow" I've gone over with a little blob of dimensional glitter paint - it doesn't dry flat like Stickles, so is quite a nice contrasting texture. Also the Glossy Accents came out to give that side sentiment bit a bit more oomf. :)

Birthday wishes

Well, you knew it wouldn't be long until I took out the Whole Lotta' Happy stamps and dies by WPlus9 for another play right? After all, they are one of my favourite purchases of the year...

I wanted to go a bit more vibrant and fresh for this card to celebrate Kate's birthday today. :) So out came the Lawn Fawn Let's Polka paper pad in combination with some cloud paper I had in my stash by MME.

I've also been having some exposure issues on my little point and shoot Lumix camera, he's knocking on a bit now at almost 6 years old, so I have been experimenting with the manual setting with wide-ranging results, I'm still not overly happy with the photos this camera is taking and my SLR is just too cumbersome to take the shots I need of card projects - eek I hope I am not going to be needing a new camera any time soon...

But in the meantime here's the best of what little Lumix could give me:

Paper: MME, Lawn Fawn
Stamps: Wplus9
Dies: WPlus9, Avery Elle
Other: hemp cord, 3D foam, sewing machine

I think the embedded die-cut technique just works so well with these word dies - I know I should try it on some other dies in future, but I just love how these ones look against the white cardstock. :D

So a little round-up of what I used:

52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 21

Hello folks!

It's Monday morning and time again for a new prompt. :)

This week we return to the sketch prompt, and I have chosen this sketch from PTI for us to work with:

{Pinterest pin}

I thought it all looked very simple at first - a nice bit of patterned paper and a vertical sentiment, how hard could it be?

Well that was until I got making my card and realised that with the route I'd gone, it would be easier to flip the sketch so my sentiment came down the other side instead:

Paper: Crate Paper
Dies: MFT
Stamp: Avery Elle
Enamel dots: MME

In hindsight, I should have cut more hexagons from the green paper and less from the stripy one, but never mind, I have plenty of little hexagons left over to use on another card - one day! Also a nice discovery that I had some MME enamel dots that perfectly complemented that jade green. :)

I hope you find this sketch an easier one than it turned out to be for me. ;) I hope my Christmas number will be less laborious! hehe

Light as a feather!

This week over on the Daring Cardmakers blog, Sharon has challenged us to feature a very current design element on our cards this week: feathers.

Well, I had something almost immediately in mind for this dare - I was sure I had some feather cut files for my craft robo from the Silhouette store that were a freebie not so long ago, and sure enough there they were in my library - sorted!

I also needed to get another Father's Day card made for my friend Becky who requested some in good time, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to combine the two in one project, and here's what I made:

Paper: MME
Feathers: silhouette cut files
Dies: WPlus9, MFT
Stamps: Lawn Fawn
Wood enamel dots: Studio Calico
Other: 3D foam

Despite sticking those "happy" die cuts down over the feathers, I love that you can still keep a bit of dimension by curling up the feathery bits around them. I really hope the recipient likes this one. :)

There are some fantastic feathery cards from all the design team - so definitely go check them out for more inspiration. And if you downloaded this freebie cut file for your silhouette but haven't got round to trying it yet, definitely give it a whirl for this challenge! :D

Happy crafting!

52 Christmas Crackers 2014 - Week 20

Where has this week gone?

Eek! Despite making my card at the weekend, I've not yet managed to share my very simple contribution to this week's Show and Tell prompt! :)

So, what particular item do I have to show you that can be used on Christmas cards, well it's something I'm a bit of a sucker for - landscape border dies!

These borders from Mama elephant (Landscape trio) look so unassuming at first glance, but I love the stitched edge - there is one for clouds or fluffiness, and two for hilly features. I also think you could make a great ombre background alternating the hilly dies.

But anyway, those hilly dies are great for snow on Christmas cards and you just know what else they'll go with! The good old Memory Box winter die. :D

So very simple, but very wintry:

Paper: MME
Dies: Memory Box, Mama Elephant
Stamp: PTI
Pearls: Kaisercraft

There's really not much else that needed adding to this one. :)

52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 20

Morning folks!

This week's theme is based on a very popular tradition that my crafty friends enjoy every time we meet up at a crop or for cake and coffee, etc.

It's the tradition of...

Show and Tell

That's right, if you've got something new in your crafty arsenal you are duty-bound to bring it along and share with the class!

So, this week I want you to make a card that shows something recently added to your craft department, it can be in the form of:

• Stash like paper, embellishments, etc.
• Tools (as I like to classify them as they are non-consumables and therefore exempt from the "stash" budget) like stamps, dies, and gadgets
• Or perhaps techniques that are newly discovered and ready to try out

So true to my words, here's a card with stamps and dies from my latest WPlus9 splurge via Make the Day Special:

Paper: MME
Stamps: WPlus9, Avery Elle
Dies: WPlus9
Pearls: Kaisercraft
Other: 3D foam

Here's the shiny new stash I used:

Looking forward to seeing what your show and tell items will be! :D

52 Christmas Crackers 2014 - Week 19

Well, better late than never!

I took my sweet time getting this week's Christmas card photographed. So if you remember correctly this week's prompt is courtesy of the prompt jar and involves using the following three elements on a card:

• Vellum
• Stitching
• Navy

And here's my very simple card using all three:

Vellum: Hambly Screen Prints
Dies: Avery Elle, Lawn Fawn, Memory Box
Stamp: PTI
Other: 3D foam, sewing machine

I made the cardblank from some old Stampin' Up cardstock I had in my stash, and as it's a US sized card, I gave the background die from this Avery Elle set a whirl to cut the vellum in exactly the spot I wanted for the pattern before stitching it onto the card:

I then die cut a piece of white cardstock with my favourite Memory Box border die - country landscape and attached the die cut to a piece of navy card cutting and ran it through the Big Shot with the Lawn Fawn stitched journaling card:

And finally, finished off with a greeting from PTI's Happiest of Holidays set.

Probably not worth the wait, but it's been a busy old week and has included some reading catch-up time - it seemed that all my Nora Roberts reservations at the library came in at once. I've read:

I'm rather looking forward to the final book in the latest witchy trilogy from Nora, despite it being a bit of a rehash of similar trilogies she has written in the past.

This instalment in the In Death series was a bit on the dull side... hoping the next one will have some of the magic back.

And finally, I read The Collector from start to finish today. One of the better stand-alone books she's written in recent years. :)

Right, well I am wondering what book to start next - it might be the latest Jill Mansell:

Right, well best go sort out my tea - a busy day in Ikea looms tomorrow as we try and get some organizational bits and bobs for my mum and dad's new kitchen, but also hoping to find something that will fit my Raskog trolley now that the Antonius divider trays are unavailable... Hm....

52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 19

Happy (Bank Holiday Monday) morning! :)

With any luck I am currently enjoying a lie in or catching up on a few chapters of my current book before having to get up.

I've been away all weekend so not managed to make my card for this week's prompt yet - but if all goes to plan I shall manage a bit of crafting later and be back to share my creation.

This week we're delving into the prompt jar for our inspiration and here's what it yielded:

My mind is already whirring away. ;-)

Happy crafting!

ETA: Well, here I am back to share the card I finally managed to make today! :)

I spent some time this morning sorting and organising my stamp and die sets into my new Avery Elle pockets and then deciding what to add to my new Raskog trolley - I need to get some sort of dividers for the inside, but since Ikea no longer stocks any of the Antonius dividers it's very difficult to work out what could do the job instead. Hm... for now I have my Notudden boxes with most frequently used stamps and dies, and the 6x6 pads I reach for the most and other bits and bobs... very nice.

Anyway, for this week's prompt I decided to use some of the new Basic Grey Mon Ami stash I bought recently.

Paper: Basic Grey
Stamps: Avery Elle
Dies: Avery Elle, Lawn Fawn, MFT, QuicKutz
Enamel dots: Teresa Collins
Other: sewing machine, 3D foam, glossy accents

So, plenty of navy in those BG papers, stitching comes in the form of the machine stitching round the angled bit, and the stitched vellum clouds which are Lawn Fawn dies.

I recently purchased this set by Avery Elle called Custom Panels:

...based on this video by Jennifer McGuire:

Anyway, not much got done in the grand scheme of things today, so I think I might just go and park myself in front of the telly and try and catch up with my DVD rental list!

May colours

This week over on the DCM blog it's Miri's turn to set out colour challenge, and she has chosen this lovely palette called mental vacation:

I feel like I could definitely do with a mental vacation this weekend, counting down the hours until work is over as it's crop night tonight, then I am off to Zoe's for a sleep-over visit and Monday I am hoping for a day of reading/crafting. :)

It doesn't look like our weather will be anything close to what's in that photo, I just hope it stays dry and warm.

Here's my card:

Stamps: WPlus9, PTI
Dies: Lawn Fawn, WPlus9, PTI, MFT
Enamel dots: Basic Grey
Other: 3D foam

I am currently loving the trend of embedded die cuts and this lovely hello die by WPlus9 works so well as you don't have lots of essential pieces to stick back in. Cut the stitched journaling card twice from rustic cream cardstock so it would create the perfect background for when I came to cut the hello out of the top card.

You will no doubt be seeing this combination a few more times from me!

But back to the topic, there are some really stunning variations on this colour palette from the design team, so do make sure you check them all out!

Happy Bank Holiday weekend!