Kool Kitty Musings

Hey Little Magpie December projects

I wanted to share the last of my 2014 makes on the blog before Big Ben chimes midnight tonight!

Full details of my "Thank you" card gift set can be found here on the Hey Little Magpie blog. :)

Here's what was inside that box!

Cards featuring the lovely Dear Lizzy Serendipity papers plus some ideas for the matching stamp set.

And here are the cards inside the box:

Paper: American Crafts Dear Lizzy Serendipity
Dies: Lil' Inker Designs, MFT, WPlus9
Stamp: WPlus9
Enamel dots: Basic Grey
Other: 3D foam

I totally loved this "Liz Lemon" paper in the line. The navy/white stripe is the reverse and I really liked the combination of navy and lemon yellow tones. So fresh and happy!

Next up, I used the jar stamp from the accompanying stamp set and filled it with lots of fluttery hearts:

Paper: Dear Lizzy Serendipity
Stamps: Dear Lizzy, MFT
Enamel dots: MFT
Ink: Hero Arts
Other: 3D foam

More yellow tones on this card - but mixed in with a rainbow of hearts flying out the jar. Just scoring your heart die-cuts before gluing them down makes such a difference. Totally lifts them from the card. :)

And another outing for the jar stamp, this time keeping things more simple by creating layers through stamping:

Paper: Dear Lizzy Serendipity
Stamps: Dear Lizzy
Die: Lil' Inker Designs
Ink: Hero Arts
Other: 3D foam

To create the jar I first stamped the greeting on a strip of paper, the scallop border is actually a stamp in the Serendipity stamp set stamped in pink ink. I then glued the strip onto the aqua paper and stamped the jar image and fussy cut the jar out. Simple!

Next up some more sunshine yellow:

Paper: Dear Lizzy Serendipity
Stamps: WPlus9, Avery Elle
Dies: WPlus9, MFT, Lil' Inker Designs
Enamel dots: Basic Grey
Ink: Hero Arts
Other: 3D foam, Corner Chomper, Stickles

There were a couple of behind-the-scenes accidents with this card which ended up why the sentiment is on that blue strip of paper, but in fact it was like the name of this line suggests, a happy accident!

And to end, there's a bright and bold number!

Paper: Dear Lizzy Serendipity, AC glitter paper
Stamps: Avery Elle
Dies: Mama Elephant, Lil' Inker Designs, Lawn Fawn
Ink: Hero Arts
Other: pattern wheel

I loved the raspberry, leaf and teal tones on this floral paper, so much so I paired them up with a little glitter in the bow and I die-cut the sentiment 4 times from raspberry pink cardstock to create a chunky solid greeting that really pops. I love this technique for solid word dies, so effective! :D

Here are the products used in these projects:

American Crafts - Dear Lizzy Serendipity - Very Vanilla Paper	American Crafts - Dear Lizzy Serendipity - Love Letters Paper	American Crafts - Dear Lizzy Serendipity - Liz Lemon Paper	American Crafts - Dear Lizzy Serendipity - Sugar, Sugar Paper
American Crafts - Dear Lizzy Serendipity - Summer Breeze Paper	American Crafts - Dear Lizzy Serendipity - Hello Beautiful Paper	American Crafts - Dear Lizzy Serendipity - Little Things Paper	American Crafts - Dear Lizzy Serendipity - Good Vibes Paper
American Crafts - Dear Lizzy Serendipity - Clear Acrylic Stamps	MFT - Die-namics Fishtail Flags STAX dies	MFT - Die-namics Fishtail Flags STAX dies	Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Mats: Circles die set
WPlus9 - Hand Lettered Thanks stamps	WPlus9 - Hand Lettered Thanks dies	Basic Grey - Candy Buttons - Navy/seafoam enamel dots	My Favorite Things - Just My Type dies and stamps
My Mind's Eye - Kate & Co - Cambridge Court - Enamel Dots	Lawn Fawn - Hearts dies	Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Mats: Rectangles die set	Avery Elle - Oh Happy Day stamps
Avery Elle - Simply Said: Hello stamps	WPlus9 - Love Notes dies	American Crafts - 12 x 12 Christmas glitter paper pad	Mama Elephant - Dainty bow die
Lawn Fawn - Scripty thanks word die

InLinkz.com

52 Cards challenge - Week 52

Good morning!

Well, there's good news... this post is being drafted from my new computer set-up. Still got a way to go to be up and running as normal, but the main stuff has been transferred over and things are looking a lot better!

But I have no new projects to share this week for our final prompt of 2014.

So as in previous years I thought it'd be nice to share my favourite cards from 2014 - a regular one and a Christmas cracker. If you happen to have time to make cards this week then of course you can use these cards as inspiration like a sketch, colours, elements, etc.

First this one:

I just really liked how all the clean and simple elements came together. Plus I was on a real coral stripe kick this summer. :D

And as for a festive make, then this one came up high in my list of favourites - funnily enough I just realised both cards were from the same 52 cards prompt back in June... I must have really liked that prompt!

I even used the same banner die and stamp combo! lol Well this card features that fab Lil' Inker Designs tree die showing off the 3D tree technique that you can do with it. :D I also really love how delicate the vellum snowflake looks. Very festive and wintry!

Well it just remains for me to say thank you to everyone who has played along with the 52 Cards challenge this year! Sadly I won't have time to continue it next year, but I will be hosting a new monthly challenge in the card forum on UK Scrappers that will be similar in nature. I hope you check it out! :D

Inspired by you...

For our final dare of 2014, Leo has challenged us to create a card inspired by our own crafty repertoire. :D

One of my favourite cards of late was this snowglobe card I made using Elle's Studio Good Cheer papers and those fab Neat & Tangled Winter Wishes stamps.

Sadly no longer have much left of these papers, but I had a ready-made snowglobe waiting to be used... :D

Some vintage Crate Christmas papers...

Paper, stickers, ephemera: Crate Paper
Stamps: WPlus9, Lawn Fawn
Enamel dots: MME
Other: 3D foam, Distress Stickles

The pic isn't as bright as the original image (dull December skies to blame!) but at least there's a nicer frosting of snow inside that snowglobe! ;o)

Crate Paper - Peppermint collection kit	Lawn Fawn - Deck the Halls stamp set	WPlus9 - Strictly Sentiments 6 stamps	My Mind's Eye - Jubilee - Mint Julep 'Beautiful' Enamel Dots
MFT - First Place Award Ribbon dies

InLinkz.com

Well I hope you have enjoyed all the challenges that the Daring Cardmakers team has brought to you this year - don't forget to check out the wonderful creations from my fellow teamies here on the blog.

Normal service not going to be resumed any time soon...

Well, it has been a week of polar opposites!

Lots of frustration and stress but a nice evening out before things got really bad yesterday...

...my home PC didn't quite recover from the crash it had last week and out of the blue came down with a serious problem yesterday. Timing couldn't be worse!

But after two trips to PC World and research online, I am keeping my fingers firmly crossed that the replacement that's been purchased will stand me in good stead for the coming years.

Things couldn't be busier right now, so I will have to leave setting things up until there is a spare moment to do so! Thankfully I managed to schedule my blog posts so far this week and for tomorrow, but that'll be it until I can get online via my laptop or the new PC.

My to-do list is a mile long and I could do with a lie in one day soon! It could be Christmas day at this rate. ;o)

But at least there's something to give me a break from it all tonight - a double helping of new Season 3 Arrow (but also the mid-season finale <sob> <sob>).

52 Christmas Crackers 2014 - Week 51

Here's my next card for this week's colour prompt:

I stuck with the same papers as my first card this week plus a few extra elements. :D

Paper: Elle's Studio, AC glitter paper
Dies: Lil' Inker Designs, Memory Box
Stickers and ephemera: Pink Paislee
Other: 3D foam

Yet another little winter scene, can't help myself when deploying that Memory Box die! LOL

Almost there with this year's challenge - wowzers!

Elle's Studio - Good Cheer - O Christmas Tree Paper	Elle's Studio - Good Cheer - Let It Snow Paper	American Crafts - 12 x 12 Christmas glitter paper pad	Pink Paislee - Merry & Bright - Stickers - Glitter Word Accents
Pink Paislee - Merry & Bright - Ephemera	Lil' Inker Designs - Instant Camera die	Memory Box - Country Landscape border die

InLinkz.com

Hey Little Magpie December projects

Today's the day to find out what's in this box under the tree...

Head on over to the Hey Little Magpie blog today to check out my projects for December. :D

52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 51

Morning!

This week's prompt is a colour inspiration one using this rather festive image. :D

Here's my interpretation:

Paper: Elle's Studio, AC glitter paper
Dies: PTI, Sizzix, MFT
Stamp: PTI
Enamel dot: MME
Star: Pink Paislee
Other: 3D foam, pattern wheel

Sadly December photography issues kicked in majorly this weekend, but the colours are a lot more vibrant in real life. I mounted silver glitter paper behind the die-cut greeting so it's really glitzy. Plus there's the red glitter star for extra pop. :D

Elle's Studio - Good Cheer - O Christmas Tree Paper	Pink Paislee - Merry & Bright - Ephemera	American Crafts - 12 x 12 Christmas glitter paper pad	Papertrey Ink - Wonderful Words: Holiday stamp set
Papertrey Ink - Wonderful Words: Holiday Die Collection	Sizzix - Tim Holtz - Alterations - Scallops edge die	MFT - First Place Award Ribbon dies	My Mind's Eye - Jubilee - Mint Julep 'Beautiful' Enamel Dots

InLinkz.com

There's something under the tree...

Find out what's in the box on the Hey Little Magpie blog this Tuesday! :D

Shake it out and shake it up...

This week on the Daring Cardmakers blog, Sharon has challenged us to hop on the shaker card bandwagon which has recently been brought back to life!

I remember back in 2003 or so making one of my first shaker cards with beads and Doodlebug buttons - back then we didn't have the fab and versatile dies that we can now use to create really unique apertures for the shaker windows...

But despite all that, I have gone for a pretty simple shaker card look with the humble circle!

Paper: Crate Paper, Simple Stories
Stamps: Neat & Tangled
Dies: Lil' Inker Designs, MFT
Enamel dots: MME
Other: Mica flakes, 3D foam

I didn't have any acetate to hand, so salvaged some clear packaging from a set of embellishments to do the job. And the perfect stamps for my little winter wonderland window? The Winter Wishes stamps by Neat & Tangled, I love the font they've used for the greetings too! I want more Christmas wishes in this font! :D

And at long last, for the shaker element.... I opened the pack of Mica flakes by Melissa Frances that I bought a couple of years ago in Florida, and finally used a sprinkling! You can't quite see the twinkliness here, but it's very frosty in real life. :)

Definitely go check out the fab shaker cards by the design team! There are some real beauties!

Crate Paper - Bundled Up - Noel paper	Crate Paper - Bundled Up - Christmas Trees	Simple Stories - December Documented - Blue Snowflake/Chevron paper	Neat & Tangled - Winter Wishes stamp set
Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Mats: Circles die set	My Mind's Eye - Just Sayin' - Enamel Dots	Melissa Frances - Mica flakes

InLinkz.com

52 Christmas Crackers 2014 - Week 50

I'm back with my second festive number of the week for the sketch prompt I shared here.

Paper: Crate Paper, Simple Stories
Dies: Lil' Inker Designs, Lawn Fawn
Sentiment: American Crafts
Enamel dot: MME
Other: Vellum, 3D foam

I stuck closer to the sketch with this one. It's hard to see but the second snowflake cut from vellum is also a stitched one. I lifted the ends of all the snowflake bits to give the card more dimension and there wasn't much left to do but add a greeting. :)

Crate Paper - Bundled Up - Noel paper	Crate Paper - Bundled Up - 6x6 paper pad	Simple Stories - December Documented - Blue Snowflake/Chevron paper	American Crafts - Be Merry - Ephemera - Cookies
Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Mats: Circles die set	Lawn Fawn - Stitched snowflakes dies	My Mind's Eye - Just Sayin' - Enamel Dots

InLinkz.com

52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 50

Well we're on the home stretch for this year's challenge!

It's time for a sketch prompt, and this one caught my eye. :D

{Pinterest pin}

So here's why my creative brain came up with (it was definitely running near empty this weekend!):

Paper: Basic Grey, Pebbles, Pink Paislee, AC glitter paper
Dies: MFT, WPlus9, Lil' Inker Designs
Stamp: Avery Elle
Enamel dots: Basic Grey

I am really loving the stitched circle dies by Lil' Inker that I picked up not so long ago - using them on lots of projects and they are just fab for framing little winter scenes. Also still have a thing for aqua with everything when it comes to Christmas! LOL

Really nice to use some of my older Christmas stash with newer stamp and die purchases from this year. :)

Will be back with my second card of the week later, you know it'll be another festive number!

Basic Grey - Aspen Frost - Oh What Fun paper	BasicGrey - Aspen Frost - Woolen Mittens paper	Pebbles - Front Porch - Breezy paper	Pink Paislee - Merry & Bright - Wreath Paper
American Crafts - 12 x 12 Christmas glitter paper pad	Basic Grey - Candy Buttons - Navy/seafoam enamel dots	Avery Elle - Noel stamps	Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Mats: Circles die set
WPlus9 - Pretty Patches: Tree dies	MFT - First Place Award Ribbon dies

InLinkz.com

Colours of December

It's the first Friday of the month, so it's time for a new colour challenge over on the Daring Cardmakers blog - and this month's pick comes from the lovely Dawn. :)

It's a red and blue affair, and your shade of blue can be anywhere on the scale.

Naturally I immediately veered in the direction of aqua!

I love any excuse to team red with aqua, so you know where my mind was heading as soon as I saw this pic!

Paper: American Crafts, Pebbles Inc.
Dies: PTI, Lil' Inker Designs, MFT
Stamp: Neat & Tangled
Enamel dots: MME
Other: 3D foam tape, pattern wheel

I just love that spotty (non-Christmassy) Pebbles paper against the zingy candy cane colours of the Christmas paper from American Crafts. And those Neat & Tangled stamps had another outing. :) Cute!

There are some fab interpretations of the red and blue theme from the rest of the Design Team, so do go check out the blog and play along! :D

American Crafts - Be Merry - Holiday Cheer paper	Pebbles - Front Porch - Breezy paper	American Crafts - 12 x 12 Christmas glitter paper pad	Papertrey Ink - Damask Snowflakes Die Collection (set of 2)
Lil' Inker Desings - Jolly word die	Papertrey Ink - Double-ended banners dies	Neat & Tangled - Winter Wishes stamp set	My Mind's Eye - Jubilee - Mint Julep 'Beautiful' Enamel Dots
Hero Arts - Charcoal mid-tone shadow ink

InLinkz.com

How things are looking in the parental household

Arrow Season 2 viewing has progressed to Episode 14 - one of my favourites for the Olicity feels....

But it is also when this gif reaction:

Is now going to be ramped up with this additional reaction:

Definitely a lot of flailing in front of the telly and shouts of "Whaaaaat???". hehe

Sadly I had to leave it there as it was close to midnight and I had a windscreen to de-ice before driving home.

I wonder if my dad was still tempted to keep going (I did say it was a good stopping point before a proper binge session.... we'll see!).

It won't be long now until the parentals will be in this mode:

...and thanking their lucky stars I set up a series link for Season 3 and the Flash on their Tivo in preparation. hehe

52 Christmas Crackers 2014 - Week 49

I'm back again to share my festive number for this week's "On my to-do list prompt". :)

And I can do a festive number because at our last crop I cut out three little green trees intending to use them on a card then and there, but nope... they didn't get used.

Until now!

Paper: Elle's Studio, American Crafts
Dies: Lil' Inker Designs, MFT
Stamp: WPlus9
Enamel dots: MME
Other: 3D foam

I had originally planned to do a 3D tree as the Lil Inker jolly tree die is symmetrical so you can score and fold all 3 in half down the center and glue them together to create a dimensional Christmas tree. :) And I finally used one of my new WPlus9 festive sentiments. :D

Elle's Studio - Good Cheer - Holiday Quilt Paper	Elle's Studio - Good Cheer - Joy and Peace Paper	American Crafts - Be Merry - Holiday Cheer paper	Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Mats: Circles die set
Lil' Inker Designs - Holly Jolly dies	MFT - First Place Award Ribbon dies	WPlus9 - Strictly Sentiments 6 stamps	My Mind's Eye - Kate & Co - Cambridge Court - Enamel Dots

InLinkz.com

52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 49

Welcome to our first prompt of December!

It's going to be a crazy month for all you crafty folks out there, so to make life easier I thought it would be good to focus on the things that are...

On your to-do list!

If there are special card projects that you need to get done and dusted, now's your chance!

Mine was at the top of my to-do list. A special card request for a friend that involved searching through older stash to find the right papers for the job. ;o) They're usually always there to be found somewhere in the shelving system!

Squirrels were a special request. :D

Papers: Crate Paper
Die-cut elements: Crate Paper
Chipboard: Cosmo Cricket
Dies: MFT, Lil' Inker Designs, PTI
Stamps: Lil' Inker Designs
Other: 3D foam

I found the perfect match for those squirrels in the form of the Little Sprout collection pack by Crate - it's a really old collection, but the papers and designs haven't aged, I love the muted woodland colours and organic patterns. Plus there were cute little glittered toadstools and acorns. What's not to love if you're a squirrel? I needed to have the little birthday squirrel sat somewhere higher up so that the whole "you're all... we're all" text would fit properly: enter that handy branch die!

Here's hoping the birthday boy likes it. :D

Crate Paper - Little Sprout collection kit	Cosmo Cricket - Togetherness - Chipboard	Lil' Inker Designs - I'm All You're All stamp set	Lil' Inker Designs - Speech Bubbles die set
MFT - Branch with leaves die	Papertrey Ink - By the numbers die collection (set of 9)

InLinkz.com