Little mice

Hello lovely people,

I did warn you that I could well be back for a third day in a row and here I am!

I survived another day in work yesterday and now have another couple of weeks off before my full return.  I popped out at lunchtime to get my new glasses and am really pleased with them; well, they are purple!  Much as I love pink I'm not sure about it for my glasses - lol!  Dr. Hubby commented that they were very 'sexy schoolteacher!' so I think that's a compliment!

Enough of that though because today I have a card to share with you that I made with some gorgeous goodies from The Ribbon Girl.

We Ribbon Girls are allowed a little break in August, but I couldn't resist having a play with these beautiful new papers that are newly arrived at The Ribbon Girl; they have such a lovely vintage style and beautiful soft colour palette.

I was drawn to my Inktense pencils again for this image and was pretty happy with the result.  I am thinking I might do a little post dedicated to Inktense to share my insights so far into using them, such as they are!  Anyone fancy that?

I do love making criss cross cards, and that's another potential for a tutorial so I can show you the stand that I make for them and share my tips for attaching lace across the front.

I've made a large pull out tag; just a sweet and simple one with some little die cut hearts.

One more peek at the gorgeous flowers that I used and that scrummy lace, which I ended up covering quite a bit - oops!

I hope you all have a super bank holiday weekend :-)

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

The Ribbon Girl products;
Galleria Papieru - As if in a dream (retro) 12x12" papers
12mm Donna creamy ivory fine cotton lace
Heart charm with side loop
Ivory asters
Natural colour button twine
White cherry blossom

Other products;

Image: Hugs and kisses (Everyday in moonbeam meadow) - Crafter's Companion

Other flowers: from stash

Dies: Large frilly frames #10 - Go Kreate, Nesting hearts mini die - Xcut

Sentiment tags - LOTV

Inktense colours;
Mice: 2100 Charcoal Grey & 0310 Mid Vermillion, 1530 Crimson for feet
Flowers / waistcoat / bow: 0530 Crimson
Leaves / grass: 1550 Spring Green, 1510 Beech Green
Mushroom top: 0310 Mid Vermillion, 1900 Willow, 1740 Saddle Brown
Mushroom stalk: as top plus 1730 Oak, 2010 Sepia Ink

Snug Christmas bunnies

Hello lovely people,

I post nothing for nearly a week and now it's 2 posts in 2 days...and yes, I may well be posting again tomorrow!

Today's post is my DT card for the new challenge at As You Like It and our theme this time is...

YOUR FAVOURITE...Shaped or standard card base
...and don't forget to tell us why it's your favourite!

Our sponsor this time is Sweet Stamp Store with a $10 voucher

I probably make more large square cards because I find it so easy to reach for a pre-made square base, but I always find that my favourite designs are the ones where I have used a shaped base, and it does add interest.

Regular visitors to my blog will know that this lovely shape is a favourite of mine, and the only reason I don't use it more is that it's just a bit small for a lot of images.

I thought it was about time I added to my very tiny stash of Christmas cards so I reached for my fave Christmas stamp, which I'm delighted to say is available again at LOTV and of course, you can now get it in rubber or digi format :-)

I tried a few sentiments but none of them looked quite right, maybe because of the DP with text on it, so I just left it without.

I also played with some flowers on this design and decided I liked it better without so hunted through my dies instead and chose this bow swirl; another die that I love but don't often use!

As you can see, I had another play with the cheesecloth too!

I hope you will pop over to As You Like It and check out the fabulously creative projects from the rest of the team :-)

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Card recipe;

Image: Christmas bunnies - stocking - LOTV

DP: Glad tidings - Dovecraft

Dies: Large frilly frames #10 - Go Kreate, Twisted swirl - Magnolia Doohickeys
Natural button twine - The Ribbon Girl
Cheesecloth fabric - The Ribbon Girl
Snowflake 1 - The Hobby House

Copic colours;
Rabbits: E40/41/42/43 & R000/00/01
Red: R27/46/89
Green: YG95/97/99
Branch: E37/39/29
Fur: W00/T0/2

Quick floral card

Hello lovely people,

It's another busy week for me but Dr. Hubby and I did squeeze in a little coffee date this morning.  I decided not to have cake...don't worry, I'm feeling perfectly well but it's nice and sunny so I'm holding out for an ice cream this afternoon!

Now, despite keeping up well with visiting all your lovely blogs I haven't done so well with actually posting anything on my own blog - oops!

So, I have a sweet little CAS card to show you, using a new floral stamp set, which I fell in love with and just *had* to have...and then when it arrived I suddenly realised that I had no idea what to do with it!

After a little brainstorming and Pinterest searching I came up with several ideas, so this is the first of a couple of cards I made using it.

I have simply stamped the flowers in 2 shades of Versacolour ink (lilac and heliotrope) and added the dot stamp around them in silver.

I used my MISTI for this and it was especially useful for adding that sentiment - no more 'eek!' moments for me :-)

I hope you are all having a good week and it's all downhill to the weekend from here !

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Card recipe;

Flower stamps: Water blooms - Mama Elephant

Sentiment: Oh Happy Day - Avery Elle

Sparkling romance

Hello lovely people,

Uh oh...time is flying by again and it has been a busy week for me so far.

I was working again on Monday and Tuesday and then yesterday I did a little shopping and went for my sight test/contact lens check.  It turned out that my prescription had changed quite a bit so I needed new glasses.  I always find picking new frames quite stressful, but I eventually decided on some and I am actually quite excited to pick them up next week as my current glasses are 4 years old so it will be nice to have a change!

At least I have a couple of days now to catch up on housework and crafting...ahem, probably just crafting if I'm honest - lol!

Now though it's time for a new challenge at In The Pink and our theme is...

SPARKLE
Don't forget we want to see more pink than any other colour!

Our fabulous sponsor this time is Di's Digi Stamps with a $12 voucher

The image I chose for this wedding card is really rather large so I kept the design fairly CAS and I 'cheated' a little by using small strips of DP down the sides rather than whole panels.  These weren't actually scraps although the design would be great for using up scraps; I just didn't want to waste all that precious DP!

This has been a fave wedding image of mine for a long time so it was lovely to finally colour it and I definitely met the sparkle requirement by plastering the bottom of the dress in Glamour Dust!

Yeah, you might have to use some imagination for that, which is crazy because it is unbelievably sparkly IRL!

I made a faux button again and if you want to see how it was done then check out my 'Sweet Summer' PDF tutorial sheet on LOTV's Something for the Weekend.

If you haven't already done so then do pop over to In The Pink and check out the gorgeous creations from the rest of the Pink Ladies.

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Card recipe;

Image: Brett and Brenda get married - Stamping Bella

DP: Vintage romance - Maja Design (available from Live & Love Crafts)

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Dies: Old Swedish lace - Magnolia Doohickeys, Nesting hearts mini die set - Xcut
Crystal Glamour Dust

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Her hair: E53/57/59
His hair: E51/53/35/37
Dress: W00/0 and RV0000/000/91
Suit: W3/4/5/6
Shoes / flowers: RV91/93/95
Leaves: BG90/93

Elephant love

Hello lovely people,

It's weekend time again so I hope you are having fun!

I had something else lined up to blog today but decided that since it was World Elephant Day yesterday that the pair of birthday cards I made for some lovely blog buddies were more appropriate...

I have coloured the elephants with Copics but I do want to try colouring these cuties with Inktense pencils as well...I'm pretty sure they will look gorgeous either way!

The buttons are clear buttons that I customised by adding washi tape across the back and trimming down.  The pattern shows through but in a lovely subtle way.

This worked out so well that I now need to get my hands on some more clear buttons because I only had a couple!

Looking at the photo above reminds me...does anyone else trim twine because it's too fluffy?!

Yes, I know it's supposed to be rustic and fluffy but my neat freak brain just can't cope with long strands all over the place, especially on the bow, so I always find myself tidying it up a little - lol!

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Card recipe;

Image & sentiment: Adorable elephants - My Favourite Things

DP: My Girl - American Crafts

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Button: from stash

Copic colours;
Elephant: T0/1/2/3/4
Elephant ears: R000/00/01/30 (R00/0120/21 on darker one)
Aqua balloon: BG10/11/13
Pink balloon: R30/32/35
Ground: E40/41/42

Little Sweetie

Hello lovely people,

I very much enjoyed a day of crafting yesterday, especially as Dr. Hubby was nowhere to be seen for most of the day since he was happily playing a newly released, and much anticipated, game for the Playstation 4!

I had a lovely time experimenting with some more of my new stamps :-)

Now, it's time for a new challenge at As You Like It and we have a lovely theme for you...

YOUR FAVOURITE...FLOWER
...and don't forget to tell us why it's your favourite!

Very appropriately given our theme, our sponsor this time is Wild Orchid Crafts with a £12 voucher

My favourite flower might be a little predictable but it's roses, even more from a card-making sense than IRL!
I love the way roses can be used on both modern and vintage style designs and of course, I love to use 3D roses on my creations, but I have them on the image and papers here too!

It's quite a 'classic Kat' kind of card but I did do a couple of tiny things differently to usual.

The biggest difference is the use of Inktense pencils to colour the image rather than my Copics, and I have to say I am loving these more and more.

I feel happy that I have now figured out how to get a nice flicking effect on the hair which I think adds a lot of texture.

I used a darker Distress Ink to edge my papers and image to give more of an 'antique' feel, so this is Gathered Twigs instead of my favourite Frayed Burlap.

I also didn't take the twine across the entire card...ok, that's a VERY tiny difference - lol!

It's funny isn't it how we all have our favourite die cuts that get used a lot and some that don't...but just sometimes are perfect for a project.  That was the case with this corner die cut that I really like but don't use a lot as it often doesn't seem to suit the card...I hope you agree it found it's niche here!

I have still used my beloved Maja DP but this is some that I haven't used before even though it's from quite an old collection and I am loving the deep blue.

I hope you will pop over to As You Like It and check out the fabulously creative projects from the rest of the team :-)

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Card recipe;

Image: Sweetie - Wee Stamps for Whimsy Stamps

DP: Vintage Autumn - Maja Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Tag: Sentiment tags - LOTV

Dies: Filigree corner - La La Land

Inktense colours;
Skin: 1800 Baked Earth, 1520 Carmine Pink, 1740 Saddle Brown
Hair: 1740 Saddle Brown, 1730 Oak, 2010 Sepia Ink
Dress / flowers: 0830 Navy Blue, 0840 Iron Blue
Leaves: 1540 Light Olive

Make a wish

Hello lovely people,

*thump*
That was me coming back to Earth because I have actually been to work for the last 2 days!
I haven't quite finished my year off but thought it was a good idea to work a few days before going back properly just to get back into the swing of things.
So, I am working 2 days a week for 3 weeks before another 2 weeks off and then back to normal working - eeeek!

That is one reason I am later posting this than I intended, and the other is that I got a little distracted by the Olympics for the last couple of nights...well, it's all just too exciting!

I do have a project to share with you though, using some gorgeous goodies from The Ribbon Girl and I was in my shabby chic place again when creating this.

This started off as a totally different design but it was not going well so I scrapped it and picked out this sentiment stamp, which led me to thinking about candles and before I knew it, I had completely snatched this card from the jaws of failure - yay!

The original design had some cheesecloth which didn't make the final cut, but I added some Frantage instead...still a good shabby chic staple!

The candles are simply rolls of paper with a teeny snippet of twine inside.  This is something I have done before but more as a focal point rather than an embellishment.
I think these are so super cute!

I hope your week is going well, whatever you may be up to :-)

Don't forget that there is a fab giveaway over on The Ribbon Girl blog and also 15% off the whole store to celebrate their 6th birthday...click on the pic below to go straight there and enjoy!

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

The Ribbon Girl products;
Maja Design Vintage Spring Basics 6x6" paper pad
Irene lace (discontinued but Ivory Matilda still available)
Ivory button twine
Ivory 10mm open roses
Ivory 20mm open roses
Star charm
Bakers Divine twine (ivory/natural)

Other products;

Sentiment: Sentiments (fabulous) - LOTV

Other flowers: from stash
Frantage - Stampendous chunky white

LOTV Regency Christmas Girl

Hello lovely people,

I had a most wonderful time yesterday celebrating the marriage of 2 very lovely friends and we were delighted to have sunny weather for it.
Everything was so beautiful and it was an utterly joyful day :-)

So today I am 'recovering' with plenty of caffeine and a little play in my craft room.

Meanwhile, I have another sneak peek for you from the second half of the amazing Christmas release at LOTV, which will be available from Monday 8th August, so that's TOMORROW peeps!

I'm excited to show you one of the gorgeous Christmas girls; there are 4 of them from different eras and I have used the Regency one.

As soon as I saw these I wanted to colour them in monochrome with a pop of colour and I think it worked really well :-)

I added sparkle to the snow with some Nuvo Drops which gives quite a subtle sparkle...too subtle for the camera I see!

I kept the design simple with a sentiment cut from a border strip on the DP, and a few die cuts and pearls.

I did initially think cutting the holly vines also in a pale colour might be too subtle but decided that was actually a good thing because I really didn't want to take the focus off the gorgeous image.

I do hope you are all having lovely weekend whatever you are doing :-)

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Card recipe;

Image: Christmas girls - Regency (coming soon!) - LOTV
DP: A gift for you - Maja Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Dies: Delicate adornment - Creative Expressions, Holly vine - Memory Box

Sentiment strip: cut from DP

Copic colours;

Skin: T0/1/2

Hair: T4/6/8

Hat: T2/4/6

Bow: T5/7/9

Dress: T2/3/4/6

Fur: W00/T0/1

Basket: T1/2/3

Present / holly leaves: T3/5/7

Bow on present: T0/1/2

Mistletoe leaves: T1/3

Red bow: R27/46/59

Magical day

Hello lovely people,

After an utterly wonderful time chilling out with my fabulous friends yesterday I have mostly been crafting up a storm.  Well, the weather isn't up to much so what else is a girl to do?!

It's time for a new challenge at In The Pink and because we are celebrating both our 4th birthday and our 100th challenge our theme this time is...

ANYTHING GOES!

But don't forget we want to see more pink than any other colour!

Our fabulous sponsor this time is...
The Pink Ladies!
Each of us will be putting together a little package of gorgeous pinkness to send out to our winners, so there are six prizes up for grabs :-)

It's a cute CAS design from me today and done in the favourite colours of the recipient...I hope she also likes unicorns!

I took a deep breath and stayed away from the inky edges as I felt it might ruin the nice clean look to this card, but it was tough I can tell you!

Unicorns seem to be very on trend right now and I knew I had to get in on the action but gosh, there are a lot of lovely images out there to choose from!
No wonder I had trouble choosing which of them was going to come home with me...but eventually this one was the winner!

I was more than a little bit swayed by the gorgeous hair, as you know how much I like to colour hair!

I've even fussy cut the image, which I really try not to do because I always worry that I will cut off something vital - lol!

Yes, I realise that there is a die for this image but clever old me decided I didn't need it - ha!

If you haven't already done so then do pop over to In The Pink and check out the gorgeous creations from the rest of the Pink Ladies.

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Card recipe;

Image and sentiment: Magical day - The Greeting Farm

DP: Pastel dreams (discontinued)

Dies: Cosmic star set - Memory Box

Copic colours;
Body: T0/1/2/3/4
Hair: R81/83/85
Horn: BG10/11/13

Warm winter wishes

Hello lovely people,

It's one of my favourite days today...no, I don't have a particular love of Tuesdays, but I do love a CCC day!

I am of course talking about a Cake, Coffee and Chat day with my buddies, the Delightful Debs and Super Sue :-)

I realise that my blog makes it sound like I spend a lot of time eating cake, but I actually do squeeze in some crafting every now and then - lol!

 So today I have a little Design Team sneak peek for you from the next LOTV release, which is the second half of the HUGE range of Christmas images, coming on 8th August!

Don't forget you can now get many of the images in digital format as well as rubber!

I like to keep a lot of my Christmas designs quite simple for ease of making and posting, so this doesn't even have stitching on it...apart from from those fab stitched scalloped edge dies making another appearance :-)

That mittens paper is sooooo cute and I felt like it was just made to match the bunny in his little mittens!

There are lots of gorgeous trio stamps in this next release but I fell totally in love with the bunny trio, although of course I've only used one of the wee chaps on here!

Look out for lots more sneak peeks from me and the rest of the DT over the next week as we count down to release day!

Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave,

Card recipe;

Image: Noel bunny trio (coming soon!) - LOTV

DP: Vintage frost basics - Maja Design (available from Live and Love Crafts)

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Tag: Christmas sentiment tags - LOTV

Dies: Stitched scalloped edges - MFT Die-namics

Copic colours;
Fur: W00/0/1/2/3
Pink: R81/83/85
Blue: B91/93/95
Holly: BG93/96 & R59/89
Stars: YR30/31