Summer swing

Hello lovely people,

I'm going to start with a couple of important announcements...

 Firstly I see I have picked up a handful of new followers in the last few weeks so thank you for joining me and hope you enjoy my combination of papercrafting and random ramblings!

Secondly, thanks to everyone who wished my Dad good luck in his Ironman distance triathlon at the weekend and he did it!

I'm going to share some photos from the event but if you are looking for my card then keep scrolling down!

I was never going to roll out of bed in time to see Dad finish the 3.8km swim section, but we arrived in time for the end of the 180km cycle ride and he was smiling!

 Then it was on to the run section...just a marathon...easy peasy - lol!

As you can see, it was a beautiful sunny day for us to laze around and cheer him on, but probably not so fun to compete in!

He finished in 14 hours 40 minutes and was STILL smiling and standing upright...what an absolutely inspirational and fantastic achievement :-)

Finally, I can report a productive week so far with lots of decluttering done (it feels so good to get rid of stuff!), a couple of completed Kit & Clowder lessons and of course, plenty of ice-cream eating!

But now it's time for a new challenge at In The Pink

Our theme this time is...

GET OUT YOUR RUBBER!

So, we want to see you using any kind of rubber stamp on your project and don't forget to use more pink than any other colour!

Our fabulous sponsor this time is Dies to Die For with a £10 voucher

I just had to use my favourite shaped base before I got withdrawal symptoms - lol!

I always seem to take wonky photos but am good at fixing them before they go on my blog, however, I think I didn't quite get it right with this one...it still looks slightly wonky to me - oops!

This is the first outing for the stamp...and I still have plenty more I haven't used yet!

I guess that's what happens when you are easily tempted by shiny new stamps all the time ;-)

I used a new die set for the foliage, which has a couple of slightly different styles of leaves included; I find you can never have too many foliage dies so you can choose what suits the design best.

I also really like ones like in this set that can be cut into sections as they are more versatile and I prefer to use just small bits peeking out from the flowers.

And yes, that's my new dies/stamps again for the tag...you will be seeing these a lot!

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: Together forever - LOTV

DP: Devoted - Carta Bella

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

Dies (all available from Dies to Die For): Large frilly frames #10 - Go Kreate, Circle stax - MFT Die-namics, Bloomers greenery - Taylored Expressions, Mini tags - Mama Elephant

Sentiment (from Dies to Die For): Mini messages - Mama Elephant

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Girl's hair: Y21/YR23/E35
Boy's hair: E53/35/37
Dress / bow: R83/85/RV19
Girl's socks: RV0000/000/R81
Shirt / boys' socks: W00/1/2
Tank top: E42/43/44
Shoes: E42/43/44/47
Swing: E40/41/42

Tilda in the garden

Hello lovely people,

Dr. Hubby and I took a little trip to Bath yesterday for my Independent Prescriber graduation ceremony followed by a celebratory meal out.

Here I am receiving my certificate from the course director and yes, it was actually a lovely sunny Summer day so I wore a dress!

Today I am having a crafty play date with my lovely buddies Sue and Debs...yes, again!

While we get stuck into some crafting and chatting, and a cheeky cream tea (yum yum!), it's time for a new challenge at In The Pink

Our theme this time is...

ALL OR NOTHING!
So that's FUSSY AND FANCY
OR
CLEAN AND SIMPLE...your choice!
But don't forget we want to see more pink than any other colour!

Our fabulous sponsor this time is Little Miss Muffet with a $6 voucher

I love both FAF and CAS but I guess I probably lean a bit more towards FAF and I fancied trying my hand at a swing easel for this design.  I really like it...but I am always finding new fancy folds that I like!

I can't even remember the last time I used a Tilda so it was fab to get this one out and give her the pink treatment!

I can only dream of looking this stylish when I'm working in the garden!

Hopefully you can see the swing easel design a little better in this angled shot.

As with any easel design you can't really add too much on the bottom layer but I found plenty of space on the top to add flowers!

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...can you guess who will go FAF and who will go CAS?!

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

Card recipe;

Image: Tilda in the garden

DP: Romance & roses, and Pastel dreams (available as digi papers from Nitwit Collections)

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

Sentiment: For you circular sentiments - LOTV

Dies: Lovely fence - Magnolia Dohickeys, Beaded swirl flourish - Creative Expressions
Punch: Floral lace - Martha Stewart edge punch
Charm: Butterfly (small) charm - The Ribbon Girl

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: Y21/YR23/E35
Clothing: R81/83/85 & W00/1/3
Boots: W4/5/6/7
Spade: W00/0/1 & E53/55/57
Grass: YG03/25/17

A Summer card...and some amazing news...

Hello lovely people,

I had a most productive day yesterday so I think today I will treat myself to some crafting time :-)

I have a bright cheerful card to share with you today that I made whilst I was guest DT for The Ribbon Girl.

But oh look, what's this...?

Yep, Mary and Andrea asked me to join the DT :-)

I am totally over the moon as this has been a hugely iconic DT for me for many years and I am sooooo delighted and proud that I get to be a part of it!

While I have a little lie down to recover from the excitement, here's my card...

I always find myself colouring this image with a big smile on my face, although I have a suspicion I have only ever coloured her in pink - lol!

These absolutely stunning papers are just one of the paper collections now stocked by The Ribbon Girl and I love the gorgeous Summery colours :-)

I made a frame for the image using 2 circle dies and stacked up 2 white frames and 1 DP frame to give it some depth.

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

The Ribbon Girl products;
Galleria Paperieu 'As if in a dream' assorted 12" papers
16mm hot pink/white saddlestitch ribbon
Dragonfly charm small
Cherry blossom pink
Pink 10mm open roses
Tiny pale pink rosebuds
Tiny white rosebuds

Other products;

Image: Sally and her snail - Stamping Bella

Other flowers: from my stash

Dies: Large frilly frames #7 - Go Kreate, Circle stax - MFT Die-namics

Sentiment: Teenage girl sentiments - LOTV

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: E53/35/37
Clothing / shoes: R83/85/RV17 & BG53/57
Snail shell: W3/4/5/6/7
Snail body: W00/0/1/2
Flowers: YR30/23/Y35 & R81/83/85
Grass / leaves: YG21/23/17

A sneaky peek at a shed

Hello lovely people,

It's just wall to wall excitement for me at the moment!

I had a totally fabulous Friday starting with coffee and cake with lovely Debs and Sue and then sampling rather a lot of tasty beers at the Gloucester beer festival and finishing with a scrummy Nepalese meal :-)

Now I am excited for my holibobs in just 1 more sleep and I'm almost all packed!

So, let me share a little excitement with you in the form of a sneak peek of the forthcoming release from LOTV.
This time we have some fantastic images for the men in your life, although I bet the ladies might like these too!

My sneak peek today is a wonderful garden shed design and I've used one of the new LOTV sentiments...what a perfect combo!

The images are quite detailed so will look good whatever level of colouring skills you have; I really enjoyed adding texture to the wood, foliage and stone wall :-)

Card recipe;

Image: In the shed - LOTV (coming soon!)

DP: Country Gent - available as digi download from Mitwit Collections

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Sentiment: Teenage boy - LOTV

Copic colours;
Shed / ramp: E42/43/44
Shed roof / window frame / spade: W2/4/6
Trough / pots: E97/YR27/E99
Watering can: W1/2/4
Sack: E40/41/42/43
Wall: W00/0/2/3/4
Trees: YG61/63/67
Lighter bush / grass: G40/YG61/63
Small darker plants in trough: YG63/67/G99
Frame around image: E43/44
Sky: B0000/000/blender

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

If friends were flowers...

Hello lovely people,

Yes, it's me again because it's time for a new challenge at In The Pink and our theme is...

FOR A FRIEND

Our sponsor is Handmade Bliss with a fabulous £10 prize voucher, but perhaps I should also mention that there is a sale with 20% off everything at the moment ;-)  Check out the Handmade Bliss on Facebook for details.

I had a few ideas floating round in my head for this theme but when I saw this stamp I knew it was the one I wanted to use because the sentiment was just perfect for the theme.

This is dedicated to all my lovely friends out there in blogland; you are all wonderful and your sweet comments and words of encouragement fill me with delight when I read them so thank you all :-)

I actually only used part of the image for this card; the full image has more plants on the left but I didn't want the image that big for this design.

I'm afraid I may have been a little predictable with the embellies but twine and flowers look soooo good with a few die cut swirls!

Card recipe;

Image: Uptown girl Pippa loves to plant - Stamping Bella

DP: Dress Shoppe - LOTV

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

Dies: heart flower lace and heart swirl - Magnolia Dookhickeys

Sentiment: comes with image

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: E53/35/37
Apron / headscarf / gloves: R32/35/37
Lilac flowers / top: BV20/23/25
Shorts: E43/44/47
Watering can: T0/1/2/3/4
Pots: E41/42/43/44
Pink flowers: R30/32/35
Leaves: YG93/95/97
Grass: YG93/95/97/99

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.

We can't wait to see your creations for a friend but don't forget to use more pink than any other colour!

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

Challenges I am entering;

Simon Says Stamp (die crazy)

Cute gardener

Hello lovely people,

I'm still here!  I've had a really busy week but finally have a card to share with you!

I'm showcasing some LOTV products today as part of the Design Collective with this Father's Day card...yes, that will be here before you know it!

I am loving my new notebook edge die...this is going to see a lot of use I think!

I felt like I needed a few more male images in my collection and this cute little gardener really appealed to me.

Card recipe;

Image: Vegetable patch - LOTV

DP: Country gent - LOTV
Dies: Notebook edge die - Clearly Besotted

Twine: Ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Sentiment: Happy circular sentiments - LOTV

Charm: Trowel charm - The Ribbon Girl

Copic colours;
Skin: E000/00/21/11/04 & R20
Hair: E41/43/44
Hat / boots / braces: YG63/67/G99
Shirt: B91/95/97
Trousers: E41/42/43
Fork: E44/47/49 & T0/2/4
Robin: E43/44/47 & R27/46/39
Pots: E97/13/15/99
Carrots: YR18/YR24/27 & G43/YG17
Seed packets: YR30/31/E41
Ground: E41/42/43/44

Any moment now I have friends arriving and we are off out into the sunshine for a long walk followed by some wedding invitation designing and then dinner and drinks :-)

I hope you all have a wonderful bank holiday weekend whatever you are up to!

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

Tri-shutter Tilda card

Hello lovely people,

Not long before Christmas some good friends got engaged and moved in together.  So, with a Christmas card as well, that would be 3 cards to make for them.  But maybe there was a way to combine it all into one card?

Enter the tri-shutter card with space for 3 different images :-)

 The only down side to this was that with all the Christmas prep going on I really didn't have time to colour 3 images.

My answer was to stamp the images onto Kraft card with no colouring whatsoever (eek!) but I did distress and stitch the edges and brush them with some white acrylic paint.

Since the design folds up flat I could only put larger embellies on the front bit i.e. the very left hand side.
There was room though for some fancy corners and for some little die cuts themed to each image.

Here's the first panel with the Christmas image;

Here's the middle panel with the image I chose for the engagement part of the card;

I struggled with finding an image for the new home panel as I wanted to use all Magnolia images but since the new house comes with a large garden I thought this would work;

Card recipe;

Images: all Magnolia stamps

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

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts

Dies: snowflakes - Impression Obsession, hearts and flowers - Memory box, corners - La La Land

Sentiments: magazine freebie alphabet set 

And did you see those teeny paperclips?  They came in a Stampin' Up kit that I had as a prize and I don't think you can get them separately... very sad about this as they are just the cutest things. Yeah, I get excited about the oddest things!

I was really pleased with the end result and my friends loved it, so job done!

Thanks for stopping by and for your lovely comments, it's so nice to hear from you when you visit :-)

Challenges I am playing along with;
1. Cute Card Thursday (what's new? - new home card, new paperclips)
2.  Sweet Magnolia (anything goes)
3.  Tilda's Town (anything goes)
4.  Simply Magnolia (vintage or shabby chic)

Scrap n' Art with All Dressed Up

Hello lovely people,

Thank you for stopping by and I have a very special project to share today as one of my cards has been published in the latest issue of the Scrap n' Art online magazine.

Scrap n' Art is an electronic magazine packed with articles, tutorials and inspiration all the paper crafter and has a reader base of over 20,000.

Wendy Burns and three brand new, exclusive All Dressed Up images are being featured in the current issue plus several of the design team have submitted projects.

The three exclusive digis are:

Love My Teddy

Princess for a Day

Too Good to Eat

These three digital images are currently available only by subscribing to Scrap n' Art.  Your subscription entitles you to a monthly magazine for $24/year or you can try it for $5 for one month and you can access tutorials, inspiration, editorials and downloads.

For my card, I used another cute image currently available in the All Dressed Up Etsy store called Little Flower Girl.  I went for a taste of summer with this design, choosing bright colours and florals.

I just LOVE this little lady's gorgeous huge sun hat although it was a little bit of a challenge to colour!  I cut out an extra flower for her hat and popped it up on a 3D pad, then added liquid pearls to the middle of the flowers in the basket.

I've used my fave twine and flowers combo to embellish; I'm still loving the 3D flowers right now!

One more shot from the side so you can see the stepper design I used;

Card recipe;

Image: Little Flower Girl - All Dressed Up

DP: Park Bench - Echo Park

Dies: leaf and swirl - Magnolia Doohickey, butterfly set - Impression Obsession

Edge punch: Scallop dot - Martha Stewart

Flowers: all from Wild Orchid Crafts

Twine: ivory button twine - The Ribbon Girl

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/50/000/51/21 & R30

Hair: E41/Y21/E42/E43

Dress / hair bows: BG10/11/13

Bag / ground: W0/2/3/4

flowers / hat / bow on bag: Y15/19/YR14

Leaves: G46

Bird: E42/43

I am back from my holiday now and feeling very refreshed but that will probably only last until I get into work on Monday morning and see my inbox!

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

Hugs,

Kat xx

Garden fun

Hello lovely people,

Oh my word, that weekend went so fast and now it's almost halfway through the week!  It was such a fabulous weekend with almost wall to wall sunshine here in Gloucestershire :-D
Dr Hubby and I did lots of gardening and popped out for a little spin in our Caterham Seven with the roof off; it was glorious!
After all that I didn't actually spend that much time in my craft room but I do have a card to share that I made for a special friend who also enjoys being in the garden.

This is the second outing for this image and this time I cut it down slightly to work better with my intended layout.
I very nearly didn't put flowers on this one but in the end I couldn't resist adding a few as they are so pretty!

Card recipe;

Image: Pippa loves to plant - Stamping Bella

DP:Vintage autumn basics - Maja Design
Sentiment: Mini clear stamps - Kaisercraft
Twine: The Ribbon Girl
Flowers: all Wild Orchid Crafts

Copic colours;

Skin: E0000/50/000/51/21 & R30

Hair: E50/YR31/Y21/E34/E35

Shorts / headscarf: B91/93/95

Top: B41/91

Apron: E40/41/42

Gloves: E42/43/44

Pink flowers / butterfly: R56/59/89

Blue flowers: B41/91/93/95

Leaves: combos of BG90/93/96/99

Pots: E40/41/42 & E42/43/44 & W0/1/3

Trowel: W0/1/3 & E42/43/44

Watering can: W00-7

The sun seems to have gone on a little holiday now but I don't mind a little rain to water my garden... then more sunshine please!  I hope you all have a lovely week whatever you are up to.

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

Hugs,

Kat xx

Garden girl

Hello lovely people,

Finally I am back with the last of my belated DT cards and it is of course time for a new challenge at Crafty Little Fairies and our theme this month is...

IN THE GARDEN

Now we are a monthly challenge we have a whole lot of loveliness to give away with FIVE prizes up for grabs this time from...

I got a couple of new Stamping Bella images recently and this one fit the bill perfectly.  It is intended for my Sister-in-law's birthday at the end of the month but shhhh, don't tell her!

This is a really lovely big image so I left the rest of the card sweet and simple with just a couple of flowers, a hint of seam binding and twine and my fave tiny tags!

Card recipe;
Image: Pippa loves to plant - Stamping Bella
DP: Vintage Spring Basics - Maja Designs
Flowers: all Wild Orchid Crafts
Seam binding: Crafty Ribbons
Twine: The Ribbon Girl
Tags: Sentiment tags (set 24)- LOTV

Copic colours;
Skin: E0000/50/000/51/21 & R30
Shorts / headscarf: G40/YG61/G21/G94
Gloves: G21/94/99
Apron: E40/41/42/44
Watering can: T0/1/2/3/4 & T5/6/7 inside
Pots: E42/43/44 & E40/41/42
Pink flowers: R81/83/85
Purple flowers: V20/22/25
Leaves: G40/YG61/G21/G94/YG67/G99

If you pop over to Crafty Little Fairies you can check out the fabulous creations from my teamies and don't forget you now have a whole month to join in with our challenge!

I can now say that I am starting to feel a little better so hopefully will be back to some gentle crafting over the weekend and will be able to pop round to see what you've all been up to :-)

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

Hugs,

Kat xx

Challenges I am entering;
1.  Simon Says Stamp (anything goes)
2.  Cute Card Thursday (here comes summer)