Slightly Distracted

Hello there!

I hope you are all keeping well.

I'm back with another card featuring a cat with attitude. This chap is taken from the Tim Holtz Snarky Cats set by Stampers Anonymous and is packed with hilarious cats and sarcastic sayings. A perfect match I think.

What you need...

Stamps:

Tim Holtz Snarky Cats (CMS392) - Stampers Anonymous

Ink pads:

Onyx Black - Versafine
Celery - Avery Elle Pigment Ink

Washi tape:
Black/white striped - MT

Embellishments

Glitter dots

What you do...

1 Mask off a diagonal section across the bottom of a 10.5cm x 14.5cm blank and blend Celery ink evenly over the area.

2 Remove the masking and apply a length of the Washi tape following the top line of the inked section.

3 Stamp the cat just above the Washi tape.

4 Stamp the sentiment just above the cat at the top left. Decorate with a few glitter dots.

I have a couple of rolls of Washi tape that I don't want to use on my makes, so I use them to mask off areas and hold things like dies in place. It means that they don't just sit there for years gathering dust and as Washi isn't as sticky as some tapes, it's perfect for masking without ruining your card. 

This stamp set is just so me, especially this sentiment! Ha! This card is perfect for a male recipient or a cat loving friend that can cope with funny sarcasm. I really like the black and white and I think the bit of green really makes the card pop.

I'm going to sign off now and make a coffee. Thank you for popping by and take care.

Peas Love Happiness

Hello there!

Well I'm back with another make. I am still going through some of my old stamp sets and of course some of my faves are Paper Smooches. The 'Vegtastic' stamp set is just so cute, I used it in my last post with the carrot card. At least with this stamp set you are getting one of your five a day!

Without further ado do here we are...

What you need...

Stamps:

Vegtastic - Paper Smooches

Embossing folder:
Swiss Dots - Cricut

Ink pads:

Extreme Black - My Favorite Things
Sea Breeze - VersaMagic

Alcohol markers:

Nile Green G07, Apple Green G14, Green Bice YG01, New Leaf YG23, Sugared Almond Pink RV02, Tender Pink RV13 - Copic

Gel Pen:
Signo White Broad (UM-153) - Uni-ball

Dimensional medium:
Glossy Accents - Ranger

Card stock: 

White, Pale Aqua

Masking paper:
Stamping Mask Paper - Inkadinkado

What you do...

1 Stamp the peas onto white card stock with the little heart above. Stamp the images again onto masking paper and cut out. Lay the masks over the original stamped image.

2 Use a blending tool to blend the Sea Breeze ink around the images and remove the masks.

3 Colour in the images and add the sentiment underneath. Trim the image to 7.5cm square.

4 Emboss a 10cm square piece of white card with the Swiss Dots.

5 Cover a 12cm square blank with pale aqua card. Then layer the embossed panel followed by the stamped panel.

6 Add some highlights to the heart, pod and peas with gel pen, apply Glossy Accents and allow to dry.

I did notice that the Glossy Accents can affect the gel pen a little, so you need to be careful when applying it that you don't move it around too much, but you can't really notice on the card.

I still have quite a few rainbow themed cards to post up, but I'm trying to spread them out a little so you are not overloaded!

I'm going to sign off for now and have a coffee and maybe a shortbread or two (yum) whilst enjoying the sun in the conservatory. Plus I can see what the chickens are up to!

Thank you for popping by and I'll be back soon. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Thrilled To Be Picked

Good afternoon!

I hope you are all well. I have a cute little card to show you today. It is an adorable little carrot design from a stamp set by Paper Smooches. I have wanted to use this little chap for a while and I finally got round to it.

What you need...

Ink pad:

Onyx Black - Versafine

Embossing powder:
Detail Clear - Stampendous

Stamps:

Vegtastic - Paper Smooches

Dies: 
Vegtastic Icons; Clouds - Paper Smooches
Square Small - Gina K Designs

Copic:

Yellow Green YG03, Grass Green YG17, Celadon Green YG25, Cadmium Orange YR07, Chinese Orange YR09, Caramel YR14, Blender 0

Card stock: 

White, Kraft, Pale Aqua, Dark Brown

What you do...

1 Stamp the carrot with Onyx Black and whilst still wet apply embossing powder. Heat to set. Die cut the carrot.

2 Cut the medium frame once in pale aqua and once in dark brown. Cut the dark brown piece in half to form a 'hill' and stick to the pale aqua panel.

3 Secure the medium frame within the large frame with masking tape and cut in Kraft card three times and stick together. 

4 Create a small 9cm x 11.5cm Kraft blank and attach the frame to the top. Insert the pale aqua/dark brown panel inside.

5 Add the carrot and two small clouds die cut from white card.

6 Stamp the sentiment underneath the frame with Onyx Black along with a small heart at each end of the sentiment.

Is he cute or what? It would also be good with a different sentiment such as 'For You' and then a packet of seeds could be popped inside to give as a little gift for a keen gardener.

Paper Smooches stamps are always a joy to colour in, I think it's because they have lovely bold outlines. I wish craft shops over here would start stocking the new collections.

Anyhoo, I'm going to have to sign off for now. I hope you like this little make and thank you for stopping by.

Keep safe and well xx

Sending Sunshine & Rainbows

Happy Saturday all!

I hope you are all well. 

I don't think I've ever been so pleased to see a rainy day. We haven't had rain for weeks here in Norfolk and our poor gardens are desperate. The grass in my garden at the back isn't the best most times, I can't even blame the chickens because it never really did well before I got them. It seems to go through phases where one year it's fab and the next pathetic. This year so far is pathetic and I think it's mostly down to no rain. Fingers crossed a day of rain will help.

I have a lovely card to share with you to counteract the dull, rainy day. This is one with a rainbow colour theme teamed up with a simple flower and sentiment. I then gave it a spritz of sparkle for that extra bit of zing. The background was created using dye inks by Wendy Vecchi, Tim Holtz and My Favorite Things.

What you need...

Ink pads:

Bluebird, Buttercup, Cactus Flower, Tiger Lily - Wendy Vecchi Make Art Blendable Dye Inks

Picked Raspberry Distress Ink - Tim Holtz (Ranger)

Sour Apple Hybrid Ink - My Favorite Things 

Onyx Black - Versafine

Stamps:

Small Striped Flower Cling Stamp (CG256) - Hero Arts 

Rainbow Greetings (CS124) - My Favorite Things

Copic:

Sky B24, Cerise RV04, Acid Yellow Y08, Celadon Green YG25, Apricot YR16, Lilac V04

Glitter spray:

Sparkle Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray - Imagine Crafts

Dimensional medium:

Glossy Accents - Ranger

Card stock: 

White

What you do...

1 On a piece of card stock approximately 10cm x 15cm start blending the inks from the top of the card.

2 Trim to 10cm x 14.5cm and spritz with the Sparkle spray allowing some heavy droplets form. When dry, mat centrally onto a 10.5cm x 14.5cm white blank.

3 Stamp the flower with the Onyx Black ink and heat set. Colour in the centre of the flower with the Copics. 

4 Cut out the flower and mat near the top of the blank with foam pads.

5 Stamp the sentiment under the flower with Onyx Black.

6 Apply Glossy Accents to the centre of the flower and add some dots around it on the blank. Allow to dry.

Even though I'm a Goth and my fave colour is black, I don't make dark or grungy cards. I love bright colours in my card making. Next to black my two other favourite colours are pool/aqua blue and lime green.

This card is so appropriate at the moment with the rainbow colour scheme, I think rainbows at the moment show a sign of optimism, hope, support and friendship. 

I do have some more rainbow cards that I have made and I will be posting these soon. 

I don't the photo does the 'sparkle' justice, you can see where some of the heavy drops are. It looks stunning in real life.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I do appreciate it. Take care and I will see you soon. 

What?

Good afternoon!

I hope you are all well.

I've got a great card to share with you today. If you own or ever have owned a cat then you know that at any moment (especially when you have company) it will sit slap bang in the middle of the room, raise its leg and start washing its butt.

A while ago I came across a brilliant stamp that showcased just that activity. I made it into a simple card using masking and blending.

What you need...

Stamps: Jasper Les Gros Chats (Mini 081) - KatzelKraft; Checkered Texture Stamp (DDTS013) - Darkroom Door; Alphadot - Paper Smooches

Ink pads: Onyx Black - Versafine; Prickly Pear Blendable Dye Ink - Wendy Vecchi; Clear Ultra Slow Drying Embossing Ink - WOW!

Embossing powder: Opaque Bright White Super Fine (WL01SF-O) - WOW!

Card stock: white, black

Masking paper: Inkadinkado

Pearls: black

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Create a 10.5cm x 14.5cm white top fold portrait blank. Stamp the cat with black ink near to the lower right corner.

2 Stamp the cat onto masking paper and cut out. Fix over the original image.

3 Stamp the checkered background to the left of the cat. Heat dry.

4 Blend Prickly Pear ink around the cat. Remove the mask.

5 Use the Alphadot stamps to create the 'What?' onto black card with embossing ink. Apply the white embossing powder and heat set. 

6 Trim the sentiment and attach to the top right of the blank. Add a few black pearls to decorate.

I decided to go with 'What?' because that is what cats seem to say by looking at you when washing their nether regions.

This card would be perfect to send to a cat loving friend or it would also suit a male recipient.

Hope you like this little make and thank you for stopping by. Keep safe and well and I'll be back soon.

Easter Bird (Silhouette)

Hello! I do hope that you are all enjoying your Easter. 

I've just spent three full days in the garden doing all those jobs that really needed doing. Things like sorting out the patio and getting the table and chairs out doing the fish pond and pumps, jet washing the conservatory and doing a thorough spring clean inside the conservatory and then doing all the windows. Yes, I did all that and more, this all included help from the chickens and the cat!

This card today is a simple bird card. Perfect to send to those who don't really like religious cards. I used my faithful Silhouette again for this one.

What you need...

Silhouette image file: Doodle Bird #55822 - Miss Kate Cuttables

Silhouette font: PN Popsicle Day Bold

Card stock: dark brown, pale blue, pale green pink, yellow, white

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Purchase and download the image. Open the design page and add the image.

2 Re-size the bird image to suit. I sized it to fit a 6" square blank.

3 Send to cut in your chosen colours.

4 Use the text function to create the sentiment in the PN Popsicle Day Bold font and cut in dark brown card.

5 Create a 10.5cm x 14.5cm top fold white blank. Assemble the bird and fix to the top. 

6 Add the wording underneath.

I just think that this design is adorable. I decided to keep the colour scheme the same as the sample on the Silhouette as I think they look so good together.

I hope you like this little make and thank you for popping by. I'll be back soon with another card to share with you. Keep well and safe!

P.S. Just a quick note to Faith (Daffodil Cards). I didn't receive the email for the image request. Could to send me another one and I'll get the images sent straight back to you xxx

Hello Birdie (Silhouette)

Good afternoon!

I hope you are all still keeping well and safe. I've just finished another project for Papercrafter (one for my step by step pages) and before I type everything up and get it ready for posting I thought I would share another make with you.

This is a card I made for all the staff and residents at the care home where my mum lives. It was just to say hello and that I really appreciate what they do and how they look after mum so well. 

Mum and I have been face timing each other at lot lately. She does have a land line in her room but she's never in it! As she takes her lap top up to the communal area it means she can speak to me whenever she wants. The staff have been really good setting her up so she can log on to Facebook and get in touch. She says it is like I am just sitting in front of her!

Anyhoo, onto the card. This is another one created using the Silhouette.

What you need...

Silhouette image file: Bird on Branch #174334 - Miss Kate Cuttables

Font: Script MT Bold

Card stock: brown, pale blue, pale pink, red, yellow white

Self adhesive vinyl: black - Cricut

Gems: clear

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Purchase and download the image. Open the design page and add the image.

2 Re-size the bird image to suit. I sized it to fit a 6" square blank.

3 Send to cut in your chosen colours.

4 Use the text function to create the sentiment in the Script MT Bold font and cut in black vinyl.

5 Assemble the bird, branch and bird box and fix to the blank so the branch comes in from the right hand side edge.

6 Apply the vinyl wording with the help of transfer tape.

7 Add some gems to decorate.

The image used is £0.75 which isn't bad for how detailed it is. The font is free that you can use through Microsoft Word. I think if you have this on your PC then it will automatically shows on the Silhouette. 

Check out my 'Free Fonts' page to link you to a few websites that offer free fonts, there are hundreds to choose from. Please be aware that some fonts are only free for domestic use,  however there are still lots of free fonts available if you are planning to sell your makes. It is always best to check.

If you would like the pear/sentiments digi stamps from my last post, then please email through the 'Contact Me' page and I will send them to you. They are only available for a limited time.

Thank you for popping by and I hope you have a lovely Easter (as best as we can at the moment). At least this virus doesn't affect chocolate!

Pear-fect Couple of Pears! (Own illustration)

Hello blog friends!

For the last few years I really lost my creative mojo. I managed to still create for my magazine projects, but it has been a struggle. This meant creating for myself and my blog suffered a lot. At one point I didn't think I would experience being creative again. Well now I'm back with a vengeance!

This last few days I have been going crazy mad making cards and having so much fun. 

I have some dear friends John & Peter. They are celebrating their wedding anniversary this coming Wednesday. I decided to design and illustrate a special card for them with a cute Kawaii theme.

What you need...

Free pear digi stamp and sentiment - Cosmic Strawberry

Card stock: white

Patterned paper: green spotty

Copic: Yellow Green YG03, Celadon Green YG25, Pea Green YG63, Moss YG67, Light Walnut E57, Walnut E59, Sugared Almond Pink RV02

Glossy Accents - Ranger

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Download the image and sentiment. Open up a suitable program and import. Place the sentiment where desired. Re-size to suit. Print out onto white card stock.

2 Colour in the image.

3 Trim the image to 12cm square.

4 Cover a 15cm square blank with the spotty paper and mat the image centrally onto it. Finish with some glossy accent dots around the image.

If you would like a free copy of the image along with three sentiments, it will be available for a limited time until 23:55 BST,  31st May 2020. Just send me an email (my address is listed in the Contact Me page) and I will email the images back to you. The image and sentiments come both in PNG and JPEG formats.

The sentiments are 'To the most pear-fect couple!', 'We're pear-fect together!' and ' You're pear-fect together!'. Of course if you do get the image you can add your own sentiment if you wish.

I had such fun designing these. You could add little embellishments such as a little bow tie or hair bow cut from a scrap of card.

I'm going to sign off now. Stay safe and well and I'll be back soon with another cute make.

Warp Speed

Good afternoon blog friends!

I hope you are all still keeping well, safe and not going too stir crazy.

Before I show you my card, I just want to say that for some reason Blogger has messed up the reply function to comments, this has been going on for quite a while with no real fixes. Apparently this is a big problem for lots of blogs, especially older ones. A suggestion was made that you could completely change the theme of your blog to overcome the problem. I am sure that I am not the only one who spent a lot of time and energy into creating their blog, so I don't really want to go down that route. 

I have got round it by not embedding the comment box and changing it so that it opens in a different window. As I can't reply I will leave a separate comment myself. Aaargh!

Righto, on to the important stuff. I do have a couple of more cards made using the Silhouette, but I did this one the other day and I am so excited to share it with you.

What you need...

Card stock: white
Stamp: Space Cadet - Paper Smooches
Ink pads: Sapphire - Avery Elle; Extreme Black - My Favorite Things
Copic: Pinkish White R00, Cherry White R000, Vermillion R08, New Leaf YG23, Nile Blue BG45, Cool Grey #1 C-1, Acacia Y04, Apricot YR16
Gel pen: Gelly Roll Stardust Clear #700 - Sakura; Signo Broad White UM-153 - Uni-ball
Masking paper: Stamp Masking Paper - Inkadinkado
Adhesives

What you do...

1 Hand cut a rough edged semi-circle of masking paper and attach to the bottom of white card 10cm x 14cm.

2 Stamp the images onto the card, stamp again onto masking paper, cut out and apply over each image.

3 Use the Sapphire ink and blend over the piece of card, leaving areas a little bit lighter.

4 Remove the masking paper and colour in the images.

5 Use the white gel pen to add stars and planets. 

6 Stamp the sentiment at the base in the semi-circle. Highlight the sentiment with the Stardust gel pen and some of the stars/planets.

7 Mat onto a 10.5cm x 14.5cm white blank.

I haven't made this card for anyone in particular. I am trying to do my makes using old supplies from my stash rather than keep purchasing new ones. This stamp set hasn't been used in a while and I thought the sentiment was perfect.

A thoroughly good time was had making this card and I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. 

The thing I love about Paper Smooches stamp sets is that they always have unusual, quirky and different wording/sentiments.

Thank you for popping by, keep well and I'll be back soon.