Tis the season

Hello lovely peeps

 Just popping in to show you the card I made for a Winter/Christmas theme card swap this week. The penguin image is called 'Snow Flurries' from Lili of the Valley, which I have stamped onto watercolour card and coloured in with diluted Brushos (Crimson, Black, Seagreen)

It's layered up with papers from my stash, snowflake die-cuts and clear sparkly sequins.
The dies were a complete bargain on ebay, made in China

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:- 

 Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas #312 cute or anything goes
Cute Card Thursday 456 Snowflakes
My Time to Craft #336 christmas non-traditional colours
 Addicted to Stamps #138 Snowflakes 

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge #86 Create a Christmas Card

 Creative Inspirations #264 White Christmas 

In The Pink #109 Christmas

Stempelsonnen Challenge - #180 Always Anything Goes 

Daisy Chain #3 Happy Christmas 

As You Like It Challenge Favourite Christmas Carol/song and why - Deck the Halls never fails to get me in the mood for Christmas - it's such a cheerful tune and I love the line 'tis the season to be jolly' and all the fa la la la la la la la la-ing :o)

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x

Garden arch for Leonie

Hello lovely peeps

This card uses lots of different dies from the Mixed Media and Entwined Heart collections by Leonie Pujol. I started by cutting the Big Heart base from pearlescent grey card and snipping the point off. This gave me my 'metal' garden arch.

Next I cut 'Entwining Branches' out of some green patterned card and glued parts of it around each side of the arch.

For my fencing I used a couple of the dies in the 'Mosaic' set, cut from brown card

 and entwined parts of 'Big Heart - Floral Cascade' through

 To make my trees I used 'Mosaic' for the trunks, and one of the leaves from 'Floral Bursts' for the foliage, which I sanded lightly to bring out the embossed detail.

For the background I painted Teal, Sea Green and Slate Spectrum Aqua Markers onto wet watercolour card and left it to dry before attaching to an A5 landscape card.

Then I just attached all the die-cuts to the card base and added a 'Message Ribbon' stamped sentiment.

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
Craft Your Passion #342 Anything Goes
Artistic Inspirations  #169  Anything goes 
That's Crafty! Challenge Blog Flower Power
Creative Craft Cottages Challenges #77 Use die-cuts
SSS Work it wednesday  use dies
Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies Challenge December

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x

Deer Trio

Hello lovely peeps

 This was going to be a quick and simple Christmas card that I could make a few copies of, but this one ended up taking a bit longer than anticipated :o)

We were playing with Brushos at our papercraft club last Thursday and I sprinkled Grey and Black Brusho through the 'Aspen Trees' mask/stencil by TCW onto watercolour card.

My first attempt came out really well but the second one was a bit splodgy.  I think I have rescued it though - I drew around the branches and tree trunks with a black fineliner pen and now it looks like a treescape again.

I teamed it up with 'Deer Trio' (Memory Box) die-cut from dark brown card and one of the sentiments from the Christmas Wishes stamp set by Lili of the Valley.

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-

A Vintage Journey - winter magic
Animal Friends Challenge  #45 Anything Goes with an animal
Crafty Awesomeness Anything Goes
My Time to Craft #335 christmas animals 
Winter Wonderland Frame It or Night scene
Country View Crafts' Challenge Christmas
Simon Says Stamp (Wed) Ice Inspiration


The Male Room #50 Theme 

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x

New LOTV Trio - Squirrel Presents

Hello lovely peeps

This is the card I showed you a sneaky peek of on Friday, using one of the super-cute stamps being released at Lili of the Valley on Friday 16th - Squirrel Presents Trio.

I coloured him in with Promarkers and Graph'Its then cut him out with an X-cut circle die. I've layered him up on a kraft card 6"x6" blank, decorated with papers from the 'Falling Leaves' 8x8 pad by First Edition. The sentiment is part of a new stamp that is also being released next week.

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
 Sweet Stampin Animals
Passion For Promarkers Challenge  #375 use dies/punches
Animal Friends Challenge  #45 Anything Goes with an animal
SSS Work it wednesday  use dies
Craft Your Passion #341 Anything Goes
Colour Crazy Challenge #28 Anything Goes
Crafting By Designs (monthly) December Anything Goes
Sweet Stampers #2 Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x

Birthday Brittany and a sneak peek

Hello lovely peeps

Before I show you my card, I've a little sneak peek of one of the new Trio stamps being launched next Friday (16th December) by Lili of the Valley.

They are really cute, you might want to put some of your Christmas pennies aside for next week :o)
I'll be blogging the finished card this Sunday.

My card for today features Brittany the Birthday Girl from Stamping Bella.

I coloured her in with Promarkers  (Lime Zest, Fuchsia and Ice Greys for the dress) and doodled down the sides of the card panel before mounting it on an A5 landscape card that was covered with one of the gorgeous papers from the Winnie in Wonderland CD by Polkadoodles.

The sentiment was done on my computer.

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
Get Creative Challenges #53 birthday
Crafter's Cafe #162 Christmas and/or birthday
Crafty Awesomeness Anything Goes
The Pencil Case #34 Anything Goes
Creative Moments #107 Anything Goes w/optional twist (none)
Southern Girls  #149 Anything Goes
Crafting By Designs (monthly) December Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x

Winter challenge at LOTV

Hello lovely peeps

The challenge theme for December over on the Lili of the Valley Facebook page is 'Winter'

 All you need to do is make something on this theme which includes a Lili of the Valley image. 

There are 3 fab prizes on offer and the winners will be drawn at random from all the entries;
1st - £20 LOTV voucher
2nd - £15 LOTV voucher
3rd - £10 LOTV voucher

For my inspiration card I stamped 'Cold Hands, Warm Heart' onto a 6" square of smooth white card with Black Versafine and then I coloured in the image with 'Charcoal', 'Scarlet' and 'Marigold' Spectrum Aqua Markers.

(The rubber version of this stamp has been discontinued but you can get a digi version here)

I die-cut the top of the card with a Memory Box die and layered it up with different papers from my stash (mostly Nitwit 'Woodland Wishes')

I finished the card off with a dark red check ribbon, 'Pine Sprigs',

and pine cones made with one of the 'Spiral Flowers' dies (both by Impression Obsession)

A dazzler from Creative Expressions adds a little bit of bling :o)

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
 Come and Get It  Christmas
Crafty Ribbons #178 Christmas..with ribbon
A Gem of a Challenge #183 Snowmen/women
Addicted to Stamps #137 Christmas
Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge #86 Create a Christmas Card or an ABC (Anything but a card) 
Crafter's Cafe #162 Christmas and/or birthday
SSS Work it wednesday  use dies
The Ribbon Girls December Any Card

Southern Girls  #148 Anything Goes 

A Snowflakes Promise  #34 AG/optional theme winter

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x

Holly Owl

Hello lovely peeps

It's the first Saturday of the month which means it is time for a new challenge at Crafty Calendar.
The theme this month is

 'Christmas Time'

and the sponsor is Sami Stamp

For my inspiration card I have used Holly Owl

First I coloured the image using Promarkers and then doodled a border with a black fineliner pen.

I layered up a 7x7" card blank with First Edition/CraftArtist papers (which I edged with Pumice Stone distress ink), and added some some ribbon/twine

[Edit-I've added a pic of the ribbon because it's hard to make out]

To echo the holly hanging from the branches I made my own embellishment using matching card and a Sizzix Original die and attached it to silver wire with a glue gun

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
  Crafty Ribbons #178 Christmas..with ribbon
Fussy and Fancy #178 Christmas in tones or pastels 
ABC Challenge U  is for Unconventional Christmas colours
Crafter's Cafe #162 Christmas and/or birthday
Doodle Pantry  #24 Anything Digital Goes
 Fab 'n' Funky #329 Christmas 
Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge #86 Create a Christmas Card or an ABC (Anything but a card) 
 Creative Inspirations #263 Christmas Creations
Country View Crafts' Challenge Christmas
My Time to Craft #335 christmas animals

Please pop over to Crafty Calendar if you can to see the fabulous makes from my teamies.

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x

Nail varnish marbling for Leonie

Hello lovely peeps

I've made a background using nail varnish for this card.
Thank you to Heather from our crafting club for the idea :o)

First I half-filled a plastic tub with water then chose three co-ordinating nail varnish colours.

I loaded up the brushes with lots of polish and shook them over the tub

I did swirl the colours around a little with a cocktail stick, but found that it started to grab the varnish and pull it out of the water so I ended up just trying to drop colours within patches of other colours to make everything move about and give it interest.

When I was happy with it I laid an old book page on top of the water and then lifted it off.

I had a play with different colours but it was a bit hit and miss :o)

I cut down the page I was happy with and doodled on a border with a black fineliner pen

 I stamped on 'Forever' from the 'Dizzy Daisy' stamp set with black Versafine ink. A bit of the nail varnish lifted off with the stamp at this point, so I had to fill in a bit of the lettering with a pen. Oops!

I ran some black card through my ebosser with the 'All the Love' die - if you put wax paper between the die and the card everything pops out like a dream

To make the hearts stand out a bit more from the busy background I glued some of the wax paper off-cuts inside the heart shapes using Collall photoglue

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
Crafty Gals Corner #100 Anything Goes
Crafting By Designs (monthly) December Anything Goes
 Love to Craft #5 Anything Goes
Card Mania #87 Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x

Robin gift bag

Hello lovely peeps.

I found a lovely card on Pinterest by Minna0402 and it inspired me to do something similar with some kraft paper bags that I bought last month for decorating.

First I stamped the snowbird (Stampendous) onto Kraft card with Black Archival Ink and coloured it in with my new Gansai Tambi paints

I used some Artemio stamps and Timber Brown Stazon to add some interest around the edges

and then splattered on white acrylic paint to make it look snowy.
I attached a snowflake charm (Dovecraft) by wrapping white twine around and then matted and layered onto a Kraft bag with red and white card

It's finished off with a Christmassy red bow and some white pine sprig die-cuts (Impression Obsession)

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
Simon Says Stamp (Wed) Christmas to die for
Crafty Ribbons #177 Christmas..with ribbon
Creative Corner Winter
Penny Black and More Christmas
Live & Love Crafts Challenge #53 White Christmas
Noor! Designs UK #24 Winter
A Snowflakes Promise  #33 AG/optional theme seasons
Sweet Stampers #1 Christmas
Open-Minded Challenges #11Christmas/Hannukah 
Sparkles Forum Challenges # 86 Christmas is coming

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x

Happy Movember for Leonie

Hello lovely peeps

Wow, that week went quickly. Hot on the heels of my trip to Cornwall to see my family, my sister-in-law arrived for a few days and I had my first day back at work ☺

This week is a bit quieter though, so I'll be getting a couple more blog posts in. 

While it's still November, I thought I'd share my Movember card that I made for Leonie's sale shows last Wednesday/Thursday

To do the greeting  I stamped some of the Message Ribbons onto white card with Black Memento Ink

and cut them up to get the words/letters I wanted

Next I covered a 6x6" card blank with papers from the 'He Said, She Said' paper pad by Teresa Collins

To do the face I took some black card and cut the eyes in the 'Looking Good' die set and then the Big Heart Base, which I cut up to make the moustache. I arranged them on a square of more patterned paper and layered it up on the card with the sentiment.

It's finished off with black enamel dots (Ranger Enamel Accents)

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
Crafty Catz #346: Anything Goes (Optional twist --use red)
Creative Moments #106 Anything Goes
Creatalicious Challenges #103 - Anything Goes with optional use a sentiment  
613 Avenue Create  #191 Anything Goes
Crafting With An Attitude  #21 Anything Goes Always
Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies Challenge November 

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x

Rusty clock for Leonie

Hello lovely peeps, and welcome to my new follower :o)

There's a 'better than half price' One Day Special on Hochanda tonight and tomorrow, featuring Leonie's Mixed Media dies, Entwined Heart dies and associated stamps. The team* have made some new samples to inspire you.

*We have some new additions - please welcome Anne Dimitriou, Anne Richardson, Diane Ingram and Nicola Clegg. I hope you will spot their work on the TV shows.

Nicola doesn't have one yet, but I have added everyone else's blog links on my sidebar ------>

For my first sample I've 'rusted' something.  Ever since Andy Skinner was on Hochanda a few months back I've been dying to have a bash at this, and I'm quite chuffed with the result.

The clock started life like this:-

but I've made it look a bit different with the aid of these

First I painted three coats of white gesso on, to smooth out the texture a bit and hide the markings. The fourth coat was Titanium white mixed with a smidge of Buff Titanium acrylic paint.

Next I splattered on Payne's grey and Quinacrodone Gold mixed with Payne's Grey

While that was drying I cut Leonie's 'In a Spin' die from grey card and slapped on a bit of Matte Medium. I put this aside to dry as well.

I randomly painted on some Quinacrodone Gold and a bit of Transparent Yellow Oxide then sprinkled with a bit of table salt before allowing it to dry.
 

I glued the die-cut onto the clock base using Collall Tacky Glue

The clock hands were painted with white gesso to prime them and then I painted on watered down Payne's Grey and sprinkled on salt. Once this was dry I rubbed off the salt and added the Quin Gold and Yellow Oxide paints.

Now for the outside frame...

I cut another 'In a Spin' die-cut from card and used it as a stencil. I sprayed Stick and Spray over the back and placed it over the frame before stencilling Matte Medium through.

Sorry for the pictures at this point - the sun was streaming through the window.

Once this was dry I painted on Paynes Grey and a smidgy of the Yellow Oxide, then sprinkled with salt.

I added Quin Gold and salt to the inside edge, let it dry, then covered with more diluted PG and salt.

For the 12/3/6/9 o'clock positions I stamped and embossed the screwhead from the Gimme Texture

Mixed Media Stamps with Versamark and black embossing powder.
I also stamped one of the sayings from Hey There Dreamer around the frame with Black Archival ink.

To finish off I added a thick coat of clear crackle glaze to the clock face. I'm not sure why there's a little bit of white 'bloom' in places - maybe the glaze reacting with traces of salt? I couldn't do much about it and I guess it adds to the aged look so I'm calling it a happy accident :o)

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
 Left of Center Creative Challenges #156 Inspired By (Andy Skinner's rusting technique)
A Vintage Journey - Cracking Up (inspired by Andy Skinner)
613 Avenue Create  #191 Anything Goes
We Love 2 Create #23 Anything Mixed Media Goes
Creative Moments #105 Anything Goes w/optional twist Thanks
Creative Artiste Challenge #20 "Anything Mixed Media"
Just Us Girls  #369 trend week - metallic
Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies Challenge November 

 Leonie is on Hochanda this evening at 8pm GMT and again tomorrow (Thursday 17th November) at 9am, 12pm, 4pm and 7pm.

You can watch Hochanda live online, Sky channel 663, Freeview 85 or Freesat 817.

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x