It's a fair cop

Hello, hello, hello. What's all this then?

Today's card is a sneaky peek at one of the new Lili of the Valley stamps that are being launched at the NEC on Thursday, and then available on the website from 10th November. This one is called 'Cops and Cooks'* and includes several sentiments as well as two images. 

* Guess what is going to be on my next card :D

I've coloured him with my Graph'It markers:

Uniform: 9104, 9106

Shoes: 9506, 0000

Metal: 9500, 9502, 9503

Skin: 4110, 4125, 4135

He wouldn't be properly equipped without his notepad and some handcuffs, would he?

I made the handcuffs by joining some key ring blanks together with jump rings. It's attached with a brad that I covered in silver embossing powder.

The page from his notepad started off as plain white card, cut with the 'Torn Notebook' On the Edge die (Sizzix) and embossed with the 'Notebook' embossing folder (also Sizzix). I've inked the edges with Pumice Stone Distress Ink.

The little pennants on the bottom are cut out of papers from the Snow Princess paper pad

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
Bizzy Becs - Anything Goes
Dream Valley #118 - Use the Colour Blue
The Male Room #22 Hardware
Crafty Time Embellish It
Artbymiran #44 Anything Goes
 Simply Papercrafts #16 Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by,
Katrina x

Cold Hands, Warm Heart

Hello lovely peeps

 Here's my second Design Collective card for October. 

Nothing like leaving it until last minute, eh? Gosh, that month went quickly.

I've used the LOTV stamp 'Cold Hands, Warm Heart'. 

I love this one, it reminds me of the wonderful John Lewis advert that was on 3 years ago.

I coloured the stamped image in with Graph'Its and Promarkers.

His scarf: 9101 and 9102

Her scarf: 5255 and 5280, satin and march hare

Twigs arms: umber

Carrot noses: 3110

Snow: 9500, 9501 amd 9502

The sentiment is from the LOTV Christmas Sentiment Tags set and the patterned papers are from Nitwit (Woodland Wishes Too) .

The dies I've used are Sizzix Original die 'Tree, Pine', Cheery Lynn fence, and Marianne poinsetta.

I've added Fluffy Stuff to the trees and fence and sprinkled with fine glitter before heating.

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

Allsorts Challenge Blog #335 - Christmas

Cute Card Thursday #397 - Sparkles

Crafty Catz #299 Lets Tag it...

Winter Wonderland - Anything Goes

Clear It Out Theme: Halloween or Christmas cards, Stash: Die cuts

A Snowflake's Promise #9 Winter/ Christmas

Holly Jolly - Snowman

Little Miss Muffet #123 - Tags

Simply Create Too #97-Baby It's Cold Outside

Whimsy Stamp Challenge #87 Fall Colours or Christmas

Natalie and Amy #38 'Winter Scenes'

Graph It Colour Challenge #43 Autumn/Christmas Colours

I'll be back tomorrow with a sneak peek of one of the Lili of the Valley stamps being launched at the NEC next week. They are all adorable, start saving your pennies :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x

It's raining leaves

Hello peeps. Hope you are all well.

This is my first Design Collective card for October.  

I love this time of year -  there are piles of leaves lying around everywhere and the child in me just cannot resist kicking up a few :D

The stamp is 'April' from the LOTV Fairy Calendar range, which was released in the summer. As you can see from my teamie Karen Oliver's lovely card, she's usually playing in the puddles after some April showers.

To prepare her for a bit of leaf-kicking I have given her sleeves and coloured her in Autumnal colours (mostly with Graph'Its)

Skin: 4115, 4155, 4170 and 4145
Hair: 3255 and 3280
Dress: 3210 and Ivory Promarker
Boots: 2150, 2180, 3130
Wings: 9500, 9501 (and glitter)

I've covered up the puddles with some tiny leaves which I cut from some paper scraps using my CraftRobo. The sentiment was stamped with one of the stamps in the Pretty Grungy - Good Times set, also LOTV.
I've inked the edges of the main panel with Pumice Stone Distress Ink and roughened the edges of my layers with scissors, to give the card a slightly grungy look.

I made a second version of this card to send to my lovely crafty buddy Sue.
This tags on this one were stamped with the Everyday Sentiment Tags stamp set from LOTV.
I can't make up my mind which version I like best. What do you think?

I would like to enter the top card in the following challenges:-
DRS Designs #197 Fall-ing for You!
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge #103: anything goes with a twist ... use some leaves
Crafty Cardmakers #150 Autumn Colours
Creative Inspirations #332 - Anything Goes + Option of a Sketch!
Mod Squad Challenge  - FLIP FLOP
Addicted to Stamps #112 THINGS WITH WINGS 

Polka Doodles Add Sparkle, Bling or Glitter
Penny Black - Autumn colours
Stamping Sensations - Colours of autumn
Whimsy Stamp Challenge #87 Fall Colours or Christmas 
Crafty Boots - Autumn and Halloween
Crafting From The Heart - #83 Anything Goes
Craft your passion - #285 Anything Goes

Well, that's all from me for now.
Except to say go and kick up some leaves if you can, it's one of life's little pleasures.

Katrina x

Near the Sea

Hello lovely peeps, hope you are all well.

This is the third and final competition card that I wanted to show you (I saved my favourite until last!)

Hubby and I fortunate enough to live 5 minutes walk from the coast and I love going down to watch the sea (even if I sometimes need binoculars!). I've wanted to do a boat shaped card for ages and I'm chuffed with how this one turned out. It's a shame they couldn't return it to me, I might have to make another one to go on my mantelpiece :)

To make the base I cut a circle of white card and folded it in half, then glued my mast (a stick from the garden) to the centre of the front half. The sails were cut by hand from linen textured card and I inked the edges with Antique Linen Distress Ink. I put holes in the corners with my pokey tool and threaded through some paper twine to attach them to the mast & hull. The sentiment on the right-hand sail is from the By the Sea set by Hobby Art, stamped in Rich Cocoa Memento ink.

For the front of the card I die-cut half a circle from some corrugated card*, dabbed on a bit of texture paste and then glued some mesh along the top.

* I made my own - it's easy peasy. Take some old cardboard and paint water liberally all over one side of it. After a few minutes the top layer should peel away, leaving all those lovely ridges.
 
I attached some tiny shells along the top of the mesh with silicone glue.  The anchor was die-cut from kraft card using a die in the IO Nautical set. I inked it up with Versamark and sprinkled on embossing powder before heating (I think this one was pewter)

The bottom needed some decorating so I added a wave and some fish.

You probably won't recognise the die I used for the wave - it's actually one of the waste parts from the Brenda Walton Bird Scroll Bigz die.  I used some decorative paper, inked the edges with DI and then sprinkled on Shabby White frantage powder and some chunky glitter.

To get the fish shapes I stamped onto the back of some scrapbooking card with an old fish stamp from Papermania and cut them out before flipping over and inking the edges. They are covered with Glossy Accents.

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

Papertake Weekly - All About The Base
We Love 2 Create - #21 Anything Mixed Media/Creative Goes
Country View #32 - ADD some texture
Retarte #63 Anything Goes
Crafting by designs - Anything Goes in October
TTCRD - Anything Goes
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog #250 Anything Goes
Polka Doodles Add Sparkle, Bling or Glitter

 Not Just Cards #25 Anything Goes

World Wide Open Design Team Challenge -Anything Goes

Hope you have a great weekend,

Katrina

Happy BirdDay Popup

Hello lovely peeps, hope you are all well.

 This is the second of my competition cards that I'm showing this week. I love these pop up boxes, they look really different but still fold flat to go in an envelope.

The papers I've used are all Nitwit's and the bird/birdhouse stamps are by Inkydoodles.

The tiny flowers were made with Papermania punches, shaped on a foam mat before adding adhesive pearls.

The tree was cut with a Sizzix Bigz die from cardboard and covered with paper and the grass was cut with a Die'sire Icicles die (which I have yet to use for doing icicles!)

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

Allsorts Challenge Blog 333 - All sentimental
Papertake Weekly - All About The Base
The Ribbon Girl - Pastels
Digi Choosday #42 Birthday Celebrations
Little Red Wagon #312 - Home is where the heart is
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog #250 Anything Goes
Crafty Friends#16 Use Gems and/or Pearls
The Sisterhood of Crafters - Die-lirious and Punchy
Not Just Cards #25 Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina

Pots of love

Hello lovely peeps.

As promised, I am showing you some competition entries this week.

For my first card I used the Pots of Love stamp from Lili of the Valley, coloured in with Promarkers and GraphIts. The sentiment comes with it, and I've used this to make a plant label. You may recognise the leaves from my previous post, though these don't have so much ink on them. 

The watering can was made by cutting grey pearlescent card with a Sizzix die and edging it with orange gilding wax to make it look rusty. I've finished off with cord, buttons and ribbons from my stash.

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

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge 102: anything goes with a twist ... autumn colours

My Time To Craft #306 autumnal colours

Pile It On  #91 Fabric, Lace or Ribbon

 Passion for Promarkers #319 Lots of layers

Allsorts Challenge Blog 333 - All sentimental

TTCRD - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #297 Anything Goes

Graph It Colour Challenge #41 Autumn/Christmas colours

Stamping Sensations - Colours of autumn

ABC Challenge - T is for Two (2 cats, 2 papers)

Thank you for stopping by today,

Katrina

Autumn Owl

Hello lovely peeps, hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Today's card features no stamps whatsoever (I know, I was stunned too).

First I covered the front of a 7x7 card with wood patterned paper and die cut a large circle in the middle. 

The owl was cut using the Sizzix Bigz Owl#2 die, from various scraps of paper that I've been hoarding. The heart and wings were red card that I embossed with a dotty embossing folder.

 The leaves were die cut from an old book* using a Cuttlebug die and then swooshed through inks that I had dabbed onto my craft mat and spritzed with water. I've also added some Antique Linen Distress Stickles on them for a bit of sparkle & texture. 

The clear gems are from Inklylicious and the buttons and ribbon are from my stash.

*Cutting up books really goes against the grain for me as I would rather leave them for someone to read, so for this purpose I buy books from charity shops that no-one else would buy (eg. biographies of Z list celebrities, tourist guides that are 30 years out of date, etc. )
 

I haven't done much on the inside, but he did need something to sit on so I cut a branch from Kraft card using an Anna Marie Christmas robin template. Also, because there's not much room left to write anything inside, I have hand-written my greeting along the bottom of the branch (verrrrry slooowly :D )

I would like to enter this in the following Challenges:-
Crafting From The Heart - #81 Anything Goes

Craftin Desert Divas Photo Inspiration (Autumn)

My Time To Craft #306 autumnal colours

 Fan-Tastic Tuesday - #107 anything goes with a twist ... Autumn colours

Crafty Friends#16 Use Gems and/or Pearls (clear gems)

Creative Card Crew 98 Ribbon

Fab'n'Funky challenge #277 ~ Make it Square

Scrap & Craft Inspiration #14 Colours of Autumn

The Sisterhood of Crafters - Die-lirious and Punchy

Crafts Galore - Halloween or make a card for October

Catch The Bug - Bingo (Border, Ribbon, Fall theme)
Hiding In My Craft Room #221 - Favorite Cutting Tool! (eBosser from Craftwell)
Alphabet Challenge Blog - R for Ribbon 
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #20 Anything Goes
Crafting With Friends #8 - Anything Goes

As you like it - Monochrome or Colour (& why)! -
 I love colour, and Autumn colours are my absolute favourite (as a quick look in my wardrobe will attest!)

Always Playing With Paper #46 The colours of Autumn

I'm off to the bat cave now to tidy/craft (mostly the latter)

Thanks for stopping by today,

Katrina x