Make-It Goodies

Hello lovely peeps

Just popping in to show you what I bought at the Make-It Farnborough show last weekend.

I spent way too much money, but we did have a lovely weekend. Mum and I met Lisa and Laila on the Lili of the Valley stand, watched a fabulous demo at Anna-Marie Designs and did a little workshop at Hobby Art

Of course, I bought loads of stamps (and a border die)

I got a few basic cards and envelopes and some scrummy paper pads

Lots of 'natural' stuff for embellishing (I've no idea what to do with the little wooden discs yet but they looked fab and I couldn't resist)

Tons of ribbon (though I did split it with Mum)

A bit of extra colour

and some things to decorate

As I spent so much I've vowed to use as many things as I can in the next month (instead of just stuffing it all in a drawer). So far, I've used the lemon ribbon on my seesaw card and erm.... well that's about it, but it's a start, lol.

I'm popping in again tomorrow to show you another of the cards I made for Leonie, hope you can join me,

Katrina x

Peonies and Roses

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

It's the first Saturday of the month, so it's time for a new challenge at Crafty Calendar. The theme is "Mum's Day/Special Female" and the sponsor is Wild Orchid Crafts

The main image on my card is from an old Art Pad by Lili of the Valley - this one is now available as a digital download from their Simply Print range and is called Peonies and Roses

I  framed it with a Scalloped Square die-cut from Spellbinders and some chopped up
Catalina Wreath die-cuts from Memory Box

Next I covered a 7"x7" card blank with Raspberry Road and First Edition papers, plus some gorgeous lace from The Ribbon Girls - Charlotte Elizabeth Vintage Style

I've added a cluster of flowers from my stash, including some White Chrysanthemums from Wild Orchid Crafts. The leaves were die-cuts using a set of dies I got on Ebay (from China)

The tag was cut from matching paper using the Elisse Bigz die by Sizzix

and the 'Mum' was added with a Papermania Relations stamp 

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
The Ribbon Girls February Any Image
Deep Ocean Challenge #149 Add lace
Polkadoodles   Anything Goes option ribbon/lace
In The Pink #114 For a special lady
Noor! Designs UK #28 Spring
Double D Challenges Think Spring
A Vintage Journey - All Aboard
Crafting With An Attitude  #24 Anything Goes
Fussy and Fancy #182 Anything Goes
Shopping Our Stash #292 Colour palette


Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x

Fly Free for Leonie

Hello lovely peeps

 Leonie is launching a new 'Typography' collection on Hochanda this evening (8pm)

There are some lovely new dies, stamps and embossing folders on the shows, and I'm sure Leonie will have some great demos for you.

My first sample is a z-fold card.

To start off I folded a piece of A4 Kraft card in half to make an A5 card, then folded the front into half again. I cut the card down to 6" high to give me my z-shaped base, and saved the other piece for fixing to the front.

Next I made my 'backing paper' - I stamped one of the 'Banner and Frame' stamps several times onto a strip of white paper with grey Memento ink.

and then stamped in between each gap with the same stamp again to make closer stripes.

For the larger panels I stamped all over with one of the flowers from the 'Fly Free' set.

I grunged up the panels a little by sponging around the edges with weathered wood Distress Ink, then I put some ink on my craft mat and added a little water. I picked up the ink with an old toothbrush and flicked the bristles to add speckles to the paper

I attached the finished panels to my card blank and the extra strip, then turned the strip around 180 degrees and attached it to the base.

I stamped the butterfly from the 'Fly Free' set onto two panels in black Memento ink.
 (I realise I should have done this before glueing the panels onto the card, but with a bit of masking I got away with it)

I stamped the butterflies again onto decorative paper and cut them out to paper-piece over the top

The Fly Free set also has some lovely side-on images of flowers where you can see the tops of the stem. I stamped several of these onto different colour papers and cut them out.

I wanted the stems to reach to the bottom of the card but on the stamps themselves they are quite short (and in one case, curved), so I just inked up the sepal part before stamping onto my papers, then drew in long stems with a black fineliner pen.

I cut these out and attached them in place over the flower petals then arranged them on the stripy sections and trimmed the bottoms off so they were all flush with the bottom of the card.

To finish off I die-cut some letters from dark grey card and glued them to the side panel.

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
 Tuesday Throwdown #332 Things with Wings
Southern Girls  #154 Nature
Artistic Stampers  Springtime
Noor! Designs UK #28 Spring
Love to Craft #8 Anything Goes
 The Crafty Addicts #34 Anything Goes/CAS
Crafting By Designs March Anything Goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper  Anything goes with Patterned Paper 
Classic Design Team Challenge #12 Anything Goes 

Leonie will be back on Hochanda tomorrow (Friday 3rd March) at 9am, 12pm, 4pm and 7pm.

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

Please pop by to my teamies' blogs if you get a chance 

Nick Roberts

Jane Royston

Elaine Mellor

Natalie Ellis

Anne Richardson

Diane Ingram

Anne Dimitriou

(Claire and Nicola don't have blogs at the moment)

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x

Spring Seesaw for LOTV

Hello lovely peeps

It's time for a new challenge on the Lili of the Valley Facebook page and the theme this month is
Flowers

 There are fabulous prizes to be won. All you need to do is make something that fits the theme and uses a LOTV image, then post it in the event on Facebook OR email it to lucy@liliofthevalley.co.uk before the close date of 15th March (7pm GMT)

For my card I have used one of the lovely new stamps that was released yesterday.
This one is called Spring Seesaw.

I coloured the bunny and seesaw with a base of Promarkers to speed things up a bit and then coloured over the top with Lyra Rembrandt Polycolour pencils

The base of my card is covered with a Daisytrail/CraftArtist paper and I made a tag with
one of the stamps in the new Spring Sentiments set. A little bow of lemon organza finishes it off.

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
 The Ribbon Girls February Any Image
Crafty Gals Corner #111 Add Ribbon
Squirrels Not-So-Random Challenge #4 Spring Fever
Animal Friends Challenge  #48 Animals with big ears
Kitty Bee Designs #89 Flowers 
Addicted to Stamps and More #231 Anything Goes
Creative Craft Cottage Digi Creations #68 Ribbon and/or Lace
Craft-Dee BowZ   Anything Goes with a Handmade Bow
Crafty Awesomeness Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp (Wed) Tag You're It

Thanks for stopping by, I hope to see you again tomorrow at 8pm for a new Leonie launch. 

Katrina x

Bunny Thanks for LOTV

Hello lovely peeps

Woo hoo! It's launch day at Lili of the Valley, with lots of new trios and also some animal stamps being released. I've made a card with one of the three images in the new Easter Trio.

First I dragged the bunny into CraftArtist and enlarged it to fit a 6"x6" card.

The bunny is then digitally 'paper pieced' - I dragged on a material from the 'Steampunk Emporium' digikit and used the eraser tool to remove everything around the bunny

Next I dragged on a paper from the Cherry Blossoms collection at Nitwit and punched a large hole in the centre to fit the circle surrounding the bunny.  I also used the eraser tool again to remove the bits that overlapped the flowers around the edge.

I printed this off onto some smooth card and ran my scissors around the edges to roughen them up.

The small flower was coloured in with Promarkers/Graph'Its (Budding Rose, Rose Pink, 8115, 8120) and I coloured bunny's nose with Khaki and Burnt Umber.

The bottom of the circle and the daffs were coloured with some shimmer chalks and I added Glamour Dust glitter for a little bit of sparkle. The 'Thanks' ribbon is from my stash.

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
Crafty Catz #359: Anything Goes with twist of Spring
The Ribbon Girls February Any Image 
The Crazy Challenge #243 We Love Animals
Aud Sentiments Challenge #174 animals and a sentiment
Polkadoodles   Anything Goes option ribbon/lace
Creative Craft Cottages Challenges #82 Tic tac toe (Ribbon, Image, Green)
Not Just Cards  #41 Spring

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x

Anyone for Pancakes

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

Are you looking forward to Pancake Day next Tuesday? Hubby and I usually have some savoury pancakes followed by the traditional lemon and sugar for 'dessert'.

Today's card is my entry into Bloobel's Progressive Challenge on Facebook, using Bake Me a Cake. It comes with a free sheet of baking ingredients but I've drawn on a stack of pancakes with a black fineliner pen.  I coloured the image with Promarkers and outlined the whole thing with Graph'It 9201

I've layered the topper up on Kraft card and K&Co Citronella papers.
The sentiment was done on my computer with Troutkings font

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
 Bloobel - February Bake Me a Cake
Send a Smile for Kids Easter or Spring for kids
Art Impressions Stamp Challenge   #202 playful people
Not Just Cards  #41 Spring

Crafting When We Can #138 photo inspiration

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x

Pawprints for Leonie

Hello lovely peeps

The inspiration for this card was one of the stamps in Leonie's Inky Notes set - it looks like a pawprint. The sentiment was lurking somewhere in long-term storage in my brain so I've no idea where it came from, but it was perfect for what I had in mind.

I did the wording on my computer using the font "Mister Sirloin BTN Rare" then just printed it onto white card and cut it up, finishing off with my usual trick of going round all the edges with a black fineliner pen.

I cut the Funky Heart Base from black card and the Interlocking Love Overlay from white card. The pawprints are stamped over the inner part of the die-cut with black Memento ink. I left the outer part white and entwined it with the black heart before sticking it all down onto Kraft card.

I masked off most of the card with some paper and stamped the pawprint all over the bottom to make a border. One of Tim Holtz's mini crazy dogs stamped onto Kraft card finishes it off.

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
 Addicted to Stamps and More #229 CAS
Stamping Sensations Animal magic
Animal Friends Challenge  #47 no designer paper
Daisy Chain #5 Have a heart

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x