Rustic Tree

I stamped a few woodgrain backgrounds during the week and I put them to use on this rustic Christmas  card design.   I paper pieced the tree and various other elements from WMS Sewing Box Hugs. 

I had fun rooting around in  my stash for enough suitable buttons to make four of these cards, so I'm entering this card in the current Male Room Challenge.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is having an Anything Goes theme this week so I'm entering there as well.

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you take the time to leave a comment.  Enjoy your weekend,

Kate

A Partridge and a Pear Tree

I'm really having trouble finding my Christmas Mojo at the moment.  I feel like Christmas is just around the corner and I'm starting to panic.  I forced myself to make a Christmas card last night but I can't say I'm happy with it.

For some reason I chose to go with green and purple when I couldn't find a red ink and card stock that matched.  That's not the main problem however - it's that bow just sitting there all by itself.  I knew it needed something up in that corner and it was late (very late).

I was in two minds as to whether to post this or not when I saw that the current theme of the Timeout Challenge is Christmas with the optional twist of using pink or purple.  It seemed too good an opportunity to miss.  There's some lovely inspiration over there too.  Who knows, I might be able to jump start my Christmas mojo.

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you take the time to comment,

Kate

A Busy Weekend

I had this coral pink heart on my desk for ages and decided to use it to make a Valentine's Day card for upcoming markets, rather than another wedding card.  I used more of the same card stock for the base and framed the heart and sentiment with some lighter pink card cut with a Spellbinders Adorning Square.  The sentiment was stamped and embossed on a sheet of vellum.   I knew I had to stamp on vellum as the card stock has a  lovely shantung silk effect - very pretty but the stamping would have been lost on it.  By framing the vellum, I didn't have to worry about hiding the adhesive and I had a pretty square to decorate the inside.

* * * * 

Next I dabbled a little with some alcohol inks and created two backgrounds.  I overstamped them with various shell stamps, cut one down to a square size and the other I kept A6.  The sentiments and most of the shells are from a Crafty Individuals sheet.  I absolutely love sea shells but haven't used these stamps for ages.  It was a lot of fun.  I tied some twine around the cards to give them that beach comber look.

* * * * 

I had stamped and cut some WMS Country Labels 4 frames for a previous project and they have been sitting on my desk for a while now.  I stamped some kraft card with WMS Woodgrain Backgrounder using a recently acquired Glacier White Ranger Pigment Ink Pad.  I decided on this birthday sentiment from WMS Compact Sentiments and embossed it in white.  I fiddled around with some patterned paper, a doily, some buttons and a stamped doily - this little unnamed wooden stamp was a lucky find at a craft fair two years ago and works perfectly with a Spellbinders Splendid Circle. 

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you take the time to leave a comment,

Kate

Roses and Lace

I have so many projects half finished on my desk and I'm trying to work through them.  I made these roses up some time ago.  I cut a bunch of flowers and leaves with my Cameo using the free cut files for the Old Country Roses from Waltzingmouse Stamps and then set about stamping the roses with Tattered Rose and Victorian Velvet Distress Inks and the leaves with Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint and Crushed Olive Distress Inks.  The advantage with using the Distress Inks is that they blend really well.

I had already embossed the green card for a previous project and it wasn't suitable and it had been in my "do something with this" pile on my desk for some time.  So I did something with it !!!

I created a panel with some dark green parchment card and trimmed the top and bottom edges with lace.  It looked a little bare with just the roses, so I mounted them on a postcard which I also made previously using Waltzingmouse Vintage Postcards and the free cut files that come with it et voila !!!

I didn't add a sentiment though it could easily be added to the inside.  It's pretty enough for a birthday or thank you card, yet sombre enough that it could be used as a sympathy card.

The second card came about because I had the packet of lace from the previous card still on my desk and I noticed that there was a pink lace in the packet which was a perfect match for the Tattered Rose Distress Ink.   I created a bold pattern to counter the soft pinks by cutting some 5/8" strips of shiny black card and stuck these onto a piece of white card.  I found a suitable embossing folder to decorate the top of the card et voila !!!

I'm entering these cards into the Outlawz Sunday CAS Challenge to add some foliage to your card.

Thanks for stopping by,
Kate

A Couple of Wedding Cards

This is definitely not your typical wedding card.  I made it for a crafty friend of a friend and the sentiment inside reads … made for each other.

The background was created using various alcohol inks on glossy card and overstamped with sewing motifs from a freebie stamp set (Sew Pretty) from Cardmaking and Papercraft using black Archival ink.

***

This next one's a little more what you expect of a wedding card.  

I haven't made this size of card before.  It's what's known as A2 in the U.S.  I bought the envelopes while craft shopping in Australia last year.   There seems to be a tendency for many stamps and dies to favour the proportions of this size of card rather than the more convenient A6 size card, so I knew the envelopes would be useful.  This lovely SSS Triangle Pattern die (a birthday present to myself earlier this month) is such an example.  Of course I could simply put it into a C6 envelope but it's nice to have the right size isn't it.  I cut down a 5 x 7 card to fit the die cut front.  The Congratulations sentiment is from WMS Fancy Phrases, which was designed to work with this Spellbinders Fancy Tag I've used here.  I just wanted a small sentiment as the background is so striking.

The plastic glitter bubble heart was upcycled from some packaging and fitted perfectly inside this die from the WMS My Heart die set. 

I die cut another Cupid's Arrow Heart for the inside, coated it in versa mark and lightly sprinkled gold embossing powder over the top to get this speckled effect.  The inside sentiment is from the amazingly useful WMS Celtic Heritage set.  There are so many sentiments in this set and I'm more than a little partial to a celtic font.  Plus the sentiments are small and fit easily into small areas such as the inside of this heart.  The stunning script sentiment on the envelope is from the WMS Big Day Additions set.   I've embossed all the sentiments in gold for added wow factor.

Thanks for stopping by, especially of you take the time to comment or tick the like box,

Kate

Snail Mail

I made a firm resolution this year to use the patterned papers and all the dies and stamps I thought it would be a good idea to buy at the time that have been languishing in boxes for years.  I was determined to use this paper.  I had already found some card stock which was a good match for the base so I just focused on the pattern and and while sleeping I tried to mentally go through all the dies in my stash and see if I could come up with a design.  This NBUS die from Sizzix came to be at about 4 am - the bold pattern was perfect for the flower petals.  By 6am I had toyed with the idea of allowing the flower to spin (it reminds me of a pinwheel) and an easel card with a snail (another NBUS die) to prop it open and using my new SSS Wavy Stitched Scallops die (a present to myself for my birthday) to earth the flower - 4 NBUS items for 1.

Here's a close up of the snail. His shell and antennae are keeping the easel card propped open.  Initially I just coated the shell with glossy accents, sprinkled a little glitter and carved out the spiral as the glossy accents was drying for a little more definition.  I then went over the whole snail with glossy accents.

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you take the time to comment or click the like box.  

Kate

Masquerading

Two lots of happy mail this week !!!  The first was from Verve and included this exquisite Masquerade stamp set and matching die set.  I am totally smitten.  

My card was inspired by this photo inspiration challenge at Time Out.  

I'm also entering it in the current Make My Monday Challenge to use black and orange.

Supplies

Verve : Masquerade stamp set and Mask die set

WMS : Vintage Christmas Backgrounder and Heirloom Patterns stamp sets

Doily from supermarket sponged with Black Soot Distress Ink

Glossy Accents

Black Enamel Accents

Thanks for stopping by

French Country Home

My sister has just downsized and bought a fabulous unit right on Sydney Harbour.  I wanted to make a card for her to wish her all the best in her new home and this week's Muse Michele Ferguson gave me an idea.

When I saw it I immediately thought wainscoting and remembered a card I had made some years ago.  By using a bone folder and a crease board (I actually use the groove in my Fiskar's cutter), you can emulate the wainscoting of yesteryear.  I scored 0.5cm from the long edge and at 0.5 cm intervals from this point to the bottom.  It also looks more realistic if you score the edges as well so they curve ever so slightly down.

I used WMS French Country to create the wallpaper, the lamp was from a Papermania Chatsworth Vintage Collection set and the chair is from a Sizzix and Hero Arts Stamp & Die-cut set called Chandeliers.  I embossed the furniture with WOW! Earthtone Blueberry - I love the matte look of this powder.  The Sampler is from a Freebie set with a magazine - not sure which one as I no longer have the packaging but probably Cardmaking and Papercraft.

I can just imagine my sister sitting back on that chair and watching the ferries go past.  Well she may have to strain her neck just a little !!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Kate

Sunflower Guitar

I made this card for our church music leader who turns 50 on Monday.  Not only is she a fabulous guitarist and singer, she's also a wonderfully generous person who spends her summer vacation from teaching in Luxembourg to teach orphaned children in Tanzania and spends all her free time raising funds for the IOP (Ilula Orphan Program) by heading up Alizetti, a talented music group which literally sings for bricks for a new primary school in Tanzania.  Alizetti means sunflower in Tanzanian.

That's her with the guitar.  I was delighted to be able to make her a card which combined a guitar and a sunflower as those two things are so important to her.  I was also delighted to find a sketch to help me out.  

When I first saw Mojo MondaySketch 418, I thought shaker card and then I thought why not a guitar shape rather than a rectangular one.  So I used my Cameo to cut a guitar shape from black card and used a MFT Sunflower for the sound hole.  I filled the guitar with musical notes and motifs cut with the Memorybox Musical Motif die and I stamped the background behind the guitar with an old Inkadinkado Rock Star set. 

  

I die cut a 5 and a 0 using PTI Bookprint Numbers and placed these on acetate springs I constructed from some acetate packaging - I love the way they fold flat for going in the envelope and then pop up and wiggle once removed.  The stamp used for the sentiment was a freebie with Craft Stamper eons ago.  I cut it with a spellbinders circle and made it into a tag by punching a hole and placing a grommet from the WMS Stitched Tags set.  

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you take the time to comment.  It really brightens my day,

Kate

Set in Stone

A friend asked if I would make a wedding card as her husband's to be the best man and she wanted something special.  It's for a group so I had to make it at least A5 sized.  I don't know about anyone else but I get really intimidated by all that space.  Patterned papers aren't really an option as most of mine are 6x6 and there aren't background stamps that big either so I decided on an alcohol inked background using a couple of my favourite colours - sandal, willow, salmon, shell pink and of course gold.  I love these backgrounds, they remind me of polished stone.

I knew I wanted the couple's initials to take centre stage, so I die cut an S, a J and an ampersand using the Sizzix Serif Essentials.  I triple embossed them with pink and gold embossing powders.  Now these letters are quite large and my style can be minimalist but this card just looked empty.  Ironically though, when I searched for a suitable sentiment I ended up having to settle on this tiny sentiment from the WMS Celtic Heritage set.  I layered it with a few Spellbinders Labels die cuts so there was a little more substance to it.  The bottom layer was stamped with the WMS Mini Pinstripe Background and embossed with pink EP.

I knew I needed something for the top right corner and hearts seemed the obvious choice.  I cut one from a stamped (mini pinstripe again) and pink embossed piece of ivory pearl card and another from gold.  These were cut with a very old Ellison Thick Cuts die.  I made a partial cut of one of the hearts so they butted up against each other - I think they look like a bride and groom. !!!

 and on the inside this beautiful die cut heart from the WMS My Heart Die set - triple embossed with pink EP and then double coated with UTEE.  I love how the pink separates after being heated that many times and gives that marble look.

The date was computer generated as I haven't found a date stamp set I'm happy with yet !!!  Pity really as I would have loved to stamp and emboss it in gold.

Thanks for stopping by,
Kate

Bunting Postcard

A Get Well Card for someone special who's having a tough time at the moment.
Featuring WMS Vintage Postcard, Spellbinders Banners, Marianne D Vintage Bicycle and Clearly Besotted Dragonfly.

Here Comes Santa Claus

I've used the WMS 'Twas the Night Before Christmas set to create this card - my first Christmas Card for 2015.  Claire has posted instructions for window construction on the Waltzing Mouse site.  I embossed the window with WOW! Earthtone Pepper on White cardboard and distressed with Gathered Twigs and Mustard Seed Distress Inks.  I applied Glossy Accents to the Windows so they had that old-fashioned bullion effect and the hearts on the shutters - 'cos all red hearts should have glossy accents don't you think!!!

I tried framing the poem a few different ways and in the end used this beautiful border die from the WMS Brogues die set.

I'm entering this card in the current Holly Jolly Challenge which has the theme of Here Comes Santa Claus this fortnight.

Thanks for stopping by,

Kate