Be a little shellfish

Hello. 

Kate here today and I have a fun shaker card.

I have used the year six mini set.

I love these little sets and especially making a little stamp set go further.

I started by stamping the the little oyster then I made a mask which meant I could stamp more images with a  slight overlap.

After stamping the oysters I used Quinns capital ABCs stamp set and stamped "happy" in a curve.

I stamped all the images in Momento black ink and coloured with Copics.

I used the space between the sentiment and the images to make a window for my shaker. 

I cut this free hand with my craft knife.

The whole panel was then added to a scalloped  rectangle of plaid paper.

Thanks for looking.

Lovable legend

Hello.

Its Kate here today and I have a shaped card to share.

This card also fits our Calling all critters challenge sponsored by Ellen Hutson.

There is still plenty of time to join in  :) 

To make my shaped card I first made a white top fold card blank.

Then used the stitched party banners Lawn cuts and placed the largest one on to my card base but with the top edge just over the top of the card. 

I die cut, running through the big shot a few times to get a good cut through both sides of the card base.

I like this shaped card as it still stands nicely.

Using the smaller banner die I cut the patterned panel and added it to the card base.

I've used the Lovable legends stamp set and coloured with my favourite Inktense pencils and a water brush.

To finish I added some twine, clear wink of stella and some enamel dots.

Thanks for looking.

You give the best hugs

 

Hello.

Kate here today and I have another card inspired by our current challenge Beautiful florals.

This challenge only just started on Monday so you have lots of time to play and could be in with a chance to win a prize from our sponsor Ellen Hutston.

I recently got this super cute set "Mom + Me" and although its late for Mothers day here in the UK that's not going to stop me getting the cute critters inked up:)

To start I made my background panel.

I repeat stamped the three little flowers from the set in a mixture of colours and then did the same with greens and the small grass images on the lower part.

I stamped the owls image in black archival ink and water coloured with Inktense pencils and fussy cut..

The tree trunk i just stamped in brown and fussy cut.

Both images were then added to the flowery panel.

To make the shaker I just placed the panel inside a small clear bag and filled with sequins and sealed.

The frame was made with some Lawn fawn patterned paper the scalloped rectangle and stitched rectangles dies.

And for the sentiment out came the wonderful bannerific stamps and dies.

Thanks for looking.

Color splash

Hello.

Kate here today, and I have a card inspired buy our Color splash challenge sponsored by Ellen Hutson. 

You can see all of the design team samples and enter here.

I love the color splash challenges and I love seeing all the different way people are inspired by them.

I wanted to make a monochrome scene and just have one element of that scene to have color. 

What better sets to use than gleeful gardens and critters ever after.

I started by stamping some images directly onto my water colour card and then masked them and stamped some images. 

All images are stamped in black archival ink.

To colour the black I used just one black Inktense pencil and a water brush.

the black had to be coloured in a couple of layers and I let each one dry fully before adding more.

For the castle I used a pink clean color brush from zig along with the water colour brush. these pens really give a  nice vibrant color .

The sentiment was simple stamped straight onto the panel.

Once all the images were dry I added some wink of stella to the castle and the white parts of the mushrooms and also the stars.

Some sequins and gel pen dots and the card is finished.

Thanks for looking.

Happy birthday to you

Hello.

I'm so looking forward to spring and seeing lots of colourful flowers.

That's my inspiration for today's card.

I absolutely love the Gleeful gardens stamp set and I don't think I've shown it enough ink yet lol.

To start I stamped lots of images in black archival ink into water colour card and then coloured with Inktense pencils and a water brush.

I tend to add small amounts of pencil as the pencils hold a lot of colour then once it dries you can add more if needed.

Once everything was coloured and dry I die cut all the images. 

My card base was coloured with a few different distress inks and a blender tool then i splashed some turquoise perfect pearls and water over it.

This makes a beautiful sparkle in real life.

I adhered all of the images to my card base and then added the scalloped stitched border and a white stripe of card with the birthday border.

To finish I added some sequins.

Thanks for looking.

Warm wishes

Hello. 

Its Kate here today and i have a card inspired by the current winter wonderland challenge.

I covered my card base with some blue bokeh paper and then set about making the white panel. 

There are lots of  scalloped dies about that have the stitched detail but instead of buying everything i achieved a similar look with the dies i have already.

I used the scalloped rectangle dies to cut the panel then using an embossing matt with my big shot with one tab open i placed a co-ordinating stitched rectangle die onto it, by doing it this way the die doesn't cut but leaves an embossed detail of the die including the stitched border. 

I then die cut the circle so that my main images would show through.

The fox, tree and cup are all coloured with prisma color pencils.

To finish i simply stamped the sentiment from "Love you a latte" and added some sequins.

You still have until Wednesday 13th January to join in the fun.

Thanks for looking.

Christmas shaker money wallet

Hello.

Its Kate here today with something a little different.

I have made a Christmas shaker money wallet as a gift for my great nephew.

He is almost four months old so wont really understand what Christmas is all about so I'm gifting cash.

Obviously I could put the money in a card but i thought this was just a bit more unique. 

To make a money wallet you will need a plastic page protector/project life page or a stamp storage pocket and a fuse tool.

You could make it using washi tape as an alternative but the seal may not be as good.

To start i stamped coloured and fussy cut and die cut the penguins from toboggan together and winter penguin stamp sets.

I have given some of them hats just by masking them. 

Once they were all done I realised that the wallet will be see through so i coloured the backs too.

Very important to remember how the inside will look too. 

I wanted the sentiment and name to not move although most of the elements on the front of the wallet will move.

So i used an extra piece of the plastic page cut down to size and stamped the winter scripty saying sentiment in black archival ink and let dry before sticking the name down.

Then i die cut my nephews name from Louis ABC.

The actual wallet is made from a plastic page protector and i cut it down to fit English £20 notes.

To start seal both sides, the bottom was already sealed so saved me a job :) 

Then i added the spare piece with the name and sentiment and i also adhered one penguin so that it doesn't move.

All the other penguins were added to the front and i sprinkled glitter and snowflakes behind the sentiment.

I then sealed with the fuse tool and everything moves perfectly.

This is the insides, so the wallet is opened up.

Then for the back I made two panels the black polka dot and blue patterned paper is where the money will go and i made a slot for it to slip in and out easily.

Then on the back is a panel with the message which you put in facing out.

To make it clear the wallet opens up and the money can be put inside the slot, I felt this was a more secure way to do it so that you have to physically open it and the money cant just fall out. 

The above picture shows where the money goes.

To make the slot you can insert some scrap card and carefully use a craft knife or you can use the fuse tool with a ruler.

You need to be very careful so as not to cut the other layer of plastic.

The pattern paper makes it look better when there is no money inside.

The is the front and back of the wallet.

Ive blurred the message.

When the panels are in and you have added your message seal the bottom with the fuse tool.

Now fold over and you have a finished shaker money wallet.

You can put under a book if it doesn't stay closed. 

Thanks for looking.

No mess shaker cards

Hello. 

I  have some shaker cards to share today and a little tip for making them with no mess from glitter or sequins or seed beads trying to escape.

I created a winter scene using  toboggan together.

As my scene has lots of layers i didn't want my shaker filling to get stuck on anything and as the cards are for young children I also didn't want any choking hazard to escape the card.

So i used something that most card makers have self sealing bags, the type you put your cards in.

I just added some fake snow to one and a sequin seed bead mix to another and adhered them to the inside of the frame.

I still used double side foam tape to give everything room to move but everything is contained inside the bag.

You could of course use a fuse tool if you have it.

I love that everything moves freely when you shake the  cards and i know nothing is going to fall out.

Thanks for looking.

No stamping autumn thanks

Hello.

Its Kate here today and i have four cards and not one single bit of stamping.

I wanted to show off some of my favourite dies from Lawn Fawn.

This first card was going to be my project for today but as I was making it my mind was just flowing with ideas so i went with them lol.

I wanted to just do some inlaid die cutting  but I only inlaid the leaves from the Stitched leaves dies.

Once each piece was cut I coloured it with distress inks.

Everything was adhered back in place and I wanted some extra detail so I used the awesome stitched borders dies...seriously these are the most versatile dies.

The scripty thanks sentiment was cut from black card stock and adhered over the leaves.

Everything was adhered and placed on a ready made  card blank.

Next up I started with a white panel and using a scrap piece of  card that had 3 of the small stitched leaves cut from it i used it as a stencil.

I covered the whole panel and overlapped the leaves and went through a range of distress inks in autumnal colours.

I had a spare large leaf die cut so coloured that in the same colours and added to the panel before placing the scripty thanks over it.

It was then finished with some gold glimmer  mist some gold sequins and gold twine from lawn fawn.

Card number three and that centre panel is the stencil i used on card two. 

No waste here :)

I simply used a scrap card and double sided tape and made a panel using the gold lawn fawn twine to go behind the open spaces.

Before adding the scripty thanks i added some drops of gold glimmer  mist to the panel.

And lastly I used the three small leaves left from making cards two and three. 

Again i coloured them with distress inks and then tapped the lower section of the leaves onto a gold inkpad.

I then did the same with the black scripty thanks.

They were all adhered to a white panel that had been die cut with the scripty borders.

Thanks for looking.

Our friendship grows

Hello.

Today i have a  card that fits the current challenge theme of texture. 

You can join in here.

I started my card by cutting the panel and colouring with distress inks.

I used orange and yellows, so perfect for this time of year.

Then i added  a dusting of gold perfect pearls to the coloured panel and embossed it with an embossing folder.

The sunflowers from "our friendship grows" stamp set  were stamped with Black archival ink onto watercolour card  and coloured with inktense pencils and water before being die cut with the matching die set.

They were all placed on the card front with foam tape  and i added a small bow with gold lawn fawn twine.

Th sentiment was stamped on to some vellum.

Thanks for looking.

Hugs and fishes

Hello.

I have a fun exploding card for you today. 

 I used a tutorial from Balzer designs blog , it popped up on my Pinterest feed and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

At first glance you might think this is a simple card. 

Well that's the plan so that once its opened you get a surprise  when it folds out.

You get some idea of the exploding part from the above picture.

This is almost fully opened but it wouldn't stay down for me to get a picture.

Its a one layer wonder inside so that it fold easily.

Another view. It really is very simple to make.

The actual folding part is very quick to do and how long you spend making it would depend completely on how detailed you wanted to make the design inside or out.

The instructions.

To start i cut some white card to 8 1/4 inches square and followed the folding described in the tutorial.

Then I die cut the scripty hugs from a post it note and placed on the card.

I used the mask rather than a die cut to keep the bulk down and to only have one layer.

Next I stamped all of my images from so jelly, and critters in the sea with black archival ink.

The longest step is the next one, fussy cutting the masks.

Once they were all in place I used distress inks to make the background.

Finally you can unmask and colour the images.

I used a mixture of Prisma color pencils, copics and  covered all the images with some wink of stella.

Extra details in white were done with white souffle pen and white signo uni-ball pen. 

You can add as much detail or keep it as cas as you like.

I hope I've inspired you to give this a try, it makes a really fun card.

Thanks for looking.

Scripty watercolour

Hello. 

I am  thrilled to be here with my first post. 

I wanted to combine two of my favourite things.....

Watercolour and scripty fonts.

I have 3 very different looks featuring both to show you.

First up I have gone all out rainbow ...another favourite thing :)

To start i simply heat embossed the scripty "thank you" from scripty sayings stamp set repeatedly in white. 

I staggered them so that they were not all on top of one another.

Then to add the colour i used some watercolour markers.

I drew on the colour then loosened it with  a very wet water brush.

Once that was all dry i die cut the scripty thanks and left the background white, although id like to try with black as i think there would be a better contrast.

Again have have stamped the scripty sentiment more than once however this time i used archival ink in black.

I changed the colours to and love how different it looks compared to the first rainbow of colours.

And finally very clean and simple with minimal watercolour.

The sentiment is again stamped in black archival ink as I'm using watercolours.

I used the long tail from the sentiment as somewhere to place the little flower from Gleeful gardens.

The flower was coloured with the same watercolour markers and once dried i added some wink of stella and glossy accents to it. 

All three cards are finished simply with some clear sequins.

Thanks do much for looking.