Gingersnaps - Notions challenge

Gingersnaps challenge this week is 'Notions' and here is my contribution. It's an altered tin to keep my 'special' buttons in - all the lovely vintage ones that are really too nice to use!

Here's what I did:

1) My tin was silver so I first coloured the areas which would be seen with gold Krylon pen.

2) I then used gel medium to adhere a torn scrap of old yellowed sewing pattern tissue to the lid.

3) I stamped the Hero Arts stamp (Simple Handmade set), trimmed, tearing one edge, and sponged with Antique Linen.

4) I stamped the dress form and label (7 Gypsies) onto Basic Grey Basics paper, cut out and added. I coloured the base of the dress form in pencil to match.

5) I embellished the tin with buttons tied with Stampin' Up linen thread, crochet trim, a tape measure cut from Cosmo Cricket paper (thank you Nix!) and MM letter stickers.

I hope you like my example and will play along with our challenge. Thanks for stopping by :)

Katy xxx

Birthday greetings

This is a birthday card I made a while ago for my good friend Ruth. The stamps are PaperArtsy Hot Picks and Inkadinkado. The background is simply inked with a blending tool. The design is inspired by a project Leandra Franich did for Craft Stamper magazine.

Thanks for visiting :)

Simply Create DT

This is my first make with the MME Holly Jolly kit I got this month from Simply Create. The card is made using one of the plainer papers and the clear stamp set. I stamped the holly repeatedly around the edge in green ink, then coloured the berries with a Sakura glaze pen. The greeting is stamped in brown, die cut and matted. I went over the word Noel with a sparkle Sakura pen in copper so although you can't tell from the photo it's all pretty and sparkly.

Simple card but that's what you want for Christmas, right?

Gingersnaps Challenge - Versamark

Here's my contribution to this week's Gingersnaps challenge. The theme is Versamark and I've actually used three different Versamark techniques here:

-Watermark - the background text (Prima) is simply stamped with Versamark onto the kraft card to create a watermarked effect.

-Chalk - the swirls are stamped with Versamark then chalked over in a slightly darker colour chalk than the kraft paper to make them stand out a little from the text

-Gilding - the heart is stamped with Versamark, Stamp 'n' Bond then gilding flakes applied.

Just a simple little card. Not very seasonal I know - might have to save it for Valentine's Day next year!!!

BOO! from Gingersnaps :)

Today's theme at Gingersnaps is 'Gothic Elements' - having read the description I may have made a slight misinterpretation of said theme as I went with Hallowe'en. However, I am happy with my creation - it's not very me but that's what I love about it! I've had this Grungeboard skull lurking about forever wondering what on earth I might do with it. I also finally got to try my Rock Candy Crackle Paint too to age and weather the skull.

Here's how I made it:

Ingredients:
Tim Holtz Masks: Haunted
Tim Holtz stamps: Slight Alterations
Inks: Dusty Concord Distress Ink; Stampin’ Up black ink; Memento Smoky Grey ink
Grungeboard shapes (skull)
White acrylic paint
Distress Crackle Paint: Rock Candy
Chipboard
Book pages
Thickers letters – chipboard
Black card
Die cut spiders
Thread
Scrap of ribbon

1 Cut chipboard into a coffin shape and paste book paper (I tore it to add texture) over the chipboard. Trim.

2 Place the masks down and ink over with Dusty Concord. Add black in places around the edges. Stamp the scratches stamp from the Tim Holtz set with black ink. Remove the masks.

3 Tone down the white of the spider webs with a touch of grey ink.

4 Paint the Grungeboard skull with white paint (I cut it into pieces so I could layer the bones behind the skull for dimension). When dry ink the edges and then paint with Rock Candy Crackle Paint. Allow to dry then rub grey Memento ink over to highlight the cracks. Add black card to the back to fill the eye and nose sockets.

5 Similarly paint/ink chipboard letters to spell ‘boo’. Add on a scrap of torn black card.

6 Finish with spider die cuts or plastic toy spiders, hanging one from the bottom on grey thread. Add a loop of black ribbon as a hanging.

I hope you join in at Gingersnaps :)

Simply Create DT submission

Today I thought I'd share a layout I entered for the Simply Create DT call. The photo is of our favourite beach in Cape Cod - it was literally deserted and so peaceful.

Papers are quite old Kaisercraft ones; the beach grass/words are stamped using stamps from the Tattered Angels Coastal set. I've added my journaling on a little tag behind the photo. Quite a simple LO but that's how I like 'em!

Thanks for popping in,

Katy x

Gingersnaps challenge: Punches

Today's challenge over on Gingersnap Creations is punches. Although I don't have squillions of punches, I do use the ones I have a lot. Here I've used a circle punch and a border punch (Martha Stewart Doily Lace). I love to layer my punched borders like this and it's a technique I use lots.

I went for a bit of a vintage look, using soft colours for this simple card.

We hope you'll join in with this week's challenge - have fun!

Katy x

Me & my Dog

This is a layout I started an age ago. I was a class from the last UKS cybercrop (can't for the life of me remember which one) and I just didn't know how to finish it. Am still not totally happy with this but at least it is done now.

Love these papers - they are MME. The pics were taken at Brockhampton by my other half - some quite nice pics of me for once!

Thanks for popping over.

K x

My first ever blog award!

My lovely friend Isabelle has passed this award onto me - thank you sweetie :). The rules apparently are that I tell you seven random facts about myself and pass the award onto seven other people; so here goes...

1) I am terrified of wasps and clowns.

2) I collect Nightmare Before Christmas snowglobes.

3) My favourite films ever are Rebecca and The Frighteners.

4) My favourite place in the world is Walt Disney World (is there anyone who doesn't know that about me???)

5) I have a masters degree in History of Ceramic Design. Interesting but pretty pointless!

6) I'm fascinated by forensic science and forensic psychology.

7) As a small child my career aspirations included being a ice cream lady and an astronaut - talk about from the sublime to the ridiculous!

And I'd like to pass this award to:

MJ

Sammie

Ally

Hayley

Kate T

Shar

Alix

If I can get myself organised I have a couple of layouts to upload soon. Bye for now!

New DT!!!

Good news everyone! I'm very excited to have been asked to join the DT for Simply Create!!!

Can't wait to see what what my first kit contains and to get started. There is a big group of us on the team and I am looking forward to getting to know the others.

Yippppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

More chickens!

Another of my chicken cards today. This one uses the Artemio stamps as before and also a Hero Arts background 'Clouds' and a Tim Holtz dotty stamp to create the gritty texture on the ground. The heart is just doodled.

Hope you like :)

See you soon,

K x

Something a bit different

This week I fancied having a go at something a bit different and made this domino necklace. I really enjoyed making this, especially as it was super quick to do! I am not a natural at jewellery making as I find it a tad fiddly but these chunky pendants are super easy.I inked the domino with Versamagic Ink, drying with a heat gun between layers. I stamped the dandelion image (Hero Arts) twice in black Brilliance Ink and again dried it by blasting with the heat gun. Then I covered the whole thing in a layer of Stickles so it is super sparkly. To finish I glazed the piece with Glossy Accents and finished the back with a scrap of Basic Grey paper.

I didn't have a jump ring big enough so fashioned a double looped one (for strength) from silver plated wire. I then just added some faux suede cord, cord ends and a clasp :).

Thank you to my pal MJ for the pre-drilled domino :).

K x

Gingersnaps day again!

This week's theme is 'Go 3D' - so I did! I made an altered bottle for my submission (it's actually an old bottle that was once filled with Prima flowers). The stamps I used are fairly recent ones from Crafty Individuals. Here's how I made it:

1) Drag a Tumbled Glass Distress inkpad over a piece of white card (measured to fit your bottle), creating a streaky background.

2) Then use a blending tool to apply Bundled Sage all over the card. This gives a lovely watery effect and colour.

3) While the ink is still wet, overstamp a flourish (CI-182) and the starfish using the same inks. The images will sink into the background a little and blur a bit because the ink is wet on wet.

4) Stamp the border in Timber Brown Stazon; add a wash to the shells with Pumice Stone ink and a water brush to highlight them.

5) Apply strong tape to the bottle and stick the card piece around. Wrap raffia around the top and bottom of the bottle and around the lid.

6) Decorate another piece of card as in step 1-3. Die cut a circle and tag from it. Stamp with a shell and seahorse from the CI plate. Stamp these images again, colour with inks and cut out. Layer onto first stamped images as shown.

7) Tie tag to bottle with sheer ribbon, and you're done!

Hope you like it - thanks for stopping by :)

Katy x

Disneyland Paris - woo hooooooooooooooooo

I am sooooooooooooooooo excited - we've booked to go to Disneyland Paris in Dec for a few days. I've never done Disney at Xmas so obviously I am barely coping with the excitement LOL.

This is just a really simple little planner I made to keep all the holiday info in the same place. The pockets are made from trimmed down envelopes I lined with some old Disney paper I'd had lying around for ages. Each envelope pocket contains a little tag on which I can write info like parade times, meal bookings and (most importantly) my souvenir shopping list! It's a really simple little thing but it is meant to be functional, hence the decoration is minimal.

I thought the image of Mickey rather summed up my feelings about the forthcoming trip!!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken!

I've been having a play with some lovely stamps from Artemio from The Altered Element. They are called Picoti Picota and they feature lots of funky chickens! Love them.

Here's one of the cards I made (it's for a friend who is pregnant, to give her once she's had the little one), and the rest are over on The Altered Element blog.

Gingersnaps tutorial - paint

It's my turn for a tutorial on Gingersnaps this week, and the theme is 'Paint'. If you want to find out how I made the backgrounds on these two cards hop on over to Gingersnaps blog for my full step-by-step tutorial. I hope it is useful.

Enjoy,
Katy x

More Create 10

Busy week but managed another Create 10 layout class, again using up scraps. I made the page almost entirely from bits and pieces left over from a class I did last year, which feels good! I even used the printed manufacturer strips to make a small border.

I have to confess that although I'd kept these papers I was not at all keen on the pastel colours, but I am actually quite pleased with the finished layout. This has encouraged me to try ways of using up papers I am not so keen on.

My mission for August is to use up lots of my existing stash, so I am making a rule - no purchases until I've created at least five pieces of work of some kind. Will I stick to it??? Well, I'll try (willpower never was my strong suit).

Love this pic of me and the other half; it makes me feel happy just looking at it (although have no idea what's going on with his hairdo!!!).

Thanks for popping over.

K x

Create 10 - day two!

The technique for class two was to use scraps of paper in long strips to create a layered effect - again I've not exactly followed the class but have rather used the technique. I've used the last of my BG Mellow (boo hoo, love that paper) as all I had left was one piece (background on the page) and a few scraps. The leaves are Stampin' Up stamps which I've scrunched up in my hand to make them look more autumnal.

Next class is flowers so that will be much more of a challenge as I rarely use floral embellishments!

With apologies for the dodgy photo!

Katy x

Create 10

My first layout for the Create 10 classes (Fri class). I didn't exactly follow the class, but did apply the principles of using leftover scraps of paper and die cut shapes to create my page. The butterflies are chipboard die cuts; I painted them white, then added some red Versamagic ink to the centres, working it outwards with my finger for a graduated look. I then over-stamped with an Inkadinkado cherry blossom stamp. Papers are Kaisercraft.

If you want to see what everyone else has been doing for Create 10 go here.

Thanks for visiting :)

Katy x

Exhall workshop classes

I finally finished two of the projects from the crop at Exhall I went to a couple of weeks ago. It was organised (very effeciently too I must say) by Claire Wheatley - thank you for your hard work Claire :). Me and my crafty chums had a fabulous day and really enjoyed the classes.

This first layout was my favourite of the classes, which was by Ifa Zainon. I thought the class was really beautiful, and showed me that cost effective crafting (it uses on sheet of card, and literally a tiny part of a 12x12 sheet of patterned paper) can be gorgeous! Of course I changed the class a little to suit my photos (I never was good at following instructions). The pics are of Painswick Rococco Gardens in the Cotswolds. Ifa's blog is here but unfortunately she doesn't seem to have put up a picture of her original LO. Unfortunately the photo doesn't do it justice - it really is pretty, and delicate, and sparkly.

This second layout was part of a class by Jemma Sharrock. Again I changed the layout somewhat, but the basic arrangement of elements is the same. Jemma doesn't seem to have a blog but if you use UKS you can see the original LO in her gallery (username Jimjams). I used my brand new sparkly Cricut Create to make the letters, which I then ultra thicked to make them all glossy like epoxy stickers. Jemma did this technique in her class - I'd not done it for ages and it reminded me how useful my UTEE is!

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by.

K xxx

Gingersnaps Challenge - Heat

Well, giving the recent UK weather, 'Heat' is quite an appropriate theme for Gingersnaps this week!

My offering for the challenge has a touch of the tropical and uses my new Tattered Angels Coastal stamp set (lovely big 12x12 stamp set, super yummy). The finished card is A5 size.

The colours are richer in real life but it was hard to get a good pic.

Here's the destructions as usual:

Materials...

Tattered Angels stamps: Coastal
Autumn Leaves: Borders
Distress Inks: Wild Honey; Spiced Marmalade; Fired Brick; Barn Door; Mustard Seed
Versafine Ink: Black

2" circle punch
Cardstock
Post-It Notes

Method:

1) Punch a 2" circle from a Post-It Note. Place bottom centre on a piece of card and ink the card using the Distress Inks (except Mustard Seed), starting with the lightest colour (Wild Honey). Add the inks in layers and blend the inks to create a graduated effect as shown.

2) Remove the mask and ink the sun with Mustard Seed. The go over the edges of the sun with Wild Honey. This is to give a blurred effect around the edge of the sun and blend it into the rest of the card.

3) Stamp the palm tree in black. Cut a piece of paper into a hill shape and, using the paper as a mask, blend black ink around the base of the card as shown. Cover up part of the sun to give the illusion it is setting.

4) Add a border and word. Mat and layer the card as shown.

Pop over to Gingersnaps to see what the rest of the DT created and to play along with our challenge :).

Katy x

Paperbag album

Today I am sharing a paperbag album I made recently. My dear friend Sue showed me how to create the book on our weekend away - really easy to make but very effective. It's basically three paper bags stuck together and then trimmed to make the staggered effect. I NEED to make more of these so paper bags are now on the ever growing 'must buy' list!

The decoration is my own work. The only change I made to Sue's construction was to make the closure on the book magnetic instead of using a ribbon tie; I wanted the cover design fairly minimal.

The pictures are of Taliesin West, architect Frank Lloyd-Wright's winter home and studio in Scottsdale, Arizona, which I visited in 2005 and absolutely loved.

The papers are MME So Sophie, I didn't use a lot of embellishments as you need to keep the pages relatively flat to allow the book to close properly.

It's my turn on Gingersnaps this week so I'll be back on Wed with a card I made :).

Thanks for popping over,

Katy

Parrot Fashion

A few weeks ago I had a lovely little getaway with some of the girls from my UKS team. A lovely bunch they are too. We had one or two classes during the weekend, and this layout is from a class by the lovely MJ (who runs Every Moment Matters). I adapted it somewhat, as MJs was a double page (I never do those) and I had more photos to fit on. However the brilliant touches with the stiching, squares and tied ribbon border are all courtesy of the lovely MJ :).

The picture is one of many from my visit to Birdland. Trust me you'll be sick of seeing birds soon enough!

Secondly, I've been CASEd in this week's challenge on Gingersnaps! I am feeling very honoured that two very talented ladies chose my work to emulate. Pop over to the Gingersnaps blog to have a look at what they did :).

That's all for now, thanks for stopping by.

Katy x

Hybrid maze book

I do like making little hybrid mini albums as they are super quick to finish. To make this one I created the journaling pages using Photoshop and a feather brush. I reduced the opacity on the brush to blend it into the background. The papers are some old Basic Grey Offbeat ones.

The album is of a day trip we took to Birdland in Bourton-on-the-Water - fab day out, loads of gorgeous birds (penguin feeding time was the highlight of the day!). And now I have all my memories recorded while they are still fresh in this little teeny maze book.

I won't put the instructions here- if you Google maze books there will be plenty of tutorials out there. It's basically a little book constructed by folding one sheet of 12x12 - well worth seeking out if you've never made one.

Thanks for popping over. See you soon I hope.

Katy x

UKS Challenge

My scrapbook page for last week's UKS challenge.

The challenge was:

-Scrap something you love (my beloved pooch)

-Use something old, new, borrowed or blue (my papers were my latest purchase - BG Max & Whiskers - and I used blue cs)

-Write journaling (yep)

-Use stamps, inks or paint (lots of stamping here - the journaling block is a Hero Art stamp, the box with the date a 7 Gypsies stamp, the small letters are alpha stamps and the big Thickers are stamped with a Prima stamp that looks like a newspaper sheet, the round circle is a stamp too.)

I like this one; that's a well cute pic of my dog. The journaling is about how he chunters on all the time!!! He makes an amazing range of odd noises.... bless him!

K x

Gingersnaps Challenge - better late than never!

This is my entry for the Shades of Blue Gingersnaps challenge. I found this little drawer set in a pound store and it happens to be just the right size to hold the foam pads for my Inkessentials blending tool. I’ve altered it (appropriately) with Distress-inked panels decorated with a fab bird stamp from PaperArtsy.

Materials…
PaperArtsy Flora and Fauna 4
Technique Tuesday: Home stamps (frame)
Fancy Pants stamps (‘create art’)
Stamper’s Anonymous: Urban Tapestry (dotty texture)
Mini drawer unit
Gesso
Black and brown acrylic paint
Distress Inks: Tumbled Glass; Broken China; Faded Jeans; Rusty Hinge; Wild Honey; Shabby Shutters; Peeled Paint
Archival Ink: Coffee
Ink applicator or Cut-n-Dry foam
Water brush
Dymo and transparent tape (or use Safmat or rub-on letters)

1 Gesso the drawers then when dry paint with a layer of black paint then brown paint. Leave to dry.

2 Cut white card to fit the drawers and colour with all three blue Distress Inks. Stamp the dotty background around the edge in Broken China. Stamp the bird in Coffee ink and then stamp just the leaves from the bird around the edges.

3 Stamp the bird again three times and paint with the Distress Inks and a water brush. Cut out the leaves and birds and add to the inked panels. On the top panel stamp ‘create art’ left of the bird. Tape panels in place with strong tape.

4 Stamp the Technique Tuesday frame five times onto blue inked card, cut in half and stamp with the dotty texture and then the small branch as shown. Add a Dymo label to each panel and stick to the drawer fronts.

Hope you like it :). The other girls have made lovely stuff too, so do pop on over.

Katy x

Poor neglected blog!

Oh dear I have been neglecting this bloggie toooooooooooooo much, but I have been very busy and also not making a whole lot unfortunately! Today a quick card I made for a very lovely person for her birthday. I love this owl stamp, it has such a cute look on its little face! The stamp is a Papermania one and the branch is from Hero Arts. I just paper pieced the owl so a really simple card.

It must be love

How soppy is my other half over our dog? The answer is very, very soppy. Here he is giving the little monkey a kiss when we were out on a spring walk back in March.

I was waiting for the right papers for this LO and these MME ones seemed to fit the bill. I was in a silly mood when I made this so bottom left you'll see a squirrel saying 'nuts about you'! He's a stamp (as is the owl) from a Hampton Arts set I got in Micheals in the US last time we were there.

I've been neglecting the blog recently - just seem to have lost all will (and ability) to craft at the moment. If anyone has borrowed my mojo would they kindly return it???

Will try to be back for WOYWW as I didn't manage it last week...

Thanks for stopping by. :)

Katy x

Gingersnaps - Wings

Here's my entry for today's Gingersnaps challenge theme, which is 'wings'. Nice easy one this, so no excuse for not playing along!

My project is an altered noticeboard to hang in my craft room on which to write all my projects pending and notes to self (memory like a sieve...). I got the noticeboard for about £1.20 reduced in Morrisons supermarket. I forgot to take a picture of before, but trust me it was truly minging!

Of course although I made this over a week ago I am still waiting for OH to put it up for me... Why am I not surprised???

Here's how I made it in case you'd like to know ;).

Materials...
Prima frame stamps (sorry I don't know the name - they are frames and borders but I chucked the packaging)
Prima stamp: Notary (script)

Hero Arts stamp: Silhouette Grass

Tim Holtz stamps: Slight Alterations

StazOn Ink: Timber Brown

Distress Inks: Broken China; Tumbled Glass

Glimmer Mist: Gold

Brilliance Ink: Gold

Paper flowers

Cream and white card

Ink blending tool

Pearls

Chipboard letters (Thickers)

Krylon pen: Gold

White acyrlic paint

First of all, I sanded the inside edge of the original picture in the top part of the frame and then created a border with gold Krylon. Then I used a baby wipe to apply a wash of white paint to the wood. I then left this to dry. When dry, I stamped the corners with StazOn.

I coloured a piece of cardstock with the two blue Distress Inks then over-stamped with the Tumbled Glass using the Notary stamp and one of the Tim Holtz background images from Slight Alterations. With the Notary stamp, I inked in up really randomly in the middle of the stamp so I didn't get edges on the stamping (i.e. I stamped an incomplete image each time).

I then stamped the Silhouette Grass, varying the height so it didn't look too uniform. I followed this with the corners and butterflies from the Prima set.

I stamped the butterflies (including the ones on the corners) again onto cream card. After cutting out, I added them with Silicone glue so the wings are lifted as if they are flying off the page.

I finished by painting all the heads of wheat and butterfly centres in gold Glimmer Mist (this makes them catch the light but is still subtle). I embellished with pearls and paper flowers. Finally I stamped a border in gold and added the lettering along it.

I look forward to seeing your creations over on Gingersnaps :).

Katy x

Gingersnaps - burgundy, black and ivory

My entry for this week's Gingersnaps challenge. Follow the link to see what my talented teamies made with this striking colour scheme. The stamp is Penny Black and coloured with my fave Coloursoft pencils. The background is simply a piece of card Cuttlebugged (Textile Texture folder) and scrap of book page (a nod towards the altered book theme running through Gingersnaps this month).

Hope you like :). I love this poppy stamp muchly :).

I cut it up!

Yep, I finally cut up my Basic Grey Origins, which I must have had at least 3 months... I was inspired to make that first cut after seeing some lovely LOs using these papers on my friend Isabelle's blog.

Simple LO using a picture I took of chipmunk in New England. I thought these little critters were so adorable and cute (I am sure they are so common as to be unexceptional in the US but I'd only seen one once before in California so for me it was interesting enough to get out the camera!). I must say I do like the spring-like colours of these papers. No stamping on this LO for once - I just used the BG papers and stickers apart from the lettering

We had an amazing day yesterday at the Birdland zoo. I took loads of pics with my new compact camera (bday pressie from my dearest darling) so plenty of scrapping opportunities there!

(ETA I took this pic in the garden and it appears a small bug has alighted on my page! That isn't part of the design LOL).

WOYWW - oh the shame.........

I've never participated in WOYWW before although I know lots of peeps who do. Why you ask? Well, because my workdesk generally looks like this - i.e. like a bomb has gone off... Also on a Wed I work from home so am often working on stuff for publication that I can't show (but honestly, mostly the first one...).

I am thinking that perhaps publically shaming myself might encourage me to tidy it up!! Also trying to make a 12x12 scrapbook page on 5" of desk can be a wee bit tricky......

Perhaps next week it will be pristine. Or perhaps not....

A quick card

Just a really quick birthday card for a work colleague today. Stamps are a mix - borders are Autumn Leaves and flowers are ISC and Basic Grey. Basically I stamped the borders, masked them with Post-Its and then stamped the flowers. Added a bit of colour and glittered the flowers and that was it!

I can't take any credit for this as it's a blatent rip off of a lovely card I received for my own birthday from my dear friend Gemma.

Entering this for Papertake Weekly (sparkly theme, used glitter) and Stamp Something for which the theme is celebrate.

Katy x

Gingersnaps Challenge - Pencils

The theme for this week’s Gingersnaps challenge is ‘Pencils’. I have to say I absolutely love my Coloursoft pencils. I used to really dislike colouring in but since I discovered these it’s a joy! They really do blend effortlessly and the colours give excellent coverage, even on coloured card like the Kraft base I’ve used here.

For my sample this week, I’ve use the pencils in two different ways. Here’s what I did.

Ingredients:
Stamps: Inkadinkado Morphic Bugs
Cardstock: Kraft; brown; white
Coloursoft (or Prismacolor) pencils, Sansodor and blending stumps
Distress Ink: Brushed Corduroy
Archival Ink: Coffee
Corrugated card
Sequin waste
Mini brads
Papermania brad making kit

1 Stamp the bee (Inkadinkado) in Coffee ink onto Kraft card. Colour the body of the bee and the honeycomb using the Coloursoft pencils. Use two colours on the bee and blend. For the two circles at the centre of the images colour just around the outline with dark orange, then using the Sansodor and a blending stump, blend the colour from the edges to the centre using circular motions. This creates a lovely graduated effect.

2 To make the bee ‘pop’ colour over his body with dark brown and black pencils, blend with a fine pointed stump taking care not to muddy the yellow areas.

3 For the background panel, take three coloured pencils and randomly scribble them over a piece of white card. I used a less sharp pencil for the main colour (yellow) and a sharp one for the dark orange so the latter created more obvious lines. Go over the whole background with Sansodor (keep dipping so the application is generous). Add more pencil and blend again if required.

4 Sponge brown in through a piece of sequin waste in places to look like honeycomb.

5 Assemble card as shown. I stamped and coloured part of the bee again to make a co-ordinating centre for my brad and sprayed the strip of corrugated card with Glimmer Mist.

Why not have a go at these techniques for the challenge? Do pop over and see what the rest of the Gingersnappers made too – loads of inspiration awaits you!

The story of the orange bone

Just another simple layout today. Papers are MME, pic is my gorgeous baby dog as usual! I used my 7 Gypsies Disclaimer stamps again - these are some of my faves. I keep reaching for them - this time I used the phrase 'Results not typical', as it went well with the journaling which is all about how Leo hardly ever takes the orange bone because he only likes toys that are red (weird, weird little dog).

Gingersnaps Challenge - Read

The theme for today's challenge on Gingersnap Creations is 'read'. Being a literal-minded sort, I've created a reading journal using my BIA for my contribution to the challenge. I love this stamp and I thought it appropriate as she looks like she is reading. I used up some Basic Grey paper I've had since the dawn of time, so that's another dent made in the stash mountain!

Materials...

Curious By Design stamps - Chere Amie

Stampendous stamps - Butterflies

Hero Arts stamp - Ledger

Elusive Images stamps - Curly Birds (flourish used inside)
Patterned papers

Chipboard pieces, 7 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches (covers)

Tim Holtz Idea-ology bookplate and brads

Letter stickers

Distress Ink: Barn Door; Brushed Corduroy

Versafine Ink: Black

Coloursoft pencils, Sansodor and blending stumps

Trim (Prima)

BIA and o-wire

Here's what I did:

1 Cover the chipboard pieces with paper leaving the reverse of the front cover uncovered until the after the bookplate is added later. On the front cover, add a panel of pink paper inked with Barn Door and with one corner rounded, and a panel of torn script paper inked with Brushed Cordoroy.

2 Stamp the girl (Curious by Design) onto a piece a plain Basic Grey paper and colour with pencils, blending the colours for a soft look. Round the top corner, ink the edges and add to the cover. Punch holes in the covers at this stage.

3 Stamp two butterflies, colour with pencils and cut out. Add along with the bookplate, trim and lettering as shown. Now you can cover the reverse of the front cover to hide the brads.

4 For the inside, stamp each page with the Hero Arts ledger stamp and the Elusive Images flourishes (or computer generate pages -believe me the stamping took an age!!!).

5 Bind the book and you are done.

I hope you like what I made - do pop and see what the rest of my lovely, talented teamies made and join in the challenge at Gingersnaps. If you don't want to make a journal, what about a bookmark or bookplate for this theme?

Katy x

Beside the seaside, beside the sea

This might be my fav layout ever! Not sure why - love the colours, love the photo, love the memories :). Brown and blue is my favourite colour combo and it's in evidence all over my house, including my craft room.

A couple of things I did on this layout:

-I used a rub-on onto contrasting cardstock and cut it out to make the 'seaweed' type embellishment;

-I inked all around the edge of the Kraft cardstock with Walnut Stain and Peeled Paint inks to mimic the colours of the rocks in the photo;

-I added some lengths of twine across the middle, I stuck them to a length of DST and then stuck the tape to the layout;

-The swirl at the top and the border across the middle are both stamps - Fancy Pants and Prima.

Thanks for looking :)

Katy xxx

UKS challenge

This is my take on the weekly challenge this week on UKS. The main part of the challenge was to make your own background paper, so I created the lovely swirly paper by sponging ink lightly over some Tattered Angels screens onto a piece of BG PP. I also 'made' the paper from which the bloom are created - I sprayed a piece of book text (strengthened with card) with Glimmer Mists in Vintage Pink, Passion Red and Gold and then used ISC Friends are Special stamps to make the blooms. I also stamped onto the BG letter stickers with script to tie them in better with the vintage look of the page.

Sorry the pics a bit wonky!

Also check out this blog candy - if you love anything inky, you'll love this from Charmed Cards and Crafts! Delicious candy here and here too.

Hippity Hoppity...

...it’s the Banana Frog blog hop! I hope you are enjoying the ‘spring’ themed creations? I decided that the obvious choice of subject matter to represent spring was flowers. I’d been meaning to scrap this photo of my beloved dog for ages – I just love how it appears for all the world like he’s leaning in to smell the flowers!

Banana Frog stamps I used were: Super Dreamy (flowers); Teen Tiny (small letters); Butterflies & Swirls
Other items: Versamagic inks Perfect Plumeria and Spring Pansy; Memento Ink Sweet Plum; purple scrapbook paper (unknown); Basic Grey Eva scrapbook paper; green card; white card; seed beads; brads; Diamond Stickles; chipboard letters; leaf frond stamp; black pen

This is how I made the layout:
1) Stamp multiple flowers – stamp some of the solid flower in a mix of the two Versamagic inks and some in Perfect Plumeria. Stamp the open flower onto Eva patterned paper. Stamp leafy frond onto green card. Cut out.
2) Add glitter glue to brads and when dry place in the solid flower centres. Add seed beads to the centre of the open flowers.
3) Cut a piece of purple paper and stamp all around with a swirl (Butterflies & Swirls) in Plum ink.
4) Doodle all around the edge of a sheet of white card with a black pen. In places, stamp the tiny flower stamp in Perfect Plumeria.

5) Stamp and layer a butterfly and decorate with glitter glue.
6) Assemble all the bits and bobs as shown, adding a title made from stamped Teen Tiny letters and chipboard letters.

I am also trying to get into the habit of using up my scraps, so when I had finished the layout I used the leftovers to make some cards and a tag. I originally had more flowers on the layout (I took them off as it looked too busy) so I had some blooms left to play with. I also originally cut the circle at the top from a different paper but decided I didn’t like it. So these items are just made from those discarded pieces - they are really simple but better than throwing those scraps in a drawer never to see the light of day again!

Your next stop on the hop is Nat - enjoy!