Christmas Planner for Rubber Dance

Plan your Christmas in style with my step-by-step mini planner tutorial over on the Rubber Dance blog today!

Katy xxx

Sew Sweet

Been playing with my new Rubber Dance Sew Sweet stamp set today - I made an teeny weeny ATB (artist trading block) with a mannequin perched on top.

It's simply made. The die cut box was inked with Wild Honey and Victorian Velvet Distress Inks (one of my fave colour combos) and over-stamped with the buttons image in Coffee Archival. Two dress forms back-to-back are glued to a piece of strong wire and then into a mini cotton reel (I use a big fat blog of Pinflair Glue Gel to fix it into the hole). I then just embellished with lots of elements from the stamp set and few sewing bits like buttons and press studs.

It's so dinky - it's really cute!!!

Thanks for visiting me today,
Katy x

I used these (MY!) Rubber Dance stamps:

Sew Sweet set

Mixed Media Workshop

This is my artwork from a class at the weekend at Pink Tulip (my local craft shop) with Fran Westmoreland. We used lots of Prima product to create a layered mixed media canvas.

Below is Fran's class and a pic of Fran with her example I pinched from Pink Tulip. As you can see I didn't completely follow the instructions as per (!) and mine ended up pretty different. Her colours were really punchy - I muted mine down to create something closer to my own style. I also added stamping (of course!) - on the background and as my focal (that fabby peeling paint stamp is by Cherry Pie; the eye and words are of course Tim stamps) . And I wanted my piece offset rather than central so I moved the centre of the 'splat'.

 

Quite pleased with my version and had a lovely day with my dearest friend Paula which was the main point of going!

Promise to be back soon with some more work - been sooooooooo busy lately!

Katy x

My turn at ColourArte today!

Here's a sneaky peeky of my stepped out project on the ColourArte blog today!

Hope you like it :)

Katy x

Scrap Around the World September Challenge

I've never entered the Scrap Around the World challenge before but I could not resist this time because (as you can see) the mood board for this month is soooooooooooooo me!

I created a 12x12 layout for the challenge and had fun using up some really ancient random papers - that always feels good! I think it's fairly obvious how the mood board inspired me - the colours, the roses, the woodgrain, the handwritten text, the book pages, the twine, the vintage feel... yep pretty much all of it (I DID say it was very me!!!).

It's not a complicated layout in technique terms but it has lots and lots and lots of layers (I do love my layering). There's some stamping in the background and the roses are spritzed with Tattered Rose Distress Spray but otherwise it's pretty much just paper - inked and distressed and layered up.

I really enjoyed making this page - partly because it's not Christmas stuff!!! Bah humbug ;0).

See you soon,

Katy x

Giveaway!!!!

Giveaway of this set of my Rubber Dance stamps over on my Facebook page Katy Leitch Crafts!!!!! Check it out.

Treasure Box for Rubber Dance

My make today is a little trinket box - I got the bare box very cheaply but with a little time and effort it looks good enough to give a special gift.

I  made the red flower on the top using Rubber Dance's Bold and Beautiful stamps - I made this at a crop and people kept asking me what die I had used! You don't need a die cutter to make gorgeous flowers - just stamps, ink and a pair of scissors. This stamp set is perfect for layering because many of the flowers come in multiple sizes - how fab is that?

Here's how I made it:

1 Stamp and cut out three large, one medium and one small matching flower from the Rubber Dance Bold and Beautiful set. I stamped them with Red Geranium Archival Ink. Ink the flowers with Barn Door Distress Ink - this gives you a two-tone red bloom. Ink the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

2 Cut one petal in a V shape (i.e. going to the middle) out of some flowers as follows: one of the large, the medium and the small. Stick the two petals either side of the cut together - the flower will form a kind of cone shape, Push the base of the 'cone' inwards to the flower will sit flat when layered.

3 Shape the petals on all the layers - I cut into the petals down to the centre to get better shape, rather than just cutting out around the images. Start layering with the two uncut flowers, then add the cut ones in size order. My flower centre uses a Sizzix die cut but you can create the same effect by cutting a fringe into a piece of card and curling it up. Finish with a pearl centre.

4 Stamp the box with Rubber Dance's Flourishes stamp in embossing ink - to stamp the sides place the inked stamp onto the desk face up and roll the box over it in sections, holding in on the inside by spreading out your fingers to fill the space. The lid can be stamped in the normal way. Heat emboss with off-white powder (I used Vanilla White from WOW!). Ink the box edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

5 Embellish as you wish - I used some inked leaves, some die cut cogs, a metal shape and a padlock button which I painted with black paint to age it. Around the edge of the box lid is some lace which I dyed using Distress Spray Stains in Barn Door and Walnut Stain.

Isn't that a nice way to make a gift feel extra special? And for very little cost.

See you soon,

Katy x

I used these awesome Rubber Dance stamps:

Bold and Beautiful

Flourishes

My new stamp releases

Two more of my stamp designs have been released by Rubber Dance this week! Woop woop! This first one is called Sew Sweet and is a cute sewing-themed set. I love anything sewing themed - which is ironic, since I cannot use a sewing machine for toffee!

My next set is one Bibi asked me to design specifically for her - a set of Christmas sentiments called Christmas Cheer & Tags. It's designed so that some of the greetings fit onto the stamped tags - so you can use them to make your own really quick gift tags as well as for your seasonal cards. This is a mini set (13 x9cm).

Hope you like!?

Available over at Rubber Dance - she ships to the UK for a very reasonable flat rate too!

Katy xxx

My ColourArte Debut!

A sneaky peeky of my debut for the ColourArte Design Team - not nervous, not nervous at all!!! But I did LOVE making this - am happy (for once) with my creation.

You can see my project stepped out in full over on the ColourArte Blog today.

Be nice!

Katy xxx

Blog Candy Winner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for the delay folks - had to post my challenge yesterday - but here is the WINNER of the candy - oh yes. As chosen by random number generator.........

It's........................... CAZZY!!!
Cazzy28 August 2015 at 20:13

Hi Katy, I am a new follower having just spotted this on the Rubber Dance blog. Lovely prize, off to look at your blog then I will share the candy in my sidebar (in fact if I win I would happily let someone else have the folders because I just got those ones!

Cazzy x

And as Cazzy didn't want the embossing folders, they are going to: ANNE ESSEX!

Anne Essex6 August 2015 at 18:11

Fab blog candy Katy. I followed, commented and shared with friends but my comments keep getting lost in cyber space! Third time lucky :) your art is lovely and even nicer in real life x

Please email me at katy.l.leitch@gmail.com to claim your prize. Please note unclaimed prizes will be re-drawn in two weeks.

Thanks everyone who followed and shared - love to you all.

Katy x

Rubber Dance Anniversary Challenge!

It's a very special challenge at Rubber Dance this month - because it's our one year anniversary! The (optional) theme is CELEBRATION and you can choose any of our colour schemes from the last 12 months.

You can win this fantastic prize of a big bundle of Rubber Dance stamps - well worth winning if I do say so myself!

My make for the challenge uses the January colour scheme. I made a tag which looks simple - but actually has a lot of layers.

I started by tearing a piece of scrap paper to leave a white area on the tag to be the 'snow'. I then inked over the whole tag with the scrap paper mask in place with Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass. I then added some Faded Jeans towards the top of the tag.

I added snowflake stamps in white paint, then a spritz of Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain and more snowflake stamping in Faded Jeans. Finally I splatted the tag with watered-down white paint and painted the 'snow' with ColourArte Twinkling H20s to give it some sparkle. Mr Snowman is stamped onto the tag in Jet Black Archival Ink then again onto spare card and coloured with Distress Inks and a water brush, before being cut out. Finally I stamped the greeting at the bottom of the tag.

Hope you like it - good luck in the challenge!

Katy x

I used these gorgeous Rubber Dance stamps:

Winter Wonderland (designed by ME!)

Frosty Friends