Saturday, 17 July 2010

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

Friday, 9 July 2010

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

Wednesday, 7 July 2010

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

Sunday, 4 July 2010

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

Wednesday, 30 June 2010

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

Sunday, 27 June 2010

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

Friday, 25 June 2010

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