for keeps

I cannot believe that it is New Year's Eve already! 2008 has been a really exciting year for me creatively and a voyage of discovery. I stumbled upon the papercrafting world in February 2008, followed by the stamping world in August and a new *addiction* was born! Since making my first Mother's Day card (eek!), I have not looked back. Every week I have learnt at least one new technique and I am still discovering new designers whose products I fall in love with. I have become reacquainted with old friends and met some fabulous new ones along the way.

For me, the most amazing discovery was to learn how to colour. Something I had not done since I was five! Without having a clue what I was doing, or where I would begin, I bought the entire set Copic Markers in October.

I am so looking forward to the coming year. I have a HUGE pile of stash to wade through (how did that happen already?!), I must use it all before I even think about buying another thing. (Please don't hold me to that!) I have lots of techniques to improve and new ones to discover. It's exciting! So I dedicate this card to my new hobby, it is *for keeps*.

The sketch I used is the current sketch over at Friday Sketchers.

Below is the card I made. The image used is Sarah Kay ~ First Kiss which I coloured with my Copic markers.

The image is sitting on a red tag which I cut from Bazzill cardstock. I have used Prima flowers and the *for keeps* embellishment is by Making Memories.

The cardstock is from My Mind's Eye ~ Laundry Line range. I love this range with its lovely glittery effect. I think I own the entire collection, but this is the first time I've used any of it. For this design I used Flirty "Pure Joy" ~ Plain Joy paper and Flirty "Fun Lovin" ~ Fun Lovin' Spots paper.

With a new technique I tried today, I dug out my trusty old Singer sewing machine, which hasn't seen the light of day for many a year and stitched the papers together with zig zag stitch. I can now see how people get hooked on stitching paper!!

The satin and sheer red ribbons are from my stash, as are the incy wincy buttons.

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy New Year 2009.

Here's to new experiences and may all your dreams come true.

Thank you for looking.

kat

having a {me} day

all my heart

My posting here today fits two challenges this week.

I based the design on this week's sketch in Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #48. Here is the sketch:
I have adapted the sketch just slightly as my image box does not extend over the verticle border. (Hope that is ok!)
The second challenge is the Clear Thinking challenge from Our Creative Corner. The challenge here was to 'add something clear to your project'. I have added a clear button.
I once again used the papers from Crate Paper ~ Katlin Collection as used in a previous posting. I have added some detail with distressing and rolling up the edges of the paper. I also inked the edges and embossed with Heat It Up ~ Seafoam White embossing powder. I have added sheer pink ribbon from my stash to the vertical border, hand sewn in place with some thread from my DMC stash. The clear button from Basic Grey has also been sewn on.

The Magnolia Tilda used is Tilda with heart and I coloured her with my Copics.

Thank you for looking.
Kat
having a {me} day

Mum's Altered Clipboard Notebook

This week's challenge on One Stop Craft Challenge is: 3 is the magic number. I have been working on parts of this project for the last few evenings (largely waiting for bits to dry) and have finally finished it today. I have added 3 flowers to it, so I think it fits the challenge nicely.

I have been wanting to do an altered clipboard for absolutely ages. I have been buying them up from time to time and now have a few to play with. The one I used for this piece started out life looking like this.

Now that I have finished playing it looks like this:

I painted the clip board with Tim Holtz ~ Distress Crackle Paint: Peeled Paint. Anything by Tim Holtz is now my new 'gotta have'. Once dried, I inked up the edges and crackles with Tim Holtz ~ Distress Ink: Mustard Seed and Worn Lipstick.

For the base of the clipboard, I tore up strips of Rusty Pickle ~ School Daze: Detention. I inked up the edges with the Distress Inks used before and stuck them to the board. I ran a layer of Ranger ~ Inkssentials Crackle Accents {love this stuff} around the edges of the torn strips and parts of the paper.

The flowers are Prima and the jewelled brads are from my stash. Notice the little dew drop I added to one of the flowers?

The star shaped flower on the bottom left of the clipboard is made from a star cut from Rust Pickle ~ School Daze: Teacher's Pet paper. I cut out the star and stuck it to a piece of Tim Holtz ~ Grunge Board. I then cut out round the star again and applied some Crackle Accents to the triangular parts of the star. I loved the effect of this as the paper curled a little at the edges and the glue cracked as it dried. Once dried, I added a prima flower, and a button with a bit of ribbon threaded through.

For the word 'MUM' I used letters from American Crafts ~ Thickers: Gift Box which I covered with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Tim Holtz ~ Distress Powder in Mustard Seed and Shabby Shutters. I then inked the edges of each letter with distress inks in the opposite colours and clear embossed. The letters are stuck down on to a Tim Holtz ~ Journalling Ticket which I have inked up with the distress inks.

I made a cover from a piece of SEI cardstock and I added a bit of green colour with the distress inks. The strips of paper are from Rusty Pickle ~ School Daze: Tardy Bell. Again, I inked the edges with distress inks and added crackle accents. The hexagon shape was made by cutting the shape from Rusty Pickle ~ School Daze: Hall Pass which was then stuck to a piece of grunge board before cutting out and adding the crackle accents.

For the image I used Magnolia ~ Cherry Tilda which I coloured with my Copics. She is sitting on two strips of Basic Grey ribbon.

Finally, I added some fibres in co-ordinating colours to the metal clip at the top.

This in case you haven't guessed, is for my Mum. Hope she likes it!

Thank you for looking!

Kat

having a {me} day

Pink & Purple Birthday Card

I needed a Birthday card for my MIL and my mission was *pink and purple*. Ooooh!! Love that colour combo, so I had fun with this. I used this sketch over at Friday Sketchers.

I must admit that I had to stretch the sketch a bit, as I wanted to make a large card and needed to widen the sketch to fit.

I hope my MIL will like the end result. I guess I will find out tomorrow!

I created the base card from two pieces of purple Papermania textured cardstock. The finished size of the card is 7" x 9".

All patterned papers are taken from Crate Paper ~ Katlin Collection. The main pink patterned background is Bubblegum. The image is Magnolia ~ Tilda with Heart Package which I coloured with my Copic markers and layered her up to stand out more.

This Tilda is very strange, she only seems to have one arm! I checked the stamp again to see if I had cut an arm off by mistake, but I don't think so.

She is sitting on a circular bit of paper that I cut out from Bubbly and I inked the edges with ColorBox ~ Orchid Pastel chalk ink pad. The vertical strips each side are cut from Notebook as are the horizontal strips at the top and bottom of the card.

I made the dimensional flower from alternating layers of silk and cardstock flowers. For the silk flowers I used PapermaniaSilk Reds/pinks and Silk Purples/Lilacs.

The cardstock flowers (and the leaf) were cut from Heartbreaker papers and I inked the edges as before. The green brad in the centre is from American Crafts.

The tag is made from a Papermania ~ Secret Garden stamp, which I inked up and clear embossed. I then added a *happy birthday* sentiment which came from Penny Black ~ Salutations which was inked and clear embossed. I attached it with a hot pink Doodlebug ~ Crushed Velvet Brad.

Finally, the name *Jo* was taken from K&Co ~ Amy Butler Sola Chipboard Alphabet Box. I inked the letters up with Archival ~ Brilliance: Moonlight White inkpad and clear embossed. I then touched the edges with Colorbox inkpads ~ lavender and clear embossed again. Love the effect this gives. The numbers are from American Crafts ~ Thickers which I again inked with the lavender and clear embossed.

Thank you for looking.

kat

having a {me} day

Little Boy Blue

Today I have created a card which fits into THREE challenges running this week! These are:

1. Basic Grey Challenge 14 ~ Oh So Charming The challenge here is to use Basic Grey papers and charm(s).

2. One Stop Craft Challenge 7 ~ Paula's Challenge: Something Blue Here the challenge is to have a blue element on the card.

3. Cute Card Thursday ~ Challenge 40: Punches The challenge here is to use punches and not die cuts on our cards.


All patterned papers used are from the Basic Grey ~ Offbeat collection - as you can see,there is lots of blue in here. I punched the corners with my EK Success ~ Paper Shaper decorative punch and I rounded off the corners of the paper in the middle with my Dovecraft corner rounder.

The little yellow eyelets were from my stash. I attached the Little Boy charm, which is from Making Memories ~ Sweets ~ Baby with string through an eyelet.

The Magnolia image is Edwin with Plasters. I coloured him up with my Copics in shades of blue and yellow.

Thank you for looking.

Kat

having a {me} day

Pink & Green Tilda with Christmas Heart Ornament

I'm a on bit of a mini roll today, after finally getting to have a {me} day ;-)

I've been putting together cards from images I have already coloured up, so they should be quick, but still they take forever. Not that I don't enjoy the process, just wish I could speed up a little bit! Then I could do a few more.

For this card I used this week's sketch from Sketch Saturday:

I've managed to produce a Christmas card in very non-Christmassy colours, but I am hoping it works!

The card base is made from an off-white Bazzill cardstock. The cardstock used is Crate Paper ~ Katlin: Daydream and I used both sides of this. The pink ric rac ribbon is Making Memories ~ Rose Petal & Mango and the off-white ric rac is from Crate Paper ~ Baby Bee collection.

I coloured the Magnolia ~ Tilda with Heart Ornament with my Copics. Isn't she darling?

The remaining stamps were inked up with Brilliance ~ Pearlescent Orchid and clear embossed. The Do not open until Dec 25 stamp is from Paper Artsy ~ Xmas: Plate 3; Merry Christmas sentiment is from Papermania ~ Let It Snow and the snowflakes are from Hero Arts ~ Owl Christmas.

Thank you for looking.

Kat

having a {me} day

Christmas Tree House

This card was made for two different challenges.

This week's challenge at Stamp Something is to stamp something with snow. My card features snow and follows this week's sketch challenge over at Our Creative Corner. Here is the sketch:

This is the card I made:

I created a card blank from white Bazzill cardstock and stamped a stitched border using Kelly Panacci ~ Border stamps, which I inked up with magenta ColorBox ink pad and embossed with clear powder. I cut out the zig zag patterned background from Collage Press ~ Scarf Stripe Elf cardstock.

The image is from Little Claire Designs ~ Tree Top Christmas which I coloured with my Copics added a little Doodlebug Sugar Coating Glitter for the snow and attached to the red reverse side of the patterned cardstock. The ribbons used are Doodlebug Rick-Rack ribbon in ladybug and limeade.

The Seasons Greetings sentiment is from Papermania ~ Let It Snow collection. I used thick double sided sticky pads to attach the sentiment to a Prima flower.

Thank you for looking.

Kat

having a {me} day