home for the holidays ~ christmas in july

I'm in a Christmassy kind of mood! So I have made a Christmas card and am entering it into FIVE challenges.

I am using Tab's fabulous sketch from this week's challenge at Just Magnolia.

Everybody-Art has a challenge of 'spots and stripes'. There are plenty of these in the papers I've used.

Daring Cardmakers have a dare called 'on the edge' and want to see what use you have made of border treatments. I have lots of borders on this card with all the layers and have used a border punch, machine stitching, lace and decorative scissors.

Finally, both One Stop Craft Challenge and Magnolia Down Under Challenge have a theme of 'Christmas in July'. Perfect!

Here is the card that I made. I took the photos in what was left of the evening sunshine so that explains the shadows!

All plain cardstock is Bazzill. Patterned papers are from the Cosmo Cricket ~ Oh Joy collection and I used Reindeer Games, Frosty and Merry & Bright. These papers are absolutely gorgeous, just love the colours on them and will definitely be buying some more!

For the strip across the middle of the card I used my Martha Stewart ~ Emblossed Snowflake punch on the vertical edges.

'Home for the holidays' is a journalling card from the Oh Joy collection. I cut the left side of the mat with some decorative scissors. A piece of lace has been machine stitched to the border and I stitched on a button to match one of the three at the top of the card.

The image is Magnolia ~ Tilda with Candy Cane from last year's Christmas Collection. I haven't yet used all of my Tilda's from last year's collection so thought I'd better start before this year's collection comes out.

As usual, I coloured her with my copics.

Thank you for looking.

kat

having a {me} day.

golden mother of the bride

I was asked to create a card for the Mother of the Bride. It had to have a theme of cream and gold, be quite plain and feature a girl with a pink dress.

I am entering this into TWO challenges.

I used this week's sketch at Cutie Sunday.

At Dutch Dare the challenge is to use 'cutting dies and/or punches'.

For the base card I used Chatter Box ~ artsy.licious: fine engraved paper in alabaster and I inked the edges with gold ink.

Here is the card:

I generated the 'Mother of the Bride' sentiment on my computer, punched it out with a Woodware scallop punch and embossed the edges in gold. I wanted a gold flower but didn't have any, so I took some plain cream flowers, embossed them with gold and layered them up before adding a pearl brad to the centre.

The image is Magnolia ~ Loving Tilda and I coloured her with my copics.

The marriage paper is Stemma ~ Gold Wedding Vows. I embossed the edges of the layers with gold.
I've layered some sheer gold and cream ribbon behind the image.

Thank you for looking.

Kat - keeley


having a {me} day

my family ... ... my life

Today I am entering the competition at the Sugar Bowl where they have this fabulous sketch.

The additional part of the challenge is to use 'ribbons and or bows somewhere on your creation'.

I decided to make a mini book using one of Suzanne Woolcott's Gorjuss Girls.

I turned the sketch on it's side so that the vertical band is across the bottom and this is what I came up with:

All cardstock used is from the Bo Bunny ~ Beautiful Life collection. I created various layers to the cover by mounting the cardstock onto chipboard and inking and embossing the edges.

I turned the very centre panel into a little door by adding a hinge and door knob.
 

The Gorjuss Girl image I used is Bear Hug and I coloured her with my copics.
What is behind the door?
For the band in the sketch I punched some circles using a circle punch, inked and embossed the edges and glued them in a strip across cover, layering slightly as I went.
Here is a picture of the back cover.

Finally, I bound it with my Bind-it-all and added some ribbons.

Thank you for looking.

kat - keeley

having a {me} day

the open road ... NOT cute

NOT cute???
I haven't made a non cute creation for the longest time, so it was fun and refreshing to join in the first challenge at Ready Steady Stamp.

I am also entering this into THREE other challenges:

At Our Creative Corner the theme is 'pets'.

One Stop Card Crafts has a theme of 'furry things'.

At Mixed Media Monday the theme is 'play' - enjoy the process and have fun! I certainly did that!

So with the RSS ingredients in hand, this is what I came up with:


 

I created a base card with black cardstock and embossed the edges with gold embossing powder.

For the book/newspaper page I kind of cheated and used used the reverse side of the cardstock from October Afternoon ~ Night Light: Katie which has words from the book 'Toad of Toad Hall' on it. I used this cardstock to create both the patterned background and the cat.

I didn't have a non-cute cat stamp but I did have some cat shaped cards. I took one card and traced around the shape on to the back of my cardstock. As part of the cat had a flat side which was the fold of the card, I created a more rounded shape at that part, freehand and then cut it out. 

I used the Faux-batik technique on the cat. This was so much fun to do even if I did have to get the iron out .... ugggg! I enjoyed doing this so much that I also used the same technique (which can be found on the RSS link above) on the vertical sides of the larger patterned cardstock. For the cat I used a mixture of stamps from the Inkadinkado ~ Inchies: Flourishes set (part of my prize from the Just Magnolia week 10 challenge and which I just had to use straightaway ~ thank you!). I then inked the edge of the cat with gold ink and stamped on a gold {I heart my cat}.

For decoration I took some black lace and added some gold ink to it. I used this for the base of the card and the cat collar.

For the 3 different brads ingredient I used polish brass brads, brushed brass brads and a cat paw print brad.

I sewed a little black button to the cat with gold thread.

The chipboard letters 'cat.' are by Prima. I inked up the edges with black ink and then gold ink.

Well that's enough of the non-cute stuff. Here's one of Henry when he's not acting like a mad hatter. A rare occasion, believe me!

 

Thank you for looking.

kat - keeley


having a {me} day.

fragile delight

My card today is for FIVE challenges.

I used this week's gorgeous sketch at Card Patterns.

At No Time To Stamp the challenge is 'sparkle' - I have used stickles on the wings.

Stamp With Us has the theme of 'a children's card'.

Stamp With Fun requires us to use 'shapes or punches' - I have used a border punch.

Finally, Creative Inspirations has a theme of 'stitching - real or faux' - I have done some machine stitching.

Here is my card:
All patterned papers used are from the S.E.I. ~ Chick-a-dee collection. I used chick-a-dee, anna's bananas and ga-ga.

I used a Fiskars border punch for the paper at the base of the card and threaded it with ribbon from my stash.

The image is Magnolia ~ Dreamy Tilda. She is one of my favourites. I coloured her with Copics and used Stickles for the wings.
I created a large layered flower with a mixture of silk, felt and paper flowers from my stash and used a Tim Holtz ~ Snap for the centre. The 'delight' tag is by Making Memories and I used Doodlebug crushed velvet brads to decorate.

The ribbons are a mixture of S.E.I ~ Chick-a-dee ribbons and left overs from my stash. The button brads are by Making Memories. The 'fragile' pin is a Tim Holtz ~ Trinket pin.
Finally I leave you with a pic of Henry ~ my 8 week old kitten.
Thank you for looking.
kat
having a {me} day.

boys will be boys ...

Yet another man card to do, this time a birthday card for my other half. I am entering this into FIVE challenges:

I used this week's fabulous sketch at Just Magnolia although I had to change the oval to a rectangle, as I couldn't cut an oval to the size I wanted.

I am also entering this card into this week's recipe challenge at Use It! where the recipe is: add texture (plenty of that), use at least two punches (I used three), use paper from your favourite manufacturer (I used BG). Unfortunately I had to draw the line at the bonus challenge of adding some pearls - it is a man card after all!!

At Creative Card Crew the challenge is to use ribbons.

Raspberry Ribbons has a challenge of 'circles & ribbon'.

Finally, Belli Challenge has a challenge of 'texture'.

Here is my card:

All patterned papers are from the Basic Grey ~ Marrakech 6x6 pad. I used a grey Bazzill card for making the card and backing the BG papers.

I used a Fiskars corner punch for creating and embossing the decorative corners.

The 'boys will be boys' ribbon is by Around the Block.

For the layered circle in the top right hand of the card I used pre-cut grunge board circles in two sizes. I used a circle punch to cut the BG card for the smaller circle and stuck it to the grunge board. I used the grey bazzill for the larger circle and I cut that with my Cricut then glued it on. Distressing was a definite 'no-no' for this card, :-( so I contented myself with sanding the edges of the circles before layering them together. Sanding is a bloke thing after all.

The image I used is Magnolia's ~ Jungle Edwin. I had real problems with this stamp, trying to get a decent image and one of his eyes has a splodge on it. This is the way my stamp has been cut, so I must have a dud. Never mind, he's cute enough and I coloured him with my copics.

The 'Happy Birthday' sentiment is by Making Memories.

For the bottom right hand corner, I made some branches using my Martha Stewart branch punch and sewed on some buttons. This is supposed to resemble rocks/boulders and clumps of greenery!

The buttons and brad are also from the BG Marrakech collection.

I hope he likes it!

Thank you for looking.

kat - keeley

having a {me} day

the road to the house of a friend

My card today is for FIVE challenges.

I used this week's sketch over at Whiff of Joy.

The challenge at The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge requires you to use three ribbons and I have used three different types of ribbon.

At Papertake Weekly the challenge is to use your favourite things. I would have to say that my entire stash contains all of my favourite things!

Wednesday Stamper has the theme of 'Colourful'. I have quite a few colours in my card.

Finally, the ABC Challenge is 'V is for vellum'. I have used a vellum quote.

Here is my card:

All plain cardstock is Bazzill. Patterned papers are from the My Mind's Eye ~ Laundry Line collection and I used Sundress "Bloom": Ironed Floral Paper and Sundress "Sweetness": Running Lace Paper.

The image used is Elisabeth Bell ~ Shy Willow and I coloured her with my copics.

All ribbons, buttons and brads are an assortment from my stash.
The sentiment is a vellum quote from K & Co ~ Classic K McKenna Vellum Quotes pad. I stuck it to a piece of cream card and inked the edges, before adding a little tiny key.
The quote reads:
'The road to the house of a friend is never long. Danish proverb.'

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