The Clearing by Imagination

Evening All
I need a break!
I've been making cards all weekend and so I think I need a bit of a break from it for a couple of hours.

This is one of the cards that I made for Sue and Harvey at Imagination. It was made using one of their new Stencil Stamping sets called The Clearing. I have only used the stamps from the set on this card.

I have stamped and embossed the trees and deer and then used a combination of Nesties and a Martha Stewart punch. I also added  stitched borders and some gold thread.
Back to the Craft Room.
Love and hugs
Kimx

Woodware Challenge Week 14 Funny Folds

Evening All
I'm sorry that I have been missing for a while but I've been so busy the days seem to have gone by in a blur.
I hope that you are having a good weekend, perhaps you have popped along to Sir Stampalot in Peterboro. They have there Christmas launch this weekend with loads of fab new goodies and demonstrations.
Check it out, I'm only sorry that I won't be there this time. I will have to wait till November for my next fix.

Of course no week would be complete without an entry into the Woodware challenge and so I had a look through my stash of cards and found this Box of Cards that I made a while ago. No time for anything freshly made I'm afraid.

OK so it may not be a funny fold, but there are folds involved none the less, just as Caz said when she made her box. I made cards to go inside as well.

I did tell you that this Agapanthus stamp was one of my all time favourites. It is just so useful.
All of the items, box and cards, have used Blending Chalks in yellow and orange.

The chalk has been applied to the images which have been stamped with a versamark ink pad.
As you can see I have embellished the envelopes as well.
Off to bed now, thanks for stopping by.
Love and hugs
Kimx

Zutter Bind it All Books and Retiform masking!!!

Hi All
I can't believe that we are well into yet another week and the last full one in August no less. The nights are drawing in and they are talking Autumn schedules on the TV, so I guess that Summer is officially over, although maybe today has given us a bit of a reprieve lol.
In between trying to get samples finished for Sue and Harvey at Imagination for their new TV show on Thursday (2pm on QVC Sky channel 640) I have had a couple of classes to prep for this week.

Last night I was in Stoneleigh for my last evening class at Lavender Lane. We were making Ringbound Notebooks using the Zutter Bind it All machine. I bought mine a while ago when my friend Shaz sold off all of her craft stuff, but this is the first chance that I have had to play. I'm hooked. It is a brilliant little machine and I can see notebooks as Christmas prezzies in several peoples future.

They were all made out of off cuts of mount board, which I either sponged and stamped on to or covered with paper and card. I added a stamped and coloured image to the front of this one and tied some ribbons along the spine.

The sizes of the book were determined by a it of a spend at Tescos where I bought loads of cheap post it notes, record cards and notebooks which provided the insides of these ringbound notebooks.
I did make a bit of a mistake with the cover for this note book when I realized that the lines on the insert went the other way round after I had stamped the cover.

 This little one is made to fit a post it note pad and has been covered with background papers and card stock. 'Notes' has been created from 2 Woodware clear stamp sets.

This is what they look like inside. I think you can see what I mean about my mistake in the bottom right hand corner.
We had a great, if small class and they all made 2 notebooks.

Tonight I am off to Davina's to teach a class on 'Retiform' masking. I haven't mounted this panels but they will take quite a long time to create in the first place so I think there may be some homework for the ladies to do. Better post this now as I can hear my lift at the door.
Love
Kimx

Woodware Challenge - Take 2 colours

Evening Everyone
Hope that you are well.
You know how some techniques get you hooked on them for a while. Well at the moment, for me, that seems to be painting with coffee.

I think I must be going through a bit of a Sepia phase, and the coffee compliments the colour so well. In fact I'm teaching a class on it this evening at Davina's.
The challenge over at Woodware this week is Take 2 colours and so I think my card fits that quite well being brown and pink.

I have used a lovely Woodware stamp set FRCL159 Flower Doodles which I have stamped and embossed onto a piece of card that has first been spritzed with coffee. I have then painted the flowers themselves with the same coffee. I have added some gingham background paper and a punched border as well as a couple of hand made flowers.

This second card uses the same painting technique only this time the background has been made with a soggy wet teabag.

 My grandson Ciaran made me laugh when we noticed that his hair was the same colour as the piece of art work that I was working on. Of course we had to take a picture of it lol.
Off to teach now, my lift awaits.
Have a good evening.
Love
Kimx

I hand delivered this one !!!

Evening Everyone

This card was made for another of my work colleagues who is off home to Sri Lanka tomorrow to get married.
This time she let it slip at the beginning of the week so I was able to make it in time to give to her in person, even if I did have to go into work especially today as I left it at home on Friday!!
I just hope that she remembers to pack it lol. At the very least I know that she has seen it in the flesh. The one I sent to Pakistan never arrived as I was given the wrong address aargggg!!!
I have once again used the lovely Wedding Couple from Lili of the Valley. I stamped and embossed it in Sepia and then coloured it with Coffee and some Distress inks.

The background paper and greetings panel which I have cut out with a Nestie were taken from my 'Bits Box'.
I have used Hero Arts F5042 Leaf Flourish down the right hand side of the card in gold embossing and then I added ribbon, flowers and pearls.
The circular greeting is also from Lili of the Valley.
I hope she likes it, I was really pleased with how it turned out.
Back to work tomorrow so I had better get a reasonably early night. Mondays are always difficult don't you think?. It seems so hard to get back into the swing of things.
Thanks for stopping by.
Love and hugs
Kimx

Look what I did with my Mini File Folders for the Woodware Challenge

Morning All
Well here, as promised, is my entry in to the Woodware Challenge.

I must confess that when these little file folders arrived in the post from Dorothy I did wonder what on earth I was going to do with them, but having shown my endeavours to the family we have come up with lots of other ideas for the little booklets that they make.

I sponged three of the largest folders with Antique Linen Distress ink and sprayed them with Glimmer Mist.
I then stamped around all of the edges with the dotted flower from the Woodware clear stamp set FRCL153 Flora.

Each page has then been stamped and embossed with one of the other stamps from the set using Sepia Versafine ink. I have coloured these images using ink from a Mountain Meadow Big and Juicy ink pad.

I have stamped and embossed greetings on to each page from several different Woodware stamp sets FRCL154 Salutations, FRCL080 Mixed Greetings and FRCL085 Oriental Style Alphabet.

Finally I have stuck the folders together to form a little booklet using DSST and then added a stitched border using a fine black Micron pen.

I also added some crystals to the image on the front as well as a few tiny peel-off dots on all of the pages.

I had hoped to add some small photos to it but time just got away from me
I thought that it would make a lovely gift for my Mum whose birthday is tomorrow.
It is a shame that they don't come in a slightly bigger size (there are 4 different sizes on each sheet but they all get smaller than this) but I can certainly see myself using them again.
My daughter suggested that if she had lots of journaling to do on a Scrapbook page a little booklet like this would be ideal to tuck into a pocket on the page. My Sin-in-law suggested that a booklet of little pictures and sayings to look at and give someone a lift if they were feeling down would be another idea. And they have already asked me to make one as a Christmas present full of little photos.
I hope that my idea will inspire you to give them a try.
Now I really must get on with some more design team work.
Don't forget to tune in to Create and Craft later today and again tomorrow to watch Jenny from Hobby Art.
I will try and post again this evening as I have so much to share with you. Have a good day.
Love and hugs
Kimx

Can you 'Resist' a padded Christmas!

Evening Everyone,
I hope you have all had a wonderful Saturday. I spent a very pleasant day with lots of lovely 'Crafty Ladies' at Lavender Lane.
Today was to have been our last Saturday of classes since sadly the shop is closing down, but we decided to arrange a further two dates for September and October which were fully booked by the end of the day. How cool is that.
Don't panic Mrs Till we saved you a space :)

I felt that we really ought to make at least one Christmas card in class this year, and so decided that padded cards gave us the ideal opportunity to do just that.
How to make a padded card is very easy to teach, but you need a finished card to stick the padded element on to using silicon. With this in mind I decided to throw in a bit of resist.

The background panel has been created using stamps from one of the Hobby Art clear Christmas stamp sets. I have stamped the Holly randomly onto glossy card stock using Versamark ink and then sponged ink from a Big and Juicy ink pad all over it,
It is like Magic Painting for grown ups as the images 'pop through' the ink. I have coloured the holly on the padded element using the same ink pad so the colours match perfectly.

This second card I confess I actually finished when I got home this evening using some of the bits and pieces left over from the class. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, if I do say so myself. I can see a few more of these in the pipeline as they are very quick and easy to make.
I'm sorry that the photos aren't very good but it got dark too quickly and I had to take them inside on my table. Not the best of backgrounds but better than nothing I suppose.
Having tidied up I spent the rest of the evening working on a little project for the Woodware challenge.
Dorothy very kindly sent me some of the folders, and I promised her that I would do my best to enter. I did warn her that it would be nearer the end of the week and so I will just about get in under the wire. As what I have made needs to be photographed in better lighting it will have to wait until tomorrow - so watch this space as they say lol.
Good heavens look at the time, we are into Sunday already.
Thanks for stopping by, do pop back later.
Love and hugs
Kimx

By the way don't forget that Jenny from Hobby Art will be on Create and Craft channel 671 at 5pm and 7pm Sunday 14th August and again at 9am and 2pm on Monday 15th August - check it out for some lovely Christmas stamp sets. Some of my card samples will be on display.

A Challenge at Sketch and Stash

Evening Everyone,
I hope that you are all safe and haven't suffered with all the terrible rioting that we have been experiencing.
It has been really scary watching the images on the TV and in the papers,of buildings that I know being burned to the ground.

The card that I have for you this evening was made for my Aunt and Uncle's Wedding Anniversary this Friday.
I have used the Sketch over at Sketch and Stash so I would like to enter it into the challenge.
The stamped and sponged panel has been created using a lovely Hero Arts stamp H5424 Exotic Bloom that I bought when I was last at SirStampalot.

I have stamped and embossed the image a couple of times using white embossing powder and then I have sponged all over using one of my trusty Big and Juicy ink pads.
The greeting is from Woodware.
I layered the panel, which I have cut out using a Nestie, over some background papers from my stash.
The panel has been padded using silicon, a technique which I will be teaching at Lavender Lane this weekend, along with how to make the flowers.

The main flower has been made using Chinese Rose, a fairly new Marianne Creatable that I have only just got around to playing with.
Of course if you look closely you will see that Magnolia swirl stamp that I like so much.
I hope that you like it. One of the boys at work did, I have to make another one to send to his Girl friend lol.
Stay safe.
Love and hugs
Kimx

When is a Snowflake not a Snowflake ???

When is a snowflake not a snowflake, when it is given to me apparently lol.
At least that is what they kept saying on Barbara's show on Sunday. I made this card using the Snowflakes stamp which comes in three different sizes.

I stamped and embossed several images, in all three sizes, and then coloured them using distress inks.
Once they were dry I cut them out trimming off the spikes so that they looked more like flowers.

They have then been shaped and attached to the main card using silicon. If you look in the corner of the picture you can just about see the original design as I have stamped it randomly in the background.
I added gems to the centres and leaves as well as the greeting from Saturdays classroom show.
You see Christmas stamps can be used all year round if you put your mind to it :).
Love and hugs
Kimx

Free and Easy at Penny Black at Allsorts

Hi All,
I've been so busy with card making this last week that I have had no time to blog, and now I have so many things to share that I don't know where to start. You can't win can you lol.

This card was made for Samuel whose birthday was last week.
I have used an old Penny Black cat which I have coloured using distress inks. I have added some glossy accents to his tummy, just to be different!!

The image has been cut out using a Nestie and then mounted over various background papers from my stash.
I have also added some swirls with my favourite Magnolia stamp, it seems to creep in every where :)
I am entering this into the Challenge over at Penny Black at Allsorts where the challenge is Free and Easy.
Thanks for stopping by, I will try and share some more tomorrow.
Love and hugs
Kimx

A Cheeky Monkey and two Woodware Challenges

Evening Everyone,
Another week, so that means another set of challenges over at Woodware, both here and in the USA.

Here in the UK they have provided us with a Sketch which I have used as my inspiration for today's card.
I told you that I had several cards to make for small boys and so once again I have used FRCL127 Jungle Pals a real favourite of mine.

I have coloured the main image using distress inks. The green panels have been stamped with leaves from FRCL021 Jungle Retro using versamark ink. I have also stamped 'Cheeky Monkey' onto the lighter panel using 2nd generation sepia ink.

Birthday Wishes has been used from FRCL154 Salutations. I have added plenty of leaves which have been stamped and embossed and then cut out and attached using silicon.

1st is a peel-off which I have placed into a circle of the stamped background paper. The bananas have been stamped and embossed onto the green card and then painted with bleach. The yellow strip is actually ribbon.
I am also entering this into the challenge at Woodware USA where Anything Goes.

I'm off on a road trip after work tomorrow with my friend Suu to deliver Barbara's samples.
Better get off to bed now.
Nite nite
Kimx