Shabby Chic/Distressed for CraftyCardmakers and WoodwareWitterings

Morning Everyone.
We are starting a new challenge over at CraftyCardmakers today, and as Woodware are sponsoring them we are all playing along and I am first to share.
I am also on the CCM DT so you are getting a bit of an early sneak peek of the challenge today.

I always struggle a bit with shabby chic/distressed, so I paid a visit to my favourite place for some much needed inspiration....Pinterest.

I chose to work with a couple of Stampendous butterfly stamps and a brown and blue colour combo.

The central panel was stamped and embossed in white and then sponged with blue and brown Graphic 45 inks. I also added another butterfly using silicon.

The background paper is from a Craftwork Cards paper pad which I have also stamped and embossed with the Butterfly Music stamp and then sponged with a little more of the inks.

I added some stencelling in the background using a Dutch Doobadoo stencil and some of the blue ink.
The leaves were die cut from coordinating papers and then the edges were distressed the same way as all of the other panels, with a distressing tool.

I also added some flowers, threads (pulled from a jute fabric square) and home made Card Candi.

As usual I made a second card from my leftover playing pieces.

The 3D butterfly was created from vellum this time.
I hope that you will join us at WoodwareWitterings this week and enter into the challenge at CCM.
I look forward to catching up with you all and seeing what you have been inspired to make.
Have a great day.
Hugs Kimx

Floral Free for All at WoodwareWitterings

Morning Everyone.

We have a Floral Free for All this week at WoodwareWitterings.

I love floral stamps so the hardest problem that I had this week was deciding which card to share with you. 

I finally settled on another card made for a Woodware catalogue using one of Jane Gill's fabulous designs JGS446 - Whimsical Flower Sally Anne. 

I love this flower as you will have noticed if you look back over my blog over the last few months. 

I used a piece of handmade background paper from my stash and then stamped, embossed and coloured the images before adding the sentiments.

They are from the same stamp set just chopped up and added to the background using silicon.

I'm sure that there will be lots of fabulous floral designs to inspire you this week so don't forget to stop by again tomorrow.

Hugs Kimx

Raining Cats and Dogs at WoodwareWitterings

Morning Everyone,
It's my turn over at WoodwareWitterings today, where this week it is 'Raining Cats and Dogs'
Dorothy sends us a list of the challenges several weeks in advance, and most of them are just cryptic titles for us to interpret in any way we see fit.

 I decided to do a bit of paper piecing for my take on it.

Cats are good luck right? Well I know its supposed to be black ones but this cute one has black on it lol.
She is part of an old set designed by Francoise FRCL124 Groovy Cats.

I stamped and embossed both Good Luck and Kitty onto some dotty paper from my Woodware stash (I have a box of papers that are sold by Woodware for when I make cards for the catalogues)

The beauty of Paper Piecing is that with systematic cutting out you end up with several finished panels which are then easy to turn into cards.

Cut out the G's from all four papers, and then  the O' etc. Work your way across the images and lay the pieces out onto plain stamped images so that they don't get lost.

I finished all four of the pieces this time, but I have several panels in my bits box just waiting in the wings for a card in a hurry.
In fact I used several of them only this week when I need some New Baby cards.
Hope you have a great week.
Happy Crafting.
Hugs Kimx

Happy Days at WoodwareWitterings

Morning Everyone,
This week it's 'Happy Days' over at WoodwareWitterings and today it's my turn to post.

I really wasn't sure what to make for this one, so I decided on a nice bright Birthday card.

I have stamped and embossed Jane Gill's JGS450 Happy Birthday by Hand on to watercolour card stock

 and then coloured it in using bright dye based inks.

 It is a fabulous stamp which lends itself to so many different colour combos.

I stamped and embossed in white for this one and flooded the background with colour before colouring in the letters.

This one was in the last Woodware catalogue and is once again coloured using dye based inks.
I hope that you are having a 'Happy Day' and will join the team again tomorrow over at WoodwareWitterings.
Have a great day.
Hugs Kimx

Thank You for playing

Evening,
Have you had a good crafty Saturday? I have.
We had a fabulous, if highly messy class at Davinas today.

We were playing with Brushos and Colour Bursts, and as you can see loads of different backgrounds and panels were created.

 I even managed to get a card finished when I got home.

Brushos make fabulous backgrounds, but a little goes a very long way. Even a tiny speck that you didn't realize was there can give a burst of colour. Just look at the blue splodge on this card lol.

I also used Brushos to add some colour to the teasels by mixing a few grains with water to create a paint.

Even the kitchen paper used to mop up some of the excess ink has led to some fantastic pieces of art.
Babysitting duties tomorrow so more playtime will have to wait till next week after work. At least my hands might have returned to the correct colour by then :0)
Hugs Kimx

Shaker Card for WoodwareWitterings

Morning Everyone,
My turn again over at WoodwareWitterings where all this week we have been sharing Shaker Cards.

Dorothy seemed to think that we would all have Foam Tape in common, but you know me, I like to do things a little bit differently so I made an acetate pouch to house my 'shaker bits'.

The problem was that I wanted to use my Stampendous Snowflake die.
Yes I know that it's another Christmas card, but you have to start somewhere, and I have not long finished the cards for the Winter Woodware catalogue so I am still in Christmas mode.

I stamped and gold embossed the kraft card with the large snowflake from CRS5069 Delicate Snow Set and then die cut the centre using the matching die.

Because it is such an intricate shape I decided that it would be almost impossible to go round the edges with foam tape so I create a pouch by folding a piece of acetate in half.
Tape two of the open sides with sellotape before filling it with Shaved Ice, Champagne Glass Glitter, Gilded Mica and tiny stars, the cut outs from a Woodware Border punch.
Tape up the opening and attach it to the back of the stamped and punched panel.
I stamped and embossed the large snowflake onto a piece of plain brown card before attaching the panel using silicon glue.

I added the sentiments from FRCL105 Traditional Christmas Greetings using silicon glue.

Having taken my pictures I realised that I had stuck the greetings on with the card upside down.

So this one is for you Julie Hickey. A card for a left handed person lol.

As usual I made a second card using the leftovers.
I hope that you will feel inspired to try making a shaker card, something fun and a little bit different.
Have a great day.
Hugs Kimx