I've Been So Good Santa

 Evening All,

Another productive day. I have a couple of little people's birthdays next month and I have very few cards in my stash for that age so it was time to finish off a few bits and pieces.

I also managed to finish a couple of Christmas cards that I started for my good friend Gill's challenge on Facebook a couple of weeks ago.

Woodware have produced several of these fabulous large word stamps over the years,

and they are just perfect for a bit of Paper Piecing which is what Gill was looking for.

I also found this panel in my Christmas bits box from several years ago using a wonderful Magenta stamp and some background paper.

Another card from my stash, this one uses another old stamp and some red paper for the poinsettia.

And I also found this card amongst my stash which also uses paper piecing for the young man's outfit.

All in all a very successful weekend. Let's hope I can keep it up.

Thanks for stopping by.

Stay safe and hugs

Kimx

Very Basic Zendoodle

 Evening All,

I hope that you have had a good weekend, I have had great fun making up a crafty package for each of the ladies that usually come to my classes. They are all missing our get togethers, so I decided to put a couple of bits together for them as a kind of homework package that we can then share on a zoom session in a couple of weeks time. Of course my homework is to come up with some samples to share with them, so that's my Sunday sorted lol.

I do love doodling, or at least I love what other people come up with when they doodle. I'm afraid that my efforts are very much more basic.

I do like adding a border, as you can see in these cards, 

but that is just about as adventurous as I get I'm afraid.

Of course all the hard work is done for you with this fabulous leaf stamp from Stampendous. And then there are those borders again, easy to do but they add something I think.

And just before you think that I can drawer anything other than borders, all of the images are stamped and embossed!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Wishing You a Blue Christmas

 Evening All,

Having bombarded you with a very picture heavy post yesterday, I thought that I would give you a break and share just one Christmas card with you tonight.

I have used a beautifully fine detailed Christmas Tree stamp from Magnolia that I bought at SirStampalot. It seems absolutely ages ago now.

I stamped and white embossed the tree onto a piece of blue mop up background and then die cut it with a circle die. I painted some of the baubles with bleach to remove some colour and also added some extra blue to other baubles.

I had stamped the image too far to the edge of the card to be able to cut a complete circle all the way round, so I decided to make a feature of it. It's never a mistake, it's always an opportunity as the lovely Julie Hickey taught me.

Finally I mounted the panel onto a piece of black card stock that has been dry embossed using an embossing folder. I also added some silver glitter kiss to highlight the sentiments on the embossing folder.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope that you have a wonderful weekend.

Stay safe and craft.

Hugs Kimx

Happy Birthday cards, and lots of them!

 Afternoon Everyone,

Just been for a lovely walk. It was a bit muddy underfoot in places, but I wish that I hadn't worn my thick coat as I was really hot and sweaty by the time I got home lol.

I have so many cards made that I try to share more than one at a time which is what I used to do when I first started blogging. If I did I would never need to make another card, and that isn't likely to happen any time soon.

I put a box together for my Mum usually as a Christmas or birthday present, or even Mother's day. What else do you give a lovely lady that is 90? Of course I didn't get to see her over Christmas due to me having Covid, so I will have to get my Granddaughter to drop them over to her.

So here are a few of the birthday cards that I popped in her box. I have even started to put the correct postage stamp on the envelope to save her the trouble of having to get hold of them. It seems only fair to finish the present off properly.

I'm sure that I will share a few more with you at some point, but I think that is enough for today before I bore you all to tears.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Always know that we care.

 Afternoon,

I do hate it when my day starts with me chasing my tail due to the incompetence of others, but then I think of the sympathy cards that I have had to make and send just recently, and it kind of puts it all into perspective.

Unfortunately two of my colleagues have recently lost a parent, so I have had to make a couple of those cards that we all hate.

I used a large background stamp and some die cuts for this card.

This card could be used, perhaps with the addition of a sentiment.

Of course a sympathy card doesn't have to be black and white. A splash of colour can still show that you are thinking of someone at a difficult time.

Alcohol inks and an embossing folder here.

And of course a few little words are one way of showing that we care.

I have had my little brain boosting session for today, aka a granny nap, so I must get on with a pile of die cutting that is staring at my from my desk.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope that you have had a great day.

Stay safe and hugs

Kimx

Oh Christmas Tree

 Evening All,

It's been another cold one today, and I am pleased to see that it is now official that I can take an afternoon nap because it boosts my brain power, according to yet another survey!

It may be a Chinese survey, but I'll take it if I can justify a little bit of shut eye to boost my mental agility lol.

My cards tonight are in keeping with the cold weather. They are Christmas cards made using one of Jane Gill's fabulous Christmas stamps. JGS679 - Leafy Tree.

The bright multicoloured background on to which I have stamped and embossed the tree was created using alcohol inks.

I added the inks to yupo paper and then stamped and embossed the image carefully on to it and then fussy cut it out.

The tree on this card was created in the same manner and this time layered over a stamped and embossed garland.

This final card was made by inking the clean tree stamp with the alcohol lift ink pad and stamping it onto the yupo paper covered with alcohol inks.

The stamp picks up the colour from the yupo paper which is then transfered to a piece of white card stock. I clear embossed this image and sponged it with green ink, but it didn't show up as well as I would have liked so I drew round it with a black micron pen.

Time for bed now. Thanks for stopping by.

Stay safe and hugs

Kimx

Jean's Flowers

Evening Everyone,

I hope that you have had a productive day. I chickened out of a walk this afternoon in favour of some crafty playtime. A no brainer really......walk in the cold and maybe slip over or sit in the warm and play!!!

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One of my all-time favourite Hobby Art stamps has to be this floral stamp.

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It was taken from a painting done by the Mum of my good friend Anna.

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My stamp is an original wood mounted rubber stamp, but it is now available as part of a clear stamp set CS207D Jean's Flowers which also contains several of Jeans other fabulous painting inspired designs.

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We all like to get good value for money, so we want designs that can be used in a variety of different ways.

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With this in mind I have held several 'With One Stamp' classes over the years and this is definitely a favourite stamp to use.

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There are so many different cards that you can make,

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So here are just a few to get you started.

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Some use hand made backgrounds and inks

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Others are die cut or torn from a panel.

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Some use several images,

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while others only use part of one.

I will write a brief list of the techniques involved on each card just to give you some ideas.

1. Bleeding Art Tissue background panel. Images painted with bleach.
2. Spotlight panel of bleeding Art Tissue. Background stamping uses the damp tissue as an ink pad.
3. Bleeding Art Tissue background and Spotlight created from a panel die cut from Card 4.
4. Window Card. Image painted with inks. Die cut window used on Card 3.
5. Background panel created with Pixie Powders and cling film.
6. Stamped and Embossed image sponged with Distress Inks. Image painted with water and blotted with kitchen paper to remove ink.
7. Same as Card 7.
8. Stamped and embossed image painted with ink. Images on main card painted with Pearlex.
9. Torn hand made background panel, image painted with inks. Multiple Resist background.
10. Masterboard panel layered onto a piece of scrunched kraft card.
11. Mop up background panel with stamped and embossed floral image painted with inks.

I hope that this helps, but you can always message me if you need any more detailed info on how I have created a specific card.

Don't forget to check out Hobby Art. They have some amazing designs and a fabulous gallery of cards to inspire you.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Sam Poole Wildflowers

 Evening Everyone,

I've come to the end of my babysitting duties for another fortnight, which even finished with being brought home so that I didn't have to brave the cold. How thoughtful is that!

So here are another couple of cards that I made for Sam Poole's TV shows on Saturday. 

This time I focused on one of the fabulous rubber background stamps that form part of the collection CER022 - Wildflowers.

I inked the stamp using Cosmic Shimmer Chalk Cloud Blending Ink in pink and blue and spritzed it with water before stamping it onto watercolour cardstock. I used a stamping platform so that once dry I could stamp and emboss over the watery image using a grey ink pad.

I used the same pink and blue ink to colour in some of the flowers on the stamped panel. I also fussy cut three flowers from another stamped and embossed panel and added them in the bottom corner of the card along with some die cut foliage.

There was some ink left on the background stamp after stamping the first card so I added a little more water and then stamped it out to create this piece of background.

I stamped and embossed some of the botanical images from CEC958 Nature Finds and mounted the trimmed panel on to some blue cardstock.

I used the Rustic Honeycomb die in the background of the card, cut from blue cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by.

stay safe and hugs

Kimx