Always and Forever

Evening All,

OMG how can it possibly be March tomorrow? I had another successful day of crafting, and even managed a walk around the park, and then I turned the page on my birthday planner and...............oh boy loads of birthdays in March, several of which require a special card to be made. So guess what I will be doing after work tomorrow lol.

In the mean time here are a couple of the cards that I finished off this weekend using dry embossed card stock.

I have been trying to use up bits and pieces, but one thing leads to another and before you know where you are you have a few more bits that need to be finished off. 

I needed some small hearts for a few of the cards using the 3D embossing folders, so having cut them out using this fabulous heart die, I decided that I would use the large hearts up for a couple of cards that could be used for anniversaries that may be coming up.

I've been through my bits box again so I have some pieces ready to be turned into cards tomorrow. I really need to get a stash of cards for 'Little People' ready because they are always the ones that catch me out.

Thanks for stopping by.

Stay safe and hugs 

Kimx

Designer Boutique Dragonfly Delight Steps

Evening Everyone,

I hope that you have had a good day. I have had a very successful one finishing off a load of bits and pieces. For now I'm sharing a card that I made for Creative Expressions, using one of the fabulous new stamps from Designer Boutique which have just launched.

I helped them out with some steps for this card, so I thought that I would share them with you here.

You will need:

Creative Expressions Designer Boutique Dragonfly Delight UMSDB045

Creative Expressions Sue Wilson Noble Double Pierced Ovals CED5516

Cosmic Shimmer Airless Mister Amber Lights CSAMLIGHT

Cosmic Shimmer Airless Mister Flirty Pink CSAMPINK

Cosmic Shimmer Airless Mister Poppy Parade CSAMPOPPY

Cosmic Shimmer Airless Mister Blackberry Bliss CSAMBLISS

Creative Expressions Foundations Card Coconut White 40980

Cosmic Shimmer Detail Embossing Powder Black CSDEPBLK

Ranger Perfect Medium PERPADCL

Creative Expressions Mounting Foam CEMOUNT

Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue CSGLUE

Hole punch

Anti static bag

Ruler

Black pen such as a Sakura Pigma Micron pen

Cling film

Thin undiluted bleach

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1: Cut in half 1 sheet of coconut white card A4 and score one piece in half to create the card blank

Step 2: Take the other piece of coconut white card and spray it with airless misters. Once finished, add cling film to the surface and leave it to dry for several hours/overnight. Remove the cling film once dry.

Step 3: Wipe your card front with an anti-static bag and stamp the dragonfly stamp using perfect medium ink pad.

Step 4: Cover the stamped image with black embossing powder and heat emboss

Step 5: Repeat steps 3&4 on the pre-coloured sheet you created using airless misters.

Step 6: Using Double Pierced Oval die of a chosen size, die cut section of the dragonfly from your pre-coloured sheet and glue it over the same pre-stamped design on your card blank, so that both images match.

Step 7: Use a small amount of bleach and a fine blush to lift some colour out of the flowers and wings of the dragonfly.

Step 8: Draw a decorative border using a ruler around the design, avoiding going over the stamped image

Step 9: Hole punch selected areas of the design left on the pre-coloured sheet. Shape them on a foam pad/mouse mat using a shaping tool. Use foam tape or mounting cushion cut to the size to adhere the domed circles to the card on opposite sides of the dragonfly.

I do love to make inky backgrounds and the airless misters are fabulous for this.

I used scrunched up cling film over the wet inks which leaves a lovely frosty pattern in it.

They also react beautifully with bleach which is what I used to paint the daffodils and dragonfly.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope that you find the instructions useful.

Hugs Kimx

A Little Ray of Sunshine

Evening All,

Well that was a drop in the temperature last night, we woke up to quite a frost. I suppose that it is still February, but we get spoilt with a few warm days, and we start to think that it is the summer lol.

Here is a nice bright card for you, to go with the nice sunny day that today turned into in the end

I've used white embossing powder and distress inks for the background with a little water to take the colour out of some of the flowers.

I added the panel to a card blank and then layered some die cut frames over the top.

I stamped and embossed a couple of the flowers and coloured and fussy cut them before adding them to the card along with some die cut foliage.

Let's hope that tomorrow turns out to be as nice as today. It's amazing how much more you get done when a bit of sunshine appears.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx
 

3D Embossing Folder sent with Love

Evening Everyone,

I got my Covid vaccination letter today, so now I just have to try and get an appointment somewhere closer to me than the middle of London!!

I've been playing with some 3D embossing folders this afternoon, I love them.

They are so detailed now that they can easily be used as the main focus on a card.

I used a Sheena folder to emboss a piece of white cardstock and added it to a card along with an embossed panel of kraft card across the bottom of the card.

I also added some ribbon and a sentiment from my stash.

I'm going to play some more tomorrow. I got a bit carried away with the embossing folders, and I don't want to add a load more pieces to my bits box. Besides I just looked at my planner for March and there are LOADS of birthdays!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

With One Colour......Well Nearly

Evening All,

One of the things that I did manage to do yesterday is put inserts in about 60 cards, mostly Christmas ones. I'm afraid that I'm lazy when it comes to completely finishing off a card. I pop it in a poly bag and add it to the other cards in a box waiting to be blogged, and it's not until that has happened that they get put in a drawer ready to be used. I know it sounds a bit long winded but it's how my OCD works I'm afraid. 

Of course before they can make that final journey into the drawer they need to be completely finished  with an envelope, sometimes hand made, and an insert. These are the bits that take the time, and are the bits that I like the least so they tend to get left until I can't fit anything else in the 'to be finished' box.

It did take a while, but was actually quite satisfying when I got down to it, and of course now I can start the whole process off all over again lol.

My friend Gill has suggested colouring with one colour on her Way To Go Wednesday page on Facebook.

So I spent a fun afternoon making these.

The holly branch was stamped with the new Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide colour, and then I used a waterbrush to 'pull' the colour into the image. I guess I cheated because I did add a little red to the berries along with a few red gems and a gold glitter die cut sentiment.

There was way too much ink left on the mat to waste, so I made this second card out of the piece of mop up background.

This time I stamped and embossed the holly image before colouring it with more of the ink.

Of course I did have a look through my numerous 'bits boxes' just to see if there was anything that I could use instead of starting something new.

I found this lovely corner image that I had coloured a while ago, but decided that there were too many different colours in it for the challenge but I finished it off anyway.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Sharing Our Homework

Evening All,

Today we had our Zoom session to share the crafty homework that I set a few weeks ago to the Girls that usually come to my Saturday classes.

It's amazing how many different ideas they all came up with, all of them so different. For some reason I couldn't get the camera on my laptop to work, so I could see what they had done, but they couldn't see my handiwork. Probably just as well since I had only managed to finish one card other than the one I made for my Boss's daughter which I shared with you HERE.

This was my effort, although I have lots of other pieces to finish off.

I sent them all a package containing an assortment of the above pieces. They didn't all get the same things, apart from the checked paper, so it was great to see what they did with them.

They were able to add anything else that they wanted to their cards.

I added several pieces of ribbon to this card along with some ink to the embossing folder, and I still have several of the smaller decoupaged flowers from this arrangement to turn into another card.

BTW this was the card that I made for my Boss's daughter.

Perhaps I had better do some more homework before my next DT parcel arrives from Creative Expressions.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Floral Zendoodle

Evening Everyone,

Where did all the nice weather go to, it's been dull, overcast and wet today, so different from yesterday.

It didn't stop us going out for a walk, asked for by the kids I may add. Unfortunately there weren't any puddles for them to splash in but they still enjoyed themselves counting all the dogs that were out for their walks, and looking at all the birds and flowers. They love to be outside.

Here are a couple of floral cards that I made a while ago during a Zendoodle class.

I stamped and embossed the image onto a piece of mop up background and then added some colour and a little doodling.

This card uses the same image on a watercolour background created using an embossing folder.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

She reminds me of Alice in Wonderland

 Evening All,

It's been another glorious day here, warm enough to go out for a walk without our coats this afternoon.

We went and met Mum from work again today, and the Girls were looking at all the spring flowers that we could see and were asking what they were all called. Quite a test of my knowledge, not that they would know if I got them wrong of course.

This lovely stamp from Paper Panda rather remind me of Alice in Wonderland,

and put me in mind of our nature walk today.

Another thing that they all enjoyed doing was watching Jennifer McGuire on Youtube. They sat on the bed with me this morning to watch on my computer, and then asked for it on the TV when we went downstairs. Definitely budding crafters in the making.

Emma has already made a list of the things for me to bring next time so that we can have fun with a gelli plate after she watched a couple of Jennifer's clips. I am looking forward to that and I think that she and Chloe will have a great time. I expect that even Jack will want to get in on the act as well.

I think the fresh air and sunshine did them the world of good today as they were all sound asleep pretty quickly. Mum however was less than impressed by all the people who came in to work and reminded her of how nice it was outside!!!
Let's hope that it continues with the nice weather tomorrow, we could certainly do with it to make us all feel better.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

A Culinary Expert

Evening All,

It's been another lovely day today, bright and sunny, if a little bit windy.

It's my weekend to look after the Littlies so that Mummy can go to work, so we made the most of the sunshine. We walked her to work and then played in the park. They had a whale of a time running around while I sat with a well earned coffee.

I promised the Girls that we would make soup for lunch so we bought all the ingredients and then Emma helped me prepare all the vegetables. She peeled all the carrots

and then put all the chopped up veg into the soup maker.

Chloe helped make the crusty bread with 'stinky cheese' or pate, both of which are firm favourites with the kids. They have very grown up taste buds lol.

I'm afraid that it was all too much for Jack and we found him sound asleep on the sofa while all the culinary endeavors were taking place. The fresh air had obviously done him in.

We did have a minor trauma this morning, thankfully before Mummy had to go to work. 

Emma has had a couple of wobbly teeth for a while and one of them came out. Or at least it nearly did. She decided to try and pull a couple of pieces of lego apart with her teeth and left one hanging by a thread. There was much blood and screaming but Mummy to the rescue and the tooth came away as she wiped her mouth with a tissue. I'm sooooooo glad that Mummy was around to deal with that. Funnily enough she had done exactly the same thing when she was little. 

Emma like to taunt me with her wobbly teeth which turns my stomach, so I'm not sure how well I would have coped. Although I did rescue them from a spider that was walking across the kitchen floor when we got home which was very brave of me..........all my family will tell you about how really bad I am with spiders.

They are all safely tucked up in bed now after movie night, and Emma has left her tooth ready for the Tooth Fairy.

We are going to build a camp tomorrow and then maybe take their bikes for a ride before we meet Mummy from work.................weather dependent of course.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Happy Birthday Janice

Evening Everyone,

Let's have some cards today to celebrate the birthday of a good friend.......Janice.

Janice and Andy run Sirstampalot in Peterboro, and under normal circumstances I would be looking forward to spending a week with this lovely couple in March.

I don't do holidays, but a week playing in their craft shop is my idea of heaven, although I'm not sure that my bank balance enjoys it that much lol. Still when you think how much a holiday costs, at least I come home with something to show for my time away other than just a few photos and some lovely memories....... I also come home with toys.

I usually teach a few classes while I am there so I get to meet up with lots of crafty people as well as a few old mates who always come along to say Hi.

One of the classes that I taught last time I was there involved alcohol inks and the amazing Alcohol Lift ink pad.

I love this technique. Quite apart from anything else it gives me an excuse to make backgrounds and it also involves a 'Twofer'. Two cards for the price of one.

You may wonder why I am sharing Christmas cards on Janice's birthday in February? Well it is because that is what we were making last time I was there in November 2019!!!!! How long ago???

As you can see I am rather partial to this fabulous Penny Black Poinsettia stamp which was one of those toys that I brought home.

There is so much detail to the stamp which you only really notice when you stamp it out. Here I have stamped it in black on linen card stock which adds even more detail.

I was actually amazed at just how much detail because when you look at the rubber it looks like it is going to be a rather solid image. I loved the shape and design of the poinsettia, but liked it even more when I used it......if that makes any sense at all.

In order to use the Alcohol Lift ink pad and get your Twofers you need an inky alcohol background on something non porous. Yupo paper works best for this as the colours move better, and best of all you can clean it off with blending solution and start again if you don't like what you have made.

I created my background on yupo and then used this to create several of the stamped pieces which I turned in to the cards above.

Another thing that you can do to the alcohol inky background is add a little foil before the alcohol inks dry completely.

I really liked this panel and didn't want to hide any of it so I tried to stamp and emboss a sentiment in the center of the poinsettia. Spoiler alert..................yupo doesn't take too kindly to heat!!

As you can see it rather shriveled up a little but was still far too nice to throw away, so I added my sentiment on a panel attached using silicon glue. 

I obviously should have done this in the first place, but you don't know what will happen until you try, and at least now I know that I have to be much more cautious if I want to heat Yupo paper. And as my friend Julie Hickey always taught me......It is never a mistake it is always an opportunity.

I hope that Janice has had a wonderful birthday, and that she will forgive all these reminders of Christmas.

Stay safe and have a crafty weekend.

Hugs Kimx

I'm Thinking of You.

 Evening Everyone

What a gloriously sunny afternoon it turned out to be. Despite torrential rain this morning I even finally managed a walk this afternoon, and best of all it wasn't too muddy.

Unfortunately I have another sympathy card to send. I have sent far too many of these just lately. And this is yet another card for the same family, which is so sad.

This first card is made using an alcohol inked background and some acetate, which makes decent pictures almost impossible.

I really must play with my alcohol inks again, they make the most amazing backgrounds which is one of my favourite things to do. The only trouble is that you can get quite carried away and end up with a stack of bits and pieces just waiting to be used. Perhaps I should use up some of my stash before I start making more, but that's not nearly so much fun.

One problem with alcohol ink backgrounds is that they are quite busy and so stamped images can get 'lost'. I have also dry embossed this particular panel with a dotty folder which makes stamping on it impossible so I have added my stamped image on a piece of acetate fixed in place with tiny brads.

This next card was made using good old Cats Eye pigment ink pads to ink up the stamp with multiple colours.

Pigment inks stay wet for a lot longer which means that I was able to clear emboss the stamped image. I die cut the image and added some pale ink to the background with the die still in place which creates a thin white frame.

This final card uses a piece of mop up background and a white embossed image. 

I used the same die cutting and blending technique here to darken the mop up background.

I added some black gems to the flower centers and a chopped up sentiment edged in black.

I would love to think that these will be the last of these type of cards that I will send this year, but I fear that that would be wishful thinking.

Thank you for stopping by, and have a great evening.

Stay safe and hugs

Kimx