Back in the Zone

Evening,

Finally a successfully crafty day. I have been distracting myself with my cross stitch over the last few days, in the hope that following a pattern that I have chosen and love, will get my creative juices working. But with a deadline looming I have had to just sit and play, and I have finally got in to the zone.

Of course I can't share any of it with you, so here instead are another couple of cards made using fabulous Aall and Create stamps and Distress Oxide inks.

I do love a mop up background, they are always so different.

I have to admit though that sometimes it is a bit of stamping that turns them from something that I am really not sure about, into something that I absolutely love, and a bit of painting with bleach never hurts.

Another fabulous way to use Distress inks and Oxides is with this rather wet and wispy Watercolour stamping technique.

It is so much easier to achieve if you use a Misti or Stamping Platform of some type as the technique  requires that you re-stamp over the image once you have first stamped onto the wet card with your Distress inks.

Now I just need tomorrow to be as successful as today and I'll be a happy bunny.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love and Crafty Hugs

Kimx

Large Background Dies

Afternoon,

Larger Background Dies are so useful.

One pass through a die cutting machine and you have an instant card base

when placed over a piece of handmade background paper. I also added a die cut sentiment across the card.

The same background to this card only I covered the whole thing with Crystal Embossing Powder after I had splattered the inked panel with a little water.

It is amazing how long ink stays wet when it is blended onto a piece of cardstock,

and any embossing powder will give it a bit of a shine.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love and Crafty Hugs

Kimx

Challenge in a Box

Evening,

Every now and then a new 'Challenge' arrives on my doorstep from the wonderful Janice and Andy at SirStampalot. I came home today to find one waiting for me. It is always such fun to open and root through all the fabulous goodies inside and get it always gets my creative juices flowing.

Tonights card was created from one such box of goodies.

The box contained background papers, a stamp set and matching dies.....among other things.

I used the die to cut the black flowers and then added a few of the tiny stamped flowers to the square panels. 

I am always allowed free rein to add any extra bits and pieces that I choose, although I try to use items from Creative Expressions which are easy for them to get hold of. Here I added stamped sentiments from a set designed by Jane Gill.

So you can see what I will be up to over the next couple of weeks. :O)

Thanks for stopping by.

Love and crafty hugs 

Kimx

Hello Sweet Fiend, Let's Celebrate

Afternoon,

Another trip out for me today. I've just spent a lovely couple of hours sitting in the local Wetherspoons.  Before you start to worry that I've turned to drink, I was nursing a very nice cup of coffee lol. It was the monthly get together of a Carers group that I belong to. A much-needed chance to chat with other people that know exactly what you are going through when caring for someone.

Here are a couple of cards made a while ago for the lovely Janice at SirStampalot.

I used the framed background die and an embossing mat to create the background to this card. I then used my ink blending brushes to add colour to the resulting piece of embossed card stock.

I die cut the frame from black cardstock and stuck it over the coloured and embossed panel using wet glue. I used some floral elements and sentiments to embellish the finished card. 

I used the frame die again for this second card. I used white cardstock and an embossing mat to create the background and then cleaned my brushes on the embossing to give a soft finish to the panel.

I added a fine black line around the embossing with a micron pen.

Once again, a couple of floral embellishments

along with a die cut sentiment and a little bit of bling.

No galivanting tomorrow, unless you count a trip to the local co-op for some milk lol. I certainly don't want to go anywhere at the moment, it's p...ing down!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Love and Crafty Hugs

Kimx

Celebrate the Sunshine

Evening,

I had a wonderful weekend with the 'Littlies'. It was so nice to hear them out in the garden in the sunshine. I managed to get a bit of weeding done before the weeds get too big and strangle all the plants. Why is it that weeds seem so easy to grow, whatever the weather, but we have to be so careful with anything pretty that we plant. 

Thankfully I know enough about gardening to know that it was too early to plant anything despite the beautiful sunshine. I got an early lift home as reward for all my efforts, and there was a heck of a frost when we left. It would definitely have killed off anything fragile.

Here is a card that I made recently after our class on Altenew Stamps, Dies and Matching Stencils.

I do love these stamps, and they are so much quicker and easier to colour now that they have matching stencils.

This set also has coordinating dies which makes it even easier. I do like easy.

I layered the die cut and coloured floral images over a couple of plain stamped and embossed ones.

I used the stencil on a square of cream card and cleaned my brush though it to give a lovely subtle background.

Finishing touches, a few pearls and a die cut sentiment, stacked and covered in glossy accents.

Back to work tomorrow, so I had better get an early night.

Thanks for stopping by.

Crafty hugs

Kimx

Thanks Auntie Weena

Evening,

I had to put all card making and quick thinking skills to work this afternoon, when Emma announced that she needed two birthday cards for the party that she was going to.............in 15minutes time!!!!

Thank goodness for a drawer full of Kanban and other assorted die cut goodies which Davina has given the kids over the years. 'Auntie Weena', as the kids loving refer to her, is often having a clear out of bits and pieces that she thinks the kids might like to craft with, and they certainly came in to their own today.

Stupidly, in my haste to put something together, I didn't take photos, but Emma was pleased so that is all that matters.

This card is probably the nearest I have to a quick and easy card from my picture stash.

An embossed background with a bit of ink,

a few die cut bits and pieces from my stash and some pearls. Definitely quick and easy.

The kids have another couple of parties to go to soon, so I think that we had better see if we can put a few cards together tomorrow so that we are ahead of the game.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Celebrate with Flowers

Evening,

I've had my thinking cap on today in preparation for the arrival of my SirStampalot parcel. So while I'm waiting here are another couple of cards that I made for them last year.

I do love my dies, in fact I probably buy more of them now than stamps. 

Quite a change from a few years ago. Apart from anything else they are so much cheaper now than then.

I used coloured paper for the die cut flowers and an embossing folder for the background.

Let's hope that these pretty little flowers make us think of warmer weather to come.

It may have been bright and sunny today, but it has also been bitter cold and windy.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hope you have a great evening. I'm off to bed I didn't manage much sleep last night for some reason so I need to catch up a little.

Hugs Kimx
 

Gelli Plate and Rub-ons

Evening,

I hope that you have had a nice relaxing Sunday.

I was pleased to see on Friday that I hadn't put Janice from Sirstampalot off playing with her Gelli Plate after our little zoom session earlier last year.

I had used it on the background of a couple of cards that I had made for her, 

and she asked me to run through what I had done, which was obviously much easier over Zoom.

These are the cards that I made her using the Gelli plate, bubble wrap and paints for the backgrounds,

along with some die cut sentiments 

and some fabulous rub-ons.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

A Day To Celebrate

Evening,

Today is my Sin-in-Law's birthday, and this is the card that I sent him.

The background was created using a stencil, paste and spray inks.

I added a stamped and gold embossed sentiment

along with a coordinating stacked die cut.

I added a pile of die cut leaves to the bottom of the card for added dimension.

I'm hoping that he has had a stress free day at work, but I think that might be wishful thinking.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx
 

Chalked Florals

Evening,

I hope that you have had a lovely weekend. Mine has been a nice crafty one, with classes on Saturday, and then finishing off bits and pieces from previous projects. I still have loads to wade through, but at least I've made a start.

So if I am ever going to catch back up with all the cards that I need to share with you, I had better get a move on.

Probably one of my all time favourite classes involves Decorators Chalks,

and nothing works better with them than these fabulous solid image stamps from Hero Arts.

Very old, and wood mounted, but I just love the panels that you can create with them.

Some, like this one have a stamp with the postitive image available, as well as the negative square.

As you can see I like to use the two images together before adding them to my cards.

I also like to add a stamped and chalked border.

This can also be done using a torn paper mask and some peel-offs.

Well that's a few removed from the huge pile of cards under the bed lol. Let's see if I can share a few more tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx