A Little Birdy Told Me.......

Evening,

One of the problems with becoming a pensioner, is that those people that have looked after you for most of your life, like your doctor, dentist and optician, have become old too.

My optician has finally retired. He has looked after me since I was 12, so I suppose it was bound to happen lol. He was also very proud of the fact that he had looked after the eye health of my Grandparents, Mother, Sister, Children and Grandchildren. Five generations of us, I bet that's not something that many people can boast about.

It seemed only fitting that we sent a card, so my sister chose this one from my stash.

I used a fabulous Clarity die along with some extra die cut foliage,

and backgrounds created using my Gelli Plate.

I suppose that means that I will now have to find someone new. I do so hate change. Thankfully I only recently had my eyes tested, so I will worry about that problem at a later date.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love and Crafty Hugs

Kimx

Cards for Men

Afternoon,

What a lovely day it has been today, for the first time in weeks I actually managed to get washing out on the line..........without making it rain!!

I don't know about you, but there are some months when most of the cards I need to send are for men, and February seems to be one of those.

Now I know that a lot of men are gardeners and therefore like flowers, but I do think they want something a little less feminine than a lot of my floral cards turn out to be.

I went through my boxes of cards and found several that I think are more particularly suited to the men of our acquaintance.

A bit of mop up background, a die cut border and some leaves.

More mop up here along with some fussy cut leaves and coloured berries.

I used the same leaf that I die cut in black to create the stamped background. Dies have so many fabulous uses.

A beautiful stamped image and some fussy cutting.

Stamping with bleach and metallic embossing powders.

And this card made more years ago than I care to remember, but one that I have always loved.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love and Crafty Hugs

Kimx

A Floral Thanks

Evening,

I don't know what it's like in your neck of the woods, but the fields around here are looking more like lakes!!

I do love stamp sets that come with co-ordinating stencils and dies.

This set is from Pink Fresh Studio and is one of my purchases from my last visit to Sir Stampalot, way back in March.

The background was created using my trusty Gelli Plate, inks and bubble wrap.

I used up the leftover stamped, coloured and die cut flowers on this second card. I am trying very hard not to have loads of leftover bits and pieces. 

It doesn't always work, but on this occasion they co-ordinated rather nicely with a piece of background that I had amongst my stash of bits and pieces.

This time I used a large Birthday greeting and a kraft card base.

Thanks for stopping by,

Love and Crafty Hugs

Kimx
 

A Birthday Commission

Evening,

One of my crafty jobs before Christmas was to make a birthday card for my Boss's daughter. 

I make her a card every year, and so this time I decided to use a piece of background made using my Gelli Plate and acrylic paint.

I added some extra distress inks to the trimmed panel and created a fine white matt and layer.

The decoupaged floral image is from a Crafters Companion paper stack and die set. I saw them on Create and Craft right at the beginning of the initial Covid lockdown and just had to have them.

There are several different designs which create stunning decoupaged panels. I added some black die cut pieces using dies from AAll and Create.

The decoupage dies add embossed detail and texture to each of the floral layers.

Boss always likes his daughters name added to her card, after all it makes it all the more special, and is impossible for him to find in your average card shop.

That is the beauty of making cards for people, you can personalize them. I also like to add a few gems and some glossy accents.

Thanks for stopping by today.

I hope that you have had a great crafty Saturday.

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

Bubble Christmas Tree

Evening All,

There is thunder rumbling around at the moment, and it is threatening to pour with rain, so I guess a couple more Christmas cards wouldn't be too out of place lol.

As you know I have been playing with Jane's latest Bubble stamps recently, so here are a couple of cards made several years ago with one of her older designs.

I used a dotty embossing folder with the stamped and embossed panel,

along with some glossy accents to highlight the snowflake bubbles.

This is the same stamp used with white embossing powder and a handmade background made using a Gelli Plate, inks and a piece of bubble wrap.

I used tiny silver gems at the center of each of the snowflakes.

Better get to bed before the littlies wake up again. It looks like the bad weather is set to continue for the duration of my stay, so we might have to get a little bit creative over getting them to expend some energy................or maybe just get the welly boots and raincoats out.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

It's the Gelli Plate this time

Evening All,

So after yesterdays Bleach, another firm favourite today.......the Gelli Plate.

The Littlest Grandchildren love to watch Jennifer McGuire with me on YouTube. In fact we were watching her use the Gelli Plate last time I was babysitting a fortnight ago.

Emma thought that it was 'AMAZING', and was thrilled when I told her that we could play with all the same things when I am babysitting this weekend.

I have packed up a 'crafty' box and am looking forward to playtime tomorrow and Sunday. I am sure that even Chloe and Jack will be able to play and have fun with the Gelli Plate, inks and brayers.

So here are just a couple of cards that I made using prints pulled from the Gelli Plate, along with stamps and sentiments.

I figured that I could add a sentiment to this one once I decided what occasion I am using it for.

My little 'sleepover buddy' is moaning about the light being on, so I guess I had better finish for today.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs 

Kimx

Lino Cut Birch Trees

Evening All
I do love it when a stamp set can be used all year round not just for Christmas.

This card was made using one of Jane's designs Lino Cut Birch Trees which was part of a Christmas release a couple of years ago.

I think that you will agree that it works every bit as well for a birthday card, in fact if I am honest that is what I would use it for.

The backgrounds were made using inks, pixie powders and a Gelli Plate.

Here I just used torn paper masks and inks to create my landscape.
Thanks for stopping by.
Stay safe and hugs
Kimx

Oyster Catchers

Evening Everyone,
Just a quick post tonight, I absolutely shattered, and very glad that it is Friday.
I really should get my Fitbit up and running again....I must have walked miles today at the tills, and no means of checking how far lol.

A little taste of the seaside tonight with these lovely little oyster catchers, as designed by Jane Gill.

I used a Gelli Plate to create the background and then used my circle dies and did a little fussy cutting.
Off to bed now for some well earned shut eye.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs Kimx

Happy Birthday Megan

Morning Everyone,
It's amazing what I forgot I had, in my not inconsiderable stash.
I was reminded of this on Wednesday when I was watching Gordon from beCreative  demoing on Create and Craft.

Today is a very special young ladies 20th Birthday.

Now I knew what image I was going to use for her card a long time ago.

Megan is not a 'flowery' Girl, as I was reminded last year, when a conversation with her prompted a very last minute change of plans for her card. So as soon as I saw this image from LOTV I knew that it was perfect, down to the long hair, and tiny waist lol.

Finding the image was fine, but how was I going to turn her in to a card, and that's when I remembered the stunning butterfly background stamp.

I created a piece of background paper using my Gelli Plate, Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink and  Dots and Spots Grunge background stamp from Clarity.

I stamped the 7x7 Butterfly Splash Background onto this using a combination of Hickory Smoke and Black Soot DO inks. This is where a Stamp Platform of some description comes in very handy. It enables you to stamp the image using a variety of colours, one at a time.

I embossed the stamped image with a combination of gold and platinum embossing powders.

Some sentiments completed the card.

I had a strip of the gelli plate background left over so I stamped the Butterfly background onto it and embossed it using a combination of platinum, gold and silver embossing powders.

I stamped the Butterflies again onto a piece of mixed media card using a combination of Hickory Smoke and Black Soot Distress Oxide inks and embossed with clear powder.

I matte and layered both the strip and main panel onto black card and then placed the thin panel directly over the main image, making sure to line them up.

Sentiments matte and layered on black and then added using silicon gel complete this second card.
It will be a strange birthday celebration today. It is also my Mum and Dad's wedding Anniversary. It would have been 70 years this year and of course I won't be able to visit her.
Megan was actually born the morning of their Golden Anniversary and attended their party at a few hours old. She's been a bit of a party girl ever since lol.
Have a great day, stay safe and craft.
Happy hugs
Kimx