Sometimes the Smallest Things.........

Evening,

What an appropriate sentiment on my card tonight.

I have just spent the most enjoyable evening babysitting the Littlest Grandchildren. Jack was sound asleep, but the Girls and I watched Frozen. We haven't seen it in ages, so it made a lovely change.

This is a very simple card, but the sentiment says it all.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love and Crafty Hugs

Kimx

Thank You for Letting Me Join In

Evening,

I spent a very enjoyable morning with an old friend, and lots of new ones at 'Stitch and Bitch', a Wednesday morning get together to stitch, drink tea and coffee, and bitch (talk) for England.

Having recently moved in with my Mum, I met up with an old friend who suggested that I join the group in the New Year, and I have been looking forward to it ever since. It is seen as an opportunity to take any stitching or knitting project along and work on it uninterrupted by life while in the company of good friends. It's a fabulous idea and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I am already looking forward to next week lol.

I rarely do stitching on cards, and I haven't taken any pictures of what I managed to get done today, so here is a Thank You card instead. It's got ribbon on it. Does that count?

The background is created with a Multiple Resist technique with a stamped and embossed image over it.

I painted the flowers with bleach and then wrapped the panel with a piece of ribbon. The sentiment is a Peel-off.

Here is another Thank You card using diecuts on an alcohol inked background.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love and Crafty Hugs

Kimx

Three of a Kind

Evening,

I back home safe and sound, and laptop all charged up. 

I recently had to replace the charger when the laptop slipped off the sofa and landed on the charger while it was plugged in, so I think that I might order one that I can leave with the Grandchildren for when I go to stay. I have a couple of drawers in a cupboard where I keep a set of toiletries, underwear and pyjamas to save me having to bring them with me each time, so I think that it would make sense to add a charger into the mix lol.

As I've told you before, when making samples I often have no idea of what I'm going to make. Sometimes I try out an idea or technique in several colours before deciding on which card I will send to Creative Expressions.

I coloured the ribbon with ink to match the stamping, but it was a little messy when placed at the top of the card,

so I decided to remake the card.

Of course it ended up very slightly different to the first one. I also added a strip of the embossed card over the top of the ribbon on the first card to help hide the mess.

The stamped panel on all of the cards have been created using a Misti or Stamping Platform.

Ink the stamp with Distress Inks (or similar) and spritz with water before stamping on to watercolour card stock. The colours will bleed, particularly if you lightly spritz the card stock first.

Clean the stamp, dry the cardstock, and then restamp the image using Versafine Clair ink. By leaving the stamp on the Misti/Stamping Platform in between inking, the image looks as if it has been watercoloured with minimum effort.

Of course you can always add more colour to parts of the image with a paintbrush.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love and Crafty Hugs

Kimx

Hello All, Sorry I've Been MIA

Good Evening,

I'm so sorry that I have been MIA for the last few months. Life overtook me and I ended up being off work for 3 months with stress and depression.

Although I managed to catch up with a bit of crafting occasionally, I certainly didn't feel up to blogging. However since I have managed to survive my first two weeks back at work, without strangling anyone, I have decided to try my hand at a bit of crafty sharing.

It was my Granddaughter Emma's birthday at the end of July, so here is the card that I made for her.

The fabulous Lili of the Valley image reminds me of Emma and her sister Chloe, who love nothing more than a visit to the local Costa when I go over.

It is our treat. 

My card was inspired by my friend Fleur who makes the most amazing cards.

I used several Magnolia dies from my stash for the leaves, flowers and banner, along with a ribbon slider for a little bit of bling.

Typically I was late finishing the card, so I decided not to put 'Happy Birthday' on it,

but I did add her name.

Her Mum has decided to put it into a frame in her room to replace a card that I made for her a very LONG time ago, which always gives me a nice feeling.

It's the start of my working week tomorrow, so I will try and remain calm and get through it without resorting to violence lol. You never know I might even manage another blog post, but I'm not promising anything.

It's nice to be back, I hope you missed me.

Stay safe and have a wonderful evening.

Love and Crafty Hugs

Kimx

Happy New Year

 

I just wanted to wish you All a very Healthy, Happy, and Prosperous New Year.

Let's hope that 2022 is a better one for us All.

Thank you for your friendship and continued support.

Have a wonderful Crafty year.

 Hugs Kimx

Alcohol Inks

Evening,

It's Friday. I can't believe how quickly the weeks are rolling by. The only good thing with that is that we are getting nearer to being able to have a class.

My cards today were made for what turned out to be one of the last classes before lockdown in 2020. We were playing with alcohol inks which I'm sure will be amongst some of the first things that we play with as soon as we can get back to normal.

The background to the first two stamps was created on glossy card stock that was then clear embossed with a floral image.

The flowers didn't show up as I wanted, so I just added more alcohol ink and blended it over the top of them. I love the really deep rich panel that has resulted.

I chopped the panel up to create both cards and teamed them with some metallic paper for a very fine metallic border. Because the panel itself is so dark I added it to a white die cut panel with script stamped on it.

A couple of die cut skeleton leaves and some gems complete this card which I hope will cheer up anyone feeling under the weather.

The second half of the panel I teamed with another die cut leaf and a white card.

To give the white card base a little more interest I added a white embossed panel and a sentiment strip.

The final card was once more made using a piece of alcohol inked background.

Once again I used some die cut leaves and an embossed panel to embellish the card

along with some string, ribbon, gems and sentiment.

I have a long list to try and get through for the weekend, what about you? Any crafty projects?

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great couple of days. The weather forecast is looking reasonably good so maybe you have some gardening to do.

What ever you are up to stay safe.

Hugs Kimx

Happy Anniversary in Chalks

 Evening All,

Just a quick post tonight. I got a bit carried away with the card making, and I still have cards that I need to get ready to post tomorrow, so I can see it being a late night.

This is an anniversary card created using decorating chalks, patterned vellum and some ribbon.

I've used an old Hero Arts Shadow stamp for the background with pale chalks and then stamped the floral images over the top and covered them in darker colours.

Another one for the ever growing class list I think. I can't wait to be able to play with the 'Crafties'

Better finish those inserts before I get to bed.

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

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

Be Inspired by the Word Mask at Inkspiration Challenges

 Afternoon,

Another cold one, but I thought that I would blog early so that I can get out for a walk before we get any rain......or snow.

So what to share with you today?   They have a challenge over at Inkspirational Challenges - Be inspired by the word Mask.

This is a card I made a while ago using a Mask from Dutchdoobadoo. They call them masks in Holland, we in the UK tend to refer to them as stencils, either way they help make stunning backgrounds to a card.

I placed the stencil onto a piece of watercolour card stock and then sprinkled some Brushos/Pixie Powders/Color Burst over the surface. You only need a tiny amount of these pigment powders because they truly do burst into colour when you spritz them with water. A little goes a VERY long way.

You can also get a second piece of background by placing the stencil inky side down onto a piece of damp watercolour card stock. Definitely a twofer lol.

I stamped and embossed a fabulous Hero Arts grasses design on to the background once it had dried and then trimmed the panel and matt it onto black glossy card stock.

I also added a stamped and embossed sentiment.

Finally I added some ribbon before mounting the panel on to a background that I created to match the colours in the main panel.

Really must get my brushos out again and play. I think that this Saturday crafting with the kids is probably the first time that I have done anything even remotely creative in weeks. Bloody virus it really has sapped my creative energy, but it won't beat me. Baby steps lol.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm off to wrap up warm and get some exercise. Let's hope I feel like crafty playtime and not a granny nap when I get back.

Hugs Kimx

Imagination Florals

 Evening,

I hope that you have all made it through another Tuesday safe and sound.

Another card using my favourite Imagination stencil.

I used Sparkle Medium through the stencil to create the background and then sponged over it with Distress Inks.

I trimmed the panel and wrapped a couple of pieces of ribbon around it before adding a sentiment and some foliage.

Here is another very similar card using another Imagination Stencil, only this time I sponged the Distress ink through the stencil and left it at that.

Once again I added ribbon, a sentiment and some foliage covered in Frantage Embossing Powder.

I also added some dots of glossy accents to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Floral Anniversary

 Evening,

Have you had a good day? I would have liked mine to have been a little more productive, but I guess we can't have it all.

I've been doing steps for one of the cards that I had to make last week. It's amazing how long it takes to do. I can't share that yet, so here is a card that I made a while ago using a lovely floral stencil.

I sponged the stencil with black ink and then blended over the top with red sparkle medium from Imagination. 

I did a couple of extra flowers that I fussy cut and added to the card along with some red ribbon and a sentiment.

Back to work tomorrow so crafty time will be very limited for a while.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx