Christmas Ornaments

Afternoon Everyone, me again!
Another Bank Holiday Monday, unfortunately it's been just like any other Monday for me as I've been working, but I hope that those of you that aren't are enjoying it.
It's incredibly hot given what Bank Holiday weather is usually like, so I thought that as the next one will actually be at Christmas then I would bring the temperature down a bit by sharing a few more Christmas cards with you :O)

They are all made using a very old, but much loved Magenta stamp set.

The backgrounds have been created with a brayer and a Fruitcake Kaleidacolor ink pad. Once again, a very old technique.

In fact, to be perfectly honest I cant for the life of me remember when I actually created the panels. Probably during a demo many years ago, but as you know I'm on a mission to use up some of the millions of bits in my stash.

That's not easy when I teach a class each week, which inevitably creates more bits to use up. Still I'm not complaining. I love my hobby. It keeps me sane, and I hope that The Girls enjoy it. Given that they keep coming back I guess that must be a yes lol.

Some of the brayered panels were just stamped and embossed, while some were spritzed with water or even bleach.

This one had cling film placed over it after the water to create a fabulous frosted effect.

I have always loved the 'Wet Watercolour' look for painting. So easy to achieve, and every piece is different.

This final card uses a different colour inkpad for the background which has then been spritzed with bleach.

I really think that I should revisit this technique with The Girls. Sometimes we are so eager to try new things that we forget some of the old favourites.

I added glossy accents to some of the stamped images for a little added interest. It also intensifies the colour underneath.

I thought that it was about time that I entered a challenge so I would like to join everyone at Winter Wonderland - Christmas Ornaments.

Have a great evening.

Happy Crafting and hugs 

Kimx

Love and Hugs

Evening All
What beautiful weather we have had today. Far too hot for me, so a perfect excuse for some crafting.

I have had need of a few New Baby cards just recently, so I finished off several in a couple of classes.

As I have said many times before, LOTV Simply Print images are always my go to for quick and very cute cards.

One of these cards was made for my Cousin's Daughter who made her a very proud first time Grandma in July.

Of course you cant forget the new Grandparents so I made a card for them too.

Another was needed for one of my work colleagues who also became a first time Dad.

I had several panels in my stash from a previous Paper Piecing class so I managed to get them all finished off as well.

 

After all you never know when you might need another card.

Time for bed I think. I have to be at work as usual tomorrow, no Bank Holiday for me I'm afraid.

Happy Crafting and Hugs

Kimx

A snowflake Masterboard

 Afternoon  Everyone,
Three posts in four days, not bad going for me. That's loads of butterflies, so it must be about time for some Christmas cards.

I have literally hundreds of them made and photographed, so I really do need to start sharing them with you since just lately I seem to be adding a few more to the pile each month.

One way of making several cards at one sitting is by preparing a Masterboard, a favourite technique of my lovely friend Angela aka Felix the Crafty Cat.

This basically involves sponging and stamping over an entire sheet of card, which you then cut up to create several individual cards. 

Any technique is a go, preprepared backgrounds, gelli plate, sponging, stamping, stencils, combined together to create wonderful one off masterpieces.

I have used an old Inkadinkadoo snowflake stamp set along with a Blue Breeze Kaleidacolor ink pad to create my Masterboard, along with some silver heat embossed snowflakes and stamped sentiments. 

You can cut the panel up in any way you see fit.

It also means that you can use all of the panel, 

including all of the little leftover bits.

Off to do a little more commenting before I get back to craft, I have a class to prep for.

Have a great crafty afternoon.

Hugs Kimx

Butterflies and Poppies

Evening Everyone,
Just recently several of my classes have been inspired by things that I have found on YouTube, my go to place when travelling on the train to my daughter.

One such such find is 'Bump and Smudge', such an easy technique, but so effective. It involves the use of Distress Oxide inks, and has proved a particular favourite with 'The Girls'.

Basically you 'bump' your inked stamp onto your cardstock, and then 'smudge' the image with a blending tool.
You do need to 'smudge' pretty quickly since the technique makes use of both the dye base properties of the Distress Oxides to give you the image, and then the pigment part for the 'smudge'. If you wait too long then the slower drying pigment part will have dried too.

I used a fabulous butterfly panel from Chocolate Baroque for these cards which would have been perfect for the new challenge at CCM where we are looking for Bugs.

I also used this stamp with the Oxide inks

and a damp paintbrush to pull the colour into the image.

This last card also uses the 'Bump and Smudge' technique with my favourite Penny Black Poppies.
The wood panel background paper is from a 12x12 pad that I bought at The Works for £3, amazing value don't you think.
Wow, two blogposts in a row, I might have to go and lie down :O)
Have a great crafty evening.
Hugs Kimx

It's a Bugs Life at CCM

Afternoon Everyone.
Oh dear, it looks like summer has deserted us again. I haven't quite resorted to turning on the heating like some of the customers at work have been doing, but I have reached for a blouse with longer sleeves and closed my window up a little, if only to stop the torrential rain that we seem to have been having lately. I have dodged the downpours this very afternoon as I have finally made it back to the gym!!

Given the rather inclement weather at the moment, I thought that I ought to share a few summery style cards, we can but dream of sunshine and butterflies I guess.

The cards also fit rather nicely into the latest challenge which starts today over at CCM  where the theme is 'It's a Bugs Life'.

Unfortunately I didn't get my arse in gear early enough to pop my card on the challenge blog, but please do stop by and see what the rest of the DT have been up to, and maybe join in yourself.

I recently taught a class using some fabulous 3D Embossing folders, and while there were quite a few of them that we played with,

this has to be one of my favourites, as you can see by the number of samples that I managed to finish. 

Obviously one of the easiest ways of using the folders is plain cardstock with gilding wax lightly applied to accentuate the embossing.

But I think a bit of the letter press technique and added ink makes this particular panel my favourite card of them all.

I added stamped sentiments to the finished cards

as well as die cut ones.

Some I heat embossed with clear embossing powder,

and some I just painted with a sparkle pen.

And as you can see you don't have to use the whole panel on a card, you can always chop it up a little. 

Don't forget to pop across to the CraftyCardmakers blog, there are some lovely samples from the DT. I'm off to visit it myself. I've been very bad at commenting over the last few months, and so I am determined to start off the new challenge with some much needed visiting.

Have a great evening.

Happy Crafting and hugs

Kimx

Sending Birthday Wishes and an update.

Hi All,
Long time no see. As you may have noticed, my crafty mojo has been rather intermittent of late.
Do you ever feel like you are going round in circles getting no where fast...………….well that's me at the moment.

I do have occasional flashes, usually inspired by a fabulous class with the Girls on a Saturday.
We've played with bleach, 3D Embossing Folders, Paper Piecing, Inks, and most recently Penny Black Stickeroos and Lili of the Valley digi images.

Of course my usual Friday afternoon trip to see the youngest Grandchildren for a sleepover always picks me up, even if only briefly.
Recently however there have been a couple of rather eventful visits.
The first involved Jack finding out that he can roll over. The problem was that he was on the sofa at the time!!!
As he screamed inconsolably for a good 20mins, we were advised to get him checked out at A&E. As expected he was fine, and we laughed about what would probably be the first of many Friday night visits to the casualty department.
We shouldn't have tempted fate, cause only a couple of weeks later we were back only this time it was an ambulance ride with a really high temperature on the eve of his big sisters 4th birthday.

He could have definitely picked a better moment. With a couple of days on the ward hooked up to an antibiotic drip Mam-ma had to step into the breach on the birthday front.

Birthday breakfast at the local Costa and a shopping spree wasn't quite the same as swimming with Mum and Dad, but it was the best that I could offer.
Unfortunately the buggies were in the boot of the car at the hospital, and as I don't drive myself, my birthday treat turned into a bad back for me from carrying a backpack full of shopping and a small child home from said shopping trip.

I'm sure that Emma enjoyed herself, I'm just thankful that her party had already been scheduled for the following weekend, so at least I didn't have to entertain several small girls for a pamper session.

I finally managed to get Emma's birthday card finished a few days ago. A little bit late I know, but that is me all over I'm afraid as all of my family know.

I was a little more on time with this card, which was made for Emma to give to everyone at Nursery school. I can't believe that she will be starting school in September. Where did those last few years disappear to. Wasn't it only a few months ago that she was born lol.
Let's hope that it isn't quite as long till I manage to share with you again. Although my back is finally beginning to feel a little better I now have a dreadful cold which is making me feel like c..p.
Have a great evening. I'm going to get another early night since I have a 4am start at work tomorrow. Yes I am still at work. I know I'm stupid, but someone has to do it I suppose, and my parents raised me not to let people down.
Happy Crafting and hugs
Kimx

Dies and Punches for CCM

Evening Everyone,
We have a fabulous new challenge over at CCM.
Jo is our host for Punches or Dies.

Now I have to say that stamping is my first love, but for all that I seem to have amassed a huge collection of dies over the years. This made choosing which ones to use for the challenge a rather difficult decision.

I clearly remember thinking that die cutting was not my thing, until I saw my friend Stamping Caz using a Cuttlebug at The Craft Barn more years ago than I care to think about.

And now I have a truly huge collection which I seem to add to quite frequently.

I particularly love alphabet and sentiment dies, probably because they are the easiest ones to compliment my stamping.

They are also fabulous when you have an unusual or foreign name. I wish that I had had them when my Girls were young. Granted Jenni and Becki may not be particularly unusual but they are spelt a little differently so I could never get anything with their names on without ordering it, usually at extortionate cost.

Stamps with matching dies are also extremely useful.

My card was made for my Boss. The cards that I have made for his girls over the years have been much admired so he asked if I could make one for a friend of his to give to his daughter.
Of course with all those flowers I had to make a box for it, which is probably just as well since I found out later that it had to go all the way to Australia.
I hope that you will find the time to join in with our challenge, I look forward to seeing your creations.
Happy Crafting and hugs
Kimx