Home Sweet Home...

Evening,

Hope everyone has had a nice weekend.

Sorry for the late post, I have spent most of the day recovering from a very late night/early morning.  I think i'm getting a bit old for this going out until the early hours malarky.

I haven't done much today, it's been one of those days where I have the intention of getting lots of jobs done but I have no motivation.  I managed to create a couple of bits to share with you after a little nap (two hour sleep) 

So I started this card on Thursday, I had an idea in my head of how I wanted it to look and went to finish it today but I messed it up beyond repair. There was only one thing for it...start again.  Surprise Surprise, another card using my new kraft card, but in my defence the black ink and red card really make this card "pop"!

I used Papertrey Ink - Congrats All Ways, I love this curly "congrats" and then the simpleness of the rest of the sentiment.  I finished this card off with a Martha Stewart butterfly punch, I absolutely adore this punch, its so simple but really pretty.  I used 3mm adhesive gems from Wild Orchid Crafts along the body of the butterfly to add a bit of sparkle.  I did contemplate using some ribbon but I just really liked the fact that it was such a clean layout and I didn't want to take the focus away from the butterfly.

So thats it from me today.  I shall be back tomorrow with something slightly different.

Kate
xx

Girly Thanks...

Evening Everyone!

How  has everyones day been?

I firstly wanted to apologise for not coming back to you yesturday.  I did have quite a productive day in the end.  I fixed a little pile of jewellery people had given me to mend and alter for them, that I had been putting off for ages.  I made a few cards, a necklace and started sketching the layout for my website.

I want to share with you a "Thank you" card with you tonight.  I managed to stitch this base before my sewing machine broke.  I made it using one of my new stamp sets from Papertrey Ink- Gracious Vases.  I think the only reason I bought this set was the orchid stem- so simple but so versitile.  I cut a white piece of card from a mat stack die cut and stamped on my orchid sprig and vase using black in.  I then attached some small pink adhevsive crystals from Wild Orchid Crafts  and stamped my sentiment using matching pink ink and finished it off with some organza pink ribbon from The Ribbon Girls.

I really like this perfect girly thank you card.  Hope the recepient likes it too.

After a very hectic Monday I'm looking forward to a far more chilled out Tuesday.

I shall be back tomorrow with something else pink and girly.


Hope you enjoy the rest of your day.


Kate
xx

Flutter By...

Hello Everyone

It’s Saturday and the sun is shining for now- yay!

I thought I’d just do quick post today to show you something I made as an order for a friend.  Her brief was something girlie and butterfly related. And here’s what I made.

I am loving this butterfly die. It’s from Joanne Sheen’s website and it’s in the Crealies Range. I have quite a few of the flower dies but I couldn’t resist this butterfly one. I like the 3d effect you can create with it- I cut out two large butterflies one in a pale pink and one to match the pink frame around the card and then staples them together.  I gently folded the top one to give it more dimension and to hide the ghastly staple I used adhesive gems from Wild Orchid Crafts. This sentiment stamp is from a set from Papertrey Ink called Birthday Bash Sentiments.  I had a slight mishap with over inking so had to use gems to cover it up! I don’t think it looks to bad though! Nothing wrong with extra sparkle!!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend. I’m off to Lowestoft to play on the beach! I’ll hopefully have some photos to share with you on Monday!

Thanks for reading.

Kate

xx

P.S Don’t forget to leave a comment on any of my posts to be in with a chance of winning some of the jewellery from Tuesday’s post!

Lost Faith...

Hello Again!

Can anyone make any sense of this weather? I don’t think it actually stopped raining yesterday – and then today its nice and warm again! I’m supposed to be going to Lowestoft this weekend with the boy to visit a friend.  I was looking forward to taking a nice long walk along the beach, with chance to try and take some snaps and gather some inspiration. But…I just looked at the weather and it looks like we might get a bit soggy. Nevermind.

So I had one of those nights last night everything I made I thought looked awful.  It probably didn’t but I had no faith in myself.  I had 3 cards to make last night, two cards for my friends that have just got themselves new jobs and an order I received for a birthday card.  I had already created the fiddly bit for the “congrats” cards the night before (or so I thought) so I would just have the paper and stitching to sort. But no! As always the idea in my head didn’t quite transfer into reality as well as I had hoped. 

I recently got asked to make a card for a graduation and I had stumbled across a rosette stamp from Hero Arts and thought it would be perfect. Bearing this in mind I decided I would try to recreate this stamp but using paper cut out using Spellbinders Nestabilities for todays cards.  I cut a series of scalloped and classic paper circles from kraft and patterned card and layered them up.  I attached some wide grosgrain ribbon by stapling it to the largest circle to form my rosette!  On the purple card, I found some gorgeous ribbon whilst traipsing John Lewis during my lunch hour its velvet.  It has to be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen – well this week anyway!

So here are the finished cards…they have grown on me slightly but I’m still not sure, what do you think?

I used kraft card from Craftie Charlie and patterned paper from Echo Park.  I always feel it is such a waste using their paper as its double sided! I finished the cards with two different “congrats” the italic is from Papertrey Ink and typewriter font is a Hero Arts release.  I then added the final bit of sparkle with adhesive gems from Wild Orchid Crafts.

Let me know your comments – maybe you can reassure me!

Hope you have a good day.

Kate xx

English Weather

Morning!

What is going on with this weather? I know I should be used to it by now but I’m not.  After being in an office with air conditioning all day yesterday, stepping out into the tropical heat was a bit of a shock to the system.  We decided to have a BBQ last night, but didn’t manage to eat until nearly 9 o’clock as it was just too hot and humid. Yuk! My aim was to make a couple of cards for two of my friends who have just got themselves new jobs.  I had a great idea in mind and everything started off well but in the end, I had to give up.  I was so hot and sticky and it really wasn’t pleasant.  I was really annoyed as they were going to be today’s post!

So instead I’ve decided to show you a card I made back in May for mine and Adam’s four year anniversary.  I am a bit of a sucker for a play on words- and I thought it was quite cute, but not too cute you see as it had to be masculine enough for him to like! I had ordered these sentiment stamps from Papertrey Ink a while back, to be honest I’m not really sure why, probably because they were only $5 – I’m also a sucker for a bargain! I convinced my self they would come in handy somewhere down the line, and they did.

So here’s the card.  I’m not really sure what else I need to say about it! I love the simplicity of it. I tied two matches together with button twine and glued them to the card using glossy accents (those matches are going no where!) I then stamped the image using a simple black ink from Versa and finished it off with a few adhesive crystals from Wild Orchid Crafts.  What do you think?

I am afraid that’s all I have for today. However I am going to leave you with a teaser for tomorrows post!

Can you guess what it is yet?

Don't forget to enter the competition! Just leave me a comment!!

I’m going to go and try and stay out of the rain!

Have a great day.

Kate

xx

A big THANK YOU!

Morning!

I would firstly like to say I am overwhelmed by the amount of views I received yesterday! And I had my first comment.  THANK YOU SO MUCH! I hope this is the start of many more views and comments!!

Ok so… Today I would like to share with you a couple of things to show you more what I am about.  As well as paper crafts I love making jewellery. I’m a bit like a magpie- I spot anything shiny from a mile off- typical girl hey!? I absolutely adore Swarovski Crystals (i get mine from jilly beads), not only because they come in so many different shapes colours but because they are so versatile.  I recently made this necklace.

My inspiration was looking out into my garden on a sunny Sunday morning and seeing all the freshly potted plants and hanging baskets in full bloom. All the rich clashing colours made me want to get creative- so I sat at the dining room table (which I am slowly taking over which boxes among boxes of buttons, paper and ribbon) and made this.  What do you think? It’s my jewellery description of Summer!

And last  but not least (yes I know two crafts in one day!) I wanted to just quickly share with you this card I recently made for a friends birthday- sorry about the photo, the light was not being my friend! I have started a craze of sewing on my cards- I sort of seeing it as a staple for all my designs- its just a great way of attaching papers and embellishments to the card base.

The image used in this card is one from the fabulous Pink Petticoat- my favourite website for digital downloads.  Liz’s designs are all so clean and simple but can be turned into the most beautiful cards.  If you haven’t already you should really check out her website. 

I coloured the image in using promarkers and finished off with a few sparkly gems from Wild Orchid Crafts and voila!

That’s it for today.  Another quick thank you for reading! I hope to be back soon with more of my creations!

Have a great day!

Kate

xx