Using Our Wreath Builder Templates With STENCILS!!!

Hi Everyone, I'm really excited to share with you another fabulous use for our Wreath Builder Templates and to use them in this way you DO NOT need a stamping platform!!! I know, it sounds too good to be true doesn't it? I can't take the credit for the idea because I saw the lovely Jennifer McGuire do this over on her blog earlier this month and I wondered if I could achieve the same with our templates.

I didn't want to rush to say to you "Oooo look what you can do with our stencils!" Only to discover that you can't use them in the same way. Instead I thought that I'd test the idea and create a couple of projects to make sure that our templates could definitely be used in the same way before I said they could be, so I did and they can! ::Tigger like bounces::.

All you have to do is tape the template to a flat surface, I used my Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat which has the added bonus of helping the inks to blend more smoothly. I've recently switched to using blending brushes for using with distress inks (more on them soon) and you end up with some brilliant results. I've so far tried the using the 6" and new 7" templates (more on that soon!) and both work, but I won't lie you have to keep a firm grip on the stencil if you do it the way I did, next time I'll tack down exactly like Jennifer did, but the results are amazing!

What I should have done is use low tack tape and mask off the areas I didn't want to use, instead I held it down with my hand and used a piece of A4 paper to 'mask', Jennifer explains how to do it in her video that I've linked to below.

I was a little excited to try it as I had some free time so I skipped steps, but it still worked! I used painters tape to stick the template to the media mat, don't worry about getting distress ink on your template, if you do it will wipe away with a damp cloth or a baby wipe.

For the green card I used the 'Line Em Up' stencil from Time For Tea Designs and two shades of distress ink in Salty Ocean and Twisted Citron and they blended together beautifully. The image was in my Maybe Someday box, I'd coloured it a few years ago when I got the Neat & Tangled 'Purrfect' stamp and die set, so my colouring isn't as good as it is these days, but its not too shabby!

I haven't made a card with the panel generated by the 7" template yet, I'll finish it and add it to my post to introduce the new 7" and 2" templates later this week. I have so many templates that I can use in this way to make some fabulous backgrounds, I think its a huge added bonus for the templates and its brilliant that it means that people without a stamping tool can also use the templates as well.

I'm off to play some more, my head is now full of stars, snowflakes, hearts and more that I can use to create card backgrounds with my templates. If you already have a set of templates and your try out using your templates with stencils, please share your cards over on our Facebook Page, I love to see what you all create 😀

Mew Are Pawsome - Time For Tea Designs

Just before my holiday back in may my lovely crafting buddy Shabneez posted a card she'd made with an adorable stamp set from Time for Tea Designs called Mew Are Pawsome, my inner crazy cat lady (who am I kidding its outer and all over lol) was smitten and I ordered the stamp set and co-ordinating dies, Joanna who owns TFTD was on holiday when I placed my order and I got an email to tell me this and explain my order would be sent once she was back off her hols. As I was going on mine at the time I thought no more of it and went away, happy in the knowledge that the stamps would be with me when I got back off my holidays.

When I arrived home as I expected my order was waiting for me, but inside there was a little note from Joanna and a free rubber stamp to say thank you for waiting for my order, which was a lovely touch, even though I hadn't been waiting. I love small companies because they offer personal service and the customer matters, suffice to say TFTD went on my radar thanks to Shabneez. I'd been so busy since I got back off my holidays I hadn't had time to play with the stamp set though which was bugging me, so yesterday after I had finished making a birthday card for my dad and a couple of Father's Day cards - I'll post photos of them after Sunday when the recipients have received them - I sat down and created the above cards just because, I needed to play with something where I wasn't worrying about getting things finished by a set date.

TTFD released 4 new stencils earlier in June and the designs are fab, plus they had a special offer to get all 4 for a reduced price of £12, I think its gone up to £16 now, its still a saving but I got a real bargain. I've only used one so far the 'Sunny Side Up' stencil which I think is going to be one of my most used stencils in the future, as well as the sun in the centre, the stencil has 4 other sides:- a straight edge, clouds, grass and hills all perfect for creating scenes. I used the clouds and grass on the background for the father's day cards I mentioned earlier 😉

I used water colour card and distress inks to create the background. The images I stamped and coloured with Copic Ciao's, I don't have lots of colours yet so I'm limited as to how I can blend the pens, but I am thrilled with them, I know they are an expense, but I really wish I'd saved money when I started buying cheaper pens that just don't do the job and just gone for Copic's in the first place, in the long run I would have saved money, and have lots more colours to boot lol!

To finish off the card I added a few gems from Little Things from Lucy's Cards, I love the gems and pearls that Lucy sells, it was via Jennifer McGuire that I discovered Lucy's Cards gems and I was surprised to find that Lucy was based in the UK, so now I order all my gem treasure from Lucy, she does sequins, pearls, gems and tiny confetti which is perfect for adding to shaker cards. The sentiment is also from the Mew are Pawsome set, I just stamped it on to a strip of white cardstock with some Gina K Amalgam ink and cut the end to form a fish tail.

The second card I created using one of our Wreath Templates to make a circular 'rocker' card, using my Tim Holtz Stamping Platform and a 6" template. I stamped lots of the smaller images from the TFTD 'Mew are Pawsome' set with Gina K Amalgam ink and coloured them with my Copic pens. I find colouring very relaxing and therapeutic to do, again I wish I had more colours but I'm happy with what I've achieved.

Once I'd die cut the circles and layered everything up I finished the card off by adding a little shimmer pen to the balloons and cupcake icing and a little white gel pen detail to the balloons and cat. My stroke of genius for this card was to use a red Sakura Glaze pen for the centre of the candle to make it more flame like. This stamp set is going to get a heck of a lot of use, and I can't wait to use the other stencils I got from TFTD, watch this space.

Creative Stamping Autumn Treasures

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know that I'm a sucker for autumn and its colours and for Halloween, so when a magazine offered a free stamp set called Autumn Treasures you can understand why I got a little excited at the potential.

The magazine in question is Creative Stamping, the issue is 60 and the stamps are just fabulous to have a closer look click on the image below, like all stamps sets that come with Creative Stamping they are superb quality and stamp really well, I've had stamp sets from some magazines that just didn't stamp well at all, I never have that problem with stamps from Creative Stamping, it helps having a Stamping Platform 

The magazine in question is Creative Stamping, the issue is 60 and the stamps are just fabulous to have a closer look click on the image below, like all stamps sets that come with Creative Stamping they are superb quality and stamp really well, I've had stamp sets from some magazines that just didn't stamp well at all, I never have that problem with stamps from Creative Stamping, it helps having a Stamping Platform 

I've so far only used around half of the set and my head is full of ideas for using those stamps again, and for using the rest of the stamps in the set. To give you an idea of size of the stamps the 3 leaf and quote card is 8" x 8" and the other 3 cards are all 6" x 6" cards. For the 6" cards, I used a 5" and 6" Wreath Template to build up the designs.

As soon as I saw the set the idea to create this card popped in to my head, the leave stamps are perfect for using my Hero Arts Ombre 'Autumn' ink pad, lovely rich autumn colours that lend themselves so well to stamping leaves and items for autumn.

This card was so simple I die cut the 4 panels and used my Stamping platform to line everything up. The backing paper was a free download, but I can't recall from where. A couple of mats and layers and a bit of rich chocolate brown organza ribbon finished this card off nicely. I've used some different ombre pads to create some different cards for different seasons.

My next card used a selection of Memento Dewdrop Ink Pads: - Elderberry, Rhubarb Stalk, Potters Clay, Cantaloupe, Morroco and Expresso Truffle and I added some touches of Distress Marker to the blackberries, leaves and acorns. I used the 6" Wreath Template to create this autumn inspired goodness.

The sentiment also from the Autumn Treasures set I stamped on to white card and then used a Sizzix Bigz die called 'Millinery Leaves' by Brenda Walton and used some Memento Potters Clay ink to add some colour to the leaf. I stamped the sentiment in Vintage Sepia Versafine ink.

This card again was really simple to put together, again I used the 6" Wreath template and the stamps in the set designed by Hot Off The Press to make a quick almost 1 layer card. This time I stamped the design direct to the card base in Versafine ink.

I die cut 2 different sized circles and stamped the black cat from the set and the sentiment with Onyx Black Versafine ink. I used a Fluorescent Green Zig Real Colour Brush Pen to fill in the sentiment and the same pen for the eyes with a dab of Nuvo drops to finish off the cats eyes.
Some 3D foam pads and the cards was complete.

My final card from tonight's play was actually the first one I made, in hindsight I used the wrong shade for the acorns, next time I'll use a lighter ink, I was actually going to discard it but decided in the end to use it. This one was stamped with the 5" template and I used Elderberry, Rhubarb Stalk, Expresso Truffle, Cottage Ivy and Pear Tart to form the wreath.

I love this sentiment quote by Emily Bronte from the set, and I again stamped in Onyx Black Versafine. I kept this one simple again, matting the trimmed panel on to some purple foiled card, then a piece of elderberry card and finally adhered it all to a lilac Dovecraft 6 x 6" card blank.

I had so much fun creating these cards tonight even though the temperatures in my little craft room topped 29.5C again, phew! This hot weather plays havoc with some mediums, they dry out before you have time to use them, but stamping with inks is something you can do because ink drying quickly is a bonus, unless you're going to try heat embossing on it. Just another couple of days of the heat and then temperatures are set to cool down again and I'll be happier, when I get too hot I get cranky, which is no fun for my poor hubby. I hope you are all coping with the heat and managing to keep your cool, time now to attempt some sleep I think, the temperature seems to be dropping whooo hooo!

The Crazy Cat Lady Makes A Purrmaid

I finally finished this card last night and I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. I created the topper back in January and its been sitting in my 'Maybe Someday' box ever since because I couldn't decide what to do with it. Yesterday inspiration hit me and I decided to turn it in to a circular easel card.

I got the 'Purrmaid' die, at least that's what I call it, off Ebay, I've done lots of searches and cannot find it as a branded die, I have seen graphics of a similar style but never any dies. The crazy cat lady in me fell in love with it when she saw it and couldn't resist. The die itself is rather large at 12.5cm wide by 10cm high so it makes for a rather substantial piece for a card. The die removes all the pieces in the tail scales and fins, so I cut it twice and inlaid pieces of Tonic Craft Perfect 'Midnight Topaz' Glitter Card in the spaces.

I cut the whole piece from a piece of black card stock and then used a set of Arteza Metallic Markers to colour the greenery, tail and details on the cats face. I mounted the inlaid and coloured image on to a circle of water colour card, which I'd first inked with Mermaid Lagoon and Salty Ocean Distress Oxide Inks and spritzed with water to give the tiny bubbles effect.

Originally as you can see on the photo of the topper itself, I mounted that panel on a frame of gold metallic card but when I came to put the card together last night I decided the card worked better without the gold, so I removed the piece from the back.

I cut the base for the card from a sheet of 'Pacific' A4 Centura Pearl card and used another sheet to cut a circle the same size as the base to add the topper to and a smaller circle for the stopper. After cutting all the pieces I embossed them with an A4 Sizzix embossing folder by Debi Potter called "Happy Texture", it looked a little like the greenery on the card so I thought it would be a nice finish.

The sentiment is from a Tonic die and stamp set called "Cat's Whiskers", I used Tonic Clear Embossing Ink and Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Embossing Powder in "Brilliant Sparkle Blue Zircon" to echo the glitter on the purrmaid tail for the sentiment. I love the way this card turned out in the end, and its reasons like this that I have my Maybe Someday box, I can play when I don't have time to do much else and save it for another time and if I need a bit of inspiration for finishing a project, I have a look in the box and 90% of the time come away with just the right thing to finish the project.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks here, the hot weather made it difficult to do very much in the craft room, so I've been getting lots done since it cooled off a couple of days ago, but apparently the temperatures are going to climb again very soon. Tomorrow we're off to collect our new car tomorrow, the bathroom is almost finished, just the carpet and the finishing touches to do now and we're getting ready for my 14 year old niece to come and stay for a week very soon. I'm looking forward to her visit very much, she's asked me to show her how to use Distress Inks and we're going to be making a Tim Holtz Village Mansion together and we have lots of places to visit  with her ear marked.

A Wreath of Paws

I made this card recently to send to a lady who is also a little bit of a crazy cat lady as part of a Happy Post mail swap that is run on the Creative Minds - Kind Hearts group and I'm thrilled to say she loved it. The wreath was stamped using the 5" Wreath Builder Template that Si made for me, if you are interested in owning a set of your own then you can find more details on my Facebook page 😁

I used Ranger Dye Ink Pads in Raspberry Sorbet, Grape Soda and Lavender Field colours to stamp the paws using stamps from Hobbycraft and My Favorite Things. The template makes it so easy to stamp any stamp you wish and quickly build it in to a wreath shape which can then form a background or be an actual focal point.

The image was stamped and die cut using the My Favorite Things 'Best Friends' set, I love the set more cards to come using the set very soon. The sentiment also comes from the set and uts very true 😻 I coloured the image using Prismacolor Pencils and blended them with gamsol, my shading is still a work in progress but I can see the improvement everytime I colour, lots more practice needed but I'll get there 😊

I used dies from the Wonky Stitches range available from Craft Stash to edge the paw panel and cut the sentiment panel, the only other addition was a few Clear Iridescent Jewels from Lucy's Cards to add a bit of interest. I'd seen a few of the American crafters use this gems like Jennifer McGuire, so I was thrilled to discover that the company is in the UK and postage is only £1! Lucy does lots of sequins, glitter, confetti, pearls and more in some gorgeous colours.

I added some shimmer with a Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle pen to the large paws and the little girls dress. To finish I mounted the white panel on to a piece of purple metallic card and then attached that to a homemade card blank I'd created using a piece of Lavender Centura Pearl cardstock, really pleased with the way this one turned out and tonight I'm off to my local cats protection to show the ladies at their Craft and ChAT group how to stamp and colour images like these 😺😻🙀

Miserly March

Hello there, it seems that the snow is gone here in Derby, it was 10ºC today, we had blue skies and sunshine, I even started thinking about sowing seeds for the garden! During the time the Beast frim the East was making it cold and gloomy I stayed indoors and did some crafting and planning for "Miserly March" which came about late last month after a dilemma I put myself in when I realised that my hobby was fast turning in to a spending addiction.

Thanks to some lovely friends on Facebook, I know that I'm not alone in my craft stash buying addiction, lots of us joke about how much we spend on craft stuff, but at the end of February when our households joint bank statement arrived I was hit by a VERY sobering reality. After a chat with hubby I realised that I can't keep buying hundreds of pounds of stash every month not without getting a new job.For ages I've carried on spending like we still had my wage as well, I did cry a lot when I realised the mess I've got us in to, but then I decided that instead of weeping I had to do something more constructive, so  I have vowed to stick to my monthly spends and try to buy only what I need and use up what I already have. I've set out to do this by: -

1) Un-following lots of the craft companies on Facebook, many of them are putting products out too frequently, and are too much of a temptation. I suffer from the "I need that" when I actually don't need it at all, I just buy it because it looks like it may be useful. I make the purchase, usually on pre-order and whilst I wait for it to arrive something else comes out by the same company or another when I still haven't used the stuff I've just bought. That merry go round keeps turning and I have to get off, as much as I enjoy the ride.

2) I've unsubscribed from almost all the craft supply online stores emails, they appear weekly or daily in the case of some companies, bringing sales, offers and bargains, I see something reduced and think its a bargain so I buy it, but bargain or not, I can't really afford it. I'm ashamed to say that many of those bargain purchases are in tubs and boxes and they still haven't been used! So I figured unsubscribing from the emails removes the temptation. Yes I could miss out on some bargains in the future, but my bank balance will be healthier.

3) I've cancelled all but one of my card magazine subscriptions, I figured I can buy a specific magazine if it interests me and I will use the freebie. Some of the mags are showing the same stuff because they get published by the same company, and after 3 year subscriptions the freebies are being repeated or they are giving away gifts that don't appeal to me, and if I'm honest I haven't been that inspired by the makes in the magazines for a while. I get much more inspiration and ideas from friends and groups on Facebook and from Pinterest and they don't cost anything.

4) Remember the boxes and tubs of 'sale bargains' I mention in point 2? Well I've started working on sorting through the boxes, once finished I'm going to sell off some things I've bought in moments of madness that I won't use. I just need to take some photos, figure out the postage and then I can do some listings on Ebay. I've also started a spreadsheet listing the stamps/dies/inks etc that I have by each company, its good to take stock of what you have. I have in the past forgotten I'd bought a stamp or die and bought it again!

5) I've begun sorting out all the kits/projects I've bought and put to one side because I'm too busy looking at all the new stuff being released and sales etc. There is a meme about using stash and buying it being two different hobbies, its true and whilst on the one hand that meme is funny, its not funny to the bank balance and I simply have to give up the buying hobby.

6) Which brings me to point 6 and the title of this blog post, I've set myself a challenge to spend zilch, zero, nada on crafting throughout March and I've called the challenge "Miserly March", my goal is to use only what I already have in my stash and buy nothing at all. I'm in to day 5 and so far its working. I admit to almost caving in once, because I've made some 8" x 8" cards and I've run out of white 8" x 8" envelopes. I'm actually on day 7 because the last day I spent any cash in Feb was the 26th, 7 days without spending a single penny, when you think I spent an average of £15 a day and became seduced by some craft sale/bargain daily, I'm feeling good, baby steps.

After 31st March I aim to keep within my monthly budget and for a few months spend only on staple things I need like card blanks and glue, the kind of things we use every time we create a card. Although I can tell you 5 days in to the month and 26 days to go, it seems like my strength will be tested, new releases from Altenew and Tonic Studios will test me, but I can do this, I WILL do this :)

I posted most of the points above on a Facebook group I belong to recently and the ladies in my group were so supportive and gave me loads of ideas like going 'shopping' in my stash and finding forgotten 'new' things to use and swapping images/diecuts with others. So many ideas and some I hadn't considered. I'm learning to use what I have in, or if I see an idea on somewhere like Pinterest that I like, looking to see what I have that I can put my spin on the idea without having to spend any money buying new things.

This weekend I went 'shopping' in a set of drawers and discovered lots of Hunkydory kits, some were member freebies still not used, some I'd bought in sales and again not used. I decided to use one of the cat kits to make the two rocker cards above and I can create at least two more cards from what was left over in the kit. They went together so quickly, just a bit of die cutting and glueing, kits are the perfect lost mojo fixer and a good way of making several cards in a short space of time, note to self, use the ones you have in more!

I'm not sure what it is in me, if I have a set or something like a pad of lovely papers, despite having bought it to create cards when it comes down to it I leave them in a pile because it feels wrong to use it, in the event that a better project comes along and I don't have any left!!! You wouldn't believe the stack of 6", 8" and 12" paper pads I have not being used, its stupid, another habit I have to break. I seem to like digital crafting, I can print out as many as I like and use when I wish, that said I have a habit of getting an idea, printing papers off and then getting distracted and not making the card, so the papers go in a box and by the time I pick them up again, I've forgotten what I was going to make with them, ooops!

So now I'm on the look out for free crafting stuff, ways of using what I have and dreaming about saving money to get a scan & cut one day. If I stop spending on things I don't need, then I'll be able to get something I want, and in the long run something like a scan n cut will save me money because I won't have to buy dies for stamp sets and can cut out any shape I want.

If you have any suggestions to add please feel free to leave them in the comments below, I can turn over a new leaf and make my crafting about actually crafting and not just about buying to never make. If I'm honest over the past 12 months, I've spent more time looking at stores and buying crafting supplies than I have actually crafting which is bonkers! Yes its good to get happy post, but not if that happy post will have a long term unhappy effect on our finances. Fingers crossed I can stick to my challenge, I'll try and post things I find or do to save money, avoid spending over the next month, don't forget to share your tips if you have any, thanks for stopping by and happy crafting :)

DIY Wreath Stamping Template

Hey everyone :) I hope you had a good weekend? Ours was a bit of a mix, Saturday was very busy and Sunday was more relaxed, we had sunshine so I went in to Spring cleaning mode and cleared out of some the cupboards and drawers in the house, its amazing just how much stuff we keep that we don't have a use for or can't remember why we have it?! I had a little crafting time over the weekend, but this was mostly catching up with other crafting friends blogs, doing some prep for a Robot style "Meet, Greet and Craft" session we've been asked to run next month and I caught up with some crafting You Tubers like Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner who both give me lots of inspiration.

Late last week we got a bank statement and without going in to too much detail I realised that I couldn't keep spending the amount I have been on crafting goodies, I was going to have to start spending less, using what I have in and finding ways of creating cards and papercraft projects WITHOUT spending more than I have to spend. It doesn't help when so many wonderful products are released every month by all my favourite craft companies, but I really have to learn to resist and adapt.

This weekend I watched Jennifer McGuire demo a new template for helping you create wreaths on cards, something I've tried to do myself but it always ends up looking random and messy and not in a good way lol! The templates are designed by Gina K and if you buy the set then it will cost you $29.95 plus shipping from the USA for the basic set, granted the set comes with a sheet of stamps as well but we're still looking at around £35 for the templates and shipping!

Given that I'm trying not to spend this month and also trying to use the many things I've bought in the past 12 months and not got round to using and stop spending, buying this set is not on the cards at the minute. Whilst I was watching Jennifer using the templates and loving what I was seeing Simon came into the craft room, he asked what I was watching so I told him. I explained I couldn't buy them, but I would save up to get them in the future because I thought they would help me make lots of single layer wreath cards more accurately than when I try to do it myself. A couple of hours later he came back in to the craft room and presented me with a test template he'd 3D printed!

The first one he made is a 3 inch one, he's making me some 4", 5" and 6" versions, after he gave it me, having first saying thank you and wiping away the happy tears, I tested it and it works like a dream. I used a selection of Memento Dewdrop inks off my ink rack, I have so many ink pads that I really don't need to buy any more, not unless one dries up or they do something incredible effect wise. On the first floral card I messed up slightly I didn't make sure that the stamp would be in the right position on the card as you moved it around. It doesn't look that bad, but when I did the second card this morning I made sure that the stamp was in the right position all the way around the card before I started stamping.

Simon said if I want some stencils making with designs we could work on them together, and he'll print them out for me, he's also going to make me some masks, so far I've asked for a star, heart and circle so I can stamp leaving a shape in the middle. He has ideas for making templates that will give more areas for stamping as well.

I didn't realise that he could 3D print so thinly, he's made me lots of things before like the pen pot for my Zig pens, little stands for helping me stand my cards up for photoing and handles for stamps, its lovely when our hobbies can cross over.

I certainly think I could become addicted to making wreath cards and can't wait for Si to complete the other sizes of templates for me. I can see so many different types of wreaths, spring, summer, autumn and winter flowers and colours, snowflakes and lots and lots of paw prints. I coloured the cat with Prismacolor pencils and gamsol, it was a very quick colour, so I think I could make sets of these in next to no time and in lots of different colour combinations, combine them with a little box and I have some gifts for friends and family. I'll do another post when I've used the other size templates as I want to try a few techniques and mediums. I'm off to do some more cupboard sorting now and maybe later stamp some more wreaths. Have a lovely day and thanks for stopping by :)

Crazy Cat Lady Strikes Again

Hello to you and thanks for stopping by, its been a bit manic here as I rewrite and prepare for a course on robots that I'm teaching along with my husband to a group of children starting next month, so I haven't had much crafting time but this last few days I've put paid to that and I've been making lots of cards thanks to a challenge that was set up on a lovely, friendly card making group "Victoria's Crafty Friends" I belong to on Facebook headed up by the lovely Victoria Dalziel, one of the designers for Tonic Studios. I've made some lovely crafting friends via the group who are amazingly talented, supportive and beautiful souls. You can share your latest project, have a moan and be inspired all in one place, if you're not a member then I'd recommend that you join.

Regular readers of my blog will know that I'm a crazy cat lady in training and that I like to support my local Cats Protection by making cards that I can then give to them to make some money to help care for the cats. I make all different kinds of cards for them, but this year I thought I'd focus on cat themed cards. During a recent tidy and organise of my craft room and stash, I managed to fill an entire box with cat dies, stamps, stencils and embossing folders. Seeing how many cat craft products I have (and some unused!) has made me determined to use them all during the course of the year for cards for the CP. There's an added incentive this year as well I've been told that I can sell my cards at Maker Faire Derby in October, so if I get my skates on I could make some extra crafting pennies to boot!

 This batch of cards in the above photo turned out nothing like my initial idea, initially I was going to arrange 4 of the toppers on a 6" x 6" card blank each with a cat in the centre. I tried lots of combinations, paper backgrounds, embossing folders etc, but nothing gelled, then I decided to stamp a suitable kitty sentiment in the middle of each "stamp". I already knew that I wanted to include my little cats die cuts by Impression Obsession on the project and I'd already cut them in scraps of black card stock.  No matter what I did I couldn't get the idea for the card background to gel, so I started going through my cat stencils and embossing folders and found my Hunkydory Perfect Paw Print Mask that I'd bought from Craft Stash during their December 2017 Advent deal.

It didn't take much to connect the dots once I had the mask in my hand, and I picked out a selection of Distress Inks that co-ordinated with the papers in the centre of the stamps, and I set to taping down the mask and inking the cards with my chosen Distress Ink colours and several hours later I had 7 sets of 6 4" x 4" cards, each set contains 1 of each of the sentiments with a cat silhouette.
When I make more soon I'm going to use lighter colours of paper for the 'stamp' centres as in hindsight the black sentiment seems to get lost on the darker coloured papers. But I do like the way these cards turned out, it was rather relaxing inking and watching the latest videos from 2018 Creativation in the background. So many new goodies to come, I've already ordered the 3 batch of Distress Oxides, which I'm very excited about and the Distress Resist Spray.

There's also a whole bevy of beauties in the form of craft tools and mediums by Tonic Studios in their Nuvo range to come, including shimmer sprays, new colours in aqua pens and ink pads as well as shimmer powders and brushes. My craft stash is starting to have a decidedly Nuvo look to it, glitters, glues, embellishment mousse, colouring pens and so much more. Tonic excel at tools like guillotines and of course the Tim Holtz Stamping Platform which has been a game changer for me since I acquired mine last year, no more stamping errors or ruined projects when I mess up, because with the stamping platform I never do! I'm looking forward to using more of the Nuvo range in 2018, it will be interesting to compare the Nuvo products with some of their competitors like Cosmic Shimmer.

That's all from me for now, I'll be back with some more kitty cards very soon, I now seem to be on a roll and have lots of ideas as well as products I want to try out so watch this space. Thanks again for stopping by, I really appreciate it and your comments and support, much love to you all and happy crafting :)

Sizzix Meadowcat

Hello crafty blog land lovelies :) I'm frantically trying to finish off all my Christmas cards, make a couple of birthday cards, some gifts and do the usual wrap presents and write card thing that some of us do at this time of year. I'm winning on some counts, but where the xmas cards are concerned I keep getting distracted...

Like when the crazy cat lady in me stretched out her virtual paw after seeing this shiny new Sizzix Meadow Cat die and knew I had to play with it as soon as I saw it for sale on the Craft Stash website.  So order it I did and as soon as it arrived yesterday I dropped the xmas cards I was working on and had a quick play with Miss Meadow Cat and this is what I created in no time at all.

Like all Sizzix dies it cut like a dream and it made a simple almost 1 layer card very quickly. I die cut the image from black card stock and then using Arteza metallic marker pens to colour the various bits of flora on the die.

Sadly the photo doesn't show the shine of the pens on the black card as well as I'd like, I need a better camera or a light box! The Arteza pens I used are water based, I want to try colouring the die cut with my Promarker metallic's and also my Spectrum Noir Metallic Pencils as I'm sure they will give totally different effects. I made this card to put in my box for the future, I sure hope that I don't have to use it though. I thought I'd make some for giving to my local Cats Protection to sell.

I think that this die can work for lots of different occasions, paper piece the flora in lots of bright colours and add a stamped tiny butterfly to the nose and suitable sentiment for a summer birthday, colouring in red, green and gold could also make an Xmas card for a cat friend and autumn colours will produce a thanksgiving/halloween card. So the die has a lot of versatility and not just a use for sad occasions.

I wanted to keep the card pretty simple focusing mainly on the image so all I added to the white card blank were a couple of rows of pawprints from my Justrite 'Pet Sympathy Sentiments' stamp set and the sentiment comes from the Newton's Nook 'Furr-ever Friends' stamp set and both are stamped in Onyx Black Versafine ink. I added a few gems from my stash to the flowers, but in hindsight may have been a touch too much?

Before I go I thought I'd mention the affliate links that have started to pop up on my blog, I've joined an affliate scheme which means if you click on one of the links on my blog and then you make a purchase at the store I get a small commission. It's a way of earning some extra crafting pennies for me and it doesn't cost you anything, so if you happen to click and buy thank you :)

Crazy Cat Lady

I wear the title of this post like a badge of pride, I'm owned by two cats who regular visitors to my blog may recall that I often refer to them as my girls, because that's what they are. I couldn't have children of my own, I was lucky enough to wind up with a stepson and now a daughter-in-law, but as for babies of my own, cats and kittens are as close as I can get. My girls are my fur babies and yes I spoil them rotten and people that know me accept that.

My love of cats has started to spill over in to my crafting life, when I see a new stamp or die set that is feline in nature it kind of falls in to my stash. So I was delighted when my card making friend Jackie Trinder posted a card she'd made using a stamp set from the Isobel Craft Collection. I hadn't come across the brand before but the owl set Jackie used looked cute so I went and had a wander via Jackie's link and found a really cute cat stamp set that I fell in love with and ordered within moments. Thanks Jackie!

Sophy got my order to me very quickly, it arrived Tuesday morning from a Sunday evening order placement. The stamp set is A5 and comes with some little sentiments. I haven't had much time to play with it but last night I used 4 of the 5 cats in the set plus the paw print stamp to make myself a book mark. The paw prints are stamped with Memento ink in 'London Fog' and 'Gray Flannel' and I coloured the cats with some of my Zig Clean Color Pens and added some Clear Spectrum Sparkle pen to blend the colours.

This photo is of my oldest cat Poppy, both of my girls come from the Cats Protection, which is why I do all I can to help support them. Poppy came to live with us in 2011 when she was just 1 year old, she is just over 6 years old now and my little princess. Her sister Rosie Tu-Tu is also from the CP, we got her as a kitten when she was a few months old, she's been with us since 2014 and will be 3 years old next month. In our household Poppy is Mummy's girl and Rosie is very much Daddy's girl and that's the way it is :)

 The bed is Poppy's, its actually our spare bed which is in my crafting room come office, but we're not allowed to put anything on it, if I have craft stuff on it and Poppy wants a nap, she gets rather vocal until I've moved everything to give her some nap space. She's a cheeky little madam at times but I wouldn't change her for the world, her sister either, I'll post more photos of them in the future, I'm sure people won't mind sharing the crazy :)

In my down time I even read cat related fiction, if you haven't come across Mandy Morton and 'The No. 2 Feline Detective Agency' and you like a giggle you may like to check her out. She's written 4 books so far the first has a plot that goes something like this...

"Hettie Bagshot has bitten off more than any cat could chew. As soon as she launches her No. 2 Feline Detective Agency , she’s bucketed into a case: Furcross, home for slightly older cats, has a nasty spate of bodysnatching, and three of the residents have been stolen from their graves. Hettie and her sidekick, Tilly, set out to reveal the terrible truth. Is Nurse Mogadon involved in a deadly game? Has the haberdashery department of Malkin & Sprinkle become a mortuary? And what flavour will Betty Butter’s pie of the week be?"

I'm currently on book 3 'The Death of Downton Tabby', I have book 4 ready to go after that, there fun and silly and there are lots of cakes, pies and murders involved.