Crazy Cat Lady

When I was a little girl, old people's homes always seemed to be full of crochet. Crochet antimacassars and arm rest covers on the chairs, crochet mats and runners on the sideboard and coffee table, little crochet doileys underneath every ornament. So I decided to pair my almost-crazy cat lady (stamped with a Hampton Arts stamp and coloured with Promarkers) with some faux crochet doileys, fussy cut from Curiosity Corner papers, and background paper reminiscent of the floral chintzy wallpaper and fabric designs that old people seemed to have when I was a child. The woman in the picture actually looks a bit like my Great Aunt Evelyn, whose home in the late 1950s was crammed with crochet and chintz! 

I am sharing this with 

Alphabet Challenge - Old Folk  

The 2020 Cat Lovers Hop 

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - X is for fauX  

Birthday Cat

 No, you're not imagining it, I really didn't post a cat card yesterday. We had the grandchildren here for the day, and as the coronavirus situation is worsening and we don't know what will be happening at Christmas, we decided to have Christmas Dinner together yesterday. We spent the morning cooking together, got out all the festive table linen and serving dishes and then downloaded a film and spent the afternoon vegging out in front of the TV. Just like a real Christmas Day, and the grandchildren loved ot - so did we! But I'm back with a kitty card today. 

A card made with just dies and an embossing folder, for a change. The smocking folder is a very useful one as it has two completely different effects depending which way round you use it. I tried the cat die cut against both surfaces and it stood out best against this one. 

I am sharing this with 

Watercooler Wednesday - All About Occasions  

The Cat Lovers Blog Hop 

Be careful where you plant your kitty!

 

After all, you want it to grow up big and strong!

This stamp is another from the bargain set I mentioned a couple of days ago. I've coloured this one with Promarkers, and added a background paper printed from a Coosty Creations download, a piece of really cute kitty ribbon from Crafty Ribbons and an adhesive pre-printed sentiment. 

This is another entry into the Cat Lovers Hop at Her Peaceful Garden

And since there's lots of black, I am also sharing at Passion For Promarkers - Purple and/or Black 

The Tale of Tom Kitten

 For my next cat card I've pressed my old faithful Beatrix Potter CD into action. The is a Create and Craft club freebie from many years ago,  and is a sampler from what was, at the time, Crafter's Companion's newly released Beatrix Potter CD. 

I've used two background papers, a border and a decoupage set from the CD. 

I'm sharing this with

The Cat Lovers Blog Hop at Her Peaceful Garden 

CD Sunday Plus - anything goes 

Show us your Pussycats - Furrything Goes 

Black Cat Season #2020CatLoversHop

 I'm not a Halloween fan, but  I'll take any excuse to stamp a black cat! Especially as today is Day 1 of the Cat Lovers Hop over at Her Peaceful Garden - if you'd like to find out more about it, click on the pretty kitty badge which you'll find in the sidebar over there >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

My first card is sort-of Halloweeny - I don't have any Halloween sentiments but I've used the traditional orange and purple colours for the background. 

I smooshed the orange ink onto the card - it was pure luck that splodges the perfect size to spotlight the kitties formed - then blended in the purple to fill the gaps. The stamps are from a set I bought from a cat gift shop that was getting rid of all their craft supplies (foolish people!) and didn't have a brand name on the pack. 

Naturally I am joining in with the Cat Lovers Hop

And I'm also sharing at Sweet Stampin as it's the closest I'm likely to get to a Halloween card! 

Two months today....

 ... it will be Christmas Day. I wonder if we'll be able to have our usual family celebrations, or will we be in lockdown, or something in between? We're making two sets of plans, one for a family Christmas and one for a just-the-two-of-us one. 

Anyway, I've made this card following the sketch at Fezziwig's Festive Frolics and using  elements from Hunkydory's "Wonderful Wintertime" collection plus a couple of die cut corners. There was a border strip left over from another card so I've added that to the inside

 I am sharing this with

Fab'nFunky - Christmas  

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes  

Rudolph Day at Scrappymo's 

Jingle Belles - Not a creature was stirring  

Fezziwig's Festive Frolics - Sketch  

On the right track

 It seems to be a few days since I posted - not that I haven't been crafting, I've been busy getting ready for the forthcoming cat lovers blog hop. Anyway, here is a card that is very much not cat themed and once again uses stamps from the gorgeous Indigo Blu magazine kit. 

I'm sure that, like me, you can't bear to throw away a even a tiny snippet of white card, because it's so useful,  and end up with a boxful of bits and pieces of all kinds of different textures and shaded of white. Try die cutting them to make a W-o-W card and you'll see just how many different shades you have. But once they are stamped, coloured or embossed the differences become negligible so a card like this is a great way to clear some of the surplus. 

First of all I cut a square to fit the card and painted it all over with a matt silver watercolour paint. When it was dry I sponged a hint of black ink around the edges then embossed the whole thing with a cog wheel embossing folder, Cogs & Gears from Creative Expressions. 

Then I stamped all the elements onto snippets of white, coloured in the engine and added a sentiment from the pack of adhesive sentiments I won in the playground recently, and matted the engine onto red card. I did add a few die cut cogs but they pushed it over the border into Too Much Going On so I whipped them off again before the glue dried.

I am sharing this with

The first ever challenge at  the new blog Let's Squash It! , a challenge that wants us all to show more love for our embossing folders. The theme is Geometric and Metallic. 

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge 389  

Watercooler Wednesday - anything goes with a masculine twist

Back to the Indigo Blu kit....

 I just can't keep away from it! 

This time I used it to make an envelope style card. 

To make it, I started with two square cards and cut one panel in half diagonally on each, then stuck the two uncut panels together to give a tri-fold card, and ran a dark pink ink pad along the edges. I took a pale pink printed distress effect paper from the kit and a set of Altenew ink pads in shades of pink ranging from a barely-there hint of blush to a deep plummy pink. I cut the paper to a whisper smaller than each panel then blended ink around the edges of each piece and decorated with stamping and stencilling in the various shades of pink. 

Next I made the insert - I cut white card down to a square 1cm each way smaller than the card, punched a border along the top and then stamped the lady, positioning her so that when the card is closed with the insert in place, she will be peeping through the V-shape made by the overlapping diagonal panels. Then I blended, stamped and stencilled all around the edges leaving the area closest to her white to make her stand out, and added a touch of colour to her lips and flowers. 

Finally I stuck the bottom edge of the right hand panel to the centre, to form a pocket to tuck the insert in and added a butterfly to that panel cut from one of the patterned papers. 

I am sharing this with the Butterfly Challenge  where I have used the card fold, and also edges and English Rose. Also with Little Red Wagon - something beginning with B (butterflies) 

Elegant Cranes

 

This beautiful crane image, printed from Joanna Sheen's Oriental Dreams CD, is perfect for the slim cards that are so popular at the moment. I framed it with die cut corners from the X-cut Oriental die set, and added characters cut with the same set. I don't like using characters when I don't know what they say, so I hope I haven't said anything rude! 

When I lived in Hong Kong,  it was fashionable among younger Chinese people to wear t-shirts with slogans made up of random English words, leaving you with the impression the creator had no idea what they are saying. I once ate in a restaurant where a man at the next table was wearing one that said "The harder you pull, the harder it gets. " I found it very difficult to concentrate on my prawn balls... 

I am sharing this with CD Sunday Plus, where as usual the challenge is Anything Goes as long as a CD, USB or download is used. 

The fisherman

 A few weeks ago I made a card using this fisherman stamp from Creative Stamping, and enjoyed it so much I've made another similar one. 

I used the cover of the book "Where the Crawdad Sings" as my inspiration - it is one of the books suggested for the current Library Challenge, and also one on my "want to read" list as I've seen some great reviews. And I kept to shades of orange and blue plus neutrals so I could also take part in the current Colour Hues challenge. 

I used distress inks to create the background, keeping the lighter shades to the areas I wanted to place the image and sentiment, and black Versafine for the silhouettes. The tree stamps are very old UMs from my stash and the reeds an even older Linda Luckin stamp. 

I am sharing this with

The Library Challenge - Pick of the Paperbacks 

Colour Hues - Blue and orange 

Orange moths

Back to that gorgeous Indigo Blu kit with today's make, another one made by following a "recipe" in the magazine. 

I inked white card with yellow distress ink then embossed the corner clusters and fussy cut then and die cut the moths from the waste.  Then I rubbed an orange distress pad over the embossed surface and also daubed a little orange on to the moths. I cut a frame from white card and attached the embossed corners behind it, then used foam tape to attach it over paper from the kit, which I then layered with orange card and mounted on a large 8" square white card. I finished it with the moths and a printed sentiment. 

I am sharing this with

Make my Monday - Orange as the dominant colour 

Christmas Roses

 I've been playing with  the stamp set that came with the latest Creative Stamping magazine. 

I stamped the pine cone spray twice and the Christmas rose spray once, coloured with Promarkers and cut them out, finishing the mistletoe berries with liquid pearls. I die cut and embossed a large scalloped circle - this was one of the very first dies I ever bought, I think it's a Marianne Creatables one - in pale yellow to pick up the flower centres, and cut a white circle to fill the centre, stamped the sentiment and arranged everything on the card. 

I am sharing this with

Passion For Promarkers - Make it Festive 

The Flower Challenge - Circles

Time passes

 In this strange year, time is behaving very oddly. Each day and week seems to drag on forever and yet it's already autumn and yet we haven't properly had Easter yet. It's as if we've spent the last 10 months in suspended animation. But autumn it is (at least it is where I live!) and that puts us between 8pm and 10pm on the clock face of the year. How convenient, at least for this card, that a year has 12 months and a clock face 12 hours! 

The clock face is a stencil I bought at the Make It show in Farnborough at the end of February (the last time I went OUT-out!), held in place on the card with removable adhesive and sprayed with distress ink. After removing the stencil, I smudged gold gilding wax around the edges and corners of the card. As this time of year is associated with Thanksgiving in many countries, I added a thank you sentiment to the centre. 

Then I turned to the autumn coloured master board I made last month and stamped several leaves on it, fussy cutting and curling them slightly to give a wind-blown look, and positioned them in the "autumn" section of the click face. 

I am sharing this with 

Sparkles Monthly Challenge - Hello Autumn 

The Male Room - Quote 

Watercooler Wednesday - All about occasions  

Fern silhouette

A few weeks ago in the Butterfly Challenge, I won a £5 voucher to spend at Buddly Crafts. It was several years since I'd visited the site and, erm, let's just say I spent the £5 and a bit more. Quite a bit more.... 

One of the items I chose was a Penny Black set called Every Happiness, a series of "negative silhouette"  images of plants and flowers with assorted sentiments. Today at last, I've got around to actually using it instead of just sitting cooing over it. 

I chose the fern stamp for it's serenity and because now autumn is here, there is so much beautiful bracken around. My first card makes use of the serenity. 

I stamped the sentiment frame onto my card, using Memento Bamboo Leaves ink, then blended the same ink over a scrap of white card. Then I heat embossed the image onto the sponged card with black powder and cut it out to place  in the centre of the sentiment frame, and finished the card with candi. 

I am sharing this with 

Cardz for Guyz - CAS  

Fab'n'Funky - Keep It Simple 

The second card took me several attempts - first I stamped the fern three times across the card front in the three autumnal colours. But I didn't get them lined up quite accurately enough and in any case it turned out to be one of those cards that looks just DULL rather than CAS. So next I cut a square of mustardy brown card slightly smaller than my card front, cut out my images and added them to it - but all that mustard overwhelmed them. 

I am sharing this one with 

Shopping Our Stash - Autumn/Fall  

And finally the two cards together: 

I am sharing this pair at 

NBUS - NBUS

Twofer Card Challenge - Silhouettes 

Tweet tweet Christmas

A very CAS Christmas card today, made with the delightful Woodware Robins stamp set that I won over in the Playground about 5 or 6 years ago. 

I stamped the robin and sentiment in the corner of the card, added two stamped holly leaves and coloured him in with Promarkers, brightening his eye with a white gel pen. And I made sure I gave him a bit of floor to stand on! One teeny tiny red gem makes a holly berry without detracting from the overall CAS look. 

I am sharing this with 

AAA Cards - One corner/cosy (not using the optional extra) 

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes/stocking (not using the optional extra) 

Passion for Promarkers - Make it Festive 

Sweet Stampin' - Use your old stash

CAS Christmas - Birds 

Pink lady

 It's that Indigo Blu set again! 

This time I followed one of the "recipes" in the magazine,  masking watercolour card  and creating an ombré inked rectangle, then stamping the lady, removing the ink from the face and flowers with a wet brush and adding colour back in to the flowers using watercolours. 

All went well until the next step - removing the masking from the edges, masking the image  and splattering ink over the background and surrounding frame. I haven't really done much splattering, preferring to cheat with a splatter-like stamp, and I'm afraid my effort looks as if I was attacked by an axe murderer while sipping a glass of red wine. 

I am sharing this, splatters and all, with 

Cardz 4 Galz  - Go Retro  

Watercooler Wednesday - Anything goes with a feminine twist  

Sherlock Bones

 It's Halloween season, and although I'm not a big fan of the occasion, it's always a good excuse to get my Graphic 45 "Master Detective" papers into action (although who needs an excuse!)

I've used an image and poison labels fussy cut from some of the papers, as well as a spidery background and added a die cut cobweb and a chipboard sentiment. Sherlock Bones is lounging around in his cobwebby cellar (does opium affect skeletons? If so, he's probably indulged) trying to work out how the latest dastardly poisoner committed his crimes. 

I am sharing this with

Pearly Sparkles - use black and/or purple 

Country View Crafts - Halloween (make a scene)  

Crafty Calendar - Halloween 

Shopping Our Stash - Halloween 

Hi honey!

 A change from Christmas cards today. 

I  stamped the bees and masked the lower one, then blended yellow ink over the lower right corner of the card with a little light tan added around the edges. Then I stencilled the honeycomb over the top using the same two inks, but with a firmer touch. I removed the masking, coloured the bees' bodies with pencils, stamped the sentiment and glittered the wings. 

I am sharing this with: 

Cardz 4 Galz - One layer 

2 Crafty Critter Crazies - anything goes 

CAS Mix Up - tone on tone + stencils 

AAA - One layer (not using the optional twist of coffee)

Festive Snippets

 I'm still in Christmas card making mode! 

For this card I cleared out lots of snippets - the snowflake paper is the last from a free pack that came  with a magazine a few years ago. I think I got a download at the same time in which case I'll be able to print more - wouldn't it look good on vellum or acetate? The red and white card I used were also snippets - I tend to accumulate a LOT of white snippets because even the tiniest "might come in useful" for a die cut or a sentiment. Even the ribbon is a snippet, my very last scrap of that design. The gingerbread men are stamped and punched with the SU Cookie Cutter Christmas set; the sentiment comes from the same set. 

I am sharing this with 

Christmas Crafts All Year Round - no tricks, just treats 

Pixie's Snippets Playground - challenge 388 

Christmas Kickstart - Festive Sweet treats 

Christmas Cuties

 The other day I watched a video of a stencilled sky being made over on Clearly Besotted's Facebook page (have you seen their colouring videos? They are really inspiring!) and had to have a go. 

I stamped and masked Santa, then the elf and tree, then the skyline, all using Clearly Besotted stamps that came with Creative Stamping magazine a couple of years ago. Once everything was masked, I used a cloud stencil and distress inks to create the sky, blending the inks over the stencil and repositioning it between colours. 

I removed  the masked skyline and stamped the trees,  then removed all the rest of the masking, stamped the sentiment and coloured the images. I dotted in snowflakes, some with a white gel pen and some with Stickles, and added stickles to the white areas of the image and to the line where the image touches the snow. 

I am sharing this with

Allsorts Challenge - Cute Christmas  

We love Chocolate Baroque - Anything Goes  

Jingle Belles - Dashing Through the Snow  

Craft Rocket - Add sparkle 

The Carol Singers

 I dug deep into my Christmas bits box for the elements to make this. The paper is from a very old, almost finished Crafty Individuals pad, the topper and coordinating sparkly chipboard came in a RAK many years ago and the sentiment is a woven fabric one which I think I won over at Crafty Hazelnit's challenge. 

I added ribbon and a doiley from my stash and used deep red card - NOT black as it looks in the photo!- for matting. I assembled it all with an eye to the current sketch from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. 

I am sharing this with 

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - anything goes  

Sparkles Christmas - Vintage  

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - sketch