Rugby 80th

Went for a clean, modern look for this "man's card." I still find cards for men some of the hardest to make.

Pitch background and rugby balls all created on the computer and printed out. 

Lady and the tramp

Combo'd two ideas for this card, using the "tying the knot" idea (heavily represented on Pinterest as a wedding invite/card idea) and the spaghetti kissing moment from Lady and The Tramp.

Have to stress that this is a disney image so is not for sale and is just for personal use. 

Owlie digistamp.

Quick post to show you the card I've made using one of my digistamps, "Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Hoot No Evil"  for one of my bezzie's birthdays. The bonus being is that I can now upload a card example to the Etsy listing ^_^ Is that sneaky? :)


Digistamp available to download as a Png file from Etsy.

Autumn Leaves

Card I made for one of my customers using the falling leaf stamp set from Hobby Art. Really pleased with my investment in this stamp set, I can see a lot of ways to use it and they are nicely made stamps. These were stamped directly onto a piece of paper pre-printed with my wording. I then used distress inks to colour them and some separate ones to use 3D decoupaged on top. I did a but of ink flicking too, always scary when you are working directly onto the card front!

Pugmageddon!

More pugs! Is there a blog theme occurring? :) There just isn't enough ready made pug themed craft stuff out there for me. This time I began by making myself some pug papers, using distress inks, stamps and a few altered art techniques.

I used the dogs and words from the set called "We Love Dogs" by Craft Stash Limited. Once dried out I used them to decorate another box blank, then stamped a whole load more pugs to colour and use for the top!

Am hoping a Pug mad 24 year old will love it :)

New products at the St.Leonard's Victorian Christmas Craft Fair this weekend in Bridgnorth

Hum.. a bit of a long post title! :) Just want to show you a picture of the lovely mugs Digital Wizardry made for me that will be on sale this weekend.

Mugs cost £5 and I will happily take orders if you fancy one. Five designs available.

Hot Air Box Balloons :)

I've been really inspired by this style of box card on Pinterest recently so decided to have a go at one with hot air balloons. Worked out ok for a tester. Cloud die from Joy Crafts. Most of the papers from American Crafts, some from the "Discovery Park" collection, but all from the stash.

New Christmas Collection of Digistamps!

Very pleased to announce I have a new Christmas Collection of Knitty Kitty Digis available. There are five new designs to choose from. I'll add a few pics here but also check out the facebook group page for more previews.

Shop link here if you'd like to go see? :)

 Christmas Cat Flap

 

Nakivity

Pulling Down The Tree

Snowcat

The King Kitties

 

Autumn Anniversary Part 2.

This post is a sister post to one I made on the 11th Sept - Here!
I had to wait for their anniversary to pass, as I didn't want them to spot the card before I gave it to them!  :)

So the Autumnal colour inspiration came from a challenge on the "our Crafty Corner" blog... and I made two anniversary cards, this is the second.
This one though features "mice with balloons" a stamp by Wild Rose Studio (CL285)

Mice - Wild Rose Studio CL285 "Mice with Balloons"
Banners- Happy Day Clear Stamps (Magazine freebie)
The Doily stamp is from the Papermania Urban Stamps collection.
The Alphabet Set I used for the letters is from Studio G, set VS4191
Distress Inks - Squeezed Lemon, Ripe Persimmon and Spiced Marmalade.
Image coloured with copics.

French Pug.

A commissioned card featuring a stylish french lady and her pug. I was so pleased to find this pug stamp at the NEC. It's by Craft Stash Limited and a set called "We Love Dogs." There is also a very nice dachshund, a frenchie and a shaggy looking terrier! Super useful!

Flowery bags

Another commision, this time for handbags! It's been a long time since I have tried to make this kind of card and I'm not sure years of experience made too much of a difference ; ) They do at least now stand up, unlike my very first attempt when I started out! Went for two colour themes and used flowers from the stash to complete them. Loving enamel bling right now ( Can you tell? ) and using some of the same trusty diecuts.  All the papers are magazine freebies.

Flowers from Wild Orchid and Hobbycraft.

Dance like no-one is watching.

So the customer didn't state what kind of dancing their sister-in-law was in to so I took a punt on a type of dancer we all can recognise. :) I'm really enjoying this new trend in erm...sunken toppers? lol! The sakura blossoms are from the "Little Bit Oriental" collection by Sheena Douglass. The central piece of white card is 3D foamed onto the sakura paper, and the dancer is cut out to reveal the sakura paper beneath.

Christmas Fayre

I will be at St.Leonard's Christmas Fayre this year as normal! Just popping up the poster with the info in case anyone wants to come! :) You could come Saturday and avoid the rush? :)

Peacock Feathers.

I recently picked up a kids sticker book called "Edwardian Fashion - Usborne Historical Sticker Dolly Dressing." and thought there was potential for some fab cards! I am also pretty excited to find out that it is a series and there are more books with different fashion eras to find too! It might have to be for personal projects only, but I really enjoyed making this card using them. This is Cecily, and her peacock gown.

Flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and Hobbycraft.

Sneaky Peek

Hi! Just a quick update and a sneaky peek at one of my new mug designs. I've been slow to get these pictures finalised but yesterday they got sent to Digital Wizardry for printing. They should be ready for the St.Leonard's Christmas Fair (Bridgnorth) if you want one? I don't think I will be selling them on-line due to high p&p costs (if you want to ensure they will make it through the post.)

Minnie Easel Card

It's nice to use a Disney image occasionally, even though there are fairly rigid rules on selling them! So, this is not for sale folks. :)

Hand drawn main image coloured with Copics.
Waltograph font.
Flowers from Wild Orchid and Hobbycraft.

Another fifty years....

Final Golden Wedding card for a bit I think! :) Had to be something different again and the customer had requested poppies so a good excuse to break out the Indigo Blu Poppy Heart Stamp!

• Stamp was heat embossed in gold onto card blank. 
• Top layer was 3D foamed onto the base with a die cut heart to fit over the stamped image beneath.
• Then I cut another heart in a spare piece of  the same card stock and then cut around the hole, to make a frame for the heart which I 3D mounted on top. ( Added gold bling to this, but it looks rather like brown bling in the photo!)
• After that I die cut some swirls and leaves as a base for the flowers in the same pearlescent card stock.
• I painted some poppies with gold paint to get them to tie in. ( I tried leaving them red but it just didn't work... and if I added in more reds to the card layout  it started to look like a ruby wedding card not a golden one. ) The effect was almost like rose gold, so I think it worked ok!
• Greeting phrase was created on the computer. 

Set of Golden Anniversary Cards

I was asked to do a set of golden anniversary cards all for the same couple and because I've made a lot of cards for this family -  I had to go for something new!

First card was inspired by a lovely card made with dies by Inge Groot. I don't have the dies, but I managed to draw it all ok and cut out the parts. I hadn't saved it initially to use as a wedding card but I thought it made a new modern twist on the "golden" theme.

The second card was using stamps from Hero Arts  - Fantastic Flourishes CL106 and a freebie heart stamp from Craft Stamper Magazine. I also used a scan of a marbled background that Helen and I had made one crafty session, recoloured it and printed it onto cream pearlescent paper. Added some gold stickles afterwards for additional bling.

Final card was using a Butterfly Heart Memory Box die. I used it in the traditional way on plain white paper and then re-cut it from three different goldy papers which I paper-pieced onto the white version. It was a little bit time consuming but not too hard. I might have another go at this with some different kinds of papers, it's a very versatile die.( Thanks Helen ;) )

Flower Haul!

Quick photo of my flower haul from Wild Orchid Crafts.  I can't recommend them enough! I ordered this batch on a Saturday and it arrived Tuesday morning. I messaged them to ask if they could speed it up (not that they are normally slow in anyway) and it arrived asapp ( as soon as postally possible.)

This picture shows their Poppies, Sweetheart Blossoms, Apple and Cherry Blossoms.

This post is not sponsored. :)

Congrats It's A Kitten Card (New Baby Girl)

Just a quick post to show you the card I made from the new stamp I released yesterday!

Stamp: Congrats It's A Kitten - Knitty Kitty Digis
Colouring : Polychromo Pencils and Copics.
Papers: Itsy Bitsy Baby Girl - K&Company
Diecuts: Maidenhair Fern by Sue Wilson, Mini 3D Butterfly from Xcut
Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts, Hobbycraft and some randoms from the crafty stash.

Congratulations!

Just want to say "Congratulations" to my friend Susan on the birth of her new baby girl - Sophie Hannah!

To celebrate we have a new digistamp on Etsy - " Congrats It's a Kitten!" Buy it now!

In this version I've coloured it with polychromo pencils and Copic Ciao pens.( You can add your own text to the balloons, so it's fine for a girl or a boy.)


Copics Guide
Sky - B32
Pinks - R20, R22, R02
Yellows - Y06, Y21
Cats - W1, W3, W5
Clouds - 0, B60, C1, C3

Bonkers Nail Art Card

Trying to post from the Blogger App today, not many formating options but I'll do my best :)

This is a customer order to give to a friend who is a Nail Artiste. I'm hoping if she's into Nails she'll get the concept and have a chuckle.

Nails are all painted with acrylic paints with added gems and stickles glitter. I used Pinterest nail art pictures for inspiration.

Another new baby :)

This is a card for a customer order. He is a new grandparent and it had to be something a little bit special, and here it is! :) Relieved to say he really liked it. I've taken out a few of the details but you can imagine that any info could go in the text parts and the layout could be transferred for any colour scheme or a special paper you might want to include.

 I love the All About Boys Stack from DCWV. It's not a new thing but honestly I think I have used it for so many projects it's been worth every penny. The 12x12 pad is still available to buy on line for approx £20.

Sixty Kitties.

Another customer order via Etsy! She had some very specific requirements and it was really good fun to do! Anyone that is happy with kitsch and bling is my kind of customer ;) The recipient was really into cats (Seal Pointed Ragdolls) and bling, butterflies and the expression "Bothered? Not!" I also did a customised inner and back to the card.

I think it might be rather nice to do a digi image of cats and numbers for the milestone birthdays and anniversaries? Good idea? 

Cats coloured with copics, my own design.
Diecut 3D butterflies from Xcut. 
Stickles Candy Cane Glitter. 
Paper from a Nancy Watt collection that appeared in Making Cards magazine. 
 

Happy Retirement!

Another customer order, this time for a large retirement card. All the items in the wheel are things of interest or relevant to him. (List supplied by the customer!)  This card is my largest standard size, not sure I've ever done bigger than 20cmx20cm, might have to give it a go!

Papers are from the Here and There Collection by Studio Calico.

Fishing at the pond - New Version

Colouring up a new version of this picture using copics and polychromo pencils. It's got a lot of detail in it for using it as a small image and I would definitely recommend using it for a much bigger card or project! Here I intend to use it for an A5 card, so a bit bigger than normal.

I originally used this at approx A4 size for a watercolour picture.The digistamp is available on line here.

18th Commission!

So I wasn't given many details for this one, just this brief description-

"Granddaughter, 18th, likes books, not too frilly or fussy!"

I went with some quilling! I know, not the first thought that comes to mind but, I hoped it would give some detail whilst not being overly frilly or fussy. I used pages from an old (already battered) book and it was actually quite nice to quill with. I added some gold paint to gild the scrolls afterwards for a hint of bling. :)

After I had posted it I wondered if she really did love books whether she might be disturbed by my plundering a real book to cut up and make her card? Should I have slipped in a note to say it wasn't possible to save it? >_<

Tiger Pen Haul

Bit of a haul update from Tiger Pens! I haven't used them before but they have been recommended to me lots of times, particularly for buying single copics (rather than sets) and for their reasonably priced copic refills.

The service was excellent. Good comms and quick about delivery. The pens came loose in a jiffy bag but I suppose they didn't really need anymore wrapping than that. The choice of pens on the site is immense. Would happily recommend them myself now too.

I also couldn't resist three of their "try it for ten pence" Uni-ball pens, we get through loads of writing pens in my house...they seem to be transported to work and never return.  I've yet to test the writing pens properly but they all seem super smooth and lovely to use.

As you can see, it was getting jolly hard to colour in anything pale green with my copics!! It's hard to know with copics when it is the right time to buy a refill, just refill the pen once at the shop, or just buy a new pen?

I decided to use the "how many empties of that colour have you got?" theory and it seemed I needed only to buy "Pale Blue Grey" as a refill. (it's the chunky looking grey thing at the bottom of the photo.) Every other pen colour had only needed to be replaced once. I use pale blue grey as my go to shadow colour on almost every pic so it's not surprising it runs out first.

I did try taking my empties to a local craft shop for a refill but it was a waste of time, it didn't last more than ten mins when I started to use it again. Am not sure if it's just this one shop or if it's a problem with refilling in general, but now I have my own refill I can find out for myself!

Labrador Massage

Another Knitty Kitty Digi coloured! I really like using the polychromo pencils for shading after colouring initially with Copics... I think I'm not very brave with my shadow colours using the Copics, so there is always room for some extra shading using the pencils. Can I stipulate that if you are colouring in this image it must be a chocolate Labrador? Can I? :)

Labrador Massage - Available to Download on Etsy.

 

Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Hoot No Evil!

Here is one of the images I've coloured from the Knitty Kitty Digi's premier collection. I'm enjoying recolouring these with a mix of copics and polychromos. The first time round I did them all with watercolours.

Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Hoot No Evil! - Available for download on etsy.

Brief foray into Craftsuprint land.

I was after some motorbike themed items to make cards for my BIL and decided to see what Craftsuprint had to offer. I've seen it advertised many times, I've walked past Crafty Bob at the NEC and I've never, until now, really given it a decent explore.

So it's now a massive site ( I think I popped to look at it when it first started and it was tiny!) and there are loads of downloadable offerings on every possible subject. I admit a fairly large amount (90 percent?) are not my style, but there is some very professional and interesting stuff on there. I was also surprised to find some SVG/cutting files and lots of card "kits" for more complicated designs.

I made two cards with my first download. ( One of the main downers in my experience was having to spend a minimum of £5 when the two files I wanted only cost £1.60)

This shaped card is by Sarah Lake and you can download it here. It was 80p. If you print it directly onto one piece of A4 cardstock it makes a quite small card that fits in a 6 inch square envelope. I printed it onto white cardstock and decoupaged it by printing the right hand side twice more and selecting my decoupage layers. Afterwards I  used glossy accents and yellow stickles to add some bling. I used the computer to print out the greeting and 3d foamed it onto the bottom of  the card. I printed out a small inner to provide somewhere obvious to sign.

And this is "You Rock on a Motorbike" by Heather Howes and is downloadable here. (also 80p) I have to admit it made me chuckle and I couldn't resist it! Printed out onto one A4 sheet of card and decoupaged using the layout suggested. Replace greeting circles on the download with the number 40 for my BIL's birthday. Added two different stickles to his crest and some metallic bling to his leather jacket. I also modified the image to make a themed insert for the card too, the only thing that was missing!

Neither cards were super inspirational but I was impressed by craftsuprint and what it had to offer. I will definitely use the site again and pop to have a look what there is next time someone makes an odd request!

Might have to revisit this subject if I start to upload some content. Shall report back!

Kanban Beside The Sea Collection

A very kind friend  ( Thanks Grace! :)) liberated part of her stash for me and it was all from a lovely collection by Kanban called "Beside the Sea". Although I actually had it on the pretext of putting it towards my very-long-running-altered-art-seaside-project I thought it would be nice to make a commissioned card for a long term customer who wanted something seascape-ish!

I used to really love Kanban things when I first started crafting and could regularly pick up bargains from the QVC shop in Shrewsbury. It's all such lovely quality, and although sometimes people's foiling can be rather brash and brassy, Kanban foiling is really nice!

I'm not sure what this card fold is called, but the main card is 22.5 cm x 15 cm with a valley fold at 7.5 cm. The smaller card inside (10cm x 10cm), faces the wrong way round and you glue it in the centre of the back piece. Hope that is explained well enough? I normally put the message inside the smaller centre card, and a place to write your own greeting on the inside of the front small flap, or if there is room, on the left hand side of the card hidden by the 7.5 cm by 15cm flap. There are images inside the flap on this card too.

If you want a diagram of how this card works let me know and I will gladly draw one.

Talking of handy diagrams... I found this on pinterest the other day... it's a set of miniature  instructions for how an easel card works! I normally draw one to include with my card but this would be super handy. Going to print it and cut one out every time I need one. Easel cards are not common sense, even very bright people have been baffled by them....;)

Autumnal Anniversary

Taking Inspiration from the Challenge on Our Crafty Corner this week and made a couple of anniversary cards. Will have to post the other one when the event has passed but think I can get away with showing this one straight away!

So using an autumnal palette - Distress Inks - Squeezed Lemon, Ripe Persimmon and Spiced Marmalade, I washed over a white embossed doily pattern, stamped directly onto the cardstock. I also coloured heat embossed bunting ( some with initials) to add to the top corner. And then coloured in the owls with copics to match the colour scheme.

The owls are Bobunny Love Birds (SLB887) and I added them a branch to sit on.
The banners are all from a set of stamps called "Happy Day Clear Stamps" that were recently free on one of the craft mags.(Which one?? I can't remember...)
The Doily stamp is from the Papermania Urban Stamps collection.
The Alphabet Set I used for the letters is from Studio G, set VS4191

Card entered into : http://our-crafty-corner.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/challenge-1.html

New Sushi Cats

Trying hard to get some new cards featuring my digi images made! I have managed to get in some colouring time but still lots to go :) I've previously sold my images as small watercolours in frames, so it's all new to use them in my cards. Here are the Sushi Cats :) I used my copics, polychromo pencils and a white pen for this.

Arty Impressions Cat Lady Stamps

I love this stamp set! It's actually a full set of stamps to make a triple fold card, featuring a "cat lady" and all her cats. It's the only Arty Impressions set I have and I am impressed with the attention to detail and quality of the stamps.

You could stamp them directly onto the cardstock but as I wanted to colour them with Copics ( which bleeds through to the other side) I decided to stamp them onto a nice smooth paper and then cut them out. Is that sort of cheating? :)

I've started to collect some prefered colour sets for colouring in various types of cats ( Colours of cats??) and it's handy when colouring my own digi images too. So my current Ginger Tom palette is -
Stripes - YR31, YR23, Y38, E33 and shadows in W1. Eyes in any yellow or green handy, and nose in whatever flesh/pink is to hand :)

I've decided finding other peoples cat stamps that I enjoy using is excellent research for my own enterprise. I quite like having very few details when I'm colouring the cats, but without a bit of guidance where paws or tails might be, it definitely slowed the colouring mojo! I don't like when the stripes are pre-drawn though. Do you?

 Thoroughly enjoyed the process and love the card that resulted (passing it to a friend for her birthday, not selling this one) and it's made me think how I might make some cat "scenes" to stamp in layers of my own.

Additional Birthday Greetings by Hero Arts, "Birthday Messages" CL139


Entered into Crafty Addicts Challenge 2, Spots or Stripes/Anything Goes Am hoping all these stripey and spotty cats will fit the criteria :)

Balloon Dog!

Makes a change from all these cats, finally a dog themed card!  Made a set of these and they were really fun to make. I printed out the text and balloon placement directly onto kraft cardstock. I then printed out the balloon shape on coloured papers and cut them out. The little dog is an old stamp from Woodware, the set is called "A Dog's Life" (FRCL032) and I've got a lot of use out of it already. Really enjoyed colouring him in with polychromo pencils directly onto the kraft card, my top tip would be to use lots of white! I mounted my 14x14cm topper onto a 15x15cm kraft blank just to add a bit of a modern twist :) I think it works great as a man's card but equally well as a card for a female friend. I added him some collar bling regardless of the recipient ;)

Summer Holiday - Dr Digi House of Stamps

Made a card for my FIL using this great image from Dr Digi. They have a really good selection of images suitable for slightly older recipients, nothing naff, nothing cutesy, actually quite funny and well observed. Shall defo be returning to them when I want something different, particularly for male cards.

So the digi is "Summer Holiday" by Dr. Digi.(Coloured with Copics)
The greeting stamp was from a magazine freebie set called "Teeny Boppers" (Creative Stamping Magazine)
"Dad" wording and little campervan images were upcycled from another card.
I used the freebie stamp from last months Craft Stamper Mag to personalise the envelope.

Entered for the Crafty Addicts Challenge for August - Anything Goes or Summer Fun

Lobster Love

My friend asked me to draw her a pair of lobsters holding hands for her anniversary. Which is normal ;)

I used some beautiful paper my friend Helen gave me, specifically for polychromo pencils and it was lovely to work with. (Daler Rowney Mixed Media) No burnishing or major blending, I kind of liked the chunky look.

Not sure what she wanted it for but I think it would make a nice tattoo... though I couldn't escape how they are kinda like badass prawns. :) Badass-prawn-tattoo anyone?

Paint Swatch Cards

Had to break away from the Knitty Kitty Digi Launch and work on some card orders! I've wanted to try a "Paint Swatch" card for a bit and my friend (Thanks - Susan!) picked me up some paint chips from the DIY store. ( Paint swatch/chip? I'm not sure, but if you want to Pinterest for ideas, either term seems to bring up the projects using them.)

Here are the finished cards, I'm not sure I've done the ombré effect justice with this design? Might try another one of the suggestions for how to use them to create cards. It's a very frugal design though, using punches that rarely see the light of day, free swatches, part of the sequin hoard and some stamps I already had in the stash. (Also free DL card blanks my friend Helen gave me!) I tried it with free hand scrolls but wasn't happy with the result. What do you think?

"Happy Birthday" Stamp from Set 345 Fairy Doodles by Buzzcraft.

Scrolls are "Fantastic Flourishes" by Hero Arts, CL106