Watercolour cats

Was so pleased I didn't miss this free download watercolour cat set from Making Cards Magazine. Amazing customer service, I popped them a fb message to ask if I had missed it (I had checked a few times if it was available but only found the set before, and then the set after, awful timing!) and they very kindly sent me it! 

You can get links to free download sets when you subscribe to the Making Cards Magazine Newsletter.

I loved the set of cards Pauline Bird had made with them in the July 2019 edition of the magazine, but I decided to go with yellow and black as my theme, rather than yellow and dark green, I think it worked ok! :)

I printed the cats out a little smaller than the format they came in so I could use my circle dies with them. I'd saved some layouts on pinterest  that I wanted to try out and it was a lovely excuse to use some patterned papers (Some with the watercolour cat set, some from previous freebies with Making Cards Magazine and some from the stash).

The beautiful yellow geometric pattern came with the cat set, the other three papers are from the stash. The bling is from a Toucan sticky gem set I got at the range (I used bits from it on most of the cards).

I had a few bits and bobs left over from some cards I made using Mama Elephant "Sticky Notes" And Lawn Fawn "Love You a Latte" including this sentiment, so I popped it on this card. Most of these papers came with Making Cards Magazine.

Can you tell the geometric pattern is green not black? I think I got away with it, lol! I printed a sentiment for this one, font is CAC pinafore. 

Loved how this layout came out, but defo not sure where I will add a greeting to it, so it might stay wordless!  I cropped the 7x5 card blank a little to make it a bit taller and thinner to suit the layout.

Thanks for joining me today and looking at my watercolour kitty cards. Thanks to Making Cards Mag for the fab freebie and being kind enough to send it to me when I was too foolish to find it myself, lol.

Something different, but still with cats :D

Just wanted to share a little set of drawers I painted for my friend's special birthday! They are all famous cats from the internet, instagram, books etc. I just used normal acrylic paint and I think this box came from a Paperartsy stand at a craft fair, but I'm not definite! (It was quite some time ago!)

So top row is Maru (in a box), Bob the Street Cat, and Lil' Bub.

The bottom row is Dewey (the library cat), Grumpy Cat and Venus (the two face cat).

I filled each draw with tiny cat themed items, including grumpy cat characters, a mirror, Simon's Cat pin, badge, good luck chime and squishee cat.

I think I would like to do one with cartoon cats on next time, Pusheen, Simon's Cat etc, that would probably be a bit easier too :) 

Window Box Commissions.

Had two commissions waiting that could both have a catty theme so made two of these window box cards using the super die set that Helen bought me for my birthday! The die is by Sue Wilson from the Kinetics Collection called "Window Box and Accessories". (CED22003).

Papers are from a freebie kit in Making Cards (Springtime and We love llamas set). I coloured the flowers etc with copic pens.  The bricks are from a 12x12 Joy Paper pack called Tough Textures.

Font is "Script MT Bold". Added some stickles to finish.

 Close up of the flower box.

Cat cards!

Recently read someone's blog where they mentioned that they made a prototype of their card before making the final version, phew! I am glad I am not the only one to do this!  Because I am very new to the Eclips I was experimenting with free svg files and used one of a cat for a commissioned card order.

This is the prototype! I decided not to waste the cut and used it to make a card. The background and rainbow strips are using up a background I made on a previous "having a mess" day. I'm pretty sure it was using liquid distress ink refills on glossy cardstock.

So after making that card I edited the cutting file and made the cat a bit more streamlined. I also popped on some text to make it relevant to the customer's order.

This was another "having a mess" background. I used sequins from the stash, stickles on the text and some glossy accents in the eyes.

Minion Kitties

Made some actual Minion Kitties (A bit like the Knitty Kitty Facebook Group Freebie) as catnip toys for my friend Helen who has just had two new cats! Oscar and Maisey :) I am pleased to report that Oscar already approves of them and so they were definitely worth sewing! :)

Fiki's Blogiversary!

Had a great time colouring this freebie digistamp from Fiki to celebrate her blogiversary! I decided to print it faintly on kraft card and colour it in realistically with polychromo pencils, hoping I stuck to the original closely enough, it can get hard to see the lines!

If you know Fiki and would like to take part you can pop to her blog and see how to enter.

Added stickles to the hats and glossy accents to the eyes and balloons. The font is "Mister Sirloin".

Entered to the Show Us Your Pussies Cat's Only Challenge

Lino cutting!

I had a commission for a linocut! They are such fun to do. Every time I do one I get a bit more confident and a bit less haphazard and it's nice to have a completely new learning curve to get on. I had done a cat pic last year, and a friend wanted me to do another, the same scale, background and frame, but another cat, to make a pair for the first one. I actually used "Smoothie" as my muse. He is adorbs! :) Here is a little progress pic I uploaded to instagram. I gave them finished and boxed to the customer today.

Mid Century Modern Cats

Commissioned card featuring the recipient's cats! Using the Mid-Century Modern theme and stamps by Elusive Images ( A4 unmounted set, possibly SP0241 from 2008). My brother and me worked on this for a solid afternoon, so a collaborative effort... and not any the worse for it I'm pleased to say :) Hope she likes it, and recognises they are her cats :)

Kraft card blank 8x8. Distress inks: Spiced Marmalade, Tea Dye, Brushed Corduroy and Weathered Wood. Cats coloured with copics. Other papers from stash.

Inspired by the work of Donna Mibus and Kerry Beary.

Challenge 21 - First Crafty Addicts Challenge for August!

Hi everyone! Excited to be able to share my inspiration card for the 21st Challenge on The Crafty Addicts Challenge Blog.

This time the theme is "ATG/Emboss it!" and the two fab sponsors are Di's Digis ($12 voucher) and SamiStamps ($12 voucher)

I have used a stamp called "Pile of Whiskers" by SamiStamps and it was loads of fun to colour.

On the computer I layered the image over the top of the "Happy Birthday" before printing it out, so it looked like they were lay on top of the text. (Font is CheapskateOutline).

It's unsurprisingly all done in polychromos on kraft card with some Papermania star gems. To fit the theme I embossed some kraft card with a couple of plates from my crafty stash and used them on the back piece.

Close up of the detail.

Sponsor badges

One Under Purr!

Excited to have a new digistamp release today - "One Under Purr" the newest stamp in the Knitty Kitty Digis Time Out Collection. And I'm very lucky to have had three super versions of it coloured by some of the KKD Design Team members :)

Stamp is available here in the Etsy Shop.

 

And here are the coloured versions!

 By  Christine Ingram - You can visit her blog at http://christineingram55.blogspot.co.uk/

By Helen Haines. You can visit her blog at http://www.helenscraftyshed.blogspot.co.uk

By Laine Kammeraad. You can visit her blog at http://hugs4theheartdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/
 

 

Challenge 20 - Anything Goes/Friends on The CA Blog Challenge

Back again with Challenge updates! Tis the season of sponsoring challenges and I am once again sponsoring a Crafty Addicts Challenge, but this time it's the blog!

The theme for this one is Anything Goes/Friends and I have used three more images from the The Kitty Star Sign Set for a very good friend of mine who is a Sagittarian. I am thinking star sign cards are really most suitable for friend types :)

This is Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn. The Kitty Star Sign Set contains a kitty for each of the astrological signs.

This is polychromo pencils on kraft card ( Surprise, Surprise!) and I 3D foamed it to a card blank and added some green enamel dots and a diecut circle. The Font is "Boyz R Gross" for reference.

Close up of the card.

Am replacing the sponsor badge with my Hanging Cats Banner and a link to the KKD Facebook Page. Join usssssssss......

Knitty Kitty Digis out in the wild.

I just wanted to make a quick post featuring some of the gorgeous work my unofficial design team have made using Knitty Kitty Digi stamps :) I am super impressed with the projects they have made and couldn't be more pleased to have them unofficially helping me out. Thank you guys!

Cards made by  Helen Haines.

   

Cards made by Christine Ingram

Cards made by KT Fit Kitty

 

     

And an honorary mention to Sue EisenHauer who has made these great cards/pages too.

First of the May Crafty Addicts Blog Challenges!

Hi everyone, back again to let you know there is a new challenge live on the Crafty Addicts Challenge Blog.

Challenge 15 - Anything Goes/Add a Sentiment!

Two fab sponsors this challenge, Morgan's Artworld offering 3 free digis to the winner. And Melonheadz, offer one whole bundle to the winner. So double the chance of winning!

I have used the "Laura's Crazy Cat Lady" bundle from Melonheadz and made a birthday card for my friend! I'm hoping she doesn't see it before she gets in a few days time :) These are fab to colour, love making a little scene and as normal, printing it on kraft card, and using polychromo's to colour.

 Close up of the kitties.

Sponsor Badges

Our pets in our gardens.

Just sharing a picture with you today. My Mum requested one of my cat drawings for Christmas featuring our pets! This is the final image - the background shows composite parts of both our gardens. On the left are my cats" George" and "Bertie". (Brothers and rescue cats) and on the right is Mum's cat "Tiggy". (Also rescued, abandoned in a box in the churchyard with her kittens.) The two dogs are "Holly" my labrador and "Figgy" Mum's rescue staffy. First time I have had to colour in "brindle"... took me a while to figure it out :)