Cat Lover's Blog Hop is open!!

Knitty Kitty Digi's are proud to be sponsoring the Cat Lover's Blog Hop this year!
(21st until the 26th October 2019)

If you would like to take part in the hop I suggest you head on over to the sign-in page now and get your details down to take part. There are a serious amount of amazing prizes this year and it's really not hard to join in! 

Also -by taking part you could win 2 digis (or 1 set) from the KKD Etsy shop AND a new digi to be released on the 24th!! Here is a little tease -

Look out for two other ways to win the new digi on the
24th October - Knitty Kitty Digi's Special Day!

I hope you can join in with the  Cat Lover's Blog Hop and please keep an eye here and on the KKD facebook  page for the other giveaway posts too! 

And also, for those who read this far -  if you use a KKD image in the hop on your project you will get a free mystery prize!

Some useful links for you -

Cat Lover's Blog Hop Sign Up Page

The Cat Lovers Blog Hop 2019 main info and instructions.

(Link will work on the 24th) Our featured day on the hop, chance to win KKD digistamps

The KKD facebook page and chance to win the new digi!

Felt Elephant!

Good Afternoon from the blog! A second post for today using the Elephant from Dr.Digi's House of Stamps Cuddly Critters!

I really love how he came out! I think he shows some evidence of improved skills, but not many! His ears are really fluffy, and not much like real elephant ears for sure, lol!

Here is the digistamp in the shop that I used as my pattern -

I did a lot more shadowing on this critter to try and keep some of the details from the original stamp, do you think it makes him look more cartoony? The original base shape I made for him was very comical, adding the details fixed the problem I hope ;)

This Elephant is one of a host of critter stamps at Dr.Digi's. Please visit this link to see all of the family and if you fancy a real bargain, why not head to the shop and get the full set? (That's £15 for £28's worth of stamps!)

Thanks for coming to the blog even though there wasn't any colouring to look at! Thought it would be nice to try something new this October (Work commitments haven't allowed for much crafting time) and I hope you enjoyed it.

Here are links to all the critters I have made so far -

Pig

Panda

Walrus

Elephant (Here)

P.s. the book in the first picture is from my vintage book stash and it is called " The  Big Book of the Zoo" (1930) and was published by Clay and Sons.

Felt Panda!

Happy to be here to share some more of my 3D felt creations based on Dr.Digi's Cuddly Critter Stamps!

This is the Panda!

I have to start by admitting this panda is a lot smaller than my other felt critters, I don't seem to be in control of what size things come out!  He has defo made me want to have a go at making some more bears!

Here is the digi I used in the shop -

Had to learn lots making this bear, unlike my other critters he doesn't have any shadow work, it was super hard to keep the black and white crisp so I decided to leave him just like that.

This Panda is one of a host of critter stamps at Dr.Digi's. Please visit this link to see all of the family and if you fancy a real bargain, why not head to the shop and get the full set? (That's £15 for £28's worth of stamps!)

Thanks again for coming to look at something a bit different! I have one more to share with you this afternoon and then perhaps normal non-felt service will resume, lol! :)

Felt Walrus!

Back again today with another felted Cuddly Critter from Dr.Digi's House of Stamps!

This is the Walrus! Again I used the digistamp like a pattern to make the 3D Walrus. I aimed to get him exactly like the stamp, but couldn't resist giving him some floofy whiskers!

Here is the digistamp in the shop - 

I start by using core wool to build the basic body shape, and when it's mostly right I add on the coloured wool and details.

I get my felt from FuzzyWuzzie Craft & Supplies Online and Ewe & Ply in Shrewsbury.

Think this one is my fav! Feel like he might need his own beachy setting on a long term basis! lol.

This walrus is one of a host of critter stamps at Dr.Digi's. Please visit this link to see all of the family and if you fancy a real bargain, why not head to the shop and get the full set? (That's £15 for £28's worth of stamps!)

More to come in a fortnight when I will be back with a Dr.Digi DT friday felting.

Felt Pig!

Start of a little segue into needle felting! Have you ever thought of using a digistamp to make a 3D creation, following the stamp like it's a pattern? 

So I did just that! 

Here is prototype pig using the Cuddly Critters Pig from Dr.Digi's House of Stamps!

Here is the stamp I used to make my felt piggy -

Obvs I am not a needle felting expert but I really enjoyed making this chap! There are lots of things not quite right, but he's kinda cute and looks a lot less fuzzy in real life!

This pig is one of a host of critter stamps at Dr.Digi's. Please visit this link to see all of the family and if you fancy a real bargain, why not head to the shop and get the full set? (That's £15 for £28's worth of stamps!)

Thanks for popping to see something that isn't papercrafted! Hope you enjoyed looking at something different. I've another felted critter for later today!

p.s. background books are from my vintage book stash. The top one is called  "We Are Here" and is a Golden Pleasure Book (1963). The bottom one is called "The Wonder Book of the Farm" published by Ward Lock, no date but approx 1955.

Goldies

Sharing a more personal post today, about Goldfish! 

For a long time I kept goldfish, and was completely obsessed with them. I learned some important lessons from the experience. 

1. Learn how long a pet can live for before you get it.

2. Properly research how much space a pet will need/or how big they can grow.

3. Most people are not interested in fish.

4. Goldfish have great memories, can be trained and show emotions. 

5. Peas are like crack/cocaine to goldfish.

6. Fish are very good at dying, it's their super power, and we can only wildly stab around in the dark to find out what's wrong.

I created quite a thorough fish health website at the time, because we got so many questions about "What is wrong with my fish?" I have left the bare bones up on my website, because it still gets a lot of traffic. It's mainly abandoned tho.

These were my two, Cedric and Percy.

They kept growing until they could barely turn round in this 30 gallon tank. Both were just common goldies and eventually succumbed to genetic issues. When Cedric died he was well over 12 inches long, not including his tail.

I didn't get more goldies, they can live for 50 years, and a 30 gallon tank is no where near big enough!  I do have some tropical fish tho, I've had them for about 7 years and they are mainly, fins crossed, a happy healthy little colony that live in my kitchen :)

In memory of my lovely goldies, I made a couple of cards using the Hero Arts CL945 Colour Layering Goldfish stamps. Hero Arts is one of my fav stamp companies, and I have a lot of their stamps, so many that they get their own drawer in my stamp storage! (No-one has this privilege.....yet!)

I used all the elements from the kit with distress oxides, added some glossy accents, extra greenery with a zig brush pen and some bling from the stash. Enjoyed adding some wobbly eyes to the fish too. Used some orange glitter card to mount onto the card base. Sentiment is also from the HA set.

Thanks for joining me today, was a more personal blog entry more interesting, or did you just scroll through it to get to the cards? I don't mind if you did, it's hard to find time to read all the blogs I would love to follow! :) 

Hippopotamus amphibius

Hello again :) It's a Dr.Digi friday and I have brought you a rather friendly Hippo! This is one of the Cuddly Critters from Dr. Digi's House of Stamps.

I was very much in need of a "go to" get well image for Hip operations! I think it must be a sign of my age that I seem to know more and more people going for a hip op!

Here is the digistamp image in the shop:

(This Hippo is also part of the Cuddly Critters Set! Fab value for money! Click here to see what's in it!)

 And here is my version:

I coloured him up with polychomos and a white posca pen. Added in a bit of scenery so he looks like he is just about taking a dip! Perhaps the water is chilly? 

I learnt lots of interesting things about hippos whilst researching them for this chap. I didn't know they had hairy ears for a start off! I like to look at some photos of the real thing to get some inspiration for textures.

The backing paper is from Making Cards Magazine and the font I have used is Candy Square BTN.

*****A friend has asked me for the colours I have used to colour the hippo, as they are now written down, I decided to add them to this post too, so this is added in an edit the day after!*****

Hippo Grey bits - Warm Grey II, III and V
Hippo Pink bits - Dark Flesh 130. Light Flesh 132. Venetian Red 190. Walnut Brown 177
Hippo Shade on grey and pink - Dark Sepia 175
Hippo Blending and Highlights - White 101
Skin details - Black 199 and Dark Sepia 175.

Thanks for joining me today, more Cuddly Critters to come! And also a special non-paper project I am working on!

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.

Congrats, it's a baby! :D

Good Friday Morning to you! And as such here is the Dr. Digi DT offering I have for you - Darling Damien!

Damien is, as you can see, fantastic for a bit of skin colouring practice! I went for a pinker skin in this to try and get a more fresh baby complexion.

Here is the actual digistamp:

And here is my version:

He is coloured in polychromo pencils on kraft card. The kraft card is pretty smooth for a kraft card, so actually describing it as buff coloured card might be more accurate. I used some white posca pen for the glints in the eyes, nose and safety pin etc.

The background paper was from Making Cards Magazine and the giant pink pearls are from the stash.  Font is Scoobydoo. I actually coloured Damien up in a gender neutral kinda way, but went pink with the backing paper when mounting him up. Not that pink actually relates to anything, but I suppose traditionally speaking it does. 

Thanks for joining me today! Hope you liked Damien and didn't feel too bad for poor old Ted! :D Please click the link below if you would like to have a mooch round the Dr. Digi shop and go a bit spendy!

That's Tragic!

Sorry to have a bit of  UK-centric blog post today but I need to start with a question! Do any of you remember a children's TV programme from the mid 1980's called "Wizbit"? 

It featured Paul Daniels and a conically shaped alien wizard? 

The expression "That's Tragic!" coupled with a poor impression of Paul Daniels voice will forever remind me of that programme and the awful triangular bob I had at the time that prompted people to nickname me "Wizbit." Luckily I had another hair cut and the reference no longer made sense and it was dropped. But yup, sharing some childhood magical baggage with you today folks, lol.  I didn't like Paul Daniels to begin with but this was the last straw. Then he said he'd leave the UK if Labour ever came to power, they did, but he didn't. Maybe I need to let go of some of these grudges eh? ;)

Anyway, far more importantly, this is my Dr.Digi's House of Stamps DT project for today, featuring the awesome digistamp "That's Tragic!" 

He is coloured with polychromo pencils and a touch of white posca pen on kraft card. Here is the original digi -

And here is my version -

The fonts I used for the sentiment are Bernadette Rough and DK Rosy Lee. The background paper was a freebie with Making Crafts Magazine  (May 2019).

I couldn't find appropriate bling to add, I wanted some red stars but seem to have used them all up already. Also choosing such a busy background paper made matching stuff harder. So, he is plain!

Thanks for joining me today. I really do hope you day is magicial.

I would like to make this post in memory of my gorgeous bestie Holly, who passed away on Thursday 1st August 2019. She filled my life with joy and smiles and she will forever be missed. Goodbye my friend. x