Postcard

Good evening all. Hope you all have a good week ahead. I would like to say a big hello to my new follower Martina and thank you for joining me on my blog. I hope you enjoy your visits.
 My son has just come back from the Leeds Festival and I can saftley say I think he will definately be going again next year!!!
This card uses a stamp I have not used for a while. The stamp is from La Blanche and has always reminded me of some sort of victorian postcard image. I love the way this little boy is sleeping on the flowers. So I based this card on this theme of a victorian postcard.
I have stamped the image using coffee archival ink and coloured with promarkers using muted colours for a vintage feel to it. I also inked the spellbinder shape with Bundled Sage distress ink. I threaded some ribbon around it.
The flowers and the sentiment are from a Creative Expressions stamp set. This is the first set I ever bought and only bought it at the time for the flowers. They have been stamped, embossed and coloured with satin promarker. I layered them for a bit of dimension with a gem in the middle. Finally I stamped the "postcard " onto the image.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Cupcake Craft challenge 207 - flowers
Love to Create challenge #30 - Handmade flowers
Make It Monday#104 with Cupcake cards - linky party
Fab 'n' Funky#135 - use leaves somewhere(on main image)

Thankyou so much for stopping by and visiting me today. Hope you like what I have done with this card.
Bye for now
x Catherine

Vintage Dressmaker

Good afternoon everyone and hope your all enjoying your weekend.
This is another vintage style card and the dressmakers dummy is from a Creative Expressions stamp set. This is a good stamp set as there are five different styles of manequins to choose from with sewing accessories and sentiments.
The background piece was made using a mask and distress inks. I love this technique and thought this mask suited the image well. I have made a lace rossette and added the greeting on to it. A few hat pins are placed behind the lace rossette.I have pleated the main ribbon around the card and added a little bow to the dummy itself

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
That Craft place challenge - Vintage
Sketch Saturday challenge #222- sketch
Anything goes challenge #74- make your own background
Crafty Catz weekly challenge #147- ribbons and bows
Charisma Cardz challenge #33- Lace
Papertake weekly challenge - Pins and Needles

Thanks a lot for stopping by and visiting today. Hope you like the card.
Bye for now
x Catherine

A bit of Steampunk

Good morning everyone and hope your all looking forward to the weekend. Weather's a bit poor at the moment. My son has gone to the Leeds Festival. It is his first time and he is camping out. He will love it even if it is raining!! Wishing I had gone as there seems to be a great line up of bands playing-maybe next year.
Anyway This card uses some new stamps I bought in Scotland last week. They are from Creative Expressions and called "Steampunk Flowers". This is a black and white card and the flowers were stamped and embossed with clear embossing powder. I layered them all up for dimension. The sentiment also comes from the same stamp set. The backing paper is from Papermania and the image on the bottom is so lovely I didn't want to cover it up.
I have added the clock charm for extra embellishment and added some pearls to one of the flowers.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Cupcake Craft Challenge 206- Black and White(TOP 5 SPOT)
Dream Valley challenge 39 - Steampunk
Joanna Sheen challenge- Totally sentimental
Paperplay challenge 12 week 34 - sentiment as main image/focus
Creative Inspirations challenge 177 - sentimental
Craft Your Passion challenge #124- the power of three(flowers and black corner gems)
Creative Card Crew challenge 17 - newsprint

Thanks for stopping by today and visiting me. Hope you all enjoy your weekend and the weather improves.
Bye for now
x Catherine

Something a bit different ..

Hi everyone and hope your all ok. It's been a little bit since I posted last. I came back from Scotland and had a lovely break and good to catch up with my mum.
The truth is I just haven't been in the mood for making cards at the moment. Maybe I left the mojo up in Scotland!!
I have however been working on a mini album. A while ago I  discovered Graphic 45 papers and just love them-want them all as well!!!

This is the front cover so far. Still working on it and adding the embellishments but pleased with it.
These are the first inside pages compelete with journalling tags and photo mounts:

 

So as you can see I have still been crafting but just something a little different and really enjoying working on this project. It will be a little at a time but worth taking the time over. These papers are just beautiful and have the most wonderful images and patterns.

So sorry I haven't been commenting lately but I am going to come and visit you all and catch up.
Thanks so much for popping over and visiting me today. I hope you like the album and I will continue to post as I go along with it.
Bye for now
x Catherine

 

xmas card

Good morning everyone and hope you all looking forward to the weekend. I have just been having a rest for the last couple of days so not much crafting done.
I thought I'd show you a card I have made to put in my xmas box. This is a stamp image from Stampers Anonymous and you will have seen me use this already. I love the vintage traditional feel to this image. I have created a background panel with distress inks and acrylic paint for the snowflakes. I have had another go at pleating the ribbon down the side.
Distress inks used were - Fired Brick, Peeled Paint and Wild Honey.
I love these little metal bells and thought they would be the perfect embellishment to finish this card with. I have used metal brads to frame the image with.
I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Allsorts challenge week 168-Heavy metal
Totally Papercrfats challenge #130- Inspired by a song(Santa Claus is coming to town-The Jackson Five)
Make It Monday#102 with digi doodle - linky party

Thanks for stopping by and visiting me. I will be going home again soon and looking forward to returning back to my craft desk - although the break has been well needed .
Hope you all have a great weekend.
Bye for now
x Catherine

Life is an adventure

Good evening everyone. I have been to Inverness this afternoon for a bit of a wander around. Not many craft shops there though,but it has some beautiful scenery in the highlands and the weather was good too.
I would like to say hello to my newest follower Soozyb and thankyou so much for following me. I do hope you will enjoy your visits here.
I have made this card using a new Kanban stamp I bought last week. I have used distress inks(Crushed Olive, Antique Linen and tea Dye). The background panels were distressed and then stamped randomly with a compass stamp. I then heat embossed it with some clear embossing powder for some dimension.
The main image has been stamped with a grey versafine ink. The sentiment is from an Inkylicious stamp set and the mini ticket is from Tim Holtz.
I added the compass charm as I thought it went so well with the theme.
In all I was really pleased with the way this card has turned out.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Crafts 4 Eternity challengeR#84 - sandcastles colour combo(TOP 3 SPOT)
Sketch saturday challenge week 220- sketch
Chocolate, coffee and Cards challenge 19 - Emboss
Make It Monday#102 with digi doodle - linky party 

Thanks so much for stopping by and having a look and hope you like the card.
Bye for now
x Catherine

Best Wishes

Good evening everyone. Well I made it up to Scotland and have had some lovely sea air in me today.
The weather is quite good so I hope it keeps it up for the rest of the week. I would like to say hello to Marion my new follower and hope you enjoy your visits here to my blog. Thankyou for joining me.
Todays card uses a stamp from Papermania which I have ashamedly to admit have had for a while now and never used. With all the wonderful sports we have been enjoying lately I thought it was time to give this stamp an outing. In my tradition I went with a vintage theme to it.
The background pieces were made using a circle mask and some distress inks(vintage photo and Walnut stain).I love this technique and there are so many wonderful masks available now.
The image was stamped onto a piece distressed with Antique Linen.I edged around the image with some pearl drops.
I finally embellished with a ribbon, button and some brads.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Allsorts challenge week 167 - going round in circles
Crafty Catz weekly challenge 145 - Anything goes
Make it Monday 102 with digi doodle shop - Linky party

Thankyou for stopping by today and visiting me. Thankyou also for all the lovely comments which were left on my last post with my first GDT spot. It made me feel a lot less nervous hearing from you all.
Bye for now
x Catherine

Cupcake Challenge 4th Birthday celebrations

Good morning to everyone and hope you have all had a lovely weekend. The weather was quite good here.
Today is the reveal of my GDT spot which I told you about. Cupcake Crafts challenge are celebrating their 4th birthday and I was asked if I would like a spot on this special challenge. It is my very first GDT spot so I'm a little nervous.
Cupcake Crafts challenge is a fantastic weekly challenge blog to join in with and you need to pop over their and see all the other GDT cards being shown. You can find them here. Happy 4th birthday to  all at Cupcake this week.
The challenge this week is a photo inspiration one and with my card I chose to use the colours as I love brown and pink together. The papers are from Craftwork cards and the vintage bird image is from a stamp set by Pinkpaislie. The image has been stamped using brown archival ink and embossed with walnut stain distress embossing powder. I have nested the image onto a spellbinder shape and threaded some ribbon around it. This was inked with distress inks as well. The sentiment is from Art Journey stamps and is a favourite of mine.
This is the photo inspiration for the challenge:

Well I hope you can pop over to the challenge blog and have a go at the challenge yourselves. Hope you like my take on it.
I am now off to Scotland for my hols this week and a bit of a break from house viewings. I have my laptop with me so I can chill out and keep up with you all.
Bye for now
x catherine

Madam Chic

Good morning to you all. Hope you have all had a good week. My time is still quite tied up at the moment. I have also had a lot of house viewings to go to!! I will find the right one soon - I'm sure of it.
This card uses a new stamp set from Butterfly Kisses (Madam Chic). I decided to go with an elegant look for this one and thought the monochrome suited it well. I have used distress ink - weathered wood on the panels. I love this colour as I think it just tones it down a little for a more vintage feel than stark white. I added a gem sparkle on her hat to bling her up a bit and some cosmic shimmer pearl drops around the frame.
I have added all the die cuts for the embellishments. These were created using Marianne dies and are my favourite ones. I thought they added a little dimension to the card. I thought the little hat charm just finished it nicely too.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Papertake Weekly challenge - Anything goes
Love To Create challenge #27 - Punches and Dies
Dream Valley challenge 38 - Die Cuts and Punches
Tuesday Alchemy challenge #26 - Bingo(Ribbons or bows, flowers and bling)
Joanna Sheen challenge - Try something new - new set of stamps
Stampin for the Weekend challenge 15 - Monochromatic
Creative Inspirations challenge 175 - Anything goes
Make It Monday challenge#101 with bugaboo stamps - linky party

I have another house viewing today so fingers crossed for me please!!!
Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting me. Thankyou for all the lovely comments you leave.
Bye for now
x Catherine

Oh I do Like to be beside the Seaside...

Good afternoon everyone and I bet your all singing away to yourselves now!! Finally I have something to post this week - time is so limited during the school holidays.
I would like to say hello to my new follower Tabitha and thanks for joining me. Do hope you enjoy your visits.
This card uses a new stamp from Kanban which I bought at the Doncaster show. Today is it's first outing.
I think there's quite a lot all ready going on in the image so didn't feel I wanted to overlaod it. I have stamped it onto a background piece distressed with inks(Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean and Chipped Sapphire)
The background squares have used the same ink and a mask with lots of circles. I thought it went really well with the image.
I have added some bunting using some free bunting stamps from a recent Craft Stamper magazine and I love them.
Two little metal charm fishes are hanging from the pennants for decoration and I have used some nautical theme cord to tie it all together.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Cupcake Craft challenge 204 - show some bunting
Sketch Saturday challenge #219 - sketch
The Crafty Pad challenge - show some metal
Crafts 4 Eternity challenge R#83 - summer Sun(WINNER)
Paperplay challenge 12 week 31 - Layer it up
Simply Create Too challenge #19 - Anything goes
Craft Your Passion challenge 122 - Anything Goes
Make It Monday challenge 101 with Bugaboo stamps - Linky party

Hope you all like this card and thanks so much for stopping by and visiting me today. Thankyou all so much for your recent comments on my GDT spot and you won't have to wait much longer to see it.
I'm of to Scotland next week to visit my mum and am going to have some lovely fresh seaside air(just hope the weather behaves itself!!!)
Bye for now
x Catherine

Still Here!! and a little secret to share!!

Hi everyone and hope you've all had a good weekend.
Just letting you know that I am still here, but don't have anything to share with you just now.
I have been keeping a little secret lately and can only share a little of it with you at the moment. I have been asked to do a GDT spot on one of the challenge blogs for a special occassion of theirs. This is the first time for me so was very honoured to be asked and that they like what I do.
You will have to stay tuned for that post which will be very soon!!!
Like most of you I am a little pre-occupied at the moment with children and school holidays!!!
I have a few things on my desk and hopefully will get a few posts out in the next week.
I will get round to visiting you all later and seeing what I have missed so far.
Hope your all enjoying the olympics(if you like it) and I think we are doing really well!
Thanks for stopping by and visiting me even though I don't have anything creative to show you.
Bye for now
x Catherine