Sunday, 27 November 2022

Elf on a Shelf

 


At Kate Hadfield Designs there are so many fabulous sets it is really easy to get inspired to use them. There are digital stamps which you can colour, coloured versions you can scrapbook or make into digital layouts. Papers, patterned overlays and doodles galore. No matter what your skill level there are so many goodies to play with.



One of the most fabulous things about being in this Creative Team is that we have free rein to make anything we want to using the sets in the shop. This is amazing for inspiring creativity as there are so many amazing packs to play with. I feel very, very lucky to be able to have this opportunity.

As Christmas is fast approaching and I LOVE making Christmas cards so much that is my obvious focus right at the moment.

I have created a scene using the Santa's Little Helpers kit. Neighbours over the road have 2 boys and these elves remind me of them so much. I created this scene using elements from it and this was the focal point of the card. I added this to some silver card and popped it up with some 3d foam pads.


I created the patterned paper layer using Jingle All The Way Papers. I used a sheet of white card for the base so in my digital program I made the paper using The multicoloured spots as the main paper. To this I added a strip of the green wavy paper with a border of white separating them. I then added a rectangle of the red paper as the mat for the image.


This was then printed out and adhered to the front of the card blank. The image was matted onto silver card and raised up on foam pads. The foiled sentiment is also raised up to match. Finally I raised my stickers and found some glittery framed stars to add a little festive twinkle.

Over at Kate Hadfield Designs there is lots going on. Kate is really generous with her freebies which are readily available. If you sign up to the newsletter you get access to an extra subscriber area the Doodle Den where there are loads more freebies. There is a gallery full of projects by the Creative Team and customers and so much inspiration for crafters and teachers. I would highly recommend you pop over there and join in the fun.


Card Details -


Size - A5

Digital Image - Santa’s Little Helpers Doodles (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Digital Papers - Jingle All The Way (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Embellishments - Glitter star stickers


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


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Thursday, 24 November 2022

21st Birthday Celebrations

 


This is my final week as a Guest Designer at Krafty Chicks this month. What an honour it has been to join in the fun at the hen house. 


Week 4 of the monthly challenge schedule is All Occasions. This can be a specific holiday like Easter, St Patrick's day, Valentine's day or in my case a special birthday.

 I was asked to make a special card for a 21st Birthday. The brief was girly and cocktails so I think I ticked those boxes. I do love making cards in general but it is always an honour and so satisfying to make with a specific person in mind with things that are so personal to them.

The base of the card is in the brightest of pinks. The purple paper is a handmade paper I got from a craft shop in Stratford Upon Avon a million years ago. It has silver metallic threads running through it and the raised dots are like silver brads. It was sold as a sheet of wrapping paper but it is way too posh to waste on wrapping a gift!

I used two of my most used dies on this card. The shaker element is a die from Crafter's Companion. The weird thing is that I never specifically bought it as it was in one of those sale goodie bags so you don't know what you will receive. I have used it so much and for so many different occasions so I am really glad I was lucky to get that one. I used some acetate for the window and filled it with seed and bugle beads in colours to match my main design. I have found one of the best ways to make a shaker card is with sheets of childrens craft foam which is easy to die cut. This gives the necessary depth for the shaker part without the fiddly cutting of foam pads to fit your shape.

The second die is my scalloped edge square die from Nellie Snellen. It is just the right size to make a decorative sentiment panel. I simply type my sentiment on the computer in a box and then cut when printed.

I added some glittery foam number stickers and a square gem to finish the bottle. As a final touch I added a cocktail sticker I must have had for about 20 years. I remember buying a mixed packs of Stickopotamus stickers from Ebay and it was amongst them. 

I have been making crafting and making cards for years and have amassed a lot of supplies on that time. I follow the Totally Tiffany 4 section system way of organising my craft room. All my crafty supplies like stickers, papers and embellishments are grouped together by theme so if I want to create with alcohol for instance they are all bagged up together, all balloons together, all sport etc. It takes a long time to get your stuff together like that but saves me so much time as I can pretty much go straight to whatever I need. As long as you are disciplined in putting things back you never get yourself into a mess. I have been doing it for over 7 years now and it is fair to say it has revolutionised the way I organise and more importantly has kept me organised. I also catalogue all my dies, punches, stamps and embossing folders in Evernote. This has been an absolute game changer as you can file things away but easily find them. 

I do hope you will join me and the team in the Hen House at Krafty Chicks.

Card Details -


Size - 6” x 6”

Dies - Square Die MFD006 (Nellie Snellen), Prosecco Celebration (Crafter’s Companion)

Paper - Handmade paper with silver threads and dots.

Embellishments - Seed & Bugle Beads, Stickopotamus Sticker, Glitter Foam number stickers, square gem.


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


at 13 comments:
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Thursday, 17 November 2022

Autumn Thankyou

 


I was absolutely delighted to be asked to be a Guest Designer at Krafty Chicks this month. What an honour to join in the fun at the hen house. 


Week 3 of the monthly challenge schedule is CAS Clean & Simple.  I actually really struggle with this sort of card and never really know what is classed as CAS. What is CAS to one person is different to another depending on their style I think.

However I have worked in it being One Main Focal Point, Lots of open space (no pattern) & Minimal layers so I hope this will suffice. I found it very difficult to not use a pattern or texture for the background and so much open space..... just not my normal style at all.

As it is approaching Thanksgiving I was inspired to make a Thankyou card with an Autumn feel. We do not celebrate it in the UK but there is always someone you need a thank you card for and I always have some on hand. As I look outside my craft room window I overlook the back garden and a large cherry tree which is all shades of green, yellow, orange, red and brown. The really strong wind we have had recently seems to make the trees shed their leaves so much more quickly. We live by Sutton park which at 2400 acres is one of the largest urban parks in Europe. There are so many different varieties of trees and the deadfall leaves are so many pretty colours. It really is a beautiful sight at this time of year.

I am on the design team at Kate Hadfield Designs and have access to so many beautiful sets and this card has been made using those.



Fantabulous Fall is a lovely set of images available in both pre-coloured Doodles and black outline stamps you can colour yourself.

I used my favourite leaf in this set, leaf 7. I really like the shape of Maple leaves as they are so detailed.



I use Affinity Designer as my graphics program and created a rectangle shape which was sized to fit my kraft card base. I used the yellow paper from Fantabulous Fall and changed the opacity to 40% which gave it a lighter and more mottled effect. 



I then placed the leaf onto it in the bottom left hand corner and added a textbox. The orientation of the leaf is pointing towards the textbox which is a great way to lead your eye to the sentiment. I simply typed this into the text box playing about with style of fonts and sizing until I was happy with it.

Once the elements were in place and I liked the finished result it was a case of printing out with my laser printer, trimming to size with a guillotine and adding to my card stock base.

I do hope you will join me and the team in the Hen House at Krafty Chicks.

Card Details -


Size - A6

Digital Image - Fantabulous Fall Doodles (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Digital Paper - Fantabulous Fall (Kate Hadfield Designs)



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)









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Tuesday, 15 November 2022

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

 


Over at The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up it is the midway point of our challenge. That means it is the turn of the Merry Maidens to share some more fabulous Christmas cards.


The challenge theme is any Any Christmas Card or other December holiday with an optional twist of Use Patterned Paper. The lucky winner's prize is any 2 Winter or Christmas paper packs from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles



If you link up 2 or more cards to our challenge you will get a free digital paper sent to you that our intrepid leader Lisa of Decosse's Dynamite Doodles has designed. 


My card this month is all about trees.

I recently bought this gorgeous die from Crafter's Companion that is a sentiment and image all in one. I have cut the main image in 2 layers of white card to make it thicker. The outline was cut in gold card which is the same as the base card. This sentiment was then coloured with Promarkers in alternating red and green so it looks like layers decorated in the tree.


The patterned paper is the swirly trees from the Treemendous kit by Decosse's Dynamite Doodles. I have added som red Stickles glue to tops of the whole trees to match the star on the die cut.

I added the Happy New Year sentiment which has been recycled from a card I have previously received

I do hope you will take part in our challenge and look forward to seeing your creations.

Card Details -


Size - A5

Dies - We Wish You A Merry Christmas (Crafter’s Companion)

Colouring Medium - Promarkers

Embellishments - Stickles Glitter Glue



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

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Decadent Snowflakes

 


At Beccy's Place the Month long holiday cards challenge we are more than a third of the way through the month and the alphabet. It can be had to keep up when working a job and trying to include it in my DT schedule but I am pleased with how many cards I have been able to make so far.

This is my card for the letter I. I is for Intricate, Iridescent and Icy

I have twin 9 year old great nieces and they love to craft. I gave them a huge box of all sorts of papers and crafty stuff for Christmas last year and this year I have got them the most amazing present. I managed to get them a really decent die cutting machine from Ebay that was second hand but in fabulous condition for only £20 including shipping. I had seen the same machine listed for £50 plus shipping of £15 so the one I bought was an absolute bargain. This will be combined with a load of brand new duplicate dies and stamps I have from Crafter's Companion mystery bags over the the last couple of years. I am so excited that they will be able to really expand their craft as I love my die cutting and I am sure they will find it is like magic too.

So the die cutter came yesterday and I of course wanted to test it to make sure it worked okay. I was a bit cruel as I used this gorgeous die I bought in the summer Decadent Snowflakes from Crafter's Companion. It is glitter card so difficult to cut anyway. It does not come with a metal plate like my Gemini which is really fabulous for intricate dies like this so I knew it could struggle but I wanted to see how it managed it. I did a couple of passes through and it cut almost all the way. There was only a couple of sections where I had to really push the pieces out with a pokey tool. I also tested it on other dies and they were perfect so I think that was a success.

I have added the glittery panel to a scrap of a rich blue card. The white card blank has my absolute favourite vellum on it. I love the combination of the blues and it is perfect with this gorgeous snowflake panel.

I added a glittery sentiment panel recycled from a shop bought card and some blue gems to the snowflake centres. The sparkle on this is just fab-u-lous darling (said in a Strictly Come Dancing Craig Revel Horwood voice)

Card Details -


Size - A5

Dies - Decadent Snowflakes (Crafter’s Companion)

Designer Paper - Glittering Snowflakes Vellum (Crafter’s Companion)

Embellishments - Self adhesive gems


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


at 13 comments:
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Thursday, 10 November 2022

Rudolph Cute Reindeer

 


I was absolutely delighted to be asked to be a Guest Designer at Krafty Chicks this month. What an honour to join in the fun at the hen house. 


Week 2 of the monthly challenge schedule is Christmas. As this is the most favourite card I like to make this is no challenge for me really ☺

This card has been made using a digital stamp Rudolph Cute Reindeer from Oddball Art Co. This has been coloured using Promarkes and a white gel pen on the antlers. I fussy cut the image (yes even the antlers!) and placed to one side.

I used a sketch from Try Stamping on Tuesdays for the layout. 



The base of the card is kraft cardstock. I selected a brown paper with stars on it for the background. You can't see on the photo but some of them are a bronze metallic finish which is really effective in the light.

To follow the sketch I used a birch tree embossing folder from Crafter's Companion. It is a 5" square so I selected the part of the design that had the most interesting trees. The cardstock is a Tim Holtz Co-ordinations one which has a Kraft layer inside when you sand it back so it looks quite rustic.

 I thought the little reindeer would like to stand on some grass so I cut some cardstock into random grass shapes and curled it to add some texture. I am rather chuffed with how that turned out. This then became the 'ground' and I placed the feet so one was behind 'amongst' the grass. 

I felt the reindeer need to be looking at a creature in the tree so the little robin is a cardstock sticker. Finally the sentiment is a recycled one that has been added to a scrap of brown card.

I do hope you will join me and the team in the Hen House at Krafty Chicks.

Card Details -


Size - A5

Digital Image - Rudolph Cute Reindeer (Oddball Art Co)

Colouring Medium - Promarkers, White Gel Pen

Embossing Folder - Winter Woodland (Crafter’s Companion)

Designer Paper - Merry Christmas Monochrome (Craft Sensations) Tim Holtz Kraft Core cardstock

Embellishments - Robin sticker


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


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Wednesday, 9 November 2022

Cocoa Jacuzzi

 




Day 9 at Beccy's Place month long holiday challenge prompt is the letter H.
H is for Hot Chocolate and Holly

I have used the cool image Cocoa Jacuzzi from The Paper Shelter. Each set has a paper, digital image in black outline and pre-coloured and a full card that you can print out. They really are versatile and it leaves you free to choose how you wish to create.

For this card I used the pre-coloured image and this has been printed out since last November so it was great to finally use it :)

I decided to stick with the blue and brown colour theme of the image so the base of the card is kraft. I have used this also to mat the image. 

The patterned paper is from a mainly blue themed pad of papers from Craft Sensations. I used some hammered texture metallic paper and trimmed it with the Snowflake border punch from Fiskars.

The sentiment I thought matched the warm jacuzzi theme and this is from a set by the now retired Imagine That Digistamp.

I added some gems and silver peel off stickers to add a bit of Christmas sparkle.

Finally the sentiment and mini gingerbread are made from the inside of my bran flakes breakfast cereal box. This is thicker than traditional kraft card so perfect for little jobs like this. 

The baby gingerbread is a die which came in an issue of Die Cutting Essentials. I was shopping at the supermarket a couple of months ago and there was a craft bundle of older magazines and I literally bought it for this tiny gingerbread man. It is only 1.8cm tall and so utterly cute I just could not resist. There are quite a few dies and stamps with the magazine which are quite useful but I NEEDED this tiny gingerbread man. I thought it was perfect to go on this card as the cool cookie needed some little friends. (I showed my hubby the first one I cut as I squealed at the cuteness and he thought I was a bit mad.... LOL)

Card Details -


Size - 5” x 7”

Digital Image - Cocoa Jacuzzi (The Paper Shelter)

Digital Sentiment - Santa Penguin (Imagine That Digistamp) Now Retired

Dies - Tiny gingerbread man (Die Cutting Essentials Magazine Issue 84)

Punch - Snowflake Border (Fishers)

Designer Papers - Merry Christmas Frosty (Craft Sensations)

Colouring Medium - Black fine liner pen

Embellishments - Self Adhesive Gems, silver snowflake peel off stickers


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

at 17 comments:
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