Thumbs Up!

Happy 4th July!!

It’s time for a new challenge over at Kitty Bee’s Aloha Friday – we’re very fortunate to be sponsored by Kenny K this fortnight, and our theme is, of course, Stars and/or Stripes!

I chose to use “Thumbs Up Kid” for my DT project this month – I won this image a few months back, but just haven’t had a chance to out it to use yet, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I’ve coloured the image with Pro-Markers – I love the clear, easy lines of this cartoon style image, it really was a pleasure to colour!  Using the Silhouette, I’ve cut the image out, leaving a narrow border all the way around.  The background is a starburst paper by Megan Turnidge – for the moment, it’s my go-to background paper for boys’ cards!  I’m hoping you can make out the stripes in the background, unfortunately they haven’t photographed too well.

The sentiment and age were both printed directly onto yellow cardstock, then cut and layered, using the Silhouette.

Head over to Kitty Bee’s Aloha Friday challenge now to have a look at the other DT makes – you won’t be disappointed!

I’d like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Seize The Birthday – Stars and Stripes

Addicted To Stamps – Make Your Mark

C rafty Catz – Stars or Stripes (or Both)

Kenny K’s Krafty Krew – Stripes/Spots

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Meet Sewing Kit!

Today, it’s my turn in the spotlight over at Kitty Bee Designs.  This month, I’ve chosen the adorable little “Sewing Kit” to keep me company!!

For a while now,  I’ve been running out of places to store spare buttons – I have one boring Tupperware box, but it is bursting at the seams.  When I saw this little stamp, I thought it would be the perfect little image to pop on top of a spare button box….

Now, rather than upcycle a box I already had (why chose the simple route?!), I decided to make a box, using a template I had in my Silhouette library.  I cut the template from Kraft card, stuck it altogether with Mod Podge and then left it to dry overnight, held into place with some small bulldog clips.  In the meantime, I coloured Kit in sepia tones as I thought these would blend well with the Kraft card.  A little Tattered Rose Distress Ink was added to reduce the glaring white of the card I had printed the image onto.

The following morning, I stuck the image to the top of the box, and then used a light layer of Mod Podge to seal the image.  A little ric rac around the edge of the top, and a little lace around the main pot and it’s ready for my button collection!

Why don’t you head over to Kitty Bee and add “Sewing Kit” to your stamp collection….?

Shades Of Grey (….And Black, White And Red!)

Aha!! Thought that might get your attention!!  😉

I’ve got some really exciting news to share…a new collection of adorable images is being released today over at Kitty Bee Designs!!  And to celebrate we’re having a blog hop!  If you’ve been following the hop, you will have arrived here from Theresa’s blog (The Scrapbooking Queen) – if you’ve stumbled upon it by accident, the full list is below.  Now I know you’ll want to make sure you get along to each and every team member’s posts to leave a comment as one lucky person will win a digi of their choice from the new release…. I’ll point you in the right direction in a moment!

There are 12 new digis in the release; my card for this hop features Heart Strings Raccoon – between you and me, I’ll confess that he tugged at my heart strings as soon as I laid eyes on him!!  As I’m sure you’ll know, raccoons are black, grey and white, so I chose to keep to a very monochrome colour scheme for the whole card, just accenting with red hearts!

The image was coloured with Pro-Markers, mainly keping to the Cool Greys.  The hearts were coloured in Carmine, Berry Red and Ruby, with Sakura Jelly Roll for the highlights and Glossy Accents to give them a lovely sheen.  The papers are from the Dovecraft Back To Basics Monochrome stack – I’ve had my eye on this paper stack for a while (along with the ribbons and polka dot buttons!), so I took full advantage of my monochrome plan!

Along the edges of the two banners strips, you can see some silver stitching – after seeing Mirella’s amazing hand stitched borders, I was inspired to give it a go!  In the past, my stitching has always been a bit (read: a lot!) shaky, so this time I pierced the holes in the paper first, to give myself a pattern to follow, and then filled in the stitches with some metallic embroidery thread that I usually use for hanging decorations on my Christmas tree!  Have to admit, I’m pretty pleased with it!  The stitches are relatively straight, neat and even – although I won’t be offering to let anyone look at the reverse side, as it’s a totally different story!

I based this card around the current sketch over at From The Heart Sketches, as it was too sweet a chance to pass up!

Anyway, I’m sure you’ve read enough here! Please don’t forget to leave a comment if you want to be in with a chance to win an adorable new digi! And then carry on your journey, your next stop is Niki – Stampn’HI!  I’ve popped the full list here too, just in case you’ve missed anyone:

Kitty Bee Designs Blog

Shirl – Creations by Shirl

Larissa – Muffins and Lace

Katie – Katie’s Crafts

Leanne – Finding My Groove

Taniaj – ManxMade

Julie – I Made A Card

kel – Scraps & photoGRAFFS

Theresa – The Scrapbooking Queen

Victoria – Very Belle Makes

Niki – Stampn’HI

Zella – Joyful Expressions

Kitty Bee Designs Blog

Hope you love the new collection as much as we do!  Make sure you take a look at all the adorable stamps just waiting for you over at Kitty Bee!

I’d like to enter this card into the following challenges:

From The Heart Stamps – Sketch 51 (see above)

Penny’s Paper Crafty – Spots and Dots

Inky Impressions – Monochrome

I Love Promarkers – Love Is In The Air

Just Hanna Stamps – Hearts

MilkCoffee – Valentines

Cute Card Thursday – Something New (I’ve used a new stamp and tried a new technique: hand stitching)

Fantastic Tuesdays – Sweet or Cute

Craft Your Passion – Spots and Stripes

Digi Galore Stamps – Monochrome

Pile It On – Animal

Challenges and Candies – Monochrome

Bunny Zoe’s Craft – Stitching

Thanks for stopping by x

Show Us Something New At Kitty Bee

Today I am pleased to share my first DT card for Kitty Bee Designs, which features Little Miss Sassy!  The theme for this challenge is “Something New” and we were really lucky to be sponsored by A Random Fan.

I tried out a couple of new techniques on this card.  I am still struggling to colour hair and give it some texture.  So, while I was having a hunt around looking for a tutorial to give me some tips, I came across this card by Kevin McCrafty – I loved the colour Kevin used to colour Little Miss Sassy’s hair, not to mention the lovely texture he’s managed to portray!  So I figured that I would see if I could get anywhere close to emulating Kevin’s technique….and I don’t think I did too bad a job!!

Despite having just finshed a truckload of Christmas cards, I am still hooked on the red and white colour combo – I think it looks so crisp and fresh.  So, I coloured Little Miss Sassy’s outfit in red (using Pro-Markers), plced her on a red background and then added some banners beneath the image….which is where my second new thing comes in!

I love washi tape….but up til now I haven’t figured out how or what to do with it on cards.  However, I appear to have got carried away in the craft store sales, as I now a have lovely, (not so) little collection of tapes in my stash!!  So I figured that I should try adding them to the card as another something new!  The middle banner was cut from white cardstock and then two strips of washi tape added to cover it entirely – can’t believe I haven’t done something this simple before!!  The other two banners were cut on the Silhouette, using a design by Loni Stevens.  The little red spots in the bottom corner are just coated with Glossy Accents to give them a lovely shine.

So, what will your something new be?  I bet there’s something you’ve wanted to try for a while but keep putting off?  Have a go today, and make sure you enter the challenge at Kitty Bee to show us what you’ve been up to!

I’d like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Sister Act – Challenge 40

Brown Sugar – Challenge 77: Anything Goes

Jellypark – Buttons Or Bows

MilkCoffee – Monochromatic

Whoopsi Daisy Challenge – Favourite Colours (red and white)

Thanks for reading x

A secret shared…at last!

Morning everyone! Apologies for a quiet week – December and Christmas preparations have taken over, between school parties, Christmas plays and nativities, not to mention some hasty Christmas shopping!

I’m happy to be able to finally share a little secret with you – I recently applied to join the Kitty Bee Designs DT and I’m delighted to say they were happy to have me!! I love these cute stamps, so I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be a part of such a friendly, creative team. Watch this space in the New Year – oodles of cuteness on its way!! Thank Kel and the team!!

Anyway, must go now, need to find my desk beneath the glitter…

Thanks for reading x