Hearts all around Me

Hi Everone

Some people who know me will know that I’m currently knee-deep in a house renovation which has brought the house to a complete halt on all things normal. The kitchen is currently in every room of the house as well as dining room furniture making crafting very difficult!  So the arrival of a new batch of stamps proved a challenge in more ways than one!  As a consequence, I only took two photos before posting off and have realised the sun has featured on the photos too! But in my defence being surrounded by dust, dirt and noise on some of the hottest days of the year did prove challenging!   

The introduction of Heart Trading Cards is just fab!  I already love doing the coins so this brings another unique dimension to play with!

Hope you enjoy the stamps and can’t wait to see what the others have done!

Lots and Lots of Houses!

Hi Everyone!

So here I am, month two of being part of the CB TV Design Team, what exciting stamps were going to drop through the letterbox I wondered!

When my envelope arrived I opened it eagerly, its a bit like getting a birthday or Christmas present as you don't know what you are going to get!

Inside were four styles of houses which can be found in various places around the globe - along with some beautiful sentiments.

So first things first, trimming and mounting to cling a ling. I find when I do this it helps me to start getting the ideas flowing - then stamp them out onto copier paper before starting to plan the ideas.

With work being quite hectic at the moment - a fast approaching kitchen install - there was no time to dilly dally - so I hope you like my makes!!

My take on an Adams Family Halloween style - distress inks and hand-drawn bats

I felt this could be Amsterdam - so grey stamped in the background and decoupaged up in the front

So so Russian - Dr Zhivago came to mind - paper pieced this one

Postcard sepia style - with some authentic postage stamps added

This one was my idea of the blueprint behind the architect in tag form

All about the caption this one in monochrome with a highlight of colour  

This house held a monastic feel for me - this is on watercolour card

A bit of quirky fun with this one as it could be a grandfather clock or even a bit of Back to The Future about it

Mica powders for this one 

Last but not least - this one is all about the caption and colours

Exciting Times!

Hello Everyone!

Its been a very long time since I have blogged - so long I have almost forgotten how to do it!

Much has changed since I last blogged not least of all a change of job! But more of that another time.

I was lucky enough to be chosen to take part on the Chocolate Baroque Craftalong on Hochanda a couple of months ago - much excitement on going to Oundle to Hochanda HQ - meeting Lesley and David and then a fellow crafter called Christine Patch - who was also one of the lucky ones - Christine runs a blog and did a wonderful blog of our day out at Hochanda;

Christine Patch

It was a fabulous day - a mix of sheer enjoyment, nerves, laughter and fun!  My friend Sue came with me for moral support - she too had a marvellous time mixing with others in the Green Room - namely the lovely ladies from Pink Ink Designs!

Since then day to day life has plodded on as it does - monthly craft workshops, more work etc - but all of a sudden there was a post on FB - a call out for applications to become a DT member for Chocolate Baroque!  My friends gently nudged me and so I applied and waited.

Then - on a day when I was about to go to a hospital appointment, an email from Lesley to call David ASAP - so I duly did and was oh so happy to hear I was being offered a position and if I was happy to do some samples for an upcoming show, would receive stamps the very next day!  This truly brightened my day - made the hospital appointment a little more bearable!

So without much further ado - here are my samples - I hope you enjoy them and help provide a little inspiration!!!

 

 

  

  

 

 

#44

Circles and Squares

Hi There Everyone!

Its been a while since I blogged and entered a challenge - one thing or another life has its knack of getting in the way - like my Mum turning 80, work being never ending and oops here we are mid October already!

This months title pulled me in - Circles And Squares - took me back to the 70's and 80's..... Spirograph and colouring books that were geometric patterns.

So out came the groovi folder and off I went with the nested Circles and Squares;

Next I started pricking some pf the arcs using my diagonal pricking grid;

Then I started on my colouring and white work;

And finally the piquet edging before mounting on to a complimentary colour using tiny brads.

Hope you like it!

Crafty Hugs and Winks

Kim xx

Fussy Cutting - Clarity August Challenge

Well it's been a while since I blogged but this months challenge tempted me to get creative and find some time to make a card and blog it, so here goes!

My first step was to blend four distress inks together that spoke Autumn to me.... I just love the colours of Autumn and every day for the last couple of weeks as I drive to work I see the early signs of Autumn beginning.

Once I had blended the inks I lightly spritzed and then blotted with some kitchen roll and then let it thoroughly dry.  Once dry I then stamped in Sepia Archival as many leaf stamps as I could along with the Autumn sentiment.

Then came the fussy cutting with scissors and craft knife

Flipped each leaf over and blended some of the vintage photo ink to take away the white edges 

And lastly started to shape the leaves with a ball tool, keeping some flat and then gradually getting deeper.

Lastly I arranged them all on black card ( as I felt this really made the colours pop) to resemble a pile of fallen leaves and then placed the sentiment to the side.

Hope you like it! 

Clarity Calendar Challenge 4

BIRDS IN A ROW

Well hello everyone - 10th April already! - where is this year 'flying' off too LOL - seriously though - April already - Christmas only seems a couple of weeks ago.....

Well today it took me two attempts before I settled on this one - not having a canvas with some colour on already proved a challenge and then trying to match colours when I didn't have them - so this is take two which I am really happy with - so I hope you like it too!!

Much Love

Kim xx

Calendar Challenge 3

So here is my entry for this months Calendar Challenge... On the face of it you think oh that's going to be hard... But follow the step by step and you're well on your way!

Hope you like it and I love this sentiment.

Much love Kimmy

All About The Girls

Hi there everyone,

Another month and another challenge.... this month is All about the girls - well I am not a girly girl, never have been - much to my Mums despair!! I love looking at girly things - admire much of it, but am not one for bright and flouncy things - so when I thought about what I would make I steered away from anything really girly as its just not me!

Like most people I surf the net for inspiration and discovering new techniques .... well new to me.

Recently when sharing a crafty session with friends I was introduced to the wonderful world of masterboards and have since spent many hours watching YouTube clips to get the ideas and the process - so I decided this was my starting point.

I took a plain piece of card and a small perspex block which I wrapped some thick twine around, took  a Meadow Adirondack ink pad and started stamping an alternate criss cross design across the card base - it was subtle - but I liked it.

Next I brayered in a mix of Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade Distress ink pads to build up the colour, then - using the small leafy swirl stamp - I stamped second generation Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

I then took the large and small Gerbera Stamp - and using Black Onyx Versafine - stamped part of the card.

I then stamped my sentiment - January NDC 2016 - Life is Just Not Long Enough - so very true for us crafters!!!

I then used my distress ink marker pens to colour in the flowers and highlighted them with a wink of stella pen - just to add a bit of glimmer (sadly the photo does not really show this).

I then chomped my corners and mounted this on to black card and decided to go for a Kraft Card Base - but it looked in need of something - after much back and forth with various embellishments I settle on some burlap.

Hope you like it!

Much Love

Kimmy xx

Clarity Calendar Challenge 2

Hello everyone

Have had a lovely day off work today spent with some great friends. 

We all had a go at the Calendar Challenge for this month and this is my attempt!

Am really pleased with the outcome as I love this stamp - hope you all like it!

Love - Clarity February Challenge

Well Hello there on this rather chilly Valentines Day!

I have been playing around with my clarity stamps, pencils, acrylic paints, glossy accents some ribbon and a few heart shaped buttons!

The first thing I did was drawn a heart lightly in pencil on to a piece of card - then I created a post-it note mask for the posy stamp - from the bike and posy set  - next - using archival black ink - I started to stamp around my pencil line carefully masking one set before stamping the next until I had created a heart shaped wreath of flowers.

Next - using the wordpress letter set  I stamped out Happy Valentines Day. I coloured in the flowers with my colouring pencils and then carefully cut the shape out and mounted it on to some coloured card stock.

Next I dry rolled acrylic paint on to some white card stock - I used avocado and pink - using a red small brayer - the red roller gives a different effect than the softball brayer - you lightly walk the paint over the card. I then stamped the dragonfly stamp from the Lucky set (lucky in love) - and then brayered over the top with the metallic glaze from the paper artsy chalk paints set.

Matting and layering came next - on to black card with the corner chomped with a heart shaped top - some lemon ribbon tied with a bow, the heart is mounted on foam pads and finally some heart shaped buttons!

Hope you like it!

Kimmy xx