Art Journal/Techniques book

I am trying to get into the habit of having my art journal on hand when I try out a technique or to mop up excess ink as the start of a new background.  I think it isn't so much an art journal as a techniques book and will be a great record of what I've tried and what I like.

For Tuesdays Waffle Sketch card I wanted to use a mottled Distress Paint background and then drip Chalkboard Mist down the dried paint.  It worked far better in the technique book as I'd already cut the card inserts down to size and that didn't leave much room for dripping.

When I opened up the art pad to make the page this stamped Christy Thomlinson image fell out.  I remember stamping and colouring it with Distress Markers for a project and then changing my mind, I must have popped it in the book and forgotten it.  On the page it went, I love the butterfly in her hair.

There's a lot more I could do to the page to make it a complete journal page, but I wanted the background to show and remind me of the technique, so I finished off with one of my favourite Tim Holtz stamps.

Ronda Palazzari  has a creative link up on her blog for anyone who's been creative this week, so I've linked up there.

~ Kate ~

By The Cute And Girly - May mid-way

Half way through May and time for an update on this month's challenge at By The Cute And Girly.  The theme this month is Flowers and, as it's our last challenge before we take a summer break, I wanted to go out with a bang and choose a real cutie for my card.

I went with Cotton Dress Tilda from the Magnolia 2013 Once Upon A Time collection and coloured her with Copics.

For the card I've used some beautiful paper that I bought from Live And Love Crafts.  It's made by Maja Design and is called 7th Of March from the Vintage Spring Basics collection. I've lined the inside of the card with it too, but it looks like I forgot to take a picture.   The jute ribbon comes from the same shop.

The flowers and the metal corner are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the swirls are cut from an Elegant Scrollwork Memory Box die.

For the finishing touches I've punched out a few little butterflies, added a little Stardust Stickles and some Knick Knackery pearls.  There's a little bit of gold gilding wax on her crown.  I wasn't sure I could add it accurately with my fingers so I used a cotton bud.

Challenges:
Marvelous Magnolia #26 - Anything goes
Fab & Funky #171 - Favourite embellishments - pearls
Simon Says - Flower power
Midweek Magnolia - Birthday
Fashionista #15 - Vintage/shabby

Check out the By The Cute And Girly challenge blog for more flower inspiration and to enter for your chance to win 5 digitsl images from .........

~ Kate ~

More Clean and Simple

The first of a couple of blog posts from me today.

You may have spotted that my Monday card for the Less Is More challenge was disqualified - my fault for not reading the rules closely enough.  I'm not sure if this means I am allowed to enter again, with hopefully a qualifying entry, but as I was making another clean and simple card for a couple of challenges I thought I would.  If nothing else I could be the contender for the most disqualified entries from a single challenge!

I've used a pale blue card base and single layer for Less Is More.

The little dolphin is from High Hopes for their clean and simple challenge and he's coloured with Distress Markers. 

The 'sea' is made of Salty Ocean Distress Ink sponged over a torn piece of paper to give the wave effect.
The little sentiment is from a free set of Ladybug Crafts Ink stamps that came with a magazine.

Challenges:
Less Is More #119 - one layer, coloured card blank
High Hopes #133 - Clean and simple
Moving Along With The Times - Clean and simple

~ Kate ~

Kathy's Waffle Sketch - May

This month's sketch at Kathy's Waffle Sketch File is a lovely tall one with cascading circles on.

I've twisted the sketch around for my card and put it on its side.

The aperture card has been sprayed with Heidi Swapp Colour Shine in Bronzer, just to prove I could spray it without making a blobby mess, as in my earlier scrapbooking efforts.  Then I've made the insert with Salty Ocean and Picked Raspberry Distress Paint.  Once the paint was dry I dripped Hot Chocolate Chalkboard Mist down it, which ran everywhere, but of course the Distress Paint stays put.  There's a little key stamped in the corner with Brilliance ink.  It didn't show up as well as I'd have liked so I added a little shadow with grey pen.

The circles are a base of Spiced Marmalade Distress Stain with a Tim Holtz Damask stamp embossed over the top in Broken China Distress Embossing powder.  The 18th birthday message stamp is by Lili Of The Valley.  Then just a few sticky jewels to finish it all off.

Challenges:
Stamping Sensations - Embossing and texture
Forever Friends - Anything goes

~ Kate ~

Been Crafting

I've finally been feeling back to normal and there is just a slight raised area left on my neck now where the biggest lump was.  In between rushing around for dancing exams on Sunday (don't ask how they went, there was lots of tears) I managed to get some crafting done resulting in 4 cards and a journal page.

Here's the first of the cards.

Simply Sassy 'I give you my heart' stamped directly onto a kraft card base and coloured with Inktense pencils.

Challenges:
Less Is More #119 - One layer, coloured card blank 
The Sugar Bowl #103 - Anything goes

~ Kate ~

The Quickest Ever Saturday Lunch

It's been another one of those days when we rush from pillar to post so that the children can fit in the dancing, tutor, hand bell ringing e.t.c.  A really quick lunch was needed with a bit of protein to keep them going, so I grabbed some ingredients during the 45 minutes I had in town whilst bells were ringing and literally (well almost) threw this together.

 I've used 'By Sainsbury's' wholemeal pittas that have been heated in the toaster and then filled with cooked chicken and coleslaw.  In this case I used the Tikka pieces, but Sainsbury's do BBQ chicken chunks and piri piri chicken too.  All very yummy and disappeared as quickly as it was made.

Sainsbury's are currently looking for recipes using 'By Sainsbury's' products, pop over to Penelope's Pantry for the details and there's still time to enter a recipe for a chance to win a £50 Sainsbury's voucher.

~ Kate ~  

Home Decor - Blue Moon Beads

Whilst I've been lounging around feeling poorly I've been working a little bit each day on this home decor project for Blue Moon Beads using the Amulet Collection from Michaels.

I was thinking of ways to use the Amulets other than as pendants and this is what I came up with.

The background is cut using a Spellbinders Wavy Rectangle die from several layers of card to make a thick base.  For the patterned papers I used the DCWV Juniper Berry 6x6 pad and cut a wavy rectangle from one of the glittered sheets.  Then I fussy cut some of the remaining blooms and positioned them elsewhere on the background.  You can see the glittered shine on the papers here, I've added a border of Peeled Paint Distress Stickles around the edge.

There's another strip of paper with the tree on and I've cut the banner and bird from another page in the stack.

The quote is from Buddha and the tag for this Amulet says it can be worn for 'good luck and protection'.

I managed to find lots of different small flowers to cluster around the edges.  The largest ones are from Wild Orchid Crafts, the small paper ones are from Hero Arts and the little white ones are from my local haberdashery store.

I'd like to enter this project in a few challenges:
Crafty Calendar - Blooms and blossoms
Anything Goes #92 - Shaped but not square
Wild Orchid #76 - 3 or more different flowers

 ~ Kate ~

Blue Moon Beads

Blue Moon Beads Blog