Hello all,

Well it’s a warm welcome from a freezing cold North East of Scotland today .Back to wearing thick jumpers and wool gloves again. I spent a few hours on Friday night playing with my distress inks to make some rather lovely backgrounds ...ideal for adding some fairies !

So this one was made , starting from the middle and using Tumbled Glass ...a lovely soft,light blue ink.,gradually adding in Cracked Pitachio and Peeled Paint.

It really is just a case of taking your time , a light hand and a little patience to get the blend right . I left the centre light to add to the magical feel. I then stamped the grass , fairy and sentiment with black Archival ink to give me some strong silhouettes 

 

With this one , again I started off with some Mustard Seed, added in some Peeled Paint  darkened the edges withSeedless Preserves. A few embellishments and a sentiment finished it off rather nicely .

The final one is made using Mustard Seed, Carved Pumpkin and of course , my new favourite Abandoned Coral . I splattered some water on , waited a few moments then dried off with my heat tool . This is how to achieve lightened areas that almost look as though they have been bleached . The fairies on this car were die cut form teeny tiny little dies that I got from The Range .

Bye for now ,

Kate x

Just me !

Hello there ! 

Well I felt that I had neglected my blog for too long ! 

At the weekend, I pulled my alcohol inks out of their cosy little home and had a wee play .

So the first thing is I had no idea what to do with them ! I decided that I would do something “safe”! 

So this little card front was stamped using Ranger black archival ink , Dylan Reavley stamps , and then coloured with some Ranger’s alcohol ink .

I love the clean and simple results so I think a plain black mat and onto a card front and that will do .

I’ve ordered a few more colours of inks , some mixing bottles and some alcohol ( not Gin !) so once it arrives I can get playing properly and will share the results .

See ya .....

Christmas in June !

Tattered Lace have done it again ! The latest idea to come from this company is to have all your dies  attached together so that they fit beautifully on top of the accompanying charisma and and also so that the little dies don’t get lost ! This means that you can very quickly cut out plenty of layers for the poinsettias , which also means that for batch card making this is fantastic !

Happy Valentine's Day !


Ah Valentine's Day.....
             the day that single people apparently hate and couples are all lovey dovey .....

REALLY ?
Oh well, each to their own I guess. Here's my valentine contribution .
Hope you've had a lovely evening however you've spent it .

Kate x

🌺🌺🌺🌺


Hey there,

Time to get making and selling again !!!


A few years ago I used to make crafty stuff and did the rounds of the local school craft fairs. I had  a great time and met lots of great people and sold lots of things. Don't get me wrong, it was hard work but I LOVED it. Well after that things happened and I stopped making so much ....heck this year I only made about a dozen Christmas cards for my own use , I mean how bad is that ? 
Anyhoo, last summer I joined the design team for Tattered Lace and it could not have come at a better time for me. It's made me craft EVERY day ,dream in colour ,pick up my pencil and start doodling again. It has been a real life saver and life is fab again ........

So what is the point of all this ? Well, not only am I opening my"stall" again.......gawd help me ! I'm going to make and sell as much as possible and in 12 months time donate it to charity. I haven't decided which one (s) yet but I do have a few in mind.
So look out for my news and support me if you can !!! I'll be annoying you on Facebook and Twitter, there will be no escape !!! 
If you are on a PTA or if your work is organizing anything and you would like me to sell at your fair please feel free to get in touch and if I can, I would love to attend. 
As you know, I post lots of own crafty makes and  Tattered Lace samples (but I will be making more than one of each design from now on as I have have had a lot of inquiries about the samples) and these will now be for sale. 🌷🌷🌷🌷.

Oh and by the way, work chums I'll be taking in goodies to work for you lot too.........

I'll be back soon to let you know WHO the dosh will be going to and I hope you will all help me on this challenge ...
                                                             🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

Hi there,
Sorry I'm later than I expected with this post ....you know the normal life creeps in and takes over my little crafty world from time to time, darn it !!
Anyway I'm back !!! I'm in the middle of clearing and sorting my crafty attic so before I head up there again I thought I would share some makes with Tattered Lace new "huggables" dies.
So you all know by now that I like to do things a wee bit differently so when these dies arrived ( we just get the dies, un-named and with no instructions, )I looked at them and realised pretty quickly how they were supposed to work  but..........I decided to play instead !

So I'd like to share with you another way to use your dies. I die cut the flower Huggable die and snipped out some of the parts to leave me with a suitable image. I applied a light spray of temporary adhesive art spra to the back of it and attached to a piece of heavy watercolour card. I then used it as a mask and painted inside the lines with several layers of washes. I waited for this to dry then went back in with a less dilute version of the same colour to add depth to the petals ( A nod to Cath Kidson's style) Anyway, I think it worked rather well. I then lifted my "mask" repositioned it , slightly lower this time, and did the same again. I thien painted in a little wash of a light-ish green and left to dry. 

So. although I was pleased with my results,it did look rather wishy washy . So what do you do when this happens ? Well it is a case of trial and error really but I knew that I needed something to act as contrast so what better than BLACK ! 

A little black mat and BAM it pops out the flower image ! I found a green dotty piece of scrap paper in my stash , mounted that onto black card also. Both panels were adhered to a 6"x 6"white scallop edged card, a couple of white buttons attached to the side and a black "With Love" sentiment to complete it.

Just another way to use your dies....Yeah now you're raking through your dies and looking at them in a different way huh?

Til next time ,

Kate x

Hello there,
Where have you been ?  Ok so I have lots of crafty pics to share with you - am trying to think what the last little treats were that I shared with you were.
Anyway here are the latest makes from the new range of dies from Tattered Lace. It's from a  new set of dies which are called Huggables. The idea of the dies are to adorn a gatefold card and meet in the middle. Well you know me I like to be a bit different so here are some of my makes.

So what you see here is one of the dies- I cut it in white card then again in yellow, pink ,green and blue, snipped away the relevant bits and glued them onto the white image underneath. I then layered this on top of a pink card base. The flowers are made by using one of strip dies. I cut it out from pink and then carefully snipped around them and glued them in the corner . Its nice and fresh looking I think......just ready for spring !!

Here are some more....

Enjoy.

This one made from craft card is actually an easel card and I used the strip die on the inside to act as a stopper.

This one shows the huggable  die on the left hand side and the coordinating strip die on the right. However the extra butterflies are also snipped from the huggable die - how very handy eh !

Now this is one of my favourites ! I cut the dies out from black card stock and then again from various other colours and then spent a wee while very carefully, trying not to sneeze and blow them away, piecing in the gaps. Striking huh ?

So I have a few others to show you and well ok, I may just do some cards using the dies in the way they are meant to be used !!!!

But hey I also have some arty alternatives too ....

Time to crack on !

Bye for now .

Make and Take

I forgot to post these lovely pics from the make and take at The Papeterie a few weeks ago.
This event was amazing- COMPLETELY FREE !!!
The event was hosted in the shop where myself , Jean and Louise made an assortment of cards and gift boxes. There was teas, coffees and a " fine piece"- what is that ? It's a peculiar description for something tasty to have with your cuppa ! I suppose all areas have their own expression for something similar ....
Anyway, Louise had a 3D card and as the theme was Christmas, she used a stag's head and a lovely wreath die to decorate with. They were super ! And just a wee bit different- sure to stand out on the mantlepiece ! Jean did one of her typical simple but classy stamping and die cut cards- very Christmassy and I decided to use my dies to make a simple box.



         (TOP TIP - buy 12" x 12" card from The Papeterie if you make 6"                                                        cards regularly - works out more economical and easier to cut to size !)

Christmas Box.

Cut  two 6 " x 6" piece of card. I used my trusty Crafter's Companion scoring board to score 1" on all four sides. Using the CC board makes boxes easy- after scoring one square, turn the board round and use the other end to repeat on the second piece of card....this way all the measurements are worked out for you and you end up with a lid and a box which fit beautifully  Using a basic circle die, I cut an aperture in the lid of the box and then it was ready to decorate.I then used a Spellbinder's die to cut out snowflakes to decorate the aperture.

As you can see they looked lovely in any colour and were decorated with a little bit of bling and some of the smaller snowflakes that came in the die set.
While we were all chatting and crafting , one lovely lady asked if I could cut her some of the "extra" snowflake branches in green . Intrigued with what she was going to do , I did as I was asked and this is what she proceeded to do !

AMAZING ! Thanks Colleen ! I will definitely be making up some more of them ! She went into her bag and drew out an assortment of sticky gems in all colours and glued them in place and was planning to add a small bow to it when she went home . A true crafter and thank you for sharing your ideas.

Likewise with the next image, one lady set to and did her own thing...which I personally love and again would reproduce .....

Isn't it sweet ?

Last picture ! These were also made by some of the ladies ( and one little boy !) who came to the make and take.

If you have never been before, it's worth a visit,as what ever you make .......you take home......all free !

There were lots of new faces as well as the well-kent ones but the main thing was that we chatted, crafted, shared ideas and drank tea ! What better way to spend a Saturday morning? 

Keep a look out on their website for more events coming up !

Kate x

Animal friends

Hey there !

It's been a bit frantic here on the crafty front and I really did go to the attic with good intentions of producing a set of instructions on how to make up the latest creations form Tattered Lace (Tiny Tubs), but you know what ? I'm not going to - not because I got side tracked in sparkly/glittery stuff or anything ....ahem ! But because they are literally soooooo easy to put together it would be a little insulting to anyone that owns a glue stick !.

I am actually going to sent a stack of uncut ones to my sister who currently child minds , however like myself , she has always been creative and crafty. She constantly has her table full of crafty bits and lets all her little charges loose to get on and craft..... Isn't that great ??? Anyway , I think they will get on fine with some scissors to cut out theses shapes, and if I have time , I might even just get some cut in a larger size using my Scan n Cut. Where would I be without it ?
Anyway, I thought you might like to see some other pics too !

Bye for now
K x

Tiny Tubs by TatteredLace

Hi there,

Sorry I haven't been around for a while , I've had my head well and truly stuck in the crafty world. So there are loads to show you. This wreath is made from Tiny Tubs from of course , Tattered Lace. The concept is quite simple really . A CD Rom  contains a number of "charisma " elements. What is that ? I hear you ask ....well basically it means that you print off a sheet of various shapes then use the corresponding dies to cut out the shapes, a little bit of glue and bob's your uncle ! Confused ? Pop back tomorrow and I'll put up some picture instructions to show you what I mean. 
Be warned it is addictive !!
See you tomorrow,
Kate x

Kate's Crafty Place: Riding along on my pushbike honey.........Re...

Kate's Crafty Place:

Riding along on my pushbike honey.........



Re...: Riding along on my pushbike honey......... Remember that song from the 1970's ? Ok, just me then ! I have a Tattered Lace b...

Riding along on my pushbike honey.........



Remember that song from the 1970's ? Ok, just me then !

I have a Tattered Lace bike die. Now what I have found easiest to do with my dies is to cut them out in plain white paper, colour various parts in , snip various parts off and see what I can make from them and then put together some cards /projects.
So with this one I thought it would look particularly good as a black silhouette .I printed a background from a My Craft Studio CD -Advanced Paper Flower Expert CD and trimmed it to fit a 6"x 6" card. I matted it on to some plain black card and adhered it to the card blank. I cut the bike and the Happy Birthday sentiment from black card and using 3d foam pads stuck them into position. I was quite pleased with the result and for a simple and quick card.....I can see me making more of these.


The other bike die card, I decided needed a load of colour ! It's from the Summer Breeze collection . I actually cut the initial layer from craft card then used a variety of bright colours snipped and trimmed to add some interest and depth. I used some black for the tyres. I kept the background quite plain as I had used so many different colours on the bike, a little bit of faux stitching ( obviously !!!) then layered up onto some more craft card. As you can see, I have kind of limited my colour palette to teal , yellow and black. The bike was cut from craft card and I've used the same in the background. This is quite a good way to use colours without overwhelming your card with too many at one time. It ties all the colours in and gives a more coordinated look to the card.




Now then , I wanted to make another card with this die ....something that would show it in a completely different form.  See what you think.....

Here you can see that I have just taken one element, the balloons. I cut them from some lovely bright colours , added a white highlight with a gel pen, stuck them to the card front with some foam pads for a bit of height. This time, to give the background some interest without adding in colour, I ran my craft card through a dotty embossing folder and applied some black gem stones to the top and bottom corners The Happy Birthday sentiment is also a Tattered Lace one   ( http://www.crafting.co.uk/ )

I like this  and again it just shows the versatility of this particular die.

Happy crafting folks,

Kate x

Alrighty, the 4th of August already  ! How did that happen ?

I'm having problems with loading on pics to my blog from my phone and I have to say between that , crafty projects, work and Uni work , I've been a bit slack on the old blogging front. 

I just don't know where the time goes....well actually I do if I'm truthful, a lot of it goes on Pintrest ! Anyone else like that ? I nip on to look for inspiration for something and three hours later ...... Well I'm sure you know that feeling too . Anyway on to other things.

Ermm - just realised that I gave you sneaky peeks earlier this summer of some Tatty Twinkles stamps and due to .... ahem ...technical problems they were never posted so without further ado ...

Now I love this image , no I really LOVE it .
The very talented Nikki Hall is the designer of Tatty Twinkle  . This particular set of stamps made me think of summer ... festivals.....love'n'stuff ....

I always forget about these rocker cards but when I do make them , I love them as they are a wee bit different. One of the stamps in the set is a single petal , which i made into a flower and you know what ? I think this just might make a bee-oootiful poinsettia embellishment on my Christmas cards.
Fancy a close up ?

 Gorgeous isn't it ?

See you soon 

x

Good Afternoon to you !


It's a weird day weather wise with black clouds , sudden downpours and then warm, bright sunshine ! How crazy is that ?

Well , I hate to say this but there are going to be a few more pictures of Christmas things before it goes back to summery projects.
As crafters , we have to get started early in the year ......drooling over reds, greens, golds, snow scenes etc while the British weather decides whether it will be sunshine or rain. Now on dull dark days , it's very easy to get in the mood for Christmas things, as I'm sure you will understand. However, on bright sunny days, it's a very different story. In fact it can be torture !!! But if we leave  things til the end of the year ( as I have done in the past....HUGE mistake ) , it becomes a real chore ! And then when you realize how close Christmas really is , you have no time or inclination to make your lovelies for your own family.
It's a funny one.

Well now as you know I have been lucky yo cast my eyes on new releases from Tattered Lace. To be honest , everything I've been sent has been great to use. The dies are actually the best I had (and no I don't get paid to say that !) The dies release the card so easily so there is no need for all this banging the dies off the counter (die-abuse !) You cut the card , and  out it pops ..

I was also sent a selection of images from the Christmas cd by Victoria Nelson.
WOW ! They are lovely - different , fresh, definitely will be using them for my own cards this year.
I believe the stamped images are designed to fir perfectly in the die cuts- I was sent the images as downloads so I wasn't aware of that , however I did play about witht he sizing in My Craft Studio so it can be done.......more time to play I think !!!
Anyway, on to some of the projects I was working on, hope you like them

Kate x


These cards were printed from the CD and some were decoupaged.Nice images , easy to cut , traditional and modern. So many to choose from .

 It doesn't show up too well in the picture but the 'NOEL' sentiment is actually printed to look like glitter , so a wee drop of glitter glue just brings it to life.



This was made using a pre-printed frame to sit the decoupage on top of . The round stopper on this easel card was made by increasing the size of a little brad embellishment.

                                                     A little wall hanging .

 

This is what I mean by the images looking so different ! It looks really fresh but strangely a little bit retro !! I love it !. Background papers printed from the CD.

Background papers from the CD , stamped the baubles and coloured them in - nice !

Aw ! Now this little cutie is one of my faves ! It's a die cut tree  on a wooden bobbin to make a little table decoration . It makes me smile.......

 More use of the die cuts. This is Tattered Lace's pentagon die along with the little garland. I cut it from green,  then yellow,then pink, then purple, snipped away at it and layered them up.

I have more plans for this pentagon die tho so watch this space ....

 This HAS to be my fave out of the bunch- so bright and vibrant. A little bit consuming I will admit, but I put on a good film and had an evening of die cutting sitting on the floor in front of the TV !

So I hope you like them. Create and Craft have a show selling the CD by Victoria Nelson and there are papers, stamps and dies to match - looks like a good deal.

Have fun !


Kate x

OH-OH !

Christmas sneaky peeks !

Sorry it had be done .

Soooo there are some new dies from Tattered Lace and I got to play with the .......oh wait a minute , I can't tell you which one !!! Naughty me ......hee hee .
There are also some beautiful Christmas stamps from the very talented Victoria Nelson and a gorgeous CD with backing papers , decoupage,tags, gift packets and lots more. Just wait til you see them-very modern and very different.
I think that they will feature in my own Christmas card making this year . I loved them.