Catherine Pooler stamps

Simply Merry Christmas

Hi there everyone. There is a new challenge starting at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge, and – as always – the theme is anything goes as long as it’s Christmas. Here is my DT card:

I used some Catherine Pooler stamps and inks to create the background snowflake effect, along with a Catherine Pooler ‘Merry Christmas‘ die cut sentiment.

I added some Tonic Nuvo Crystal drops in red and gold – wherever I could…..I just couldn’t stop myself.

I find I enjoy creating my own backgrounds with stamping smaller images, and this set – from at least a year ago – has some lovely images in it. It may even be a couple of years ago – but I still like to explore my older stash, and give them some love.

I hope you can come along and join us in this challenge – I look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – traditional Christmas

Allsorts Challenge – snowmen and/or snowflakes

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – atg Christmas

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – atg Christmas

Always Fun Challenges – snowflakes

Happy Birthday

Hi there again. A breezy and rainy day here in Chesterfield, so I’m able to catch-up with some house stuff – and some crafting, of course. I made this card yesterday, and was waiting for at least a little sunlight to take some photos:

I find I like to create backgrounds with stamps. I find a certain relaxation in filling-in gaps, constantly just stamping and generating a once-off base card. This certainly a change from the black and white card from my last posting – much more colourful.

For this background, I used Catherine Pooler stamps and inks, was kinda going in a geometric pattern, but just going with the flow. Once the background was done, I took a Uniko die sentiment – the word and a slightly bigger one for the outline – and die cut as you see, with the slightly bigger part being in a contrasting colour – navy in this instance – so it would show up a little more.

In hindsight, I could have – probably should have – had a navy layer under the stamped layer, but it still brought a smile to my face.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – yellow, orange, navy, green

Aud Sentiments Challenge – use a happy birthday sentiment

Ribbon Trim Toucan card

Hi there everyone. I have a card to share with you today for my first challenge as member of the Card4Galz Design Team. This challenge is run every 2 weeks and has a theme for each challenge. This new challenge is to use ribbon or lace trim.

Now – I don’t tend to make cards with ribbon or lace, so it was a challenge to me – but I managed! I actually had several ideas, and came to this card:

I used the new Catherine Pooler stamp and die sets, and the Catherine Pooler designer paper. The front of these paper packs come with a list of the inks which matched – such a good idea – so I picked the paper I wanted, went through my stack of inks – and stamped the images out.

After die cutting them with the matching dies, I looked how to arrange them. I turned to Lawn Fawn for their stitched circles, as I wanted a template to arrange the flowers – almost like a wreath.

Now to the ribbon………I didn’t have any that matched, but I remember a technique on one of Catherine Pooler’s videos, where she ran the ink pad along a plain white ribbon – and it coloured the ribbon! So I did that, and ended up with matching ribbon in the three colours I had stamped the images with.

I hope you can join us at Cardz4Galz and the ribbon or lace challenge this week. I look forward to seeing you there. 🙂

Lime Rickey Baubles

Hi there. A quick posting to add a card I have been thinking about for several days – and finally got to finish. And – yes – it’s a simple enough card so I have no clue why it took me so long:

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I used the stamps and dies from the latest Catherine Pooler ‘Stamp of Approval’ collection – which also included WOW! embossing powder to match three of her inks. How fabulous is that?

So – I stamped the baubles with Lime Rickey, then also embossed with Lime Rickey. The bows are also stamped in Lime Rickey – but not embossed.

The sentiment is from the same collection stamped in – you guessed it – Lime Rickey. Have I said that ink name enough?

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Freshly Made Sketches – sketch

Addicted to Stamps – CAS

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

I have also been playing with some alcohol markers. I have bought some Crafters Companion Illustrator pens – then went back the following day for more colours. I am currently going through YouTube videos at a rate of knots to get as much information about them as I can. I am – actually – enjoying colouring and blending, which is highly unusual for me. I am sure I will be posting some creations soon….  🙂

 

Feel Better Hugs

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Hello again. I managed to find time to craft last night and this morning – still going to spend quite a bit of today crafting I hope – and made this card incorporating a sketch and colours theme, and going for a more feminine feel, without covering the card in flowers.

I took a zigzag stamp from the latest Catherine Pooler Stamp Of Approval, and curved it. I like the way these clear stamps can be manipulated this way, and opens up more ways if utilising them.

I then took a little triangle from the same collection and used the challenge colours to alternate as you see. As I didn’t have the exact colours, I used Watermelon Wonder from Stampin Up, and Over Coffee and Lime Rickey from Catherine Pooler. A lot of the stamp sets from Catherine Pooler include many, many small stamps for in-fills and creating your own patterns. So versatile.

After I had stamped this I had a little laugh at where I had placed my magnets:

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I am sure there is another card in there somewhere – a big robot/monster card….hmmmm!

Anyhoo – I then took the image from Altenew Indoor Garden, and die cut with a stitched oval, and added it as you see.

The sentiment I also curved to try and match the banner part – maybe I was slightly off, but rather than binning the whole thing – I stuck with it. I did this partly because I don’t think it is hugely wrong, and doesn’t look too out of place, but also because I am cutting myself some slack here. (see comments below)

These colours work very well together, I think, making a bright but clean and simple card.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CAS Colours and Sketches – colours and sketch

Watercooler Challenges – feminine

Aud Sentiments – for the girls

Now for a little ‘chat’ – I have been watching the most recent You Tube videos from Kristina Werner and have been a little upset for her…..have you seen the latest videos? The first was some hints and tips about to improve your card making. Loved that – great tips. The second was to try to explain and address comments some people have left……..quite a bit of negativity commented on the first video, but I have to say that I wholeheartedly support her and what she and other ‘famous’ members of the crafting community are trying to achieve.

I wouldn’t be anywhere near as challenged, I wouldn’t have anywhere near as much confidence, nor would I have anywhere as near as many ideas and skills without the advice/help/tips and good old ‘give it a go’ attitude that many people have like Kristina.

Thumbs up and support for Kristina and any other crafters like her who put themselves out there for us………..

https://www.youtube.com/user/starofmay/featured

 

 

 

It’s been playtime….

Hello there. It’s been a few days since I last posted. It’s been Bank Holiday weekend here, and I took mum and dad to visit family in Bristol at the last minute. No crafting time when down there, so I have taken to my craft room today and created three very different cards, for different challenges.

This first card is for the current challenge at CAS on Sunday, and CASology:

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The theme for CAS on Sunday is CAS birthday card, and the theme for CASology is ‘squiggle’. SO, out came my new Catherine Pooler Stamp of Approval box, my Catherine Pooler inks, and this is what I created.

The second card is for the current Just Add Ink challenge:

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This was for the photo challenge, and I took the colours of teal and red/pink to create this card. I used the Altenew Doodled Lace Cover die, cut it out of white, then cut it again out of the teal, and again out of the pink. I then took my scissors and snipped parts of the coloured die cuts, and stuck them down onto the white die cut.

The background is a teal coloured Centura Pearl, and the sentiment is from an MFT stamp set.

The third card:

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was inspired from the current challenges at Just Us Girls – photo inspiration, and Aud Sentiments – summer and a sentiment. I know the stamp is called Spring Daisy – but I still think it’s summer when they are around……..

I stamped the outline of the flowers in a pink colour, and the inside in yellow, whereas the leaves I reversed it, and stamped outline in green, and the inner parts of them in the pink colour. I wanted some more difference between the flowers and the background. I also stamped one of the smaller images in the background for an added ‘something’…….erm…….you can’t really tell I stamped them upside down, can you?! (Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything)

After a long weekend, I am back at work tomorrow, maybe some later days, but I will try and find time to do some crafting.

🙂

3 cards

Hello there everyone. I have had a lot of opportunity to craft in the past 24 hours, and I have three cards to share with you today. I could post some tomorrow – but I have my bestie coming round for take-away, drink, and movie – so I am sure I have made the right choice in not posting tomorrow!!

This first card is inspired by the current CASology challenge

Week 294 - Start[1]

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It took me a little while to think of things. I was thinking cars, jobs, baby, weddings, then I remembered the most recent Catherine Pooler Stamp of Approval, and a paper aeroplane in there……..
I took some water-colour card and used 2 colours of Distress Oxides to blend together at the bottom, using a piece of paper to maintain a fairly straight and clean edge, then spritzed with water. My idea of the water was for it to look like clouds…..
The sentiment, dots and plane are from the same collection, and stamped in Versafine black onyx.
This second card was inspired by Time Out Challenges and 4 Crafty Chicks (flowers):
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I took the colours of the flowers and vase stand. The Altenew layered plaid cover plate A and B were cut out and stuck together, and after putting onto a base card, I used some black splatters – I felt the urge for a little mess!
The yellow flowers are from Altenew ‘Amazing You‘, and I stamped the outline in a darker yellow from one of their ink sets, embossed with clear embossing powder, then water-coloured with a Zig yellow and an orange.
After die-cutting them I arranged in a huddle, using 3D glue gel – helps me to position – and added the sentiment from the same stamp set.
I then decided to add some Tonic Nuvo black drops extra to the splatters – I thought the white background card was a little plain!
This third card is inspired by the current challenge at The Library Challenge, and Just Us Girls:
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I took the cover of the book and used the black, white, and red – some grey leaves for artistic license – and stamped some flowers from a Stamps By Me set I have had for a while.
I used Catherine Pooler ‘Rockin Red‘ (I must get the ink re-fill next time I order anything) and embossed with clear embossing powder. Some masking – which doesn’t scare me now, even when I don’t have the matching dies – and then thought about how to make a curvy black side.
I turned to my Avery Elle ‘Snow Caps’ dies and used one of the curves twice.
The sentiment is also from Stamps By Me, and I was looking for a bold sentiment to join the Just Us Girls challenge, and heat embossed in white – like the title of the book.
Thank you for your perseverance, and I hope to be back with you soon. 🙂

Butterflies

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I apologise now – I’ve been using a splattered piece of card again. This is the off-cut from a piece of water-colour card I used yesterday with the splattering. I saw this off-cut, which is quite a decent size, and decided to make a card for the current CASology challenge – Butterfly.

I had a hunt through my stash, and went for these two butterfly stamps from Catherine Pooler, along with a swirl which is also from Catherine Pooler.

I used my Misti to position the swirl, and stamped it a couple of times with a green Altenew ink, then stamped the butterflies with Altenew grey ink. The sentiment is from Catherine Pooler again, stamped using darker green Altenew ink.

The water-colour card is die cut using Lawn Fawn stitched rectangles, and the base card is Narwhal from Lawn Fawn – just to tie-in the colour of the butterflies.

I’ll try to steer away from splattering for a couple of days – but I can’t promise! 🙂