Carols of Christmas projects

There are some gorgeous products in the Autumn/Winter catalogue this year, and these lovely cards showcase just a couple of them, including the Carols of Christmas bundle and the Merry Music Designer Series Paper. One of the great things about the paper is that you get 24 sheets in a pack, which means you’ll have plenty for ALL your Christmas projects!

This was one of the projects from my All-Day Autumn Craftathon recently – there are two designs so people can choose how to use the products themselves. Love the splash of copper!

Painted Harvest in rich purple shades

The first Friday of each month is Crafty Friday – a relaxing class suitable for all abilities. There is often an element of freestyle, where we all begin from the same starting point and then go our own way, if we wish. 

So we all made the card on the left, then moved onto a simple easel card. The Painted Harvest stamp set proved really popular, especially in these gorgeous rich colours of Berry Burst, Fresh Fig, Soft Suede, Tranquil Tide and Lemon Lime Twist. Yum!

To see the projects made by the six ladies who came to the class, please visit my Facebook page. 

Cat punch - gift-wrapped!

I’ve wanted to share this card on here for ages but have had to wait for my friend and able helper Kelly’s birthday to come and go!

But now I can reveal all... along with the link to the brand new Autumn/Winter catalogue, which is where you will find this fabulous cat punch and the DSP which fits it perfectly.

I’ve placed the cat in a box by cutting off the end from a wooden crate die-cut from Kraft cardstock (yes it’s back! Page 12). The background is watercoloured in two of Kelly’s favourite colours: Soft Sky and Smoky Slate and the words are stamped with the Labeler Alphabet, which is really coming into its own now that I have cat cards to make!

Find the new Autumn/Winter catalogue here!

Sneak peek: Spooky Cat owl birthday card

It’s birthday season – from last week until the middle of September it’s just birthday, birthday, birthday. There’s even a run of four or five on consecutive days. And, in most cases, I can’t just root around for a card in the samples box. For instance, I don’t have an 18th birthday card lying around, so made this one specially, using a number of stamp sets:

• Spooky Cat – as part of my mission to prove that it’s good for more than just Halloween
• Number of Years – perfect for those age cards
• Best Birds – so the owl doesn’t fall off his perch
• Labeler Alphabet – for the inside greeting. 

Sneak peek: Hometown Greetings Edgelits

What I would like to know is this: how come, when a German demonstrator (any German demo – they all seem to have this talent) creates a project using Sahara Sand (or Crumb Cake) and one other colour, it looks fabulous and stylish and gorgeous... but when I try it, I never seem to be able to pull it off?

But while the cards may not overwhelm, I think the products will. I LOVE the Pinewood Planks embossing folder, which I have only just purchased, and I LOVE these new Hometown Greetings dies.

I made a batch of these for this month’s club ladies, to thank them for their orders. I wanted to showcase some of the new Autumn/Winter products but in all honesty, I’m not quite ready for Christmas just yet. I know if I start on the Christmas cards this early, I’ll be sick to the back teeth of it by November.

But these little die-cut houses are good for lots of occasions. They are part of a border, so I had to cut off another house, and they are one of my favourite products in the upcoming catalogue. I have lots of ideas for these, and a trip to Ikea may be in order.

Cat punch sneak peek - Catzilla!

My mind is racing with ideas for this fabulous new cat punch, which is coming to an Autumn/Winter catalogue near you in September.

I don’t know why, but I wanted to place it with the fun buildings from the hostess stamp set, In The City, so I stamped a row of properties, cut them out and overlaid them onto some Soft Sky cardstock, with a Basic Grey cat sitting there, sinisterly peering over the top. Catzilla!

Sneak Peek: Spooky Cat bundle

I don’t normally post new catalogue sneak peeks so early in the month but I am SO excited about one particular new product and I think you will know why!

Yesssssss! A cat punch! I know more than a few people who will be purchasing this in their first order!

In another first, I bought a Halloween stamp set and its co-ordinating DSP. Why? Well take a look at the black cat on the front of this card – it’s punched from the Spooky Night DSP, which fits exactly. This one was on the edge of the paper and I didn’t want to waste it, so positioned it on the edge of the layer. Not sure what I’m going to do with the bottoms from the other side of the sheet, though!

Yes, it’s Halloween DSP and no, I don’t make Halloween projects but each sheet has a patterned side which can be used for any occasion, so I thought it was worth the investment.

As for the Spooky Cat stamp set, so far I’ve only used the cat’s face stamp but there are others I can use for non-Halloween projects and some which will need some creative thinking, so watch this space!

Ok, brace yourself for the inside of this card...

How cute is that? I repurposed a design from my Crafternoon Cream Tea event to make this fun pop-up card. Cats and boxes go together so, to me, using the Wood Crate Die was so obvious! I made a “blanket” by die-cutting a scalloped oval from DSP.

So who’s joining me in Team Spooky Cat this autumn?