Scaling the Rooftops

Twice in one day! Back again with another layout that I very nearly forgot to post! I created this colourful layout earlier in the month to take part in Bo Bunny's Sketch Challenge.

The image inspiration really got my creative juices flowing. I loved the roof tops and the colours and as one of my resolutions is to scrap some of my older holiday photos I dug out this one of a little pub in Stonehaven, Scotland where we stopped on a car tour of the Highlands. Here we had one of our favourite lunchtime dishes - Cullen Skink - a traditional creamy haddock and potato soup. Doesn't sound that good, but honestly, don't knock it until you've tried it ha! ha!

Anyway, the little pub had an unusual shaped, crenelated roof and I thought this pic would be great as the focal point for the layout. I also tried to stick to the colour scheme of the image and even punched an angled border to imitate the roof tops. I used one of the larger Bo Bunny journalling spots to take the place of the moon in the original image which provided a great place to highlight my title. I dug out lots of my Bo Bunny scraps from the Persuasion, Vicki B, and Learning Curve collections and the black and white dotty background was from the early Unforgettable collection. Anyway, I loved everything about this challenge - the colours, the image and the angles, the fact that I have scrapped an old photo that I perhaps might not have scrapped - and of course, working with Bo Bunny papers! I was so inspired by this challenge, I just can't believe I nearly forgot to post it! Why not pop over to Bo Bunny's blog - you've still got time to join in with the challenge! Thanks for looking! Karen x

Scrapology Recycling!

Morning Everyone! Over on the Scrapology blog this month the challenge is to make a card using recycled or natural items.

I decided to raid my Christmas present wrappings for inspiration and go with a natural theme in green and brown colours. First I used some of the paper that had wrapped breakable items and made a flower - spritzing each layer with glimmer mists before adding a brad to hold them all together before finishing with a blob of Stickles for the centre. One flower is nice but two are better so I created a second flower in the same way using some old book pages from a paperback that I had ready for the charity bag.(see close up.)

The background used a layer of gold wrapping paper to matt my canvas print paper before I added a piece of bubble wrap that I had coloured using alcohol inks. One of my parcels was wrapped in brown paper and twine type string so I used the brown paper to create leaves - coloured with Distress inks - and the twine to add a border and to attach my sentiment.I also punched a branch border to go with the natural theme from my gold wrapping paper. Hope you like my take on this fun challenge - why not pop over to the blog and join in - it runs until the 15th of January so you have plenty of time to get your thinking caps on and you could win this fab prize!

Bye for now Karen x

German Decorations - Saturday Sketch Week 2

Hi All! I've been playing again with my Kaisercraft goodies and one of my favourite photos of the traditional wooden decorations that we saw at the Berlin Christmas Markets. I followed the Saturday Sketch Week 2 Challenge over on the Kaisercraft blog and used the Turtledove papers.

Don't get me wrong - I love glitter - but I also like the grungy look of these papers and how they look without glitter, so I stuck to a muted look - just adding embossed heritage gold cardstock and Kaisercraft rhinestones - which I used in a strip and cut into single gems. The aim was to add lots of layers and various Martha Stewart punched borders - Vine, Cherish and Scroll punches.The background paper was inked with Old Paper Distress ink and over stamped with the Kaisercraft musical notes stamp - this is very subtle and probably hard to see on scene but in real life you can see it! Honestly! LOL! I hope you can see some of the detail on these close ups!

Anyway, hope you like my take on the challenge. Best wishes and bye for now Karen x

Brothers in Arms - Merly Impressions Challenge

Hi All. I've recently got back into crafting after a short break and am once again drawn to Kaisercraft papers.

Over on the Merly Impressions blog there is a great challenge this month called 'Get Stripped' - which is to use strips of paper in a creative way to make a layout.

I didn't have many of the advertising strips that are at the bottom of Kaisercraft's papers so I had to come up with an alternative. I'd recently bought the Turtledove paper pack at our local garden centre and in the front of the packet was an advertising sheet which showed all the papers inside, photographed in miniature. So I cut this into strips, restuck them together on a piece of scrap paper and then cut them into squares to create a stripy, patchwork layout.

As the Turtledove patterns were now in miniature, you couldn't necessarily see that they were Christmas themed but the colours were perfect for a vintage themed page. I used an image of my great uncles in the military uniform during the First World War and included a hidden piece of journalling on a pull out tag where the date is.

I hope you like this idea - its really thrifty and allows you to get the most out of your kits and packaging whilst still having the benefit of the lovely Kaisercraft colours and designs. Thanks for looking! Why not come up with your own recycling ideas and pop over to the Merly Impressions blog and join the challenge. Bye for now Karen x

Poinsettia Pals Saturday Sketch December 2012 #3

Evening Everyone! Recently, my friend and I went to our local garden centre for a coffee, to look at the new Christmas decoratios and, of course, to visit the onsite craft shop. During our visit we treated ourselves to some of the lovely Kaisercraft Turtledove collection. As a result I've been busy making cards and layouts and this layout is one I made to commemorate our trip and our friendship.

The sketch I've followed and would like to enter it into is Kaisercraft's Saturday Sketch December 2012 #3. Everything used is a Kaisercraft product - including the lovely flat back pearls - the only addition is the base paper which is an embossed pearlesant 12x12 coffee coloured piece of cardstock. I've also added twill ribbon and Card Candi , and mounted various pieces on foam tape to add dimension - it is such a dark and rainy evening here tonight so my photography is not great but I wanted to post this before the 'Christmas rush' begins! At the garden centre were rows and rows of poinsettias so I've tried to include a flowery feel not only in the Turtledove sticker but also in the border punched edge and also the die cut flower sprigs.(Martha Stewart punch and Memory Box Honey Blossom die.) This is a really beautiful collection with rich muted colours and fab Christmassy images. I'm hooked - so you may be seeing a few more of my creations using these papers in my forthcoming posts! Anyway, hope you like it! Bye for now Karen x

Happy Mouse

Hi All! Over at the Papertake Weekly Challenge this week - the task is to pick your favourite challenge of the last 12 months and make a new card. I chose 'Cute Cute Cute' and made this birthday card using a mouse image from Karen's Doodles and lovely Bo Bunny papers. I love a green and brown combo - and you can't go wrong with glitter, gems and Maya Road ribbon too! Hope you like it! Bye for now Karen x

I'm Back!

Hi All! I'm back after a long break away and busy period at work! I'm really looking forward to sharing some of my crafty makes with you again so have included two links below to two new videos I've added to Youtube. (I made the Christmas Rosette video a while back when Christmas seemed a long way off! LOL) Hope you like them! Bye for now Karen x

Choc Box

Hi All! Sorry I've not been around for a while but over the coming weeks I'm going to try and catch up again! Today I'd like to enter this gift box and decorated chocolates that I made using Craftwork Cards papers and Candi in the Moving Along with The Times challenge which is to create 'Anything but a card'. I made the hexagonal box myself after being inspired by the little triangular die cuts which were with this Warren Rabbit paper range. I then punched out circles, decorated them with paper and Candi and added them to the little mint chocs inside the box. Hope you like it! Best wishes and bye for now Karen x

Spring Bunny

Morning All! Well, I hope the weather with you is a little better this weekend - not exactly summer yet but a bit of Spring sunshine wouldn't go amiss! Over on the By the Cute and Girly blog the challenge for May is Spring is in the Air so I decided to join in using one of the Joanna Sheen woodland decoupage sheets as the basis for my card. I went for something a little different making a top fold card with a small pocket cut with a fancy edge using my Spellbinders label die. Into the pocket I fitted a large tag decorated with the Spring bunny image. Organza ribbon, silver mirri card and my favourite Martha Stewart lace doiley punch finished off the design. Why not pop over to the website and join in with your own interpretations of Spring or take a look at the fab inspiration provided by the Design Team! Anyway, have a good weekend. Thanks for looking Karen x

Sweet Tooth

Hi All! Just popping by with a quick post to show you one of the latest cards I've been making. Love this image of a little mouse with a mountainous Ice Cream Sundae by Tina Wenke. Great for using with your Promarkers and you can go to town with your glitters too. It fitted perfectly on a 5 x 7 scalloped card which I matted with Papermania papers and finished off with a little Craftwork Cards sentiment and some gems. This is a really simple layout as I wanted to try and focus on the image. Hope you like it - I'd like to to enter it into this week's Simon Says Stamp Challenge which is 'Sweet Tooth'. Best wishes and bye for now Karen x

A Little Romance

Morning All from a wet and windy Wales! Today I'd like to share a card I made using the lovely Ragged Romeo digital image from Mo's Digital Pencil. I love this cute couple and decided to enter them in Mo's Challenge which this week is to use a favourite colour combo - mine here is pink and blue. I coloured the image with my Promarkers and mounted it on raspberry pink American Crafts cardstock and the lovely Websters Pages designer papers. I decorated inside to match and added punched hearts, faux stitching and a little Craftwork Cards sentiment on the front. As there are flowers on the image and on the designer paper I've chosen I'd also like to enter this card into this week's Moving Along With The Times challenge which is to include flowers or a garden theme on your card. Hope you like it! Be back soon and hope this weather brightens up now that May is on the horizon! Best wishes Karen x

Pretty in Purple

Hi Everyone! Just a quickie as I'm trying to get to grips as to where everything is on this new Blogger!! Anyway, here is this week's entry for the Simon Says Stamp 'Anything Goes' challenge. I dug out my Spellbinders and created this card using the Labels die and embossed the background with a daisy embossing folder, highlighting areas with Stickles. The sentiment was from the lovely Waltzing Mouse stamps. Hope you like my colour scheme!! Thanks for looking. Best wishes Karen x

Thoughts of Christmas Fayre

Hi Everyone!
Its wet and miserable here in North Wales today and the challenge of a Christmas Card over at Moving Along with the Times doesn't seem too difficult with this wintery type weather we're having!
Anyway, just a quick post. I made my card into a Christmas Dinner invite as I was inspired by the image from the lovely Joanna Sheen 'Nostalgia' CD of a family having a tradition lunch and waiting for the Christmas pud!
I matted my images on gold card cut with a Spellbinders label die and added festive green ribbon to tie the front of the card together.
Hope you like it!
Bye for now
Karen x

A Stylish Sentiment

Hi Everyone!
Hope you are having a relaxing Sunday morning and perhaps contemplating what to do with your winnings from yesterday's Grand National ha! ha!
Anyway, I decided to enter this card in the One Stop Craft Challenge which this week is to use three circles. The digi image was from a Papercraft Inspirations download and I cut it down so that the great 007 could fit snuggly inside one of the circles. I used a limited colour palette of gold, black and white and added some of the fabby Craftwork Cards sentiments to finish it off. I think this would work well for a man's card no matter what their age!
Hope you like it!
Bye for now
Karen x

A Little Romantique

Morning All!
Back with a quick blog post to show you another card I've made. This was commissioned for 60th Birthday. I love the vintage feel of the Graphic 45 papers so decided to use some of the lovely images from the Le Romantique line. I fussy cut elements from the papers to surround the frame and mounted the main piece on antique gold card. The background used a criss cross scoring technique on Coredinations cardstock which I've used before with a little gem added at each intersection. Love the effect this gives but saw a Sizzix embossing folder on one ladies blog yesterday which will achieve a similar look. I then used another of my faves - a Craftwork Cards scalloped card base - they are just great quality!
Anyway, thanks for looking - I hope to enter this card in Moving Along with the Times 'Vintage/Shabby Chic' Challenge.
Bye for now
Karen x

Cricket Crazy!

Hi Everyone!
Today I thought I'd share my entry for the Joanna Sheen challenge which this week is 'Its a Man's World'. Its often so tricky to make men's cards - I'm always lost as to what to embellish them with when ribbon, lace, flowers and bling are not really suitable! Anyway, this card was made in a trifold design using a rubber stamp of a little Cricketer from Flower Soft and to tie in with the cricketing theme I used the cricket field images from the Nostalgia CD to decorate the inside. I'm pretty pleased with this one and other than Flower Soft, a twill sentiment and Card Candi to represent the little cricket balls I managed to stray away from any fancy embellishing. Oh...I did use a Martha Stewart border punch as I thought it needed something other than a straight edge - couldn't help it!! Ha! Ha! I also added a little panel on the back to write the message cut using my Spellbinder's Labels die with a peel off for the sentiment.
Anyway, hope you like it. Why not pop over to the challenge site and join in with your creations.
Best wishes and thanks for looking!
Karen x

Birthday Balloons

Evening Everyone!
I'm back today to share my entry for April's Sir Stampalot challenge which this month is 'Happy Birthday'.
This card was made using papers from Joanna Sheen's 'Faye Whittaker' CD as well as an image from her stamps. I tried to use muted pastel colours as the theme, colouring the image with Promarkers, adding lace, organza ribbon, flowers and pearls for a really girly feel. The sentiment was stamped on a little ribbon slider cut with my Spellbinder die.
Hope you like it.
Bye for now
Karen x

Easter Bunny Gift Bag

Hi All!
Back with my second post of the day. This is a little gift bag and card I made as a Papercraft tester for Papercraft Inspirations magazine and came up with this design using the rabbit template provided. Each rabbit I cut from glittery patterned cardstock scraps (DCWV - I think)and layered them onto white mats. I chose a pink and green flowery background paper from the Jane Shasky 'From the Heart of the Garden' CD and mounted this on green cardstock.For decoration I added lace, ribbon and dinky bows at the bunnies necks before finishing off with a little Easter sentiment peel off. I filled the Kraft bag with easter eggs and gave it to my gran who loved it! It's surprising how many eggs you can fit in this dinky bag! Great for her chocolate addiction!! ha! ha! I'd like to enter this into the Allsorts Bingo challenge of 'Green, Ribbon or lace and pink' as well as the Totally Papercrafts Bingo Challenge of 'Flowers (on the paper), Lace and Pink'.
Thanks for looking.
Best wishes
Karen x

Easter Chick

Afternoon All!
Just popping by to show you the card I've made for the Crafty Cardmakers' Easter Challenge. I used this image of the little chicks from the Joanna Sheen 'Furry Friends' CD. I carried on the yellow colour scheme with my background papers, added gold holographic card and punched my borders with a favourite Martha Stewart punch. To finish off I added ribbon, lace, flowers and a peel off sentiment.
Thanks for looking. Be back soon with more creations!
Best wishes - have a lovely Easter Sunday!
Karen x

Peter Rabbit Flip Book

Hi Everyone!
Well after yesterdays freezing cold weather - this morning I've woken up to lovely sunshine so before I go out and make the most of it I thought I'd post a card for you.
This little project is a flip book card made using images and paper from the Crafter's Companion Beatrix Potter CDs. As its nearly Easter I thought it would be good to have Peter Rabbit and some other bunnies on my card! LOL.
Anyway, I went to town adding decoupage, flowers, ribbon, gems and Stickles before making a little shrink plastic charm stamped with some of the Winter's Tale stamps.
I love mechanical type cards and once you got the hang of creating a waterfall type movement inside the card, it came together quite quickly. I finished it off by making a box to house it in.
Hope you like it!
I'd like to enter it in the Crafter Companion 'Four Legged Friends' Monthly challenge, Simon Says Stamp's challenge which this week is to use your favourite tool which was definitely my Scoreboard and also in By the Cute and Girly's challenge which is Once Upon a Time.







The last two pics are of the box lid with room to add the person's name and a close up of the shrink plastic charm. In the pics I've tried to show that as you pull the tag out the pages flip over. Hope you get the gist of it! ha! ha! There is a great video that explains how to create the mechanics of the card/book on the Docrafts here.


Anyway, thanks for looking!
Best wishes
Karen x

Le Cirque Gift Bag and Rosette

Evening Everyone!
Just thought you might like to see a Youtube video of one of my Graphic 45 projects. It's a while since I made a video and have many more in the pipeline so please bear with me as I get to grips with my videoing skills!! This little gift bag and rosette was made using the Le Cirque paper line. Hope you enjoy it.
I was so lucky to make the 30 semi finalists in this year's Graphic 45 Design Team call but unfortunately I didn't make the final 15. All the finalists are worthy winners and I'm really looking forward to seeing their fab creations in the coming 12 months.
Best wishes and bye for now
Karen x

House Mouse - Let's Have A Party challenge HMFMC116

Hi All!
I'm back today with a card I made for the latest House Mouse and Friends Monday challenge which this week is 'Let's Have a Party'. And no party is a party without cake! I love this decoupage image of the mices making a mudpie and mixing the ingredients. To focus on the image I layered it onto some pink spotty Hot off the Press papers onto a scalloped edged card and decorated the inside with a left over image and heart shaped matt to write my message.
Hope you like it! Why not pop over to the blog and join in.
Bye for now
Karen x

Feathered Friends

Hi All!
I know the sunny days are making us think of summer to come but today I decided to enter the ABC Christmas challenge with a little Christmas card I made using images from the Jane Shasky CD 'From the Heart of the Garden'. The challenge was to create a card with 'Feathered Friends' upon so I chose these little birds and made a pocket card with a window created using my Spellbinders die allowing you to see some of the image before pulling it out to see the whole scene. Remember not to embellish the inner card too much or it won't slide comfortably in and out of the pocket.
Hope you like it and the christmassy colours!
Thanks for looking. Be back soon.
Best wishes
Karen x

Cake Lover House Mouse Challenge HMFMC115

Hi All!
Sorry I've not posted for a while, I've been working on my entries for the final round of the Graphic 45 Design Team call but I'm back now with a little card for this week's House Mouse Challenge. The photo inspiration was of some lovely cupcakes with blue icing so I whipped out this House Mouse stamp and joined in.
I decided to go for a simple, non fussy look for this card using Papermania papers, colouring the image in Promakers and adding gems and a little sentiment. I have someone in mind for this card and hopefully it will be just perfect for them.
Why not pop over to the HM blog and join in the challenge and take a look at the DT projects for more fab inspiration!
Anyway, thanks for looking.
Best wishes
Karen x

Wowee! Graphic 45 Semi

Hi All!
Just a quick post to tell you how excited I am to have made the Top 30 in the Graphic 45 semi final Design Team call! There is such talent out there that I'm thrilled to make it this far. The next round closes on the 23rd so I'm off to come up with three new projects - wish me luck! And why not pop over to all the other finalists blogs and have a look at their fab work! Good luck to all!
Best wishes and thanks again to Graphic 45!
Karen x
Top 30 (in no particular order)
1. Karen Zueger - USA

2. Alberto Juárez Díaz - Spain

3. Nate Da Silva - France

4. Nancy Wethington - USA

5. Romy Veul - Netherlands

6. Susan Fraser - Canada

7. Arlene Cuevas - USA

8. Karen Foy - UK

9. Maiko Miwa - Japan

10. Theresa Kimbrell - USA

11. Nicole Eccles - USA

12. Shell Carman - Australia

13. Kristin Wilson - USA

14. Gloria Stengel - USA

15. Roberto Cesar dos Santos - Brazil

16. Melanie Forbes - Australia

17. Sharon Ngoo - Singapore

18. Laura Denison - USA

19. Susan Killam - USA

20. Clare Charvill - UK

21. Jane Tregenza - Australia

22. Denise Hahn - USA

23. Kelly Klapstein - Canada

24. DeeDee Catron - USA

25. Tara Orr - Canada

26. Torill Fossum Stamnes - Norway

27. Jim Hankins - USA

28. Jan Hennings - USA

29. Tracy Burtt - USA

30. Susan Lui - Singapore

Graphic 45 Design Team 2012 Audition

I have always loved crafting with a passion and although I've mainly used my blog to share my card making, this year I've set myself a New Year's resolution to share more of the other crafty things I get up to - Scrapbooking and Altered Art. I follow the new releases of Graphic 45 religiously and just can't help treating myself to their lovely goodies so I thought I'd share some of my projects and audition for the their 2012 Design Team. There is definitely some stiff competition out there but I hope what you see inspires you to step out of your comfort zone and try something new... and for anyone who lives in the UK where Graphic 45 products can sometimes be a little tricky to find - I hope you like what you see and request their papers and Staples at your local craft shop so that you can have a go too!

Communique Mini
First up is a mini album I made using the Communique line. Last year I was lucky enough to have my first book launch so these 'writerly' themed papers make the perfect choice for my pictures.


























I finished off the back of the mini with the same type of collage style design as the front and added a layer of Matte medium to seal it.











Once Upon a Springtime Card
For this little card I decided to do something different and made a feature of one of the Once Upon a Springtime tags by adding it to three dominoes, filing and inking the edges before adding a gold edge and Glossy Accent domed top. I then created a frame effect with the papers to make this a pretty little card.














Shadow Box
I have always fancied having a go at creating a shadow box and when I picked up this house shaped one I thought it would be ideal to use with the Domestic Goddess line. Believe it or not I had only been able to buy three papers from this collection so my challenge was to decorate the house using only those. I think this just goes to show the versatility of these double sided papers and how well each pattern complements the others.This was a project for the 'frugal scrapper' ha! ha! and surprisingly I even have some elements left over from which I could create a couple of cards! Plus there is still plenty of room to add more household trinkets and charms as I find them.











Party Bag and Ornament
I love the vibrancy and busyness of the Le Cirque papers. Here I created a party bag decorated with flowers made from the scraps and an ornament made from cones of the papers and embellished with some of the fab imagery from the main sheet. As with the majority of Graphic 45 papers they work brilliantly with black or Kraft cardstock.





















Cherish Layout
I am just about as passionate about researching my family history as I am about crafting and love the fact that with scrapbooking I can combine the two. This layout is of my 92 year gran when she was in her late teens. I think she looks really beautiful in this shot. The papers used are from a number of Graphic 45 collections and I'm always amazed at how well they all marry together.













Tropical Birdhouse
You cannot fail to love the juicy colours of the Tropical Travelogue papers and when I was browsing in the discount shop in January I came across this wooden birdhouse decorated with snowmen, winter birds and a snowy scene. After a paint makeover I transformed it into the summer residence of tropical birds, fussy cutting from the papers and adding gems and glitter highlights.












Christmas Ornament
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without handmade decorations and this is a simple one I created using the Christmas Emporium papers, folding a length to create a rosette, punching it with my Martha Stewart punch and adding an image and sentiment, die cut matt, punched flowers, gems and ribbon.












Christmas Past Picture
I'm addicted to fussy cutting - love it - and to be honest you need to be for the next project. Each of Graphic 45's collections has an amazing main image on one of the papers which always has lots going on and interest to draw your eye. By using six sheets of the Visions of Sugarplums paper from the Christmas Past collection I created my own decoupage frame and on each layer cutaway more and more of the image to make a deep frame picture. It is best to use silicone glue rather than foam pads to mount the layers but if you enjoy getting fiddly then this is the project for you and you can use any of the main images in this way depending on which is your favourite collection! I've tried to take photos that show the layers and once you've created something like this you can bring it out year after year.























Photo Box
This little photo box was from our local discount shop, painted white with a mirrored front and silver handbag embellishments. The lid lifts off to reveal plastic wallets for over thirty photos and you can choose which one to display in the front. I wanted to alter this for a relative who likes vintage colours but does not like too many silk/paper flower embellishments. After painting the box in antique gold, I covered each panel with distressed patterned papers mainly from the Le Romantique line. I created a frame around the apperture, added pearls, just one section of decoupaged flowers and a series of Glossy Accented butterflies. I left the lid simply papered so that it did not detract from the displayed photos.














Tag Trio
I love making tags and trying out different techniques on them. This trio was created on backgrounds embossed with my Cuttlebug folders and spritzed with Cosmic Shimmers and Glimmer Mists. I decorated them with papers from the ABC Primer, On the Broadwalk and Curtain Call collections. You can really go to town with gems, ribbons, charms, flowers and braid to embellish them.












Celebration Cards
Finally, here is a card I made as an anniversary card using the Le Romantique collection. Soft peach card embossed on my embossing board and studded with gems were ideal for celebrating these wedding milestones.














Thank you to Graphic 45 for giving us all this chance to audition for their Design Team, for the lovely collections we can buy to create with and to those who visit my blog - I hope you feel a little inspired!

Best wishes Karen x