Announcement.....

Wow, interesting Christmas... we had a wonderful time and we were very spoilt with all the gorgeous gifts and beautiful cards! But my two little ones were struck with this flu virus and it seems impossible to shift, they slept most of Christmas day which thankfully didn't stop them enjoying opening their pressies!

This is a card I made for my boyfriend to celebrate our second year together on the 22nd Dec...

I went with the distressed manly look, but added as much glitter & bling as I could get away with! The heart has crackle paint which I then inked over with brilliance red. I used a LOT of distressed ink on the image and really roughed up the edges! It's not easy to see but I added glitter to the lake... for reflective purposes...

click images to get a close look!

Materials:
Paper: K&Co, cream cardstock, DCWV glitter card, chipboard,

Die's: Sissix - heart, Quickutz - wings, name plate,
Stamps: Personal Impressions - man fishing, see D's - gone fishing, fancy pants - pollen dust
Ink: Tim's - distress inks', crackle paint, brilliance red, versamark, stardust pen.
Other: Adhesive pretty gems, 3d foam, edge distresser, waterbrush.

So on to the other news... on our anniversary Steve was in fact working nights so we celebrated the next day. He got down on one knee in the restaurant with the pretence of picking up napkin and asked me to marry him... (soooo romantic) and I said.... well yes. We got a huge round of applause and some bubbly... now on to the RING...

Beautiful hey? so next it'll be lots of designing for invites!!! How exciting!!! I told Dillon we were getting married and he asked if he could watch (bless) I told him he would be very much involved and he said COOL!!! Hope you all have a fantastic and Very Special New Year, Lots of Love and HuGs Kim x

MEGA MEGA MEGA CHRISTMAS BLOG CANDY!!!

Fancy getting yourself a huge load of crafting goodies? Well all you have to do to be in with a chance is head over to Karen's Blog, the owner of Charmed Cards and Crafts...

Karen's blog candy is worth a massive £130 RRP so don't miss out, you have until the 1st Jan

Basic Grey - Going Green

Challenge 15 - Going Green

For this weeks challenge we would like to see you use some recycling on your creations, eg, cardboard, parts cut from another card, material from old clothes, postage stamps, it can be anything you like, the list is endless, also its not essential that the recycled item has to be old and used, you could simply use the inside of a business envelope for example as i know they can have some lovely patterns that can be used as backing papers etc, so have fun and of course not forgetting to use at least one item from basicgrey somewhere on your creation...

This week will be the last challenge until the new year, so it gives you that little bit of extra time to get your creations done, so be sure to join us again on the 3rd of January when we will be setting the first challenge for 2009

Well I'm still making Christmas cards... for this challenge I used some cereal box card which I covered in bg paper then cut the stocking and inked the edges. The snowflakes are also made from the same method!

The background piece is reused box card which is a bit fiddly to remove one side of the covering! I found after taking most of the paper off I sprayed a little water and brushed off the tiny little bits with a shoe brush (which I bought specifically for craft) it worked really well and I didn't have to spend the day picking at it!

I drew around my roll of sellotape for the circle of bling in the corner! The letters have been glittered it's a little hard to see in the pictures!

click images to get a close look!

Materials:

Paper: BG - wassail, cereal box and corrugated card,

Die's: Sissix - Stocking, alphabet, CUtb'g - Snowflakes,

Stamps: PTI - silent night,

Ink: Tim's distress inks', versamark, stardust pen.

Other: Adhesive lace, pretty gems, glossy accents, 3d foam, ribbon, white ep.

Thanks so much for stopping by, I was a little late uploading this today, an early Christmas present had to try it out, Tee Hee...

Candy Alert...

Heather is also on the Basic Grey DT and to celebrate is giving away some fantastic blog candy - Hop over HERE before 23/12/08

Stamper of the Year? Nearly...

As I have mentioned... this year I decided to enter as many competitions and stuff that I could. That being said I found out at the weekend that I made shortlist for Card of the year, Yippee,

Here is the cover of the latest Craft Stamper magazine with my winning entries...

These are two of my favourite cards, just love the different details. The first is very similar to another card I had made, still dimensional paper piecing just using different stamps and papers! I painted distress crackle paint on base as before and inked in white! The snowflake is cut from shrink and glittered!

Materials:
Paper: BG Figgy, white card, grey board, printed vellum (insert)

Die's: Sizzix - flower layers, flower layers #4, build a flower, Accent with flower, Holly & berries, snowflake, Cut'bg - Tag, Nestabilities - Ovals
Stamps: WOJ - Winter Charlotte with cat, PTI - Mixed messages, Basic Grey Clear Stamp Set -journal flourish, Paper Artsy - snowflakes
Ink: Colourbox - greens, StazOn - black, Brilliance - gold, midnight white, Copic Markers, Sakura pens.
Other: Glossy accents, Crackle paint, pearl gems, adhesive gems, stickles, 3D foam.

This second one I flocked a side of adhesive sheet with red fun flock then place over inked stamp and ironed the back... like you would velvet stamping. I then used copic marker to add some shadows on the flock, cut the coat out and raised on 3d foam over stamped and coloured image! It feels lovely like a velvet coat, very christmassy to me!

Materials:
Paper: Hand made velvet paper, white card, printed vellum (insert)
Stamps: WOJ - Willow with lantern
Ink: StazOn - black, Brilliance - gold, Copic Markers, Sakura pens.

Other: Glossy accents, adhesive gems, stickles, 3D foam.

or have a look here I have made a photo slide as I seem to take huge amount of photos when my little creation's are about to up & leave me!

Thanks as always for your comments I love receiving them, makes my day to read them! Will be back to upload more soon... bit of a busy week have a few things I need to get finished for posting Arrrrrhhh!!! HuGs Kim x

DT 4 BG Charming

Did you get the code? This is my first post as

DESIGN TEAM MEMBER for

BasicGrey CHALLENGES

Wow! What an honour. I got an email from the wonderful Martine, I accepted in about a milli second! Thank you so much, She had such a hard time deciding that she picked five talented members...

Tara
Anthea
Chris
Rica
Me

I would also like to say many congratulations to my new playmates ! You must go and visit these talented ladies blogs - they are amazing !

"For this weeks challenge we would like to see some charms on your creations, you can have as many as you like, and of course not forgetting to use at least 1 item from BasicGrey somewhere on your creations and for your wonderful efforts, one lucky person will win this fabby prize which has been kindly sponsored by CraftyKrafts."

So, as part of my new found role here's my card as "design team member" (can I say it any more?)

I don't use charms very much on my cards I will tend to create a little embellishment myself! So for this card I have used a butterfly charm that I embellished with a jump ring and clip so it can come off and coloured with my sakura glaze to coordinate with the paper! You may see it better in the close up!

Then for the Main Butterfly I die cut from brown Bazil and double sided adhesive sheet adhered vellum to underside and attached the top to the other. The with a very generous sprinkling of glitter filled in all the gaps It sparkles so much IRL.

I stamped directly on the ribbon and used stardust to enhance the pattern on the BG paper!

Materials:

Paper: BG of course - offbeat collection, Bazil basics, Vellum,
Die's: Quickutz - Butterfly,

Stamps: PTI - Mixed messages

Ink: versafine Black, Sakura pens, stardust,

Other: Butterfly charm, jump ring, clip, adhesive Sheet, black 3D foam, stampendous glitter, ribbon

I can see I may be buying a lot more Basic Grey in future… Tee Hee who am I kidding? Quite sure I would have bought it anyway, as there’s a new Basic Grey range I saw on their website called Bittersweet, delish! I can’t wait to get my hands on some.

Thanks for stopping by, will have more to upload & more great news soon, HuGs Kim x

Male Birthday

I used Lauren's Saturday Sketch, it was a great layout with the simple layers and shapes. I wanted this card for a man so went with rich dark colours. I wasn't sure if the sentiment would get lost on the grey card, but I quite like the subtle look! The tree has been heat embossed and looks so striking.

click for close up

Materials:

Paper: BG ambrosia, MM - stone, salt & pepper cardstock,

Stamps: PTI - Father Knows Best

Die's: Sizzix - Alphabet, Nestabilities - rectangles, squares,

Ink: Versamark, antique linen,

Other: Black embossing powder, 3D foam,

Thanks for stopping by, HuGs Kim x

An Award

Well, I am the WORST blogger when it comes to accepting the awards and acknowledgement that fellow bloggers bestow on me, not sure why sometimes just feel a little overwhelmed and also need to get it on my blog straight away or it fails to ever be posted!

This amazing award I am accepting from my wonderful blogging sister Em you probably don't need any introduction to this amazing woman, A HUGE thanks to Em for giving me this award which holds so much meaning!

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships!These blogs are exceedingly charming.These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends.They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement.Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated.Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who then must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

I feel truly honoured. The words that go with this award are so true!. When I joined the blogging world I never thought I would become a blog addict, and I never thought I would become friends with so many talented Ladies...it's too difficult to chose eight that haven't already received this award!

So a huge thank you to you all xxx

BG Aperture - Gift With Bow

This card is for the Basic Grey Challenge using my image Gift with Bow

The aperture I created using label 1 dies, it's very hard to see... the inner frame is made with glitter card, you may see it better in the close up! I also used the same glitter card for the right hand trim, layered with adhesive lace and embellished with red gems and used glossy accents to create cute little flowers.

So I printed my image twice one on patterned paper then the next on the plain red colour. I then cut each piece out, I embellished the bow using my copics, white ink pad and white gel pen. I have raised the bow on thin ink pads to give dimension! The patterned paper I inked the edges! Then the gift I adhered over the aperture.

click images for a close look

Materials:
Paper: BG - wassail, MM cardstock - redrock, white glitter card,
Die's: Nestabilities - long rectangles, Labels 1,
Stamps: PPS - What Every Gal Needs, PTI - silent night,
Ink: Hero Arts Shadow, Colourbox - Frost white, Copics, gel pen.
Other: Adhesive lace, pretty gems, glossy accents, 3d foam,

Myself and Dillon are recovering quite well, thank you for your kind thoughts and wishes, HuGs to you all, have great Monday! Kim x

Ila has some wonderful candy

Ila has some amazingly gorgeous candy up for grabs, you really have to go and check it out!

BG Embossing & CPS #92

This is just a quick post, wanted to upload this card for the Basic Grey Challenge using the sketch CPS #92

I always enjoy triple embossing and I used white ep so it looks more enamel (yummy), then rubbed over with gold wax so it shimmers, and continued rubbing gold wax all over the card you may just get a glimpse in the close up! Sorry piccies are a little dark!

Materials:

Paper: BG - wassail, MM cardstock - moss, white card,

Die's: Nestabilities - ovals, Labels 1, Cutb'g tag,

Stamps: PTI - merry & bright additions , Inkadinkadoo - Tree

Ink: Versamark, Hero Arts Shadow,

Other: White ep, gold shimmer rubbing wax, eyelets and cropadile, 3d foam, Tim's edge distresser,

Nighty Night, I'm off to bed early it turns out both myself and Dillon have the flu and tonsillitis, so not feeling too great! HuGs To you all, have great weekend! Kim x

Bev's Candy

Bev's gorgeous pink candy including a WOJ stamp - ends Dec 4th!

2Sketches4you - Kazan's Sketch 14

There's a great sketch over at 2sketches4you



Kazan's Sketch 14

Materials:
Paper: BG ambrosia, MM stone cardstock, grey board,

Die's: Sizzix - Accent with flower, Quickutz - Butterfly, Nestabilities - rectangles, lace punch,
Ink: Sakura pens.
Other: adhesive gems, 3D foam, doodlebug - rub ons

Thanks for stopping by, will have more to upload soon, HuGs Kim x

Whiff of Joy, Sketch

This is for this weeks sketch over at Whiff of Joy challenge...

Fancied colouring in watercolours and twinkling H2o's (so pretty, but it's difficult to see the shimmer in the pics!) I used my long nesties so it's not as close to the sketch because the image takes up loads of the front!

click images to enlarge!

Materials:

Paper: Flair Designs - Holly Jolly Collection, Embossed card - Black, watercolour paper,
Die's: Nestabilities - long rectangles, Sizzix - Holly, flower layers, Lace punch,

Stamps: WoJ - Willow-with-lantern, joy sentiment, Paisley,

Ink: Versafine - Black, green distress, glaze, Hero Arts - shadow, Watercolours, Twinkling H2o's, gold gel pen,

Other: elvet ribbon, Pretty bling, glossy accents, 3D foam, tracer, edge distresser,

Thanks for stopping by, and all your special comments, Thank you! HuGs Kim x

Cardmaker of the Year 2008 in Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine

This will be a long post I have lots I wish to share,

Do you recall this post?

Well I am so happy to tell you that I won FIRST place in the sizzix category and third place for Cuttlebug category! "Woooo Hoooooo" Jumping up and down with glee my winning letter waving around which I had to read out loud at least ten times to be SURE!

Here is the cover of the latest cardmaking and papercraft which I am in with my winning entries...

Cardmaking and papercraft it says it will be out tomorrow but I have my copy already and you can get it in WHsmiths aswell!

Wow I couldn't believe it I am still grinning and have been sitting on this information for ever!

So I may as well share my entries with you now... I took pictures before I sent them off...

This is my sizzix entry, I used the die of rocking horse and made it rock with a brad and penny which is all concealed behind the frame. In the slide show you can see how it moves back and fourth!

Materials:

Paper: K&Co - playful? (can't remember), DCWV - textured, wood paper, white card.

Die's: Sizzix - rocking horse, ornate frame, cherish alphabet, pin,

Ink: Colourbox chalk inks, white gel pen

Other: 3D foam, crop a dile, black bling for eye! Brad and a penny!

This was my cuttlebug entry...

Materials:
Paper: K&Co - Blue Awning, felt
Die's: Cuttlebug - Build a bloom, Tag, Corners, Embossing plate floral?

Ink: Colourbox chalk inks, distress inks, versamark,
Other: 3D foam, Tim's distresser, adhesive lace, blue ep, adhesive sheet,

Okay... so I took lots of photos, because I actually sent in six cards!!! and I've created a slide show instead of this post being super long!

Thanks for stopping by and I will be putting a special blog candy up soon to share my good luck!so keep watch and have a great Monday!!! HuGs Kim xxx

Laura's Sketch 13 - JOY

I made a few christmas cards using the wonderful Laura's Sketch 13.

I love the spotty paper in the figgy pudding collection but my pad only has one, so I got to work with my polka dot stamps from PTI and made my own version! I used distress inks and hero shadow pad to soften the edges. I was on a roll and managed to create four cards from this sketch! Well, you can never have enough christmas cards!

The robin is the new inkadinkadoo stamp I embossed, cut and put on 3d foam, finished with some Sakura sparkle and gems! Red velvet just screams christmas to me, so had to add it and this alphabet is delish!

click to enlarge

Materials:
Paper: BG - Figgy Pudding, MM cardstock - moss, white card, Die's: Nestabilities - Labels 1, sizzix - alphabet, Stamps: PTI - polka dot basics , Inkadinkadoo - Winter Birds Ink: Tim's distress inks, Hero Shadow, Sakura stardust, Other: Pretty pearls, Bling, stones, 3D foam, Velvet ribbon, clear ep.

Thanks for stopping by, HuGs Kim x

DCM - Get well Bird

Daring cardmakers dare this week is...

Bird, Birds and More Birds

I love birds so I'd like you all to make a card featuring birds this week

......a bird in the snow, a birds nest, a carrier pigeon, a white stork or birds in the sky, or...,or... even big bird!

It's been a while since I managed to have a go at their dare and I've incorporated two, I used a sketch they had ages ago for this get well card! I used neutral colours and distressed the edges with Tim's distress inks!

click images to enlarge

Materials:
Paper: Cosmo Cricket QVC TSV
Die's: Sizzix - Bird and branch.
Ink: Tim's distress ink pad.
Other: Adhesive foam.

Thanks for stopping by! HuGs Kim x