Hi everyone, hope you had a good weekend! I have a baby card to show today for my Katzelkraft DT blog day and I've used the button heart image from the Love plate which I think can work for lots of occasions. 


The image is stamped with distress ink and I've added some pink sparkle gel pen, glitter glue to the centre and then cut it out and mounted on dimension tape. I've kept the card simple with an embossed stitched background piece and a punched border and die cut letters from pink card.


Enjoy your day :)

Katzelkraft DT - gift box

Hi everyone and best wishes to you all for a very happy new year, I hope your celebrations were good :D! 

It's my day on the Katzelkraft blog today and I've made a little gift box  from kraft card and stamps from the beautiful  Nature plate. After scoring the box and before gluing it together I stamped around each side of the box base and lid and a motif in the centre of the lid and they were all embossed with white embossing powder . I added a bit of colour with a couple of copic markers and then after gluing and allowing to dry I sponged all the edges of the box base and lid with walnut stain distress ink and lightly with white Brilliance ink over the top of the brown. I finished off with a pretty ribbon.

Enjoy your day.

New year card

Hi everyone, hope you've had a good day today and have enjoyed the bank holiday if you're in the UK. It's my day on the Katzelkraft blog and I've made a New Year card using gorgeous new stamps from the Cage et Chandelier  plate and the clock from the Christmas KTZ45 plate.

I made the card base background with stamps from the Cage et Chandelier set  stamped with black archival ink on white bazzil card and I can see this set is going to get a lot of use :). I stamped the clock from KTZ45 twice, again with archival on white bazzil and I cut out the clock hands from one of the images and added stickles stardust glitter glue over it. I stamped another panel using the flourish from Cage et Chandelier using white ink on black card and added some silver tinsel fibres around it and a blue gem. When this was mounted I glued on the clock hands over the top of everything and added another gem. 

Katzelkraft DT Card

Hi everyone, it's my day to post on the Katzelkraft blog and I've a Christmas card using the gorgeous tree stamp from Lumiere de Noel plate.

To get the multi coloured ink effect on the tree I made a custom ink pad using cut and dry felt [thank you Tim H :)] which I inked with distress ink refills Barn Door, Bundled Sage and Tumbled Glass. I then inked the stamp from the custom ink pad and stamped onto the white card. I've matted onto red card and used SEI patterned paper in the background. All the edges were inked with Walnut Stain distress ink and I added some ribbon, twine and a rusty tin bell to decorate.  A nice quick card and easy to make in multiples once the ink pad has been made which makes it easy for any last minute Christmas cards.

We've had a lot more snow the last few days which isn't making it easy to get out and about, I hope you're keeping warm where you are :)

Katzelkraft Christmas Bird House Gift Box

Hi everyone! A little bird house gift box to show today for the Katzelkraft blog using the stamp plates  Noel Blanc,Santa KTZ 46,   Arbres 02 and Vu d'ici.

The bird house was cut from an SVG file on the Cricut and then I misted it with blue glimmer mist and on the roof with bronze blush cosmic shimmer mist. I dried the shimmer mist with a heat gun and then stamped the bird with coffee Archival ink and the christmas baubles with spun sugar distress ink and another layer over the top with stormy sky distress ink. When the ink was dry I used the snow stamp and white acrylic paint to stamp randomly over the bird box. The roof was stamped with the tree stamp and coffee Archival Ink and again over that I sponged some white acrylic paint.

When everything was dry I glued the box together, sponged the edges with Walnut Stain distress ink glued on the embellishments, added the ribbon and embellishments to the roof before gluing down and finished off with a blue pearl pen and some shredded tissue tucked inside.

I'm entering my bird box into the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge this week and theme is to use a Tim Holtz technique. As I've been following along with the 12 tags of Christmas I used his technique for stamping snow with acrylic paint. I've made a few of the tags but didn't manage all of them and I'll show those soon. I'm also delighted to say that I won the Simon Says Stamp tag Challenge last week and have my new blinkie to display :). Anyway, lots of inspiration over on SSS&S from the team as always.
Enjoy your day and I hope you're nearly ready for Christmas :D!

Enjoy your day and I hope you're nearly ready for Christmas :D!

Katzelkraft Christmas card

Hi everyone, I have a Christmas card to show  today for my day on the Katzelkraft blog using the beautiful stamp from the half plate Nuit de Noel and the snowflake stamp from Santa KTZ746. The main image was stamped with Versafine Black Onyx ink and then water coloured with Distress inks.

I cut out the image using a Nestabilities Labels die, embossed the image whilst still in the die and then stamped the snowflake around the edges using Old Paper distress ink. I also made a mat of red card for the image panel using the die as the template, drawing around it with a pencil and then cutting it out.

To decorate the panel I added some faux stitching at the top and used a red fine liner pen for the stitches, stickles glitter glue, some red gems and the red ribbon bow. Using a Stampin Up slot punch I made the holes at the sides so that the ribbon could be slotted through. For the card base BasicGrey Jovial paper was used from a 6x6 pad mounted on red card.

Enjoy your day!

Katzelkraft DT - Tea light gift book

Hi everyone! My day to post on the Katzelkraft DT blog and I've made a tea light gift book  which I think makes a lovely small present for Christmas. The template is on the  Stampartic blog (thank you!) and it's very easy to make. I used the snowflake stamp from Santa KTZ 746_01 plate and the Tree stamp from the Lumieres de Noel plate


The gift book is made from two pieces of white card, one for the outside cover and one piece for the box which is glued inside. I stamped both sides of each of the pieces using the snowflake stamp and versamagic inks in olive, red and brilliance galaxy gold (it took a while :D). All the edges of the pieces are sponged with the gold ink and to cut the shape from the box I used a Nestabilities label die.
On the inside left I made a pocket and a tag to go inside. The tag is made using the punch out from the box with a punched hole for the ribbon and a white panel to write a message. All the words are die cut using a Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations alphabet die from glitter card.

The panel for the front uses the tree stamp and I used all of the inks sponged over the tree randomly to give a graduated colour effect. The tree was overstamped with the snowflakes and then I added a mat of red card and the die cut poinsettia flower and punched holly leaves edged in white brilliance ink.

To decorate I added the ribbon around the tea light box before sticking it down and around the outside of the book to close it. I also placed some red gems and edged the panel and the flower and star with stardust stickles. Then I added the tea lights, the box can hold six of them.
Have a good day!

Katzelkraft DT Card - Winter Scene with cracked glass embossing

Morning everyone! My day for the Katzelkraft DT blog today and a Christmas card, it's good to get them started :D and isn't this stamp the most magical winter scene?

To make my card I used the Arbres 01 - Plaque 1/3

and Santa KTZ46 -01 Demie Plaque

I stamped the winter scene in black Versafine ink over white card sponged with spun sugar and tumbled glass distress ink. To get the cracked glass look on top of the image I triple embossed it with Utee and then put it in the freezer for half an hour to get very cold. I gently cracked the piece after freezing, working quickly around the image as  you don't have very long to do this before it's too warm again.  If you crack too much the embossing will come off (ask me how I know :D) but it's a lovely effect and one of my favourites. Some black soot distress ink was then sponged into the cracks to show them up a bit more and I cleaned off the excess ink to make it shine again.

The image panel was mounted on black card and layered over papers from BasicGrey. I've doodled some dots with a white gel pen and added some pearls with a Viva Decor white pearl pen. I stamped the Noel sentiment over the paper and finished off with some blue ribbon and a punched and glittered snowflake.
Enjoy your day.
Chris :)

Katzelkraft DT Card - Christmas

Hi everyone! Another Christmas card for Katzelkraft DT blog from me today using the very beautiful [they're all beautiful, sigh :)] deer image from Nuit de Noel plate and the snowflake from Santa 01 plate. Katzelkraft stamps are also available in the UK from The Craft Barn.

The deer image from the set is stamped using Versamark ink and then embossed with white detail embossing powder. Around the image and inside the card I've stamped with the snowflake stamp and white ink and I've also sponged some of the ink around the edges of the image panel and the card base. The image was cut using a Nestabilities labels die and I also used the largest die in the set to cut an edge on to the right side of the card.

 I dyed my white ribbon by spraying with two colours of glimmer mist, scrunching it up and leaving it to dry out. When dry and unravelled the ribbon has a lovely sparkle and a vintage look and you can make it more vintage looking by using coffee grounds as part of the process, my blog friend Michele has a lovely tutorial here on how to do it. To embellish I added some half pearls and Stickles glitter glue around the image and the image panel was popped up on dimension tape.

Katzelkraft DT Card - Three Kings

Good morning everyone! Tuesday, my day to post on the Katzelkraft DT blog and I have a card using the wonderful Katzelkraft Christmas stamp plate Lumieres de Noel.

To colour the beautiful Three Kings image I watercoloured with distress ink refills using : Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans, Vintage Photo, Antique Linen, Barn Door, Fired Brick, Tea Dye, Walnut Stain, Dusty Concorde, Black Soot, Pumice Stone, Shabby Shutters and Dried Marigold. I've also coloured the background to create a night desert scene using the inks and blending the colours with lots of water over the water dampened paper. Heavy 300gsm watercolour paper is advisable for this technique so that the paper doesn't warp from the water.

I decided to let the image stand alone and simply cut out the scene with a Spellbinders Labels Nestability die and I edged it with black soot distress ink. To make the card in this style I cut a piece of dark brown card with the same die,  scored it approximately 1cm from the top, folded and flattened the 1cm tab and this piece is then attached with glue or glue tape (glue only on the tab)  to the image panel to make the shaped card. I added a prima crystal for the star of wonder, lots of small clear gems for other stars and some stickles glitter glue.

Katzelkraft News

If like me you struggle to get enough Christmas cards done and need a challenge to get you going :) then over on the Katzelkraft Forum you can join in on the '10 weeks 'til Christmas' thread where we are going to try to make three Christmas cards per week until Christmas which will total 30 cards made. You don't have to make them all of course, I'm sure I probably won't but a few made is always good and you can add them as and when you can, you don't have to use Katzelkraft stamps if you don't have them although it's always appreciated and there are prizes on offer which is great, I've now joined up. You need to register as a member on the English speaking thread here where there are a few of us and all the text is in English although everyone is welcome to join in on the French thread of the same title too. I hope you'll join us, I'd love to see you there. 

Have a good day today!

Katzelkraft Halloween

Hi everyone, hope you're all well and having a good start to the week. I have some news which is that I'm now part of the Katzelkraft Stamps Design team :D! I've met Beatrice who's company Katzelkraft is, a few times at the Craft Barn Extravaganza's and we had a lovely chat at the last one which has resulted in me now being on the Team. I've long been an admirer of her gorgeous stamps so it's a real honour to be working with her and the very talented girls on the team. Thanks to Bea and all the girls for a lovely welcome and as Katzelkraft is a French company and I don't speak French everyone has been very helpful and I'm making good use of  Google translator :), luckily Bea and some of the girls speak some English so we're managing OK I think :D. This is my first post on the Katzelkraft blog which is in French but it's definitely worth a visit as the team make some really wonderful things. Katzelkraft stamps are sold from their website and exclusively in the UK at The Craft Barn.

On to my tag which uses the Halloween half plate stamps and has a lovely selection of all things spooky! I used an 8 inch tag and cut a mask with nestabilities circles for the moon then using the negative part I inked with yellow and orange distress inks. The moon was then covered up with the circle and I inked the rest of the background with dusty concorde, stormy sky, weathered wood and black soot inks. The spooky house, sentiment and eyes were stamped with white pigment ink and the witch, trees and bats with black versafine. I added some more white through some punchinella and sponged on some clouds and mist. To finish off I cut a strip of flocked yellow card, attached some ribbons which I heated slightly with a heat gun to curl them and outlined the which and parts of the house with a white gel pen.

Hope you have a lovely day today and thanks as always for your very much appreciated comments.