Something Very Different

What a beautiful day it was yesterday with the sun shining and the birds tweeting away. A perfect day for some crafting.


I wanted to do something very different and did not want to get covered in ink, as I do most days so I decided to do something with....FABRIC !! Shock horror a paper crafter using fabric.... I had several lengths of some pretty fabric that I have used in the past to make Lavender filled hearts and I wanted to put them to good use, but what could I make........


Note/address books came to mind. The fabric was the right size for the notebooks that I had made previously so I covered some very strong pieces of card with the fabric and then covered the inside with coordinating Coordinations card. I punched holes using my Crop-A-Dile and applied eyelets for extra strength and then put in  4 book rings to hold the insert into place.I added some ribbon and funky fibers to soften the book rings, and there you have it 3 Note/address books;

They all have matching gift boxes. The contents include approx. 50 notepaper pages and address tabs and inserts. Price on application xx

The Finished Project

The other day I showed you some off the book marks and hearts that I had made using the wonderful Sheena Douglass paint fusion transfers. Well I have now completed the gift set for my wonderful mom for Mothers Day.


I have decorated a blank box, from Crafters Companion, with a matching design to go with the card and book mark. Once the box was painted with the cream emulsion I applied the transfer and allowed to dry. Once dry I removed the backing and the design was revealed. I used some Tim Holtz distress inks to age the rest of the box and applied gilding flakes to the lid and gold embossing powder . I used one of Sheenas swirl stamps on each side and embossed with gold embossing powder and then applied a couple of coats of spray and shine. This is is the finished result;

The card was the next project. I had already made the poppy topper using the same technique as above. I used a blank 8X8 card and then printed off 2 papers from Sheenas new CD. These were matted and layered on coordinations card. I added a paper doilie which I applied some green distress ink to. I placed the finished topper onto this, added some ribbon and a few finishing touches and this is the result; 

So we now have a finished set....the box, a book mark and the card;

Please let me know what you think xxxx

Hearts and Bookmarks

With Mothers  Day fast approaching I had to think of a crafting pressy for my mom. I am currently loving playing with the transfer sheets from Sheena Douglass new paint fusion range. So I decided on a card, a gift box and a bookmark..these will be revealed later..


I had great fun playing with the images and came up with a few other bookmarks and Hearts that can be used as home decor.


The process is so simple, thanks to Sheenas wonderful product!! A coat of cream emulsion paint applied to one of the die cut shapes, apply the transfer and rub down with a spoon and then be patient and leave to dry overnight if you can wait that long. Once dry you remove the backing paper using some water and fingers and this rubs of easily, to reveal the finished image underneath.

To finish I used gold embossing powder around the edges and then sprayed with Spray and Shine from Crafters Companion. I then attached some ribbon and backed them with some cream textured card and these are the results;

The card, gift box and bookmark for my mom will be revealed later..........watch this space..

Note/Address Books

Over the past few months I have been having a play with Tim Holtz Grunge board and paper. I wanted to make a gift that was a little bit special and came up with the idea of making something useful..a covered note/ address book. On a earlier post in this blog you saw me make a blue swirled note book, which the recipient loved!!!! But since then I have created 2 more, using the same method. I used Tim Holtz Distress inks to put down the main colour and then some Luminarte Mica sprays from Crafters Companion to give them a bit of sparkle. All of the additional elements were made out of grunge paper and then embossed with ultra thick embossing powders. Book rings were then used to hold them together and to hold the address book pages in place. I then used ribbon and some different fibers to soften the look of the rings and these are the finished projects;

I can make these to order. Please email me Cathrumball@gmail.com, For more info 

A few quick makes

I am loving the new Joanna Sheen CD Daisy and Friends , so I thought I would have a morning making a few quick and simple cards. I printed out the toppers and then the matching papers, but there is so much to choose from!!! It was so easy to create 4 very different cards just using the few images and a few bits and bobs from my crafting stash and this is the result......( all of these cards are left blank for personal messages to be added  and sentiments to go on the front)

Sunny Sunday

It was lovely to wake up to a stunning sunny day with a light covering of snow on the ground and lovely and warm in my craft room so I thought I would have a play.


A very talented lady, Paula Holifield has created a new Facebook page for fans of the wonderful Joanna Sheen. I have several of Joanna's CDs and love them as they are so versatile but her latest release was Daisy and Friends, so I thought I would have a play with it today and came up with 2 cards that I then posted on the new page I {heart}Joanna Sheen. This is what I created:

The Cds have some stunning cute images including digi stamps to colour yourself, the selection of papers is stunning and lovely and bright, just what was needed on this sunny day.

Another Day , Another Challenge.

The fab team on the Crafters Companion Facebook page, i.e. Ali Wilson, are running a competition this month with Fairies as a theme....I fancied doing something slightly different than a card and decided to make a gift box with a matching candle.




I used some of the stunning rub ons from the Fairoplis range and rubbed these onto the tissue paper and then applied to the candle using parchment paper and a heat tool. I then put a small strip of Coordinations around the base and finished off with some ribbon.




I made the box out of Coordinations card and matted and layered with coordinating card and applied another little rub on to the front. I attached some ribbon to the flap and then using a Marriane die, cut out a coordinating butterfly and applied some gems for a little bit of sparkle. These are the results, I hope you like the finished product:

Front view

Side View

The Box

The finished product

My second project of the day was to complete a matching box to go with the paint fusion card I did yesterday. I had already painted the box and applied the transfer to the lid and let them dry overnight...and now the magic begins.

.Once I had removed the backing paper and exposed the design I applied some distress stain to the box to give it a more aged feel. I applied gold ink to all the edges and corners and then applied some gilding flakes to the lid. I then sprayed all of the box with spray and shine from Crafters Companion to give a more permeant seal. Once dry I lined the box with cream paper and again applied gold ink to the joins. One box now completed:

Fancy a Challenge

Polka Doodles are currently running a blog challenge to win a whole load of crafting goodies so you have to be in it to win it !!!


The rules for this challenge are you can only use 1 image, 2 papers and 3 embellishments...quite a challenge when you are a crafter like me that loves putting loads of elements onto each card but here goes:


I was determined not to print out any more papers from the wonderful range of Polka Doodle CDs that I have so I looked in my Polka Doodles box and found this lovely image taken from the Pretty Tough CD. I then found 2 lovely papers that would go well with the image. I put these all together and for my 3 embellishments I used some corse string instead of ribbon, some red buttons with the same string in and then a sentiment to finish and this is the result;

Polka Doodles Blog Spot Challenge Entry

Thank god its Friday

Well what a long week it seems to have been...I cant get used to been stuck at home and will be glad when I am well enough to return to work. Must not moan as it does give me loads of time to do my crafting but also time to be watching Create and Craft.TV and end up spending..lol




Last night I finally got round to making up one of the stunning jewellery kits that I won from Beaders Companion. If you have never tried jewellery making but fancy giving it a go this is a great place to start. The kit contains everything you need to make a necklace, earrings and a matching bracelet. The instructions are clear and easy to understand so why not give it a go.......

Jewellery set number 1 from my prize from Beaders Companion

This morning I had my 1st real play with the wonderful new CD from Sheena Douglass. Yesterday I had already applied one of the transfer sheets onto a mount board shape and left it to dry overnight so this morning the fun started and I carefully removed the backing and hay presto the result was great despite the fact that I had used a satin paint and not emulsion as advised but it worked!! The transfer sheets are great..it is really difficult to tell if i had painted it by hand and I can see that anything that is not nailed down will be painted  and transfers applied..


I then had the task of selecting which stunning papers, sentiments and topers to choose from the CD. There are so may to choose from and I was like a kid in a sweet shop....


I finally settled on the burgundy coloured distressed papers in 2 designs and some of the toppers to match the design on the mount board. Everything was matted and layered onto Coordinations card, I applied Crystal Lacquer to the embellishments and this is the result:

1st attempt at Paint Fusion from Sheena Douglass

Something Totally Different

Well my day got off to a very start as I was one of the lucky winners of a signed copy of the wonderful Leanne Chivers colouring DVD!!! Cant wait for it to arrive to find out where I have been going wrong with my colouring...lol

Now to todays project number 1:

After looking at all the wonderful images in the Sheena Douglass CD I decided to do something completely different and very masculine and here is the result:

I wanted to use some old style paper but the pads were so expensive and I found some old engineering books that my hubby had so I photocopied them onto cream textured paper and that created the top section of the card. I used some distress ink around the edges to tone it in with the bottom section.The bottom section is using one of the backing papers off Sheenas new CD and also one of the sentiments that I inked up and then embossed with clear embossing powder.

The cogs and tabs were made using Tim Holtz grunge paper and the Tim Holtz dies, these were then inked with distress inks and clear embossing powder applied to add texture. The tabs were then held together with a little jump ring from my Beading stash.

I am pleased with the end result despite get covered in ink and embossing powder..lol



Now to Project number 2 :

This is just a plain and simple card made just using shades of blue ! This is to be entered into Emmas Cards Crafty Challange.

Well when you mention blue I instantly thought of Baby Humphrey who I have used in the past in all different colours, so out he came and this is the finished result:

Shades of blue

I stamped the image onto Neenah card using Memento ink and then coloured using my promarkers.
I used Coordinations for the base layer and then the sentiment was from the stamp plate "new Baby" from Crafters Companion. I added a few blue buttons to finish.

The Sun Is Shining

Well after a week of very cold grey and damp weather the sun finally came out today and even a few snow drops were showing there heads. With Mothers Day fast approaching I thought I should make a start on some Mothers Day cards and it just so happens that Polka Doodles have got a challenge on their facebook page to make a card but not a normal shape, ie rectangle or square. A Polka Doodles image must be used and only 3 colours and it has to be a mothers day card...some challenge!!!!!


Sadly I do not own, yet..on wish list, a die cutting machine that cuts out large shaped cards so I had to do it by hand...I found a flower shaped card template on the Crafters Companion Enveloplus CD Rom, so I used this but it was a bit of a battle to cut the matting and layering papers to size with such a complicated shape! I then printed some pretty papers and a lovely image off the Polka Doodles Pretty Tough CD and some flowers from Sundae of Seasons CD also from Polka Doodles. The colours I went for were pink, green and peach ( on the little girls hair and shoes if you cant find it!). This is the result..please let me know what you think...................

Polka Doodles Mothers Day Card

Something to brighten a grey day

Its cold and grey outside today so I thought I would inject a bit of colour...I have 3 wonderful nephews all with birthdays coming up but it is so hard to find just the right card for todays teenage boys but thankfully the wonderful Nikky Hall from Polka Doodles came to the rescue with her fab Pretty Tough CD. All of the images are targeted at the youngsters of today with some great papers to choose from and some great digi stamps already coloured but also in black and white to colour  in yourself. There is a range of sentiments and lots of little extras but also a wonderful inspirational gallery to visit. This is my 1st creation from the CD for my 16 year old nephew;

Lucky few days

Well for once my luck has changed , on Tuesday I received a phone call bringing my surgery date forward by one month, so am now being admitted next Tuesday and then yesterday I received a email confirming that I had won the Beaders Companion January Blog Challenge!!! So I am now eagerly awaiting the arrival of my prize which is 3 off their new kits with a value of over £50 !!! When they arrive I will post my creations for you all to see !! Think I may well be buying a lottery ticket as well this weekend as they say these things come in 3's...

So now down to some crafting...I have a very special friends birthday coming up in a couple of weeks and wanted to make her something special, but also useful..........I had some Tim Holtz Grungeboard that I had never used and came up with the idea of making an address book. I purchased from WH Smith a pack of inserts for a filofax and they fitted perfectly to the size of the grungeboard !

I used Teal zircon radiant rain shimmering mist from the Luminarte range by Sheena Douglass and covered the front and back pages of the book with this. I then used a gold ink pad to distress around the edges. For the embellishments I had some shapes of Grungeboard, also by Tim Holtz and using Ultra Thick embossing powders in Lapis Sapphire and a versamark ink pad, I covered the shapes with about 4 layers of powder and it has formed a metal effect. I attached these to the front page and made a flower using the wonderful coordinations paper which I had also used to lined the book with. To finish off I had some gold lettering which fitted inside the frame and a yellow feather to soften the look. I had put some ribbon in between the cover and the Coordinates card on the front and the back to close the book up.

4 holes were then punched on the front and back pages using my Crop-A-Dile and I put eyelets in to give added strength. The whole thing was then bound using 4 metal book rings and again I used some ribbon and funky fiber to soften the look. Here is the result..just hope she likes it !!!!

The Finished Result

Inside

The Back