GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

Soz about it taking a bit longer.  I was going to pull the names myself if I couldn't pin down the TCD to do it.

Bonus Winner at the end of the post!

It's been horribly hot here considering we have another month of SPRING left!  I'm not looking forward to Summer if this is a taste of what's to come. ew!

So here's the video if you want to watch the draw, otherwise I'll post a spoiler with the names below!

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And ther winners are...

1. KT Fit Kitty
2. NanaConnie
3. D.Ann C

Now for the BONUS prize!

My process is opening each entry in a separate tab in a new browser window and TCD can start eliminating and whittling down the entries.  He made me laugh so hard with some of his answers!

TCD: I like that one
Me: OK why do you like it?
TCD: Because the cat's wearing a hat
Me: 🤣🤣🤣 That's fine if you want to pick that one, but you can't give that as your reason.
TCD - *proceeds to find reasons why he likes the HAT*
Me: You're superposed to be judging the card not one detail in the image
TCD: But look, other people said the same thing in the comments...

At this point I'm laughing so hard i can't even stand.  NOT at the card, mind you.  It's a lovely card,  but at Max.  He's such a blessing to my mental health!

I'm not sure how serious he was being, but he was pleased to discover that his winning entry was the same person with the infamous cat-in-the-hat!

Congratulations (once again!!) to KT Fit Kitty!

Max chose the card below:

Max said: "I really liked the used of only neutral colours and just black and white stamping.  I liked how the square tags complemented the square stamps and I liked how the number three was used several times (three tags, 3 stamps, 3 colours)"

I should say that he's a very boyish boy so it's no surprise this was his choice.  His favourite colour has been black since he was 2, so we affectionately refer to him as "emo child".  He is very fair though, and informed me he wouldn't be prejudiced towards or against any colours! 🤣


If you lovely ladies could email me at alex@pinkcraftymama.com with your snail address and list your preference of prizes.  Thanks soooo much!  I had a lot of fun playing with you!

Love and purrrrfect prizes!

Giveaway Closed

Just wanted to say Thank You to everyone who took the time to enter the giveaway.

It closed about 12 hours ago as per the description, but I'll accept any entries up to the point this post goes up.  Prizes arrives as described so that's AWESOME and between the rest of today my time (Tues afternoon) and tomorrow, I'll be getting the entries sorted out and film a draw as usual.  I prefer the "old school" method for many reasons, and I think it's more interactive.  Check back here over the next 24-48 hours, K? 

I may also need an extra day for TallCraftyDude to make his choice for the bonus prize.  He enjoys graphic design at school and has been doing it for 2 years now,  Not such a fan of art, though.  I don't think many kids are in his year, He got it as an elective despite not having it near the top of his preferences. 

It's a tiny class consisting of him and his friends.  He tells me of their shenanigans so I;m sure the school is regretting this decision. What he doesn't tell me is evident by stains on his school shirt that don;t wash out....but anyway!  He applies his graphic design skills to his choice and tokes it seriously which is pretty sweet!

Thank you SO MUCH for sharing all your wonderful cat anecdotes.  I've laughed and cried with you and every year feel like I get to know you a little bit better.  Not just through the hop, but via what we all share on our socials.

I have replied to some of the comments and will continue to do so and hope to visit your blogs too. 

See you here real soon!

Love and see you for the prize draw!

Project 4 for Cat Lovers Hop

Hi Lovelies!

Bringing you Project #4 for the Cat Lovers Hop. (Links to the first two are at the bottom of the page)

I hate to be the bearer of sad tidings, but as crafting cat lovers, I'm sure we've heard about Newton.  If not here's their IG announcement.

This one was hard to make - not gonna lie.  In many respects harder than scrapbooking what 3 years post-Fossy look like.  Is it the suddenness?  Definitely in part.

At least for those of us who don't know Newton personally?  Maybe.  Fossy battled renal failure for years.  We had him on blood pressure meds and a special diet which slowed down the progression, but especially towards the end and his increasingly worsening bloodwork, it wasn't unexpected.

Is is Newton's rather iconic status as a cat who started up his own stamp company?  This is actually somewhat of a consolation since he will forever live on in the images and the projects we make with them.

Is it because it was so soon after poor Hobbes passed away?  For me that was part of it.

I decided to keep it simple.  I wasn't sure how hard it would be to get through it, but I wanted to do a bit of a tribute to Newton. 

I'm not entirely displeased with the ginger colouring, although Newton appears a bit lighter.  Yarn ball is so-so.

I used a circle stencil as a nod to the yarn ball and three colours of Colour Blast Paste.  I'm never sure how stuff will adhere to mixed media, so it was Permanent Glue Dots to the back of the sentiment block and on the unsticky side of fun foam for the win!

I stamped (repeatedly) with white pigment ink rather than embossed the sentiment since I was spent and pulling out all my heat embossing stuff was more than I could do at that point.

Sending Hugs Card

That's all for now!  I'll be honest in that I'm not sure whether I'll have time for another project since i have a couple of pressing assignments to complete this week!  Thanks for all your comments  I always read them all and I'm working through commenting on them.

OK now to the giveaway part:

Giveaway CLOSED!

📌 I have three items (and a bonus fourth prize) to give away (pictured below) and I'll pull three names for the first three prizes.
📌For the  fourth "bonus" prize: it will go to someone who has entered the main blog hop (please let me know your project numbers if you would like to be considered.  You can wait til the blog hop is over to do this since they change sometimes.)
📌 The first name drawn gets first choice, second name gets second choice and so on.  Bonus prize will be TallCraftyDude's favourite project!
📌 This Giveaway is NOT SPONSORED.  I purchased the prizes especially for this giveaway.  This year I picked stuff other than just stamp sets to mix it up a bit!  In the even the items I purchased are on back order, I'll purchase something similar in their place and update the list below. Thanks for understanding!

The prizes you get to pick from are:
This hysterical Art Impressions stamp set called "Catastrophy".  Perfect for the Spoonie stamper (or if you know one!)

There is a Dyan Reaveley stencil called "It's Raining Cats" (this one is mine, but yours will be brand new, obvs! 😉)

An American Crafts "Coloring Notebook"

Lastly, the bonus prize will be an electronic gift card to the online crafty store of your choice to the value of $20 AUD (approx $13 USD, £10 GBP, €12 Eur etc.  May vary depending on exchange rate)

You will receive an entry (or entries) for each of the following.  You absolutely don't have to do everything - just how ever many you like.

If you have previously followed my socials then these are already counted for you!  (unfollowers will not be counted)
📌 The giveaway will remain open until 11:59PM AEDT on Monday 28 Oct (a whole week from today).  Please visit THIS SITE to calculate in your own timezone
📌 The winner will be drawn on Weds 30 Oct so PLEASE CHECK BACK HERE
❗If the winner and I can't make contact by Weds 6 Nov, I will have to draw a new winner since I need to get these prizes out all together.
❗Please try to email me at alex@pinkcraftymama.com This really is the easiest way for me to get in touch with you since not all blogger profiles have an email attached and if you JUST leave comments, I have no other place to search for you.

So...what do you have to do to get entries?
🐈 Follow this blog - 3 entries (in the left sidebar)
🐈 Follow me on Facebook - 2 entries
🐈 Follow me on Instagram - 1 entry
🐈 Comment (once per day per person) on a post between now and the close of the giveaway - 1 entry per post

I don't yet know how many makes I'll have done between now and then, but it will be at least three.  The more love from you guys the better the chances of me getting crafty which gives you more chances to enter.

Click here for Project 1
Click here for Project 2
Click here for Project 3 

So today...if you want to leave a comment, tell me what is the worst kind of mischief has your cat (or one you know) got themselves into.. (or anything else if this doesn't grab you) and please don't hesitate to  email me with any questions at alex@pinkcraftymama.com


* ⬅⬅⬅ Acronyms and strange terms in left sidebar! 

Love and cuddle your kitty!

Project 3 for Cat Lovers Hop using Oct CKC kit

Hi Lovelies!

Bringing you Project #3 for the Cat Lovers Hop. (Links to the first two are at the bottom of the page)

This one is a scrapbook layout as promised.  It has a bit of a back story, so bear with me!

The story begins in the Spread the Sparkle Facebook Group which is the group started by SpiegelMomScraps.  There is a challenge there at the moment to scraplift the winner of the Scrapbook Spotlight the month before.  With me so far?  OK, so for the month of October, Katie Scott is the winner with a layout featuring a large heart cut file.

Sara Scraps did what she does so well and interpreted it as a layout featuring a quilted heart.  See her process video here.  Upon seeing this, Moira O'Reilly scraplifted Sara's quilted heart.  Katie loved the quilted version so much that she went and scraplifted Moira (scraplifting her! 😂) although I can't find Katie's quilted version anywhere. 🤷

Now I had every intention of entering the scraplift challenge since I have a partial page which could work.  HOWEVER, seeing all these quilted layouts one after another was more than I could take so I had to do this version as well.  Thanks for the inspo, Sara!  You've spawned a monster I think!


Do click on the links to all three ladies' YouTube channels and watch the process videos I'm talking about. 

Now on to my version - October is a month of all sorts of anniversaries and one of which is the passing of our beloved Fossett 3 years ago.  National Black Cat Day is on 27 October (it's not Aussie, but it should be!) and sometimes falls during the hop.

I've never scrapbooked anything about the deaths of any of our cats until now.  While it's something I want in my albums, I also want scrapbooking to be a happy experience.  I'm conscious of not wanting my albums to be overly censored or sanitised either, so it;s a delicate balance.



As far as supplies go, I decided to try using my slightly enormous Counterfeit Kit Challenge Kit for the month of October. If you are not familiar with this challenge, read about it here.

The vintage vibe of the kit would work with a nostalgic story and to take things one step further, I wanted to see if I could take out one of the two monthly challenges thrown down by CKC to help use those kits.

Challenge 1 is called "Back to the Good Old Days" and is about scrapbooking how we used to.  The thing is that I don't LIKE the way I used to scrap.  I wasn't even scrapbooking that long before sort of falling out of love with it, but I didn't understand why or what was missing for me...until about 2012 when a Glitter Girl video showed up in my YouTube feed and it changed everything!!

It was the STORY and journaling which was missing.  I've not looked back since!  So how do I translate the prompt to work for me?  I thought back to when I first started scrapbooking in 2004 or 2005 and what reminded me of that time.  Supplies have come a very long way since then.  That probably also contributed to my frustration.  Even fewer supplies made their way to a country like Australia where scrapbooking just wasn't as common as in the US.  Basic Grey was one of the main brands available.

My October kit is full of Basic Grey and the majority of the papers I picked were BG (with some October Afternoon and the background is Studio Calico).  The other thing is that embellishments (and layouts themselves really) were heavily themed and very literally interpreted.  I would definitely have to pull some cat themed stuff if I wanted to reflect this since I didn't add any in the kit.  I don't always theme (mostly I don't) but sometimes it;s fun.

Both Moira and Sara used a stencil and ink (in slightly different places) so using the Dyan Reaveley stencil I'm giving away would be rather apt!  Th top two corners are a Newton's Nook paw print since the space is smaller.  I wanted my stencilling to look as though it was coming out from under the heart like Moira did.

The next important detail was that it was essential for me to stitch the squares together.  I used a zig zag which was mostly OK except when my machine had a conniption due to the unseasonably warm day yesterday when I was making this.  The white cotton isn't all that visit anyway.

The colours of the heart were based on the light blue floral October Afternoon paper.  Pink was a bit of an afterthought.  When I saw that the roses I cut from an OA paper were the best match, I added a pink mat (the reverse of the red circle Basic Grey paper) and a different shade of aqua.

I knew from the start that I wanted to use black.  Partially to offset all the colour since it's not intended to be a super cheerful story and partly because Fossy was, after all, a mini house panther!

Sara placed her photo on the right and I decided to follow her lead on this one mainly because of the direction of the photo.  I printed it with the text as is.  The picture was he one I posted on FB to announce Fossy's passing so I left it.

Most of the pages I chose were various shades of cream as was the background.  It's a patterned paper with concentric circles.  I added white cardstock, but I didn't want stark white.  The white border on the photo somehow looks OK.  It draws attention to it and the different shades of cream help it blend right in.

The extra photo mats made this layout more like my style, although I'd probably consider three as holding back!!  The busyness of the heart make a lot of embellishment rather unnecessary and even a distraction.  I added the Crate Paper cat die cut and some various word stickers from outside the kit, but I needed them to pull the layout together.  If I'm totally honest the paper I fussy cut the flowers from was also outside the kit.  The large camera sticker in the top right is from a large 5 & Dime sticker sheet that ended up in the kit by mistake.  Oh well 🤷!  The brads were from he kit (yay!) and so were those bright white enamel hearts, which I coloured black with Copic markers.

The black Thickers were from the kit and I'm always glad to get chipboard Thickers on paper.  Even new ones don't stick well so I needed Glue Dots in Mini and Micro to get them all stuck down.  I sometimes machine stitch them, but I didn't want the distraction of white thread on them.

I should have used cream alphas for the second part of the title but was almost done when I thought of it.  Nevermind!  The wording of the title itself comes from vocab used in the Chonky Cats Facebook Group, although ironically Fossy was the least chonky of all our cats.  Black cats there are known as Voids.  Cool, huh?  I like to use phrases or puns which I rearrange as needed for my titles and this one comes from the expression "a void in your heart" which is apt for this situation.


I'm actually not displeased with this layout despite the few embellishments.  I don;t actually think it needs MOAR.  I even toyed with the idea of ink/mist splatters and held back.  Whoever is holding the Mama hostage, please give her back!

Our Void - Always In Our Hearts

That's all for now!  It's a long post, so congrats on making it this far!  All I have to do is come up with my next project!  Thanks for all your comments  I always read them all and I'm working through commenting on them.

OK now to the giveaway part:

Giveaway CLOSED!

📌 I have three items (and a bonus fourth prize) to give away (pictured below) and I'll pull three names for the first three prizes.
📌For the  fourth "bonus" prize: it will go to someone who has entered the main blog hop (please let me know your project numbers if you would like to be considered.  You can wait til the blog hop is over to do this since they change sometimes.)
📌 The first name drawn gets first choice, second name gets second choice and so on.  Bonus prize will be TallCraftyDude's favourite project!
📌 This Giveaway is NOT SPONSORED.  I purchased the prizes especially for this giveaway.  This year I picked stuff other than just stamp sets to mix it up a bit!  In the even the items I purchased are on back order, I'll purchase something similar in their place and update the list below. Thanks for understanding!

The prizes you get to pick from are:
This hysterical Art Impressions stamp set called "Catastrophy".  Perfect for the Spoonie stamper (or if you know one!)

There is a Dyan Reaveley stencil called "It's Raining Cats" (this one is mine, but yours will be brand new, obvs! 😉)

An American Crafts "Coloring Notebook"

Lastly, the bonus prize will be an electronic gift card to the online crafty store of your choice to the value of $20 AUD (approx $13 USD, £10 GBP, €12 Eur etc.  May vary depending on exchange rate)

You will receive an entry (or entries) for each of the following.  You absolutely don't have to do everything - just how ever many you like.

If you have previously followed my socials then these are already counted for you!  (unfollowers will not be counted)
📌 The giveaway will remain open until 11:59PM AEDT on Monday 28 Oct (a whole week from today).  Please visit THIS SITE to calculate in your own timezone
📌 The winner will be drawn on Weds 30 Oct so PLEASE CHECK BACK HERE
❗If the winner and I can't make contact by Weds 6 Nov, I will have to draw a new winner since I need to get these prizes out all together.
❗Please try to email me at alex@pinkcraftymama.com This really is the easiest way for me to get in touch with you since not all blogger profiles have an email attached and if you JUST leave comments, I have no other place to search for you.

So...what do you have to do to get entries?
🐈 Follow this blog - 3 entries (in the left sidebar)
🐈 Follow me on Facebook - 2 entries
🐈 Follow me on Instagram - 1 entry
🐈 Comment (once per day per person) on a post between now and the close of the giveaway - 1 entry per post

I don't yet know how many makes I'll have done between now and then, but it will be at least three.  The more love from you guys the better the chances of me getting crafty which gives you more chances to enter.

Click here for Project 1
Click here for Project 2
Click here for Project 4 

So today...if you want to leave a comment, tell me whether your cats like to eat strange things (like vegies etc)... (or anything else if this doesn't grab you) and please don't hesitate to  email me with any questions at alex@pinkcraftymama.com


* ⬅⬅⬅ Acronyms and strange terms in left sidebar! 

Love and cuddle your kitty!

TTCRD DT 22 Oct and Cat Lovers Hop Project 2

Hi Lovelies!

Today is challenge day for Design Team B for the Through The Craft Room Door Challenge.  This is a WEEKLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme) challenge with 2 design teams who alternate weeks to make projects showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!

This week's sponsor is Hetty Clare.

Prize: 

This image reminded me of mornings here  - I even get up at 6:00 too (although I'm usually greeted by a cat butt).

The cartoon like image suited the theme, but did make colouring more challenging especially when trying to add realistic shading...and even more so when the whole circle was reduced to a size where the individual elements are pretty small!

Speaking of circles, the design of the image reminded me of the current Mojo Monday sketch which is something I really enjoy playing along with.

I threaded twine through the flower (as a nod to the ones on the doona and pillow) and stuck the button down with a Glue Dot.

It didn't look the same in my head as on the paper, but I like the yellow enamel dots at least! 🤦

I'll be honest I don't love the end result.  I do love the bright colours in the coloured image, but I can't quite put my finger on what bothers me.  Maybe the odd shade of purple of the sentiment?  🤷 I pulled it from my drawer of scrap cardstock and there wasn't much purple to choose from so I ran with it rather than cutting into a fresh sheet.

OK now to the giveaway part:

Giveaway CLOSED!

📌 I have three items (and a bonus fourth prize) to give away (pictured below) and I'll pull three names for the first three prizes.
📌For the  fourth "bonus" prize: it will go to someone who has entered the main blog hop (please let me know your project numbers if you would like to be considered.  You can wait til the blog hop is over to do this since they change sometimes.)
📌 The first name drawn gets first choice, second name gets second choice and so on.  Bonus prize will be TallCraftyDude's favourite project!
📌 This Giveaway is NOT SPONSORED.  I purchased the prizes especially for this giveaway.  This year I picked stuff other than just stamp sets to mix it up a bit!  In the even the items I purchased are on back order, I'll purchase something similar in their place and update the list below. Thanks for understanding!

The prizes you get to pick from are:
This hysterical Art Impressions stamp set called "Catastrophy".  Perfect for the Spoonie stamper (or if you know one!)

There is a Dyan Reaveley stencil called "It's Raining Cats" (this one is mine, but yours will be brand new, obvs! 😉)

An American Crafts "Coloring Notebook"

Lastly, the bonus prize will be an electronic gift card to the online crafty store of your choice to the value of $20 AUD (approx $13 USD, £10 GBP, €12 Eur etc.  May vary depending on exchange rate)

You will receive an entry (or entries) for each of the following.  You absolutely don't have to do everything - just how ever many you like.

If you have previously followed my socials then these are already counted for you!  (unfollowers will not be counted)
📌 The giveaway will remain open until 11:59PM AEDT on Monday 28 Oct (a whole week from today).  Please visit THIS SITE to calculate in your own timezone
📌 The winner will be drawn on Weds 30 Oct so PLEASE CHECK BACK HERE
❗If the winner and I can't make contact by Weds 6 Nov, I will have to draw a new winner since I need to get these prizes out all together.
❗Please try to email me at alex@pinkcraftymama.com This really is the easiest way for me to get in touch with you since not all blogger profiles have an email attached and if you JUST leave comments, I have no other place to search for you.

So...what do you have to do to get entries?
🐈 Follow this blog - 3 entries (in the left sidebar)
🐈 Follow me on Facebook - 2 entries
🐈 Follow me on Instagram - 1 entry
🐈 Comment (once per day per person) on a post between now and the close of the giveaway - 1 entry per post

I don't yet know how many makes I'll have done between now and then, but it will be at least three.  The more love from you guys the better the chances of me getting crafty which gives you more chances to enter.

Click here for Project 1
Click here for Project 3
Click here for Project 4

So today...if you want to leave a comment, tell me how many cats you've had in your life... (or anything else if this doesn't grab you) and please don't hesitate to  email me with any questions at alex@pinkcraftymama.com


* ⬅⬅⬅ Acronyms and strange terms in left sidebar! 

Love and cuddle your kitty!

Arty Divas DT 22 Oct and Cat Lovers Hop Project 1

Hi Lovelies!

Today is Challenge 7 at Arty Divas.  This is a FORTNIGHTLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme) challenge with a design team who makes projects showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!

This week we are using images by Rick St Dennis.
The prize is a stamp and die set so head on over to the Arty Divas challenge post to win!
(This is unrelated to the Cat Lovers Hop!  Scroll down for the deets on that)

I'm still practising with better blending, shading and general colouring of animals.  I didn't do a stellar job on the body, but the face is a bit better than I've done before.  Black is particularly challenging, but I really need to purchase refills for my lighter markers!  🤷

After colouring as best I could, I fussy cut her and and attached foam dots to the back.  I picked the
paper for the background from an older Crate Paper 6x6 pad and machine stitched some strips to the top.

After this I attached the card front to the base, attached our fine feline and (with some surgery to make it fit) attached this perfect Dyan Reaveley sentiment.

Just a few pearl cabochons attached with Micro and Mini Glue dots to finish and done! 

OK now to the giveaway part:

 

Giveaway CLOSED!

📌 I have three items (and a bonus fourth prize) to give away (pictured below) and I'll pull three names for the first three prizes.
📌For the  fourth "bonus" prize: it will go to someone who has entered the main blog hop (please let me know your project numbers if you would like to be considered.  You can wait til the blog hop is over to do this since they change sometimes.)
📌 The first name drawn gets first choice, second name gets second choice and so on.  Bonus prize will be TallCraftyDude's favourite project!
📌 This Giveaway is NOT SPONSORED.  I purchased the prizes especially for this giveaway.  This year I picked stuff other than just stamp sets to mix it up a bit!  In the even the items I purchased are on back order, I'll purchase something similar in their place and update the list below. Thanks for understanding!

The prizes you get to pick from are:
This hysterical Art Impressions stamp set called "Catastrophy".  Perfect for the Spoonie stamper (or if you know one!)

There is a Dyan Reaveley stencil called "It's Raining Cats" (this one is mine, but yours will be brand new, obvs! 😉)

An American Crafts "Coloring Notebook"

Lastly, the bonus prize will be an electronic gift card to the online crafty store of your choice to the value of $20 AUD (approx $13 USD, £10 GBP, €12 Eur etc.  May vary depending on exchange rate)

You will receive an entry (or entries) for each of the following.  You absolutely don't have to do everything - just how ever many you like.

If you have previously followed my socials then these are already counted for you!  (unfollowers will not be counted)
📌 The giveaway will remain open until 11:59PM AEDT on Monday 28 Oct (a whole week from today).  Please visit THIS SITE to calculate in your own timezone
📌 The winner will be drawn on Weds 30 Oct so PLEASE CHECK BACK HERE
❗If the winner and I can't make contact by Weds 6 Nov, I will have to draw a new winner since I need to get these prizes out all together.
❗Please try to email me at alex@pinkcraftymama.com This really is the easiest way for me to get in touch with you since not all blogger profiles have an email attached and if you JUST leave comments, I have no other place to search for you.

So...what do you have to do to get entries?
🐈 Follow this blog - 3 entries (in the left sidebar)
🐈 Follow me on Facebook - 2 entries
🐈 Follow me on Instagram - 1 entry
🐈 Comment (once per day per person) on a post between now and the close of the giveaway - 1 entry per post

I don't yet know how many makes I'll have done between now and then, but it will be at least three.  The more love from you guys the better the chances of me getting crafty which gives you more chances to enter.

Click here for Project 2
Click here for Project 3  
Click here for Project 4

So today...if you want to leave a comment, tell me whether you have a favourite breed/colour of cat  (or anything else if this doesn't grab you) and please don't hesitate to  email me with any questions at alex@pinkcraftymama.com


* ⬅⬅⬅ Acronyms and strange terms in left sidebar! 

Love and cuddle your kitty!

Starting...(very shortly)...Cat Lovers Hop!

The lovely Janis of Her Peaceful Garden is once again hosting what can only be described as a bit of an institution among crafty, slightly-web-savvy, feline enthusiasts!

That's right, folks (and cats!!) the 2019 Cat Lovers Hop is only about 3 hours away (according to the counter on Janis's blog).

So what's happening then?

WELL as usual Janis has an enormous collection of sponsors lined up, so if you want to be eligible for one of those prizes, you MUST "sign in" to make the logistical nightmare of drawing prizes slightly less scary.  It's really easy.  All that is involved is a blog comment with some basic info so she knows you're in!  You can do that by going to THIS BLOG POST!

There are going to be lots of fun crafty projects (and I'm pretty sure ANY cat themed craft counts not just paper ones).  Do check out the blog hop entries added daily throughout the week since many (including yours truly) offer "blog candy" or prizes on their own blogs in addition to the official sponsors.

I'm hoping to be a lot more organized in my timing (and quantity) of my personal projects.  Granted it does help that conveniently two being publish for DT commitments tomorrow are cat related, so timing couldn't be better!  That's where my organizational streak ends. 

I very nearly missed the entire thing til I thought to check on the weekend exactly when the dates were so I could order prizes in time.  They have been ordered and should be in my hot little paws by the end of the week.  I'll tell you more about that tomorrow when I post my first project, giveaway rules (pretty similar to all the others) and all that kind of stuff, so hope to see you hopping away!

Love and all-the-cat-things,

Embellish With Flair Sketch Challenge Part 1

Hello lovelies!

I have another Design Team project for EWF for you!

We're doing something a bit different this month and having a bit of a challenge during the month of October. Heather and I have been holding down the fort of late, so we decided to throw each other a challenge to spice things up.  Crece wanted a sketch challenge this month anyway so #winning!

Heather and I each picked a sketch which each of us would make a project with.  The one Heather and I used this week was my pick.  It's by Clique Kits and a little different for me.
  It's one I wanted to use at some point anyway, but I thought the sketch itself really lent itself to using flair badges.


You can interpret this sketch quite literally and use circles as in the original, or replace them with any simple shape like hearts, triangles, stars etc.  The main reason I opted for circles is that the round shape emphasizes the shape of flair badges and tries to keep them as a main feature.  I'm not sure whether I succeeded in this respect given my style (which can only be described as "messy with a touch of psycho"! ).

If you check our Heather's interpretation, it's much more elegant.  Her post is immediately before this one.

Unfortunately I don't have a process video this week, but I'll see what I can do next time when Heather and I tackle her choice of sketch.

I decided to "lightly" stencil some gold stars first before layering the circles on top.  Since I decided to use punches, I was limited to the sizes I had.  Throwing in two sizes of pinked circles added interest and seemed like a happy medium between circles and stars.  My largest punch was smaller than the one in the sketch so while the placement is generally the same, it's not identical and there are more clusters of circles in my layout.

I used mostly scraps from my scrap box which I was SO pleased about!  Mostly Shimelle's Glitter Girl and Starshine along with Amy Tangerine (mostly Hustle and Heart I think).  I do spy an odd paper from Go Now Go, Little By Little now that I look at it,,,and a few from Dear Lizzy and some random ones.  The woodgrain is from a tiny scrap of a most beloved Crate Paper collection - Notes and Things.  remember that one? *siiigh*

Next step was messy ink splatter.  I started with gold and while it looks lovely on darker colours, it wasn't giving the emphasis I wanted.  I added some navy after it dried and it helped a little bit.

Then I mixed some gold paints and painted some DIY star Thickers for some texture and dimension.

I matted the photo block with lots of layers, which I was pleased to see in the sketch since I'd be doing it anyway!

The small shelf above the smaller photo was great for nesting the first part of the title...except I just couldn't find the right size and colour of alphas.  I'm glad I included the woodgrain among all he primary colour as a bit of a neutral (which is why I used kraft alphas here).  It also is a sort of a nod to the chair slats in the bokeh part of the larger photo.

I used a punch on some square stickers and trimmed down others.  Initially I thought the clear gold stickers would look better on white cardstock, but I changed my mind.  Using the stickers as they are just gives a subtle detail here and there.


There was this pack of puffy hearts I rediscovered in my stash a little while ago and I made good use of them and added navy enamel dots just because I could!  Overall I think I used less embellishment than I usually do, but I don't think I could have added more considering all the crazy colour and pattern going on.

As far as the flair itself went, I could have (and almost nearly DID) use a lot more, BUT I need to keep some for next week's project since it might just be Wonder Woman related again! My personal challenge was to mix together some oddball flairs which might have been the last in the pack.  I think the three work quite well together on this layout despite being more than a bit random!

All I can say is thank goodness for my beloved Glue Dots - Permanent, Mini and Micro. Without them I would have been forced to use wet glue for the flair and the chipboard elements (stars and blue Thickers) because we all know how well they stick! 😒
 
I journaled on the layout itself as I often do, but textured cardstock doesn't make it easy!My messy writing makes it look even worse, but what can I do?  Mess with a date stamp I hoped would make it look a bit less odd, but not totally sure about that!

And here's the whole thing:

Coffee Always Tastes Better in a Cape

Embellish With Flair Product Used:

Emoji Love

Cute Cuppa

3 Tone Stars Pinks

Thanks for stopping by and hope you come back soon to see what I make with Heather's sketch!

Love, and Embellish With Flair!

October Counterfeit Kit

Now, before you go all

on me,  allow me to explain!

I actually did curate the kit by the end of the first week of October, except I had deadlines which bumped any video or photos of the kit down my to-do list and I was trying to decide which was the lesser of the two evils when it came to documenting this particular Kit Of Doom.

In the end, I decided I had to get it done and my decision was made for me in that NotPinkCraftyHubster (aka The Photography Department) required the use of the camera for an actual photography assignment, so I was left with my phone which meant photos since logistics of shooting an overhead video would currently involve duct tape.

Now on to the topic at hand:
  
I really loved the story of how the inspiration kit for October was chosen for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge.  I also loved the choice of kit itself!

In terms of quantity (and you know I have major problems in this area!🙈🙈🙈), I decided to do what I did when I used to belong to a couple of kit clubs (though never Studio Calico) and create a main kit and add-on for each one I would actually buy.

I did fairly well sticking to quantities within each kit.  The only exception was a few extra embellishments (SC is typically a bit lighter in this area compared to some) and alphas.

Here are the Studio Calico versions and my counterfeit for each:

Studio Calico Summer of 69 Main Kit

The thing that struck me about this kit was the slightly emotional presence of manufacturers who either are no longer in business or no longer make patterned paper.  There is a lot of Basic Grey and October Afternoon.  My next thought was that all it wanted was Sassafras and Cosmo Cricket to make the reunion of such brands complete (all four hold a large place in my heart), which is why I'm calling my kit:

The Four Friends 

(after the poem by AA Milne)

I tried (more or less) to pick one embellishment to equal each one in the inspiration kit (plus a few extra).  Admittedly some of the things I included (like die cuts) were a lot more...abundant?? than the die cuts they were supposed to equate too.  Oops.  Another oops is I forgot to add the flair to the photo, but I promise it's there!

I left in the pink Mini Market alphabet stickers despite my general policy of usually just including Thickers and pulling in smaller ones as needed.  I added in at least one extra set of Thickers per add-on.

I'm glad I tried to find alternative images of the papers online since the colouring in the original photos isn't really true in some cases, yet other papers in the same photo look OK.  I do apologise for the quality of my photos and light glare etc.  It couldn't be helped this time!

Here are the papers on their own with the side I chose to represent the side in the original kit.

Some are even the same!  Surprisingly I went for similar cardstock too which I rarely do.  My orange is the Bazzil Dotted Swiss with the embossed dots and the white is the woodgrain print from last month.  I think the pink and kraft are pretty similar.

(And the backs in case you're interested)

Now you know I often pick one paper to represent the "A-side" of the one in the inspiration kit and another for the "B-side".  Among the various add-ons on offer, there is a second set of papers in the main kit.  Studio Calico (SC) kits tend to have a pretty specific A side, so that's what I based my main kit and each add-on on and used the B-side of the patterned paper add-ons for my extra paper add-ons.  Make sense?  No, I didn't expect as much, but have a look and see what I mean.

Summer of 69 More Patterned Paper Add-On

(B-sides pictured)

Four Friends Extra Paper Add-On

I know the largeish cameras are a bit of a stretch to represent the tiny brick like pattern on the bottom right, but there was little I could cut out in what I had picked so far and they're kinda arranged like bricks...🤷🤷🤷

(And the backs in case you're interested)

There were four add-on kits (of varying sizes) offered by SC for August of 2012.  The names are suitably retro and fitting for the "Summer of 69".  I'm going to run with my Four Friends theme too,  Rather than naming each after the four animal friends in the original poem, I'm going to name each after some more well-known animal friends also of AA Milne's creation.  Yes I know there are more than four, but humour me, OK? 😂

Mama's Porch SC Add-On

Winnie-The-Pooh Add-On

A whole box of random wood veneer to equal three tiny pegs? But in some of the kits I didn't even bother picking an item to equal say tags or a bit of ribbon, because I knew I already threw in quite a bit extra and I'll likely mix the kits as I always do.

I forgot to snap a pic of the "A-side" of the papers by themselves, but you can more-or-less make them out.

(And the backs in case you're interested)

Drive In SC Add-On

The black and white paper in the bottom right is a specialty sort of stitching paper.  Initially I was leaning to using a specialty paper in it's place, but in the end I just picked a "bonus" paper.  It's also bottom right in my kit.

Tigger Add-On

 

The papers on their own: 

(And the backs in case you're interested)

Six String SC Add-On

Eeyore Add-On

Instead of the die cut sheet, I chose a cut-apart sheet.  The sequin mix I pulled in had colours that would work as well as many larger ones similar to those in the original inspiration kit.  I also changed my mind about including an alphabet stamp set.  I have all those extra Thickers so wont end up using it.

(And the backs in case you're interested)

The woodgrain is the back of the cut-apart sheet.  I considered it an embellishment as was the die cut sheet in the original kit, but I guess I forgot between taking the photo of the front and back! 🤦🤦🤦

Five & Dime SC Add-On

Piglet Add-On

 The smallest add-on of them all, but I did forget to include one packet of embellies in the photo (yes, AGAIN!) so that doesn't help!

 (And the backs in case you're interested)

Add On Patterned Paper August 2012 

(B-sides)

Alex's Add-On Patterned Paper

The camera paper on the left is my substitution for a second sheet of the specialty stitching paper which appears in the photo of the original in the top right corner.

(And the backs in case you're interested)

Thanks so much for hanging in there!  I know I'm unlikely to use this up this month (or even come close), but there are so many special papers that I'm going to leave it intact - at least for a while.

Love and curious curating,