Made With Love by Kat

We had such a lovely time on our recent trip to Malta - and I got lots of photos that I'm enjoying making into layouts and mini albums. This one was taken at the gate to Mdina, where the first season of Game of Thrones was filmed. I didn't realise at the time that Luke was being silly behind me!   I used the Mr Huey double yellow mist from the latest Like For Ever kit to make a sunny background, and stitched sunbeams using the yellow ombre thread from the mixed media add-on. The ephemera was from last month's "In Bloom" kit, but I thought it was so lovely and bright it matched perfectly - I've been dying to use those feathers on something lovely!

There were some sweet butterflies in the ephemera for the Like For Ever "Carefree" kit - I originally planned to mix them up with the stitched butterflies from the WRMK Sew Easy template I got in the mixed media kit, but once I started adding these 3D white butterflies in I fell in love with them - I love how it looks like they're about to fly off the page. I punched the butterflies out of white paper stock and floded them in the middle to make them look like they are coming off the page. Under the photo I layered several different papers and added some ephemera. I'm really pleased with how it's come out - especially as I wasn't sure about making a layout on coloured paper background, I was definitely pushing myself out of my comfort zone!

This month's Like For Ever kit is called "Carefree" and it's gorgeous ! I think it's my favourite so far. The papers are from Elle's Studio Sunny Days and Fancy Pants' Millie & June and Life is Beautiful collections. Both sides are gorgeous - for the first time I wish I'd ordered the extra paper pack. What I DID order was the mixed media add-on which had a fabulous stitching template and some lovely ombre silk thread. I also got the stamping add-on which was a gorgeous collection of tiny stamps by Lia Griffith . I love Lia's website and I intend to make lots of her crepe flowers to decorate my wedding venue next year. The ephemera this month is Fancy Pants' Life in Beautiful. Technically I think it's Spring themed, but as Summer this year has been non-existent and there's been plenty of April showers in July I think that's perfect! I particularly love the bicycles and balloons, and the florals are really strong i...

A super-cute small layout for my summer album to share with you today. I used the Like For Ever "In Bloom" kit, with a dab sticker from Simple Stories' "You Are Here" collection. The photo was taken from a lovely cocktail bar we found down on the Valletta waterfront. I think I'm definitely getting better at layering papers! 

Wow! I can't believe there was a gap of almost three months between my last post and the one before it. Today I wanted to share with you this really simple card made with Like For Ever's "In Bloom" kit. I used four layered squares of paper from the kit, and then added this cute typewriter from the ephemera, stuck down with a foam sticky pad to give it a 3D feel.

A colleague of mine (in my real job) mentioned the other day that she hadn't seen me blog for a while - ironically because I've been so busy making lots of beautiful things! But she was right - I should share them with you, particularly as I've recently subscribed to the Like For Ever kit club. Here's a cute 12 x 12 layout I made with last month's "In Bloom" kit - my third with them. The kit included lots of gorgeous bits from Illustrated Faith, My Mind's Eye and Simple Stories. I really loved the ephemera this month - it was from Simple Stories' Carpe Diem collection - and also the Illustrated Faith enamel hearts. There were also some Bella Boulevard bold and beautiful alphas but I didn't actually use any of those at all - in fact I didn't use as much of the kit as I hoped, I still need to curb my hoarding instinct and just use the papers! I've made much more with this month's kit, however, as you'll see in blog posts over ...

I was so excited to get my first Glittery Hands Box ! This was a project that I backed on Kickstarter a few months ago and I'm so glad to see it come off. The box had a great mermaid theme, which was very different to other craft boxes I've seen recently, and I particularly loved the shell ephemera - particularly the "100% mermaid" cutout. I'm also looking forward to playing with the anchor stamp and I've been adding the lilac paint to all sorts of bits of scrap paper to use in my next layout. I've got some ideas for projects I want to make with the contents which I'll share with you soon, but for now, take a look at this unboxing video to see what I got. 

I was so excited to pick up these gorgeous goodies from Hey Little Magpie . I'll be using them to make my friend's little girl a birthday card, and to start filling my Spring Project Life album (I'm waaaaaay behind schedule - SUCH printer woes!). I really love the My Mind's Eye On Trend 2 collection - it was really hard to stop myself buying all of it and I'd still like to get the decorative brads and the wood veneers ... 

Hi guys - I wanted to share this quick flip through of the mini album I made with pictures from our recent trip to Oxford. I took so many pictures in the city and at the Cotswold Wildlife Park on the way home that I'm not quite sure what to do with them all - the giraffe pic I scrapbooked and shared last week was one, and some will go into my Spring Project Life album too. I used a whole mix of papers and embellishments by Maggie Holmes, Heidi Swapp, Dear Lizzy & Docrafts - here are some more close-up pics: I love looking at other people's mini albums too - share yours in the comments section below x

So I was quick and lucky enough to snag an A Beautiful Mess Happy Mail grab bag - and here's what I got!

I wanted to share with you this quick layout I did after my fiancée and I visited the Cotswold Wildlife Park a few weeks ago. I had ordered the Maggie Holmes Confetti ephemera collection months ago and while I loved the vellum giraffe I was at a bit of a loss over what to actually do with it. Then when we met this adorable young giraffe who was out and about enjoying a rare sunny Spring day, it seemed like fate that they should meet! The backing paper is just some plain grey cardstock I had in a box, with the fab ombre chevrons from a Docrafts paper pack I picked up at The Range. Then I used Heidi Swapp September Skies papers for the layering and a 3x4 Project Life card I had in my stash – I have absolutely no idea who the designer is but I have loads of these and they’re adorable. 

Hi folks - here's the latest in my sporadic series of craft news pieces and features. The Guardian had a lovely piece last month about macrame superstar Emily Katz, which you can read by clicking here , and another about how craft isn't just a "nice activity" for people to do - it can make a real difference to lives. Read it on their Culture Professionals Network here . Female First revealed the results of a survey which suggested 52% of people like to sit at home and do some crafting after a stressful day (although I'm fairly sure there was some bias, as the survey was carried out by craft TV channel Hochanda). And scrapbooking fans will enjoy this article in Time magazine about a WWII sailor's scrapbook from the war - read it by clicking here .

Oh I'm having so much fun playing with my new watercolour brushes! I've been mixing painted backgrounds with stamps - I plan to get some card and make my own journaling cards for my Spring album, which I really look forward to sharing with you!

This is a really quick, cute project to make little decorative arrows that can then be used to embellish cards, scrapbook pages, gift tags or any number of other projects. And they’re so simple! All you need is some patterned paper, a little bit of twine and a cocktail stick. Cut two triangles for the point and two leaf/feathers shapes. I like to make the point double sided although you don’t have to and I haven’t bothered for the feathers as I knew I’d be sticking the finished item to something. You can paint the cocktail stick with some acrylic paint if you like or leave it plain. I left this one unpainted, but I think the next one I do will be half covered in neon pink paint. Or you could coat it in a thin layer of glue and cover it in glitter! Stick on triangle on either side of one end, and use a paperclip or small peg to hold in place while the glue dries. Stick the feathered shales at the other end and do the same. When they’ve dried i...

We've all seen those gorgeous craft subscription boxes - Gossamer Blue, Studio Calico, A Beautiful Mess etc... but no-one in the UK seems to make the damn things. UNTIL NOW! I've backed The Glittery Hands Box on Kickstarter - but Emma, the genius behind the box, needs to make another £700 in the next 7 days if she's going to hit her target and I'm going to get my box (yes, yes, selfish I know). So much craft stuff I see is... well... a bit twee, and this promises not to be, which is why you should definitely back it too! Head over to  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/7330696/the-glittery-hands-box to find out more.

I seem to have acquired lots of 5" embroidery hoops in the house... I don't even do cross stitch! (Yet...) Up until now I've been putting interesting fabrics in them and adding felt flowers, but I wanted to see if I could combine some of my paper bits and pieces with the hoops - like a scrapbook page. For the basic "page" I used pale blue felt which I stretched into place and then snipped off around the back. I then chose my paper embellishments and layered them on before fixing into place. I used a mixture of 2D and 3D pieces (like the cute bow), and different textures including plain paper, metallic and vellum. I used Gorilla glue to fix the non-see through embellishments in place, and added some tiny brads to help pin everything else to where it should be. Then I added a few neon geometric stickers, which stuck well to the felt. I'm so pleased with how it came out!   Supplies: Maggie Holmes Confetti Ephemera Pack ; Docrafts Pa...

I don't often make cards, although I've got more interested thanks to my recent stamping obsession , and I often think I should try to translate my love of making gift tags into creating cards to go with them. But on Tuesday night I was struck by the idea that I wanted to create a card using one of the mini plastic animals I have in my stash (I was working on a separate project which I'll share soon). The result was this geometric elephant card, and I love it! The elephant is stuck on with a blu tac glue spot, so if it was given to a child old enough for it not to be a choking hazard he could be removed and added to a menagerie once the card was finished with. I also added one of my paperclip flags that I made for this how-to . 

I'm really enjoying playing around with some mixed media projects. A bit of paint here, a bit of paper there... add some acetate or some vellum... When I look at Google images for inspiration, a lot of the pictures I see seem a bit (whisper it) old fashioned - hence why I love designers like Heidi Swapp whose collections have a really fresh feel.  This tag was made using one of the painted kraft tags I blogged about on Tuesday as a base. I added ephemera from my Heidi Swapp, Maggie Holmes and Docrafts stash and a Docrafts puffy sticker (I LOVE the Docrafts geometric pieces - about as far from stuffy old fashioned scrapbooking styles as you can get). The little peg was just a plain wooden one from Hobbycraft which I painted with my neon pink paint. I plaited some embroidery thread just as a change from using twine. What do you think? Share your links to your latest projects below - I'd love to see them.