Made With Love by Kat

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...

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'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. 

I've always really loved the look of those cute flag tags you can buy, but I've also always thought "that's definitely something I could make myself". And I was right! Here's how: 1. I've got lots of neon pink and green paperclips  that I bought in pots from Tesco. Foursome of these tags you end up not being able to see the clip at all, so you could just use bog standard silver, but that's not as much fun, right?  2. Cut a piece of patterned paper twice as long as you want your finished flag to be. I used the pre-cut strips from Docrafts geometric neon kit as they happened to be the right width, but if you're cutting your own, make the width just slightly smaller than the size of your paperclip. Slide the strip of paper through the paperclip. 3. Fold the paper in half and glue in place. Hold the two sides together with another paperclip until they're fixed. You'll see that the inside of the paperclip will be pus...

I have an excess of gift tags! I got a tad (tag?) overexcited this weekend after I got some great stamps free with Docrafts Creativity magazine (a recent but much-loved already discovery) and some super cheap neon pink paint from Tesco. I particularly love the contrast of the neon paint with the brown kraft paper. However it does mean I'll have to give away an awful lot of presents to use them all up.  I love these simple two-colour tags - I think I'll use some of them for scrapbooking. I've only just started to get into stamping, after my lovely boyfriend bought me a cute owl stamp from Hobbycraft a few weeks ago (he needed change for the parking meter!) I love it though - typically I've acquired lots of stamps very quickly and we even have our own bespoke wedding stamp which we'll use on our envelopes and favours! It's from The English Stamping company who are one of my favourite new finds. 

Hi all, Are you looking forward to the weekend? We'll be wedding venue hunting tonight and on Sunday which is kind of exciting, and kind of boring (is it allowed to say that?). But in between I'm planning on making some lovely things, inspired by some great blog posts that I've spotted this week and I wanted to share with you: 1. Unsurprisingly this time of year, everything seems geared towards Valentine's Day. Now we don't really "do" V-day in our house, but that didn't stop me grabbing some of the gor-ge-ous neon graphic printed paper I grabbed from The Range last week (I spent waaaaaay too much, I'll have to share pics of my haul with you) and turning it into Lia Griffith's adorable heart-shaped paper aeroplane garland . 2. Again, Vally themed, but you could make these envelope liners for any event, be it a party, baby shower or even just a sweet note to a friend - isn't it nice to receive something lovely through the post? I'v...

I'm OBSESSED with playing with paper at the moment. Whether it's my Project Life album, mini albums inspired by Stephanie Bryant , scrapbook pages to go up on the wall, cards or more, I love messing about with patterned paper, ephemera, stickers and all the other gorgeous crafty bits. I know that sometimes it seems like there's not enough time to be creative, but that's simply not true! I made this cute tag in about quarter of an hour, and I felt so happy when it was done! I used this Maggie Holmes how-to to make the tassel - I've been playing about with modifications of my own which I'll post soon, along with instructions, but for now head over to Maggie's site - it's so gorgeous and full of inspiration, you won't regret it. Once I'd made the tassel, I attached it to some embroidery thread, with the other end tied to a plain brown kraft tag. The I pulled out loads of bits of ephemera from my stash - I was using bits from the Maggi...

I'm actually going to the theatre tonight, so it's more likely to be a soggy Thursday project, but I couldn't resist the alliteration! I fell in love instantly with this dip dyed watercolour stationary project from Paper & Stitch - definitely one for me to have a go at! I have card, but I also have little craft envelopes and TAGS (brilliant!) that would look amazing with this done.

I’m enjoying making my Project Life album so much, but it’s so easy to spend masses of money on inserts, embellishments and all the other (admittedly gorgeous) bits and bobs. So I thought I’d share some tips I’ve found for lessening the cost of your PL addiction: Table decorations – I found adorable rose pink shiny hearts for £1 in the party section of my local Tesco. Glitter paper – most supermarkets sell glitter paper that you can punch into embellishments in their kids section. Beware however – it’s cheaper, but it’s not necessarily high quality and you could well end up with glitter all over your album. Gold stars – Most stationers sell these in sheets for teachers, and they cost about 50p – far cheaper than “official” scrapbooking ones. Save your scraps - Every time you wrap a present, put the left over bits of paper in a box to create tags and embellishments. Birthday & Christmas cards – Cards received from other people often end up in the bin, but you can e...

Looking for something to do this evening once the bonfire has died down and the firework displays have finished? Why not curl up in front of the fire and try your hand at one of these fabulous firework craft projects? How to take sparkling fireworks photos: http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2014/06/take-sparkling-fireworks-photos.html Rocket favours: http://www.marthastewart.com/353633/rocket-favor-packaging Cupcake liner fireworks art: http://www.alittlepinchofperfect.com/2015/06/cupcake-liner-fireworks-craft.html Sparkler firework craft: http://kidscraftroom.com/sparkler-firework-craft-for-kids/ Bonfire night hoop art: http://www.molliemakes.com/craft-2/embroidery-patterns-bonfire-night-hoop-art/ What's your favourite Bonfire Night craft? Share in the comments section below! Follow

I've spent the weekend merrily spraying things gold and I am SO pleased with how these vases have turned out. I used electrical tape to make a strip around one of the jars that would be left free from paint. I love electrical tape as it peels off easily, but you could use masking tape, too.  After spraying: Then it was just a case of choosing the colours of washi tape I wanted to use and adding a pattern: And voila! Two fabulous mini vases!

So once I got started with the embroidery thread and the book pages, I found it difficult to stop… Yesterday’s blog post dealt with embellishing an existing illustration, but from there I started to get more ideas. I’d seen lots of cute embroidery hoop wall arts with words – why shouldn’t I do that with silks and paper instead? First I found a page that was covered in text, then (after a few practices on a piece of scrap paper) lightly wrote the word that I wanted to embroider on to the page. Then just as in the previous project, I used a needle to punch holes along the lines for the stitches to follow (this is very important if you want to avoid tearing the paper), then backstitched along. I was so pleased with the outcome! I’m going to combine the illustrated pony, this page and another idea I have in mind (wait and see!) to create a gorgeous collage for my friend’s little girl – all made out of her mum’s book. Once I’d done one page, I started to play ...