Saturday journal page

Hay - new inks to play with - yum yum

I treated myself to Lemon Zest - Fresh Lime - Funky Fuchsia and White Linen.  It's so unusual to have a white in the mix - white ink is not easy to create and work with. 

So - be kind - first attempt

My all time fave stamp - moon gazing hare - actually all the stamps are Crafty Individuals - you can't see - but the hare has a glitzy green crown and pattern on his flank - the quote is embossed in glitter green - the dragonfly wings are silver embossed - and there is glitter on the cow parsley flowers.  I don't think I could live with out glitter.

I think I was being a bit 'precious' - the inks are very - VERY - thin and runny - and my journal is quite small (nowhere as big as Dyan's ) - and I had just cleaned out the kitchen (Saturday morning routine - sooooo good to be back to it - love it) - and I was trying to hard be neat!

I mixed the background with my 3 colours - then heat set it.  There is a spritz of white in the middle through the only 'proper' stencil I have.  When that was dry I spritzed through one of these fancy cut cup cake thingies-wot-its (see the technical jargon there ;-) ).  I heat set everything before I over stamped with Memento inks.  To do the hare - wings - quote - I sprayed just the lime onto white card and left it to dry - then stamped / embossed over the top.

I really want to use the idea of 'setting' the colours - then working over the top - and over - and layers to create my backgrounds.  with my cavnas projects I think I am more 'controlled' than Dyan - not sure if that is the calligrapher part of me coming through - but I want to be more mixed media-ish - kind of a cross between Dyan Reaveley and Finnabair

And I think I should be doing more tags (I have the wall space!) - perhaps I should aim for a 'tag' day once in a while.
Love
kitten

www.princesskitten.co.uk
www.thekittenandthegoat.co.uk
kittenandgoat@gmail.com

New Stock - Dyan Reavelery

I took the decision not top go to the big Stitches trade show this year.  It was a really hard one to make as I just love going to the show - catching up with all the guys - having a good old gossip - and playing with all the new ranges that are coming out - as well as spend loads of money on you guys ;-).  This year the last 6 months has really taken it's toll - and although I am really improving - I thought it would just be silly to overexert myself that much.  Plus I don't know how the swollen discs in my back would behave spending all that time on my feet with a growing basket over my shoulder.

So what I have done instead is take the money I would have spent on hotel and petrol - and invest it into some new stuff.  I am going to stock the Dyan Reaveley range of inks and (coming soon we hope) paints (they are not out yet).  If Jenni did a spritz range I would have automatically picked that up - but she doesn't, so I spent hours and hours researching the various brands be I decided to go with these.

I saw her live a couple of years ago - she really is a larger than life character - this insert is quite a long one - but you can really see her style and techniques

Love
kitten

www.princesskitten.co.uk
www.thekittenandthegoat.co.uk
kittenandgoat@gmail.com

Second life for old video cases

We still have a huge pile of old videos stacked up in the corner of the living room - then I had a brain wave.

Super cool - neat storage boxes.

I will have a pile outside the shop for 50p each next week after I have given them a good old wash.

Love
kitten

www.princesskitten.co.uk
www.thekittenandthegoat.co.uk
kittenandgoat@gmail.com

Space Invaders hats

All I seem to knit these days is Space Invaders hats!!!!

My son sells them on his market stall - and I just can't keep up with demand.  This is a new pattern I have just charted up - it's a big and baggy shape that seems to be popular.  I have the space invaders done, and a Pacman and Ghostie one to follow.  I am really dead chuffed by the way I have got the top shaping - it goes up in a star pattern - so cool.

The pattern is on my site to download - and on Kindle - the pacman one should be ready by the end of the week.


Love
kitten

www.princesskitten.co.uk
www.thekittenandthegoat.co.uk
kittenandgoat@gmail.com

Day Off

Monday is Kitten's day off

Love
kitten

www.princesskitten.co.uk
www.thekittenandthegoat.co.uk
kittenandgoat@gmail.com

Saturday Journal page

Yes - I know it's Sunday but I didn't finish yesterday in time to post.

How does that song go - 'it's been a perfect day - I'm glad I spent in the shop' - well something like that.

I actually got the last kitchen cupboard door finished and re-hung - I spent the morning doing the tidying and cleaning - washed the kitchen worktop down and polished both desks - such a joy to be getting back into my happy place all neat and tidy.

Then I had the afternoon to play work - that would be work.

I have been putting a lot of study into ink spritzing - these are the old style Adirondack colour wash sprays.  Mine are at least 8 years old - but they are still available.  Trouble is - I find the colours just too dark and muted for me.  Looking at the Dyan Reavely videos I am being too gentle and I need to add a heavier coating.  There is a pile of torn scraps piled on top.  Then my famous swirl - this time used as a flower stem with all sorts of flower sequins added (with gem centers of course).  The spritz over the top of the papers is my new Irresistible Texture Spray - I have just picked up all the metallic colours for the shop and the neon ones are due in next month.  I love all the Tsuineko inks and I hope to add the other colours if these go down well.

The butterflies are new buttons I have in - with a thick coating of crackle glaze - I will rub in a bit of walnut stain when I get back to the shop on Tuesday - it was not dry when I left.

Next time I am going to be really brave and add loads more of the ink to start with and make puddles of colour - eek

Love
kitten

www.princesskitten.co.uk
www.thekittenandthegoat.co.uk
kittenandgoat@gmail.com

Cuttlebug plate

I did a lot of demonstrating last week - and I was finally shamed into replacing my Cuttlebug 'C' plate.  I had resisted because you used to get one with the Cuttlebug machine - and as I have recently replaced my bug - I really begrudged the extra £9.

It's no good - I have had to give in and get one ;-)

I always write the letter on the plates so I can see quickly which is which.

Another 'shop warming' pressie I bought my self is a new cheepie sewing machine just for sewing on paper / card in the shop.  It was just under £50 in Argos - very basic - very simple - and lightweight - quite noisy! - but it does do several different stitches so I am looking forward to having a go with that.

Love
kitten

www.princesskitten.co.uk
www.thekittenandthegoat.co.uk
kittenandgoat@gmail.com

Day off

Monday is kitten's day off

Love
kitten

www.princesskitten.co.uk
www.thekittenandthegoat.co.uk
kittenandgoat@gmail.com

Saturday - scrapbook page

This week has flown by again.  I am getting on with moving my stuff back in to the shop and unpacking boxes - some of my own craft stuff has been packed up for 4 months now.

Just look what I found

these gorgeous looking things are ink sticks - solid lumps of ink that you grind with water on a slate block to get ink to draw with - now how on earth do you really destroy those?  They are cast in 3D so the background of the figures drops behind them and painted in serious shiny metallics - all the tiny detail is just so beautiful

This one is coloured inks with the grinding stone - These  have Chinese lettering all down the front - but at least they are plain and they do stand a good chance of being used this year.

On to what you really want to see - a scrapbook layout for you.

Very simple start - choose your colour palate - draw a few scruffy line in a cross in the top right hand section of your backing paper - and roughly swipe over the flat of the ink pad to get a patchy effect

Then pile up some background swirls - ink a few random shapes - add some flowers - don't forget some gems ;-) - and cut your photo a shape to match.

All my swirls and flowers were inked with the same ink pads that I used to swipe the background squares - the solid diamond shapes are the same ink pads but the ink is picked up with a sponge and pressed through a stencil really heavily to get the more solid look.

I haven't even chosen a photo yet - Ijust had the inked squares in my head and wanted to see what it looked like.

Love
kitten

www.princesskitten.co.uk
www.thekittenandthegoat.co.uk
kittenandgoat@gmail.com

Card using the funfair paper

Very pleasant afternoon yesterday just pottering about with bits and bobs.

I opened up a pack of the 12" x 12" Funfair papers to have a bit of a fiddle about.  I have kept one of the ticket dies for myself - that will be soo useful ;-) - the heart doily at the back is actually one of the Tatty Teddy Christmas colours - but it matches so well.  I should have embossed the top plain read heart - it shouts out at me now.

Love
kitten

www.princesskitten.co.uk
www.thekittenandthegoat.co.uk
kittenandgoat@gmail.com

Day Off

Monday is kitten's day off

and I am going for a 'rummage' - if I am going to follow the style of Finnabair and Prima - I need to expand my tinkerty bits box

Love
kitten

www.princesskitten.co.uk
www.thekittenandthegoat.co.uk
kittenandgoat@gmail.com

Saturday - Journal page

YEAH - it's back - at last I can start doing a bit of crafting again.  I am doing really well with unpacking boxes and I am gradually getting through the ones that have been stacked up in my bedroom with all my own crafting stuff in.

So to celebrate - 

Starting off gently 
- with a bit of pop art lettering in Copics (Y19 - R14 - BG13 - YG07 - RV17 - 100 black outlines - shadows in E04 - E08- E09)
- bit of die cut lettering  (from one one the original Cuttlebug sets) - matted onto chocolate pearl card
- and the bling - holographic star sequins

And I do feel sooo glad to be back too ;-)

Love
kitten

www.princesskitten.co.uk
www.thekittenandthegoat.co.uk
kittenandgoat@gmail.com

Pen Storage

I have been such a busy little bee this week - cleaning - and - cleaning - and - cleaning - and - oh wait - cleaning!

I am getting there now.  I think I have unpacked all the boxes and I am down to 1 big box of  'don't know what to do withs'.  The displays are coming on slowly - it has been great to unpack all the boxes and see what stock we have now that all the Christmas stuff has gone.

I shall be having 'FLASH' clearance of Christmas stock through the year so we can get some lovely new shiny stuff next Christmas.

Anyway - to celebrate all the new improved tidiness - I bought the Spectrum Noir pen trays.  They are made by  Spectrum Noir - but the fit just about any of the pen brands out there - I wanted them to organise my Copics so I could see what I had.

Doesn't this look amazing?  You get 6 trays in the set and each tray has 12 slots - this is 3 sets (and I will need another for my lilacs and outliners.  

I have 4 sets left in the shop - and I will be keeping them in stock from now on.

Now I am getting settled I will be able to get crafting again and I just think it looks soooo cool!

Love
kitten

www.princesskitten.co.uk
www.thekittenandthegoat.co.uk
kittenandgoat@gmail.com

Day off

Monday is kitten's day off

and I am just chillin'

Love
kitten

www.princesskitten.co.uk
www.thekittenandthegoat.co.uk
kittenandgoat@gmail.com