Cathy Mc Grath : MajaDesign

On Your Special Day

24 July, 2015 - Cards, Summer Crush

Hello Maja Design friends! It’s Cathy here and I have a card to share with you today. It’s monochromatic in colour but I hope not in mood! I have used the newest collection, Summertime Crush which is my favourite collection at the moment!

I used a stamp from JustRite Enjoy the Day stamp set as my sentiment and die cut it with a Spellbinders ovals die. Using a distressing tool, I inked around the edges in a circular motion while the paper was still in the die using Weathered Wood Distress ink. This ink which matches the papers perfectly!

As you can see I have used a few patterns in this card. I used Dancing the Bop (front and back) and Long Summer Nights. By matting them in white, it helps to break it up and not have the papers compete with each other. I did ink and distress each of my layers using walnut stain distress ink, one of my favourite inks.

I used foam tape add some dimension to some of my layers. The base layer and the horizontal band was glued and everything else was attached with foam tape. I also used one the base strips from one of the papers out in the horizontal band. …don’t throw them!

Maja Design Papers Used

Summer-Crush-L

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog and I hope that you are having a “Special Day” today!

Hugs,

Life Is Good

Posted by Cathy Mc Grath

10 July, 2015 - Layouts, Ska Vi Ta En Fika?

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Hello Maja Design friends. It’s Cathy here on the blog today and I would like to share a layout with you. As you may know, I am a school teacher and life is very busy. I am currently on school holidays and I try to catch up with friends and family and the other things that I normally don’t have time to do when school is on. I was fortunate to have had a beautiful high tea at the Intercontinental Hotel in Sydney. It was a sunny day and very cold (it’s winter here) but the champagne and coffee (I don’t drink tea!) warmed me up in no time. I had a wonderful time having a chat and gossip with my friends and a walk around the harbour afterwards (I’ll be sharing those photos soon in some projects I have planned). Naturally I chose to use the Ska vi ta en fika collection to document this great day!

About the collection:

Smell the coffee from the doorstep when you enter Leja’s Café. Listen to the cozy chatter while you pick your favourite cookies along with a cup of tea to enjoy with your best friends. Chai tea, coffee, brownies, and apple pies. The “Let’s Have Some Coffee” contains something to meet everyone’s taste. The collection is filled up with the designer’s favourite recipes and hand-drawn illustrations.

This captures my day perfectly!

I chose muted neutral papers from the collection and accented them with the green papers that were featured in the photo. I matted my photo and die cut my butterfly using Marzipanbakelse and used Pratstund and Havrerutoras my other background papers. I used a doily and a large Scrapmatts Clockface to frame my photo, to carry out the vintage theme. I also mounted my layers with some corrugated cardboard so that I could tuck things in as I went.

To alter my chipboard, I used Lindy’s Stamp Gang bronze embossing powder. It has a beautiful shimmer and it creates a really nice vintage effect. I used some Wild Orchid Crafts blooms that complimented the papers.

Maja Design Papers used:

Fika-L1

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today!

Hugs,

Baby Cards

Posted by Cathy Mc Grath

26 June, 2015 - Cards, Vintage Baby

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Hello Maja Design friends! It’s Cathy here today and I have two baby cards to share with you. A colleague of mine recently went on maternity leave and I thought I would create a card for her. As this is her first baby, she doesn’t know what she is having…she wants a surprise…so I am covering my bases and have created a card for a baby boy and girl. I have used the Vintage Baby Collection for both cards.

As you know for my other projects, I use a lot of die cuts in my projects. I used the reverse side of Vintage baby Cherish to create the onesie and the butterfly, just from some left overs from the background of my card base. I used Little B Baby die set to create the onesie and Cheery Lynn small exotic butterfly w/angel wings die.

To create the base of my card I used Vintage Baby Flowers For Mum and Cherish. I also incorporated Flowers For Mum in the centre as shown. I layered all elements of my centre with foam tape to add dimension. I also love how beautifully Maja Design papers look when you distress the edges. It really adds a vintage look. I tend to distress first then ink the edges with an ink. I chose Vintage Photo distress ink as it’s not too dark. I added some lace and a doily for a shabby chic touch.

For my second card, I have created an inchie or a patchwork card. I used the Vintage Baby paper pad to create this card. Before scrapbooking and cardmaking became my main craft, I also used to make quilts! Drawing upon my knowledge of quilts, the types of fabrics you need to create a quilt are light, medium and dark so this influenced my choices of papers from the paper pad.

Each of the squares has been machine stitched and inked. I used foam tape to attach each square to my card. I used Vintage photo Distress ink again.

This panel is also from a page from the paper pad. The sentiment was a borderstrip from it which I trimmed to fit. I die cut Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Rectangles to frame it and mounted everything with foam tape and finally framed everything with my flowers. This card was so much fun to make!

Maja Design Papers used:

VintageBaby-L

Thanks for stopping by the blog today!

#happydays

Posted by Cathy Mc Grath

12 June, 2015 - Layouts, Life by the Sea, Vintage Summer Basics

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Hello everyone! It’s Cathy here on the blog today. I have a layout that I have created using papers from a few collections, Vintage Summer and Life by The Sea. I also used the butterflies from Vintage Spring Basics as embellishments. I used the colours from my photo to determine my papers and went from there.

I used a 2 Crafty chipboard frame and altered it using walnut stain and faded jeans distress inks. The flowers are a combination of Green Tara, Petaloo and Prima flowers which all vary in shades of blue. The background (right) I used antique linen distress ink and The Crafters Workshop Mini Chickenwire reversed stencil to add some texture.

I recently bought a Memory Box banner die called Banner Parade. I die cut some papers from Life By the Sea and alternated them to create this fun banner. I applied some foam tape to each to add dimension.

Hashtags are everywhere these days and I used a chipboard saying from Dusty Attic and played around with it using Walnut Stain and Distress Stain and also Faded Jeans Distress ink to create an ombre effect.

This pennant was a last minute addition to my layout. It was a blank area that just needed something and banners are a great way to fill up a space. I added some hearts which were some left overs …..nothing goes to waste!

Maja Design Papers used:

Vintage-Summer-Basics-L1

Life-by-the-Sea-L

Thanks for stopping by the blog today!

Happy Birthday

Posted by Cathy Mc Grath

29 May, 2015 - Cards, Crea Diem, Vintage Autumn Basics

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Hello everyone! It’s Cathy here on the blog today and I am sharing a masculine card that I made for my brother (I am behind in my birthday cards as I have another birthday card to make!) I always struggle to make masculine cards and it takes me a while to create one. This one is a bit grungy/steampunk inspired.

I used the CreaDiem Collection as I was drawn to the muted tones of the papers. I also used foam tape to add definition to the layers.

I used two Tim Holtz stamps, Simple Sayings and Odds and Ends as well as a memo pin. The steampunk clock is by Cheery Lynn. I also fussy cut a clock from Vintage Autumn Basics XVI papers to add to the centre of the clock as shown. I distressed the edges with walnut stain and black soot distress inks.

I usually machine stitch around the edges of my cards, but I used Bobunny’s stitches stamp on my card and tag instead. I love the distressed pattern of the stamp.

Maja Design Papers Used

CreaDiem-L2

Thanks for stopping by the blog today!