INKY FINGERS

I think I’ve been bitten by the ‘Autumn Bug’…

I sorted through some of my stamps and found loads with an Autumnal theme, so I just played around. 

Some of my favourite pear stamps (I have a few…).

I stamped this one in Distress inks, then moved the inks around a bit again, finally going over the word ‘Pear’ with a couple of Tombow pens, then dampening with a paintbrush – I kind of wish I hadn’t bothered but it’s not too bad.

The words on this one are stamped in Distress inks, then the pears were masked and watercoloured with Distress Inks.

I really do need to learn to take more care when photographing – in future I’ll try to make sure they’re straight!

You can’t see the background card, which is a very pale green – sort of eau de nil shade – very delicate..

Next time I’ll use three pears – the ‘rule of three’ definitely works better – these two just look lonely…

Here, I’ve used the same stamp as I did on the first one, but stamped in Versafine, then clear embossed on a green, yellow and blue background. I added a little colour from my Distress ink pads for the pear.

This is yet another large leaf – I should perhaps have mentioned that the cards in the last post are 6 inch square cards, as is this one. I inked the stamp with Versamark first, then added colour from a few different Distress inks, finally clear embossing.

This is the same leaf, stamped with Distress Oxides.

There are more, but I think that’s enough for now, hehe  

My program seems to have lost some of my previous posts, so I hope they’ll be there when I publish.

I’d like to enter the first one into the Autumn Stamping Challenge at Crafty Cardmakers.

Thanks for looking.

Cath

xxx

I love leaves… REALLY, really love leaves and especially at this time of year!!!

So, I’ve been playing with some old (VERY old) stamps I found in my leafy collection and a bit of watercolour.

Firstly, I tried my old way of stamping them – they’re big stamps – inking them up with a few colours of Distress inks and placing the paper on top. I then pulled out the colours with a damp paintbrush – damp because anything more than that completely takes out the detail.

Here is the first one after stamping…

With the second one, I thought I’d try overstamping… BAD idea! I didn’t manage to line it up correctly, though I suppose it looks watercoloury… is that a word???

So, I went a bit rash and decided to mount the stamps…

I stamped the images exactly the same way, but then overstamped with Versafine ink and embossed.

I’m much happier with those results

I’ve photographed them side by side, so you can see the difference.

I’ve found another two large stamps, so I’ll try them next…

I do have another couple of Oxide cards to share, but I’ll do that another day. I also made a Baby Congratulations card for my niece in New Zealand – well outside my comfort zone! I developed a new respect for you die cut users when I kept having to redo bits of this…

I’d like to enter the leafy cards into the following two challenges:

Allsorts Challenge is ‘Feels like Autumn’

and

Crafty Cardmakers is also Autumn.

Thanks for looking.

Cath

xxx

I’ve been playing some more and having a great time

This is my background after sponging Cracked Pistachio and Wilted Violet:-

This is the same background after spritzing with water, then stamping with a background stamp first inked with Versamark, then sprayed with water.

I hope you can see the colour changes and blending – it doesn’t show as realistically on my monitor!

This one is sponged with Picked Raspberry (NOT Oxides) and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks.

This is the same two colours in the Distress Oxides – yes, I’m having a Lavinia Stamps day - sponged then sprayed with water and heat set. Then I spritzed water through a stencil and dried off with paper towel. The white pen is a bit too much, so I’ll remember that…

As you can see, the colours are more muted – very different from the standard DIs. I really like the variation in colour that spraying with water creates.

This one is just a rainbow of colour. Again, I spritzed with water, let it drip a little, then heat set and stamped first with the stamps inked with Versamark and sprayed with water, then with Versafine black, clear embossing afterwards.

The overstamping is done with Standard Distress Inks in matching colours.

I used Candied Apple, Spiced Marmalade, Fossilised Amber, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean.

See you soon… off to play some more.

Thanks for looking.

Cath

xxx

I’ve been to Grange-over-Sands for a few days and arrived home to new inkpads – ooooh! I LOVE inks

So I had a bit of a play – and will hopefully have another tomorrow…!

I was using just two colours of Distress Oxide, here – Cracked Pistachio and Wilted Violet.

The first one is direct to paper, the second is inked from my non-stick sheet. Love the hues which developed after adding water.

I played on glossy card, too but haven’t used those, yet.

This is one of my completed cards.

I’d like to enter this one into the Simon Says Stamp ‘Stamp It’ challenge.

More inky backgrounds to catch up on… these two use my all time favourite Penny Black Fuchsia stamp.

Distress Inks pick up

Distress Inks, Faux Batik

I’ll enter these, too, since they’re both stamped

Be back soon with some more inky plays…. maybe longer than expected because my other order was damaged in the post but I won’t be long…

Thanks for looking!

Cath

xxx

My son’s birthday card…. I think it’s a little OTT but I enjoyed making it

I even used glitter…Ooooh!!!

The inside…

Just a bit of catching up again.

Still more to come, so I’ll be back soon.

Thanks for looking.

Cath

xxx

I haven’t been blogging, but I’ve been playing…

Izzi (Grandaughter) day is one of those days when it’s impossible to get online, but they’re almost over now… my little darling starts school the week after next

August Bank Holiday is always a good family time, though because it’s her Daddy’s birthday and this time is rather special because he will be 40 tomorrow!

Eeek! Where do the years go????

The party was yesterday, so here’s a snippet of my little Treasure.

Now, back to the artwork… I’ve been journalling and playing with watercolour…

This one’s à la Maremi… YouTube – pure watercolour play… lots of fun! I highly recommend it!

And here’s a card that’s a long way from my usual style, but I just felt like doing something a little different

I have more cards to share, so I’ll be back soon…

Thanks for looking.

Cath

xxx

A few cards I needed to make fast…

More to come soon…

Thanks for looking.

Cath

xxx

One of my very special friends has a birthday today, so I made this in his honour.

This is the inside…

I’d like to enter this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

…and this is a card for another very close friend…

I’d like to enter this into Country View Crafts current challenge – blue and green.

Thanks for looking.

Cath

xxx