'What you do speaks so loudly, I can't hear what you say.'
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sunday 31 March 2013

Happy Easter and God’s best blessings to you all! 

Some of my friends have been using some of the new (very stylised) floral stamps designed by Jo Firth Young and I quite like them, but daren’t buy anything more at the moment…

Another friend suggested drawing similar flowers and sent me one of her sketches, which encouraged me to have a go, too. Here they are in my A4 journal. 

I’ve been really surprised at how much freer I feel with a bigger page.

EASTER JOURNALLING

I’m going to enter this and my ATCs into this week’s Simon Says Stamp challenge, which is ANYTHING GOES.

I also put my name down for the KCUK March ATC swap, Paris, one of my favourite places.  I don’t really make many ATCs these days, and I’m not sure if the hostess will accept them at this late date, but here are my very simple offerings.

CATH PARIS 2

CATH PARIS 1

I started with inky backgrounds I’d already made, flicking a little water on for a bit of contrast, then adding a little colour with Promarkers, Copics and pencils.  The bottom one is one of my new Birthday stamps (which I love) and I’ve used a couple of the others here and there.  I can see me using them quite a lot in the future!

I can’t really get all my stamps and inks out right now, because I’m putting them all away.  I’m trying to downsize drastically and need to prioritise and reorganise! I may go AWOL for a little while…

Hope your weekend is very special!

xxx

Thursday 28 March 2013

I’ve always loved natural, rustic things and Kraft papers and bags fall right into that category, so I’ve used them for years on and off.

I followed a link the other day which led to a really pretty card on Kraft, with a hint of turquoise, one of my favourite colours.  I can’t remember the link – sorry and hope I’m not offending anyone – but here’s my version of what I saw and I love it!

The background (Darkroom Door) is stamped in Versamark and clear embossed.


kraft and teal

Have a lovely Easter!

God Bless you

xxx

Saturday 23 March 2013

I think there’s an element of psychology at work here – I’m stamping Spring colours while outside it’s snowing – AGAIN!  I’ve had no mail for two days because of the snow and I just came back from braving the elements to go to town, in search of some fresh food!  Brr!  It was supposed to be raining by now – NOT snowing again OR forecast more for tomorrow morning!

So here’s my second Spring Colours contribution to KCUK and this time I used very Spring like colours – bright and positive.  Spring is also the theme for the Everybody Art Challenge 228, so I’ll be posting a link there.

CATH SPRING COLOURS 2

Forgot to mention that I used Dylusions inks on glossy card, which is why they’re so much paler – then added a touch of Adirondack Sunshine yellow and stamped with Adirondacks Meadow and Bottle. 

Stay warm, everyone and enjoy the rest of the weekend!

xxx

Saturday 16 March 2013

Just a few bits I made recently…

Spring Colours challenge on KCUK.  Not really spring colours but at least they’re pastels… and they’re also ANALOGOUS colours (all side by side on the Colour wheel) so I’m entering it in this week’s  Our Creative Corner challenge.

SPRING FLORAL

This one’s a Birthday card for someone…

two tone floral

… and so is this one.

cathy 2

While this one was a Mother’s Day Card.

FETE DES MERES

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

xxx

Friday 8 March 2013

Been doing a bit of journalling in my A4 journal the past week or so – it really does help and although the size of the canvas is scary at first, it gives you more space to breathe, somehow…. I enjoyed building these layers with Neocolours and inks.

the heart

Need to get a rubber (eraser) on the pencil lines before I forget!

Have a great week!

xxx

Monday 4 March 2013

Another way of tidying and recycling. 

All made from scraps of card and scrap images.

   SCRAP 3 SCRAP 4

I’d like to enter the little birdie card above into the Make my Monday challenge for this week.

SCRAP 1  SCRAP 2

   SCRAP 6  SCRAP 5

And an altered box for a special present :-D

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I used Pearlescent acrylics from Ranger and Brilliance Reinkers, with Scrapbook paper squares on the top and bottom, toned to match with the same Brilliance inks and paints.  Stamped with Brilliance inks.

Have a great week!

xxx

Friday 1 March 2013

It was time for the new challenge at KCUK and I chose Tamp-a-Tile, which you can see here, beautifully illustrated by Anja. 

Thanks for such clear illustrations, Anja :-)

Unfortunately, I ended up rushing to do a couple of samples, so they’re far from perfect and I didn’t like the blank line between the sections, so I left it out and darkened the edges instead, but it was fun to do something a little bit different.  It’s almost - but not quite - a grid technique! 

MARCH CHALL 1 CATH

MARCH CHALL 2 CATH 

Have a great weekend!

I’m going off to Stamp Club for the first time in a couple of years, hoping to learn how to make a Word Book with Ann!

xxx