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

Tuesday 1 May 2018

Aha!  I bet you didn’t expect me to post again so soon… I saw the TIOT Challenge this morning – Dies and Stencils – and when I wandered into my Craft Room to put something away, I started messing tidying and playing with my dies… for someone who uses very few dies, I have a ridiculous number Rolling on the floor laughing in my stash!

I’ll begin by saying this is a HUGE challenge for me because I don’t really do dies, even though I am an occasional collector. BUT you know you’ve had fun in your Craft room when you suddenly realise you’ve been in there for over 4 hours and haven’t even had a drink or a loo break Smile !!!

So the first one didn’t work out very well, but I’ll show it to you anyway… I used the Tim Holtz flowers and dies, die cutting one of my hoarded Glimmer Mist backgrounds from aeons ago. I did add some shading with Prismacolour pencils and I stamped the stems, but the whole thing just didn’t come together well. Too much grass, not enough depth… I’m just not keen, but here it is. Maybe it would have been better on a smaller card base, I don’t know… I’ve also die cut the layers Smile…I actually think these flowers may look better without the stems. I may try that later.

DIES STENCILS 1

My second card was a play with texture paste (home made) and was far from perfect, so I found a word in my stamped words box and wrote another to go with it. I thought it was terrible but I have to admit that it’s growing on me, partly because I actually LIKE the imperfections. I think the choice of a creamy pearlescent card helped because it goes so well with the paste, which picked up a little of the inks behind – though drying with a heat tool may also have caused that... I love the smell of the baby talcum powder.

DIES STENCILS 2

Some of the imperfections…

DIES STENCILS 2C

My third card was shamelessly cased from one I received from a lovely KCUK friend, Linda (whose cards I absolutely love!) when my Dad died recently.  I really fell in love with it, and especially with its simplicity, although I didn’t spatter ink on it, as she did. I used different butterfly dies and words and also added a touch of glitter…

FLUTTER DIES

Last but not least, with Brenda’s Pets Challenge over at Allsorts in mind, I played with the lovely TH dog dies and stamps. I had already cut up this stamp (Penny Black) as I so often do, but decided I didn’t want the ‘is like finding a four leaf clover’ bit at all, so cut that off and may well discard it. I always remove the dots and bits in between the words because they just don’t always fit what I’m doing with them, so cutting them off makes them far more versatile. I know – I’m weird – but words are important to me and this works for me.

DIES STENCILS 3

I have a box of precoloured (while watching TV) doggies and crazy birds, so I like to pull them out now and again. Again, the card layers are die cut with double stitched dies. I really like the stitched ones and these are nice and big. I stamped the ‘Hard to find’ bit before I decided to cut the last bit off, so I decided to play with my Hero Arts circle stamps again to cover up the word behind the doggy’s ear and just carried on playing with them. I love the random effect.

Dogs are dear to my heart. I had an amazing best friend dog for 14 years and haven’t been able to replace him because he was like another child to me. Recently, however, I’ve decided I may well try to find a new friend, now that I’m in a house again and not the flat I lived in for four years. I prefer to rescue a dog that may not otherwise find a loving owner, so I’ve applied to a few places, one of which is just up the road, but they didn’t get back to me as they said they would, then didn’t turn up for the ‘house approval’ visit, so I gave up on them. I realise they’re all volunteers, but it’s such a shame when dogs are desperate for new homes. So I thought long and hard about what kind of dog I’d have if I was buying a pedigree and decided I’d prefer a lab…my last dog was half lab and was such a gentle, loving dog. So I applied to a couple of lab rescue places… I’m still waiting for the house visit, but I’m really hoping they show up soon. They’re a distance away from me, so I know they need to find someone closer to me but it’s been 3 or 4 weeks now and I’m excited about having another dog! My little granddaughter (aged 5) is also desperate for me to get one Smile

Anyway, enough of that…

Thanks for the challenge, TIOT! It was fun.

Unfortunately, there’s no Linky on the Challenge blog – it’s saying ‘closed’ but I’m sure they’ll sort that out quickly… Smile

I’m also linking to

A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes

Back soon.

Thanks for looking

Cath

xxx

9 very kind comments from lovely people:

froebelsternchen said...

These cards are all so unique and utterly beautiful! Thank you very much for joining us at Try It On Tuesday! Hugs, Susi

Ellibelle said...

A great assortment of cards, beautifully done, and your pets cards is just perfect for our "All about Pets" challenge at Allsort. Thank you so much for joining us!

Ellie
"Ellibelle's Creative Moments"

Kathleen said...

A fabulous selection of cards and love the flowers on your first card and I feel that a lot of flower stamps have too many leaves, especially PB stamps.
Super use of TH dog dies and stamps and a really lovely card.
Thank you for joining our 'All about Pets' challenge this week at Allsorts.

Kath x

Little Artbee said...

Wonderful unique cards. I love them all.
Dear greetings
Sabine

Joan said...

Another lovely selection of cards, all very unique. I though I was the only one who cuts up stamps but I don't do it very often. I see you managed to find the link to TIOT

pearshapedcrafting said...

I know exactly what you mean about having dies and not being a 'die person' I buy them will all good intentions but use so few of my 'collection' although I do use flower ones quite a lot! I love your cards and I am so pleased you joined us at Try It On Tuesday! Chrisx

brenda said...

Another super jam packed post Cath and I know I don't have to choose, but I do have a couple of favs, the glorious blooms on the first and of course those lovely pooches on the last, they are perfect for our 'All about Pets' theme at Allsorts challenge this week, many thanks for joining in.

I can well understand your predicament about having a new faithful friend, they give so much unconditional love and it's heartbreaking when we lose them and personally I always say never again, but of course I do. We have Labs as I think you know, but also a few rescue's along the way.

Last year one of our son's and partner decided to have a rescue (they already have a black Lab) and initially wanted a Lab or Retriever, however last August Battersea asked them to consider a young lady who is now 14 months old called Leia. At that tender age she had already been shifted round three homes so knew no ground rules and proved to be quite a handful as she is huuuuuge, an Anatolian Shepherd, pure white with legs that reach to the sky. But she is getting there and they have done a great job persevering with her.

Whatever you decide Cath, I am sure you will gain a loving friend.

B x

Anjas-Artefaktotum said...

I love your beautiful art works.
Hugs Anja

Mrs.B said...

A fabulous selection of cards Cath and you must have had fun if you forgot to take a coffee break!
Glad you were able to Link up to TioT after the little hitch first thing.
Avril xx