INKY FINGERS

Today, I’m thankful that while every day may not be perfect, there’s something good in every day and always something to be thankful for

This brings me to the end of my month of Thankfulness and I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s been so good for me to focus on the good things every day.

It also brings me to the end of AEDM, which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. Big thank yous to Leah, for organising this and to our small – but very select – group of daily contributors. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you a little bit more and sharing your art.

THANK YOU!

I know I’ll see some of you on AJJ and other sites

I’m also linking to the

Anything Goes challenge at SSS Wednesdays

I’ll be back soon

Thanks for calling in

Cath

xxx

Today, I am thankful for language and words.

I’m really enjoying my current book – the latest Sansom novel, Tombland, and I actually look forward to bedtime, so I can go back to England 1549, and relive the peasants’ revolt and catch up with the characters.

A really good book can make us feel we’re actually living in the story and this is one of those that does it for me So I started thinking about language and words and how important they are. I don’t usually watch a lot of TV, but lately, I’ve been watching a lot of French dramas  – thanks to More 4 – so that’s why I sometimes find myself in ‘French mode’. I lived in the suburbs of Paris for a short time and have never tired of being besotted with the French language… I just think it’s so graceful. Yet, they have far fewer words at their disposal than we English do and there are things that are really difficult to express in French.

I can’t help but think about what the Bible says:-

‘The tongue has the power of life and death’ (Proverbs 18).

It’s so true. We can use our words to bless or to harm people. So here’s my page for today…

I went hunting for my collection of words torn or cut from various magazines and was pleased to find they weren’t a casualty of my recent ruthless clearout! I just stuck them onto my page randomly and added a few of my own. There was definitely no plan here, lol.

I’m linking this to AEDM

and to

Art Journal Journey’s Vintage or Modern

Have a great Thursday!

Thanks for stopping by…

Back soon

Cath

xxx

I’ve had a free day today, so I’ve been enjoying the quiet of my craft room… bliss!

Only 2 more days left in November… I thought I’d be relieved, but I’m beginning to realise I’ll miss my (almost) daily visits to the AEDM peeps… but I’m sure Christmas prep will soon take over! Good AND bad but definitely busy… and I can see most of you at Art Journal Journey.

Today, day 28, I’m thankful for flowers.

Earlier today, I went into my yard to check the bulbs I’d planted and was pleasantly surprised at just how many fuchsias are still in bloom. I love them at any time but they just looked especially beautiful this morning because I didn’t expect them. (I should explain that in England a yard isn’t a garden, as it is in the US, but a paved area behind the house, most often found in older terraced (all joined together) houses, like mine. This house is over 100 years old and was owned by the builder of the whole terrace – about 8 houses and 2 small shops - so it’s a little bigger than the others and had just been completely renovated when I moved in . I keep lots of pots of flowers, herbs, hanging baskets and other things there.)

My journal page is a stark contrast to yesterday’s plain page (now with more stamping and stencilling added) – it’s busy – way TOO busy, really but I was having fun I was in French mode, so did a lot of my journalling and stamping in French but the torn text is in English.

As usual, the die cuts have absorbed some of the Oxide inks behind them but I don’t mind that. The black flowers are stencilled, not stamped, but they are embossed because I used Versafine ink to stencil with.

I’d forgotten I also intended posting this pic of my favourite floral treat – when in season – I’ve only recently begun to love tulips, but love the fact that as they are decaying, they open up and gradually change colour, displaying an amazing range of hues and looking more and more beautiful – a bit like Autumn leaves. I keep them until they really are falling apart.

I made some cards for a couple of challenges, too.  In keeping with the Floral theme, I made this one…

…which fits in nicely with the challenge over at

Addicted to Stamps and more - photo inspiration

This one is for Moo Mania and More – Trees

I also made another tree card – I think the grey, dark weather was influencing my choices, today.

This one is for Time Out’s Black, White and one colour challenge…

and also for

Craft Creations, Anything Goes

and

Casology – Girl

I am, of course, also linking to AEDM

Thank you for stopping by

See you again soon, hopefully tomorrow

Cath

xxx

Am I confusing you?  I confuse myself…

I’m going back a day to journal my Day 26 of thankfulness in November because I was out all day and way too tired to play when I arrived home. But I was SO very thankful to be able to come ‘HOME’.

I spent 17 years (mostly by choice, I hasten to add) living in a house I never really felt was my home and after another 4 years in a small flat, I was so very grateful to move into my current home! So I decided to celebrate it in a very simple journal page.

I live in what used to be a mining village in the industrial North West of England. It may not be the prettiest of villages and my house may not be a super duper big house, but it’s where I feel at home and I have almost everything I need virtually on my doorstep. I’m blessed.

I thought I’d add a couple of my mop up journal pages while I’m here… this one has a faint image of Icarus flying in the background and is one of my favourite da Vinci quotes. I have it in a stamp but it’s hard to read.

This page is very rough but is one of my favourite Bible verses…

Hopefully, I’ll be back to the right day tomorrow…

Linking this to AEDM – even if it IS a day late…

Thanks for looking

See you soon

Cath

xxx

This fortnight’s challenge at Try it on Tuesday is Winter Wonderland. We’d love to see you there

I used torn paper and Distress Oxides to create mounds of snow around my first and second generation stamped and embossed trees. I painted Ice Stickles on for the glistening snow and sprinkled Stampendous Frantage Chunky White embossing powder around to represent falling snow.

That’s Crafty also have a Winter Wonderland challenge and the SSS Wednesday challenge is Baby it’s Cold Outside.

I’m thankful for seasons for Day 27 of my November Thankfulness… I may not enjoy every single thing about every season, but the hard parts make the good bits all the more enjoyable and I appreciate them more. My brother came back to England from New Zealand because he missed seasons… and while he was living there, came home each Christmas for the winter weather.

The challenge at Sweet Stampin is Whatever the Weather, so thinking of weather and seasons, I made this...

‘Everywhere you go, you always take the weather with you’… one of my favourite songs!

I’m also linking to AEDM (almost forgot…)

I missed Day 26, so I’ll be back later with more art…

We would love to see you over at TIOT with your Winter Wonderland art

Thank you for looking

See you soon

Cath

xxx

I’m catching up again…life has a habit of getting in the way of daily blogging. Or maybe I’m just not very good at blogging every single day. Only five days left and I’ll be back to my intermittent, spasmodic posts

I journalled my thankfulness for yesterday this evening – after making my day 25! Yesterday, I didn’t go into my craft room once – now that really IS a record these days, lol. BUT I did spend a number of hours colouring and cutting out images I’d stamped previously. I had a huge pile of them waiting, so thought I’d clear them all – and I actually managed it! But when I did venture into my favourite room, I found some more in there, so I have yet another pile of images here, waiting – albeit a much smaller pile – and my box of Promarkers is still here!  Unfortunately, I have a busier week coming up, so they may take me longer to clear.

This was what I did yesterday, for AEDM…a very colourful and productive day!

I’m looking forward to just being able to glue them on!

Thankfulness Day 24 was for a new day…

I don’t know about you, but there are days I’m glad come to an end, for one reason or another. Someone once said God was very kind to give us night time, because it’s as if he pulls the curtains on the day and when we wake up, it’s a brand new day and a chance to start again. I like that thought     

It’s a very simple page – a Kraft page, painted with white acrylic, stamped, embossed, stencilled around the edges with Espresso Oxide, then a little bit of journalling around the edges.Every day is a new day!

I’d also like to enter Art Journalling Journey’s Old and New Challenge.

Today, day 25, I’m thankful for music. I love music of many genres and am usually singing around the house, even when it’s very quiet. Mum played piano and although I only learned to play the recorder at school, that meant I learned to read music, which helped a lot in later years. My two brothers and I all played guitar and I spent many an evening with one of them, playing and singing – as I often did with my oldest friend, who I’ve known since I was sixteen and am very close to. She also joined my brother and me many a time.

My church doesn’t have a choir, but at Christmas, we do have a small one for Carols by Candlelight, and practices begin this week. I’m so looking forward to that – we laugh as much as we sing, and have so much fun.

This week’s challenge at Allsorts is Inspired by a Song, so I used some of my newly (wildly) coloured birdies to make this card.

I’ll link this to Colour Crazy Challenge – Anything Goes

This one started out as a CAS card but ended up being not so CAS because I cut it down… It’s a while since I’ve used these Paperartsy Christmas stamps.

I may not make tomorrow – but I’ll try to do something quick and if not, catch up on Tuesday.

Thanks so much for calling in…

Back soon

Cath

xxx

Better late than never…

It’s been one of ‘those days’…

I did make a simple journal page, but I dared to do a bit of script handwriting over it and wasn’t happy with it, so spent ages trying to cover it up – badly - with mismatched die cuts and find a way to hide it – duh!

I liked the original much better. I must learn to be more comfortable with my mistakes

Today, I’m thankful for the freedom to choose. There’s a story behind this, but I won’t bore you with it… 

I’m linking this to Art Every Day Month

I’ll be back soon

Thanks for looking

Cath

xxx

Today I just want to wish all of you Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m counting my blessings… I know we don’t celebrate in the UK, but maybe we should… I used my favourite Oxide colour combination and simply concentrated on saying Thanks.

We don’t yet have snow, though some parts of the UK have, but it’s certainly cold… so I thought I’d link these to the Simon Says Stamp challenges.

SSS Wednesday – Baby, It’s Cold Outside

I stamped the snowflakes and the words in Versamark, embossed in white powder, then sponged three different shades of blue Oxides over, finishing off with the large Woodware die cut snowflakes embossed in Stampendous Frantage Chunky White powder (which is also scattered over the background) and a couple of EK Success snowflake punches, with some Nuvo Sparkle drops.

SSS Monday – Let it Snow

This is a Michael Powell design from Do Crafts, coloured with Promarkers and spattered with Dylusions White Linen.

I’m also linking to Art Every Day Month – AEDM

It’s not too late to join in – it’s fun to see what people share each day.

Thanks for looking

Back soon

Cath

xxx

Today, I’m enjoying the peace and quiet. I’m thankful for silence…

Adding this to Art Every Day Month – AEDM.

Thank you for visiting

See you soon

Cath

xxx

Oops! I missed another day…

Day 19 – Rainbows

A super simple card using rainbow colours. I’m very, very thankful for rainbows

Day 20 – Café…

A quick page to say thank you for morning coffee

I LOVE my morning coffee… I treat myself to 3 cups of REAL caffeinated coffee a day, but I really enjoy it!

I’ll have to finish this off later… had an unexpected visitor – and I’m thankful for that, too but I really do need to tidy up that white around the letter E!

I’ll link this to Art Every Day Month – AEDM

Modern and Vintage at Art Journal Journey

and

Just Add Ink’s Add a Large Sentiment

Thanks for popping by

See you soon

Cath

xxx

Catching up with my Month of Thankfulness.

So yesterday, I was thankful for Fun and Laughter… this page started life as a card, but I soon realised it wouldn’t be appropriate as a card, so I pulled out my 6x6 Kraft paper journal (reminded by Yvonne!) and attached it to a page, after stamping the words and drawing the speech bubble … then added Les Rats des Villes (Katzelcraft) as my imagination ran riot. I love the one slinking away on his belly…

I gessoed another page, then added Oxides through a stencil, using bright colours as a contrast to Weathered Wood, stamping the large Laughter (Hero Arts) a few times off the page. There were some larger die cut letters in my little box, and because I’d been colouring and cutting out les rats, I decided to stand them on the letters, with the top one running away from the girl with the shotgun...  It’s a bit busy, so the rats are almost lost, but  I just played around a bit until I realised I’d better stop before I made it any worse! Theoretically, it’s a continuation of the first page, but is actually on the page before… duh! It just happened!

I wanted to make another ‘Resist’ card for Fashionable Stamping Challenge, so I stamped an old word stamp on glossy card in Versamark, heat setting, then sponging Adirondack inks over the top, stamping the word background in the same colours as the background.

I was imagining butterflies on this, but took the easy way  cos I’ve cut out too many images and looked through my cut out basket. Ihis TH image worked well with the background words and I liked the fact that I wouldn’t have chosen pink for him… Hunting for some suitable words in my word box, I found these…

So today, I’m thankful for !IMAGINATION!

Allsorts’ challenge is CAS Christmas…I don’t make many Christmas cards, but I wanted to try out this die.

The black lettering is a little harsh, but I tried blue first and it was a little lost… if I do this again, I’ll stamp some watermark snowflakes in the background.

Finally, another Die cut… smooshed with Oxide inks, stencilled, the happy duck added,then the die cut Birthday.

I’ve never used as many die cuts in my life, lol. I love some of the latest designs but seem to acquire them just to look at - not to use… I especially like word dies.

I’m linking this to AEDM, Art Every Day Month

Watercooler Wednesday Challenges – Occasions

Penny Black and More – Make Someone Smile

Addicted to Stamps and More – Holiday

Thanks for visiting

See you soon

Cath

xxx

Today I’m thankful for birds and for a song to sing!

So often, we admire someone else’s work – not just their art, but other things they do – or the way they look and we think of ourselves as second rate – just not good enough!

But each of us has a song to sing and the best way to sing that song is to simply be grateful for who you are and be true to yourself. Pale imitations are just that – pale and wishy washy and anything but authentic. But sometimes, it takes courage to just be ourselves.

I love birds… in my last house I was blessed by such a great variety of them and many of them were regular visitors, so they became ‘friends’, some of them even coming into the house to look for food – I kid you not! I miss that, but there’s always something new to celebrate. So today, I journalled my thoughts on singing my song…

I’m linking this to AEDM – Art Every Day Month

Thanks for stopping by

Back soon…

Cath

xxx

(Edited…)

(Please accept my apologies if you think I’m not commenting on your posts – I am!  Sadly, my comments seem to be disappearing into the ether, even if I click on Preview, which is my usual ‘fix’. So sorry. I’ll keep trying )

I woke up this morning to beautiful Autumn sunshine – again!  I really AM thankful for the mild Autumn we’ve had until now in NW UK. Seeing a bright, sunny day makes it so much easier to be thankful.

I made a quick, very simple journal page to celebrate it... the birds are die cuts and I really like them

I love trees and I know I’m not on my own… my sons have, in turn, called me tree hugger, tree woman and bird woman.  I think they think they’re insulting me but nah, I think it’s great! I’m a nature lover and proud of it and I DO hug trees – or at least touch them. There’s something very powerful about a tree and especially the older ones. They’ve seen a lot of history and withstood a lot, with storms, wind, rain, lightning, drought, snow… yet they stand tall and solid. You can almost hear them breathing if you listen closely enough…

This tree doesn’t look very old. It’s one of Lynne Moncrief’s stamp designs from That’s Crafty and there are some fab words on the plate, too. 

There are a couple of Winter Foliage challenges around – a little early for over here, but I thought I’d give it a go. I hunted through my ‘C’ (eeek! the ‘C’ word!) stamps and found this stamp. It came with a spider attached and a little verse about the legend of the Christmas spider. I didn’t want that, so I cut it off.

SSS Wednesday have an All that Glitters is Gold challenge at the moment, so I stamped the verse in Versamark and embossed, but the small font was lost in the dark background, so I stamped again on white and made a narrow tag from it. The small decoration (or spider’s webs…) are gold glittered.

This is a simpler version, with no background colour. I coloured the pine cones and the strings in gold ink. I decided to use a die cut word, so I inked it with Versamark ink, then embossed it with Gold Glitter EP. I haven’t used that for about 10 years! The gems were added as an afterthought, just to add more sparkle. The edges were dragged (roughly, as you can see) through a Gold Delicata inkpad.

The Winter Foliage challenges are at

Make My Monday and

Daring Cardmakers

Shopping Our Stash have a Tic Tac Toe challenge:-