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

Wednesday 27 February 2019

Just a little reminder that there's still time to join in our challenge at Try it on Tuesday...

Powder your...
is the theme for the current challenge.
In other words, use powders on your project.
Here are a few ideas:-
embossing powder, mica powder, Brushos, paint powder 
or even images of powder!
It's up to you how you interpret the theme and,
as always, the medium, style, etc you use is 
entirely up to you.
Please
note which kind of powder you used!
I still have a few play pieces left in my folder, so I thought I'd share them today, as a reminder to join us... my intention was to upload them onto the TIOT blog in time for yesterday, but yes... I forgot 😟 oops! Sorry, girls.

This was an example of using Black Brushos through a stencil... following Loll's tutorial, here and here. WARNING! She makes it look REALLY easy - I didn't find it quite so easy...though I know other people have had wonderful results. Mine were very mixed, but I think one of the reasons is that  I use too much water and too much Brusho powder!  

I was a bit happier with the reverse print from the stencil, but I haven't yet used it - partly because I can't think of what to do with it and partly because I wanted to keep it to remind me, lol.

Isn't the black interesting? I can't believe how many hues come out when water activated.

This was a journal page I was going to use for my sample, but decided against, so I'll share a part of it 😄

And this is a spread in my A4 journal I did years ago, but have never used. I dragged one of those silicone basters through the inks while they were still wet and I loved the effect!

 

Hope to see you soon over at Try it on Tuesday... there are already some great entries! Just have fun and play...

Thanks for calling in

I'll be back soon

Cath
xxx

Tuesday 26 February 2019

Thought I'd try another yellow journal page for Art Journal Journey, but it didn't really work out... I'd used Adirondack Sunshine yellow - with a couple of other colours - but  disliked it so much, I had to cover most of it up 😟 - sorry, but as you'll see from my journal page...


I love bits of yellow and think it's a great colour to blend others together, but on its own, it's just not my colour...

I do like yellow on birds, though... this is a page in my 'Pray' journal. I actually got out and used my Graphitint pencils, which I've had for a long time but never really used. They worked well on the birds and the ground, though you can't see it very clearly on the kraft paper. I thought we'd have a trio of birds - a sparrow, a greenfinch and a Goldcrest - just for fun.


Thanks for calling in.

I'll be back soon

Cath
xxx

Monday 25 February 2019

I had an idea for a man's birthday card last night, so I had to make it, and while doing so, I thought about another stamp that would be perfect for a man, so I made two...😉

This is the one I thought of first, using some stamps I've had a while and never used... I stamped them, then smooshed Oxides over the whole card, stamping the image again and sticking it over the top, which led to some fiddly balloon colouring and cutting out, plus I cut out the thicker columns of the word BOY. If I make this again, I'll keep it cleaner and simpler, I think, maybe with some streamers in the background or some stencilling. I used Promarkers and Copics to add shading, but it went a bit haywire, so although I tried to blend it out, it is far from perfect...


The second one was much easier, especially because I'd already stamped and embossed the image, lol and it doesn't need a whole lot of colouring. I added a sliver of black card to separate the words at the top. Sorry my words aren't perfectly straight - I love clear stamps for ease of use, but sometimes they just don't want to lie straight on the mount - or is it just me?????

I love this stamp and used it for Christmas as well as for birthdays.


I'm happy to be able to enter these into the following challenges:-


Watercooler Wednesday's Masculine Challenge

Stamping Sensations, All Things Bright and Beautiful


and


Thank you for calling in...

I'll be back soon...

Cath
xxx

Sunday 24 February 2019

With spring flowers still on my mind (Allsorts Challenge) I'd like to share one of my favourite spring blooms - the Magnolia. I love how delicate they are and how they appear before the leaves, on an otherwise bare tree... I get really excited when I see the first flowers appearing, then opening and the leaves joining them later. 

I used one of my favourite PB floral stamps, using Tombows to stamp onto watercolor paper, then defining with Prismacolor pencils. I know the colour is a bit deep, but it's so hard to show the pale colours and still get some definition! The darker edges are there as a contrast and to signify them emerging from dark, dreary winter 😉

Because it's a PB stamp, I'd also like to share it with Penny Black Saturday Challenge, where the challenge is ATG, with option of flowers.


I can't think of Spring without thinking of my beloved birds... they're chirping noisily as I write and flitting about happily in the sunshine. They are such amazing creatures... did you know their internal organs change size in readiness for Spring and for breeding because they no longer need fatty foods for warmth and energy (there are now other sources available) and they need space for eggs? Isn't that amazing?  There is such joy in their behaviour and I never tire of watching them play on thermals or flit around, having fun - they are so playful. Not to mention beautiful birdsong - and especially blackbird song, which often moves me to tears... I know, I'm nutty!

I'd like to share this with the 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' challenge over at Stamping Sensations. despite the fact that my border is anything but straight and I even found a typo in the beautiful words - duh! I still like it...and I love the colours. Who can help but love sparrows?



While we're thinking about Spring, I'll share a card I made a few weeks ago - or a journal page - I have yet to decide 😉 but it's big enough to go into my 8x8 journal, so I think that decides it. Love these stamps.


And a page I journaled about nature...


I'm happy to share with the following challenges:-

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - ATG, optional Flowers

Sparkles Forum - Include an animal


Shopping Our Stash - Make your Mark - use colours (Promarkers on the hare card)

Inkspiration - Use Your Stash (new hare stamps, not that they had to be new to be my stash, lol)

Moo Mania and More - Woman - I think my feminine images will count...

Thank you for visiting...

I'll be back soon, with more to share...

Cath
xxx

Saturday 23 February 2019

The new challenge at Allsorts is Spring Flowers - a lovely thing to focus on - so I got out my spring flower stamps, well some of them, and messed about - it was fun 😀 

These are a bit like (use your imagination) the gorgeous Irises I have in a container in my yard, which are now all out and blooming beautifully. It's a very old PB stamp, used with Neocolors, Tombows and Versafine inks.


These are a little like the gorgeous hyacinths whose perfume greets me every time I go into my bathroom - delightful! Again, I used Neocolors to stamp them with and it's an old Hero Arts stamp. They're not really very elegant flowers, but their perfume is amazing.



This one didn't turn out very well, but I'm showing it just because... I used Neocolors for this, too - maybe that's why they didn't turn out so well, but it's also a really old cheapie I picked up in a garden centre, years ago, and not a brilliant stamp.


All this floral stamping led to a frenzied unmounting of PB stamps and remounting on EZ mount, including this next one...I don't really like the stencilling and wish I'd stuck with one colour, rather than two, and I'll have to work harder on that image now that I can 😉 The splatters weren't intentional, but I quite like them. Maybe Neocolors weren't the ideal medium for these particular stamps...


Oops! I almost forgot to add this (edited to add) because I was really playing here - the expression on this little girl's face is probably the same as the one on mine when I see new flowers each morning - it made me giggle. It's not an easy image to use in this way, though because of the stamp itself.



The splatters on this one really WERE intentional, but they were an afterthought, so they splattered onto the card itself - I don't mind that. Again, not exactly as I wanted it because I stencilled the larger notes in white but then realised I didn't like them (apart from the fact that they're too big) so, intending to outline them in black, I ended up filling them in with my Posca pen. Definitely 'in your face colour' but that's exactly what I wanted...the paints are Dylusions. I had in mind a stamp I have, which says 'If you're feeling blue, try painting yourself a different colour'... 


The Inkspiration Challenge is 'Use Your Stash' - I did that, lol.


Watercooler Wednesdays Challenge is Masculine

Just Add Ink Challenge is Just Add Embossing
(all words and some of the images are clear heat embossed)


I'll be back soon

Thank you so much for calling in...

Cath
xxx

Thursday 21 February 2019

This is how I was feeling yesterday... I knew what I wanted to journal, but couldn't bring myself to do it, so I did it today...

Yellow stencilling (Scattered Straw) and some Yellow writing, so I'm entering this into the Art Journal Journey Challenge for Rike's theme - Yellow. Yellow was definitely how I felt yesterday 😶


Thanks for popping in - I'll try to do something more cheerful for my next post...

I'll be back soon

Cath

xxx

Wednesday 20 February 2019

Three challenges today...

SSS Monday Challenge is Wheels

SSS Wednesday Challenge is Black, White and one other colour

Country View Challenges is also Black, White and one other colour




A text card for 

Daring Cardmakers Alphabet Soup
and


Thanks for calling in

I'll be back soon

Cath
xxx

Tuesday 19 February 2019

Welcome to a new challenge at Try it on Tuesday

The challenge is 'Powder your...' and we'd love to see you play with your powders -  embossing powders, mica powders, brusho powders, paint powder, even images of powders, it's up to you how you interpret the theme … just have fun!

Please r
emember to note on your post which 'powder' you use in your take on the theme.. 

This is a GREAT excuse to play and let your imagination roam wild... 😉

For my playtime, I simply sprinkled some of my favourite coloured Brushos on an A5 piece of card, activated with (lots of) water and left to dry... then used the background to make this card. 

After stamping my (well loved and used) Paperartsy flowers, I did a bit of stencilling with Brilliance Moonlight White ink and added a bit of text and graphic style stamping in colours matching the Brushos. I then stamped the word 'bloom' in Distress Oxide, clear embossing, and finished it off by colouring the blooms with Posca pens for a strong contrast.  The purple card just pulls it all together.


Please visit the Challenge Blog to see the gorgeous inspiration from my team mates.... there is so much you can do with powders! 

I hope you'll join us for this one - you have a whole TWO WEEKS to get out your powders and PLAY!


Look forward to seeing your art 😁

Thank you for calling in...

I'll be back soon

Cath
xxx

Sunday 17 February 2019

There's a new challenge over at Allsorts - In the Kitchen, Cooking or Baking - sounds like fun!

I had the Paperartsy chef image already coloured, cut out and edged in black, so I hunted in my backgrounds box and found this gorgeous colourful card. I'm almost sure it was made with Ecoline inks - a long time ago! So I found my 'cakey' words, stamped some of them in matching colours, then stamped and coloured the cake to go with it. This is the perfect birthday card for a close friend who loves to bake and has a birthday this week - though we celebrated last night because she's away on her birthday, as every year, because it's half term and she's a teacher.


I went to town on the cake, adding dots of colour for hundreds and thousands and lots of glitter...


It's VERY fine glitter and stuck to all the bits still slightly damp from the glue, too, but that made it a lot more fun! It's very rare that I use glitter but I do like it now and again. Some of my background words were accidentally embossed when I was clear embossing the greeting, which adds more interest.

Thank you for calling in...

I'll be back  soon

Cath
xxx

Saturday 16 February 2019

There's a Mushroom challenge on over on Tag Tuesday Challenge Blog and I thought I'd play along, using one of my scraps from a previous background. I love shrooms and fungi - both eating them and hunting for them - and used to spend hours photographing them, delighting in their fascinating shapes and colours. 

The one I've used isn't an exciting specimen, but it does have a cute little girl sitting on it. I dusted the cobwebs off one of my Art Journey stamps for this, after adding more colour (Distress Inks)  to a scrap left over from an A4 watercolour paper background, which was already stamped with numbers and text.


There's also a 'Have a Number' challenge over at Fab 'n' Funky, so I'll link to that.

The next two cards are also stamped on scraps used to mop up leftover inks on my craft mat. This one was a Brushos mop up. I loved the red and wanted to add a hint of brickwork behind it, but also to have wildflowers growing in a place where you wouldn't expect to find them.


The colours on this leftover bit of card were just too beautiful not to use, so I just added some die cuts and torn paper, after stamping the Fleurs stamp a couple of times, finishing off with a bit of baker's twine.


Back to greens and I was playing a Tim Holtz number background for this one, stamping all over in a toning shade of green. This is one of my favourite little girl stamps, so I stamped her, cut her out and attached over the background, grounding her with another bit of torn paper. I was looking for a specific stamp and found these words - never before used - and thought they'd be just perfect for my little girl.


Daring Cardmakers have an Alphabet Soup Challenge on at the moment, and are looking for letters, words or numbers, so I'll link to that and also to the Typography challenge over at SSS Monday Challenges.

And for Art Journal Journey, another page including some YELLOW, for Rike's challenge. I used a Gelli print page in one of  my journals, thinking the yellow may be just the thing to add to the colours already there. 



Thank you so much for popping in. It's always lovely to see you.

I'll be back soon

Have a lovely weekend!

Cath
xxx

Tuesday 12 February 2019

There's a new challenge on the SSS Monday blog - Typography. I LOVE typography and was an avid collector of fonts until I tired of updating my laptop and software every time I had to reset my laptop, following a Windows 10 update - and that was a LOT of times!  But they're all still here on my laptop, waiting until I need them. I just think there's something incredibly magical about letters and words. Even when I was a kid - much to my mum's horror - I used to doodle letters and words all over every book I could find. As a teenager, that turned into decorating all my inner album sleeves (remember those, lol?) with words from the songs and quotes and lots of other doodles. I still do it when I'm on the phone and most of my uni text books are filled with doodles and words 😞 but now I can do it with stamps and magazine or book scraps. I don't do it often enough, so I was chuffed to notice that the challenge at SSS Monday is Typography - yay!  An excuse to play!

So here's my first offering... I thought this may be a card but I don't think it's quite the sort of thing anyone would like to receive, so... it will have to go into one of my journals. I've put it on black card to scan, but it's just a piece of card at the moment. 

I started with a gelli print, using some of my favourite colours, then gradually added stamping of letters and words in various inks, Neocolors and whatever else I could get my hands on. There's a Carabelle Studio  alphabet stamp in the background, too. I had to use these whimsical stamps - they were perfect for this and I really do like them. I love the way the colours turned out.


Here are a couple of closeups, to show the background more clearly.




There's also a Text Challenge at Inkspirational Challenges, so I'd like to link to that, too.

Thanks for calling in.

I'll be back soon...

Cath
xxx

Just a little bit more inspiration for our 'Romance' theme over at Try it on Tuesday.

I bought this PB stamp a long time ago in a sale box at Port Sunny (Sunlight), on the Wirral. I don't use it a lot, but think it's really cute and perfect for a Love or Romance theme.

It's a very simple card; I stencilled the heart with Tumbled Glass (I think) Oxide onto a Kraft card, then stamped and embossed the bird, colouring with Prisma Pencils and stamping the words and hearts later, embossing with white EP. I even added a few gems, which I rarely use, lol. They just seemed to fit so well.


There's some fabulous, inspirational art on the TIOT website and some gorgeous entries so far. It would be so lovely to 'see' you there... there's another week yet, to join in, so no excuses 😁

I'd like to link this to the following challenges:-

Stamping Sensations, All Things Bright and Beautiful

Creatalicious, Love/Hearts

Alphabet Challenge, W is for Wings


Thank you so much for calling in...

See you soon

Cath

xxx

Saturday 9 February 2019

I've been wanting to make this card for a couple of weeks, but just haven't managed to get around to it, so today, I made my mind up to do it - and to combine two challenges, while at it.

Seize the Birthday have a Black and White Birthday challenge and Daring Cardmakers have a 'So Many Candles' challenge, so I made this card.


My wonderfully straight snippet isn't as straight as I'd hoped - I obviously veered upwards towards the end, lol. I love this little Birthday stamp set - it's just so easy and versatile.

I also made another tag for Penny Black and More's Tag Challenge
I was playing with stencils and stencil paste and found some Paper Plus Pattern Builder, so I thought I'd try that out - I'm NOT impressed, lol, but at least I tried it before binning it... So I added inks and paints over the top and some 'just for fun' Paperartsy characters, then some PB words.


This one is just a playabout with a scrap of card left over from a Brushos project.


  SSS Monday want red on our projects, so I'd like to link to them.

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend...
Thanks so much for calling in 
See you soon
Cath
xxx

Friday 8 February 2019

There's a Tag Challenge at Penny Black and More, so I thought I'd stamp a tag or two.

I scraped some Gesso onto a scrap of card, then various shades of green Distress ink,  to see what happened. I quite liked the result but wanted to add some words, so I rooted out my old Flower words - the stamp actually perished (no idea why - it's an old rubber PSX stamp and I was pretty upset when I discovered the state it was in) in parts, but I quite like the faded effect, so I kept it for backgrounds. I used Pine Needles Oxide ink and stamped it repeatedly down one side, then added a few circles in Bundled Sage, one of the colours I'd previously used. I wasn't keen on that, so after stamping the silhouette flowers and embossing it all, I added a bit of stencilling in Brilliance Moonlight White. I mounted the whole tag onto black card because it wasn't very thick, then added a couple of cut off strips, punching one of them with a tiny hole punch, just for a bit of interest. Then I stamped my words, punched a hole and threaded some frayed ribbon through.


There's an Anything Goes Feminine Challenge at Watercooler Wednesday, so I used a couple of my 'wino' stamps for a bit of fun and coloured the girls with Prisma Pencils.



I enjoyed playing with the greens, so I made this card, too.


I'll link this to Happy Craft Challenge ATG.

Thank you so  much for visiting.
Back soon...
Cath
xxx

Tuesday 5 February 2019

Yay! There’s a new challenge over at TIOT, starting today, and the theme is… Romance!  Just in time for Valentine’s Day, if you send any cards on that day.

There are some fantastic samples from the TIOT team if you’d like to glean some inspiration…

Oops! I posted the wrong card... so sorry.
On this one, I went with an old image from Designs Ink'd, now I Brake for Stamps. It's such a cute image.

The loving couple are coloured with Prisma Pencils and the 'Love' is a die cut. I just had to add a heart, but the Brushos bakcground didn't really need much more, once I'd stencilled a few stars in silver and spattered a bit of paint.


I do hope you’ll join us for this challenge. It’s such a treat to visit your blogs and to see what you’re all up to… you have a whole two weeks to take part.


I'd also like to link to the following challenges.

Look forward to seeing your art!
See you soon
Cath
xxx

Sunday 3 February 2019

Every now and again I like to challenge myself to make CAS cards - I do love them but they do require a totally different mindset. Mine is normally a 'slap on the colour and see what happens' mindset (well, not quite always)… When doing black and white, I need to change the way I think... almost as if I'm using the other side of my brain, if that makes sense? CAS isn't quite so challenging but it's still a challenge.

I noticed that the new challenge over at Addicted to CAS was birds, so I thought I'd have a go, so here's my CAS bird.

I was going to mount it onto white, but the kraft card looked great, so I went with that.

I did actually make a B&W card a couple of days ago, though...



I'd like to link to the following Anything Goes challenges:-

and

Thank you so much for stopping by
Back soon
Cath
xxx

Saturday 2 February 2019

Yellow is the theme of this month's challenge at Art Journal Journey

I have to confess that yellow it NOT one of my favourite colours, lol. I do use it a lot, but always with other colours - never on its own. I love seeing it on other people, but it makes me look seriously ill - or worse! Even when I've tried painting rooms yellow, I get headaches - or I did until I moved into this house. My living room is - as you probably guessed - yellow, though it's a very pale shade - banana, I think. I would never have chosen  it, but I can live with it until I get around to redecorating!

So, when I sat down, determined to do something,  I had absolutely no idea how I could bring myself to journal in yellows! My craft room was filled with  wonderful, bright  winter sunshine today, which made me think of sunshine...a good starting point.

Starting with a pale lemon (Lemonade) acrylic base in my 8x8 journal, I sponged some Sunshine Yellow through a roses stencil, added a contrasting back edge (an old Rollagraph made into a stamp) then added a strip of black card from my scraps stash. I spotted one of my smiling sheepz,  already coloured in yellows, so I used him, then added the die cut words. He looked so bright I had to make him shine...and add a few hearts because it turned out to be a really positive page and made me think of Spring!

We've had a lot of strong winds and a little snow this week - only one day of snow and, despite the sunshine and warmer temperature, my yard is still filled with it. I made a snowy card with Lynne Moncrief's (That's Crafty) lovely tree set because it was so cold. To be honest, it was almost filed in the bin, but I decided to try to salvage it, adding paler Oxide sponging and a bit of smooshing, though you can hardly see it. It may end up in my smaller journal!

 I've been using pinks and greys for a couple of things this week, and ended up with a rather pretty little mop up card, so I played with it and ended up with this...intending to make a tag, but I mounted it onto a grey background haven't yet decided what to do with it.
That's it for now.
I'll be back soon - probably tomorrow.
Thank you so much for visiting
Cath
xxx