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

Thursday 30 May 2019

Morning all - just about... I'm just nipping in to enter a few (?) challenges 😊

First of all, my third and final entry for Allsorts' Birthday Celebration Challenge. My ladies are on their way to painting the town red in honour of your birthday - any excuse, lol. They're coloured with Copics/Promarkers, though there isn't much scope for shading and I always find red hard to shade. I also added a hand drawn frame so that I can link to Paper Minutes, Simon Says Monday Challenge, Ellibelle's Feminine/Sentiment Challenge and Double D Challenges


I had a few hours playing with my favourite technique - Resist - making two very similar cards; one on glossy, with a standard Versamark resist and one on matte card, with an Embossing resist effect. I'm not sure the difference shows up on photos - it's more apparent in real life. I'm linking these to Moo Mania & More's Wings challenge, A Place to Starts' 'Favourite Technique' Challenge and Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday ATG challenge. It will also be good for my next KCUK challenge - lots of shimmery, shiny glitter 😉

The two together

The one on glossy photo card

The one on matte card

The glitter - which also shows the resist technique on both types of card.

For the 'Get your Drink on' challenge at Shopping our Stash  and
Watercooler Wednesday's ATG challenge, here's a simple coffee themed card, coloured with Prisma Pencils... 

Phew!  Lots of Challenges... it just worked out that way, sorry.

Thank you so much for calling in to see me today

Back soon

Cath
xxx

Tuesday 28 May 2019

It's time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday and the new theme is...

MAKE A MARK

For this challenge, we'd like to see you having fun with
abstract patterns, grids, circles, squares, chevrons, etc

As always, please feel free to interpret the challenge in any medium you prefer to use and in any format you choose - as long as you make marks somewhere on it!

There is some wonderful inspiration from the team on today's post, so please go see it.
We're looking forward to visiting your blogs to see the wonderful marks you make 😊

I chose to make a pretty CAS card (by my standards) just to show that mark making doesn't always have to be messy or totally abstract.

I stamped some circles (I love circles) in Distress Oxides with the intention of using them to make flowers, so I drew stems and rough leaves, outlined one of the circles and added scribbles and dots here and there in black and white, just to add interest. I love that dotty washi tape.

A prolonged bout of sciatica is seriously limiting my crafting (and online) time at the moment, and the medication is really slowing me down  😟 so I'm quite pleased with the way this turned out.

I do hope you'll join us for this challenge. 
It really is very liberating to just take a pen (or two) and scribble away to your heart's content, lol. Once you've started you won't want to stop... so be adventurous and try not to overthink it!
Hope to see you there in the next two weeks 😊

Thank you for calling in today

See you soon

Cath
xxx

Monday 27 May 2019

It's taken me almost the full two weeks to make this 8x8 page for Moo Mania & More's challenge...I had to keep leaving it and coming back to it, but I finally got round to completing it today... and a lot of the added details don't really show on the scan because they're stamped in subtle greys... 😞 The path also looks misaligned, but I've only just noticed that...hey ho!
I have to admit, I found this one really challenging, but I suppose that's the whole point of a challenge. 
So, I'm nipping in and making the deadline by the skin of my teeth - again! Sorry, girls. 

I went hunting for 'door' quotes and quite liked this one, though it's a bit long. I found a similar, but shorter Bell quote afterwards, but it was too late by then. I also knew I wanted to use the verse from Revelation 3, so  I added that to the side, although the two are complementary. I have a container in which I keep stamped words - individual words and full quotes I tend to cut up - so I rooted through that and found some mismatched words that fitted what was in my head - et voilà. Ça y'est, c'est finie !

Thank you for calling in today

See you tomorrow, for the new Try it on Tuesday Challenge...

Cath
xxx

Sunday 26 May 2019

I thought I'd better get a wiggle on (that saying always makes me smile) if I wanted to take part in this months AJJ challenge, with the theme of 'In the Sky/Air',  chosen by the lovely Erika.  

So I added some Dylusions Acrylic paints over a (very) roughly painted white background in my smaller square journal, using baby wipes, then added a few clouds through a stencil - I know, I should be ashamed of myself for using a stencil for clouds 😞 but I just wanted super quick and easy, or I wouldn't have been able to enter. (I plead mitigating circumstances, lol) followed by a little bit of doodling for grass and flowers.
I then stamped and coloured the Carabelle images, cut them out and attached them to the background, adding the words last. 

The stars around the head of the poor little birdie are because our pretty, innocent looking little girl has just knocked him our of the sky on one of his first, shaky flights...well, in my head, anyway 😉  Or maybe he's just been pushed out of the nest? You can decide...

The da Vinci words I used have a special meaning for me and although I do have a stamp of them, it's in typical da Vinci (barely legible and very small) font, so I thought I'd write them out myself. I probably didn't get it quite right cos I did that from memory, so forgive me if I got it wrong. I have a feeling the word 'again' isn't in the quote, but never mind - it fits.

While I'm sharing that, I'll also share a couple of other cards I made with the little girl and her balloon. One from a couple of weeks ago, the other from a couple of days ago. The first one has a very 'noisy' background, so it isn't quite what I wanted, despite adding the stencilled circles to tone it down...the flowers are a Chocolate Baroque border stamp.

This one is on another Dylusions background (smooshed pastel colours) and I really love the 'ice cream' colours. They're very soothing and make me think of childhood, which is why I used the little girl on it. I added the alphabet background (Carabelle again) stamped with Dried Marigold Oxide as an afterthought, just to add a little interest, though it didn't really need it. I coloured her with Promarkers/Copics, which is why the paint on her face shows through. I used the words from her set and the idea of the scalloped 'ground' (a Dylusions border stamp) was 'borrowed' from here because I thought it looked so good. I used a strip of washi tape for the bottom bit.


I'll link the journal spread to Not Just Cards, which is always ATG and the card above to 
Crafty Creations, which is also ATG, the first card I'll link to Simon Says Stamp Mondays, where the challenge is to use Stencils.

Thanks for popping in today


Hope to see you again soon


Cath
xxx

Wednesday 22 May 2019

Allsorts are celebrating their 10th birthday, just as we are at Try it on Tuesday, so I just had to take part, especially because I wasn't able to take part in last week's challenge.

I'm having to keep things quite simple at the moment, so I decided I'd use my big cake with lots of candles stamp (which I love) for this one... I enjoyed the colouring with my beloved Prismas 😊  It looked great until I decided to add the words 'Bring on the cake'... I cut the stamp up to make it easier, then stamped it on each side of the image - and managed to get a black smudge from I've no idea where! So I had to restamp, cut it out and attach it over the smudged bit. It's not too bad but I liked it more before. The ground is stencilled with Hickory Smoke Distress ink.
Happy Birthday, Allsorts!


The challenge at Addicted to Stamps is Flowers, so I'd like to link this one. 
I stamped various circle stamps in different colours of Distress Oxides, then drew stems, a rough circle around one of the stamps, added some dots and doodled a few leaves and squiggles, then added the insects, the dotty border and the Happy Birthday.


Addicted to Stamps and More have a Make Your Mark challenge, so I'm linking to that because of the doodled and hand drawn bits.
Dare 2B Artsy also have a Flower challenge.

Penny Black and More have a Feminine challenge, with an Anything Goes Option, so I thought I'd use a 'different' kind of feminine image... which also has a stencilled background that made me think of lilypads on a pond, which I why I used it. I'll link it to Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, which is to use Stencils. I was inspired to buy this stamp after seeing Yvonne's lovely journaling with it 😉 - that's my excuse, anyway. Adding the bulrushes really does make the image look smaller. The words on the image became a little blurred with my (bad) painting and even worse over writing, so I added the words below. 


I'll be back soon

Thank you for visiting today

Cath
xxx

Tuesday 14 May 2019

Just nipping in to post a card for Moo Mania and More, whose current theme - Just One Word - ends tomorrow!

This card is made with a die cut over watercolour paper, then Oxide stencilling over a masked bee. I quite enjoyed making this simple card... the honeycomb theme is carried over to the inside, too, as inspired by Lols, who often decorates the inside of her cards to match. 



I'm also linking to Paperminutes, whose theme is Birds and Bees.

 Thank you for calling in today

I'll be back soon

Cath
xxx

https://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.com/
There's a new challenge from today over at 
Try it on Tuesday

Let's Party! 
Celebrate our 10th Birthday

We'd love you to join us!
Feel free to interpret the theme in your own, unique way, using any medium you prefer - just have fun.

*******
I decided to use those entertaining sheep, who love to party in the fields when no one is watching...

My background is smooshed Distress Inks, and the sheep are stamped in place, then stamped on white card, coloured with Prisma pencils, cut out  and edged in black ink before attaching to the card.
Stamped and cut out flags were attached to Baker's Twine to complete the party decoration. I love the little guy playing the guitar 😊 but I should've given him a bit of 'ground' so he didn't look as if he's in mid air - or maybe he's jumping up in glee?
  
We'd love you to join us.
Don't forget to check out the fabulous artful inspiration from the rest of the team at Try it on Tuesday.
Look forward to seeing you there!

Thanks for popping in today

I'll be back soon

Cath
xxx

Friday 10 May 2019

Good Morning!
Just nipping into the Allsorts Challenge, Pretty in Pink, before it closes, later today. I'm not getting as much crafting time as usual at the moment and when I do get some, I'm really  S-L-O-W!!!

So, yesterday, I sat down with the intention of creating a pretty pink floral card so that I could also enter other challenges, but it isn't quite what I intended because I was drawn to play with these Lavinia flowers, which aren't exactly 'Country Garden'-ish - though it has its own charm - I think. I was aiming for a CAS card - but as you can see, less definitely became more...

I smooshed Victorian Velvet, Spun Sugar and Worn Lipstick Oxides onto my card, adding water droplets, then stamped the gorgeous Lavinia flowers, which I love. They just looked a little lonely on the pink card...so I added a few more of the smaller stamps, then after clear embossing, I stamped a Hero Arts Birthday text stamp repeatedly over the background, using Worn Lipstick. I coloured the flowers with Prisma pencils, adding some Pink Posca and white gel pen to the smaller ones. I really should have photographed it because the scanner hasn't captured all the nuances of the various shades of pink, which is a shame. They're actually quite pretty in real life  😉


I'll also link it to Penny Black and More, where the challenge is Feminine and/or ATG.

This next one is quite simple but is suitable for Stamping Sensation's English Country Garden theme, even though I've used die cuts. I cut them from watercolour paper, then added various layers of watercolour paint to them to get a bit of depth and variation in colour.


I'd also like to link to the following:-


Die Cut Divas, Flowers

*****

Thank you so much for visiting today.

I'll be back soon
(not tomorrow - I'll be at Port Sunny, all being well!)

Cath
xxx

Thursday 9 May 2019

Mornin' all!

Thought I'd share a couple of birdie cards this morning. I love these whimsical birds from Paperartsy  - so much fun. The first card I made is on a cloudy background, made with torn paper and Distress Oxide inks. I used some of the clouds from the stamp set, and somehow managed to stamp a few upside down, but I just went with it, adding a little lightly stamped rain. The birds are coloured with Prisma Pencils, though I confess that I had coloured the faces and the wings - even glittering the wings - then decided I didn't like them, so stamped again and cut out the heads 😉 to stick over them. The words are another old (mounted) House Mouse stamp.


On this card, the birds are stamped onto a smooshed Oxide background, followed by a little stencilling and a Chocolate Baroque border stamped over a stamped and coloured grassy bit at the bottom. After colouring with Prismas, I decided to colour over the faces and wings with Posca pens, for a bit of pink - for a change. The problem with Prismas is they tend to obscure the stamped edges, so I outlined them again in black Posca, which is probably a little too heavy...but it gives them a little bit more whimsy, so I decided to go with it. The butterflies are cut from some Washi tape. I had intended to make a page for one of my journals, to fit in with Erika's Art Journal Journey challenge, but instead, it became another card...  they're fun to play with, though, so I'm sure I'll be using them again soon.


I'm linking to the following challenges:-

Creatalicous, ATG, optional Flowers

Thank you so much for stopping by, today...

I'll be back soon

Cath
xxx

Friday 3 May 2019

Good morning Peeps!

The theme at Allsorts Challenge this week is Mother's Day or Feminine, so, since we've already had Mother's Day in the UK, I made a feminine card, using some of my latest favourite images.

The background is smooshed Oxides in shades of purple (Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves, Mulled Lavender) with a touch of Squeezed Lemonade and some Fossilised Amber for the sun behind the tree and Salty Ocean for the sky. The tree is a Lavinia stamp and the girls and words are from Jane Davenport, coloured with Prisma Pencls. I tried scanning this, but the colours were so far out, I took a photo instead and it's much truer to life. It's not the perfect tree for this idea, but it's a tree I love, so I used it anyway 😉  I toyed with adding some stencilling in the background, but decided against it, though I may try it next time I use the images.


Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday Challenge is also Feminine, or Add a sentiment, so I'll link to that and to
Creative Knockouts, whose theme is Friendship

Timeout have chosen 'Playful' for their theme, and I think this fits that theme perfectly. I'll also link to 
Make My Monday's Wings theme.

I love this oddball fairy but I also love the House Mouse words, which I've had for a LONG time!
I went back to my beloved Adirondack inkpads for this colour combination, lightly sponging Raspberry and Clover on the background, then colouring the fairy with Prisma Pencils. The leaves and 'buttercups' are Lavinia Stamps.


Thank you for calling in today 😊

I'll be back soon

Cath
xxx