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

Saturday 29 August 2020

 'Dafternoon! Hope you're all well and enjoying the weekend 😊

I thought I'd better get some more stamping uploaded or I'll have even more piling up in my folder, so I'll begin with my recent Mingle for KCUK. My theme was Bright and Beautiful. 

These three colours were on a Challenge Blog I had intended to take part in - can't find it now, but if it's still around, I will. I loved the samples in these colours, so used them on what began as a concertina book, then exploded into something bigger. That isn't the one I'm posting now, but this is what I made immediately after the first one, mainly because I enjoyed it so much AND the inkpads were out on my desk, so I made the pages while listening to podcasts.

The pages are each 4" (10cm) square, so I cut a piece of card 4" x 16" from my A3 card, which is a little thick for folding, as you'll see...😖 I just inked it with sponges, then added some background stamping and stencilling in the same colours, or water spraying with the flowers, and in black and white (Brilliance) inks.

I thought I'd taken a photo of both sides, but I clearly didn't. Sorry. I don't even know if this is the front or the back, lol. 

Then I stamped some of Janet Klein's 'borg stamps' - as I call them - coloured, fussy cut and stuck them in front of whichever stamp I used to ground them, adding little bits of stamps from the sets and a bit of doodling as I went along. I don't think I used washi tape on this one, but I certainly did on the book. 

Here's the front cover, followed by the pages. As you can probably see, I made two covers in black card, attaching each to each end of the accordion, and taping a length of ribbon across the back one so that it would meet and tie at the front. Another 4x4 for the cover and it was done. I almost redid this one, to be honest, because I added way too much background stamping for my liking, but I thought I'd get away with it once the images were on. The wall wasn't a good idea!






Most of the background stamps were StudioLight, but not all of them. This was - again - a delight to make. I don't know if you can see clearly on these photos the cracking folds. That happened with the other one, though it's taller and slimmer, so that was how it became a sewn signature book in an accordion folder... but I'll post that one next time. I made it over a week or so and it was a real labour of love because it was for someone who's very special to me. I've had a bit of an Aall and Create fest lately - it's been a lot of fun 😉

Linking to
Allsorts, Going round in circles (lots of b/g circles)
Color Crazy Challenge, Anything colouring (all images)
More Mixed Media, Anything Goes, Optional Brights

Thanks for calling in today
Stay safe and well!
Back soon
Cath
xxx

Thursday 27 August 2020

Hello, Strangers! I do hope you are well and wonderfully surviving in the Covid crisis. Life has definitely changed for most of us - and drastically for some. But change isn't always all bad.

I know, I've been a BAD blogger... sorry. I've had/still have keyboard issues, but that's not why I haven't blogged - I've been busy with one thing and another, including making a lot of mess all over my house. I also went 'off' cards for a while, so when I was able have been making other things, which I've really enjoyed 😁 But, please accept my apologies for not visiting you over the last few weeks. This laptop is the one I use in the evenings, but because I've had to relocate my external keyboard (repair that needs 'fixing' when my son escapes quarantine, following his return from Spain) and this one hasn't been working, it's been difficult. I tend to use the other one for streaming while I'm in my craft room, where I spend most of my day, even if I'm not crafting! 

But I'm here now because my main laptop keyboard decided to work and I know I need to clear some of the artwork in my folder, so I just thought I'd check out the challenges. In the meantime, I've been moved over to the new Blogger - yuk! That shows how long it is since I was here 😟

Firstly, a butterfly from Aall and Create, on a smooshed background... I do like this stamp.


My 'botanical' for SSS Mondays is Penny Black flowers, clear embossed then coloured with Prismas, on a simple sponged background, featuring one of my favourite 'go to' text stamps and a lot of dots 😊

Then the Birds... just a mess about with the owls and a try out of a stamp of some words I already had - you can see the others in the background. The background is some dotty leaves from another set. It's another sponged background. 

And this one was a 'Just for fun' card I made...I'll put photo and scan side by side and you'll just have to imagine it's in between the two! We've had so much dull weather lately, making photo taking much more difficult.
 
I'm linking to...
Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday, Anything beginning with a 'B'
Penny Black and More, Say it with Flowers

Thank you for calling in today...
I'll be back very soon
Stay well and safe!
Cath
xxx