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

Wednesday 28 October 2020

 Just a quickie to post my Autumn Glory Mingle for KCUK. It's arrived now, so I can share it 😊

I used to hunt down shrooms to photograph them and had quite a collection. I think they're amazing! Mine are very limited in shape and size, but it was fun to use them. A smooshed and sponged Distress Oxide background on an 8" tall card, with lots of text in the background. The two groups were stamped onto the card, the large one is Jo's Stampotique shroom, which I love. These colours are so comforting to play with.


Linking to
Use Your Stuff, Autumn, Fall
Sweet Stampers, Autumn or Halloween
Stamping Sensations, Autumn Glory

Thanks for Calling in today
Stay safe!
Back soon
Cath
xxx

Tuesday 27 October 2020

 Nearly two weeks since I last posted...anyone would think I wasn't stamping, but I am 😁 albeit a little more slowly than usual!

I'm here to post a mini-book I made for a friend a little while ago. I really went off making cards for a while and spent my time making pages to make into books - and will soon be doing more! In what seems like the distant past, I made a lot of small booklet/mini-book type projects for workshops. I suppose they're my first love, if I'm honest. This was the second I made in early August. I had a recipient in mind from the beginning, which isn't always how I create... but I wanted it to be specially for her.

I didn't post earlier because this was when I first used that gorgeous colour combination I used again for my next little book. It evolved as it progressed. I had intended making a tallish concertina book, but because I'm using thicker card, the folds cracked, so it became a sewn signature book. Then I kept changing the cover shape and size, so had to add more pages to cover the folded cover...but I was really happy with the way it turned out and I know it brought a smile to her face, which is what matters most, isn't it?

So, using Picked Raspberry, Peacock Feather and Wilted Violet ink, I sponged the front and back of my long piece of card, splashed with water, then added background stamping, using Studio Light and other images. I stencilled a lot on this one, mainly using Moonlight White Brilliance Ink.

Book cover

 

Book opened, showing inner back cover and pages - 4, so 8 sides

 



 
Middle Inside Cover
 
Back Covers
 

It was a lovely size to work with, so I may do more like this - I also have slightly different versions and sizes of the covers for another two hanging around in my craft room. I kept changing my mind about what I wanted to do 😁
Next time, I may have a plan in mind when I begin! I'm sure it would help 😉

Linking to
Get Creative Challenges, Favourite Colour Combo 
All Fun Challenges, Anything Goes
Dragonfly Dreams, Spooky and/or Cute (def cute!)
We Love to Create, Anything Mixed Media Goes
Bastel-traum, Background
Mix it Up Challenge, Anything Goes/Optional Distressing
Crafting Happiness, Anything Goes
Friendship Challenge, Use a Sentiment (or lots?)
Do-Al(l) Creatives, Creative Background

Thank you so much for calling in... I've been such a BAD blog visitor lately - sorry!
Stay well and safe!
Back soon
Cath
xxx

Thursday 15 October 2020

 Once upon a time, coffee time where I am would have been any time, and even in the middle of the night! But things change and now I allow myself 3 cups of caffeine each morning, followed by decaff for the rest of the day...it used to be decaff ALL the time, until I had to get up just after 5am to get to where I was working, and desperately needed that caffeine kick. Thinking about it now, I'm sure going to bed a little earlier would've been more effective, but I was often working until midnight (the joys of teaching in Adult Ed and having to provide all your own resources) so it didn't even occur to me 😁

Last night I went into my craft room to look for some images and when I realised just how many I had ready to use, I was really annoyed with myself...enough is enough! AND there are others besides...

So, I picked up a b/g I'd made last week, added stencilling and stamping to it, then added some images...not from my stash, but freshly coloured. I know... but they seemed to go with the b/g 😉
So here's the background...
  
 
And this is the finished card. I used a stencil from Visible Image, with Crackling Campfire, Aged Mahogany, Rusty Hinge, Walnut Ink and Fossilised Amber Distress Oxides, Delicata gold and Versafine Onyx Black inks. The washi tape is from my stash.
As usual on an Autumn day, it's difficult to get a good image, so I'll show you a scan and a photo 😊
Scan - accurate figure colours
Photo - more accurate background colours

I have a ridiculous number of both images and backgrounds (in various stages) to go at and still have a minibook to share, but I'll try to get more done this week, or my image stash may just keep on growing...

Linking to
Stinking Inkers, Shades of Fall
My Time to Craft, Autumnal Colours
Day of the Month Card Club, International Coffee Day
Do Al(l) Kreatives, Creative Background

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

Sunday 11 October 2020

 Hi all.

I hope you're enjoying the Autumn sunshine where you are. It's so bright and sunny here, and it can be deceiving, fooling you into thinking it's warm until you get outside and feel that sharp wind...brrr! 

My crafting and browsing time have been seriously curtailed of late, due to spinal problems, but I finally managed to finish this little concertina that I've been working on for around 10 days - very unlike me. I only had the cover to finish early in the week, but it's taken me until now to get around it it 😉

I wasn't going to get embroiled in Autumn colours and images, but how can you resist? Especially when I've just set this month's Mingle, or challenge on KCUK and chosen Autumn Glory! This isn't what I'm using, because the additional challenge is to make tall cards or tags and this certainly isn't that...

I used Crackling Campfire, Toasted Marmalade, Fossilised Amber, Aged Mahogany and Walnut Ink Oxides, smooshed for the most part, but sponged on the cover, and Versafine inks for stamping the images. I did take lots of photos, but I've just checked them and the colours are very washed out, so I'm showing you the scans.

Here's the cover...using Aall and Create stamps, Prisma pencils and gel pens. It's just over 3.75" square.


This is a photo of the inside before I decided to cut it up and use a black concertina for the backdrop.
It's also before I added some of the detail and more stencilling/shading.
Pages 1&2
Pages 3 & 4

Some of the wording is handwritten and not as well done as I'd have liked. I stamped, coloured and cut out the dragonfly and the flutterby, edging with black ink as usual, then glued over the top of the previously stamped and embossed images. The tree is from Visible Image. I enjoyed really mixing up the colours and adding more on top to change what was underneath. I had hoped to use a real nib for the flutterby, but the image is way too big for the nibs I have in my stash.

This is one I made a while ago, using Brushos over a white embossed floral background. It's on watercolour paper, so I went back in with a little pencil shading. An easy, quick card to make.


Linking to 
Stinking Inkers, Shades of Fall
Crafty Gals Corner, Fall Colours
Sweet Stampers, Autumn or Halloween
Try it on Tuesday, Autumn Colours
Do-Al(l) Kreatives, Creative Backgrounds

I'll be back soon. I still have other things to share and I'm hoping to get into my craft room again this week, all being well.
Thanks for calling in
Stay safe and well
Cath
xxx

Thursday 1 October 2020

 Hello again 😊

Just catching up with more stuff, so I thought I'd post some smiles today. Sadly, I forgot to photograph my brother's birthday card before I sent it, because it was lots of fun, but I have a couple more to share.

This feels very much out of season now, though it wasn't when I made it... I really need to get my act together again re blogging - and stamping, for that matter, at the moment. I really love Janet Klein's little peeps and things, and this is just another set I was playing with. The background is Oxides and Aall & Create, plus some stencilling. This was my first playtime with Crackling Campfire. The wings are glittery - Wink of Stella.


I really should have cut the corners off this one but I was in a rush to get the card to a special friend because I was already a day late and it was a special one. A mutual friend had passed away the morning of her birthday, so I was crying while making this and really didn't dare cut in case I got it wrong and had to start again! It's one of my favourite JK sets... I just think it's so flippin cute! But I'm annoyed with myself for even using the octagonal dies...I would've liked it more on a plain square card 😉  Sadly, we don't often think 'normally' when upset.


I also made this for her because the friend was her brother-in-law...


I love this image, though once I'd stamped and coloured it, I didn't know what to do because I had nothing in mind at the time, so it just became a simple 'Make a Wish' card. It would have worked for my brother because he collects pigs - of the pottery variety 😁 -anddefinitely not pretty pigs.

This one is a non Autumn leafy card. I have a real weakness for leaves, I have to be honest, and I fell in love with this SU set, which is really easy to use. I sent this to my Swiss friend in France and she genuinely thought I'd bought it! I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult, lol. Love the way the colours turned out. That's the beauty of Oxides, you never know what you'll get when playing with water. I stamped the leaves, then teased out the colour with a damp paintbrush, so the inks oxidised as well as providing the leafy colour. I like the images because they're interesting shapes - a little bit different from the norm, even if they're quite small. The inks looked a little eucalyptus-ish when they dried. I hope I can replicate that colour because I love it.


I'd hate to count my leaf stamps and have to admit just how many I have 😉 I've only been collecting them for 22 years... and I've just ordered more! I really wasn't going to do any Autumnal stamping this year but I've just chosen the KCUK October theme and no prizes for guessing what I chose...!

It's October, so there are lots of new challenges around, but I haven't looked at many yet. I'm really out of the habit of browsing. 

I'll link to
Watercooler Wednesday, Anything Goes
Everybody Art Challenge, Monochrome (Greens)
Sweet Stampers, Things with Wings

I hope Covid figures aren't as bad where you are as they are here... they've announced new 'stricter' measures for us today, though they don't seem to be much different from what they already were, despite the fact that we're up to 212 per 100,000 compared with my brother's area, which is 25! I went to Tesco earlier, and, despite it now being illegal, I only found ONE member of staff wearing a face covering! I can't imagine why the figures are rising fast, can you? 

Thanks for calling in today
I'll be back soon
Stay safe and well!
Cath
xxx