Blessed
3 hours ago
Thursday, 7 November 2019
Today is Izzi's 7th birthday...where do the years go?
As with most little girls, I'm sure, she is 7 going on 27 and thinks Nannie (and especially her shoes) just 'has no style'! I love her to bits and am incredibly thankful for her - she's my only grandchild.
I'm going to pick her up from school with my son and his wife, then we're all going out, so I won't be around much at all today.
My contribution to Leah's Art Every Day Month. today is her birthday card... which was fun (but a bit fiddly) to make. I used Oxides for the background, with lots of spatters of water, silver and white acrylic and Promarkers/Copics and Glitter Gel Pens for the aliens. The words didn't stamp properly because the stamp is uneven, which is such a shame, but I think I'll get away with that...there are lots of glittery bits - even glittery starry night embossing powder around the edges AND a few gems...which I very rarely use. Little girls like glittery things 😉
Inside it says, 'You are my favourite earthling'.
I'm playing along with
Addicted to Stamps and more's ATG challenge
Stamp & Fun = Creativity, Stars
Send a Smile 4 Kids, ATG (or Christmas/holidays)
I'm playing along with
Addicted to Stamps and more's ATG challenge
Stamp & Fun = Creativity, Stars
Send a Smile 4 Kids, ATG (or Christmas/holidays)
I'll be back soon
Cath
xxx
Wednesday, 6 November 2019
Today's offering is an experiment with colours and mediums...it's a bit of a mishmash of vivid colour, using acrylics, Neocolor crayons, gel pen, a stencil or two and Posca pens... I just kept adding bits with no aim in mind. As you can tell, the badly drawn (smaller) leaves are mine...he, he - the larger ones are stencilled. No stamping on this for a change...just lots of doodling.
As I was playing, I was thinking about leaves and the cycle of life. Beautiful, new, green leaves gradually change and become individual works of art, each with their own individual colours...but always beautiful. Seasons are necessary, even if we don't always welcome them with open arms. We can learn a lot from nature. So today I'm thankful for seasons and especially for the different seasons in my life. Each one has its own treasures - its own fruit - and with each one comes new grace for the moment.
The berries are there for Rike's AJJ challenge, which is fruit and/or veggies and I'm linking to Leah's Art Every Day Month.
Why not join us? There's no need to create every single day...
Thank you for calling in today
Back soon
Cath
xxx
Tuesday, 5 November 2019
It's Bonfire Night - yay!
But no, I'm not celebrating Guy Fawkes night - oh how we used to love this time of year, walking around with our 'swede' (turnip) lanterns in the dark and sharing goodies like treacle toffee, jacket potatoes cooked in the bonfire and black eyed peas...not to mention the fireworks in everyone's gardens...it was so exciting. It's all organised events now, with very few actual bonfires...no competitively created 'guys'... nothing at all like it was. But it IS much safer and that's a good thing. I'm celebrating the beauty and wonder of the everyday.
Today's page is a continuation of yesterday's in some ways ...I'm thankful for the beauty in the things we take for granted and don't even notice most of the time.
I chose to use a flower again, using a Studio Light image over another Oxide reinker background. This time I used Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick and Toasted Marmalade and did a bit of simple stencilling, colouring the flowers with acrylic paint, Copics (leaves and stems) and white gel pen, and part stamping some random words. I found the words in my treasured stamped words box (I try to remember to stamp words more than once, so that I can pick out individual words to use in journalling) and they fitted what was in my head...
May we never lose the wonder of the ordinary things in life, things like the comfort of being able to kick back, relax and unwind in our own home.
I'm linking to Art Every Day Month again...lovely to see you again if you're popping in. It's wonderful to see the diversity in the other participants' creativity and to learn new things...
Thanks for popping in today.
Back soon
Cath
xxx
Monday, 4 November 2019
Today's page was meant as a homage to Tracy Evans, but became almost a copy...with different stamps and a different stencil, but still the same idea and technique. It looks very different, though.
I used a Donna Downey stencil and a Visible Image flower, stamped on book paper, background created with Oxide reinkers. the contrast is made by spraying part of the stencil, then laying it over the background to oxidise the inks and remove a bit of colour. I love the way it turned out, even though you can see the corner of the stencil...I was trying to avoid the larger circles, so had to use the edge.
So, today I'm thankful for the little things - the things that surprise me and bring a smile to my face. This one was seeing a new flower on my clematis - I'd already been surprised by the appearance of one, last week, but the second one just made a difference, somehow, in the midst of cold, wet and windy weather. Or it could be an unexpected visit (text, call or card) from a friend or family - or a beautiful sunset or starry sky...those little things that make you glad to be alive. But also the times when God speaks to me (and my spirit pings!) or shows me something I hadn't realised until then - those times when he feels especially close. That's why I chose those words...each little surprise strengthens all of these in me. Every little unexpected smile is a precious gift from him.
I am, of course, joining Art Every Day Month with this.
I'm also joining Mix it Up, where the challenge is ATG optional watercolour and Simon Says Stamp Mondays Journalling challenge.
I'll have to remember to journal some fruit and veggies soon, for AJJ.
Thanks for popping in
Back soon
Cath
xxx
Sunday, 3 November 2019
I rooted through my stamped, coloured image container and found these two friends...and the words were from a Visible Image plate that just happened to be out...so I daubed some Distress Oxide Cracked Pistachio across the bottom of a page, sponged on some baby blue acrylic, blended a little, then used a couple of stencils for the white rain (or snow?).
Once I'd stuck down my two birds and sketched in the ground, I decided to add the washi tape for interest... I cut the words up, attached them, then decided to draw a speech bubble. For some reason, there's a cloud stamp in the middle of the words and because that was in my head, I had the idea of adding a personal rain cloud over the poor, miserable goosey... I painted it, outlined it and added dots for fun.
This page was fun to make and made me smile 😊
But I couldn't get 'Why does it always rain on me?' out of my head, afterwards...
Voilà... my 'Thankful in November #3' is done.
Today, I'm thankful that it's okay to not be okay - as long as it's only sometimes!
Linking, of course, to AEDM 2019.
Thanks, Leah. See you all some time later, I hope!
Thanks for popping in today
See you soon
Cath
xxx
Saturday, 2 November 2019
Day 2 of Art Every Day Month on Leah's Creative Every Day blog.
I'd already coloured and fussy cut lots of shrooms for TIOT's Colours of Autumn challenge, so my page today is a celebration of Autumn and all its blessings.
I used Distress Inks for the background, including the stamping, adding touches of Warm Umber and Antique Gold paint.
I'm also happy to be able to join the challenge on Art Journal Journey Blog, which is 'Fruit or Veggies' and Mix it Up's Anything Goes challenge, with the option of Watercolour (I watercoloured the leaves with Distress Inks).
I'm also playing along with Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge, which is Journalling, Country View Challenges' Hand Stamped, The Artistic Stamper Challenge's Mix it Up and with More Mixed Media's Orange Challenge (Toasted Marmalade and Rusty Hinge DIs).
Thanks for popping in
I'll be back soon
Cath
xxx
Friday, 1 November 2019
Happy November!
Wow! Where has the year gone? I can't believe it's November again and so little time to go before Christmas!
I've decided to take a risk and try to take part in Art Every Day Month again this year... sadly, I'm unable to promise to create every day but I'll do my best to create on some days and will try to get to a few of the participating blogs each day... I'll also try again to make it a month of Thanksgiving! Focusing on our blessings is always and only good for all of us.
So, I'm starting November with a Circles page, just for Moo Mania &More's current challenge. I love circles, so had a quick play on an acrylic (Liquitex) smooshed background I made yesterday, just using circle stamps. I spotted the words as I was hunting for the circles and so they became flowers...again! It's not a brilliant page - the larger criss crossed circle looks so out of place - but I like the idea and will do something similar again...this one may or may not make it to my journal, though I did resize it to fit, just in case. Love the way the circle background stamp looks around the edges...and I love squiggled stems!
Why not join us just for the month? It's lots of fun and really good for your art!
Thanks for popping in
I'll be back soon
Cath
xxx
Thursday, 31 October 2019
More leaves and a very unseasonal card - for the Northern Hemisphere!
11 very kind comments from lovely people at Thursday, October 31, 2019
Thought I'd share another quick Autumn card, which came into being simply because I couldn't read the words on the words stamp, so tried them on a small square of card and embossed in clear ep in order to show them up clearly!
This Time to Stamp maple leaf is one of my all time favourite leafy stamps - I love the fact that it's so delicate and feathery. The extra fussy cut leaves were added because they were on my desk... the curled leaf on the background is a PSX stamp. I used Distress Inks for the background and to watercolour the leaves, having stamped them in Archival inks.
I'm linking to
Addicted to Stamps & More's Photo challenge (leaves and colours)
Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday Challenge, Stamp it!
Use Your Stuff, Fall Project with at least 3 leaves...
2 Sisters on the Blog, Autumn
This card is anything but seasonal... I just fancied using this image, so here it is. It's an Oxide background with some DI watercolouring on the Studio Light flutterbies, which are stamped again, fussy cut and stuck over the stamped images...they're also finished off with some clear acrylic glitter paint from an old bottle I bought when I first started stamping, around 22 years ago! The borders were stamped with no attention to how straight they were - and yes, it's deliberate. I added some random white and black pen on the cross hatch border - I didn't want it to be alternated or 'perfect'. Maybe I should've saved this for Thankful November...sadly, you can't really see the colour variations on this - the scanner didn't pick them up but I can't photograph it because it's already in the mail...it's actually more of a lavender and green - I used Shaded Lilac and Cracked Pistachio inks, stencilling in Brilliance Lavender, to add a little sheen, and spraying in clear mica to finish.
This will be the card I link to a couple of the above challenges...
(For some weird reason, despite trying to reformat several times, Blogger won't let me centre anything above this paragraph - weird - so please accept my apologies for the mixed formatting!)
Thanks for calling in today
I hope to see some of you in November's Art Every Day challenge, as and when I'm able...
I'll be back soon...
Cath
xxx
Tuesday, 29 October 2019
Try it on Tuesday, New Challenge!
18 very kind comments from lovely people at Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Good Morning, peeps! Today, we start a new challenge over at
and the challenge is
Colours of Autumn
So dig out your paints, inks, pens and images and join us in celebrating the luscious colours of beautiful Autumn...
I've focused on 'shrooms for this one...I absolutely love fungi, and used to go hunting them down at this time of year, especially when I had a good camera. There are so many amazing varieties and colours to see - and there are some very varied smells, too 😁
Have you ever come across the humble stinkhorn? It really does live up to its name!
My Tim Holtz 'shrooms aren't really 'shrooms, of course - they're the well recognised Fly Agaric toadstools (even if they're not supposed to be...) instantly recognisable to most of us as the archetypal fairy dwelling...and they are gorgeous, despite being VERY poisonous!
Please allow me a bit of artistic licence here, because they all ended up in pretty similar colours - even the much larger one (Stampotique by Jo Capper Sandon) which is definitely not really in perspective and is a little slender for the FA....although I suppose the others could be babies...h'mm?
I used Fossilised Amber, Aged Mahogany, Walnut Ink and Toasted Marmalade DI for the background. The words (Hero Arts) are stamped in Versafine Clair Acorn and Walnut Ink DI, while the larger words are die cut alphabet letters. Oh and the blowing leaves are an old PSX stamp which only comes out at this time of year...
I even took a few photos to show off the gold paint bits... it looks really sparkly and rich. I used Promarkers and Prisma pencils to colour - albeit not very well...
Everything has been beautifully spattered with Walnut ink and Antique Gold Acrylic paint, to give it that 'tattered' windswept look...
The colour looks different because it was night time, under daylight white bulbs.
Thank you so much for popping in today. I do hope you'll join us at Try it on Tuesday and don't forget to have a peep at the Design Team's beautiful inspirational pieces... you have two weeks to play.
We look forward to 'seeing' you!
I'm linking this to Stamping Sensations' Leaves and/or Trees and/or Autumn challenge...
I'll be back soon
Cath
xxx
Sunday, 27 October 2019
The current Paper Minutes challenge is Birds...so I made this...he's clearly standing on an uneven bit of ground...😊😉
I'm also linking to the Allsorts Challenge is to Make your own background.
This one I made last week, but didn't really like the way it turned out and half pulled it apart...it has foils and gold leaf on it as well as Delicata gold and Distress inks in my favourite Autumn shades. Background stamps are from an SU leaf set. The single leaf is an old PSX stamp I love, watercoloured with DIs and fussy cut. The rough frame is bits from my scrap box..
I'm linking to
Papercraft Challenges, Fall (Autumn)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesdays, Autumn Colours
Sweet Stampers, Autumn, Halloween
2 Sisters on the Blog, Autumn
Crafty Calendar, Autumn Colours, Halloween
Thank you for popping in
I'll be back soon
Cath
xxx
Thursday, 17 October 2019
Simon Says Stamp Monday's Challenge this week is All Things Pink, while Penny Black and More's Challenge is Pretty in Pink... so I made an all pink card, also using Spots and Stripes, to fit this week's challenge at Allsorts.
I used a stencil for the stripes, a stamp for the spots (the stamp's a bit wide, but it's also created striped spots 😊), using Spun Sugar and Victorian Velvet Distress Inks, with a touch of Versafine Clair pink, which I don't like...but it is pink! The 2 part flower stamps have a solid image, but I stamped it, and the outside, in Victorian Velvet Distress Oxide, expecting it to emboss...but the Distress Inks picked up the EP instead... I quite like it, though. I also added a touch of Promarker to the petals and used it for the stems. I used a toning card for the mount (sorry the scanner can't seem to pick that up) and a Spun Sugar shade for the actual card, so the only thing that isn't pink is the sentiment.
Day of the Month Club's current challenge is Anything Goes, in honour of World Cardmaking Day, October 5th and
Time Out's challenge is to make something Encouraging.
Thank you for calling in...
I'll be back soon
Cath
xxx
Tuesday, 15 October 2019
I've been playing around with some Autumn colours, so I thought I'd share them with you before I get waylaid...
Daring Cardmakers have a 'Use up your scraps' challenge on at the moment, so once I'd fulfilled my need to stamp a pear or two 😉 I used some of my favourite card colour (rich, red brown) scraps to brighten up the card and add a little more interest. I used Promarkers to colour the pears (PSX), having embossed them in gold ep. Autumn just seems to cry out for gold and copper, don't you think? I haven't used many eyelets, either - as you can see from the pic - one of them went disastrously wrong... but I didn't want to waste my nutty coloured card - even if it is a scrap/offcut! The pear words are an old favourite from Stamp in the Hand, stamped in Versafine Clair Acorn.
I have a few baskets of scraps and offcuts, in various sizes, so I pulled out a couple to try out my new TH skeleton leaves, using various shades of Versafine Clair to stamp them and clear embossing. On one of the cards I smooshed some Distress inks (Toasted Marmalade, Rusty Hinge, Aged Mahogany and Fossilised Amber, with a touch of Walnut Ink; on the other, I sponged on the inks. My favourite seasonal Hero Arts stamp had its seasonal outing for the words, using either Acorn or Walnut ink for a contrast, with some splotch stamping around in Walnut ink and Shimmer Gold Delicata, which I edged both panels with. I wiped the excess ink off the embossed leaves with a baby wipe, to show the stamped images more clearly.
The smooshed card was just crying out for something 'natural', so I found my twine and wrapped it round, adding a metal charm with gold thread, for a bit of interest...while rooting through my charms I came across some metal words, so I thought it was about time I stopped hoarding them and used TWO! A certain friend of mine would faint if she knew I'd even used one 😅 let alone a copper one!!! (Yes, I love copper and aged metal)
Last but not least, a couple of days ago, I played with blue and grey and my Lavinia and Inkylicious stamps... I used Weathered Wood and Tumbled Glass Oxides, with a touch of Versafine Clair Paradise, some Brilliance Moonlight White and some Stormy Sky DOX. Some of the stamping was done with the Weathered Wood and Tumbled Glass, to add dimension. The (very) misty mountains (no, they're not hopping - and only we ageing Led Zeppelin fans would have a clue what I'm talking about...) in the background are inked with an Inkylicious stencil. A touch of Prismacolor pencils added a little more definition.
I'm pleased to be able to enter the following challenges:-
Sweet Stampin, Autumn Colours/Harvest
Stamping Sensations, Trees/Leaves/Autumn
Make My Monday, Fruit/Vegetables
Incy Wincy Designs, Autumn Colours
Friendship Challenge, Autumn
Love2Create, ATG
Artsy Stamper, Autumn Colours
Moo Mania & More, Count Your Blessings (Reflect)
Creatalicious, Autumn
Paper Minutes, Autumn
I've also decided that I'm going to do a charm giveaway - or two - so if you're interested, keep your eye on my posts... I have a RIDICULOUSLY large stash and they're here, by my side, waiting to be sorted out, so I know I'll have quite a few to share. I could never use what I have even if I added a charm to every card I make... I used to be a real collector, and amassed quite a number via RAKs on my Yahoo group, not to mention the remainder of those I also used to sell when I had my shop... 😌
Thank you for calling in today. I hope you're well...
I'll be back soon
Cath
xxx
Wednesday, 9 October 2019
I thought I'd play a little with my Scribble Sticks (Dinah Wakley) and here's what I ended up with...
Using a Visible Image stamp (edged with black pen, fussy cut and stuck over the stamped image) with text and graphic stamps in Versafine Clair, 2 die cuts, punched stars and some inspirational words. Plus a hand drawn border...sorry, no idea which company the words are from.
This is yet another card that really should have been a journal page...
...so today, I decided to play in my watercolour journal instead, using Aall and Create and TH stencils, charcoal, die cut letters and some scribbles à la Dinah 😉
I'm linking to
Art Journal Journey Challenge, Dreams and Wishes.
Mix it Up, Open technique (stencilling and scribbling?)
Not Just Cards, ATG
More Mixed Media, ATG + Orange (there is a little orange...)
Thanks for calling in...
I'll be back soon
Cath
xxx
Tuesday, 1 October 2019
Animal Magic - Try it on Tuesday!
24 very kind comments from lovely people at Tuesday, October 01, 2019
It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at
For this one we are asking for your interpretation of
Animal Magic
You have until the 14th October to enter, using your preferred style and medium to celebrate some of our animal friends.
We look forward to visiting your blogs.
The Design Team have some fab creations to inspire you over on the Try it on Tuesday blog, so don't forget to have a look!
Mine is pretty predictable given the fact that I tend to use these animals every chance I get - even for Christmas! I will try to make another few cards or do some journalling over the next couple of weeks... this one is very 'busy'...
I used Dylusions paints for the background - Turquoise and Lime - but try as I might, the scanner just wouldn't pick up the true colours... the darker green is Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide. I painted the balloons with Dylusions, too.
It's only in French because that's the name of a widely available French cheese spread, La Vache Qui Rit , though you can now buy it over here as Laughing Cow (triangles). It is loosely based on a journal page I saw (Sorry, I'll have to get the link later). Words created with a labeller.
I'm happy to be playing in the following challenges:-
Allsorts, Boys to men (made for a cheese loving man)
Simon Says Stamp on Wednesdays, Anything Goes
Always Fun Art Challenges, Anything Goes
I'm happy to be playing in the following challenges:-
Allsorts, Boys to men (made for a cheese loving man)
Simon Says Stamp on Wednesdays, Anything Goes
Always Fun Art Challenges, Anything Goes
Thank you so much for visiting today
Back Soon
Cath
xxx
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