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56 minutes ago
Friday, 15 May 2020
Good morning, peeps!
Just popping in to share my playtimes from the last couple of days.
Firstly, I just had to use this word background stamp because I think it's brilliant 😁
I finally decided to get some more Gesso because I'd been playing with the thickened remains of a pot I'd had for years.
Leandra from Paperartsy showed us how to use Gesso as a background element at a Katy's Corner Stamp Camp, when Distress Inks were first introduced. So, using an old credit card, I added some to this piece of card, then added Picked Raspberry and Fossilised Amber Oxides over it. I love the randomness of colour the gesso creates. After drying, I stamped and clear embossed the words. I thought this gorgeous Stampendous butterfly would work well over it, so I stamped and embossed it over the words, painting with some very watered down gesso, just to 'knock back' the colour, even though very little of it would be visible when it was finished. I used foam tape to add the stamped and die cut butterfly, then cut out and added some of the words from the background stamp.
I've been playing with backgrounds a lot lately and this was one I'd made with Peacock Feather, and Twisted Citron Oxides, plus lots of water. I wanted to bring out the colours, and take the focus off the yellowy, dingy tones these two inks can make when they blend, so I played around with it, stamping in the same two colours. as usual, but it was still a bit dark. So I added some stamping in white, to lighten it. I'm always amazed at how much a little bit of white can change the whole tone. The white circle was an afterthought, added with the help of one of my favourite stencils.
This is the photo...
...and this is the scan - which shows the Twisted Citron a bit more.
I love the shape of this flower and the fact that it isn't a flat image, so to enhance that a little, I used foam tape to stick the central one down. I definitely have 'a thing' about foam tape at the moment 😀 I added some dewdrops with Nuvo Crystal Drops and some Liquid Pearls to the flower centres, with some Posca pen dots.
This one is the result of a playtime with Neocolor watercolour crayons on a tall, slim scrap of card. It began with just scribbling blocks of colour, stencilling with a baby wipe, then adding some background words, stencilling the tree, and the words to finish it off.
Linking to
Make My Monday, Tone on Tone
Allsorts, Anything Goes
Dare2bArtzy Challenge, In the Garden
International Art and Soul, Flowers and Butterflies
Friendship Challenge, Anything that can fly
A Place to Start, Create a Custom Background
Thanks for calling in today
Stay safe!
Back soon
Cath
xxx
Monday, 11 May 2020
'It's a Dog's Life'
I couldn't think of any better way to celebrate our four-legged friends than to use the Tim Holtz Crazy Dogs stamps and dies. They are so much fun!
In fact, I would go as far as to say that the Tim Holtz Crazy Birds and Crazy Dogs changed my stamping style completely, bringing more humour and fun into my playtimes. I now have a nice collection of humorous stamps and really enjoy using them to bring a smile to people's faces.
Because I wanted a backdrop for my doggies, I began by using an embossing folder.( Unfortunately, there's no brand name on it, but any embossing folder would work well), leaving a bit of space at the bottom unembossed.
A little colour was added by lightly swiping Weathered Wood and Antique Linen Distress Inks over a craft mat, spritzing with a little water, then smooshing the embossed card through it. It needed a 'ground', so I added some grass to the plain bottom of the card, using an ink blender with Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide and a grass stencil.
The thing I love most about dogs is their desire to please their owners, so these little cuties are trying to please by giving one of their biggest treasures - a bone 😉
(I can't tell you how many times my dog used to drop a very mucky bone at my feet - and often one he'd just dug up from where he'd buried it in the garden!)
Having stamped, coloured (using Copics) and die cut the dogs, the bowl and the bone, trimming off some of the edges as required, I edged each one with permanent black pen, to add definition.
After wrapping a scrap of ribbon around the bone, I fixed it in place in the dog bowl.
I stuck everything down with Tacky Glue, foam squares and tape, doubling up on the bits that were at the front.
I needed a greeting, so I chose 'You Rock' from the Aall and Create Rocking Corns stamp set. I embossed it with White Embossing Powder onto a die cut label, which I attached with Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Fasteners.
Finally, I mounted the front onto black card, mounted over green and attached to the white base card.
Just to make the dogs more 'cool', I die cut some glasses and attached them with foam tape 😊
It's a great card for a boy or a man and they can be so difficult to make.
Please do join us at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this week.
You have until 1pm (GMT) UK time on Monday 18th May to add your link.
Linking to:-
Challenge Up Your Life - Animals
Fab'n'Funky, Cute Critters
If you made it this far, thank you so much for sticking with it and for calling in today...
Back soon
Stay safe!
Cath
xxx
Saturday, 9 May 2020
Bright colours can be mood changing - well, I think so 😊 at least - but sometimes the colours we use reflect our moods, don't you think?
So I thought I'd play with some...
I just added Oxides to a piece of card, splattered and dripped water, then stamped and clear embossed over them. Stamping again on white cardstock, I fussy cut the image, then adhered it over the stamped one. The letters were added in my stamping platform, though I had to add some with a black Posca pen because they wouldn't stamp over the card I'd stuck on! Words are from another typewriter stamp set with some great words.
This is my 'go to' image for conquering 'adversity' at the moment. I just think the idea of standing on the problem - the whale (think Jonah) - is super symbolic. Just remember, everyone - this WILL PASS!
It's for a friend who's having a really difficult time right now, so I just wanted to encourage her.
LOVE this Inkylicious background stamp and here, I used it a little like a gelli plate, blending bits of Peacock Feather and Salty Ocean onto the stamp.
Linking to:
Allsorts, Anything Goes
Daring Cardmakers, Inky Backgrounds
Thank you for calling in
Back soon
Stay safe!
Cath
xxx
Wednesday, 6 May 2020
Good morning!
Allsorts and Paper Minutes both have a Butterfly challenge at the moment, so I thought I'd play with my favourite butterfly stamp, small though it may be.
I played with some Oxide colours I haven't really used together and some I haven't touched in a while. I think I'm getting excited at the thought of new Distress colours to play with - how sad am I? But there's nothing like being inspired by new possibilities :-)
So on this one I used Dusty Concord, Pumice Stone (for the leaves behind the flowers) and Mulled Wine. I used a mixture of sponging and smooshing on the background. The text stamp is one of my oldest Hero Arts word background stamps that I pull out to play with every so often.
Blue Oxide shades came next... so I used Blueprint Sketch, Shaded Lilac and a smattering of Wilted Violet. The background is random bits of an Aall and Create stamp, a Time to Stamp prototype stamp and random stencilling with Aall and Create's Lotza Dots. The TH bloom is coloured with inks and alcohol ink Prisma pencils. I found the 'One day at a time' on my desk, but I have a feeling it had fallen off a card from one of the lovely ladies on KCUK. I just thought it would be perfect for now, this very moment in time.
This started life as a stencil clean off sheet, to which I added a bit more smooshing with Seedless Preserve and Weathered Wood Oxides. The stamps are Lavinia, and were stamped multiple times with different colours - sometimes spritzed with water - including some Blueprint Sketch. I overstamped some of them with Versamark and clear embossed them to make them stand out a bit more.
Linking to:-
Retro Rubber, Use flowers (Hero Arts stamp about 15 years old, flowers over a year)
A Place to Start, Create a Custom Background
Dare2BArtzy, In the Garden
Stamping Sensations, Say it with Flowers
That's it for today
Thank you for calling in and stay safe, everyone!
Back soon
Cath
xxx
Monday, 4 May 2020
I'm really honoured to have been invited to create for the Designer Spotlight for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge during the month of May.
I'm 'chuffed' to be a small part of one of my favourite challenges.
So, without further ado, today is Monday and that means...
SPRITZ and SPLATTER
featuring PAPERARTSY STAMPS
I love Paperartsy stamps, and especially Zinski Art, so these stamps were a delight to play with 😁
When I looked at the images, I decided they would make the perfect card for my younger son's birthday. He's a bit of a party animal - loves a reason to celebrate with his friends - and because these little peeps look as if they're in Fancy Dress, I decided to go with that idea. I knew his little girl would love them, too.
I started by sponging my favourite colour combination of Distress Oxides - Peacock Feather, Salty Ocean and Wilted Violet - onto a piece of 6x6 white card, which was then spritzed and sprayed with water, tilting so the inks merged more and blotting off with kitchen towel until I achieved that wonderful variegated oxidised effect I love so much.
It was fun stamping, colouring (with soft pencils) and fussy cutting the mice from Zinski Art 44 and 45. These images are just so much fun to play with 😆 because they are such happy little creatures. (The small bird on a signpost stamp is from one of Paperartsy's very early stamp sets.) Once arranged on my card I thought about how to create a scene with them.
Having decided they would all be arriving for my son's usual, annual celebration, I added a bit more Peacock Feather ink to the base of the card, just for differentiation, then stamped the 'ground' and the side edges with Ellen Vargo Eclectica3 stamps, using Versafine Onyx Black ink and Clear embossing powder.
Next, I edged each fussy cut character with a thick permanent black ink marker, then glued them in place. A little definition was added around the images by picking up some smooshed Peacock Feather ink with a paintbrush.
(Love the little guy flying in by balloon power 😉)
Having found a tiny 'Happy Birthday' stamp for the signpost, I then needed some party words, so I decided to use die cut lettering for the word Party and found a 'Let's' stamp in my stash.
All that remained was to splatter the whole card with 'confetti', so I added a little of each matching colour of Dylusions Paint to my glass mat, then splattered with my trusty fan brush.
I hope you'll join the Challenge Fun!
You have until Monday 8am, Ohio time, 1pm UK time, and 2pm CET to add your link.
You can also join in on Instagram.
Supply List
Linking to
Thank you for calling in today - it's a pleasure to have you here.
God bless you and keep you safe in this very strange time
Till next time...
Cath
xxx
Saturday, 2 May 2020
Hello!
I've had some great playtimes lately, but today I'm sharing a couple of simple Sympathy cards I made. Sadly, there seems to be much more need for these of late.
I used this gorgeous Penny Black stamp on both - it's one of my 'go to' simply stunning images that comes in handy for lots of occasions.
The first one is stamped on Kraft card and coloured with Prismas, with a little Stylo white gel pen highlighting and some Versamark shadow stamping behind it. .
My second uses a simple CAS background I had in my background basket, made ages ago. I coloured it in similar shades of Prisma. This is one of my CAS backdrops. It doesn't need much more than a flower or leaves to complete it but always looks good.
This one is one of the results of yesterday's playtime. I didn't use one of the backgrounds from my stash, but indulged myself in some time with Peacock Feathers, Shaded Lilac and Wilted Violet Oxides and stamps I've had for a while, but not used...I think I'll 3D them next time 😉 I coloured them with Acrylics, with a bit of touching up with Prismas. I think the stray green splotches must have come from my hand, when leaning on the card to colour 😁 but I quite like them.
Linking to
Sweet Stampers, CAS
Crafting Challenge, Flowers
Sweet Stampin, Bright and Beautiful
Creatalicous, ATG
Thanks for calling in
Back soon
Stay safe!
Cath
xxx
Wednesday, 29 April 2020
Hi there. It's AGES since I blogged...sorry...
I have things to show you soon...😊 but I thought I'd share yesterday's playtime and a couple of older projects.
A little while ago I bought some thick (400gsm) card because I needed something sturdier for die cutting. When playing with an offcut one day, I noticed that the inks moved beautifully on it, especially when spritzing, so I used a piece for this Oxide background. I loved it. So yesterday I stamped it and coloured with Prisma pencils. The centre flower started as a paler lilac colour, but it was almost absorbed by the background, so I decided to change its colour to paler yellows. Because I'd coloured over the inks with Prismas, it was hard to cover the original colours, so I tried acrylic paints, then added some Prisma shading. I love these flowers and they are huge, so I'm planning something bigger with them in the next few days.
The words stamp (Stampinback, I think) is one of my all time favourites.
You can see how beautifully the water splatters show up on this card.
I used Poscas for the little touches of colour. You can also see the darker shading beneath the flowers.
This one was a 'kickback' after working on something specific. I picked up an old background for it and added a little stencilling before stamping the flower and colouring. It's richer than it looks because I used gold spray on the background and some chestnut shades, too. Maybe I'll take a photo...
I made this one a while ago but didn't blog it for some reason. I stamped a lovely friend's (Stampotique) image a while ago and just added colour and the little bird which was the remainder of something else I'd been playing with, and just happened to be on my desk...this image always brings to mind Le Petit Prince, a lovely old allegorical French book, which is a favourite of my very special friend's. There are now 'Petit Prince' stamps, which I'm very tempted to splurge on at some point.
The colours in the background create an ethereal look, though it's not so easy to see it in the scan - the words are embossed in silver, so show up better in real life.. the stars are stencilled, with a few tiny punchies thrown in. I just love the way inks mingle to create gorgeous colours like this. I'm so often surprised by the results of just throwing colour at a piece of card 😉 and seeing how they turn out.
I painted the moon with some glitter medium I bought about 20 years ago! I always love the effect it gives. The doodled borders were made with a silver Pilot rollerball pen.
I went for a walk around my yard earlier and was in awe of these gorgeous azaleas, so I thought I'd share a photo with you. It had just been raining, so you'll probably see water droplets, too. What a shame they'll soon disappear!
I'm linking to the following challenges:-
Tuesday Throwdown, Add a Doodle
Artistic Stampers, In the garden
Penny Black & More, Anything Goes
Watercooler Wednesday, Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamps & More, Make Your Mark
Well done if you made it so far...sorry it's a bit of a photo heavy post 😉
Stay safe everyone!
Thank you for calling in today
Back soon
Cath
xxx
Friday, 10 April 2020
Happy Good Friday!
Today is the day we celebrate God's amazing love - and this year, today is also my very special friend's birthday! So now that she has her card, I can share it with you.
The background is sponged, smooshed and sprtized and dribbled and splattered, using Iced Spruce, Twisted Citron and Hickory Smoke Distress Oxides. The images are a roughly stamped and clear embossed Studio Light stamp, which I also stamped onto white card, coloured, fussy cut and glued over the stamped images. Splatters - which are hard to see - are Delicata Gold and Gold UTEE, sprinkled and embossed. Circles are jar lids, used as stamps. I really enjoyed making this one.
I made this Easter card yesterday, just to wish you all a Happy Easter.
Spring is here, new life and growth are all around us.
Celebrate the hope of Easter!
The flowers are stamped with spritzed markers, then defined a little with Prisma pencils.
Linking to
Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday, Bugs, Blossoms and/or Butterflies
Penny Black and More, Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Mondays, Add Texture (UTEE)
Watercooler Wednesday, All About Occasions
Artsy Stamper Challenge, Things with Wings
Make My Monday, Make Your Own Background Paper
Simon Says Stamp Wednesdays, Moodboard
Alphabet Challenge, Anything Goes
Thank you for calling in today
God bless you and keep you safe
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter!
Cath
xxx
Tuesday, 7 April 2020
...is the theme of this month's challenge on the Stamping Sensations blog. I'd just told someone I'd taken out my splatter stamp background, made last year with this gorgeous Inkylicious stamp, and it just happens to be a rainbow. So I just needed to find a suitable image and some words...these Lavinia geese seemed to work really well. They look to me as if they're searching for the rainbow and are now looking to see what the 'pot of gold' is! I love this image. I love rainbow backgrounds but it's always difficult to choose a suitable coloured card for them. This one worked well today.
The challenge over at My Inkie Fingers is Make it Pop.
I made this card yesterday, using the newish Pink Ink flying pig stamp - it comes with dies, too, but I think they're pretty simple images to fussy cut. I stamped a couple of times and added foam tape to make the top ear and wing stand out - that seems to qualify for 'Make it Pop'!
I may just have to cut that border off because it's very limiting...I'm not a fan of square or rectangle borders on stamps. I did use the die cut for the words on this card, but won't in future. I don't really like 'cut around' words. It was fun to colour this, but until I cut off that border, I think I'll be using Miss Piggy on her own.
I'd also like to link to the Penny Black & More Anything Goes challenge.
I set a challenge for my FB group, last month - Flowers, to make it simple and here's one of the cads I made for it. I'm enjoying making backgrounds with the AAll and Create dotty stamp and stencil but I'm probably using them too much 😉
I love this flower and just ordered the larger ones, so I'll be journalling those in a day or two. It's really good not to feel bad about spending too much time stamping 😊😁
Also linking to
Make My Monday, Make your own background paper
Dragonfly Dreams, Add a flower/s
Sweet Stampin, Things with Wings
Country View Crafts Challenge, Animals
Paper Minutes, Make Someone Happy
Thank you for calling in today...
I'll be back soon
God bless you and keep you safe!
Cath
xxx
Saturday, 4 April 2020
That's the theme of our April Challenge at KCUK. We usually do monthly 'mingles' where we each send something we've made to one allotted person. This time we're going digital because mail is suspended to some countries.
This little Katzelcraft birdie was already coloured and sitting on my desk, waiting to be used. I found my bee stamps and when I saw the beehive, I suddenly thought he'd look good if he was looking up from his perch, seeing bees all around... the beehive looks as if it's floating 😉... I will use a wall or fence stamp next time, I think, but for now, I'll claim artistic licence. They must be bumble bees, looking at the size of them and the flutterbies are obviously babies, a last minute addition to include all three Bs. The branch is a die cut.
Another blossom card , too. I love this image but I seem to hit problems with the words every time I use it, lol. This time I decided to emboss in white EP, but it didn't emboss well, so I had to go over the words with a white gel pen... The words say, 'My soul sings as I stand in awe of the complete and utter beauty of nature.' I think it's an old Stampinback stamp and one of my favourites. I smooshed over the stamped flowers, then bleached out the colour, adding Prisma colour afterwards.
Linking to
Country View Crafts Challenge, Animal Magic
Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday Challenge, Bugs, Blooms and/or Butterflies
Inkspirational, Spring
Thanks for calling in today
God bless you and keep you safe!
Cath
xxx
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