Butterfly happiness

Hi again, we have an invasion of bats outside at the moment screeching and carrying on!

The spotted gum trees are in blossom and the bats must love them. They roost a few kilometres away from here in some trees by the river. When you look at the sky on dusk there are hundreds of them flying by!

I received this Memory Box sentiment stamp for christmas and paired it with a butterfly from my stash of finished images. The background is another faux glazed glass watercolor. I'm getting addicted to making them!

The challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday is for a winter wonderland, so I've gone with blues and silver.

The theme at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday is to make it sparkle. As well as the bling, I've added Finetec silver paint in the background and as a border for the panel, it really shimmers and sparkles, though it's hard to see in the pic.

Supplies:
Kuretake and Finetec watercolor paints; Darkroom Door butterfly coloured with prismacolor pencils; Memory Box sentiment.

Thanks for visiting,
Cathy x

Snowy look a like!

Hi everyone, I'm still playing with my new dog die, although some of the other new toys are beckoning to me!

My boys used to read Tintin books when they were younger and one of them said this wee dog looked like Snowy!

I think this card fits the mixed media challenge at Happy Little Stampers.

I looked up the guidelines as it's not a style I do very often. Stamps, ink and 2 other methods of adding dimension.

So the sentiment, which is from one of the sets I was lucky enough to win at Happy Little Stampers, covers the first part. I've used snow tex paste to add texture to the dog and an embossing folder to add interest to the base card. 

I'm also adding another entry to the snippets playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

In addition to the collar and stars, the tartan ribbon is a scrap I saved from a christmas cake we received! I had to cut the width in half as it was too wide to thread through the tag, some glossy accents at the base will hopefully stop it fraying.

Edited to add: I'm also linking up to the anything goes challenge at Happy Little Stampers anything goes challenge. Thanks Kylie!

Supplies:

Marianne scotty dog die; MFT traditional & pierced stax tag dies; Fiskars star punch; Happy Little Stampers Mix Mash sentiment (masked to stamp separately); versacolor white ink & white ep; distressed stripes embossing folder.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Doggie birthday

Hi everyone, I hope you had a blessed Christmas and are enjoying the rest of the festive season.

I've had a lovely time catching up with family.

This wee dog was one of my chrissy presents. I diecut him and was all set to use him when hubby suggested he needed fur! Snow tex to the rescue. I added black acrylic paint to colour it.

The background is one of my watercolors using Sandy Allnock's technique of faux glazed glass that I've used heaps of times. I love making them.

Di and the crew at the snippets playground are having a massive celebration so I'm joining in at

Pixie's Crafty Workshop. There are lots of lovely prizes to win and you only need to use 1 snippet.

The dogs and their collars and the grass are all cut from scraps, most of which went back into the box for another day as there was a tiny bit that might still be perfect for a diecut!

At Seize the Birthday there's an option of using red & white. I've gone for the anything goes birthday option.

Supplies:

Marianne scotty dog die; Poppy Stamps grass die; Snowtex paste; black acrylic paint; Kuretake and Finetec watercolor paints; distress inks; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Stained glass watercolor

Hi everyone, I hope your Christmas preparations are going well. I'm having a break from house work and will venture out for last minute shopping tomorrow.

I've made a few more watercolored panels with my Kuretake paints, it's so relaxing and if you're not happy with the results just add more water!

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge is calling for Just a Pinch.

I used a pinch or spash of Finetec gold watercolor paint on my panel.

At Seize the Birthday there is an option of red & white. I've gone with anything goes birthday.

At Simon Says Stamp Wednesday it's die crazy.

I've used Memory Box Willow Dragonfly and Lucienne Tile.I think the tile diecut makes the panel look like stained glass.

Inspirational is anything but Christmas.

and so is Allsorts.

Supplies:

Memory Box Lucienne Tile and Willow Dragonfly dies: Kuretake Gansai & Finetec watercolor paints; twinkling H2O's; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Butterfly best wishes

Hi everyone, I think I've finally finished my christmas cards!

I needed a few other types though as the end of the year often means changes ahead.

This one is for a friend who is moving on.

I fussy cut the butterflies, one of my favourite techniques, so I'm linking up to the 

Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge.

A couple of other challenges want anything but Christmas.

Inkspirational

and Allsorts

Supplies:

Penny Black social butterfly stamp; versafine ink & clear ep; tombow pens; water brush; Annabelle Stamps sentiment; petal pleasures embossing folder.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Golden green christmas tree

Hi everyone, this card was so quick and easy to make.

I had some watercoloured paper that was too dark for what I wanted so I decided to die cut it.

Here's a scrap that shows the sparkle. I used kuretake paints and Finetec gold paint.

I'm linking up to the challenge at Outside the Box where the theme is season's greetings.

This die is almost the first Memory Box die I bought and I still love it.

At CASology the theme is tree.

At Addicted to Stamps & More the theme is Clean & Simple.

Supplies:

Watercolor paper; Kuretake and Finetec watercolor paints; Memory Box Flowering Christmas Tree die; liquid pearls; Stately embossing folder; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

have a great week, Cathy x

Painted vellum dragonflies

Hi everyone, I've been busy making some large cards for a colleague who needs them tomorrow.

This is one of my regular C6 cards as a practice.

It's lucky I had the larger dragonfly die as well as this small one as these were way too small for the larger cards proportions. 

I'm linking up to the challenge at Addicted to Stamps & More where the theme is clean and simple.

At Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge it's your favourite technique.

One of my favourite's is this faux glazed glass technique that Sandy Allnock has a  video tutorial on

here.

I applied a little bit of colour and lots of water, drying in between layers. It's a lot of fun,

My dragonflies are cut from scarps of vellum and painted with twinkling H2Os.

And yes I put the scraps back into the snippets box as there was a still some use in them!

I'm visiting the playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop. You only need to use 1 scrap to join in the fun.

Supplies: 

Kuretake watercolor paints; Finetec silver paint; Memory Box willow dragonfly die; twinkling H20s; vellum; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Snowflake bauble

Hi everyone, I've been in the craft room for most of the day today!

When it cools down a bit more I need to venture out to bring our chrissy tree and ornaments out of storage.

 It's already late being put up but I'm earlier than I was last year!

I was inspired to make this card by this beauty over at Stamping with Loll.

I dont have any Inka Gold pastes (yet lol!) so I used blue and silver gelatos to smoosh my watercolour paper in. Loll's cards are so inspiring and she has some fabulous tutorials on the techniques she uses, I've been enabled many a time lol!

I'm linking up to the challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday where the theme is let it snow.

At Cuttlebug Mania the theme is embossing.

I've used a Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder and the Spellbinders ornament die cuts and embosses when you run it back through the Cuttlebug with a tan mat.

At Addicted to Stamps & More it's a holiday theme.

At Allsorts the theme is Clean & Simple.

Supplies:

Cuttlebug snowflakes embossing folder; Spellbinders Mix n match ornaments dies; MFT pierced and traditional tag dies; Gelatos; Annabelle Stamps sentiment from Gifted Swirls set; Delicata silver ink; Finetec silver ink to paint the edge of the larger tag; silver metallic paper and silver cord.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Blue butterfly on fresh foliage

Only a couple of weeks of school left and I've got a huge list of cards I need to make!

I need to spend more time making and less time looking and shopping for products I love the look of lol!

I'm linking up to Addicted to Stamps & More where the theme is to make your mark.

My butterfly is coloured with Inktense pencils.

At Simon Says Stamp Wednesday the theme is anything goes.

I'm also linking another entry to Cuttlebug Mania's embossing challenge.

I embossed my background layer with Papertrey Ink's woodgrain cover plate.

I stamped the sentiment quite a few times as there seems to be a shadow on the image, but that's just how it stamps.

Supplies: 

Inkadinkadoo butterfly stamp; Mama Elephant Everyday Greetings stamp; versafine ink & clear ep; Inktense pencils; Memory Box fresh foliage die coloured with distress inks; Papertrey Ink woodgrain cover plate; stickes.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Red & Green floral tag

It's stormy outside at the moment so I'm hoping our power doesn't go off! We do need the rain though.

I'm linking up to the challenge at Scrapbook Boutique where they have this gorgeous inspiration pic.

I was inspired by the red and green but needed a birthday card rather than a christmas card.

My flowers are punched from scarps of red card so I'm also visiting the snippets playground at 

Pixie's Crafty Workshop

Supplies:
Distressed stripes embossing folder; MFT tag dies: Stampin Up leaf punch; EK Success flower punch; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,
Cathy x

Embossed flourish tag

I've used up the last of my flower shop stash so will have to stamp and fussy cut some more!

The challenge at Cuttlebug Mania is embossing and to use a manual machine.

 This folder is flourish by Kaisercraft. It leaves a  deep impression and only just seemed to fit through my cuttlebug with the normal embossing sandwich. I've used a couple of distress inks to highlight the details.

At AAA Cards it's anything goes CAS.

Supplies:

MFT tag stax die; Elizabeth Craft Designs curvy leaf die; Kaisercraft flourish embossing folder; Stampin Up flower shop stamp; vellum; versamark ink, clear & gold pearl ep; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Floral anniversary tag

Hi everyone, I'm using up images and diecuts from my stash.

I love fussy cutting so usually stamp lots of flowers and butterflies and put them aside

 to use later.

At Addicted to CAS the code word is dimension.
I've added dimension by using a white layer and a vellum layer for the flowers and popping them up on foam tape. I've also glued the flourish diecut to add dimension to the tag, and shaped the small punched flowers with a stylus.



At Addicted to Stamps & More it's an anything goes theme.

At Allsorts the challenge is to use 3 or more diecuts.
I've used 2 different tag dies and a flourish die.

I punched my tiny flowers from snippets of gold paper and vellum so I'm visiting the snippets playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Supplies:

MFT tag and pierced tag stax dies; MFT fancy flourish die (cut in two); punch Bunch tiny flower punch; Stampin Up flower shop stamps; vellum; gold & versamark ink; gold and clear ep; sentiment sticker; Kaisercraft pearls.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Crackled Christmas Ornaments

I bought some picket fence distress crackle paint ages ago and decided to have a practice on some diecut ornaments. I used scraps of black cardstock so that shows through the crackles. After colouring with some distress inks I coated them with glossy accents for a bit of shine.

At Allsorts the challenge is to use at least three diecuts.

I've used the Brittany ornament base, the star from the Avondale ornament and woodland branch dies.

At Simon Says Stamp Wednesday the theme is Christmas.

The Card Concept has a festive glory theme with this gorgeous inspiration pic.

My card fits the clean and layered style.

Just us Girls has a colour challenge of red, green and gold.

I used scraps of black card for the ornaments and green for the branches so I'm also visiting the snippets playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Supplies:

Dies: Poppy Stamps Brittany & Avondale ornaments; Memory Box woodland branch.

Other: Martha Stewart branch punch; gold paper; white picket crackle paint; red & green distress ink; glossy accents; Sizzix embossing folder (part of a christmas set); sentiment sticker; gold cord & bling.

Thanks for visiting, Cathy x