Love always

Hi everyone, hope all of the aussies have had a great Australia Day!

It's back to work for me tomorrow, The school term has come around so quickly!

I recycled a Johnnie Walker scotch package to cut these gears and cogs. It's a bit hard to see but there are 2 shades of red.

I diecut a heart, glued on the arrangement then stuck that onto a card base.

I diecut a heart from the top layer, stamped and embossed the sentiment, then ran it through my cuttlebug with an impression plate. I fitted this over the base card.

The heart with the cogs on it was cut from a scrap of white card, so I'm visiting the playground at

Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

The Card Concept has a love theme with this inspiration pic.

I was inspired by the woodgrain and the reds. I think my card fits the clean and layered category.

At Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge the theme is have a heart.

At Uniko Studio Challenge the theme is love and friendship.

I think this card would be ok for a guy so I'm also linking up to the masculine challenge at

Crafty Gals Corner Challenges.

Edited to add: I'm also linking up to the challenge at Time Out where it's a valentine theme with the optional twist of having a heart.

Supplies:

Memory Box gear dies; Papertrey Ink woodgrain inpression plate; MPress heart die; Annabelle Stamps sentiment; versafine ink & clear ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Birthday Gear

Hi everyone, I hope you're enjoying your weekend.

 We've had a sweltering day today so I've been in and out of our pool. It's nearly 8pm and it's finally cooling down! 

I need a masculine card for an upcoming birthday so thought I'd try a cogs and gears theme.

I die cut these gears from an envelope box as the card was nice and sturdy. I've used a mixture of alcohol inks and Hueys mists to colour them. 

I'm linking up to the challenge at Seize the Birthday. There is an optional sketch but I've gone with anything goes birthday.

The tag was punched from a snippet of white card and coloured with distress inks, so I'm visiting the playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Edited to add: I'm also linking up to the masculine challenge at Crafty Gals Corner Challenges
Thanks Becca!

Supplies:

Memory Box gear dies; Fiskars tag punch; florist wire; brad; sentiment sticker; Sizzix embossing folder, (I don't have a gear ef and thought the dies fitted in this one ok); grey metallic card base.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Purple Ombre

Hi everyone, I painted a few more butterflies with twinkling H2Os and thought I'd use some in a few challenges.

At Inkspirational the theme is ombre.

At CASology the theme is friend.

Thinking of friends makes me smile!

At Sister Act Card Challenge it's an anything goes theme.

At Cuttlebug Mania the theme is wildlife. I hope a butterfly is wild enough! You also need to use a manual machine like a Big Shot. I cut my 2 dies with my Cuttlebug.

Edited to add: I'm also linking up to the love and friendship challenge at Uniko Studio. Thanks Sandie!

Supplies:

Memory Box large circle burst; Hero Arts antique engravings butterfly stamp; versafine ink & clear embossing powder; Twinkling H2Os; purple coloured card stock; Penny Black smile die and distress inks.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Orange Birthday Butterfly

Hi everyone, hope your week has been good so far. I've done lots of housework but still need to tackle tidying the dreaded tupperware/ plastics cupboard! It's been on the job list every holiday for quite some time. It'll happen!

I was inspired to make this card by the colour challenge at Just Us Girls. Orange, blue and green are probably not colours I'd use together but I had fun with these.

I stamped the butterfly in versafine, clear embossed and fussy cut it. I used twinkling H2O's to colour it and the punched flowers.

The flowers were punched from snippets of white card, so I'm visiting the playground at

Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Stamping Sensations wants us to use dies or punches as well as stamping on a project.

Seize the Birthday has an optional sketch toppings with the birthday theme. I've gone for the anything goes birthday option.

Supplies:

Indigo Blu flutterby stamp; EK Success flower punch; Papertrey Ink woodgrain texture plate; twinkling H2O's; liquid pearls; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Love birds

Hi again.It's a while since I played with my distress inks so it was fun to have a go today.

I got a bit carried away with the water flicking though! I also spritzed some blue patina perfect pearls mixed with water in a mini mister onto the tag. Here's a better view of the shine.

(It looks much better in real life.)

I'm linking up to the challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday, the theme is to create an inky background.

At Cuttlebug Mania the theme is it takes 2. They are also calling for design team member submissions, so follow the link if you are interested. You need to use a manual machine like a Big Shot. I used Birds & Swirls embossing folder in my Cuttlebug.

At Uniko Studio the theme is love and friendship.

I demolished a pile of watercolour paper scraps in the Stampin Up Bird Builder punch, so I'm visiting the snippets playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Supplies:

Stampin Up bird builder punch; Cuttlebug birds & swirls embossing folder; Annabelle Stamps wedding medallion sentiment; distress inks; blue patina perfect pearls; bling & kraft cardstock.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Countryside watercolour

Hi everyone.

 Ages ago I bought a set of watercolour discs to play with. I'd seen all of the fabulous creations and techniques people had been posting, and thought it looked like a lot of fun.

This is one of my first plays with them. The stamp is a new one I bought from Serendipity Stamps.

The watercolours are Koh i noor, a set of 24 discs. (I thought these would be good to start with as they were very inexpensive but had reasonable reviews.)

It was definitely lots of fun, and now I just need to do some classes on the techniques and get lots of practice!!

I'm linking up to a couple of challenges.

The theme at Serendipity Stamps is Hidden Gems, to use something that you've been neglecting in 

your stash. My watercolour discs fit that!

.

At Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge the theme is it's a guy thing.

At Happy Little Stampers it's a watercolouring theme.

Supplies:

Serendipity Stamps winter fenceline; koh i noor paints; watercolour paper; verafine ink; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Hang in there

Hi everyone, I made this card for a friend who is coping with some difficulties at the moment. I'm hoping she can hang in there until all is well. She is a cat lover and I just love this cat image!

I saw this fabulous card on pinterest recently and just had to track down the stamp. It was a post from 2011 so I think I was lucky to find that Katzelkraft still stocked it.

So I'm casing Jo's card, using tombow markers instead of torn paper.

I scribbled on an acrylic block, spritzed with water and pounced into a masked area near the cat's claws.

 This stamp only arrived from France yesterday so it must be the first time I've used NBUS (never before used stuff) straight away! The sentiment is also NBUS but I've had this Kaisercraft stamp for a few years. Just goes to show if you keep something long enough you'll find a use for it lol!

I'm linking up to a few challenges.

Darnell has an NBUS challenge theme to celebrate her huge well deserved following. If you don't know Darnell, pop over and visit her blog, you're in for a real treat.

CASology is hosting Darnell as guest designer and has an NBUS challenge in her honour.

Virginia's View Challenge has a CAS one layer theme.

I rarely make one layer cards but thought I'd give it a go with these stamps.

At Addicted to Stamps & More the theme is to make your mark with markers, pencils etc.

The blended tombow markers only cover a small part of my card so I hope that's enough to qualify.

Supplies:

Katzelkraft cat stamp; Kaisercraft sentiment stamp from Life set; tombow markers; versafine ink & clear embossing powder; Stately embossing folder.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Brusho butterflies

Hi again, I'm trying to get lots of jobs done around the house these school holidays but I've been playing in the craft room instead! I'll start ticking things off the list tomorrow!

I die cut the butterflies from another of my experiments with brushos. Here's the sheet.

There's only grey powder sprinkled on here, spritzed with water and then when dry, some perfect pearls sprayed on. It's amazing how many colours make up the grey!

I didn't used this sentiment in the end as I wanted to link up to Inkspirational

where the theme is note.

I thought hello was a good starter for note cards.

The hello was cut from a scrap of black card so I'm also visiting the playground at

Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Supplies:

Watercolour paper; brushos; perfect pearls spray; Memory Box butterfy die; Simon Says Stamp sentiment die; Kaisercraft denim pearls; Cuttlebug tiny bubbles embossing folder.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Birthday rose

Hi again, I was trying to make this rose red.

 The tombows I used were Chinese red and then crimson. I think I need to visit my sister and stamp some more on watercolour paper so I can really work the colour up, as the cardstock was getting too saturated!

I'm linking up to the challenge at Seize the birthday where the theme is anything goes birthday, which I've done. or there's the optional topping of party.


Supplies:
Tombow markers; Stampin Up rose stamp; versafine ink & clear embossing powder; Memory Box Fresh Foliage die; distress inks; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,
Cathy x

Pink watercoloured rose

Hi again, I was inspired by the challenge at 

The Card Concept to make this card. Here is the gorgeous inspiration pic.

I scribbled a tombow marker onto an acrylic block and picked up the colour on an aquabrush to colour the rose. I stamped the image a year or so ago at my sister's but it's on regular cardstock, not watercolour paper. I've layered a section of the rose for dimension. I think my card fits the clean and layered category.

I'm also linking up to the challenge at Happy Little Stampers where the theme is watercolouring.

Darnell is having an NBUS challenge to celebrate the New Year and her ever growing following.

Her blog is always full of inspiration and is so much fun!

I've used a sentiment stamp for the first time that I bought from Inspired by Stamping. I cut the stamp into two, another first! It was too long to fit where I wanted it and my masking skills weren't up to the challenge!

I diecut the leaves from leftover snippets of white card and coloured them with distress inks. So, I'm popping over to the snippets playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop. to see what the playmates are up to!

Supplies:

Stampin Up rose stamp; versafine ink & clear embossing powder; Inspired by Stamping Fancy sentiments stamp: tombow marker; Memory Box Fresh Foliage die; distress inks.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Black & White anniversary

Hi everyone, this is the card I made for my hubby to celebrate 31 years of being together.

Time certainly does fly!

It's a variation on my blue swirl & snowflakes card, no embossing this time. I got some new alcohol ink colours for christmas and a blender pen, so I was able to put a drop into the embellishment and colour it blue rather than leave it silver.

I'm linking up to the challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday where the theme is to use something old and new. 

The La Rue flourish die belongs to my sister, and I've had these diecuts since a visit last year. I cut some black ones on a trip up to see her recently.

 I bought the embellishments ages ago from a scrapbook store and wondered why I ever bought them! I've got at least 60 cm of them. (They came joined together with thin cord like a ribbon).

My new thing is some different alcohol inks and a blender pen. I'll be able to make jewels of all colours now!

I'm also linking up to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday where the theme is to use something new.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Butterfly Thank You

Hi everyone, I'm a bit late in saying Happy New Year,

 but I hope 2015 has been good for you so far, and continues to be a great year for all of us.

I've been playing with brushos on watercolour paper and wanted to use up my experiments!

I had enough of this piece to die cut these butterflies and thought they'd be best on a CAS card so the colours could stand out.

I'm linking up to a few challenges.

Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge has a thank you theme.

 Darnell is celebrating her 700th + followers with an NBUS challenge.



Use new things or things you've had for ages but haven't had a chance to use.
If you haven't visited Darnell's blog before you're in for a real treat, there's lots of inspiration to be had! This embossing folder is a Christmas present so it's having its debut here!

At Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge the theme is to use something old with something new.
These Memory Box butterfly dies are some of the first ones I ever bought so I've been using them for a few years now.

At Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge the theme is ti use something new.
So it's my embossing folder.

I'm also linking up to a new for me challenge Happy Little Stampers,

I sprinkled my brusho paint crystals onto watercolour paper, spritzed with water and watched the magic happen! When it was dry I spritzed again with some perfect pearls spray to add some silvery sparkle.

Supplies:
Couture Creations Loren embossing folder; Memory Box Moonlight & Kaleidescope butterfly dies; MFT label die (I used a card layer topped with a vellum layer for a softer effect); vellum; Brushos; bling and sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,
Cathy x