Dreamy in blue and yellow oxides.

Hi everyone, I'm home this Easter looking after rabbits, chooks and dogs, oh and the cat while hubby is away listening to Robert Plant, amongst others at Bluesfest! I'm happy and he's happy so it's all good lol! Even better, all of the rabbits are still alive!! 

(He has 9 breeders at the moment.)

I wanted to play along at a few challenges and had this image in my leftovers box (one of many containers for leftovers littering my desk!)

I blended on some oxide inks in fossilized amber, blueprint sketch and peacock feathers and spritzed with water. I used black soot distress ink around the edges.

Scrapbook Boutique has this gorgeous moodboard for inspiration.

I was inspired by the silhouette of the hand and then the colours blue and yellow leapt out at me.

At Retro Rubber Challenge Blog it's anything goes.

This is my first time playing here and you do need to use a stamp on your project that is at least a year old. Penny Black's Dreamy stamp hales from 2012. I still have the original packet!

At Seize the Birthday I'm playing along with the anything goes birthday option.

Supplies:

Penny Black dreamy stamp; versafine ink & clear ep; oxide inks; bling and sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Greens, stencil and butterfly.

Hi everyone, I'm making the most of a quiet Easter long weekend while hubby and one of my sons are at Bluesfest. My other son and I are minding the animals and relaxing!

I bought some clarity brushes a little while ago and thought I'd have a play with them.

They are so smooth! This was a scrap of textured cardstock that I stencilled on with a few distress inks in greens. It's a Memory Box stencil called Pattern Distressed Tula, though you can only see the centre part of the design.

I'm linking up to the challenge at Outside the Box where the theme is the colour green, and you need to use at least one Memory Box product.

I've also used a Memory Box butterfly stamp, Cocoa Bean butterfly, coloured with inktense pencils.

At Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, the theme is anything goes.

At Work It Wednesday the theme is inking techniques.

Supplies:

Memory Box pattern distressed tula stencil and cocoa bean butterfly stamp; distress inks; versafine ink & clear ep; inktense pencils; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Alcohol inks, acetate and diecuts.

Hi everyone, I was remiss in linking up this card to the CAS Mix up Challenge! Time got away before I could finish it. In real life the acetate panel looks like a sliced jewel! But when photographed it needed something else!

 I'm a big fan of Loll's gorgeous CAS cards and she often tops off a beautiful background with a white die cut, so I tried this technique too!

Alcohol inks were dripped and blown onto the acetate then I added a layer of dimensional magic glue. A piece of scrunched then flattened tissue paper was stuck onto this to make a white backing. The gold layer of shimmer paper adds more colour in the gaps where the tissue seems to have disappeared and added a frame to balance the white base.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday where the theme is flower frenzy.

Work it Wednesday where the theme is to use a fun inking technique.

Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge has a friendship theme.

Thanks is an important part of any friendship!

Poppystamps has a clean and simple challenge this month.

At Addicted to Stamps and More the theme is also clean and simple.

At Craft Stamper Magazine Tke it Make it Challenge, it's anything goes as long as you use a stamp somewhere on your project!

Supplies:

Alcohol inks; Poppy stamps woodley stem die; acetate; modge podge dimensional magic; white tissue paper; gold shimmer paper; Altenew magnolias for her sentiment stamp; versafine ink &     clear ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Diecut blossoms.

Hi everyone, I hope you're having a great weekend. 

It's getting late here and I'm hoping to link up to a few challenges before they close, see how I go!

At Darnell'sTwofer Card Challenge the theme is blossoms.

You need to use the same stamp or diecut for 2 different occasions, I've used Memory Box lovely peony outline die.

 The blue one is really purple in real life! It was a brushos background that I spritzed with perfect pearls. I scrunched some glad wrap on top too and let it dry, although it didn't leave much of a pattern. Here's a closer look.

I'm also linking this card to the anything goes theme at The Flower Challenge

and to the flower frenzy challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday

At Seize the Birthday, I've gone with the anything goes option.

And, at Addicted to Stamps & More, it's a clean and simple theme.

Here's a look at the second card.

I've cut the peony base and the flourishes from white shimmer card, and the outline from silver shimmer paper.

I'd better get these linked as the clock is ticking lol!

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

80th Birthday!

Hi everyone, we celebrated my Step dad's 80th birthday this weekend.

Quite a milestone in our family so I wanted to make him a special card. He liked it, so that's good!

I used stamps from the Visible Image Rays of Light set to make my background. I stamped the rays with various versa color inks and clear embossed them. The birthday circle die was a gift, so I don't know the brand. I cut a black layer and embossed it with versamark and black sparkle powder, then glued that onto a white layer for dimension. 

I laid that onto a white diecut circle and a layer of fun foam to make it pop from the base.

The 80 was embossed and layered the same way. The sparkle from the embossing powder is a bit hard to see in the pic but it was very glittery in real life, in a masculine way lol!

I'm linking up to the  Mix it Up Challenge where it's anything goes with the optional twist of creating your own background.

 

At Seize the Birthday I've gone with the anything goes birthday option.

At Time Out they are also celebrating a milestone, their 4th Birthday. Congratulations! I've used the birthday as my inspiration.

The numbers were diecut from scraps of black and white, so I'm also visiting the snippets playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Supplies:

Visible image rays of light stamps; circle birthday die; Spellbinders circle die; Marianne Design number dies; Black sparkle embossing powder; versamark ink; versacolor inks; fun foam.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Embossed acetate butterfly.

Hi everyone, I'm back with another guest designer card for the CAS Mix Up Card Challenge.

Thanks to Loll, Bonnie and the team for inviting me to play along!

My elements are acetate, stamping, diecutting, embossing, alcohol inks and watercolour!

I've had this acetate butterfly sitting on my desk waiting for me to finish it! I had embossed it with a Stampin Up folder and then painted the back with gold mixative alcohol inks. It looked a bit scratchy so I added a gold paper layer behind it to even things out a little.

I had one heart brad holding the acetate and paper together and hubby suggested I use 3. Glad he did lol!

Tha background is a watercolour panel  did a while ago using Kuretake Gansai and Finetec gold watercolour paints. I always make a few backgrounds in different colours while I have these paints out, makes the mess well wothwhile!

The white frame is an offcut from another project. I trimmed it down as it was quite thick and looking at the pic it may not be quite even!! I've popped the panel up on fun foam to add some dimension, though it's a bit hard to see in the pic.

I'm also linking up to the challenge at CASology where the theme is bug!

I think a butterfly is a glamourous bug!

At Happy Little Stampers, it's anything goes with dies.

It's also anything goes with a scripture or uplifting message at Word Art Wednesday.

At Cuttlebug Mania the challenge is to create a project with a Spring theme using a manual machine.

Pink is definitely a spring colour and there are plenty of butterflies around then too!

(I've used my cuttlebug with the Stampin Up Bigz die and embossing folder listed in my supplies.)

Supplies:

Stampin Up beautiful butterflies Bigz die; acetate; Stampin Up seaside embossing folder; gold mixative alcohol ink; scrap of gold paper; Kuretake Gansai and Finetec watercolour paint; Darkroom Door wings sentiment stamp; versafine ink & clear ep, fun foam.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

You've got this!

Hi everyone, I've been playing with some new stamps and a newish to me technique.

I swiped hickory smoke and iced spruce oxide ink pads across watercolour paper to get the streaky or windy effect in this background. I spritzed with water and used my finger to blend the colours a bit.

The image was stamped and embossed but when I coloured it in it was too dull over the greys.

I decided to restamp the umbrella and clothing onto regular white card so the colours were much brighter. I fussycut and glued them over the original image.

I used regular distress ink in weathered wood and black soot around the images to tie the layers together. I had a couple of sentiments in mind for this image but this one won out today! It's from the Encouraging words set by Wplus9.

I'm linking up to a few challenges.

At Addicted to Stamps & More it's make your mark. I used distress markers to colour the image.

At Simon Says Stamp Monday the theme is whatever the weather!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday has a girl power theme.

At Craft Stamper Magazine it's anything goes, as long as you use stamping somewhere on your project.

At Inkspirational the theme is work. Holding that brolly looks like hard work to me lol!

Finally, thanks for hanging in there, I'm linking up to the challenge at 

Word Art Wednesday where it's anything goes with an uplifting message or scripture.

Supplies:

Katzelkraft windy day stamp; Wplus9 encouraging words stamp; versafine ink & clear ep, distress and oxide inks; distress markers.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Floral border with oxide inks.

Hi everyone, I was invited to be a guest designer for Craft Stamper Magazine after winning the January Challenge with my ATC. The theme is anything goes as long as you use stamping somewhere on your project.

I've been making distress oxide backgrounds, lots of fun and very therapeutic after a hectic day at work! I diecut one with this border die, glued it onto another white diecut for dimension, stamped and embossed a sentiment and it was finished.

I'm also linking up to the Spring or faith themed challenge at Stamplorations,

and to The Flower Challenge where it's anything goes,

and to Happy Little Stampers anything goes with dies challenge.

The theme at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday is girl power.

Girls love flowers so I'm visiting there too!

Supplies:

Memory Box catalina border die; watercolour paper; distress oxide inks; Stampin Up

 words sentiment stamp; versafine ink & clear ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Horses and distress oxide inks.

Hi everyone, I was asked to make a masculine 21st birthday card for a country guy.

Thought I'd try this second hand retired set from Stampin Up.

I stamped the image with archival jet black ink onto a leftover piece of brushos watercolour paper. It had the orangey yellow pops of colour on it. Then I inked the edges with fossilized amber, hickory smoke and walnut stain distress oxides. Spritzed on some water and got a great mottled look.

I inked the very edge with normal black soot distress ink and matted the image onto a copper layer, then a kraft layer inked with walnut stain. I used a distress tool to add texture to the edges.

I had some canvas pad scraps left from another project and punched out some corners. Inked them with walnut stain then embossed with versamark and bronze powder. The 21 is also embossed with this powder, and the coppery sentiment sticker finished it off. The black card was textured when I bought it, looks a bit like wood grain. Hope he likes his card!

I'm linking up to the anything goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday,

Snippets for the layers and corners means I can visit the playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop, you only need 1 snippet or scrap to join in!

At Seize the Birthday it's anything goes so long as it's a birthday theme.

Time Out has a bold theme. I think the black silhouette on the orangey inks looks bold.

At The Male Room the theme is recycle. I've used brush and canvas scraps in this panel. Never throw anything away lol!! 

Supplies:

Stampin Up Bareback stamp; brushos; distress oxides; scraps of canvas; corner punch; copper brads; Marianne Design number dies; archival ink; versamark ink; bronze embossing powder and sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x