Enjoy your new home!

 

Hi everyone, 

I hope your preparations for the festive season are going well. I'm behind as usual lol!

Hopefully I'll get my cards posted soon. Had lots of rain in the last couple of days so creeks are up and floods threaten. From drought to flood in a matter of days!!

A friend at work wanted a card for someone moving into a new home.

I thought a bit of glitz and glamour would be fun!

The flower is diecut from an alcohol inked background with gold foil on it. The enjoy die has been modified slightly and embossed with aged gold frantage embossing enamel.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Watercooler Wednesday,

Simon Says Stamp Monday, my favourite technique, I've used a few on this card, alcohol inks, wet embossing and diecutting.

Supplies:

Penny Black hooray die; versamark ink and Stampendous aged gold frantage embossing enamel; Memory Box chloe stem die; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die; alcohol inks, yupo and gold foil; Inspired By Stamping big congrats sentiment stamp; versafine clair nocturne ink & clear ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Singing Christmas cat.

 

Hi everyone, 

I'm still behind with my Chrissy cards, haven't even got any in the mail yet!

Better get organized on Monday.

I had a few Katzelkraft cats fussy cut and coloured sitting in my stash and

thought this one would fit the bill at Inkspirational, where they have this sweet pic for inspiration.

ABC Christmas, Y for your favourite things and Z for sleeping.

One of my favourites are these quirky Katzelkraft cats!

Merry Little Christmas Card Challenge, anything Christmas goes .

Watercooler Wednesday,

Supplies:

Stamps: Katzelkraft cat; Hero Arts tiny star backgrond and Holiday conversation.

Other: Prismacolour pencils; Spellbinders rectangle dies; distress inks; silver ink & Wow silver glitter ep; versafine clair nocturne ink & clear ep; happy christmas sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Wedding card with Inka gold.

 

Hi everyone,

 I'm still making much needed Christmas cards but thought I'd take a break to play with a new die set.

This card uses 2 of the dies and cuts 2 borders and the middle section.

I bought it to make wedding cards and after a few wasted efforts finally worked out how to get it to cut through properly!

I laid it on my Big Shot Plus on a metal plate at an angle and ran it through twice. Any other way didn't work...whew!

I trimmed an inka gold smooshed background from my stash to fit under the borders.

Here's a closer look at the shimmer.

The sentiment is stamped with versafine clair nocturne and embossed with silver ep.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, fun with dies.

Watercooler Wednesday

Darnell's NBUS challenge since my Paper Rose die and the stamp set are brand newbies!

Supplies:

Paper Rose ornate swirl rectangle die; inka gold pastes; Woodware wedding words stamp; versafine clair nocturne ink and Wow fine detail silver ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Alcohol inked bauble.

 

Hi everyone, I've been playing with alcohol inks and yupo trying the polished stone technique.

I'm addicted!

14 backgrounds later and I thought I'd try and make a card.

The colours I used were indigo, mermaid and teakwood.

Here's a closer look.

I'm linking up to some challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, anything goes.

Simon Says Stamp Monday, alcohol inks.

Countryview Challenges, anything goes Christmas

Stamplorations CAS Challenge anything goes CAS without the colour twist.

Dies R Us, christmas

I've used the ornament 2 die from Elizabeth Craft Designs.

Supplies:

Ranger alcohol inks; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle and Elizabeth Craft Designs ornaments 2 dies;

silver cord; Annabelle Stamps sentiment stamp (retired) versafine clair ink & clear ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

21st sparkle and shine!

 

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday  and it was my turn to choose the theme. I thought that since we are getting so close to the festive season some sparkle and shine would be fun!

Of course, you can always play along with the anything goes birthday option too.

My team mates and our party guest Julie have some wonderful ideas to inspire you, so I hope you can play along.

I was asked to make a 21st card and thought I'd reuse a design from quite a few years ago.

I've used silver embossing glitter on the stamped stars background, and vintage peacock embossing glitter on the sentiment, numbers and edge of the tag. I found some glitter cardstock in my stash to diecut the balloons from.

Here's a closer look at the sparkle.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Always Fun Challenge, anything goes.

Inkspirational, frame it.

Retro Rubber Challenge, birthday.

The Hero Arts tiny star background stamp is from 2013.

A Blog named Hero, glitter and sparkle.

Supplies:

Hero Arts tiny stars background stamp, versacolor silver ink; versamark ink;Wow silver glitter and vintage peacock embossing glitter; Serendipity stamps celebrate die; Paper smooches balloons die; MFT tag stax dies; Marianne Design numbers die; glitter cardstock; glossy accents glue; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Kookaburra silhouette.

 

Hi everyone, 

 2020 has been such an emotional whirlwind of a year, that I'm often thinking of family and friends who are overseas, or even in other states, as up till recently our state borders were closed due to Covid.

So many occasions that we've missed catching up on, hopefully next year things will improve!

I found this new to me kookaburra die from Paper Rose and thought it was perfect for sending overseas.

The circle is blended with distress inks.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday where the theme is remembrance /thinking of you

Watercooler Wednesday,

Supplies:

Paper Rose kookaburra on branch, Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle and Memory Box stitched circle dies; distress inks; sentiment sticker; hammered card base.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Purple embossed thistles.

 

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and Glenda has chosen a 123 challenge.

1 diecut, punch or stencil, 2 colours plus neutrals and 3 embellishments.

I managed to get 1 diecut, 2 colours but not the three embellishments. I did use 3 other elements, embossing, a mat frame and a sentiment sticker but I'd better say I'm playing along with the anything goes option.

My team mates and our party guest Julie did manage to get the 123 right though and have some wonderful inspiration for you, so I hope you get the chance to play along.

I had a piece of a purple inka gold background left from another project and diecut the stitched rectangle from it. I stamped the 2 thistles and embossed them with a violet powder.

Here's a closer look at the colour.

I'm linking up to the challenge at

Watercooler Wednesday

Supplies:

Lavinia thistles stamp; Versafine Clair ink & Lindy's midnight violet ep; Kasercraft flourish embossing folder; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Alcohol inked celeste snowflake tag.

 

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at CAS Christmas and Trina has chosen the theme of non traditional colours. It will be fun to see the colours in the gallery other than red and green.

The design team and our guest Vicky have some wonderful inspiration for you, so I hope you can play along.

This background was in my stash and from memory its alcohol inks on glossy cardstock, blues, silver and a touch of purple. 

I diecut one from my background and another from white card , so I can used the reverse pieces on a second card. It was a bit fiddly inlaying the diecut pieces but I like the effect.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday where it's anything goes.

CAS on Friday, Christmas.

Merry Little Christmas Challenge, anything Christmas goes.

Stamplorations CAS Challenge, without the optional colour twist.

Supplies:

Poppystamps celeste snowflake tag; glossy card; alcohol inks; sentiment sticker; hammered card base.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Inka Gold 3D texture.

 

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and Shirley has chosen texture as the topping.

You can always play along with the anything goes birthday option too.

The design team and our party guest have some great inspiration for you, so I hope you can play along.

A liitle while ago I went to use some of my Inka Gold colours and they had gone rock hard!

I found a you tube that advised on rehydrating them and then thought after all that effort I need to use them regularly to keep them from drying out again.

(Edited to add: Here's the link to the youtube I watched.

It involves breaking up the block of inka gold, adding cooled boiled water and when it is a creamy consistency then add a few drops of glycerin. Another tip I found was to put a folded baby wipe inside the jar, it helps retain the moisture. I cut the baby wipes in half so they weren't to bulky.

I think the main thing will be using them regularly and adding more cooled boiled water and glycerin when they start to thicken up too much.)

So, I'm reluctant to buy more colours, and decided to combine steel blue and magenta to try and create purple.It sort of worked lol!

I smeared the paste onto a craft mat and spritzed with a lot of water, then smooshed some cardstock into it. I spritzed the cardstock with water too to blend the colours even more.

I  embossed the dried card with a Sizzix 3D folder, it looks better in real life.

Here's a closer look.

The diecut was inked with versamark and embossed with Lindy's midnight violet ep.

Look forward to seeing your cards in the gallery!

Supplies:

Sizzix 3D doilies embossing folder; Inka gold paste; MFT happy birthday script die; versamark ink & Lindy's midnight violet ep; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Stencilled orbs.

 

Hi everyone, I recently bought some stencils from Funky Fossil Designs and thought it was about time I used them!

This one uses 3 distress oxide inks. I dabbed them on using a circle distress tool.

The sentiment is a retired one from Happy Little Stampers inked in versafine clair and clear embossed.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Darnell's NBUS Challenge for never before used schtuff!

The Card Concept, around the world.

I was inspired by the spherical shape and the blues on the globe and suitcase.

My card is in the Clean & Simple category.

Watercooler Wednesday

Inkspirational, I've angled the position of the orbs to add to the 3d sort of effect.

Cards 4 Guyz, clean and simple.

Supplies:

Funky Fossil Designs orb stencil; distress oxide inks chipped sapphire, peacock feathers and mermaid lagoon; Happy Little Stampers Birthday Friends sentiment; versafine clair ink & clear ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x