Celebrate the good times.

Hi everyone, I needed a quick birthday card, and diecut these balloons from my box of leftovers.

I layered them up for dimension, and clear embossed the sentiment die for some shine.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

AAA Cards where they are celebrating their 6th birthday! Congratulations!

Addicted to Stamps & More, 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, anything goes,

Watercooler Wednesday.

Supplies:

Clearly Besotted party time dies and stamp; distress oxide inks; versafine ink & clear ep; Waffle Flower celebrate die.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Smile!

Hi everyone, I'm CASEing a card by my blogging friend  Brenda made a while back,

I just loved her smiling donkey!

A friend loves cows and I thought this would be perfect for her!

I used distress oxide inks for the background, then stamped the cow. I stamped another one, coloured it with Prismacolour pencils, then fussy cut it without the horns, tail and legs. I paper pieced the coloured image onto the stamped one.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, anything goes;

Addicted to Stamps & More,

Watercooler Wednesday

The House that Stamps Built, anything goes

Supplies:

Katzelkraft farm animals stamp; So Suzy Crackerbox small grass stamp; Happy Little Stampers birthday sentiment stamp; Clearly Besotted laugh out loud again stamp; versafine clair inks & clear ep; distress oxide inks; Prismacolour pencils.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Gelli plate daisies.

Hi everyone, here's another card from the gelli plate background I made the other day.

I love the look of the burnt sienna brushos in this one.

The stems are coloured with Inktense pencils.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Retro Rubber,

 my elements are flowers, embossing, (sentiment is wet embossed), diecut. 

The sentiment stamp by Paper Smooches is an oldie from a few years ago. No date on the package but I bought it in around 2017.

Happy Little Stampers anythng goes with dies.

Mix it Up Challenge, I'm playing along with the anything goes option.

Papercraft Challenges, Spring theme.

Supplies:

Tim Holtz wildflowers and Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle dies; Paper smooches sentiment sampler stamp; versafine clair ink & clear ep; gelli plate; colourbox ink and brushos.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Tropical greens.

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

I got inspired by thoughts of lush tropical greenery! Seem to be on a bit of a green theme lately, must need more time outside!!

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

 The DT and our guest have some amazing cards to inspire you, so I hope you'll join us in the gallery.

I used a distress inking tool to quickly lay down a few geen oxide inks then spritzed with water.

I stamped the foliage in shady lane versafine clair ink and clear embossed it.

The butterfly was stapmed with versafine ink, clear embossed, fussy cut and coloured with Inktense pencils.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

AAA Birthday,

The Paper Players,

The men in my life love butterflies, so I hope others do too!

Penny Black Saturday Challenge, anything goes option.

Supplies:

Penny Black Breezy stanp and Hero Arts Antique Engraving butterfly stamp; distress oxide inks; versafine clair shady lane ink; versafine black ink & clear ep; Inktense pencils; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

One of those days!

Hi everyone, I wanted to play along at some challenges that have an animal theme.

I haven't used this kitten stamp in a while and thought I'd ink up a sentiment that I've had for ages but haven't used.

It's how I feel at times lol!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, animal fun;

Perfectly CAS.

Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge,

Show us your pussycats challenge, anything goes.

Stamplorations CAS Challenge, without the colour twist.

Supplies:

Nellie Snellen kitten and Katzelkraft sentiment stamps; versafine ink & clear ep; Prismacolour pencils.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Gelli plate floral.

Hi everyone, I've been watching some you tube tutorials in my spare time. 

Wish I had more of that!

Anyway, Tracey from Lavinia stamps makes the most amazing backgrounds with a gelli plate, brayered ink and splashes of diluted brushos.

 "Just have a go" she said in the video, so I did. I've only had my gelli plate, unused, for about 2 years!!

I really was so disappointed with the result, here it is.

I have limited colours of the ink she uses (hopefully sorted that now!) and thought this looked a bit too yuk to stamp on. Never wanting to waste anything I decided to die cut it for the flower heads on my new dies.

 Such a different look!

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More,

Addicted to CAS,

CASology,

CAS on Friday, use a die,

Watercooler Wednesday.

Supplies:

Gelli plate; Colorbox premium dye ink-sandstone; brushos - burnt sienna, yellow ochre, sandstone;

Tim Holtz wildflower #1 and Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle dies; Inktense pencil -leaf green; Paper Smooches sentiment sampler stamp; versafine clair ink & clear ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Birthday in greens.

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and TaeEun has chosen monochromatic as the theme.

Monochromatic colour schemes aren't my strong point and I've added a tiny bit of gold foil and a gold mat to my card, along with white and black, so if this isn't strictly monochromatic, then it's OK as you can always play along with the anything goes birthday option.

The Design team and our birthday guest have some wonderful cards to inspire you, so I hope you can play along.

I'm linking up to some challenges:
Watercooler Wednesday,


Stamplorations CAS Challenge without the colour twist.



Supplies:
Poppystamps Hampstead bloom die; yupo paper; alcohol inks in green; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,
Cathy x

Friendly gecko!

Hi everyone, I hope you are safe and well.

It's time for a new challenge at CAS Stencil and Hilary has chosen the technique of layering stencils.

This is a new one for me, I love the look of colourful, textured work with lots of different stencils but struggle to pull it off lol!

 There are some great video tutorials on the blog and the DT have some wonderful cards to inspire you, so I hope you get the chance to play along.

This gecko is a metal Dreamweaver stencil and I paired it with a Tim Holtz layering stencil.

I stencilled the tiles with tumbled glass and weathered wood oxide inks and a makeup brush.

Next I taped the metal stencil in place and spread on some opaque texture paste, removed the stencil, then sprinkled on some Wow perissa embossing powder.

I got impatient and heated the powder with my heat gun before the paste was totally dry (this can make the texture paste bubble up, luckily the bubbles flattened out a bit!). This powder has multiple colours and gives a bit of texture too.

Here's a closer look:

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, where it's anything goes.


I love geckos they are so soft and cute looking, and they make me smile, so I hope that fits the theme at  Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge,



The Paper Players also has a smile theme.

Supplies:

Crafts R Us stitched rectangle die; Dreamweaver gecko and Tim Holtz tiles stencils; oxide inks; Ranger opaque texture paste; Wow perissa embossing powder; Paper Smooches sentiment sampler stamp; Versafine Clair ink & clear ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Miss You...!

Hi everyone, I'm feeling a little like this crazy bird!

I hope you are all safe and well. Some restrictions are being eased a little here in NSW so that will help my mood.

The challenge at Simon Says Stamp is to create anything but a card.

I had fun with two hole punches getting this tag hole done, then I inlaid the black circle, whew!

I drew eyelids onto the bird as I think it makes him look more pensive.

I'm also linking up to Watercooler Wednesday,

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday where it's also anything goes,

Addicted to Stamps & More, the bird was coloured with Inktense pencils and a water brush.

Cards 4 Guyz, use dies as the main feature, 

I used tag dies and the bird crazy die to cut the bird out.

Supplies:

MFT traditional and pierced tag stax dies; Tim Holtz bird crazy stamp and die; Inktense pencils; distress oxide inks; So Suzy Crackerbox grass stamp; Versafine Clair green and black inks; clear ep; Lawn Fawn chit chat stamp.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x