Happy Birthday gNat!

 

Hi everyone, it's my son Nat's birthday today and since he's always been a bug lover, I made him a bug card! He likes it, even though he's in his 30's :)

I sprayed the background with mica spray stains in specimen, decayed, burning ember and frozen fog.

I thought they looked a bit like metallic bug colours.

The stamps are from a set by Craft Consortium. The versafine nocturne doesn't stamp very dark on the sprays, even when embossed.

The sentiment is double layered for dimension and the top layer is black mirror card.

I'm linking up to some challenges:

Try it on Tuesday, in the garden

Sparkles Monthly Challenge, one for the boys

Simon Says Stamp Monday, add a sentiment

Cardz 4 Guyz, metals - I've gone with metallic shimmer and colours.

Addicted to Stamps & More

Supplies:

Ranger mica spray stains; Craft Consortium insect stamps; versafine nocturne ink & clear ep;

 Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die; Poppystamps jumbled birthday die; black mirror card stock.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Tic Tac Toe for Seize the Birthday

 

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and Glenda has chosen a fun tic tac toe for us.

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

My team mates and our party guests Julia and Bonnie have some wonderful cards to inspire you, so I hope you can play along.

I went the extra mile in challenging myself with the middle column, one layer, CAS and ocean colours.

I don't often create one layer cards as I usually muck something up and have to start again,

 or I want to add a diecut sentiment!

The masked edges of the blended panel were a tiny bit blotchy so I drew a black border with a fineliner.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

AAA Cards

Simon Says Stamp Monday, add a sentiment

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, beautiful blooms

Addicted to CAS

Supplies:

Distress oxides in blues; Simon Says Stamp Sketched Flower stamp; versamark ink & liquid platinum ep; Stampin Up sentiment from retired set so happy for you; versafine nocturne ink & clear ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Embossed Flowers with Mica Spray Stain Sparkle.

 

Hi everyone, I'm still playing with mica spray stains.

I'm doing some swatches and making lots of backgrounds while I have everything out. 

I embossed this strip with a 3D folder and diecut a butterfly to match. The base of the butterfly is diecut from vellum. I tried brushing some white pigment ink over the raised embossing to highlight the flowers, it muted the colours a little.

Here's a closer look at the sparkle and shine.

I'm linking up to some challenges:

Allsorts, flowers.

AAA Birthday

Addicted to Stamps & More

Simon Says Stamp Monday, add a sentiment

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, Beautiful Blooms

Krafty Chicks, all occasions

Supplies:

Poppycrafts 3D embossing folder; Memory Box glade butterfly die; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die;

Ranger Mica Spray Stains - flickering candle; fortune teller; snow flurries and cocktail party; sentiment sticker; hammered card base.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Heartfelt Congratulations

 

Hi everyone, I've been having a tidy up in my craft room and am trying to use up my stash of bits and pieces!

 I've been to K Mart to buy some storage boxes to try and keep things tidy and visible! This purple off cut was leftover from a play with some magicals, I think!  I spattered on some gold paint to add a bit of interest.

I'm also trying to use my hoard of 3D embossing folders, think this is the first time I've used this one!

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Little Red Wagon, raid your scrap bin.

Krafty Chicks, CAS

Tic Tac Toe, I'm going with the middle column, diecuts,free and any sentiment

Unicorn Challenge, not square

Supplies:

 Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die; heart die out of package so not known; Dress My Craft congratulations die; Sizzix 3d Swirls embossing folder; Lindys magicals? and Kuretake Gansai gold paint.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Fruit for Seize the Birthday - with twinkling H2Os!

 

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and Colleen has chosen fruit as our theme for this turn.

Or you can play along with our anything goes birthday option.

Our party guests are Julia and Fran, and they along with my team mates have some wonderful inspiration for you, so I hope to see you in the gallery.

I don't have many fruit images or dies, just a couple of blueberry ones as my son is one of the managers at a blueberry farm!

I hadn't used this die before, and used purple, blue and green twinkling H2Os to colour them.

I'd forgotten how shimmery these are! So glad that they are one product that doesn't seem to deteriorate with time (many years!!)

Here's a closer look at the shimmer.

I even made a more CAS version!

The diecut sentiment was inked with versamark and embossed with Lindy's midnight violet powder, although it looks black in the pic.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

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

Darnell's NBUS Challenge

Unicorn Challenge, not square

Supplies:

Dies: Scrapman blueberries; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle; Creative Expressions stacked happy birthday.

Other: Twinkling H2Os wild plum, stargazer and olive vine; Stampin Up berry blessings sentiment; versafine nocturne ink & clear ep; versamark ink & Lindy's midnight violet ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Add a Star for Seize the Birthday

 

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday, and it was my turn to choose the theme. Add a star!

or add to your birthday stash with our anything goes birthday theme.

Our party guest and my team mates have some wonderful cards to inspire you, so I hope you can play along.

I've been missing in action a bit lately due to having a major operation, but am now on the mend and starting to feel better. Thankyou to Nancy and my team mates for covering for me while I was away :)

This is a die I bought some time ago, but as usual hadn't used it lol!

I misted a panel with a range of mica spray stains to get a bit of a rainbow of colours and diecut the border from that.

I layered it onto a black border, inlaid the black stars, then the rainbow stars for some dimension.

The stamp is also out of my unused goodies box!

Here's a closer look at the mica shimmer.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More

Double D Challenge, stars

Darnell's NBUS Challenge, since the die and stamp have never been used I can pop into Darnell's NBUS challenge!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, anything goes

Supplies:

Ranger mica spray stains; Star border die by CardMaking Magic; Poppystamps Birthday Blowout stamp; versafine clair ink & clear ep; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die; textured cardstock.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Use metallics for Seize the Birthday - gold splatters and blackout embossing.

 

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and Ashwini wants us to try metallics this time around.

I love shimmer and shine!

Or play along with our anything goes birthday theme. Our party guests and my team mates have loads of inspiration for you over on the blog, hope to see you in the gallery.

I've been playing with the blackout inking technique again!

This time I used the whole embossed panel, coloured the debossed side with Catherine Pooler inks - I think, I had a heap of inks out trying different colours!

When the colouring was done I went over the paper lightly with versafine onyx black ink.

This is so much fun, although never perfect!

I thought I'd frame the panel with gold shimmer card and added some small spatters of Kuretake Gansai gold paint. It's got a lovely shimmer in real life, hard to see in the pic though.

I also hoped the splatters would hide the imperfections a bit lol!

The sentiment diecut is double stacked for dimension.

Supplies:

Altenew whimsy motif 3D embossing folder; Catherine Pooler inks; versafine onyx black pigment ink; 

Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die; Creative Expressions stacked happy birthday die; Kuretake Gansai watercolour paint in inca gold.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Beach Theme for Seize the Birthday - 3D embossing and Lindy's magicals.

 

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and Vicki has chosen a beach theme this time around.

Or add to your card stash with our anything goes birthday theme, our party guests and my team mates have some wonderful inspiration on the blog for you!

We live a couple of hours drive away from the nearest beach, and when we do venture there I avoid the waves and wander in the sand looking for seashells!

I've had this embossing folder for ages and thought I'd add some Lindy's magicals powder and water to some embossed card for a shimmery shell like effect!

To add more definition, I inked up the debossed side of the folder with some grey ink and embossed the card again. To highlight the shells a bit more I swiped a little white pigment ink over the raised surfaces. 

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Inkspirational

My card fits in with the Summer season and beaches.

Mix It Up Challenge, playing along with the anything goes option.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, use diecuts

I've used a diecut for the sentiment and a stitched rectangle die for the shell layer.

Supplies:

Spellbinders shell beauty ef; Lindy's magicals in teals and blues; versafine clair morning mist ink; Creative Expressions stacked happy birthday die; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x