Having a go at watercolouring with Zigs

 

Hi everyone, I've had a set of Zig real colour brush pens for a while now and haven't really used them.

Since I'm trying to use more of my stuff, I thought I'd persevere with them.

Some colours seem to work better with water laid down first, and others seem to flow easily with water added afterwards. Hmmm...I'll keep playing lol!

I stamped the flowers and leaves with versafine clair nocturne and embossed them with gold fine detail powder. I don't have the matching dies so fussy cut the flowers and leaves.

I love this sentiment that the lovely Darnell gifted me many years ago, a favourite at this time of year!

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Double D, pretty florals for Mum

Fab n Funky, embossing wet or dry,

I've gone with wet this time.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, feminine

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, feminine

Sparkles Monthly Challenge, April showers bring May flowers

Tic Tac Toe

I've gone with, embossing, free and gold in the centre this time.

Supplies:

Altenew perfectly perfect floral stamp; Casual Fridays mums the word sentiment stamp; vesafine clair nocturne ink; Wow fine detail rich gold ep & clear ep; Zig markers; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

A CASE of a new to me technique - blackout embossing

 

Hi everyone, I've been watching lots of youtube videos during the school holidays, and finally had a go at one of the techniques.

 I think there are a few videos for the technique,

 but I was inspired by Michelle Short in this one, (who is showcasing the technique by Erum Tasneem).

I diecut the tag and embossed it so that the debossed side was ready for inking. I love the colours and used a few distress inks to recreate the look. 

I used Versafine onyx black to swipe over the card and you can see some of the texture from the linen pad.

I might try it with a foam pad and see if it's better...

I used a white paint pen to try and highlight the stamens, then used peacock feathers and cracked pistachio oxide inks to colour the edges of the base tag.

I'm linking up to some challenges:

Can You Handle the Pressure, anything goes with an embossing folder,
playing along with the optional twist of feminine.

Fab n Funky, embossing wet or dry.

Tic Tac Toe, I've gone with flowers free and diecuts on the diagonal

Krafty Chicks, all occasions

It's the first time I've used my new embossing folder so I'm visiting Darnell at her

NBUS Challenge

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, anything goes

Supplies:

MFT tag and pierced tag stax dies; Altenew whimsy motif 3D embossing folder; Distress inks in salvaged patina, peacock feathers, cracked pistachio, twisted citron and lucky clover; versafine onyx black ink; Creative Expressions hello die; hammered card base.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Off The Edge for Seize the Birthday...

 

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

Or, as always, play along with our anything goes birthday option, it's a great way to build up your card stash!

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

I'm nearly always late to the party with Stampin Up gear!

I recently bought a retired 2nd hand succulent set of stamps and dies and thought that the plants hanging off the edge of the pot would suit the theme!

I was playing around with some Lindy's magicals both shimmery and flat powders with water and used some of the experiments to diecut the plants and pot from. You can see some of the silvery shimmer on the leaves.

I fussy cut the smaller succulents and added some extra colours and shading with Prismacolour pencils.

The background was embossed using the large die from the set.

The sentiment is a sticker and it too is nearly off the edge lol! I wanted to use it as I love the font though.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More

Dragonfly Dreams, use a die

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, anything goes

Supplies:

Lindy's magicals; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die; Stampin Up potted succulents dies and simply succulents stamps; versafine clair inks; clear ep; Prismacolour pencils; hammered card base.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Any colour & green for Seize the Birthday

 

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and our leader Nancy has chosen a colour theme this time around.

As always, you can also play along with our anything goes birthday option to build up your stash.

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

I made use of some bits from my scrap box for this card.

The background is a stencil monoprint left over from the green stencilling on this card, and the flowers are diecut from a purple mop up piece from another inky session. I added an extra layer to the flowers for dimension.

I think the card has a rustic feel, ready for a Spring picnic!

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday, Spring flowers

Addicted to Stamps & More

I've used both for my card.

Darnell's NBUS Challenge, my floral die by Poppystamps is new and this is it's first use.

Unicorn Challenge, use dies

Supplies:

Poppystamps petite blooms flower set dies; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die; Creative Expressions mini stacked happy birthday die;

Catherine Pooler garden party ink; Simon Hurley part of the geo circles layering stencil;

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Not up to mischief!

 

Hi everyone, this would so be my cat if she was allowed outside lol!

Looks like the perfect place to lie on a sunny day.

 I had fun inking up this brick embossing folder trying to get a colour I liked!

It's a mixture of oxides and distress inks, greys, rusty hinge and frayed burlap.

The cat die was amongst some gifted to me recently and the ivy is snipped from a die by The Greetery.

I clear embossed the top layer of the sentiment for some shine and dimension, bit hard to see in the pic.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Allsorts, for the love of animals.

Cardz for Galz, cute animals

Double D Challenge, Cute little animals with this sweet graphic!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, Happy Birthday

The Male Room, embossing

Supplies:

Cat die- gift so brand not known; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die;

 Sizzix bricked embossing folder; oxide and distress inks; The Greetery macra made fillers die; Creative Expressions mini stacked happy birthday die; versamark ink & clear ep; MFT cloud stencil.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Spring Floral for Seize the Birthday

 

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

Or add to your birthday stash with our anything goes option.

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

I had a session of alcohol inking recently and wanted to use up some of the backgrounds.

This one is a bit busy, but I think the white flower and frame balances it out a bit and I do like the colours!

This is one of my go to dies for inky backgrounds as you always get a different look!

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More

Allsorts, Keep it Simple

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, anything goes

Supplies:

Poppystamps floral stem collage; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die; alcohol inks; yupo paper and a sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Co-ordinating tag and card for Seize the Birthday

 

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and Jules wants us to create a card with a co-ordinating tag.

Or if you just want to make a birthday card, play along with our anything goes birthday option

Our party guests Deborah and Vicky and my team mates have some fun inspiration for you, so I hope you can play along.

I was gifted a bunch of dies recently and these cute cats were amongst them!

For the card I stamped a confetti border stamp on black card, embossed with gold then diecut the birthday sentiment.

I stamped and embossed the tag to match. Some sentiment stickers finished them off.

I added a tiny pink nose to the card and am linking it up to these challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More

Little Red Wagon, Easy Peasy

a stamp, a few diecuts and a sticker, nice and easy!

Supplies;

Cat dies brand unknown; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die and MFT pierced tag stax die; 

The Ton confetti borders stamp; versamark ink & Wow gold embossing powder.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Red as the main colour for Seize the Birthday

 

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and JoAnn wants us to use red as the main colour.

Or play along with our anything goes birthday option.

Our party guests and my team mates have some explosions of red to inspire you! So I hope you can play along.

I've had this die for a long time and only used it once or twice.

I coloured some cardstock with a mix of red distress spray stains to pop underneath, but there doesn't look like much variation in the shades here! 

The sentiment is one I have used a lot, couldn't find a stamp that I thought suited the die better.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, beautiful blooms

AAA Cards

Supplies:

Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die; Memory Box wild blooms die;

Distress spray stains in various reds; Paper Smooches sentiment sampler stamp; versafine clair nocturne ink & clear ep; hammered cardstock (Hobbycraft have changed the look of it.)

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x