Crackled Christmas Ornaments

I bought some picket fence distress crackle paint ages ago and decided to have a practice on some diecut ornaments. I used scraps of black cardstock so that shows through the crackles. After colouring with some distress inks I coated them with glossy accents for a bit of shine.

At Allsorts the challenge is to use at least three diecuts.

I've used the Brittany ornament base, the star from the Avondale ornament and woodland branch dies.

At Simon Says Stamp Wednesday the theme is Christmas.

The Card Concept has a festive glory theme with this gorgeous inspiration pic.

My card fits the clean and layered style.

Just us Girls has a colour challenge of red, green and gold.

I used scraps of black card for the ornaments and green for the branches so I'm also visiting the snippets playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Supplies:

Dies: Poppy Stamps Brittany & Avondale ornaments; Memory Box woodland branch.

Other: Martha Stewart branch punch; gold paper; white picket crackle paint; red & green distress ink; glossy accents; Sizzix embossing folder (part of a christmas set); sentiment sticker; gold cord & bling.

Thanks for visiting, Cathy x

Green butterfly

Hi everyone, I've had this butterfly sitting on my desk for ages and finally got it onto a card today.

Life is pretty hectic at the moment so I'm enjoying a rare day in the craft room!

The challenge at Seize the Birthday has an optional twist of using acetate or vellum.

I've used vellum flourishes to soften the embossed background.

At Addicted to Stamps & More it's anything goes!

Supplies:

Indigo Blu butterfly stamp; versafine ink & clear ep; Inktense pencils; Crafty Ann flourish die; vellum; Stampin Up embossing folder; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Alcohol ink numbers

I was asked to make a card for a 22 year old male that liked skateboarding,
so I hope he liked it!

The board is by Jolees popped up with foam squares.

 I diecut the numbers from silver metal sheets and coloured them with alcohol inks, then painted a thin layer of glossy accents on top to help stop the colour scratching off.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday has a challenge to use the letter N.

I've gone with N for numbers.

Seize the Birthday has an anything goes theme.


Virginia's View Challenge is all about texture.
I've used the heavy duty embossing folder and distressed it with black soot and pumice stone to highlight the details.


Supplies:
Jolees skateboard; PTI number dies; metal sheet; alcohol inks; Heavy Duty embossing folder; distress inks; glossy accents; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,
Cathy x

Congrats baby girl

Hi everyone, there seems to have been a flurry of babies being born lately, so I've been playing with my panda stamps again!

I've used snippets left from the congrats die cut to make the banners so I'm visiting the playground at

Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

The theme at Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge is to use the letter N.

I've gone with N for new baby.

Inkspirational has an anything goes with silver theme.

I painted the curve and bows of my banner with Finetec silver paint, it's so shimmery!

Supplies:

Simon Says Stamp party banner die (the curved part & bows);

Penny Black congrats die; Stampin Up fancy fans embossing folder & small banner punch;

Mama Elephant pandemonium stamp; Papertrey Ink Bundle of love stamp; versafine ink; clear ep; Finetec silver watercolor paint; bling.

Thanks for visiting,

enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Cathy x

Gilded butterfly

Hi everyone, I finally got some time to make a few cards today!

The theme at Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge is gilding.

I diecut this butterfly from a scrap of black card and rubbed metallic gold paint on the outer edges.

I rubbed the same paint on the vellum base. 

At Addicted to Stamps & More the theme is CAS.

Using up snippets means I can also visit the girls at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Supplies:

Dies: Poppystamps theo and whidbey butterflies; Memory Box prima label.

Other: Kaisercraft florish embossing folder; Craf-T rub on metallic paint; 

sentiment sticker; vellum.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Brusho snowflakes

Hi everyone, it's been a hectic week so I'm glad it's Friday!

I was trying to find a use for another of my brusho pieces and came up with these snowflakes.

I popped the centres back in to keep some of the gorgeous blues.

I'm linking up to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday where it's anything goes.

The theme at Addicted to Stamps & More is holiday, good chance to start building up my chrissy cards.

Simon Says Monday has a throwback challenge. I'm throwing back to the wonderful watercolor challenge from a couple of weeks ago.

Time Out has a christmas theme with the optional twist of using pink & or purple.

Supplies:

Memory Box Lindeman snowflake die; brushos; dots ef from the Sizzix christmas words and dots set; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting, 

Cathy x

Ladybug or ladybeetle?!

Hi everyone, stopped being busy for a while and sat down to make this card this morning.

I was inspired by this pic at Scrapbook Boutique. 

Such fun cupcakes! They reminded me of this bloom dots embossing folder.

I'm also linking up to A Blog Named Hero where it's

I thought this would be cute for a budding gardener, (as long as they weren't tempted to taste the ladybugs!)

I used the tiny ladybug stamp in the antique engravings stamp set and fussy cut it.

While I was poking the flowers with a shaper, I also did the back of the beetles.

The glossy accents make them look more like beetle wings!

Lots of snippets for the bits of greenery and the 1"circle dots, so I'm visiting the playground at

Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Supplies:

Hero Arts antique engravings stamp; versafine & clear ep; tombow markers; glossy accents; Impression Obsession leafy branch die; Fiskars circle & flower punch; bloom dots embossing folder; foam tape; sentiment sticker. 

Thanks for visiting, hope you have a great week,

Cathy x

Twinkling H20 flowers

It's been ages since I've made any cards!

I've been busy back at work, spent a weekend visiting my sister and have been doing lots of gardening, so I'm feeling a bit rusty!

I wanted to join the challenge at A Blog named Hero where the theme is 

I lightly embossed my kraft panel with Papertrey Ink's burlap impression plate before stamping and embossing my flowers. 

I'm also linking up to the anything goes challenge at Addicted to Stamps & More.

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge has a wonderful watercolor theme.

I painted my flowers with twinkling H2o paints in rose petal and heavenly.

Supplies:

Hero Arts blossom art stamps; Papertrey Ink burlap impression plate; twinkling H2o's; Simon Says Stamp hello die coloured in brown ink and sprayed with perfect pearls to match the shimmer in the flowers.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Pink hello

Hi again, I coloured another everything flower image with pink Kuretake paints.

This one stamped and embossed evenly so I didn't have to cut the panel and disguise it with a butterfly lol!

I added the bling to help cover the adhesive, but the design is so busy you can't really see it under the vellum strip.

I'm linking up to the colouring challenge at Virginia's View.


At Simon Says Stamp Wednesday it's anything goes.



Supplies:
Hero Arts everything flower stamp; Kuretake watercolour paints; vellum; Simon Says Stamp hello die; vellum.

Thanks for visiting,
Cathy x

Congrats panda!

Here's another baby card that hopefully is suitable for either a boy or a girl.

I diecut the congrats from the leftover stamped green gingham in the last card.

I think I'll use this design again as the sitting down panda also fits on the sentiment.

The theme at The Card Concept is forest friends, I don't have any cute critters stamps but remembered my pandas, and they live in bamboo forests so I hope that fits ok. 

My card is in the clean and layered category.

I'm also linking up to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday where it's anything goes, and on the 

Simon Says Stamp Blog they are celebrating World Card Making Day with a challenge.

Supplies: Mama Elephant panda stamp; archival ink;

Penny Black sentiment die from the hooray set; Papertrey Ink bundle of love sentiment stamp; versafine ink & clear ep; Paper Smooches balloon dies; twine;

 swiss dots embossing folder.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Pastel welcome for baby

Hi everyone, hope you are having a great weekend. We're having a bit of a heat wave over our long weekend break, if the temp keeps going up I'll be first in our pool this season!

I've been asked to make a couple of gender neutral baby cards.

I stamped a tiny gingham background in new sprout ink and punched out squares.

These little icons were in the bargain bin at a craft shop a few years ago, and yes I'm finally using them! I cut them from snippets of white and cream card and inked them up.

I'm linking up to the snippets playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop, you only need to use 1 scrap or snippet to join in the fun.

I'm also linking to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday where there is an anything goes theme.

Supplies:

Papertrey Ink Bundle of love sentiment and gingham background stamp; 1"square punch; versafine ink & clear ep; versacolor ink; SU embossing folder, not sure of the name; baby shapes cookie cutter dies.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Watercolour ombre

Hi everyone, I was practicing gradient watercolour techniques on a tag and thought I'd try adding white pigment ink through a stencil.

 The effects weren't really noticeable so I embossed the ink with lapis pearl powder. I still wasn't happy so thought I'd die cut the tag and came up with this butterfly.

Here's the tag with the butterfly popped back in!

I watercoloured a matching strip for the border die and punched flowers.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday has an ombre theme.

At Simon Says Stamp Wednesday it's anything goes.

Addicted to Stamp & More has a CAS theme.

Seize the Birthday has a toppings option of using a border diecut or punch.

I've used the Memory Box savannah border die.

At Cuttlebug Mania the theme is no squares.

Supplies:

Watercolour paper; Kuretake turquoise green paint;TH blossom layering stencil; versacolor white ink; lapis pearl ep; brown distress ink; Memory Box oriel butterfly and savannah border dies; Carl flower punch; stickles; Sizzix summer fun embossing folder; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x