Make it Pop for Seize the Birthday

 

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and Ashwini wants us to make it pop!!

or, just play along with any card for a birthday.

Bonnie, is back and Lisa and Deepti are our party guests for this fortnight.

They, along with my team mates, have some wonderful inspiration for you, so I hope you can play along.

I need to stop watching youtube!!

I was inspired by this card by Channin.

(I am seriously lusting after that stamp and those colourful inkpads lol!!)

The only ink splotch stamp I seem to have is an old Stampin Up one, Gorgeous Grunge.

It's long retired and dated from around 2013 or 2014.

I also had to do some swatches of my random ink pads to see which colours would be bright enough.

(The only full sets I have are Lavinia, distress inks and oxides and I didn't think they'd work.)

So I ended up using some Stampin Up, Versacolor and Hero Hues inks with versamark ink and clear embossing powder.

Once the colours were stamped and embossed I blended over some black soot distress ink, then wiped any ink of the embossed areas.

The sentiment die was cut from white shimmer card, I think you can just see the sparkle.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Retro Rubber

Allsorts, anything goes and congrats on the blogs 14th birthday, what a great milestone!

Krafty Chicks, all occasions

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, add a sentiment

Supplies:

Stampin Up Gorgeous Grunge stamps; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die; MFT happy Birthday script die; various coloured inks, versamark ink and clear ep; black soot distress ink.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Embossed Resist Hearts

 

Hi everyone, I watched a Jennifer McGuire video on heat embossing techniques and towards the end she created a card from the scrap offcuts she had trimmed.

I needed no encouragement to start hoarding offcuts from other projects lol!!

After I created this card, I saved the offcuts and diecut these hearts from them.

I double layered the heart frame and did add a white layer of hearts under the coloured layer for dimension.

The original card was made using a background stamp, versamark ink and clear embossing powder.

Then sprinkling on Lindy's magicals and spritzing with lots of water.

I love all of the texture that the embossing gives to the hearts.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More

Happy Little Stampers anything goes with dies

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge, playing along with the anything goes option

Krafty Chicks, CAS

Try it on Tuesday, Keep it Simple

Supplies:

 Simon Says Stamp Cora Background stamp; Lindys Magicals; versamark ink & clear ep; heart die out of it's packet so brand unknown, Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Fabulous Flamingo Reveal Wheel

 

Hi everyone, 

I finally had a go using the reveal wheel die I bought a long time ago. Along with a flamingo stamp set, also long neglected!

Luckily there are you tube videos on putting the interactive parts together, so I just had to decide on my scene and stamp the sentiments on the wheel.

I stamped the flamingoes and clear embossed them, then used a grass and cloud stencil from MFT with distress inks to create the background.

I stamped another trio of flamingos on some scrap cardstock, coloured them with my chameleon alcohol markers and tried adding some shading with my Prismacolor pencils, (bit hard to see the shading I know!)

Then I fussy cut the bodies and paper pieced them over the flamingoes stamped on the background.

The sentiment die was inked with versamark and embossed with black sparkle powder.

The stamped sentiments are from the reveal wheel sentiment set.

This was a fun card to make, so I might have a go at some more!

I'm linking up to these challenges...

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, stencil it

Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge

Happy Little Stampers Birthday Challenge

Stencil Fun, without the option of flowers.

Playing with never before used stuff means I can pop into Darnell's NBUS Challenge

Fab n Funky, things with wings

Retro Rubber

Playing along with the left hand column - birthday, diecut, pens/pencils.

(The flamingoes are from Picket Fence Studios That's Flocking Great from around 2019 and the wheel sentiments are from Lawn Fawn Reveal Wheel sentiments 2017.)

Try it on Tuesday, use a stencil

Supplies:

Lawn Fawn reveal wheel die and reveal wheel sentiments stamp; Picket Fence Studios that's flocking great stamp; versafine clair nocturne ink & clear ep; MFT cloud and grassy edges stencils; distress inks mowed lawn and tumbled glass; Creative Expressions stacked happy birthday die (I cut off the happy); versamark ink and Ranger black sparkle ep; chameleon pen fuchsia and Prismacolor pencils.

Thankyou for visiting,

Cathy x

Wheels for Seize the Birthday

 

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

You can always add to your stash instead with an anything goes birthday card too.

Welcome to Bonnie who is our new party guest for the next couple of months,

 and to Carol who was the winner of our last challenge. They, along with my team mates have some great inspiration for you over at the blog.

I have worn out my light box (it was an ebay cheapie) so have ordered a new one and it's on the way! In the mean time I dug out my little easel to try and get an OK pic of my card.

Still doing inventory (might be a a very long process lol!) and trying to make things with old goodies, like this Stampin Up pinwheel.

I used a scrap of patterned paper for the wheel, a strip of black card for the stem and a sentiment sticker.

The embossing folder is an old Cuttlebug one called mini bubbles.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More diecuts and/or stencils

Happy Little Stampers anything goes with dies

Mix It Up Challenge Blog, anything goes + optional wet or dry embossing

Thankyou for visiting,

Cathy x

Flower with alcohol ink pearls.

 

Hi everyone, I re-watched one of Tim Holtz's videos on using alcohol ink pearls, then had a bit of a play.

I added some foil sheet to the tacky areas, although there's only a little bit on this flower head!

The stem was coloured with distress inks using a finger dauber.

The sentiment is by Casual Fridays Stamps - Mum's the Word from 2012. Stamped with versafine clair nocturne and clear embossed. (Darnell sent me this set way back in 2016 and I've used it many times, so thankyou again Darnell!)

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, no patterned paper

AAA Cards, I chose the hot colour scheme

Allsorts I've gone with the April showers bring May flowers option

Unicorn Challenge, flowers

Retro Rubber

I've gone with the middle row across: diecut, flowers and embossing.

The sentiment stamp is dated 2012.

Supplies:

Dies: Sizzix wildflower stems #1; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangles;

Casual Fridays Stamps Mums the word sentiment; versafine clair nocturne ink & clear ep; Pearl alcohol inks and a scrap of foil sheet; distress inks; hammer card base.

Thankyou for visiting,

Cathy x

CASeing a Case!

 

Hi everyone, I'm putting my stash into an inventory and am trying to use my older goodies that haven't seen the light of day in ages!

The last time I used this cat stamp was years ago and it was a one layer card, but I thought I'd revamp it to fit a couple of challenges.

The scratched colours were made using the edges of torn post it notes. I scribbled some tombow markers onto an acrylic block, spritzed it with water and dabbed it onto the space. (I touched it up with a brush as it needed more colour.)

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Allsorts, for the love of animals, just scraping it in here!

AAA Cards, ripped or torn edges

Simon Says Stamp Monday, make your mark

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, anything goes

Supplies:

Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die; Katzelkraft cat stamp; Kaisercraft sentiment stamp; versafine clair nocturne ink.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Balloons for Seize the Birthday

 

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and Vicki has chosen balloons as the optional theme for this fortnight.

You can always add to your birthday stash of cards with our anything goes birthday option too!

Our party guests Hilary and Claire along with my team mates have some wonderful inspiration for you, so I hope you can play along.

I wanted to try some new supplies and some very old ones that haven't been used before!

I think these hot air balloon stamps were one of my first Stampin Up purchases!
I've had the slimline frame die for a while too, while the slimline sentiment is a newbie.

The background is a mop up piece of watercolour paper from a play with Lindy's magicals. Not much shimmer left as I spritzed a fair bit of water on it. The patchy parts reminded me of clouds.

I inked the sentiment with versamark and embossed it with pearl lapiz embossing powder. It's a pretty blue although it looks black in the pic. The balloons are inked with versafine clair inks and clear embossed for shine.

(The card just fitted in my light box, I'll need to sort something else out for pics!!)

I'm linking up to these challenges:

AAA Birthday

Addicted to Stamps & More

Cardz For Guyz, embossing wet or dry.

Double D Challenge, things that fly

Supplies:

Stampin Up Up Up & Away stamps; versafine inks & clear ep; Tombow markers;

Pink & Main stitched slimline die; Picket Fence Slimline Happy Birthday die; versamark ink and Stampendous Pearl Lustre lapiz ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Alcohol Ink Pearls for Mother's Day

 

Hi everyone, it's been so long since I played with pearl Alcohol inks that I had to watch Tim's video again as a refresher! 

Still need to practice a bit more with his ink blower as it works a bit differently to what I've used in the past.

I adhered some foil from a sheet to the tacky parts, and inked the sentiment with versamark and embossed it with gold ep.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, anything goes

Try it on Tuesday, rainbow colours

Krafty Chicks, occasions

Less is More, anything goes

Happy Little Stampers anything goes with dies challenge

Supplies:

Memory Box pin point heart, Simon Says Stamp Mum and Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle dies; 

Yupo; Alcohol ink pearls; foil sheet; versamark ink & Wow gold metallic ep; hammered card stock.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x