Pearlescent shells.

Hi everyone, I've spent the afternoon playing with perfect pearl sprays and infusions.

I love this shell embossing folder and have never used it in this orientation on a card before, I think it works though!

I started out by embossing some 300gsm white card. This is a heavy duty folder so the cardstock needs to be strong enough to withstand not only the embossing, but getting repeatedly skooshed with liquids lol!

I added blue patina, biscotti and blush perfect pearls into some mini misters, added water and sprayed. It was a pearly effect, but too pale, so I sprinkled on some jade infusions and skooshed with pearl perfect pearls, and water. I heat dried then played some more til I was happy with the effect.

I ran the card back through the embossing folder a few times too as the wetting and drying affected the definition of the shells.

Here's another pic of the shimmer.

The challenge at Paper Artsy is to create something pearlescent.

There are lots of inspiring pieces by the design team and I loved the cards by Hazel Agnew, and was inspired by her use of mica sprays.

I'm also linking up to the anything goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday,

and the anything goes option at Seize the Birthday.

Supplies:

Biscotti, blue patina, blush and pearl perfect pearls; a little bit jaded Paper Artsy infusions; Spellbinders shell beauty embossing folder; Lawn Fawn happy birthday border die, versamark ink and liquid platinum embossing powder.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Pink, gold and a touch of purple!

Hi everyone, it's a gorgeous Spring day here. We've had lots of rain so the brown grass has greened up and the flowers are happy!

I love this Everything Flower stamp by Hero Arts, it makes such a good embossed resist for 

watercolouring.

The colours were inspired by this gorgeous moodboard at Scrapbook Boutique.

I'm also linking up to the anything goes option at Seize the Birthday,

and to the Happy Little Stampers anything goes with dies challenge.

Supplies:

Hero Arts Everything Flower stamp, watercolour paper, versamark ink and white embossing powder; Memory Box Lunette and Oriel butterfly dies; gold card, vellum; Kuretake Gansai watercolour paints; Stampin Up petal burst embossing folder; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Rustic wedding card

Hi again, it's been ages since I've posted, although I have made a couple of cards.

This one was for a work friend who wanted a rustic wedding card that included kraft and lace.

I didn't have lace but thought the paisley embossing and stamping might be ok, and it was!

I'm linking up to the anything goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday.

It's also anything goes at Word Art Wednesday.

At The Card Concept there is a gorgeous inspiration pic for autumn love.

I was inspired by the delicate texture on the white cake and the touches of brown and gold.

Supplies:

Perfectly paisley embossing folder; Annabelle stamps wedding medallion stams and sentiment; Stampin Up paisley stamp from the Wanted set; Hero Arts lace paisley stamp; versamark ink and white embossing powder; versafine ink and detail gold embossing powder; vellum and tag punch.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Just Breathe...

Hi everyone, I'm feeling this way as I'll be going back to work next week,

I should take this card with me and sit it on my desk lol!

I'm playing along with the challenge at Addicted to CAS with my favourite stamp which is butterflies. (I have a lot of butterfly stamps so can't pick just one lol!)

Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday also want to see our favourite stamps.

At Addicted to Stamps & More the theme is to make your mark.

I've coloured the butterflies with Inktense pencils and blended out with a water brush.

I'm also playing along at Word Art Wednesday where the theme is anything goes.

Supplies:

Stampin Up best of butterflies large image and Sonlight Impressions small butterfly:

Casual Fridays Breath stamp; versafine ink, clear ep and Inktense pencils.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Flat cat!

Hi everyone, I've been working on some birthday cards for my stash.

My son loves our cat and she often gives him this look lol! So this will be for his birthday coming up soon.

I made an ink slip up on the white above the cat so fussy cut this part. I masked a strip from the black line down with large post it notes, and blended on some iced spruce distress oxide ink and some regular weathered wood distress ink. A spritz of water added the concretey texture.

The theme at Less is More is watercolour. I'm hoping inking and spritzing fits the theme.

This cat is one of the first Katzelkraft stamps that I bought, along with the scratching cat, but this is it's first inking so I'm linking up with my final entry into Darnell's NBUS challenge. To join in just make sure to use something new or old from your stash that has never been used before.

I'm also linking up to the anything goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday,

At AAA Cards it's a sketch theme.

At Seize the Birthday I'm playing along with the anything goes option.

Supplies:

Katzelkraft cat stamp; Technique Tuesday sassy cat sentiment stamp; birthday sentiment sticker; versafine ink; iced spruce dox ink; weathered wood distress ink.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Gilded ornament.

Hi everyone, I bought a few colours of cosmic shimmer gilding flakes a while ago. Thought I'd do some experimenting while I started on my christmas card stash. I love these shimmery colours, but boy is it messy to play with lol!

Here's a closer look at the colours.

I'm linking up to Darnell's NBUS challenge where she encourages us to use our never before used schtuff! Not only are my gilding flakes new but the sentiment is from an Annabelle's stamp set that I bought years ago, when the company was sadly closing down, so it's being inked for the first time too!

The theme at Simon Says Stamp Monday is heavy metal.

At Simon Says Stamp Wednesday it's anything goes.

It's also anything goes at Addicted to Stamps & More.

I used a scrap of black card as my ornament base so I'm also visiting the snippets playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop, you only need to use 1 snippety piece to join in!

Supplies:

Poppystamps Clarissa ornament outline and background dies; Memory Box Crisp Bow die Stately embossing folder; Annabelle stamps gifted swirls sentiment stamp; versafine ink & clear ep; Cosmic shimmer flake glue and autumn leaves gilding flakes.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

More embossed metallic feathers.

Hi everyone, I had a couple of metal feathers left from my last card so thought I'd make another design.

The technique I used was from Lin Brown's post from 2010. Her metal flowers are stunning and she has some great tutorials on her blog. I can't believe this technique has been around for so long but I'm just discovering it!

I stamped the feathers with black Stazon onto some metal sheet and diecut them. The stamping was really just to add a layer of colour so perfect cutting didn't matter.

Then I used my paper flower veining tool, a small ball tool and mat to emboss the details on the feathers. 

To add colour, I dabbed on some ground espresso distress paint, then rubbed some of it off. Next I added alcohol inks - stream, stonewashed and denim. A thin layer of dimensional magic was painted on top to seal the alcohol ink.

I've used a pin from a clothing label and a brad to secure the feathers to the tag. Love recycling!

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday - heavy metal.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes.

Addicted to Stamps & More - anything goes.

The Male Room also has an anything goes challenge theme with the option of using technology.

Seize the Birthday also has an anything goes birthday theme, or you play along with the script or text background option.

Supplies:

Stampin Up feathers stamp and dies; MFT pierced tag stax die; Lifestyle Crafts metal sheet; stazon ink; ground espresso distress paint; alcohol inks-stram, stonewashed & denim; Modge Podge dimensional glaze; Glossy Accents as glue; Susan's Garden Sizzix flower shaping tools and mat; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Embossed metal feathers.

Hi everyone, I've been playing with some metal sheet that I've had for ages.

It isn't adhesive and can be tricky getting glue to take but it was great for these feathers as the glossy accents sat along the ridge at the back of the feather and adhered perfectly.

The challenge at Paper Artsy is metallics. There are so many gorgeous pics and design team projects for inspiration. I especially loved the metal flower created in the tutorial by Lin Brown. 

Aren't these flowers stunning! 

I stamped a feather image on the metal with Stazon ink then diecut it. Here's a pic of how they started out.

The ink was really just to add a layer of colour so perfect cuts didn't matter. I used my paper flower tool for veining leaves and mat to emboss the details on the feathers. A tiny ball tool was used to make dot impressions too. (Hard to see in the photo but you can see them on the real thing).

Next I added some colour by dabbing on some ground espresso distress paint then after 30 seconds or so rubbed some of it off.

The final colours were alcohol inks in stream, stonewashed and denim. I painted on a thin layer of modge podge dimensional magic to seal the alcohol ink.

This challenge was so much fun that I've ordered some tools so I can try some of Lin's flowers!  

Supplies:

Stampin Up feathers stamp & die and petal burst embossing folder; black Stazon ink; ground espresso distress paint; stream, stonewashed and denim alcohol inks; Modge Podge dimensional magic; Stamplorations Trendy Feathers 2 sentiment stamp; versafine ink.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Hello cat!

Hi everyone, I just love this grumpy cat!

He's fussy cut and coloured with prismacolor pencils, and I've used a couple of NBUS goodies...never before used schtuff as Darnell would say!

The hello die and the sentiment stamp are both new to me, so I'm linking up to Darnell's challenge  where she encourages us to use NBUS,  our stash of stuff we had to have, but haven't got around to using!

I'm also linking up to the challenge at Inkspirational where the word prompt is hello!

It's an anything goes challenge at Word Art Wednesday,

and since I've layered 2 of the hello bubble diecuts together to add dimension, I'm also linking to the pop it up challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday.

Supplies:

Katzelkraft cat stamp; Stamplorations Trendy Feathers 2 sentiment stamp; Poppystamps hello word balloon die; prismacolor pencils; versafine ink and clear ep; black tombow to define his whiskers.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Indigo butterfly.

Hi everyone, I'm finally on holidays and hoping to catch up with some challenges and increase my stash of cards!

I love purple and I love blue, and this indigo colour is a combination of both! I layered Kuretake Gansai watercolour paints in dark blues and purples together and added some Finetec gold paint to get this combo.(Here's a closer look at the shimmer.)

I'm racing in to the Butterfly Challenge where the theme is to use a silhouette and the optional colour of indigo on a butterfly card. I'm hoping this solid diecut will count as a silhouette.

At Seize the Birthday I'm choosing the anything goes birthday option.

My butterfly is popped up on some foam squares glued close to the body so it gives lots of dimension. The theme at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday is to pop it up.

I'm also linking up to the anything goes with dies challenge at Happy Little Stampers.

Supplies:

Kuretake Gansai and Finetec watercolour paints; Memory Box Lucienne Tile and Moonlight Butterfly dies; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x