Alcohol Ink Butterfly

Hi, I'm scraping in to the challenge at Scrapbook Boutique which closes in a couple of hours.

Here is the fabulous inspiration pic.

I love chocolate, and I'm loving alcohol inks at the moment.

 I saw this card on pinterest today at Flower Shoppe Cards and had to take a closer look. 

So many fabulous cards using alcohol inks and one of my other loves, Memory Box dies!

It was my first time "pouncing" on glossy cardstock and I wasn't overly impressed with my results.

I googled some info on the technique and followed it the best I could but wasn't really happy with the colours ( I don't have many, think this will be remedied soon!)

However, once I diecut the butterfly, I was happier with the end result. I used cranberry, pebble and butterscotch.

 I pounced with blending solution after inking up the cardstock. I just love the marbled effect.

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

which has an anything goes theme this week.

The theme at Addicted to Stamps & More is also anything goes.

Materials used:

Memory Box  Darla Butterfly die; MFT Fancy Flourish die; alcohol inks; sentiment sticker and bling from stash.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Aqua and Lime Peonies

Hi, I wanted to CASE this gorgeous card by Katherine at

little things blog.

I love how she trimmed the Lovely Peony Outline diecut so that you can fit more of them on the card.

My colours came from the current challenge at The Card Concept

as did the inspiration for the lacy background. My card is in the clean and simple category, or maybe clean and layered.

At Simon Says Stamp Wednesday blog the challenge is to emboss it, using dry or wet embossing or paste.

My background is embossed with the Entangle folder (I think it may be retired).

A new challenge for me is AAA Cards

The challenge this week is to create a CAS card be inspired by Angela.

I was inspired by her row of gorgeous crisp flowers and the pops of colour.

I diecut the peony centres from scraps of white and cream card. I used up quite a few bits as I cut 2 for each flower, coloured them with distress inks and glued them together for dimension. I was even tempted to put the trimmed outer petals into the snippets box! The only thing that stopped me was the fact they were too fiddly to untangle from the rest of the scraps.

So, I'm visiting the snippets playground again at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Materials used:

Memory Box Lovely Peony Outline die; Entangled embossing folder; distress inks; ribbon and bling from stash.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Hello

Hi, I was inspired to make this card by a few challenges.

CASology has a a pet theme.

It's a spots and dots theme at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

At The Card Concept it's a colour challenge.

My card is in the clean and layered category.

I used snippets of designer paper and the positive rectangles from the Memory Box window die
as my little blocks, so I'm popping into the snippets playground again at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

(AAA Cards  had a sketch type challenge to use 4 shapes in a window block. That was a main part of my design but our satellite internet connection dropped out and I was too late to enter.

I'll try for the next one!)

Materials used:
Memory Box/Poppy Stamps window, cat ,bird and tiny bow dies; Simon Says Stamp hello die; snippets of dp; wink of stella clear pen; bling from stash.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Floral Flourish

Hi, I had a break from my craft room recently due to quite a few other things that were happening, some good, and some otherwise! Hopefully things will settle for a little while now.

This card started out as 2 pieces of flourish left from another project and 1 flower. It was for a sketch challenge, but it kept growing LOL!

The die is a fairly new purchase, MFT leaf filled flourish. I can cut 5 from a piece of card and then use up the scraps for bits of leafy flourish. My snippets habit is getting a bit compulsive!

The flowers were stamped, fussy cut and coloured with inktense pencils in carmine pink and shiraz. Great name for a colour! I shaped them a bit using a stylus on a  mouse pad and popped them up with foam dots.

I'm visiting the snippets playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop. I thought I was in time for last week's fun but the gates had shut, so I'm an early bird this week!

The theme at Addicted to Stamps & More is CAS.

Materials used:

 Stampin Up flower shop stamp; MFT leaf filled flourish die; distress inks; inktense pencils; black opal stickles in the flower centres; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting :)

Cathy x

Sunrise Celebration

Hi, this is my 2nd post as a guest for Addicted to CAS. It's been great fun, thanks again to Kylie and the team for the warm welcome. I hope you can join in with this fortnight's code word Celebrate.

I've had this stamp set for quite a while and hadn't used it. I love how carefree and happy the little figures look. 

 I stamped extra trees on the left to create a frame and thought a sunrise would highlight the silhouettes.

I'm also linking up to the challenge at Addicted to Stamps & More where the theme is Clean & Simple.

Materials used:

Flourishes Kids Play and Hero Arts sentiment stamps; Versafine ink and clear embossing powder; distress inks.

Hope you have a great weekend, thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Wedding card with alcohol inks

Hi, I'm still trying to catch up with cards I need to make!

We're going to a wedding soon and I wanted to make something a bit different for

the bride and groom.

One of the bloom die cuts is inlaid and the other is glued on top so that the crossing stems weren't too bulky.

The effect of the alcohol inks look way better in real life, can't quite get my angle right!

I'm going to link up at the Mixed Media Card Challenge where the theme is a touch of nature.

In addition to stamps and ink, you need to add at least 2 other items or techniques to add dimension and texture.

I've used an embossing folder, metal sheet, die cuts, alcohol ink and ribbon.

I'm still getting used to the rules, but there are lots of gorgeous examples of mixed media from the design team.

My tag and ribbon are from my snippets box so I'm popping over to the playground again at

 Pixie's Crafty Workshop. You only need to use 1 snippet on your project to join in the fun.

Materials used:

 Simon Says Stamp fresh daisies die; Entangle embossing folder; Annabelles Stamps sentiment stamp; versafine ink & clear ep; tag punch; alcohol inks; ribbon from stash.

Thanks for visiting, and have a great week,

Cathy x

Happy Happy Birthday Darnell!

Hi, it was Darnell's birthday a few days ago, so I'm late posting this card.

If you haven't visited her blog at djkardkreations then you're in for a treat.

Darnell is a talented card maker with a terrific sense of humour, her posts are always entertaining and a great source of inspiration. You'll probably also learn lots of new words and acronyms!

Ardyth is hosting a linky party to celebrate, there's still plenty of time to join in.

I've used the die cut words from my new Happy Birthday background die. I coloured them with 3 distress inks. At  Moxie Fab World, there's a wonderful words challenge, to use a word die.

The butterfly was stamped, fussy cut and coloured with inktense pencils.

The challenge at Addicted to Stamps & More is to use markers, pencils or pens in your project.

Materials used:

Poppystamps Happy Birthday background die; Darkroom Door butterfly stamp; Entangled embossing folder; Spellbinders square dies; distress inks; inktense pencils; bling.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Metal Flowers

Hi, I was trying to create some earthy colours from the alcohol inks that I have, but it wasn't meant to be LOL! I guess I'll just have to add more colours to my wish list.

I had some left over pieces of metal sheet from a previous project and managed to fit these flower dies onto them. I've got some smaller pieces left and have a plan for those also. My snippets pile grows ever larger!

The leafy stems and butterflies are also die cut from scraps of shimmer paper. I'm afraid that the scraps went back into the snippets box as I might get one or two more tiny die cuts or punched flowers from them!

All these snippets mean I can visit the playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

I'm also linking up again to Virginia's View Challenge, where the theme is to use a die cut.

Materials used:

Memory Box fancy blossom, curvy stem and butterfly delights dies; Alcohol inks;Lifestyle Crafts metal sheet; shimmer paper; sentiment sticker and bling.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Night Sky Silhouette

Hi, such exciting news!

I was asked by Loll from Stamping with Loll  to be a guest designer for Addicted to CAS.

I was thrilled. I've been a fan of this challenge almost since I started blogging as I love CAS cards.

The DT is full of really inspiring and talented card makers.

The code word this fortnight is SKY.

I sponged the night sky with a few distress inks and stencilled on some stars with embossing paste.

The 2 die cuts are from Memory Box. I modified both of them by trimming away some of the little trees and pruned a few branches from the twiggy tree.

There are a couple of other challenges I'd like to enter too.
At Virginia's View the challenge is to use die cuts.


At The Mixed Media Card Challenge, they are celebrating their very first challenge with a nature theme.
I hope I've got the rules right, you need to use inks, a stamp and 2 other techniques or items to add texture or dimension.
I've used a stamp for the sentiment, distress ink for the sky, and my other 2 techniques  are stencilling with paste for the stars and diecuts for the landscape and tree.

Materials used:
Memory Box modern landscape border and twiggy tree dies; Simon Says Stamp falling stars stencil; clear embossing paste coloured with silver mica powder; Hero Arts sentiment stamp; versafine ink and clear embossing powder; clear wink of stella pen on the yellow window.

Thanks for visiting, and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Cathy x

Recycled perfume box

Hi, I made a vase out of a perfume bottle not long ago, and had kept some of the packaging too.

The challenge this week at Less is More is to use a recycled item on your project, so I thought it was the perfect time to use it. 

I'd kept a large and a small box and ended up using pieces from both.

It was my first time using the Memory Box Ribbon Candy border too. I rearranged a couple of the strips into this geometric pattern.

The challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Blog is W, to use white in your project.

I used a scrap of white shimmer paper for the butterfly base and a white hammered card base to make the colours pop.

Snippets means I can also visit the playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Edited to add: I've realized that this card also fits the challenge over at Virginia's View where the theme is diecuts. (Thanks for the heads up Sarah, x)

Materials used: 

Memory Box ribbon candy border, Darla and Vivienne butterfly dies; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Summer garden

Hi, i was inspired to make this card by the challenge at the
Simon Says Stamp Monday blog where the theme is "I ought to use this more".

I've had this designer paper for ages, along with lots of other sheets, and thought I should start using it!
The butterfly was stamped, fussy cut and coloured with inktense pencils.

I'm also linking up to the anything goes challenge at Seize the birthday.


It's also anything goes at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge


Materials used:
Designer paper; Hero Arts antique engravings stamp; Memory Box label die; sentiment sticker; double sided tape.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for visiting,
Cathy x

Butterflies for a baby boy

Hi, I made this card to send to my niece in Austria who has recently had a baby boy.

This embossing folder reminds me of a babies quilt, so I think it's the perfect background for these butterflies.

I'm linking up the the challenge at The Card Concept where the theme is baby.

There's also a fabulous photo for inspiration.

I think my card is in the clean and simple category.

I'm also putting a second entry in at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

where it's an anything goes theme, and at 

Addicted to Stamps & More where it';s also anything goes.

Inkspirational has a colour challenge

Materials used:

Stampin Up fancy fan embossing folder; Memory Box butterfly and alphabet dies; EK Success flower punch; glitter paper.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Yellow Butterfly Flourish

Hi, I'm using up some leftovers from previous projects.
I love using diecuts as they can be modified by trimming bits off, or gluing bits on!
These flourishes were trimmed from a larger piece and seemed too good to throw away.

I'm linking up to a few challenges.
At Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge the theme is anything goes.

At Less is More the theme is watercolor. Add water when you colour your project.
I've coloured this butterfly using Inktense pencils and an aquabrush.

At Addicted to Stamps & More the theme is anything goes.

Materials used:
Hero Arts stamp; versafine ink and clear embossing powder; Inktense pencils; MFT flourish coloured with distress ink; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,
Cathy x

Perfume Bottle Vase

Hi, I've been saving up the empty bottles from my favourite perfume.

I love the shape and thought it'd be perfect as a small vase. I coloured it with alcohol inks and blending solution.

I then had to make some flowers and greenery to match! 

I'm linking up to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is anything goes.

I die cut my tattered flowers from watercolour paper and coloured them with distress inks.

The leaves are cut from scraps and snippets of green cardstock with a couple of Memory Box dies.

 So I'm visiting the playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Enjoy the rest of your week, thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Flowers for a Friend

Hi, I've managed to make a few cards today and thought I'd better get 1 posted before it gets too late.

I've used a die I bought ages ago and a new stamp set that I'm inking for the first time.

Never before used stuff, perfect for the NBUS challenge at Darnell's blog.

She's celebrating her 500th follower with this fun challenge. It's anything goes with a friendship theme

Pop over and have a look, Darnell always has an entertaining story with her fabulous cards.

I die cut the blossom sprig from watercolor paper and used distress ink to colour the whole thing green. I cut some more flowers from the leftover scraps, sponged them blue then stuck them on top. Much easier than trying to colour with markers. Using snippets means I can visit the playground over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

At Time Out Challenge the theme is Summer with an optional twist of flowers. Blue skies, green grass and yellow sun, that made my colour choice easy.

Materials used:

 Memory Box honeysuckle blossom die; watercolor paper;  Stampin Up Field Flowers stamp; distress inks; wink of stella pen.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Flying Birthday

Hi, I was inspired to make this card by the challenge at Addicted to CAS

where the code word is transport.

There are also a couple of challenges with a clean and simple theme.

Addicted to Stamps & More and 

Inkspirational.

I cut my clouds and the banner from snippets of cardstock, so I'm also visiting the playground at

Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Materials used:

Stampin Up embossing folder; Memory Box cloud die; MFT banner die; We R Memory Keepers stamp; distress ink; twine; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Inky Christmas

Hi, I've been making some paper flowers and while I had my distress inks out I thought I'd make this card for the Holidays challenge at Addicted to Stamps.

This embossed resist technique is one of my favourites.

Materials used: Memory Box snowflake die; Poppystamps snowflake stamp; distress inks; silver ink and embossing powder; sentiment sticker and ribbon from stash.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Masculine Sympathy

Hi, it's a long weekend here in Australia to celebrate the Queen's birthday.

I'm so looking forward to the break. No special plans, just hoping to catch up on some sewing and card making. 

 I needed a male sympathy card and saw this gorgeous card on pinterest. I've used the image for happy occasions but hadn't thought to use it on a sympathy card, so thank you for the inspiration Blindstamper at Splitcoaststampers.

I'm linking up to a few challenges.

Inkspirational has a clean and simple theme, and

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge has a father's day or masculine theme.

 I masked the white border and inked the panel in a few blue distress inks. I'm always amazed at the clean area that appears when you lift up a mask. I think it fits the theme at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is magic.

Materials used:

Penny Black Dreamy stamp; distress inks; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Blue Butterfly

I used a new flourish die for the first time today.

I glued 2 together for more dimension and tried to shape the leaves a bit, then coloured them with distress inks.

I'm linking up to the challenge at Addicted to CAS again.

This card has more subtle texture so I hope that's still ok. I've used a hammered card stock as a base and embossed a frame.

At Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge it's anything goes.

I cut the butterfly base from vellum and painted it with twinkling H2Os. The top was cut from blue card and I used the leftovers to die cit the tiny butterflies. Snippets means I can visit the playground at 

Pixie's Crafty Workshop for lots of fun!

Materials used:

MFT flourish die; Memory Box butterfly dies; distress inks; twinkling H20s; Stately embossing folder; sentiment sticker.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Black & Yellow Butterfly

Hi, my plans for lots of crafting this weekend got slowed down when my heat gun died!

It's one I bought at least 15 years ago, so instead of crafting I was scouring the internet for a replacement. 

After my cuttlebug my heat gun is probably my most used tool. I use it for wet embossing and drying inky projects, I'm too impatient to wait! 

I had this social butterfly from Penny Black stamped and fussy cut, so I coloured it with inktense pencils to suit the challenge at The Card Concept, to create a project using black, grey, yellow and white. My card is in the clean and simple category.

 Sentimental Sundays has a theme of things with wings, it closes in a little while so I'm just scraping in!

Addicted to Stamps  is to make your mark. Create a project using pencils, markers, etc.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is anything goes.

Materials used:

Penny Black stamp, versafine ink and clear embossing powder; inktense pencils; MFT flourish die; iced spruce distress ink; sentiment sticker.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and may your heat gun keep on working!

Cathy x