Birthday surf.

Hi everyone, been busy here for a while as both of my parents have been in and out of hospital.

My step dad is still there, hoping his procedure is a success!

This was a quick card to make for a friend's birthday.

I blended on a few blue distress oxide inks and spritzed with water. Love the textured effect it created. The surfer is a retired Stampin Up image, stamped in archival jet black ink.

I'm linking up to the water themed challenge at Seize the Birthday.

At Addicted to CAS it's a masculine theme.

I'm hoping the inky blue background is ok as "white"space.

It's a CAS theme at Addicted to Stamps & More.

At Simon Says Stamp Wednesday the theme is distress it.

Supplies:

Distress oxide inks; Stampin Up surfer stamp; Happy Little Stampers sentiment stamp from Doodled Flowers set; archival jet black ink and white versafine ink and white ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Evolution Butterfly.

Hi everyone, I was delighted to be invited to play along as guest designer at

CAS Mix Up Card Challenge, after winning the June challenge.

I love CAS cards but I also love playing with inky techniques and arty products, so this is the perfect challenge to combine all of that!

The theme this month is stencil monoprints.

What a lot of fun this was! Messy but fun!

I inked up a new stencil with some citrus coloured distress inks, spritzed it with water then carefully lifted and placed it onto some watercolour paper. I blotted it with a paper towel to absorb the excess water and that was it!

When I asked my boys what they thought they said the stencil looked like DNA, it's called evolution by Stamplorations, so they were pretty spot on lol!

The butterfly was stamped, wet embossed, fussy cut then coloured with Inktense pencils and a waterbrush. I added some diamond stickles for some sparkle. Here's a closer look.

My elements are stencil monoprint, stamping , wet embossing and watercolouring.

There are some video tutorials on the challenge site to help inspire you, so I hope you can join in.

I'm also linking up to these challenges:

It's all about birthdays at A Blog Named Hero, 

and you just need to use at least one Hero Arts product. This butterfly stamp from the antique engravings set is my all time favourite!

I'm also linking up to the CAS challenge at Stamplorations.

Shery and the team are on Summer vacation but you can still link up your CAS makes.

and to the never ending anything goes challenge at Stamplorations.

I've used the Artplorations stencil evolution.

At Double D Challenges the theme is don't bug me.

Butterflies are glamorous bugs! I've gone with the oranges and greens in the photo.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday has a make your own background theme.

Stencil monoprinting is my background.

Supplies:

Stamplorations evolution stencil: distress inks in twisted citron, carved pumpkin; fossilized amber and scattered straw; Hero Arts Antique Engravings butterfly stamp; versafine ink & clear ep; Inktense pencils; sentiment sticker and diamond stickles.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Watercoloured cone flowers.

Hi everyone, I was delighted when Kylie asked me to play along as a guest designer at Happy Little Stampers after winning the  June watercolour challenge. 

There are so many ways to play along whether it be paints, powders, or as in this case pencils.

The theme for this month is anything goes watercolour with the option of flowers.

I stamped these flowers in versafine smokey grey, fussy cut them, and coloured them with Inktense pencils and a water brush.

The sentiment is from the HLS doodled flowers set. I love the fonts on these stamps, and they are a great size.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Make My Monday where the theme is to colour your image.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, where the theme is anything goes.

Supplies:

Stamps: Stampers Anonymous Flower Garden; Happy Little Stampers Doodled Flowers.

Dies: Crafts 4 U stitched rectangles.

Other: Inktense pencils; watercolour paper; versafine ink smokey grey and onyxblack; clear ep; the flowers are layered onto a hammered card base.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Driftwood and seashells.

Hi everyone, I was so excited to be asked to play along as a guest designer at Retro Rubber Challenge Blog.I have a lot of stamps that fit their criteria for playing along, that is, more than one year old. So it's great to rediscover some old goodies in my stash!

I hope you get the chance to play along.

The theme for this challenge is life's a beach.

I went with my favourite thing to do at the beach, which is looking for interesting driftwood and seashells! I'm not a swimmer lol.

The driftwood background is part of the woodgrain stamp by Darkroom Door (2012). I've had it for years and usually use it to cover a card front like this card. For this panel I stamped embossed and inked with distress inks. Then I cut a couple of the "planks"out and distressed the edges with an edge tool. I layered them onto a scrap of black card.

The seashells and starfish are diecut from white and cream card and coloured with distress inks, chameleon pens, and then rubbed with platinum and champagne inka gold to give them some shimmer.

Here's a closer look.

The sentiment is from a Hero Arts set that I've also had for ages, Find Joy (2013).

I know that in many places cool thoughts would be great at the moment, but over here a bit of warmth wouldn't go astray lol!

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Addicted to CAS where the theme is summertime.

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

At Word Art Wednesday it's anything goes with the provided bible verse or a sentiment.

Supplies:

Stamps: Darkroom Door woodgrain and Hero Arts Find Joy.

Dies: Impression Obsession seashells.

Other: Versafine smokey grey and onyx black; clear ep; Chameleon pens; Inka gold platinum and champagne.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Gelatos and a tree frame.

Hi everyone, I've been playing with gelatos again! I love how soft the colours are, although I keep reaching for the same blues and yellow! They smoosh so easily when you scribble them on a craft mat and spritz with water. Sometimes there are small lumps that need blending with a palette knife or other tool to get them mooshy lol!

I'm linking up to these  challenges:

 at Poppystamps it's a birthday theme.

I've used the Poppystamps Feather Tree Frame.

The die is wider than the usual cardstock I buy in Australia, but I managed to get some larger cardstock and once I trim it, it's perfect!

Here's a closer look at the shimmer from the blueberry ice gelato.

It's anything goes at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday.

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

At Stamplorations CAS challenge, Shery and the team are on Summer vacation, but you can still link up your CAS makes.

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

Supplies:

Poppystamps feather tree frame die; Happy Little Stampers sentiment from Doodled Flowers set; versafine ink & clear ep; gelatos.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

More panda monium!

Hi everyone, Most of these components were in my bits box!

The only thing I had to make was the diecut sentiment.

There's still a heap of diecuts, half made things and backgrounds to be used, and it gets added to nearly everytime I play with something new.

The background is a panel of watercolour paper sprinkled with brushos and spritzed with water, so I'm linking up to the Happy Little Stampers watercolour challenge. I've gone with the anything goes option.

The panda is stamped with archival black ink and fussy cut, but apart from that evertyhing else is a diecut, so I'm also linking up to anything goes with dies at Happy Little Stampers.

Uniko has a quote "It's much more friendly with two" for their theme.

I've interpreted this as missing a friend, so I hope that fits the theme ok.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday has an anything goes challenge.

Word Art Wednesday has an anything goes theme and you can use their bible verse or a sentiment.

Supplies:

Mama Elephant pandeomonium stamp; Archival black ink; Cuttlebug embossing folder; Spellbinders distressed edges die; fun foam; Paper Smooches balloon die; silver cord; Simon Says Stamp script miss you die; brushos.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Rustic thankyou.

Hi everyone, a work colleague wanted a thankyou card with a country feel.

I know she likes butterflies and she also likes the look of timber, so I combined them.
It's a design I've used before but for a different occasion.

I'm linking up to the challenge at Addicted to Stamps & More where the theme is make your mark.
I used distress inks to colour the timber panel and the butterflies are coloured with Inktense pencils and a waterbrush.



At Happy Little Stampers, it's anything goes with dies.
I've used a sentiment diecut, covered with veramark and embossed with frantage embossing enamel.



The Mix it Up Challenge blog has an anything goes with the optional twist of mixed media theme. My card may fit the mixed media option as I've used the frantage enamel and distress inks.




At Simon Says Wednesday the challenge is to use a die or a punch. I've used a W plus 9 sentiment die.


At Word Art Wednesday it's anything goes with a sentiment or bible verse.


Supplies:
Darkroom Door woodgrain stamp; Hero Arts antique engravings butterfly stamp; versafine ink & clear ep; distress inks; Inktense pencils; W plus 9 thankyou die; veramrk ink and aged silver frantage enamel; distressing tool.

Thanks for visiting,
Cathy x

Tangerine funky florals.

Hi everyone, I got a chance to play with my new zig markers and a new floral die set today.

I cut a lot of the flowers and leaves in one pass on my cuttlebug, so it didn't take long to have lots of diecuts ready to colour.

I started by sponging some spiced marmalade distress ink onto the flowers with a finger dauber, then spritzed this with water to give a  light orange base colour. 

Then I coloured around the edges with a bright yellow zig marker. I used a water pen to blend this in. To tone down the brightness I added a touch of vintage photo distress ink on the edges. The greenery is coloured with olive green and the centres with yellow. I added a touch of sparkle with a clear wink of stella pen.

I'm linking up to these challenges: 

CAS Mix Up Card Challenge where the theme is to colour diecuts.

My other elements are sponging, stamping wet embossing and die cutting.

At Less is More it's a colour challenge, olive and tangerine.

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

Simon Says Stamp Monday want us to add a little sparkle.

At Work it Wednesday the theme is the great outdoors.

Supplies:

Sizzix funky floral#1 dies; distress inks; zig clean colour brush markers; wink of stella clear pen; Annabelle Stamps sentiment (Fanciful Flowers set); versafine ink & clear ep; hammered card base.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Summer Fun with brilliance wax and gelatos!

Hi everyone, I wish I was on a tropical island in the sun right now!

It's been very cold and windy here lately, although being the middle of Winter it won't be too long before I'll be complaining about the heat lol!

I'm playing along with a few challenges. 

At Simon Says Stamp Monday the theme is Summer fun.

At CAS Mix Up Card Challenge the theme is to colour your diecuts.

I often colour card or create an inky background then dicut my pieces from that. So instead I diecut the palm trees then rubbed Antique Brilliance wax in lucky emerald on the leaves with my finger, and painted iced chai gelato with a little water onto the stem. The trees have a lovely shimmer in real life. Here's a closer look.

My elements are coloured diecuts, diecutting, gelatos, watercolouring and stamping.

I created the background using Loll's splash watercolour technique. The link is to a quick video tutorial. It's a lot of fun, although I found blue ink splashes in quite a few random places lol!

Hubby wanted me to add a sun, I opted for some yellow and mopped the ink up with a paper towel before it turned green!

So I'm also linking to the CAS watercolour challenge where splash watercolouring is the theme.

I used a few blues and a yellow distress ink.

I'm also linking up to Just Us Girls  as they have a watercoloured background theme.

Supplies:

Palm tree die, unbranded from craft fair; Spellbinders circle die; Prima antique brilliance wax; gelatos; distress inks; Kaisercraft Bon Voyage mini clear stamp; versafine ink & clear ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x