Just keep swimming!

 

Hi everyone, life has been pretty hectic lately. 

Both of my parents have moved into aged care in a local facility, so there's lots of family and house stuff that needs doing. They are both pretty happy and well cared for so that's the main thing.

I'll just keep swimming lol!

I wanted to play along with a few challenges before I miss the deadlines, and used this

  new to me goldfish stamp. I was having real trouble lining up the layers but

luckily I have a stamping tool and that helped me to get it right!

I used distress oxides for the fish and background and the face is stamped using a rust colour from Hero Arts.

At CAS Mix Up card Challenge, the theme is layered stamping and heat embossing.

I didn't have any suitable coloured embossing powders, so stamped over the coloured fish with versamark ink and heat set it with clear embossing powder. I fussy cut the fish then popped it up on foam dots for dimension.

My elements are layered stamping & heat embossing, sponging ink, fussy cutting and die cutting.

Here's a closer look at the shine

It's all about occasions at Watercooler Wednesday.I do seem to make quite a few encouragement cards, so I hope that's an ok occasion.

At Just Us Girls the theme is off the edge. 

At Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, it's no designer paper.

Supplies:

Hero Arts layering goldfish & sentiment stamp: stitched circle die; distress oxide inks; versamark ink and clear embossing powder.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Birthday Feathers.

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday, and it's a fun anything goes theme this time! I hope you can play along with any birthday themed cards.

The Design Team have some wonderful ideas to inspire you.

This was a quick and easy card to make.

 I had an old calendar in my stash from my days working as a librarian. The pages were these gorgeous shades of bronze, pink and purple and the paper is lovely and thick. (I just checked the date and it's from 1999! I left my last library in 2001 so it pays to never throw things out lol!)

I diecut the feathers, glued them in place and added a bronze sequin.

The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed.

 Since this took about 10 minutes to do, I'm linking up to the challenge at AAA Cards where it's a made in minutes theme.

Happy Little Stampers Anything goes with Dies.

Stamplorations CAS Challenge.

The theme at Die Cuttin Divas is national library day! 

Not sure if my work connection and the calendar is suitable!

Supplies:

Hero Arts paper layering feather die; Annabelle Stamps retired sentiment stamp; versamark ink & clear ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Spring butterfly, stencilling and brushos.

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at CAS Stencil where the theme is to use a stencil with embossing pastes, gels, creams etc. Lots of fun!

 There are lots of how to videos on the blog and some fabulous cards from the DT to inspire you.

Hope you can play along!

I taped a stencil down onto some watercolour paper and applied some grit texture paste with a spatula.

When it was dry, I sprinkled on some green brushos, spritzed with water and moved the panel around so that the colour flowed around the stencil details.

 I decided to dab a paper towel on top and that removed a lot of the colour from the texture paste but it had saturated the rest of the watercolour paper.

The butterfly was stamped with versafine ink, clear embossed, fussy cut and coloured with Inktense pencils.

The sentiment is from a retired set by Annabelle Stamps, also clear heat embossed.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Allsorts where the challenge is to use yellow.

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge where it's anything goes watercolour with the option of bright. My elements are brushos and Inktense pencils.

Mix it Up Challenge, I've gone with the anything goes option.

Watercooler Wednesday Feminine anything goes challenge.

Supplies: 

Tim Holtz feather layering stencil; Ranger grit texture paste; brushos; Darkroom door butterfly stamp; Annabelle Stamps sentiment stamp; versafine ink & clear ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Brushos and glimmer mist.

Hi everyone, I had a few hours spare today and needed a few cards.

Checked through my stash of backgrounds and found a watercolour one that had prussian blue brushos and diamond glimmer mist on it

I wanted to use this new die and decided to add a bit more colour, so sprinkled on some turquoise and lime brushos, spritzed with water and was happier with the coverage.

Here's a look at the shimmer.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday where it's anything goes.

Die Cuttin Divas'where it's all about your favourite colour combination.

One of my fave's is blue and green, I'm sure crayola will keep some shades of these crayons!

Watercooler Wednesday, where it's occasions.

Supplies:

Paper Rose Blooming Flowers die; brushos; dazzling diamonds glimmer mist; Thanks die that was a gift from a friend.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Spring Birthday Milestone!

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday!

The toppings option this time is Spring, which is a long way off here in Australia, although it's my favourite time of year!

If flowers aren't your thing, then you can always play along with the anything goes birthday option.

A colleague at work asked me to make a card for her Mum who was turning 80 and said she loved flowers and the colours pink and purple.

I laid down some distress oxides in pink and purple on a craft mat, spritzed with water and patted some watercolour paper into the puddles. I dried that off with a heat gun, then sprayed the paper with some glimmer mist. Love the splotchy look!

The large and small flowers were punched out, the black stamens and leaves were diecut.

I diecut the numbers, inked them with versamark and heat embossed with black sparkle powder.

The textured background is from a Simon Says Stamp embossing plate. I would have liked the texture to be a bit more prominent, but couldn't get it anything better with my cuttlebug or big shot plus.

I'll have to keep experimenting with the sandwich!

Here's a close up that shows the shimmer.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday where it's anything goes.

Happy Little Stampers Anything goes with Dies

Watercooler Wednesday All Abot Occasions.

Retro Rubber has a tic tac toe challenge and you must use at least one stamp that is more than a year old. I've used a sentiment stamp from Happy Little Stampers Doodled Flowers set, which dates from 2016.

My row is sparkle, leaves and heat embossing.

Supplies:

Punches: Stampin Up Pansy punch and EK success small flower.

Dies: Memory Box cherry blossom and Parker numbers; Elizabeth Craft curvy leaves; Spellbinders Circles; 

Other: Simon Says Stamp Cora embossing plate; distress oxide inks; versafine ink, clear ep; black sparkle ep. Dazzling diamonds glimmer mist.

Stamps: Happy Little Stampers doodled flowers sentiment.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Retirement would be awesome!

Hi, no I'm not able to retire yet, sadly, lol!

A former work colleague is retiring though and I was asked to make him a card. I had this bird in my stash and loved his nonchalant look!

The bird is stamped with versafine on watercolour paper and from memory, is coloured with Inktense pencils.

The stamped sentiments are from 2 different sets, and the diecut is layered up 3 times for dimension, inked with versamark and embossed with black sparkle powder.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

AAA Cards has a CAS theme using one image.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday has a cute theme. I think these crazy birds are quirky and cute!

Happy Little Stampers anything goes with dies. I used Memory Box awesome jotted script and the matching die for the bird crazy stamp.

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge has an anything goes masculine theme.

Stamplorations CAS Challenge, it's anything goes with the optional use of coral pink.

Supplies:

Tim Holtz Bird Crazy stamp and die; Memory Box awesome jotted script die; Woodware retirement  and Lawn Fawn reveal wheel sentiment stamps; Inktense pencils; versafine ink & clear ep; versamark ink & black sparkle ep; Stately embossing folder.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Ghosted greenery with oxide inked butterfly.

Hi everyone, have you had a chance to play along with the CAS Stencil Challenge

ghosting theme yet? There is still plenty of time and lots of inspiration on the challenge blog, as well as some video tutorials if you are new to this technique.

I inked some cardstock with distress oxide inks in a few shades of green, then laid a leafy layering stencil over the top. I spritzed this with water, removed the stencil and then laid a piece of paper towel over the card to absorb the excess moisture. I love the subtle pattern and the shades of green it created.

My butterfly and flowers were diecut from some glossy photo paper that had been inked with distress oxide inks, then wiped with a baby wipe. Love the vibrant colours .

Here's a closer look.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

At Addicted to CAS the theme is green.

Die Cuttin Divas has a green or gold theme. I've used both Memory Box and Spellbinders dies.

At Mix it Up Challenge, it's anything goes with the option of an inked background.

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

Supplies:

Dies: Memory Box side drifting butterfly and blushing bouquet; Spellbinders circle dies.

Other: Tim Holtz leafy layering stencil; distress oxide inks; glossy photo paper; Annabelle Stamps sentiment; versafine ink & clear ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Spots and stripes!

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday!

This time the optional toppings theme is spots and stripes,

or, as always, you can play along with the anything goes birthday theme.

The Design Team and special guest have some wonderful ideas to inspire you, so I hope you can play along.

I struggle with patterns, whether it's designer paper, or layers with different patterns on them!

So I revisited a CAS design I used a couple of years ago that used striped washi tape and some dotty sequins. I combined that with some diecuts embossed with aged black frantage powder, and my Stepdad's birthday card is ready!

I''m linking up to these challenges:

The numbers and strip of black card are cut from scraps, so I'm visiting the snippets playground at

Pixie's Crafty Workshop. You only need 1 scrap or snippet to play along and as well as playground antics there is the adorable pup Dudley to catch up with!

The theme at CAS on Friday is embossing wet or dey. I've used wet embossing with versamark ink and frantage enamel powder.
.

 Happy Little Stampers anything goes with dies.

Supplies:

Dies: Poppystamps jumbled birthday; Memory Box Parker numbers.

Stamp: Simon Says Stamp Happy stamp set.

Other: Stampendous aged black frantage embossing enamel; versamark ink; washi tape and sequins from stash.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x