Sentiments in Focus…

All last week, I was inspired by an Allsorts challenge to ‘Use Sentiments as a Focus’. Although I’ve missed the challenge (long gone – duh!), I’m going to blog the cards I made because it’s something I don’t do a lot of. I do always like to use an inspirational sentiment but it’s rarely the actual focus of the card and I generally start with an inked background, so it was fun to do things differently for a little while.

The first two are simply stamped in Versamark ink on watercolour paper, then embossed with white EP and painted over with watercolours.

This one was stamped around the edges of glossy card in Versamark (for a resist effect), then sponged over with Distress inks. The sentiment was stamped in the centre – still on Autumn!

This is a Media plate background I played with a couple of weeks ago, adding bits of gold leaf to the flowers and around the edges, using a Quickie Glue pen.

The final card is stamped on a background I made by mopping up remaining Distress inks and adding a little more colour where I thought I needed it.

This last one is just a card I made for a friend who isn’t very well… it’s made with Distress Oxides on watercolour paper, using Lavinia stamps again…. must admit, this is one of my personal favourites!

I’d like to enter this one into a few ‘Anything Goes’ challenges.

Creative Fingers

Inspiration Destination

and

Creatalicious (with optional background)

I’d also like to enter it into the ‘Show us Your Stamps’ challenge on

Frilly and Funkie

Thanks for looking.

See you soon!

Cath

xxx

More Autumnal Stamping

I think I’ve been bitten by the ‘Autumn Bug’…

I sorted through some of my stamps and found loads with an Autumnal theme, so I just played around. 

Some of my favourite pear stamps (I have a few…).

I stamped this one in Distress inks, then moved the inks around a bit again, finally going over the word ‘Pear’ with a couple of Tombow pens, then dampening with a paintbrush – I kind of wish I hadn’t bothered but it’s not too bad.

The words on this one are stamped in Distress inks, then the pears were masked and watercoloured with Distress Inks.

I really do need to learn to take more care when photographing – in future I’ll try to make sure they’re straight!

You can’t see the background card, which is a very pale green – sort of eau de nil shade – very delicate..

Next time I’ll use three pears – the ‘rule of three’ definitely works better – these two just look lonely…

Here, I’ve used the same stamp as I did on the first one, but stamped in Versafine, then clear embossed on a green, yellow and blue background. I added a little colour from my Distress ink pads for the pear.

This is yet another large leaf – I should perhaps have mentioned that the cards in the last post are 6 inch square cards, as is this one. I inked the stamp with Versamark first, then added colour from a few different Distress inks, finally clear embossing.

This is the same leaf, stamped with Distress Oxides.

There are more, but I think that’s enough for now, hehe  

My program seems to have lost some of my previous posts, so I hope they’ll be there when I publish.

I’d like to enter the first one into the Autumn Stamping Challenge at Crafty Cardmakers.

Thanks for looking.

Cath

xxx

Autumn Leaves…

I love leaves… REALLY, really love leaves and especially at this time of year!!!

So, I’ve been playing with some old (VERY old) stamps I found in my leafy collection and a bit of watercolour.

Firstly, I tried my old way of stamping them – they’re big stamps – inking them up with a few colours of Distress inks and placing the paper on top. I then pulled out the colours with a damp paintbrush – damp because anything more than that completely takes out the detail.

Here is the first one after stamping…

With the second one, I thought I’d try overstamping… BAD idea! I didn’t manage to line it up correctly, though I suppose it looks watercoloury… is that a word???

So, I went a bit rash and decided to mount the stamps…

I stamped the images exactly the same way, but then overstamped with Versafine ink and embossed.

I’m much happier with those results

I’ve photographed them side by side, so you can see the difference.

I’ve found another two large stamps, so I’ll try them next…

I do have another couple of Oxide cards to share, but I’ll do that another day. I also made a Baby Congratulations card for my niece in New Zealand – well outside my comfort zone! I developed a new respect for you die cut users when I kept having to redo bits of this…

I’d like to enter the leafy cards into the following two challenges:

Allsorts Challenge is ‘Feels like Autumn’

and

Crafty Cardmakers is also Autumn.

Thanks for looking.

Cath

xxx

Still here…

I haven’t been blogging, but I’ve been playing…

Izzi (Grandaughter) day is one of those days when it’s impossible to get online, but they’re almost over now… my little darling starts school the week after next

August Bank Holiday is always a good family time, though because it’s her Daddy’s birthday and this time is rather special because he will be 40 tomorrow!

Eeek! Where do the years go????

The party was yesterday, so here’s a snippet of my little Treasure.

Now, back to the artwork… I’ve been journalling and playing with watercolour…

This one’s à la Maremi… YouTube – pure watercolour play… lots of fun! I highly recommend it!

And here’s a card that’s a long way from my usual style, but I just felt like doing something a little different

I have more cards to share, so I’ll be back soon…

Thanks for looking.

Cath

xxx