In The Cat Cave: October 2015

Friday 30 October 2015

using photos in your cards | #tgifc27

Wow, this design team is just incredible isn't it? It's so amazing to be part of such an amazing collection of crafters from all over the world! This week's TGIF challenge is a remix challenge. I choose to use the sketch challenge and the thankful project from last week.

What I came up with was a window card with a photo inside. I just love those black and white photos of kids kissing - so why not use my own pictures? It's a perfect card for my family who are constantly babysitting - we'd be lost without their help.

As always, thanks for dropping by!

You have until Wednesday of next week to play along with us!

Cathy

Thursday 29 October 2015

have a wicked night! | Fancy Friday: Treats, not Tricks!

Welcome back to another Fancy Friday blog hop with my past 2013-2014 Stampin' Up! Artisan Design Team friends!

This month's theme is Treats, not Tricks!

EASY TREATS, NO FUSS, PERFECT FOR LAST MINUTE MAKING!

Well, that is me right now.

I still only have the two treat packs you see below. My daughter, Jane, who is 5 likes to be involved in the treat making. Pretty sure that's because she wants to eat the candy mostly. I get her to stamp and I stick the spider web doily and the two boos. Between us, Jane and I both cut the "BOOs" from the Big Shot.

This stamp comes from two stamp sets: Haunt Ya Later and Project Life Seasonal Snapshot 2015. I had to cut the "have a" from the "have a fangtastic halloween" stamp. I wouldn't get your pee hot to cut a stamp - I definitely am always looking for words like "have a" or "you are". It's a great way to stretch your stamp sets. I love combining fonts so creating my own sentiment was right up my alley!

I also had to create some bags in clear bags for the schools. They need to approve the treats. I packed the bag with two mini play dough and some candy. I then used the spiderweb doily and reversed it. I stapled the doily and the bag. I glued on the witches hat from the Boo to You framelits and added some gold cording trim. I've been using this cording trim on pretty much all my projects. I love how it holds the curve.

I'll be making twenty of each. I'll cut out the witches hats and the "Boo" from the black glimmer paper at the same time. I can cut out two orange BOOs at a time. Although it might sound like a lot - I only need to run that big shot 30 times.

Now, I am off to an assembly line! It's time for you to check out Cindy!

Cathy

Tuesday 27 October 2015

Numero Uno Pin | Revisiting 'Halloween Treats'

Interested in my most "re-pinned" pin?

It's some Halloween Treats years ago! I thought I'd show you the photo again and include the link so you can create your own!

This photo gets several repins a day and many more this time of year. Who knew?

Original Post with instructions!

I will be busy making treats tomorrow night! Come back on Thursday to check them out along with my Fancy Friends.

Cathy

Kraft Paper + red Hearts = love | #tgifc26

It's another TGIF Challenge!

This week's challenge could be interpreted in many ways. There's the colours and there's the theme and it almost looks like a sketch as well!

I don't like a ton of layers on my cards.

I love little hearts.

I love the patterned paper mixed with solids.

And born was this little card.

Notice the little corner? That was created with the new curvy corner punch. It's pretty awesome!

Happy crafting!

Cathy

Friday 16 October 2015

watercolour flowers | #tgifc25

Ah ha! Did you think I forgot about you?

Well, you see I was busy travelling for work and I went on a special trip to see Madonna's Rebel heart tour. When I returned from home, I was greeted with the Stomach Flu! Yahoo!

This card was created as part of the TGIF challenges Design Team.

It's their 25th challenge!

This week's challenge is to be inspired by the following picture:

This was a problem.

I didn't know what to do with that picture.

So I decided to pull a "Connie Collins" and did repeated stamping.

I did so on watercolour paper with my favourite gold embossing. I then coloured using my ink pads and the aqua painter.

A TIP! Don't forget to use a heat gun to dry your colouring between layers. A good rule of thumb is after each colour or even if you want a lot of that "water droplet" look then between layers of colour.

ANOTHER TIP! Always remember the darkest part will be coloured first. I often colour until there's no colour left. Then my next bit of colouring will be where I want it the darkest.

Have a great day and "hello" again!

Cathy

Wednesday 7 October 2015

Wednesday #witl2015 | This is Life Project life

It's the Wednesday Edition of my Week in the Life documentation.

If you want to see the journalling of my day, make sure to click below.

I am loving this process. I love to read the stories. I love to build the layouts. Honestly, I usually feel like I need more "stuff". Yes. Stuff. But whenever I put anything on the layout, I didn't like it as much. I like the simple. I like the writing and the pictures as they are.

As I mentioned before, I am using the Stampin' Up! Project Life kit called "This is the Life" - both the cards and the accessory kit.

You can see that I stapled the gold "hello" die cut from the Greetings Thinlet. In addition, I altered one of the Project Life cards. On the card below that states "This is what LIFE looks like today", I stamped repeatedly a "Work, Play, Repeat" on the right hand side. This stamp comes from the This is the Life Project Life polymer stamp - it coordinates with this kit. I also added one of the stickers from the accessory kit. I like the way it turned out.

In the This is the Life Project Life Accessory Kit, you receive some clear white stickers. These stickers are incredible on photos. I just love them and used them several times in this layout.

The backside of the layout continues with the story of Wednesday in my "Week in the Life".

That's it for Wednesday!

To see all the journalling and layouts for WITL all at once, you can click HERE or you can check out each day individually:

WITL Monday - Photos/Journalling & Layouts

WITL Tuesday - Photos/Journalling & Layouts

WITL Wednesday - Photos/Journalling & Layouts

WITL Thursday - Photos/Journalling & Layouts

WITL Friday - Photos/Journalling & Layouts

WITL Saturday - Photos/Journalling & Layouts

WITL Sunday - Photos/Journalling & Layouts

Have a great day!
Cathy

Tuesday 6 October 2015

Vintage Leaves in gold | Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine

Yesterday, I spoke about being thankful.

This card is also on the Canadian Scrapbooker Blog.

There I spoke about a close friend, whom has driven me to count my blessings and turn my perspective a little bit. Drop by to see what I have to say.

Send some cards.

By Mail.

It's nice.

This card was created on watercolour paper. I heat embossed the Stampin' Up! Vintage Leaves stamps in gold. I then used my aqua painter and ink pads to colour in the leaves. The "Thanks" comes from the Greetings Thinlets... (which you should have by now, of course)

Thanks everyone,

Cathy

Monday 5 October 2015

I am Grateful | Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine

Today on the Canadian Scrapbooker Blog, I talk about being thankful for the big things and the little things. Make sure to hop over there and give them some love.

Using the Stampin' Up! Seasonal Snapshot Project Life (c) Accessory Kit, I created this simple layout to list out those things that came top of mind. Aren't those mini alphas adorable? The word "grateful" comes from the Seasonal Frame Thinlet... a hidden gem.