Its raining cats and dogs

Good Morning everyone

When i saw that the challenge this month at countryviewchallenges was cats and dogs I just had to join in, although i only have cats now, I love dogs just as much and make the most of my time with my families dogs....i do miss having one but as i can't walk much wouldn't be fair on a dog.  Although having said that 2 of my cats do join me on my short daily stroll, they walk with me until the path comes out on the road and then they wait for me to come back round and we all walk home together.

Anyway onto my card, i have lots of cat and dogs stamps and was working through ideas in my head, i had also been discussing the lack of rain with the family as its a worry for the farm crops etc (hurray we have rain this morning)...after that i just had that odd saying in my head 'its raining cats and dogs' Is that a worldwide saying or just here in the UK? 

I made a cardbase from acetate and cut to 7.5x5.5", i then stamped the crazy mini cats & dogs stamps over the front of the acetate with black stazon ink stamping some upside down and side on to look like they are falling through the air.  I die cut 2 sizes of rectangle frames, the larger one i added with foam tape.  The smaller one i glued onto my sentiment which had been computer printed onto vellum.  I then added the glue to the back of just the frame and adhered to the middle of the card - adding the glue to just the back of the frame meant no glue showing through the vellum.

I stamped the fab katzelkraft cat onto white card and watercoloured with distress inks, i went with a orange tone to contrast and stand out against the background. I then cut him out and adhered to the front with glue gel.

  I added a white paper insert and a fab patterned paper that has a rainbow of colours running diagonally that to me had the feel of rain and rainbows so i cut that to fit the insert leaving a white edge around the outside....normally when i make my acetate cards i just used a full colour insert but it felt a bit lost this time so adding the white helped lift it and tie in with the white frames.

To balance my cat  and add a little bling, I added 3 teardrop gems which also look like rain drops, they were clear ones which i coloured orange with an alcohol marker.

Just a close up, i decided on the vellum for the sentiment so that the cats and dogs still showed up and of course i had to add glossy accents to Mr Toms eyes & nose

Items Used:

Katzelkraft cat stamp 'mini 74'

Tim Holtz stamps 'mini crazy cats & dogs'

Stitched rectangle frames

Distress inks ' lemonade, honey, vintage photo, pistachio, lilac'

Hunkydory acetate

12x12 Patterned paper 'ombre effects' B&M

Printable vellum

Thank you all for stopping by once again. The roof is progressing, finally started getting the new tiles on.   Hugs Emmaxxx

Id love to enter the following

https://countryviewchallenges.blogspot.com/2022/05/may-2022-cats-dogs.html

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http://dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.com/2022/05/challenge-269-4-legged-friends.html

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http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2022/05/week-675-favourite-stamps-andor-dies.html - this katzelkraft cat stamp is one of my favourites that i go back to year after year as its ideal for male or female cards and young or old so very versatile

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https://2craftycrittercrazies.blogspot.com/2022/05/challenge-62-anything-goes-with.html

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http://craftyanimals.blogspot.com/2022/05/challenge-61.html

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Kitty-Bea

Good Morning everyone, i hope you are all doing ok.

For all my nieces I've made them some wall art with their names on it.  So this is the one i made for Kitty-Bea's 2nd birthday.  She has a natural affinity with animals and never happier than when out about the farm with all the animals.

So ive come up with this colourful menegerie

(Size approx 20x6")  I stamped Tim Holtz crazy cats and dogs & katzelkraft farm animal stamps and coloured with oxide inks in a rainbow of colours. I went with the rainbow colours as unlike my other nieces Kitty-Bea doesn't have a favourite colour.  I then cut them all out.

I die cut the letters using a bigz die and thick black cardboard & white card, the white version i coloured in a rainbow, i layered the coloured ones over the black off setting for a drop shadow and covered them in glossy accents to give them a lovely shine.

I first added splashes of ink to the background to add interest. I then got to arranging them all - this took a while.  Once i had them all glued into place i doodled in the ground for the to stand on and added green for the grass.

Close up, you can see the shine on the letters here, id also added glossy accents to the animals eyes and touches of glitter - what young girl doesn't like glitter

I really enjoyed making this and it was well received. 

Just showing it in its frame, the black really makes the colours pop.  Sorry for the reflection in the glass😀

Items Used:

Tim Holtz crazy cats & dogs stamps (mini)

Katzelkraft farm animal stamps

Tim holtz sizzix wordplay bigz die

Oxide inks - various colours

Glossy accents

Stickles - unicorn, twilight, diamond & crystal

Thank you all for stopping by.  The days all seem to merge into each other.  Stay safe. Hugs Emmax

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Id love to enter the following:

http://challengeupyourlife.blogspot.com/2020/05/challenge-123-tiere-animals.html#.Xq591KhKjIU

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https://2craftycrittercrazies.blogspot.com/2020/05/challenge-38-may-2020-sponsor-fabrika.html

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http://craftyanimals.blogspot.com/2020/05/challenge-38.html

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Thank you

Good Morning Everyone

Today im sharing a small set of one layer CAS stamped thank you cards.  I used my ombre ink pads - i decided before chrismtas i need to use them much more as they are years old and they are so effective. 

5x5 White linen cardblank. Using the ink pad ive stamped the crazy cat stamps and their accessories randomly over the card and then stamped the sentiment - learning from this first card i stamped the sentiment first on the next one to get it more central - for this first card i had orginally planned to stamp the greeting seperately and die cut into a shape but after stamping the cats i thought it would be a shame to hide them. 

2nd version using the crazy dogs.

and 3rd version using Hobbyart linocut hare stamps and the cappuccino inkpad. I also doodled in a stitched border with a co-ordinating fine liner pen.  Was pleased how effective the inkpad was on a more solid design than the crazy cats/dogs.

These are the ink pads, looking at the open one, the little tab to the left you slide and it slides the different ink colours together so that you get a seamless join inking up stamps, then you slide them apart for storage so they don't seep into the colour beside.  Im not sure why i haven't used them more but this year that is changing!

Items Used:

Tim Holtz crazy cats & dogs mini stamps

Hobbyart 'lino cut hares' stamp set

Stampin up 'sassy salutations' sentiment stamp

Kaleidacolour ink pads - caribbean sea & cappuccino

CraftUK ltd white linen cardstock

Brown fine liner pen

Thank you all for stopping by.  I hope you enjoy the rest of the week and weekend.  Emma

Id love the enter the following:

http://unicornchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/01/challenge-50-cas-clean-and-simple.html

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http://useyourstuff.blogspot.com/2020/01/389-anything-goes.html

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january-challenge-something-new-or- old   - ive used something old - the ink pads

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http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/01/january-favourite-stamps.html - my fav stamps are the tim holtz crazy cats & dogs

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Black Cats

Good Morning everyone.  

Today im sharing a Male birthday card i made for my parents elderly neighbour Harry.  He eats his evening meal each day with my parents and joins in alot of family gatherings so is sort of an 'adopted' grandad to us.

Harry has a black cat that was dumped on the farm as a kitten, the cat is also called Harry, Harry the man is very eccentric and all his cats have been called Harry too, so this cat now is Harry the 6th or some such.  My parents also have male black cats, one rescued at 1 yr old after it was abandoned.  Anyway Harry's cat spends his life patrolling the perimeter to keep all others at bay.  My parents cat just ignores him.  So for this  card for Harry the man i went with a black cat theme for a change.  

Unusually for me this is a one layer card, i wanted to cut the paw prints into the base card so it peeked through into the insert.  

6x6 white cardblank.  I first stenciled the paw print, but as my stencil is a heart shape and i didn't think that was apt for Harry i also used a circle die to cut a circle out of a piece of scrap card for a mask.  I taped down the heart stencil on the base card and then placed the circle aperture piece over the top and then brushed on my oxide inks.  This meant i kept the paw prints in a circle shape.  I then removed the stencils, replaced the circle mask and lightly inked around the outside edge of the circle.  Hope that makes sense?

I then used my 2nd paw print stencil to add some paw prints around the outside edge of the cardblank and then again lightly inked around the outside with the same oxide inks. I then die cut the paw print die into the middle of the card.  I stamped the greeting.

I then stamped two of the crazy cats onto white card and coloured with grey & black distress inks.  I used green oxide ink for their eyes.  I then fussy cut them out, after gently shaping their bodies i attached them to the card front with glue gel.  

I used some black patterned paper for my card insert so that where it shows through the paw print apertures you see the black paw prints.  I added a little strip/off cut down the left hand edge of the card front to tie it together a bit. 

A close up, trying to show peeking through the paw prints into the inside of the card and my black paper insert.  I use a beautiful double sided paper from the 2019 range of paper pads at B&M - so recommend them for quality.  Ideal for boxes and envelopes too.

This shows the 2 plastic paw print stencils and the circle mask i made to turn the heart into a circle.  Of course you can use this method to turn any stencil into a circle shape if you only want part of a stencil.  Or try die cutting another shape. 

Items Used:

Tim Holtz Crazy cats mini stamps

Elizabeth Crafts 'hearts & paws prints' die '1563'

Paw print stencils

Circle die

Stampin up sentiment stamsp 'curly cute'

Oxide Distress inks - twisted citron, cracked pistachio, peacock feathers

Crafts You Create papers (B&M) 12x12 paper  'B&W'

CraftUk Ltd, white card

Thank you all for stopping by and waving hello to all my followers via email, thank you to all of you who sent me beautiful Easter cards, all unique creations. I hope you enjoy the weekend whatever you get upto.  Hugs Emma

Id love to enter the following challenges please:

showusyourpussies/2019/04/show-us-your-pussycats-challenge-41 

craftyanimals.blogspot.com/2019/04/challenge-25 

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themaleroomchallengeblog2019/04/challenge-109-  one layer

Cattitude Canvas

Good Morning all, don't know where the weeks are going as its Monday again.

Today i am sharing a canvas ive been working on for Weeks/Months - i think its now finished, my first real attempt at lots of paint, stamps and layers of mixed media in the background.  The original idea was to use all the different quirky cat stamps ive collected lately.  Nothing like i imagined! 

10x14" Canvas, once building up the background (see below) i stamped and coloured the cats with inktense pencils as these are permanent & colour fast once water is added.  I then cut them all out.  I die cut white circles and added a little background stamping to them, i added the circles and cats to the canvas.  

I added black around the circles to help them stand out from the background.  I then die cut the title in black card and added with gel medium.  I computer printed out lots of little words associated with cats and added again with gel medium.   To finish i sealed the whole canvas. 

Just showing from different angle.

Close up of the Ginger Tom - leader of the gang😃

Just a close up of the left side

close up of the right side. 

This is the background before adding the cats.

1. I attached various shapes i found in my stash of grunge board - flowers & swirls

2. Texture paste added through a 'dots' mask & free hand

3. Coated everything in gesso and then once dry I added yellow, orange, purple & blue acrylic paint - picking up on the colours of my cats.

4.  Added tissue paper with a script pattern.  I wet around the tissue paper i wanted with a brush and water and once it has soaked in gently tore it out - the ends blend in better with the background that way instead of using scissors. 

5. Added Stamping of butterflies, alpha stamps with black paint. Then dry brushed with white to soften that layer.

6. Added tissue paper paw prints using gel medium.

7. Using the edge of a card i added black 'scratches'

8. Edged the whole canvas in black acrylic paint to frame the edge.

Items Used:

Tim Holtz crazy cat stamps

Katzelkraft Cat stamps

Paperartsy Zinski art cat stamps

Small cat stamps came free with a magazine

Stampin up 'kinda eclectic'

Alpha stamps

Tim Holtz word play bigz die & Small Alpha dies 

Circle dies

Tim Holtz grunge board shapes

Script & paw print tissue paper

Golden Texture paste

Spot/dot stencil

Pebeo acrylic paints & gesso

I think i will try a canvas with dogs on now.

2 of my nieces are coming down to spend the day with me today so im looking forward to that, they are growing fast.  

Thank you for stopping by.  I hope you all have a good week. Emma

I would like to enter the following challenges:

take-it-make-it-challenge-april

addictedtostamps-challenge-anything-goes

Greyscale cats & dogs

Good Morning everyone, i hope you are having a good week.  Boy did it rain here yesterday, better this morning, it was certainly raining cats and dogs yesterday! I wonder where that saying comes from.  So today im sharing my last batch of those crazy cats and dogs.

This time i went for completely different and greyscale, i only added a small touch of colour, one set is red, the second is blue.  I don't think of myself as a colourist, so many talented crafters out there that do amazing colouring in, but i did enjoy having a go!  and its so rare for me not to go full on colour.

Set of 3 DL cards, i first stamped the images on to small white squares and coloured in with distress inks.  I then inked around the edges with grey to give a vignette effect to them.  Matted onto a black frame.  Then i made the card black and mats using white hammered and black cardstock.  No sentiment yet, not decided on that so will add that later. 

Below is a close up of the 3 sets, i added glossy accents to the noses and eyes to add interest

Distress inks used, black soot, hickory smoke and fired brick for the red, although i did use a touch of blue for the grass

2nd set below using blue instead of the red

Distress Ink Colours used black soot, hickory smoke, stormy sky. 

Items used Tim Holtz Crazy cats and dogs mini stamps - CMS272

If you haven't yet seen my colourful attempts with these stamps please follow the links below

link to CAS crazy cats&dogs

link to smile crazy cats&dogs

Thank you for taking the time to look.  Im quite amazed at my blog stats that i have had lots of visitors from all around the world, So a big hello to you all wherever in the world you are.  

Wishing you all a wonderful day. Emma

SMILE Family portraits!

Good Morning all, i hope you have all had a good week and those that haven't been well are on the mend. 

So today I'm sharing the second outing of my Tim Holtz crazy mini cats and dog stamps.  I went with the idea of family photos on the wall.  This time instead of colouring the cats and dogs I left them white and went with a bright background. 

First i stamped the cat/dog, and drew in a little background scene using a black fine liner, i then masked the images with pebeo drawing gum, once that was dry i built up the colour with distress inks, this one is ripe persimmon and cracked pistachio.  I then splashed on water and where it dries gives a mottled effect.   

I then stamped over the top in grey using Stampin up Dictionary definition stamp to add detail. Once dry remove the drawing gum and shade around the images using a soft grey pencil to add more depth. 

Close up to show the detail better

This version is twisted citron and picked raspberry inks. Different from the cats is that i used a pale lilac marker on the dogs noses and collars. 

This version is salty ocean and wild honey inks, where they meet gives the 3rd colour of green.  

Smile is a sizzix die cut in the same colours of ink and a black shadow added.  Craft wire and gems to add the picture hangings. 

and showing one of the inserts, i stamped all of them in grey with the same cats/dogs i used on the card front.  A5 cards in size. 

Thank you for looking and all your comments on my last uploads.  Wishing you all a wonderful weekend. Emma