Salty Cat Story

I  may not have posted much lately but it doesn't mean I haven't been crafty . Perhaps not really crafty, crafty just sort of crafty as in playing about with Distress Inks to make some backgrounds that might come in handy.

I have bought a few of the Tim Holtz Distress Ink mini pad sets so have a wider range of colours to play with now - added 4 new colours to my collection at the weekend. I sat and played for a wee while the last couple of nights putting ink on to card stock - different colour combos some left as the were while other had various things done to them. Nothing too exciting just some sprayed water or a fine spray of diluted bleach. The last couple I made were done using a lot of  water over the inked card stock followed by taking my salt grinder and leaving pieces of sea salt on the card then allowing it to dry. The salt reacted with some of the now diluted inks leaving flower-like images behind.

My camera has run out of charge and only had enough power left to photograph my entry for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge so will post other examples once it has charged up again.

I decided to use one of the new backgrounds on the card I was going to make for the challenge, if you look closely you can see the little flower-like areas left by the salt after it reacted with the ink. I decided to pick up on the orangey/yellow colour in the background to use as a contrast and to colour the Crazy Cat.

What I used

Cardstock

White 300gsm - Fabiano

Yellow - American Crafts

Dies & Stamps

Crazy Cat Stamp -

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz
Crazy Cat Die & Stitched Ovals -
Sizzix Thinlits Tim Holtz
Cat Sayings - Stampendous

Inks

Assorted Mini Distress Ink Pads

Assorted Promarkers

Father's Day

It's been another eventful week one of good news and of bad.

My friend is continuing to make progress after her stroke although she is still unable to stand up on her own as she has been left with severe vertigo. She has had a visit from a Doctor from the Rehab Centre and they have said that as soon as a bed is available she will be transferred. She is desperate to get more intensive physio as she is wanting home soonest - unfortunately soonest is likely going to be longer than she wants.

Her Brother-in-Law, who had been in a coma for 3 weeks, unfortunately lost his battle last Monday evening. His 15 year old daughter had already started fundraising for the ICU where he was being cared for and it was planned that she, along with her Highland Dance school friends, would dance over the Forth Road Bridge on Father's Day. Everyone thought it would be cancelled but no, she bravely went on with her fundraising event.  That's one gutsy young lady & her Dad would be rightly proud of her!

I decided to use this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge as the basis for the Father's Day card my son commissioned from me and also for a Birthday Card.

After making the dandelion card last week the main dandelion die disappeared, been searching high and low for it for a week.  Couldn't understand how it could vanish into thin air.  Fast forward to Saturday when I was making the Father's Day card and got out my Tonic Studio nesting dies to create the background. Once I finished using them I was putting them back into their packaging and felt something on the back of the magnetic sheet - yep, it was the dandelion die!

I Used

Cardstock

White 300 gsm - Fabiano

Colours - Trim Craft

Stamps, Inks & Dies

Dog from "Bubbly" Stamp Set - Penny Black

Gathered Twigs Distress Ink Pad - Tim Holtz

Scalloped Rectangle Nesting Die Set - Tonic Studios 

Tim Holtz Stitched Ovals - Sizzix

For this Birthday card I used another Penny Black Stamp also from the "Bubbly" set. I went for the "Birthday Wishes" sentiment rather than a "Happy Birthday" as the impatient patient isn't a very happy bunny at the moment!

I Used

Cardstock

White 300 gsm - Fabiano

Stamps, Inks & Dies

Party Cat from "Bubbly" set - Penny Black

Birthday Wishes - Personal Impressions

Assorted Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Assorted Promarkers

Tim Holtz Mixed Media #2 - Sizzix

Tim Holtz Stitched Ovals - Sizzix

*****

One final card this week is a variation on one I made for a previous sketch. While I was doing the earlier version I realised it would be nice as a sympathy card - didn't dream I would need to make it quite so soon!

I slightly darkened the colours and instead of the round gems I used smaller tear drop shaped ones. The sentiment is by Cheery Lynn and was cut from card which had been shaded to match the feather background.