Goldies

Sharing a more personal post today, about Goldfish! 

For a long time I kept goldfish, and was completely obsessed with them. I learned some important lessons from the experience. 

1. Learn how long a pet can live for before you get it.

2. Properly research how much space a pet will need/or how big they can grow.

3. Most people are not interested in fish.

4. Goldfish have great memories, can be trained and show emotions. 

5. Peas are like crack/cocaine to goldfish.

6. Fish are very good at dying, it's their super power, and we can only wildly stab around in the dark to find out what's wrong.

I created quite a thorough fish health website at the time, because we got so many questions about "What is wrong with my fish?" I have left the bare bones up on my website, because it still gets a lot of traffic. It's mainly abandoned tho.

These were my two, Cedric and Percy.

They kept growing until they could barely turn round in this 30 gallon tank. Both were just common goldies and eventually succumbed to genetic issues. When Cedric died he was well over 12 inches long, not including his tail.

I didn't get more goldies, they can live for 50 years, and a 30 gallon tank is no where near big enough!  I do have some tropical fish tho, I've had them for about 7 years and they are mainly, fins crossed, a happy healthy little colony that live in my kitchen :)

In memory of my lovely goldies, I made a couple of cards using the Hero Arts CL945 Colour Layering Goldfish stamps. Hero Arts is one of my fav stamp companies, and I have a lot of their stamps, so many that they get their own drawer in my stamp storage! (No-one has this privilege.....yet!)

I used all the elements from the kit with distress oxides, added some glossy accents, extra greenery with a zig brush pen and some bling from the stash. Enjoyed adding some wobbly eyes to the fish too. Used some orange glitter card to mount onto the card base. Sentiment is also from the HA set.

Thanks for joining me today, was a more personal blog entry more interesting, or did you just scroll through it to get to the cards? I don't mind if you did, it's hard to find time to read all the blogs I would love to follow! :) 

Tiger Tiger...

Quick post with a card I made for a recent order. The theme was TIGERS! :D The recipient is such a beautiful little boy, and defo loves his cuddly tiger. I have now also heard, he really liked this card, so nice to get an update like that! :D

Tiger digi is from Prettygrafikdesign and is part of the line drawing set called "Baby Safari". I coloured him with Zig Watercolour pens, and water. The background is made using Gansai Tambi Watercolours. Font is Mister Sirloin BTN Rare.

Tropical Fish

Another Commissioned card for Father's Day with a tropical fish theme. I made the background using Distress Oxides, flicked with water. Then stamped the elements directly on to it. I then re-stamped the fish and snails onto white paper and coloured them with my Zig Watercolour pens. Then fussy cut them out and attached them on to the card.

I know if you are a fish head, you might be bothered about this guppy and betta living together, but it's ok, they worked out their differences and are now firm friends. :D

Distress Oxides: Mermaid Lagoon and Cracked Pistachio. ( I think!)
Snails are from Sheena Douglass A Little Bit Scenic - SeaShells SD-LBS-SHELL
Betta is from Sea Creatures 2 (UM-L4) Designs by Ryn
Guppy, Plants and Bubbles are from Sheena Douglass A Little Bit Scenic - Underwater Angels SD-LBS-ANGELS
Fonts are Just the Way You Are and Hermes Manero.

I popped some glossy accents onto the bubbles because I couldn't resist and some tiny spots of white posca pens onto the bubbles and seaweed to add dimension.

Messing with CAS techniques - final part!

The fourth card I made the other day at my friend Helen's house! We did plenty of messing, based on some of the fun on-trend techniques people are using in CAS (Clean and Simple) cards. So another watercolour background and Zig pens to colour in this fab seahorse from Prettygrafikdesign.

Background: Gansai Tambi Watercolour Paints.
Seahorse coloured with: Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens
Main image: Digistamp from Prettygrafikdesign
On Vellum: Greeting from Chocolate Baroque - Happy Words and Birds Sentiments.  Stamped using a Misti! (It rocks!)

Messing with CAS techniques Part 3

This is the third card I made at my friend Helen's house the other day, using some of the on-trend techniques used in CAS (Clean and Simple) cards. Also using some of her delicious new crafty purchases!

Watercolour background, matted and layered onto purple card stock (but it would be just as easy to do it one layer styley instead) and 3D foam mounted penguin on top. Added stamped greeting on vellum (Using a Misti - which is awesome!) and sequins from the stash!

Background: Gansai Tambi Watercolour Paints.
Penguin coloured with: Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens
Main image: Digistamp from Prettygrafikdesign
On Vellum: Greeting from Chocolate Baroque - Happy Words and Birds Sentiments.
Added White posca pen snow spots after!

Close up detail.

Messing with CAS techniques Part 2

Next card using some of the techniques I am liking from the current CAS (Clean and Simple) trend. Also trip to my friend Helen's meant having some new crafting goodies to play with.

This is a watercolour background, matted and layered onto cardstock, with vellum greeting and 3d foam mounted lion.

Background: Gansai Tambi Watercolour Paints.
Lion coloured with: Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens
Main image: Digistamp from Prettygrafikdesign
On Vellum: Stazon Black Ink and Greeting from Hero Arts - Messages with flourish CL738

Messing with things!

Been really inspired to have a go at some of the techniques used on the current trend of CAS (Clean and Simple) cards. Also went to my friend Helen's who has some of the latest crafty goodies to play with. Made four cards in our messing session and this is the first. (Will blog all of them eventually!)

So this is a watercolour background (Could be done one layer but I used watercolour paper and matted/layered it) with a cute animal digi, greeting stamped onto vellum and sequin embellis!

Background: Gansai Tambi Watercolour Paints.
Fox coloured with: Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens
Main image: Digistamp from Prettygrafikdesign
On Vellum: Stazon Black Ink and Greeting from Hero Arts - Messages with flourish CL738