Hi there, my
name is Cathy Cafun, and I live in Queensland, Australia with my very
supportive husband, and teenage son and daughter, my muses, who put up with me constantly
snapping away and recording their journey through life.
Scrapbooking
and papercraft have been part of my life for over 8 years now, and it has
become an all-consuming passion. If I had to describe my style I
would say it is predominantly shabby chic/romantic, but I am very partial to
the grungy distressed look on my masculine layouts. My creations always have elements of texture and dimension
and I find fussy cutting, layering, distressing and any form of mixed media a
wonderful way to achieve this.
I love to
experiment with new techniques to keep things interesting, and at the moment I adore
anything related to mixed media techniques, as it allows
me to play with colour, texture and layers which adds a beautiful depth to my
creations.
Being part of
the scrapbooking industry has given me so many wonderful opportunities, like teaching
classes at the Scrapbooking and Papercraft Expo, which I would say has been the
highlight of my journey so far, having my creations published in magazines, but
best of all meeting so many amazing and inspirational artists and making new
and wonderful friendships all over the world.
For me, scrapbooking
is the perfect way to express my creative/artistic side as well as being a
fabulous form of therapy, and I have the added bonus of being able to record all
those precious family memories in the process.
I have always
admired the gorgeous kits at C’est Magnifique and inspirational creations from
their super-talented Design Team, so I was very excited to be invited as the
Guest Designer for January. Here
is my blog if you would like to pop in and say hello - http://cathycafun.blogspot.com.au/
"So Lovely"
I was in heaven playing with the gorgeous January
kit, as it is so beautifully feminine and perfect for my shabby chic
style of scrapping. On my first layout I had some fun with the Luminarte
products from Magnifique Mixed Media kit to create a soft and pretty background.
Once I figured out the placement of my photo, I adhered the wooden
doilies and chipboard alpha letters for my title from the main Kit, and
also the silver flowers from the Mixed Media kit, then I coated the over
the embellishments and patterned paper with gesso, leaving some of the pattern
visible around the edges of the paper. Once dry, I stamped a few flower
branches with the ink from the main Kit, then painted and splattered
over the top with African Jade & Azurite silk glazes, thinned down
with a little water. I also mixed the Bolivian Blue and Tahitian Blue
Primary Elements powders to create a lovely blue-mauve colour, and some
Chiffon Pink for a pretty highlight.
Items from my stash: Pink glitter glass, floral branch stamp, paper leaves, pansy border punch, gesso.
"Beautiful Dreamer"
For this layout I decided to used a pink and grey
colour palette. I tore, distressed and fussy cut the papers and highlighted the torn and grunged edges with silver glitter glass. I love
to play with colour, and decided to mix some of the Silks and Pigment
Powders to create a few different shades. To create the medium pink for
my splats, I mixed the Raspberry Wine silk glaze with a little white
paint and thinned down with water. I coated the large chipboard doily
with gesso, then mixed the Raspberry Wine Silk Glaze and Chiffon Pink
Primary Elements with some water to paint and splatter over the top.
When dry I randomly stamped with a Script stamp.
Items from my stash: Gesso, Croco Crackling, Silver glitter glass, paper leaves, ink - old rose, border punch, script stencil, stamps.
Items from my stash: Gesso, Croco Crackling, Silver glitter glass, paper leaves, ink - old rose, border punch, script stencil, stamps.
"Remember This Moment"
Love these pics of my daughter and her partner
at her Senior Formal and they were a perfect fit for the blue tones of
the patterned paper in the January Kit. Kept this fairly simple by softening the
pp with some gesso, then overlaying with a some stamping. A few fussy
cut elements, for the flower cluster to frame the photo and a touch of
glitter glass. I think you can tell I am loving glitter glass at the
moment!!
Items from my stash: gesso, stamps, blue and silver glitter glass, Versamagic ink - night sky, pansy border punch.
Items from my stash: gesso, stamps, blue and silver glitter glass, Versamagic ink - night sky, pansy border punch.
"Simple Moments"
For this layout I went for pretty and pink, with pops
of black. I punched 4 12" strips from the white paper to create a border
for the pink gingham paper, stenciled and stamped the background and to
add a little twist to my paint splats I used some extra fine glitter
glass. To create the glitter glass splats on the background, I mixed
the clear glaze with some white pva glue that dries clear and thinned
down with water. I then splattered the background with the medium and
while it was wet I coated the splatters with extra fine glitter glass. I
love to recycle, and found the black packaging from the Prima flowers
was perfect to use as part of my title.
Items from my stash: stencil, paper doily, silk leaves, border punch, stamps, gesso, pink glitter glass, Saltwater Taffy mist, black soot distress ink.
Items from my stash: stencil, paper doily, silk leaves, border punch, stamps, gesso, pink glitter glass, Saltwater Taffy mist, black soot distress ink.
"Your Wings" Canvas
One of the items in the mixed media kit is a sweet little canvas, which I
was going to use in an OTP project, but as I had so much gorgeous
product to work with, I decided to create a large canvas. The beautiful
Blue Fern butterflies were the inspiration for this canvas. I had a
lot of fun creating layers with mixed media on my background using patterned paper,
Luminarte silks and primary elements, gesso, masking, stamping, punched
elements and a bit of mesh. Once I was happy with my background, I
layered flowers and embellishments from the add ons which I altered with
paint, diamond dust and micro-beads. My title was cut with my
Silhouette Cameo, then altered with some pink german glitter glass.
Items from my stash: pink German glitter glass, Diamond Dust, border punches, Silhouette Cameo die-cut and stencil for masking, floral die, stamp, gesso, pearl embellishments, recycled bling earring and book pages, mesh.
Items from my stash: pink German glitter glass, Diamond Dust, border punches, Silhouette Cameo die-cut and stencil for masking, floral die, stamp, gesso, pearl embellishments, recycled bling earring and book pages, mesh.
Card
A great big THANK YOU to Cathy for the amazing inspiration you have given us! It has been our pleasure to have you create with our January kit!
