Anyone fancy winning some goodies?

Hi Scrappers,

Hope you are all enjoying Anzac Day - each year I say to myself that I must go to the dawn service in Sydney but I still haven't got around to going. Maybe when the kids are older and I can manage the 3am wake up call.

Anyway, it's time for a new sketch challenge over at Scrapville from the very talented Anita:

Well look at that - I managed to work out how to make the pic bigger!  Is anyone else having problems adjusting to the new blogger interface?   I've kind of shrunk everything on this sketch and changed a few bits and pieces. Don't you just love that truck? It's just like the one I bought my son a few months ago - perfect for the photo.

If you want to have a go at winning some goodies  you have until 'pumpkin time' at midnight on 14th May. Would love to see what you come up with!

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,

Claire xx

Heaps of Kraft

Hi Scrappers,

I feel as though the scrapbooking has been a little neglected lately - I've been in card making mode for the last few weeks so I really felt like doing a scrappy challenge over at Kraft it Up. This month's challenge is to use Kraft cardstock or patterned paper and then to add three other kinds of Kraft items onto the layout. Easier said than done I have to say:

I've used MME patterned Kraft as my base and added some Studio Calico star stickers which I've matted on to black. I also made a kraft button from some corrugated card and swiped over it with gesso and Dimensional Magic. The kraft tab was made with a Nestability and journaling stamp. It's attached to an envelope which contains about 2 pages of private journaling for my son to read when he's older.

Here's some close ups:

It was a very therapeutic page for me and one I've been planning to do for a long time - which just goes to show how scrapping is better than therapy, and a hell of a lot cheaper!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Play Date Cafe PDCC128

Hi Scrappers,

Just a quick card for the new Play Date Cafe challenge. I was really hoping to do some scrapping but when I saw the colour scheme for this week I just had to have a play -

I love this colour scheme but as I don't own any ink pads in flamingo pink and orange I had to resort to some Glitz rubons I've had lying around for ages. I've added some sakura blossoms made with a seed beed and dimensional magic and a sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire xx

A couple more cards

Hi Scrappers,

A couple of cards using the sketch from this week's Waltzingmouse challenge and Scrapville's monthly challenge. You can find the Waltzingmouse sketch here and the Scrapville sketch here.

I've not made this one too flowery (when do I ever do that anyway?) as it's a thank you card for a man. I used the teeny tiny scroll stamp from my Vintage Labels set to make the patterned panel, then added a bit of colour with a marker. The papers are ancient - at least 4 years old. Love it when I get to use some of my old stash - helps me to justify why I rarely throw anything away!

I stamped the sentiment for the Scrapville card on to denim using some white pigment ink
and the paper's are October Afternoon. Might save this one for my son's birthday later in the year.

Happy scrapping and thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Waltzingmouse Blog Party

Good morning scrappers,

The rain is pouring down in buckets in Sydney this morning - a perfect day for scrapping, but since it's the Easter holidays over here I may have to do the responsible thing and look after the kids instead!

Just a quick post, then, before the little munchkins wake up. It's the 17th of the month so it's time for the Waltzingmouse blog party again. The theme this month is 'New Beginnings' so I've made an engagement card for a couple who are soon going to embark on a 'new' life together.

I love the term 'Happy Foreverness' - it's such a sweet way to wish someone a long and happy married life together. I've kept it very simple as I think the stamps are so pretty it doesn't need much embellishing - just a Nestability heart against a stamped background.

Uh oh, the human hurricanes have woken up so better sign off...

Thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Scrapville's April Pack

Hi Scrappers,

I've been having a play with the gorgeous April scrap pack from Scrapville. It's a lovely, bright, colourful pack featuring blue, yellow, red and green. Perfect for Easter in fact. Here's the layout I made of my 2 rascals doing an Easter Egg hunt at Nanny and Poppy's house last year:

I was in desperate need of an egg punch but couldn't find one anywhere so I had to cut all the eggs out by hand. Took forever! I made a little hidden envelope to put some more photos in, as there were too many for the layout.

I've also made a card using heaps of stickers from the pack:

Check out the Scrapville blog to see how
other people are using their kits!

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,

Claire xx

Waltzing yet again

Hi Scrappers,

Hope you all had a great Easter and overindulged on tonnes of chocolate. I've had a HUGE tidy up of all my scrappy stuff which has been very therapeutic! In fact, it made this weeks sketch challenge over at waltzingmouse so much easier - instead of spending half my night looking for those elusive products, I actually did something with my stash. Check out the sketch here and here's my interpretation of it:

I've managed to use three different stamp sets for this one - the bunting has been made using the Labels 4 Spellbinders dies and have then been stamped using the compatible Very Vintage Labels set. The patterned paper is Cosmo Cricket - makes a change from MME.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks so much for the lovely comments I've been getting. I'm so sorry if I don't always return the favour but I do always try!

Cheers,
Claire xx

Time for a Tag

Hi Scrappers,

2 posts in one - day. Must be a record. This weeks Waltzingmouse challenge was another hard one for me. The challenge was to make a card limited to one layer. Now, since I consider myself mistress of layers on my cards I knew I'd find this difficult! I've been dying to use the tags in my stamp set, together with a new Embossibilities template I bought so I've made a couple of tags in different colours. I may have disqualified myself from the challenge as I'm not sure if tags are allowed instead of a card.

No worries if that's the case - here's the pic -

Now the problem with this challenge is that you just can't afford to make a mistake as you can't layer anything on top of it to cover it up! I wouldn't recommend taking part if you're anally retentive and have a bit of a temper - hmmm, why did I try again?

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire xx

Scrapville April Pack

Hi Scrappers,

Oh how I love this time of the month, when the new Scrapville pack is revealed. Mine arrived yesterday in the post - it's like Christmas all over again. Check out the 'Handmade Patchwork' kit with heaps of goodies from LilybeeDesign and take a look here to see how you can buy one.

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire xx

A Difficult Challenge

Hi Scrappers,

Hope you are all having a great weekend! I've been busy making my son's Easter bonnet for the Easter Hat Parade this week. Amazing what you can do with a few bits and pieces from the hot dollar shop isn't it?!

I've done the Play Date Cafe challenge for this week - the colours are:

In other words - black and white with a splash of brown. Now, is it me or are all these challenges getting harder?

I had some ancient, yellowing sheet music from the local op shop and washed over it with some watered down gesso. I added some splodges of Mr Hueys mist in a very dark brown and also sprayed it with some white Glimmer Mist. The patterned paper is some Graphic 45 and I had a very old, brown rub-on from Stampin Up which came in handy for this challenge! I cut it out and used some dimensional tape to put it on. It was hard to photograph it as the brown is so dark, it almost looks like black in some light.

Anyway, enough waffling - enjoy your day!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire xx