Saturday 29 September 2012

Kaisercraft Saturday Sketch #3

Morning Scrappers!

Since it's probably going to be the last one for a long time, it occurred to me that there'll be even less chances for me to get out of the 'Mum' clothes and dress up. Yes, there'll still be birthdays and dinners out but Australia is pretty relaxed and I'm definitely a jeans type of girl!

So I thought I'd scrap a picture of myself out of 'Mum mode' - in other words, out of the joggers, jeans, t-shirts and other daggy clothes that  we all wear, simply because we know that by the end of the day we'll be just as dirty as the kids.









I flipped the sketch and mainly used stuff from the Peachy Keen 6x6 paper pad. I've been playing around with embossing on vellum for my cards recently, so thought I'd use the same technique on a scrapbook page. The vellum has been stamped in Versamark using the Kaisercraft script stamp and then embossed in white and I've stitched around the edges to make it stand out more against the patterned paper. I've also hidden a photo under the main pic to show how I usually dress - told you it was daggy.

Well, it's the weekend so I'm off to put on an old pair of jeans and t-shirt, make no effort with my appearance whatsoever and look after the kids!

Enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping by,

Claire x




Wednesday 26 September 2012

Waltzingmouse Challenge #116

Hello fellow bloggers!

Time for another card for the Waltzingmouse sketch challenge:







I decided to do a bit more embossing against the vellum again, this time with the Musical Backgrounds set. I've also used the birdcages and sentiment from Asian Gardens, together with the Frame It set. Instead of putting the sentiment in the usual space I've 'hung' the birdcage there by stitching it to the frame. For those not familiar with this stamp set, my explanation's probably as clear as mud!!

Happy stamping everyone and thanks for stopping by again,

Claire x

Monday 24 September 2012

Getting Fresh on a 2nd Date

If the mojo's flowing, you just have to keep going don't you? So I've done another card for this weeks Play Date Cafe challenge, together with this sketch from Freshly Made (#FMS53):





It's a little different to the sketch but all the elements are there - just a different size and in a different place. The most difficult thing was stamping all those cupcakes in a straight line...definitely something I couldn't do after a glass or two of wine. But then, maybe the wonky look would also work!

Happy crafting and thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Sunday 23 September 2012

It Will be All White

G'day fellow card makers!

So I keep seeing lots of blogs with beautiful, simple cards that have been inspired by the CASology challenge blog. I've always wondered what this CAS thing is and it turns out it means Clean and Simple. Ok, so I'm a little slow on the uptake.

For this weeks challenge the cue word is 'white'. There seems to be a real trend at the moment for simple cards with heaps of white space. I love it - but I never seem to be able to get it to work on my own cards and I always end up with heaps of layers.

Anyway I had to have a go at this as there's some beautiful, inspiring stuff in the gallery:




I've used my Frame It Waltzingmouse Stamp again - get used to it as it's going to be around a lot! I then lined up a few rows of white butterflies with a pink one slap, bang in the middle. For the background I've stamped a Kaisercraft script on some vellum and embossed it in white.


Can't wait to have a look at what everyone else has done! Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Friday 21 September 2012

Another Date at the Cafe

Tan and brown seem to be popular colours for card challenges this week. Play Date Cafe have set these colours with flamingo pink so I whipped out the Frame It set from Waltzingmouse again and did this one:



I used some MME paper for the background and an ancient cuttlebug die -  a framed square I bought about 7 years ago. I cut 4 of the frames using the same paper and placed them on the background for a bit of detail.  I'm just loving this set as it's so versatile.

Just a quick post today - the kids have to eat. I guess that's more important....

Cheers,

Claire x

Thursday 20 September 2012

More Blue and Brown...

Well I said I'd done another card for the CR84FN challenge this week. A friend of mine needed a new baby boy card so I knew I had the perfect Pebbles paper for the challenge and came up with this:



It's very like one I did for Scrapville a few weeks ago - you can see that one here if you're interested.

Enjoy your weekend!

Claire x

Using up the Stash

Don't you just love it when a colour challenge comes along and you get to use stuff that's been sitting around for years, gathering dust? I could have made a whole set of cards and scrapbook pages using this week's colour challenge at CR84FN:





Since I have 2 boys, half my stash is made up of these colours. The wooden label has been around for at least 3 years, as have the Stamping Up rubons, spotted paper and the Kaisercraft wooden leaves.  I inked the edges of the label and added the rubon, together with the fussy cut flower from MME. The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse. Because, let's face it, I seem to be completely incapable of making a card without one of those stamps! I ended up using this week's Mojo Monday's sketch (#259) for a bit of inspiration, although I have altered it a bit.

Thanks for stopping by but don't go yet as I've got another one to show you....

Claire x

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Blog Hop Time!



Well since it's the 17th of the month (or 18th if you're in Australia!) it's time for a bit of blog hopping over at Waltzingmouse. This month the theme is Autumn so I grabbed a few bits and pieces from Crate Paper, based my design on this weeks sketch challenge and came up with this:






I've used a couple of stamp sets - the little leaf and sentiment is from the Frame It set (which I was lucky enough to win a few weeks ago - thank you Claire) and the dies have been stamped using the Very Vintage Labels 1 set. I stamped the leaf in bronze ink first, then embossed it in gold, added a sprig of die cut leaves and a Basic Grey flower.

Enjoy your hopping and thanks so much for any comments!

Claire x

Saturday 15 September 2012

Clean and Simple

Well hope you're having a lovely weekend. Thought I'd sneak a quick pic in of the wedding card I made for this weeks Freshly Made challenge. Since the wedding is happening in about 3 hours I've got to be quick!

This week Freshly Made are celebrating their one year anniversary and we're able to choose from any past sketches. I chose sketch 20:




This is the first card I've been happy with in months. I used MME papers, Waltzingmouse stamps and some beautiful Stampin Up ribbon called blushing bride (I think) - very appropriate. Those little rose buds came off the invitations for my brother's wedding. My lovely sister-in-law hand picked them all off the front of the cards and posted a huge bag over to me - they'll no doubt be appearing on my cards for years to come!

Have a fabulous weekend and thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Tuesday 11 September 2012

CR8ing for Fun!

Well I thought I'd try and get the creative juices going again but I really feel like nothing's happening at the moment. Amazing how you can take a break for a couple of weeks and can't get back into crafty mode - so frustrating!

Anyway, I had a bash at the CR84FN challenge for this week:



It's such a pretty colour scheme but I have to admit I do find pastels quite difficult to work with. I'm desperately trying to use some older bits and pieces from my stash at the moment - I just can't justify spending any more money, when I have practically a shop full of goodies that aren't being used. The papers are from a 6x6 Kaisercraft  pad and the tags are some ancient Heidi Swapp chipboard I found lurking in the depths of my drawer. I haven't used that Stampin Up stamp for years - good to see it still works.

Hope you're having a craftier week than I am!

Cheers,
Claire x




Sunday 9 September 2012

Getting Fresh

Hi Bloggers,

It's been a busy couple of weeks for me since I got back from overseas - last weekend was spent by the beach in a house with 17 other lovely ladies for a friend's Hens night. Somehow we ended up in a club at the end of the evening. Which would have been fine if the music had been circa 1986. However, since all the girls there were young enough to be our daughters, it didn't take long to leave and continue the partying back home. In our pyjamas. With the hot chocolate.

Old. Me?

It was also Father's Day here in Australia on Sunday - and I realised that I'd made a card for my husband but not for my lovely father-in-law. Oops! So, here's a belated Fathers Day card based on the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches:









I'm really struggling to get back into craft mode at the moment. I looked at a scrap sketch the other day and not a single thought popped into my mind (nothing unusual there then) so I think I'll be taking a break from the scrapping for a while.  Who knows, maybe some inspiration will hit me in the next few weeks but for now I'm going to concentrate on the cards.

Hope your mojo's flowing!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Wednesday 5 September 2012

A Double Whammy

Good afternoon bloggers,

Avery quick post today for this week's Play Date Cafe challenge - one hour to go until Mr Linky disappears! I've also used the sketch from this week's Waltzingmouse challenge (#113.)





I said it would be quick!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x