More Glitz!

Hello Bloggers,

A couple more cards from this months Scrapville pack to show you. The second one has been done for this months card sketch challenge - get your entries in by midnight on 14th November and you could win yourselves some scrappy goodies!

I did a collage background for the flowers with some of the tissue from the pack, patterned papers and gesso. The first card has had the front cut on the diagonal but I usually do this with a C5 card and it's not worked quite as well with a square one.  It was impossible to take a photo of it standing up! I've also used that gorgeous little die-namic daisy die again...so easy to use, even a muppet like me can get it right!

Just a quick one today...not feeling the best! Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Freshly Made Play Date

Happy Sunday Bloggers!

I've had a 'kidlet-free' day today and had afternoon tea in the city with a friend.  What could be better than good company,  champagne and beautiful little nibbles - all without interruption.....

Couldn't resist the mint, gold and leather colour scheme at Play Date Cafe this week, together with this week's sketch at Freshly Made:

I knew I had the perfect MME papers and I've used a few different stamps including a Kaisercraft Oriental script stamp embossed in gold and inked using SU's Mint Melody. The butterfly is PTI and the sentiment is Waltzingmouse. I really must make more use of those butterflies - it's a gorgeous set and I've had it years. Yet more proof I have way too much stuff to use!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Getting Glitzy for Scrapville

Hello Scrappers,

There's nothing better for getting your scrappy mojo back than diving into a new monthly pack from Scrapville. This month it's choc full of papers and stickers from Glitz Design's Cashmere Dame collection:

I feel as though I've barely used anything but I just thought the hexagonal background was so pretty, I didn't want to cover it up with heaps of embellishments! 

Isn't my new sister-in-law gorgeous? She treated 11 of us to a mani-pedi the day before her wedding - the entire salon closed for the afternoon and treated us to champers and nibblies. I couldn't think of a better way to spend the afternoon.....

Have a fabulous day and thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Happy Birthday Play Date Cafe

Hello Bloggers!

I'm just finding time to fit in a post whilst making a birthday cake for my little 4 year old. What was meant to be a little morning tea in the local park, has now turned into a a much larger affair - which means I have to actually make some effort!

Play Date Cafe  is celebrating its 3rd birthday which means lots of lovely prizes up for grabs and a facelift for the blog.  The colours this week are:

Perhaps it's just me but I truly found this the most difficult colour challenge yet. They're certainly not colours that I would think of putting together and I had absolutely nothing resembling them amongst my patterned papers.  In the end I got out my Autumn Leaves flourishes and inks and had a play. It resulted in half a sheet of heavily patterned paper so I cut some panels and came up with this:

The ribbon is blue and the button is a kind of grape colour but it doesn't show in the photo - they kind of look black don't they?

Well, back to the cake baking.....thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Time for a Waltzingmouse Blog Party

Hello fellow Waltzers!

It's Blog Party time over at Waltzingmouse today and this month it's a colour challenge:

I think they are very masculine colours so I thought I'd use the challenge to get organised for my youngest son's birthday next week - he'll be turning the grand old age of 4! First I did some invitations:

I kept them very simple as I had to make a few of them. I used the Frame It set with some strips of Kaisercraft paper and added a bit of Kindyglitz to the icing to make it sparkle. The cards and envelopes were $2.00 from K-mart. Bargain!

Then I decided to make some toppers for the mini cupcakes I'm going to make:

This time I used the teeny tiny cupcake from the set, matted it against a Nestie scalloped circle of patterned paper and stuck it on to a cocktail stick. (The paper looked dark purple in the shop but it looks a bit more like navy here!)

Lastly I made some goody bags:

Again, I kept it simple as I had to make quite a few. This time I used Seasons of Love and put the larger cupcake in the centre instead of a sentiment. I also used Very Vintage Labels to make the name label. The clear bags are actually card bags and I just used the Nestie Labels 1 die to make the Kraft seal.

Phew. I have to say it's a nice feeling to be organised. It's also good to feel that I've made an effort for once...I have to admit I'm a little bit lazy when it come to kids parties.....

Looking forward to seeing what everyone has come up with. Thanks for stopping by and thanks so much for any comments...they always make me smile!

Cheers,

Claire x

Big Picture Challenge

Hello Bloggers,

Big Picture Classes are running a Happy Mail colour challenge this month:

I love the idea of Happy Mail. It's so much nicer to receive a card in the post, rather than an impersonal email or Facebook message written to a hundred other people. I have heaps of letters/cards from over 20 years ago and I can't help thinking that my children won't have the joy of looking back on a written card as they'll be spending the next 20 years tweeting, texting and emailing.

Anyway, I went for a masculine card for this one:

I find cards for teenagers incredibly difficult to do and I'm not entirely happy with it. It's one of those cards that looks better in real life - I've covered the car with Dimensional Magic to make it shiny but of course that doesn't show up in the photo. The car stamps and patterned paper are all Kaisercraft and I've just added a chipboard cog and some paper string from Green Tara.

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Play Date with Casology

I'm loving the Casology challenges at the moment - I've never really used a lot of white space on my cards before so it's good to try a different style for a change. This week I've combined the Play Date Cafe  and Casology challenges to make a card:

I used a little Waltzingmouse leaf, together with the frame. Again. Yes I do have other stamp sets. Really, I do.  The leaves have been embossed in white on vellum, cut out to make a border and matted onto some more vellum. And it's all matted against the gorgeous woodgrain embossing that seems to be all the rage at the moment.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend,

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Get Scrapping!

Hello Scrappers,

It's almost Pumpkin Time - the deadline for the Sep/Oct sketch challenge is midnight tomorrow. You can find the sketch and all the details on how to win some scrappy prizes here. In the meantime, here's what I did with Anita's fabulous sketch:

I masked a chippie wheel cog with some mist, then added a larger cog which I've covered in micro beads. Talk about mess! Definitely not a technique I'd recommend doing with the kids around. I made some chevrons from some patterned paper - you can find a fantastic tutorial on how to make them here and the journalling is hidden on a tag underneath the photo.

Don't forget,  the comp closes at midnight tomorrow and a new card and layout sketch will be posted on the Scrapville blog next week.

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Waltzingmouse #118

Hello Bloggers,

Well it's a cold, blustery day here in Sydney today - perfect for sitting down and writing a blog post before picking the kidlets up from school.  Just a quickie to show you what I've done for this weeks Waltzingmouse sketch:

Is it me or does the square one look a little 'top heavy?' Hmmmm - anyway, another two Christmas cards done thank goodness. Only another 30 to go....
I've used the Seasons of Love set and the small Dainty Doiles set which I've embossed on to vellum.  I've matted the sentiment against a paper crocheted flower and matted the whole lot against some skeleton leaves.

Well, kids are calling...whatever you're doing this weekend, have a good one!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Keeping it Clean

Well, since it's World Cardmaking Day today, I guess I'd better update this little blog of mine with my latest effort. It's for this weeks challenge at Freshly Made Sketches, together with Play Date Cafe #152:

Plum. Hmmmm, definitely not my kind of colour. I have precisely 2 'plum' coloured objects in my stash - some very old, Basic Grey buttons and a teeny tiny Stampin' Up ink spot in Perfect Plum.  The paper I've used is about 5 or 6 years old. Who needs new stuff eh? (Me! I hear you cry....)

I've used Waltzingmouse Frame It, together with the little birdcage from the Asian Gardens set and I've added a few flourishes from Autumn Leaves.  There's also a bit of sparkle with some Kindyglitz but it's not really showing up in the photo.

Since it's a thank you card, I'm also going to link it up to Moxie Fab World. They've got a few challenges going on for World Cardmaking Day so check out the blog for the chance to win some goodies.

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Triple Challenge

I've done a triple whammy this week and combined three challenges in the one card.

I've used the Mojo Monday (#261) sketch, together with this week's cue word of 'zoo' at Casology and the latest colours over at CR84FN and come up with this:

I haven't used that little Cuttlebug giraffe die in years so it was lovely to get him out again. The stamps are Waltzingmouse (yes I know...obsessed..) and I've used some Sassafrass Lass paper which fitted in perfectly with the colour scheme I think!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Scrapville Sketch

After having a break for a couple of months I'm now back on board at Scrapville, just in time for the September/October card sketch. You have to be in it to win it so get scrapping/card making for your chance to win some scrappy goodies! Here's the card sketch from Anita for this month:

This is for my little niece's first birthday in November - I can't believe she's almost one...and I've still not met her in the flesh. Thank goodness for Skype eh?

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with - 'pumpkin time' is midnight, October 14th.

Thanks for popping by,

Claire

Play Date Cafe Again

Hello bloggers,

Just a quick post to show what I've done for this weeks Play Date Cafe challenge:

I found this a really tricky colour combo to work with so kept it all to a minimum. The daisy is a die-namics die - it's the first one I've made but I love how it's turned out. The wooden scroll is Kaisercraft, which I've coloured with moss ink and the sentiment is Waltzingmouse. I've been seeing a lot of that woodgrain embossed background lately and, it just kind of fell into my basket at the local craft shop at the weekend....that's the problem with blogging, you see way too many tempting products you want to buy!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x