A Washi Waltzingmouse

Hope you're looking forward to the end of week - one of the things I miss about working is that Friday feeling, when you know you've got 2 whole days off before starting at work again on a Monday! Am I being ungrateful when I say every day feels like a Monday sometimes....?!

This week's Waltzingmouse sketch is by Jean Martin:

I'm a bit over using the traditional colours for Christmas so thought I'd use some Japanese washi papers I picked up recently.  I wish I'd used the pink for the ribbon strips and only a small amount of black for the strip going across. The black looks a little harsh in the photo.  Nothing like doing a self-critique eh?! The washi paper rose took forever...I thought it would be easier with softer paper but it actually made it really fiddly. And I don't do fiddle!

Have a great weekend, thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Scrapville Sketch Challenge

Hello Scrappers!

There's still plenty of time to get your entries in for this month's sketch challenge over at Scrapville, which has been provided by Anita:

Doesn't my sister-in-law make a beautiful bride? I used some flourish stamps to stamp randomly around the layout and then sponged white and pink inks on the edges. Kind of looks like the faded edges of the photo I think.

We're bracing ourselves for 43C in Sydney this weekend. Yuck! The last time we had that heat I was 7 months pregnant so I guess it could be worse!

Have a great day and don't melt in the heatwave if you're Down Under! Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Cardabilities + Play Date

Have to be super snappy with this post as both challenges close in a soon!  I've been lusting over the colour scheme over at Play Date Cafe but, despite having 2 weeks to get it done,  I waited right until the last minute to have a play. Luckily I had some left over scraps of MME papers that fit the colour scheme pretty well - I also used a sketch from Cardabilities just to speed that mojo up a bit....

I stampede a Waltzingmouse doile and used that as a base for the flower. That Stampin Up sprig of leaves is getting an absolute hammering in my Cuttlebug at the moment...it seems to be ending up on everything I do!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Gobble Gobble Gobble

Hello Bloggers!

 For those of you with kids, you'll know that after you've given birth, something happens to you: your brain turns to mush, you can barely think beyond the next nappy change and the ability to think straight almost completely disappears.

And this is why I like the Casology challenge. It makes me use my brain.  Since I'm not working, card challenges are my way of using my brain to think about something else,  besides what to feed the kids, when I'll next clean the bathroom and how I'm going to get that damn piece of lego out of my son's nose!

This week the cue word is:

Of course 'gobble' immediately sums up images of turkeys or food. Since I'm in Australia and we obviously don't celebrate Thanksgiving, the turkey option was pretty much out. So I came up with this:

Hmmmmm - gobbledygook. I even checked the spelling on Wikipedia just to make sure it had 'gobble' in there! That cute little robot is from Birdie Brown digital stamps and you can find him here. I coloured him with Copics and the die cut is from Kaisercraft. The speech bubble is Hero Arts (which I've used in the last 3 challenges...getting bored of it yet?!)

Well, that's my brain used for today....there's practically steam coming out of my ears I had to think so hard! Hopefully that's a good thing.

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Fab scraps at Scrapville

Happy Thanksgiving to all those across the water! Hope you're enjoying your special time with friends and family.

I've been having a play with this month's pack at Scrapville which is chock full of Fab Scraps Heritage Range papers. I knew I had the perfect photos from my UK trip earlier in the year. My brother was married in a beautiful old church, so of course there were lots of old gravestones in the church grounds. My 6 year old son was absolutely fascinated -  it never occurred to me that he's never seen a grave before. It didn't phase him at all when I explained what a grave is and he insisted that I read all the inscriptions:

I love that background paper - I just added some swipes of old rose Distress Ink....don't you just love it when all the hard work's been done for you?!

Next I did a card:

The flowers have been made using the lacy circles die from Nestabilities and I've filled the centres with Kindy Glitz.  Still loving that woodgrain embossing folder!

If you're interested in purchasing one of Scrapville's monthly packs you can contact Janet at the shop. And if you enter the competition, you also have an opportunity to win next month's pack!

Happy scrapping and thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Hero Stamps/Studio Calico Challenge

Hello Bloggers!

Thought I'd have a bash at a new challenge today - the Hero Arts challenge and the Studio Calico Sunday Sketch. I'm not sure if you're able to combine challenges so I'll have to have my stamping hand slapped if I'm not allowed! There are three challenges at Hero Arts but I decided to go with the colour one. You can find the Studio Calico sketch here and this is the colour swatch...

Very Christmassy aren't they? So naturally I didn't do a Christmas card and went for a (very) early Valentines card instead:

I combined some Studio Calico from the Memoir collection and some from one of their latest card kits. The kit came complete with some Hero Arts stamps so a perfect opportunity to combine the two challenges!

Have a fabulous Wednesday and thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Win Some Scrapville Goodies

It's time for the monthly sketch challenge again at Scrapville with 2 new sketches to play with:

For all the details on how to enter take a look here - 'pumpkin' time is midnight on 14th December, just in time to receive some goodies for Christmas if you win! Here's my card:

I used some Bo Bunny papers from a previous monthly pack, together with a Kaisercraft script stamp and a stamp from Studio G. It's not like me to use distressing on my card but I picked up some bargain distress inks the other day and they just happened to match these papers perfectly.

Hope you have a great day and can have a go at the challenge!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Waltzingmouse Blog Party

Hello blog hoppers!

It's the 17th in Australia and Waltzingmouse Blog Party time again - this time the theme is 'gratitude.' What better way to show gratitude than by sending a thank you card. It doesn't seem to be that popular in Australia - my better (?) half reckons that we poms send a thank you card to say thank you for a thank you card (if you get my drift) but I think it's a lovely gesture that isn't used enough nowadays.  I remember my Mum making me sit at the dining room table and write thank you letters for all my birthday and Christmas presents...it would take me forever!

Anyway, moving on, here's the card I made using the gorgeous Asian Gardens set. Who needs pretty papers when a stamp will do eh?

That pesky bird escapes from his cage every time doesn't he...look where he ended up....

Thanks for popping by, have fun at the party and I'm thankful for any comments left!

Cheers,

Claire x

Waltzingmouse Challenge #123

I seem to be on a roll with the cards this week, although now I've said that, the mojo will go flying out the window....

Just managed to sneak in a card for the WMS  sketch challenge which looks like this:

I feel as though my cards have all been very clean and simple recently so I used about 15 layers on this one (ok - slight exaggeration).  Whoever receives it probably won't be able to stand it up as it's so heavy! There's a layer of cork paper at the bottom that I found in my local craft store last week, followed by a layer of denim.  I really wanted to use the denim as the base but it just wasn't happening so I covered that in a layer of Basic Grey and just left the frayed edges showing. I used cork paper as my base for the stamp which is from the Very Vintage Labels 1 set. I've also added a sentiment from Fancy Phrases.

Hope you're getting crafty! See you at the Blog Party and thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

A Simple Thanks

Hello there again bloggers!

Just a short post to show you what I've done for this week's Casology challenge using Studio Calico:

Not much explaining to do for this one really. I knew I wanted to fit the 'thank' inside the 'U' so the hardest part was going through all my Thickers!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Mojo Monday #266

Don't you just love Mojo Monday? And don't you love it even more when there's a prize on offer too? Well it's always worth a bash isn't it so here's my attempt:

I picked up that beautiful Asian inspired paper by Alison Ellis at the weekend and put it with a scrap of Kaisercraft. The only problem is I'm not sure if I've put it the right way up...you'll have to excuse my ignorance in Asian languages, I'm afraid. I always wonder if the writing does make any sense. For all I know it could be a pile of swear words - a paper manufacturer could be having a right chuckle somewhere thinking of all us unsuspecting card makers using their mucky paper!

Oops, I digress.  Times running out...better link up quick...

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Seeing Orange

Hello fellow bloggers!

It's Sunday again...how does the week go so fast? How come I never have enough time to enter all those pesky challenges out there? I thought I'd sneak in a quickie (card that is) before the clock stops ticking over at Casology. This week the cue word is orange.

Now I love orange but didn't have anything in my stash that screamed orange to me - either in terms of fruit or colour. And then what happens to fall on my doorstep but a fabulous prize that I won through Moxie Fab World a couple of weeks ago, purely for making a comment. Don't you just love that? A  prize for doing virtually nothing! (And since there were about 285 comments I appreciate I was very lucky!) In this lovely Studio Calico card kit was the perfect shade of orange card with the perfect little packet of orange sticker dots and a speech bubble stamp....

I embossed the stamp on to the orange card and added a little twine and button, together with some faux stitching. I also cut a circle which I embossed using a striped embossing folder from Stampin Up. I embossed it twice, in different directions so I ended up with checks, not stripes. I cut a slit in it and added the banner and then added a few of the dots.  It took me about 10 minutes - can you tell?

Hope you have a great Sunday and thanks for any comments...they truly make my day!

Cheers,

Claire x

A Christmas Waltzingmouse

Well hello Bloggers!

I'm one step further in finishing my Christmas cards with this week's Waltzingmouse challenge:

I've used the Seasons of Love set with some MME and Imaginisce papers - so love that sentiment!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Creating 4 Freshly Made

Another quick post just to show what I've done for this week's Freshly Made and Cr84fn:

I had no inks in the required Cr84fn colours except for an old SU marker but I did have heaps of MME with lots of grey. Yet again I dragged my Waltzingmouse cupcake out. I have to admit, I think it needs some sneaky pink on the icing or something but it's a lovely elegant colour combo. Perfect for a wedding card - except I don't know anyone else getting married!

Have a great day and thanks for popping by,

Claire x

A Scrappy Sketch

Hello Scrappers,

Time for a Scrapville sketch again - all the details can be found here if you want the chance to win some gorgeous goodies from the shop. You've got until November 14th to get your entries in:

I think I may add something more at a later date to this one. It just looks a little bare to me....not sure why but I'm really struggling with scrapping at the moment. I'm finding the card making is taking over a lot now. Usually I'm able to flick between the two quite easily but the scrappy mojo seems to have disappeared a bit in the last couple of months!  I was lucky enough to win a $20 voucher through Big Picture Classes last week so I'm going to try and get back into it by doing one of their scrapbooking classes in the next few weeks. 'Life on the Card Heap'...just doesn't really work does it?

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Scrapville Creative Team Call

So who wants to be on a design team? My time on the Scrapville CT is coming to an end in a couple of months so the search is on for a new creative team to get scrapping and card making with a heap of new products! This was my first time being in a CT and I've really enjoyed the experience so if you're interested in taking over here are the details:

You will be required to: 

• Complete 2 layouts & 2 cards over a 6 week period. This allows for the overlap of Monthly Pack and Sketch Challenges. 
• Have an active Blog where you will post layouts/cards and link back to the Scrapville Blog. 
• Be interactive in leaving Blog comments for Challenge entries. 
• Assist the Creative Team in choosing Challenge winners, as specified. 

In Recognition: 

• Designers are listed on the Scrapville Blog with a profile photo, and a link back to your own Blog. 
• Designers will receive product on a monthly basis to use in support of current Scrapville Challenges. 
• Designers will be given a designer blinkie to display on your Blog. 
• Designers will be given a Creative Team Loyalty Discount on purchases at Scrapville. 

Term: 

• Designers will be asked to commit to a six month term commencing 1st January 2013 through to 30th June 2013.

How To Apply:
Please complete all the following details:

• Name and location. 
• A brief introduction, outlining your Scrapbooking/Card Making experiences, interests, styles and favourite techniques. 
• Send three layouts (via email) that are indicative of your creative style/s.   These must:

1. Be your own work
2. Not be from a Class Project
3. Have been completed within the last 6 months

• What will you bring to the Scrapville Creative Team. 
• Links to your blog, any online galleries or promotional sites you currently support or utilize. 
• A list of any Creative/Design Team experience, both past and current. (experience in this area is not compulsory) 
• This Call is open nationally to Australian applicants.

MAIL to: Janet Watt, Manager, Scrapville: scrapville@iinet.net.au 

Applications will close at 5pm on Friday, 30th November 2012.
A confirmation email will be sent by reply on receipt of your application. 
Successful applicants will be notified by email on Friday, 7th December 2012. 
An announcement will be posted to the Blog to introduce the 2012 Creative Team on Wednesday, 2nd January 2013.

Good luck!

Claire x