A Retro Card for PDC

Hello peeps,

I mentioned in my previous post that I wanted to sneak a card into the colour challenge over at         Play Date Cafe, as well as a scrapbook page. I also used a sketch from Retro Sketches. This week you are able to choose any past sketch for inspiration - there were about 8 sketches I wanted to use but I eventually went with this one:

Hmmmm - I have to say the jury is still out with these new Stampin Up inkpads...I found it very difficult to stamp a solid image - the ink just wouldn't cover the stamp evenly.  I'm a huge fan of Stampin Up and I know there are a few demonstrators out there who follow my blog so I'd love to have some advice please. It could just be my lousy stamping technique!

I used that lovely Jenni Bowlin image again, together with some October Afternoon and MME papers. A button and twine seems to be obligatory for everything I make at the moment!

Have a fabulous day and thanks for stopping,

Claire x

A Scrappy Play Date

Hello Scrappers!

I absolutely love the colour combo over at Play Date Cafe this week:

It's the first time I've done a layout for a Play Date challenge but, having two boys, I knew I had heaps of papers in these colours. If I have time I might try and get a card done too. I haven't put any journalling on - sometimes the title just says it all doesn't it?

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Flames of Lurve

Hello Bloggers,

The word at Casology this week is 'flame.' I've had a little chipboard flame, from a fire engine set,  in my stash for about 3 years but I've never quite known what to with it until now:

I inked and painted the flame, then added some sparkle with some KindyGlitz. The sentiment has been done in Word (and took longer than the entire card!) Not a great pic - we have torrential rain in Sydney today and the light is terrible.

Shame Valentines is over for this year but  I can think of plenty of gentlemen who I'm sure would like to receive it...Hugh Jackman, George Clooney, that bloke off Person of Interest...Oh, and possibly my husband!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire

Muse #5

Hello bloggers!

Time for a bit more Muse inspiration with this lovely card by Marion Vagg:

What a great way to use washi tape...but since I only have 2 rather dull coloured rolls in my collection, I'm not sure they'd create the same effect.  Instead I was inspired by the bright colours, the stripes and the bold, black sentiment. I had a play around with some My Minds Eye lace stamps together with a solid Jenni Bowlin stamp and made a couple of cards.  I asked the bloke of the house which he likes best and he helpfully said 'either.'  So I'll leave it up to you to decide....

Looking forward to seeing how you've been inspired!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

WMS Blog Hop

Hello Blog Hoppers!

It's Waltzingmouse Blog Party time and I'm arriving fashionably late!  The theme for the party is doilys, so at least that narrows down the stamp sets. I left my card until the last minute (despite knowing the theme for the last 17 days) and sat down last night with a complete loss of crafty mojo. Wouldn't it be lovely if there was a crafting equivalent of Viagra? If anyone would like to sell me some please drop me a line...

As you can see, I've used the Dainty Doiles (small) set for this one. I've embossed the smallest doily in white, on a piece of kraft cardstock, cut a hole in the side and then stamped one in black underneath. The sentiment is from the Frame It set and the patterned paper is actually a doily themed piece from October Afternoon.

Well, I'm all doilied out this week but I'm looking forward to having a peep at what everyone else has come up with! Thanks for stopping and double thanks if you make time to leave a comment!

Cheers,

Claire x

Seeing Red

Hello bloggers,

Just had time to sneak in a card for this week's Casology challenge - the cue word for this one is 'red.' Apart from love, it probably conjures up the word 'angry' for me, but I'm not quite sure how you interpret that on to a card...a few angry,  red ink splats maybe?

Since ink splats aren't really my style I reached for a doile stamp instead:

No room to put a sentiment on this one but sometimes it's handy to have an 'anything goes' card isn't it?
I found some lovely, sparkly, cherry red embossing powder in my stash but it doesn't really sparkle in the photo much...looks a lot prettier IRL!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Claire x

MME/Gossamer Blue Contest

Hello Scrappy friends,

My Minds Eye and Gossamer Blue are having a competition for the opportunity to become a guest designer for both companies. Now that would be nice wouldn't it? Mine's a very late entry since the closing date is today but there's nothing like cutting it a bit fine and putting the pressure on is there?

I've used a few different papers from the Stella and Rose and Indie Chic ranges - I did have a major obsession with the Stella and Rose range when it first came out and used it on just about everything for weeks!

Anyway, here's hoping......

Have a fabulous weekend and thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Groundhog Day

Good morning blogland!

There's a challenge over at MME using Groundhog Day as inspiration for a project - either the day itself (Feb 2) or the movie of the same name. Remember that one?  Can you believe it was made 20 years ago? And it's probably 20 years since I've seen it! From what I can remember, Bill Murray keeps living the same day over and over again and eventually falls in love with Andie MacDowell. I seem to remember him as being a bit of a gruff, grumpy man, but ultimately one with a kind heart - rather like my bloke in fact. So, I've been inspired by the fact that the movie is a love story and I've made a Valentines card for him:

I've used an MME lace stamp at the base of the card  and the papers are from a few different collections. I've made so many CAS cards with heaps of white space lately, I actually found it quite difficult to get back into using heavily patterned papers again.

Well, hope you all have a lovely Valentines Day...my dozen red roses, eternity ring and box of very expensive Belgian chocolates still haven't arrived - but there's still time.

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Waltzing with Colour

Good morning bloggers!

There's a colour challenge over at Waltzingmouse this week - possibly aimed at the romantics out there, since it features a whole load of red:

So, since I'm not a romantic I made a birthday card - and there isn't a heart in sight!

My absolute favourite card, using WMS stamps, can be found here - I'm not sure if it's one of Claire's or not - so I've kind of 're-interpreted' it and I hope that's ok.

As I didn't have all the colours in my (limited) ink collection, I used up a few scraps of bazzil instead. I'm one of those people who keeps every last scrap of bazzil.... just in case.  There's piles of the stuff sat in a folder, taking up space in my non-existent scrap room.  Knew it would come in handy though....

I stamped the flowers from Asian Gardens on to the bazzil with Versamark, embossed them in white and die cut them with my Nestie dies.  I then used one of the frames from Fancy Phrases for the background in contrasting inks.  Bit of a CAS one isn't it?

Blog party time soon...better get thinking about those doiles...

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Freshly Made Birthday

Hello peeps,

Time for a quickie again...I needed to make a belated birthday card for my friend's son so turned to this week's Freshly Made sketch by Cindy for a bit of a mojo boost:

Isn't that chippie car cute? I gave it a lick of paint and added some Kindy Glitz for the headlights and the wheels have been stamped with a Kaisercraft stamp. Told you it was a quick one!

Have a great day!

Cheers,

Claire x

CASology Week 30

Well hello again blogging friends,

Time once more for this weeks CASology cue word - 'fairytale.' I had a few ideas for this one but when I played around with my stamps nothing seemed to work. So in the end I thought of the poisonous apple in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and made a card for one of the kid's teachers:

Now a cute apple stamp would have been lovely wouldn't it but as I haven't got one in my collection I'm afraid a free clip art apple had to do. I printed it on some red bazzil, did a bit of fussy cutting and added some stamped leaves and a stalk. I also covered the apples with some dimensional magic, just so they look nice and shiny.

Hope you have a great week and manage to get a bit of craftiness happening!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Muse Challenge #3

Hello again bloggers!

Time for another Muse challenge - I'm loving this challenge as everyone's cards often turn out completely differently to the original. This week's card has been done by Laurie Willison:

Isn't it an absolute stunner? In fact I was quite tempted just to copy the whole thing and hope that no-one noticed but I figured I couldn't really get away with it.

This week I was determined to look through my stash and use some papers I hadn't used in a while. I came across these gorgeous Cosmo Cricket ones from a couple of years ago and did some fussy cutting:

I love the way Laurie has added some subtle detail to her card by splitting her front panel in two. I've split mine into 4 as I wanted to use a couple of different patterned papers. I layered the fussy cut patterns with dimensional tape and added a bit of bling and a sentiment. They're such pretty papers I figured I didn't need to do too much more!

Well, that's all folks so have a fabulous night - thanks so much to those of you who take the time to make a comment!

Cheers, Claire x

A Washi Waltzingmouse

Hello Bloggers,

Just a quick one to show a card I made for this week's Waltzingmouse Monday Morning Make challenge. This week Claire showed us how to make our own washi tape. Genius! So simple, even I could do it.  I do love washi tape...I think those cute little rolls are gorgeous to look at but I have to say I never know what on earth to do with the stuff. So I made my washi and embossed it with my woodgrain stamp, but then had no idea what to do with it!  I looked to this weeks Mojo Monday sketch for a bit of inspiration:

I seem to have a thing about layering squares at the moment - my Marvellous Squares dies are getting a good workout. I've used the Camellia set along with Woodgrain and a sentiment from Fancy Phrases, but I kept it all very simple - I'm afraid the mojo disappeared a bit in the last couple of days.

Enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping,

Claire x

A Play Date with Muse

Another day, another card...this time for the current Muse challenge. The guest designer for week 2 is Suzanne Dahlberg:

What isn't there to love about this card? All those bright, happy colours make me smile! My card has been inspired by those very same bright flowers against the black background:

I used Stampin Up's Eastern Gardens for this one, together with the little leaves from the Waltzingmouse Frame It set. The squares are Spellbinders Marvellous Squares - which were being anything but marvellous, as I had terrible problems getting the card out of the die!

Funnily enough I happened to glance at the Play Date Cafe blog and this week's colours fit in with the challenge over there too. I'm not sure how many neutrals you're allowed to use with the chosen colour scheme so I'll just have to have my hand slapped if I've broken the rules:

Have a fantastic day and thanks for any comments...I love reading them!

Claire x