Triple Whammy

Hello folks,

Not much time for the crafty stuff for me this week - I managed to do one card though and combine 3 challenges to save time. Firstly, over at Muse,  Anita is the guest designer:

I love Anita's cards - definitely one of the queen's of clean and simple! I went with her pretty colour scheme and scattering of bling.  No sentiment as I may add it later. I also decided to join in with Casology where the cue word is 'free' - I think dragonflies are a pretty good symbol of being free....all that fluttering around wherever they please.  Lastly, I used the sketch over at CAS(e) This Sketch. Oh, and I'm entering it into the Simon Says Stamp 'anything goes' challenge for this week. Think that covers everything!

Thanks for stopping - have a great weekend!

Claire x

Colour Q Challenged

Hello again,

I tried to have a go at the latest Colour Q challenge a couple of days ago but really struggled with it and gave up. Not to be beaten I had another bash today and combined it with this week's Retro Sketch:

The nearest I had to turquoise was some 6x6 papers from Studio Calico - not quite the bright turquoise in the pic but I think I can get away with it. The strawberry stamp is Waltzingmouse and I've added some dimensional magic just to make it a bit juicier. I'd liked to have fit a sentiment on the front but I just didn't have the room so 'thank you berry much' is stamped on the inside instead.

There seem to be a lot of fruity cards out there at the moment as the theme for the Simon Says Stamp challenge this week is 'Summer Fruits.' So, I'm going to link up with that fruity challenge too!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire

Freshly Made #91

Good morning bloggers,

I had to make a card last night simply for the therapeutic benefits. My youngest son is 4 and a half, had the biggest tantrum he's ever had in the middle of my local shopping centre yesterday. It was the kind of tantrum when all mothers look at you with complete sympathy but at the same time think 'thank God that's not my child.' In fact, when one man saw I was struggling he told me I 'would get my reward in heaven.' Actually, I got my reward yesterday evening in the form of a huge glass of wine....swiftly followed by another...

Anyway, in my quest for therapy involving less alcohol I had a play with Cindy's lovely sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I'm really enjoying using 6x6 paper pads at the moment...it takes the guesswork out of matching papers and just makes the whole process that much quicker. I've used an MME one for this card, together with a balloon die from Fancy That. Loved the sketch and I'm sure it's one I'll go back to again.

Have a great day and thanks for popping by!

Claire x

A Fishy Casology

Morning all,

Over at Casology the cue word is 'fish' - I happened to pick up another real cheapy stamp at the craft show last week for the bargain price of $2.00 and thought it was perfect for this challenge:

He's quite sweet for a bargain isn't he?  I embossed him in white on to navy blue card stock, cut him out and then added a little Dimensional Magic to the waves to make them shine.  A couple of squirts of Glimmer Mist and a bit of bling and it was one quick card!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping!

Claire x

Waltzingmouse Blog Party

Hello folks,

Can't believe it's the 17th of the month - where on earth does the time go? The Waltzingmouse Blog Party has come around again and the theme for this month is 'Summertime fun.' I had thought of doing a Christmas card since, in Australia,  it's the height of Summer (so wrong!) but then decided on a layout instead:

Summer makes me think of happiness, bright colours and heaps of fun and this pic of my eldest boy with ice-cream on his nose sums it up perfectly. The background was done with the border stamp from Asian Gardens. I've coloured in parts of it with a marker, then added some sprays of Glimmer Mist. For the centre of the sun I used one of the flower images from Folk Art Medallion, together with the circle image from the same set.  To make the ice-cream cones I used the cupcake from  Frame-it and layered the images together. I then added the cupcake icing to make the ice-cream.   Finally, the journal spot is from Very Vintage Labels 4.

Anyway, that's enough waffling from me now....time to schmooze the gallery!

Enjoy the party and thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

A Masculine Freshly Made

Hello bloggers,

I had a hankering to do a masculine card for this week's sketch by Linda C over at Freshly Made Sketches. Remember I said I'd been to the Stitches and Craft Show in Sydney? Well, I picked up a new blokey stamp for the bargain price of $2.00. To be honest I thought it might be pretty poor quality but I was pleasantly surprised:

Moustaches seem to be all the rage at the moment in the stamping world don't they?  I liked the shape of this handlebar moustache so I stamped it once on the card, then stamped another to put over the top of it and curled the edges. The paper is from a 6x6 paper pad by Authentique....another good buy for $5.00 and perfect papers for masculine cards. Bargains eh? Don't you just love 'em?!

Have a great day!

Claire x

Seeing Yellow

Good morning folks,

Hope you're having a relaxing weekend. I had a lovely day at the Stitches and Craft Show in Sydney yesterday. Without children! Always a bonus when you can actually look at stuff isn't it?  I came home with some fantastic new dies from Fancy That.   Since new stuff has a habit of kick starting the mojo I used one of them for this week's  Casology challenge. The cue word is 'yellow' and as luck would have it, the card I had in mind fitted perfectly with the sketch over at CAS(e) This Sketch:

Yellow made me think of the setting sun so I sponged a sunset background and added this little strip of die cut birds and a WMS sentiment. Birds always remind me of when I first came to Australia - it was the sound of the birds that made me feel homesick....the dawn chorus in Australia is far more tropical than the UK...lots of squawking from cockatoos and hysterical laughing from the kookaburras. So completely different to what I was used to.

On that chirpy note, enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping!

Claire x

CAS(e) This Play Date!

Morning all!

There's a fab sketch by Chrissy over at CAS(e) This Sketch this week. So many ways I could have used this - I decided to combine it with the colours from Play Date Cafe:

Now this severely limited my options! In the end I just threw a few bits and pieces together and hoped for the best..sometimes that's the best way isn't it? I white embossed a hexagon Mama Elephant stamp on to the grey background and layered a bright pink (and very ancient) Glitz rubon, together with a Studio Calico vellum speech bubble and button. I thought it looked a bit bare so luckily I had some teal paint which I splattered over it.

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Casology - again!

Hello everyone,

A very quick post today. Remember how I said Mr Mojo went walkabout when I did this week's Casology challenge using the cue word 'wheels?' Well I thought I'd have another go at it. I've based it on this card which I did for Ardyth's birthday:

Of course, I managed to precisely stamp all those tyre marks without so much as a single smudge. I was so proud of myself. Then I began stamping the wheels on to acetate with Stayzon - smudges everywhere! So there was only meant to be 2-3 wheels  scattered in a somewhat arty farty way. Instead, I've had to cover the whole thing just to hide the ink blotches...oops!

That's all folks...have a good one!


Claire x

Freshly Made Sketch

G'day bloggers. Hope you're having a lovely weekend!

There's a fab sketch by Rita over at Freshly Made this week:

I love those kraft papers by Stampin Up, especially mixed with the bright colours of the MME papers. The stamp is from Studio G, stamped in black and with a touch of KindyGlitz for some added sparkle.  

I really do need to go for a smooch around blogland today - I'm such a snail crafter I just never seem to have to time to look at what everyone else is doing. So, if you have made a comment, thanks so much for making the time and I'll definitely be over for a visit soon!

Cheers,

Claire x

Casology - Week 47

Good afternoon bloggers,

This week's Casology word is 'wheels' and for once in my life I knew I had the perfect Kaisercraft set to use. Unfortunately I picked it up and my mind did a total blank...there were just so many possibilities but I have to say I found it 'wheely' quite difficult. Excuse the appalling pun:

In the end I decided to do some masking with the gorgeous vintage car. I love the wheel mark stamp so I'm thinking I may have a go with that one a little later too - hopefully my brain will be back in gear by then!

Have a 'wheely' great day and thanks for stopping!

Claire x

MME June Challenge

Hello folks,

So those naughty people at MME have posted a colour challenge for this month and I have to say I almost let it beat me:

Green, black, pink and orange. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to mix these colours without them clashing?  In the end I opted for a whole mish mash of different MME papers from a variety of ranges:

To be quite honest I'm not sure whether it's worked but I guess it will do for a kiddies card. I'm thinking I might have another bash at it with some different papers...as if I didn't get frustrated enough!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

A Double Date at Mojo Monday

Hello again folks,

It's contest time over at Mojo Monday and this week's sketch is by Julee Tilman.  Challenges are always just that little bit sweeter when there's the potential to win a crafty prize aren't they?

Since I was feeling a little bit lazy last night, I didn't bother searching for some new patterned papers and stuck with the colour scheme over at Play Date Cafe. I've used some Waltzingmouse doilies to stamp and emboss the circles . The little elephant would have been lovely stamped but my elephant stamp was too big so I cheated by fussy cutting some patterned paper from MME. Now I'm just waiting for the next bundle of joy to be born....

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Play Date Cafe

G'day folks,

Here's the colours for this week's challenge over at the Play Date Cafe - a perfect match for Crate Paper's Pink Plum range:

Mr Mojo's gone walkabout yet again in the last couple of days but it's always easier when you have patterned papers in the exact colours isn't it? I embossed the Stampin' Up flower onto the plum background, then added a couple more blooms on some vellum.

I'm also putting it into the Simon Says Stamp challenge for this week which you can find here - the theme this week is 'anything goes.'

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x