Happy New Year - Colour Q Sparkle!

Hello folks,

Only a few hours to go until we ring in the new year!  I'll keep this one short and sweet since the champagne has already been flowing a little too freely tonight...

This week's Colour Q challenge is a sparkly affair and perfect for a celebratory card:

2014 brings a few 50th celebrations for us this year -  birthdays and a couple of golden wedding anniversaries, so I though this card would be perfect for either. I even got on to the sequin bandwagon - there seem to be heaps of them around blogland at the moment ad I love the touch of sparkle they bring to a card!

Well, that's it for me in 2013 - hope you have a happy and safe New Years!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Merry Christmas and a New Colour Q

Hello bloggers!

Can you believe we only have a few hours to go until Santa arrives?  I'm currently blogging with one eye out the window, waiting for the rural fire service to arrive on to our street. It's an annual tradition for them to drive around the local area with the lights flashing and the siren blaring - Santa sits on the top of the engine throwing sweets to all the local kids, who wait on the street expectantly. My kids love it!

Since it's Tuesday it can only mean another Colour Q challenge. I'm posting a little early today as my in-laws are about to arrive for the festive break. This week the colours are a gorgeous, fresh combination of blues and light brown:

Recognise the papers?  Luckily I had them handy from my previous card so I didn't have to think too hard about what to use. I also used the sketch from this week's Retro Sketches:

Not sure how much crafty time I'll get in the next few days so I'll wish you a wonderful, happy and safe Christmas. Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Stampin' Up Revival

Hello bloggers!

The Christmas holidays have begun here in Australia - the kidlets have finished school for the year and I have six weeks to spend being their personal entertainer!  My littlest finished preschool today and I only just managed to hold it together - another milestone reached before he starts school next year.

Anyway, here's the card I made for this week's  Dynamic Duos and Freshly Made Sketches:

Sorry, not the best photo as it's late so I may retake it in the morning.  The Dynamic Duo colours fitted perfectly with some very old Stampin Up papers I have in my stash. Keeping with the SU theme I also used one of their older stamp sets (Eastern Blooms.)

Ok, that's all again folks...have a great day!

Claire x

Feeling Summery for Colour Q #220

Hello again,

Just returning for my second post of the day, this time for the brand new Colour Q challenge. We've got  a completely different set of colours this week which made me think of hot,  Summery days. I think they'd be perfect for a Summery, beach themed scrapbook layout:

Since my scrapbooking mojo went walkabout I stuck to a card and used my absolutely ancient SU Stem Silhouettes set. Now let me tell you, this set hasn't seen a swipe of ink in years which is such a pity as it's a really pretty set of stamps.

I embossed the stem on to a piece of vellum and matted it against some MME papers. The sentiment is from PTI's Mixed Messages - such a great set of sentiments...they're so tiny I'm always able to squeeze one on somewhere!  The doily is from WMS and I used a marker to colour in parts of the image.

So there you go - hope the Colour Q pic gives you a bit of inspiration...hop on over to the rest of the design team's blogs for some more!

Thanks for stopping again,

Claire x

CAS(E) This Sketch! #57

Hello bloggers,

First post of the day for the latest CAS(E) This Sketch challenge:

For some reason I always find CTS a real challenge and this one was no exception. I tried every shape possible instead of circles...stars, windmills...and nothing worked. In the end I thought I'd use the three circles as a base for the Jenni Bowlin stamped image.   For the strip of dots I embossed a Mama Elephant border stamp and then added a sentiment from their Type It set. Looks kind of kooky doesn't it? I'd love to know what you think!

Have a great day and thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Australian Scrapbook Creations - Christmas Issue

Evening folks,

Have you checked out this months Australian Scrapbook Creations? I had the opportunity to do a couple of projects for it - an advent calendar using various stamp sets and some place names for the Christmas table. I'll upload the place names tomorrow but here's a little pic of the advent calendar:

Photography by Scrapbook Creations/Amanda Reddicliffe

I made 24 little kraft envelopes, stamped and embossed them with some flourishes and added a stamped PTI Christmas bauble. I then put a handmade Waltzingmouse stamped tag in each and typed a treat for each of the days in the lead up to Christmas.  Finally I added a peg and a die cut number. Each of the tags has been strung up on a beautiful white picture frame with bakers twine but they could also be hung from the Christmas tree or even hidden around the house for the kids to find!

Hope you get the chance to take a peek! Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Freshly Made Sketch #116

Good morning bloggers!

Are you feeling confident that you're all ready for Christmas? If it's a resounding 'no', then join the club. So,  since nobody has much time for reading, let alone crafting at this time of year I'll keep it short and sweet and show the card I made for this week's gorgeous Freshly Made Sketch by Narelle:

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

A Traditional Colour Q

Evening all,

Another Colour Q challenge has triggered a mild dose of Christmas panic.....it's an indication that another week has flown by and we're even closer to Christmas. I wonder if Santa could perhaps put it on hold until next year...

There I was thinking the holiday cards were all done and dusted and Arielle comes up with a combo of traditional colours screaming Christmas - I used the current sketch over at Cardabilities for a bit of inspiration:

It's been a while since I pulled out PTI's Take a Bough set - an oldie but definitely a goodie. I found some absolutely ancient Christmas themed papers which I think may be Basic Grey and added a few sequins, tartan ribbon and twine. Come to think of it, there's a bit of everything on this card but if you can't go a bit over the top at Christmas, when can you?

Check out the rest of the design team's gorgeous creations and then see what you can come up with using the chosen colours....in fact, why not really challenge yourself and do something other than a Christmas theme?!

Hope you have a productive day and thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Bold and Cheery

Hello folks,

I barely seem to have time to do a card at the moment, let alone post it on my blog. So I'll make it quick and show you what I've done for the sketch over at Freshly Made and the bold and cheery colours over at Dynamic Duos:

I absolutely love those chevron stamps from Close to My Heart - they stamp so crisply and cleanly. I may be pushing it a bit with the Freshly Made sketch but since that's where I got my inspiration I thought I'd post it anyway..Mr Linky can always hit the delete button!

Have a great night and thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Finding my Mojo

Hello fellow bloggers!

I'm finding my mojo has virtually disappeared with all this Christmas malarkey - I think I have too much to think about and the cards just aren't happening.

Anyway, thought I'd have a bash at this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I was using the colours for this weeks Dynamic Duos too but naughty Mr Linky has closed for the week.....

Hope you're finding your own mojo!

Thanks for looking,

Claire x

Beautiful Brights for Colour Q #218

Good evening folks!

Another week as gone by and the next Colour Q challenge is up and running. A bright and colourful combo full of (potentially) festive cheer!

So what do I do? A birthday card of course! I'm quite over the Christmas cards...in fact I never truly got into them. I think the prospect of having to do so many kind of puts me off so once they are all done for the year I don't make any more.

I used CTMH's Perfect Fit Birthday Occasions for this one. I added a little sparkle to the images and layered a few Nestability circles for the background. The sentiment is PTI.

So what will you come up with? Looking forward to seeing everyone else's colourful inspiration!

Have a fabulous week and thanks for stopping by,

Claire x