Washi Galore

Hello folks,

Here's a quick card I did last night for the latest Freshly Made Sketch challenge:

Whenever I go to craft shows I'm always enticed by the beautiful rolls of washi tape on display.  Naturally I have to grab 2 or 3 rolls and when I get home I put them with the rest of my stash...and that's where they stay. Lovely to look at but never used.

So,  since I have about 12 rolls of the stuff (at last count),  I really thought it was about time I actually used some of it.  I embossed SU's Banner Blast set on to some vellum and backed them with some aqua cardstock, then added a little stamp from Close to my Heart 's Perfect Fit Birthday Occasions.

There's a birthday card challenge over at the The Card Concept so I'm going to link up over there too. Clean and layered I think this time.

If you have popped over to my blog lately and been kind enough to leave a comment - thank you! I've been absent from blogland quite a bit in recent weeks due to family visits so haven't been doing much blog hopping. Hope to see you soon!

Claire x

Ready for Colour Q #234?

Evening all,

Another week has flown by and it's time for a new challenge at Colour Q.  I have to admit it was a bit of a quick card for me this week as I'm still showing Mum the delights of Sydney...make that rainy Sydney. It's been tipping it down here - I always feel so sorry for UK visitors when they're on holiday here and the weather is worse than at home!

This week I used the lovely sketch over at CAS(e) This Sketch for some inspiration:

I used Waltzingmouse's Folk Art Medallion for this one - for some reason I think I may have seen something similar to this before. Do you ever get that feeling? I look at so many cards on various blogs that sometimes I get totally paranoid that I've unintentionally CASed something!

Ok folks, that's all for now - hope you have a wonderful week and get the chance to play!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

The Alien has Landed - Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge

Hello bloggers!

It's my gorgeous nephew's 4th birthday in a couple of weeks so I inked up my Paper Smooches Little Fella set up again.

I cut the moon and the spaceship using the Cameo, then ran the moon through a circles embossing folder to make it look a bit more textured. I love that alien - don't you think he looks a little like the alien version of Bart Simpson?

It's an Anything Goes challenge over at the Paper Smooches Sparks blog so I'm going to plonk a link over there. I'm also entering into the latest Card Concept challenge which is to make a birthday card..I guess it doesn't say 'happy birthday' but it is a birthday card - promise! Let's call it 'clean and layered.'

Enjoy your weekend!

Claire x

Colour Q #233

G'day folks!

It's been quiet on the crafty front for me this week. I have my Mum over from the UK at the moment so not much time to get inky!

Having said that I have managed to play with the brand new combo over at Colour Q - a gorgeous mix of masculine and feminine don't you think?

I used the latest sketch over at Retro Sketches for a bit of inspiration. Shall we say that when Mum comes over the wine is flowing rather too freely and it plays havoc with the mojo, so I definitely needed a bit of help...

Check out the beautiful creations by the rest of the team...you'll be so glad you did!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Freshly Made Card Concept

Hello bloggers!

Just a quick post today for Freshly Made Sketches and for the colour challenge over at The Card Concept.

Hmmm, kind of looks more like pear than lime doesn't it? But it was the nearest I had so it will have to do. And the style? I think clean and simple.

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

CASology Week #86

Hello again!


Told you I'd be back. Well I did a little happy dance last week when I won the CASology challenge -   Melissa dropped me a line to see if I'd be guest designer so the dancing continued, albeit with a mild sense of panic that I might not be up for the job!  This week the cue word is 'roots.'

  

I had a couple of ideas but went for the simplest in the end - I embossed the Technique Tuesday stamps in white on black, then used the same stamp in black for the background. Couldn't get much simpler really could it?!

Make sure you check out the design team's cards - they blow me away every week with their amazing creativity and take on the cue word. Hope you get the chance to join in and thanks so much for the guest spot Melissa!

Claire x

Anyone for Newsprint? Colour Q 232

Hello folks!

There's going to be a couple of posts from me tonight...the first one is for the new Colour Q challenge:

This week newsprint features in the colour combo - I had the perfect Echo Park paper for the background which I tried to replicate with one of the blooms from SU's Flower Shop set.  The typed sentiment is from Mama Elephant's Type It...perfect for the newsprint I thought!

I got my inspiration from this gorgeous sketch over at Cardabilities:

I'll be back later for another post. And then I may be absent from blogland for a little while. My Mum is due to fly in from the UK tomorrow morning...which basically means I've been frantically cleaning the house for the last two days just to give her the impression that I'm a semi capable mother who can keep a vaguely tidy house. I'll be telling her to take a good look, since it will no doubt look like a bomb's hit it once the two whirlwinds are back from school!

See you later!

Claire x

Smooching with Freshly Made

Hello bloggers!

Hope you're having a fantastic weekend.  Ours has been one of the busiest in a while as my eldest son and I have had a double celebration since we share the same birthday.  Of course I say 'share', but I use that term very loosely...trust me, there's no 'sharing' when there's an 8 year birthday boy in the house!

Despite the birthday havoc, I did find time to do a quick card. One of things I love about buying new stamps is being able to enter new challenges...I've always had a hankering for Paper Smooches but wasn't able to find them locally - until now that is.  Over on their blog they have an inspiration pic for us to play with:

I was inspired by the twine and by those gorgeous silver storage funnels....what a brilliant idea. I went a bit mad with some pewter/silver embossing powder and a background stamp. The little robot is from Paper Smooches Little Fella set...perfect for little boys...and for big ones too.

I also combined the challenge with the fun sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches by Amy.

Thanks for popping by for a peak - now I'm off to celebrate my birthday!

Claire x

Colour Q #231 - a Little Green and Black

Evening bloggers!

The new Colour Q combo is here - how about a St Patricks Day inspired colour scheme to get your crafty teeth into?  It's a pretty striking palette this week isn't it?

Of course it doesn't have to be a St Patricks Day card - we don't really send cards for St Patricks Day in Australia, so I made one that's suitable for just about any occasion. Love that sentiment from WMS - it's so versatile.  I also used the WMS Funky Flowers set. I stamped and embossed some vellum with three of the flowers, layered them and added the brad.

This card was almost impossible to photograph for some reason - nothing seemed to work. One of those annoying ones that look better IRL!

Anyway, hope you can all join in this week - make sure you pop over to the rest of the design team's blogs and leave them some crafty love!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Playing with 'Paint'

Hello again,

Second post of the day and another quick CAS card, this time for Casology. The cue word is 'paint:'

I think the PTI set Watercolour Wonder will be featuring a lot for this challenge. I decided to pair it with a Jenni Bowlin stamp. The silhouette of the girl actually shows her holding a star on a string but I swapped this for a paint brush that I cut with my Silhouette.  The inside of the card says - 'so paint the town red!'

Thanks for stopping. Again.

Have a great day!

Claire x

Not so Sponge-tastic

Morning folks!

Over at W Plus 9 there's a challenge for us to stretch it and get out of our comfort zone so I did a little sponging on my card today. My sponging skills are less than perfect - I never seem to get an even coverage and tend to get a bit heavy handed so there's usually more ink on one area of the image:

I used Fresh Cut Florals again for this one. I also used the colours from this weeks Colour Throwdown (although I don't have So Saffron so Daffodil Delight will have to do) and I'm entering it into The Card Concept, where there is a floral theme.  I reckon this one is clean and simple.

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x