Colour Q #243

Hello bloggers!

How's your Tuesday going? Are you up for another colour challenge?  How would you like to be greeted with this flowery explosion in the shower each morning?

I have to say I wasn't feeling the love with this one - I've been feeling a bit off colour over the last few days and it's always hard to come up with something vaguely original when you're not feeling quite 100% isn't it? So my inspiration came from the pic and I created my own explosion of Funky Blooms from Waltzingmouse.

Hope your mojo is up for the job this week - maybe I can get some inspiration from everyone elses cards instead!

Have a great Tuesday!

Claire x

Feeling Flowery

G'day folks,

We're enjoying an absolute blinder of an Autumn here in Sydney, the warmest May for 120 years - perfect blue skies, beautiful sunshine without the sticky heat and stunning colours everywhere.  What more could you ask for?

Before tempting fate and getting a downpour I'll show you a quick card I've done for Casology where the cue word is:

I started off masking the stamped background but it looked rather dull so I framed it and added a white mat which gave it far more of a pop. I stamped a huge bloom from BoBunny and then used a very ancient flower punch to cut the flowers. In fact, it's so ancient I think it may have been the first punch I ever bought...still does the trick though.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend - thanks for popping by,

Claire x

A Bright and Breezy Colour Q #242

Hello bloggers - hope you're having a happy Tuesday!

Have we got an ultra bright colour palette for you over at Colour Q this week!  I'm not sure whether I  like those sports shoes or whether I think they're really hideous. Either way, they make great colours for some happy mail don't they?

I used a couple of different Close to My Heart sets - the Charming Chevrons and Pinwheel.  Since it's a pretty simple card I thought I'd join in over at Addicted to CAS too where Darnell is this months guest designer - the theme is 'off the edge.'

Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with - happy stamping!

Claire x

Japanese Inspired Freshly Made Sketch

Hello folks!

I grabbed all my Japanese inspired goodies for the latest sketch at Freshly Made Sketches by Amy:

I used an oriental style script stamp from Kaisercraft for the background and embossed it in gold. (Due to my complete lack of knowledge about Asian languages, whenever I use this stamp I have absolutely no idea if it's the right way up - but at least it looks pretty!)  I used a couple of different yuzen papers for the strips and added a sakura bloom from the Waltzingmouse Asian Gardens set. The sentiment is from the WMS Opera Tags set.

Short but sweet today - have a great week!

Claire x

Woodgrain Woes

Hello again!

I'm afraid Mr Mojo has gone walkabout this week - I'm finding it difficult to think of anything vaguely original at the moment so looked for a bit of help from Cas-ual Fridays and CAS(e) This Sketch.

The theme at CAS-ual Fridays is 'threes' - ie. to use three of something on a third of your card. Well, there's my first mistake...I stamped and sponged the three woodgrain strips, then realised  I hadn't stuck to only a third of the card. Oops. So, I stamped 3 dotty lines on the bottom third...well, it's almost in one third - maths never was my strong point. Just how strict are we being here? The main parts of the sentiment also have only 3 letters so I think I've pretty much nailed the three thing.

Anyway, that's all for now folks! Happy stamping!

Claire x

Golden Sparkle - Colour Q #241

Hello bloggers!

Where has the week gone? I can't believe I haven't had the chance to get crafty since the last Colour Q challenge. I wish someone had told me that when the kids go to school, you're actually busier.  How on earth does that work?

There's a striking colour combo for this week's challenge which gives you the chance to add a bit of golden sparkle to your project:

I based my card on the simple sketch over at Retro Sketches.  I substituted Soft Sky for Pool Party and stamped a Hero Arts flower background with some added gold embossing. I thought that stamp went perfectly with the crayon-like flower from SU's Flower Shop.  A couple of die cut swirls and some gold embossed WMS leaves and I was all done.  The chocolate chip background paper is some older SU designer paper...it goes so well with the different shades of blue.

So get your sparkly stuff out - sequins....embossing powder....papers and link up to the latest challenge. Don't forget to pop over to the rest of the DT for some crafty inspiration!

Thanks for looking,

Claire x

Colour Q #240

Hello for the second time today!

I'm getting back into floral mode with the next Colour Q palette - an ultra pretty combo of soft pinks and greens:

I've also played with the Cardabilities sketch and since I've used a whole heap of papers from MME I thought I'd join in with their May challenge too - to use MME enamel dots creatively. Not sure if it's that creative but since I bought a whole heap of them it was a good excuse to go a bit dotty.

I've just confirmed a quick holiday for me and the big bloke today...5 nights in Singapore - without the kids.  Our first real break on our own in 8 years to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.  Can you imagine? 5 days on our own, without any interruptions...what bliss.

Happy stamping everyone!

Claire x

'Grunge'

Hello folks!

This blog has been looking a bit too pretty lately - all butterflies, flowers and swirly bits. So when I saw the code word over at Addicted to CAS was 'grunge' I thought it would be a good chance for me to get away from a floral theme. I absolutely love the sketch over at Retro Sketches too so I used that for some inspiration:

Now I don't do grunge. This is about my limit I'm afraid - a few splashes of ink using PTI's Grunge Me and a kind of grungy background stamp from Kaisercraft. I've also used a Kaisercraft sentiment.  I'm really happy with how it turned out...just enough mess to compliment my clean and simple style.

I'll be back later with the next Colour Q palette...back to a flowery theme again!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Electric Blue

Hello folks!

Not much time to get crafty this week but I did manage a quickie for the Casology challenge using the latest CAS(E) This Sketch:

When I saw the word 'electric' I immediately thought of a beautiful, electric blue butterfly.  I may take the photo again as it really doesn't do the blue justice - it's much more vivid in real life.  The die cut Cheery Lynn leaf flourish has been in constant use in the last few weeks - I'm surprised it isn't blunt.  I've looked everywhere to find a different one but it's the perfect size and shape and seems to work with anything I put it with.

Anyway, way to late to be blogging...time for my beauty sleep....

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x