Freshly Made Sketch #142

Hello bloggers!

Hope you are having a restful Sunday! As soon as I saw the sketch by Jen over at Freshly Made Sketches I knew I wanted to get a bit inky. But talk about a deceptively simple sketch - I thought it would be a real quickie once I'd stamped the background but I tried every embellishment possible - ribbon, butterflies, flowers - nothing seemed to work. In the end I used a Fancy That die cut dragonfly:

I stamped a W Plus 9 script stamp and then clear embossed a Bo Bunny bloom and sponged some distress inks over the top.  I absolutely love that script - it's just so pretty.  

I have a few distress inks in various colours but really don't use them enough so I'm also entering into Monday's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge which is 'I ought to use this more!'

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Knock on Wood

Hello folks,

It's been far too long since I had a play over at CASology so I did a simple card last night using this week's cue word:

The big bloke is in the process of setting up his own wood furniture making business so there is a lot of wooden inspiration around our house at the moment. He's just finished making a beautiful picture frame which made me think of doing a framed sentiment using the chalkboard technique.  It takes a lot of effort for me to keep things simple in these challenges - the challenge for me is to stop adding further layers...I think I've been particularly restrained in this one!

Thanks for popping over - happy stamping!

Claire x

Feeling Blue (and red and pink) Colour Q #247

Hello there bloggers!

I've had a lovely little break from my blog over the last few days which is why I'm feeling a little blue (hence the post title).  I've just spent the last week in Singapore with the big bloke - our first holiday  without kids in almost 9 years.  I felt like a new woman on my return (unfortunately I didn't look like one) but talk about post-holiday blues.  Having said that, the shouts of delight we got from the kids on our return reminded us just how much we'd missed the little terrors!

I thought I'd left my mojo overseas but I did manage to pull this little card together for the new Colour Q palette, before Arielle posts it on the website:

Of course it always helps with new stamps doesn't it? This is a new set from Mama Elephant called Around We Go (the sentiment is from Close to My Heart) - it took a while to work out how to line up the wheel with the seats but I love how the ferris wheel turned out and the balloons are just the right size for the background. Could this be my new favourite stamp set?

Hope you get the chance to join in this week - I missed looking at everyone's creations last week!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Colour Q #246

Hello folks!

Hope your week is going well.  We've got a a gorgeous, regal set of colours for you this week at Colour Q:

I struggled to find these colours in my stash - the closest ink I had was more of a bright raspberry than rich razzleberry.  Luckily I did have an Old Olive marker...those SU markers are so handy for colour challenges!

I've used the Waltzingmouse Camelia set which hasn't seen some ink for far too long and the crackle background is also WMS which I've softened round the edges with some white pigment ink. I also used  Deconstructed Sketch #154.  It was a bit of a quickie this one as I'm getting ready to go away for a few days with the big bloke.

Make sure you check out the rest of the DT stuff - you can find the links to their blogs on the Colour Q blog page.

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Colour Q #245 - keeping it CAS

Evening folks!

Can it really be Tuesday? Again? We've got such a pretty set of colours for you this week - I can see lots of flowery creations for this one:

I gave the flowers a miss and used a sweet little Imaginisce stamp to make a first birthday card for my nephew.  The waves have been stamped using Mama Elephant's Modern Borders and I kept it CAS by embossing the same image in white on the card base.  I used this week's Retro Sketch for a bit of mojo flow:

Make sure you check out the rest of the DT's gorgeous creations again - heaps of inspiration to whet your crafty appetite!

Thanks for popping by!

Claire x

Freshly Made Sketch #139

Hello bloggers,

This will have to be quick or I'll fall asleep in the front of the computer - this week's Freshly Made sketch by Rita:

I can't help thinking there's something missing from it....maybe I'll add something to it tomorrow.

Have a great night!

Claire x

Microbead Mayhem

Hello folks,

Have you seen the latest Mojo Monday sketch?  Definitely a 'go to' sketch for future cards and perfect for what I had in mind for the Paper Smooches Sparks 'Anything Goes' challenge:

Deeply entrenched in my copious stash of unused items there is a little pot of Microbeads that I've had for about 5 years.  There's a reason why they rarely see daylight...they are the fiddliest of items to use, spill all over the place no matter how careful I am and I seem to be continually vacuuming them up for weeks after I've opened them. I thought this Paper Smooches Little Fella would look good covered in Microbeads so proceeded to spend half an hour doubled over trying to get an even coverage, whilst swearing politely under my breath.  Here's a close up:

I did a resist stamped background using the two little stars from the same set and some Glimmer Mist - another item that I seem to have collected over the years, only to remain unused.

For the first time in a while I'm happy with how one of my card's has come out - even happier that I've used a few more things from my ever growing collection of craft stuff!

Have a fabulous day!

Claire x

CASing Myself

Good morning bloggers!

So after my little whinge last night I really wanted to make a quick card using the colours from this week's Card Concept challenge - one where I didn't have to think too much and one which would take me about 10 minutes.  What better way than looking back at past cards and altering one slightly. Is that considered cheating, even though I'm technically casing myself?

If you want to take a peek at the original you can find it here.  I altered the colours (obviously) and I  die cut the flowers with a Paper Smooches die.  I used a watercolour pencil to give them the yellow tinge and added some enamel dots for the centres.

I've also been inspired by the photo over at Curtain Call . Who can't resist a clean white background like the one in the photo?

See you soon,

Claire x

WTF? It's Colour Q #244

Well hello again!

Hope you have had a great week! Not much card making for me unfortunately.  Nobody told me that once you hit your forties your body kind of doesn't do as it's told.  This time it's a dodgy back so sitting down and making cards hasn't really been an option.  At this rate I'll be asking my mother-in-law if I can borrow her zimmer frame...

Enough of the whinging - I did manage to get a card done for Colour Q. Love these colours....perfect for the men in your life:

Now this was one of those cards that just wouldn't work - no matter what I did with it. The stripes were stamped using Mama Elephant's Basic Borders but once I'd stamped them I had no idea what to do with them - hate it when that happens.  The colours were just too bright for a sentiment and any kind of stamped image over the top was completely overpowered by the background.  So, I slept on it and fresh eyes made me think of embossing the big,  cheeky CAS-ual Friday sentiment onto some vellum.  I also used one of their sentiments to frame the stripes. Am I happy with it? Not bad considering I was bent over like a 90 year old when I was trying to figure it out!

Make sure you pop on over to the rest of the DT to say hello and be inspired...it always amazes me how differently we use the colours!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire