Some Day my Prince Will Come...

G'day folks,

It's been such a full on few days I haven't had any time to get inky - the week ended with our wedding anniversary and the bottle of bubbles we knocked back really didn't put me in a crafty frame of mind!

I managed to knock out a little card today for a couple of clean and simple challenges though - CAS(E) This Sketch and Casology:

I must have still been in the mood for love as the cue word 'story' made me think of this sweet little Paper Smooches frog. Who hasn't heard the story of the frog being kissed and turned into a handsome prince? If I really did have to kiss a frog, I'd definitely pick this fella...he doesn't look slimy in the slightest!

Hope you have a great week!

Claire x

Papertrey Ink May Blog Hop

Hello again!

It's time for Papertrey Ink's May Blog Hop and there's a gorgeous pic awash with the colours of the rainbow for us to draw inspiration from:

I always seem to reach for 'Grunge Me' when it's blog hop time - it took a steady hand to get those lines straight.  I was also influenced by this week's CAS(e) This Sketch although looking at it now,  I have to admit I seem to have rather strayed from the actual sketch! But as I always say, you get the idea!

Have a fabulous week!

Claire x

Simple Blooms

Hello folks,

A quick card to show you using the latest sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and the inspiration pic over at The Card Concept.  I'm a sucker for woodgrain  so I was inspired to stamp a grey woodgrain background, swiped with a little white pigment ink and some Walnut stain distress ink. I cut it into strips, then cut a label using the WMS Picot Panel die to base my flowers on.

I'm not quite sure why there's a fork in the picture (perhaps those blooms are edible?) but it made me reach for my pewter embossing powder and WMS Simple Sprig - I love the detail this stamp still shows, despite the embossing. The flowers are an MFT die with some resin blooms from my stash which just happened to fit the colour scheme.

Every time I take part in The Card Concept I seem to stick to a clean and layered style...one of these days I will actually stick my card making neck out and have a go at a different one!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Playing with (Digital) Paper

G'day folks!

I've been having a play with some new digital papers by Kristie Art Design in the last couple of days - you can check them out here at her Etsy store.  I have to admit, digital products are something I don't often think of, which is silly really as there's a whole heap of papers and products right at my fingertips. There's the added bonus of not having to store them anywhere too!

I used a couple of different ones - first up was a digital collage of lace pendants. I enlarged them slightly, then printed the A4 sheet and had 30 different coloured discs to choose from. After die cutting three with a circle die, I inked the edges and used them as a base for my stamped butterfly. The hearts have been die cut out of two of the pendants.

Next I used one of the 6x6 digital paper pads - Watercolor Geometry -perfect for a watercolour look without the mess!   I thought the soft pastels would go well with a chalkboard image:

I also used the latest sketch over at The Deconstructed Sketch:

Anyway, that's all from me - hope you have a great weekend and for my American friends a fabulous Memorial Day weekend!

Catch you later,

Claire x

Colour Q #292

Hello bloggers!

It's time for a new set of colours over at Colour Q and it's a gorgeous set of brights to play with:

I used Whimsy Stamps 'Happy Everything' again...I can't seem to put that set down at the moment - this time I used the balloons and the circle burst stamp to create my own patterned paper. I also used a sketch from Deconstructed Sketch - there's 200 sketches to choose from this week so I went for sketch #166:

Have you spotted the slight error? I've just realised I missed putting on the border underneath the image...oops.  I've always said that drinking wine and card making don't mix... Since I wanted the card to have bit of a fun feel, I also tilted the layers. (I can assure you, this was to alter the look of the card and wasn't as a result of drinking that wine!)

Well that's all from me folks - enjoy your week!

Claire x

Throwing some Colour

Hello folks!

How's your weekend going? It's Saturday, which means it's soccer day and what a proud soccer mum moment I had watching my littlest boy score two goals. I don't think I've ever seen him so excited!

There's a fabulous new sketch at Cas(e) This Sketch which was all the excuse I needed to play with some new Whimsy Stamps I invested in - Happy Everything:

It's such a versatile set - this time I used the little candles with matching dies - I thought they'd be the perfect match for the fun, bright colours over at Colour Thowdown:

Hope you get the time to play!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Waltzingmouse Pyjama Party

Hello Waltzingmouse fans!

It's Pyjama Party time once again and I've been busy crafting away on three little cards ready for the party.  There's a bit of a masculine theme for this one, which is a good thing, as my cards have definitely been missing a masculine touch in the last few weeks. 

First up is my 'man of the moment' card for challenge one. There's quite a few very special men in my life...Hugh Jackman, George Clooney, Jon Hamm...the list goes on.  But actually I've made a card for one of the most special of all which is my youngest son. He saw me making this and insisted I give it to him for his birthday in October:

I used Half Pint Heroes, together with a small circle sunburst die from Memory Box - the colours are from the latest palette over at Colour Q. The spaceship has been coloured with Copics and I added some Kindyglitz to the sun and fire for a bit of sparkle.

The next card is for challenge 3 - 'old pyjamas'. For this very CAS one I used the huge strawberry from 'Big Berries.' I stamped it in Real Red, then added some Glossy Accents to all the dots to make it extra juicy. The background has been stamped using the Woodgrain background stamp and I embossed a little frame for the big berry with the Picot Panel die:

Lastly is the Bedtime Story sketch challenge:

Since I already had the woodgrain stamp out, I used it to stamp a background onto three Nestability die cuts, then stamped 3 identical Funky Feathers and coloured them with distress inks. I added a little heart from the same set and covered it with Glossy Accents.

One day I'll manage to enter all four challenges but I think I've done pretty well doing three! Now I'm off to make a very big cup of coffee and have a nosy at what everyone else has done!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire

When Life Gives you Lemons....

G'day again!

Another new set of stamps to play with from Whimsy Stamps - 'Feeling Fruity.' I thought the little lemon slices would fit in nicely with the latest CAS(E) This Sketch:

I've had quite a few friends who've been handed out some lemons recently so I've no shortage of recipients for this one unfortunately. I love the sentiment - although I'll probably add a message inside saying 'and add a dash of vodka'....

Thanks for looking,

Claire x

Another Freshly Made Colour Q

Hello blogging friends!

I sneakily made a card for the latest Freshly Made Sketch and posted it a little earlier than usual - what I didn't mention is that I used the new Colour Q palette:

I had a heap of happy mail arrive from Whimsy Stamps which is always a sure-fire way to get the mojo going isn't it? I haven't done the chalk board technique for a while so I had a play with Chalkboards 2 which just so happened to fit in nicely with the latest sketch:

I turned the sketch upside down, then used a little starburst stamp from Happy Everything to create a background and added a few random sequins for some birthday sparkle. The chalkboard stamp is actually a rubber stamp - I haven't bought a rubber stamp in years and I'd forgotten how they produce such sharp, crisp images.

Hope you get time to get inky this week - thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Shaping Up

Hello crafty folks!

There's a new word over at Casology which can be combined perfectly with the May challenge at CAS-ual Fridays:

So many directions you can go with 'shape' aren't there? I went with a simple star, masked and stamped with lots of tiny stars from W Plus 9's Borders and Backgrounds 3.  I then embossed it so that there was a little more definition to the shape.  It's CAS-ual Friday's 4th birthday this month and it's a colour challenge, using black, white, orange and turquoise - perfect for a blokey card, especially when teamed with the masculine sentiment from WMS.

Hope you get the time to get inky this week!

Claire x

Colour Q #290

Evening all,

Tuesday's sneaked up on us whilst no-one was looking - how on earth did that happen? We've got such a pretty new palette for you to play with over at Colour Q this week:

I just had to go with flowers for this one - the colours screamed floral to me. I cut the sentiment using an MFT die and embossed the base, then added a W Plus 9 Fresh Cut Florals border.  The Cameo Coral patterned paper from Stamping' Up is so old, it could almost be classed as a crafty antique - it's been gathering dust for years.

So will you go floral? Or will you opt for something completely different? Check out the rest of the DT's gorgeous creations for some crafty inspiration!

Thanks for stopping!

Claire

Flight of Fancy

 Hello again!

It's a rare occasion when there's a cue word at Casology and I have more than one idea - this is my second card for their latest challenge:

Asian Gardens is probably my all time favourite WMS set - I love the little birdcages, especially the one that's open.  I like the idea of the bird flying off and escaping...I always think it's sad seeing birds locked up in a cage.  In case you're wondering, he's not flown far..just to the inside of the card!

Happy stamping!

Claire x

Flying High

Hello!

Hope you're having a happy weekend. Here's a quick card combining a couple of my favourite CAS challenges - Casology and Case This Sketch:

I sprayed some Glimmer Mist over an acrylic block and plonked it on some card stock to create a blue, hazy background.  (You'll have to excuse my lack of proper terms for crafty techniques.) The cute little critter is from Mama Elephant's Up and Away and I used a Paper Smooches sentiment.

Catch you later!

Claire x

Black and Gold CAS

Hello folks!

It's my 11th wedding anniversary in a few weeks and I thought the colours over at Addicted to CAS would be perfect for an anniversary card. I combined them with the simple sketch at Freshly Made Sketches:

I've had that heart border from W Plus 9 sitting in my stash for months - yet another stamp of mine that hasn't seen ink. I embossed it with gold and used PTI's Heart Prints which I also embossed with black and gold, then layered against some Fancy Squares die cuts.  Hmmm, I wonder what the big bloke will give me in return for this card...a diamond eternity ring? I think not.

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x