Muse Challenge #139

Hello again,

Second post for the day - if you want to see my previous card you can do so here. 

I can't remember the last time I played along at at Muse but when I saw Tracey's beautiful card I knew I had to CASE it:

I love all the white space she used, and the perfect placement of those sequins and sentiment.  The stamps are from CAS-ual Fridays Mon Ami set - perfect for me to practise my less than adequate Copic skills!

Off to bed now and bracing myself for my 7 year old son to keep me up half the night. Poor little thing is full of a cold...although for some reason it didn't stop him from trick or treating and eating half a tonne of lollies earlier this evening!

Happy stamping!

Claire x

Christmas in Pink

G'day!

Another Christmas card to show you today - at this rate I'll have them all finished by December 24th! I'm joining in with the latest sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch and using the theme from Time out which is: Christmas with the optional twist of "use pink and/or purple":

I've always loved Christmas cards which steer away from the more traditional colours of red and green. It was the perfect opportunity to use CAS-ual Friday's Snowflake Greetings and to bring out some pink. something that is severely lacking in my testosterone infused house.

Hope you have a great weekend - and hopefully this time tomorrow Australia will be World Cup Rugby champions!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Casology - Have a Heart

Hello!

It's about time I started my Christmas cards and luckily the cue word over at Casology gave me a nudge in the right direction:

I used Papertrey Ink's Take a Bough and stamped the round bauble, then die cut the shape into a heart and added a Waltzingmouse sentiment from Seasons of Love. There's a sprinkling of glitter over the branch to give the impression of snow but it's not shown up too well in the photo. Very quick and very simple, which is exactly how I like my Christmas cards as I have to make a whole heap of them!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Little Monster

G'day folks!

My fingers have been distinctly lacking in ink these last couple of weeks. October is such a busy month in our family - birthdays galore, including my youngest son who turned 7 yesterday.  I borrowed a friend's 7 seater car, filled it with a bunch of his closest friends and took them to a play centre. Let's just say that every form of bodily function was discussed between said boys and the trip ended with a very serious burping competition - which my son very proudly won. Not sure what that says about my mothering skills or his manners!

Speaking of little monsters, having a bunch of very sweet ones in my car reminded me of this little fella from the Paper Smooches set of the same name.  I coloured him with Copics (annoyingly you can't see any of my shading in the pic - but it is there, I promise) added a swirl of twine and stamped and embossed a chevron background from Mama Elephant.  I took my cues from the latest Time Out challenge pic and the latest Freshly Made Sketch. It also happens to fit in with the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge to use monsters in your project:

Enjoy your weekend!

Claire x

Addicted to Sparkle

G'day again!

Super quick card for the latest challenge over at Addicted to CAS. The code word is 'sparkle.'

Now I have to admit, I don't use much sparkle on my cards. Normally I resort to Wink of Stella which I love, but it never shows up in photos.  For this card I actually reached for some ancient gold glitter I had in the depths of my stash.  I stamped the CAS-ual Fridays Mon Ami bloom and coloured it with Copics, then added a thick coat of Glossy Accents with a light sprinkle of glitter. I also added some gold, sparkly bling and some sparkly gold embossing powder.  Of course the pic really doesn't do the sparkle justice so here's a close up just to prove it's glittery:

Hope you get the chance to sparkle this week!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Staying Neutral

Hello again!

Hope your weekend is giving you some 'me' time. Today is the one day of the year when the big bloke has permission to do nothing but watch sport - so far we've had a world cup rugby match, 6 hours of Bathurst motor racing and shortly the joy of F1. Let's just say he will owe me. Big time.

Moving on to my card - this started off as a combo of Freshly Made Sketches and The Card Concept (neutral colours) but then turned into the Autumn theme of Time Out and back to the neutrals of The Card Concept. That is to say, I had no idea what I was doing!

I used some cheap as chips papers from K-mart and added a couple of vellum, embossed Simple Sprigs from WMS.   I was inspired by the white focal point of the pumpkins in the pic and the neutral colours and I reckon it's a clean and layered creation.  I think I can just about get away with it being neutral. What do you think?

I'm editing this post to add it in to Time Out as well. I wasn't going to put it in the gallery this week as I wasn't sure if it was Autumnal enough! The Autumnal theme comes from this lovely quote:

 'Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile'

That's enough waffle from me! Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Mojo Monday #418

Hello folks!

My crafty mojo has been a bit lacklustre this week so I turned to Mojo Monday for some sketch inspiration:

I used CAS-ual Fridays brand new Scallop Tag Fri-dies and added the PTI bloom and sentiment.  Another easy card! 

I'm in the middle of learning some new stuff for work and after 8 years of not having to think about anything but the kids, it's been an interesting challenge. Hopefully my mojo will come back when things have settled down!

Have a great weekend!

Claire x

Casology - Guest Designer

Good evening bloggers!

I was lucky (and very surprised) to win the Casology challenge last week with this little card. So my turn to be guest designer this week. The cue word is:

Oh how tempted I was to stick a photo of the big bloke on a card - he is particularly silly after all! Instead,  I opted for a digital stamp by Scrappin' Doodles - I mean what could be sillier than a flying giraffe?  I coloured him in with Copics and added a couple of googly eyes for some movement, then added a sentiment from Waltzingmouse's Half-pint Heroes. An easy card for a not so easy cue word!

Looking forward to seeing how everyone else interprets the cue word this week!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Cooling off with a Freshly Made Sketch

Hello!

It's a sweltering 37C in Sydney today so I think I made this card in an attempt to cool down. I used Freshly Made Sketch #206 to whet my inky appetite:

As soon as I saw this sketch I knew I'd have difficulties - circles and ink are not a good combo for me normally! I made a watery background with distress inks and used the ships wheels and sentiment from Waltzingmouse's Ocean Bound. I've had this set for a while and always seem to go for the same stamps (doesn't everyone do that?) so I was determined to use a couple that hadn't seen ink before. 

Have a wonderful week won't you?

Claire x

Paper Smooches Sparks

Morning!

It's been ages since I had a play at the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge - I've had Bitty Bungalows for a while now but it's never seen any ink:

This is the type of set you can spend ages playing with, arranging all the little houses to create a scene.  I was going to add something else to the card, like a button or twine but then I thought I'd let the stamps do all the talking!

Thanks for calling by,  have a great weekend!

Claire x

CAS-ual Fridays #144 - Clean and Simple Challenge

G'day folks!

Time for another Clean and Simple Challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays.  Do you fancy a bit of Tic Tac Toe-ing?

Choose any row - vertical, horizontal or diagonal - and use all three techniques on your project.  I opted for stenciling, die cutting and embossing.  And I got to play with new stuff! Check out this new  Autumn Blessings set with matching dies. How cute is that acorn?

I die cut one of the leaves and used it to stencil a couple of leaves with distress inks, directly on to the card. I then die cut a couple of the oak leaves, inked them and heat embossed them all with gold embossing powder. The acorn is also a die cut, stamped and coloured with Copics and Spectrum Noir markers. 

You have until October 30 to link up your projects. Fancy a more layered look? Then why not link up to the CAS-ual Chic Challenge for your chance to win a $20.00 gift certificate at the CAS-ual Fridays store.

Happy stamping!

Claire x