All Things Distressed

Hello!

I've just managed to get a quick card into the Casology challenge where the cue word is 'distress.'

I'm not a big fan of deliberately tearing or distressing paper - it goes against my clean and simple instincts - so I had a play with my Distress Inks for this one. I smooshed a background on some watercolour paper, then used a Winnie and Walter snow scene stencil to add a touch of gold embossing powder.  A little die cut dragonfly in black and gold and a gold embossed WMS sentiment and it was all done!

Hope you find the time to get distressed for the challenge - in a crafty kind of way of course!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire

Waffling with The Card Concept

Happy weekend to you!

It's been a while since I played along at The Card Concept - they have a colourful inspiration pic for their latest challenge:

I used the inlaid die cut technique for this - I die cut a large circle from the card stock, covered it with some blooms from Waffle Flowers's 'A Bunch' Stamp Set, coloured them in with Copics and plonked the circle back into the negative die cut. I also created a black border to go around the edge..it kind of gave it a more 'finished' look.  I didn't have a Waffle Flower sentiment large enough for the circle so I white embossed a greeting from Waltzingmouse onto vellum and placed it over the top of the blooms.

Since the blooms have been coloured I'm also linking up to The Daily Marker's 30 Day Colouring Challenge

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Claire x

Papertrey Ink February Blog Hop

Hello!

It's Blog Hop time at Papertrey Ink and this month this pretty pic is our inspiration:

I would loved to have used some paler pinks and greens but my Copic collection doesn't stretch that far unfortunately, so this was the closest I could get.  I used Doodlie Do and the sentiment is from Mixed Messages. On the background, I heat embossed some more blooms on to some vellum - love how these flowers look using this technique!

Thanks for calling by!

Claire x

CASEplorating Anita in France

Hello! 

One of my favourite card makers is being CASed this month over at the Stamplorations blog - Anita in France. Here's my version:

Anita is an absolute master at blending distress inks - never a hard line or uneven patch to be seen!  So, as a tribute to her skills with ink I've heat embossed a background with Paper Smooches' Curls and Swirls and blended some distress inks over the top. I also added a glossy little heart, just like Anita has with her second take on her original card. You can see that one here.

I also used this week's Freshly Made Sketch for a bit of crafty inspiration but turned it on it's side instead.

Hope you get the chance to get inky this weekend - thanks for popping by!

Claire x

Sketch Saturday

G'day again!

My stash of patterned paper has been woefully neglected recently so when I saw the latest sketch over at Sketch Saturday I thought I'd blow off the dust and have a play:

The image is from a set by Penny Black, bought for the sole purpose of practising my Copic 'skills.'  I'm getting a little better - at least she doesn't look like she's blushing or suffering from some kind of blotchy skin condition like previous attempts have. The hair though definitely needs some practise! Since I'm practising my colouring again, I'm going to link up over at The Daily Marker's 30 Day Colouring Challenge too!

Thanks for popping by!

Claire x

More Papertrey Ink

G'day folks!

A very quick card for another Papertrey Ink challenge - to create a thank you card for the warehouse staff at Papertrey Ink! I'm hoping to put an order in during the next couple of days, so I'll send it in anticipation that they put the right stuff in the parcel!

I used the circle stamp and sentiment from Grunge Me for this one - I like the idea of the Copic rainbow coloured circles but I'm not quite sure of the execution! It may be one I have to try again, preferably when I'm more awake and not after midnight like last night.

Thanks for popping by!

Claire x

Valentine's Rose

Happy Valentines Day!

No dozen red roses for me but I did get a big box of Malteser's after some particularly heavy hints were left that they were on offer in the local supermarket. Roses or chocolate? Chocolate wins every time!

Speaking of roses, I used one from Winnie and Walter's 'The Big, the Bold and Extras' for this card, based on the latest Freshly Made Sketch. I also used the colours again from The Colour Throwdown:

There's a real mix of stamps on this one - the sentiment  is from Mama Elephant and the tag is Waltzingmouse, as is the background stamp which I white embossed on vellum.  Instead of adding the strips behind the label, I added a few extra leaves.  

Well, that's all for me on this Valentines Eve...hope you have a good one and if there's no-one special in your life at the moment, it's the perfect excuse to break out the chocolate!

Claire x

Casology - Valentine

Happy weekend everyone!

There's Valentines galore in blogland at the moment - heaps of pink inspiration photos everywhere.  Over at Casology the cue word is actually 'Valentine' so I used the pretty, soft palette over at Colour Throwdown to put this card together:

I've had Whimsy Stamps' 'Feeling Fruity for quite a while now but the sweet little pear hasn't seen a swipe of ink. It's actually an outline stamp but I decided to colour mine with some Copics, which means I can also link up with Kath's 30 Day Colouring Challenge again.

I'm bracing myself for the eternity ring, flowers and ever so expensive chocolates which I'm quite sure will be arriving tomorrow....or maybe not!  Hope you get a little bit of romance in your day, even if it just means someone else does the washing up!

Thanks for popping over,

Claire x

Papertrey Ink Celebrations - Take 2

Hello!

There's another challenge for February from PTI to celebrate their birthday and a new release - this time to create a new card featuring nine 1.5 inch squares, each altered in some way.

Since Doodlie Do was still sat on the bench top, along with the gold embossing powder, I had another play and used the gorgeous set of colours from this week's Colour Q challenge:

I do love square cards but I often struggle on where to put the sentiment so left this one without. It took forever to colour all those blooms!

Speaking of colouring, Kathy is having another 30 Day Colouring Challenge so I'm linking this one to her blog as well!

Thanks for popping over,

Claire x

Dressing Up with Papertrey Ink

Hello!

Papertrey Ink is celebrating its new release, Dress Up Dolls, with a challenge - select a piece of clothing from your closet or from an online clothing store to inspire a project:

I'd liked to have used something from my own closet to inspire myself but my daily outfit of jeans and t-shirt really didn't provide much inspiration!

Instead, I found the photo above on Pinterest - unfortunately I've no idea who to credit for the dress but I can assure you, I won't be doing the school run in it!  It did give me an idea on how to use Doodlie Do though - I love the way the silver and gold is peaking out of the black, fabric panels so I gold and silver embossed a selection of blooms, then partially covered it with a black panel of card stock. The sentiment is from Birthday Basics.

That's enough doodling on from me,

Thanks for calling by!

Claire x

Glitter Dipped

Happy weekend everyone!

I managed to combine 3 challenges in one again for this little card - Casology, where the cue word is 'Glitter', Addicted to CAS (code word 'Bloom') and Time Out which has a quote for inspiration:

                                              'Love is the flower you've got to let grow' 

I die cut a bloom from My Favorite Things, coloured it with Copics and dipped some of the petals in gold glitter. Glitter never looks as pretty and sparkly in the photos does it? But I can assure you it's very sparkly IRL. The leaves have been die cut from gold card stock and the sentiment has been embossed in gold.  Why did I pick gold? This is for my in-laws golden wedding anniversary in April - it seems to be the year for golden wedding anniversaries in our family! (I'm very lucky with my in-laws...I hear nightmare stories about in-laws but mine are just gorgeous. In fact, I almost prefer them to my husband...)

Anyway,  that's my glittery creation for this weekend - thanks for popping by!

Claire x

Mojo Monday/Colour Q

Hi folks, hope you're enjoying a relaxing weekend!

I've been having a play with this week's Mojo Monday Sketch with the latest Colour Q hues:

I have to say I'm not exactly enamoured with the result. I found the sketch really difficult for some reason -  it didn't seem to matter what shape I used, nothing seemed to work. In the end I tilted everything and switched the position of the embellishments. If all else fails, plonk it all at an angle is my advice!

Thanks for popping by!

Claire x

Sentimentally Speaking

Hello!

It's all in the sentiment at Freshly Made Sketches this week, with a sentiment based sketch by Karren:

I smooshed a background for my WMS sentiment.  I've used several tutorials for a smooshed background but the one I used for this card by Kristina Werner is probably my favourite. It appeals to my anally retentive tendencies, as her technique using acetate gave me more control of the ink.  That's the problem with smooshing - you're never quite sure what you're going to get and quite often I get a muddy mess!

I embossed the sentiment in white first but it didn't really pop against the ink so I created a shadow effect by stamping almost over the top and embossing in gold. A scatter of sequins and it was all done!

Hope you get the chance to join in the fun!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x