AAA Card Challenge - Blending

Good morning!

Very quick card for the latest AAA card challenge:

I masked a strip and blended a selection of pink distress inks, then embossed the poppy image from Penny Black over the top in gold.  Unfortunately I pulled the poppy off the acetate block and it's head snapped clean off so my poor poppy is a little worse for wear now...but luckily still usable.

Have a great weekend!

Claire

CFC#155

Hello, hello!

Have two weeks really gone by? Then it must be time for another challenge at CAS-ual Fridays:

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create a card/tag using black, white and one other colour. I've always been a sucker for pink, especially since I see so little of it,  having a house full of testosterone.  I used a couple of different sets for my card - the stamped panels have been created using Zigs and Zags. For the base strip I clear embossed one of the more detailed borders and on the larger panel I stamped a background in two different shades of pink.  The sentiment is from Dream Then Do, a perfect set for the chalkboard technique. 

To be in with a chance of winning, link your creations using black, white and one other colour. Use CAS-ual Fridays products as the focus of your project and Michele will double your prize to a $50.00 store credit voucher!

Enjoy getting inky and thanks for stopping!

Claire x

Fun at Papertrey Ink

Hello!

it's Blog Hop time over at Papertrey Ink with a pretty inspiration pic that happens to be one of my favourite colour combos:

It immediately brought to mind Watercolor Wonder with all that smooshing of paint. It looked a bit bland with just the pinks so instead of adding brown I blinged it up a bit with some gold embossing powder and a scattering of stars.  The sentiment is from Stylish Sentiments:Birthday  which is rapidly becoming one of my favourite PTI sets. It's a fun sentiment so I think it's appropriate for Casology's cue word this week too!

Hope you get the chance to join in!

Claire x

Remind a Sistah: Calling All Sistahs Blog Hop

Hello folks!

It's that time of the month - time to cop a feel to check for lumps and bumps that shouldn't be there!

As a reminder to check your breasts,  CAS-ual Fridays holds a blog hop on the 17th of each month. You can read how this came about here.  

Each of the participants taking part in the hop has used an image or die from the CAS-ual Fridays Calling All Sistahs Collection - 50% of the profits from these sets are donated to breast cancer research and awareness programmes; 

I made a very CAS card for the hop this month - it's a little lighthearted fun for a very serious subject using the blooms from Loving Thoughts with a sentiment from Calling All Sistahs.  An enamel dot in the centre of each bloom was the only necessary embellishment! 

If you hop along to these lovely ladies' blogs and make a comment by 12.00am Eastern time on August 19th, you'll be in with a chance to win one of three $15.00 gift certificates to the CAS-ual Fridays store. Next month, why not join the Sistahs Facebook page so that you too can join in with the hop? 

Casual Fridays Stamps 

Kara Stainbrook

Susan White

Nora Noll

Vicki Dutcher

Lori Kobular

Lydia Evans

Shona Chambers

Lisa Harrolle

Kimberly Rendino

Lisa Lahiff

Penny Ward

Jennifer Ingle

Claire Apostoloff

Diane Jaquay

Rahmat Gouse

Jeanne Jachna

Gwendolyn Estrada 

Archana Bhurke

Sue Nagata

Bonnie Sharp

Heather North

Next on the hop is Diane so make sure you pop over and give her some love!

Thanks for calling by!

Claire x

More Gum Balls!

Hello again!

So whilst I was making the card on my previous post, it made me think of the Casology challenge where the cue word is 'dizzy.'

There are so many expressions on the faces of those sweet little gum balls,  I thought I'd make a quick card showing them falling out of the gum ball machine, looking less than impressed.  Wouldn't you be dizzy if you fell out of a gum ball machine and rolled on to a hard floor?

Hope you get time to get inky this week!

Claire x

Freshly Made Sketch #249

Hello,

Loving the layered sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week. Here's what Ive done with it:

I used Lawn Fawn's 'Sweet Smiles' and MME papers for this one. I love the sweet little faces on the gum balls!

Thanks for popping by and have a great week!

Claire x

Birthday Piggy - Your Next Stamp Colour Challenge

 Hello folks! 

 I'm playing along with Your Next Stamp in their colour challenge with this sweet little critter from Funny Farm Crew:

Cute isn't he? I  almost feel bad as I've just had a bacon sandwich for lunch.....

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Claire x

CFC#154 - Time to Colour

G'day stampers!

Get out your Copics,  Zigs, watercolours, paints - you name it. It's time to get colouring for the brand new CAS-ual Fridays challenge:

I love a bit of colouring - so therapeutic and much healthier than a glass of wine (actually, even more therapeutic is colouring with a glass of wine!)  No wonder all those colouring books have been so popular recently. Pretty Posies is the perfect set for colouring, with three sizes of flowers and a leaf image. I white embossed some leaves and two of the blooms on to watercolour paper, then used my Zig Clean Color markers to colour them. I die cut them using the matching Posies Fri-dies and arranged them against another set of die cuts from Lovely Links. I die cut the links twice, in black and white, then offset them so that they 'popped' against the background. The sentiment is from Heart Beats.

So what will you use to inject some colour into your creation? Link up your cards for the chance to win a $25.00 gift voucher to the CAS-ual Fridays store. Use CAS-ual Fridays products as the focal image and Michele will double the prize!

Happy stamping!

Claire x

Time Out with a Twist

Hello!

The latest challenge at Time Out really intrigued me this week:

'Holidays with the Optional Twist of No Stamping' 

(stamped sentiments allowed)

Hmmm - a card without stamping. It was more difficult than I thought but in the end I decided to create a snowy scene using a Memory Box Country Landscape die against a distress ink sunset.  Now let me tell you, the distress ink blending gods were out  in force for this and for the first time EVER I am actually happy with my blending technique.  And I've got another Christmas card done...got to be happy with that!

Thanks for popping by!

Claire x

Watercolour Woes

G'day again!

The cue word at Casology this week is 'watercolour,' a technique that I love on other people's creations but rarely on my own.  I treated myself to some Zig Clean Color markers a couple of months ago and I'm hooked - their fine brush tips make it so much easier to paint more detailed images, that even an unskilled painter like myself can make a half decent card with them!

I randomly white embossed a panel of watercolour paper using the blossom from Penny Black's Blooming Garden, then coloured with the markers.  I wanted to keep it as simple as possible so left some of the stamped images without colour.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge theme is 'fabulous florals' so this one's going over there too!

Enjoy the weekend!

Claire x

Mojo Monday #459

Hello and happy Friday!

Quick card for Mojo Monday using Your Next Stamp's Silly Monsters. Not sure about the colours on this one at all - I think I picked an unusual combination!

Over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog they are celebrating their 6th anniversary with the theme of 'celebrate' so I'm going to link up over there too. My little monster definitely looks like he's in a celebratory mood and has possibly indulged in one too many chardonnays!

Have a great weekend!

Claire x 

Best Fishes - Your Next Stamp

Hi folks!

Limited inkiness going on in this household at the moment. I always find it difficult to get back into inky mode when I've had a break. Colouring's always an easy option so I christened a new set of stamps fromYour Next Stamp's Fishy Fun and used their latest challenge sketch for some inspiration:

The background panel has been blended with distress inks and splashed with water. I used my silhouette to cut some circles out of the leftovers and added a good dollop of Glossy Accents to make some water droplets.  It was a difficult sketch but I like how it turned out!

Thanks for popping by!

Claire x