Clean and Not so Simple

Hello fellow inkers!

I've got a couple of different cards to show today - one for the Creative Construction with Blueprints Challenge over at My Favorite Things and the other for Less is More:

MFT's challenge is to use Blueprints featuring stars,  so I've used a couple of different sets - the frame is from Blueprints 27 and the glittery stars are from Blueprints 24.  I inked up a Color Burst background and added one of the sweet little astronauts from Space Explorer, colored in with Copics.

The sketch over at Less is More proved to be a lot more difficult to play with for my second card. It's clean but I'm not sure it was at all simple! Firstly, I chose the most difficult set of stamps to play with in my stash  - Painted Flowers by Altenew. I do love this set but every time I use it I struggle to create something I like.  So in the end I stamped a heap of random blooms and then covered half of them with the die cut circles. First the circles were too large, then the card looked too large so I cut it down,  then I made smaller circles....the creative drama continued until I produced something I was vaguely happy with!

Funny how the clean and simple challenges always give me the most grief! 

Hope you get time to get inky this New Years!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop December 2018

A very merry Christmas from Down Under - hope yours was full of festive fun!

It's Papertrey Ink Blog Hop time with a soft and pretty pic to draw inspiration from:

I used the colours from the pic for my stamped blooms from Autumn Abundance, then added a stamped and die cut flag and frame from Center Style Masculine. 

Happy hopping!

Claire x

More MFT...

Hi folks,

The Copic colouring obsession is continuing and this week's sketch challenge at My Favorite Things
is perfect for one of the new sets I bought - Recipe for Happiness:

The die cut squares are from Blueprints 27 and I added a strip of Wood Plank Background.  I also flipped the sketch to make a portrait card instead of landscape. 

The kids are getting twitchy now with all the Christmas excitement - I think they'd explode if they had to hold out for another day.  My guess it will be a 4.30am start tomorrow morning! 

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and that Santa has managed to find the local craft shop!

Thanks for calling by,

Claire x

MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge

Hello, hello,

Are you ready for Christmas?  If your house is anything like mine you'll be edging towards the brink of madness rather than making cards.  Despite the pre-Christmas shenanigans I did manage this for MFT's Sketch Challenge:

I used images from Polynesian Paradise,  a sentiment from Adorable Elephants and white embossed with the Garden Flourish Background Stamp.

Thanks for stopping!

Claire x

Finishing Christmas Cards with Time Out #98

Happy weekend folks!

I've just finished off my Christmas cards with a little bit of help from Time Out's inspiration photo:

I mentioned a few posts ago that I did most of my Christmas cards in September and took them to the UK with me. This one's a different version to those but using the same stamp set - Lovely Layers by PTI. I figured it would look good in Christmas colours, even though the set is more geared towards Autumnal/Thanksgiving cards. The colours from Time Out were perfect - I've used a Woodgrain stamp on kraft for the base leaves and layered the various stamped die cuts using the colours from the pic, with a little white embossing to reflect the white shapes on the wooden stocking holders. Because the set isn't supposed to be for Christmas I've used a sentiment from Waltzingmouse.

Thanks for calling by,

Claire xx

MFT Flowers Galore

Hi all,

Yet again I find myself at the tail end of the MFT Sketch Challenge with only a few hours to go before the it closes. I received some MFT happy mail last week (don't you just love a 30% off sale?) so I've been itching to get some of it inky:

I created a portrait card instead of landscape and added a whole load of Copic coloured blooms from Funky Flowers. The base of the card has been stamped with the Wood Plank Background which will probably turn up on the next 10 cards. Since there was 30% off  I could justify buying another Blueprints set of dies - Blueprints 27. I've used the scallop frame from this set for the base and the sentiment's from Adorable Elephants.

I've been inspired by the colours on the Colour Challenge too so this one's popping over there!

Thanks for taking a peek!

Claire x

Going Round the Bend

Hello folks!

My lack of mojo for clean and simple card making is driving me round the bend at the moment - which is very apt, since the cue word for Casology this week is 'round:'

Lots of ways to interpret that but I chose to create a card with rounded edges and a round, stamped embellishment using CAS-ual Friday's Snowflake Greetings and Funky Square Tag (both of which I think may be a retired now.) I'm also entering it into their Friday challenge where the theme is 'Winter Blues.'

Happy stamping!

Claire x

Dashing Through the Snow - YNS

Hi folks,

Another Christmas card, this time using Your Next Stamp's Waddles Winter Happiness for sketch challenge #78:

I embossed Snowfall  on to a distress ink background and added a sprinkling of chunky glitter to the snow.  I flipped the sketch too - it seemed to work better that way!

I'm also popping this one over to Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge where Anything Goes!

Happy weekend!

Claire x