Addicted to CAS - Silhouette

Hello folks,

Here's a very simple card for Addicted to CAS where the code word is 'silhouette:'

Funnily enough I don't think I've ever used this Memory Box die as a black silhouette - I always seem to use it in a white snowy scene. This time I put it against MFT's Sunbeam stencil. The hot air balloon and sentiment is from Mama Elephant. 

Happy stamping!

Claire 

Time Out for MFT

Hello Inkers,

I've been having another play with the inspiration pic over at Time Out  but this time managed to throw a bit of Kraft on the card so that it matches the colours over at Colour Throwdown: 

 As well as the colours I've been inspired by the heavy patterns on the chair - the shape of the cushion made me think of CAS-ual Friday's Starlequin background stamp so I white embossed it and added the Mon Ami bloom. The diamond patterned flag is from PTI's Centre Style Masculine mini set.

 My second card is for MFT's colour challenge and their Birthday Project challenge which is to use circles.  I used Bubble Over with Joy (retired) with the Basic Shapes Circles Stencil. I'm also popping it over to CAS on Friday which has a Bunny theme happening. I've never entered one of their challenges before so I'm hoping it's CAS enough!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire

Say it with Flowers

Hello again,

Quick post for a few challenges using PTI's Doodlie-Do:

 I haven't really kept up with all the changes at Papertrey Ink but it looks like they have a new challenge called Project Reach Out over at their Ink to Paper Blog. The theme is 'flowers' so I've clustered some of these pretty blooms against some bold, navy stripes as a contrast.

My inspiration came from Time Out's gorgeous inspiration photo - I love the pops of yellow and green from the flowers, the stripes on the chair and the magazine holder...so much to draw from! Simon Says Stamp also have a flower theme happening over at their Wednesday challenge blog so I'm playing along there too.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Getting Happy With Paper Smooches

Hello again folks,

There's a distinct lack of male cards on my blog at the moment so I inked up Paper Smooches' 'Super' for their 'happy' themed challenge:

 I created the background by sponging a night sky and adding the Super 2 dies. Whilst making it I was drinking a cup of coffee and just after I finished colouring the little superhero, proceeded to spill a few drops of coffee all over him - very annoying!  So instead of leaving a white border around him I coloured it yellow to hide the coffee stains - luckily it was a crafty accident that could be salvaged...I quite like the splash of bright yellow around him. It makes him look more super!

Hope you have time time to get inky this week!

Claire

Stripes Galore

Hello inkers!

Another day, another card, this time for Your Next Stamp's Fun Friday Challenge which is to use stripes:

I stamped a rainbow of stripes using Thick Stripe-tastic Diagonal Edge and cut them into strips before sticking them on to the card stock. It looked a bit busy so I added a white diagonal piece, edged with a Stitched Line Die and matted it against black so it would 'pop' against the rainbow. The stamp is from Silly Fun Birthday. 

Thanks for calling by,

Claire

Getting Sketchy

Hello,

Here's couple of cards using sketches from this week's Freshly Made Sketch and My Favourite Things:

I've used a couple of snowy sets from CAS-ual Fridays for the first one. It looked a bit bland with the rectangle panel so I cut a Stitched Mod Rectangle  from MFT to give it a few curves.

The second card is for Time Out, using a sketch from MFT and the colours from their colour challenge. I used Funky Flowers (now retired) with a sentiment from Essential Sentiments and the background has been stamped in Cement Gray, using Wood Plank (retired.)

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire

More Inky Education

Hello again,

I've been playing around with some more techniques from the classes over at Bluprint. Mayuri's class on Radiant Stamping Techniques gave me an idea for this week's Less is More challenge - Out of Focus:

In this class she showed how to create a geometric design by rotating the same stamp in different colours. I used one of Waltzingmouse's Funky Feathers - however, to achieve the blurry look, I took one of Catherine Pooler's ideas and sprayed the stamp with water before stamping.  The hello sentiment was a freebie from Poppy Stamps covered in a thick coat of Glossy Accents.

For the second one I smooshed a distress ink background and added a simple fish stamp and sentiment from Altenew's Ori Kami set. I'm popping this over to Addicted to CAS'  'Animal' themed challenge and CASology's Zodiac challenge - I'm a Pisces so it seemed logical to use the fish symbol for this one.

Lastly, I had some of the stamped squares left over from yesterday's technique in the previous post. They fitted perfectly for CAS(E) This Sketch  #368- I just added another Altenew Hennah Elements bloom and Cheery Lynn flourish and made a more CAS version of yesterdays card.  Since I used Altenew's colours (again) I'm linking up over there too!

Hope you have the time to get inky this week!

Claire

Inky Education at Bluprint

Hello fellow inkers!

With all this extra time on my hands I've been watching lots of tutorials over at Bluprint Crafts. Over the last few days there's been free access to all their classes so I've been trying different techniques - some successful and some a 5 year old would be proud of!

One of my favourite classes is with Mayuri from Candles in the Garden - she showed a technique on kraft card stock in which she stamped the back of the stamp with white pigment ink, then offset stamped over the top with a coloured ink. She then put the stamp the right way round and stamped the outline image on top in black.

I like playing with different techniques but always try to do my own take on it,  so I used grey card stock instead of kraft and stamped it with white and pink inks. Needless to say, I wasn't too happy with the result - it was far too dark and almost ended up in the bin. However,  I thought if I could add lots of white space and a bright bloom over the top, I could perhaps salvage it so I cut the piece into squares and used them as a base for this Altenew Hennah Elements bloom. The flourish is from Cheery Lynn and I've used the colours from their inspiration pic again.

I've made a couple of these cards using this technique so I'll post the second one later, along with some other cards with some much needed colour. It''s all looking a bit grey on this blog at the moment!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Altenew Inspiration Challenge

Hello again, hope you're doing well and keeping safe.

It's been ages since I played along at Altenew - I love the muted colours in their latest inspiration pic and thought I'd have a play with Painted Flowers:

Whenever I use this set I never feel like I've done it justice but I'm quite happy with how this one turned out. I splashed some ink on to the background, then embossed some of the flower outlines in white before adding the blooms.  The sentiment is from Floral Motifs.

Thanks for popping by,

Claire

Easter Three-fer

Hello fellow inkers and happy Easter!

Despite the isolation we still managed an Easter egg hunt in the back garden and a special meal followed by pavlova. I think after all this is over I'll be rolling out of the house - eating and drinking seem to be taking up most of my time!

The remainder's taken up with card making (unfortunately very little calorie burning there) so here's a few clean and simple ones I made for a variety of challenges:

The first is for CAS(E) This Sketch.  I've stamped and embossed some Mama Elephant Basic Borders and added a large die cut butterfly from Stamplorations which has been coloured using alcohol inks. A scattering of sequins and MFT sentiment and it was done.

The second one is for MFT's latest sketch challenge. In case you missed it, MFT and Torico have made all four Birdie Brown doctor and nurse images available as a free printable. The one above looks just like one of my closest friends, currently working in the ICU of one of Sydney's largest  hospitals. Unfortunately I'm not catching up with her as much as I'd like so this is just to remind her that she hasn't been forgotten.

The last is for the Paper Smooches colour story challenge and Fusion's cute gnome inspiration pic which has similar pastel colours.  The decorative chain of spheres above the gnomes reminded me of Paper Smooches Hearts Dies. I tried to add in another PS stamp or die but despite my growing Paper Smooches collection nothing seemed to work so I used the same Stamplorations butterfly which seemed to fit well with the pretty sentiment from Fun and Flirty.

Hope you get the time to get a bit inky this long Easter weekend - happy stamping!

Claire

Paper Smooches Pastels

Hello fellow inkers,

There's not much call for baby cards in my life now but that's not stopped me making one for Paper Smooches Colour Story Challenge:

These sweet, hugging elephants are from A Little Lovin and the stamped panel is a selection of smaller stamps from Silver and Gold (recently retired.)

Now I just need someone I know to pop out a baby so I have someone to send it to!

Happy stamping!

Claire

CAS Christmas

Hello again, hope everyone is well. 

I'm on a bit of a roll with my Christmas cards - only a pandemic could see me making Christmas cards in March! I recently won a voucher for Poppy Stamps and bought Tidings of Joy as I knew it would enable me to make a whole heap of super simple cards for the holiday:

They looked a little too CAS with only the greeting so I added a snowflake from CAS-ual Fridays Snowy Sayings and a tiny jewel in the middle for a little Christmas sparkle.  I also embossed the panel to add some texture so I'm popping this over to Addicted to CAS for their 'texture' challenge (again!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Claire

Simple Stencilling

Hello folks,

A very quick card today for AAA's Made in Minutes challenge with the optional twist of using a stencil:

Stencilling is not my forte and neither is making quick cards. I used one of Sarah's Funky Fossil designs - in fact, I used two stencils as I had to stencil within a stencil to create the basic shape. I added a large sentiment from Simon Says Stamp, a tiny die cut butterfly from Stampin' Up and and some PPP clear droplets.

Taking into account the constant interruption from the kids, I reckon it took me about 15 minutes (most of which was spent working out where to put the droplets!)

Happy stamping!

Claire

A Critter or Two

Hello fellow inkers, hope you are all doing well.

Another couple of cards for you - the first is for Addicted to CAS which has the code word 'texture.' I used one of MFT's Sweet Holiday penguins, textured with an embossed snowy background and a liberal sprinkling of crystal glitter:

The second card is for Your Next Stamp's Cute Critters challenge. I've used the goat from Funny Farm Crew and set him against a stencilled background.  I couldn't fit a sentiment from that set on to the card front so added one from Keeping' it Reel instead.  The stamped diagonal strip is the Thick Stripe Diagonal Edge.

I'm really hoping that my favourite stamp companies are having a boost in sales as a result of what's happening around the world. My lovely nephew in the UK has taken up Copic colouring to pass away the time so I've just ordered a few stamp sets for his birthday so he can practise. I'm so looking forward to seeing what he does with them!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire