Addicted to Coffee

Hi bloggers,

Coffee is my legal addiction so it seemed appropriate to take part in the Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop:

I made a very CAS card using Waltzingmouse's Coffee Set, stamping each of the utensils in different colours of the rainbow,  so it's also heading over to Addicted to CAS for their rainbow themed challenge.

Happy stamping!

Claire

NBUS - Teddy Bear Christmas

Hi folks,

I've made another card for FMS #436, creating a snowy scene using Winnie and Walter's Into the Woods and Your next Stamp's Huggles Christmas:

I've had these W & W birch trees for a while but didn't really know what to do with them - I realised I didn't really have any animal stamps or dies I could use with them so they've sat uninked for a few months.  Then I remembered this sweet little teddy bear from YNS which I've had for a while and haven't inked up either. Since neither have been used I'm linking up to Darnell's NBUS challenge too.

The background has been blended with distress inks and the birch trees embossed over the top with a sprinkling of stencilled snow. It's made a nice change to all the CAS cards with lots of white space that I've been making recently.

Happy stamping!

Claire

MFT Sketch #490

Hello and happy weekend to you!

I've been playing with the colours over at Colour Throwdown again, this time with a much more feminine card based on MFT's latest sketch:

I used Funky Flowers (now retired), white embossed on yellow card stock and vellum. The grey circle has been stamped with Garden Flourish (also retired) and the sentiment's from Essential Sentiments.  I've added a Stitched Rectangle Frame and the background panel has been stamped with Wood Plank using white ink - it's given just a little bit of texture to an otherwise plain piece of card stock but the photo probably doesn't do it justice.

In case you're wondering what's in the centre of the flower - they're called 'prills' from Heartfelt Creations. I was lucky enough to take a class with Emma Lou from HC a few years ago. She was absolutely lovely and everyone in the class got to take a small pack of prills home. It really was tiny but they've lasted ages!

 Hope you get some time to get inked up this weekend!

Claire

Channelling Lime Doodle

Hello inkers!

I love the simplicity of Jen B's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week. It gave me the perfect opportunity to completely CASE/rip off one of Debby Hughes' stunning cards at Lime Doodle:

 

When I first saw her card I immediately bought Evergreen Bough distress ink as I love the colours she used (Antique Linen, Evergreen Bough and Black Soot.) I kept mine very simple and I wish I'd been a bit more heavy handed with the Antique Linen but I'm happy with how it's turned out. I love all the jewels and drops she's used on her card but since I have none of them in my stash they'll have to go on my never ending inky Wishlist.

This one's also going over to Time Out where the challenge is to use the theme 'free.' This little scene reminds me of the saying 'free as a bird' - very pertinent since we've all been isolating for so long!

Happy stamping!

Claire

CAS Shenanigans!

Hello, happy Thursday to you!

I'm playing along with The Paper Players for the very first time with my latest card. They have a 'men in mind' clean and simple challenge happening and since there's a distinct lack of masculine cards in my stash, it was the perfect time for me to join in:

I've used a couple of different sets - CAS-ual Fridays' Shenanigans and Whimsy Stamps' Happy Everything.  The colours are inspired by Colour Throwdown's new colour palette which I thought would be perfect for a masculine card.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Fusion Inspired

Hello folks,

Another CAS creation, this time inspired by the pic over at Fusion:

I was inspired by the soft colours and blended together a few distress inks in the same palette. The Cover Plate is Stamplorations' Bloomtangled Cover Plate die and the sentiment strip is Taylored Expressions Simple Strips with matching die. This is such a clever set - the sentiments are on one large rubber stamp and the die cuts all 18 strips at once. In other words, it takes the same length of time to create 18 different sentiments as it does to create one. Perfect for the lazy crafter!

Daily life is slowly getting back to normal in Australia and I'm looking forward to going back to work. Kids are back in school from Monday so I'm hoping my days as their personal slave/teacher are well and truly over!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire

CAS(E) This Sketch #372

Hi inkers,

Super quick card and post for CAS(E) This Sketch and CAS on Friday which challenges us to use a die cut:

I've used Your Next Stamp's Silly Monsters with matching die and the splat stamp is from Cool backgrounds!

Happy stamping!

Claire 

Flippin' Awesome MFT Sketch #489

Hello again, hope you are having great weekend!

My masculine cards are getting few and far between so when I saw this week's MFT Colour Challenge and Sketch I knew exactly which stamp set to ink up - Recipe for Happiness:

 The blue panel was stamped with Happy Birthday Background , one of my favourites. I'm itching to get hold of the Christmas one as well but that will have to wait until a future order. I've also added a Stitched Rectangle Frame. The Grout Gray card stock was stamped with all the utensils from the stamp set in Grout Gray ink and the dp strip is from the Sweet Celebration Paper Pad.

I'm entering this one over at Time Out too - their challenge is to make a card using 'the arts' as the theme.  I think cookery has become more and more of an art form in the last few years don't you?

Thanks for popping by,

Claire

Less is More - Take Two

Hello inkers!

I've had another go at Less is More's White and Cream challenge:

I've white embossed PTI's Doodlie-Do flowers on cream and white card stock and the leaves are on vellum. The sentiment is from Poppy Stamps.

I've tried to keep it to a minimum of one third of the card since AAA's challenge is to use up to one third with the optional twist of using a repeating image.  (I've repeated a couple of the blooms as well as the leaves.)  I'm also throwing it over to Addicted to CAS again where the code word is 'flower' and CASology's cue card is 'plant' so I'm popping it over there too!

Happy stamping everyone!

Claire

Paper Smooches - Anything Goes!

Hello again,

Quick card for Paper Smooches' Anything Goes challenge which finishes tomorrow:

This one's also going into Time Out's latest theme challenge to make a card featuring 'the arts.' I've obviously gone for a music theme using PS Beboppin. It's an anniversary card for my husband and I had thought of writing our favourite tunes on the tapes but since our music tastes are on polar opposites of the spectrum I'm not sure I could even find 3 songs we could agree on!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire

MFT Sketch #488

Hello, hello,

Another couple of cards for you - the first is for MFT's Sketch Challenge using Flower Fairies and Radiating Rays Stencil:

The second is for Less Is More's new challenge which is to use white and cream:

I'm actually wondering if I can get away with this one being 'cream.'  I used Antique Linen distress  ink which is kind of a beigey cream but actually looks like a soft brown in the photo.  I think I'll leave it to the DT to decide if it's still eligible for the challenge and if not, I may do another take.

Have a wonderful day!

Claire

Addicted to CAS #184

 Hello and happy Sunday to you!

For those in Australia and the US, I hope you've had a lovely Mother's Day!  I've been playing with some new distress oxide inks my gorgeous boys gave to me:

This very simple one layer is for Addicted to CAS which has a 'flower' theme for their latest challenge. I blended Evergreen Bough, Cracked Pistachio and Tumbled Glass, then embossed the Clearly Besotted's bloom from Beautiful Friend in pewter.  Took about 10 minutes!

Happy stamping everyone,

Claire

Cutting it Up for Freshly Made Sketches

Hello, hope you are enjoying your weekend and that you're gradually getting back into a vaguely normal life!

Linda has created a deceptively simple Freshly Made Sketch this week - I say deceptive as my original idea just didn't work and I ended up making something totally different to what I 'd planned:

I used a daisy die cut from MFT, together with die cut grout grey sprigs and vellum leaves. The rectangular panels have been blended with distress inks and gold embossed with a WMS stamp from Heirloom Patterns. The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted and fits with the challenge at Cut it Up - make a project to celebrate friends.  I've also used the gorgeous colours over at Colour Throwdown - definitely a palette I'll use again!

Thanks for popping by,

Happy stamping!

Claire

Simple Wreaths and Altenew Take 2

Hello folks,

CAS on Friday's latest challenge is to use your favourite flower stamp. I'm assuming a selection of flowers will do - remember this set from W Plus 9? Fresh Cut Wreaths was everywhere when it first came out but I haven't inked mine up for ages.  I almost made a one layer, then added a simple stitched frame from MFT to finish it off.:

My second card is still clean and simple but I matted the panel on gold card stock. For both cards I used the pretty inspiration pic from The Card Concept, drawing from the soft pinks, greens and gold with a touch of yellow:

As promised I did a second take on Altenew's colour challenge using the same technique as the first:

This time I kept it simpler and created a stamped panel of Hennah Elements with a stencilled Grid background again. A small sentiment and butterfly from Stamplorations and it was done.  I do prefer the simplicity of it in comparison to this one - as I said yesterday, splatters are just not for me!

Claire

Playing with Altenew

Hello again,

I've been trying a different technique with Hennah Elements for Altenew's May colour challenge:

I've always loved Heather Telford's cards and particularly the soft, watercoloured card she made in this tutorial. I don't have many solid image stamps so thought I'd try a similar thing with these outline stamps. Instead of colouring in the whole image I inked the stamp with distress inks, spritzed with water and stamped it on watercolour paper.  I then used a water brush to soften the outline of the image. For the stencilled background I used gesso with Altenew's Grid Stencil.

To be perfectly honest I'm not sure if I like it - I'm just not a spatter kind of crafter and wish I'd just left the blooms and the stencil as is. It looks too messy for my clean and simple sensibilities! I've also made a patterned panel using the same technique so I may make another card which is more to my liking!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire

MFT Sketch #487

Hi folks, hope you are doing well.

Another card inspired by MFT's latest sketch using Sweet Holiday Penguins with a sentiment from Santa's Elves:

The snowy background has been stencilled in gesso with a liberal sprinkling of clear glitter. It looks very sparkly IRL!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire