Playing with Watercolour

Hello fellow inkers,

I've been playing with the sketch over at The Paper Players  - it's just the type of layered sketch I like but I minimised the layers and kept it simple by embossing the diagonal strip behind the panel:

I often lament my lack of watercolouring skills - love the look of it on other people's cards but I just don't seem to have the knack for it myself. However, I found a pack of Derwent watercolour pencils in my drawer (yes, I have that much stuff, I actually didn't know I had them or where they came from) and thought I'd see how they'd look on grout gray card stock rather than standard watercolour paper. Surprisingly, the card stock held up well with the addition of the water and I'm actually happy with the results. The white embossed stamp rose is from PTI's Botanical Blocks.

I'm also entering it into Simon Says Stamp's 'Anything Goes' Wednesday Challenge!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire 

 

Colour Throwdown - Guest Designer

Hello folks,

I'm delighted to be guest designer over at The Color Throwdown this week - it's a very simple colour palette featuring black, white and terracotta:

Terracotta doesn't feature much in my ink collection so I turned to some copper embossing powder to create my card. I embossed MFT's Woodplank on to black cardstock and used this as the backdrop to my Clearly Besotted embossed bloom called Beautiful Friend.  The left hand side was stamped with Waltzingmouse's border stamp from Asian Gardens and the sentiment's Poppy Stamps. 

Hope you get the time to join in this week - happy stamping!

Claire

Clean and Simple x 3

Hello fellow inkers,

Three clean and simple cards today for a variety of challenges - the first is for CAS on Friday which has a Summer theme happening, as does both Your Next Stamp and Fusion. No sign of  Summer here in Sydney - it hasn't stopped raining for the past 24 hours!

I was inspired by both the sketch and colours from the Fusion pic - I thought the sketch would be perfect to use with these fun little pineapples from Punny Pineapple.

The next card is a one layer for Less is More for their Christmas in July challenge:

I masked off a horizontal strip and stamped random snowflakes from Just Add Ink's Holiday Sentiments. I really don't know why I enter these one layer challenges - I'm never happy with the results and I clearly need a bigger snowflake!

Finally, I've used the sketch and colours from MFT's latest sketch and colour challenges to make this flowery concoction below:

I've used MFT's Funky Flowers (now retired) and Selfie Square Die-namics.  I'm also throwing this into AAA Cards challenge to use maximum white space with the optional twist of flowers. 

Happy stamping!

Claire

Celebrating at Paper Players

Hello, hello,

Another CAS card for Jaydee's clean and simple challenge over at The Paper Player's 500th challenge:

This time I used Jen's simple sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and the fun, bright colours at The Colour Thowdown. I've stamped CAS-ual Fridays' Amazeballs, coloured with Copics and added some Glossy Accents with a sprinkle of glitter to the black dots. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire

CAS(E) This Sketch - Take 2

Hello again,

I thought I'd have another go at CAS(E) This Sketch, this time combining it with Paper Smooches' colour pop challenge to use black and white with one other colour:

I used 'Curls and Swirls' for my background panel and this cute little froggy from 'A Little Lovin'.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Four in One!

Hello again,

It's a rare day when I get to combine four challenges with the one card - I've used the colours at Colour Throwdown with the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch: 

The colours really threw me at first (excuse the pun) - the gold, green and blue were fine but the peach left me a little flummoxed to say the least! It's not a colour I use much and I certainly wouldn't have put them all together but I love how it's turned out. I blended a couple of distress inks ( Evergreen Bough and Salty Ocean} and gold embossed the Stamplorations butterfly over a set of peachy wings. The sentiment's from PTI.

I'm also linking this up to The Paper Players - their 500th challenge is a CAS one with the theme of 'celebrate.' I made this card for a very close friend of mine to celebrate 30 years of friendship...we met at university when we were 18 and she's always been such an appreciative recipient of my cards. I always save my favourite ones for her! 

Finally I'm sending it over to Time Out which challenges us to be 'peaceful' this week. Don't you think butterflies are the most peaceful of creatures?

Happy stamping!

Claire 

MFT Sketch Challenge #498

Hello again,

Quick post for MFT's Sketch Challenge using the colours from their previous colour challenge:

I used Pure Innocence Happy You Day (now retired) with matching die and the sentiment's from Sassy Pants Birthday Greetings.  It takes a very sassy girl to make pea green boots look good!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire

Paper Players Colour Challenge

Hello folks,

It's the school holidays here so not much inkiness happening. This horrible virus has all kicked off again in Victoria and is slowly spreading to Sydney so it's been hard finding stuff for the kids to do that doesn't involve being in close proximity to others. My youngest keeps asking if we can go to the indoor trampoline park which is literally the last place I want to be - a group of sweating kids jumping next to each other on trampolines...er no thank you!

Anyway, card making is probably the safest option at the moment so here's one for LeAnne's colour challenge over at The Paper Players:

I haven't inked up these WMS sets in quite a while - the yellow border and frame are actually from a masculine set I bought years ago called My Kind of Guy. I don't think I've ever stamped them in anything but masculine colours - they look quite pretty in the yellow and blue!

Hope you are all keeping safe and well,

Happy stamping!

Claire

CASology Meets CAS(E) This Sketch

Hello fellow inkers,

My mind went completely blank when I saw this week's CASology cue card - 'pool:' 

I really had no ideas at all but the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch made me think of flowing water so I created an alcohol inked background and added a little lifesaver ring from WMS' Ocean Bound.  Isn't it funny how you can have no ideas at all,  but throw in another challenge and you suddenly have a card?!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Less is More - Colour Challenge

Hello folks,

Here's a card for Less is More's pretty colour challenge:

I've used Ink to Paper's 'It's a Sign:Birthday Sentiments - I stamped the blooms with pink pigment ink and embossed with holographic embossing powder to get some sparkle, then coloured the centres with Copics. The grey leaves and corner die cut are from my local craft shop - now closed down unfortunately. I do miss having a local shop to browse in - it's so much more inspiring when you can see all the different products and examples of how they're used. Online shopping just doesn't make the crafty cut!

Happy stamping!

Claire 

 

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Hello fellow inkers!

It seems ages since I played along at Your Next Stamp - their latest 'how does your garden grow?' challenge gave me a good excuse to whip out one of my favourite sets - Honey Bee:

It was the perfect set to use with the sketch over at The Paper Players - just the type of sketch I like with lots of layers!

Happy stamping!

Claire 

Time Out - Guest Designer

Hello bloggers,

I'm so happy to be Guest Designer today for one of my favourite challenge blogs - Time Out. They have a brand new theme challenge to get those inky teeth into - 'Days Gone By:'

Lots of different ways to interpret this - I inked up an older stamp from Mama Elephant which features a typewriter. Remember those? Probably not if you're under 40!  The background has been stamped with MFT's Happy Birthday background which is in a similar 'typed' font and I blended a rainbow strip of distress inks to brighten it all up.

The challenge is being sponsored by the fabulous CAS-ual Friday Stamps which is a great reason to join in the fun!

Happy stamping!

Claire