Made in Minutes

Hello folks,

I made a very CAS card for AAA's Made in Minutes challenge and CAS on Friday's Best Wishes challenge:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had absolutely no plan for this card whatsoever,  which is very unlike me - usually I have at least an idea of where I'm going to stamp. I've had this Rounded Diamonds set from Avery Elle for quite a while but I'm never quite sure what to do with it. So a bit of random stamping was my best bet.  The sentiments are from CAS-ual Friday's Wish Big.

Hope you have a fabulous New Year - roll on 2021...it can only get better from here!

Claire

 

 

CAS(E) This Sketch #402

Hello again,

 

Since I was in an Altenew kind of mood I thought I'd have another play with one of their 2020 inspiration picks, this time from March, using the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

 

 

 

 

 

Definitely not one of their easiest sketches to play with - in fact,  it really threw me until I thought of draping some of Altenew's Painted Flowers around the diagonal embossed strip. The sentiment's from Floral Motifs and I've used Altenew's Grid Stencil again in the left hand corner.

 

 

'

 

 

 

 

My second card is for MFT's Colour Challenge which I've combined with their latest Birthday Project Challenge - to create a winter wonderland themed birthday card. I've used Sweet Holiday Penguins with a stamped Happy Birthday Background in Grout Gray on Grout Gray card stock. The image has been framed using a Stitched Rectangle Frame. The design is actually from one of MFT's older sketches but I missed off one of the elements so I can't help feeling it's needs a little something adding to it - maybe a button? I'll leave that till another day...

Happy stamping!

Claire

Altenew - A Year in Review Inspiration Challenge

Hello, folks,

 Well it's done and dusted for another year - hope you all had a good Christmas, even if it was a little different to the one you were planning! We ate and drank merry, despite not being with the grandparents and will celebrate with them at a later time.

 Here's a little card I made for Altenew's end of year Inspiration Challenge which asks us to pick from any of 2020's challenges. I chose February - remember Covid-free February, when we didn't have a clue what was to come? It seems like a lifetime ago!

 

I coloured Floral Motifs with Copics and added a stenciled background using Grid Stencil with a sentiment from Hennah Elements.

 Hope you find time to get some ink on you these holidays!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Time Out Neutrals

Hello again,

So after a fantastic run of it in Australia,  we've now been hit with a Covid scare in Sydney - borders closed, Christmas plans with Nanny and Poppy ruined unfortunately. Can't really complain since it's so much worse elsewhere in the world but it's so frustrating 3 days out from Christmas and all because some muppet has done the wrong thing!

 

 

Getting inky always puts me in a better frame of mind and I love the new inspiration pic over at Time Out.  All those pretty neutrals made me reach for an oldie but a goodie - Waltzingmouse's Folk Art Medallion. I white embossed the main image on to grout gray card stock and used gold and neutral inks to fill in the flowers. Of course an anniversary card has to have a bit of sparkle,  so I've added a couple of strips of silver sparkle card stock to the edges, using the latest Freshly Made Sketch as inspiration. 

Here's hoping our latest outbreak is kept under control and we get to see the grandparents soon. Roll on 2021!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire

MFT Colour Challenge #155

Hello inkers,

Love a bit of pink and red together so just had to play along with MFT's latest colour challenge:

 

 

 

It also gave me the chance to ink up a new background stamp - City Block. It looks so dramatic in black and white, perfect as a backdrop to the sweet supergirl from You're Super (now retired.) 

 Thanks for calling by,

 Claire

Freshly Made Sketch #465

 Hello, hello,

Still playing with new goodies from MFT, this time a new flower stamp called Lavish Lilies:

 

 

The stamp's so pretty I used it to emboss the background for the tag to add a little something extra. It's such an intricate and detailed stamp, I don't think I've done it justice at all,  so next time I think I'll stamp in black to capture all the detail.  Watercolouring has never been my strong point!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire

Extra Sweet MFT

Hello inkers,

I received some happy mail from MFT last week and couldn't wait to ink up this sweet new set called Sweet Christmas Wishes using their new sketch:

 

The Christmas background stamp has been on my wishlist for ages and I white embossed this on the hand cut Christmas tree, then added a scattering of enamel 'baubles.' Do you recognize the pot that the tree is sitting in? It's an upside down fence from Hog Heaven (now retired) - love it when stamps can be used for something other than their original purpose!

I'm also throwing this over to The Paper Players who have a Christmas themed challenge and the colours are from this week's Colour Thowdown.

 Happy stamping!

 Claire  x

Tic Tac Toe With Just Us Girls

Hello inkers!

I thought I'd try a new (to me) challenge this week and joined in over at Just Us Girls:

I loved the colours in the photo, especially the dusky pinks,  so I got out the embossing powders to make a fiftieth birthday card using CAS-ual Friday's WTF.

I'm also throwing this into The Paper Players Tic Tac Toe challenge. I'm hoping it's valid as I've gone for the top row using a die cut, embossing and patterned paper. I've created my own patterned paper using one of the stamps from the set. The die cut is the black, stitched,  rectangular panel and I've used gold and copper embossing powders. 

Happy stamping!

Claire x

Quick and Simple FMS #463

Hello. hello,

Quick card for Freshly Made Sketches and Time Out:

 

This is my second card for Time Out's 'quick' challenge which was even faster than the first,  as I already had some alcohol inks blended for the Stamplorations die cut butterfly. The three stamped strips are PTI's Watercolour Wonder - an oldie but still a goodie!

Happy stamping!

Claire

MFT Cupcakes

Hello, happy weekend to you,

The latest CASology challenge,  'wheat,'  inspired me to ink up these sweet cupcakes from MFT:

 

I normally make my CASology cards a little simpler than this but I kept adding elements like the stencilled brick background, the tiny frame and scalloped edge at the top. It's still clean though, so I think I can get away with it.

I've also used the colours from MFT's Colour Challenge 154 and I'm popping it over to Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge where 'anything goes.'

Happy stamping!

Claire

Quick and Simple Holiday Wishes

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!

I'm still in clean and simple mode with a very quick card combining AAA's Along the Edge challenge and Time Out's 'quick' challenge:

There's the option of using snowflakes for AAA so I embossed CAS-ual Friday's Snowy Sayings, then blended a trio of distress inks over the top. I added a simple die cut from Memory Box (I think) and a strip of sparkly card stock. Took about 15 minutes - believe me, that's quick by my standards!

Happy stamping!

Claire 

Color Throwdown #620

Hello folks,

Just getting in a quick card before the latest Color Throwdown challenge finishes:

I combined the pretty colour colour palette with the simple layered sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch.

 The stamp is called 'Blossoming' from Stamplorations - I never feel as though I do this stamp justice but for once I'm happy with how the colouring came out. Makes a change!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Clean and Simple Christmas

Hello inkers!

It's been a while since I've played along at CASology  Their cue card this week is 'stag' so I used this fun image from Your Next Stamp called Reinbeer:

The background is CAS-ual Friday's Amazeballs - it kind of made me think of the bubbles in a beer. I'm also popping it over to The Paper Players who have a clean and simple holiday challenge and Simon Says Stamp's Christmas themed Wednesday Challenge. 

Happy stamping!

Claire

Christmas Colours

Hello folks,

At last, a couple of cards - the first is for Less is More's 'blue and silver ' challenge:

 

Nothing like your favourite set of stamps to get you back into stamping mode!  I used PTI's Doodlie-Do, coloured with blue Copics and embossed with pewter embossing powder, then set against some sparkly strips of silver glitter card stock.

The second card is for both MFT's Sketch and Colour Challenges. I stamped one of Birdie Brown's older stamps - Warmest Wishes, which has actually just been re-released from the MFT vault. The snowy background has been masked with masking fluid, with Summer Splash blended over the top using the Cloud Stencil.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Less is More - CASE Card

Hello folks,

Not a card in sight in this household, just a very heavy workload and no time to get inky unfortunately. This little card for Less is More took all of 2 weeks, 10 minutes here and there amidst all the chaos:

The challenge is to CASe Sharon's beautiful card. I wanted to go with a masculine version so coloured some fishing themed images with some Copics and distress inked a watery strip to set them against. The sentiment's from Mama Elephant. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire

Time Out - Breast Cancer Awareness

Hello, hello,

It's Breast Cancer Awareness month so Time Out's challenge is to create a card of encouragement:

 

What could be more encouraging than telling someone you love them, especially if they're going through something as horrendous as breast cancer? 

I've used the colours from MFT's colour challenge, using their Heart Tree Die-namics with some patterned papers from the now retired Sweet Celebrations paper pad.  The Grout Gray background has been embossed with Circle Celebration Background and the image has been framed using Stitched Rectangle Frames Die-namics. The sentiment isn't MFT - it's Taylored Expressions.

I've also used Jen Timko's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, adding a little wooden heart for embellishment to finish it off.

Happy stamping!

Claire