Monday 27 February 2023

Aloha! Sunday Stamps with MFT Sketch #634

Hello again,

I've used the pretty colours over at Sunday Stamps for this one with the latest sketch at MFT:







I haven't inked up this sweet BB character from Polynesian Paradise (retired) for a long time but she's still there dancing away! The background has been stamped using Circle Celebration background stamp (retired.)

Happy stamping!

Claire

Friday 24 February 2023

Seize the Birthday - Surprise Party Guest!

Hello again!

 I'm delighted to be the surprise party guest at Seize the Birthday this week - they've have a great challenge for you to get your inky teeth into!









Use red,  white and one other colour on your birthday card for the chance to be guest designer in an upcoming challenge. Who doesn't like to be a surprise party guest eh? 

I chose yellow and used lots of dies for my card including MFT's Daisy die-namics (long retired but still a favourite), a Fancy That flourish die and Altenew's new Mini Instant Camera Die.  The sentiment's from MFT,  as is the Lined by Hand background - one of my new favourites as it's a subtle background stamp that doesn't overpower the main event!

Hope you can join in with the challenge and even if you can't, pop over to the very talented DT's blogs to send them some inky love!

Happy stamping!

Claire x

Tuesday 21 February 2023

Happy Birthday Time Out - February Altenew Inspiration Challenge - Take 2!

Hello again!

Living in a house full of boys I do love a bit of pink so this is my second play with the colours over at Altenew for their February Inspiration challenge. Time Out is also celebrating it's 9th birthday - it's one of my favourite challenges so happy birthday TO! The theme there is 'anything birthday goes:'








Lots of Altenew products on this one - I've layered the blooms with the Zero-Waste 3D Floral Cover Die and placed them on the Mini Instant Camera Frame Die. Did you know that the Fancy Hello Die is almost the perfect fit for the frame? I smothered it in gold EB and placed it all on an embossed background with the Majestic Bloom 3D Embossing Folder. The black background behind the sentiment has been embossed as well as the white card stock behind the frame but no matter how many photos I took, I couldn't get it to show.  I really do need to do a basic photography course! The sentiment is from Sentiment Strips.

Thanks for popping by!

Claire 

Monday 20 February 2023

MFT Sketch and Colour Challenge

Hello inkers,

Just a quick post for MFT's latest sketch and colour challenges:



 



I used one of my older sets - BB Up in the Air with some Stitched Cloud Die-namics and Cloud Stencil.

Short but sweet today!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Saturday 11 February 2023

Merry Everything - MFT Sketch and Christmas Challenges

Hello folks,

Love the sketch over at MFT this week - it's definitely one I'll use again. It's perfect for using up all those little scraps of dp that you can't bear to part with!

 





I used the super sweet PI Reindeer Games with a sentiment from Bitty Holiday Wishes and patterned paper from from the Feelin' Festive Paper Pad. The scalloped edge is from one of the now retired Blueprints dynamics. 

This one's also going over to their new Ready, Set Christmas challenge - which means I'm now ahead of schedule for my Christmas cards - in February! How good is that?!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Thursday 9 February 2023

Altenew Inspiration Challenge - February 2023

Hello bloggers,

Here's my take on this month's Altenew challenge using Nostalgic Florals again - can't get enough of this set!

 





I had a play with some alcohol inks on yupo, then stamped and embossed the blooms in black. I've tried this before on yupo - it's hard to avoid the yupo buckling in the heat so I think next time I'll have to stick the yupo on card stock first so it maintains its shape. 

Because it buckled so much I had to cut the blooms out and then stick them on the card stock to make them more rigid. I used glue to stick them down but it seemed to react with the embossing which then started to rub off! So it was definitely a bit of a learning curve trying to make this one but I'm happy with how it turned out!

I'm also popping this one over to a new challenge (at least for me) called Colorful Options which has a pink theme for February. Thanks for the suggestion Makira!

Happy stamping!

Claire x



Sunday 5 February 2023

Rainbows at Time Out and MFT Sketch and Colour Challenge

 Hello, hope you're enjoying your weekend!

A couple of cards for a few different challenges - Time Out's photo inspiration which features all the colours of the rainbow, Seize the Birthday's candle-themed challenge (thanks for the prompt Elizabeth!) and MFT's Sketch and Colour Challenge:
















I do love a rainbow and made a very simple card using Whimsy Stamps Happy Everything which has seen a lot of ink over the years. I think I managed to get all the colours on - red, yellow, orange, blue, green and purple pretty much covers the spectrum!

For the MFT card I used Let Your Hair Down with Garden Flourish background stamp (retired.) I didn't use a heart - I find big hearts very hard to incorporate on a card so switched it to a circle instead. I mentioned in an earlier post that this little stamp makes me think of my beautiful niece in the UK - since this one's for her birthday I've tried to colour her hair blonde to look just like hers!

Hope you've had the time to get your inks our this weekend!

Happy stamping!

Claire








Thursday 2 February 2023

Ready, Set Christmas with MFT

 Hello inkers,

MFT have started a brand new monthly Christmas challenge so it's a great opportunity to get those Christmas cards under way.  I was going through my (many) MFT stamps the other day and hadn't realised quite how many of them are Christmas related!





I used Holiday Cheer (retired) with a selection of Blueprints Dynamics and some MFT patterned paper. The colours are from Sunday Stamp's pretty Winter palette - totally different to colours I'd normally use on a Christmas card but I really like the combo!

Happy stamping!

Claire