CAS-ual Fridays Colour Challenge

Hello again,

I was intrigued by CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week - a colour challenge featuring kraft and white. I don't think I've ever made a card just using these colours before:

The blooms are from Pretty Posies and after embossing, I quickly covered them with white glitter so they're really sparkly in IRL. It so annoys me when you can't see the sparkly bits in a photo!  I wanted to soften the background a little so I covered it with a panel of vellum to match the leaves.  The white panel has also been stamped with Zigs and Zags (now retired) in a very pale kraft coloured ink.  

Here's a photo with the light shining on it to show the glitter: 

Actually you can barely see it in that photo either...I give up!

Thanks for calling by!

Claire x

No Stamps!

Hi bloggers!

I made a very CAS card for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge which is to use dies only:

I used the Funky Square die to create the little flowers but I think it may be retired now. It matches one of my favourite sets - Bold Wishes and the glitter covered sentiment is from Smiling Fri-Dies.

I'm also popping this over to the latest AAA challenge which has a rainbow theme.

Thanks for calling by,

Claire x

CAS-ual Fridays Colour Challenge

Hi bloggers,

CAS-ual Fridays is having a colour challenge this week using coral, aqua and grey:

I've used Bravo for my one layer card card.  I love the font on this set and it's so easy to make a quick congrats card by fitting all the words together. I've also used part of a border stamp from Bold Wishes - it was the perfect size to fill in the gap on the right hand side.  The bold 5 has lots of large dots on it which I've covered in some Pretty Pink Posh clear droplets to add some texture.

I've been inspired by Jenni's card over at Muse - such a clever design with a variety of thank you sentiments.  I'm also popping it over to Time Out where the theme is Celebrations with the Optional Twist of One Layer Cards.  I think I can get away with it - isn't is about celebrating an achievement? Or am I pushing it a bit far?! 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Claire x

Farewell Mojo Monday

Happy Friday to you!

After a whopping 500 challenges, Mojo Monday's coming to an end - such a shame. It's one of the first sites I turn to for some sketch inspiration, even if I don't have the time to join in each week.

So I couldn't possibly let the final challenge go by without making a card and in true Mojo Monday style it's a pretty, layered sketch, perfect for showcasing those dust-gathering patterned papers: 

Speaking of patterned papers, CAS-ual Fridays latest challenge is to use exactly that - patterned papers on your card. I've used some old MME papers I've had lying around for years,  together with a Papertrey Ink Stamp from their Autumn Abundance set.

I've been influenced by Time Out's challenge too - they have a Home Sweet Home pic to draw inspiration from so I've used similar colours and a floral theme.

Hope you have the time to give Mojo Monday one last hurrah - thanks for all the inspration Julee!

Claire x

CAS-ual Fridays - Sketch Challenge

Hello folks,

Not much inkiness going on in this household at the moment but I did have time to whip this little card up before the latest CAS-ual Fridays challenge which closes in a few hours:

I used the smallest bloom from Pretty Posies stamps and dies and coloured them in with Copics.  Some of the flowers have been popped up with dimensional tape but you can't really tell in the photo.

I'm also entering it into Time Out's challenge - they have an 'inspired by words' challenge:

'Flowers and Friends make life a garden'. 

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Calling All Sistahs - April 2017

Hello folks and a belated happy Easter!

It's the 17th of the month - time to whip put those boobs and give them the once over to check for lumps, bumps and anything else out of the ordinary.  This month, Michele has some exciting news at the CAS-ual Fridays blog! There isn't a formal blog hop for April - instead, she's invited anyone to take part and is featuring everyone's cards over on the blog. The theme for this month is 'flowers' so I used the pretty blooms from Loving Thoughts:

I love using this set to create pretty, floral,  backgrounds. The sentiment is from Hope Ribbon from the Calling All Sistahs range of stamps. 50% of the profits from these stamp sets and the matching dies are donated to breast cancer awareness and research programmes. Which means you can spend your money on craft goodies and not feel guilty about it! 

The colours on my card were influenced by Time Out's Home Sweet Home challenge so I'm going to pop this little card over there too. 

'Hop' on over to the  Cas-ual Fridays blog and check out all the other lovely ladies who've made a card to encourage and support anyone going through breast cancer. Together we can beat this insidious disease!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Keeping it CAS

Hello,

A couple of CAS cards here - the first one is for Less is More using the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. The theme is 'curve' and as usual I messed up my one layer card - I managed to mask the perfect curved line of Altenew's Painted Roses, then tried to curve the sentiment underneath and lined it up really badly. So I ended up die cutting the wavy line to cut off the sentiment, then put it back together again. I'm assume this still counts as a one layer! The sentiment is CAS-ual Fridays.

The cue word over at Casology is 'strong' so I stamped a WMS anchor on top of a Zig Colour background. I thought I'd see how the Zigs worked on smooth cardstock instead of watercolour paper - they worked but the colours aren't as vibrant due to the water pooling on top of the paper. I still like the softer effect though!

Not the best photos unfortunately as I'm not at home for Easter so I've had to take them on my I-phone. I'll maybe improve them once I'm back in Sydney.

Have a great Easter - hope you get some time to get inky!

Claire 

Rainbow Crayons

Hello folks!

Did you know there's a new Lawn Fawn challenge blog? Their second challenge is to make an interactive card - I had a quick look on Pinterest and apparently an easel card is considered to be interactive so I hope this counts:

I'm on a bit of a rainbow roll at the moment and coloured in these sweet little crayons from You Color my World in a rainbow of Copics. I also used some of the little faces from Sweet Smiles. The card base is actually a template from the Silhouette store - yes I could have sat there for 2 hours trying to work out how to make one but why bother when you can buy a template?

Can you spot the little mistake I made? Oops - I forgot to colour in part of the orange crayon. I'd like to blame this on the glass (or two) of wine I had whilst colouring but actually I probably just missed it as I've just found out I need glasses! I just got my first pair and have come to realise that I've been crafting whilst blind as a bat!

I'm also popping this into the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge, CAS-ual Friday's Rainbows challenge and Time Out's inspired by words challenge: 'When it rains look for rainbows, when its dark look for stars.'

Thanks for popping by!

Claire x

Rainbow Play

Hello, hello,

How's your weekend going? There seems to be a profusion of rainbow themed challenges happening in blogland at the moment - the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge to make a rainbow, CAS-ual Friday's Rainbows and Time Out's 'Inspired by Words' challenge:

When it rains look for rainbows, when it's dark look for stars'

I made a very CAS card by blending a rainbow of distress inks and adding a die cut sentiment from MFT. A sprinkling of Your Next Stamp's enamel dots and it was done in a jiffy! A bit like this post!

Thanks for calling by!

Claire x

Feel em' Up

Hello, hello,

It's the 17th of the month so it's time for the CAS-ual Fridays Calling All Sistahs Blog Hop - your monthly reminder to check for anything unusual on your bosoms/breasts/titties/boobs/mammaries - however you like to refer to them! In the last month alone one friend has been diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer and another is currently recovering from surgery so get them checked!

This month the theme for the hop is 'With Love from your Sistah'.  I created my little cluster of vellum embossed blooms using CAS-ual Fridays Pretty Posies. The sentiment is from Calling All Sistahs - 50% of the profits from any purchases in the Calling All Sistahs range of stamps and dies are donated to NCBF.org for research and awareness programmes. I've also added a sprinkle of Pretty Pink Posh Sequins - these have been mixed exclusively for the CAS-ual Fridays Calling All Sistahs range. 

As always with the hop, there is the change to win a CAS-ual Fridays gift certificate so leave a comment on any of the blogs below for your chance of winning. More importantly, schedule that annual mammogram and get feeling those boobies! Next on the hop is Vicki:

Cas-ual Fridays Stamps

Theresa Knopf

Jeanne Jachna

Lori Kobular

Kelly Griglione

Gwendolyn Goh

Lisa Lahiff

Kara Stainbrook 

Lydia Evans

Rahmat Gouse

Kimberly Rendino

Penny Ward

Melissa Miller

Sandi Pressley

Shona Chambers 

Sue Nagata

Taheerah

Mary Moisan

Claire 

Vicki Dutcher

Heather North

Ceal Pritchett

It just so happens that my card fits with the current theme for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge - to use pink red and white so I'm popping this card over there too.

Hope you have a fantabulous weekend!

Claire x

A Touch of Gold

Hello again,

Quick card for this week's Freshly Made Sketch which I've combined with CAS-ual Friday's latest challenge to use gold:

I love blooms with detail like Altenew's Hennah Elements -  I think they look so pretty when they're embossed in gold, especially on elegant cream and black.

Hope you have a fabulous week!

Claire x

It's Time to Check...

Hello folks!

It's the 17th of the month which means it's the CAS-ual Fridays' Calling all Sistahs Blog Hop - this is a timely reminder for all us girls to check their boobies for any abnormalities. You can read how the hop started here.

This month the lovely folk over at Pretty Pink Posh have donated some of their gorgeous sequins to those of us who have joined in with the hop. These are now available exclusively at CAS-ual Fridays Stamps as part of the Calling All Sistahs range.

Living in Australia does have it's drawbacks, one of them being Australia Post. It would be quicker mailing something via carrier pigeon quite frankly. Needless to say my sequins failed to reach me in time but luckily I already have some PPP sequins so I used them instead.

I also used the Calling All Sistahs set for my card - this set has lots of great phrases to help those fighting breast cancer and to remind our sisters to check their breasts each month. I die cut a variety of circles, blended some pink distress inks (with a touch of yellow thrown in), then added the sentiment in bold black. No avoiding what this card's reminding the recipient to do! Don't forget, 50% of the profits from the Calling All Sistah's range of stamps and dies go directly to NBCF.org to aid research into this insidious disease.

Of course with every hop there's a prize - make a comment on any of the blogs below and you could win one of two CAS-ual Fridays Gift Certificates. next on the hop is Kelly so make sure you drop by to say hi:

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps

Rahmat Gouse

Penny Ward

Gwendolyn Estrada

Vicki Dutcher

Ceal Pritchett

Kara Stainbrook

Sue Nagata

Kimberly Rendino

Susan White

Shona Chambers

Lori McAree

Nora Noll

Melissa Miller

Lori Kobular
Lydia Evans
Sandi Pressley

Lisa Lahiff

Mary Moisan

Kelly Griglione

Theresa Knopf

Jeanne Jachna

Heather North

Hope you have fun hopping and don't forget to check those boobs!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Giving Thanks

Hello and happy Sunday to you!

I've been playing around with one of my new Altenew purchases which has been on my inky wish list for a very long time - Hennah Elements.  I used the colours from their November Challenge inspiration pic: 

Since it's Thanksgiving this week there's lots of challenges to link up to with a 'thank you' theme so I'm also playing along at CAS-ual Fridays and Stamplorations which is running a special thank you themed blog hop .

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Celebrating 300 Weeks!

Hello folks!

A clean and simple card for Less is More which is celebrating a whopping 300 challenges - the theme this week is 'celebration:'

Why do clean and simple cards take me so long? It took about 5 minutes to blend up a background with some distress inks, perhaps another few minutes to add the snowflakes in embossing powder and Versamark. And then it kind of stopped there. Should I have the whole panel covered in the snow scene (no, too busy), should I have a panel at the base, partially covering the pattern (the pattern at the top overpowered the bottom), should I have curved edges, straight edges, should the panels be white or navy...the list of questions went on....

Anyway,  it didn't look 'clean' enough for Less is More so I ended up using a couple of curved panels using some Lawn Fawn dies to clean it up a bit. I'm happy now!

Thanks for taking a look!

Claire x

Never Give Up - CFC#59

Hello, hello,

As you know, October is Breast Cancer awareness month so the CAS-ual Fridays blog has turned pink in support of this amazing cause. For this months challenge we'd like you to create a card of fighting encouragement for your female friends:

I used a few different CAS-ual Fridays products for my card of encouragement. The quote is by Winston Churchill from the Dream Then Do stamp set. The pink die cuts underneath the banner were cut using the motif from the Funky Square Tag Fri-dies and the sentiment stamped in black is from Calling All Sistahs. Did you know that 50% of the profits from stamps and dies sold from the Calling All Sistahs range are donated to breast cancer research and awareness programmes? As of September 2016 Michele has donated over $1800.00 to breast cancer charities through their sale. 

Link up your creations to be in with a chance of winning a $25.00 gift certificate to the store. If you use CAS-ual Fridays Stamps and Dies as the main focus of your card the prize will be doubled!

Happy stamping!

Claire x

CFC-158: 1 in 8

Hello!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and the CAS-ual Fridays blog will turn pink for the entire month. Did you know that 1 in 8 women in the US will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime? Based on this fact, we want you to create a card which features 8 of something. It can be 8 colours, 8 sequins, 8 patterns, 8 enamel dots...use your imagination and see where the figure 8 takes you!

For my card I used stamps and dies from CAS-ual Friday's Calling All Sistahs Collection .  50% of the profits from these sets are donated to breast cancer research and awareness programmes.  I die cut the Ruffled Ribbon and stamped and clear embossed it with the Hope Ribbon, then blended a selection of pink distress inks to colour it. My 8 elements are the tiny little crystals I've used to embellish it.  For the card base I cut a rectangular panel and covered it with acetate. The sentiment is also from the Hope Ribbon set.

Link up your creations to the challenge and you could be in with a chance of winning a $25.00 CAS-ual Fridays store certificate. Use CAS-ual Fridays stamps or dies as the main focus and Michele will double the prize.

I'm also popping my card into Time Out's latest challenge which has a similar theme - the challenge is being sponsored by Michele,  giving you even more chances to win some CAS-ual Fridays goodies!

Happy stamping!

Claire x

CFC157 - Shake it Up!

Good morning - or rather good afternoon from over here in Oz!

Are you ready for a brand new CAS-ual Fridays challenge? We'd like you to shake it up a bit for this week's challenge and make a shaker card:

I used the larger Scallop Tag to make my pocket. I die cut the tag, cut a rectangular window and covered it with acetate. As the background for the pocket, I stamped lots of little flowers from Loving Blooms in three different shades. I sometimes feel as though I neglect the smaller stamps like this, but they're perfect for creating patterned backgrounds like the one above.  I used a strip of the same pattern to peep through the diagonal cut in the larger background panel and randomly stamped some of the larger blooms from Loving Thoughts above. After filling the pocket with lots of sequins,  I added the die cut sentiment from Smiling Fri-dies, which I matted on to black card stock and covered with Glossy Accents.

So are you ready to shake things up? Link up your creations to be in with the chance of winning a $25.00 gift certificate to the CAS-ual Fridays store. Use CAS-ual Fridays products as the focus of your card and Michele will even double your prize!

Happy inking!

Claire x