Casology - Leafy Foliage

G'day bloggers,

Leaves seem to be featuring on my cards a lot this week - Casology's latest cue word is 'foliage:'

I used a Cheery Lynn leafy flourish die cut in dark green and then layered an identical white one over the top. You can't get much simpler than that!

Thanks for popping by!

Claire x

Time Out Card Challenge - Guest Designer

G'day again folks!

Hope 2017 is proving a good year for you all. I had a little win over at Time Out last month so I'm delighted to be guest designing for their latest challenge.  This week it's a theme challenge: 'Winter, with the optional twist of white on white.'

I kept my creation very CAS - I sponged a circle using distress inks and then stamped and embossed the pretty snowflake inside, adding a touch of bling for some Wintry sparkle. The centre of the snowflake has been die cut and popped up with some dimensional tape.  It's the first time I've used the snowflake stamp - it was a magazine freebie from Spellbinders and I must have had it for well over a year! I'm also linking up with Casology this week where the cue word is 'cold.'

Make sure you head on over to Time Out and have a look at what the talented ladies have done for their projects won't you? I'll be back next week with a second card for the challenge.

Happy stamping!

Claire x

All Spaced Out

Hello!

It really is getting to that time of year where the cards are few and far between isn't it? Thank goodness for clean and simple challenges like Casology! This week's cue word is 'space:'

I had a completely different vision for this card - let's just say the idea I had failed miserably! I masked a heart of 'space' with distress inks, then added a scattering of gold stars from Your Next Stamp and a couple of die cut hearts smothered in Glossy Accents.  The inside of the card continues the sentiment with 'to the moon and back.' 

Have a wonderful week!

Claire x

Candles for Casology

Hello folks!

Hope you are feeling relaxed in the lead up to Christmas.  It's been so busy lately,  I haven't had time to play along at Casology for weeks.  Their latest cue word is 'candle' so I combined it with this week's Less is More challenge,  which is a colour challenge using only primary colours:

Primary Colours

The candles have come from Whimsy Stamps Happy Everything and the sentiment is from PTI's Birthday Sentiments. I added a little sparkle to the flames using some KindyGlitz - otherwise it's nothing but stamps and ink.

I'm also popping it over to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where they have an 'anything goes' theme.

Thanks for calling by!

Claire x

All Coffee'd Out!

G'day folks! 

It's a rare card for me that manages to achieve all the requirements for three challenges! Of course it helps when two of those challenges feature the same cue word - coffee:

I'm more than happy to admit that I am a total coffee snob - put a cup of instant coffee in front of me and I'm likely to chuck it down the sink. I truly wouldn't get through the day without my huge,  hot cup of fresh caffeine in the morning. It truly is my drug of choice...even better that it's legal!

I combined a couple of different stamp sets for my card - Waltzingmouse's Coffee Set and W Plus 9's Borders and Backgrounds 3. I've never used the sweet little beans from the WMS set so stamped the sentiment and scattered a few beans in amongst the hearts. I used the coffee cue word from Addicted to CAS and  Casology and the colours are from this week's Colour Throwdown. 

Have a great weekend!

Claire x

The Card Concept - Part 2

Hello again folks,

Here's my second clean and simple entry to the rainbow themed Card Concept and beach themed Casology:

Have a great night

Claire x

Feeling Tropical?

Hello, hello,

I managed to get 3 cards done over the weekend for a variety of challenges. Scroll down to the next post if you want to see all three:

The first one for Freshly Made Sketches features two little penguins from Whimsy Stamps with a Winnie and Walter snowy background stencilled with texture paste.

The second one is for The Card Concept in the clean and simple category - it has a rainbow theme this week. The flowery card is for Less Is More. They have the dreaded one layer theme using flowers. One layer cards have never been my strong point!  

This little card was meant to be for the latest Casology challenge too. For some reason I had the word 'tropical' in my mind, then went to go and post it and realised that the cue word is actually 'beach!' Mother brain strikes again. Having said that, the term 'aloha' is Hawaiian and Hawaii is famous for it's beaches isn't it? Plus you get flowers and birds at the beach...yes I know, pushing it a bit isn't.... Melissa, feel free to hit the delete button on Mr Linky!

Have a fabulous week and thanks for calling by!

Claire x

Fun at Papertrey Ink

Hello!

it's Blog Hop time over at Papertrey Ink with a pretty inspiration pic that happens to be one of my favourite colour combos:

It immediately brought to mind Watercolor Wonder with all that smooshing of paint. It looked a bit bland with just the pinks so instead of adding brown I blinged it up a bit with some gold embossing powder and a scattering of stars.  The sentiment is from Stylish Sentiments:Birthday  which is rapidly becoming one of my favourite PTI sets. It's a fun sentiment so I think it's appropriate for Casology's cue word this week too!

Hope you get the chance to join in!

Claire x

More Gum Balls!

Hello again!

So whilst I was making the card on my previous post, it made me think of the Casology challenge where the cue word is 'dizzy.'

There are so many expressions on the faces of those sweet little gum balls,  I thought I'd make a quick card showing them falling out of the gum ball machine, looking less than impressed.  Wouldn't you be dizzy if you fell out of a gum ball machine and rolled on to a hard floor?

Hope you get time to get inky this week!

Claire x

Watercolour Woes

G'day again!

The cue word at Casology this week is 'watercolour,' a technique that I love on other people's creations but rarely on my own.  I treated myself to some Zig Clean Color markers a couple of months ago and I'm hooked - their fine brush tips make it so much easier to paint more detailed images, that even an unskilled painter like myself can make a half decent card with them!

I randomly white embossed a panel of watercolour paper using the blossom from Penny Black's Blooming Garden, then coloured with the markers.  I wanted to keep it as simple as possible so left some of the stamped images without colour.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge theme is 'fabulous florals' so this one's going over there too!

Enjoy the weekend!

Claire x

Not Quite Van Gogh

Hello!

This week's cue word of 'art' at Casology was the perfect excuse to practise a bit of watercolouring with my Zig markers:

Van Gogh's sunflower paintings came to mind so  I stamped and watercoloured PTI's sunflowers from Autumn Abundance. Ok, so mine's not quite in the same league and definitely won't fetch $39 million at auction but it's still a little bit of clean and simple art isn't it?

Enjoy your week!

Claire x

Pretty Diamonds all in a Row

Hello again!

Time for a Casology card where the cue word is 'row':

I used the smaller diamond stamp from CAS-ual Fridays Bold Wishes. Talk about needing a steady hand -  quite amazingly for me I managed to stamp all those rows in perfect alignment first time....it's the little things that make us happy eh?!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Claire x

A Masculine Touch

Hello, hello - hope you're enjoying the weekend! 

The current cue word over at Casology is 'masculine.' I've been looking for some more masculine stamps for a while now, specifically for kids over the age of 8 and that doesn't feature boats or monsters! I bought Boy Basics:Game on from Papertrey Ink - it was one of their small, $5 sets and it's perfect for kids or teens as it features a WII-like remote and Sony DS-like controls:

I'd like to say it took me 2 minutes to make this card but the simple ones are really never that simple are they? It took forever to work out the positioning of the remotes before I was happy with it.  The good thing is that it would take me about 2 minutes to replicate it and would only require a change of colour to make it suitable for a girl!

Over at Time Out the theme for the latest challenge is also masculine 'with optional twist of mixed media' so I'm going to enter my card over there too. No sign of any mixed media though - just stamps and ink!

Thanks for popping by today,

Claire x

Happy Sunshine

Happy weekend folks!

Quick card for Casology using Mojo Monday's sweet sketch:

I inked a shiny blue circle using dye inks and Perfect Pearls, then added a cluster of clouds and sun from Whimsy Stamps' Happy Hello'.  I haven't got a rainbow die (next on the wishlist) and tried several times to create a curved rainbow using Copics.  My seven year old son could have done a better job so in the end I just kept a straight edged flag, as in the sketch,  and used a ruler to create a Copic rainbow.

Thanks for popping by!

Claire x

Partial Die Cut Florals

Hello, hello, happy weekend to you!

Since Casology is celebrating their 200th challenge, I've done another quick card and combined it with Addicted to CAS where the code word is 'petals:'

I don't think you can get more CAS than this pretty bloom from CAS-ual Fridays' stamp set Mon Ami. It's definitely my favourite set to date. I partially die cut the flower using the matching Fri-Die, then stamped and coloured the petals with Copics. I also white embossed another flower on black card stock, then placed it behind...you can just seeing it peeking behind in the close up.  Since the cue word is CAS, I didn't add anything else to the card - I think the stamp is pretty enough all by itself.

Happy stamping!

Claire x

Crafting at the Midnight Hour

G'day again!

Since the distress inks were already out and I was on a bit of a crafting roll, I made another quick card for Casology and Addicted to CAS:

It was beyond midnight by the time I finished, which is kind of appropriate since that's the Addicted to CAS code word this week.  I stencilled a moon, then masked it off and blended a dark sky. The birds weren't showing up on the dark background so I die cut another set of birds in pale card stock and matted it under the black. Kind of looks like the moon is shining on them I think.

Anyway, that's all for now - happy stamping!

Claire x

A Whole Lotta Balloons...

Hello again,

Just a quick card for Casology, where the cue word is 'stencil' and Less is More where the theme is:

Something that pops or bangs

I've never been a big user of stencils - I've a few in my stash but I never seem to know quite what to do with them. In the end I didn't even use one of those and made my own with a Whimsy Stamps balloon die.  I used a variety of distress inks to sponge a whole bunch of balloons , then added a bold sentiment from the matching stamp set - Happy Everything.   Another easy one, but isn't that the point of clean and simple challenges?!

Have a great Sunday!

Claire x

Casology #197

Hello bloggers!

I have to say I've struggled a little creating a card for Casology this week - I've strained my back and playing with paper with a dodgy back does nothing for the mojo (nor does it help a sore back!)

This week's cue word can be interpreted in two ways - I went for the 'pull into pieces by force' option rather than the watery kind:

I tore the edge off some card stock, then inked it with some versamark and embossed the torn edge with pewter embossing powder. The little heart die cut is from CAS-ual Fridays Lovely Links, which I've cut down and filled with some Glossy Accent-ed hearts.

Thanks for calling by,

Claire x

A Sprinkle of Snow

Happy weekend everyone!

Casology have a new word for us this week- 'sprinkle.' Certainly no sentiments in my collection with the word sprinkle in them, but it did make me think of a sprinkling of snow:

I used Winnie and Walter's snow stencil with some texture paste, added some die cut snow drifts and a couple of cute penguins from Whimsy Stamps Penguins Winter Adventure. Too easy!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x