Another Freshly Made Colour Q

Hello blogging friends!

I sneakily made a card for the latest Freshly Made Sketch and posted it a little earlier than usual - what I didn't mention is that I used the new Colour Q palette:

I had a heap of happy mail arrive from Whimsy Stamps which is always a sure-fire way to get the mojo going isn't it? I haven't done the chalk board technique for a while so I had a play with Chalkboards 2 which just so happened to fit in nicely with the latest sketch:

I turned the sketch upside down, then used a little starburst stamp from Happy Everything to create a background and added a few random sequins for some birthday sparkle. The chalkboard stamp is actually a rubber stamp - I haven't bought a rubber stamp in years and I'd forgotten how they produce such sharp, crisp images.

Hope you get time to get inky this week - thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Colour Q #290

Evening all,

Tuesday's sneaked up on us whilst no-one was looking - how on earth did that happen? We've got such a pretty new palette for you to play with over at Colour Q this week:

I just had to go with flowers for this one - the colours screamed floral to me. I cut the sentiment using an MFT die and embossed the base, then added a W Plus 9 Fresh Cut Florals border.  The Cameo Coral patterned paper from Stamping' Up is so old, it could almost be classed as a crafty antique - it's been gathering dust for years.

So will you go floral? Or will you opt for something completely different? Check out the rest of the DT's gorgeous creations for some crafty inspiration!

Thanks for stopping!

Claire

Colour Q #289

Hello blogging friends!

The week has raced by in record time and another Colour Q palette is here to whet your crafty appetite:

I was a little bit stuck for ink with these colours so I resorted to using some of my mountains of MME scraps - I also had some inspiration from the current Deconstructed Sketch:

Don't forget, if you haven't got the exact colours, you can substitute the closest match.  It doesn't matter how little of the colours you use, as long as all of them make an appearance!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Freshly Made Sketches #182 (and Colour Q #288)

Hello again!

I'm sneaking this in at Freshly Made Sketches before the challenge closes.  We were invited to my cousin's 50th recently...a lovely thought,  but a party we'll definitely have to miss since it's happening on the other side of the world. Living in Australia is all very well, but it can play havoc with my social life.....

I've had to edit this post as I was a bit cheeky and posted my Colour Q card 24 hours earlier than usual. So, here are the colours - perfect for something masculine don't you think?

I used Casual Friday's cheeky WTF set for this one. I managed to get a few different textures on there..cork, wood, washi, a metal badge and some sweet burlap numbers from Little Yellow Bicycle. 

Hope you get the time to join in before Mr Linky closes his doors!

Thanks for popping by again,

Claire x

Colour Q #287 Meets Waltzingmouse Pyjama Party

G'day folks!

How's your week going?  It's a busy one for me - kids holidays and lots of work so not much time to get crafty. Luckily I was organised and managed to make a couple of cards for today's Waltzingmouse Pyjama Party. I made them before we had the new Colour Q palette and one of them happened to be the very colours that Arielle picked...how lucky was that?

So here are the colours:

And here's the card:

The first card is for the Bedtime Story Sketch. It's been ages since I inked up WMS Funky Feathers and I thought it would be a perfect fit for this gorgeous, layered sketch.  I inked the feathers in three different colours and then fussy cut them.  I had a new 6x6 pad of Authentique patterned papers so used those for the rest of the card.

The next WMS challenge was to use an older WMS set from their Nestability compatible range.  I had a few to choose from but ended up with Opera Tags.  I used a couple of other sets too - Ocean Bound, which is one of my absolute favourite masculine sets and the houndstooth from Heirloom Patterns:

I used some distress inks to create the background for the tag, then stamped the anchor and sentiment.  I stamped the houndstooth onto some kraft card stock and clear embossed it. The wave has been cut using my Silhouette.

Make sure you check out the rest of the DT's creations at Colour Q won't you...and at Waltzingmouse too.  They are an extremely talented bunch of ladies!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Colour Q #286

Hello again!

Second post for me tonight - if you want to see my Casology guest designer creation, just scroll down.

We've got a gorgeous bright and fun set of colours for you this week over at Colour Q - I think they may just be my favourites so far:

What do you do when it's pouring down with rain and the kids are entertaining themselves? Trawl pinterest for a technique you've not tried before of course.  I love distress inks but I always seem to end up blending them and stamping over the top.  I found this gorgeous masculine card on 'A blog Called Wanda', with some great instructions for a distress inked background. In a nutshell - lightly smear a collection of distress inks onto a clear stamping block, spray lightly with water and smash it down onto some watercolour paper. So easy - I love how it's turned out!

So now it's your turn to get a little inky - don't forget you can substitute your nearest colour if you haven't got the exact shades and the beauty of a colour challenge is that you can use anything in your stash as long it's one of the required hues!

Happy stamping!

Claire x

Colour Q #285

Hello folks!

We've got another set of colours for you to play with over at Colour Q, a gorgeous collection of brights, inspired by some sweet handmade Easter baskets:

I was tempted to go with flowers again but these happy hues made me think of Mama Elephant's Around We Go.  I used my Silhouette to die cut some grass from patterned paper,  together with a polaroid frame. The frame looked a little bare in white card stock so I stamped it with WMS Woodgrain and embossed it in white.  The background was sponged using Soft Sky, the nearest I have to Cool Caribbean.

Hope you get the time to get crafty this Easter - the kids finish school on Thursday which normally cuts back on my inky time.  I could have sworn they only just went back....

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Colour Q #284

Hello bloggers!

There's a brand new set of colours to play with over at Colour Q:

I would have loved to have  had a longer play with these pretty colours but I've had both kidlets  at home sick in the last couple of days so not much time to get creative. It's therefore a very CAS card from me this week - I blended some Blushing Nude,  Perfect Plum and Soft Blue inks and sprayed them with water. I stamped them with some Penny Black poppies, then added some olive watercolour to the base of the poppies and the stems.

Since time was short I got some sketchy inspiration from Retro Sketches too:

Hope you get the time to play around with the colours this week - catch you later!

Claire x

Colour Q #283

Hello folks!

Not much playing with ink for me this week - it's been a big birthday week with my oldest son celebrating his 9th birthday and me celebrating my 40th (for the third year in a row...). So, how did I spend my birthday weekend? Lounging around in a luxury spa perhaps? Being waited on hand and foot? No. Making 40 cupcakes for my son's class mates, hosting a sleepover for 4 very noisy little boys and making a giant cheesecake at the birthday boy's request!

But I did have time to fit in my card for the new Colour Q challenge at least:

I knew I had the perfect MME papers for these colours. I used the pretty sketch from CAS(e) This Sketch, stamped and embossed Waltzingmouse's Simple Sprig onto some kraft and fussy cut it.

Hope you have time to get inky this week - you've got until midnight next Monday to link up your creations!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Colour Q #282

Evening all!

Hope you've had a good start to the working week. Are you ready for a new set of colours to play with for the latest Colour Q challenge? They are a complete contrast to last week's pretty and soft hues:

Since my last Bokeh attempt was quite bright and girly I thought I'd have another go at it with these more masculine colours. I used Marina Mist with Soft Sky and added the newsprint bloom from Stamping' Up's Flower Shop.  I punched a flower from some old dictionary paper and layered it with a brad, then added the fancy flourish.

Go and have a peep at the rest of the design team's creations won't you? Heaps of inspiration to give your mojo a kick start!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Colour Q #280

Hello again bloggers!

Tuesday's rolled around in the blink of an eye which means it's time for the new challenge over at Colour Q. This week it's full of rich and luxurious hues - I can imagine a few Christmas cards will feature in the thumbnails this week:

You'll have to take my word that there is a hint of purple on this. It's kind of blended in with the Picked Raspberry distress ink but I can assure you it has been used. I'm not big on stencils - love the look but never quite know what to do with them.... I really should consider doing a class.

I double embossed the die cut dragonfly with gold embossing powder and added some sparkly glitter to the body. It's wings are cut from patterned paper and the sentiment is stamped in Seedless Preserves distress ink.

Make sure you check out all the inspiration the rest of the DT have provided!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Colour Q #279

Hello folks!

It's that time again - a new colour combo to play with over at Colour Q. And it's definitely one of my favourite ones to date (didn't I say that last week?)

I love a bit of newsprint and I had the perfect W Plus 9 set to ink up - Defining Words. The poppies are from Penny Black and have been coloured with Copics - such a great stamp if you're a Copic novice like me. It has shading so you don't have to guess where the shadows are. It was a last minute decision to chomp off that corner...and I immediately regretted it. Don't you just hate that?

I'm determined to play along with some different challenges this year. I do seem to pick the same ones from week to week, largely because of the time factor. I'm playing along at Inkspirational for the first time with this card, where the theme is 'rose' (as in the colour.)

Hope you get the chance to play along this week - looking forward to seeing everyone's creations!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Colour Q #278

Evening folks!

Well so much for getting back into regular card making since the kidlets returned to school.  My back has kind of given out on me this week which makes bending over a crafty project rather difficult.  In fact I feel about 95 at the moment...which would be fine if I was anywhere near that age, but I've still about 55 years to go.

At least I've managed to make a very CAS card with this week's new Colour Q palette:

I love these colours...who would have thought pink, red and orange would look so good together? I've used nothing but stamps for this - one of the pretty sakura blooms from Waltzingmouse's Asian Gardens and a freebie from a Spellbinders Christmas set.  I didn't think it needed any other embellishment.

Make sure you pay a visit to the other very talented girls on the DT - there's so much inspiration this week, you'll want definitely want to get those ink pads out!

Happy stamping!

Claire x

Colour Q #277

Hello!

Can you hear the sigh of relief from parents all over Australia? It's back to school day tomorrow for the kids and as much as I love them being at home, I'm quite happy to get my house back.  It may even look less like a no-go zone by tomorrow afternoon, unlike the last 6 weeks where it has alternated from bomb site to squatters delight.

Tuesday's rolled around again so time to get the new Colour Q palette out - are you ready to get pinky?

I do love a bit of pink in my male dominated household. The colours were the perfect excuse to ink up some new stamps from Spellbinders. Cute image isn't it? I thought that little elephant might double up for a new baby card too..minus the presents of course.

Hope you get a bit of crafty time to join in this week - can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Claire x

Colour Q #276

Hello folks!

Can you believe that Tuesday's rolled around again? It doesn't seem two minutes since I posted for Colour Q last week - is it me, or does time go a lot quicker as we get older?

I love this week's colours but I have to admit my 'coastal cabana' looks a little more 'tempting turquoise' in the photo.  I can assure you, it looks a lot more 'coastal' in real life!

I'm entering this into Darnell's NBUS challenge too - as you probably know, (unless you've been hibernating under a blogland rock) that's 'never before used schtuff'.  I bought these floral Penny Black stamps a few weeks ago so I could practise my Copic colouring...pretty aren't they? In fact, so pretty I stamped a few partial blooms and didn't even add a drop of colour.

Make sure you give some love to the rest of the DT won't you - there's some wonderful inspiration this week!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Colour Q #275

Hello blogging friends!

It feels an age since I last posted - we've just spent a couple of days camping in an area called Myall Lakes, North of Sydney. We were surrounded by the biggest Goannas I've ever seen - it was a true Aussie experience in the bush. At least it was only Goannas this time...last year we were accompanied by a Red Belly Black snake in a tree about 5 metres away from our tent.  The children came back utterly filthy...they really do just seem to attract the dirt - can someone tell me if this is only a boy thing or do little girls get just as dirty?!

Moving on, it's time for this week's Colour Q challenge:

 It was one of those rare times when I had all the required colours so I stamped a background with WMS' Folk Art Medallion. That was the easy part - the hard part was creating a card with such a busy background so I looked to Retro Sketches for a bit of help and as usual it delivered! I die cut a panel out of vellum which softened the pattern a little, then added the sentiment to a second plain panel of card stock. The little blooms are Paper Smooches stand alone dies.

Hope you get the time to get crafty this week - thanks for stopping,

Claire x

First Colour Q of 2015!

Happy New Year bloggers!

So how has 2015 been so far? Broken your New Years resolutions yet?  I've been way too busy to even make any resolutions but getting some more cards in would be nice. I seem to be making an average of one a week at the moment - Christmas, visitors, New Year and kid's holidays just keep getting in the way and I can't see it changing until the kidlets go back to school at the end of the month.

Good thing the first Colour Q challenge for the year is up and running then:

The kids and I had a few days in Canberra over New Year with Nanny and Poppy - it gave me a chance to catch up with my lovely friend Deanne. Now very few friends of mine Down Under make cards (make that 2) so when I see Deanne, I'm able to unleash my inner card nerd and have a nose at all her lovely new products. And of course borrow them. She lent me a heap of Mama Elephant stamps and dies but I have to say I don't really think I've done them justice.  When life's busy the mojo just doesn't flow does it? (It didn't help that I have none of the required colours in ink and had to resort to a combination of markers and distress inks!)  

I'm sure I'll be having another play with all the borrowed goods soon enough.   Hope the mojo has begun to flow for you with the start of 2015....and if not, go and check out the rest of the DT's gorgeous efforts!

Thanks for popping over,

Claire x

Colour Q #273

G'day folks!

Well it's almost time for the big man to arrive - the presents are wrapped, the in-laws have descended and the kids are so excited you'd think they'd been fed nothing but sugar for dinner.  But despite all the mayhem I've been able to sneak in a bit of crafty time for this week's Colour Q palette:

I used the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches but replaced the circle with a big bloom from Doodlebug Designs, coloured with Copics.  I really think colouring with Copics should be prescribed as an alternative therapy for stress...there's something about it that I find so relaxing - or perhaps that was the glass of white wine I had at the same time.

The good news is that we're going to have a little break for a couple of weeks at Colour Q,  so you have until Monday January 5th to have a play with the colours.

Unless a Christmas miracle happens and I'm able to make a card in the next 24 hours, this will be my last post for a few days.  Hope you have a wonderful, happy and safe Christmas - may your stockings be choc full of crafty goodness!

Cheers,

Claire x

Colour Q #272

Evening bloggers!

So I'm sitting here blogging today feeling like the worst Mum in the world. Dare I say that we haven't got a single Christmas decoration up in our house yet? Or a tree for that matter.  The big bloke has spent the last few weeks renovating and the thought of adding a Christmas tree and all the other paraphernalia that goes with it to the copious amounts of dust is not enticing. Tomorrow though, the Christmas decorations will be coming out from hiding as I attempt to inject a Christmassy feeling throughout the house!

But before Christmas actually does come to our house it's time to post the latest Colour Q palette:

Screams Christmas doesn't it? But not to me. All the cards have gone out and once they're done I'll do anything to avoid making more.  I tied my card in with a couple of other challenges - Retro Sketches and Waltzingmouse Fanatics where the theme is 'anything goes'.  Sad to see it's the last WMS Fanatics challenge.  I wish I'd been able to enter more often (as I do consider myself a bit of a WMS Fanatic) but time just seems to be in very short supply in recent months.

I used WMS Simple Sprig. I wasn't too sure about this set when I first saw it but I've grown to love it...it's perfect for a CAS card.

Hope you can find the time to get into crafty mode this week - go and say hi to the rest of the DT!

Thanks for taking a peek,

Claire x