Freshly Made Sketch #314

Hi all,

It may be Christmas but Down Under we're coming to the end of the school year - time to make a few thank you cards for those amazing teachers who've had to put up with my two naughty boys!

I used the latest Freshly Made Sketch:

I created a circular chalkboard background using a Kaisercraft stamp , added a couple of W Plus 9 apples, a sentiment from Waltzingmouse and the background has been stamped using a WMS woodgrain stamp.

I'm also popping this one over to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where one of my favourite bloggers is guest designing this month.  Make sure you go and check out Anita's fab cards at My Papercraft World won't you? The theme for their latest challenge is food and drink so I reckon a couple of juicy apples nails it!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Freshly Made Sketch/Card Concept

Hello again,

Can you believe I finished most of my Christmas cards weeks ago? I was preparing for the UK and realised I could save on the riduculously high postage fees so spent a couple of nights making 40 very quick cards to hand out when I was there. So what that everyone received their card 3 months early - it means I can justify spending the money saved on new stamps...doesn't it?!

I still have a few left to make though - this one will be winging it's way to a certain someone in blogland in a few weeks.  I've used the latest sketch from Freshly Made and I've been inspired by the rich and vibrant colours at The Card Concept - let's call it a classy and elegant style. 

The cute little elf is from MFT as is the gold embossed background stamp and the sentiment is from Waltzingmouse.

Thanks for popping,

Claire x

Frreshly Made Sketch #300

Hello folks,

One of my favourite challenges, Freshly Made Sketches,  is celebrating 300 sketches this week:

I used the colours from Altenew's August inspiration challenge with Hennah Elements. I coloured the largest bloom with Copics but wanted to soften it, so gold embossed the flower on to vellum and layered it over the top. To give it some dimension I fussy cut the flower and popped up the layers with dimension tape. 

Happy stamping!

Claire x

Stampin' Up Revival

Hello, hello,

I was looking through my stash today and came across a Stampin' Up background stamp I bought years ago called 'On the Spot.' I's such a pretty stamp,  I really should have used it more:

I gold embossed it on a black background, then added the SU butterfly coloured with Copics.  It's such a simple sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, I thought I could use it for this week's Casology challenge too. The cue word is 'insect.' AAA Cards are having a big 3rd birthday challenge this week so I'm also popping my card over there. Happy birthday AAA!

Thanks for popping over,

Claire x

Freshly Made Sketch #290

Hello, happy weekend to you,

Freshly Made Sketches have a really different sketch this week to play with - I used the colours from Your Next Stamp's Sketch and Colour Challenge and my favourite YNS set Keepin' It Reel

For the background I embossed the dots from Cool Backgrounds - these background builders are about an inch square so it took quite a while to finish the whole piece. Worth it though - I love the texture it's created!

Thanks for stopping 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 

Freshly made Sketch #279

Hello, hello,

It's been a while since I made a masculine card - I thought this week's Freshly Made Sketch would really suit a masculine image:

The back kraft panel is stamped using Waltzingmouse's Woodgrain background in a similar colour - it gives a bit of texture without overpowering the card. I used some MME patterned papers for the other layers and added a PTI Centre Style masculine frame - the golf trolley is by Stamp in Style and is coloured in with Copics so I'm also popping this card over to the 30 Day Colouring Challenge.  I adjusted the flags slightly and sat them in front of the second panel instead of behind...there wouldn't have been enough colour otherwise from those papers.

Hope you have a great weekend and get some inky time!

Claire x

Hennah Blooms

Hey bloggers!

Here's a card using the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches which I've combined with this month's Altenew challenge and the 30 Day Colour Challenge:

I'm also popping it into the latest Time Out challenge - they're celebrating their 3rd birthday and this week they have a theme:

Love and/or Friendship with the optional twist of 'spotlight stamping' where you add colour only to one raised area of your image

 I used Altenew's Hennah Elements but the sentiment's from Waltzingmouse!

Thanks for popping by!

Claire x

Chanelling Vintage

G'day again folks!

Just managed to get this little card into Freshly Made Sketches and The Card Concept before the linky closes:

The Card Concept has a vintage theme this week - I've taken my cue from the pretty script, the gold on the paper and the browns and creams. The panel was inked up with distress inks and gold embossed with a W Plus 9 script stamp.  I think it fits in the classy and elegant style best. 

Thanks for popping by!

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

Adorable Elephants

Hi there bloggers!

I combined the latest sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches with this week's colour challenge over at My Favorite Things using their sweet Adorable Elephants set:

I created a Bokeh background and after much faffing decided to put it against black card stock instead of my usual CAS white.  I'm hoping that's allowed under the MFT rules! The little scene I created just didn't work with the column so I stuck to my old rule: if all else fails, stick it at a tilt! 

Hope you have a fabulous week!

Claire x

Your Next Stamp: New Release Blog Hop!

Hello inky friends!

There's a brand new release happening over at Your Next Stamp and,  to celebrate,  YNS are having a January New Release Blog Hop. There's lots of inspiration from the design team and there's the chance to win a $25.00 gift certificate, simply by making comments.  Remember, the more comments you leave, the better the chance of winning!

I used the latest sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches for the card above. It features a couple of sweet birds from the brand new Love Birds set which I coloured with Copics. For the striped borders on the left I used the Thick Stripe-tastic Diagonal Edge.  I'm loving this border - it's big and bold but for a more subtle look you can do what I've done and white emboss it on to white card stock. The splashes of ink behind the birds are from Cool Backgrounds,  released in December.

 

To celebrate the new release there's also a special discount on all new purchases made between January 7th from 10pm and January 11th at midnight - by using the online code Jan2017 when placing your order,  you can get 20% off your entire purchase!

Next on the hop is Sue so pop on over, get inspired and leave a comment for the chance of winning that gift certificate!

Thanks for calling by,

Claire x

Products Used:

An InLinkz Link-up

Freshly Made Altenew Blooms

Hello!

It's been a long time between cards but a visit to the local paper craft fair emptied my wallet and kick-started my mojo:

Surprisingly I found a stand selling Altenew Stamps so I treated myself to a couple of different sets - the blooms here are from Floral Motifs but the sentiment's from Hennah Elements.  I gold embossed the blooms, then coloured them with Copics and created a stencilled background using Gesso. I'm popping this one over to Freshly Made Sketches and Simon Says Stamp where the theme is 'anything goes.' Time Out has an 'inspired by words' challenge this week so I'm linking up over there too - the theme is 'Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart'.

Enjoy your Monday!

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