Rainbow Borders

Hello again,

Here's a very quick card for Less is More which has a 'borders' theme for their latest challenge:

I used a die from MFT and one of the border stamps from Mama Elephant's Modern Borders, stamped in black and coloured with a rainbow of Copics. 

Happy stamping!

Claire

Addicted to CAS - Silhouette

Hello folks,

Here's a very simple card for Addicted to CAS where the code word is 'silhouette:'

Funnily enough I don't think I've ever used this Memory Box die as a black silhouette - I always seem to use it in a white snowy scene. This time I put it against MFT's Sunbeam stencil. The hot air balloon and sentiment is from Mama Elephant. 

Happy stamping!

Claire 

Easter Three-fer

Hello fellow inkers and happy Easter!

Despite the isolation we still managed an Easter egg hunt in the back garden and a special meal followed by pavlova. I think after all this is over I'll be rolling out of the house - eating and drinking seem to be taking up most of my time!

The remainder's taken up with card making (unfortunately very little calorie burning there) so here's a few clean and simple ones I made for a variety of challenges:

The first is for CAS(E) This Sketch.  I've stamped and embossed some Mama Elephant Basic Borders and added a large die cut butterfly from Stamplorations which has been coloured using alcohol inks. A scattering of sequins and MFT sentiment and it was done.

The second one is for MFT's latest sketch challenge. In case you missed it, MFT and Torico have made all four Birdie Brown doctor and nurse images available as a free printable. The one above looks just like one of my closest friends, currently working in the ICU of one of Sydney's largest  hospitals. Unfortunately I'm not catching up with her as much as I'd like so this is just to remind her that she hasn't been forgotten.

The last is for the Paper Smooches colour story challenge and Fusion's cute gnome inspiration pic which has similar pastel colours.  The decorative chain of spheres above the gnomes reminded me of Paper Smooches Hearts Dies. I tried to add in another PS stamp or die but despite my growing Paper Smooches collection nothing seemed to work so I used the same Stamplorations butterfly which seemed to fit well with the pretty sentiment from Fun and Flirty.

Hope you get the time to get a bit inky this long Easter weekend - happy stamping!

Claire

The Card Concept - Favourite Card of 2019

Hello again,

Just a very quick post - The Card Concept's final 'challenge' of the year is to share a photo of our Christmas tree or a pic of our favourite card from 2019. For the first time ever we decided to buy a fake tree this year - it's something I swore I'd never do but I've never been keen on the Christmas trees in Australia. They're a completely different shape in comparison to the traditional fir in the US and UK and I find it very hard to hang the ornaments on without pulling all the needles off!

So, rather than show you my fake tree, I'm sharing my favourite card of the year which is the one above using this Ferris wheel from Mama Elephant.  It was interesting going back throughout the year and seeing what I'd done - I managed to narrow it down to 4, all of them clean and simple like this one. 

Have a fabulous new year and hope you get to do lots of card making in 2020!

Claire x

Mad for Plaid With Your Next Stamp!

G'day stampers!

Your Next Stamp have a plaid challenge this month - I have a lovely YNS Christmas paper pad full of plaid patterned paper but I'm so over Christmas cards I thought I'd go in a completely different direction and make a baby card using Baby Blessings:

I've used the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and, since there could hardly be anything better than celebrating a new life,  I'm also linking up with Time Out's theme challenge of 'celebrations.'

Since I didn't have any pink plaid paper I created my own again using a selection of border stamps (see the previous post for another example). A pink on grey woodgrain background and a scattering of sequins and fluffy clouds finished it all off!

Happy weekend!

Claire x

Time Out for Freshly Made Sketches

Hello fellow inkers!

I bought the Sweet Holiday Penguins set from MFT just before I went to the UK - it seems to have taken weeks to get round to actually using them.   I thought this little fella would work well with the latest Freshly Made Sketch: 

I've also used Time Out's Home Sweet Home inspiration pic. I've been inspired by lots of things - the gingham pattern on the pillows, the white duvet (or doona as we say over here) on the bed and the traditional Christmassy colours. I didn't have a gingham stamp so had to get creative and used a few different stamps from Mama Elephant and Waltzingmouse to create my own patterned paper. Lastly, an embossed snowy background using Tim Holtz' Snowfall Speckles which is probably one of the best crafty investments I've bought!

Thanks for calling by!

Claire x

Rainbow Wheel

Hello bloggers,

Who can resist a challenge with the word 'rainbow' in it - that's one of the words of inspiration in Time Out's latest challenge:

This Mama Elephant Ferris wheel hasn't seen ink for ages - I don't think I even owned Copics when I bought this set so thought it would be fun way to add a splash of rainbow colour.  It took a while but I really like how it turned out.

I used AAA's simple sketch again but put the horizontal panel towards the top of the card this time. You can see my previous entry on my last post!

Thanks for calling by!

Claire x

Fusion - Take 2

Hello fellow inkers!

I enjoyed the Fusion challenge so much that I thought I'd have a second go at it. This time I looked at the picture with my glasses on - and realised that there isn't actually any orange on it.  You can see my previous, incorrect take on it if you look at the previous post!  Note to self: keep my specs on when crafting! I used the latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches for the layout:

The second card is for Time Out - I thought there was so much to draw from - the striped cushion, the butterfly and the way the wall has the subtle detail which almost looks like it's embossed:

Have a fabulous week!

Claire x

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Time Out for Fusion and The Card Concept

Hello and happy weekend!

More new stuff to play with - this time Clearly Besotted's Beautiful Friend with matching die:

I took inspiration from The Card Concept's pretty colour palette and used the clean and layered sketch from Fusion where they're celebrating a whopping 5 years of playing with ink!  I've also stuck with the 'loving' theme over at Time Out.

The background has been white embossed using W Plus 9's Defining Words and I stamped and embossed Mama Elephant's Basic Borders in gold and black for the left hand panel.

Hope you get time to get inky this weekend!

Claire x

Fusion Card Challenge - Galaxy

Hello folks!

It's time for a new challenge over at Fusion where I'm guest designing this month.  Will you be inspired by the galaxy of stars in the pic or by the sketch, or perhap use them both together?

I've used the sketch and been inspired by the pic - I've used distress inks to create a space-like sky and the little spaceman is from Your Next Stamp. The embossed, striped background was done using Mama Elephant's Basic Borders.

Make sure you pop over and say 'hi' to the Design Team won't you? You've got a couple of weeks to join in with the challenge - who knows, you may even be chosen as 'Zen Master!'

Happy stamping!

Claire x

Rainbow Hello

Hello!

Can't resist a rainbow challenge which is this week's theme over at AAA Cards:

I used Color Bursts to create a rainbow coloured 'hello' from MFT. I inlaid the die cut and covered it liberally with Glossy Accents, then added some Mama Elephant white embossed stripes. Too easy!

Happy stamping!

Claire x

Time Out for Casology

Happy weekend!

It's been ages since I played along at CASology so in my attempt to get back into CAS mode I thought I'd combine their butterfly cue with Time Out's bold black and gold photo inspiration:

I've used 4 different stamp sets for this card - the black stripes are from Mama Elephant's Basic Borders, the gold stripes from PTI's Grunge Me, gold embossed paint splatter is Your Next Stamp's Cool Backgrounds (truly the best splatter out there!) and the sentiment is from PTI's Autumn Abundance. Lastly, the die cut butterfly is from my local craft store which make their own range of craft products called Crafts4U. Amazing how many different products you can use for one clean and simple card isn't it?!

Thanks for calling by!

Claire x

Less Is More - Alphabet

Hello, hello!

Quick card for Less is More where the theme is 'alphabet:'

The baby themed cards are getting very few and far between now - I think it's a sign of age! One friend though is due any minute now so this one will be winging its way to her on the birth of her baby boy. I used Mama Elephant's Nursery Deco.

Hope you're having a fabulous day!

Claire x

Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Hello!

It's the Fall Coffee Lovers Bloghop so time to ink up those coffee/tea themed stamps:

My mojo went a bit walkabout with this one - let's just say I was really 'procaffeinating' about what to do.  I couldn't decide on colour, design or even stamps...so used the latest Retro Sketch with the colours from Fusion for some inspiration. In hindsight I probably should have had a couple of cups of  strong coffee to get the creative juices flowing!

Hope you have time to join in the fun!

Thanks for calling by,

Claire

Time for a Spin

Hello, hello!

It's been months since my Mama Elephant set 'Around we Go' has seen ink but it's perfect for the cue word over at Casology this week, which is 'spin':

I've embossed the little ferris wheel in three different embossing powders and mounted it with dimensional tape on a navy background. It looks black doesn't it but I can assure you it's actually navy...trick of the light. (Or just rubbish photography skills.) The little enamel heart has been in my stash for years and as it has never been used, it means my card is eligible for Darnell's fabulous 6th NBUS challenge. That's never-before-used-schtuff, in case you've been sleeping under a rock somewhere. 

Well I'm off to apologise to my Mum for forgetting it's Mothers Day in the UK today. I do wish Australia and the UK would get their Mothers Days in sync..I've forgotten the UK one every year for 15 years!

Thanks for calling by,

Claire x

Valentine's Rose

Happy Valentines Day!

No dozen red roses for me but I did get a big box of Malteser's after some particularly heavy hints were left that they were on offer in the local supermarket. Roses or chocolate? Chocolate wins every time!

Speaking of roses, I used one from Winnie and Walter's 'The Big, the Bold and Extras' for this card, based on the latest Freshly Made Sketch. I also used the colours again from The Colour Throwdown:

There's a real mix of stamps on this one - the sentiment  is from Mama Elephant and the tag is Waltzingmouse, as is the background stamp which I white embossed on vellum.  Instead of adding the strips behind the label, I added a few extra leaves.  

Well, that's all for me on this Valentines Eve...hope you have a good one and if there's no-one special in your life at the moment, it's the perfect excuse to break out the chocolate!

Claire x