CAS on Friday Guest Designer

Hello folks!

I'm delighted to be Guest designer over at CAS on Friday today.  They have a brand new challenge to whet your inky appetite:

The theme is 'sunshine.'  I used a Whimsy Stamps set to create my sunny card - the centres of the sun have been blended with distress inks using MFT's circle stencil and the sentiment's from Polynesian Paradise.

I'm also popping this one over to The Paper Players who also have a weather inspired challenge happening.

Hope you get time to join in this week!

Claire 

CAS Shenanigans!

Hello, happy Thursday to you!

I'm playing along with The Paper Players for the very first time with my latest card. They have a 'men in mind' clean and simple challenge happening and since there's a distinct lack of masculine cards in my stash, it was the perfect time for me to join in:

I've used a couple of different sets - CAS-ual Fridays' Shenanigans and Whimsy Stamps' Happy Everything.  The colours are inspired by Colour Throwdown's new colour palette which I thought would be perfect for a masculine card.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Seeing More Spots!

Hello again,

I've another card for you today featuring spots, this time for Less is More which has a one layer challenge to use spots:

It's been a while since I inked up Whimsy Stamps' Happy Hello - it feature a larger, spot block stamp so I used it to create a rainbow background and embossed the PTI sentiment over the top with some holographic, glitter embossing powder. It really does look quite sparkly in real life but doesn't show up in the photo.

Short and sweet today! Happy stamping!

Claire x

FMS - Winter Wishes

Hi bloggers!

Time for a quick card for Freshly Made Sketches:

The sweet little penguin is from Penguin's Winter Adventure by Whimsy Stamps.  I've created the snowy background using CAS-ual Friday's Snowy Sayings so I'm also popping it over to Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge to create your own patterned paper.

Happy stamping!

Claire x

CAS(E) This Sketch #312

Hello, 

Quick card using the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch:

Yes I know, not quite an accurate take on the sketch but you can definitely see how I've been inspired...I just went a bit mad with all those circle stamps!

Happy stamping everyone!

Claire x

Simple Circles

Hello fellow bloggers,

Card making has been thrown out the window in the last week - my eldest started his first day of high school and promptly came down with chicken pox 24 hours later.  Nothing seems to go to plan in this household!

Maybe as I've had spots on the mind in the last week, this week's Freshly Made Sketch appealed! I'd been wanting to play along with Less Is More's navy and yellow challenge but my mojo didn't know where to start - and then FMS came up with a fabulous sketch which made it at whole lot easier:

I blended a few circles using MFT's circle stencil and a selection of yellow inks, then added some stamping using Whimsy Stamp's circle bursts from Happy Everything. A scattering of clear dots and a Simon Says Stamp sentiment and it was all done!

Happy stamping!

Claire x

Simply Celebrate

Hello again,

I've been playing around with the sketch from Less is More - looks nice and simple doesn't it but it was hard finding a sentiment that fit with the squares: 

I used Whimsy Stamps Happy Everything to create the pattern and the sentiment is from WMS. I made sure I used some bright hues so I could also play along at Time Out where the theme is 'bright.'

Have a fabulous day!

Claire x

Time Out Guest Designer - Take 2

Hi folks,

Have you managed to put some ink to paper yet and play along over at Time Out? You've still got time to enter their 4th Birthday Celebrations to be in with the chance to win a gift voucher from Concord and 9th. It's an 'inspired by words' challenge:

Here's my take on it:

I layered some Pretty Pink Posh stitched photo frames and used the quirky little goat from Your Next Stamp's Funny Farm Crew as my main image. The sun is from Whimsy Stamps and the sentiment's PTI.

Theres some stunning cards from the DT this week so take a peek for some inspiration!

Happy stamping!

Claire x

Fruity Triple Whammy!

Evening folks!

It's a rare crafty moment when I combine three different challenges on the one card. Less is More have a colour challenge based on tropical fruits, Casology's cue word is 'juicy' and AAA have a Summer theme for their latest challenge:

This was another card that came about through random stamping on a scrap piece of paper.  I used the citrus slice stamp from Whimsy Stamps' Feeling Fruity (now retired) and just hoped for the best! The sentiment is from PTI. 

Thanks for calling by,

Claire x

CASology - 5 Year Anniversary Balloon Blog Hop

Hi folks,

So glad I've had the time to play along at CASology this week - it's their 5th birthday and there's a special anniversary blog hop. The cue word is 'balloon:'

I've used the large balloon and a selection of sentiments from Whimsy Stamp's Happy Everything. It took some very precise stamping (without the aid of a Misti) to get those balloons lined up! I'm popping it over to their monthly challenge which is Anything Goes with the option of holiday.  I'm also entering into the AAA cards challenge where the theme is 'rainbow.'

Happy inking!

Claire x

Seeing Spots

Hello, 

How's your week going? I've gone all spotty playing along with Less is More's one layer challenge to use spots and stripes. The spots and sentiment are from Whimsy Stamp's Happy Hello and the stripes are from PTI's Grunge Me:

I didn't have much of a plan when I did this card - can you tell? In fact, I think the spots perhaps reflect the number of glasses of wine consumed whilst making it.

Addicted to CAS has the code word 'pink' this week so I'm also popping my card in their challenge too!

Thanks for calling by,

Claire x

Casology #241

Hi bloggers!

Just managed to make a quick card for Casology where the cue word is 'melt:'

I stamped a rainbow of candles from Whimsy Stamps, a simple sentiment from Waltzingmouse and added a touch of sparkle to the flames. 

Happy stamping!

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

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

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

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

A Penguin Love Triangle?

Hello again!

So since I'd left everything out after making my previous card, I thought I may as well make another one, using these sweet Whimsy Stamps penguins. This time I've used the latest Freshly Made Sketch:

I can't help thinking these three little penguins may be in the middle of a penguin love triangle. The one on the right may be a little jealous of the twosome on the left, although at least she's still smiling....what do you think?

Since this card is a celebration of Christmas and has some fussy cutting, it also fits in with the challenge over at Time Out:

                                  Celebrations with optional twist of die cutting/fussy cutting

Thanks for calling by again, 

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

Hello Sunshine

Happy Easter everyone!

Hope your day has been a chocolate fun-fest!  The chocolate eating began at a ridiculously early hour this morning, with a hunt for Easter eggs by the kidlets. Within 3 minutes of finding them all,  said kidlets had their faces covered in chocolate and a phase of extreme hyperactivity was begun.

They're now running off the chocolate high with Dad at the park so it's a good time to post my card for this week's Casology challenge, where the cue word is 'weather:'

I think I was maybe encouraging the sun to come out with this card - it's been a pretty average Easter weekend weather-wise over here.  I coloured a Copic rainbow, threaded it through the Whimsy Stamps sunshine and added a die cut MFT sentiment, together with a sentiment from the same Whimsy set - 'Happy Hello.'

Another quick CAS card - but isn't that the point? 

Hope you manage to get some chocolatey goodness before the kids eat it all!

Thanks for calling by,

Claire x