Waltzingmouse Blog Party

Hello Blog hoppers!

It's the first Waltzingmouse Blog Party for 2013 and the theme for this month is 'love.' Now I could have made a Valentines card, but since I've already done one for a previous challenge (and I've only got one husband), I didn't fancy doing another one. Of course, I would have made another one if I knew George (Clooney) was going to receive it....

Instead I thought I'd do a layout - I haven't done a layout for a WMS challenge for ages:

It's based on my kids 'love' for our homegrown strawberries. The blokey built our very first proper veggie patch last spring, complete with Chinese cabbage, lettuce, beetroot, sweetcorn, radishes, carrots, herbs, tomatoes, eggplant, chillis...and in a separate pot some strawberries! The kids have loved them and I have to say, the whole exercise has really encouraged them to try more veggies, which can only be a good thing.

I used the Woodgrain set for my background, Big Berries-Strawberries, Vintage Labels 1 for my journal spot and for my leaves I used the Camellia set. Who said that Camellia leaves couldn't be used as strawberry leaves eh? I added a few drops of Dimensional Magic to the strawberry, just to make it extra juicy!

Can't wait to see what everyone else is in love with - happy blog hopping and thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Cooling off with Casology

Hello again Bloggers!

I'm in Canberra this weekend and woke up to the smell of smoke throughout the house, from bushfires about 70km away. Luckily the weather has cooled a little so hopefully this will allow the fire service to get the fires under control.

This week's Casology challenge has helped keep me cool in the roasting weather though:

Since I'm not at home I had VERY limited supplies to play with. In fact, I packed just the bare essentials; card, ink and a few scraps of patterned paper and blue bazzil. I've had that little Cuttlebug snowman die for years - he's pretty cute isn't he but I felt as though he needed a twine scarf to keep his neck warm. I inked some glossy card stock for a bit of a snowy night scene - I'd have liked to have added some snow with some gesso but I didn't grab any in my packing frenzy. A jaunty little hat would have gone well too...maybe next time!

Hope you're having a great weekend and thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

A Final Layout for Scrapville

Hello Scrappers!

It's been a blistering day in Sydney today, with more to come...it feels like the whole of Australia is burning at the moment. What I would give to be in a British or North American Winter right now!

Well, the time has come for me to finish on the Creative Team at Scrapville. It's been a wonderful year, with lots of new products and sketches to try. This months sketch challenge from Anita looks like this:

I framed the layout with some washi tape and used some different tape to make some tabs down the side of the photo. I've had this tape forever and really must start to use it more...it just seems to sit in my stash, accumulating dust.

If you would like to enter the sketch challenge and be in the running to win some scrappy goodies, you can find all the details here.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone and home you manage to remain sane in the extreme weather conditions, whatever side of the Atlantic you're on!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Cr8ing for Freshly Made

Hello peeps,

Time for  a sketch at Freshly Made, together with this weeks colour challenge at CR84FN:

It's rare for me to find a quote that I like...but I think this is a lovely one for anyone going through a hard time, so I made it the focus of the card. It's from the Camellia set at Waltzingmouse. The blossoms have been embossed on to some raspberry coloured paper from American Crafts and, of course, there's the obligatory twine which seems to make an appearance on everything I make at the moment!

Hope you have a wonderful day and thanks for popping by!

Claire x

A 'New' Card

Hello Bloggers!

Casology is back with a new challenge and funnily enough the cue word is:

I thought that the baby boom amongst friends was over....you get to a certain age and you pretty much think that will be it for a while.  But I've got 3 friends, all in their 40's and all due with 3rd babies in the coming months, so I may as well stock up on supplies.

I used a Sizzix die and hung it up with a couple of mini pegs. The layers are stuck with dimensional tape (but you can't really tell from the pic) and the sentiment is Waltzingmouse from the Frame-It set.

I can't say that making baby cards makes me feel clucky, but it will be lovely to have newborns around again...particularly when I'm able to hand them back!

Enjoy your weekend and thanks for popping by,

Claire x

A Last Saturday Waltz

Hello bloggers,

Tonight has been spent with a hoard of females (and the odd male) sobbing into a hanky, whilst watching Les Miserables.  Not since Beaches (remember that one?) have I heard quite so much snuffling at the cinema. It was a fantastic movie so I thoroughly recommend it...unless you're not a fan of musicals...in which case steer well clear!

Well I continue to sob since it's the last ever Saturday sketch challenge over at Waltzingmouse this week. But not to worry, it sounds like there's still going to be challenges on the main blog in the coming months so my stamps will continue to get a good workout! This week the sketch is from Edna Morrisedie:

Santa bought the Half Pint Heroes set so I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this one. I  used one of the doiles from the small Dainty Doiles set for a planet. The 'moon' is some ancient silver paper I had which has been embossed using a Cuttlebug folder and I embossed the sentiment to the side, since I couldn't exactly fit it on to the rocket.

It's late now so I'm off to cry copiously into my pillow, whilst dreaming of singing a duet with Hugh Jackman...

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

A New Year Play Date

Good morning bloggers and Happy New Year! Hope this year is a great one for you and your family!

For me,  2013 has started with a clear head (for a change) and a blog post to show what I've done for the latest challenge over at Play Date Cafe:

To be quite honest I'm not sure if I'm happy with it....I kind of think my mojo got left in 2012 for this one. Santa gave me a few little crafty Christmas presents and I was so desperate to use them I  bunged them all on the one card! And since I've not got a New Years hangover to deal with, I can't even blame it on that...

Anyway, it's a scorching 39C here in Sydney today so I thought I'd head to the air con with the kids to see Wreck-it Ralph. Is it a sign of age that you actually find the kids films way more intelligent than the adult's ones nowadays?

Have a fabulous day!

Claire x