A Lucky Blog Party

Hello blog hoppers!

It's Blog Party time over at Waltzingmouse and, since it's the 17th March and we're all celebrating the luck of the Irish, the theme for the party is 'lucky.'

Did you know that Australia is known as the 'lucky country?' I began to think of all the photos I've taken of the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and other iconic views we associate with Australia and decided to do a scrapbook layout. I also wanted to include a couple of photos of my boys enjoying this 'lucky' country of ours so it ended up being a double (very rare for me!):

I kept it very simple - I'm not used to doing double pages and I always struggle to work out how to embellish them. I used a collection of  different stamps - the frame around the photos was stamped using the background stamp from the Woodgrain set. I also used the chevron from this set to add a bit of detail to the frame. The journal spot was made using a rectangle Nestability die, together with the dotted frame from Fancy Phrases. I added some stamped leaves to the flower stickers and used the little leaf stamp from the Frame It set. The background paper, behind the photos, is one of the digital papers from the Folk Art 'clean' collection. I printed it on bazzil cardstock and it came out a treat!

I'm off to have a nose around and see how everyone else interpreted 'lucky' this month. Thanks so much for stopping by. And if you have made a comment in the last few weeks, it's very much appreciated as I think I had word verification on my blog for some reason....very annoying. (I switched it off months ago!)

Cheers,
Claire x

Scrapping with Finnabair

Hello Scrappers!

Seems a while since I've blogged but I've been trying to give my blog a bit of a facelift. Not finished yet - for someone as technically challenged as me, it takes forever....

I feel as though I've been stuck in a bit of a scrapbooking rut recently, struggling for ideas and wanting to try something different. So yesterday I went to my local craft shop - Catchy Crafts -  and did a 4 hour class with Anna Dabrowska or Finnabair, as she's more popularly known. I'd been in two minds about whether to do the class as her style is the complete opposite of mine - messy, arty, mixed media, painting, misting, whereas mine is clean and simple. All the more reason to have a go eh? And I am SO glad I did:

I'm so happy with how it turned out. I learnt heaps - lots of techniques that I'm sure I'll use in the future. Everyone's layout turned out totally different so if you do plan on doing the class I haven't given the game away. If you ever do get an opportunity to do a class with Anna, I totally recommend it!

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping!

Claire x

Muse Challenge #7

Hello Bloggers,

You'll have to excuse my blog...it looks like it's in the nude. I'm in the process of giving it a few changes and I'm only part way through.

Anyway, time for another Muse challenge, this time using a beautiful card made by Laurie Willison. I also combined it with this week's sketch over at Mojo Monday:

Laurie's card inspired me in lots of different ways - the white ink on the kraft, the colours, faux stitching....I turned the sketch on its side and used a really old stamp from Rachel Greig. The 'Mum' part belongs in the centre of the stamp but I die cut a hole in it and put it on top of a doile stamp, together with a button. Gets a bit complicated this cardmaking lark sometimes doesn't it? The flowers were stamped using the Reason to Smile set from Stampin' Up.

Not many cards for me this week - my oldest son turns seven and I turn 21 (ok...add a few years) on the same day. How am I spending my birthday? With 14 seven year olds at a slot car race track..lovely!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Die Cut Challenge

Hello folks,

Hope your day is tickling along nicely.

Time for another My Minds Eye Challenge, this time to use die cuts on your project. Not sure about you but I have heaps of die cuts gathering dust in my stash. Some of them I've had for years. I'm not too sure why I don't use them more often - they're a real time saver if you need to do a quick card and they look great with matching papers:

Can you spot how many die cuts I've used? There's six on there in total, all from the Bloom and Grow collection, which is so old now, it could probably be exhibited as a scrapbooking antique. I've layered all the blooms and mounted the flower on a journalling strip. Too easy! At least the patterned paper is from one of the MME latest collections!

Super quick card for a super quick post today...thanks for stopping!

Claire x

Leibster Award

Hello Bloggers!

Well, this post has been a LONG time coming - a few months ago Michelle very kindly gave me a Liebster Award. In a nutshell this is what it's about:

It’s for inspirational bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers and is designed to be passed on to others. These are the guidelines for recipients:

• Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog.
• Post the award on your blog.
• Pass the award on to five bloggers who inspire you and have fewer than 200 followers.
• Leave a comment on their blog so they know they are the recipient of the award.

I like the idea of this...there's some absolute gems out there and I think this is a lovely way to 'pay it forward' so to speak.

Now I sat down and did a draft post about who I wanted to pass the award on to, but I found it so difficult to pick 5 inspirational blogs, that I put it in the 'must do at a later date' basket. So what happens? I forget all about it and then I get another award from Anita.  So, I decided that it's about time I pulled my finger out and actually passed the award on. The blogs I've chosen (in no particular order) are:

The Storyteller

My Joyful Moments

Confessions of a Messy Crafter

Made with Sparkle

Kreative Kristie

Hope you have time to pop over to these blogs and say 'hi!'

Thanks for popping over to mine,

Claire x

Anything but CAS

Hello crafty folks,

I had every intention of playing along with Casology this week as the cue word is 'circle.' So I knew what I wanted to do ( it looks like a few others went for this as well) and thought I would use the week's colours over at Play Date Cafe:

It turned out to be anything but simple...lining up the patterned papers with the cut out circle, working out where to stamp the flourishes and sentiment, where to put the flowers....it seemed to take forever. I like how it turned out though, but it won't be entered into this weeks Casology challenge!

Have a great night and thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Muse Challenge #6

Hello Bloggers!

Time for another inspirational card over at Muse, this time a beautiful card by Deanna Jean:

I was inspired by the way Deanna clustered the stamped flowers in the left hand corner - I love the way she's sliced off the ends of the leaves to make it all fit.  I used a Memory Box die to make my flowers and added a KindyGlitz centre. The leaves, background and sentiment have been stamped using a number of different Waltzingmouse sets.

Just a quickie today folks...have a good one!

Claire x