'Winter' Inspiration

Evening folks!

It's official - the kids are driving me ever so slightly bonkers! We're half way through the Summer holidays here - Christmas is over, the presents have been played with, visitors have been and gone and we've now hit the boredom phase!

Thank goodness there are some new challenges for 2015 to keep me sane -I combined a couple of them to make this little card:

I love the Wintry graphic in the Curtain Call challenge, although I wish I'd used a little more white, rather than kraft.  Looking at it now, it kind of looks quite Summery!  I stamped the background with a WMS woodgrain stamp, added a felt flourish and a couple of SU blooms. The silver one has been embossed in pewter and I added some Liquid Pearls to the centre for a bit of texture.  No sentiment...for the simple reason I couldn't fit one on! I also used the latest sketch from Mojo Monday for a little sketchy guidance.

Thanks for coming over,

Claire

First Colour Q of 2015!

Happy New Year bloggers!

So how has 2015 been so far? Broken your New Years resolutions yet?  I've been way too busy to even make any resolutions but getting some more cards in would be nice. I seem to be making an average of one a week at the moment - Christmas, visitors, New Year and kid's holidays just keep getting in the way and I can't see it changing until the kidlets go back to school at the end of the month.

Good thing the first Colour Q challenge for the year is up and running then:

The kids and I had a few days in Canberra over New Year with Nanny and Poppy - it gave me a chance to catch up with my lovely friend Deanne. Now very few friends of mine Down Under make cards (make that 2) so when I see Deanne, I'm able to unleash my inner card nerd and have a nose at all her lovely new products. And of course borrow them. She lent me a heap of Mama Elephant stamps and dies but I have to say I don't really think I've done them justice.  When life's busy the mojo just doesn't flow does it? (It didn't help that I have none of the required colours in ink and had to resort to a combination of markers and distress inks!)  

I'm sure I'll be having another play with all the borrowed goods soon enough.   Hope the mojo has begun to flow for you with the start of 2015....and if not, go and check out the rest of the DT's gorgeous efforts!

Thanks for popping over,

Claire x

Make it Monday

Merry Christmas bloggers!

Hope you had a wonderful day - I feel as though we celebrated by spending most of the day stuffing ourselves senseless....isn't that what everyone does? It's a wonder I've been able to bend over my craft table to make a card for Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday challenge. Did you see this gorgeous card by Melissa Phillips? 

I used a couple of different sets - Heart Prints and the sentiment is from Scattered Showers.  In hindsight (isn't it a wonderful thing?) I think I should have stamped a narrower border so I may try this technique again with a different set of stamps. 

Just a quickie today - our second set of Christmas visitors have arrived so the crafty mojo has ended before it even began!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Colour Q #273

G'day folks!

Well it's almost time for the big man to arrive - the presents are wrapped, the in-laws have descended and the kids are so excited you'd think they'd been fed nothing but sugar for dinner.  But despite all the mayhem I've been able to sneak in a bit of crafty time for this week's Colour Q palette:

I used the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches but replaced the circle with a big bloom from Doodlebug Designs, coloured with Copics.  I really think colouring with Copics should be prescribed as an alternative therapy for stress...there's something about it that I find so relaxing - or perhaps that was the glass of white wine I had at the same time.

The good news is that we're going to have a little break for a couple of weeks at Colour Q,  so you have until Monday January 5th to have a play with the colours.

Unless a Christmas miracle happens and I'm able to make a card in the next 24 hours, this will be my last post for a few days.  Hope you have a wonderful, happy and safe Christmas - may your stockings be choc full of crafty goodness!

Cheers,

Claire x

Colour Q #272

Evening bloggers!

So I'm sitting here blogging today feeling like the worst Mum in the world. Dare I say that we haven't got a single Christmas decoration up in our house yet? Or a tree for that matter.  The big bloke has spent the last few weeks renovating and the thought of adding a Christmas tree and all the other paraphernalia that goes with it to the copious amounts of dust is not enticing. Tomorrow though, the Christmas decorations will be coming out from hiding as I attempt to inject a Christmassy feeling throughout the house!

But before Christmas actually does come to our house it's time to post the latest Colour Q palette:

Screams Christmas doesn't it? But not to me. All the cards have gone out and once they're done I'll do anything to avoid making more.  I tied my card in with a couple of other challenges - Retro Sketches and Waltzingmouse Fanatics where the theme is 'anything goes'.  Sad to see it's the last WMS Fanatics challenge.  I wish I'd been able to enter more often (as I do consider myself a bit of a WMS Fanatic) but time just seems to be in very short supply in recent months.

I used WMS Simple Sprig. I wasn't too sure about this set when I first saw it but I've grown to love it...it's perfect for a CAS card.

Hope you can find the time to get into crafty mode this week - go and say hi to the rest of the DT!

Thanks for taking a peek,

Claire x

Colour Q #271

Evening all!

So another week has whizzed by - the overseas Christmas shopping is done and the Christmas cards have gone out.  Not much time for card making unfortunately and I feel this week's effort is a little lame to say the least!

Thank goodness for sketch challenges - sometimes I'm not sure how I could do without them.  They give me just enough kick up the backside to get a card done when time is tight! This week I used the latest fun sketch from CAS(e) This Sketch.  I made a frame with a couple of Nestability dies, inked it with some distress inks and added a sprinkling of W Plus 9 hearts, together with the cute little birdie from Hero Arts.

Go and check out the rest of the DT's gorgeous creations won't you?  Lots of inspiration to whet the crafty taste buds before Christmas!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Pale and Interesting? Colour Q #270

Evening all!

So, are you all ready for Christmas?  For the first time in about 7 years I've actually bought some Christmas cards which I'm really not happy about at all.  For some reason,  I'm really struggling with making Christmas cards this year. I think it's the heat... we've had a particularly hot start to the Summer and, since I've associated Christmas with snow and cold for the first 30 years of my life, I'm really struggling to get into a Christmassy frame of mind.

This week's Colour Q palette might get you in a Christmassy mood - or it might remind you of Spring.  It really could go either way:

I kept it very CAS again, die cutting and embossing a circle of card stock and adding a WMS bloom and MFT die cut 'hello.' I also used the sketch at Fusion to give my mojo a push in the right direction.

Hope you manage to get some crafty time to keep you sane in all the Christmas madness this week!

Thanks for popping over,

Claire x