Thursday 31 December 2020

Made in Minutes

Hello folks,

I made a very CAS card for AAA's Made in Minutes challenge and CAS on Friday's Best Wishes challenge:

 

 

 
 
I had absolutely no plan for this card whatsoever,  which is very unlike me - usually I have at least an idea of where I'm going to stamp. I've had this Rounded Diamonds set from Avery Elle for quite a while but I'm never quite sure what to do with it. So a bit of random stamping was my best bet.  The sentiments are from CAS-ual Friday's Wish Big.

Hope you have a fabulous New Year - roll on 2021...it can only get better from here!

Claire

 
 

Monday 28 December 2020

CAS(E) This Sketch #402

Hello again,
 
Since I was in an Altenew kind of mood I thought I'd have another play with one of their 2020 inspiration picks, this time from March, using the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch:
 
 
 

 
 
Definitely not one of their easiest sketches to play with - in fact,  it really threw me until I thought of draping some of Altenew's Painted Flowers around the diagonal embossed strip. The sentiment's from Floral Motifs and I've used Altenew's Grid Stencil again in the left hand corner.
 
 
 
 

 


My second card is for MFT's Colour Challenge which I've combined with their latest Birthday Project Challenge - to create a winter wonderland themed birthday card. I've used Sweet Holiday Penguins with a stamped Happy Birthday Background in Grout Gray on Grout Gray card stock. The image has been framed using a Stitched Rectangle Frame. The design is actually from one of MFT's older sketches but I missed off one of the elements so I can't help feeling it's needs a little something adding to it - maybe a button? I'll leave that till another day...

Happy stamping!

Claire


Saturday 26 December 2020

Altenew - A Year in Review Inspiration Challenge

Hello, folks,

 Well it's done and dusted for another year - hope you all had a good Christmas, even if it was a little different to the one you were planning! We ate and drank merry, despite not being with the grandparents and will celebrate with them at a later time.

 Here's a little card I made for Altenew's end of year Inspiration Challenge which asks us to pick from any of 2020's challenges. I chose February - remember Covid-free February, when we didn't have a clue what was to come? It seems like a lifetime ago!

 




I coloured Floral Motifs with Copics and added a stenciled background using Grid Stencil with a sentiment from Hennah Elements.

 Hope you find time to get some ink on you these holidays!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Tuesday 22 December 2020

Time Out Neutrals

Hello again,

So after a fantastic run of it in Australia,  we've now been hit with a Covid scare in Sydney - borders closed, Christmas plans with Nanny and Poppy ruined unfortunately. Can't really complain since it's so much worse elsewhere in the world but it's so frustrating 3 days out from Christmas and all because some muppet has done the wrong thing!


 



Getting inky always puts me in a better frame of mind and I love the new inspiration pic over at Time Out.  All those pretty neutrals made me reach for an oldie but a goodie - Waltzingmouse's Folk Art Medallion. I white embossed the main image on to grout gray card stock and used gold and neutral inks to fill in the flowers. Of course an anniversary card has to have a bit of sparkle,  so I've added a couple of strips of silver sparkle card stock to the edges, using the latest Freshly Made Sketch as inspiration. 

Here's hoping our latest outbreak is kept under control and we get to see the grandparents soon. Roll on 2021!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire

Thursday 17 December 2020

MFT Colour Challenge #155

Hello inkers,

Love a bit of pink and red together so just had to play along with MFT's latest colour challenge:

 

 


 

It also gave me the chance to ink up a new background stamp - City Block. It looks so dramatic in black and white, perfect as a backdrop to the sweet supergirl from You're Super (now retired.) 

 Thanks for calling by,

 Claire



Monday 14 December 2020

Freshly Made Sketch #465

 Hello, hello,

Still playing with new goodies from MFT, this time a new flower stamp called Lavish Lilies:



 
The stamp's so pretty I used it to emboss the background for the tag to add a little something extra. It's such an intricate and detailed stamp, I don't think I've done it justice at all,  so next time I think I'll stamp in black to capture all the detail.  Watercolouring has never been my strong point!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire




Friday 11 December 2020

Extra Sweet MFT

Hello inkers,

I received some happy mail from MFT last week and couldn't wait to ink up this sweet new set called Sweet Christmas Wishes using their new sketch:

 



The Christmas background stamp has been on my wishlist for ages and I white embossed this on the hand cut Christmas tree, then added a scattering of enamel 'baubles.' Do you recognize the pot that the tree is sitting in? It's an upside down fence from Hog Heaven (now retired) - love it when stamps can be used for something other than their original purpose!

I'm also throwing this over to The Paper Players who have a Christmas themed challenge and the colours are from this week's Colour Thowdown.

 Happy stamping!

 Claire  x



Thursday 3 December 2020

Tic Tac Toe With Just Us Girls

Hello inkers!

I thought I'd try a new (to me) challenge this week and joined in over at Just Us Girls:






I loved the colours in the photo, especially the dusky pinks,  so I got out the embossing powders to make a fiftieth birthday card using CAS-ual Friday's WTF.

I'm also throwing this into The Paper Players Tic Tac Toe challenge. I'm hoping it's valid as I've gone for the top row using a die cut, embossing and patterned paper. I've created my own patterned paper using one of the stamps from the set. The die cut is the black, stitched,  rectangular panel and I've used gold and copper embossing powders. 

Happy stamping!

Claire x