January Altenew Inspiration Challenge

Hello inkers,

Here's a couple of cards - one for Altenew's January Inspiration Challenge and the other for Addicted to CAS:

I coloured the Altenew blooms with pencils for a change, using the Beach Towel Stripes Stencil for the background. The darker pink flowers are the Mini White Splendour set - who said they had to be white eh? The larger bloom is from Beautiful Day - an oldie but a goodie that I'll never tire of inking up. 

For the second one my inky mojo got up and left in case you can't tell. The reading glasses are from an older YNS set which I've stamped, coloured and added some Glossy Accents to. 

Happy stamping!

Claire

Geometric Rainbow

Hello folks,

Just sneaking in with a CAS card for the geometric challenge over at Addicted to CAS:

 

A very old WMS stamp for this one with coloured in a rainbow of Copics. I'm amazed I was able ink up each of those CAS-ual Fridays 'Celebrate' letters individually without getting ink all over that white space!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Addicted to CAS - Water

Hello inkers,

Still not much craftiness going on in this household but here's a quick card I made for Addicted to CAS where the code word is 'water:'

 

I made a watery background with alcohol inks and added some sparkly bubbles. The cute little fish is from an older YNS set in my stash. 

I'm also popping it over to AAA Cards who have an 'anything CAS goes' challenge - without the optional twist!

Happy stamping!

Claire

CAS Cat

Hello again,

This week's AAA Cards challenge intrigued me - it's a very simple version of Tic Tac Toe using the central theme of silhouettes with one of the other prompts. I chose pets: 

 

This is a simplified version of a couple of cards I made for last months's Lavinia Stamps creative challenge. I also tried to make it a little more masculine by using a masculine font for the sentiment and sticking to neutral colours. Having said that I asked my husband if he thought it was a masculine card - to which he replied a resounding no! I'm still going to enter it into Addicted to CAS's masculine challenge though.  I'm sure there are plenty of men out there who love cats...I just need to find one to send it to!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Addicted to CAS - Masculine

Hello inkers,

It's been ages since I entered a CAS challenge - with my sports mad nephew's upcoming birthday it was just the excuse I needed to enter the masculine challenge at Addicted to CAS:

I've had this set called Boys and Toys so long, I couldn't even tell which company made it - it's almost 20 years old. It's a very simple set, perfect for a teen boy, hence the soccer ball bouncing all over the card. The huge birthday sentiments are from one of my favourite CAS-ual Friday's sets, Bold Wishes.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Lavinia Stamps for Addicted to CAS

Hello again,

Very quick post as I'm tired and just a little bit grumpy. This one is for Lavinia Stamps Creative Challenge which has a theme of 'blue hues.' Addicted to CAS happens to have 'blue' as their cue word as well:

 

I used an acetate block to create the background with a trio of blue mists that have been sat in my stash for years and amazingly aren't clogged. It was meant to be a one layer but as usual I got more ink over the card than I did anywhere else. I added the little LS butterfly and coloured the blooms and butterfly with Copics. No sentiment - I'll add one when I'm ready to send it!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Playing With Lavinia Stamps...Again

Hello inkers,

The heat in Sydney is absolutely blistering today at 38C and the humidity is almost unbearable. So, what better way to cool down but playing along with Lavinia Stamps December Creative Challenge which themed 'snow is falling.'

 

              

 

We had family arrive from the UK last weekend which meant I could put an order in directly from Lavinia Stamps and have them bring it over to me. I loved this tag that Tracey made so I CASEd it using some of my new stamps and tools. I've been hankering after the stencil brushes for ages and they are worth every penny!

The first card isn't just for the LS challenge, I'm also linking over to Addicted to CAS where the theme is 'brrr' and to Time Out's photo inspiration challenge that features lots of snow.  I used a mini Pipin the hare and blended a selection of inks for the background , added some pretty foliage, some sparkle and a scattering of snowflakes using a Posca pen (yet another great tip from the LV videos).

If you're in Australia, hope these cards cool you down!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Funky Feathers

Hello bloggers,

 After a little break I'm back in the inky swing of it- a good job as October brings a multitude of family birthdays. Addicted to CAS' 'masculine' theme was a good kick start to the mojo:

These Funky Feathers from Waltzingmouse haven't seen ink in quite a while. According to the packet they were released in 2011, long before I purchased a Misti! I doubt I could have got them in such a straight line back then (and certainly not whilst drinking a glass wine!)

This one's also going over to AAA Cards' 'anything goes' challenge - without the optional twist this time!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Addicted to CAS - Balloons

Hello!

Quick post for a quick card - the Addicted to CAS code word is 'balloons' so here's a very simple card using some balloon stamps from Whimsy Stamp's Happy Everything:

 The little bow is from a different set by Winnie and Walter and the sentiment is Waltzingmouse. 

Happy stamping!

Claire

Flower Power

Hello inkers,

Both Addicted to CAS and CAS on Friday have a flower themed challenge happening at the moment so I've combined both challenges with the pretty colours over at Sunday Stamps:

 

I used my very old and very inked Simple Sprig from Waltzingmouse Stamps together with a Waltzingmouse sentiment. I managed to get all the colours on from Sunday Stamps too so I was very happy!

Have a great weekend!

Claire

Colour Throwdown Meets The Paper Players

Hello folks, 

My inky mojo has been lacking lately - when that happens I try and learn a new technique to get it going again. 

  I love Michelle Short's Altenew tutorials, particularly this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxuSeXw8_6A&t=461s in which she uses white pigment ink to highlight embossed details using an Altenew embossing folder :

I have quite a few Altenew EB's - I love them as they produce really deeply etched images but in hindsight I wish I'd used a different one for this technique. I think a simpler one, like the one Michelle used, would probably work better. I used the colours from The Color Throwdown but then realised the white pigment ink didn't work well with cream, so I went over it with some Antique Linen distress oxide, then added some gold embossing powder. 

Since the challenge at Simon Says Stamp is to use embossing and I've used both wet and dry, I'll link up to their Monday challenge. I'm also popping it over to Addicted to CAS where the code word is 'bloom.'

Happy stamping!

Claire

 

Altenew March Inspiration Challenge

Hello folks,

Not much inkiness going on over here during the last couple of weeks - we've had birthdays galore, including my eldest's 18th so I guess I had to make him my priority! Things have settled down a bit now though, so time to get the stamps out for Altenew's March Inspiration Challenge:

This Sweet Rose Bouquet set was one of my bargain finds a couple of months ago when a local craft shop closed down. I didn't create a bouquet though and instead arranged the pretty blooms into a simple wreath with a scattering of sequins. I cut a circle out of the card stock panel first which made it so much easier to arrange them, then added dimensional tape to the panel. There aren't any sentiments in this set so I used one from Build-a-Flower Sakura Blossom. Don't you just love it when the sentiment from a different set fits perfectly? Happy days!

I'm also popping this one over to Addicted to CAS for their current 'bloom' challenge.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Altenew February Inspiration Challenge - Take Two

Hello inkers,

So little inkiness happening in this house at the moment - I find I get very irritated when I haven't had a bit of crafty 'me' time. I did manage to make this very CAS card though for February's Altenew Inspiration challenge:

This one has also led to a heated discussion with my husband who is a bit of a maths whizz (some might say nerd) and what the correct definition of 'geometric' is. I'm going with the definition I found online which is a 'pattern characterised by or decorated with regular lines and shapes.' Like the above Pysanka Stamp from Altenew I think. He reckons I should only use shapes such as squares and triangles. If that's the case then the team over at Addicted to CAS can hit delete!

I thought for quite a while about whether it was suitable for the latest Paper Players challenge as well,  which is to make a CAS friendship card. It doesn't say 'friend' but I'd never send a card like this to anyone who wasn't a good friend! I think calling a friend 'lovely' is such a sweet endearment. Once again that delete button can be hit if it's deemed not suitable!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Happy 10th Birthday Time Out

Hello again,

I'm on a card making roll this week - so many challenges to play along with so what's a girl to do but combine 4 challenges with one card:

 

Can you believe the challenges over at Time Out started 10 years ago? I couldn't possibly let that one go by without making a birthday themed card for their celebratory challenge. I've also combined it with the colours over at The Paper Players, the sketch at AAA Cards and thrown on a few hearts for the Addicted to CAS challenge. 

I coloured one of MFT's Happy Hippos and set him against a blended DI strip of colour (Spun Sugar and Picked Raspberry). I was going to leave the other panel plain but it just needed a bit of something else so I added a few MFT stitched clouds together with the sentiment.  The scattering of hearts on the ink strip is an older stamp from W Plus 9 that's seen a lot of ink over the years. 

Happy birthday to all the team at Time Out, especially to Sandie who started it all - great to see one of her beautiful CAS creations there this week!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Altenew - October Inspiration Challenge

Hello folks,

This month's Inspiration Challenge over at Altenew is being hosted by Hannelie whose designs I always love!  She's happened to use one of my favourite colour combos too:

 

I find it very therapeutic stamping these pretty Build-a-Flower Sakura Blossoms - I love how they look against the clean white panel. I cut the panel with the Floral In N' Out Border Die to add some subtle detail to the background and the bold sentiment is from the same stamp set. 

Since I had that die out I thought I'd use it in Addicted to CAS' latest challenge - to use dies only. It's so intricate I don't think anything else is required. I blended three of the Autumnal hues over at Sunday Stamps (More Mustard, Fired Earth and Tattered Rose) and and added an Altenew stamped sentiment. Too easy as they say Down Under!

Happy stamping!

Claire