Autumn Hues

Hello folks!

It's that time of year - the leaves are turning, the temperature is getting crisp and the nights are drawing in. Except they're not - Down Under the very opposite is happening having just gone into Spring! That hasn't stopped me from making a few Autumnal themed cards though:

 

There's quite a few Autumnal challenges in the world of ink at the moment - AAA Cards 'anything goes with the optional twist of Autumn colours', Time Out's 'inspired by words' and CAS on Friday's theme of 'leaves.'

I made a very CAS card using a tiny maple stamp with a trio of maple leaves from Lavinia Stamps and each cluster has been stamped in a different coloured ink. The sentiment's from PTI and I dotted some gold pen around the wreath so it's actually quite sparkly IRL.  Who knew I had so many autumnal hues in my ink stash? 

Thanks for popping by,

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

The Paper Players - Spring Flowers

Hello again,

Here's a very quick clean and simple card for the current CAS Paper Players challenge with a Spring flowers theme:

 

I used the colours from the soon to close colour challenge at MFT - the bloom is from long retired Funky Flowers with an Itty Bitty Basics sentiment.  The stencil is from Memory Box.

It's also going over to CAS on Friday for their Spring challenge and AAA Cards Anything CAS Goes (without the anniversary twist!)

Happy stamping!

Claire

Four Challenges in One Card

Hello Inkers,

There's so many CAS Christmas challenges out there I managed to fit them all on the one card! Just Us Girls are challenging us to make a CAS card with the image in a circle, AAA Cards to use black, gold and white, Less is More is to use D, as in Deck the Halls and CAS on Friday is to make a Christmas card:

 

I used this sweet dove silhouette and sentiment from Gina K's Christmas Silhouettes - I figured as she's carrying a piece of mistletoe it will fit with the LIM challenge! It's gold embossed along with the circle stamp from Winnie and Walter - I cut a smaller circle in the middle and matted it on white, then mounted it with dimensional tape. 

I love the simple sentiment - hoping 2024 brings a lot more peace, love and joy for the world!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Lawn Fawnatics Challenge #149

Hello bloggers,

Lawn Fawn's latest challenge is to use dies only so it gave me the perfect excuse to get cutting some letters from Quinn's ABCs:  

I took my cue from Time Out's Inspired by Words challenge 'dare to be yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends' and coloured the letters with a rainbow of Copics - any excuse to create a rainbow! I added a smothering of Glossy Accents and dipped the letters in gold glitter.  For the background I used a LF Stitched Rectangle and cut it into strips to add some detail so this one's also going over to CAS on Friday where the theme is 'stripes.'

Have a great night!

Claire

CAS Christmas

Hello inkers,

I made a very CAS Christmas card for CAS on Friday's Christmas themed challenge and Time Out's Photo Inspiration challenge:

I was inspired by the Christmas tree and baubles - it's been a while since I inked up PTI's Take a Bough. The sentiment's from It's a Sign: Holiday Sentiments.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Floral Fusion

 Hello folks!

The pretty, layered sketch over at CAS on Friday really caught my eye this week and it's definitely one I'll reach for again, I used it with the fresh, Spring colours over at Fusion:

We had a holiday weekend here in Australia so it was a good opportunity to organise some of my stash - when the boys were little the big bloke hand built an amazing Lego station for them. It's made out of some beautiful, native woods with 33 separate drawers. I've been threatening to steal it from my boys for ages as they haven't touched their Lego in months so that's exactly what I did over the weekend. 

In doing so it made me realise how many once loved stamp sets have remained unlinked for years like this pretty bloom from Stamping' Up's Flower Shop. Drawing inspiration from the silver bunny in the Fusion pic, I embossed it in silver, coloured it with Copics and added a variety of stamped leaves and die cuts.  The sentiment's from Altenew. 

This one's also going over to Time Out where they have a Spring-themed challenge happening. 

By the way, I still have a few drawers sitting empty which gives me the perfect excuse to go shopping and fill them doesn't it?

Happy stamping!

Claire

Altenew March 2022 Inspiration Challenge

Happy weekend to you!

I like the simplicity of the layout on my previous card so thought I'd do a similar one for this month's Altenew challenge. I didn't think I had any colour in my stash like the pale lilac/grey in the pic but then found the perfect Copic (B60 - Pale Blue Gray) which I used to add some shading to the Lotus blooms:

I again did some partial stencilling with Altenew's Embossing Paste and Grid Stencil, added a sentiment from Tiny Sentiments: Hello stamp set and framed it with the Fine Frames Cover Die. 

This one's also going over to CAS on Friday again for their CAS 'flowers' challenge. 

Happy stamping!

Claire

CAS Bloom

Hello folks,

Not many creative juices flowing in my place at the moment - I've had a couple of very special weeks celebrating a big birthday, shortly followed by Covid hitting my eldest son.  I knew it would come our way eventually but at least it had the decency to wait until I'd finished the celebrations! We're all in isolation whilst he recovers and hoping the rest of us test negative at the weekend. 

So just a very CAS card from me for CAS on Friday's and The Paper Players' clean and simple 'flowers' challenges:

I've used one of my favourite blooms - CAS-ual Fridays Mon Ami, coloured with Copics and set on a simple die cut tag. I partially stencilled the tag using embossing paste and added a sentiment from the same set. Too easy!

Fingers crossed Covid ups and leaves next week so we can get on with life!

Happy stamping!

Claire

CAS Christmas Card

Hello folks,

There's always  a rush of last cards isn't there? Either for people you'd forgotten or for people who you weren't expecting to get a card from! 

I've made a very CAS card for 3 challenges - AAA Cards with an 'along the edge' challenge and optional snowy theme, Colour Throwdown and CAS on Friday's Winter themed challenge:

 

I used Ink to Paper's It's a Sign: Holiday Sentiments with some CAS-ual Fridays snowflake die cuts from sparkly white paper. A scattering of bling and it was done. 

We're on tenterhooks here as my in-laws are booked to fly over to Australia for Christmas. We haven't seen them for 6 years and if they have to cancel because of this new Covid variant we'll all be devastated. Such horrible, uncertain times we live in. 

Fingers crossed Christmas goes ahead without a hitch for everyone!

Happy stamping!

Claire

CAS Birthday

Hello again,

Here's a very CAS card for AAA Cards 200th birthday challenge using stamps from two different Winnie and Walter sets and a sentiment from Waltzingmouse.  

I used the gorgeous colours from Sunday Stamps - they always have such great colour combos - and the theme from CAS on Friday which is  Circles. 

It's such a simple design - I might use it for some Christmas cards too!

Happy stamping!

Claire 

Clean and Simple Takes

Hello again,

A couple of CAS cards today. The first combines four different challenges - Addicted to CAS where the code word is 'nature', CAS on Sunday which has a butterfly theme, CASology with the cue card of 'mask' and Fusion:

It's a long time since I inked up Papillon Potpourri from Stampin' Up - I'm not used to stamping with rubber stamps any more and even with a stamping platform it was quite difficult to mask. I was inspired by the rainbow colours from the Fusion pic which gave me a great excuse to get out some new inks from Catherine Pooler called Zen Garden - the colours are so vivid and the ink is really juicy...I highly recommend them!

My second one is another take on Freshly Made Sketches 500th sketch using an older stamp from Penny Black. Both sentiments are from PTI. 

Happy stamping!

Claire 

 

Happy Mail

Hello again.

I haven't entered a clean and simple challenge for a while as I've been busy doing DT stuff so here's one for a couple of CAS challenges - CAS on Friday where the theme is 'happy mail' and Less is More's colour challenge:

 

I've had this Avery Elle Happy Mail set for a while, an  uninked gift from a crafty friend a few months ago.  I've never been quite sure how to use it so opted to stamp all the images in various hues of pink, grey and gold and cluster them together. I also added a Your Next Stamp splatter, embossed in gold. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Claire  

CAS Creations

Hello folks,

 A couple of CAS cards tonight - the first is for Less is More's dreaded one layer challenge - to use flowers. Yet again I despair of my one layer skills...one layer cards just look so....flat.  I used CAS-ual Friday's Truth Is (now retired) - there's a little stamp in that set which hasn't seen ink so I created a rainbow pattern and added the sentiment over the top. 

I was also inspired by the pic over at Fusion featuring a rainbow festooned kiddo, complete with rainbow coloured flowers:

 

 

 

My second card is for CAS on Friday which has a colour challenge happening, featuring orange and teal.  This time I coloured an MFT butterfly with copics and added a stamped frame and sentiment from Waltzingmouse.  

Hope you get the time to get inky this weekend!

Happy stamping!

Claire

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

 

 

CAS on Friday - Guest Designer

Hello folks,

I'm chuffed to bits to be Guest Designer over at CAS on Friday today. They have another great clean and simple challenge for you with the theme of 'Autumn':

 

I used some Autumn inspired distress inks for my card, sponging them over a Funky Fossil leaf stencil, with a sentiment from Tailored Expressions. The Stamplorations butterfly die cut has been embossed with gold embossing powder. 

Hope you get time to get the inks out over the weekend!

Claire