Layered Blooms

Hello again,

I haven't been able to play along with Freshly Made Sketches for a while so made this card using the colours from Colour Throwdown and the prompts from Time Out (pastel and floral):

I don't use pastels often - I much prefer brights and bold colours so this is about as 'pastelly' (is there such a word?) it gets. Lots of older products on this from PTI and W Plus 9. 

I'm also popping it over to Seize the Birthday where the topping is 'layer it' - I love a few layers and layered the card stock and flowers to fit the challenge. 

Apologies if you've left a comment recently - I've got family over from the UK and looking for a new job which is a full time job in itself! I will get there eventually.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Birds of a Feather

Hello again,

Just sneaking in with a card using the colours from Color Throwdown. I was very sad to see that Barbara Anders from Paper Pursuits has passed away. She always really inspired me with her beautiful cards over at MFT - the DT have left some lovely messages about her on the CT blog:

I made a birthday card rather than a sympathy card - I've sent far too many out this year, the latest this afternoon, unfortunately.  Instead,  I've followed the theme over at Seize the Birthday - 'feather.' I used a new to me Jane's Doodles set from 2014 that my beautiful friend gave me from her stash. After some random stamping I gold embossed a few of the outline feather stamp. (I'm hoping gold is considered an neutral along with the chocolate brown.) The die cut sentiment is from Altenew and the stamped one from MFT. 

Thanks for popping by,

Claire

Freshly Made Sketch 658

Hello inkers!

It's been ages since I've joined in with Freshly Made Sketches so here's a little card I made for my youngest son who turns sweet 16 this week. I use the term 'sweet' very loosely!

 

I've used the hues from Color Throwdown to colour this sweet little fisherman from Your Next Stamp. This was always a favourite set from YNS but he's been in semi retirement and hasn't seen ink for quite a while. 

I went for some smaller stitched Mod Rectangles from MFT instead of standard rectangles so I could have a little more white space to give it more of a CAS feel.  The patterned paper is also MFT. 

Have an inky week!

Claire

Color Throwdown #794 - Guest Designer

Hello folks!

I'm delighted to be guest designer over at the Color Throwdown this week. The colour palette is perfect for a masculine card and I used MFT's latest sketch for some inspiration: 

I stamped and coloured this little bloke from Old Friends with Copics - secretly I think he may be a little bit of a party animal despite his rather dull appearance! The wooden floor was stamped with MFT's Wood Plank Background and the brick DP is from the Floor to Ceiling Paper Pad. 

I have to say it took a huge amount of effort to make this card - I've been in excruciating pain for most of the week waiting for the dentist to do a root canal.  A combo of ibuprofen, codeine and paracetamol probably aren't the best kick starters for my crafty mojo!

Make sure you pop over to the talented Design Team won't you to get some inspiration!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Procaffeination

Hello again, 

Who doesn't like to procaffeinate? Coffee Set was one of the last sets I bought before Waltzingmouse  Stamps closed it's virtual doors so it's an oldie but still a goodie. I love the sentiments, perfect for those friends you never run out of conversation with,  once the coffee's been made!

I used the colours from Colour Throwdown and Jen B's simple sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches.  The dp is from a very old 6x6 pad and happened to have the perfect colours - I just stamped a few beans over it to keep with the theme!

Happy stamping!

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

 

Time Out Photo Inspiration - Splat!

Hello again,

2024 is the year of 18th birthdays with my own son about to hit the milestone next month - he and I share the same birthday but this year he has announced that his takes precedence and mine will be all but forgotten. Cheeky devil!

This one is for his lovely mate who we've known since he was 3 weeks old:

 

I was inspired by Sarah's gorgeous creation over at Time Out where the challenge is to CASE her card. I loved her cluster of elements against the stencilled splat (from her own Funky Fossil Designs store) so reached for my very old and very used PTI Grunge Me. In fact it's so old I actually had to wash all the stamps with washing up liquid as they wouldn't stick to my Misti. The big splat in the background is from Your Next Stamp. 

The colours over at Color Throwdown are perfect for a masculine card so this one's linking over there as well.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Freshly Made Sketch #608

Hello folks!

My mojo has been severely lacking this week. When that happens I always reach for trusty stamps that I know will give me a crafty kick up the backside - in this case it's Doodlie-Do from PTI :

I used Judy's lovely, layered sketch over at  Freshly Made Sketch and the colours from Color Throwdown with the barest amount of colouring as I think the blooms are just as pretty as is. The frame is also PTI with dp from MFT - cover plate and sentiment from Altenew. 

Happy stamping!

Claire

CAS Leaves

Hello again,

Two posts in one day - I'm on a roll! Here's a super CAS card for the Addicted to CAS leaves challenge using the pretty hues from Colour Throwdown:

 

I used some foliage from Lawn Fawn, coloured with Copics and set against a die I bought from my local craft store years ago. I coped out some of the teeny tiny die cut squares and randomly coloured some others. The sentiment's from Poppy Stamps.

Enjoy your weekend!

Claire

Colour Throwdown Meets Freshly Made Sketches

Hello inkers,

Not many cards to be made in the last week having had a sneaky night away without the kids over the weekend! I did manage to get this one done using the gorgeous colours over at The Color Throwdown and the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches: 

All Altenew stamps, embossing folder and dies with a sentiment from Poppy Stamps!

Enjoy your week!

Claire

Paper Players Meets Color Throwdown

 Hello bloggers,

Here's a very late entry for LeAnne's sketch challenge over at The Paper Players using the colours from Color Throwdown:

Not the best photo as it's dark so I might try and improve it tomorrow. PTI bloom and sentiment with a CAS-ual Friday's white embossed background! The little die cut label is from the first set of dies I ever bought for my Cuttlebug about 17 years ago...what's old is new again, eh?

Happy stamping!

Claire

Colour Throwdown Meets Time Out

Hello inkers,

Loving the pretty colours over at the Color Throwdown this week and since the latest Time Out Inspiration photo features yellow blooms I thought I'd combine the two:

 

I've obviously been inspired by the flowers and used Altenew's Nostalgic Florals. The capital font on the sign made me think of some Poppy Stamp sentiments in my stash which combine capitals with lower case sentiments. The white brick background encouraged my to keep it clean - I was originally going to put the blooms against a grey background but then found a pretty strip of old dp so thought it would look better peeping out behind the scallop cut panel with a few leaves tucked behind. It's a brownish grey dp rather than blue-grey but hey, still grey!

This one's also going into the Seize the Birthday challenge with a theme of 'things in your garden.'

Thanks for popping by,

Claire

With Love at Christmas

Hello again,

Getting back into the inky swing of things now - good job as I haven't yet finished my Christmas cards!

Here's one using Freshly Made Sketches' simple sketch with Colour Throwdown's latest palette:

 

I love the detail in this Cherrypie Art Stamp - it's so detailed I always feel nothing else is required. Just some embossed snow and a couple of strips of dp from Your Next Stamp. The sentiment's from MFT. 

I'm also popping it over to Time Out's Winter/Holiday Season challenge!

Happy stamping!

Claire 

Colour Throwdown #710

Hello folks,

Quick post with a card for the Colour Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches:

 

I layered some snowflake dies from CAS-ual Fridays, added a greeting from MFT and set it against Altenew's Dotted Lines Debossing Cover Die.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Tropical Wishes

Hello folks!

It's been a while since I played along at Freshly Made Sketches - I love their latest layered sketch although I've used some poetic licence and altered the position of the sentiment:

I've also gone with the colours from the Color Throwdown, the tropical theme from Time Out and taken some flowery/colourful inspiration from Just Us Girls which has a very tropical photo for their challenge. The whole card has been made with goodies from MFT. 

Enjoy what's left of the weekend!

Claire