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

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

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

AAA Cards Challenge #272: Sketch - Guest Designer

Hello inkers!

I'm delighted to be guest designer this week for AAA Cards - it's a sketch challenge so here's my take on it:

This Grunge Me Papertrey Ink set is so old and so well used! The stamps all need a really good wash - you know when you try and stick them to your Misti or acrylic block and they fall off? It's a great set for playing around with so after a few random stamps on some scrap paper I settled on this.  I coloured some of the circle centres with Copics but otherwise left the stamps alone.

The challenge runs until 31st August and you could be in with the chance of being a future guest designer. Make sure you pop over to the DT to say hello - they alway provide heaps of inspiration!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Paper Players - Colour Challenge

Hello inkers,

Love the colours over at the Paper Players and I envisioned a pretty floral creation - after procrastinating for what seemed like hours and trying various floral stamps, nothing seemed to work so it turned into a welcome baby card:

 

These Mama Elephant Nursery Deco stamps are very well used but they're still my go to for new baby cards. The stripes are PTI. Now I just need to find someone to have a baby so I can give it to them...

Happy stamping!

Claire

Seize the Birthday - Metallics

Hello inkers,

I'm on a bit of a card making roll this weekend, this time playing along with Seize the Birthday's challenge to use metallics:

Remember this Swallowtail stamp from Stamping' Up? It was absolutely everywhere when it was first released and a lovely friend was organising her stamp stash and gave me hers. 

I used copper metallic embossing powder and was so surprised that all the detail was still captured. I often find with these larger stamps the powder fails to stick to some parts of the stamp and the image isn't as crisp as it should be. I coloured the spaces with gold and white metallic Perfect Pearls and added a simple PTI sentiment.  I love how it turned out but the photo just doesn't capture the metallic sparkle IRL!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Claire

 

Spring Blooms

Hello and happy weekend!

A couple of floral cards today, the first is my second take on the April Inspiration challenge over at Altenew. I bought a gel press recently - it's very addictive but I've found that even after creating all these backgrounds I still hanker after white space as you can tell by these cards!

For the card above I used a lighter version of the grey/blue in the inspiration challenge and mixed a couple of dye inks on the gel press to get the right tone, then put the Altenew Beach Towel Stripes over the top of the ink and brayered over the top. I like the subtlety of it, particularly as I'm never quite sure what to do with loud backgrounds!

The bloom is from Nostalgic Florals with matching die and stencil, a sentiment from Sentiment Strips and it's framed with the Fine Frames Cover Die just to satisfy my white space craving!

The second card is using the pretty colour palette over at Sunday Stamps. The same process for the background but this time I used the Forest Foliage stencil from Funky Fossil. I added the Clearly Besotted Beautiful Friend blooms and sentiment, then framed it with a PTI die.

I'm sure I'll branch out and experiment with brighter colours - watch this space!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Say it With Stripes

Hello inkers,

A very CAS take on Time Out's theme of 'striped.'

 

I used PTI's Background Basics: Super Stripes and CASual Friday's Shenanigans.  Always good to get the older stash out and give it a re-ink!

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 #611

Hello again,

Love the Autumnal colours over at Sunday Stamps - I paired them with Jen's layered sketch at Freshly Made Sketches:

 

Some older stamps on this one - Papertrey Ink's Lovely Layers and Waltzingmouse's Simple Sprig (since it was already out!) all set against an Altenew EB. I decided to make a standard card rather than a square one for the simple reason I don't have any square envelopes!

Happy stamping!

Claire 

Less is More - Blue, Pink and White

Hello inkers,

Here's a CAS card for Less is More's latest challenge to use blue, pink and white:

A friend of mine gave me Avery Elle Rounded Diamonds recently. I've always liked this set but never known quite what to do with it. So many times I've taken it out, inked up one of the diamonds and had a complete mental block which meant that I never actually used it.

This time I decided to white emboss one of said stamps and just colour - in times of mental block my motto is 'if all else fails just colour.'  It actually took me longer to work out how to put them on the card then it did to colour them. I finished it off by adding a very old PTI sentiment.

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

Just Us Girls - 700 Challenges!

Hello folks,

Another great challenge is celebrating a big birthday this week - Just Us Girls are celebrating a huge 700 challenges with colour week:

 

So I started this card for my youngest who turns 15 shortly - then realised that I'd completely run out of kraft card stock. 🙄 The Grout Grey was the closest I had in my stash but if it's pushing it JUGS can always hit delete!  All the stamps are very old sets from PTI with a sentiment from MFT - it makes me laugh, the Wii remote looks really dated now, almost retro!

Happy stamping and happy birthday JUGS!

Claire

Freshly Made Sketch #606 - Guest Designer

Hello inkers!

I'm so thrilled to be guest designer for one of my absolute favourite challenges this week - Freshly Made Sketches. They reached an unbelievable 600 challenges a few weeks ago and I was lucky enough to be chosen for a GD spot for the current challenge:

This week it's a sketch from Narelle featuring circles. I've always struggled with circles but I have these pretty Ink to Paper blooms which I think fit the sketch perfectly. I added a sparkly enamel dot in the centres to match the glittery embossing powder. The sentiments in the pack were a little too large so I picked a smaller one from Altenew and it's all backed by Altenew's Cross Stitch Canvas Die.

The DT would love you to pop over and say hello - then all you have to do is link up your card for the chance to be crowned Queen of Clean!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Paper Players Sketch Challenge

Hello folks,

I can't even remember the last time I made a masculine card but a friend gave me some of her old Kaisercraft background stamps so thought I'd ink up this vintage car from one of their stamp sets. Makes a change from flowers!

I used Joanne's layered sketch from the latest Paper Players challenge.  The dp is from some very old paper pads from Authentique. I always loved their paper pads - the paper was thick, almost card like and great quality. I used one of the gifted Kaisercraft background stamps to add some texture to the blue panel and the tyre mark stamp is from the same Kaisercraft stamp set that I've had for years.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Time Out Photo Inspiration

Hello again,

Quick post for a couple of challenges - Time Out's inspiration pic and the latest Freshly Made Sketch:

 

I took inspiration from the dusky pink curtain, the font on the basket on the top shelf and the splashes of gold. I stamped the background with PTI's Background Basics Super Stripes and the bloom is Altenew.

Happy stamping!

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

Just Us Girls #681: CAS Week - Silhouette

Hello folks,

Time for a new challenge at Just Us Girls where I'm guesting for May - this week it's CAS week with the theme being 'silhouette:' 

I haven't got too many solid stamps in my collection - most of them are outline stamps as I like to colour so I reached for the dies and created a little country scene. I sponged a dawn background with distress inks and added a Memory Box die cut in black card stock. The sentiment and balloon is from Mama Elephant and  I framed the scene with a die cut frame from PTI.

How will you interpret the word 'silhouette?'  Link up to JUGS for the chance to be 'Chic of the Week' or a future guest designer. This is my last week for this month so hope you've enjoyed all the challenges for May - do check out the cards by the DT for some silhouette inspiration!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Just Us Girls: Challenge #680 - Photo/Moodboard Week

Hello, hope you've had a great start to the weekend!

Time for a new challenge at Just Us Girls where I'm guest designing this month. This week they have a moodboard from which you can draw inspiration:

There was so much to be inspired by but I went with the blue and aqua colour scheme from the sofa and cushion as well as the beautiful stone. To try and replicate the layered colours of the stone I used alcohol inks to create a background. I wanted that to be the main feature so I added a couple of simple Lotus blooms from Altenew, embossed in white on vellum and a simple sentiment. 

How will you be inspired by the moodboard? Link your creation for the chance to be Chic of the Week or future guest designer and don't forget to swing by the DT to send them some inky love!

Happy stamping!

Claire