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

 

Freshly Made Sketch #600!

Hello folks!

Can you believe Freshly Made Sketches has made it to their 600th sketch? That deserves a celebration and at the very least deserves a play along this week:

On Sunday it's Father's Day here in Australia so here's a little card for the big bloke (or should that be biggest bloke as there's 3 of them in my household). I used some older stamps from Your Next Stamp, Waltzingmouse, MFT and Stampin' Up...hopefully he likes it, along with the bottle of whisky to celebrate the special day!

Congrats to the FMS design team and thanks so much for all the inspiration over the years!

Claire

One Card - Five Challenges

Hello inkers,

This little card started off for the Less is More challenge,  to use a tag,  but after struggling how to place it I had a helping hand from Freshly Made Sketches:

 

It took me longer to work out where to put the sentiment than it did to make the card. A stamper can never have too many sentiment sets but I couldn't find a single one that would work on the die cut flag. So I've used artistic licence and put it elsewhere! 

I used the pretty colour combo from The Card Concept and and as I think it's clean and simple I'm popping it over to Addicted to CAS' flower challenge and CASology's Botanical challenge. 

Incidentally, those blooms are from Stampin' Up's Eastern Blooms which was one of the first stamp sets I ever bought. The leaves are MFT.

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

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 

 

Hello There!

Hi folks,

Remember this set from Stamping' Up? It's not seen ink for quite some time but I thought it would be ideal for Time Out's challenge 'items from inside your home with the option of embossing:'

 

We all have phones in our homes but admittedly this one is a bit old fashioned! 

I've used the pic over at Fusion for some colour inspiration.  I'm also linking up to The Paper Players in their Tic Tac Toe challenge, with some white heat embossing on the background panel and some pretty patterned papers which have been gathering dust in my paper stash. 

Thanks for popping by!

Claire 

Final CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge!

Hello bloggers,

Another one of my favourite sketch challenges is closing it's crafty doors this week so I had to play along - it's the last ever challenge from CAS(E) This Sketch: 

 

 

 

 

I've also been inspired by both the inspiration pics at The Card Concept and Fusion. I think there are a lot of similarities between the two photos - the windows, the white paint on the walls in the background, the neutral colours, the leaves and the natural wood of the table and the bristle brush. I've also used a touch of gold and apricot which are in the Fusion pic and I've taken the browns from the suitcases in TCC photo to frame my Stampin' Up blooms. I think one is clean and layered in design!

Have a great weekend!

Claire x

Simple Stencilling

Hello folks,

A very quick card today for AAA's Made in Minutes challenge with the optional twist of using a stencil:

Stencilling is not my forte and neither is making quick cards. I used one of Sarah's Funky Fossil designs - in fact, I used two stencils as I had to stencil within a stencil to create the basic shape. I added a large sentiment from Simon Says Stamp, a tiny die cut butterfly from Stampin' Up and and some PPP clear droplets.

Taking into account the constant interruption from the kids, I reckon it took me about 15 minutes (most of which was spent working out where to put the droplets!)

Happy stamping!

Claire

Stampin' Up Throwback

Hello again stampers,

AAA Cards have a one corner theme this week - with the optional twist of using older supplies. My Stampin' Up Papillon Potpourri set probably hasn't seen ink for at least a couple of years.  From memory SU released it about 7 years ago - it was one of the first clear rubber stamp sets they released:

I used some Color Bursts to create the splash of colour, added a corner honeycomb die cut and an older sentiment from PTI. It's always good to be reminded about the older sets in our stash isn't it?  Note to self: use them more!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Less is More #397

Hello folks,

I wouldn't have thought of using the colours together at Less is More but when I saw the beautiful cards by the DT I realised what a pretty combo they are:

I have to admit it was made in record time as it's almost the end of the challenge!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Birthdays Galore

Hello folks!,

It's late, I'm tired and there's a burger waiting with my name on it so here's a quick card based on the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches:

I started by creating a bokeh background on watercolour paper but it was a bit much for a clean and simple card so I used an MFT die to cut some strips and added a couple of Stampin' Up blooms, white embossed on vellum. The sentiment's PTI and the leaves were die cut using a die from my local craft shop - Papertisserie.

Two of my other favourite challenges - AAA Cards and CAS-ual Fridays - are both celebrating birthdays this week so I'm playing along over there too!

Thanks for popping by, I'm off for that burger!

Claire x

What's Old is New Again

Hello again,

Another CAS card for you. I'm so enjoying Less Is More's 'Bring Something Back' challenge I just had to enter again. This time I've used SU's On the Spot background stamp and Eastern Blooms, both of which must be at least 8 years old:

I've white embossed the background and stamped the blooms with SU ink, then coloured them with Copics.  The sentiment is PTI.

Have a great weekend!

Claire x

Plenty of CAS

Hello folks!

It's CAS all the way with these three cards. First up are a couple I've made for Darnell's Twofer challenge. The theme is pets so I used Your Next Stamp's goldfish from Keepin' it Reel and a sentiment from Fishy Fun. I think most people have probably owned a goldfish once in their lifetime - normally won at the fair and then flushed down the toilet a couple of months later when it's found floating at the top of the fish tank - or was that only mine?

I'm also popping the first one over to Addicted to Cas where the theme is bubbles. I stencilled some circles over the inked backgound and added plenty of glossy accents to create a shiny bubble effect:

The second one is quite similar but I've stencilled with texture paste behind the stitched frame using one of Sarah G's stencils that she kindly sent me a couple of weeks ago. Check out her other designs here - I've used Geo Circles:

Next up is Less is More's latest challenge which is to bring something back. I really enjoyed this and  went right back to when I first started cardmaking and bought Stampin' Up's Stem Silhouettes. Remember that set?

I kept it very simple and embossed the stem against the inked background using copper embossing powder. I'd forgotten how much I liked this set and it felt good to ink it up after years of non-use - having said that, it made me remember why I don't like using wood mounted stamps as I can't see where I'm positioning the stamp. (And I'm way too lazy to use a stamp-a-ma-jig!)

That's it for now, hope you get the chance to get inky this weekend!

Claire x

Stampin' Up Revival

Hello, hello,

I was looking through my stash today and came across a Stampin' Up background stamp I bought years ago called 'On the Spot.' I's such a pretty stamp,  I really should have used it more:

I gold embossed it on a black background, then added the SU butterfly coloured with Copics.  It's such a simple sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, I thought I could use it for this week's Casology challenge too. The cue word is 'insect.' AAA Cards are having a big 3rd birthday challenge this week so I'm also popping my card over there. Happy birthday AAA!

Thanks for popping over,

Claire x