Tic Tac Toe Challenge

Hello inkers,

Quick card and a quick post for Tic Tac Toe's challenge - think it's a new one for me:

 

I've gone with the bottom, horizontal row with a yellow, Copic coloured Stamplorations die cut butterfly,  green leaves and MFT sentiment. I also added a little bit of sparkle to its body. The background is stencilled with a butterfly stencil (although you wouldn't know it) and stamped with a W Plus 9 script stamp.

Enjoy the weekend!

Claire

Just Us Girls - Stencil Week

Hello again,

I'm on a card making roll at the moment - here's a quick one I made for this week's Just Us Girls challenge - use a stencil:

 

This is a Stamplorations stencil Shower of Flutters. I used it in a couple of different ways - one with Glimmer Mist sprays on watercolour paper and this one,  using distress inks. I added some splattering of gold alcohol ink and the butterfly die is another Stamplorations find.

Happy stamping!

Claire

MFT Sketch #604 and CAS'd Card

Hello folks,

A couple of new cards for a few different challenges - the first is using the latest MFT sketch for The Paper Players Tic Tac Toe Challenge:

I've used the middle row going across - the die cut is MFT's Selfie Square and the patterned paper (including a blue one) is from the Very Merry paper pad. I've used SY Selfies with Santa - surely one of the sweetest Christmas sets around!

 

The second card is for Less is More's 'butterflies' challenge and for this one I CASE'd one of my favourite designers for the Just Us Girls wild-card week challenge. 

It's one of Cécile Ribon's cards and I've CASE'd the colours and the layout. I used alcohol inks for the background and added a Stamplorations die cut butterfly, smothered in glittery gold EB. The sentiment's an ancient one from Papertrey Ink. The only difficulty I had with this challenge was choosing one of Cécile's cards - all of which are CAS stunners.  I haven't played around with alcohol inks for ages and forgot how therapeutic it is swirling around all that ink until you get the desired effect!

Hope you get some crafty therapy yourselves this week!

Claire

One Layer Blooms

Hello again,

My Covid brain must have seriously affected me as I've actually chosen to make a one layer card - both The Paper Players and Less is More have one layer challenges this week with the added condition of one image over at LIM.  It's perhaps my penance for having Neil from the LIM DT very gently remind me that I should be using less layers for the LIM challenge last week:

 

So no layers in sight on this one - I used black card stock for a change as white space doesn't have to be white does it?  I silver embossed this Blooming Stamplorations stamp and coloured it with pencils - the sentiment's from Altenew. 

Happy stamping!

Claire

Weekend Tri-fector

Hi folks,

It's been a productive weekend for a change and I've managed to get three cards done for a variety of challenges. Amazing what you can do when it's a long weekend and one kid's sick and having to self-isolate whilst waiting for Covid results. (Negative thankfully.)

The first is for Altenew's June Inspiration challenge:

I wasn't sure about these colours together but I really like how it's turned out - I watercolored some Floral Motifs  and arranged them in a die cut window, bordered by some Gold Foil Washi Tape.  The sentiment's from Beautiful Day. 

 

My second card's for a couple challenges - CASology, where the cue card is 'strength' and Less is More which has a pale blue and yellow colour challenge:

There's that Stamplorations butterfly die cut again - I'm amazed it isn't blunt it's been used so much. 

I stencilled a distress ink circle in Tumbled Glass, then stencilled over the top with a leaf stencil from Funky Fossil.  The sentiment's from MFT. 

I used the same layout for my last card which was meant to be for MFT's sketch and colour challenge - until I realised I'd actually missed one of the elements from the sketch. I honestly think I'm coming down with dementia...I've been doing that a lot recently.  So this one is just featuring the colours from challenge #167 with one of the cute gnomes from Hanging with my Gnomies.  This little Gnomie is my absolute favourite..perfect for the MFT sentiment!

Enjoy the rest of the week and happy stamping!

Claire

Addicted To CAS #198

Hello inkers,

I've made a very CAS card for Addicted to CAS' 'ombre' challenge:

 

I recently spoilt myself and bought a huge set of Brutfuner pencils with every colour under the sun - I've never really used pencils before and I have to admit I'm finding them far more difficult to get to grips with than markers. I feel like it takes ages to get an even spread of colour on the paper and colouring shadows definitely take a lot of patience! 

Anyway, this pretty Stamplorations butterfly has been die cut from a panel coloured using said pencils. I used about 6 or 7 different ones to try and get the ombre effect. I also added a white embossed swirl from Paper Smooches - the sentiment's from Poppy Stamps. 

This one's also going over to Simon Says Stamps' Wednesday challenge where 'anything goes.'

Happy stamping!

Claire

Quick and Simple FMS #463

Hello. hello,

Quick card for Freshly Made Sketches and Time Out:

 

This is my second card for Time Out's 'quick' challenge which was even faster than the first,  as I already had some alcohol inks blended for the Stamplorations die cut butterfly. The three stamped strips are PTI's Watercolour Wonder - an oldie but still a goodie!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Color Throwdown #620

Hello folks,

Just getting in a quick card before the latest Color Throwdown challenge finishes:

I combined the pretty colour colour palette with the simple layered sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch.

 The stamp is called 'Blossoming' from Stamplorations - I never feel as though I do this stamp justice but for once I'm happy with how the colouring came out. Makes a change!

Happy stamping!

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 

Fusion Inspired

Hello folks,

Another CAS creation, this time inspired by the pic over at Fusion:

I was inspired by the soft colours and blended together a few distress inks in the same palette. The Cover Plate is Stamplorations' Bloomtangled Cover Plate die and the sentiment strip is Taylored Expressions Simple Strips with matching die. This is such a clever set - the sentiments are on one large rubber stamp and the die cuts all 18 strips at once. In other words, it takes the same length of time to create 18 different sentiments as it does to create one. Perfect for the lazy crafter!

Daily life is slowly getting back to normal in Australia and I'm looking forward to going back to work. Kids are back in school from Monday so I'm hoping my days as their personal slave/teacher are well and truly over!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire

Simple Wreaths and Altenew Take 2

Hello folks,

CAS on Friday's latest challenge is to use your favourite flower stamp. I'm assuming a selection of flowers will do - remember this set from W Plus 9? Fresh Cut Wreaths was everywhere when it first came out but I haven't inked mine up for ages.  I almost made a one layer, then added a simple stitched frame from MFT to finish it off.:

My second card is still clean and simple but I matted the panel on gold card stock. For both cards I used the pretty inspiration pic from The Card Concept, drawing from the soft pinks, greens and gold with a touch of yellow:

As promised I did a second take on Altenew's colour challenge using the same technique as the first:

This time I kept it simpler and created a stamped panel of Hennah Elements with a stencilled Grid background again. A small sentiment and butterfly from Stamplorations and it was done.  I do prefer the simplicity of it in comparison to this one - as I said yesterday, splatters are just not for me!

Claire

Easter Three-fer

Hello fellow inkers and happy Easter!

Despite the isolation we still managed an Easter egg hunt in the back garden and a special meal followed by pavlova. I think after all this is over I'll be rolling out of the house - eating and drinking seem to be taking up most of my time!

The remainder's taken up with card making (unfortunately very little calorie burning there) so here's a few clean and simple ones I made for a variety of challenges:

The first is for CAS(E) This Sketch.  I've stamped and embossed some Mama Elephant Basic Borders and added a large die cut butterfly from Stamplorations which has been coloured using alcohol inks. A scattering of sequins and MFT sentiment and it was done.

The second one is for MFT's latest sketch challenge. In case you missed it, MFT and Torico have made all four Birdie Brown doctor and nurse images available as a free printable. The one above looks just like one of my closest friends, currently working in the ICU of one of Sydney's largest  hospitals. Unfortunately I'm not catching up with her as much as I'd like so this is just to remind her that she hasn't been forgotten.

The last is for the Paper Smooches colour story challenge and Fusion's cute gnome inspiration pic which has similar pastel colours.  The decorative chain of spheres above the gnomes reminded me of Paper Smooches Hearts Dies. I tried to add in another PS stamp or die but despite my growing Paper Smooches collection nothing seemed to work so I used the same Stamplorations butterfly which seemed to fit well with the pretty sentiment from Fun and Flirty.

Hope you get the time to get a bit inky this long Easter weekend - happy stamping!

Claire

CASology Guest Designer

Hello fellow inkers!

I'm delighted to be guest designing for CASology's first challenge of 2020. The cue card is 'repeat:'

I feel like life is on repeat at the moment - get up, go to work, look after kids, sleep, repeat, particularly at this time of year when the kids are on Summer holidays for 6 weeks!

As you can see, the repetitive elements on my card are all those stamped circles from Winnie and Walter's Big Bang Confetti. Did you know they are closing? Such a shame - I've seen so many small stamping businesses close over the the years. Head over to the W & W website as they have lots of bargains in store.

How will you interpret the word 'repeat?' Head on over to the CASology blog for heaps of inspiration from the DT!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Negative Space

Hello fellow inkers!

I've combined a couple of challenges for the card below - CASology's cue card is 'appreciate' and Less is More's theme is 'that's torn it:'

Both cards have been made using goodies from Stamplorations - when I bought the butterfly stencil I hadn't realised that the butterflies were created with the negative space. It threw me a bit and I really wasn't quite sure how to use it so I just blended some distress inks around the edges to bring out the pattern.  My 'torn' element is a die which gives the impression of a torn notebook. perfect for someone who can't bear to tear a good piece of card stock!

Thanks for popping by!

Claire x