Freshly Made Colour

Hello again bloggers!

Well, it's got to that time of the school holidays where the kids are driving me ever so slightly loopy and getting crafty in the evenings is definitely providing me with some much needed kid free time. This time I turned to Freshly Made Sketches for some therapy with this lovely sketch by Allisa:

This design is normally my 'go to' design when I want to do a quick card...5 punched squares and a bit of stamping and I'm usually done. Not this time though - I decided to used my Marvellous Squares die and since it's so intricate, it took quite a while to cut all the shapes. I then had to stick each piece individually on to the black MME paper, so although it's clean and simple, it actually took forever! The stamping has been done with Waltzingmouse's Folk Art Medallion set.

I'm also going to enter this one over at the Simon Says Stamp (Wednesday challenge) where the theme is 'Anything Goes.'

That's enough therapy for me today....feeling better already...

Have a good one!

Claire x

Colour at Last!

G'day again folks,

Told you I'd be back again today with a little bit of colour for MME's September sketch challenge:

I really wanted to do a scrapbook page but every time I sit down and try and do one, the scrappy mojo just doesn't appear. It's really frustrating me now...an ideas on how to get it back would be greatly appreciated!

Over at Simon Says Stamp (Wednesday challenge), the theme is 'anything goes' so I'm going to pop it over there too!

Short but sweet. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Claire x

Retrosketches #83

Morning bloggers!

Hope you're having a lovely, lazy Sunday morning.

It's my final week filling in for Kasia over at Retrosketches so a huge thanks to Arielle for letting me join in the fun every week....I've loved every minute of it! This week's sketch is based on this wonderful card by  Laurie:

I stamped the kraft background in white pigment ink using a bloom stamp from Bo Bunny and then stamped over the top with a Kaisercraft script stamp in chocolate. I wanted to 'pretty' it up a little so I used a Marvellous Squares Spellbinders die to cut the triangle.

I have to admit I'm in need of a little injection of colour on this blog at the moment. The last few cards have all had a neutral colour combo so there will be a second, slightly more colourful post a little later today for this months MME challenge.

Have a fabulous Sunday and thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Dynamic Duos - Kraft and Black

Hello again,

I'm off to get my beauty sleep in a few minutes but I thought I'd sneak in a second post today for the current Dynamic Duos challenge:

There's the option to do some wet embossing on this one so I did just that with the WMS Camellia bloom and leaves....still loving that new emboss folder!

Thanks for popping by again - have a great day!

Claire x

Courting Colour at Colour Q

Morning folks!

I've been keeping a little Colour Q secret over the last couple of weeks....I've just become the newest member of the Royal Court and I'm so excited to be included in this group of  talented ladies:

Arielle

Amy

Anita

Jen

LeAnne

Lisa

Melissa

Sandra

Sarah

Silke

Silvia

Tracey

So on to my first Colour Q assignment...this week happens to be one of my favourite combos - how lucky is that?

My PTI 'Grunge Me' set is getting a good workout at the moment - I stamped the circles repetitively on a piece of black card stock and embossed them in white. Some dry embossing, cutting and a few bright enamel spots and it was pretty much done.

So go and take a peek at the Colour Q blog for heaps of inspiration and ideas and link up by Monday September 30th for your chance to become a Colour Queen!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Retrosketches 82

Hello folks,

The crafty side of me has been a bit quiet this week...the kids have just started their Spring school holidays so not too much time for playing with paper. 

There's a great, new sketch over at Retrosketches based on Arielle's fabulous card here:

This one's a bit of a mish mash of leftovers from previous cards.  I had some old scraps of black cardstock with some flowers on it, stamped in Perfect Pearls. I punched a strip from this and added one of the 'experimental' butterflies I embossed using the goldleaf foil from my previous card.  The embossing folder is a new one that happened to fall into my shopping basket at the local craft store last week...I didn't think much else was needed, since it's such a detailed design.

Hope you have the chance to join in with the sketch this week - only one week left until my headlining days are over!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Freshly Made with Foil

Good morning bloggers!

Jen B has come up with a fabulous sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches...so many possibilities...I'm sure I'll be using this one again:

 I bought some multicoloured leaf foil a couple of weeks ago from my local craft store. The first time I used it was a total disaster...it just wouldn't stick to the sticky embossing powder and I ended up wasting an entire sheet of the stuff (and it's NOT cheap!) So, I went back to the craft store and got a bit of advice and it worked perfectly...I 'm really pleased with the result.  I used it with a Stampin' Up Papillon Potpourri butterfly. I searched every nook and cranny in my stash and couldn't find any matching buttons or brads to embellish it, so in the end I covered a couple of pearl brads in some Versamark, dipped it in the sticky emboss and added the foil to those too. The patterned paper is more of the pretty Japanese yuzen paper that I don't seem to be able to stop using lately!

Since the challenge over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog is embossing, I'm also going to enter the card there. As well as using the foil, I've dry embossed the background.

Hope you have a wonderful Monday, thanks for stopping,

Claire x