MME September Challenge

Hello bloggers!

I've gone a little mad for My Minds Eye this week - every card I've made seems to feature some papers from their gorgeous new Collections set. So I thought I may as well enter their September challenge where the theme is 'Labour Day.' Since Labour Day is a US holiday, it got me thinking about Bank holidays in the UK which were always (without fail)  soggy and wet.  Hence the theme of my card which features one of PTI's stamps from their Scattered Showers stamp set:

 I love that raindrop stamp, although it's absolutely tiny and will probably get vacuumed up at some point!  After stamping it in the blue I added a little Dimensional Magic to make it shine. It's for a very close friend who's going through a hard time at the moment...if I can't be there with a hug,  I have to send a card instead!

That's all folks, have a fabulous start to the weekend!

Claire x

A New Waltzingmouse Challenge

Afternoon bloggers,

There's a fabulous new challenge for all  of you Waltzingmouse Stamps fans out there, aptly called Waltzingmouse Fanatics.  I used to love doing the Saturday Sketch challenge over at the WMS blog so I just had to have a go at this week's sketch:

This is the first Christmas card I've done for this year and I wanted to use some non-traditional colours. I've used the Ornate Ornaments set, together with some MME papers. The bauble's been embossed in sparkly gold but doesn't look quite so sparkly in the photo!

Hope you get the chance to join in - thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Mojo Monday

Morning again folks,

Just playing with new stamps again so I used this week's sketch over at Mojo Monday:

My happy mail from PTI arrived a couple of days ago and I know I'm going to get so much use out of those Mixed Messages...I've been wanting some teeny tiny sentiments for ages.

I'm also popping this one into this week's Wednesday challenge over at Simon Says Stamp. The theme is Animal Antics...I'm hoping butterflies are classed as animals? If not, Mr Linky will have to delete my thumbnail!

Short and sweet today - have a fabulous Monday!

Claire x

Case This Sketch #44

Hello. Me again.

Just a short one - I've been playing around with some new stamps from PTI and did a quick card based on this lovely sketch over at Cas(e) This Sketch:

I've used glittery embossing powder and I have to say it looks a lot sparklier IRL!

Thanks for stopping again.

Claire x

Retro Sketch #80

Hello again folks,

Hope you're having a wonderful Sunday! I've woken up to a beautiful sunny morning and the news that we have a new prime minister here in Australia.  To be quite honest, I would have a voted for one of the Muppets if it meant no more election ads. I'm well and truly over it and I really do feel for my American friends, knowing how long the lead up to an election is over there!

On to another Retro Sketch (#80)  challenge and this time it's based on a card by yours truly.  If you want to see the original then have a quick peek here. I've also used the colours from this weeks Colour Q:

For some reason I find it quite difficult to use my own cards as inspiration so I stuck pretty closely to the original, but did a more feminine take on it. I used a Kaisercraft script stamp with some Versamark, then sponged some Basic Grey over the top of it (is it called ghost stamping or something - I'm not one for getting technical?) It's kind of shown up in the photo. The penny farthing image is from Stampin' Up's Timeless Talk set which I bought a couple of weeks ago  (along with a few other goodies.) I didn't use the twine this time...just wasn't working!

Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping again!

Claire x

Feeling Japanese (Again!)

Hello folks,

I've just managed to sneak in another card before Mr Linky closes in a few hours - combining CAS-ual Friday's challenge of kraft+text with CASe This Sketch:

I was still feeling some Japanese inspiration and, since they were already out messing up my craft space, I reached for the Yuzen papers again. I stamped the little Sakura flower with Stazon onto gold shimmer card and die cut the leaves, then coloured them with a goldleaf pen so they showed up better against the kraft. The white embossed writing is from Kaisercraft's Oriental stamp and every time I use it I have no idea which way up the writing is meant to go!

Well that's all again folks....have a fabulous day!

Claire x

A Japanese Inspired Retro Sketch

Good morning folks,

I absolutely love Japanese Yuzen papers and have done ever since I made my very first card - I don't use it anywhere near as much as I should, particularly when I have so much of it lying around my stash. I thought I'd put it to good use for this week's Retro Sketch which is based on this beautiful card made by Laurie:

I always think 'less is more' with these type of papers so I kept it very simple. The gold ring is a chipboard circle that I've cut and embossed, then coloured with a goldleaf pen. It almost looks like a Nestability die doesn't it? I put a layer of vellum underneath and then stamped my black dragonfly on vellum, embossed it with black embossing powder and coloured one set of wings with a red marker. It's from the very old Bugs and Kisses set by Stampin' Up - I rarely use all the other stamps in this set but I still love the dragonfly. I decided to flip the sketch this week..it just kind of worked better that way!

Thanks for stopping again!

Claire x