Some Day my Prince Will Come...

G'day folks,

It's been such a full on few days I haven't had any time to get inky - the week ended with our wedding anniversary and the bottle of bubbles we knocked back really didn't put me in a crafty frame of mind!

I managed to knock out a little card today for a couple of clean and simple challenges though - CAS(E) This Sketch and Casology:

I must have still been in the mood for love as the cue word 'story' made me think of this sweet little Paper Smooches frog. Who hasn't heard the story of the frog being kissed and turned into a handsome prince? If I really did have to kiss a frog, I'd definitely pick this fella...he doesn't look slimy in the slightest!

Hope you have a great week!

Claire x

Papertrey Ink May Blog Hop

Hello again!

It's time for Papertrey Ink's May Blog Hop and there's a gorgeous pic awash with the colours of the rainbow for us to draw inspiration from:

I always seem to reach for 'Grunge Me' when it's blog hop time - it took a steady hand to get those lines straight.  I was also influenced by this week's CAS(e) This Sketch although looking at it now,  I have to admit I seem to have rather strayed from the actual sketch! But as I always say, you get the idea!

Have a fabulous week!

Claire x

Simple Blooms

Hello folks,

A quick card to show you using the latest sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and the inspiration pic over at The Card Concept.  I'm a sucker for woodgrain  so I was inspired to stamp a grey woodgrain background, swiped with a little white pigment ink and some Walnut stain distress ink. I cut it into strips, then cut a label using the WMS Picot Panel die to base my flowers on.

I'm not quite sure why there's a fork in the picture (perhaps those blooms are edible?) but it made me reach for my pewter embossing powder and WMS Simple Sprig - I love the detail this stamp still shows, despite the embossing. The flowers are an MFT die with some resin blooms from my stash which just happened to fit the colour scheme.

Every time I take part in The Card Concept I seem to stick to a clean and layered style...one of these days I will actually stick my card making neck out and have a go at a different one!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire x

Playing with (Digital) Paper

G'day folks!

I've been having a play with some new digital papers by Kristie Art Design in the last couple of days - you can check them out here at her Etsy store.  I have to admit, digital products are something I don't often think of, which is silly really as there's a whole heap of papers and products right at my fingertips. There's the added bonus of not having to store them anywhere too!

I used a couple of different ones - first up was a digital collage of lace pendants. I enlarged them slightly, then printed the A4 sheet and had 30 different coloured discs to choose from. After die cutting three with a circle die, I inked the edges and used them as a base for my stamped butterfly. The hearts have been die cut out of two of the pendants.

Next I used one of the 6x6 digital paper pads - Watercolor Geometry -perfect for a watercolour look without the mess!   I thought the soft pastels would go well with a chalkboard image:

I also used the latest sketch over at The Deconstructed Sketch:

Anyway, that's all from me - hope you have a great weekend and for my American friends a fabulous Memorial Day weekend!

Catch you later,

Claire x

Colour Q #292

Hello bloggers!

It's time for a new set of colours over at Colour Q and it's a gorgeous set of brights to play with:

I used Whimsy Stamps 'Happy Everything' again...I can't seem to put that set down at the moment - this time I used the balloons and the circle burst stamp to create my own patterned paper. I also used a sketch from Deconstructed Sketch - there's 200 sketches to choose from this week so I went for sketch #166:

Have you spotted the slight error? I've just realised I missed putting on the border underneath the image...oops.  I've always said that drinking wine and card making don't mix... Since I wanted the card to have bit of a fun feel, I also tilted the layers. (I can assure you, this was to alter the look of the card and wasn't as a result of drinking that wine!)

Well that's all from me folks - enjoy your week!

Claire x

Throwing some Colour

Hello folks!

How's your weekend going? It's Saturday, which means it's soccer day and what a proud soccer mum moment I had watching my littlest boy score two goals. I don't think I've ever seen him so excited!

There's a fabulous new sketch at Cas(e) This Sketch which was all the excuse I needed to play with some new Whimsy Stamps I invested in - Happy Everything:

It's such a versatile set - this time I used the little candles with matching dies - I thought they'd be the perfect match for the fun, bright colours over at Colour Thowdown:

Hope you get the time to play!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire x

Waltzingmouse Pyjama Party

Hello Waltzingmouse fans!

It's Pyjama Party time once again and I've been busy crafting away on three little cards ready for the party.  There's a bit of a masculine theme for this one, which is a good thing, as my cards have definitely been missing a masculine touch in the last few weeks. 

First up is my 'man of the moment' card for challenge one. There's quite a few very special men in my life...Hugh Jackman, George Clooney, Jon Hamm...the list goes on.  But actually I've made a card for one of the most special of all which is my youngest son. He saw me making this and insisted I give it to him for his birthday in October:

I used Half Pint Heroes, together with a small circle sunburst die from Memory Box - the colours are from the latest palette over at Colour Q. The spaceship has been coloured with Copics and I added some Kindyglitz to the sun and fire for a bit of sparkle.

The next card is for challenge 3 - 'old pyjamas'. For this very CAS one I used the huge strawberry from 'Big Berries.' I stamped it in Real Red, then added some Glossy Accents to all the dots to make it extra juicy. The background has been stamped using the Woodgrain background stamp and I embossed a little frame for the big berry with the Picot Panel die:

Lastly is the Bedtime Story sketch challenge:

Since I already had the woodgrain stamp out, I used it to stamp a background onto three Nestability die cuts, then stamped 3 identical Funky Feathers and coloured them with distress inks. I added a little heart from the same set and covered it with Glossy Accents.

One day I'll manage to enter all four challenges but I think I've done pretty well doing three! Now I'm off to make a very big cup of coffee and have a nosy at what everyone else has done!

Thanks for stopping,

Claire