Polkadoodles Christmas Hugs

Good morning my lovelies,  I just wanted to remind you to grab your place on the sofa today as the lovely Nikky Hall from PolkaDoodles will be on C&C at 11am for Craft Clinic and then again at 4pm with all sorts of fabby crafting gorgeousness including PanPastels,Graph'it markers and PolkaDoodles Cds . Sadly I'll be at work but I'll be recording it and rushing home to watch the shows.

Here's a card made with one of the gorgeous images from the new Polkadoodles cd, Angelberry Christmas, coloured with Graph'it markers and liberally glamour dusted. The bp is from Gingerbread Twist, one of my favourite cds from Polkadoodles. I cut some bunting out from one of the bps too.

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:

Card Crafters Circle: Christmas in July

Crafting for all seasons: Christmas in July

Fairy Tale: Christmas in July

Hiding in my craft room: Christmas in July

Jellypark: Christmas in July

Totally gorjuss: Christmas in July

I also made some Christmas bunting using Angelberry Christmas, I've used the precoloured images as it would have taken ages to colour them all. I've joined the pennants with red seambinding ribbon and added a red bow to each one. The candy canes and holly are embellies from the CD, I've given them a bit of a shine with glossy accents and added some little silver bells from my stash.  I was in a rush to get it to the post office ready for the show so I only managed to get a quick pic of part of it:

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

4 Crafty Chicks: Pennants

Anything but a card: anything Christimas/winter holiday

Creative Corner: Christmas in July

Jingle Belles: sleigh bells 

Simply Create Too: anything but a card

thanks so much for popping by, have a great day

Claire xx

Embossing at PanPastel UK

Good morning and a big warm welcome to my new followers, its lovely to 'meet' you. As its Sunday morning, we've got a new challenge at PanPastel UK, sponsored as always by the lovely Berni from Your Creativity Store and this week our theme is 'Embossing'. You don't have to use PanPastels to enter but of course we love it when you do. 

I do a lot of heat embossing but rarely use my embossing folders so I thought this weeks challenge was a great opportunity to dust them off and have a play. I've used an image from Crafts and Me, she's been coloured with Graph'It markers. I love this image, you can see her better in this pic:

I've created a frame for her with card that I'd embossed with my cuttlebug and coloured with PanPastels (I used Ultramarine Blue, Ultramarine blue tint and various shades of brown). I cut some bits out and layered them up with 3d foam. To finish off i've added a seam binding button, a bow and some bakers twine.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafts and Me: anything goes

Creative Craft Challenges :blue and brown

Milkcoffee: emboss it

Ruby's Rainbow: layers

Top Tip Tuesday:spooled items

I'm off to tackle the ironing now before it gets too hot, have a great day and thanks so much for popping by 

Claire xx

Script, books, pages and print on the catwalk at FSC

Hello folks, we've got a new challenge starting at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this time our theme is 'Script.books, pages, print' and usually this would be right up my street but for some reason I really struggled for ideas. Maybe all this hot weather has addled my brain lol.

The background was made with distress paints, layered up with some bits of old book pages and some text stamping. I added a bit of an old map and next a doiley. The lady and the car are both stamps from Flonzcraft, coloured with Graph'It markers, I love these stamps together :-). The sentiment is a Chocolate Baroque stamp. To finish off I've added some red gems,red seam binding and a little red button.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

ART card challenge: anything goes

City Crafter: on the road

Crafts too: favourite era (50s for me, although I wasn't born then lol)

Crafty Ribbons: anything goes with ribbon

QKR Stampede: Cars, trains and planes

Stempelsonnen: travel

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Blonde Hair at Graph'It Markers Colour Challenge

Good morning and happy Friday to you, its been soooooo hot at work and exceptionally busy so I'm very happy that the weekend is nearly here. I'll be doing a happy dance all the way home from work (if I've got the strength lol). Anyway today sees the start of a brand new challenge over at Graph'It markers and this week we want to see Blonde Hair on your projects, you don't have to use Graph'It markers to enter but we do love it when you do. There are some fab prizes up for grabs so pop on over the the Graph'It Colour Challenge Blog to find out all the deets and see the gorgeous projects from my teamies.

I've used the beautiful mermaid image from the new Bonbon Belles CD from PolkaDoodles, love this cd, the images are fab to colour! Here's a better pic of the image:

Here's a list of the colours I used: 

Hair: 3120, 1250, 1170, 1150,4110

Skin: 4180, 4155, 4115, 4145, 4120, 4110

Blues and greens: 7180, 7170, 7165, 7150, 7140, 7125

and 8220,8250, 8280

The background was created with PanPastels and I added bubbles with cosmic shimmer glue and microbeads. I had a happy accident making the backing paper, when I applied my PanPastels I didn't realise that there were tiny microbeads all over my craftmat and it created a a kind of mottled watery effect when I applied the panpastels. I just added some cheesecloth and some dew drops to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Animal Friends: Water

Cute Card Thursday: Beside the sea

Deep Ocean: blue

MarkerPOP: lovely locks

Thanks so much for visiting today, 

Claire xx

Violet Mirror

Good morning my lovelies, goodness me it seems to be getting hotter and hotter. I'm not complaining though as its lovely to see the sunshine, just not so good being cooped up at work in the gorgeous weather when I could be at home in the garden with my fur babies. I've got an altered mirror to share this morning.

The background was created with acrylic stamped, a coat of cream and then dry brushed with a very pale lilac and overstamped with an Indigo Blu fabric texture stamp. The violet stamp is from Sheena Douglass, painted with twinkling h2os. The sentiment is from the same stamp set. To finish off I've added treasure gold around the edges and a couple of indigo blu butterflies stamped on acetate and embossed in gold.

I'm entering this one in the following challenges:

Crafting when we can: Floral

Craft Room Challenge: Heat embossing

Daring Cardmakers: paint effects

Sparkle and sprinkle: anything but a card

Through the Purple Haze: flowers

Thanks so much for popping by today
Claire xx

Celebrate with SplodgeAway

Hi there, Wednesday already so the weekend is just about in sight thank goodness. I can't work out what on earth is going on with the weather though. It keeps tipping down with rain but just gets hotter, our office was like a sauna yesterday so I hope its a bit cooler today or I may just melt. my card this morning is a very quick card made with two of the fab new masks from SplodgeAway.

Began by making a background with distress inks (vintage photo, tea dye and a little walnut stain) using the spritz and flick technique and once that was dry I applied grey acrylic paint through the brick mask from  The Texturizer kit and let it dry before stamping the 'Celebrate' stamp and embossing with sparkly red EP. I took the man mask from the Altered Art Kit and drew round it on black card, cut him out and popped him on the background. A really quick male card :-)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Card a Day: for men

Creative Inspirations Paint: anything goes

Simon says Stamp Monday challenge: celebrate

Through the craft room door: anything goes

If you want to see more SplodgeAway inspiration pop over and check out the SplodgeAway blog as may talented teamies have come up with some gorgeous projects inspired by the summer sunshine this week.

Well i'm scooting off to work now, so have a lovely day and thanks for popping by

Claire xx

PolkaDoodles Angelberry Christmas

Good morning folks, today's card features one of the gorgeous new angels from the fabby new PolkaDoodles Cd 'Angelberry Christmas'. I've kept it fairly simple without loads of embelliies as I think we're all going to be trying to cut down on postage costs this year.

The backing papers are from Gingerbread Twist (also from PolkaDoodles) and the image is coloured with Graph'It markers. I've created a bit of a glow around the word 'peace' with the blender pen, Nikky Hall came up with this technique and I love it :-)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

ABC Christmas: No embellishments

Creative Belli: Christmas

Crimbo Crackers: Anything goes

Fab'n'Funky: Christmas in July

Fairy Tale: Christmas in July

Thanks so much for popping by today, hope you're having a good day
Claire xx

A right royal giveaway at the Ribbon Girl

Good morning folks, to celebrate the exciting news about the royal baby, the Ribbon Girl is having a fab giveaway! Pop over and find out how you can win lots of lovely goodies  here

Its always lovely to hear about a new baby isn't it?

Claire xx

Seed heads from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning folks, I'm not sure i'd call it a good morning as I'm back at work after my week off today so I'm not a happy bunny. Anyway before I go and earn a crust, here's a  card created using the beautiful seed head stamp from Poppy Meadow by Chocolate Baroque.

I've used a shaped card blank, embossed with a prima mask before applying distress ink with a blending tool (I've used peeled paint, forest moss and vintage photo). I coloured the stamp with distress markers and  misted it with water and stamped it, using a paint brush and a little water to drag the colour out. The image was die cut with nestabilities and inked before popping it on the card with 3D foam. I've added some raffia ribbon, a wooden button and some green ribbon to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Anything goes: anythiing goes
Gem of a challenge: anything but a square
One Stop Craft: Make your own background
Papertake Weekly: Buttons and bows
Ruby's Rainbow: embossing, ribbon, handmade background

Squirrel and the fox: use something spooled

Well I'd better go and get ready for work. We're forecast thunder storms later so hopefully I'll be home before they start as my poor puppy Barney hates thunder bless him.

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Summertime at PanPastel UK

Good morning, I'm not a happy bunny as I'm back at work tomorrow but I shouldn't complain as I've had the most glorious weather for my leave.  My card today is for our new challenge at PanPastel uk where the theme is 'Summertime'. Our lucky winner will receive a fab PanPastel starter kit from the lovely Berni at Your Creativity Store (UK addresses only) so don't miss out!  I've used these gorgeous stamps from Chocolate Baroque for my card, they are called 'Honey Bee' and its on special offer this week too!

I began by using Hansa yellow tint and dairylide yellow PanPastels to create my background and stamped the honeycomb stamp over the background. The beauty of PanPastels is that you can erase them so you don't need to be too precise and you don't need to use masking techniques as much. I used a battery eraser to remove the colour from the bees wings on the background.

I stamped the flower on some scrap card coloured with the same PanPastels and added some depth with Graph'It markers, cut it out and curled the petals a little. The sentiment is also from Chocolate Baroque, I didn't stamp the 'be' from the sentiment as I thought it would be fun to replace it with a little buzzy bee!

The larger bees were made by stamping the bee stamps on acetate and embossing with black EP. I added some Viva glossy gel in yellow to the back and let it dry, next I brushed some Maimeri gloss gel on the back of the wings and dusted with glamour dust before  cutting them out.

Here's another pic to show the little bees:

I'm entering this is the following challenges:

Bloggers: things with wings

Brown Sugar: anything goes

Inky Impressions: summer

Penny's Paper Crafty :Black

Stempelsonnen: summer

Wags'n'Whiskers: summer fun

If you've got a minute pop over and check out my teamies beautiful projects, they are stunning as always. Well after a couple of weeks of salad and  snacks, I'm heading off to the kitchen to cook a scrummy Sunday lunch, no doubt helped by Barney who is never far away when food is around lol

have a lovely day and thanks for popping by 

Claire xx

Sneaking in ....

Hi there, my second post of the day and I'm sneaking in with my entry for the challenge at Indigo Blu which is all about Summer Time. We've certainly had some beautiful summery weather for the last few weeks, in fact the heat has made me soooooo lazy I'd totally forgotten to blog this project (well I'm blaming the heat anyway lol)

I've used an mdf heart blank from Indigo Blu, primed with gesso and then coloured using various green and blue distress inks applied with a baby wipe. I then stamped the grasses and clouds (from Nature 1, my first set of stamps from Indigo Blu) and then the background stamp, all with distress inks except the clouds which were stamped with Memento London fog. Once the ink was dry I added water to the clouds with a paintbrush to lift the background colour.The butterflies are from the same stamp set, I've stamped and embossed them with gold EP on acetate and added some pearls for their bodies. 

On the other side I've used the same colours but added the beautiful sentiment from B.F.F.

To finish off I've added gold acrylic paint to the edges of the heart and sealed it with spray sealer before adding a scrap of seam binding ribbon as a hanger.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Crafts 4 Eternity: Inky fingers

Frillie and Funkie: summertime

Oldie but goodie: in the garden 

(my old item is my Nature stamps)

Simply Create Too: anything but a card

Thanks for visiting, hope you're having a good weekend

Claire

Rescue!

Good morning folks, its much cooler here this morning so the dogs are enjoying a welcome break from the heatwave.  My card this morning is for this month's challenge over at Lavinia stamps where the theme is to use a die cut.

I've used the front of a shaped card embossed with a prima mask in my GC and inked with distress inks. I've stamped a couple of gorgeous Lavinia fairies and added some foliage with the lovely willow stamp. I layered this up over some card inked with the same greens and lilac distress inks and gave it a bit of texture with a crafters workshop template. I've addeda bird cage die that I embossed with clear sparkly EP over one of the fairies so it looks like her friend is coming to rescue her. To finish off i've added some paper flowers, a bit of bling and a scrap of lace from my stash.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafty Creations: sparkle

Dutch Dare: floral frenzy

Incy Wincy: things with wings

Kaboodle Doodles: embossing

Love to Create: fairy tale

Milk Coffee: emboss it

well as always,thanks for visiting and for your comments, they always make me smile

Claire xx

Let it Fly at Polkadoodles

Good morning folks, I can't believe its Friday already, where has the week gone? Time flies when you're lazing around in the sunshine lol. We've got a new challenge starting at Polkadoodles this morning and the theme is 'Let it Fly' so we want to see butterflies,birds, balloons .... basically anything that flies :-)

Do pop over to the challenge blog and check out my teamies fabby projects, find out all about the prize and  you'll find my very first tutorial on creating a brayered background with a digital image.

i've used one of the beautful images from the Fredericka Collection Cd and coloured her with Graph'it markers. I've created a brayered scene in the background using dstress inks,

The  fence and trees are from the Polkadoodles 'Be neighbours' clear stamps.

 I won't go in to all the details as I've done a tutorial for this technique so if you'd like a peek you can find it here.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Creative Card Crew: the great outdoors

Emergency Crafts: Summer sun fun

Get Inky: summer sun fun

Inky chicks: Masking

Rhedd and Rosie's: anything goes

Thanks so much for visiting today, have a lovely day

Claire xx

Floral Clock from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning darlings, and a big warm welcome to my new followers, Its lovely to meet you and hopefully I'm following you back but if I'm not leave me a comment with your deets and I'll pop over for a visit. My project this morning features the beautiful new Fancy Floral stamps from Chocolate Baroque

I've used an MDF clock blank, painted with emulsion paint and sanded before giving it another base coat. I began by stamping the larger flowers and then masking them to stamp the smaller flowers and flourished. I stamped the buds too (using Memento Tuxedo Black) and then coloured the flowers with Graph'It markers. I stamped the gorgeous leafy stamp from Floral Edges around the edges using prgment ink, using first and second generation stamping to create some depth.  I used an old CD as a template to add the line connecting the sprays of flowers.  I sprayed the project with sealer and added some pearls for the remaining hours and lastly attached the clock mechanism.

Here's a closer pic of the gorgeous flower stamps

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

C is for Challenge: summer

Frillie and Funky: Summertime

Inky chicks: Masking

Joanna Sheen : citrus colours

Its another hot day here, a good excuse to laze around eating icecream and perhaps do a little crafting too. I was up at the crack of dawn so the dogs are walked, washings out on the line and the rest of the day is mine.

Have a lovely crafty day

Thanks so much for visiting , 

Claire xx

SplodgeAway Tree mask

Good morning folks, phew another scorching day. My little craft room is sooooo hot I think I'm going to take my markers and sit in the garden and colour today. But before I go I wanted to share one of my SplodgeAway samples, this one features the ginormous tree from the SplodgeAway altered art kit. Its fab as you get the tree mask and the stencil too.  Pop over and check out the SplodgeAway blog as the DT are showcasing their favourite techniques and they have got some fab ideas

I've used an old piece of corrugated card as the base, layerd up with black gesso and sanded before applying Renaissance treasure gold. Next, an A4 piece of greyboard from some packaging was given a coat of gesso and then stamped all over with a Chocolate Baroque text stamp before a generous spray of Black Magic glimmer mist, I covered it with crumpled cling film and left it. Once this was dry I applied Maimeri Light Modelling Paste through the huge tree stencil, creating some texture with a palette knife. I left it to try and then added more treasure gold to the tree, some green gilding wax around the edges and lots of little red gems as apples. Sorry about the rubbish pic, this one shows the colours a bit better:

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Natalie and Amy's: trash to treasure

Simon Says Stamp and Show: Green

Tuesday Throwdown: anything goes

thanks for stopping by, have a lovely day

Claire xx