White Christmas Challenge at Chocolate Baroque

You're not going to want to miss Glenda's 'White Christmas' Challenge, the winner receives a gift voucher for Chocolate Baroque and the more people that enter, the bigger the prize will be!  And some of the entries that showcase Chocolate Baroque stamps will be featured over on the Chocolate Baroque DT blog over Christmas too. How exciting!

 

I've made an easel card using one of the stamps from Home Sweet Home stamp sheet from Chocolate Baroque (of course lol) I stamped the image on watercolour card with sepia versafine and watercoloured with distress inks (antique linen, tea dye and vintage photo). I created the easel card  from kraft card using nesties and also die cut the image and distressed with lots more vintage photo and tea dye DI. I added lots of Glenda's Snowflake glitter and created flowers using fabric and Krealies 18, I coloured the cotton with vintage photo distress ink and added faux pearls to the centres. The larger flowers are rolled ribbon roses made using Ivory Lace ribbon. I die cut the foliage using scraps of kraft and Krealies Shapes 11.

For the base of the easel I used a sentiment stamp from Chocolate Baroque, I'm not sure if its available at the minute but its one of my favourites. You can see the detail here

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Make it Monday with Kraft: Christmas

Oh la la: Lots of sparkle

Sparkles forum challenge: Vintage Christmas

Stamptacular Sunday: anything Christmas 

Sugar Creek Hollow: fancy folds

Totally Papercrafts: Christmas

Thanks for visiting today

hugs

Claire xx

Tinseltown wreath

Hi there, hope you're having a good weekend so far. Its blowing a gale here and bitterly cold .. perfect crafting weather lol. When I first got Sarah Hurley's Tinseltown cd I got totally carried away printing out loads of the gorgeous bps, and wanted to find a project to use them all. I'd seen a few of these papercone wreaths around blogland so I thought I'd have a bash.

I was suprised how easy it was to make, I just cut loads of squares of the bps, punched two edges with a MS topiary punch around the page and then folded them a little and curved the paper round to create a cone. I used a plate to position them and once I'd got enough I cut out a couple of circles of white card and used one as the base. One I'd attached all the cones I stamped the sentiment (from Chocolate Baroque) on a circle of ivory card in brilliance red ink and popped it in the centre. I attached a loop of ivory ribbon at the back and used the other white card circle to cover the back. Easy peasy :-)

Taking the pic was a different matter though, I'm sorry its at a wonky angle - I was holding it with one hand and trying to take the photo with the other lol.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments: winter holiday sentiments

Christmas Inspirations: No image

C.R.A.F.T: Unusual Christmas

Crafts 4 Eternity: Christmas decorations

Creative Craft Challenge: FRee for all

Guylou's inimitability: Christmas with a wreath

Little Red Wagon: Christmas

Scrapbook Sisters: Christmas Time

Shopping our Stash: christmas or winter

Stampin with the dragon: anything goes Christmas

I've got a very lazy evening planned, watching TV and perhaps eating a little chocolate too :-) But before I collapse on the sofa, just a little reminder that you still have time to enter our Buttons challenge at Sarah Hurley's Challenge

Thanks for popping by today. 

Claire xx

Cards for men at Rainbow Lady's Challenge

Hi there, isn't Christmas sneaking up on us? I haven't even thought about Christmas shopping yet but I've got plenty of cards made and here's another, this time for Rainbow Lady's Challenge where the theme is Cards for Men. 

I've used stamps from Clarity and kept the layout very simple. The 'Noel' is stamped in versamark and embossed in gold and then masked to ink in the scene inside the 'O'. I then inked in the scene surrounding the image using my trusty brayer and Memento inks in Summer Sky, Danube blue and a little tuxedo black.

I've matted the scene on gold mirri card and had to add a gold bow to cover a messy inky fingerprint lol. Why do I always do that ?? 

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Allsorts: one layer cards

Crafty Emma's: Snowflakes

House that stamps built: Christmas card +snowflakes

Lady bug Crafts Ink: Winter blues

Kaboodle Doodles: baby its cold outside

Oldie but goodie: Let it snow

PanPastel: Frosty and bright

Partytime Tuesday: snow us what you've got

Scrapbook Sisters: Christmas

Stamptacular Sunday: for a man or boy

Thanks for popping by, i've been a bad blogger lately as I'm sooooo busy at work at the minute but hopefully i'll catch up with some blog hopping at the weekend :-)

hugs

Claire  xx

Challenge 14 at Christmas Challenges {with sketches}

Hi there, its time for a new challenge at Christmas Challenges {with sketches} already and our sketch this time around if from my lovely teamie Wilma. I've rotated the sketch as I wanted to use the text border that matched the dps I've used. Sorry about the awful pic, the dark foggy days combined with my dreadful photography skills are to blame lol.

Our sponsor this time around is Michelle Perkett, Michelle is such a talented artist and her digi stamps are just gorgeous so I'm sure you won't want to miss out on the chance to win. I've used one of Michelle's Christmas images, isn't she adorable? She is called Tia and you can find her in Michelle's Etsy Store

I've coloured Tia with promarkers and added ivory flowersoft and glamour dust  for the trim on her dress, hat and muff. The papers are all from GCD Joyful Peace paper pad, distressed with a kraft knife. The flowers are ivory paper flowers from my stash, coloured with Jolly Roger Red moonglow ink spray. I've used Marianne die to cut the leaves and swirls. To finish off I've added a faux gems and a  fab postage stamp sentiment from Whimsy Stamps, I love these stamps and they have a matching die too.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Daisy Doodles: Christmas plus use a digi

Digi Doodle Shops Best: red and green

Digital Tuesday: sparkle and shine

Everybody Art Challenge:Christmas cards

Paper Creations Ink: christmas

Papertake Weekly: Christmas crackers

Pollycraft: Christmas fun

Shopping our Stash: christmas or winter

Whoopsi Daisy: anything goes at Christmas

Winter Wonderland: What a cutie

Thanks for popping by today. 

Claire xx

We're dreaming of a white Christmas

Hi there folks, well its time for a new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this time around we have a Christmas theme for you (anything Christmas will be fine as long as its stamping not digis). As always we have a yummy prize up for grabs from Marina of Cottage Crafts so head on over to the challenge blog and find out more.

For my DT card, I've used an assortment of stamps old and new and got good and messy into the bargain lol. I started off by stamping a music score stamp from Stampers Anonymous on some tissue paper with pumice stone and tea dye distress ink. I coated a square of card with gesso and layered the gently crumpled tissue over it and then applied another layer of gesso. Once it was dry i tore the excess tissue off and lighly inked around the edges with tea dye distress ink. The focal image is from Crafty Secrets 'Vintage Christmas' stamp sheet,, stamped in sepia versafine and die cut.  Santa is layered up over an eyelet circle nestie die cut and a Marianne star frame die cut. All the die cuts were lightly inked and then liberally glamour dusted. I've added a doily from my stash and layered that over some vellum stamped with snowflakes and dusted with pearl cosmic shimmer. I've also added some faux pearls, lace, ivory velvet ribbon and some gorgeous ivory and silver ribbon from Crafty ribbons. The pins are from Crafty Boots, they are really beautiful and sparkly in real life but I couldn't catch the sparkle on the pic. The snowflakes are also Marianne die cuts and the brad is from my stash.

The sentiment stamp is from Whimsy Stamps, die cut with their postage stamp die (I just love these postage sentiments!!). The leaf frond is also a Marianne die cut.  I haven't ticked 'naughty' or 'nice' yet as I don't know who I'm sending it too lol.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

2 Sisters: let it sparkle

Artistic Stamper: Backgrounds

Bunny Zoe's Crafts: Christmas with pearls

Challenge up your life: music

Crafters Companion: let it snow

Crafty Catz: snowflakes

Crafty Emma's Challenge: snowflakes

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge: music

Craft your days away: bingo challenge (my line is lace, pearls and pins)

Creatalicious: Christmas and make it sparkle

Crimbo Crackers: Make is sparkle

Deep Ocean Challenge: vintage

Diva's by Design: Monochrome

Marianne Design Diva's : sparkle and shine

Moving along with the times: Let it snow 

Oldie but goodie: Let it snow (my old stamp is the Crafty Secrets Santa)

Paper Shelter: snowflakes

Truly Scrumptious: Christmas with a vintage theme/pearls

Wags'n'Whiskers: Christmas

Phew, thats a lot of challenges lol.

Thanks for popping by, if you get a minute pop over and check out my teamies gorgeous projects as they have come up with some truly gorgeous projects. We also have the pleasure of welcoming a new member to the team too! Paula is really talented and comes up with the most gorgeous creations so we're all really excited to have her join us

hugs

Claire xx

Check out this fab freebie!

Good morning, phew its been one of 'those' weeks at work again and of course my darling doggies forgot it was Saturday and got my up at the crack of dawn lol. My early morning blog hopping  came across this fab freebie though so it was well worth getting up so early.  You can get  a free "Santa's Magical Sleigh" card making template from Card Carousel. Pop over and find out more! 

Just visit www.cardcarousel.co.uk/free/sleigh.html

Have a happy Saturday 

hugs

Claire xx

A new challenge at Crafty Ann's

Hi there, Crafty Ann has a new challenge starting today and its a sketch challenge with an optional twist to make it a monochromatic creation. I nearly managed a monochrome card but couldn't resist adding a splash of colour to the main image. Pop over to the challenge blog and check out the fab sketch and also the prize up for grabs for our lucky winner.

I've used papers from Crafty Ann's abstract collection for this card and one of Ann's new images the beautiful 'Narrow boat scene' (you can find them in Crafty Ann's digi shop). I've matted the papers on cream card and coloured the image with Derwent coloursoft pencils. To embellish the card i've added some lovely olive green gingham ribbon.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Daisy Doodles: anything goes with a digi

Di's Digi Designs: ribbons and bows

Pretty Little Ribbon Shop: anything goes

Shelley's Images: anything goes

Thanks for visiting today

hugs

Claire xx

Buttons at Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog

Hi again, i'm back again with my DT card for Sarah Hurley's challenge  which this time around has been set by my lovely teamie Melly who wants to see you use buttons! A nice easy challenge for you this time around. I've made a fun Santa card with an image and backing papers from Sarah's ..................cd

I've matted the cute kraft Santa bp on some red card and then added a doiley to the centre. i cut the main image out and then added polar white flowersoft and glamourdust to his beard and the fur trim on his hat. Once this was dry I mounted Santa's head on a strip of acetate so it 'nods' lol. To finish off I've added a sentiment from ........... and some little wooden buttons and red ribbon bows

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Daisy Doodles: anything goes with a digi

Di's Digi designs: ribbons and bows

Crimbo Crackers: Make it sparkle

Opus gluei: whats on your head

Paper Sundaes: digital images

Wags'n'whiskers: Christmas

Thanks for popping by

hugs

Claire xx

Thanksgiving at Rainbow Lady's Challenge

Hi there well this week has flown by and its time for a new challenge from the lovely Rainbow Lady and this week Cynthia wants to see Thanksgiving stamps so I took the opportunity to ink up this beautiful little lady from Sweet Pea Stamps, she is called 'Autumn Harvest' by Ching Chou Kuik

I created the background by painting white card with starbust stains (Jazzy Jivin purple, don't you just love the names of the colours lol). I painted with a stiff bristly bursh to leave the mica in lines and create some texture. Once it was dry i stamped the clarity corner stamp and embossed with gold EP and matted the background on some gold mirri card.

The image is coloured with promarkers and she has sparkle EP on her wings. I've used the new Deluxe Crafters Card from Crafty Boots to stamp the image and this stuff is fab-u-lous! I'd been having a problem with flexmarkers bleeding but with this card  the colours blend beautifully but don't seem to bleed, its a great price too. I've layered her up over a couple of Marianne diecuts, covering the join with a ribbon. The sentiment is also from Sweet Pea stamps

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments: thank you or thanksgiving

Corrosive challenge: give thanks

Crafty Boots: Fantasy

Crafty Purple Frog: use orange

Hooked on Crafts: die cuts/punches

In a Sweet pea dream:  a thankful project using fall colours

Kaboodle Doodles: thanksgiving

Our Creative Corner: pumpkins or pumpkin pie

Sentimental Sundays: thank you or thanksgiving

Sketchy Colours: orange, green and purple

Stampin Sisters in Christ: gratitude

Thanks for calling by

hugs

Claire xx

Love is in the air

Hi there, ooooh i'm in love! I've got some gorgeous new LaBlanche stamps and they are fab-u-lous, they are so detailed and stamp sooooo beautifully, I'm totally in love with them lol. Today I'm sharing a tag I made using 'Woman with flowers'  

I've used this lovely lady for my tag for this weeks challenge at Dragon's Dream Tag it on where the theme is Romance. I started off with a kraft tag and stamped my favourite text stamp from Chocolate Baroque Paisley Elephant  themeplate in sepia versafine ink. I then stamped a large swirly border, also from Chocolate Baroque in versamark and embossed with clear EP. Next I added lots of dusty concorde distress ink . I stamped the beautiful La Blanche Lady with sepia versafine and again distressed with more dusty concorde ink. I tore the lady's face out and attached it too the tag, adding some cream lace and purple velvet ribbon. The flower is cut out from the same LaBlanche stamp,with the addition of a couple of paper flowers. To finish off i've added some faux pearls and some purple braid.

I'm entering this tag in the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps: Ribbon and lace

Crafty Emma's : Roses and ribbon

Fabulous Fridays: embossing

Gingerloft: Lace, fabric or felt

One Stop Craft: ribbon and lace

Polka Doodles: swirls and pearls

Scrappy Frogs Challenge: use kraft cardstock

Simon Says Stamp and Show: women only

Totally Papercrafts: Victorian

Thanks for visiting today

hugs

Claire xx

Tinseltown

Hi folks, how's your weekend going? Its been a bit of a lazy one for me, after another busy week at work I decided to leave the housework and enjoy a much needed inky fix in my craftroom lol.

This project was so quick and easy, it uses one of my favourite images from the lovely Sarah Hurley's Tinseltown CD (which you can find here).

Its always such a rush to get all those Christmas projects done but Sarah has very kindly included lots of gorgeous precoloured images on the cd so although I love colouring i decided to cheat a little. My little Christmas ornament is an old Cd covered with a Mistletoe paper (from the same cd). I've added a doiley and some lace around the edge.

The little cutie and the holly were printed from the cd, cut out and attached with silicone glue, I've added ivory flowersoft and glamourdust to the fur trim on her cute little outfit. I also added some faux gems for the holly berries. To finish off I added a sentiment (also from Tinseltown), its hard to see on  my pic but it reads 'Santa's Little Helper'

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

2 Sisters: anything goes

Cardmad Fairy's digi day: Texture

Charisma cardz: cutesy

Crafty Catz: use a digital image

Digital tuesday: anything goes

Paper Sundaes: digital images

Totally Gorjuss: Christmas traditions

Wags'n'Whiskers: Christmas

Thanks for popping by today. Don't forget you still have time to enter our challenge at Sarah Hurley Challenge blog, where our theme is use more than 2 images

Claire xx

Challenge 13 at Christmas Challenges {with sketches}

Hi there folks, its time for a new challenge at Christmas Challenges {with sketches} and hopefully Mr Blogger will play nicely and post this as I'm going to be awol (ok not really, I've got to go to a conference and will be away for a couple of days, don't worry I'm taking my colousoft pencils and some images to colour lol) Our sketch this time around is from my lovely teamie Renata and I think you'll agree its a gorgeous sketch. I really enjoyed making this card.

Our sponsor this time around is Hobby Stempels, make sure you pop over to the challenge blog and check out Renata's fab sketch and find out more about the prize from our generous sponsor

I've used a gorgeous digistamp from Crafts and Me called 'Perched at Dawn', its not really a Christmas stamp but with a red breast i thought the gorgeous little bird would make a great robin. I've coloured the image with Derwent coloursoft pencils and added clear sparkle EP to the fairy's wings. I've used some little tapestry stamps to create a holly border and added some vintage photo distressing around the edge. I've matted the image on some Kraft glassine punched with a MS border punch. You can see the image a bit better in this pic.

The papers are from my stash, I've had them years and i think they were from one of those huge kits from C&C, all the edges are distressed with a craft knife. I've added some  red gems, ruffled up chiffon ribbon, a couple of jingle bells, a poinsettia, die cut fir branches and a sentiment from Clarity Stamps. 

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Christmas Inspirations: bows

Crafty Catz: anything goes

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas: bright colours and/sparkle

Crimbo Crackers: anything goes

Delightful Challenges : a very sparkly Christmas

Fun with Shapes and more: animal Christmas 

I did it Creations: Christmas/winter

Winter Wonderland: make your card sparkle

Thanks for popping by

hugs

Claire xx

Photo Inspiration from the Rainbow Lady

Hi there, todays card is my DT card for this weeks challenge over at Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog where we have a photo inspiration challenge for you so hop on over and check out the gorgeous pic to inspire you.

Once you've seen the inspiration pic you'll see why I've chosen these stamps for my card. The stamps are from the 'Christmas Fusion' themeplate from Chocolate Baroque, this is one of my favourite stamp sheets and I adore this medallion stamp. I stamped the image 7 times and embossed with gold ep. I painted  the images with twinkling h20s and cut them out before layering them up with 3d foam pads. I've created a border using the small poinsettia stamp from the same stamp sheet, again painting with twinkling h2os. I've added pink and gold card for matting and layering and some white card embossed with 'swiss dots' embossing folder.

This pic shows the colours of the medallion a little better (although the poinsettia is actually a very bright pink and the greens are shades of lime) and also catches some of the shimmer from the paints

I'm entering this card in the following challenges

Creative Inspirations Paint: anything goes

Stampin Sisters in Christ: use one of your oldest stamp sets

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge: bright colours and/or sparkle

Jellypark: non traditional Christmas colours

Thanks for visiting today

hugs

Claire xx

Times gone by at Fashionable Stamping Challenges

Hi folks, how's your weekend going? Here's my DT project for Fashionable Stamping Challenges where the theme is 'Times Gone By'. As always we have a wonderful prize from Marina our permanent sponsor from Cottage Crafts

I've taken inspiration from a stunning background, a freebie from Dover Publications which I fell in love with. I loved the wistful look in the lady's eyes and the train speeding away (although i've more or less covered it up on my card lol) made me think of a couple thinking of eachother across the miles.

I've used lots of different stamp for this card, the train track border is from Creative Expressions as are the cogs and sprockets. The silhouette couple stamp is from Joanna Sheen, stamped on acetate and backed with gilding flakes before being framed with a painted nestie die cut. I've added post cards created with Crafty Individuals stamps and a kraft tag stamped with a border stamp.

The black velvet ribbon is from my stash as is the black and gold lace. The flower is stamped on to card coloured with black gold glimmer mist, the stamps are from Chocolate Baroque, Steampunk Christmas. I've added a little metal rose charm from Prima in the centre.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Addicted to stamps: vintage/shabby chic

Bunny Zoe's Crafts: Lace

Crafting for all Seasons: texture

Die cut dreams: So charming

Diva's by Design: metal

Fab'n'Funky: trains planes and automobiles

Scrapbook Sisters: anything goes

Stamps +fun= creativity: vintage

Wags'n'Whiskers: black plus ribbon or pearls

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Floral Frenzy at Crafty Ann's

Hi there, phew I'm so pleased its Friday! We're really busy at work at the min but the good thing about that it the week seems to disappear in a blur and before I know it the weekend is here again. Anyway its time for a new challenge from Crafty Ann and this time our theme is Floral Frenzy. As always there is a fab prize from Crafty Ann's Digi Shop for the lucky winner!

I always struggle with computery techie crafting but I was really chuffed  with myself  as I managed to Crafty Ann's beautiful ivy corner to create a border, with one of the mottled stone backing papers in the background! Clever stuff eh?? Ok clever for me lol.

I printed the image out twice and coloured the leaves with promarkers and then cut out lots of leaves and layered them up with silicone. I used Crafty Ann's short petal flower which i coloured with flex markers, I love the soft shades you can get in these and the brush tip is fab. I've got some more on order so hopefully they will be here for the weekend. I've added some glamour dust to the centre of the flowers, an ivory bow and edged the backing paper with a gold krylon pen to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Dream Valley: anything goes

Fresh Brewed: Anything goes

One Stop Craft Challenge: No sentiment

Papertake Weekly: anything goes plus sparkle and bling

Pretty Little ribbon shop: Anything goes

Scrapbook Sisters: anything goes

thanks for calling by. 

hugs

Claire xx

A Crafty treat from Dot!!

Oh my you don't want to miss this! My lovely teamie Dot over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges has a fab prize up for grabs when she reaches 50 followers (I'm sure it won't be long as Dot is one talented lady)

Pop over to Dot's Blog, Dot's Dabbles and join her merry band of followers to be in with a chance of winning one of Dot's beautiful creations! I have to confess I've had a sneaky peek at Dot's project 

and you won't be disappointed, its a real stunner

hugs

Claire xx

Use more than 2 images at Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog

Hi again, back with my second post of the day and my DT project for Sarah Hurley's Challenge Blog and this time around my teamie Melly has chosen the theme of 'More than 2 images'

I've chosen images from Sarah's fab 'Christmas Cheer' CD and used lots of images. I've used 2 main images, the house and the pot of poinsettias. There are also colouring bps on the cd and I chose the one to coordinate with the lovely little house. Its got lots of little images to colour so it was perfect for this challenge.

For a change I printed the images on to Ranger Kraft Glassine to try and create the look of gingerbread houses. I wasn't sure how they'd work but they printed perfectly. I had a bit of dilemma about what to use to colour them and in the end  I went for my Derwent Coloursoft pencils which worked a treat on the glassine, 

I also added some snow with a white coloursoft pencil

I've used a red and white stripey bp from my stash and attached the images to red card with eyelets. I've added some raffia and gingham ribbon to embellish the card and a sentiment stamped on a scrap of red card to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Come and Get it : anything goes

Crafters Companion: let it snow

Emerald Faerie Garden: Christmas Red

Really Reasonable Ribbon: Christmas

There She goes: au naturale

Top Tip Tuesday: make your own background

Thanks for popping by

Claire xx