Bird house from Bonbon Belles

Good morning folks, hope you're having a good week so far. I've had a really busy week at work so far and  I've got a bit of a scary meeting at work today so fingers crossed all goes smoothly and then with any luck it'll be down hill all the way to the weekend lol. Today's card features the scrummy new Polkadoodles CD Bonbon Belles

This card uses one of the gorgeous images and a bp from the new Polkadoodles cd Bonbon Belles. Like a lot of crafters I have a bit of a thing for toadstools so I couldn't resist colouring this image with my Graph'tt markers. I've added glamour dust to the spots on the toadstools and created a background with PanPastels.

The pics are a bit dark but hopefully you can see the sparkle a bit better in this one:

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafts 4 Eternity: anything goes

Deliciious Doodles: summer time

Dream Valley: summer days

Hobby Cutz: summer

Thanks for popping by today

Claire xx

Honeysuckle Heart

Good morning isn't it nice to have a proper summer for a change? It looks like another sunny day so hopefully I'll be home from work in good time to enjoy some sunshine.  I really enjoy making these little hanging hearts and to me summer is all about flower and friendship so I've used some of my favourite stamps on this one,from  Fragrant Honeysuckle by Chocolate Baroque. I have a huge honeysuckle in the garden, a pair of blackbirds nest in it every spring and in the summer its full of bees.

I started off with a background made with acrylic paint, lightly stamped with a fabric texture stamp from Indigo Blu. I stamped the honeysuckle images with memento ink and coloured them with Graph'It markers before giving the piece a coat of spray sealer. The back of the heart began with the same background and stamped the sentiment from Indigo Blu with versamark and embossed with gold EP. Here's a pic of the back:

I've edged the heart with gold acrylic paint to finish off.

I'm entering this heart in the following challenges:

Craft Room Challenge: heat embossing

Crazy Challenge: summertime

Happy Campers: Summer

Kaboodle doodles: ink or paint

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge:Ode to Sunshine

thanks for popping by today

Claire xx

Pretty in pink inspiration at VSC

Good morning, well as good as it can be for a Monday when work is beckoning me, yuk!! Today's card is an inspiration project for our 'Pretty in Pink" Challenge at Vintage Stamping Challenges. There are still a few days left to enter and be in with a chance to win a fab prize from our sponsor Flonzcraft. You don't have to create a vintage project to enter but we do want to see some rubber stamping :-)

I've used a distress ink background, made with cream cardstock and overstamped with an Indigo Blu honeycomb stamp. The image is from Flonzcraft, coloured with Graph'It Markers and die cut with nesties. I've used kraft card to mat and layer and I've added some seam binding, a paper rose from Wild Orchid Crafts and some gorgeous lace from the Ribbon Girl. To finish off I've popped some faux pearls in three of the corners and a filigree corner at the the top. 

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Allsorts: kraft it

Alphabet: L is for lace

One Stop Craft: ribbon or flowers

Penny Black and More: dies and punches

That Craft Place: its a girl thing

Totally papercrafts: lace

Its quite a bit cooler here now, hopefully I won't be half asleep all week this week. All that heat and lovely sunshine turned me into a bit of a zombie lol. thanks so much for popping by

Claire xx

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

PolkaDoodles Angelberry Christmas

Hello my lovelies, a late post from me as I've been lazing around all day. Its been sooooooo hot and apparently its going to be even hotter tomorrow. Despite the heat wave, I'm in the Christmas spirit as Nikky from Polkadoodles has released a fabulous new CD 'Angelberry Christmas'



I've made a card with a bit of a frosty feel to it using one of the lovely papers from the CD and this beautiful image, coloured of course with Graph'It markers.

The pic is a bit bleached out, my dodgy photography skills again and I have to confess that I've lost the list of colours that I used for the image (probably eaten by Barney lol) but i've used a mixture of the turquoises and greens in the Graph'its for her top and skirt.

I've die cut the image and lightly inked around the edge with tumbled glass distress ink. I've added some Marianne die cuts: an icicle border and some laves and to finish off I've added a red bow, a button with a bakers twine bow, some Polkadoodles dew drops and one of the lovely ticket sentiments from the cd.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Cuttin and Stampin: Christmas in July

Eureka: Christmas in July

Holly Jolly Christmas: Christmas outdoors

Incy Wincy: things with wings

Merry Monday: anything Christmas

Stamp and Create: Christmas in July

Whoopsi Daisy: markers

Well I'm enjoying some peace and quiet, the dogs are both snoozing and there's a lovely cool breeze so I'm away to eat maltesers and watch some tv (aaah the simple pleasures of life lol)

thanks so much for popping by 

Claire xx

Fairy from SplodgeAway

Good morning, hope you're all enjoying the sunshine as much as I am. I've had a lovely morning so far, an early walk with the dogs before it was too hot and now i'm planning on a hour or two in the garden with my book but before I go and laze around here's another of my samples from the recent SplodgeAway show on C&C. There are so many gorgeous new masks but this is one of my favourites, you can find it here.

I began by drawing round the mask with a pencil and then sketched in some lines for the detail on her dress, her arms etc and then coloured her up with my Graph'It markers, I wasn't sure how this would work out but I was quite pleased with the effect. Once she was coloured I used the stencil to ink in the silhouette and then created the sky and ground with distress inks.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Charisma Cardz: No designer papers

Creative Card Crew: the great outdoors

Creative Corner: anything goes

Hobbycutz: Fantasy

Totally Papercrafts: all of a flutter

Have a lovely day folks, thanks so much for popping by

Claire xx

Birds and Butterflies at PanPastel UK

Good morning folks,  Sundays are my favourite day of the week and they are even better when the weather is like this and I don't have to go to work tomorrow lol. We've got a new challenge at PanPastel UK and our theme is 'Birds and Butterflies' Our lucky winner will receive a fab PanPastel starter kit from our lovely Sponsor Berni at Your Creativity Store, this is available to UK winners only but if you're not in the UK there is still the honour of the winners badge :-)

I've made a little canvas, the pic is diabolical though, the colours are much more delicate IRL but hey ho I'm a crafter not a photographer lol. The background was made with PanPastels using Permanent red tint, ultramarine blue tint and diarylide yellow tint. I added some Maimeri Light Modelling paste applied through a harlequin mask and sprinkled glamour dust over the top for some sparkle. I also added some rock candy crackle paint but it doesn't show up too well in the pic. 

The focal image is a Sweet Pea digi stamp, I think she's meant to be a Christmas stamp but I've coloured her up with my Graph'It markers using summery colours

I made the butterflies using stamps from Chocolate Baroque, stamped on acetate and embossed with WOW white EP. I brushed Maimeri gloss gel on the back of the butterflies and added glitter in pink, blue and yellow. Once it was dry I cut them out and popped the wings up with silicone glue before adding some little pearls. To finish off I've added a Chocolate Baroque Sentiment and a little filigree metal corner.

I'm entering this one in the following challenges:

2 Sisters: make it sparkle
Allsorts: fur and feathers
Charisma : No designer paper
flourishes timeless Tuesday: seeing clearly
Papertake Weekly: old, new borrowed or bllue
(old butterfly stamps and a new digi image)
Southern Girls: No spoolin
Totally gorjuss: sweet
Totally papercrafts: all of a flutter

Well I don't know about you folks but I'm going to make the most of the sunshine and sit outside with my markers and do a bit of colouring. My poor fur babies aren't too keen on this weather so I think I may buy them a paddling pool today, Benji is like a cat - he hates water but Barney is a lab and he just loves it so I reckon we may have some fun and frolics lol
Thanks so much for popping by
Claire xx

Flora and Fauna at FSC

Helllo my lovelies, I hope you're enjoying this glorious weather,  isn't it bliss to have blue sky and sunshine. I had a wonderful day yesterday at the Summer Crafting show and treated myself to lots of crafty goodies to keep me out of mischief as I've got a week off work now :-) We've got a new challenge starting at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and our theme is 'Flora and Fauna', as usual there is a $20 voucher up for grabs from our generous sponsor Flonzcraft so ink up those stamps and join in to be in with a chance to win. As always my talented DT sisters have created some stunning projects to inspire you so grab a cuppa and have a look at them here.

I made this card with one of the beautiful stamps from the Vintage Fashion ladies set, its been embossed with white ep on a distress ink background with little pearls in the conrers. I've added lots of yellow gingham, don't you just love gingham?? The image is layered up over some cheesecloth and I've added some lemon and white lace, paper flower from Wild Orchid Crafts and a little butterfly charm.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

One Stop Craft: summer colours

Totally Papercrafts: all of a flutter

Wild Orchid: Daisy daisy

thanks so much for popping by today

Claire xx

Candy Colours at Graph'It Colour Challenge

Good morning folks, wooo hooo Friday at last!! And not just any Friday but I've got a week off work after today and its one more sleep til Summer Crafting! To add to the excitement we've got a new challenge over at Graph'It colour challenge too, you don't have to use Graph'It markers to join in and there is an amazing prize up for grabs from Premium Art Brands and PolkaDoodles too so hop over to the challenge blog to find out all about it (check out my teamies amazing projects too)

. Its also my first tutorial over at Graph'It Colour challenge, I've done a quick tut on how to use your Mix'It palette for blending so I'd be chuffed to bits if you'd pop over and check it out :-)

For my card I've used one of the super cute images from the PolkaDoodles 'Pretty Sweet' cd, of course the image is coloured with Graph'Its and my Mix'It.

I've used:  Dress 5270, 5140, 5120,5110;   

Blouse: 9104, 7125, 7105;  

Skin:4180, 4155, 4115, 4120 and 5110;  

 Hair: 3140, 2105, 1230 and 1150

The papers are also from Pretty Sweet and I've added a gesso'd butterfly charm, some paper flowers and some little blue berries from WOC (all dusted with Glamour Dust) and a little filigree corner. The seam binding is from The Ribbon Girl, as is the lace.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Penny's Paper Crafty:  pink

Songbird: ribbon

Try it on Tuesday: Metal

Whimsy Inspiration: ribbon and lace

thanks so much for popping by today

have a good day 

Claire xx

Poppy Mirror from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning my lovelies, hope you're having a good week so far. Today's project features some of the gorgeous new stamps from Chocolate Baroque, Poppy Meadow is one of this months new releases and they are so pretty

I created the background by giving the mirror a couple of coats of cream acrylic paint and then dry brushing pale blue acrylic paint. I stamped the images with black stazon ink and used Derwent Inktense pencils and a waterbrush to colour them. I edged the mirror with some gold gilding wax and made some glittery butterflies and a bee to finish off. These were very easy to make - just stamp the images (Butterfly Daisy Collage and Honey Bee) from  on heat resistant acetate with versamark and emboss with WOW gold embossing powder. Add glitter to the back (you can either use a quickie glue pen and dry glitter or stickles) and once they are dry cut them out.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges

Creataliicious: all about summer

Creative Card Crew: the great outdoors

Natalie and Amy's: Trash to treasure

Shopping our Stash: summer

Sparkle and Sprinkle: Anything but a card

WOW Embossing Powders: Summer and sunshine

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Favourite Technique at SplodgeAway

Good morning folks, today's card is another SplodgeAway creation, this week the DT members are showing off their favourite techniques so its well worth a visit to check out my teamies favourite techniques. Its so hard to choose as these masks are so versatile but I've chosen embossing for my technique.

I've used a backing paper from Prima and I inked up the fence SplodgeAway mask with versamark and embossed in my Grand Calibur before applying black EP. The prima doll stamp has been paper pieced with some more papers from the Prima Almanac collection, I've coloured her face and hair with Graph'It markers and adding some shading to her clothes with derwent pencils.

I've added some black lace, a seam binding bow and a mother of pearl button with some twine. I've added some die cut roses and punched leaves around a lovely paper rose from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Allsorts: Favourite things

Charisma Cardz: Lace

Crafting for all Seasons: girly

Di's digis: paper piecing

Dream Valley: make your own flowers or embelliies

That Craft Place: Ribbon and/or Lace

Wags'n'Whiskers: cute as a button

Thanks for popping by today, 

Claire xx

Fabby new masks from SplodgeAway

Good morning folks,don't you just love Monday mornings? This week I'm going to be sharing some of my projects using some of the fab new masks from SplodgeAway. 

This was a very quick and easy card, I embossed the Complex Frame mask and the Penny Farthing mask (from the Altered Art Kit) on black card using my Grand Calibut and applied some Treasure Gold.  I cut the focal image out and popped itup on foam pads and added a ribbon and charm to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Bloggers:create your own background

Delicious Doodles: heavy metal

Eclectic Ellapu: Its a man's world

Hobby House: Vintage

Ribbon Girl: add a bow

Sweet Pea Stampers: for the men/boys

Totally Papercrafts: lets hear it for the boys

If you've got a minute have a peek at the SplodgeAway blog as its full on inspiration from my talented teamies. 

Thanks for popping by today

Claire xx

Seeing Red at PanPastel UK

Good morning folks, isn't it bliss to get up and see blue sky and sunshine? Its a bit too hot for my poor fur babies though they aren't keen on this weather at all. We've got a brand new challenge at PanPastel UK and this week our theme is 'Seeing Red', of course you don't have to use PanPastels but we love it when you do. Our winner will receive a fab PanPastel Starter set from our generous sponsor Berni at Your Creativity Store (this is only available for UK entrants although of course there's the honour of the winners badge)

I've made a canvas, its much larger than I usually make so it was a bit scary but I had a lot of messy fun making it. I began by creating the background using white and ultramarine blue tint PanPastels. I added some red and used the edge of a sofft sponge to create some black lines here and there.

I sketched in the heart until it looked the right shape (ish) and then began shading using Permanent Red, Shade and Extra Dark.  I gave the heart a bit of a shadow with some black and Paynes Grey PanPastels. Next I added some texture around the edge with Maimeri light Modelling paste and a Pronty Mask, I sprinkled black glitter on the medium while it was wet for a bit of sparkle. I added some rings with white acrylic paint and also splodged some black crackle paint here and there. 

Of course I had to add some stamping, I've used a sentiment from Chocolate Baroque embossed with gold EP and also a couple more hearts using a stamp from Indigo Blu. To finish off I've splattered some acrylic paint here and there.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Craft your Passion: red white and blue

Creative Card Crew: No designer paper

Get Inky: red white and blue

Left of Centre: sentiment

Our Daily Bread: Red white and blue

Simon Says Stamp and Show: anything goes

Well I'd better get my skates on, I'm doing a craft fair today so hopefully peeps will want to buy some of my goodies and I'll have some more spends for Summer Crafting next weekend

Have a good day and thanks so much for popping by

Claire xx