My lovely blogland friends

Sunday, 31 August 2014

Include a 4 Legged Animal at Craft a Scene

Hi i'm back with my second post of the day, this is my DT card for Craft a Scene where if you're really quick you can still enter our 'Include a 4 Legged Animal' challenge.


I've used a gorgeous cottage stamp from Chocolate Baroque, surrounded by trees from Clarity. The deer in the foreground are stamps from Sheena Douglass. I've coloured with Distress Markers and added some WOW 'Sparkling snow' embossing powder to give an icy sparkle here and there.

I masked the moon and inked in the sky using distress inks in Faded Jeans, Stormy Skies and Chipped Sapphire. To finish off I've stamped the sentiment (from Chocolate Baroque) and embossed with WOW Gold EP and added some snow with a White Graph'It shake pen.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges

 Allsorts: Early Christmas makes
Fussy and Fancy: pets/animals
Jingle Belles: use gold
Penny's paper crafty: Christmas or children

Thanks so much for visiting today
Claire xx

In the pink at PanPastel UK

Good morning folks, its time for some inspiration for our 'Pink Pink and more Pink' challenge at PanPastel UK, you've still got a week to enter to be in with a chance to win some fab stash thanks to our generous sponsors Premium Craft Brands and of course you don't have to use PanPastels to enter. I've altered a little bird house for my inspiration project.


I began with a coat of Maimeri White Gesso and then once that was dry I coloured with base with Permanent Red Tint PanPastel. I used the lovely Spirograph stencil with Maimeri Light Modelling Paste  to add some texture, the LMP dries really quickly so it only takes 10-15 mins to dry. Next came more Permanent Red Tint and a little Light Gold PanPastel.

The stamps are all from Chocolate Baroque, some old favourites! I stamped them on tissue paper with black archival ink and added some colour with Permanent Red PanPastel and then cut them out and stuck them on with Maimeri Gel medium.

I added a little black PanPastel around the edges. I used a Sizzix die cut for the trim on the roof, cut from black card and coloured with Light Gold PanPastel and topped with some iridescent bead trim. I cut down the offcuts from the roof and used them to surround a glass cabochon for the little hole in the bird house. To finish off I've added some black lace around the bottom edge.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:
4 Crafty Chicks: something old something new (new die, old stamps)
Crafters Cafe: punches/dies
Left of Centre: alter it
Simon Says Stamp: anything goes
STAMPlorations: Stamps and die cuts
Through the Purple Haze: anything goes

If you've got a minute, pop over to the challenge blog and check out my teamies gorgeous projects!

Thanks so much for visiting today, have a lovely Sunday
Claire xx


Saturday, 30 August 2014

Honeysuckle Butterfly from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning my lovelies, well it looks like summer is back with us with lovely blue sky and sunshine. I'm just going to take the dogs to the park and make the most of the weather but before I go I just wanted to share this card made with the beautiful image from Honeysuckle Butterfly, one of the new releases from Chocolate Baroque (you can find all the new stamps here)


card features this lovely image stamped with Memeno Tuxedo Black ink and coloured with pencils. I've die cut the bottom of the card and dusted around the edges with Picked Raspberry Distress ink.


The background was made by simply applying distress inks (Picked Raspberry, Wild Honey and Ripe Persimmon) to my craft mat, misting with water and swooshing my card though the ink. To finish off I've added a hot pink bow and a pretty button from my stash. 

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Brown Sugar: anything goes
Card mania: butterflies and bows
Creative Knockouts: whimsical wings
Frilly and Funkie: summer garden
Simon Says Stamp: Anything goes
Sister Act: anything goes
Tuesday Throwdown: anything goes

Thanks for visiting today, hope to see you again soon
Claire xx

Friday, 29 August 2014

Christmas Cheer at Polkadoodles

Morning folks, Friday at last and the weekend is nearly here which means it's Polkadoodles Day lol. My card this morning is for our inspiration post at Polkadoodles for our theme is 'Get Organised for Christmas' so a great opportunity to get ahead with your Christmas cards.


I haven't used a Christmas cd for my DT project, I was having so much fun colouring the images from Work and Play 6 that I decided to make a fun Christmas card with the cute little barman image. Its so hard to make Christmas cards for young men, my son and his friends are a real headache to make cards for but they all looooooove beer so I thought a pint of Christmas cheer would make them smile lol.

It was a quick and easy card to make, the beer glass is one of the precoloured embellies on the Cd but they are such good quality you can print them out really big and they still look fab.  I layered the beer up on folded brown card and cut it out carefully not cutting the top to keep the fold. I added some pva glue and clear microbeads for some froth on top of the pint.

I coloured the image with Graph'It markers and layered it up on brown cardstock, added some Christmassy trim from my stash for tinsel and all that was left was to die cut some letters, colour them up with my Graph'Its and emboss them before popping them on the card.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
ABC Christmas: quick and easy
Aud Sentiments: any sentiment other than birthday
Crafty Girls: anything goes
Penny's Paper Crafty: Christmas or children
Top Tip Tuesday: anything goes

Well i'd better go and get ready for work, have a great day and thanks for popping by
Claire xx

Monday, 25 August 2014

Madeleine

Good morning my lovelies, yippeeeee its a Bank Holiday here in the UK so I've got an extra day off work to play! This card was made using the beautiful Madeleine stencil from Clarity and a shaving foam background. I haven't used that technique for ages but saw Barbara Gray using it and was inspired to have a play, you can't beat a bit of messy fun lol


I embossed the stencil through my Grand Calibur and then set to colouring with my Graph'It markers before cutting her out.


The background is from a batch of shaving foam backgrounds I made a few weeks ago and done a wee bit more inking and then added a little bow and some paper flowers.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
ArtbyMiran: anything goes
Clear it out: anything goes
Crafters Cafe: square cards
Little Miss Muffet: anything goes

thanks so much for popping by, hope to see you again soon
Claire xx

Sunday, 24 August 2014

Include a 4 Legged animal at Craft a Scene

Hi folks, I hope you're having a lovely relaxing Sunday. There's still time to enter our challenge at Craft a Scene where the theme is 'Include a 4 legged animal', I don't have a lot of animal stamps but I recently bought these stamps from Sheena Douglass so these gorgeous reindeer are my 4 legged animals.


I began by stamping and masking the roof stamp and then stamping the background and Santa in his sleigh before masking the moon and Santa. Lots of inking with distress inks and Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot with a touch of Victorian Velvet and Wild honey above the roof lines. I removed the masks and added some colour with distress markers and then lots of snow with a White Graph'It Shake Pen.


I layered the scene up on white card and then on another layer of snowy background. The sentiment is from the same stamp set, die cut with a spellbinders die and again inked with distress ink. I've just added some glitter to the snow on the roof tops, a red bow and a little bell to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Deep Ocean: Christmas In August
Stempelsonnen: anything goes
Winter Wonderland: anything goes for Christmas

Thanks for popping by, hope to see you again soon
Claire xx

Pink Pink and More Pink at PanPastel UK

Good morning folks, we're in the pink at PanPastel UK this week so we want to see lots of pink on your projects! As always our lucky winner will receive some fab stash from Premium Craft Brands so I hope you're going to play along with us.


I've altered an MDF heart, I began with Maimeri White Gesso and once that was dry I added some Magenta Tint PanPastel and then used the tail from the Peacock stencil to add some swirls in the background. Next I stamped the fabric texture stamp from Indigo Blu with some Victorian Velvet distress ink. The focal image (Faith the Fairy) and sentiment are both from Stamping Bella, I added some colour with my PanPastels and some definition with Graph'It Markers. I added some sparkle with glamour dust around her hem and on her wand.


Next I added some dots of Maimeri Light Modelling Paste and an icing bag, I'm sure if you're any good at icing (which I'm not lol) you could create some amazing effects with this technique. I dusted some Magenta Tint PanPastel and glamour dust over the LMP and left it to dry.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:
Crafty Catz: Girly
Crafty Creations: use something from your stash (heart/PanPastels/Mediums)
Inky Chicks: fairies or angels
In the Pink: fairies and elves
Simply Create too: monochromatic madness

Thanks so much for visiting today

Claire xx

Birthday cards at Fashionable Stamping Challenges

Hello there folks, time for a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this time the theme is 'Birthday cards for someone special' as been chosen by the lovely Dot. There's a generous prize for our lucky winner from Flonzcraft, our regular sponsor so ink up those stamps and join in the inky fun! Don't forget we're a stamping challenge so no digis allowed!


I've made a masculine card as we've got a few male birthdays coming up in the family. I rummaged through my huge pile of gelli plate backgrounds for the base for my card, this one was made with a gorgeous mask from SplodgeAway using Maimeri Metallic Acrylic paints, I'd also painted over this one with some Pebeo two part resin which gives a lovely translucent effect. I stamped the reverse with one of the stamps from the Indigo Blu Voices stamp set and matted it on some black card.

The focal image is from Chocolate Baroque, stamped and embossed with gold WOW EP and painted with more Maimeri acrylics. Once the paint was dry I added a glass cabochon.


Next I used lots of die cut cogs, cut from black card painted with Maimeri Acrylics. I made the screws by painted card candi silver and using a spatula to create the lines on the centre.

The sentiment is from Chocolate Baroque, layered up over some burlap.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
4 Crafty Chicks: go masculine
Alphabet Challenge: N for natural (burlap)
Moving along with the times: Feeling a little vintage
Its all about the vintage: Ancient History
Sweet Pea Stampers: Embossing
That's Crafty: its a man's world
WOW Embossing powder: Monochrome

hope you're going to join our new challenge
have a great day and thanks for popping by
Claire xx

Saturday, 23 August 2014

Texture at We do Doobadoo

Good morning friends, its a bit of a grey start to the Bank holiday weekend but its bliss to have three days off work:-) We've got a new challenge starting at We Do Doobadooand this time its all about texture. We've got a lovely prize of Dutch Doobadoo goodies for our lucky winner so make sure you play along.


I've used papers, ephemera and images from the gorgeous Rose Budd Collection from Polkadoodles and added some texture with Maimeri Light Modelliing Paste and the Dutch Doobadoo Chicken Wire stencil. I've also used some of my favourite Doobadoo Softboard Honeycomb.


The images have been coloured with my Graph'It markers, fussy cut and layered up over a doily. I've added ribbon, flowers and some of the pretty Doobadoo Laser Cut Butterflies.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Cards Galore Encore: anything goes
Charisma Cardz: Wedding anniversary
Dream Valley: Wedding
Love to Scrap: Anything goes 
Sister Act: Anything goes

Thanks for popping by today, have a lovely weekend
Claire xx

Friday, 22 August 2014

Transparent at Graph'It Colouring Challenge

Good morning folks, ooh my goodness our Nikky has really challenged us this time as our new challenge theme at Graph'It Colouring Challenge is 'Transparent', so think water, glasses, spectacles etc. As always there's a fab prize up for grabs for our lucky winner thanks to our sponsors Premium Craft Brands and lots of inspiration from my talented teamies. I decided to colour water droplets on my card

I began by created a background with PanPastels in Turquoise, Magenta Tint and Yellow Green and then stamped the Dandelions (from the Postcard set of stamps, you can find them here) with Black Archival Ink. I added some stencilling with black distress ink and then set to colouring my water droplets, pop over to the challenge blog for all the details and full list of colours. I'd seen this technique done with watercolours and you can find a fabulous tutorial here. The butterflies are also stamps from Premium Craft Brands, I stamped and embossed them on acetate and coloured the reverse with Graph'It markers before applying glitter to the back for some extra sparkle.


To finish off I added a stamped sentiment, distressed the edges  and matted the image on some black card.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Allsorts: masking or stencilling
Bunny Zoe'z Crafts: Summer colours
Eclectic Paperie: embossing
Moving along with the times: Feeling a little vintage
Penny Black and more: anything goes
through the craft room door: anything goes

Well  I'm scooting off to work now but at least we've got a long bank holiday weekend coming up (and of course its going to rain lol)
have a great day and thanks for popping by
Claire xx

Thursday, 21 August 2014

Guest Designer at Indigo Blu

Good morning ooooooh I'm so excited to have the opportunity to be this months Guest Designer over at Indigo Blu Challenge! I love Indigo Blu stamps and this was a great opportunity to use some of the new stamps I received as winner of last months challenge along with the very first Indigo Blu stamps I bought. The theme for this month's challenge is 'Indian Summer', pop over to the challenge blog for all the details and of course lots of wonderful inspiration from the DT too!


I love those lovely warm Indian Summer days and I took inspiration from nature for my GDT project. I always think it must be so lovely for the wild animals when we get some late summer sunshine so they can enjoy the warmth and fill their tummies before winter arrives.

I used stamps from Nature 1 (my very first Indigo Blu stamps) and Nature 2 to create my Indian Summer scene, adding colour with PanPastels, Graph'It markers and Inktense pencils. I used a battery eraser to remove the PanPastel from the clouds and added some white spots to the toadstools with a white Graph'It Shake Pen. The sentiment is from another of my favourite Indigo Blu stamp sets called 'Enjoy Life', I stamped using Black Archival Ink and once the ink was dry I removed the background colour from the letters with my eraser. 

As a little reminder that Autumn is around the corner I finished off by added some die cut leaves coloured with distress inks and overstamped with a fabric texture stamp from Sarah's Choice. I coloured some seam binding ribbon to match and topped the bow with a button and some twine, the little daisies are berries are from my stash.


I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Kitty Bee: In the garden
Stamp and Create: anything goes
Our Creative Corner: in the summertime
Penny Black and More: anything goes
Stamping Sensations: Anything goes

I do hope you're going to join in the Indigo Blu challenge this month
Thanks for popping by and hope to see you again soon
Claire xx

Wednesday, 20 August 2014

Chocolate Baroque Colour Challenge

Good morning my lovelies, how's your week going? We're half way to the weekend  and its a long weekend off work to look forward to :-)  Its an exciting day today as its the start of our second challenge at Chocolate Baroque Challenge blog, do pop over to the challenge blog and check out the colour swatch for inspiration and also have a look at the fabulous projects from my lovely talented teamies. There's a fab prize for our lucky winner too so remember you've got to be in it to win it lol.


My camera has really changed the colours on this card, I've actually used Brushed Corduroy distress ink but it looks really bright green lol. Anyway I began by making a distress ink background using Stormy Sky, Brushed Corduory and a little Wild Honey distress ink. I stamped the flourish from Decadent Brocade  with versamark and embossed with distress EP, this is my absolute favourite flourish, its so pretty its a real shame to cover it up with anything.

I just love this butterfly, its from Patchwork Butterfly . I embossed with WOW black EP and coloured with Inktense pencils before cutting out and layering up with silicone glue.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Artistic Inspirations: anything goes/up up and away
Clear it out: anything goes
Sweet Stamps: Anything goes

I hope you're enjoying the new challenge as much as we are, its a fab excuse to have a play with some of the old favourite from your Chocolate Baroque collection (not that we need an excuse lol)
Thanks so much for visiting today, have a great day
Claire xx

Tuesday, 19 August 2014

Home for Christmas by Chocolate Baroque

Good morning, how are you getting on with those Christmas cards? This months new stamps from Chocolate Baroque are a real inspiration to get ahead and make a start on your Christmas cards. I've got a couple of samples to share today, the first features stamps from Snowy Scenes


I created the base layer by stamping the cottage and adding some colour with Derwent pencils. The top layer was stamped with the robin and the stag and again coloured with pencils. I used a spellbinders die to cut the aperture, carefully cutting round the images to slot the die behind them so they weren't die cut  - soooo fiddly but I love the effect.

 I used a zig glue pen around the edge of the aperture and on the cottage scene and sprinkled with glitter. I added one of my favourite Christmas sentiments and then mounted the top layer on 3d foam, adding a white bow to the top of the aperture.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Crafty Calendar: anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas: use your favourite things
(Chocolate Baroque stamps, colouring, spellbinders dies and glitter)
Completely Christmas: Anything goes
Winter Wonderland: anything goes for Christmas

Thanks so much for popping by today, hope to see you again soon
Claire xx

Monday, 18 August 2014

Daisy Daisy from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning folks, I think summer is over here and its so much colder and the wind has already started to blow the leaves off the trees. I'm still feeling summery in my craft room though as I've been using the lovely daisy stamp from Honeysuckle Butterfly, one of this month's new releases from Chocolate Baroque.


I began by creating a distress ink background and overstamped with the daisy in versamark and embossed with a white embossing powder. I stamped the focal image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured with Graph'It markers. I die cut the image, layering it up over a scalloped oval die cut. I added a bow and a paper daisy and a die cut swirl.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Bearly Mine: anything goes
Cards Galore Encore: Anything goes
Left of Centre: inspired by a song (Daisy Daisy)
Open Minded: Last days of summer
Penny's Paper Crafty: anything goes

Well time for me to go to work, don't you just love Mondays?? 
thanks for popping by today
Claire xx


Sunday, 17 August 2014

Bold and Bright Inspiration at PanPastel UK

Good morning, its inspiration time at PanPastel UK as you've still got a week to enter our Bold and Bright challenge to be in with a chance of winning some lovely goodies from Premium Craft Brands My teamies have created some amazing projects so if you've got time pop over to the challenge blog to check them out.


I've altered an MDF heart, I began with a coat of Maimeri White Gesso and once that was dried I blended Hansa Yellow and Diarylide Yellow PanPastels with a Sofft Sponge applicator. I used a sanding block to create a distressed look here and there. Next I added texture with Maimeri Light Modelling Paste and a Chicken Wire stencil from Dutch Doobadoo. The flowers were die cut from card coloured with PanPastel and stamped with distress ink, I used stamps and dies from Heartfelt creations, I just love these flowers! I've layered them up over some Dutch Doobadoo softboard Honeycomb
The bee and text stamps are from Chocolate Baroque, I stamped the bees on tissue and acetate, adding colour to the tissue with PanPastel and applying to the heart with Maimeri Matte Gel Medium. I glittered the acetate wings and attached them with a little PVA glue. I stamped the sentiment, and an extra E on tissue with Black Archival ink and again applied them with Matte Gel medium.  To finish off I added some yellow gingham ribbon

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Artistic Stampers: anything goes
Crafts 4 Eternity: something old (stamps)
Natalie and Amy's: die cuts and flowers
Our Creative Corner: summertime
Simply Create Too: Monochromatic Madness
Southern Girls: its all about texture
Thats Crafty: stamping ground
Tok  Bobok: mixed media

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon
Claire xx


Friday, 15 August 2014

Fur and feathers inspiration at Graph'It Colouring Challenge

Good morning my lovelies, another day off work for me so I'm one very happy bunny. Talking of happy bunnies, I'm rabbit sitting this week as my son and his girlfriend are sunning themselves in Egypt. Rolo has settled in a treat, he's sooooo friendly and sooooo cuddly I don't think I'm going to let him go home lol.
Anyway my card today is for our inspiration post at Graph'It Colour Challenge, you've still got a week to enter and our theme is 'Fur and Feathers'. As always there is fabby prize from our generous sponsor Your Creativity Store! You don't have to use Graph'It markers to enter but we love it when you do :-)


For my card I've used a bp from Lili of the Valley, the image is from Aurora Wings and its called 'Acorn Sprite riding on a squirrel', I just love this image! I've coloured it with my Graph'It markers - for a full list pop over to the Challenge blog. To create the fur effect I used lots of different colours and a flicking technique on the tail. Once I'd coloured the face I used Mix'It fluid on a piece of flannel and gently dabbed to create a furry effect.


I've added some raffia lace, lime green ribbon and lots of little flowers berries and an acorn cap. The sentiment is from Lili of the Valley, punched and layered over a spellbinders die cut, the little bark heart is from my stash.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Aud Sentiments: your favourite season 
(Autumn for me, love all the colours, fresh breezy walks with the dogs chasing leaves and the cosy dark evenings)
Aurora Wings: Sprite Delight
Crafty Little Fairies: cute and cuddly
Fairy Tale: ribbon/lace
Paper Shelter: punches and dies

If you've got a minute pop over and check out my teamies gorgeous projects. 
I'm away now to have a play in my craft room
Thanks so much for popping by,
Claire xx

Thursday, 14 August 2014

Christmas Mannequin

Good morning folks, well I'm enjoying a few days off work and hoping to get ahead with my Christmas crafting. I do love making Christmas cards but I just fancied a play and wanted to make something a bit different so I've altered a paper mache mannequin and given her a bit of a frosty Christmas look for my entry for this month's challenge at the Indigo Blu Challenge which is Christmas in July.


I began by giving her a  coat of white gesso and then painted her with my new Indigo Blu acrylic paints using Grandma's Teacup for her dress and Pink Iced Gems above. I used the Baubles Flourish A6 stamp and Majestic Blue versafine stamped on tissue and applied to the Mannequin with Slap-it on medium to decorate her dress and the foot.  For a bit of texture I added some Maimeri Light modelling paste through a harlequin stencil and once it was dry applied some silver gilding wax.
 I added a glittery 'belt' by sprinkling glass glitter on some red line tape and added a snowflake charm on some silver twine around her neck. Her skirt is made from tulle that I cut to make a kind of fringe (doesn't show up too well on the photo I'm afraid. 

I used the gorgeous Indigo Blu A6 Big butterfly stamp to create her wings, this was a bit of an experiment but I'm really pleased with the result. I stamped the butterfly on white Clearly for Art film  using Flitter glu and gilded with Gin and Tonic gilding flakes. I then had a bit of a lighbulb moment as I couldn't be bothered to get my markers to colour the wings so decided to try and colour with versafine and discovered that if you add a wee bit of Easy Peasy Stamp cleaner you can get a watercolour effect with your inkpad! 


I attached the wings with some hot glue and then heated them with my heat gun to shape them.

I'm also entering this project in the following challenges:
All crafts: anything but  a card
Altered Eclectics: anything goes 
Amusing : Christmas
Crafters Cafe: anything but a card
Creatalicious: Monochromatic
Penny Black and more: anything goes
Rhedd's Creative Spirit: anything goes altered art

Well I'm going to make the most of my day off and the sunshine and take the dogs out for a walk now so have a good day and thanks for popping by today
Claire xx

Monday, 11 August 2014

A different kind of blog hop

Good morning folks and a big thank you for visiting today. This is a different kind of post as I was invited to take part in a blog hop with a difference by the lovely and very talented Gloria (pop over and check out her gorgeous artwork and find out a bit more abouther  here on her blog Purpleglo Creations) A big thank you Gloria for inviting me to take part !

So to begin here is a little bit about me. I live in the UK and have spent most of my life in the same small town. I was a nurse for a long time but then in a moment of madness decided to change my career and now I manage a mental health charity.My days at work are full of challenges trying to make sure we have enough funding to pay the bills and keep providing support to people with mental health problems. We have a lot of fun along the way and I get to meet some very brave and inspirational people When I'm not at work you can find me out walking my two lovely dogs or in my craft room getting inky and messy. I've dabbled in lots of different crafts over the years but I started stamping about 8 years ago and I've never looked back as there are so many different styles and techniques its impossible to get bored
.

I started my blog in December 2009, we had a really bad winter and I was stuck in the house so I decided to start blogging. Lots of my friends already had blogs and I had no idea what a lovely world I was entering. I love blogland and I've 'met' so many wonderful people over the last few years as well as learning so much and getting constant inspiration from all the lovely friendly stampers out there.

What am I working on right now?
I'm lucky enough to design for some amazing companies so at the minute I'm busy with lots of Christmas samples using some fabby new stamps which you'll be drooling over before very long. I'm totally addicted to crafting and usually grab an hour in my craft room before work. After work and walking the dogs I usually relax and do some colouring . My job is really stressful so crafting is a real escape for me. I have the box room as a little craft room and its crammed to the rafters with all my stash lol. Here are some sneaky peaks of some of my current projects

 



How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I don't think it does is the simple answer to that one lol.  I don't think I have a particular style as I love everything from create shabby/vintage projects, mixed media and altered art to colouring cute characters. I'd love to be one of those crafters who have a really defined style but i'm far too fickle lol. I love to try different techniques and experiment with different products. I do love to start with a blank canvas or a plain white piece of card and create my project from scratch, I particularly love scenic stamping and in the past I used to do a lot of brayer work. Since I discovered PanPastels a couple of years ago my brayer has been gathering dust as its so easy to make scenic cards with Pans. Here are a few of my favourite cards

       
     

Why do I create what I do?

A lot of my projects are inspired by the products I use, as I'm a very lucky crafter and design for some wonderful companies I regularly get happy mail which is an inspiration in itself. I usually start thinking about the stamps or images and begin to scribble down some ideas for projects.
I'm often inspired by colour, particularly colours in nature and often get inspiration when I'm out with my dogs or even on the way to work. Here's a card that was inspired by the view down the alley at the side of our office - not that it looks anything like this but it sparked the idea (my head is a very strange place to be at times lol)

How does my creative process work?
Well I have to confess I'm not a great planner, I tend to jot down a few ideas go up to my craft room and just go for it. My projects are a bit of an adventure and I usually don't have a clear idea of how they will turn out. I love to make my own backgrounds which is a good job as I have a terrible habit of colouring images and then finding I don't have any papers to match lol. I would share some pics of my craft space but i'm such a mucky pup I wouldn't dare haha!

How do I stay focussed/motivated?
Spending time creating is part of my daily routine and although I'm not a planner when it comes to making my projects I treat my DT work seriously as I don't want to let my teamies and the generous companies I design for down. I usually work at least 2-3 weeks ahead on my design team projects so that if I have a crisis at work or lose my crafty mojo I'm not in a panic. If I lose my focus I just mess around with paint or ink and create some backgrounds. Usually experimenting with colours will tempt my missing mojo home and before I know it I'm full of ideas for my next project.

I'm tagging a lovely and very talented lady Rachel, pop over to Rachel's blog 'Fisher's cards and crafts' here and check out her gorgeous artwork. Rachel's projects are really varied and she's always an inspiration so don't miss her post on 18th to find out more about her and her art!
Thanks for popping by
Claire xx


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