Anything Mixed Media/Creative Goes at We Love 2 Create

Good morning folks, its challenge time over at We Love 2 Create and just for a change our theme is 'Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes' so I hope you're going to play along to be in with a chance of winning some gorgeous goodies from Premium Craft Brands. As always my lovely teamies have created some stunning projects so its well worth a visit to the challenge blog.

For my DT project I've altered an MDF Toadstool House (from Dreamees). I really must stop buying MDF and start using it lol, 

I began by giving everything a coat of white Gesso and once that was dry I got busy with my PanPastels. The cap of the toadstool was coloured with Permanent Red Tint and Pearlescent Red PanPastels. I applied a good layer of PVA glue where I wanted the spots and then used a mop brush to dust both fine and coarse White Pearlescent mediums over the top. Once it was dry I added some grey PanPastel to create a little shadow.

I coloured the stalk with more Permanent Red Tint, adding a little Burnt Sienna Tint and some more Neutral Grey PanPastel. The greys are fab for adding a bit of depth to colours

I stencilled the door using a Woodgrain stencil and Light Modelling Paste and coloured with shades of brown PanPastels. I added some wired raffia, stamped flowers (Dreamees stamps with Worn Lipstick distess ink) with pearl centres and some bits of dried flowers (again from Dreamees)

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Brown Sugar: Pearls

Come and Get It: Mixed Media

Crafty Galz Corner: anything goes

Kitty Bee Designs: in the garden

Lemon Shortbread: anything goes

Love to Scrap: Anything goes

Suzy Bee's Blooming Challenge: anything goes, twist fantasy

Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

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

Claire xx

Permanent Red Tint Pan Pastel	Pearlescent red	White Fine Pearl Medium for Pan Pastels	White Coarse Pearl Medium	Burnt Sienna
Burnt Sienna Tint	Neutral Grey Pan Pastel	Raw Umber PanPastel	PanPastel - Sofft Knives and Covers	Sofft sponge bars
White Blending Mop Brush

Crackling Rose from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning my lovelies, I don't seem to have had much time for crafting lately but after a hectic time at work I needed a crafty fix lol.  I had a lovely time creating this collage which features the beautiful new stamp Crackling Rose from Chocolate Baroque. I've used one of the Greyboard 15cm squares as a base for this collage, it doesn't look very exciting but its perfect for mixed media projects as it takes lots of wet mediums without buckling.

I began by stamping the rose image on smooth white cardstcok and colouring with pencils before distressing the edges with Black Soot and Worn Lipstick distress inks. I applied a layer of Matte Gel medium to the greyboard to adhere the image and then took some tissue paper, crumpled it up and layered it over the image. I tore a hole over the image and pulled the tissue back, scrunching and crumpling it up and applying more matte gel to secure it. Once the whole image was visible I left it to dry and then added shades of pink and burgundy paint (I used a mixture of acrylic paint and some emulsion tester pots). Once that was dry I applied lots of gold gilding wax to highlight the texture and then added a big bow and lots of embellishments which are all from the February Craft Box, I don't have many embellishments so I'm really enjoying receiving such a lovely box of goodies each month.. To finish off I added little pearls to the corners.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Brown Sugar: anything goes

Come and Get It: Mixed Media

Crafting with an attitude: anything goes

Frilly and Funkie: love is in the air

Pile it on: Paint

Simply Papercraft: anything goes

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: M is for mixed media

Well I'd better go and earn a crust as I'm still waiting to my lottery win lol.

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

Claire xx

A new challenge at Graph'It Colouring Challenge

Good morning, it's Spring Green's this time around over on Graph'It Challenge Blog and this time around our sponsor is Toadstool Printables, as ever we've got some fabulous prizes up for grabs from both Toadstool Printables and those lovely peeps at Cult Pens too. My teamies have some gorgeous projects to inspire you to so its well worth a visit to the challenge blog.

I've used this colour palette

 for inspiration to create my project and I've coloured up this adorable digi, Two Mice on a mushroom from our sponsor. I coloured the images and then masked them off. I scribbled some yellow and orange Graph'It markers on my Mix'it Palette and spritzed with Mix'It Fluid before swooshing my image though it. To finish off I've added some grass with my Graph'It markers and added some distress inks to create the sun and to stamp some foliage

I've distress the edges with a craft knife and some Gathered Twigs distress ink before layering up on white card and then some kraft card. I've added some little red pearls to the corners, a die cut sentiment and a little red gingham bow to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More: anything goes

Challenge up your life: no designer papers

Digi Choosday: Animals/insects

Inspiration Destination: anything goes

Mod Squad: The great outdoors

My Time to Craft: gingham/checks

Paper  Shelter: Make it digital

Paradise of Stamps: mushrooms

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

Claire xx

Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes at We Love 2 Create

Good morning folks, winter has arrived in my little corner of the UK as its freezing cold but so far no snow just icy roads and lots of blue sky and sunshine. Lovely weather for walks with my lovely dog and then enjoying a few hours crafting. I had loads of fun making this project which is my DT offering for our new 'Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes' challenge over at We Love 2 Create. As always we've got some gorgeous crafty stash lined up for our lucky winner thanks to our generous sponsors Premium Craft Brands so I hope you're going to play along.

I've had this MDF fence for ages and never really been sure what to do with it. I treated my self to the January box of goodies from Craft Box. You have to check these boxes out as they are fab-u-lous! I'm on a pretty tight crafting budget and the lovely Anna packs a beautiful box with loads of goodies for a real bargain price. I've recently received my February box and its just as lovely, a perfect crafty treat! 

I've used lots of lovely pastel PanPastels (don't try saying that when you've had a drink lol) to create this project. I love the PanPastel tints, they are perfect for Spring projects. The focal image is a stamp from Crafty Individuals, I've stamped it on some of my postage paper (which I've been hoarding for years as I don't know if I can get any more) which I'd masked to create the stamp effect. I've also used my Pans to add a little colour to the stamped image, they are so quick to use.

I've coloured the MDF fence and bike (which is from my Craft Box) with my PanPastels , an easy way to create grass in the background is to use one of the Sofft Sponge Applicators and apply the PanPastel using the edge of the applicator. Start at the bottom and flick upwards to a  create quick and easy grassy background.  I've dusted the flowers (also from my January Craft Box) with some of the White Pearl medium for a little sparkle but it doesn't show up too well in the pic. I've added some pretty sequins, resin embellies, enamel dots for the centre of the bike wheels, some wired beads and some papers (also from my Craft Box - I told you  they were good lol). Even the pretty pink ribbon was used to tie my Craft Box!

The moss and doiley are from my stash. To finish off I've stamped 'Adventure' on the fence using a supercute little stamp, yep you've guessed it from my January Craft Box.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Altered Ecletics: Anything goes

Brown Sugar: Favourite colour combination (turquoise and lime green)

Country View Crafts: make your own background

Let's Colour Saturday Linky Party: anything goes with something coloured 

Rhedd's Creative Spirit: anything goes

Take a Word: Turquoise

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

Claire xx

PanPastel Turquoise Tint	PanPastel Turquoise Shade	Ultramarine Blue Tint	Permanent Green Tint	Bright Yellow Green Pan Pastel
White Fine Pearl Medium for Pan Pastels	Graphit	Permanent Red Tint Pan Pastel	Hansa Yellow	Sofft Sponge Bar
Sofft Angle Slice - Round Sponge

Sunrise/Sunset at Fashionable Stamping Challenges

Hello there folks, its time for a new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this time around our theme is 'Sunrise/Sunset' as chosen by my lovely teamie Sandra. A great theme and I had loads of fun creating my DT project. Don't forget our lucky winner will receive a fab $20 voucher to spend at Flonzcraft but you have to ink up those stamps to play along (no digi stamps allowed!)

For my DT project I've used some of the gorgeous stamps from the Chocolate Baroque 'Summer  Fairies' collection. I stamped the fairies and masked them with Pebeo masking fluid, I'm totally addicted to this stuff as its so easy to use, doesn't clog your brushes up and rubs off really easily too. I'd seen it on TV and thought it looked too good to be true but it isn't!!

Once I'd masked the fairies I set to with my distress inks and a Clarity stencil brush and just brushed in the sunset sky starting with shades of yellow then adding pinks and purple. Then I toik an ink blending tool and brushed darker shades around the edges - chipped sapphire, dusty concord and finally black soot. I used some more black soot and a torn paper mask to ink in the foreground and also to stamp in some silhouette flowers and foliage. I watered down a little of the black in and painted in a few clouds and then left it to dry before rubbing off the masking fluid.

While it was drying I create the  background using a 12x12 canvas board. I gave it a good coat of black gesso and blasted it with my heat gun to dry it. Next came my Dutch Doobadoo Stars stencil and some Sparkle Medium (I used clear, black and purple) that I've had for ages. I'd used the clear but never used the colours and they are gorgeous so I'll definitely be using them again. I brushed the leftover mixture around the edges of the canvas and also around the edge of the scene I'd created and left it to dry. I'm so impatient I hate waiting for things to dry lol.

Next step was to colour the fairies, so I set to with my Lyra Polycolour pencils and coloured them up. I used some Self adhesive sparkly acetate for the wings, it looks so pretty in real life but is a bit camera shy lol.  I added some glittery dots to sparkle like stars in the night sky and added some highlights with a White Graph'It Shake pen.

To finish off I  added some black lace and purple ribbon topped with a pretty crystal flower button and a bead cap from my stash.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Creative Artiste Challenge: anything goes mixed media

Let's Colour Saturday Linky Party: Anything goes with something coloured

Jade's Sparkling Butterflies: Anything goes/fantasy

Morgans Art World: add flowers

Moving along with the times: things with wings

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

Claire xx

Harlequin Bouquet from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning folks, today's card features Harlequin Bouquet, one of this months new releases from Chocolate Baroque.  I've got a bit of an addiction for harlequin stamps so  I'm sure this one will be a firm favourite. I began by creating the background, I used black texture paste through a harlequin stencil on white card. Once that was dry I distressed with Black Soot distress ink and a craft knife and layered it on black card. I stamped the focal image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured with Graph'It Markers.

I cut the image out, distressed with a kraft knife and layered it with 3d foam, adding a bow and paper flower to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments: use a love sentiment

Crafting with Friends: Anything goes

Morgans Art World: add flowers

Simply Papercrafts: Anything goes

The Sisters of Craft: Anything goes

Whimsy Inspiration: With love

Well the weekend is here at last so I'm going to venture out for a bit of shopping and do my dog walking duties then it's home to spend the day crafting. Have a lovely day and  thanks for popping by 

Claire xx

Lucky Green at Polkadoodles

Good morning folks, we've got a new challenge over at Polkadoodles and for the next two weeks our theme is 'Lucky Green' so its a great chance to start thinking about those Spring themed projects to be in with a chance of winning a fabulous Polkadoodles Prize! As always my teamies have created some gorgeous projects to inspire you so if you've got a min pop over and have a look!

I've used lots of elements from the fabulous new Polkadoodles collection 'Sticks and Bones' which you can find here as a CD or here as a download, the paper, image, sentiment flowers and leaves are all printed from the CD. I've just added some Doodle Dewdrops, some green card to mat and layer and another scrap of green card that I'd embossed with my trusty old cuttlebug. I've distressed everything with Shabby Shutters distress ink and popped some green pearls in the corners to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

A bit more time to craft: anything goes

Crafting with an attitude: anything goes

Crafting with dragonflies: anything goes

Crafts Galore Encore: use a digi or stamp

Craft your passion: anything goes

Use your stuff: embossing folders

I'd better get my skates on or I'll be late for work so have a great day and thanks so much for visiting today. Hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

New stamps from Chocolate Baroque

Hello my lovelies, how's your week going? As usual I'm counting down to the weekend to escape from work, goodness me we're so busy these days I don't seem to have a minute which does keep me out of mischief but also unfortunately keeps me out of my craft room lol. I have managed to have a play with some gorgeous new stamps from Chocolate Baroque and created this card using the beautiful Flora Musica

, I've coloured the image with Graph'It markers and as I didn't have an oval die to fit I went for it and cut it out. It was a wee bit wonky but I dusted on a little Black Soot distress ink and distressed with a craft knife. I drew round the image on black card and cut that out too,  I create the background with Festive Berries and Aged Mahogany distress inks applied to my craft mat, misted with water and then swooshed the card through a few times. Once that was dry I stamped with some of the stamps from Music Fanfare and again distressed the edges before mounting on black card. To finish off I've added some faux gold pearls in the corners, a shabby red seambinding bow and a brass button from my stash.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments: use a love sentiment

Card Mania: add some red

Cardz 4 Galz: Fantastic Florals

Craft Rocket: Valentine/Love

Crafts and Me: use reds/ valentines

Through the Purple Haze: Share some love

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Lily Bug Love

Good morning, Monday already so I'm heading off to work but before I go I though I'd share a card made using the gorgeous Lily Bug  Love Collection (available as a download here or on CD here). The lovely Nikky Hall has outdone herself with this collection, the images are gorgeous and the papers are really lush! I couldn't decide which papers to use for this card so I just went for it and punched loads of borders with my favourite MS punch and layered them up inside the aperture I'd cut out of this card.

The image has been coloured with Lyra pencils, I think I need to work on my skin colours as she looks a wee bit tangoed lol. I cut her out and stuck her into the aperture before attaching the background. I cut the sentiment out, layered it up over a scrap of the leftover border background  and layered it up with 3d foam pads.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafting-With-Friends Anything goes

Let's Color Saturday Linky Party : Something coloured/hearts

Quick Quotes: Scraps of paper

The Pencil Case: L is for love is all around

The Stamping Boutique: Die cuts/punches

Wags 'n Whiskers: with love

Thanks so much for visiting today, 

Claire xx

Inspiration time at We Love 2 Create

Good morning folks, my project this morning is a memory box designed for our inspiration post over at We Love 2 Create. You've still got a week to enter our latest challenge which is 'Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes' and our lucky winner will be in with a chance of winning some gorgeous crafty goodies from Premium Craft Brands! You don't have to use our products to play along either. As always my teamies have created some really beautiful projects so if you have time pop over to the challenge blog to check them out.

I began by covering my box with old dictionary paper. I added some stamping using this beautiful 'Jane' stamp from Indigo Blu. Next came some decoupage using bits left over from one of the lovely 6x6 Indigo Paper pads. Then I stencilled the roses using Fine texture paste and once that was dry I added some colour with PanPastels. I spritzed here and there with rose and brown mica sprays and added some more PanPastel, this time in Copper applied through a small flower stencil from Indigo Blu. Next I splashed on some brown paint and diluted a little paint to create a wash to add some shadows here and there.

I stencilled the edges of the box with versamark and dusted on Rich Gold PanPastel before adding some lace and pretty pink trim.

Last but no least I stamped the words 'precious memories' using stamps from the Indigo Blu Circus Alphabet with versamark on tissue paper and embossed with gold EP. I tore them out and attached to the box with Slap it on matte medium. To finish off I added some distressing using Burnt Sienna Shade PanPastel and added a pink bow topped with a resin rose and a little clock face charm.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Country View Crafts: make your own background

Frillie and Funky: enjoy your embossing

Indigo Blu: Anything goes

Live and Love Crafts: love is in the air

Moving along with the times: things with wings

Really Reasonable Ribbon: anything goes with ribbon/trim

Stamps and Stencils: Splatter, spritz and smoosh

Through the purple haze: things with wings

Thanks so much for visiting today

Claire xx

Permanent Red Tint Pan Pastel	Permanent Red	Bright Yellow Green Shade	Burnt sienna shade	PanPastel Rich Gold Metallic
Copper Panpastel

Pink and White at Graph'It Colouring Challenge

Good morning (again), my second post of the day and this one is my DT card for our 'pink and White' challenge over at Graph'It Colouring Challenge. This time around we're sponsored by Polkadoodles so one lucky winner will receive a fab prize from the lovely Nikky and we've also got some Graph'It goodies up for grabs from Cult Pens too.

I've used one of the supercute digistamps from the brand new Sticks and Bones collection from Polkadoodles, I love this digistamps, they are such fun to colour. You can find a full list of all the colours I've used over on the challenge blog, I've also given her lots of added sparkle using my Gold Graph'It Shake pen. I created the background with distress inks and added some pearls and a bit of frantage around the edges.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Crafting by Designs: anything goes

Creative Craft Cottage Digi Challenge: anything goes

Cute Card Thursday: in the pink

Just keep on crafting: anything goes

Little Miss Muffet: anything goes

Thanks so  much for visiting today

Claire xx