Anything Creative/Mixed Media goes at We Love 2 Create

Good morning folks, it's challenge time at We Love 2 Create and this time around our theme is 'Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes'. Our lucky winner will receive some gorgeous crafty goodies from our generous sponsor Premium Craft Brands and you don't  have to use our products to enter.

For my DT project I've made a card using some of my favourite PanPastels and some gorgeous new stamps from Polkadoodles. The stamps are called Absolute Vintage and you can find them here. You can find links to the Pans I've used at the end of this post, Magenta Extra Dark is such a gorgeous colour, one of my all time favourites!

I've used lots of the stamps, mostly with versamark which gives the Pans even more depth. The focal images have been stamped with Black Archival ink and I've used my Pans to tint the die cut frames. I've also added Pans to the flower to add a little gold highlight here and there.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Brown Sugar: Anything goes
Cards 4 Galz: No designer paper
Creative Knockouts: Anything goes
Love to Scrap: Anything goes
Simon Says Stamp: Anything goes
Simply Papercraft: anything goes

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

PanPastel Magenta Extra Dark

PanPastel Rich Gold Metallic

PanPastel Light Gold Metallic

Magenta Tint Pastel

Black COARSE Pearl Medium for PanPastels

Anything but a square challenge at Polkadoodles

Good morning folks, we've got a new challenge over at Polkadoodles and for the next two weeks we want to see you create projects with an 'Anything but a Square' theme. If you're stuck for ideas, my teamies have got loads of beautiful projects to inspire you and of course we've got a fabulous Polkadoodles prize up for grabs.

 I've made a door hanger for my project using the adorable Lily Bug Love, she's such a cutie and so much fun to colour! Papers are from the same collections and I've coloured the lovely Lily with my Graph'it Markers. Lily is available here as a cd or if you can't wait to start printing she's available as a download here. If you just want the digi, it's called Lily Bug Sending love and you can find her here.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Card and Scrap: Anything goes

Digi Choosday: Anything goes

Simon Says Stamp: Anything goes

Through the Craft Room Door: Anything goes

Use your stuff: Floral prints

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

Claire xx

A Chocolate Birthday treat!!

Good evening all, I hope you're all enjoying the summery weather. I have to say it's been a bit hit and miss here with some stormy skies at times but we haven't had any rain today. I've been very quiet on the blogging front again so a big thank you to everyone who has visited and taken the time to comment ... i really appreciate your kind words. I'm finally getting a bit more organised and hopefully soon will have my craft room back! I can't wait.. I've also got a new little helper, a 9 month old Border Collie cross pup called Benji. I'm not sure what he's crossed with, perhaps a lurcher or may be a whirlwind lol. Initally he's here for a week's foster care but he's part of the family already so hopefully he'll be staying for good. Anyway back to the important stuff, crafting!! We've got an exciting celebration over at the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog as it's our 2nd birthday!! Our challenge theme is 'Chocolate' and we just want to see some kind of chocolate colour (milk, plain or white) on your project. We've got a fabulous prize for our lucky winner, Lesley is donating a £25 voucher to spend at Chocolate Baroque so I hope you're going to join in!!

One of my best friends had a birthday recently and so I thought it would be a good idea to make a chocolate themed birthday card. I've just used various different CB stamps for the background, the chocolate wrapper and also on the little 'squares of chocolate'. Stamps are from Decadent Brocade, one of my all time favourite. The 'foil' was made using some pretty gold tissue that I crumpled up and the sentiment is from Baroque Eggs

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Cards und More: Embossing

Creative Moments: Anything goes

Lemon Shortbread: Anything goes

Love to Scrap: Anything goes

Ooh La La: Texture

Paper Shelter: Anything goes

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

Claire xx

Winter Dawn from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning folks, today's card features one of the beautiful four seasons stamps from Chocolate Baroque. This one is called Winter Dawn and the other 3 ladies are equally stunning. 

I've coloured the image with Graph'It Markers and added a little glitter and some gems here an there. I've distressed the edges with Tumbled Glass distress ink and layered her up on some silver card. The background was made using distress inks and i've just added more gems and some wintery die cuts to finish off .

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafts Galore Encore: anything goes
Crafty friends: use your dies

Dragonfly Dreams: Anything goes
Penny Black and More: anything goes with a stamp
Sparkles Forum Challenge: Christmas in July
Sparkles Forum Christmas: Snowflakes

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

Claire xx

Summertime at Polkadoodles

Hello again, it's inspiration time over at Polkadoodles and our theme is Summertime! We've got a fabulous prize for our lucky winner and also Top 3 honours, and a special feather in your cap up for grabs too.Of course my lovelies teamies have got loads of inspiration for you so its well worth a visit to the challenge blog.

Nikky has designed lots of gorgeous new clear stamps and i've used some from Tropical Flowers 1 and Tropical Paradise Flamingo, you can find them all here. I've coloured the images with my Lrya pencils,decoupaged the bird's wing and added a little distress ink in Tumbled Glass. I've added a bow topped with a button and some bakers twine to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments: anything goes

Cardz 4 Gals: no patterned paper

Cute Card Thursday: in the round

Paper Shelter: ribbons

Through the purple haze: peaceful/harmony

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

Claire xx

Anything Goes at Colour Crazy Challenge!

Good morning folks, we've got a nice easy challenge for you over at Colour Crazy Challenge! Our theme is Anything Goes and we've got lots of lovely goodies up for grabs too. There are prizes from 'A Day for Daisies' and you could even with some fabulous Graph'It Marker too. We've also got an amazing blog candy up for grabs too with about £150 worth of crafty goodies including pens, dies etc but don't hang around as you've only got until the end of the month!!

I've coloured this supercute image from A Day for Daisies with my Graph'It markers, you can find a list of colours used over on the challenge blog.

I've added a stamped sentiment, ribbon and gems to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafting by Designs: Christmas in July

Crafty Gals Corner: Christmas in July

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas: Cute

Deep Ocean: Christmas in July

Fairy Tale: Christmas in July

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 evening my lovelies, i've got laptop gremlins so i'm very late with my DT post for our new challenge at We Love 2 Create where our theme is 'Anything Creative/Mixed Media goes'. We've got lovely crafty stash lined up for our lucky winner thanks to Premium Craft Brands and of course Top 3 honours are up for grabs too.

For my DT project i've made a seaside themed card using some gorgeous new stamps  (Tropical Oceans and Oceana) from Polkadoodles (you can find them here) .  I began by adding the background sky, sea and beach with my Pans and then stamped the images with Memento Tuxedo Black. I used a battery eraser to remove colour from the images and also to create some waves. I used sofft tools to add colour and detail before distressing the edges with Burnt Sienna.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafting with Dragonflies: summer fun

Moving along with the times:  no designer papers

Penny Black and more: anything goes with a stamp

Stempelgarten: Summer holiday

We Love vintage: Sun/sea//sand

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

Claire xx

Phthalo Blue Shade	phthalo green shade	Phthalo Blue extra dark	White PanPastel	Yellow Ochre Pan Pastel	Permanent Red
Neutral Grey Pan Pastel	Bright Yellow Green Pan Pastel	Burnt Sienna	Permanent Red Tint Pan Pastel	Ultramarine Blue Tint

Under the Sea at Fashionable Stamping Challenges

Good morning folks, it's new challenge time over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this month our theme is 'Under the Sea'. As always we've got a fab voucher to spend at Flonzcraft for our lucky winner and Top 3 honours are up for grabs too. Don't forget though, you do need to use a rubber or clear stamp to play along, no digis are allowed.

I've used stamps from Chocolate Baroque to create this shaker card, colouring with Graph'It markers on a distress ink background. Over this I've layered up some card with an acetate 'porthole'. I painted the card to create a weathered effect using acrylic paint and a technique I saw the  lovely Jenny Marples demoing on tv. I've added sequins to the shaker element of the card and then some shells (both real and resin), some netting and some raffia to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Cards and More: Summer/beach/sea

Crafts Galore Encore: anything goes

Creative Corner: Anything goes

Simply Papercrafts: Anything goes

Through the Craft Room Door: Anything goes

My teamies have lots of beautiful artwork to inspire you so if you have a minute grab a cuppa and pop over to the challenge blog.

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

Claire xx

New stamps from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning my lovelies, today's share is a  wintery themed card using the beautiful new Tangled Birch stamp from Chocolate Baroque. This is such a detailed stamp and so versatile, I thought it would be a good opportunity to start my Christmas cards. Have you started yours yet?

I began by stamping the focal image on some stamping card and dusting distress ink (Spun Sugar, Tumbled Glass and Squeezed Lemonade) over with a shaving brush before distressing with Iced Spruce ink. I splashed the background with some water and blotted with some kitchen towel to create a snowy effect. I stamped the image on acetate with versamark, extending the land a little with a versamark pen  and embossed with a silver embossing powder. I layered this over the background, attaching with a couple of silver eyelets. and added some glitter to the moon using a Zig glue pen.

To make the background I used the same colours of distress ink and dusted them over a larger piece of card, trying to follow through the colours from the topper. The snowflakes are from Reindeer Landscape, stamped with Iced Spruce distress ink and then I've added dots of glue and sprinkled with glamour dust.

I've used some silver card from my stash to mat and layer the image and the background and added a silver bow to finish off. 

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

ABC Christmas: N for no rules

Craft Rocket: anything goes

Crafty Boots: Christmas

Inky Chicks: Christmas in summer

Moving along with the times: no designer papers

Sisterhood of Crafters: make your own background

Sparkles Forum Christmas: Snowflakes

Thanks so much for visiting, I hope you're enjoying all the inspiration from my lovely teamies, over on the Chocolate Baroque DT blog, if you aren't a follower do pop over if you have time as there are new posts everyday and often lovely freebies too. 

Claire xx

Coffee and Cream at Colour Crazy Challenge

Good morning folks, how's your week going? I've got a long weekend off work and was hoping to go to Summer Crafting but I've hurt my foot so it's going to be a lazy weekend colouring with my feet up on the sofa I think. We've got a new challenge over at Colour Crazy Challenge and we're going for a Coffee and Cream palette this time around. We're sponsored by Pattie's Creations so there are some gorgeous images for our lucky winner and we've got some gorgeous Graph'It goodies up for grabs too!!

I've used this beautiful image from our sponsor for my card, you can find a full list of the colours I used over on the challenge blog. 

The BP is from LOTV and I've added ribbon, button, pearls and some Doodle Dewdrops along with a sentiment from Craftwork Cards. Everything is layered up on kraft card and distressed with Gathered Twigs distress ink.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Addicted to stamps and more: Anything goes

Artistic Inspirations: Anything goes

Colouring in Scrapland: Anything goes

Country View Crafts: fun with circles

Crafts and Me: anything goes/summer memories

Wonderful Wednesdays: Anything goes

Thanks so much for visiting today

Claire xx

Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes at We Love 2 Create

Good morning folks, how's your weekend going? It's been a bit chaotic here so I haven't had a lot of time for crafting but it's so quick and easy to create a little scenic card with my PanPastels I found a few minutes to make my DT project for our 'Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes' challenge over at We Love 2 Create. As always we've got some gorgeous crafty goodies for our lucky winner thanks to our generous sponsors Premium Craft Brands and you don't have to use our products to enter.

I've made this little scene with some stamps given to me by a friend, I began by applying Turquoise PanPastel to the top 2/3 of the card and blending it with Transparent blender. I stamped the grass/flower stamp with versamark and applied Yellow Green Shade PanPastel, adding Red and Ultramarine Blue to the flowers. I used a pencil eraser to create the clouds and used a little Paynes Grey PanPastel to give them a bit of dimension. I stamped the sentiment, birds and butterfly with black versafine ink and doodles a border around the edge to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafting with friends: Anything goes

Creative Fingers: Anything goes

Simply Papercraft: Anything goes

Southern Girls: Anything goes

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

Claire xx

Pan Pastel Colourless Blender	Turquoise Pan Pastel	Paynes Grey	Bright Yellow Green Pan Pastel	PanPastel Ultramarine Blue
Permanent Red	PanPastel - Sofft Knives and Covers

Ribbon/Twine at Polkadoodles

Good morning my lovelies, it's challenge time over at Polkadoodles and our theme for the next two weeks is 'Ribbon or Twine'. I think we all love to add ribbon and twine to our projects so it's a nice easy theme. My teamies have got loads of inspiration for you and of course we've got a fabulous prize up for grabs and also Top3 honours and some of our entrants could be awarded a feather in their cap too!

I've used some of the gorgeous stamps from Daisydays Stamp ME Collection to create this quick and easy card. I stamped the flowers using post it masks and then added the little background stamps. I cut around the daisies to create a shaped card and added some colour with Graph'It Markers. I've added some yellow seam binding ribbon and a pretty little daisy to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Addicted to stamps: anything summer plus a stamp

As You Like it: Favourite inks/markers/pencils

(Graph'It markers are my all time favourite, love the vibrant colours and they blend beautifully)

Artistic Inspirations: anything goes

Deep Ocean: colours of summer

Dream Valley: summer colours

The Ribbon Girls: anything goes with an image

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

Claire xx

Anything Goes at Eclectic Ellapu

Good morning folks, isn't it strange that the weekend always seems to take ages to arrive but the months disappear in the blink of an eye? I can't believe it's July already but it is so that means it's time for a new challenge at Eclectic Ellapu and this month the Pink team have a nice easy 'Anything Goes' theme for you. My purple teamies have a fab challenge and lots of inspiration too so if you have a minute pop over to have a peek!!

For my DT card I've mixed digital images and stamping to create this summery card.  the background was made using stamps from Polkadoodles, Stamp Soup which gives you loads of lovely elements to create your own flowers. The flower filled tea cup is from the Lavender Tea Collection available as a CD or a download. I printed the image several times and had a happy hour cutting out all the flowers, curling the petals and decoupaging them up. 

I inked the edges of the layers and added a little glamour dust. To finish off I've added a ribbon, some stamped flowers and little pearls and gems.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

CRAFT: Ribbon and sparkle

Corrosive Challenges: lots of layers

Crafty Creations: Anything goes

Creative Knockouts: flowers

Dragonfly Dreams: say it with flowers

Sisterhood of Crafters: Create your own background

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

Claire xx