A garden is a friend you can visit anytime ...

Good morning my lovelies, eeeek where did the weekend go?  I guess I blinked and missed it again as I'm about to get ready for work.  Before I go though, I just wanted to let you know that the lovely Nikky Hall is on C&C this morning at 9am with lots of fabulous tips and techniques not to mention a mega bargain or two!

This card is one of the samples I've made for the show. the image and papers are from the fabulous new Polkadoodles CD 'Work and Play collection 1 which you can find here. The image was coloured with my Graph'Its and die cut before a little distressing around the edges with antique linen distress ink.

The papers have been layered up over kraft card, I used my favourite MS punch along one of the edges. I've also added a die cut shape that I embossed in my trusty old cuttlebug. I dyed some seam binding ribbon with my distress inks and created a shabby bow and topped it off with a button and some twine. To finish off I've added a little metal snail that came with a plant I was given a while ago (I knew it would come in for something lol)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Challenges and Candies: embossing

Come and get it: in the garden

Inklings and Yarns: anything goes

Paper Shelter: spring

Top Tip Tuesday: metal

Thanks for popping by today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Steampunk Owl from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning my lovelies, hope you're not too stressed getting ready for Christmas. I think I'm pretty much organised, the nice man from Tesco will be delivering my food shopping soon and once thats put away I think I'll grab a coupe of hours in my craftroom. Before I go, here's a sample made with the gorgeous Steampunk Bird stamps from Chocolate Baroque. We've got some really exciting news too, Glenda has announced a Design Team call so pop over to the DT blog and find out all about it!! Its a wonderful team, such lovely friendly talented girls and of course THE most amazing stamps to work with. I still count my blessings to be on such a fantastic team!

I've used the adorable owl stamp from the set, coloured with Graph'It Markers over a dry embossed background highlighted with gilding wax. The background was made with a cog stamp from Steampunk Butterfly and metallic PanPastels. The sentiment is from Steampunk Birds, die cut with a spellbinders die and topped with a little owl. I made the little owl with shrink plastic, coloured with Graph'It Markers and then dipped in UTEE.

Fo finish off I've added some screw brads and some gold ribbon.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More: Anything goes

Alphabet Challenge: W is for whatever you wish

Charisma Cardz: anything goes

Deep Ocean: something old (embossing folder)

Drunken Stampers: embossing

Stempelsonne: anything goes

Thanks so much for calling by today

Claire xx

Chocolate Baroque Vellum Sunflowers

Hi there, I've been playing around with vellum and panpastels using the beautiful new Sunny Sunflowers stamps from Chocolate Baroque. As you can see these stamps look just as lovely in pastel tones as they do with traditional sunflower colours.

I've used an embossed background, made with my cuttlebug for the background, matted on pink and then green card. I made this in two strips as my bug isn't big enough to emboss such a large piece of card, no problem though as I covered the join up with ribbon and lace. 

I cut an aperture in the larger piece of embossed card and layered it up over my favourite sentiment stamp, from Chocolate Baroque's Loving Sentiments set. I embossed the sentiment in white and it doesn't show up too well on the pic but it reads :Make wish and unwrap a beautiful day"

To make the sunflowers I stamped the images using versamark and embossed with WOW White Pearl EP and then cut them out. I coloured the vellum on the back using PanPastels from the tints set to give the vellum a delicate colour. To finish off I added a bow using some pretty floral ribbon from my stash.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Allsorts: Ice cream colours

Bearly Mine: Tic tac toe ( my line is Lace, ribbon, sentiment)

Polkadoodles: flowers

Pretty Little Ribbon Shop: Lots of Layers

Shopping our Stash: Double the ribbon

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Hot stuff at Crafty Ann's

Hi there, well its time for a new challenge at Crafty Ann's, our first of the new year and Ann wants to see us thinking HOT so we can be inspired by hot colours or summery scenes etc. As always there is a fab prize from Crafty Ann's Digi Shop so I hope you're going to escape the horrible winter weather with us. For my DT card i've used one of Ann's gorgeous Venetian masks and a gorgeous bright paper from the Funky collection.

I've distressed the paper and added some gold embossing before matting it on some gold textured card. The main image is coloured with promarkers and glittered using gold glitter and a quickie glue pen. I've matted the image over scraps of mirri card that i embossed in my trusty cuttlebug before colouring with alcohol inks (raisin and cranberry). I've added a metal filigree corner to finish off and stamped and gold embossed the sentiment 'Celebrate'.

Sorry for the decidedly dodgy photo, its been so dark and grey here over the last couple of weeks. its dark when i go to work and dark when i come home, i'm starting to feel like an owl lol.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments: any sentiment plus use your scraps

Crafty Emma's Challenge: Party party party

Joanna Sheen Challenge: Celebration

Kaboodle doodles: celebrate

Truly Madly Crafty: anything goes

Tuesday Throwdown: Shiny New Year

Thanks for calling by today

Claire xx 

Hopping down the bunny trail with Michelle Perkett Studio

Hello, I'm counting down to the Easter break now, did I mention I've got 11 days off over Easter?? Anyway as I'm getting in the mood for Easter I've got a bunny card today made using the beautiful Ballerina Bunny available from Michelle Perkett's Etsy Store

I've coloured the bunny with promarkers and added some Judikins prisma glitter to her wings and clear microbeads to her tutu. The beautiful pink bp is a freebie from Bearly Mine. I've cuttlebugged some pink ans white pearl card and added some white organza ribbon, faux pearls and some paper flowers.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

A Spoon Full of Sugar: All creatures great and small

Catch the bug: 4 or more layers

C.R.A.F.T: animals/pets

Crafts and Me: glitter

Crafty Catz: Embossing

Crafty Emma's Challenge: Monochromatic

Dream Valley: Things with wings

Fussy and Fancy: Card for child

House of Gilli: Stripes and bling

Kaboodle Doodles: Cute and cuddly animals

One Stop Craft Challenge: Monochromatic

Paper Cutz: Bunny, lamb, Chick or Easter Egg

Paperplay: Critters galore

Totally Gorjuss: Fluffy

Wags'n'Whiskers: Ribbon and pearls

Don't forget to pop over and check out this weeks challenge over at Michelle Perkett Studio, Shelley and her team have a fab new challenge with a theme of 'Hopping down the bunny trail'

Thanks for calling by today

Claire xx

Sending a note/Valentine Challenge at Michelle Perkett Studio

Hi its time for a new challenge at Michelle Perkett Studio and this week our theme is 'Valentines/Passing a note. Michelle has some gorgeous images for you valentine cards in her Etsy store and I was really tempted to use the Love Letter Fairy but decided to use 'The Love Fairy' for my DT card. Michelle also has a supercute new Queen of Hearts image which I was hoping to use to make a Valentine tag but its currently stuck in a Martha Stewart punch lol.

I've coloured Love Fairy with promarkers and added clear Sparkle EP to her wings and red sparkle EP to the hearts although it doesn't show up too well in the pic. The ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons and the red card was cuttlebugged using a gorgeous embossing folder that I received in a wonderful parcel of blog candy from my cyber buddy Audrey (pop over to her blog as she has some more candy up for grabs too!!)

The flowers are actually from an arrangement of silk flowers that someone gave me ages ago, layered on to a red paper flower and some rose leaves from the same silk flower arrangement. The satin effect bp is from my stash.

I'm entering the Love Fairy in the following challenges:

Bee Crafty : Hearts

Crafts and Me: Red

Crafty Emma's Challenge: Red and Romance

Crafty Ho's Challenge: Love

Crafty Purple Frog: Valentine's Day/Romance

Creative Inspirations Paint: Inspired by hearts

Moving Along with the times: Red

Sentimental Sunday: Valentines Day

The Crafty Pad: Love is in the Air

I hope you find time to join us in our challenge this week at Michelle Perkett Studio, if you don't have one of Michelle's images then you can pop over to her Etsy Store or pick up a freebie from one of Michelle's groups on SNR, CDAC or PCP.

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Katie's recipe this week....

Wednesday already so it's time for a new recipe at Cooking it up with Katie, we've got a fab sponsor again this week and our lucky winner will receive a prize from Robyn's Fetish! I've used this adorable image from our sponsor  to make my card this week, the ingredients for Katie's recipe are : Food/Beverage, Tag, Sentiment and I've used them to cook up a Christmas recipe.

The image is coloured with promarkers and the bowl has been triple embossed to make it look like china. I've added a die cut circle, edged with gold EP and a doily. The bp is from Raspberry Road Designs. I cuttlebugged two squares of red card and then swiped with a versamark ink pad and embossed with gold again. To finish off I added some gorgeous gingerbread man ribbon from Crafty Ribbons, some red gems and a tag stamped with an Elusive Images Christmas sentiment.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

C.R.A.F.T: Dry embossing

Stamp Something: Sketch

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge: Red and Gold

One stop craft Challenge: embossing

Craft your passion: double anything (I've used 2 embossed squares)

For Fun challenge: dry embossing

Thanks for visiting today, I hope you're going to cook up something with Katie's recipe this week. It doesn't have to be a Christmas card but I seem to be on a roll making them lately

Claire xx

Another Christmas card ....

I've only just got into Whiff of Joy stamps, but I'm totally in love with them. I've used 'Confirmed Melinda' for this card and followed the sketch from this weeks Whiff of Joy Challenge

The image is coloured with promarkers, then her wings are glittered with Judikins prisma glitter. I stamped around the edges of the image with a HOTP swirl and antique linen DI and quickly embossed with some clear sparkle EP before inking the edges with turquoise versamagic ink. The two squares in the background are cuttlebugged using the music embossing folder, lightly embossed with gold EP to highlight the pattern and then inked and glimmer misted with a variety of aqua blue green inks and glimmer mists. The ribbon is from my stash and the lovely dove and holly EK border punch is from Jazzlins are are the paper flowers and the scrummy dotty glittered BP. The sentiment is a stamp from Elusive images.

I'm entering Melinda in the following challenges:

Whiff of Joy: Sketch

Tanda Teaser: Going dotty

A Spoonful of Sugar: Winter Wonderland

Thanks for popping by, I really appreciate every single comment

Claire xx

A new challenge at Let's Ink It Up!!

Hi. its time for another challenge at Let's Ink It Up. There were some fantastic entries for Challenge 2, huge congratulations to the winner and Top 3.

Ou challenge this time is

 'Use your favourite stamp, with a twist - add a charm'

We have a fabulous prize again, a £20 voucher for

 CaroLines Rubber Stamps

Caroline is a lovely lady and she designs the most gorgeous stamps, I've used stamps from Caroline's Silhouettes 2 themeplate to make this project.  It is a fab set of stamps with 2 fab backgrounds and lots of little elements to build your scene. I've also used one of Caroline's Decor Plates, the large scalloped circle as the base for my wall hanging. I was lucky enough to win some of these in a challenge a few months ago, they are fab to work and take ink beautifully. Great value too, I just bought some more and some oriental ones too :-)

I coloured the Decor Plate with kaliedacolour inks and my trusty brayer and then sprayed assorted glimmer mists over the top. I then stamped with various leaf stamps from Joanna Sheen which were embossed with gold and copper EPs. The leaves are cut on my cuttle bug as is the flower which is a Marianne Die from Jazzlin Designs. The beautiful Autumn ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons and was a real bargain in their sale.

The central scene was created by brayering a background with the same kaleidacolour inkpad and then embossing the main scene with black detail EP. The fairy, toadstool and hedgehog were also embossed with the same EP. The leaves on the tree are from the same themeplate and stamped once again with Kaliedacolour inks.  I cut the scene out and embossed the edge with gold EP to frame it. To finish off, I added a tiny toadstool charm - if you look closely you can see it just below the flower.

I'm also entering this wall hanging in the following challenges:

City Crafter Challenge: Tree of Books

A spoonful of sugar: Fall into Autumn Colours

Incy Wincy : Autumn Colours

Paperplay challenge: Shaped Project

Everybody Art Challenge: Other Cardform

I hope you are going to dig out your favourite stamp and join us at Let's Ink It Up

I'm sure after seeing all your fab cards I'll have another long wish list of stamps I need!! Why not pop over to my teamies blogs and check out their favourite stamps too - they have some fab projects again this month

Claire xx

Michelle Perkett, new DT and a new challenge...

Hi everyone, Michelle Perkett has a new DT and I'm so pleased to be one of  Michelle's mermaids (I just wish I was as glamourous as Michelle's digi mermaids lol). I fell in love with Michelle's images soon after I found Blogland and I've loved working with them ever since. Michelle creates the most beautiful whimsical images ( have a look in her store here).

The first challenge over at Michelle Perkett Design Studio is an easy one ... Anything goes as long as you use one of Michelle's images (you can get some fab freebies from Michelle's groups on CDAC, PCP and SNR if you don't have any). I've used the lovely Forest Fairy for this card

Sorry about the photo, its not too good as I'm still learning to drive my new camera lol. I've coloured Forest Fairy with promarkers and added some sakura clear stardust to her wings. I love the sentiment with this image, its really beautiful. The backing paper is from Joanna Sheen's art deco range and I though the plants and birds were perfect with this fairy. I've also used green card, beige velvet ribbon, green lace from my stash. The leaves are cut with my cuttlebug and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

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

Flutter by Wednesday: Open challenge although you must use a butterfly, angel or fairy

Everybody art Challenge: In the garden (I don't know if there are any fairies in my garden but I have a big willow tree and when my son was a little boy he really thought that fairies lived in it lol

Play date Cafe: Dark Brown, green and beige

I've just realised this card has a bit of an Autumn vibe so sorry for the  reminder that summer is nearly over, hopefully we will get some sunshine and blue sky before autumn is here

Thanks for calling by

Claire xx