Easter at Rainbow Lady's challenge

Good morning folks, a quick post from me as  I'm not feeling 100% at the min, hopefully a lovely long weekend off work will do the trick and I'll soon feel better. Anyway here's my DT card for the lovely Cynthia's 'Easter' challenge at Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog. There's a fab prize up for grabs from our generous sponsor Joanna Sheen !

I've used backing paper from Prima (Madeline, I think) and one of the gorgeous new Baroque Egg stamps from Chocolate Baroque. I cut the gatefold shape with nesties (you can see a fab tutorial for this on Glenda Waterworth's blog here). I toned the backing paper down a bit with antique linen distress stain, The main image is stamped with Memento Bamboo leaves and colored with promarkers and coloursoft pencils. The sentiment is from the same set of stamps. The ribbon from Joanna Sheen and the roses from Wild Orchid

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Everybody Art: Easter

I love promarkers: Spring

My Mum's Craft Shop: Easter/Animals

Top Tip Tuesday: Easter or Animals

Thanks for popping by

Claire xx

An Easter Challenge at PanPastel UK

Hi folks, my card this morning is for our new challenge at PanPastel UK and this week our theme is Easter. You don't have to use PanPastels to enter this challenge, but we love it when you do. If you fancy trying them out, do pop over to Your Creativity Store as Berni has a fab 10% discount plus free p&p at the minute! All you have to do is use the code panpastel when you check out. 

 For my card I've created a little scene using PanPastels and an Indigo Blu Easter Bunny stamp  that came free with Craft Stamper.

PanPastels blend so beautifully, its really quick and easy to create a faux brayered scene in a few minutes. I began by tearing a sheet of copier paper to create a mask for the hills. I started by laying down a layer of white panpastel and then added some Ultramarine blue to create the sky. I don't have any of the tints yet but its so easy to blend you can make beautiful pale colours by blending with lots of white. I then worked down the page using my mask and various shades of green PanPastel (I used  Permanent green,  Chromium oxide green shade and Phthalo green shade)

I stamped in the bunny rabbits using blach archival ink and then added lots of foliage using stamps from Chocolate Baroque and Autumn Leaves. To embellish the card I added a couple of little glittered acetate butterflies from a Crafty Individuals stamp, some raffia and a lovely prima flower.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Charisma Cardz: Easter

Craft your days away: Easter

Fab'n'Funky: Easter

One Stop Craft challenge: Easter

Our creative corner: How green is your spring

Scrapbook Sisters: Easter

Simply Create too: Eggs or bunnies

Sisterhood of Crafters: Easter

Top Tip Tuesday: Easter and/or animals

Totally Papercrafts: Easter

Don't forget our lucky winner will receive a fabby PanPastel Trial set from our lovely sponsor Berni from Your Creativity Store

Thanks for popping by. I've got loads of catching up to do as I haven't been able to do much blogging this week due to a yukky eye infection but its improving now so hopefully I'll be able to catch up with everyone's blogs now

Hope you're having a good weekend

Claire xx

Elegant Primula From Chocolate Baroque

Hi there, whats happened to the weather?? We've had beautiful sunshine all week and  Saturday morning arrives and its grey and drizzly. I hope its a bit better where you are, but i'd better not moan as we do need the rain. My card share today features one of the gorgeous new stamps from Elegant Spring Flowers, one of the new releases from Chocolate Baroque. 

I love this delicate primula with the beautiful script background, I  coloured with image with promarkers and added a little glitter to the centre  of the flowers, unfortunately the sparkle doesn't show up too well in the photo.

I've edged the image with pumice stone distress ink and matted on some dark blue card. To create the corners, I used the bottom die from Shapeabilities Fancy Tags 2 and trimmed the top and bottom of the die cut shape and attached them behind the image. The paper is from one of the Guild paper packs that I've hoarded for ages but I had to cut it as I thought it complemented this image beautifully. to finish off I added some blue ribbon and a little bow

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Creative Stamp Friends: spring

Lollipop Crafts: anything goes

Wags'n'whiskers: Flowers

Whimsical Wednesdays: spring

Thanks for calling by

Claire xx

Christmas in March at Crafty Ann's

Hi there, time for a new challenge over at Crafty Ann's challenge blog and this time Crafty Ann wants to see Christmas in March!! Its never too early to start making Christmas cards especially with Ann's gorgeous images and papers, or perhaps you'd rather scrapbook some of those precious photos. For my DT card I've created a digital card, printed it out twice and layered the poinsettia and the lacy border up. 

The backing paper, book plate and borders are from Crafty Ann's beautiful 'Cream Dream' collection and I've combined them with the snowflake from Traditional Christmas collection. The main image is one of Ann's scrummy metallic images. You can find them all at Crafty Ann's Digi Shop. All I added were some little pearls and I stamped the sentiment using a rubber stamp from Chocolate Baroque

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafty Purple Frog: anything goes

Crazy Challenge: Add a sentiment

Lollipop Crafts: anything goes

Paper Pretties: Bling

Thanks for popping by

Claire xx

An Easter Challenge at Sarah Hurley's

Hi there back again with my second post today, this time its my DT project for Sarah Hurley's Challenge where the theme is Easter so pop on over and have a peep at my teamies projects, they are gorgeous as always. 

For my project i've used backing paper and image from Sarah's scrummy new digikit called 'Easter Tea Party' which you can find here, its jam packed with beautiful papers and images perfect for Easter and Spring projects. I've used one of the bps to cover a shaped card blank. I coloured the image with promarkers, die cut with nesties and decoupaged the flowers and leaves. I've matted the image over a larger circle of  backing paper and added some pretty lace and white ribbon.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Creative Card Crew: Spring

Daisy Doodles: spring

Paper And Such: spring or Easter

Ribbon Reel: Photo inspiration

Shopping our Stash: Circles or dots

Truly Madly Crafty: colour inspiration

thanks for popping by

Claire xx

Butterflies at Rainbow Lady's Challenge

Hi there, we've got a fab new Butterflies challenge starting today over at Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog  and our sponsor this week is none other that my lovely teamie Caroline, from CaroLine's  Creative Stamps! 

I've used Caroline's beautiful digi butterflies on my little wallhanging. I crackled the background with copper and black acyric paint and a layer of watered down PVA glue and added copper EP around the edge. I brayered the little scene using Big& Juicy spice inkpad and some of Carolines beautiful rubber stamps, you get so many sillhouettes in this set its hard to choose lol. 

I matted the scene on a lacy die cut circle, added some ribbon and popped the butterflies in position. To finish off I added some black enamel accents to the butterflies bodies.

I'm entering this little project in the following challenges

Craft a Scene: Moonlight

Crafts and Me: Elegant fairies

Craft your passion: Monochromatic

Creative Craft Challenge: anything but a card

Little Miss Muffet: Silhouettes

Ribbon Carousel: Anything goes

Whimsy Inspiration: No patterned paper

Thanks for calling by today, hop on over to the challenge blog to see more of Caroline's beautiful images and of course the fabby projects from my talented teamies

hugs

Claire xx

Snowdrop Easel Card

Hi there, can you tell I love snowdrops lol. I fell in love with this beautiful stamp which you can find on one of the stunning new stamp sheets available this month at Chocolate Baroque. This stamp is from the stamp sheet, Elegant Spring Flowers

This was a simple card to make, I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured with promarkers adding very pale dots in the background.  The image was die cut with nesties Labels 4 and I used Bundled Sage distress ink around the edges. I accented the flowers with some glossy accents but you can't see that too well in the photo. To create the shaped easel I folded some pale green card and placed the largest die on the card so that the top overlapped the fold and cut the shape out. I cut another identical shape to mat the image and make the easel topper

. The base of the easel card features the sentiment from Elegant Spring Flowers, stamped again with Memento Tuxedo Black, die cut and distressed with Bundled Sage.  I added generous blobs of Rock Candy Crackle paint to give the sentiment a frosty crackle and popped on some clear dew drops to support the easel. 

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Art Impressions stamps: Monochromatic

Chocolate Coffee and Cards: Fancy folds

Crop Stop: shaped cards

Fairy Fun Fridays: spring

Fussy and Fancy : anything but a square or rectangle

Little Claire's: Spring

Penny Black and More: springtime

Thanks for popping by today. Keep a beady eye over on the Chocolate Baroque DT blog as my talented teamies have loads of gorgeous inspiration for you over the next few days

Claire xx

Sparkly Snowdrops

Hi there, its not often I make a clean and simple card,  I'm definitely a more is more kind of girl lol but I thought the clean and simple beauty of this elegant snowdrop stamp, from the newly released Elegant Spring Flowers from Chocolate Baroque lent itself to a CAS design.

The image is coloured with promarkers and then I added lots of rock candy crackle paint through a Crafters Workshop Template (Mini mosaic) and left it to dry. It gives a lovely frosty sparkle in real life but its so hard to get a decent photo, hopefully you can see it better in this pic. The image is just matted on green card with some little green gems in the corners.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

2 Sisters: Spring is in the air

Creative Inspirations paint: Monochromatic

One Stop Craft: clean and simple

Paper Play: Spring colours

Paper Sundaes: spring blossoms

Sweet Stampin: Anything goes

Wags'n'Whiskers: green

Thanks for visiting today, I hope you've got some spring flowers in  your garden. Its been so warm and sunny here we've got all sorts of gorgeous flowers in the garden but nothing beats snowdrops, they are so delicate and pretty. 

Claire xx

Thanks for visiting

Claire xx

Bright Colours at PanPastel UK

Hi again, time for a new challenge at PanPastel UK and this week our theme is 'Bright Colours'. PanPastels will be on Create and Craft at 3pm today so I've got my place booked on the sofa to watch :-). If you fancy trying out PanPastels, check out the bargains at Your Creativity Store as Berni has a fab 10% off deal at the minute!

I had a lot of fun making this tag, I've used Magenta and Diarylide yellow for the tag and then a little black through a Crafters Workshop Template. The sentiment is from the new Artistic Expressions themeplate by Chocolate Baroque.

To make the flowers I die cut some Clearly for Art film with my tattered florals die and gave the flowers a coat of multi medium. Once this was dry I coloured the flowers with PanPastels and added some rock candy crackle paint. Once this was dry I splashed on some drops of twinkling h2o's in yellow and hot pink. Once dry I overstamped with a large crackle stamp (again from Chocolate Baroque), I heated the Clearly for Art and shaped the flower petals  and layered them up. The smaller flower has a black button in the centre. The larger flower has a flattened bottlecap filled with Ranger black enamel accents, while this was wet I scraped some more PanPastel onto the surface and left it to dry. Once it was dry i added a layer of glossy accents to seal the PanPastel. 

To finish my tag off I  used some pink and black velvet ribbon, black lace, some dots of black enamel accents and some die cut swirls.

I'm entering my tag in the following challenges:

C.R.A.F.T: handmade flowers

Craft your passion: Just sentiments

Going Grey with scrap creations: flowers

Hotshot Crafts: Ribbon

Paper Pretties: New technique (the flowers)

As always our lucky winner will receive a fab prize of a PanPastel trial set from the lovely Berni at Your Creativity Store so I hope you're going to join us to be in with a chance of winning

thanks for popping by

Claire xx

Spring is in the air at Fashionable Stamping Challenges

Hi there, well Spring is in the Air here in my little corner of the UK and its also our theme over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges. We have a fabby prize from the lovely Marina of Cottage Crafts, our generous sponsor and as always my talented teamies have come up with some gorgeous projects. Sorry for the dreadful pics of my DT project, my camera has given up the ghost and I'm using hubbys at the minute, unfortunately its a bit too technical for me and I can't seem to take decent photo with it. In fact they're even worse than usual lol. 

I always think of flower and the beautiful shades of yellow in our gardens when I think about spring, and of course Spring is the season for weddings.  In fact 50 years ago today, my lovely MIL and FIL were married so I decided to make a spring themed Golden Wedding card for their special anniversary. Its even more special as my FIL has been very seriously ill and a couple of weeks ago we didn't think we'd be celebrating so this is a very happy weekend for our family :-)

Anyway to make my card, I used various shades of yellow and gold h2o's on watercolour card to create the background, I splodged them on and covered it with clingfilm to dry. I'm really pleased with the effect, it looks almost like taffeta. The lace border and corners are stamps from Joanna Sheen, embossed on vellum with Gilded Ivory EP and cut out.. The focal image is an image transfer of one of the happy couple's wedding photos, popped onto canvas and framed with a crackled and pearl embossed frame. I added a venise lace heart, and some paper flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts. To create the '50' I cut the numbers from shrink plastic and popped them in clear UTEE in my melting pot. Once they were cool, I brushed them with flitter glue and added gilding foil, you can see them a bit better in this pic.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Bunny Zoe's :Vintage/Shabby chic

Crafts and Me: spring colours

Creative Card Crew: Vintage

Gingersnap Creations GC141: Granny's photo album

Paper Crafting Journey: Pretty Pastels

Thanks for visiting today. pop over and check out my teamies creations if you have a minute as they have come up with some stunning projects again this time around

Claire xx

House and Home at Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog

Hi there folks, this week seems to be flying by doesn't it? I can't believe its Thursday already but it is and that means its time for  new challenge at Rainbow Lady's Challenge and this time around our theme is 'House and Home'

I've used a shaped card blank from Crafty Boots and created a brick effect using a Crafters Workshop Template and distress inks. I'm really pleased with the effect of this but I'm still struggling with hubby's camera so its not a very good pic so you'll have to use your imagination a bit lol. I swiped pumice stone distress ink all over the card then added tea dye through the Crafters Workshop template, followed by a touch of vintage photo here and there. I die cut the window shape using one of the lovely new Lattice spellbinders dies. The scene in the background was stamped using stamps from Chocolate Baroque's Sunburst Scenes and Country Views and coloured with promarkers. I added a green gingham bow and some tiny paper roses around the window to finish off. 

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafts and Me: spring colours

Crazy 4 Challenges: use some green

Paper Pretties: new technique (brick background)

Penny Black and More: springtime

Pretty Little ribbon Shop: spring colours

Scrapbook Sisters: Anything goes

. Its definitely starting to look like spring here in my little corner of the UK. I've got this week off work (well most of it) and for a change the weather is being kind to me so I should really drag myself out of my craftroom and tackle the weeds lol.

Thanks for calling by

Claire xx

New stamps from Chocolate Baroque!

hi there, todays card features some of the gorgeous new stamps from Chocolate Baroque, there are some really beautiful spring flowers but for my first sample i've used stamps from the stunning Baroque Eggs theme plate.

I've used various shades of brown mica sprays to create a background and stamped the egg with versamark before embossing with a pastel pink embossing powder. I cut the egg out and matted it on some brown card stamped with the beautiful corner stamps from Butterfly Flourish and embossed with the same pink embossing powder.

To create the background I sprayed some white card with shades of pink and brown mica sprays and stamped and embossed the smallest egg from Baroque Eggs with pale pink, deep pink and brown embossing powder.. The background is again matted on some brown card and I added some pink organza ribbon for a finishing touch.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Craft us Crazy: Religous/Easter and or something sweet

Stempelsonnen: Easter

Thanks for calling by, do keep a beady eye on the Chocolate Baroque DT blog as my talented teamies have created some beautiful projects to inspire you with all the lovely new stamps released this month

Claire xx

Add a flower at PanPastel UK

Look no stamps lol! Here's my DT card for our new challenge at PanPastel UK where our theme is 'Add a flower' and I haven't used a single stamp for my card. I can't remember the last time I made a card without any stamping but i got carried away making my background with PanPastels and masks and decided i didn't want to cover it up lol.

I started with a square of white card and applied Diarylide yellow, ultramarine blue and permanent green PanPastels over a layer of white PP. I used a gorgeous prima mask and applied Paynes Grey PP around the maske adding more green and a little Permanent red to pick out the foliage and flower. Next I used Tile Texture template from Crafters Workshop and applied more Paynes Grey, Blue and a little Permanent red PP here and there. I absolutely love the effect of this template, i seem to be using it on everything at the minute .

I used some gorgeous rose lace from Chocolate Baroque and added some red chiffon ribbon. To create my flower I die cut 3 flowers using some crinoline fabric and Tattered Florals and coloured with Permanent Red PanPastel. I layered them like the grungepaper roses, curling the petals as I went along and added the flower to my card. To finish off I added some faux pearls in the corners.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crazy Challenge: No designer papers

Creative Card Crew: Vintage

Flourishes: Lace and Scallops

As always our lovely sponsor Berni from Your Creativity Store has a fab prize up for grabs for our lucky winner! 

We've had some very exciting news this week too!! PanPastels are making their debut on Create and Craft next week, you can see them on Wednesday at 11am and then on Sunday at 3pm, what  a treat!!  . The lovely Kay from Indigo Blu will be demoing so its definitely not one to be missed!! 

Thanks for popping by

Claire xx

Spring in to Spring at Crafty Ann's

Hi there, I'm running a bit late this morning as I've pulled a muscle in my back so I'm a bit of an old crock at the minute lol. Anyway better late than never, this time around our challenge at Crafty'Ann's is 'Spring into Spring' and i've been inspired by a lovely early climbing rose in my garden. As soon as I see the flowers appearing I know spring is really here and the bad weather is over. 

I've used Crafty Ann's beautiful 'Rose Trellis' image, coloured with promarkers and matted on gold card. The bp is from Crafty Ann's Sweet Sage collection (its a real shame to cover it up as its so beautiful and has little butterflies on it). I've overstamped the paper with some  swirls from Chocolate Baroque's Artistic Expressions stampsheet and embossed with gold EP. To finish off i've added lace, ribbon and a paper rose from my stash.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Crafty Bloggers: Floral

Digital Tuesday: think spring

Paper Take weekly: for the girls

Whimsy Inspirations: Embossing

Don't forget our lucky winner will receive a fabby prize from Crafty Ann's Digi Shop!

thanks for popping by, 

hugs

Claire xx

Steampunk challenge at Sarah Hurley's

Hi there, back again with my second card today, this time my DT project for Sarah Hurley's Challenge where we have a 'Steampunk' theme this time, of course I had to use Sarah's brand new Steampunk cd for my project. You can find it here

As you can see i'm loving these shaped cards at the minute. For this card I've used papers,embellies, sentiment and the supercute little Steampunk chap from the cd. Its perfect for quick cards as the elements all work together so beautifully. I've just distressed all the edges with a craft knife and layered all the elements up.

All I've added is some dotty ribbon and a button from my stash. 

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Cards for men: Cheeky chappies

Cupcake craft: going dotty

My Craft Spot: Mainly manly

Paper Shelter: for a male

Polkadoodles: lets hear it for the boys

Thanks for visiting

Claire xx