3 Textures at Premium Craft Brands

Good morning and a very happy Sunday to you. We're supposed to be having lovely weather this weekend but I don't know what went wrong yesterday, no sunshine and freezing cold but at least it didn't rain I suppose. Its time for our new challenge at Premium Craft Brands PanPastel challenge and this week its all about texture! As always there is a fab prize of Premium Craft brands goodies for our lucky winner and lots of gorgeous inspiration from my lovely teamies so if you've got a minute do pop over and check out the challenge blog.

For my DT project I've altered a little book box and had loads of messy fun lol. I began by painting the box with black gesso. While that was drying I took some kraft card and smothered it with Maimeri Iridescent paste coloured with gold and copper PanPastels. I added texture with a palette knife and then spritzed a honeycomb rubber stamp from Indigo Blu with water and stamped in to the paste.

 I left it to dry and then added more paste through a Pronty Stencil to create the roses. Once that was dry I went over the textured card here and there with Graph'It markers in greens and turquoise and spritzed with Mix'It fluid

I cut the card to size and used it to cover the box. Now for some more texture, and I'm really chuffed with the way this turned out :-)

I've always wanted to create the look of pages on these little boxed but never really worked out how to do it, anyway inspiration struck and I took some Maimeri Light Modelling Paste and spread it round the edges of the box with a palette knife and then went around the edge with a Texture Tool. Again once it was dry I painted with black gesso and then ran a versmark inkpad over the sides and highlighted with metallic PanPastels. To finish off I've added a laser cut butterfly from Dutch Doobadoo, embossed with WOW verdigris EP

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Basteltraum: gifts and boxes

Delicious doodles: anything but a card

Frilly and Funkie: stencils and texture

Inky chicks: monochromatic

Thanks so much for visiting, have a good day

Claire xx

Inspired by water at Fashionable Stamping Challenges

Good morning my lovelies, we've got a brand new challenge starting at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and our theme is 'Inspired by Water', chosen by my lovely teamie Amanda. As always there is a fab prize from our generous sponsor Flonzcraft too! Now I adore this theme and had sooooo much fun making my projects, but trying to take the photos was a total nightmare eeeeeeeek!

I created 4 little underwater scenes using Stampbord coasters, and stamps from Flonzcraft and  Sheena Douglass and a mixture of memento and distress inks.

I added a little glossy accents to the 'bubbles'. The backgrounds were made using my DutchDoobadoo 'Bricks' stencil with Maimeri Light Modelling Paste on a mountboard base. I coloured the bricks with distress inks.

Once everything was dry I added eyelets and grabbed some garden twine from the shed to attach the squares together using nautical knots - this knot is called the Carrick Bend and there is a fab tutorial here on animated knots.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

4 Crafty Girlz: anything goes

All Crafts: anything but a card

Craftitude: anything goes/add a little green

Crafty Bloggers Network: nature

Stampotique Designers Challenge #137: textured background

Red Rubber: stamp your own background

Through the Craft room door: anything goes

Well thanks for visiting today, hope you're having a good weekend

Claire xx

We do Doobadoo!

Good morning, ooooooh how exciting, its the first challenge at 'We do Doobadoo' today and what fun we've had playing with all the gorgeous goodies from Dutch Doobadoo. Talk about kid in a sweetshop lol. Our first challenge is all about hearts and there is a fabby prize up for grabs too so do pop over to the new challenge blog and have a little look around.

I made a little wall hanging by cutting a heart shape from grey board and priming it with Maimeri Gesso before getting busy with Maimeri Light Modelling Paste and the gorgeous a5 'Bricks' stencil from Dutch Doobadoo. Once that was dry I added some crackle paint and once that was dry I added colour with permanent red tint and burnt sienna tint PanPastels. The image is one of my favourite Polkadoodles stamps, coloured with Graph'It markers.

I've put that many embellies on you can hardly see the lovely brick effect lol:

Here are some of the gorgeous products from Dutch Doobadoo that i've used to create my little wallhanging, you can find them here:

   

I've also added a doily, paper flowers (most from my stash but a couple of roses made with aTattered pine cone die), lace, ribbon, paper flowers and a sizzix die cut birdie on a branch.

I'm entering this one in the following challenges:

Alphabet Challenge: b is for buttons and bows

Challenges and Candies: flowers

Creative Corner: button up

Left of Centre: die cuts

Paper Pretties: lots of layers

Penny's Paper Crafty: anything but a square

Papertake weekly: anything goes

Thanks for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Male Colours at Graph'It

Good morning (again lol), this is my second post of the day so please scroll down for my Polkadoodles DT project. This card is for our new challenge over at Graph'It Markers where we've got a bit of a blokey theme going on, as ever there's a fab prize up for grabs and loads of inspiration from my lovely teamies so hop on over to find out all the details.

I've used a LOTV stamp, coloured with my beloved Graph'It markers (for a full list of colours used pop over to the challenge blog). I wanted to give him some depth so I cut out the image and the tree to decoupage them. I love to see those gorgeous dotty backgrounds but they take soooooooooo long to do I usually get bored lol. Anyway I decided to experiment with my background - I marked the position of the image on the die cut I was using for the background and then took my Graph'Its and used the outside of an old biro as an airbrush to create a mist of ink around where the image would go. Here's a better view of the image:

The sentiments and backing paper are also LOTV stamps. I've added some ribbon, raffia lace and some tiny buttons to finish off. I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Craft your passion: birthdays

Divas by Design: Masculine

House of Cards: cute/shabby plus button

Little Miss Muffet: anything goes

Paper Crafting journey: make it manly

Seize the birthday: anything goes

Sisterhood of Crafters: Masculine

The Male Room: blue green and brown

thanks so much for visiting today, have a good day and hope to see you again soon
Claire xx

Mum's the word at Polkadoodles

Good morning folks, we've got a fun new challenge starting over at Polkadoodles this morning and as always there is lots of inspiration from my teamies and a fabby prize up for grabs so do pop over and have a lool if you've got a minute. For my DT card I've used an image and backing paper from Dollie Daydream Girl Talk collection. I just love these images and this is one of my favourite papers from the cd.

I've coloured the image with my Graph'It Markers and added some clouds and grass with PanPastels. The bunting was cut from some scraps of backing paper and I've written 'MUM' with my white Graph'it Shake pen. To finish off I've added some faux pearls, lace, ribbon, a paper flower and one of Nikky's gorgeous ticket sentiments.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Card Mania: use a sentiment

CRAFT: Mothers Day/Female

Crafty Ribbons: anything goes with ribbon

Creative Knockouts: Girlz rule

Papertake Weekly: anything goes

Southern Girls: swinging in the breeze

Thanks so  much for popping by today

Claire xx

New Stamps from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning folks, hope you're having a good week so far. My project today is  a card created using the beautiful new stamps 'Magical Landscapes' from Chocolate Baroque. They are such a beautiful selection of images and although they'll work perfectly with all the lovely fairy stamps as soon as I saw this image I knew I wanted to use it with this mermaid from Underwater Kingdom

The background was made using distress inks, tumbled glass, shabby shutters, salty ocean and mowed lawn. I also used some of the ink from my craft mat to colour the ribbon. I overstamped the background with one of the stamps from Abstract Fragments and embossed with white embossing powder.

The image was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with Graph'It Markers, I added some 'waves' with a white sharpie pen and glitter. I also used the Crafters Workshop Tile Texture stencil with clear gel medium and once that was dry I inked with more Tumbled Glass and Broken China distress ink

I've distressed all the edges with my craft knife and added shells, pearls and cheescloth from my stash to finish off.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:
Artistic Inspirations: anything goes/ sparkles

Deep Ocean: just for a girl
Open Minded: something green
Papertake Weekly: anything goes
Really Reasonable Ribbon: Show me green and ribbon
Totally Papercrafts: make it shine

Thanks for popping by today

Claire xx

Just for you at Flonzcraft Vintage Stamping challenges

Good morning (if a Monday morning can be good lol), I seem to have blinked and missed the weekend, I can't believe I'm back at work today. I'd much rather stay at home with my fur babies and craft but needs must I suppose. We've got a new challenge at Flonzcraft Vintage Stamping Challenges and I have chosen our theme this month, I picked 'Just for you' so its time to make something for yourself! We always seem to be making cards and stuff for other people so I thought this would be a fun challenge theme. As always our generous sponsor Flonzcraft have a generous $20 voucher for our lucky winner and of course there is always the honour of the 'Highly Desirables' badge so I do hope you're going to play along.

I've altered a little magnetic notebook for my DT project, I made one for my MIL at Christmas so this was a good excuse to make one for myself and to use some pretty spring colours too. The stamp is, of course from Flonzcraft, coloured with Graph'It Markers and I've paper pieced her dress. The papers and diecut flowers are all from Craftwork Cards, the papers have been distressed with a little vintage photo distress ink and a craft knife.

To finish off i've stamped some bunting using freebie stamps from a magazine and added die cuts, lace, ribbon and pearls

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

ABC: G is for girls

Addicted to stamps: lace and pearls

Allsorts: spring is coming

Country View Crafts: paper chase

Dream Valley: vintage

Eclectic Ellapu: vintage

Natalie and Amy's: Flowers

The Craft Garden: pastel colours

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

Claire xx

Frame it at Premium Craft Brands

Good morning folks, and a big warm welcome to my lovely new followers! Sunday morning so its time for a new challenge at Premium Craft Brands PanPastel Challenge and as always there is a fab prize for our lucky winner from our generous sponsor Berni at Your Creativity Store. This time around out theme is 'Frame it', if you've got a min do pop over and check out my teamies gorgeous artwork, they are such a talented bunch!

For my DT project I took an old MDF clock blank that I'd started working on but looked awful, it had been sat in the corner of my craft room for ages looking really sorry for itself so I decided to see if I could save it. I got to work with Maimeri Light Modelling Paste and a palette knife, spreading it liberally all over and then creating some texture with the edge of the palette knife to create the effect of wood (hopefully lol). Once it was dry I added some colour with PanPastels and watered down gesso.

The little scene was created with stamps from Sheena Douglass and coloured with PanPastels, I just love sea themed stamps! I used a white Graph'It Shake pen for the fence

The fishing next at the back of the frame is from Joanna Sheen, attached with my hot glue gun - omg I always get in such a mess when I use hot glue lol. I've added some shells from my stash and stamped some text to create a little message and popped in in a bottle.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Altered Eclecctics: alter something

Crafts 4 Eternity: texture

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Paste

Rhedd's Creative Spirit: altered art

Rhedd and Rosie's: anything but a card

Thanks for visiting today, have a lovely day and hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Denim at Graph'It Colouring Challenge

Good morning again, not sure how its happened but i've ended up with my Graph'It Colouring challenge and my PolkaDoodles DT projects on the same day so scroll down for our sugar and spice challenge at Polkadoodles. At Graph'It this week, we're colouring denim. There are some gorgeous blues and greys in the Graph'It range so they are perfect for this challenge. As always we've got a fab prize from our sponsor Your Creativity Store up for grabs too so don't miss out on a chance to win!

I've used one of the lovely images from the Polkadoodles 'Dollie Daydream Girl Talk' cd which you can find here. i've coloured her with my Graph'it Markers, a full list of the colours I've used is on the challenge blog, its really interesting to see how using different shades creates different denim effects so do check out my teamies projects if you've got a minute.

The background was made with a Dutch Doobadoo stencil and i've added lots of other Dutch Doobadoo goodies too - the little laser cut corners, some gorgeous swirly flourishes and even the flowers we die cut from Dutch Doobadoo denim, well I couldn't resist for this weeks challenge lol. The buttons and netting are from my stash.

I'm entering Dollie in the following challenges:

ABC: f is for flowers

Allsorts: ladies day

DRS Designs: button up

Feeling Crafty: dies/punches

Pumpkin Spice: flowers

thanks for popping by,have a good day and hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Sugar and Spice at Polkadoodles

Good morning folks, well we've got lots of inspiration for you today for the Sugar and Spice challenge over at Polkadoodles, as always my teamies have come up with some absolutely gorgeous project so pop on over and have a peek. We're all very excited as Nikky has designed the most adorable new collection! Its called 'Work and Play' and omg it is full of gorgeous images- you have to check out the little fireman, soooooooooo cute!!

I've made a quick card this week using some of the fab precoloured decoupage images from one  of my favourite Polkadoodles CDs, Candy Doodles. A bit of snipping and layering up, a sprinkle of glitter, some faux pearls, a little bow and a couple of little ticket sentiments and it was done! Why do  I always put my sleeve in the faux pearls and have to redo a few lol? I'm such a mucky pup

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Card Mania: use a sentiment

Charisma Cardz: something not for crafting (doily)

Divas by design: sparkle

Kaboodle Doodles: use ribbon

Quirky Crafts: pile it high, layer it up, 3d it

The Squirrel and the fox: spooled item

Well thanks for popping by today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Glittered Rose from Chocolate Baroque

Hi there folks, today's card was made using the beautiful Mackintosh Windows stamps from Chocolate Baroque today. These stamps are stunning, I think I'll be using them again and again.
You can find all the new stamps here

I've made a distress ink background and overstamped with one of the stamps from Mackintosh Windows and then matted on some black card. I stamped the focal image on acetate and embossed with black embossing powder. I coloured the image on the reverse with Graph'It markers and then added some double sided adhesive sheet. Next I peeled the backing off the adhesive sheet and applied Rock Candy gliltter. I layered the glittered image on a die cut square and added a strip of faux gems along the side of the image.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Amusing Challenges: anything goes
Eclectic Ellapu: sequins/gems/sparkle
Make my Monday: Grown up card

Tuesday Throwdown: anything goes
Sparkle'n'Sprinkle: anything goes with glitter, ep or flocking

Thanks for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Do you Doobadoo??

Good morning folks, exciting news alert!! For the last few weeks I've been lucky enough to be playing with some gorgeous new products by Dutch Doobadoo and omg they are fab-u-lous! There are all sorts of goodies including stencils, mdf, scrummy detailed laser cuts etc and believe me the Premium Craft Brands and Graph'It DTs have been having a whale of a time with them. Even more exciting is the fact that there is going to be a brand new challenge starting on March 8th, the challenge is called 'We do Doobadoo' so pop over and find out all about it (there's some candy up for grabs too!!). You can find all the new goodies at Polkadoodles here.

Before I start apologies for the rubbish photo, I was rushing to try and get some pics before I popped my samples in the post so the photos are worse than usual lol.

I've made a little 'New Home' wall hanging using the Shape Art 2 template, its really useful and much cheaper than buying large dies

The first layer was given a bit of texture with the PVA Crackle technique and edged with Treasure Gold. The next layer was made using the Doobadoo 'Bricks' template with Maimeri Light Modelling Paste and then coloured with PanPastels. The next layer was stamped with images from Chocolate Baroque, coloured with Graph'It Markers and a PanPastel sky.

The banner, birds and little flowers were magazine freebie stamps and the lock and key are paper laser cuts from Dutch Doobadoo as is the gorgeous honeycomb - all the DT are just in love with this stuff lol.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

4 Crafty Chicks: things with wings

ABC: F is for flowers

A&T emerald faeries: let see a banner

A Creative Romance: Lets get sentimental

My time to craft: New things

Sentimental Sundays: make your own background

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

Claire xx

Building Character at J52

Good morning my lovelies, after a busy few weeks a work and a poorly eye I'm playing catch up with Journal 52. This is my page for week 4 where Chelle's prompt was 'Building Character'

Now this was a very scary one for me as I don't draw but I set to and sketched the face and then left it for a few weeks. She kind of lurked in my craft room glaring at me with her pale face crying out for some colour but I didn't know where to start lol.

Anyway inspiration is never far away in blogland and I came across a fabulous video on the Paper Artsy Blog (check it out here, Clare Lloyd's tut is fab!!) I didn't want to use acrylics for my page so I used the same techniques from the tutorial but used my PanPastels (not as scary as paint ha ha) and Colorsoft pencisl to colour her in. Lastly I gave her a choker of lots of different problems and worries - they all build character lol. Around the edge I use a Graph'It shake pen in white to write 'This too will pass' here and there, its alright all this character building but we all need a break now and then lol.

I'm entering my journal page in the following challenges:

Crafty Creations: keep it simple
Little Red Wagon: papercraft project but not a card
Try it on Tuesday: Hand made

Well Monday morning is here again so I'd better go and earn some pennies, have a good day and thanks for popping by today
Claire xx

Stencilling at Premium Craft Brands

Good morning folks and happy Sunday to you! This week at Premium Craft Brands Challenge we're having a few changes and our challenges are going to be every two weeks to give everyone more time to enter and to give us more time to share some top tips and tutorials. There are loads of exciting new products coming up too so all in all its a very exciting time in PanPastel Land!
Here's my inspiration project for our 'Stencilling' challenge

I found this long thin canvas at the Works, a real bargain and perfect for this project. I created my background with PanPastels, mixing the colours (you'll never guess which colours I used to make the purple shades ... Magenta and Turquoise! great fun as its like alchemy when the purples start to .emerge). I stamped here and there with an Indigo Blu harlequin stamp and versamark ink before brushing with some silver PanPastel.  I've used one of the gorgeous Pronty Stencils in the corners with Maimeri Iridescent Paste. The gorgeous stamps are from Lavinia Stamps, and I've added lots of stickles in various shades for some sparkle.

The Chipboard letters were coated with Maimeri Iridescent Paste and Pewter PanPastels, sprinkled with a little glitter and some blobs of rock candy crackle paint.

I just love love love this quote, my lovely friend Annie made me a beautiful note book with this sentiment and I just had to use it on this canvas. I've printed it out on the computer, cut it out and edged the words with glitter. The sentiment reads: Art is the only way to run away without leaving home and its by Twyla Tharp.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

4 Crafty Chicks: things with wings

Crafting for all seasons: Sentiment as the focus

A Creative Romance: Lets get sentimental

Add a little dazzle: canvas

Divas by Design: rubber stamps

Tuesday Throwdown: anything with wings

Thanks for visiting today, have a lovely day

Claire xx

Anything goes at Fashionable Stamping Challenges

Hello my lovelies, hope you're having a good weekend. I'm having a lazy one as I'm soooooooooo tired after another busy week at work. No matter how lazy you feel though you have to check out our new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges where we have a nice easy theme of 'Anything Goes'. As always my lovely teamies have created some stunning projects and our generous sponsor Flonzcraft has a fabby $20 voucher up for grabs so I hope you're going to join us! Don't forget though, we're a stamping challenge, no digis allowed!

I've created a sewing themed card using one of my favourite Flonzcraft stamps as the focal image 'Vintage Fashion Girl Thirties 03', its stamped on kraft card and embossed with WOW vanilla white EP. I've layered it up over a button card also embossed with White EP and a tape measure (both from Indigo Blu).  They are layered up over some cheesecloth.The background is Ranger Kraft Resist, which I painted with watered down gesso and wiped with a baby wipe. Once the gesso was dry I stamped the pins and embossed with silver EP, adding little pearls to the heads of the pins.

To finish off I've added a little cotton reel,  lace, ribbon, a wooden button with a twine bow and a brass scissors charm. I used a White Graph'It Shake pen for the faux stitching, omg this is the best white pen I've ever tried , love it!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Brown Sugar: use a charm

Crafters Cafe: vintage/shabby chic

Crafty Ribbons: anything goes

Country View Crafts: Painty Pleasures

Docerela Creations: anything goes

Stamplorations: stamps and stitches

Top Tip Tuesday: stitching

Thanks for visiting today, have a great day and hope to see you again soon

Claire xx