Pick a colour palette at PanPastel UK

Good morning, well we're having a lovely sunny weekend so far so I think today will involve cutting the lawn and doing some weeding. We've got a fab new challenge over at PanPastel UK this week, the theme is Pick a Colour Palette and I've chosen my colour palette from Design Seeds, love this site its great for inspiration when Mr Mojo goes walkies but you can pick any colour palette you choose, you can even create your own! As always our lucky winner will receive a fab prize of goodies from Premium Craft brands and you've got two whole weeks to enter so loads of time! 

I've altered an MDF door hanger based on this gorgeous colour palette

I began with a coat of Maimeri gesso and then applied Light modelling paste through a Dutch Doobadoo 'Pop art' stencil. Once dry I added colour with Gold and Copper PanPastels and protected it with a coat of Glossy Gel medium.

I've used a combination of the gorgeous new stamps that Nikky Hall has designed for Premium Craft Brands,with some Alice stamps from Stampendous, all stamped with versamark and coloured with PanPastels

The flowers were made with die cuts, stamped with versamark using background stamps from the Stop set from premium Craft Brands and coloured with PanPastels, I've also added Dutch Doobadoo honeycomb, laser art butterflies and key.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Allsorts: Butterflies

Creative Knockouts: Flowers galore

Daring Cardmakers: Colour challenge

Rhedd's Creative Spirit: Anything goes

Simply Create Too: stack em up

Thanks for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Circle the Globe at Fashionable Stamping Challenges

Hi there folks, well its a busy blogging weekend for me and this card is my project for our brand new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges where our theme is 'Circle the Globe' chosen by the lovely Shirley. We want to see some kind of circle on your project, of course as we're a stamping challenge we need to see stamping as the focus of your project too! Our lucky winner as always will receive a $20 voucher from Flonzcraft.

I was a bit stuck for this challenge as I had an idea in my head but couldn't find the stamp I wanted to use anywhere, I hunted high and low but it is definitely hiding lol. Anyway as I was struggling for inspiration I had a little wander around blogland and found that the lovely Astrid had a gorgeous freebie backing paper on her blog, Astrid's blog is always full of wonderful ideas and inspiration so do pop over and have a look.

I used the backing paper with lots of distress inks, a Dutch Doobadoo stencil and Maimeri light modelling paste to create the background and layered this up over another layer of inky stencilled card. The focal image is one of my favourite Flonzcraft stamps, Two Birds on a Branch Engraving. I've watercoloured the image with distress inks and decoupaged the birds 

I've added seam binding ribbon, die cuts, paper flowers and some little berries from my stash.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Chocolate Coffee and Cards: circles and squares

Country View Crafts: Natures Glories

Crafts 4 Eternity: Stamp it

Eclectic Paperie: get stencilled

Fussy and Fancy: spring colours

STAMPlorations: stamps and flowers

That's Crafty: Spring is in the air

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

Claire xx

Lots of Layers at We do Doobadoo

Good morning my lovelies, we've got another bank holiday weekend here in the UK, don't you just love a long weekend off work?  Today's card is my project for our new challenge at We Do Doobadoo, where our theme is 'Lots of Layers' so its a nice easy one for you. You don't have to use Dutch Doobadoo products to enter but if you fancy trying them out there's a fabby prize up for grabs!

I've used my favourite Dutch Doobadoo a5 brick stencil for the background of this card, coloured with PanPastels. Then I've used the precoloured saloon image from the Polkadoodles Work and Play Collection 3. The images are from the same cd, coloured with Graph'It markers, fussy cut and I've attached them with a strip of acetate to give them a bit of a spring in their step lol.

The sentiment is also from the same cd, die cut with nesties and I've used twine from the shed to make a little lasso my stash and Dutch Doobadoo arrows around the sentiment. I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

4 Crafty Girlz: anything goes

CRAFT: make your own embellie

Crafty Sentiments: anything goes

Die Cuttin Divas: at least one embellie

Dies R Us: anything goes

Sister Act: anything goes

Whoopsi Daisy: hand coloured image

Thanks so much for popping by, have a great weekend and hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Something old, something new and something pink

Good morning folks, I've been a wee bit quiet for a couple of days as after managing to escape colds and flu all through winter I've suddenly come down with a horrible cold so i've been feeling a bit sorry for myself lol. I'm on the mend now though and before I go to work I wanted to share this easel card made as my DT offering for the new challenges at Polkadoodles and Graph'It Colouring Challenge! Its well worth a visit to both blogs as Polkadoodles is celebrating its 5th birthday and Graph'It its 1st birthday so there is some amazing candy up for grabs!!

I've used one of the supercute new images from the Polkadoodles 'Work and Play Collection 3' for this card, the caravan is precoloured but i've coloured the image with my Graph'It markers, pop over to the Graph'It colouring challenge for a full list of colours.

I've also used one of the gorgeous new stamps that Nikky Hall has designed for Premium Craft Brands, love love love this little postcard! I've also added some of my favourite Dutch Doobadoo honeycomb and laser art  butterflies and corners. I also raided my stash for pink seam binding, buttons  and a few paper flowers. The green bp is my something old, its from the Polkadoodles Candy Doodles Cd.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafting with Dragonflies: use a cd

Crafty Ribbons: anything goes with ribbon
Cute Card Thursday: here comes summer
Moving along with the times: pretty pastels
Southern Girls: dots and spots

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

Fab new stamps from Premium Craft Brands

Good morning, today's the day our lovely Nikky Hall is on Create and Craft at 1pm demonstrating lots of scrummy goodies including fabby embellies from Dutch Doobadoo and some amazing stamps from Premium Craft Brands. Nikky has designed the stamps and they are fab-u-lous, great for all sorts of projects from vintage to quirky and just the job for mixed media projects too!

These quirky flowers are one of my favourite stamps from the set, you've got to love those ink blots too lol. I stamped the flowers on some linen card that I'd coloured with silver PanPastel. I also stamped the ink blots and the sentiment and then got to work coloured the flowers with Graph'It markers, giving them a bit of sparkle with a Graph'It shake pen

I've dusted off my corner punch and rounded off all the corners and matted on some black card. To finish off I've added some red pompom trim, black seam binding and a polke dot button.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Crafters Cafe: glitter

Creative knockouts: anything goes

Glitter and sparkle: ribbon

Stamping Sensations: dies/punches

Sweet Stampin: No designer papers

That's Crafty: black and white with a splash of colour

Thanks for popping by today

Claire xx

Fairyland from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning folks, its back to work for me this morning so I'm feeling a bit grumpy but although I'm not looking forward to catching up with loads of work it will be nice to catch up with my lovely friends. Anyway before I go, today's card features the gorgeous Spring Fairies and Fantasy Castles from Chocolate Baroque

I began by stamping and masking the large fairy and the castle and then set to with my PanPastels to create the background. I removed the masks and coloured the images with Graph'It markers

The sentiment is also from Chocolate Baroque, embossed with gold EP. I added a purple seam binding bow and some pretty spring coloured flowers.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Challenges 4 Everybody: anything goes

Chocolate Coffee and Cards: spring 

Come and get it: spring flowers

Crazy 4 Challenges: april showers bring may flowers

Creative Moments: anything goes/Spring

Dream Valley: say it with words

Sisterhood of Crafters: things with wings

Sweet Stamps: embossing

Well I'd better scoot off to work now, booo hoooo.
Have a great day, thanks for popping by and hope to see you again soon
Claire xx

Hills and Mountains at Craft a Scene

Hi folks, hope you're having a lovely Sunday. Its the fourth week of our 'Hills and Mountains' Challenge over at Craft a Scene so you've still got time to enter! My first DT project for this theme was a wintery scene so I decided to create a sunny Spring scene for this project using stamps from Lavinia Stamps.

Using my PanPastels I began by creating the sun, sky and hills using paper masks. I hardly ever use my brayer these days as PanPastels are soooooo much easier and a lot more forgiving when it comes to creating this style of scene. I used a pencil eraser to rub some colour out to create the cloud, quite a few people have asked me a for a tutorial for this technique so I'll do one as soon as I get a minute, its a really quick and easy technique

 Once i'd got my background in position I stamped the fairy, masked her and stamped the rocks and bridge. I added colour to the foreground with more green PanPastels and stamped in the trees and fence using brown Memento ink. I love these trees as you can stamp in the foliage using different inks for different seasons, for this card I used Bamboo Leaves and Pear Tart Memento inks. Next I stamped in the silhouette fairies and birds.

I removed the masks and coloured the bridge, rocks and fairy with Graph'it Markers. I've added some sparkle to the wings with Graph'It glitter shake pens in gold and silver and used my white Graph'It shake pen to add detail to the water.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps: things with wings

Craftitude: Anything goes Easter/Spring

Cute Card Thursday: Blue and green

Left of Centre: Spring Fling

Sunflower Fields: Easter or Spring

Thanks for visiting today, 

Claire xx

Go Grungy inspiration at PanPastel UK

Good morning my lovelies, how's your weekend going? Awful weather here so I've been having a play in my craft room and trying to pretend I don't have to go back to work tomorrow lol. I've sooooo enjoyed my week off but at least we've got another long weekend coming up next week so I've got something to look forward to. My project today is for our 'Go Grungy' challenge at PanPastel UK, you've still got a week to enter and our lucky winner will receive a fab prize of goodies from Premium Craft Brands.

I've made an 8x8 card, distressing the edges with Raw Umber shade panpastel and stamping a fabric texture stamp from Indigo Blu here and there. I used a sheet of copier to create a heart shaped stencil and popped that over my card blank before applying Maimeri Light Modelling Paste through a Pronty Stencil.  The LMP is coloured with a touch of Magenta PanPastel. Once dry I went around the edges with Raw Umber PanPastel

The little lady is a stamp from Crafty Individual stamped with versamark and then I applied more Raw Umber PanPastel and layered it up with a tattered angels butterfly. The ginormous sentiment is from Indigo Blu, stamped with Potting Soil Archival Ink, and then distressed with PanPastel.

I've added faux pearls, a seam binding bow, a little rose made from Light Modelling Paste in a silicone mould, the clay heart was left over from another project.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Brown Sugar: anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Big stamps

Sister Act: anything goes

Sweet Stampin: No designer paper

Through the craftroom door: anything goes

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

Go Grey at Graph'It Colouring Challenge

Good morning, my third post today so I hope you're not getting fed up lol. This is my DT project for our 'Go Grey' challenge at Graph'It Colouring Challenge. Hmmmm I hear you thinking, doesn't look grey to me!! You can get some fab effects by using your greys with other colours in the Graph'It range - you can create different shades and tones by either mixing on your Mix'It palette or by laying down a layer of grey before your main colour. I've used green greys and blue greys to add depth and shade to the greens and turquoises on this image

For a full list of the colours I've used pop over to the challenge blog.

The image is by Aurora Wings, she's called Elven Princess and she's fab to colour.

The background was made with distress inks and I've added some flowers made with Britannia rose die, green lace and turquoise ribbon. To finish off i've added a couple of gorgeous little laser cut butterflies from Dutch Doobadoo.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Card Mania: Fairies

Creative Card Crew: girly

Cute Card Thursday: blue and green

Digi Galore: flowers

Little Miss Muffet: anything goes

I'm hoping to spend the day in my craft room today and making the most of my week off work. Have a fabby day whatever you're up to. Thanks for popping by and hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Spring/Easter Inspiration from Polkadoodles

Good morning, I'm really enjoying my week of work but its whizzing by far too quickly. I love this time of year, after the long dark days of winter its great to get outside and potter in the garden. That was the inspiration for this card, my DT project for our Spring/Easter challenge over at Polkadoodles where you've still got a week to enter to be in with a fabby prize!

I've made a Spring themed easel card using a digistamp coloured with Graph'It Markers, papers and lots of embellishments from Sudio 12 Picknix Collection 1 Cd.

I'm no expert at digital crafting at all but I managed to do lots of printing and cutting out lol, I even layered the letters up over one of the gorgeous backing papers in MS Publisher. I've added some wooden buttons, gingham ribbon, twine and one of my bargain poundshop birds nests. I took the eggs out and coloured them with my Graph'It markers

Here's a pic of the main image and all the embellies from the CD. Love those little birds, clouds and fence and how cute are those polkadot flowers? The bunny is a die cut that I had in my stash

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

ABC Challenge: J is for just as you like

A Little bit crafty: The birds and the bees

Animal Friends: Spring/Easter

Bearly Mine: Spring

Creative Moments: Spring/anything goes

Digistamps 4 Joy: Easter/Spring

Sisterhood of Crafters: Things with Wings

Thanks so much for visiting today, if you've got a minute pop over to the Polkadoodles blog and check out my teamies gorgeous projects

Claire xx

New stamps at Chocolate Baroque!

Good morning folks, I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front for a couple of days as I've been busy in the garden getting lots of jobs done, everything takes twice as long with the help of our puppy Barney who constantly runs off with tools, plant pots lol. After all that hard work I'm itching to get in my craft room and play. Before I go, my first card of the day features this months new stamps from Chocolate Baroque they are called Fabulous Flappers and you can find them here. I've had a wonderful time with them as they are such versatile stamps, great for lots of different techniques from colouring to paper piecing to dusting off the angelina fibres to create outfits for these lovely ladies.

I've coloured this glamorous lady with my Graph'It markers and added some faux pearls to her collar and her hair. I've lightly distressed the edges with Black Soot distress ink.

The background was made using Ladybug memento ink and one of the stamps from Fancy Flourishes, these are clear stamps which are perfect for pattern building. Again I've distressed the edges with a little black soot. I've added some black lace, red ribbon and a little resin flower. the sentiment is from Mackintosh sentiments. 

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and more: colouring

Fan-Tastic Tuesday: anything goes

Flat Friends: include a sentiment

Love to Create: Monochromatic plus ribbon

Milk Coffee: bright colours

Ruby's Rainbow: ladies

Have you visited the Chocolate Baroque DT blog lately, do pop over if you have a minute as my lovely teamies have some gorgeous projects to share with new posts every day

Thanks so much for visiting today, 

Claire xx

Magic Happens at Chocolate Baroque

 Good morning folks, I've got a sunny scene to share this morning made with the new Springtime Edges stamps from Chocolate Baroque.   I've used them with one of the beautiful Spring Fairies for this card, she is from the March set

I began by stamping the fairy with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and masked her with Masking Tissue to stamp the lovely primrose edge in the background (this time I used Memento Bamboo leaves). I left the mask in place while I created the background. Using PanPastels I added some shades of green to the foreground of the scene and then took shades of Yellow to create a sunny effect behind the image. I sealed the PanPastels with hairspray and used distress inks through the Lucious Leaves Dylusions stencil. I removed the mask and coloured the fairy and the primrose edges with Graph'It Markers. To finish off I added some tiny die cut flowers and stamped the sentiment which is from Fairyland Words and embossed with gold EP.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Created with Love: in the garden
Glitter and Sparkle: Easter or Spring colours
Hiding in my Craftroom: flowers
Ooh La La: Easter/Spring
Penny Black and More: Blossoms and blooms
Stamp and Create: Spring flowers
Whoopsi Daisy: Embossing

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Waterlily mermaid from Sweet Pea Stamps

Good morning folks, how's your long weekend going? Awful weather here, but I suppose its a bank holiday so what else can we expect? The cold winds and grey skies are a good excuse to leave the gardening and play in my craft room (not that I need much of an excuse lol). Today's card features Waterlily Mermaid , a digistamp by Elaine Cox from Sweet Pea Stamps. I couldn't resist colouring her up for the challenge over at Sweet Pea Stampers where the theme is Mermaids and there's a special prize up for grabs

The background was made with distress inks (mowed lawn, picked raspberry and broken china) and i've coloured the image with Graph'It  Markers and added some lime green stickles.

I've layered her up on a spellbinders die cut and made some little rolled roses from scraps of the inky background. I used a white Graph'It shake pen to create the faux stitching and added some little pearls to the corners. To finish off I've added ribbon, lace and one of my treasured sparkly buttons.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

As you like it: favourite stitching style

(faux stitching for me, I love to see proper stitching but haven't got the patience to dust my sewing machine off lol)

Colour me Creative: anything goes

Digi Galore: flowers

Fussy and Fancy: pearls and lace

Pumpkin Spice: Colouring

Totally Gorjuss: die cuts/punches

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

Claire xx

Go Grungy at PanPastel UK

Good morning and a very happy Easter to you all. We haven't got anything exciting planned, just a scrummy lunch and then eating lots of chocolate - sounds like a good plan to me lol. Anyway back to business and we've got a new challenge starting over at PanPastel UK and this time our theme is 'Go Grungy'. You don't have to use our products to enter and our lucky winner will receive a fab prize of goodies from Premium Craft Brands!

I've altered a littel canvas using Maimeri Gesso, Light Modelling Paste with a Dutch Doobadoo stencil. I've added some colour with PanPastels in shades of brown with a little copper and gold here and there. The stamps are from Indigo Blu, coloured and distressed with PanPastels and then layered up and attached with a memo pin.

I've made a flower using a stamp from Chocolate Baroque, stamped on to card painted with Maimeri Bronze acrylic paint (my absolute favourite colours, its gorgeous). I've popped a glass cabochon in the centre. I've added paper flowers, a seam binding bow, some die cuts, pearls and a pen nib to finish off.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Addicted to stamps and more: anything goes

Artistic Stamper: embossing and texture

Craftitude: anything goes or Spring

Crafty Cardmakers: floral profusion

Everybody Art: anything goes

Little Miss Muffet: distressed

Love to Create: Vintage romance

Stamplorations: Stamps plus your favourite technique 

Tuesday Throwdown: vintage/shabby chic

(I think using stencils for texture is one of my all time favourite techniques)

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

Claire xx

Flying things at Fashionable Stamping Challenges

Hello my lovelies and a very Happy Easter to you, I hope you're having a good weekend. We've got a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this time around our theme is Flying Things, chosen by my lovely teamie Laura. Don't forget that we're a stamping challenge so make sure you follow the theme and that stamping is the focal point of your project. As always we've got a fab prize for our lucky winner -  a $20 voucher from our generous sponsor  Flonzcraft!

I've made a little wall hanging for my DT project. I began by painting some mountboard with black gesso and once that was dry I used a Dutch Doobadoo stencil with Maimeri Glassy gel to add some texture. I then brushed on some gold PanPastel and edged the board with Treasure Gold.

I made a background using a Clarity stencil and distress inks in Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn and Broken China, tore it to shape and distressed with Black soot. 

The focal image is from Indigo Blu, stamped with flitter glu and gilded. I coloured the image with Graph'It markers and distressed with PanPastel before giving the birdie a coat of glossy accents.

The sentiment is also from Indigo Blu but I replaced the word fly with letters from one of the fabby Flonzcraft alphabet stamp sets, this one is Fonteroy and you can find it here. I stamped the letters on some scraps of my background and attached the Idea-ology charms with glossy accents. Once dry I cut out and embossed around the edges with gold EP. I saw this faux soldering technique in Craft Stamper and I love it!!

I assembled all my layers, adding some recycled black netting for a bit more texture and to finish off I added some AB gems, a paper flower and some die cut leaves.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

A Little Bit Crafty: birds and bees

Creative Knockouts: Furry or feathery friends

Get Inky: Die cuts
Natalie and Amy's: embossing
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: things with wings
Sweet Stamps: anything goes/embossing
Tuesday Throwdown: vintage/shabby chic
Wags'n'Whiskers: lots of layers

thanks so much for popping by, have a great Easter and eat lots of chocolate!
Claire xx