PolkaDoodles Angelberry Christmas

Hello my lovelies, a late post from me as I've been lazing around all day. Its been sooooooo hot and apparently its going to be even hotter tomorrow. Despite the heat wave, I'm in the Christmas spirit as Nikky from Polkadoodles has released a fabulous new CD 'Angelberry Christmas'



I've made a card with a bit of a frosty feel to it using one of the lovely papers from the CD and this beautiful image, coloured of course with Graph'It markers.

The pic is a bit bleached out, my dodgy photography skills again and I have to confess that I've lost the list of colours that I used for the image (probably eaten by Barney lol) but i've used a mixture of the turquoises and greens in the Graph'its for her top and skirt.

I've die cut the image and lightly inked around the edge with tumbled glass distress ink. I've added some Marianne die cuts: an icicle border and some laves and to finish off I've added a red bow, a button with a bakers twine bow, some Polkadoodles dew drops and one of the lovely ticket sentiments from the cd.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Cuttin and Stampin: Christmas in July

Eureka: Christmas in July

Holly Jolly Christmas: Christmas outdoors

Incy Wincy: things with wings

Merry Monday: anything Christmas

Stamp and Create: Christmas in July

Whoopsi Daisy: markers

Well I'm enjoying some peace and quiet, the dogs are both snoozing and there's a lovely cool breeze so I'm away to eat maltesers and watch some tv (aaah the simple pleasures of life lol)

thanks so much for popping by 

Claire xx

Fairy from SplodgeAway

Good morning, hope you're all enjoying the sunshine as much as I am. I've had a lovely morning so far, an early walk with the dogs before it was too hot and now i'm planning on a hour or two in the garden with my book but before I go and laze around here's another of my samples from the recent SplodgeAway show on C&C. There are so many gorgeous new masks but this is one of my favourites, you can find it here.

I began by drawing round the mask with a pencil and then sketched in some lines for the detail on her dress, her arms etc and then coloured her up with my Graph'It markers, I wasn't sure how this would work out but I was quite pleased with the effect. Once she was coloured I used the stencil to ink in the silhouette and then created the sky and ground with distress inks.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Charisma Cardz: No designer papers

Creative Card Crew: the great outdoors

Creative Corner: anything goes

Hobbycutz: Fantasy

Totally Papercrafts: all of a flutter

Have a lovely day folks, thanks so much for popping by

Claire xx

Birds and Butterflies at PanPastel UK

Good morning folks,  Sundays are my favourite day of the week and they are even better when the weather is like this and I don't have to go to work tomorrow lol. We've got a new challenge at PanPastel UK and our theme is 'Birds and Butterflies' Our lucky winner will receive a fab PanPastel starter kit from our lovely Sponsor Berni at Your Creativity Store, this is available to UK winners only but if you're not in the UK there is still the honour of the winners badge :-)

I've made a little canvas, the pic is diabolical though, the colours are much more delicate IRL but hey ho I'm a crafter not a photographer lol. The background was made with PanPastels using Permanent red tint, ultramarine blue tint and diarylide yellow tint. I added some Maimeri Light Modelling paste applied through a harlequin mask and sprinkled glamour dust over the top for some sparkle. I also added some rock candy crackle paint but it doesn't show up too well in the pic. 

The focal image is a Sweet Pea digi stamp, I think she's meant to be a Christmas stamp but I've coloured her up with my Graph'It markers using summery colours

I made the butterflies using stamps from Chocolate Baroque, stamped on acetate and embossed with WOW white EP. I brushed Maimeri gloss gel on the back of the butterflies and added glitter in pink, blue and yellow. Once it was dry I cut them out and popped the wings up with silicone glue before adding some little pearls. To finish off I've added a Chocolate Baroque Sentiment and a little filigree metal corner.

I'm entering this one in the following challenges:

2 Sisters: make it sparkle
Allsorts: fur and feathers
Charisma : No designer paper
flourishes timeless Tuesday: seeing clearly
Papertake Weekly: old, new borrowed or bllue
(old butterfly stamps and a new digi image)
Southern Girls: No spoolin
Totally gorjuss: sweet
Totally papercrafts: all of a flutter

Well I don't know about you folks but I'm going to make the most of the sunshine and sit outside with my markers and do a bit of colouring. My poor fur babies aren't too keen on this weather so I think I may buy them a paddling pool today, Benji is like a cat - he hates water but Barney is a lab and he just loves it so I reckon we may have some fun and frolics lol
Thanks so much for popping by
Claire xx

Flora and Fauna at FSC

Helllo my lovelies, I hope you're enjoying this glorious weather,  isn't it bliss to have blue sky and sunshine. I had a wonderful day yesterday at the Summer Crafting show and treated myself to lots of crafty goodies to keep me out of mischief as I've got a week off work now :-) We've got a new challenge starting at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and our theme is 'Flora and Fauna', as usual there is a $20 voucher up for grabs from our generous sponsor Flonzcraft so ink up those stamps and join in to be in with a chance to win. As always my talented DT sisters have created some stunning projects to inspire you so grab a cuppa and have a look at them here.

I made this card with one of the beautiful stamps from the Vintage Fashion ladies set, its been embossed with white ep on a distress ink background with little pearls in the conrers. I've added lots of yellow gingham, don't you just love gingham?? The image is layered up over some cheesecloth and I've added some lemon and white lace, paper flower from Wild Orchid Crafts and a little butterfly charm.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

One Stop Craft: summer colours

Totally Papercrafts: all of a flutter

Wild Orchid: Daisy daisy

thanks so much for popping by today

Claire xx

Candy Colours at Graph'It Colour Challenge

Good morning folks, wooo hooo Friday at last!! And not just any Friday but I've got a week off work after today and its one more sleep til Summer Crafting! To add to the excitement we've got a new challenge over at Graph'It colour challenge too, you don't have to use Graph'It markers to join in and there is an amazing prize up for grabs from Premium Art Brands and PolkaDoodles too so hop over to the challenge blog to find out all about it (check out my teamies amazing projects too)

. Its also my first tutorial over at Graph'It Colour challenge, I've done a quick tut on how to use your Mix'It palette for blending so I'd be chuffed to bits if you'd pop over and check it out :-)

For my card I've used one of the super cute images from the PolkaDoodles 'Pretty Sweet' cd, of course the image is coloured with Graph'Its and my Mix'It.

I've used:  Dress 5270, 5140, 5120,5110;   

Blouse: 9104, 7125, 7105;  

Skin:4180, 4155, 4115, 4120 and 5110;  

 Hair: 3140, 2105, 1230 and 1150

The papers are also from Pretty Sweet and I've added a gesso'd butterfly charm, some paper flowers and some little blue berries from WOC (all dusted with Glamour Dust) and a little filigree corner. The seam binding is from The Ribbon Girl, as is the lace.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Penny's Paper Crafty:  pink

Songbird: ribbon

Try it on Tuesday: Metal

Whimsy Inspiration: ribbon and lace

thanks so much for popping by today

have a good day 

Claire xx

Poppy Mirror from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning my lovelies, hope you're having a good week so far. Today's project features some of the gorgeous new stamps from Chocolate Baroque, Poppy Meadow is one of this months new releases and they are so pretty

I created the background by giving the mirror a couple of coats of cream acrylic paint and then dry brushing pale blue acrylic paint. I stamped the images with black stazon ink and used Derwent Inktense pencils and a waterbrush to colour them. I edged the mirror with some gold gilding wax and made some glittery butterflies and a bee to finish off. These were very easy to make - just stamp the images (Butterfly Daisy Collage and Honey Bee) from  on heat resistant acetate with versamark and emboss with WOW gold embossing powder. Add glitter to the back (you can either use a quickie glue pen and dry glitter or stickles) and once they are dry cut them out.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges

Creataliicious: all about summer

Creative Card Crew: the great outdoors

Natalie and Amy's: Trash to treasure

Shopping our Stash: summer

Sparkle and Sprinkle: Anything but a card

WOW Embossing Powders: Summer and sunshine

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Favourite Technique at SplodgeAway

Good morning folks, today's card is another SplodgeAway creation, this week the DT members are showing off their favourite techniques so its well worth a visit to check out my teamies favourite techniques. Its so hard to choose as these masks are so versatile but I've chosen embossing for my technique.

I've used a backing paper from Prima and I inked up the fence SplodgeAway mask with versamark and embossed in my Grand Calibur before applying black EP. The prima doll stamp has been paper pieced with some more papers from the Prima Almanac collection, I've coloured her face and hair with Graph'It markers and adding some shading to her clothes with derwent pencils.

I've added some black lace, a seam binding bow and a mother of pearl button with some twine. I've added some die cut roses and punched leaves around a lovely paper rose from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Allsorts: Favourite things

Charisma Cardz: Lace

Crafting for all Seasons: girly

Di's digis: paper piecing

Dream Valley: make your own flowers or embelliies

That Craft Place: Ribbon and/or Lace

Wags'n'Whiskers: cute as a button

Thanks for popping by today, 

Claire xx

Fabby new masks from SplodgeAway

Good morning folks,don't you just love Monday mornings? This week I'm going to be sharing some of my projects using some of the fab new masks from SplodgeAway. 

This was a very quick and easy card, I embossed the Complex Frame mask and the Penny Farthing mask (from the Altered Art Kit) on black card using my Grand Calibut and applied some Treasure Gold.  I cut the focal image out and popped itup on foam pads and added a ribbon and charm to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Bloggers:create your own background

Delicious Doodles: heavy metal

Eclectic Ellapu: Its a man's world

Hobby House: Vintage

Ribbon Girl: add a bow

Sweet Pea Stampers: for the men/boys

Totally Papercrafts: lets hear it for the boys

If you've got a minute have a peek at the SplodgeAway blog as its full on inspiration from my talented teamies. 

Thanks for popping by today

Claire xx

Seeing Red at PanPastel UK

Good morning folks, isn't it bliss to get up and see blue sky and sunshine? Its a bit too hot for my poor fur babies though they aren't keen on this weather at all. We've got a brand new challenge at PanPastel UK and this week our theme is 'Seeing Red', of course you don't have to use PanPastels but we love it when you do. Our winner will receive a fab PanPastel Starter set from our generous sponsor Berni at Your Creativity Store (this is only available for UK entrants although of course there's the honour of the winners badge)

I've made a canvas, its much larger than I usually make so it was a bit scary but I had a lot of messy fun making it. I began by creating the background using white and ultramarine blue tint PanPastels. I added some red and used the edge of a sofft sponge to create some black lines here and there.

I sketched in the heart until it looked the right shape (ish) and then began shading using Permanent Red, Shade and Extra Dark.  I gave the heart a bit of a shadow with some black and Paynes Grey PanPastels. Next I added some texture around the edge with Maimeri light Modelling paste and a Pronty Mask, I sprinkled black glitter on the medium while it was wet for a bit of sparkle. I added some rings with white acrylic paint and also splodged some black crackle paint here and there. 

Of course I had to add some stamping, I've used a sentiment from Chocolate Baroque embossed with gold EP and also a couple more hearts using a stamp from Indigo Blu. To finish off I've splattered some acrylic paint here and there.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Craft your Passion: red white and blue

Creative Card Crew: No designer paper

Get Inky: red white and blue

Left of Centre: sentiment

Our Daily Bread: Red white and blue

Simon Says Stamp and Show: anything goes

Well I'd better get my skates on, I'm doing a craft fair today so hopefully peeps will want to buy some of my goodies and I'll have some more spends for Summer Crafting next weekend

Have a good day and thanks so much for popping by

Claire xx

Anything goes at NMWC

Hello my lovelies, and a big warm welcome to my new followers :-) I hope you're having a good weekend and enjoying the sunshine. We've got a new challenge starting at No Matter Which Challenges and its a nice easy one for you, the theme is 'Anything goes' but sadly its our last challenge .



We're going out in style though as there is a fab prize for our lucky winner, a $10 gift certificate from our lovely sponsors at Sweet Stamps.

I've used an image and papers from the Cherryblossom Lane CD by Polka Doodles, I adore this cd! I've made quite a few cards and I had a heap of scraps so I used them to create the background and to make the roses. The image is coloured with Graph'it Markers.

Ive added a cute little ticket sentiment from the same cd and some die cut swirls, some little heart shaped pearls and some ribbon.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Addicted to stamps and more:colouring

CRAFT: Here comes the bride

Creative Fingers: anything goes

Divas by Design: cute

Incy Wincy: summer lovin

Stamp with fun: Celebrate

My teamies have come up with some gorgeous projects for our last challenge so do pop over and check them out. Thank so much for popping by today, 

Claire xx

Make your own Background at PolkaDoodles

Good morning my lovelies and TFI Friday! Work has been a total nightmare this week so if anyone has any job vacancies - ribbon stroker, marker monitor that kind of thing just give me a shout lol. Anyway before I start moaning about work, here's my DT project for our brand new challenge at Polkadoodles where our theme is 'Make your own  background'. As always there is a fabby Polkadoodles prize for the winner so check out the challenge blog for more deets. My teamies have come up with some stunning projects and of course there are some fab tutorials so its well worth a visit.

I've altered a cheap and cheerful mirror for my project. The background was a really easy one using lots of acrylic paint. I gave the mirror a couple of coats of brown paint and once that was dry I made some ring using white paint and a lid. I spattered the red and blue paint on with a toothbrush and left it to dry. 

The images are from the Pretty Tuff cd from PolkaDoodles, coloured with Graph'it markers (both available here).The bps are also from the same cd, I had some scraps left so I tore them into strips and attached them with Maimeri Gloss medium. I also used Gloss Medium to attach the images and then coated the whole thing - it looks much better in real life but its a nightmare to get a decent photo lol.

Here's another couple of pics of the images:

To finish off I added some scrabble tiles.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments: 2 word sentiment
Craft your passion: Red white and blue
Crafty Sentiments: red white and blue
Creative Card Crew: No designer paper
Shopping our stash: Red white and blue
Stamping Chef:: red white and blue

thanks for popping by
Claire xx

There's still time to win!

Hi folks, just a quick heads up that there is still time to enter our very first challenge at Graph'It Colour Challenge- there are fabby prizes up for grabs and so far we haven't had loads of entries so don't miss out! The theme is 'New Beginnings' and you don't have to use Graph'It Markers to enter (although we love it if you do!!). 

Claire xx

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Poppies from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning my lovelies, my card this morning features one of the new stamps from Chocolate Baroque, this image is from Poppy Meadow, the other new stamp sheet is called Fancy Flowers and is just as beautiful. You can see them both here, at a bargain price but even better Glenda has a giveaway so you could win them! Have a look here to find out more.

I stamped the image and coloured with Graph'It Markers before inking the edges with Peeled Paint distress ink. The background was made using various shades of green distress ink and the wrinkle free distress technique. I over stamped the background with one of the lovely border stamps from Floral Edges. I've matted the image and background on white card then red card and added some gingham ribbon to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
C is for Challenge: flowers

Colour me Creative: Colours of summer
Created with Love: for the girls
Creative Moments: flowers
Pause, dream, enjoy: anything goes
Simon Says Stamp: anything goes
Sweet Stampin: Not cute

My teamies will be posting more inspiration with these lovely stamps and they've come up with some really stunning projects again this month so remember to keep checking out the Chocolate Baroque DT Blog! 

Thanks for popping by today

Claire xx

Pretty in pink at VSC

Good morning, can you believe its July 1st already? Isn't this year flying, or maybe I'm just getting old lol. Well as its a new month, we've got a new challenge at Vintage Stamping Challenges and the theme this month is 'Pretty in Pink'. There's a voucher up for grabs from our regular sponsor Flonzcraft so I hope you're going to join us.

I've used one of the lovely Manga images from Flonzcraft for my card. I've used a scrap of bp from my stash to cover a shaped card blank, distressed it with a craft knife and done a bit of embossing around the edges. I've layered the image up over some cheesecloth and popped in a little vintage image (part of the packing from an order at The Funkie Junkie). The ribbon flower is also from the Funkie Junkie. To finish off i've added some little pearls, a seam binding bow and a button tied with a little twine.

I'm entering this one in the following challenges:

As you like it: 3 favourite embellies and why

My 3 are ribbon, flowers and pearls because they always look pretty and feminine)

Crafting for all seasons: girly

Crafty Catz: Say it with flowers

Hannah and friends: Monochrome

Joanna Sheen Challenge: don't be square

Wags'n'Whiskers: cute as a button

I'd better go and get the bus to work. It seems a shame to be stuck inside on a lovely morning like this but needs must I suppose. Have a lovely day and thanks for popping by

Claire xx