Foamiran flowers

Good morning my lovelies, I hope you're having a good weekend. The weather here is dreadful, cold wet and grey so it's perfect for staying in and crafting. I've seen lots of gorgeous Foamiran flowers around onlne and I wanted to have a go and make some myself so I had a play and made this little canvas.

Here's a pic of the flowers, the foam die cuts beautifully and I bottled out of the advice to heat in on an iron as I'm so clumsy I knew I'd end up with burnt fingers so I had a go with my heat gun and I was happy with the result. I think next time I'll try hair straighteners and see how they work. I've used ivory Foamiran from Craft Box and coloured it with Distress Inks.

The dies I used to make the flowers and leaves are all from Polkadoodles, you can find them here. The background was made with torn tissue paper and some brick stencilling. I gave it a coat of watered down gesso and then used IndigoBlu acrylic paints in pastel shades. I used highlights of gilding wax here and there, some Decoart Crackle Paint and stamping with background stamps from Polkadoodles Belle Papillon stamp set. 

I added some SnipArt heart background, a layer of cheesecloth and then arranged the flowers and the 'love' word which was embossed with Shabby Pink Frantage Powder. I added some gold microbeads and a couple of butterflies (stamped and die cut using Doublet Dies from Polkadoodles)

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

A Vintage Journey: words that are special

Allsorts: Hearts/Flowers

Artistic Stampers: Love hearts

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Young at heart

Stamps and Stencils: Texture, crackle and paint

That's Crafty: I heart you

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

Claire xx 

Anything Goes at Polkadoodles

Hello there my lovelies, I'm late on parade again with my card for our 'Anything Goes' challenge over at Polkadoodles. The DT have been challenged with the theme of 'Show a little love' but you can make anything you want to be in with the chance of winning a fabulous prize from the Polkadoodles Shop!!

I've used some of the beautiful papers from BellaFleur plus stamps and dies from Belle Papillon to make this card. I think this is my all time favourite paper, it's soooo pretty! I didn't want to cover up the pretty paper too much so I used a little heart shaped doily and layered that under a grungeboard heart that I'd covered with yet another paper from the same collection. I added a little distressing with Gathered Twig distress ink and stamped one side with the script stamp from Belle Papillon. The butterfly wings were made using the large butterfly stamp and doublet die from the same collection. I've added some pearl trim, little pearl dots,ribbon and a button to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafting by Designs: love and romance
Crafty Cardmakers: love
Frilly and Funkie: Vintage/shabby chic valentine
Really Reasonable Ribbon: hearts with ribbon/trim
That's Crafty: I heart you

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

Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes at We Love 2 Create

Good morning my lovelies, we actually had some sunshine yesterday which was a welcome change from all the grey skies we've been used to. Hopefully Spring isn't too far away now. My project today is for our new challenge over at We Love 2 Create where our theme is 'Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes'. You don't have to use our products to enter and of course we have a lovely prize of some crafty goodies from Premium Craft Brands for our lucky winner too!

For my DT project I've altered a little MDF Toadstool house using my Pans and stamps/dies from Polkadoodles. I gave the mdf a coat of white gesso to start off with and once that was dry I coloured the top of the toadstool and the door with shades of Permanent Red PanPastel. I used the darker shades around the edges and the brightest red in the middle. I had a bit of an experiment with the stalk as I decided to put my stencil paste on tissue paper, let it dry and colour it rather than just applying it to the mdf directly. I thought this may be useful on 3d projects as the tissue is very flexible so I'll be doing that again in the future. I coloured the bricks with a little Burnt Sienna and Burnt Sienna Tint PanPastel. The flowers, light and fence were all die cut using dies from Polkadoodles. The windows were made using stamps from Pilakdoodles. I added some faux moss and a little brad for a door handle. I used white pearl Cosmic shimmer glue to create the spots on the roof of my little fairy house. I'm really annoyed with myself as I have a gorgeous Toadstool border die from Polkadoodles which would have been perfect with this make but I totally forgot all about it until I was writing this up! I'll have to remember next time.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Alphabet Challenge: X marks the spots or dots

Fussy and Fancy: Fussy and Fancy

Simon Says Stamp: Colour of love

Star Stampz: lots of red

Through the Purple Haze: Fantasy

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

Claire xx

Permanent Red Extra Dark	Permanent Red Shade	Permanent Red	Burnt Sienna	Burnt Sienna Tint
Little Kingdom - Stamp Soup, Polka Doodles	Polka Doodles Elegant Lamplight

Envelope album from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning crafty friends, it's weekend at last I'm trying to be organised and blog more regularly. Today's project is  a little album made with the envelope from my calendar, waste not want not as the saying goes lol. The envelope was folded into 3 and that gave me the idea of making a mini album with some of this months' beautiful new releases from Chocolate Baroque. They were released on Hochanda a few days ago but will be available at Chocolate Baroque very soon!!

I cut pieces of white pearlescent card to fit all the sides of the envelope and spritzed them randomly with Dylusions inks. I was quite pleased with the result as I'm quite heavy handed and usually just make a big mess with spray inks lol.

Next I added lots of stamping using versamark and white embossing powder to contrast with the vivid colours of the inks. I used a white pen to add some faux stitching around all the panels and then glued with to my envelope, sandwiching some rainbow ribbon for a closure.

I cut lots of little die cut tags and again added lots of stamping and rainbow ribbon.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Crafting from the Heart: anything goes

Crafty Creations: Anything goes

House that Stamps Built: Anything but a card

Kitty Bee Designs: Anything goes/something new

The Crafty Addicts: Anything goes

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

Claire xx

Anything Goes at Colour Crazy Challenge

Good morning folks, well my blog is like a bus stop this morning as after weeks of hardly posting I've got 3 posts one after the other lol. I made this canvas for our new challenge over at Colour Crazy Challenge where our theme is Anything Goes and you can use any medium to colour your image so I hope you're going to play along.

I love this image, she's from our sponsor Lemon Shortbread, she's called Flowers and Curls Girl and you can find her here. IO coloured her with Graph'It Markers and cut her out to layer up on my canvas.

The background was made by stencilling the sunburst and flowers using stencils from Indigo Blu with texture paste. Once that was dry I added some colour with pearlescent PanPastels. I just added some pretty iridescent sequins to finish the project.

I'm entering this one in the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More: Make your mark

Crafty Gals Corner: sparkle

Crafty Girls Creations: Anything goes

Lemon Shortbread: Anything goes

Sunny Day Crafting: anything goes

Thanks so much for visiting today

Claire xx

Anything Goes at Polkadoodles

Hello my lovelies, are you ready for the weekend? I certainly am after another busy week at work. I do love my job but sometimes it's like working at Fawlty Towers not a mental health charity lol. This project is my make for our 'Anything Goes' Challenge over at Polkadoodles. As always we've got a fabulous prize from the Polkadoodles shop and lots of inspiration from my lovely teamies too! The DT are all using Design Sheets for our projects, Nikky crams these with lots of gorgeous elements so you can make a project in minutes!

I've made a little wine glass charm and a tag using elements from one of the design sheets from the Winnie in Wonderland Collection. I used Sheet 2 which you can find here or you can get the whole collection here

I love the white rabbit and couldn't resist making hm the star of the show by putting him in this bezel and adding some charms and little 'Drink Me' bottle (from The Trinket Parlour)

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Crafting by Designs: Anything goes

Creative Moments: Anything Goes

Go Tag Thursday: Anything goes

Through the Purple Haze: Fantasy

Use your stuff: Animals

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

Kingfisher Scene from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning my lovelies, my first project today features this months beautiful new stamps from Chocolate Baroque which were on Hochanda on Tuesday, if you missed the shows you can still see them on the Hochanda website!!

I've used s a real mix of stamps to create this wallhanging. I had saved the packaging from a calendar and thought this corrugated card would make a perfect backing for a little scenic stamping. I began by spritzing the card with water so that I could pull off the top layer and then applied acrylic paint here and there.

Next I cut 3 squares of watercolour card and stamped all the images to create the impression of a winding stream. I spent a happy couple of hours painting the scene with distress inks before distressing the edges with a little Vintage Photo distress ink. I added some scraps of cheesecloth, a tiny brass bird charm, faux moss, paper flowers and a hessian bow topped with a button. 

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Colouring in Scrapland: Anything goes

Colour Inspiration Monday: Anything goes with a hand coloured image

Corrosive Challenges: Anything goes

Dare 2 b Artzy: Something new (new stamps)

Fab'n'Funky: Birds

Thanks so much for popping by. hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Anything goes at Eclectic Ellapu

Good morning folks, it's our first challenge of 2017 at Eclectic Ellapu and our theme is 'Anything Goes' . My teamies have lots of lovely projects to inspire you so if you have time pop over and have a look.

I began by stamping the focal images (from Winter Fairies stamp set from Chocolate Baroque) and masking them with masking fluid. I stencilled the stars using a sparkly stencil paste and then stamped the trees and foliage along the bottom with versamark. I embossed with a clear sparkle embossing powder so that I could use a resist technque for the background.

I used a turquoise and a blue mica spray to create the background, adding a little depth with a spray made using Chipped Sapphire distress reinker and water.

Once the background was dry I removed the masking fluid and coloured the images with pencils.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps: Baby it's cold outside

Artistic inspirations: Anything goes

Colouring in Scrapland: Anything goes

Fussy and Fancy: Angels/Fairies/Winter

HeARTful stamping: Rubber stamping, anything goes

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

Claire xx

Chocolate Baroque on Hochanda!

Hello there crafty friends, I'm so excited as our lovely Lesley from Chocolate Baroque is on Hochanda launching some stunning new stamps and even better, they are the One Day Special today so they are available at a great price and are exclusive to Hochanda for 10 days! We've all been busy bees making lots of samples for the shows and I know Lesley has some stunning demos lined up so book your place on the sofa! I'll have to hide at work and watch on my phone (shhhhhh don't tell lol)

The DT will all be sharing lots of samples over on the Chocolate Baroque DT blog over the next few weeks so it's well worth a visit. This is one of my projects for the show, a little bendy card made using lots of the new stamps. Anyone who knows me will tell  you that I love to create scenic cards to these new stamps are going to be favourites with me!

I stamped the images on the card blank, coloured with Lyra Pencils and cut around the images on the two side panels so they would fold in to create the image. I just added a stamped sentiment and a little bit of ribbon to close the card.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Come and Get It: 3 or more layers

Get Creative: Anything goes

Love to Scrap: Anything goes

Making Memories: Anything goes

Simply Papercraft: Anything goes

Thanks for visiting, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Anything Creative/Mixed Media goes at We Love 2 Create

Good morning my lovelies, how's your weekend going? I'm getting a bit fed up of cold weather and dull days so hopefully Spring won't be too long before it arrives. I bought a few daffodils yesterday and they always cheer me up with their lovely sunny little faces :-)
Anyway today's project is my make for our new challenge over at We Love 2 Create where our theme is 'Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes' so it's a nice, easy one to join in. Our lucky winner will receive some gorgeous crafty goodies from our sponsors Premium Craft Brands too!

I've made a card using an old favourite stamp from Prima. I coloured the background with pearlescent blue and green panpastels and then stencilled with Maimeri Light Modelling Paste. Once that was dry I highlighted it with pewter PanPastel and splattered over a little black ink here and there. I coloured the image using my PanPastels and Sofft tools and added some details with Lyra Pencils. 

I didn't want to add lots of embellies so I just added some black/white layers and stamped the sentiment in the corners. 

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Brown Sugar: Anything goes

Creates and Makes: anything goes

Creative Fingers: Anything goes

Creative Moments: anything goes

Little Miss Muffet: anything goes

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

Claire xx

Metallic PanPastel Set	PanPastel - Sofft Knives and Covers	Pan Pastel pearlescent green	Pearlescent Blue	Pan Pastel, White (fine) Pearlescent
Pan Pastel Colourless Blender	Burnt Sienna Tint	Burnt Sienna	Permanent Red Shade	Permanent Red Tint Pan Pastel
Pan Pastel pearlescent orange	Orange Pan Pastel	Pan Pastel pearlescent yellow

Take time to smell the roses

Good morning folks, my first post of the day and this one is a canvas made using some of the gorgeous stamps from Chocolate Baroque! Our theme this month over on the DT blog is Romance and what could be more romantic than beautiful roses?

Do you ever start a project with one idea and go off on a complete tangent and make something completely different? That's what happened with this canvas as I coloured the gorgeous roses from Rose Stem Script with my pencils planning to make 3 CAS cards but got totally side tracked and ended up making this lol.

I used acrylic paints to create the background, adding some stencilling with texture paste and then created texture around the images to frame them. I used scrunched up tissue paper with matte gel medium and once it was all dry I added silver highlights with gilding wax. I stamped the sentiment on an acrylic tag and embossed with silver embossing powder and added some little roses that I'd made with air dry clay to finish off. I wasn't sure how the tissue would work but it's quite solid once the gel medium is dry.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Artistic Stampers: anything goes

Get Creative: anything goes

Fab'n'Funky: ribbon

Inky Chicks: Anything goes

The Crazy Challenge: 3 of a kind

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

Claire xx

Anything Goes at Polkadoodles

Good morning folks, I forgot to schedule this post so I'm a day late. I always seem to be late these days, life is just far too hectic isn't it? Today I'm sharing a shabby chic card for our 'Anything Goes' challenge over at Polkadoodles. As always we've got a lovely prize from the Polkadoodles Shop for our lucky winner and there is loads of inspiration from my teamies too. Nikky has launched a super cute new digi collection featuring Helga the adorable hippo too so if you've got a minute pop over and have a peek.

The DT were challenged to use die cuts for this weeks project and with so many gorgeous new dies available from Polkadoodles choosing my dies was the real challenge lol.  I've used papers, stamps and dies from the Belle Papillon Papercrafting Kit and added some flowers from the Bella Fleur Paper craft Kit to make this shabby chic card. I've added lace,ribbon and a little button from my stash.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Artistic Inspirations: Anything goes

Brown Sugar: anything goes

Inspiration Destination: Anything goes

Making Memories: Anything goes

Paper Shelter: ribbon and/or lace

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

Claire xx

Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes at We Love 2 Create

Good morning folks, how's your weekend going? It's very grey, damp and cold here so apart from dog walking duties, I'll be bunkered up in my craft room playing. My project today is for our 'Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes' challenge over at We Love 2 Create. You don't have to use our products to play along and we've got some lovely crafty goodies lined up for our lucky winner thanks to the generous people at Premium Craft Brands!!

As I've had some time off work I decided to have a play in my art journal and followed the free lesson from Life Book 2016 'Happy Traveller' from Tam Laporte at Willowing Art. I really enjoyed it, such fun and so relaxing. I'd love to do this years Life Book but with work being so busy I don't think I'd have time. Hopefully things will be better next year and I'll have more time to play. Anyway I won't go into all the details as I just kind of followed Tam's lesson, using lots of different products including of course my beloved PanPastels. I can't add links to the colours I used as I can't remember my log in details to the thumblinky lol so here's a list: Skin: Burnt Sienna Shade, Orange Tint, Burnt Sienna Tint, Permanent Red Tint. Hair: Black Coarse Pearl Medium, White Coarse PEarl Medium, Magenta Extra Dark, Magenta Shade.

I also used Pewter, Violet, Phthalo Blue and Black fine pearl Medium for the background with some stencilling using a Dutch Doobadoo stars stencil.

I also used brushos, acrylic paints and lyra pencils.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Alphabet Challenge: v for violet

Crafty Awesomeness: Anything goes

Creates and Makes: Anything goes

Creative Artiste: Mixed Media

That's Crafty: Anything goes

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

Claire xx

Colour Crazy Craft Challenge

Good morning folks, we've got a brand new challenge starting at Colour Crazy Craft Challenge and this time around we're sponsored by Polkadoodles! We've got lots of lovely talented new teamies and some exciting changes so pop over to the challenge blog and find out all the details. You can use any colouring medium to play along so I hope you're going to join in the fun!

I've used papers, stamps, embellishments and some of the fab new dies from Polkadoodles to make this card. I've mixed up the Bella Fleur Paper Craft Kit with the Belle Papillon Kit and coloured the images with Graph'It Markers.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

A Bit more Time to Craft: Anything goes

Country View Crafts: anything goes

Get Creative: anything goes

Love to Scrap: anything goes

Ooh La La: feminine

I've added ribbon and pearls to finish off,

Thanks for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Anything Goes at Polkadoodles

Good morning folks, it's challenge time over at Polkadoodles and as always we've got a fabulous prize from the Polkadoodles shop for our lucky winner and lots of inspiration from my lovely teamies too!

I love all Nikky's gorgeous collections but I nearly always colour an image for my cards so my something new is using elements from the fabulous new collection Belle Papillon to make this card. It was so quick and easy as I resized one of the pretty vintage tags, cut out some bunting and embellies and added a little bling, ribbon and a paper rose.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Artistic Inspirations: Anything goes

Crafting by Designs: Anything goes

Crafty Sentiments: Something new

Inspiration Destination: Anything goes

Simon Says Stamp: Something new

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

Claire xx