Dollie goes East at Polkadoodles!

Good morning folks, woo hoo Friday at last and I've got a really busy day at work so I'll be pleased to get home and relax for the weekend. Before I go and earn some pennies its time for our new chalenge at PolkaDoodles where our theme is 'Anything Goes' but the DT were challenged to use Nikky's latest collection:  Dollie Daydream Goes East . 

The images are all stunning and there are so many beautiful backing papers and other goodies to choose from. I've coloured Dollie and the flowers with my Graph'It Markers and layered them up over one of the papers. Here's another pic of the image

I didn't think Dollie needed a lot of embellies so I've simply matted on gold cad and added a little die cut butterfly to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafting for all seasons: girly

Kitty Bee Designs: something new (images and paper)

Make my Monday: eastern

Rhedd and Rosie's: anything goes

Shopping our Stash: outdoorsy theme

Through the purple haze: digi plus die

I don't know about you but i'm soooooooo pleased the weekend is almost here. Work is crazy busy at the minute as we're short staffed and I've got a big funding bid to finish before Monday but I'm sure i'll squeeze in a few hours in my craft room lol. Have a lovely day and thanks so much for popping by

Claire xx

Indigo Blu Hearts and Flourishes

Good morning folks, hope you're having a good week.We're so busy at work at the minute I don't feel as if my feet have touched ground so its lovely to get home and have a play in my craft room. Getting inky has got to be one of the best stressbusters lol. I had a lovely inky time making this card, talk about mucky paws :-)

I'd been playing around with distress inks and the ombre technique featured in this months Craft Stamper magazine and particularly liked the effect with the reds (Aged Mahogany, Barn Door and Festive Berries). I thought the red would look fab with gold so I set to with my Flitter Glu and Indigo Blu stamps.

The focal image is Love is, a really beautifully detailed stamp. I used Chariots of Fire gilding flakes on the image and also around the edge of the red card. The background was made using Floral Swirl inked up with the same reds in distress ink and stamped on cream cardstock. I overstamped with English Flourish using Flitter Glu and again used Chariots of Fire gilding flakes. I added some pearls, cream lace and black seam binding from the Ribbon Girl. To finish off I attached a little brass key (ok ok this was to cover up a big messy fingermark but don't tell lol)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

ABC Challenge: D is for dazzle

Craft Stamper Take it make it 6: Ombre technique

Dreamtime Designs: new technique

Indigo Blu: From the heart

Penny Black and More: love is in the air

Ribbon Girl : anything goes

Hope you're having a good day and thanks for visiting today, 

Claire xx

Steampunk Parrot from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning folks, today's card is one that I didn't get round to blogging when the fab Steampunk Birds stamps were released at Chocolate Baroque, I adore these stamps and this one is a particular favourite as I just love parrots too.

The background was made with distress inks in assorted shades of green and overstamped with the fern leaf from the Autumn Fairies stamps. The verse is another old favourite stamp from Chocolate Baroque. I've used a die cut bird card and some little flowers punched from fantasy film left over from making the birdie.

I made the bird using scraps of fantasy film and fibre, inking up the stamp with Gold Stazon and layering the image up to build the colours - this is actually a yellow crowned steampunk amazong lol. Here's my parrot Sammy who was my inspiration for this card

Isn't he a handsome boy? He's a very cheeky chappie too, his favourit trick is to lift his wing up and say 'Tickle Tickle Tickle' bless him :-)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Challenges 4 Everybody: anything goes

Dream Valley: No Designer paper

Fantasy Stampers: anything with wings

Quirky Crafts: birds, bugs and butterflies

Sugar Creek Hollow: Fibres and texture

Stamplorations: stamps and feathers

Stempel sonne: animals

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

Claire xx

J52 Week 3 You always make me smile

Good morning folks, what dreadful weather we're having here? Still its warm and dry in my craft room so guess where I've spent most of the weekend lol. No chance of that today as I'm heading off to work in a minute yuk! My project today is my third page for Journal 52 where our prompt this time was 'You always make me smile'. I'm really enjoying this class and omg there is so much inspiration from Chelle and all the folks playing along.

This was a bit of an experiment as I'd seem this technique in Craft Stamper and decided to have a play. I stamped the Paper Artsy Flowers in Black Archival and painted them with masking fluid. I spritzed the paper and then splodged on loads of twinkling H2Os in shades of blue and purple with a little lime green here and there. I covered it up with cling film and let it dry for a bit then removed the cling fim and sprinkled some salt over the paints and left it to dry completely. I love using masking fluid, rubbing it away and seeing the image pop always makes me smile so it was a perfect technique for this prompt lol. 

The sentiment stamp is also from Paper Artsy, its one of my favourites and is guaranteed to raise a smile. I took a white sharpie pen and drew a squiggly line around the edge and then decided to draw in some grass. I added some journalling to the grasses and my page is finished. Now on to the next weeks prompt which is 'Building Character' eeeek sounds a bit scary but i'm sure i'll have loads of fun.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Fab'n'Funky: words

One Crazy Stamper: anything goes

Paper Artsy:  Darcy Journalling Month one

 (pop over and have a look, as Darcy has used some amazing techniques on her page this month)

Pumpkin Spice: something shiny

Rogue Redhead Designs: one layer elegance

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Celebrations at Premium Craft Brands

Good morning my lovelies, don't you just love Sunday mornings? I love pottering around in my pjs while lunch is cooking, must nicer than going to work lol. This mornings project is for our new challenge at Premium Craft Brands where our theme is 'Anything Goes' but the DT were challenged to grab their metallic PanPastels and create something with a theme of Celebrations.

I began with the gorgeous Butterfly Stencil, I think this one is everyone's favourite lol. I inked over it with versamark on black card and then applied Rich Gold PanPastel. I removed the stencil, oversamped with a text stamp in Black Versafine and added some dots of gold glitter glue. I stamped the 'Celebrate' stamp with versamark and embossed with black EP. I made the flowers and leaves with black card, tattered florals and leaves and stamped them all with versamark before applying more rich gold PanPastel. The little roses in the centre were made with Maimrei Light Modelling Paste coloured with more gold PanPastel.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Card and Scrap: bling

Challenges and Candies: Monochromatic

Crafty Catz : Monochrome

Country View Crafts: Monochromatic

Feeling Crafty: butterflies

Red Rubber Inspirational: let your stamping sparkle

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Tag along with us at Fashionable Stamping Challenges

Hi there folks, how's your weekend going? Hope you're having a good one with lots of crafty fun. If you're looking for some inspiration we've got a new challenge starting at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this time our theme is 'Tag along' chosen by my lovely DT Sister MeggyMay. We've also got a new teamie joining us, Amanda is soooo talented you're going to love her work so pop along to the challenge blog and have a peek. As always there is a fab prize up for grabs from our generous sponsor Flonzcraft so ink up those stamps to be in with a chance to win!

I've used 3 tags to make a beeswax collage. I began by painting some corrugated card and then applied some scraps of floral napkins with a coat or two of beeswax. The tags also got a coat of paint, then I applied the napkin with beeswax, this time I'd stamped the napkin with some text here and there. I also sprinkled in a few mica flakes for a bit of sparkle.

The next layer is a die cut oval, again painted before adding the napkin with beeswax, this time I'd stamped one of the Flonzcraft Gibson Girls on the napkin with Potting Soil Archival Ink.

I made some paper roses using tattered florals and a brittania rose die,  and die cut some foliage and flourishes and dipped them in the beeswax. I added Treasure gold to all the edges before I assembled everything, and used some scraps of green ribbon and brads at the top of the tags.

I've added an Ideaology book plate and found a sticker in my stash with a definition of love that just fitted perfectly.

Assembling it was a bit of a nightmare, I started with my hot glue gun but it all fell to pieces eeeeeeeek!! After a bit of a panic I tried Maimeri Matte Gel Medium and so far its holding together so fingers crossed it doesn't fall apart lol.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Artistic Stamper: love is in the air

Aud Sentiments: any sentiment

Bloggers: make your own background

In the Pink: die cuts/punches with lots of pink

Oozak: anything goes love

Our Creative Corner: Shopping Sins 

(Ideaology stuff is one of my biggest - I'm always buying stuff and then decide its too pretty to use lol)

Really Reasonable Ribbon: love and ribbon

If you've got a minute pop over and have a peek at the projects my talented teamies have created as they are fab-u-lous!! Have a lovely Sunday and thanks for popping by
Claire xx

Aurora Wings

Hi there, hope you're having a good weekend. We've had about a years worth of weather in a few hours here, freezing fog and ice this morning, then blue sky and sunshine and now we've got howling wind, thunder, torrential rain and a bit of hail every now and then. All we need now is some snow lol. Today's card features one of the gorgeous digistamps from Aurora Wings, I just love these images! 

The image is called 'Profile of a woman with roses' and I've coloured her up with Graph'It Markers, the edges have been distressed with old paper distress ink and she's matted on some peach cardstock. The backing paper is an old favourite from K&Co and i've added some of my favourite Melissa Frances Lace (sooooooo hard to cut but I thought this lovely lady deserved it lol) The seambinding has been dyed with distress inks and i've topped the bow off with a tiny button and some twine. to finish off I've added some faux pearls, a rose made with Thermomorph and coloured with mica powder and a couple of metal leaves.

I'm entering this in the following challenges

Crafting for all seasons: girly

Creative Moments: buttons/pearls

Delicious doodles must use ribbon

Fairy Tale: Bows

Fussy and Fancy: vintage

Paper Crafting Journey: vintage, distressed, shabby chic

Sweet Pea Stampers: flower power

I'm planning on spending the rest of the afternoon in my craftroom, ahhh bliss!!

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

Claire xx

A new challenge at Graph'It Markers

Good morning folks, phew Friday at last and after a manic week at work I'm well ready for the weekend and some playtime in my craft room. We've got a new challenge over at Graph'It Colouring Challenge this week and our theme is 'Anything Goes' but as always Nikky likes to keep the DT on their toes so she challenged us to have a go at colouring dark skin tones. As always there's a fab prize up for grabs and don't forget you can use any markers to enter and be in with a chance of winning!

Eeek, that was a challenge but I had a lot of fun messing around with different colour combinations and came up with this one using one of the gorgeous digital images from Lavinia Stamps. The background was made with Memento Inks and a stamp from chocolate Baroque. I've framed the image with a spellbinders die cut and a couple of die cut /dry embossed hearts. Here's another pic of the image

To finish off I've added lae, ribbon and a little resin bouquet of flowers.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Add a little dazzle: Red

Artistic Inspiration: anything goes/ ribbon

Cuttlebug Mania: all you need is love

Digistamps 4 Joy: ribbon

Its all about the vintage: embossing 

My time to craft: all about the love

Paper Nest Dolls: anything goes

Scribble and Scrap: anything goes

Wel I'm heading off to work now, have a good day and thanks for popping by
Claire xx

Serenity from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning folks, today's card features one of the new stamps from Serenity, one of this months new releases from  Chocolate Baroque. I love these new stamps, both sets are gorgeous but I particularly love this image, Serenity is a perfect name for her.

I've coloured the image with Graph'It markers and layered it up over a gold embossed image. The backing paper is from the Prima Firefly pad, stamped with one of the Gothic Fragments and embossed with gold. I've edged the paper with a gold krylon pen

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Card Mania: anything goes

LEJ Designs: anything goes

Make it Monday: anything goes

Stamps + Fun=Creativity: embossing

Sweet Stamps: anything goes

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

Claire xx

Graph'Its and Polkadoodles on C&C!!

Good morning folks, we seem to be having some horrible cold and miserable days, but to cheer us all up, the lovely Nikky Hall is on C&C at 1pm with Graph'It markers AND a gorgeous new CD called Girl Talk which features the very glamorous Dollie Daydream. Sorry about the pic of this card, I really struggled as it was so dull and dark at the weekend.

I've coloured Dollie with Graph'It markers and layered her up over one of the gorgeous backing papers from the CD. I've added a couple of die cut flourishes and lots of paper flowers. I had to add some pretty lace and ribbon and of course some bling in the corners. Here's a pic of the image

Its a bit hard to see but i've given Dollie a polka dot outfit using the blender pen. The sentiment  is also from the Cd, it says 'just let me shop and no one gets hurt' lol. 

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments: any sentiment

Brown Sugar: anything goes

Card and scrap: use bling

Di's Digi Designs: spots and dots

Frosted Designs: polka dots

Live and Love Crafts: perfume 

(she's bound to have some perfume in one of those shopping bags lol)

Moving along with the times: girly cards

My Sheri Crafts: use a digi

Winter wonderland: a dog is not just for Christmas

Thanks so much for popping by today

Claire xx

A Simple Place

Good morning folks, here's my second page for J52 where our promt was 'A Simple Place'. I'm a real homebird so of course I had to make a home themed page.

I used Lavinia stamps and memento inks to stamp the images and then added some colour with coloursoft pencils, doodling in some flowers here and there too. I wanted to look at the house through a hole in a wall so I set to with Maimeri Light Modelling Paste and a crafters workshop template, once it was dry I coloured the bricks with distress inks in tea dye and vintage photo. Next I was very brave and drew some lines and actually wrote on the page but you can't see it very well on the pic.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

4 Crafty Girlz: anything goes

City Crafter: Artsy tree

Red Rubber Impressions: make a scene

So Artful: A little house with something different

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

Guest Designer at Craft a Scene

Hello again my second post of the day and this one is my GDT card for Craft a Scene where the theme is to choose your own theme. I've gone for a sea and sand theme and for my second project I've gone underwater and created a scene using stamps from Chocolate Baroque.

I stamped the images and then added some colour to the background with PanPastels, the beauty of Pans is that you don't have to bother masking as you can just use an eraser if you go over the images. I sealed the pans with hairspray and coloured the images up with Graph'It markers. Next I added some stencilling with distress inks and a dylusions stencil and a crafters workshop stencil. Here's a close up fo the mermaid, she's one of my favourite stamps

I used a white sharpie pen and glossy accents to create some bubbles and matter the scene on white card and kraft, doing a bit of distressing with a craft knife. To finish off I added some string and a little starfish charm. I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Cards and More: anything goes

Creative Fingers: anything goes

Red Rubber Inspirationals: make a scene

Seemacrafts: anything goes

Whimsy Inspiration: something new (new stencils)

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

Claire xx

A fun new challenge at Premium Craft Brands PanPastel challenge!

Good morning folks, well its perfect crafting weather again this weekend so I thought I'd try and add a bitof sunshine with my DT project for Premium Craft Brands PanPastel Challenge where our theme is 'Anything Goes', as always the DT had a wee extra challenge and this week it was to use something other than paper and card. Make sure you pop over to the challenge blog and check out my teamies gorgeous projects. Of course there is a fab prize up for grabs for our lucky winner courtesy of our lovely sponsor Berni from Your Creativity Store!

I've used a canvas and some wooden letters for my project. I added lots of texture to the canvas with Maimeri gesso and light modelling paste and stencils from Premium Art Brands, I love that dotty stencil! Next came my PanPastels in ultramarine blue tint and diarylide yellow tint. The gorgeous flower stamps were a freebie for subscribing to craft stamper, they are such fun stamps but not my usual style at all. I had a wee look at the PaperArtsy blog for some inspiration and got cracking lol, I kind of knew I wanted to use a bit of a rainbow theme so I took inspiration from all the texture that this weeks guest designer Julie Ann has used on her projects, they are stunning!.

 I stamped the JOFY flowers on tissue and coloured with Graph'It markers, I used Maimeri Matte Gel to apply the flowers to the canvas. 

I love this JOFY house stamp, it was a Secret Santa pressie at Christmas and I love it so much I had to use it lots of times lol. I decided to make a rainbow of little houses and added colour with PanPastels and Graph'It markers.

The letters got a coat of Maimeri Gesso and then a rainbow of PanPastels and a wee bit of stamping. I had a bit of a job attaching the letters but my hot glue gun came to the rescue.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Creative Craft Challenge: anything goes

Incy Wincy: add texture

Inky Chicks: Anything goes

One Crazy Stamper: anything goes

PaperArtsy : january challenge

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: anything goes

Sisterhood of Crafters: new stash

Sparkles Forum: show us your new stash

Southern Girls: its all new

The Crafting Cafe: anything goes

Well as its Sunday morning i'm going to tackle a ginormous basket of ironing. I know how to have fun lol. Have a good day and thanks for popping by 

Claire xx

Playing with sparkle medium

Good morning my lovelies, it looks like another grey and rainy day here so I'm going to sneak off and spend the day in my craft room once the dogs have had their walk and I've done a wee bit of housework. Before I go though, today's card is one of my experiments with Sparkle Medium from Imagination Crafts.

I fell in love with this mask, so many uses for it but I began with a nice simple one, I inked through the mask with pumice stone distress ink and then applied clear sparkle medium, it doesn't show in the pic but it gives a gorgeous effect in real life. I used pearl card and the colour is a scrummy grey and the sparkle looks a bit purple here and there. I've made a background using one of the smaller stamps from the Fuchsia stamp set from Imagination Cafts and then added some black lace and white ribbon to finish off. I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Brown Sugar: anything goes

Country View Crafts: Monochromatic

Imagination Crafts: anything goes

Fussy and Fancy: monochromatic

Inspired by Stamping: Create custom patterned paper

Milk Coffee: monochromatic

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: anything goes

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

We're going girly at Polkadoodles!

Good morning folks and a warm welcome to my new followers :-) Can you believe its Friday already so that means the weekend is nearly here yippeeee. Friday is also the start of our new challenge at Polkadoodles and we're going girly this week to show off the gorgeous new Dollie Daydream collection from Polkadoodles, its called 'Girl Talk' and the cd is jam packed full of scrummy images, papers, embellies and lots of other goodies. 

I adore the little shops on the new CD, so cute!! I've coloured this one up with Graph'It Markers and cut it out before popping it up on some cheesecloth and one of the beautiful papers from the CD. I used a white sharpie pen to add faux stitching around the paper. Next came lots of girly embellies, flowers, pearls, die cut butterflies and little pearls dotted here and there. A girly card isn't complete without ribbon and lace so I've added some pink seam binding ribbon and some beautiful Melissa Frances lace that I've been hoarding for ages lol.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Allsorts: use ribbon, no bows

Bunny Zoe's : stitching

Come and Get it: butterflies or dragonflies

In the Pink: anything goes

Inky Impressions: pink and girly

Penny's Paper Crafty: embelllishments

Thanks so much for visiting today

have a good day

Claire xx