Claire's Crafty Blog

4 challenge card

2010-04-12T20:52:00.004+01:00

Hello everyone!!

I hope you all had a good Easter! We had a fab time away. We toured round Scotland staying in the Youth Hostels. I've never stayed in a Youth Hostel before so wasn't sure what to expect but it was great and the girls loved it. Our trip home ended up a bit different than expected though, as the road we were going to take was closed with the snow so we had to do a massive detour!!

Hard to believe that was only last week and now it is gorgeous and sunny. I know which I prefer!!

Anyway, back to normal now so I have made this card. It is for my Dad's birthday and I am entering the following four challenges:

Papertake Weekly - I have used the sketch

Creative Inspirations - I have followed the colour scheme of Green, Brown & Blue

I Love Digi - I have used a digital image (Sammy and the steam engine from Digital Stamps Oasis) and followed the 'recipe' of 3 Papers, 2 Brads + 1 Embellishment.

Moving Along With The Times - The challenge was to make an easel card. First time I have done one of these and I'm quite pleased with it!!

The papers are from Crafts-Too and Daisy & Dandelion. The embellishment is from Papermania and was silver. I tried colouring it with my promarkers but it didn't come out like I wanted, so I embossed it with brown embossing powder and my heat gun instead.

Thanks for looking!!

I Love Digi challenge

2010-03-26T23:29:00.003Z

Another entry tonight, my last before Easter as we are now going away for a few days.

This entry is for the I Love Digi Challenge. The theme is Easter.

I have made a set of five Easter cards using the set of images "Spring Coco and friends" from DigiStamp Boutique.

I have kept these cards quite simple (bit of a rush as going away tomorrow!!). I've used scalloped cards from Craftwork Cards then I've embossed the front of each card blank in my BigShot. The images are coloured with my promarkers. Ribbon from stash. Sentiment printed out on my computer!!

I hope you all have a good Easter - don't eat too much chocolate!!!

Just Cute Bears & Passion for Promarkers

2010-03-26T23:18:00.005Z

I've made this card using the sketch on Just Cute Bears.

I've used the stamp I won on their challenge a couple of weeks ago (thanks again folks at Just Cute Bears!!). It is quite a large stamp with a lot going on in the background, so I've left the rest of the card quite plain. I've used embossed paper for the main layer on the card, as patterned paper looked far too busy!

I've coloured the image with my promarkers. I'm also entering this card for the current Passion for Promarkers challenge, which is to make a Springtime card that must include an animal.

Thanks for looking!!

Pollycraft & Creative Inspirations challenges

2010-03-25T21:09:00.003Z

This card is made with a lovely freebie I downloaded from Pollycraft.

The 'Tales from Pollycraft' blog is offering two free images to use to make cards for their Design Team challenge. This image is called Codi Stylin' - isn't she cute!! There is actually a little skull image in the middle of her tshirt which I have covered with a gem as it didn't really go with my flowery backing papers!!

The challenge on the other Pollycraft blog, Pollycraft Monday Challenge, is to make the card SPARKLY!! Excellent!! I've added gems, glitter glue and some gorgeous sparkly ribbon from Papermania's Couture Ribbon collection.

Finally, I have used the current sketch on the Creative Inspirations challenge blog.

Thanks for looking!

Papertake Weekly Challenge

2010-03-24T20:26:00.003Z

Just one challenge for today's card!! I have made this card for my husband's Birthday. I have followed the sketch on Papertake Weekly.

The image is 'Bestest Buddies' and it is from Digital Stamp Oasis. The papers are K & Co.

Thanks for looking!!

5 challenge card!!!

2010-03-23T22:20:00.006Z

Well, I think this must be the first time I've combined quite so many challenges in one card, but with the Spring theme floating around everywhere at present it seemed daft not to!!

This card is for the following challenges:

Creative Inspirations - colour scheme of White, Yellow & Green

Moving Along With The Times - sketch

Squiggle Stamps - Spring theme plus I've used their lovely Sunny Flower Girl stamp which seemed really appropriate for this challenge

Crafty Catz - Spring theme

Digital Tuesday Challenge - Spring theme and the Sunny Flower Girl image I used is a digital download.

Well, I think that's it for now!!!

Thanks for looking!!

White card for Just Cute Bears & Mojo Monday

2010-03-19T11:59:00.002Z

This is a card for the Just Cute Bears and Mojo Mondays challenges.

The challenge on Just Cute Bears was to do a card that is all white (other than some colour on the image). I found this really tricky as I love to use loads of colour on my cards. I did put a bit of colour round the edges of my papers for definition as I thought otherwise it would all blend in to one!

I followed the sketch on this week's Mojo Monday challenge.

The image is from Digistamp Boutique and is called Coco and roses.

Thanks for looking!!

Promarkers & Craty Catz challenges

2010-03-18T14:13:00.002Z

This is a 2-challenge card made for my uncle's 70th birthday.

I have followed the sketch on Passion for Promarkers. My Sugar Nellie image is coloured with my promarkers.

I have followed the theme on Crafty Catz which was 'Something for the boys'.

Papers - K & Co Hopscotch pad.

Thanks for looking!!

Promarkers, Papertake & Digital Tuesday challenges

2010-03-15T12:28:00.002Z

Morning all!! Hope those Mum's out there had a good Mother's Day yesterday!! I had a lovely day. My husband and the girls took me out for a BBQ to some local woods & beach. The girls had a great time making a sand castle and got me digging a huge moat for them. Unfortunately it rained while my husband was cooking the food, so we ended up eating in the car, but they all seemed to enjoy themselves!!

Anyway, on to this morning's card. This is for my brother, the first of a run of male birthdays coming up in my family.

This card is for the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly - I followed the sketch.

Passion for Promarkers - the image is coloured with my promarkers, predominantly the challenge colours of Mango and Bright Green.

Digital Tuesday Challenge - my image is a digital image "Moodles Hugo Pressie" from Polycraft. I've also included piercing around my main image as one of the challenge conditions.

Thanks for looking!!

Mojo Monday 129 & Creative Inspirations 51

2010-03-13T17:52:00.002Z

Hi everyone - I hope you're having a good weekend!!

I've just made this card for one of my neighbours who's just had a baby. Well, when I saw her with the baby it turns out she was born two weeks ago!! Oops!! I know I'm always rushing in and out of the house with the girls in my own little manic world, but I felt pretty bad at not realising she'd had the baby!!!

Anyway, I've made this card following the sketch on Mojo Monday.

The baby image is a digital stamp from Squiggle Stamps. I've bought quite a few digital images from various places recently and I'm loving them - my printer does a better job than I do when stamping!!

I'm also entering the Creative Inspirations challenge which was to use a charm on the card. I used this cute little teddy bear - hope this counts!!

Image coloured with promarkers. Backing paper Forever Friends. I tried doing a scalloped border round one of the papers with my Martha Stewart border punch. Not hugely successful when it comes to the corners - think I'll stick to strips from now on, unless I get a corner punch!!

Well, that's it for now. Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

3 challenge card

2010-03-08T22:21:00.002Z

This is another 3 -in 1 challenge card.

1. I've followed the sketch on Moving Along With The Times, and also the theme which was "One for the girls".

2. I've also followed the theme on the Passion for Promarkers challenge which was "Back to Nature". I thought the lovely Sunny Flower Girl, which I got as a digital image from Squiggles Stamps, was just perfect for this theme. Coloured with Promarkers, of course!!

3. I am also entering the Papertake Weekly Challenge, which was to use at least one of Buttons, Bows, Brads and Bling! I've used Bows and Buttons on my card.

The papers and all the embellishments are from the Papermania Capsule Collection. I got the last DoCrafts Goody Bag which had the entire collection in it!!!!

Thanks for looking!!

3 challenge card

2010-03-04T21:22:00.003Z

Just a quick one as I'm keen to go and have my tea!!

This card is for three challenges:

1. Crafty Catz - use ribbon and a fancy edge (great chance to use my lovely new Martha Stewart punch again!!). The fluffy ribbon is from the Papermania Couture Ribbon collection.

2. Just Cute Bears - mint and brown colour combo. The Coco bear image I downloaded from Digistamp Boutique. The green flower was white and I coloured it with my Mint Green promarker.

3. Sketch Saturday - I followed the sketch - found it a really tricky one so I might have adjusted it a little!!!

Thanks for looking!!

Papertake Weekly Challenge

2010-03-01T10:05:00.003Z

Hello everyone, I hope you had a good weekend. We woke up to snow again here - getting very bored of snow now!!

This card is for the Papertake Weekly sketch challenge.

The image is the lovely Daisy with flowers from Squiggles Stamps. I coloured with promarkers while visiting Jenny (see her blog, Stamps, Pencils and Paper!) before Christmas. I found her the other day and she matched my Papermania Capsule Collection papers perfectly!!

Thanks for looking!!

Squiggle Stamps & Mojo Monday challenges

2010-02-27T16:58:00.002Z

Hope you're all having a good weekend!! Today I have another 2 challenge card:

1. This is for the challenge over on Squiggles Stamps. I have used their lovely 'Daisy with flowers' image and followed the challenge conditions of 'pink and a heart'.

2. I have followed the sketch on Mojo Monday.

The lovely flowery backing papers are from the Forever Friends Pink Parfait paper pack. I have also had a play with my new Martha Stewart scalloped border punch and I love it!!!

Thanks for looking!!

Just Cute Bears & Moving Along With The TImes challenges

2010-02-26T12:39:00.005Z

Friday again - where did the week go!!! I hope you're having better weather than we are up here - it's really horrible - wind, snow, rain etc etc!!!

This card is for two challenges.

The challenge on Just Cute Bears is to use a bear and lilac.

I have followed the sketch from Moving Along With The Times and also the theme which was to do a baby card. I've been needing to make a new baby card so this gave me the perfect inspiration!!

The bear is a stamp I bought years ago in Australia for my daughter to play with. This was before I was into card making. I found it in her craft stuff last year and pinched it back!!

Coloured with promarkers. Paper from Papermania.

On another note, I've just received two Martha Stewart border punches which I finally got round to ordering with my Christmas money (thanks Ann, if you're reading this!!). I've tried them out on some scrap paper and they are just fab, so I think I'll be using them a lot in the near future!!!

Thanks for looking!!

3 challenge card

2010-02-20T23:03:00.003Z

This card is for 3 different challenges:

1. I followed the sketch on 'Just Cute Bears'. I just found this challenge site this week when looking on Jenny's blog, Stamps, Pencils and Paper!

2. The challenge this week on Passion for Promarkers was to use Buttons and Bows. I recently bought lots of the Papermania capsule collection in Aqua so it gave me a good chance to use my lovely new ribbons and buttons!!

3. The challenge on Crafty Catz is to use a Bear plus a charm. My 'charm' is a blue shell buttony thing I cut off an elastic hair band!!

Papers - Papermania capsule collection. Stamp - Forever Friends. Coloured with Promarkers.

Thanks for looking!!

Creative Inspirations Challenge 47

2010-02-16T21:09:00.002Z

This is the valentine's card I made for my husband which I am entering in the current Creative Inspirations challenge.

The challenge is to use up leftover scraps. I have loads of these (don't like to throw anything away!!).

I cut a heart shape from red card then covered it in hearts punched out of my scraps of paper, using an xcut punch. I trimmed the edges then covered the whole thing in Anita's clear glaze.

Back with a Truly Scrumptious challenge card

2010-01-19T13:18:00.003Z

Hello everyone and Happy New Year!!

I can't beleive it's so long since I was on my blog - oops! I got so busy in the run up to Christmas it was the last thing on my mind. I did make a few challenge cards for birthdays but didn't get round to putting them on here. I'll add some pictures another time of the things I've been up to, just to show I wasn't sitting around with my feet up, honest!!

Well, I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year. We had a great time up here and the girls have loved all the snow and sledging but I'm quite glad that most of it is gone now. There is still thick ice on the school playground but other than that it is pretty clear.

Anyway, I thought I'd break myself back in gently with a sketch challenge. I made this for my daugher's 7th birthday (another year gone by - so scary!!).

This is for the current Truly Scrumptious challenge, with the added colour challenge to use pink, green & black.

The image is from the Beautiful Fairies stamp collection by Inkadinkado which I was lucky enough to win in a challenge before Christmas. I stamped in black ink and embossed with holographic powder. Coloured with promarkers.

The papers are from the new Forever Friends Pink Parfait paper pack.

Well, I'm off to get some lunch now. Thanks to anyone who stops to take a look after so long!! Now Christmas etc is all over it'll be nice to get back to some normal challenges & blogging!!

A Spoon Full of Sugar challenge card

2009-11-08T21:27:00.003Z

Well, another week has gone by and not gone as planned as I had my youngest daughter off school sick for a couple of days. I did get quite a few images stamped and coloured though and have now managed to finish my big batch of Christmas cards for my upcoming craft stall (I think I've done about 100!). Now I need to start on the non-Christmassy cards - I've got the images done, just need to assemble the cards.

On top of all that, my husband has been moved with his job and left today. He'll be back weekends when he can, but I have two quite sad little girls here tonight!!

Anyway, I've done this quick card for a friends little boy. His birthday is actually today so I'm a bit late.

The card is for this week's Spoon Full of Sugar challenge.

I used my favourite Sugar Nellie pirate stamp coloured with my promarkers. The backing papers are K & Co. Button from my stash, sparkly ribbon Papermania.

Thanks for looking!!

Sugar Bowl challenge card

2009-11-02T20:11:00.004Z

Well, firstly apologies at not blogging for ages. I've had a busy couple of weeks and haven't got many challenge cards done.

I've been asked to sell some cards and jewellery at a craft stall at the end of November which I'm very excited about so I've been planning for that. I've sorted out all my jewellery stash (and ordered some more of course!!!) and started doing batches of Christmas cards. I'll get some of it on here when I get a minute. Now I just hope I manage to sell some of it!!!

I'm planning on doing more cards this week (I'm thinking maybe some non-Christmas cards as well as end of November seems quite late to sell lots of Christmas cards - what do you think?), and then next week I'm hoping to get lots of jewellery made - so watch this space as it could all go horribly wrong!!!

Oh, I did get one card done last week for the competition in the last DoCrafts magazine - hopefully it got to them on time with the postal strike going on!!! I'll put that on here another time.

In the meantime, on to today's card (finally!!!).

I made this card for the current Sugar Bowl challenge. I followed the sketch and also the 'please include' to add lace.

When I made the card I was also planning of entering the Papertake Weekly current challenge of Spots and Stripes but I've just remembered that's not allowed under the rules of the Sugar Bowl challenge so I'll leave it off there (oops!).

The card is for a friend of mine who has just had a baby girl this week. I used the lovely Daisy with Pram from Sugar Nellie and I've coloured her in with promarkers.

The sentiment stamp is one of the See D's range which I haven't used in ages. The backing papers are from the Clare Curd Signature Range Big One paper pack.

The paper flowers are plain ones I got from Lakeland and then I've run them through my BigShot with the Divine Swirls folder - I do like the effect this has on them.

The lace is from my stash. Rafia from my local garden centre. Pink safety pin button from a baby buttons pack I bought ages ago.

Well, I have a couple of boy's birthdays coming up that I need to make cards for. I coloured in some images last night so hopefullly I'll get those done tomorrow as well.

Thanks for looking!!

Sugar Bowl challenge card

2009-10-21T17:52:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone,

Hope you're having a good day. The weather is awful here today, cold and wet - typical school holiday weather!!

Anyway, I have managed to get one card done. This is for the current Sugar Bowl challenge. There is a sketch to follow and the theme is Christmas.

I have used my lovely Miss Clause stamp from Sugar Nellie. I've coloured her with my promarkers and then added Stickles glitter glue.

I then had a small moment of panic when I thought I had no papers to match my colouring scheme (surely not - I have a mountain of papers!!!!!). Then I remembered these Papermania papers I had left over from last year - phew!!

The large white star I got from Mad About Cards last year. The smaller stars are cut with a Cuttlebug die on my Big Shot. The chipboard greeting matches the papers.

Well, that's all for now. We are now braving the weather to take the girls out for a curry - their choice for both passing their swimming assessments last week!!!

Have a good evening!!

Blog candy!!

2009-10-19T23:19:00.003+01:00

Debbi is offering some fab blog candy for Christmas (this photo is only part of it!!) - go and check out her blog - The Crafty Cuttings of Wiccababe - here - by Sunday 25 October.

A Spoon Full of Sugar challenge card

2009-10-19T19:16:00.002+01:00

This is my entry for this week's sketch challenge on the Spoon Full of Sugar blog.

The Santa stamp is Sugar Nellie. I've coloured it with promarkers and then used white pearl glitter glue round the cuffs of all his clothes.

Background red card embossed with cuttlebug embossing folder. Green papers from a DoCrafts goody bag last year - and I've just noticed I've stuck them on upside down!!! Oops!! Better go and re-do that!!

Thanks for looking!!

Passion for Promarkers challenge

2009-10-19T08:55:00.002+01:00

This is my entry for this week's Passion for Promarkers challenge - I'm steadily working my way through Christmas cards at the moment!!

I bought Sugar Nellie's lovely Miss Clause stamp the other day and stamped it up 20 times - I've coloured half in red and green and the other half in blues, so there may be another card coming soon in the other colour scheme!!

Anyway, on to this card.....

I followed the Passion for Promarkers blog sketch.

I've used the following colour pens:

Clothes: Cyan, Cool Aqua, Blue Pearl

Skin: Almond, Blush

Hair: Caramel, Cinanmon, Cocoa

Almond and Caramel are the only two of the new colours I've bought so far and I'm loving them!!!

Papers - Papermania Deck the Halls paper pack

The blue snowflakes are cut with a Cuttlebug die. The white snowflakes are a Dovecraft punch.

All highlighted with Glitz It Ice Blue glitter glue ( I love that about doing Christmas cards!!!).

Thanks for looking!!

Truly Scrumptious & Stampin' Chic challenges

2009-10-13T20:16:00.002+01:00

This is another two challenge card. This is for the current Truly Scrumptious and Stampin' Chic challenges.

I followed the sketch on Truly Scrumptious. There was also a 'please include' to add doodling on the card. I have doodled a border around my main image panel and the orange handmade paper panel.

The challenge on Stampin' Chic was to use autumnal colours. Also, something on the card has to be from the Clare Curd Signature Range, so I have used the brown spotty paper.

Image - Forever Friends bear coloured with promarkers.

Ribbon and orange spotty paper - Papermania.

Flowers and handmade paper from my stash.

Thanks for looking!!

Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge MMSC22

2009-10-13T19:18:00.003+01:00

This is my entry for this week's Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge, MMSC22.

The stamp is from one of the new Papermania stamp duos. I stamped it with Watermark ink and then embossed with white embossing powder.

The papers were from Crafts Beautiful magazine last year. I've added highlights with Stickles glitter glue in Crystal. The sentiment is from a Papermania cardboard sticker sheet that I think I got in a goody bag last year!!

Thanks for looking!!

Blog candy!!

2009-10-12T21:14:00.003+01:00

Keep meaning to mention this but I've had trouble with blogger crashing!!

Anyway, the lovely Jenny is offering Blog Candy - go and visit her blog, Stamps, Pencils and Paper! and leave a comment before 7pm Saturday 17 October.

Creative Inspirations and Crafty Catz challenges

2009-10-12T21:00:00.002+01:00

Well, I managed to finish my second card so here it is!! This is another two-challenge card. I have followed the sketch on the Creative Inspirations blog and the theme on the Crafty Catz challenge blog which was snowmen and snowflakes.

The snowman stamp is from Sugar Nellie. I have coloured it with my promarkers.

Backing papers are Papermania and some I got free with a magazine last year!! I have also used on of the new Cuttlebug snow embossing folders on some lilac handmade paper.

The snowflakes are punched using a large xCut and small Dovecraft punch.

Thanks for looking!!

Passion for Promarkers and Papertake Weekly challenges

2009-10-12T17:51:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone,

Well, I think I did quite well getting a card done today as the girls are now off school on holidays for two weeks!!! I did start a second which I'll try and get finished when they're in bed - two in one day was probably pushing my luck!!!

Anyway, this card is for two challenges - Passion for Promarkers and Papertake Weekly.

The challenge on Papertake Weekly was to follow the sketch.

The challenge on Passion for Promarkers was to follow the recipe of 3 different shapes, 2 papers and 1 ribbon. This seemed to fit in quite well to the Papertake sketch, although I did change the shape of my title panel a bit to go with the recipe.

The image is from Sugar Nellie. Coloured with Promarkers of course. The main colours I used were Pumpkin, Cornflower, Cyan and Cocoa.

The brown paper is from the Clare Curd Signature Range at Papermania, the orange paper is from K & Co Hopscotch paper pad.

I also spritzed over the finished card with Cosmic Shimmer mist in gold. I thought this would go with the pirate theme!! It actually looks quite good, but with the camera flash it is a bit too sparkly!!!

Thanks for looking!!

Sketch and Stash Challenge

2009-10-10T18:13:00.003+01:00

Well I hope you're all enjoying the weekend. It's been quite nice here today but I just had a race to get my washing in as the rain suddenly bucketed down!!!

This is a card I made earlier in the week for the Sketch and Stash challenge and I just remembered I hadn't posted it on here yet!!!

The Forever Friends bear is coloured with my promarkers. The green and scalloped circles were cut with my nestabilities. The green card was embossed with my Divine Swirls embossing folder and then brushed over with shimmer chalk. I punched holes around the edge of the scalloped circle with my crop-a-dile then cut another scalloped circle in deep pink to layer behind the holes.

Neglected/rarely used stash:

The pink patterned paper was from a DoCrafts kit and has been sitting in my stash for ages!! Also the pink and white paper flowers - they came in a lovely little pot (so I had to have them of course!!) but I have hardly ever used them!!!

The green flowers are all white/cream flowers that I have coloured with my Apple Promarker to match my image.

Brads, tiny gems and pink rafia ribbon all Papermaia.

Thanks for looking!!

Moving Along with the Times challenge card

2009-10-08T15:45:00.002+01:00

The challenge last week on the Moving Along with the Times blog was to follow the sketch but also to use no stamps on the card.

I used these lovely glittery flower stickers from Papermania instead as my main image. I stuck them onto white card, cut them out and then inked the edges with VersaMagic chalk ink in Tea Leaves. I then layered them onto pink scalloped squares cut with my nestabilities.

The background is Coredinations white washed cardstock. I embossed it with a sissix embossing folder and then sanded over the top to reveal the green core. Edges inked in Colorbox fluid chalk in Orchid Pastel.

Thanks for looking!!

Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge MMSC21

2009-10-06T23:38:00.002+01:00

This is my entry for the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge no. 21.

I have used the stamp 'Daisy with Pram' from Sugar Nellie, coloured with my promarkers.

The backing papers are from Clare Curd's Signature Range.

The little blue bear button I've had in my stash for ages, just waiting for the perfect moment!!! Metal congratulations plaque from the Craft Candy range at Mad About Cards.

Thanks for looking!!

Sugar Bowl challenge card

2009-10-06T19:25:00.002+01:00

This is my entry for the current sketch challenge on the Sugar Bowl blog.

As well as the sketch to follow there was a 'please include' option to use paper piecing on the main image.

My stamp is the lovely Snow Cozy from Sugar Nellie. I stamped him up three times - on white card and two patterned papers. I used black ink and then embossed with holographic powder. I cut out the hat, scarf, jacket and boots from the patterned papers and stuck them on. The nose and buttons were coloured with a black promarker. Then I went over the snowman with silver grey shimmer chalk for the shadows and white shimmer chalk for the rest.

The patterned papers are from the Papermania Deck the Halls paper pack.

The red card behind I stamped with a snowflake stamp in white ink and then embossed with holographic powder.

Thanks for looking!!

Passion for Promarkers, Creative Inspirations and Mojo Monday challenges

2009-10-05T21:49:00.001+01:00

The card I have for you today is for three challenges:

Mojo Monday challenge MOJO107. I have followed the sketch for this challenge.

Passion for Promarkers - I have followed the challenge colours of Cool Aqua and Apricot to colour in my favourite stamp, Daisy from Sugar Nellie. The challenge was also to include flowers. I have used the apricot promarker to colour some white prima flowers to match my colour scheme. I aslo used the aqua promarker to define all the edges.

Creative Inspirations - the challenge on the CI blog is to include letters or numbers on the card. I used a chipboard number 7 from Papermania. Firstly I coloured it with a pumpkin promarker. Then I dabbed over a Colourbox fluid chalk pad in Burnt Sienna. I then covered this in holographic embossing powder which I melted with my heat gun (I used two coats).

The backing papers are Papermania. The cardstock is Core-dinations. I embossed it with my big shot and then sanded to reveal the white core. Ribbon from my stash.

I think that's it!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Truly Scrumptious & Creative Inspirations challenges

2009-09-29T12:56:00.003+01:00

This is today's second card and this one is for two challenges.

I have followed the sketch on the Truly Scrumptious blog. The other rule with this challenge was to use at least three different stamps, not including the sentiment. I have used these lovely Woodland Elements stamps from Woodware because they fitted in really well with the other challenge I was doing - the Creative Inspirations blog asked for an Autumn themed card.

The images were stamped in black Memento ink and then coloured with my promarkers. The frame was cut with my nestabilities - I've just got a great magnetic mat from Joanna Sheen and it makes cutting frames so much easier!!!

I used some velvet flocked autumny papers I've had sitting around in my stash for ages - they just seemed right (at last!!). The red strips across the back are my trusty red rafia I got in Tesco's last Christmas (will have to stock up this year!!!)

Thanks for looking!!

Moving Along with the Times challenge card

2009-09-29T12:47:00.005+01:00

This is the first of two cards I have for you today. It is for the challenge on the Moving Along with the Times blog.

There was a sketch to follow and also a theme, which was 'Strictly Sparkling'.

My Forever Friends bear has been stamped in Memento Grape Jelly ink and then coloured with my promarkers. To stick with the sparkling theme I have used lots of silver card in my matting, together with lilac handmade paper, and then spritzed it with Cosmic Shimmer Mist in Silver. The actual card is now quite sparkly but it doesn't show up very well on the photo!!!

Thanks for looking!!

Stampin' Chic sketch challenge

2009-09-24T11:41:00.001+01:00

This is my take on this week's sketch challenge over on the Stampin' Chic blog.

I wanted to use my elephant stamp (which I had previously stamped onto white vellum, using stazon). I thought the pattern on the elephant would go well with these papers, from the Clare Curd Signature Range. Although now I look at it on here I'm thinking maybe you can have too much of a good thing and I should have left the white layer unpatterned!!!

I coloured the image with promarkers, cut it out, stuck it on silver card and then cut it out again.

The shapes are all cut with my nestabilities. The sentiment stamp I've used again is the freebie from one of the recent DoCrafts magazines. The ribbon is from the new Papermania couture ribbon collection and I've also used Papermania scalloped card blanks (yes, I do use quite a lot of their stuff!!!).

Thanks for looking!!

Moving Along with the Times challenge card

2009-09-23T12:49:00.003+01:00

This card is for the Moving Along with the Times challenge blog. I have followed the sketch on the blog and also the theme which was 'Birthdays'.

I have used my Daisy stamp (from Papermania), coloured with promarkers. The background papers and ribbon are also Papermania. I can't remember where the flower came from!!

Thanks for looking!!

Sugar Bowl challenge card

2009-09-22T12:32:00.006+01:00

Well, I hope you haven't suffered too much from the wind we had last night!! We had things blown around all over the place here. My girls have (or rather, had!!) a wooden castle in the garden which ended up in pieces up the lawn. Not good!!

Oh well, on to cards...!! This is my card for the current Sugar Bowl sketch challenge. The challenge was also to use the colours pink and brown. I made this for my mother-in-law's birthday which is today - Happy Birthday Ann if you're reading this!!

The image is one of the Gorjus girls and I have coloured it with my promarkers.

The pink circle has been embossed with the Swiss Dots cuttlebug embossing folder and then I highlighted over the top with beige Papermania shimmer chalks. All the edges have been inked with Colourbox fluid chalk in Chestnut Roan.

The 'Just for you' stamp was a freebie on one of the latest Creativity magazines. I stamped it with the same fluid chalk.

The papers are from the Clare Curd Signature Range Big One paper pack. Brads and ribbon both Papermania. Paper flowers from my local craft shop (and the home of Sugar Nellie!!).

Thanks for looking!

Mojo Monday & Papertake weekly challenges

2009-09-20T20:22:00.003+01:00

I hope you all had a good weekend! We've had a lovely day at Landmark today (an adventure park near Aviemore). The girls had an excellent time climbing on all the things, now that the summer queues have died down!!

This evening I have a card that is for two challenges. I made this for one of my daughter's friends from her ballet class.

Firstly, I have used the sketch from the Mojo Monday blog.

The ballerina girl image is called 'Elise prepares'. I downloaded it from the website Sketching Stamper digi-stamps. I printed it off and coloured it in with my promarkers.

The circles are all cut with my nestabilites. I have added faux stitching around the edges for this week's challenge on Papertake Weekly which is 'faking it'!!

The background papers are Papermania. I have then sprayed some of them with Cosmic Shimmer Mist in Rich Gold. It is the first time I have used these sprays and I am not entirely happy with the effect - will need to practice!!

The chipboard numbers and dots were from Papermania. I have painted them with Anita's metallic black acrylic paint. When dry I covered this in Stickles glitter glue.

Well, I think that's about it! Thanks for looking!!

Passion for Promarkers and Sketch Saturday challenges

2009-09-18T19:55:00.002+01:00

Hello everyone! Friday already, not sure where the week went to!! Well, this card is for two challenges, Passion for Promarkers and Sketch Saturday.

The layout follows the fab sketch on the Sketch Saturday blog.

The Passion for Promarkers challenge this week was to include polka dots on the card, so I've used this spotty paper from Papermania.

The image was given to me by Jenny (check out her blog here!!) - thanks Jenny, seemed just right for the 2 year old's birthday I was making this for. I've coloured him in with my promarkers - the main colours I've used are Pumpkin, Marine and Blue Pearl. I also used the Marine pen to highlight the edges and the back of the main image before I turned the corner down.

The metal dragonflies were from Mad About Cards - cute, aren't they!!

Thanks for looking!!

Stampin' Chic, Creative Inspirations and Sketch & Stash challenges

2009-09-17T21:03:00.006+01:00

Well, I'm back to it with a bang! This card I have made for three challenges:

1. The Stampin' Chic blog has always been one of my favourites and I so love the CCSR patterned paper!! The challenge on the Stampin' Chic blog was to use glitter on a card (and also something from the Clare Curd range so I have used the buttons paper and the sentiment).

I remembered when doing this why I don't use glitter very often!!! I love glitter glue and should have stuck to that as I made a right mess with it!! I've stuck the glitter with Anita's clear gloss - think I'll cover it with some more of that later, as Tina on the Stampin Chic DT did this and it gave a lovely finish (and hopefully not too messy!!!).

2. The challenge on the Creative Inspirations blog is to use animals on the card. I thought this stamp fitted perfectly. It is called 'Believe' from the Diane Duda range at Sugar Nellie.

3. Finally I used the sketch from the Sketch & Stash blog (although I have tweeked the sizes a bit!!). My bit of new stash is the 'Believe' stamp, which I bought at the begining of the summer but this is the first time I've used it on a card!!

The stamped image was coloured with promarkers. I've backed it with some gorgeous beige sparkly card from the Papermania Gemstones cardstock pack - lovely!! The white strip across the middle of the card I've embossed using the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder and then coloured over it with one of the new Papermania shimmer chalks.

Thanks for looking!!

Claire xx

Passion for Promarkers Blog Hop

2009-09-15T11:12:00.001+01:00

Check out the fab Blog Hop happening on the Passion for Promarkers website!! Look at my sidebar for a picture of the prize - all 56 new colours of the promarkers!!! Actually, maybe you shouldn't look - I'd like to win them!!!

Passion for Promarkers challenge

2009-09-15T10:53:00.003+01:00

Well, the best laid plans and all that!! I was planning to get this card finished last night in time for the challenge. But in the end my youngest daughter was sick after banging her head at school and we ended up spending the evening in A&E while they checked her out. In the end they decided she didn't have concussion and sent us home! One very tired girl this morning!!

So, I've finally got my card finished and thought I'd put it on here anyway, even though it's too late to enter. I used the Passion for Promarkers challenge colours of Sandstone and Blue Pearl. The stamp is from Sugar Nellie. The papers are Papermania.

Thanks for looking!!

Jewellery sets

2009-09-11T12:40:00.003+01:00

Twilight Saga now finished so I have my life back! Loved it but now quite disappointed that I've finished!! Still, I've ordered a few new Promarkers ready for the next few challenges and am now waiting excitedly for them to arrive (and don't all the new colours look lovely!!!).

In the meantime I thought I'd share with you a few jewellery sets I made recently for presents. Hope you like them!!

It's been a funny week here - I've had maintenance people round investigating a funny smell in my house. At first I thought it was a dead mouse (yuk!) but now they reckon it's the water pipes all stirred up by the recent flooding. After a few days with the girls complaining about the smell, and me thinking they were just being rude, it got worse and worse. Luckily, today it seems to be getting better or they were going to start digging up the floorboards on Monday!!

Hope you all have a good weekend!!

Birthday cake & thank you notes

2009-09-08T12:15:00.005+01:00

Hi everyone!

Hope everyone is doing okay!! It's now my second day with the girls at full time school, no visitors and my husband back at work, and very wierd it is too!!!

I have had one 'problem' the last couple of weeks - I discovered the Twilight Saga!!! For anyone out there who hasn't read it - it is very very addictive!!! I've spent the last two weeks reading it whenever I can and am now half way through book 4 (which I only started yesterday morning) and can't wait to finish it!!! (then I can catch up on some sleep!!)

I have done a few 'crafty' things though, altough not any challenges unfortunately. It was my youngest daughter's 5th birthday last week (very scary - how did she get to be so old!!!). We had a party in the garden with 17 of her friends (luckily this was before the flooding started!). I made a butterfly birthday cake for her - thought I'd put a picture on here!! (For some reason the picture keeps rotating itself when I upload it so it looks a bit odd, sorry!)

I also made a batch of butterfly themed thank you notes. The butterfly stamp and sentiment are a Papermania Snag'em stamp duo. These were stamped in black ink then embossed in holographic powder. I coloured them in with twinkling h2o's. The scalloped backings were cut with my nestabilities. The backgrounds were embossed using Sizzix embossing folders in my BigShot.

Well, I can't resist it any longer. I have to go and read a bit more of my book!!!

Back to normal (?) with a Sugar Bowl challenge card!!

2009-08-26T22:22:00.005+01:00

Well, things are finally getting back to normal here after a mad few weeks!!

My girls are back to school now. My youngest has been loving her first two weeks and was very excited today to get her first homework!! I wonder how long that will last!!

I finally finished my turning out on Monday night (including a complete turn out of our study / my craft room). What a job that was!!!

Then best of all, yesterday, my husband returned home safely from his three month stint in Afghanistan! Luckily he was delighted about all the stuff I've got rid of since he's been away!!

Hopefully things will settle down here for a while now and I can get back into my crafting!!!

On that note, I have done a card tonight for the current Sugar Bowl challenge. Just in time really, as it is for my daughter's birthday on Sunday!!

I have followed the sketch and used my daughter's favourite colours of yellow and pink. The image is coloured with my Promarkers. There was a 'please include' option to add on handmade flowers. I've used my xCut punches and punched flowers from pink and yellow handmade paper.

The patterned papers and chipboard number 5 are all from Papermania. I coloured the 5 with a magenta promarker and then added glitter glue.

Finally, I just wanted to add a big 'Thank You' to Jenny for the awards she left for me on her blog - Stamps, Pencils and Paper! I will add them on to my blog and pass them on soon. In the meantime, check out Jenny's blog as she has some fab cards!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Virus warning!! - Personal Antivirus - don't install it!!!!

2009-08-11T09:40:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone,

I know I've been totally rubbish at blogging recently, but I'm getting the girls to bed so late over the holidays that by the time I get anything done around the house and have my tea it's often 11 o'clock, and then I don't really feel like making cards and blogging!! Only a week left until they're back at school and maybe things will get back to normal.

I did do one card at the weekend for the current Passion for Promarkers challenge. Then I posted it to the recipients and forgot to take a photo of it - oops!!

I just wanted to get on here and warn you all about a virus I got yesterday. I was on the internet and loads of boxes flashed up telling me my computer was infected and I needed to install something called Personal Antivirus. Turns out that this program was the virus!!! I installed it and it told me I had loads of infections about to wreck my computer. Then it asked me for money for the program to fix it!

This is when I stopped and thought this couldn't be right - we already have Norton so I thought this should fix any viruses. I ran a virus scan on Norton and it told me there was nothing wrong, other than our back up being painfully overdue.

I googled "Personal Antivirus" and got to various sites about malware showing screens doing exactly what my computer was doing. Apparantly you can't remove it yourself using add/remove program as it lurks in the background of your computer and keeps reinstalling itself! Also, while you're trying to do anything about it, it keeps flashing up more scary messages which is a sort of self-protection for the virus to stop you getting rid of it!

I backed up our hard drive (very overdue!) then downloaded a program called Malwarebytes Anti-Malware - you can get it free!!! This scanned my system and found 257 infections which it fixed for me.

So far it seems like everything is okay on my computer and nothing has been lost so hopefully I got out of this one alright, but please be warned!!!

Passion for Promarkers challenge

2009-08-03T22:35:00.005+01:00

Wow, I can't believe it's a month since I was on here last!! That flashed by so quick! I've been travelling around the country with my girls and it was good fun but tiring. 1,700 miles in a car with a 4 and 6 year old - well, you can imagine what that was like!!

Anyway, I'm now back and unpacked and looking forward to making my cards again. It's taken me a few days to get things sorted out. The weather's been good and the girls want to be out all the time. Can't complain about a bit of good weather though, after our very wet trip down south (including a week in a caravan with baby ducks swimming in the puddles outside, but that's another story.....!!)

Firstly, I'd like to say thanks for all the lovely comments people left on my last few cards while I was away. Much appreciated everyone!!

Now, here is today's card. This is for this week's Passion for Promarkers challenge. The challenge this week was to use the colours Cool Aqua and Pastel Pink and also to follow the sketch given.

I used Nestabilites Blossom dies and Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder.

The background strip is white card embossed with Divine Swirls and then coloured using the new Papermania shimmer chalks.

The spotty paper is Papermania. Ribbon from my stash. The sentiment is from a die cut set by Craftwork Cards which I found in a great card shop while I was in Newton Abbott!!

Thanks for looking!! I hope to be back soon with more cards and to look at everyone's blogs, but in the meantime I'm off to tackle my enormous ironing pile!!!

Sugar Bowl challenge card

2009-07-04T23:47:00.003+01:00

My second card for tonight is for this week's Sugar Bowl challenge and is also for my Mum's birthday so I hope she doesn't look at this post!!

I followed the sketch using the lovely Fragile Beauty image coloured with promarkers. There was also a 'please include' to use some sort of sparkle or bling, so I added a pearl brad for my flower (cut with cuttlebug nested dies) and some pink adhesive gems.

Well, I think that's it for now as I still need to finish sorting things out to go away!! Have a good few weeks everyone!!

Thanks for looking!!

Passion for Promarkers challenge

2009-07-04T23:33:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone!!

Hope you're enjoying the weekend!! It's the begining of the school holidays here in Scotland and it's been perfect weather for it. I've had a crazy few days getting things ready as I'm taking my girls to visit my parents for a few weeks. Managed a couple of cards though!!!

My first card tonight is for the Passion for Promarkers challenge. I'm loving my promarkers and will miss doing these challenges for a few weeks - will have to take my pens with me and practice my colouring in!!!

Anyway, the challenge this week was to use the colours Moss Green and Poppy and also include something 'tasty'.

I made this card for a friend to give to her Godson. I'd already coloured the image when I saw the 'tasty' inclusion, so I coloured this sparkly cake to go with it!!!

Thanks for looking!!

Sugar Bowl challenge card

2009-07-01T22:04:00.003+01:00

Well, this is certainly a last minute entry!! This card is for the current Sugar Bowl sketch challenge and for my sister-in-law's birthday. I followed the sketch and also the card had to include kraft paper or brown and cream colours.

I used some brown paper for the backing which I think is kraft paper (but maybe isn't!!!). Also used lots of brown and cream card from my stash.

The gorjuss girl was coloured with my promarkers. The metal charms were from Mad About Cards I think.

I was very pleased with my bargain enormous silk flowers!! I was in Tesco yesterday and they had some gerbora sprays in their £1 section (to go in some little glass vases they were selling). I bought them in cream, dark pink and black then took them apart when I got home. Bargain!!!

Thanks for looking!!

Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge MMSC7

2009-06-29T21:24:00.003+01:00

This is my entry for this week's Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge (find it here!!) which I found after Jeni from the design team left a comment on one of my cards. It looks fun, so thanks Jeni!!

I made the card for my next door neighbour's little girl who has just turned one. I used my favourite Daisy stamp from Sugar Nellie. I stamped it with Stazon and coloured it with my Promarkers. The image has gone a bit blurry - think I need to get some different ink to stamp with when using the Promarkers!!

I used some flowery glittery cardstock that I've had for ages- it just seemed right with this card!

The matting to the image was cut using nestabilites Blossom dies. I embossed with Swiss Dots embossing folder. I also embossed my large lilac flower with Divine Swirls.

The number 1 is chipboard. I covered the original pattern with a blue permanent pen, then embossed with blue ink and holographic powder.

Thanks for looking!!

Passion for Promarkers and Truly Scrumptious challenges

2009-06-28T20:15:00.004+01:00

Hi everyone!! Hope you all had a good weekend. It's been gorgeous here and long may it last!!!

On Friday I went to meet Jenny who has the blog Stamps, Pencils and Paper! Check out her blog - here!! Jenny makes some gorgeous cards and gave me some great tips on colouring in with my new Promarkers - thanks Jenny!! I have since had a go colouring in the new Upside Down image from Sugar Nellie and was quite pleased with the result so thought I'd have go entering the Passion for Promarkers challenge!!

The challenge was to use Promarker colours Lemon and Meadow Green.

I've also combined this card with the current Truly Scrumptious challenge. This was a sketch challenge. There was also an additional challenge to use some neglected stash so I used some flowery yellow Papermania Colossal papers that I haven't used in ages.

The green papers are Papermania Olvine Essences. I used these and some black card to make the nested flowers from Cuttlebug dies.

The wooden number 4 is also from my neglected stash!! I coloured it with a VersaMagic chalk ink pad in TeaLeaves and then covered it with Stickles glitter glue in Star Dust.

Thanks for looking!!

Stampin' Chic colour challenge

2009-06-24T21:05:00.004+01:00

Hello everyone! Hope you've all had as gorgeous a day as we have in sunny Scotland!! It's been absolutely lovely here today - the kids even had the paddling pool out this afternoon!!

Now that I've finally got them to bed I thought I'd share this card with you. It is my entry for this week's colour challenge on the Stampin' Chic blog. The challenge was to use no white on the card - this was quite tricky!! Anyway, here is my attempt:

The backing papers are all from the CCSR Big One paper pack. I coloured over all white areas with yellow and turquoise whispers brush markers.

The car stamp is from Papermania - stamped with black ink and clear embossed.

Thanks for looking!!

Another Father's Day card

2009-06-22T20:45:00.004+01:00

Today I have another Father's Day card for you!! This is the one I made for my children to give their Dad - couldn't put it on here before or make it with any challenges in mind on the off chance that he might read my blog!!

The image is 'Marshmallow does DIY' from one of the Daisy & Dandelion stamp sets. I stamped with black Stazon and coloured with coloured pencils. The screws were also from the stamp set. I stamped them, punched them out with an x-cut circle punch and then covered them in Anita's clear glaze to add a bit of texture.

The paper are all from the Clare Curd Signature Range paper pack. I then added a layer of beige vellum over the top of the spotty paper to change the colour a bit and fastened this with brads.

The chipboard letters are from the Woodware Chippies range. I inked them with brown fluid chalk and then sanded the edges to distress them a bit.

Thanks for looking!!

Father's Day card

2009-06-20T21:27:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone!!

Hope you are all having a nice relaxing weekend. I popped in to Papercrafts in Elgin today (in between dancing classes, trips to the beach etc etc!!) hoping to get one of the new Diane Duda stamps after seeing them on the Sugar Nellie blog hop yesterday. When I got there they were still cutting up the rubber and packaging them up, so I wasn't able to buy one. Must pop back next week as they are very cute!!

This card is the one I made for my Dad for Father's Day. I knew I had seen mini-book cards like this so Googled it and ended up getting the template from www.craftytemplates.co.uk.

After cutting out the basic template and covering the pages with patterned paper (from Papermania's For Him pack), I punched holes with my crop-a-dile, set eyelets and fastened the mini-book together with ribbon.

I cut out the letter shapes again in card, and inked them all over in fluid chalk to add a bit of interest (VersaMagic Aegean Blue and Cloud White, ColorBox Burnt Sienna).

The metal square embellishments were from Papermania ages ago. Ribbon and buttons from my stash.

We're off on a trip to the Highland Wildlife Park tomorrow so I'm hoping for good weather!!!

Thanks for looking!!

Claire xx

Very amusing blog!!

2009-06-19T21:21:00.002+01:00

No card making today as still turning out (and wishing I wasn't). Mind you, I did spend a long time this afternoon blog hopping looking at all the lovely cards created for the Sugar Nellie DudaDaze blog hop. If you haven't looked yet there are some lovely new stamps just out - check it out here!!

I just thought I'd let you know about a funny blog a friend told me about. It's called Slightly South of Sanity and written by someone about her life with her two young boys. It's nothing to do with card making but if you have small children you'll appreciate some of the embarrassing situations she seems to get in!!

Well, I'm off to clear a path to the kitchen and make some tea (and maybe force myself to have a glass of wine...!)

Have a good evening!!

They've arrived!!

2009-06-18T21:26:00.004+01:00

My ProMarkers arrived today!! Haven't had much time to play with them yet as had mad evening being sand-blasted on the beach with my daughter's Rainbows group!! I've done this card for the Stampin' Chic sketch challenge.

Papers from Clare Curd Signature Range. Also the sentiment which was cut from one of the papers. Forever Friends bear coloured with the promarkers - need lots of practice obviously!! Circle embossed with Swiss Dots embossing folder.

By the way, does anyone know how to get the ink flowing in ProMarkers? One of them has a dry white fine tip, the ink hasn't started flowing down to it yet. Not sure whether this is faulty or I can fix it!!

Must go and make some tea now - very hungry!!

I've ordered some ProMarkers!!

2009-06-16T21:44:00.002+01:00

Well, I've finally got round to ordering some ProMarkers!! Been drooling over them for a while and seen the beautiful colouring that so many of you are doing, so I've ordered a few to have a go. I've been looking at the tutorials on Passion for ProMarkers blog and can't wait for them to arrive so I can have a go!!!

In the meantime I haven't got any cards done today!! I'm trying to have a complete turn-out and am working my way around the house one room at a time. Consequently I'm in total chaos, but it does feel quite satisfying in a strange sort of way! Mind you, I'm leaving the girls room to last - that one will be a bit of a nightmare!!!

Hope you are all enjoying the lovely weather we've had today. My eldest daughter has her school sports day tomorrow so I just hope it doesn't rain!!

Have a good evening!!

Sugar Bowl challenge card

2009-06-15T21:32:00.006+01:00

Hope you all had a good weekend. It was a bit mixed here as my husband went away, due back at the end of August (hopefully!!!) so I had two sad girls to contend with!! Back to the normal school/nursery routine today to take their minds off things - unfortunately less than three weeks until the school holidays - aaarrggh!!!

The card I have for you today is the one I made for my father-in-law for Father's Day. I have used the Sugar Bowl sketch (which I've rotated) and also the 'please include' for the challenge which was to use green and blue.

I used one of my new Sugar Nellies - "In the Garden" - as I think he'll be spending a lot of time there now he's retired!!

The blue and green card was embossed with Perfectly Paisley and Divine Swirls embossing folders.

The patterned paper, chipboard watering can, brads and ribbon are all Papermania.

The scrabble letters came from MadAboutCards.

The image was stamped in black Stazon and coloured with Staedler coloured pencils. Edges all inked in VersaMagic fluid chalk in Aegean Blue.

Thanks for looking!!

65th Birthday card for Clare's sketch challenge

2009-06-12T19:10:00.005+01:00

Friday at last!! I hope you have some nice things planned for the weekend. My eldest daughter is doing her first display of Highland Dancing at one of the local primary schools summer fete and she is very excited about it. Hopefully it will go okay as she hasn't been doing it very long!!

My card today is the one I made for my Father-in-law's 65th Birthday (which is today, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL if you are reading this!!!!).

I followed Clare Curd's sketch over on the DoCraft's website. I made the card blank from double sided patterned card to add a bit of interest. It came from the Papermania monochrome collection.

The wooden numbers were from The Works I think. I inked them with black ink and then used black embossing powder. When cool I covered in clear pigment ink and embossed with holographic powder to make them nice and shimmery! The buttons were from a black and white embellishment set from Lakeland. I've attached them with silver Desire Wire from my jewellery making stash. The ribbons were also from the embellishment set. The patterned paper is from the CCSR Big One paper pack.

Thanks for looking!! Have a good weekend!!

Stampin' Chic technique challenge

2009-06-11T14:03:00.003+01:00

Why is it that nice relaxing weekends away always result in crazy weeks when you come back?? Or maybe it's just me!! We had a lovely weekend down in Cornwall visiting our families but now it's all gone a bit mad. My husband's about to go away for several months which doesn't help the stress levels either!!

Anyway, this week I've been making three cards for my father-in-law who is turning 65, retiring and also for father's day. The first of these (retirement card) was made with the Stampin' Chic technique challenge in mind. The challenge this week was to make a pop-up card, so here is my attempt!! It also fits in with the Creative Inspirations challenge which was to use 4 different patterned papers (if you include the man's trousers!!).

Outisde:

Inside:

The workman was stamped in black ink, clear embossed and cut out. I also stamped and embossed it on to two patterned papers and paper pieced the shirt and trousers. My father-in-law is retiring from his job as an electrician so this seemed appropriate!!

The foam letters, cardstock letters and brads are all Papermania. The cute metal tool brads came from Mad About Cards. All the patterned papers are from Clare Curd's Signature Range Big One paper pack.

Thanks for looking. I'll be back tomorrow with the next one!!!

Sugar Bowl challenge card

2009-06-02T14:10:00.004+01:00

This is my entry for the current Sugar Bowl challenge. It is a sketch challenge and also pearls needed to be included on the card, so I have used pearl brads in my flowers.

The card is for a good friend of mine who has just had her first baby - four weeks early and only 5lb!! My girls had a great time going baby present shopping!!

The image I have used is Daisy with Pram from Sugar Nellie, coloured with Staedtler pencils. I used blue handprint printed paper from Bits 'n' Pieces Baby Papers.

The cardstock was embossed with Divine Swirls and Swiss Dots embossing folders. Flowers and brads from stash - mostly Papermania. The sentiment is from a set of baby themed buttons I bought ages ago, can't remember where from!!

We're off down to Cornwall again tomorrow to visit my parents. My Dad is back out of hospital now and doing well so it will be great to see him again!! I'll be back with more cards next week. Until then - have a good weekend!!!

What a gorgeous weekend!!!

2009-05-31T21:19:00.003+01:00

I hope you all had an excellent weekend. The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous so we've spent the whole time outside and this is the first card I've got done!! Yesterday was geocaching and then the afternoon at the beach. Today we spent the day in the garden and also had to run ciruits round the local park with the girls!! Yes, I know that sounds a bit crazy on a hot day, but they were trying to learn to ride their bikes without stabilizers, so we had to run around holding on to the backs!!! Not quite there yet, but they are doing well and it was good fun!!

So on to my card. This is for two challenges today. The first is Papertake Weekly, where the challenge was to use scraps. The second is A Spoon Full of Sugar, where the challenge was to inculde lace on the card.

The main panel of the card was made from scraps of paper (of which I have a lot!!!). I selected lots of browny pink scraps and punched squares using an X-Cut square punch. I stuck them on to a square of brown card and covered the whole lot with Anita's clear glaze. When dry, I decorated this with paper flowers, clear gems and letters cut on my Big Shot using Impress dies.

The pink and brown backing papers are handmade papers from my stash.

The scalloped card is Papermania. I punched holes all around with my crop-a-dile and then set eyelets. The pink paper and card blank were edged with brown fluid chalk.

I tied lace through the holes for the Spoon Full of Sugar challenge and finished off with pink scalloped sticky ribbon down the spine.

Thanks for looking!!

Stampin' Chic colour challenge

2009-05-28T12:34:00.002+01:00

This is my entry for this week's challenge over on the Stampin' Chic blog. The challenge is to make a card in Brown and Blue. Also, there needs to be a product included from Clare Curd's Signature Range - not too tricky as I seem to use her paper pack in nearly all my cards at present!!!

The brown butterfly paper and all the stamps were from CCSR. The blue paper is some butterfly paper from Papermania (although in hindsight I think the card would have looked better without this on!!).

All the images were stamped in black ink and clear embossed. I then went round all the edges with ColorBox fluid chalk in Chestnut Roan, which I also brushed over the top of all the stamped images to add a bit of interest.

Blue cardstock - Core'dinations. Brown cardstock and brads - Papermania.

Thanks for looking!!

Daisy & Dandelion challenge

2009-05-27T18:34:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone! Hope you all enjoyed the long weekend. The girls and I had a lovely time in sunny Cambridge visiting my brother and sister-in-law. My sister-in-law is pregnant and has just had her first scan so we were able to tell the girls and show them the first photo of their new cousin! They were very excited as you can imagine!!

Now on to my card!! This is for the challenge this week on the Daisy & Dandelion challenge blog. The challenge was to use circles on the card, as well as Daisy & Dandelion products. This gave me the perfect excuse to play with my lovely new nestabilites!!!

The image and sentiment are both stickers, backed with white card, cut out and inked with pink fluid chalk. The papers are from the Daisy & Dandelion Picnic Patch collection.

I've also had a play with various embossing folders!! I used swiss dots for all the circles. The pale pink circles are from cor'dinations card stock which I then sanded, the dark pink circles were wiped over with pink fluid chalk (Colorbox, Orchid Pastel).

The large scalloped circle was embossed using the Perfectly Paisley folder. I then coloured over it with Dovecrafts Shimmer Chalks in a pale pink. I used a wet paint brush to try and make the colour a bit stronger.

Finally, I embossed my dark pink flower (it was a plain one from a large pack at Lakeland and looked a bit boring!!). I used the Floral Fantasy embossing folder for this!

Thanks for looking!!

Have a good weekend!!

2009-05-21T10:16:00.003+01:00

Well, it's a long weekend for us as the girls have a couple of days off school/nursery for in-service days - so we're going to Cambridge for the weekend to visit my brother and sister-in-law. Two very excited girls here now trying to pack!!!

Just before I go I thought I'd share these cards with you. I finally got round to making them as thank you notes for my birthday. I've been very disorganised lately and they're shamefully late!!
I used the Sizzex Build a Butterfly die that came with my new Big Shot, and cut them out from assorted handmade paper. The sentiment stamp was from Clare Curd's Signature Range.

Whatever you're up to this weekend have a good one - especially those in England who have Monday off as well!!!

The Sugar Bowl challenge 10 card

2009-05-20T20:40:00.004+01:00

This is my entry for the sketch challenge on The Sugar Bowl.

As well as the lovely sketch to follow, the challenge was to include buttons on the card.

I've used the Gorjuss - Sent With Love stamp from Sugar Nellie, coloured with Staedtler colouring pencils.

The blue card was embossed with the Cuttlebug Floral Fantasy embossing folder.

Buttons and blue silk flower from stash. Green paper flower Papermania.

Pale blue cardstock Core'dinations

Patterned paper - Clare Curd Big One paperpack.

The plastic letters were free on the cover of a magazine ages ago - suddenly remembered them and they were the perfect colour!!

Thanks for looking!!

More blog candy!

2009-05-20T09:46:00.001+01:00

The lovely Gayle is offering some blog candy to mark her Birthday. Visit her blog - Little Bird Design - by 31 May. See the picture on my sidebar!!

Claire xx

New challenge blog & gorgeous candy!!

2009-05-19T20:57:00.003+01:00

Just a quick one to let you know about a new challenge blog launching on Monday 1st June. It's called The Next Level. They are also offering the most amazing blog candy - see the links on my sidebar!!

And now for something completely different....

2009-05-19T19:33:00.002+01:00

I made this box of goodies to send to my Dad who is still in hospital and not enjoying the hospital food. I've filled it with lots of his favourite things to try and encourage him to start eating again!!!

The box is a shoe box covered with brown paper and then decorated.

The papers I have used are from Clare Curd's paper pack (yes, again, they are just so useful!!).

I have inked the black papers with white chalk ink and the white papers with black chalk ink.

The buttons, paper flowers and cardstock alphabet stickers are all Papermania. The small letters are peel-offs coloured with a black permanent pen. Eyelets set with crop-a-dile. Ribbon from stash.

Thanks for looking. I just hope my Dad likes it!!

Stampin' Chic sketch challenge 4

2009-05-17T21:46:00.002+01:00

Here is my entry for this week's sketch challenge on the Stampin' Chic blog.

I have used one of my new Gorjuss stamps from Sugar Nellie, coloured with Whispers Brushmarkers.

Black and green card from stash, cut with my lovely new nestabilities!

Patterned paper from Clare Curd's CCSR Big One Paper Pack.

Brads, adhesive gems and scalloped card blank all Papermania.

Edges inked in ColorBox fluid chalk in Charcoal.

Paper flowers - assorted!!

Thanks for stopping by!

My beautiful flowers from DoCrafts!!

2009-05-17T20:11:00.004+01:00

Hello everyone. I hope you had a good weekend and some good weather!! It wasn't so good here this morning but has cleared up now so we were able to get into the garden for a BBQ which was nice!

I managed to get one card made this weekend which I will pop back with later, but first I thought you might like to see this photo of some beautiful flowers I received. These were my runners-up prize from the last DoCrafts competition. They arrived on Friday and aren't they lovely!!

I already had some beautiful flowers this week from my husband and parents for our wedding anniversary (like waiting for a bus - it all comes at once!!) so our house is now lovely and floral!!!

Wedding anniversary card

2009-05-13T13:59:00.004+01:00

Today is my wedding anniversary, so in my current disorganised state I made my husband a card last night! Luckily he was working late or I'd have had no chance!! Mind you, he popped off to Tesco's for a card at midnight when he finished work, which makes me seem really organised in comparison!!

This card was made using the sketch on the Daisy & Dandelion challenge site - always great to have a sketch to work with when you're in a hurry!!

The Dandelion stamp was stamped in black ink, clear embossed and coloured with whispers brushmarkers.

The spotty paper is from the Clare Curd Big One paper pack. I also embossed some green card using the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder.

Ribbons, buttons and felt flower all Papermania.

It was meant to be a masculine card but now that I've finished I'm wondering if it looks a bit girlie!! Oh well, hopefully he'll like it!!

Thanks for looking!!

Stampin' Chic technique challenge

2009-05-08T14:15:00.004+01:00

Thank you for all the kind comments you've left on my blog. My Dad has unfortunately had to go back into hospital as he has an infection, but at least he's somewhere they can look after him!!

For my first card since I've been back I've made a get well card (of course!!) using lots of my lovely birthday pressies. I included faux stitching for last week's Stampin' Chic challenge, but just realised I'm too late and I should have uploaded this last night. Oops!! I've lost track of the days this week!!

Anyway, details of the card are:

Papers - CCSR Big One paper pack
Card - local craft shop, cut with scalloped square nestabilities. Embossed with Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder.
Lettering - Impress die cut stencils
Ribbons - Papermania
Gems - Anita's gemstone wheel
Buttons - from stash
Edges inked with Colorbox fluid chalk in Burnt Sienna
Faux stitching added by pricking with pokey tool and then Whispers brushmarkers.

Thanks also for all the comments about my card in the DoCrafts mag. I was very pleased!! Didn't even know it was in there until I got Sarpreet's comment then rushed off to the shop to get a copy!!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Back at home!

2009-05-06T20:43:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone!

I'm now back at home in Scotland. My Dad did really well with his op (triple heart bypass - now has an amazing scar to scare the kiddies with!!!) and was allowed back home yesterday which was excellent. I'm now back at home with my husband and the girls who I missed loads. My husband did a great job looking after them and is now back at work for a rest!!!
Now I need to catch back up with everything and get making some cards again!! It was my birthday while I was away. I got my presents when I got back, which included a lovely BigShot from my parents and some nestabilities from my husband so I can't wait to get crafting again with those!
Looking forward to catching up with everyone's blogs!!

Thank you for reading my blog.....

2009-04-23T22:56:00.003+01:00

....this is just a quick post to let those of you who read my blog know I will not be on here for a while. My Dad has been taken ill and so I have just booked my flights to go down to Cornwall to visit. He is in hospital and has to have a heart operation which is very worrying. Much as I love my card making that has to come second!!

Sugar Bowl challenge card

2009-04-22T12:13:00.003+01:00

Morning all! Well, it's a lovely sunny day here - so I've been indoors making a card!!

This is my entry for the Sugar Bowl sketch challenge. It's using one of my new Sugar Nellie stamps which my lovely husband went off all by his own to the shop and bought me for Easter!! I was very impressed as you can imagine. This image is called 'shopaholic'. I hope he wasn't trying to tell me something!!!

I was trying to decide what colours to use when I remembered this stripey paper I have from the Papermania Spring Burst collection. It seemed the perfect match to the girls shopping bags so I went with a purple and green colour scheme.

Image coloured with whispers brushmarkers and highlighted with twinkling h2o's.

Gems - Anita's gemstone wheels

Lime cardstock - Core-dinations

Black cardstock - Tesco's children's range - good for matting!!

Purple ribbon - Dovecraft.

Thanks for looking!!!!

Creative Inspirations Challenge 4

2009-04-21T18:01:00.003+01:00

Dear all,

I hope you've all settled back to normal after the Easter break. I am now 'without visitors' and trying to get back into my routine!!!

This card is for the Creative Inspirations challenge no 4. The challenge was to use two stamped images on your work. I started out with the two main images - the owl and the toadstool stamps -then added a few more small ones - I hope this is okay for the challenge!!!

I fiddled around with loads of backing papers (as you do!) and nothing looked right with the two big images - pattern overkill - so I decided to leave off the patterned papers and add some small stamped images from the same set as the large ones - Woodware Woodland Elements clear stamp set.

This also meant I could tie this challenge in to Clare Curd's current weekly challenge on the DoCrafts website to make a card without using patterned papers - bonus!!

The images are all stamped in black ink, embossed with clear embossing poweder, watercoloured with whispers brushmarkers and cut out. The sentiment is stamped from the CCSR sentiments stamp set.

All edges inked with ColorBox Fluid Chalk in Chestnut Roan. Cardstock from stash.

Thanks for looking. I'm off to make the girls some tea then I'll be back to have a look at other people's blogs - I've missed seeing all the lovely cards you make!!!

My Dad's birthday card!

2009-04-16T14:23:00.003+01:00

Hello everyone! Sorry I've not posted much recently (or been on other people's blogs) but I have a friend visiting this week, after my family over Easter and so we've been out enjoying ourselves!!! Off to pick my daughter up from school in a minute and take our dog and the girls to the beach - just thought I'd stop by with a quick post and to show you the card I made for my Dad's birthday yesterday.

Firstly, a big 'thank you' to Sarpreet and Dianne who have given me blog awards. Much appreciated ladies and I'm very sorry I haven't done anything with them yet!!

So, on to the card....

This was using the 'Rory' stamp from Sugar Nellie, coloured with twinkling h2o's. Papers from the CCSR Big One paper pack. I set eyelets around the image with my crop-a-dile and then threaded through some fibres (Grafix Create it! craft ribbon - this was meant to look a bit like a lion's mane, although my husband looked at me like I was a bit mad when I told him that!!!). The sentiment was cut from the CCSR papers again, bordered with some spotty papers cut from the stripey page and then I added some more of the fibres.

Thanks for looking - off to school now!!

New Blog Candy!!

2009-04-13T22:36:00.001+01:00

I just realised my blog candy was all out of date - oops!!! I've added some new links - have a look - it's fab!!

Spoon full of sugar challenge card

2009-04-13T22:11:00.003+01:00

Well, this card started out as something else!!

My Mum asked me to make a card for a friend's 60th birthday. I then saw that this week's Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge was to do an age card - perfect!! I knew I wanted to do another springy card like I did for my husband's birthday. Then I saw that Clare Curd's challenge over on the DoCrafts website was to use Triple Embossing so I thought I'd use this for the '60'.

I think I must have been using the wrong sort of embossing powder!! I used Heat It Up copper powder (on the black card), embossed three layers of the powder and then tried to push some number stamps into the embossed layer. It didn't make a single mark!!! It had dried straight away. However, I decided I quite liked the resulting embossed copper layer and so I've used this as my background paper instead!!

The chipboard numbers and corners are Papermania, covered with gold and copper ink respectively and then embossed in either enchanted gold or copper embossing powder.

The Happy Birthday stamp is from Clare Curd's Signature Range. The stamp, and all the edges of all the cardstock were inked in black pigment ink and then embossed in enchanted gold powder. I love the blacky gold effect that I got - doesn't show up too well on the photo!!

Thanks for looking!!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T21:04:00.003+01:00

I hope you all had a good Easter. We had a glorious day here. We have a really boring garden (RAF quarter - bad grass on a big hill!!) so we've been getting lots of flowers out in pots ready for the summer. Now I just need to remember to water them!! In fact it was so warm the girls spent the afternoon running round the garden in their knickers!! A bit different from last Easter when it was snowing all day!

Instead of showing you a card today, I thought I'd share with you the things I made for Mother's Day for my Mum and Mother-in-law, as I just remembered I haven't put them on here yet.

I altered a couple of notebooks by taking the covers off, covering with patterned paper, decorating and then attaching them back on (the tricky bit).

Brown notebook: Papermania papers (CCSR Big One), Snag 'em stamp duo, coloured with pencils, faux stitching added, foam alphamini stickers from the latest DoCrafts goody bag.

Pink notebook: Papermania papers ( I think they came from the spring selection pack last year), Doodlebug alphabet stickers, Papermania stickers, Ribbon - can't remember!!

I also made a couple of triangular parcels with chocolates in. They were made from a rectange of paper sealed at the short end with double sided tape. One end of the tube was also stuck with tape. At the other end I added eyelets with my crop-a-dile filed with sweets and then tied with ribbon or raffia.

Flowerery parcel: Vellum paper from Making Cards magazine, Butterfly sticker - Papermania from the cover of Creativity magazine, Red raffia from Tesco's!

Green parcel: Papers from CCSR Big One paper pack, Daisy sticker from the goody bag, ribbon from stash.

Thanks for looking!!

Hubby's birthday cards

2009-04-10T10:00:00.004+01:00

Morning all!! Well it's a lovely day here in sunny Scotland! I hope those of you who have today off work enjoyed your lie in!!!!

Today I thought I'd share with you the cards my girls and I made for my husbands birthday!!

The first card is a springy card I made after two kind ladies on the DoCrafts website sent me the template - thanks very much Leigh and Nike - much appreciated!!!

The stamps and papers were all from Clare Curds Signature Range - stamped in black ink, clear embossed and coloured with whispers brushmarkers. Card stock from stash. Faux stitching added by pricking with a pokey tool and then joining the dots with the fine tip of a brushmarker.

The second card is one I made for my parents to give to my husband. I wanted to make it totally different from the first (it's hard to find one theme for a man's card - two was tricky!!). He loves sailing so I used these large black peel off's I found. I stuck them on acetate and coloured the back with permanent pens. Finally I added a few shell beads I had and a (not very straight!!) border of black glitter glue.

Lastly, here are the cards my lovely girls (aged 4 & 6) made for their Dad!! As you can see, the cardmaking bug has struck here early!!!

Enjoy your Easter weekend - don't eat too much chocolate (oh well, if you must......!)

Sugar Bowl challenge card

2009-04-08T10:31:00.005+01:00

I'm back - well kind of!!! I've still got my parents here until tomorrow and with my girls off school and nursery and my husband actually taking a week off we've been out and about doing loads of visits to things. We have lots of gorgeous beaches near us which the girls love. Great fun but not very condusive to card making!!

Still, I've managed to get this card done for the Sugar Bowl challenge. I have to admit, I'm not very happy with it. I mucked about with the colours for ages and I still don't think it's quite right, but I couldn't work out why!!!

The challenge was to do a card for Easter or Spring, so I used my Lola with Bunny stamp. I decided to frame it with punched flowers and that was where my trouble started!! I thought I should have quite a plain background with all the flowers and the image, but nothing seems quite right. In the end I've used some spotty paper from Clare Curd's Big One paper pack (I know I use this a lot but I love it!!!). I coloured it lime green-ish with chalk.

The stamped image is coloured with whispers brushmarkers.

Anita's gems from the mini gemstone wheel on all the punched flowers.

Cardstock and green handmade paper from stash.

Fibres - Grafix Create it! Craft ribbon - I think this was meant to be a kids pack but it looked great!!!

Thanks for looking. I'd be interested in your opinions as I still don't think this card is quite right!!!

CCSR Colour challenge

2009-04-01T21:41:00.003+01:00

Well, I've had a really frustrating day trying to sort out problems with things I sold on eBay!!! I've managed to make one card though!! Was also going to make my husband's birthday card tonight and then he went and came home from work early - oops!! I've lots of visitors arriving tomorrow and his birthday is Sunday, so I'm not quite sure how that is going to work out!!!

Anyway, here is the card I made today. It is for two of Clare Curd's challenges - the pink & black colour challenge over on Stampin' Chic and her sketch challenge on the DoCrafts website.

The papers I used were the black and white patterned papers from CCSR Big One paper pack. I cut out the flowers, then coloured them with pink chalk (the dry sort), touched up the edges with pink fluid chalk, sprayed it all with hairspray and then added Anita's Clear Gloss. I was quite pleased with the finished result!! The card is actually a lot pinker than it looks in the photo, but you get the general idea!!

The sentiment is also cut from some of the Big One papers.

The circle shapes were cut with my xCut shape cutter.

Brads & black adhesive stones - Papermania

Cardstock - Craft Central in Inverness (was going to make the whole card blank from this but it was a bit flimsy so stuck it on a white blank!!)

Ribbon - from stash.

Thanks for looking everyone!!! Have a good weekend - I hope to be back at the begining of next week!!

Truly Scrumptious and Daisy & Dandelion challenge card

2009-03-31T21:06:00.003+01:00

Evening all!!

This card is my entry for the Truly Scrumptious sketch challenge and the Daisy & Dandelion challenge blog.

The Truly Scrumptious challenge was to follow the sketch (below) and also to add something shiny to the card. I've added shiny brads, gems and a Papermania metal tag around my cute little bird sentiment!!

The challenge on the Daisy & Dandelion blog was to make a card for a friend, so I thought the 'with love' sentiment would be good!!

Products used:

Daisy and little bird stamps from the Daisy & Dandelion clear stamp set, stamped in black ink, clear embossed and coloured with whispers brushmarkers.
Printed papers from the Daisy & Dandelion Picnic Patch collection.
Flowers punched with medium & small xcut punch.
Adhesive gems, brads & metal tag - all Papermania.
Ribbons are from Craftime.
Cardstock from stash.

Thanks for looking!!

Creative Inspirations Challenge 1

2009-03-31T10:43:00.004+01:00

Morning all!!

This is my entry for the first challenge on the new Creative Inspirations Challenge blog. This week was a sketch challenge:

I've used a Sugar Nellie stamp - 'Rockpool Fun' which I've coloured in with brushmarkers and twinkling h2o's.

The printed papers and sentiment came from Claire Curd's CCSR Big One paper pack.

The edges are inked with ColorBox fluid chalk in Creamy Brown.

Cardstock and shells from stash.

Thanks for looking!! You can check out the new Creative Inspirations challenge blog here!!

3in1 Easter challenge card

2009-03-30T16:06:00.004+01:00

Well, this is another 3in1 challenge card (trying to save a bit of time while I have visitors!!!).

The design of this card is for Loretta's sketch challenge over on DoCrafts. The theme is Easter for the Spoon Full of Sugar challenge and I have used lots of glitter glue for the G is for Glitter challenge on the ABC challenge site!!

The stamps I've used were part of a 3pack I bought from MadAboutCards - not sure of the brand! Stamped with black Stazon and coloured with Whispers brushmarkers.

Paper - Papermania Retro Flowers pad

Chipboard shapes - Papermanina, coloured with permanent pens then covered with Glitz It Sparkles glitter glue

I also used Glitz It Sparkles as a border round my stamped images

All edges inked with ColorBox fluid chalk

Yellow card and ribbon from stash

Thanks for looking!!

Back to basics challenge card

2009-03-29T21:31:00.002+01:00

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend and didn't forget to put the clocks forward!! It's been nice here today, after the snow we had yesterday!

This card is my entry for the Back to Basics challenge on Sue, Playing with Paper's blog. The rules included that no patterned paper was to be used (aarrgh - that was a tough one!!), or die cuts, punches, prima flowers etc (see Sue's blog for full details). Much to my relief, stamps were allowed - so I used the largest one I had to fill up my card!!!!

The stamp is an Anita's one I got for a bargain in DoCrafts Christmas sale. I stamped the image twice, coloured in and cut out the flowers. I layered them up then added some Anita's Clear Gloss. I chalked the background of the stamped image with yellow and green Dovecraft chalks.

I needed to fill the back of my card blank, so I stamped all round it with a small flower border stamp and clear Versamark ink, then dabbed purple chalk all over it. It actually looks quite pretty but doesn't show up on the photo very well!!!

The red rafia is very 'basic' - it came from the Christmas wrapping section at Tesco's!! In fact, I've used this quite a lot, it's been very useful!!!

I hope I manged to meet all the conditions of the challenge! This was a fun one!!

Stampin' Chic sketch challenge no.2

2009-03-26T20:16:00.004Z

Well, I'm cutting it very fine with this one!! This is my entry for the Stampin' Chic sketch challenge no.2, and also for Clare Curd's weekly challenge on the DoCrafts website.

The stamp is from CCSR new 'for him' range. I stamped it three times, on white card and two patterned papers, embossed and then cut out and pieced it together. I didn't like the colour of the trousers in the end so went over them with a brown brush marker.

Faux stitching added by piercing holes with a pokey tool and then a brown brush marker again.

Backing papers - CCSR Big One paper pack
Metal rimmed velum tag and black & white brads - Papermania
Ribbon - from stash
Card - local craft shop
Edges inked with black ColourBox fluid chalk
'Best Wishes' stamp also from CCSR.

Thanks for looking!!

Claire xx

Sugar Bowl challenge card

2009-03-25T13:54:00.004Z

First of all I'd like to say a big 'Thank You' to everyone who has been visiting my blog and leaving me lovely comments!! It's much appreciated so thank you very much!!!

The card I have today is the one I made for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day. It is my challege card for the Sugar Bowl challenge site. The challenge was to make a Mother's Day project using one of the Sugar Nellie stamps.

The stamp I used was Daisy (yes, again!!) watercoloured with brushmarkers. I pricked the egdes and added faux stitching.

Patterned papers from CCSR Big One paper pack and a DoCrafts goody bag.

Silk flowers - Papermania

Card - Core-dinations

Small purple flowers punched from Core-dinations new Gemstones cardstock

White button - came from my MIL

Tiny buttons - Bought online recently, can't remember where from, will try and find out!!

Ribbon was a freebie from a craft magazine

Edges inked with ColourBox fluid chalk.

Thanks for looking!!!

3 in 1 challenge card!!

2009-03-24T18:11:00.004Z

Just a quick one tonight as my Mum is coming to visit tomorrow and I need to clean the house!!! I've got a lot of visitors over the next few weeks so may not be able to make as many cards as usual - but I will try really hard to keep looking at everyone's blogs!!!

This is a record for me - 3 challenges in 1 card!! I have to admit this was quite an easy one. The ABC challenge was to use flowers and the challenges on Daring Cardmakers and Clare Curd's DoCraft challenge were both to do something girlie!!

I've used my favourite Daisy stamp from Sugar Nellie and my CCSR BigOne paper pack (I love these papers!!!). The stamp is coloured with Whispers brushmarkers.

Other products used:

Happy Birthday stamp - Scrappy Cat
Silk flowers, large paper flowers & brads - Papermania
Small paper flowers and card - local card shop
Ribbon - from stash (think it might have been Christmas wrapping ribbon from Tesco!!)

Thanks for looking and I hope to be back soon!!

Spoon full of sugar challenge card

2009-03-23T14:30:00.003Z

Monday again! Where did the weekend go!!

I've been having a turn out and trying to get things listed for sale on ebay. However, I had a huge faff with the camera and ended up deleting all the photos I'd taken. By the time I'd redone them all it was time to pick up my daughter from nursery so I only got one item listed!!! Not my day!!

Now it's nearly time to pick up my eldest from school (where did the day go!!!) but I just wanted to share this card with you. The design was for Loretta's Sketch Challenge over on the DoCrafts website. It's also going to be my entry for this weeks Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge - the challenge was to use gems on the card - they're a bit small but they are there, honest!!!

My Mum asked me to make a card for a friend's 60th Birthday and this is what I came up with. I had already coloured the Forever Friends image and wanted to use it but then I got cardmakers block!! I think I had nearly every paper pack I own (of which there are lots, obviously!!!) trying to pick a colour scheme I liked. In the end I chose this using some Basic Grey Eva papers and I think it works. I hope my Mum (and her friend) like it!!

Products used:

Printed papers - Basic Grey Eva
Stamp - Forever Friends from DoCrafts, coloured with brushmarkers
Pink card - Core-dinations
Pink ribbed ribbon - Dovecraft
Pink fluffy ribbon - from a pack I got ages ago in The Works
Paper flowers - Papermania, Mad About Cards and local craft shop
Rub-on numbers, Brads and Peel Off's (coloured with black permanent pen) - Papermania
Adhesive gems - Papermania - there are 4 on there, see if you can spot them all!!!

Thanks for looking!!

Mojo Monday & Papertake weekly challenges

2009-03-22T17:40:00.002Z

Mojo Monday challenge
Originally uploaded by claire wright

Well, I've been trying all afternoon to get this card uploaded into Blogger and it's not been working properly, so I've given up and I'm doing it via Flickr. I hope this works!!!

This is my entry for the Mojo Monday and Papertake Weekly challenges. For Mojo Monday there was a sketch to follow. The Papertake Weekly challenge was to include something edible on the card so I put this yummy cake stand on!!!

Products used:

Stamp - Papermania Snag 'em duo
Coloured with whispers brushmarkers
Patterned paper - CCSR Big One paper pack
Raffia ribbon, felt flower and pearl brad - Papermania

Thanks for looking and I hope you've all had a great weekend!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

2009-03-22T12:16:00.003Z

Good morning everyone and a Happy Mother's Day to all the Mum's out there!!!

I've been having a lovely morning today. It started with my annual lie-in!!! Actually it was one of those wide-awake and noisy ones, with the girls running round the house and my youngest popping in to see me frequently, swiftly followed by my husband taking her away again......but it's the thought that counts and it was very nice not to have to get out of bed!!!!

Then the girls took me into the dining room where they had laid out a lovely breakfast, together with flowers and lots of cards they'd made at nursery, school, rainbows etc. To top it all off, they'd been to my local craft shop (Papercrafts in Elgin, the home of the wonderful Sugar Nellie stamps!!!) and bought me some new stamps. I have three new Sugar Nellies and some Woodware stamps with owls and trees on!!! So I'm a very happy bunny today and can't wait to get using my new stamps!

I have a card to post on here later but haven't taken photos yet so I'll be back soon.

Hope you all have an enjoyable day!!

Sketch Saturday challenge

2009-03-20T19:02:00.005Z

Friday at last! It's been a busy week but a lovely day today. So lovely in fact that I decided to clean the car!! To be fair it was absolutely revolting!!! What with the children and the dog it does get a bit mucky inside. So I spent most of the afternoon out in the sun which was lovely!

I did get a card made this morning though. I have used this weeks sketch challenge from Sketch Saturday. The card is for one of my daughter's friends. She is going to his party at lunch time on Sunday.....so no mother's day outing for us!!!

Products used:

Stamp - 'Cheddar' from Sugar Nellie
Coloured with Whispers brushmarkers
Patterned papers - CCSR Big One paper pack
Edges inked with ColorBox fluid chalk in Chestnut Roan
Black card - local craft shop
Buttons - from stash
Scrabble letter tiles - Mad About Cards (I've had these for ages - glad I've finally used them!!)

Here's the link to Sketch Saturday if you fancy trying out on of their challenges:
http://sketchsaturday.blogspot.com/

Well, I think that's all for now. I'm off to get the girls to bed!! My husband's gone out for the evening so I'm spoilt for choice - card making or girlie video!!! Maybe I'll do both.

Have a good evening!!

Stampin' Chic Limited Supplies Challenge

2009-03-19T18:23:00.008Z

Good evening everyone!!

Well, I finally got my Mother's Day parcels in the post (I've some projects to put on here after Sunday!!). So now I've done a card for the Stampin' Chic challenge. This week the challenge was limited supplies - specifically to only use one piece of patterened paper!

I couldn't decide on which paper to use - so went for patterned acetate instead! I've been meaning to try a card like this for ages.

The main embellishment is made from flowers stamped from the CCSR doodle stamps. I've used turquoise and lime green ink (Ink It Up mini pad collection), clear embossed and cut them out. I then coloured them in (in hindsight I should have done this before I cut them out!!!) with a waterbrush and Dovecraft shimmer chalks.

I have added another flower inside to carry on the theme.

The sentiment is also one of the CCSR stamps.

Other supplies used:

Brads - Papermania
Lime card - Core-dinations
Handmade paper & ribbon from stash

I've put matching panels on the back and front to hide all the dst and brads.

Thanks for looking. I hope you like my card!!

The Stampin' Chic website can be found here:

http://www.clarecurdsignaturerange.blogspot.com/

Blog candy!!

2009-03-17T20:39:00.002Z

Just a quick one tonight to let you know about some yummy blog candy on offer on Erin's blog. See this link......

http://egadesigns.blogspot.com/

It all looks lovely so pop on over and have a look!!!

I have made cards today - two, for mother's day, so I'm not going to post them on here yet!!

Thanks for popping by,

Claire xx