New Blog and Candy

Me again!!! I'm just popping on to let you know about a new blog that my friend Ildz has just set up. She's got some gorgeous candy on offer, so why not pop over and take a peek?

I maybe back before Friday with another post - I know I'm like bus you don't see one for ages and then you get an overload!

Thanks for reading and if you enter her candy good luck

Claire xxx

Less Is More Birthday Sketch

Boo!!! Yep it's me making a rare appearance today. You're probably asking what the occasion is? Well yesterday I was having a little blog hop and thought I'd check to see what the Limettes were upto, only to spot that it was their first birthday and that they'd got a fab sketch to follow. So, as my mojo has been a bit "bleaurgh" lately I thought I'd use the sketch as an attempt to fire things up!

Here's what I did. I'm not completely thrilled with it, but then again I'm not hugely disappointed either! I think if I were to repeat this card that I'd lose the bee in the bottom right corner and also maybe make all the bees sit on the band. What do you think?

Now I'm hoping that they'll accept my entry cos whilst in my mind I'd completely followed the sketch I noticed when I went to enter the challenge that I'd moved the band over and not left a margin - sorry girls :( Even if my offering isn't acceptable, I still had fun actually making something and playing with my inks, which if I'm honest is what's important.

So Happy Birthday LIM and here's to another year of inspiration.

Claire xxx

Materials
Distress Inks - Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed
Punchanella
Bee Stamp - Kars
Sentiment and Ink Blot - Computer generated
Stickles - Stardust

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Less Is More - Sketch
Stampin With The Dragon - Anything goes
Simon Says Stamp - Anything goes

Altered Sardine Can Winter Wonderland

OK I'm running really late posting my Delicious Doodles Challenge project. I'm not really sure where this week has gone, but I'm almost certain that I've missed a huge chunk of it!

Anyway, the challenge this week is Winter Wonderland. Now, I should've used this an excuse to start on next years Christmas cards, but I'm soooo fed up of Christmas cards at the moment that I just couldn't face making one. So I thought I'd use it as an excuse to make a Christmas Ornament - how I wish I hadn't!!!!  The whole project has been a complete nightmare from start to finish. However, I think the main problem has been that I didn't allow myself enough time and so became impatient and you know what happens then! With hindsight I could've made a winter Birthday card, but you know me why make life easy for myself when I can complicate things!!!

Anyhow, here's my project - what do you think??? There are a couple of things I'd do differently next time, but on the whole I think I'm fairly pleased with it!

I took an old sardine can and flattened the edges with pliers to reduce the risk of injury to myself or others. I then coated the outside in a layer of texture paste. Whilst waiting for it to dry, I printed out the background image, cut it to size and glittered it up. Once the outside was dry I placed the image inside the tin and then added more texture paste. The Robin and Holly images were coloured with Promarkers and Prismacolor Pencils before being fancy cut and mounted onto the tin. Unfortunately, the camera hasn't picked up all the sparkle on this project, but I think you can just about see it on the picture below.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you all have a fab weekend.

Claire x

Materials:
Robin Redbreast, Holly and A Crofters Winter - Delicious Doodles
Prismacolor Pencils
Promarkers
Texture Paste
Sardine Tin
Stickles
Glamour Dust

I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:
Crafty Purple Frog - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Anything but a card
Moving Along With The Times - Things with wings
ABC Christmas Challenge - Anything goes
The House That Stamps Built - Scenic Challenge with snow (Repeat Impressions DCC118 Designer’s Choice Challenge)
I ♥ ProMarkers - Anything goes
PanPastel UK - Anything goes
Little Claire's - Anything but a card

I'm Not Goth!!

Good morning. I hope you're all recovered from the long holiday and that those of you in the UK haven't suffered too much damage from the horrendous winds that we've had? I'm not sure where this week has gone, but I suddenly realised yesterday that it was Thursday and that I'd not got a project done for Delicious Doodles -ooops!! Luckily for me, the kids were going out for tea and then onto the pantomime with their Grandma, which meant I had a bit of freetime to play with :D

This weeks challenge over at Delicious Doodles is New Beginnings, so we want to see projects that feature something new. It can be new stash, a new baby or even a new technique which should give you plenty of scope for joining us. Remember you don't have to use a Delicious Doodles image, but if you do you can enter yourself twice in the blue froggy! Plus you get the chance to be spotlighted on the challenge blog.

I decided that I'd use a the new image I'm Not Goth for my card, I hope you like what I've done with her!! I have to say both of my kids have eyeballed the card and asked if I can use her on cards for their friends!!!

I coloured the image with a combination of Promarkers and Prismacolor Pencils before fancy cutting out. The wings were stamped and heat embossed using the Rockstar stamps from Inkadinkadoo. I then mounted the wings and main image onto embossed grey cardstock, before adding Glossy Accents and Stickles.

The stars, skull & crossbone border and sentiment are all from the same stamp set. All of the elements have been heat embossed prior to being cut out and mounted onto the card using silicone glue to give some dimension.

Materials
Main Image - Delicious Doodles
Rock Star Stamps - Inkadinkadoo
Promarkers - Cardinal Red, Ruby, Cool Grey 1 -5
Prismacolor Pencils
Distress Inks - Fired Brick, Black Soot
Heat It Up Embossing Powder
Cuttlebug - Metal Grid Embossing Folder
Gems from stash

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Dilly Beans Challenge - Red, Black & White
Crafty Ribbons - New Beginnings
Fab 'n' Funky - Something New
Gingersnap Creations - Use a line or set of stamps
My Mum's Craft Shop - Something New
The Paper Shelter - Anything goes
Simon Says Stamp - Anything goes
Papertake Weekly - Anything goes/something new
Top Tip Tuesday - Anything Goes
Haunted Design House - Got Goth

Just to say thanks!

Happy 2012 to you all!!

I was such a lucky girl at Christmas and got some fab gifts that were completely unexpected, so I thought the least I could do was to make some thank you cards. I also thought it might be a good time to kick start my resolution to actually use some of my ever increasing stash pile :/ So I opened one of the Craftwork Cards Goody Bags I bought just before Christmas and used two sheets of paper (well a 1/4 of one and 1/2 of the other) to make this card. At this rate I should finish the bag by 2013!! LOL

Materials:
Papers - Craftwork Cards
Glossy Accents
Sentiment - Computer Generated

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog - Anything goes
Charisma Cards - Anything goes

The Stamp Man 3rd Annual Awards

The Stamp Man are running their 3rd annual awards for your favourite project that you've created in 2011, link here. I  thought that this would be an easy task as I haven't actually created that many projects that have" floated my boat" so to speak this year, but I really struggled :/ So much so infact that I might just have to join in with a couple of the other challenges going on that get you to choose your top 5!!!

I've settled upon this card as my favourite project of 2011 only because it contains all of my favourite elements and also allowed me to play with lots of products and techniques :D I'd love to know what if any of my projects this year have been your favourites?!

Just in case I don't get back on here before the new year, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish each and everyone of you a Happy, Healthy, Peaceful & fingers crossed Prosperous New Year.

Claire xx

Quick Get Well Card & Gift

Morning folks! I hope you had a lovely Christmas? I had a lovely time with my family and even managed to sneak a bit of crafting in on Christmas Day whilst everyone else was sleeping (see insomnia does have a few advantages!!!).

My Mother in Law had a major operation two days before Christmas and was due to be in over the Christmas period, so I wanted to give her a really nice cheer up pressie in addition to her Christmas present. Unfortunately, the hospital has a no flowers policy and as she's diabetic we couldn't take her in choccies (plus I thought she'd not really fancy anything like that anyway), so I decided that I'd have a go at making a tissue box cover with a matching card. It was a really quick and easy make and she was thrilled to receive it on Boxing Day when we popped in to see her.

I've attached a few pictures, but you'll have to excuse the quality of them. My camera is playing up and won't allow me to use certain functions and in addition I had to use artificial light :(

Tissue Box & Card

I made the tissue box cover using this tutorial. Once I'd cut and embossed all the panels it was a really quick and easy job to assemble it. The hardest part was deciding  wether to keep the embellishments minimal or go for total overload! I went for the middle ground and decided to embellish all four sides, but to be honest I think it would have been nicer with just the front embellished :/

The Tissue Box

I decided to make the card to match the box and so again it was just a case of chucking some embellishments on the pre-scored card - lazy of what?? The butterflies took the most time as they are stamped, heat embossed and then cut out by hand, before being glittered and Glossy Accented, luckily I already had a few left from an earlier project, so only had to do a couple more :D

The Card

Materials
White Card - The Papermill
Lilac Paper - Poundland
Purple Card - Poundland
Green Card - The Papermill
Butterfly Stamps - EJ Crafts
Sentiment - Computer Generated
Sizzix Bigz Daisy Die
Fern Leaf Die - Little Claire's
Card Candy
Sizzix Swirls Embossing Folder
Mica Paints - Oyster Stamps
Heat It Up Holographic Black Embossing Powder
Stardust Stickles
Glossy Accents
Card Candy - Craftwork Cards

 I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:
City Crafter - Make the cut
Everybody Art - Anything goes
Top Tip Tuesday - Anything goes
Ohh La La Creations Challenge Blog - Anything but a card
Creative Inspirations Paint - Anything goes
Sparkles Forum - Anything but a Christmas card
The Crafty Pad - Anything but Christmas
Mark's Finest Papers - Anything goes
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Anything goes