Happy Easter!

Hi everyone, I hope you haven't all abandoned me during my long absence - things have been a bit hectic lately... If this is your first time here then "Hello and Welcome!"

Easter is here and I have finally had a little time to pull out my stamps and play. I have been creating over the last couple of weeks, but finding time to sit at the computer to share with you has been more difficult - I will catch you up with what I have been doing soon!

For now I would like to show you some of my "new rubber" YAY!! from the new 2009-2010 Stampin' Up! Ideas Book and Catalogue. It arrived on Thursday, but I did not get home in time to collect it from the post office :( so had to wait until Saturday. Thank goodness our local postoffice doubles as a Newsagent, or I would have been waiting until Wednesday!!

The colours in this card are this week's Kristina Werener Colour Inspiration - a little out of my comfort zone, but fun and funky in feel - I just had to give it a try. You can check out the other entries here.

Here is my card:

When I saw the flowers on the fabric swatch, I just knew I wanted to use my new Circle Circus Stamp Set from Stampin' Up! However, once I had embossed them onto the black cardstock, they looked a bit formal for the kind of card I was going for, so I used my white gel pen to add the doodled frames around the embossed images. (Aren't you proud of me Sarah?) That made them more casual and fun, I like the effect. I hope you do too, please leave a comment and let me know what you think, it is always great to hear from visitors to my blog.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Circle Circus, Really Retro

Inks: Versa Mark, Basic Black

Cardstock: Pacific Point, Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss Hand Drawn Designer Series Paper (Hostess level 3), Rose Red

Accessories: White EP, White Gel Pen, Ribbon, Flower Designer Brad

Cheers!

Claire.

A Challenge combo

Hello, me again. Just recovering from the *shock* of the enormity of the Stampin' Up! retired list this year. My stamp collection is officially decimated! I will be particularly sad to say goodbye to my Paisley background stamp, I think I will have to keep that one for "personal use" lol! Looking forward to the new catalogue though, I can't wait to see what wonderful goodies they have replaced my old favourites with.

Now, to the real reason for this post. A challenge combo. For this card I have used Makeesha's Inkspirations sketch challenge no. 5 (to check out the other fab entries go here), along with Kristina's colour inspiration for this week. (Play along with Kristina's challenge here).

Kristina's colour challenge reminded me of some photos my Mum took on a trip through central Australia last year, lots of earthy desert colours combined with the green of the sparse vegetation and the blue of the sky. That inspired me to make this card with a set I borrowed from a friend to make some swaps. (Thanks Lynda!)

Not the greatest pic (it's late) but you get the idea! I used some of the masking and sponging techniques I learned doing Michelle Zindorf's chef tutorial (see this post) and have to say I am really pleased with the way this one turned out!

Card recipe:

Stamps: All Aboriginal, Polka Dots and Petals, Live your Dream

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Brocade Blue, Old Olive, Spring Break DSP

Inks: Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Versa Mark, Ruby Red, Old Olive

Accessories: Markers, White Gel Pen, Stampin' Dimensionals

Techniques: Emboss resist, Masking

Hope you like it. Please leave a comment, I would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for stopping by.

Claire

Always Valentines

Hello! A couple of new projects to share with you. Both use Kristina Werner's colour inspiration for this week, though the first was a fluke! (I had to substitute Real Red for Riding Hood Red as we don't have it here in Oz – yet!)

I recently caught up with an old friend. (We have known each other since pre-school. He's more like a brother than a friend, we seem to spend a lot of time just stirring each other up!) He has just returned from a stint living in Scotland with his Scottish partner (whom he met in Sydney). Anyway, whilst they were away, they decided to get married at beautiful Loch Ness (who wouldn't if the opportunity presented itself?!) Unfortunately Nessie has not made an appearance in any of the wedding photos L. To cut a long story short, the beautiful bride was admiring the wine glass charms I made for my Mum a few years ago. So I decided to make her some as a little, and belated, wedding gift. Here is the box,

and on the inside,

By fluke they used this week's Kristina Werner colour inspiration! Having made this little project, I decided that I loved the colour combo, and the way the hearts from the Always stamp set look when they are embossed in black. So I made a Valentine/Anniversary card for my hubby. (Yes our wedding anniversary is on Valentine's Day – how romantic!) Here it is.

Project Recipes:

Stamps: Always, Paisley Background, So Many Sayings (hostess)

Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Basic Grey, Whisper White

Inks: Versa Mark, Basic Black, Real Red Marker

Accessories: Ribbon, Buttons, Word Window punch, Embossing Powders – white, black and clear, White Gel pen, non SU wine charm wires, beads and charms

Techniques: Embossing, Out of the box (on the card)

Thanks for stopping by, please leave a comment, I would love to hear what you think.
Claire

Puppy Love

Another Kristina Werner colour inspiration to share with you, using these colours.



It's been a couple of weeks since I have been able to play along, and once again my card took on a life of its own! I sat down with my stamps thinking that these colours might work well for the generic child card I need to design for our upcoming Stamp-a-stacK. (You can find the details here). However, thanks to the inspiration provided by Stamphappy1650 on Splitcoast Stampers, the card evolved into something far too elaborate for a Stamp-a-stacK! I really like the principle though and may modify it for the Christmas Club group. I used paper piecing on the ute, I haven't done this much but I think I will experiment with it some more!

Card Recipe: (All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise mentioned)

Stamps: Loads of Love, Greetings Galore, So Many Sayings (Level 1 Hostess set)

Cardstock: More Mustard, Spring Showers DSP, Taken with Teal, Whisper White, East Coast Prep DSP, Bali Breeze DSP

Accessories: Markers, Blender Pen, Stamp-a-majig, 1 3/8 circle punch, 1 ¼ circle punch, Jumbo Eyelet, Old Olive Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by. Would love to hear what you think!

Claire

Evolution of a card KW CI 38

Wow! This was so not the card I set out to make for this Colour Inspiration challenge!
I have been racking my brains since Kristina posted CI 38 about how on earth I was going to successfully combine them. Eventually I decided that maybe they would work for a "brayered sky" type of thing. So I set off to Michelle Zindorf's wonderful blog tutorials to refresh myself with the finer points of the technique. I often find my brayer more than a little challenging! Anyway, whilst browsing I happened upon this tutorial, and decided to give it a go in the inspiration colours. I am really surprised and pleased with the way it turned out! It actually reminds me of the enormous Emperor Bush moths we get down here in Tassie.

Card recipe:

Stamps: Natural Beauty, Carte Postale, Baroque Motifs

Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Ruby Red, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip

Inks: Ruby Red, Pretty In Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Versa Mark, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Versa Marker, Stamp and Write Markers, Clear Embossing Powder, Sponges, White Gel Pen, Jumbo Eyelet, Ribbon

Technique: Emboss resist

Hope you like it. I would love to hear your comments. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Claire

A challenging colour combo

Well, as promised here is my entry for Kristina Werner's Colour Inspiration #37. Oops! I have just realized that I posted the wrong challenge at the end of my last post. THIS

is the right one!

I have decided to have a crack at Kristina's challenge as a part of my New Year's Resolution to really try and broaden my horizons with my colour combos. The challenge is a great one, and seems to attract some very talented card makers each week. (I have been stalking it for quite a while now). For those who are not familiar with it, you can check it out HERE. Basically Kristina posts a colour combo, you design a card or scrapbook page using the colours and link it to Kristina's blog, within a given time frame. Kristina then chooses her fave 10-15 submissions.

So, without further ado – here is my entry. Apologies for the crappy photo, but I'm not sure when exactly the challenge closes as it is in US time. So, I will post now, and retake and replace the pic in the morning! (Edited to add: I have replaced the pic, the colours show a little better in daylight, and at least this one is not blurry!)

Card Recipe:

Stamp Sets: Eastern Blooms (Summer mini) Paisley Background

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Soft Sky (as we don't have Baja Blue in Oz yet) Whisper White, Bali Breeze DSP

Inks: Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: White Gel Pen, Brads, Ribbon, Dimensionals

Technique: Emerging Colour

Sketch: Sketch Challenge 196 Splitcoast Stampers

Would love to know what you think, leave a comment and let me know! Really appreciate you stopping by.

Claire