Unscripted Sketches 08

Hello everyone. Just a quick post today as I don't want to miss out on this glorious weather. After the last two summers I'm not taking any chances!

Here's a card I made today - I put most of it together early this morning, but only just got it stuck together and photographed. It's for this weeks Unscripted Sketches challenge.

I've used:

Gorjuss girl "Sitting"

Copic Ciao's

Sentiment from Cuddly Buddly

X-cut flower punches

DCWV Spring Stack

Enjoy the last bit of your weekend and, as always, thank you very much for taking the time to visit my blog.

Clare x

Simon Says ...................... Animals

Hi everyone. I don't know where the time has gone but it's over a week since my last post. I haven't had much time for crafting and have only made two cards this week. My son has made the transition from a cot to a bed and now it is virtually impossible to persuade him to have an afternoon nap - so there goes my hour or two of crafting time each day! Love him as I do, I did so enjoy my little bit of 'me time'.

I am entering one of the cards in this week's Simon Says challenge which is Animals.

I think this will be a good card for a man which I'm pleased about as making cards for males is something I find a bit of a challenge.

The stamp I have used in from Elzybells and is called "In the Dog House". I've coloured this with Copic Ciaos. The papers are "Die Cuts with a View" and I've inked around the edge of the DP with brown ink. The ribbon is from the "Anitas" range.

I also decorated the inside of this card. I left the middle blank for my message as the sentiment is already on the front of the card. The sentiments are also from Elzybells from a great set called "Everyday Greetings".

Oh, by the way, I got my Memento inks, Tuxedo Black and Rich Cocoa. I regularly buy craft supplies from a lovely lady who runs a shop on ebay called Evandale Crafts and was delighted to see she had these inks back in stock.

Have a good weekend everyone and, if you are in the UK like me, enjoy the fantastic weather we look like having.

Thank you so much for dropping by and taking a look at my card. It means a lot to me.

Clare x

COPIC COLOUR CHALLENGE #14

Good evening. This is my first entry for the Copic Colour Challenge. I haven't got the exact colours for the challenge which are B14, R27 and Y08, so I've chosen the nearest that I have which are B24, R29 and Y06. These colours are lovely and bright, so this card is brighter than I normally make but, saying that, I really like these colours together.

The stamp is "Country Garden" from Funky Kits. The DP is Basic Grey "Cupcake" and the cardstock is Die Cuts with a View. I coloured an orange Prima flower with the red R29 copic - that's one of the things I love about these pens - they colour almost anything! I've used a Fiskars Scalloped lace punch and a Clare Curd Signature Range sentiment. The charm is from a pack of 6 charms that I bought from our new local pound shop.

I hope you are all having a good week so far, thank you for stopping by and looking at my card.

Clare x

ps - does anyone know where I can get hold of some Memento Tuxedo Black ink? I've searched high and low but can't find anywhere that has this in stock in the UK - I'm using a dark blue at the moment which is ok for some images and not so good for others.

Elzybells - Challenge 20 - Create a card with more than one fold.

Good evening! I've been wrestling with my camera to try and get some decent shots of my card for the current Elzybells challenge - I managed to catch a few minutes when a couple of rays of sunshine came through the grey sky and went for it. I ended up with several movies and not many photos - I really don't know what I'm doing!

Anyway, onto the card. The current challenge at Elzybells is for a card with more than one fold.

Here is the card when it's closed

and here it is when it's open

The Elzybells stamp I have used is from their most recent release and is called "Teddy Antics". I coloured the teddies in with copics, then cut them out, shaped them and attached them to the card with Pinflair glue (I love this stuff). I stamped the balloon separately on to DP three times and tied cross stitch thread to them. I cut round the top teddy's thumb so he could hold onto the strings.

The designer papers and cardstock are Die Cuts with a View and the lettering is from a Sizzlits alphabet called round table.

I hope you've had a good day, thank you for stopping by and taking a look.

Clare xx

Woo Hoo - I made the Cupcake Craft Challenge Top 5!!

Hello, I hope you all had a good weekend, I had a lovely weekend and was feeling the Monday blues, that was until I checked out this week's challenge at Cupcake Craft and saw that I had made the top five for last week's challenge - Card for a man or boy - it has really made my day. Here's a link to the card.

Thanks for listening.

Clare x

Stamp Something - Clean and Simple Thank Yous

The challenge at Stamp Something this week is 'Clean and Simple Thank Yous'.




I enjoyed making this card and it was very de-stressing to sit and craft yesterday evening after "one of those days", which included, among other things, finding the freezer had defrosted - again! The bottle of wine later in the evening help the de-stressing even more!

To make the tag I cut a label with a nestability die, embossed 'Thank You' onto it using a small Cuttlebug folder, I then heat embossed it with holographic embossing powder. I've also used a Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder and Anita's ribbon.

I've gone colouring mad recently so it was nice to leave the pens and pencils alone for a while.

I hope you are all having a good weekend.

Thank you for calling at my blog and taking a look - I really do appreciate it and your lovely comments.

Clare x

Cute Card Thursday - Challenge 60 - Letters and Numbers

This week's challenge at Cute Card Thursday is to use letters and numbers. The fab prize for this week is donated by Frazzled Crafts.

I've made a card using letters - this is another "postpals" card that I am going to send to a little girl called Daisy who is spending a long period in hospital. I hope she likes it.

Daisy's favourite colour is pink and that is what this card was meant to be, but somehow it turned out predominantly orange.

Apologies for another poor photo - it really does depend on the weather out there!

The stamp is Sugar Nellie "Blossom"; the cardstock is DCWV - I ran some of it through a Cuttlebug embossing folder; the DP is Brenda Pinnick from a great 200 sheet pad from QVC; the letters are Sizzlits "Twinkle Toes" -I love these letters but have to file each one to get rid of the rough edges which takes ages so I'm not sure how often I will want to use them; the flower is made from an X-cut punch and liquid pearls and finally, I've coloured using Copics, chalks and a bit of glamour dust.

Have a great day wherever you are. I'm off to hoover, dust and polish now - a too long neglected job!

Thanks for taking a look.

Creative Card Crew - Challenge 10 - Minimal

Good afternoon. Here's a card I'm entering for Creative Card Crew's challenge 10 - "Minimal".

I was just messing about with a dew drop ink pad - and ended up with a flower shape - as I have "waste not want not" view to life I had too cut it out and use it.

Looking at the card in real life I couldn't see that the button was not centred, but boy does it show up in the photo! I've since moved it so it's more central.

I love my swirly Inkadoo stamps and seem to be using them on almost everything at the moment.

Thanks for dropping by today and taking a look at my card.

Clare xx

Cupcake Craft Challenge 39 - Card for a man or boy

Hello there!

The challenge at Cupcake Craft this week is to make a card for a man or boy.

I've made a card for a boy and this card is to send to Ryan H at Postpals. One of the things Ryan likes is football, so I hope he likes this card. If you haven't checked out Postpals yet and would like to send a card to a sick child to put a smile on their face then you can find out more here.




The image is placed low so that the card can stand of the bottom edge of the rectangle. I had already arranged the layout of this card before I decided to add Ryan's name. Unfortunately the layout didn't work with the name so I had a last minute change about.

The image is 'Boy Footie' by Elzybells. He's coloured with Copics and so is the name which is cut using the Sizzlits 'Twinkle Toes' alphabet. The papers are a mix of DCWV and Basic Gray.

Thank you for popping by and taking a look.

Clare x

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #6 - Sketch

Hello and a very Happy Mothers' Day to all - it's not Mothers' Day here in the UK but I'm liking the idea of celebrating twice.

I had a lovely day yesterday. I went to Stampeezee in Coventry and attended an hour long demonstration by the lovely and talented Jayne Nestorenko - the lady behind the gorgeous "cute companion" stamps and CDs.

I was lucky enough to spend some time crafting today and have followed this week's sketch from Stamptacular Sunday Challenge.

I decorated the inside of this card too.

I'm not too happy with the colouring of this image - I need to spend lots of time practising with the Copics, but I've used it as I hate to discard coloured images. I know it sound silly but I get attached to the images as I am colouring them and they become more than just pieces of card.

Here's what I used.

Image: Sugar Nellie 'Reflective'

Designer Papers: freebie from an old issue of 'Crafts Beautiful'

Cardstock: Die Cuts with a View

Sentiment: Papermania Clare Curd

Flourishes: from an Inkadoo stamp set

Tools: Spellbinders Labels nestabilities, Cuttlebug Stylized Flowers embossing folder

Copics and Glamour Dust.

Thank you for stopping by and looking.

Clare x

Stampavie and More - Challenge 42

Finally - a card for a challege. I've spent so much time playing around with craft stuff without actual making any cards.

There is a great sketch by Betty at Stampavie and more this week.

I set myself the extra challenge of trying to find some papers to match an image I had already coloured - it was an odd colour combination due to the fact I only had five Copics at the time and just had to use them!

I think it has worked, but as usual, once the card was finished I looked at it and thought "I should have done that differently" - is anyone else like that?

I've inked around the DP to give it definition but I don't think this shows up in the photo.

I've definitely used the wrong colour thread for stitching here - oh well, we live and learn.

This is what I used to make this card:-

DCWV cardstock

Branda Pinnick DP

Buttons from Stash

Prima flowers

Pearls - magazine freebie

Sentiment - Cuddly Buddly

Stamp - from a very kind blog buddy

Sewing machine

Copic Ciao - Manga 3 set

Cuttlebug - floral fantasy embossing folder

Thank you for looking - I appreciate you stopping by my blog.

Now I'm off to enjoy this beautiful weather.

Clare x

COPIC HELP PLEASE

Good afternoon!

I keep seeing lots of images beautifully coloured with Copics and Promarkers. After much umming and ahhing I decided to buy a pack of 5 Copic Ciaos (Manga set 3) to see how I got on with them. I really liked them and was surprised how useful just 5 colours were - but as I'm sure to get bored with this palette I have succumbed and ordered a set of 36 pens (I am blessed with a wonderful partner who said I could have these).

I know before they arrive that I will probably still need some individual pens, that won't be in the set, e.g. for skin tone and also for outlining the images and this is where I need some help please. Can anyone recommend good colours for skin and outlining?

Here's my first attempt with the set of 5 pens.

Please don't look too closely - I need lots more practice!

Many thanks.

Clare x

Just Playing

Now this one's not for a challenge, I just couldn't resist playing with my new stamps and trying some different colouring methods.




The stamp is Teddy Antics by Elzybells. I've watercoloured these teds with Derwent Graphitint pencils and inked and chalked the background. I cut a second balloon and heat embossed it with holographic embossing powder - I used a glue pad instead of an embossing pad and the embossing has bobbled lots instead of going smooth, I was going to add another coat of embossing powder to try and smooth it out but then I decided I quite liked it as it was.

I cut the card using the largest long rectangle scalloped nestability. I wasn't sure about these nesties but I think I'm going to end up using them a lot.

It's a shame the weather has been so dull for this UK bank holiday - let's hope the next one is better!

Thank you for looking.

Elzybells Challenge 19 - Sketch by Rachel

Hello, I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. It's been fabulous sunshine here for most of the day - but now it's overcast and looks like it might rain.

This morning my new Elzybells stamps arrived so I just had to make a card to enter for their current challenge. At this point I must stop to say a big 'thank you' to Elizabeth at Elzybells for her wonderful customer service.

The challenge is to follow this fab sketch by Rachel.

This is the card I made, unfortunately the weather became overcast before I photographed it so I might try and take a better photo if it's sunny tomorrow.

I used the Elzybells 'Gardening ted' stamp which I coloured using Prismas and Polychromos. The cardstock is DCWV and the DP is Basic Gray Boxer. I used square and circle nesties, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder and my Fiskars scalloped lace border punch. The sentiment is a free stamp that came with this month's Docrafts Creativity magazine - I've used chalks to colour this (but on reflection I think I should have left the centre white).

Thank you for looking. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and for all of you in the UK enjoy your bank holiday too!