Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - DT Card

This weeks Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge has been chosen by Wendy and the theme is "Transport". I got this stamp from Ally Pally last week from Little Claires. Coloured with Copics. "Vroom" has been cut on my MM Slice. Other materials bazzill, paper from 3 bugs in a rug, SU punch, Ruby Red Liquid Pearls and sentiment from Craftwork Cards. Please pop on over and see what the other DT members have created. Hope you can join us in this weeks challenge.


Not had alot to show you this week, just been one of those weeks where life takes over. Am hoping my crafting will resume back to normal, I do like to have a dabble a few times in a week. My eldest is now on school holidays for 2 weeks and we have a few things planned but that shouldn't interfere to much. Have a lovely weekend and lets hope that spring stays in the air!!
Clairexx

SCSC- DT Card + Other Challenges!

This weeks Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge has been set by the lovely Jill and this weeks theme is a fab sketch.

I have used my new Paper Cd from Bearly My Designs and matted onto Bazzill cardstock. The stamps are all from High Hopes and have been coloured with a collection of Derwent Coloursoft Pencils, Copics and H20's. The flowers are Prima and have added Liquid Pearls to the centre. The ribbon and rub on from stash. I've cut the dies out using my MM Slice (noteworthy), this is still my favourite die cut machine and cant wait for the new cartridges which I believe are to be released soon. Would be great if you could play along with us this week and remember you will be entered into the monthly draw for a voucher to spend in The Secret Crafter Shop.
Now I dont usually do this with DT cards, but this one by chance also fits in with Card Cute Thursday (Spring), Daring Cardmaker (Frogs or Fish), just pure luck on this one, and Rainbow Lady (Make a Scene). Well I have a princess sitting on a mushroom amongst the flowers with a pair of cheerful frogs, suppose that would count as a scene. lol and last but not least, Stamp Challenge (3D). Not sure how clear you can see, but the princess has been mounted using foam pads to add dimension.

I must say big thanks to all my followers, I've gained another dozen or so recently and am thrilled. Its been a busy and exciting week for me. They say all good things must come to an end though. Zoe has had a temp of 102 and Daniel seems to have picked up a stomach bug so didn't get the chance to craft yesterday. Have a good weekend and thanks for stopping by my blog!
Clairexx

My Big News!!!!!

I'm so happy!!!!
My good news is that I have been asked by Donna to be on her Design Team for Bearly Mine Designs. I'm still in shock as I will be working along the very talented Marlene, Heidi and Malin. These ladies create the most beautiful pieces and are their work is stunning. Think my jaw is still on the floor....

The card in the post below, is what I made with the sample papers I received and my disc is on its way so am like a cat on heat waiting for it to arrive. I am thrilled and honoured to be working with such a talented bunch of girls and I do hope you like my creations. Donna's shop can be found HERE, where you can PREORDER the new CD and view all the other gorgeous CD's she has to offer and FREE P & P is offered to all those in the UK. This new CD _ DESIGNER EXTREME VOL 1 - has over 700 papers to offer, you can view sample papers HERE and dont forget Donna is offering a free CD to one lucky person, details HERE.
Well, chores abandoned, I'm going to be doing some crafting today, thats if I can manage to wipe this smile off my face.....
Clairexx

Everybody Art with Handmade Flowers

I promised a card with the handmade flowers and this it. I decided I didn't like the centres with the liquid pearls so changed to mini roses. The leaves are made with the L-Em Leaf Punch. Image is Pollycraft and coloured with Prisma Pencils and Sansador adding a clear sakura pen to highlight certain areas. I then masked this and used my new letrajet and sprayed a fine mist with my Promarker. Donna, is launching her New Paper CD very soon and was kind enough to send me some samples to play with. I have used 3 and have to say they are gorgeous, cant wait for the release! Other stash used, Martha Stewart punch, Rasberry Liquid Pearls, Brown Bazzill Cardstock and sentiment done with Satmat on my Computer. The birds and Apple are from the newly realeased "The Greeting Farm" range. These have been coloured with Copics. I thought the birds were a nice touch, you can see one nesting in the flowers. This card took me a good few hours to complete but am very happy with the result. Remember Donna's Candy which can be found here and keep your eyes peeled for the release of this wonderful Paper CD.

Now this card (A5 for a change) was made from the sketch over at "Everybody Art Challenge". Tina has produced a fab sketch which I really enjoyed working with. You may like to click on the top piccie for a more detailed look.

Not done as much crafting as I would have liked this week, kids seem to have taken over, but had some new draws delivered this morning and been having a bit of a crafty sort out, ebay here I come!!!

Thanks for viewing my blog!

Clairexx

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - DT Card

"HAPPY VALENTINES EVERYONE"

This weeks theme over at the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge has been set by the lovely Donna and her chosen theme is "Spring Has Sprung". I chose Daisy (Sugar Nellie) without hesitation and headed straight to the BG papers, opting for Urban Prairie. I've coloured her with Copics highlighting a few flowers with a clear Sakura pen. The BP's have been edged with a black Galaxy Marker, I love these marker pens because they dont smudge and its cheaper than backing onto cardstock. The flowers are Prima and the Spacer, gold leaves and milky gems from stash. Used Pink Bazzill cardstock and the quote "Sweet" is a BG rub on. I've still got the sentiment to add which will be in the top left corner, but was undecided so will add at a later date. Think the colours on this look a little washed out, its my birthday soon and would love to get a decent camera, fingers crossed. Hope you can join us in this weeks Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge, do check out what the rest of the DT have done, and rememebr you've a chance of winning in the monthly draw! 

2 of the children off school now, Jessica has different holidays so that means I wont be sleeping in next week. School runs (Argghhh). Have a good week everyone!

Clairexx

Chocolate Bar Wrapper

I been wanting to make one of these for ages and I finally managed to find the time to make one for a friend. I'd bought the chocolate bar in this weeks shop, and its a big bar but I forgot to take a piccie of it, but you can see it poking out of the wrapper. I used a 12 x 12 piece of BG "Blush". Used my Scor It to make the fold lines, no template, just made it up as I went along. I used an SU Punch to make an inverted semi circle at the top and folded the papers on the inside as well so it didn't show the white. The image again is Pollycraft, coloured with Copics, flowers are my new Prima and the ones on the bottom left corner are handmade by myself using 2 woodcare punches and Liquid Pearls. This piece meets 3 challenges, Basic Grey - Mix It Up & Colour Create which is Peach and Aqua with the option of adding handmade flowers which I've done and Stamp Something which is Chocolate Creations. The ribbon is DCWV and added Liquid Pearls and the rub on is Basic Grey. I loved making this, will be a great gift as mine is, so keep a spare chocolate bar handy in the fridge and if you ever forget someones birthday, this would make a lovely gift, male or female!

2 Awards!!!

I recieved that great award last week from Fran, thankyou so much, its nice to know others have pleasure from viewing my blog and am now passing it onto:-

Nikki

Aija

Sarah

Mumur

Andrea

I recieved this one from my Friend Nikki, aka Bunny Zoe. Thanks Nikki, I like to think we have become friends over the past year and your blog has been a great inspiration. I would now like to pass this award onto:-

Kim

Jacqui

Kimmie

Rach

Wendy

Cathy

Marcea

Terrie

Linda

Becky

Oops, hope I didn't overdo it, seem to have made quite a few crafting friends through my blog and wouldn't want ot any other way. Could go on all night (lol)

Clairexx

Stamped Image Folder & Challenge's

This is a new stamp from The Greeting Farm called "Anya". She is just so cute, and so easy to colour. I have made a stamped image folder using papers from 3 bugs in a rug, coloured with Copics and Promarkers and a white Inksential pen and doodled with Raspberry Liquid Pearls. The wording and bits inside the folder were cut with my MM Slice. This meets a few challenges firstly I took the sketch from Inspirational Sketches, this also fits in with this weeks Spoonful of Sugar (Doodling), Our Creative Corner (Inspiration, the colours on the papers inspired me to colour her hair pink!) and Double Dutch (Not a Card).Thanks for looking.
Clairexx

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - DT Piece

This weeks challenge has been set by the very talented Kim and she has chosen the theme - Recycle. I have a lovely bottle of bubble bath from Mauritius and around the top, its wrapped with Rafia, well the bottles almost finished to took the rafia to use as an embellishment. I made this A6 Notebook using SN "Talking to the Birds". Its been coloured with Copic Markers and have added Crytsal Stickles to the flowers. The brown border has also been made using the Copics, It was trial and error, using both blender pen and colour, just kept mixing the 2 which resulted in this distressed look.The backing papers are K & Co and the little bird stamp is Hero Arts. I've made smaller notepads before, but this is the first time I'ved covered a notebook. Pretty isn't she! Hope you can join us with this weeks Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge, you can see the other DT's pieces here. Have a great weekend!
Clairexx

Valentines!

I was sitting with Zoe this morning who has teacher training day so no school and she asked if you could colour one of my stamps. I stamped up Tilda with Puppy for each of us and started playing around with my Copics. I dont usually do alot of blending and am used to the Promarkers at the moment as I've generally been using them over the last few months, but found Copics remain wetter for longer and blending is so much easier. I dont use the blender pen much, cant get on with it. Used the Cuddly Horse which is from the same set. Gone over area's with a clear Sakura Pen. The papers are all BG, Wassail, Figgy and Blush. I used my MM Siice again, god, I love this machine so much, its my best friend at the moment. I cut the Scallop Circles, "Love" and Hearts with the machine and it glides threw Bazzill no problem. Am still using the CC repositionable spray, not clogged up once. New this could card could meet a few challenges as its all about valentines at the moment and found this fits in with this weeks, Papertake Weekly (Hearts and Flowers), Our Creative Corner (Hearts), Everybody Art (Valentines), Stamp Something (Valentines), Colour Throwdown and I used the Sketch from Friday Sketchers. Took my a couple of hours to complete but am truly pleased with the end result. The picture quality isn't brilliant but the best I could get. Now I'm not sure what to do with it next!

Handmade Flower Tutorial - By Me!!!!

The kid are off and I have 2 editions today, cant get on with my cardmaking so was playing around and came up with this. Thought I'd share it with you as very easy to do. Excuse the quality of pictures, the lightings not very good in here.

I used 2 SU punches, 1" and 1 3/8".
Deckle Edge Scissors or similar
Small Scissors
Moulding mat or similar (pricking/mouse mat maybe)
Character Shaper or Embossing tool
Silicone Glue
Ink Pad to edge





Punch out the shapes and using a pair of Deckle Edged Scissors cut around the circles


I've edged with an Encore Ink Pad and cut little slits into the flower. Used a Character Shaper or Embossing Tool adding pressure and lifting the outside petals to take shape


Used silicone to glue the 2 pieces together


Added Gold Liquid Pearls to the centre but you can use any embellishment for this.
Finished by punching leaves out with the new L-Em Leaf punch from The Glitter Pot.

The flowers look a little flat in the picture but they do have more dimension in real life. I will use these on a card shortly and think I will make more handmade flowers in the future, great for colour co-ordinating on a project!
Would love to see what results you come up with, this really was trial and error and by no means a professional tutorial.
Let me know what you think!

Clairexx

New Sherbert, Challenge Card

I got my Sherberts and just love these cute characters. They are lovely to colour, well done Pollycraft! This card meets three challenges, although that wasn't my intention. I've coloured her with Copics and added PeeWee glitter to her wings. Stamped round edge with a P Imp stamp. Haven't used my Copics in a while but I do prefer the colour range to Promarkers. Not enough pinks in the Promarker range in my opinion. The papers are BG 2 Scoops which are my favourite. Got the new Bittersweet but haven't the courage to take a page out as I only have 1 pad. Edged with a green Galaxy Marker and used Inksenntial White Pen to highlight. Rub Ons are 7 Gypsy, flower, brad and ribbon from stash. Thid card fits this weeks challenges over at Pollycraft, Stamp Challenge and the sketch is Friday Sketchers.

Was A Challenge!!

I made this card last night for last weeks Ismaki challenge but it ended today so am posting anyway. I have used papers from 3 bugs in a rug and distressed with gold & green pigment inks. I stamped my image from Alota Rubber onto the die I cut with my MM SLice. I just love this machine as there is no set up or feeding, still using the repostionable spray and its cut within seconds. Coloured with Promarkers and added peewee glitter to the antenna's and misted the background with Glimmer Mist Spray. Used my cuttlebug folder and again ditressed wih a gold ink pad. Edges papers with Black Galaxy Marker. Flowers from stash and again distressed. Yes, we have had snow, a good coverage and flurrys on and off, just waiting for tomorrow as we are expecting quite alot by the sounds of it. Cant wait!! Hope your keeping warm, I think it will be late night tonight, watching and waiting as I love the stuff!
Who says I'm a big kid LOL...
Clairex