Journey to Paris

Good morning folks and big warm welcome to my new followers, it's always lovely to 'meet' new friends! Today's card was made for the challenge at A Vintage Journey where the theme is 'A little bit French'. This project was actually inspired by the alley way next to my work, not as glamorous as Paris, in fact its a very scruffy and rundown little street in the town centre but among all the weeds, muddy parking bays and old wooden doors with peeling paint there are pretty forget-me-nots, little wild birds looking for nesting materials and bees and butterflies. You really can find beauty everywhere.

I'd made this background a few weeks ago using a mask from Clarity, Stampers Anonymous stamps, Crafters Workshop harlequin and squares masks and distress inks (tumbled glass, broken china, old paper, vintage photo and walnut stain). Once all the ink was dry I applied Maimeri Glassy gel over the squares through the stencil and then sprinkled with micro beads, I love this effect its so pretty when the beads catch the light.

The images are two of my favourite stamps from Crafty Individuals, coloured with Graph'It markers and distressed with Old Paper and Vintage photo distress inks, I added some pretty blue lace and bead trim to the bottom of the images.

I've added some crinoline flowers, an Ideology facet layered over a sentiment from the Gecko Galz. I've stamped some butterflies, fussy cut them and layered them over the card and to finish off I've added a seam binding bow and a gorgeous mother of pearl button topped with a twine bow.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafty Individuals: Nature's Beauty 

Docerela Creations: anything goes

Fussy and Fancy: all about travel

Its all about the vintage: shabby chic

Penny Black and More: blossoms and blooms

Well I'd better scoot off to work now so thanks for popping by today, 

Claire xx

Gecko Galz Christmas Angel

Good morning my lovelies, oooh what terrible weather we're having! I hope you're keeping warm and safe wherever you are. My term as Guest Artist at the Gecko Galz is coming to an end but I wanted to share this little wall hanging with you, I've had  so much fun working with these gorgeous designs!

I began by printing the focal image which is a digital stamp from the Figgy Pudding Collection, isn't she a beauty? I've coloured her with Graph'It markers and added some tumbled glass distress ink around the edges, the little snowflakes were made with a mask and stencil paste, liberally sprinkled with glamour dust. I applied Maimeri Matte Gel Medium to adhere the image to a chipboard oval and edged the image with some pretty lace and iridescent beaded trim from the Ribbon Girl. To finish off I added some pretty blue seam binding ribbon  Here's another pic of the image ....

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas: music

Crafty Little Fairies: anything goes

Creative knockouts: favourite twine or ribbon (mine is seambinding ribbon)

Creative Moments: Lace/anything goes

Delightful Challenges: winged things

Moving along with the times: shape up

Totally Papercrafts: No squares allowed

Don't forget to check out the fabulous Gecko Galz blog, as well as the amazing artwork there are some fun challenges, blog hops and of course freebies too!

Thanks for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Gecko Galz Guest Artist: Beautiful Dreamer

Good morning folks, how's your week going? My card today is one of the projects I created as Guest Artist over at Gecko Galz. As well as lots of gorgeous Christmas goodies, there are some beautiful vintage collage sheets called 'Beautiful Dreamer' and I couldn't resist using one of the lovely wistful ladies for this card.

I used a pretty vintage backing paper, also from Gecko Galz (from the Camelot Paper Pack) to cover a pretty shaped card blank and layered the image up over cheesecloth, feahers, pretty lace and ribbon (from the Ribbon Girl). I added lots of gorgeous flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts, some little wired gems from my stash and some fluffy feathers.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

365 cards: Vintage with fabric

Allsorts: ribbon and bows

Creative Moments: Lace/ anything goes

Happy Campers: show us your flowers

Paper Shelter: 2 colours

Ribbon Girl: October Colour challenge

Sister Act: anything goes

If youv'e got a min, do check out the amazing Gecko Galz blog, as well as amazing artwork from the talented DT you can sign up for a fabby newsletter which comes with a grogeous freebie too.

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Guest Artist at Gecko Galz: Christmas post

Good morning folks, as you can see I had a blast creating my projects for my month as Guest Artist at Gecko Galz! I've used images from Altered Christmas for this card, I really enjoyed making it as I adore mail art so its was loads of fun to use so many different mail elements in this card.

I began by printing the image out on some of my treasured perforated postage paper, before I printed I masked the white lines with some fine masking tape. The image was layered up over some recycled brown paper and I decoupaged the little cuties on their sled and also the sentiment too. 

I found the perfect backing paper for this project, its from Christmas Post by CraftWork Cards, love it! The shaped  card is also from Craftwork cards. The paper has been edged with a gold krylon pen

I layered the image up over one of the post cards and some pompom trim and red seam binding ribbon. Next i added some of the cute little Christmas stamps from Altered Christmas and lastly a die cut flower and card candi also from Craftwork Cards.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Come and Get it: any faux technique (faux postage for me)

Craftitude: anything goes/beginning with S (my s is stamps)

Crimbo Crackers: Christmas birds

Winter Wonderland: wrap it up

thanks so much for visiting today, do nip over and check out all the new goodies from Gecko Galz, and don't forget to sign up to the monthly newsletter as you get a gorgeous image sheet as a freebie every month!

Claire xx

Gecko Galz Guest Artist: Christmas decorations

Good morning folks, my last day at work before 5 days off yippppeeeeee! Today I'm sharing a project made as part of my Guest Artist spot at Gecko Galz, I fell in love with these gorgeous images from the scrummy new Holiday Jewel Its  and thought they would make wonderful Christmas decorations.

I love to make altered microscope slides and the images from the Holiday Jewel Its really captured my imagination. I used Maimeri Glassy gel to adhere the images to the slide, the images were slightly smaller than the slides so I backed them with some white card stamped with tiny snowflakes from the Winter Spruce stamp set by Premium Art Brands. I swiped the edges of the slides with versamark and added silver embossing powder to seal them. I added little crow charms at the top with some narrow red ribbon to hang the decorations. At the bottom, I attached some metal filigree corners and then added some charms, silver bells and beads from my stash

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:
ABC Christmas: transparent
Christmas at Sweet Stampin: Santa Claus
4 Crafty Girlz: anything goes
Crafty Ribbons: anything goes with ribbon
Crimbo Crackers: embossing

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope to see you again soon
Claire xx

Gecko Galz Guest Artist: Christmas House

Hello my lovelies, I'm sooooooo excited and so proud as a while ago I received an email from Leanne asking if I'd be a Guest Artist at Gecko Galz! Of course I said yes in a heartbeat and was lucky enough to be able to design with all the gorgeous new products available at Gecko Galz this month. As well as a gorgeous collection of vintage ladies called Beautiful Dreamer, there's a whole array of gorgeous Christmas Collage Sheets, digital stamps and papers! As soon as I received them, I got carried away printing and then couldn't decide which of the beautiful images to use lol. I decided to alter a little chipboard house so I could include lots of images, talk about spoiled for choice lol. 

The house was painted with acrylic paint and I added tissue stamped with music to the back of the little rooms. Then the fun started, I had a blast cutting all the images out and arranging them in the little house to see where they would look best. All the images got a coat of Maimeri Glossy Gel medium to give them a little shine and to protect them. While they were drying I had a lovely rummage through my stash for lots of bits and bobs to add to the little house. Here are some more pics:

As you can see, I used everything but the kitchen sink lol! The images are from 4 of the collage sheets released this month: Whimsical Christmas, Santa Claus Lane. Christmas Children and Altered Christmas.

I also added some Tattered Angels Glimmer chips coloured with distress inks, tiny Christmas Baubles, some little bells, stickers and some Sizzix die cuts that I'd triple embossed. To finish off I made my own 'snow' using a Mixture of Maimeri Glossy Gel, Maimeri White gesso and a little modelling paste, I applied this with a palette knife and added a sparkly mixture of glitter, mica flakes, Stampendous Shaved Ice, tiny stars and white flock! Phew :-)

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Crafts Too: Texture add something shiny and glittery

Drunken Stampers: die cuts

Totally Gorjuss: Traditional Christmas Colours

Thanks so much for stopping by today, I'd love it if you'd pop over to the Gecko Galz blog and visit there too, if you sign up to the newsletter you get a gorgeous freebie image sheet too so its well worth a visit!

Claire xx

Thank you Inspiration at Vintage Stamping Challenges

Good morning all, and a very happy Monday to you :-) I'm heading off to work in a minute but before I get  my nose to the grindstone I just wanted to share a card made for an inspiration post for our 'Thank you' Challenge at Vintage Stamping Challenges. Our lovely sponsor Leo from Flonzcraft has a $20 voucher up for grabs, so don't miss out!

I've used a bp from my stash, toned down with some watered down gesso and I've added faux stitching around the edges. The gorgeous image is from Flower Kingdom and i've used the pretty border stamp to create the border. The images have been coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers and i've used PanPastels to create a cloudy sky in the background. The sentiment is one of my favourite stamps from Chocolate Baroque. 

I've layered the image up over some cheesecloth, organza ribbon and lace. I've added lots of paper flowers, brushed with gesso and sprinkled with glamour dust.

 The beautiful vintage postcards are from the Gecko Galz and the butterfly charm is from the Ribbon Girl. To finish off i've added some faux pearls.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Art Impressions Stamps: Layer it up
Crafty Ribbons: anything goes with ribbon
Eclectic Ellapu: anything goes
Milk coffee: lace and pearls
Sweet Stampin: anything but birthday
Totally gorjuss: ribbon and pearls
Totally Papercrafts: flowers and lace
Word Art Wednesdays: anything goes

Have a good day, and thanks for popping by
Claire xx

Red, White and Blue at PanPastel UK

Good morning folks, we've got a new challenge starting at PanPastel UK and this week we've gone all patriotic with a 'Red, White and Blue' theme. As always there's a fabby PanPastel starter kit up for grabs thanks to Berni, our generous sponsor from Your Creativity Store! 

It was a great excuse to have a play as i'd been wanting to mess around with tartan style background with my PanPastels. I used Permanent Red and Ultramarine Blue pans, applied with a Sofft flat sponge bar. I used my ruler to keep the lines straight and then used my ruler again to create the white lines, this time i used my dinky little battery operated pencil eraser to remove the colour and complete the pattern.

I used an assortment of stamps from Crafty individual and the Artistic Stamper along with a gorgeous image from the Gecko Galz and layered everything up, adding some pearls here and there and a little rose.

To finish off I've added a little threepenny bit charm at the top of the tag and some lace, seambinding ribbon and a button with a little twine bow at the bottom of my tag.

I'm entering this tag in the following challenges:

ABC Challenge: lovely lace

Crafty Creations: no patterned paper

Crafty Sentiments: Lace and pearls

Charisma cardz: Flag colours (UK)

Creative Craft Challenge: red white and blue

Hiding in my craft room: use banners

Just add ink: new technique

One Stop Craft: not square

My teamies have got some fab project to inspire you so if you've got a few minutes, pop over to have a look. Have a lovely Sunday

thanks for visiting today 

Claire xx

Anything goes at PanPastel UK

Good morning folks,  how on earth did it get to be Easter Sunday already? And we've put the clocks forward an hour so its British Summer time, well it doesn't feel like it here lol. I hope you're enjoying the Easter weekend, and have seen a little sunshine. My card today is my DT offering for our new challenge at PanPastel UK where our theme is 'Anything goes', so no excuse not to enter this week! As always we've got a fab prize of a PanPastel Starter set for our lucky winner thanks to our lovely sponsor Berni.

I've used a vintage mermaid image from the Gecko Galz (I just love their images!) and applied it to a card blank using Maimeri Matte Medium. I coloured around the image with neutral grey PanPastel and then used Maimeri Light modelling paste and a Crafters Workshop Template to create a brick effect around the image. Once the paste was dry I applied Burnt Sienna and Raw Umber PanPastels to colour the bricks. I added some shells, faux pearls and a little piece of fishing net , Here's another pic:

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Artistic Inspirations: fantasy

Clearly Inspired: Anything goes

Happy Campers: add dimensions

Penny's Paper Crafty: anything but a square

Do check out the fab project from my lovely teamies at PanPastel UK if you've got a minute.

Thanks for popping by today

Claire xx

Easter with the Gecko Galz

Good morning my lovely friends, Monday already but for a pleasant change I'm not moaning about going to work as I've got the day off ! We seem to be back in the grip of winter, yesterday was freezing cold and we had snow, snow in March,eeeeek thats not good.  My card this morning is my entry for the Easter challenge over at the Gecko Galz yahoo group. I've used a gorgeous vintage image from Gecko Galz (of course lol).

I've created a background with PanPastels and used Maimeri iridsescent paste through a Crafters Workshop template. Once that was dry I added some colour with Graph'It markers. I've layered the image up over a scrap of card embossed with a texture fade and some cheesecloth. I've added blue velvet ribbon, green gingham ribbon and a little heart charm, along with some cream lace from The Ribbon Girls. I've gone a bit OTT with embellies on this card, I've added one of my bargain birds nest from the pound shop (coloured the eggs with markers), flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts,  and some faux pearls too.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Brown Sugar: Easter

Crafty Calendar: Easter Eggstravaganza

Live and Love Crafts: Easter

My time to craft: embossing

Oozak : spring

Quirky Crafts: make your own background

Well i'm off to have a very lazy day, after such a hectic week at work last week I don't seem to have any energy so I'm going tidy up and throw some washing in then recharge my batteries in front of the TV with a pile of images to colour (and a large bag of maltesers too). Ahhh bliss! 

Have a good day

Thanks for visiting today, 

Claire xx

15 minutes of fame (well nearly lol)

Good morning folks, ooooooooh I'm beside myself with excitement this morning as some of my projects are going to be on TV this evening! The lovely Berni from Your Creativity Store asked us girlies on the PanPastel Design Team  if we would have a play with the fabulous new Graph'It markers and guess what?? They are going to be on Create and Craft this evening at 7pm, to add to the excitement our very own Tracie from the DT will be demonstrating them!! 

Graphi'It markers are a range of alcohol markers, 'whats new there' I hear you say, we've all got promarkers, copics or spectrum noirs in our craft rooms. Well Graph'It markers bled beautifully, they are quite thick so very comfy on the old paws if you're having a long colouring session and they come is a gorgeous selection of colours. Now as far as I'm concerned the biggest advantage of Graph'It markers is their fab 'blendability' and the fact that they have a really unique accessory - the Mix'It blending palette and this may look like a little square of plastic but it is a WONDERFUL creation lol. It means that you can mix your marker colours to create different shades but also to create new colours and then you use your blender pen to apply the colour! You can graduate colour on your Mix'It and then colour and shade in one 'swooosh' of the blender pen. 

Absolute genius idea!

This little project really shows the 'blendability' of colour you can get with the Graph'Its and the Mix'It I've used one of the Colour Me  Domino images from the Gecko Galz for this little hanging ornament. I coloured the butterfly with the markers and as you can see th e purple is nice strong shade. I wanted to create a 'wash' of colour for the background so I blended the purple with a little pink on the Mix'It and applied with the chisel end of the blender pen - so much quicker than just layering colour by colour as we usually do with alcohol markers. This means that you don't need as many colour pens too!

Once the image was colours I stamped two Ranger frosted Microscope slides with a little swirl using black stazon at the top and bottom although you can't really see that in the pic.

I've used glossy accents to stick the images to some frosted Microscope slides and to stick it all together, and used silver EP around the edges to seal them.  I've added At the bottom I've used a metal filigree corner, again attached with glossy accents and bent around the slide with a little more glossy accents at the black. The metal tassle was made with an old broken silver chain that I cut up into short lengths and popped on a jump ring  At the top I've added a glue on bale and some beads from my stash, a little butterfly charm and a gorgeous little rose button. Once it was all dry, I've finished off with some lilac seam binding ribbon.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Anything goes: Vintage/Shabby Chic

Everybody Art: Metal

Paper Minutes: butterflies in spring

Tuesday Alchemy: Hearts all a flutter (hearts/wings)

Whimsy Inspiration: Wings

We've had an awful lot of weather here in the last day or so lol, snow, wind, then a bit of rain and now its freezing. I haven't ventured out yet but it looks a bit like an ice rink outside eeeeeeeeeek! Take care if you're out and about it in and thanks for popping by today

Claire xx

Animals at PanPastel UK

Good morning folks, I hope your Sunday has got off to a good start. Its time for a new challenge over at PanPastel UK and this time around our theme is 'Animals'. As always the lucky winner of our challenge will receive a fab prize of a PanPastel starter kit from the lovely Berni at Your Creativity Store so don't miss out on your change to win. I've made a little canvas for my DT project, I had so much messy fun making this lol. The focal image is from Gecko Galz, I couldn't resist this gorgeous image and thought it would be perfect for this weeks challenge theme. 

I began by applying Permanent Red and Black PanPastels to the canvas and then applied Maimeri Matte Gel to adhere the image. I 'blobbed' Maimeri light modelling paste all around the image for some texture. Once this was dry I added more Red and Black PanPastels and then used the encrusted jewel technique to create some sparkle and texture around the image. I applied Maimeri Matte medium to hold everything in place and added lots of different embossing powder - red, gold, black and clear and then added a little glitter, microbeads and some pretty red flower sequins.

I've added a red and gold bow with a button from my stash. I also made a heart charm using a stamp from Damask Hearts by Chocolate Baroque. I coloured some shrink plastic with Permanent Red PanPastel and stamped the image with gold Stazon. The heart is attached with jump rings and i've also added a little key charm.

Here's another pic of the texture around the image:

I'm entering this canvas in the following challenges:

Creative Corner: love and hearts

Delicious Doodles: Red red and more red

One Crazy Stamper: love

Sparkle and Glitter Rick St Dennis: hugs and hearts

Sugar Creek Hollow: romantic love

Totally Papercrafts: make your own embellies

WOW: love and Romance

Well i don't know about you but I'm planning a very lazy Sunday. I really should catch up with some housework but the temptation of putting my feet up has got the better of me lol. 

thanks for popping by today, 

Claire xx