Happy New Year's Eve...

Hey!

Long time no see :)

Vegas was epic and we really enjoyed our first and most definitely not our last Christmas there.

Lemon is here and we are off to Atlantic City today to celebrate New Year there.

Whilst I have Lemon here, desk time is limited. But I have been making thank you cards for all of our lovely presents.

Today's card is for a great friend and colleague, she is a little bit weird, but so am I, so we make a perfect team.

I loved this stamp by Unity Stamp Co and even though I was done with all my Christmas makes, I had to have this stamp, especially because I feel the sentiment has legs.

I used my new (Thank You Cheiron) Spectrum Noir Aquamarkers to colour the image.

I hope you all have a very Happy New Year, whatever you are doing, be safe and have fun.

Cx

Merry Christmas to you and yours...

Hey,

So this will be my last post until the 28th of December, as Hubby and I left for Vegas this morning..and I suspect that there will be a large amount of cray cray going on there and not much time for blogging.

It has been such a fun year for me - craft wise. I have learnt SO much, made a whole bunch of new friends and done classes and retreats that I never thought I would be brave enough to do.

At this point I have managed 286 posts..which is no mean feat..I really wanted to beat my 251 posts of 2014 and I've done that - so I am super dooper pleased and the year is not over yet..

I also got lucky with my new job - which I love - it also gives me the opportunity to work with JT again, which is always good.

Wishing all of you and yours a very Merry Christmas and thank you to all of you that have supported, guided, befriended and generally taken care of me this year.

Cx

Floral Birthday Wishes..

Hey,

So I am back in NYC..feels a bit like London today as it is rainy and grey.

I am having a nice leisurely day, as work is finished.

I am meeting an old friend who is in town for lunch, then I will be back at my desk for one last play before packing for Vegas - whoop whoop.

I made this card a few weeks ago, using Unity Stamp Co. floral stamp. I stamped it onto Tim Holtz watercolour paper and used distress inks and an aquabrush to colour it.

The sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp and is a firm fave from this year.

Another simple make.

I really enjoy this simple form of watercolouring and I have recently been gifted some Spectrum Noir Aqua markers, so will be trying it out with them and seeing what results I get.

Cx

Namaste Motherbleep....

Hey,

First up I just want to say apologies if these cards cause offense.

They are a special make for a friend, this is his catch-phrase and he mentioned that he wanted to turn it into t-shirts, so I made him a set of cards :)

I created the text myself in photoshop, because I had a specific idea in mind, that Namaste, should be really scripty and flowy, to counterbalance the swear word!

It worked and I am very happy with the text.

I used Simon Says Stamp Work Out stamps and dies that I bought in their BF sale. I coloured the image with Promarkers.

All very simple really.

Here is another shot, to show the variations in colours..

Fun cards and considering my potty mouth it's a miracle that I have made it nearly 7 years as a crafter without a card like this :)

I am heading back to NYC tonight. I had a fun Christmas with my folks yesterday.

Then on Wednesday Hubby and I leave for Christmas in Vegas..it's going to be EPIC!

Cx

Slumber or Christmas Party?

Hey,

Happy Weekend to you all.

I have had a fun week in London.

Tonight I am doing an early Christmas dinner with my parents before I head home tomorrow.

In the recent Black Friday sale frenzy, Simon Says Stamp were doing a great discount on sale items and on their exclusives.

I have really wanted the Slumber Party set for a while, but I never really had a use for it..but then it went on sale..no excuses left..

I made this card for JT, it's a bit silly, but I wanted to give her something that really didn't mean anything to go with the $20 challenge haul I delivered to her last week.

I loved colouring the stamps and I used Promarkers. The dots you can see on her PJ's are a new trick I learnt by using your blender pen to create bleached out dots - genius! Thanks Cheiron.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Cx

Moose Wreath..

Hey,

Happy Friday to you!

I am super happy today, it is the last day of work for 2015 for my firm and I am heading to my parents for early Christmas din dins tomorrow. YAY and YUMS..

I know I said no-more Christmas cards, but I made this one for a work colleague who had to listen to the history of Snazzymoose story..

The wreath is a freebie stamp, the moose punch is by EK Success and the sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp.

I kept it all simple and coloured the wreath with Promarkers and my new Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens (free with a subscription).

I like the starkness of the black moose head against the white and colour of the wreath,

Have a great weekend.

Cx

Mini Canvas Christmas Gifts..

Hi,

I wanted to make my 2 bosses a handmade gift.

For 2 reasons - 1) its nice to give handmade stuff 2) they do not understand crafting, they think JT and I are insane...

I guess no.2 has some truth :)

I decided to make them a mini canvas each.

I used the tissue paper and water technique that I showed earlier in the year.

It's fun to do.

The image top right is what the canvas looks like when you add the tissue and the water. The image bottom left is what was left once the tissue is dry and you remove it.

I wasn't overly happy with the final colours, so I used some distress paints and a stencil to create the overlay you can see.

The sentiment is by CASual Fridays, it's a firm fave of mine.

I hope that they like them.

Cx

Happy Birthday Beautiful..

Hey,

I made this card a while ago.

I basically had a stencil, distress stain and distress paint play at my desk.

I am just getting used to using the other ranger mediums and it's amazing how versatile they are.

I used a Tim Holtz stencil here and x3 distress stains.

The image is by Stampers Anonymous and the sentiment stamps are a mix of Simon Says Stamp and Paper Smooches.

A fun card and cool to play with the stains..it did mean that I found colour gaps. So I had to do a bit of stain shopping...

Cx

Retro Rubber #29..Ho Ho Holiday...still time to play...

Hey,

So it's nearly Christmas and I am in London enjoying the last week of the year with my colleagues.

I am doing a faux Christmas with my parents on Saturday before I fly back to NYC to spend Christmas in Vegas with Hubby!

There is still time for you to join in with the final Retro Rubber challenge of 2015 .

This time around, we have a fab Holiday challenge..

I'm showing you a different holiday card today, I thought it would be fun to show one more of the millions of Christmas cards that I made :)

This one uses a digital file that I got from the lovely Tam Hess over at CardMakingArtists. It was her Christmas freebie for last year.

Show us your holiday projects, but first pop over to Retro Rubber and check out the fab creations by my talented teammates.

Remember to use a stamp older than a year and the challenge ends on Dec 18th  - we will be back on January 19th, following a break for the holiday season.

Cx

Challenge from London..

Hey,

So we are back from Lisbon...

More about that later in the week, right now I am just trying to focus on working :)

I really wanted to enter Sunday Stamps Challenge again and the current theme inspired me..

I really loved the colours and the soft tones of the photo..

So before we left for London I made a card..

I stamped the starburst from Stampin' Up Kinda Eclectic, it reminded me of the dandelion. Then I die cut it using a Simon Says Stamp stitched circle die.

The sentiment dies are by Hero Arts.

I wish I had embossed the background looking at it now :( But it still works and the little bits of bling and white perfect accents lift the whole thing.

Hope you are having a great Monday.

Cx

Cheiron ROCKS!!

Hey,

So this year I have made a great friend in the awesome Cheiron.

Not only is she an amazing teacher, but she is a totally fun and awesome person.

She has shown such kindness towards me and it's so nice to be friends with her. Case in point, just before I left for London she sent me a big package of pens / pencils for me, my ma and JT.

How nice is that!

Cheiron has a very cheeky personality. So when I was making a birthday card for her (in October...) I saw this Funny Bones stamp in my stash and it felt like something she is totally going to do when she is old!

I used distress stains, stencils and translucent paste because these are all the things that Cheiron has helped me to use better.

Both Cheiron and her friend Jenn (also a fabulous teacher and my friend too) are both advocates of using things better - not right..there is no right, as its all so personal. I needed to hear that :)

We are heading back to London from Lisbon tonight..no doubt hungover as hell!

Cx

Put on some Lipstick...

Hey,

Another scheduled post for you..

I bought this fab stamp by Unity Stamp Co. a while ago, but I haven't had a chance to play with it.

So I broke it out last weekend and made 2 really simple cards with it.

I didn't want the cards to have too much going on because the words are so impactful.

I used some great papers from my October Simon Says Stamp cardkit. They are scraps that were left over from bigger sheets.

I stamped onto a white MFT stitched rectangle die cut and mounted the pretty scrap papers onto a black card blank and then using foam dots I mounted the stamp piece over the top of this.

Simple.

Sometime it feels really nice to make a card as simple as these :)

Cx

Personalised Notebook...

Hi,

Happy Friday..

This is a scheduled post, as today my whole firm and our significant others are on our way to Lisbon for our Christmas Party.

As I am going to be with my work colleagues this weekend, I thought I'd show you the notebook that I gave one of my work colleagues last month for her birthday.

I have a big stash of these Muji blank kraft notebooks - I like this size (A5/A7) best. I use them for emergency gifts.

Erika loves butterflies..so this was a pretty easy one to make. I used my fab letter stamps for her name and an Inkadinkadoo butterfly stamp. Voila! Personalised notebook.

Easy peasy gift, but makes the recipient very happy...every time.

Have a fun weekend, I know we are going to!

Cx

3 stamp cards..

Hi,

Hopefully as you read this I will be in London.

Hubby and I are in town to join my firm for our work Christmas party in Lisbon - alright!! I'm staying a week, Hubby is going home next Monday.

I spent a part of last weekend playing with my stamps.

I set myself the mini challenge of making cards with 3 stamps and as little ink / colour as possible.

Fun times ahead..

I stuck with a flower stamp by Unity Stamp Co and changed the background and sentiment stamps.

The main card uses a background stamp by Stampin' Up and the sentiment is by Clearly Besotted.

Card 2 uses Simon Says Stamp falling hearts and a Hero Arts sentiment.

Card 3 uses Simon Says Stamp chevron and a Papermania sentiment.

I used 2 distress inks on all of the cards and spritzed them with water and dried them with my heat tool. I really like the way the colour spreads and merges the 2 colours.

Super easy makes...again...my time at my desk has been limited so I've been maximising it with simple makes.

Cx

Moving Along With The Times..Give Thanks...Top 3

Hi,

Thanks to everyone who played along with my Moving Along With The Times challenge.

We had so many fab entries it was hard to choose a top 3.

First up though is the grab bag winner..

Congratulations to No.10 Vickie O Dell

Please email me at clairescraftsATgmxDOTcom and I will post your prize when I return to NYC on 21st December.

Here are the top 3 in no particular order..

3. Create With Joyce - superb use of colour and I love all the details, the buttons are amazing.

7. Rae Ann - Love all the details on this card, the image is great and beautifully coloured.

11. Anita - I love the simple CAS nature of this card and the blending is pretty awesome too.

Congratulations to the top 3 - please collect your top 3 badge from the sidebar. 

Don't forget there is another fabulous challenge over at MAWTT tomorrow.

I'm leaving for London soon, so my posts will be scheduled for the next few days..

Cx

Retro Rubber Challenge #29...Ho Ho Holidays...

Hey,

Welcome to the final Retro Rubber challenge of 2015 - it's been a super fun year and I've loved being part of the DT.

Before I introduce the challenge theme, I want to take the opportunity to wish my awesome teammates and all the wonderful people that have supported Retro Rubber this year a very happy holiday season.

This time around, we have a fab Holiday challenge..

As I loathe and detest making holiday cards, it is a painful exercise, so I used this challenge as a break from Santa's etc :)

My card is actually our Holiday card for my Husband's parents. I thought my MIL would love the shaker.

I stamped the Sizzix snowflake stamp (it's huge) in silver ink onto white paper, I added some quickie glue and some glitter to some of the snowflakes for a bit of shimmer. I've had this stamp for nearly 4 years..I love it and it gets broken out every year.

I then die cut the aperture and made my shaker pouch using the FUSE tool, the pouch is full of sequins / beads, etc that came in a big bag from JT.

I die cut the Die-versions Winter Wishes in grey cardstock and adhered to the shaker pouch.

Reasonably detailed card to make, but fun..I did only make one, as I like certain family and friends to get unique cards.

What do you love / dislike about the holiday season?

Show us your holiday projects, but first pop over to Retro Rubber and check out the fab creations by my talented teammates.

Remember to use a stamp older than a year and the challenge ends on Dec 18th  - we will be back on January 19th, following a break for the holiday season (I am going home next week, then returning to go to Vegas!!)

Cx

Welcome shiny new Niece..

Hey,

Hope you had a great weekend.

We did, we caught up with friends, hung out together and played at our respective desks :)

One of my good friends had a baby this week - a bit earlier than expected, but all is well, they knew it was a girl and so I have been calling her my niece...

She is a stunner and called Eloise, isn't that pretty.

I made this fun shaker card to welcome Eloise to the world.

Obviously I used the Fuse to make the shaker pouch, but this time I stamped the sentiment onto a piece of card and sealed that inside the pouch along with the sequins.

I used a brand new stamp and die set by Studio Calico for the sentiment and the elephant. I added a frame using my new Simon Says Stamp stitched square dies, it helped cover up a couple of mistakes..

It felt a bit flat, so I added the row of hearts by Die Versions in a bright pink paper..this made the card for me!

I can't wait to meet the beautiful Eloise and have a cuddle..

I'm working on her quilt, hopefully it will be done before Christmas

Cx

Cheiron teaches Mama Elephant..

Hey,

I thought I'd share my makes from Thursday's class at The Inkpad NYC.

I decided not to re-photograph them and so these are the shots from the actual night.

My girl Cheiron was our teacher - using Mama Elephant products.

It was lots of fun as usual and I learnt some new stuff..I was also glad to see that I have managed to enable Cheiron sufficiently that she bought a FUSE and that is how we made the Owl shaker card. GET THE FUSE IT IS AWESOME..

All four cards were fun to make and the graduated dots idea has sparked some ideas.

I love Mama Elephant products..I have a few things that we used in class, that I might need in my life - the die we used for the red elf card, the tag dies / stamps from the elf card...etc, etc

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Cx

Happy Birthday Daddy..

Hi,

So complete mess here..

A) I forgot to take a photo of my Dad's card in my haste to get it in the post

B) Said card has been returned to me, because according to Royal Mail my parents do not have a post box?!

Anyway...

Happy Birthday Daddy..I am looking forward to hanging with him in 2 weeks, as I will be in London and I'm having an early Christmas with my parents.

I love my Dad, he is awesome, a bit weird, sport mad, music crazy with a wicked sense of style and humour - I don't like being this far away from him, but in one sense it's cool because he sends me the funniest emails ever.

Because I don't have his card, I thought I would show the card I made for Anna the owner of The Inkpad NYC, she shares the same bday as my Dad, so it works :) She's also pretty awesome too and thanks to her and her wonderful store I have learnt a lot and made some cool friends.

Happy Saturday..

Cx

Simon Says..Christmas Cards..

Hey,

Happy Friday.

Well it is a very happy day for me today for 3 reasons - 

1 - All of my Christmas cards have left the building and are winging their way to new owners :)

2 - Class at the Inkpad last night with Cheiron was AWESOME as usual

3 - Hubby and I are having a mini Christmas party with a couple of our friends tonight (not really a party, but with these two guests..its a party)

Fun times!

So I think this is my final 2015 Christmas card post...

I made so many of them, mainly in batches of twos and fours, I have ended up with some spares which is awesome and the new/old technique of varying the styles works out really well and stops me hating it so much.

Also fun things like the Simon Says Stamp December Cardkit make me a happy Christmas Bunny...

All the cards today were made using the kit, so easy and fun to work with.

I kept them all really simple and only used dies and markers that were not in the kit. There are actually several more, but these 3 were my faves.

It inspired me so much that this weekend, I will be digging through some of my older kits and having a play.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Cx

Moving Along With the Times..Still time..

Hey,

There is still time for you to join in the Challenge over at Moving Along With The Times...

It was my turn to host, so the theme is Thanks / Thanksgiving.

I made you another card this week :) using the fab sketch from Sunday Stamps -

I loved the sketch and thought it would be fun to make another Thank You card..

I decided that it would be fun to use one of the giant square cards JT gave me, along with some fun papers that I have had in my stash forever. I used a new-ish stamp set by Avocado Arts for the wreath and sentiment. I fussy cut around the wreath and coloured it using Promarkers. 

To bring it all together I used some sparkly green tape and a piece of twine.

Time for you to show us your Thanks projects, pop over to MAWTT and check out the designs from the rest of the team.

Challenge ends at 6pm BST Weds 9th December.. and don't forget I have a grab bag to give away to the first person out of my hat :)

Cx

Share Handmade Kindness...

Hi,

Can you believe it's December already?!

Where has this year gone?

I have been working on a little something for my crafting buddies, to show my appreciation for them and to join in Share Handmade Kindness.

I had fun making my cards and something to give them..

The card is the one with the Rose on the front - it's by Unity Stamp Co. and was part of a grab-bag..I like grab-bags, a nice mix of hit and miss :)

The mermaid stamp is new and by Stampendous and I bought her on sale at Michael's..I love mermaid stamps and have quite a collection of them. I watercoloured her and die cut her out, so my buddies can use her however they like.

Fun to make things for others in amongst all the Christmas card making.

They all left in the post yesterday, so they should start to arrive later on this week.

Cx

Retro Rubber #28 ..Anything Goes..Still time to play...

Hey,

There is still time for you to play along with Anything Goes over at Retro Rubber.

I thought I'd show you another card this week - 

I used a fun stamp by Simon Says Stamp. I stamped it onto Ranger watercolour paper and used Distress inks and an aquabrush to colour it. I used Promarkers for the accents and a bit of Stickles glitter glue.

I kept it simple and die cut it using a MFT stitched rectangle die and then mounted it onto an American Crafts card blank.

Link up over at Retro Rubber whilst checking out the great creations from the ladies.

Don't forget to use a stamp a year or older and tell us about it. Challenge ends on Dec. 4th

Cx

More Christmas and a challenge...

Hey,

Hope you all had a great weekend and if you were celebrating Thanksgiving, I hope you had a wonderful time with your family and friends..I most certainly did.

Do you remember the Snazzymoose I created a few weeks ago?

Well here are 2 cards I made with some of the remaining moose...

I used Papermania wooden frames and mounted them onto Lawn Fawn card blanks, then added my Snazzymoose. Simple.

I couldn't stamp onto the blue card, so used a peel-off. 

Here is a red version - 

I love the simplicity of these and I thought they would make a great entry into the PDE Linky Party challenge -

Happy Monday to you all.

Cx

Happy Times...

Hi,

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving however you spent it.

We had so much fun with JT's parents and godparents..it was an absolute blast (great company) and the food was simply amazing.

My collage show us all on Thanksgiving morning in our pjs, the dinner table - looking gorgeous, Sally and Gregory (the most amazing chef ever!) with the beautiful and tasty Turkey, the mini doughnuts I made and finally Sally and I out having some girl-time.

I managed to do a fair amount of Black Friday online and actual shopping, in the rare eating and drinking pauses. Some of my bargains were awesome!! I also finished off the Annual $20 challenge that JT and I play..

We also made it to the casino and I won a fair bit of money, so I got a new handbag..it's almost as bad as my craft obsession..

Hubby and I are home now and we are going to have a quiet Sunday in the house before we go back to work on Monday.

I am very thankful for the amazing time that I got to spend with my Hubby and these amazing friends - thank you JT for sharing.

Cx

Playdate Typewriters..

Hi,

Happy Friday!

As this is a scheduled post, I can't tell you how amazing my Thanksgiving was :) That will have to wait for Sunday..I hope you and yours had a nice day.

Today's cards are ones I made with JT on Sunday during our playdate.

She wanted to give our new Stampin' Up Tap Tap Tap a spin...

I've used it already, but love it so much, that I was more than happy to have a play and ended up with 2 really nice cards for my stash..

All the stamps are from the set and I fussy cut the typewriter for both cards..needs a die..

Have a great day, I'm going to be doing some Black Friday shopping with the Nixons and heading to a Casino for some afternoon amusement..

Cx

Moving Along With The Times..Happy Turkey Day...

Hello!

Welcome to another great Moving Along With The Times challenge from Team B.

This week I am your hostess and it seemed only right - as today is Thanksgiving here in the US - that I chose a team of Thanks / Thanksgiving..

There are 2 things that I want to share before I talk about my card..

I am giving thanks for my amazing friend and craft buddy JT, she is also on the MAWTT team and she's the reason why I am going to be having an amazing Thanksgiving this year. Because she was kind enough to hook us up with her Parents when we moved to the US..they are awesome, cool and super fun..just like my girl JT.

Because it is Thanksgiving, I have been going through my stash and I have a lot of things that are unused..so I have made a fun grabbag, which will be full of fun surprises for the first number that I pick out of a hat! One of the things in the bag will be these awesome dies -

Now onto my card..

I kept it simple, I used a Penny Black spotted background stamp in a soft yellow for the oval piece. I die cut the Lawn Fawn Scripty Thanks in gold and the Turkey, I coloured with Promarkers - he is by Lawn Fawn and it has a die too..

Inside it says 'Happy Turkey Day' LOL..

Very simple and already with friends to wish them a Happy Turkey Day.

Now it's your turn to show us your projects, but first go to MAWTT and see the fun things my talented teammates have created.

If you are in the US and celebrating Thanksgiving, have a great day and remember to give thanks for something..that's kind of the point :)

Cx

Eat, Drink and Be Merry...

Hi,

I'll be heading to D-Town later on today to Celebrate Thanksgiving with JT's amazing parents and her godparents..

Today I am showing some more of my Christmas card makes.

I have been a bit obsessed with 'Eat, Drink and be Merry' as a greeting..

So I bought a couple of stamp sets that had good Christmas sentiments and included 'Eat, Drink and be Merry'

For the headline card, I stamped the sentiment by Papermania and used a spotty stamp by Crate Paper for the cupcake background. The cupcake is by Crate Paper and I stamped it, fussy cut it and then added liquid applique for the icing - yums...

Icing close-up

 Liquid applique is the BOMB..if you haven't used it try it out.

The second version of the card uses the same sentiment, but by Crafter's Companion. I love this version, its so modern. I added some wine / martini glasses by Studio G and a snowflake.

Both versions are on stitched die-cuts (Simon Says Stamp and MFT) and are mounted onto American Craft patterned card blanks.

Again super simple, but effective Christmas makes.

Cx

Retro Rubber #28 Anything Goes..

Hey,

It is time for everyone's fave theme this time over at Retro Rubber.

Time to get settled in at your desk and have a play - that is what anything goes means to me..

I decided to dig out some NBUS that is old..I have had the main Art Impressions stamp for nearly 18mths and I am ashamed to say I have never used it!!

So I dug it out here and decided it would make a fun watercoloured anniversary card for my friends, who are a little quirky.

I watercoloured the stamp using an aquabrush and distress inks. The sentiment was a freebie and I have had it for about 4 years..it is one of my go to anniversary stamps!

What anything goes project will you create? Link up over at Retro Rubber whilst checking out the great creations from the ladies.

Don't forget to use a stamp a year or older and tell us about it. Challenge ends on Dec. 4th

Cx

Playdate Pinterest CASE...

Hey,

Happy Monday!

Hope you had a good weekend, I had a very relaxing one, mainly spent at my desk..

I also managed to have a playdate with JT yesterday..we had a fun date and cracked out some impressive cards.

One of the things we used as inspiration was this card from my Pinterest board -

It was actually made using a border die, but I thought I could make it work with the myriad of border stamps I have!!

The first card today uses a Simon Says Stamp border triangle stamp and the sentiment is by Technique Tuesday.

I used the same sentiment stamps for this next version, but dug out an ancient Papermania border stamp, that has not been shown a lot of love ever..

Simple cards, that I think can have any sentiment added to them, I might make a whole blank batch...

Cx