One for the boys inspiration at PanPastel UK

Good morning my lovelies, how is your weekend going? Its been tipping it down with rain all weekend so I've had a nice lazy weekend so far with plenty of messy fun in my craft room. Today's project is my inspiration project for our 'One for the boys' challenge at PanPastel UK You've still got a week to enter to be in with a chance of winning some gorgeous crafty goodies from Premium Craft Brands You don't have to use PanPastels to enter but of course we love it when you do

I've made a canvas, I began with a thick layer of Maimeri Light Modelling Paste, adding lots of texture with stencils, a texture tool and my fingers lol to create a kind of rough bark effect. Once it was dry I added colour with PanPastels - Raw umber plus shade, Burnt Sienna plus Shade and gave it all a coat of Maimeri glossy gel medium

The stamps are all from Artistic Outpost (Huck Finn set), stamped on kraft card with Potting Soil Archival Ink I tore the edges and distressed with PanPastel in Raw Umber I've layered the images up over some burlap, corrugated card,die cut cogs (painted with Maimeri metallic acrylics) I've also added a pen nib and some twine

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Crafts 4 Eternity: For the boys

Creative Card Crew: nautical

Creative Corner: use an old stamp

(I love this stamp set but haven't used it for ages)

Creative moments: Monochromatic

Its all about the vintage: use dies

Left of Centre: at the movies (The adventures of Huckleberry Finn)
Scrapbooker Phd: die cuts
Simon Says Stamp: Fathers day/masculine
Thats Crafty: use texture paste

Have a lovely Sunday, thanks for popping by and hope to see you again soon
Claire xx

Metallic Inspiration at PanPastel Challenge

Good morning my lovlies, and Happy Mothers Day to all the mums out there. I'm hoping to be spoiled and pampered today although as my boy is usually in bed nursing a hangover until middle of the afternoon I think breakfast in bed is a bit unlikely lol. Today's project is an inspiration project for our Metallic challenge at PanPastel UK, you've still got a week to enter and there's a fab prize from goodies for our lucky winner too!! As always my teamies have created some amazing artwork so if you've got a min do pop over and have a look.

I've used stamps from Artistic Outpost and Chocolate Baroque, stamped with Potting Soil Archival ink. I've used Raw Umber, Gold and Ultramarine PanPastels to distress the layers and then mixed Gold PanPastel with Maimeri Light modelling Paste and applied it through a Dutch Doobadoo stencil. I've also coloured the ribbon with PanPastels and to finish off I've added a button and  a little birdie charm

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Allsorts: use those dies

A Vintage Journey: say it with words

Crafty Ribbons: ribbon and button

Fussy and Fancy: shabby chic

My Sheri Crafts: anything but a card

Sugar Creek Hollow: make your own background

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day and hope to see you again soon

Claire xx

Bonfire Night Challenge at PanPastel UK

Good morning, time for a new challenge at PanPastel UK and this week we've got a 'Bonfire Night' theme for you. I struggled a bit with this one as I didn't have any firework stamps at all but managed to improvise lol.

I began by masking a moon and stamping rows of houses using stamps from Artistic Outpost. Then creating a dark night sky with PanPastels in Black, Paynes Grey and Violet Shade, removed the masks and gave it a blast of cheap hairspray to seal the PanPastel. I don't usually bother to seal it but I tried using pearl card which is very smooth so I thought I'd better seal it just to be on the safe side.

Next I coloured the couses with Graph'It markers. I rummaged through my stash and found some flower stamps from Chocolate Baroque that I thought would do for fireworks, I stamped them with versamark and then dusted over various shades of mica powders. While I was rummaging I came across some neon sakura pens that I haven't used for years so I doodled some more fireworks and added some light to the windows of the houses.

To finish off I added scraps of ribbon and fibres in lots of bright colours. 

I'm entering my tag in the following challenges:

Alphabet Challenge: T for tags

Forever Night: Make a tag

My Mum's Craft Shop: bold and bright

Polkadoodles: Bright colours and sparkle

As always our challenge winner will receive a fab prize, a starter set of PanPastels thanks to our lovely sponsor Berni from Your Creativity Store

As always I've got a fun packed Sunday morning cooking and ironing but hopefully it won't take too long and I'll manage to grab a few hours crafting  too. Its  freezing here, winter is definitely here we've had a few frosty mornings already so apart from walking the dogs I won't be venturing further than my craft room today

Have a lovely Sunday and thanks for popping by

Claire xx

Lets get inky with the Rainbow Lady

Hi there, I had loads of fun making my DT card for this weeks challenge at Rainbow Lady's Challenge blog as out theme is 'Let's get inky' and there's nothing better than some good old messy crafting lol.

The stamps are all from 'Huck Finn' a gorgeous stamp sheet from Artistic Outpost, I love these stamps!! I stamped and masked the two boys and then stamped in the ship and added some colour with distress markers and then cut out and splashed with moonshadow inks in Jolly Roger Red and Treasure Island Aqua, love the names they are perfect for these stamps. I've had these inks for years but don't use them very often, I'd forgotten how yummy and shimmery they are.

 I've layered the image up over some torn kraft glassine, some copier paper coloured with the same inks and scrunched up and some recycled brown paper. The sentiment is from the same set of stamps. To finish off I've added some brads, a bottle cap (as usual kindly donated by my son, this one reads 'Desperados' which I thought would be just the job for our two little adventurers lol) and a nautical knot.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Artistic Outpost: May Referral challenge 'Travel'

Clear it out: Use brads

Creative Craft Challenge: Distressing

Lollipop Crafts: Just for him

Simon Says Stamp and Show: Anything goes

I hope you're having a good week, we're sooooo busy at work at the minute my feet don't seem to touch ground but hopefully I'll get to catch up on some blog hopping and bunker up in my craft room for a few hours at the weekend

Have a good day and thanks for popping by

Claire xx

Springtime challenge at PanPastel UK

Hi and Happy Sunday, my favourite day of the week :-) Its also a brand new challenge at PanPastel UK where our theme this week is 'Springtime'. You don't have to use PanPastels to enter but its great to see that more and more people are starting to use Pans :-)

For my card I've used lots of Diarylide and Hansa Yellow on my base card and then sprayed with Daffodil glimmer mists. Once the background was dry I added faux pearls around the edge with cosmic shimmer glue. I sprayed some crinoline fabric with glimmer mist and added a weathered clock die cut that I'd distressed with acrylic paint and distress ink.

I've used stamps from the Bluebird stamps from Artistic Outpost, I saw these stamps on Yvonne's blog a few weeks ago and had to have them, they are GORGEOUS!! I love to hear the birds sing, its one of my favourite things about this time of the year, yep even at 5am lol. Anyway I took a scrap of card and applied Diarylide yellow and Turquoise shade PanPastels. I used an eraser to remove the PanPastel from the flowers and brids and added colour with Coloursoft pencils.

I used Tattered florals and leaves for the flower, die cutting some waxed tissue paper and colouring again with Diarylide Yellow PanPastel. The centre is a little sparkly copper brad. To finish off i've added a big yellow satin bow and a couple of blingy pins from Crafty Boots.

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:

Artistic Outpost:For the birds (April referral challenge)

Clearly Inspired: spring

Crafts for Eternity: Spring

Moving Along with the Times: Gardening or flowers

My Mum's Craft Shop: the great outdoors

Polkadoodles: shabby chic/vintage

Truly Madly Crafty : Handmade flowers

Don't forget our lucky winner will receive a fabby PanPastel Trial set from Berni, our lovely sponsor at Your Creativity Store:

I'm having a lazy day today with lots of crafting and big Sunday lunch ....bliss :-) 

hope you're having a good day and thanks for popping  by

Claire xx

PanPastels DT, Imagine the possibilities :-)

Hi there, well with Christmas and pesky internet gremlins it seems ages since I've blogged anything but today I wanted to share some very exciting news. I'm joining the PanPastel UK DT, and how excited am I?? Yes, you guessed it, thoroughly over excited lol. I wanted to have a play and share a project with my news so I've managed to grab a few hours in my craftroom and made this tag, using PanPastels of course :-)

I've had a really good play with PanPastels today and oh dear I think I have a new addiction, better warn the bank manager :-) PanPastels are such gorgeous vibrant colours,  they are velvety smooth and they blend beautifully with the Sofft tools (these are made from a very dense foam that is amazingly squidgy - technical term there lol).

I've tried them on lots of different card and they are really versatile, from watercolour card to supersmooth white cardstock. I know a lot of pastels need card with some tooth but PanPastels are just as happy with smooth cardstock. I haven't got any proper fixative, so I just used a spray of cheap hairspray instead.

I've made a few projects today but some I won't be able to share for a while, this tag was super quick to make. The night sky is made by blending black and Ultramarine Blue Shade panpastels with a Sofft Angle slice tool. I stamped the row of houses (from Artistic Outpost) with black versafine on white card lightly coloured with white PanPastel and a hint of black, cut them out and popped them up on 3d foam pads. I added glossy accents around the edges and then silver microbeads. The tiny stars are made with white cosmic shimmer glue and glamour dust. 

The larger stars were made using Jo Capper Sandon's star stamp on shrink plastic dipped in UTEE and coloured with pearl alcohol ink additive although they look black in the pic. I've never thought of trying that before until Tim's Tags and although I didn't have time to join in with the tags I was itching to get my melting pot out and start shrinking and its the most amazing fun watching the shrink plastic curl in the UTEE (OK I'm easily pleased lol). The sentiment is from Chocolate Baroque, and I thought it would be perfect for my first venture into the world of PanPastels :-)

To finish off I've added some scraps of ribbon, net and braid attached with a silver brad.

I'm entering this tag in the following challenges:

Gingersnap Creations GC129:  Starry Night

Make my Monday: Seasonal tags

Ooh La La: anything but a card

Stampotique: Shimmer, glimmer, glitter and glitz

The Stamp Man: Techniques

I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas, it seems to have gone as quickly as it came and I'm back at work tomorrow (not a happy bunny about that I can tell you) but at least its theres another long weekend coming up and lots of chocolate in the cupboard to console myself lol

hugs

Claire xx

Dressmakinig and corsets at Fashionable Stamping Challenges

Hi there, well the last 2 weeks seem to have vanished in the blink of an eye and its time to take to the catwalk at Fashionable Stamping Challenges where our theme is 'Dressmaking/Corsets/Accessories' so you can also include hats, shoes ,bags etc. As always we have a fab prize up for grabs from our generous sponsor Marina from Cottage Crafts.  

I've used a corset stamp by Clarity stamps for my little canvas. I've always thought corsets must have been sooooooo uncomfortable to wear and as  I was playing around with the stamp I thought it might make butterfly wings, from there I got the idea of my little corset flying away (my mind does work in a strange way sometimes lol. The corset has been paperpieced using scraps from the GCD Ella Blue paper pad and then stitched with brown embroidery floss. I made the background with acrylic paints  in blue and stone and used pearl medium to create some clouds. The houses are from the Artistic Outpost 'Neverland' stamp sheet, stamped on old book pages with vintage photo distress ink. I added a frill made from Kraft Glassine die cut with a Marianne die, some ribbon from my stash and a little stamped sewing maching.

I attached the corset with silicone glue and looped the floss in places adding tiny punched butterflies. It looked a little bare so I stamped some buttons using my Lost Coast button border stamp and added a little brass scissors charm.

Here's a close up to show the corset in a little more detail

and another showing the cloudy sky

I'm entering my canvas in the following challenges:

2 Sisters: punches/dies

Craft your days away: buttons or bows

Divas by Design: Anything goes

Fab'n'Funky : anything goes

Pan Pastels: The Great Outdoors

Thanks for popping by today, if you have time check out my teamies gorgeous projects as they have come up with some stunning creations again

hugs

Claire xx

Look to the skies

Its been ages since I dreamed along with Frankie and her team at Dragon's Dream Tag it on but for once i've managed to get a tag finished for this weeks challenge which is 'Look to the skies' 

I love these stamps, Neverland from Artistic Outpost and they came to mind as soon as i saw the challenge theme at DDTIO. I masked the moon, stamped and masked John and Michael and the houses. Then I brayered the sky lightly with summer sky memento ink and created some clouds using Barbara Gray's versmark and cotton wool technique. I left it to dry for a little while and then brayered over with Danube blue and a little tuxedo black. The versamark acts as a resist and when you buff it with some tissue the clouds appear.

I coloured the images with promarkers and edged the tag with a gold krylon pen, adding a gold eyelet and some blue ribbon to finish off.

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

ABC Challenge: Y is for yesterday

Allsorts: Free and easy

Craft us Crazy: anything goes

A spoon full of sugar: Create a tag

Totally Papercrafts: One for the boys

Thanks for calling by today, hope you're enjoying the weekend

Claire xx

Neverland

Here's another card from my inky playtime at the weekend. I couldn't resist the 'Never land' themeplate from Artistic Outpost and thought it would be perfect for my friends birthday. He's getting on for 60 but is a big kid at heart lol

The background is made using a freebie stamp from Craft Stamper masked and stamped with vintage photo. tea dye and stormy skies distress inks and spritzing with water.

I stamped the row of buildings and John and Michael on some glossy card, masked the images and masked the moon and then inked the background with various shades of blue and black ink and a shaving brush. I added some stars with a white inkssentials pen and coloured the stamped images with promarkers.

The main image and background are mounted on some copper card. I stamped the sentiment (also from the Never Land themeplate) on vellum and embossed with antiquities EP and added a brass button from my stash to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Aly's Sunday challenge: anything goes

Crafty Emma's Challenge: Men only

Creative Card Crew: No flowers

Fairytale challenge: Children

I did it creations: Masking

I love promarkers: Babies (not a baby card but it does have a baby on it so I hope it counts)

Moving along with the times: Card for a male

Ooh La La: Its a man thing

Sweet stampin challenge: Favourite movie (Peter Pan, I  must have watched it a million times when my son was small but it never loses its magic)

Thanks for popping by, i'd better get my skates on and get ready for work. My Monday blues aren't as bad as usual as I've got a day out of the office as I'm going to an all day meeting with some lovely people AND last time we had the most yummy buffet lunch. I'm totally addicted to buffet food, so for once I'm quite looking forward to work

Claire xx