Sarah Hurley Challenges - Celebrations

Hello and welcome to my little blog.

I've just noticed the date when I last posted, tut tut *slaps wrist* The final week of work before end of term is always manic and then it's time to adjust to being off. New routines in place so fingers crossed all goes to plan.

I should point out I'm currently in London visiting my friend Sarah Hurley, she is just amazing!

If I'm honest I was a little bit stuck for ideas with this months challenge ( CELEBRATIONS) over at Sarah Hurley 365 and with two days spare before I needed to upload it before going away I was panicking. Which reminds me of this....

So I headed over to scrap 365 in search of a sketch...always a good place to start. Then I just pulled out Sarah's stamps and ended up with this. I added a few more details, dies, TH stickers and scraps of papers from Sarahs A Few Of My Favourite Things Kit. I'm very new to layouts so it still scares me but you have to try and get out your comfort zone every now and again.

Links to products used can be found over on our blog.

Hope you are having an amazing weekend.

Clare x

A Pirates Life

Hello how is everyone?

I have had to schedule this post as I'll be at toddler group being a pirate of course ha ha It's going to be madness but all good fun and hopefully I'll still be awake at the end as I still haven't fully recovered from the weekend. It was a fab but jammed packed one especially when it's nearly the end of school term.  Aswell as the normal swimming and running and a small matter of a running race, I had a party to be organised, reviews to be written up, clearing out of cupboards/folders. And then there's the start of forward planning to be put in place for the new term in August arghhhhhhh!

 So there is no doubt about it I am indeed counting down the days until the holidays, when I can chill out more and spend more time on design work. I  have a few loose ends on the design stage of some stamp sets and I'm continuing to make progress on something new, albeit slow progress lol I wish I could show you all but you will just have to wait!

I can however show you this. It's my turn to post on the Sarah Hurley 365 blog where I'm showing you how I use stamps on my project life pages. Here is a little snippet........

I love the camera stamp and you can never have enough hearts on a layout. 

I'll be back soon with some teacher cards so watch this space!!

Thanks for stopping by

Clare x

SARAH HURLEY BLOG HOP

I was just about to say happy Thursday but then realised it was only Monday doh!, who knows where my head is at today lol

Anyway it's a very exciting day for Team Sarah Hurley. We are having a super fun blog hop! (you should have arrived from Sarah's blog here ) to celebrate the launch of the new 'World of Imagination' range on the 10th! This is a range Sarah has been working on for over a year and now we are super pleased to be sharing it with the world with this initial launch. 

Each of the Design Team will be sharing the reveal of a new product on their blog, here's my mine...

This is the Make Believe Shop playlet that we sneak peaked last week. Each set comes packaged in it's fun cardboard suitcase for easy storage and travel. The kits are craft ( as you put together some of the pieces yourself) a game for you to use your imagination and create your own storage. They are also educational as they have little learning elements to them, such as facts about cows on the side of the milk!

Isn't this just amazing!!!!

All you have to do now is just hop through all of the teams blogs leaving a comment to let us know what you think of the products. Next you'll be hopping over to Jaine's blog here!

The Mayor of Make Believe will be waiting for you at the 365 blog to see what you thought of the range, tell him what you would like to win and we'll pick one lucky winner to win the prize of their choice 

Goodluck and don't forget to leave your comments.

Clare x

SUMMER BRIGHTS

Happy Friday everyone!

I thought I had this scheduled but it would appear I had put it in drafts doh!

So this months challenge over on the SARAH HURLEY 365 blog is summer brights and if you head on over you will see what the rest of the DT have been up to. I have to confess it's absolutely amazing, as usual there are a real mixture of projects and they all look so bright and cheery! To say I'm proud to be on such a fabulous team is an understatement. Below is my card.......

This super bright card was created using paper from Sarah's March 'A Few Of My Favourite Things' March kit. I also used the girl and sentiment from the Doodle Doll Princess stamp set which I have recently added to my collection. I really love this set! The fence stamp is from my very own Garden Fairy set and the different sized flowers are from my Woodland Fairy set. I love the idea you can mix and match all 3 of my fairy sets.

I'm hoping to make a dent albeit a small one in my to do list today, wish me luck!

Thanks for stopping by

Clare x

Sarah Hurley 365

Hi folks,

it 's Clare here today and I'll be sharing something a little bit different. It all came about when I realised I need a quick reference for all my Sarah Hurley stamps. Up until recently I used to just lay them out on my desk while I was crafting but due to my ever increasing collection it's just not an option anymore. I should also confess I am such a messy crafter so space on my desk is a rarity lol.

I also needed something more organised to store them in so they are easily accessible. My initial thoughts were to make an album but then this little, perhaps crazy idea popped into my head. At first I was a bit like really? would this work? Had I gone bonkers, well more than normal, to even suggest such an idea never mind blog about it ha ha I guess you will have to be the judge of that!

So here goes.....it's an album using Project Life plastic pockets. Unlike my usual posts I thought I 'd show you the finished album first then show you how I created one of my layouts. 

I've also done a little step by step on masking. I've only just tried this so I'm very much a newbie who only has a few inks. But I can show you that you only need one ink pad to create great layouts.

Doodle Doll stamp sets I used

Zombie

Dream A Little Dream

Be Amazing

Wish Upon a Star

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 First select your chosen design pocket then measure and cut out card to fit in the pockets. I used white and I rounded the corners using my corner punch.

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Next I stamped my Doodle Doll stamp from the 'Be Amazing' collection.

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Now you need to create your mask. I'm sure you can buy masking sheets but here I just used large post it notes bought from Asda lol Stamp your image onto the paper making sure you cover the side that has the sticky bit on the reverse. This is what holds it down preventing it from slipping when you add ink to the card. Finally cut it out and place it over your stamped image on the white card.

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You will need to now choose your ink and using your blending tool cover the white card until you get the desired effect you want.

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With the mask still in place select a stamp to add to your background. Here I stamped the small plain feather still using the same ink pad. The aim was to create a subtle background and I think this works well.

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Using a black ink pad I stamped the text border along the bottom, some eyes on her face then I added the sentiment at the top. The mask can now be removed and saved for a future project. And that's it, ready to be placed in the pocket.

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 To show some contrast to my page I stamped the remaining (small)  stamps in the set directly onto white card, again rounding the corners, here's a close up!

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Sarah's stamp sets fit perfectly behind the large pockets...

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I decided to make all my Doodle Doll pages blue again for easy reference. Next I will be creating layouts for my stamps from the 'A Few Of My Favourite Things' kits, this time using an orange colour.

I hope you have enjoyed today's post and be sure to check out the other dt's posts too. We also have a monthly challenge with amazing prizes up for grabs. Pop on over here or click on the challenge button.

Take care

Clare

What's on my desk Friday!

Here's what's going on over on my fb page today which you will find here

It's almost the weekend so who's up for a little fun and some sharing.Today I have decided to share what's on my desk and I thought it would be fab if you could join in too. So grab your camera,get photographing then head on over to my fb page  and post in the comments section below and no cheating by tidying up first! Lol

Here's a little insight into mine...

My Promarkers chart needs updating and Sarah Hurley just so happens to have a free download in her online shop and you get it instantly so I didn't have to wait....perfect!

You can find the chart here

http://www.sarahhurley.com/promarker-colour-charts-updated-for-winter-2013/

Here's my desk

 Of course now I have done this I now 'need' more Promarkers ha ha.

Have a great weekend whatever you are up

Clare x

SARAH HURLEY - ANYTHING GOES CHALLENGE

Evening all, 

have you all had a great bank holiday weekend? I know I have. Spent most of it doing things I love...spending time with my small peeps, running, swimming and crafting with some all important craft shopping for work....it's not a bad life lol

Here's my card for our new challenge over at Sarah Hurley 365.It's anything goes so no excuse for not joining in.

I've also been spending quite a bit of time designing new stamps and making plans for the rest of the year, I can't wait to show you all!

Well I better get a wiggle on I've a 5k run to squeeze in before bedtime.

Thanks for stopping by

Clare x

Sarah Hurley 365 - PL WEEK 1

Ooooft what a horrible day, all this rain yet it was toastie hot yesterday! I even managed to spent time in the garden. Ok it was doing a tidy up but still enjoyable.

Today it's my turn to post on The Sarah Hurley 365 blog

and my post should prove that it's never too late to start Project Documented 365.

Ideally I should be showing you an up to date page for 2014 but it's just never happened. In fact I hadn't even started it, still finishing off last year and we are almost into the month of May eeeeeeeek! So I hid in my craftroom which was perfect as I couldn't see the mountain of washing that was awaiting lol

I hadn't a colour scheme in mind, I just sifted through my stash and when I saw the blue and white journal card it seemed perfect. I pulled together this to get me started.

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The only addition here is the text 'JANUARY' from Sarah's stamp set which proves that you can keep you layouts simple and perfect for when we are playing catch up!

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A little tip, you don't always have to use photographs and you can still create fab layouts.

Here I just used text and die cuts.

My ticket from the Aladdin pantomine

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Don't be tempted to throw away those off cuts.

Now I have arrows!

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Here are a few close ups

Finally my finished layout.

Sarah Hurley Products used

A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS

TODAY STAMP SET

Bring on week 2!! ha ha

I really hope you have enjoyed todays post and thankyou so much for stopping by.

Clare

Flower Fairy

Good morning and welcome to my blog!

I'm very excited today for several reason. One is that we have a new challenge over at Sarah Hurley 365. Two I used my new 'Flower Fairy' stamp which was designed by me! squeal!!! And three it's only two sleeps til I go on holiday to Turkey woo hoo!

Our challenge this month is hosted by the very talented Ria and she has chosen the them of

  Sewing

It can be real or faux it is entirely up to you.

I love these papers from Sarah's 'Few of My Favourite Things Kit.

It was also the first time I got to play with my latest release Fairy stamps. To see your own design made into a stamp is just the most wonderful thing.

The images I used are from the Flower Fairy set, available to buy here at Sarah Hurley's online shop

Thankyou for stopping by

hugs Clare

Sarah Hurley 365 - Dream A Little Dream

Hello and welcome to my blog.

Today I'm sharing with you a crossover card I have made for my post over at Sarah Hurley 365. 

Once again I have used some of the stamps from Sarah's girl stamps and some of her gorgeous papers from her monthly "A Few Of My Favourite Things Kit "

I have kept it simple so you can see the style of card clearly but you can add as much detailing as you like.

Please pop on over to our blog where I have step by step instructions on how you can create your very own crossover card. You will also find a list of products used and a link to Sarah's shop.

Thankyou for stopping by

hugs Clare.

New stamp release - Fairies

Afternoon all,

Today is a very exciting day for me as it release day for my latest stamp sets. I have been designing for about 6 months now and I still think it's a dream that I'm about to wake up from.

This release is all about fairies and wait til you see their houses, oh to live in one of those ha ha Admittedly I think these sets are my favourite so far, well until the next release!

If you click on the links below it will take you to Sarah Hurley's online shop where they are available to buy  

FLOWER FAIRY

GARDEN FAIRY

WOODLAND FAIRY

You can also stay up to date with my crafting adventures on my Facebook Page here

Thankyou for stopping by

hugs Clare

Things that make me lol

Goodmorning,

how are we all today?

As promised I'm back and I'm hoping to inspire you to take pictures of things that make you laugh out loud and scrap about them. You will find full details and the blog here

Here is just one of those LOL moments!

Here's my finished page

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I followed the sketch over at Scrap 365.

Thanks for stopping by

hugs Clare x

Speech Bubbles

Evening all!

Hope you are all having a fab day?

If I'm honest my day started off not so good however this afternoon has been pretty awesome, most of which has been smiling from ear to ear and I'll tell you why.

First of all Mr Postie delivered a huge box to my door this afternoon containing lots of new craft stuff, thankyou Sarah Hurley. But most exciting of all it contained my latest stamp sets eeeeeeek! 

Sophie my cat thought it made a perfect podium for having a wash, check her out below ha ha

The next awesome thing to happen came as a complete shock. The lovely Claire Newcombe who  like me is part of  the amazing Sarah Hurley design team. She posted a link about our latest challenge and her latest project so I just had to have a nosey, we won't mention she posted it early hee hee. So here's me looking at her card thinking it's pretty cool  then suddenly the penny drops,  I realise she has used my Ronnie stamp set! Well I nearly fell off my chair as this is this first time I have seen anyone post a project using my robot stamp range.

Of course the best thing about having exciting things happen in your life is having amazing and supportive friends to share it with, I really am a lucky girl! But that's not all...

I also have a project to share tonight and it's my challenge project

for Sarah Hurley 365. We have a new name and have moved to here if you didn't already know.

The theme is 

' SPEECH BUBBLES'

for more detail of prizes and inspiration click here

Here's my scrapbook page.

It's my turn to post on our blog and it's all about this page so I won't go into detail just now but please pop by again tomorrow.

I also have my own FB page here, I would love it if you could like and share it.

hugs Clare x

Sarah Hurley 365 - Look for the Stars

Good morning and welcome to my blog.

I have a mega busy training day so I'm afraid it's a scheduled post from me.

Today it's my turn to host on Sarah Hurley's 365 inspiration page where I'll be sharing my card pictured below.

side view

close up

front view

Details on the products I used and step by step instructions on how this card was made are on our blog here.

Thanks for stopping by

hugs Clare

Home Sweet Home

Afternoon folks,

Just a quick post from me today as I'm catching up with my bestie yay!

Today I'm sharing with you a card I was asked to make for one of the child minders at work. As soon as she said it was for a new home I knew instantly which image to use.

paper - Lost and Found MME

stamp - Helz Cuppleditch

butterfly - MS punch

flower/heart punch - Woodware

sentiment - Sarah Hurley/New Home set

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challenges

Sunday Sketch and Stamp

I also have some news to share. Due to the volume of stamps selling at Sarah Hurley HQ, Sarah has now been able to get a saving of £1 per set (including mine) which she has passed directly onto you. How fab is that! Also you get free p & p for orders over £15. Please check out her shop here.

SARAH HURLEY CHALLENGES - ONE SHAPE EMBELLISHMENT

Evening all,

It's been a rough week as I caught a pretty bad cold and life as I know it came to a complete standstill. For all that know me well I'm always on the go so you can image how out of sorts I was but rest is what I needed, all 8 days of them!

So tonight I'm sharing with you a card I made for our new challenge over at Sarah Hurley 365 (previously know as Sarah Hurley Challenges).

This month our theme is to use one shape of embellishments so I chose hearts.

For exact details about our new challenge and to see the amazing projects from the rest of the design team please click here

There are many reasons why I subscribed to Sarah's monthly kit but today I discovered another. It gets me out of my comfort zone by making me work with colour combinations and combining patterns that I would never have considered. 

Below is my card

Papers - My Favourite Things Kit

Stamps- girl stamps

All products are found here in Sarah's shop.

I'll be back soon with some cards I have made for birthdays recently and I might even enter a few challenges as it's been a while *shock*

Thanks for stopping by 

hugs Clare

NUTS AND BOLTS ABOUT YOU

Good afternoon everyone,

What a cold, wet and miserable day it is so I'd thought I'd share my very bright pink card. Perfect for Valentines don't you think?

stamps - 'Bity' the robot (designed by me)

You can her buy here

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I also want to remind you of our challenge over at Sarah Hurley 365 and the fabulous prizes we have up for grabs. Exact detail can be found here!

Thanks for stopping by and hope your all having an amazing weekend.

Hugs Clare

My New Facebook Page

 Evening all!

Today thay say it's blue Monday but not for me because I'm hugely excited and nervous in equal measures. But sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith.....and breathe lol

 So I have finally bit the bullet and set up a separate fb page where I'll be sharing my crafting adventures. I would love it if you could pop on over, like and of course share ha ha

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clare-Brown/208951199293427?ref=hl

Thanks for stopping by today

Clare x

Documented 365

Good morning folks

I'm back today with a project in the style of Project Life using Sarah Hurley's Documented Daily December kit.

 I have also done a step by step tutorial which you will find here over at Sarah Hurley 365.

I've chosen a picture from when my friend Tracey and I went out for a run on Christmas day. We had been doing a challenge called Malcothon which is basically doing some form of cross training exercise everyday in the month of December, talk about tough going!

We also decided that santa hats had to be worn for the full duration of our 5k run, it was Christmas afterall!

I've also been spending time doing more stamp design work which I'm so excited about. You can buy my first release here in Sarah Hurleys online shop.

Thanks for stopping by

hugs Clare