First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do. Epictetus

i love being surrounded by crafty stuff.

i enjoyed reading crafty blogs, books and magazines.

most of all, i love being around crafty people-they inspire, uplift 

and generally make my life an awesome place to be.

today i am going to share 2 different things that inspire me to create and make stuff.

firstly i'd like to introduce you to michelle dyson.

she is my upline, my mum and my friend.

she constantly inspires me with her ideas, her work ethic and her attitude.

i felt very loved to be given a cherry on top award by her

now i have to share 3 things about me

fact #1  my favourite colour is orange 

fact #2 i got proposed to by the love of my life steve on top of the eiffel tower

fact #3 i love bubble baths

now for 5 blogs that inspire me

1. kathy bradley

2. ryn gibbs

3.dani holland

4. sam surplice

5.ellen woodbridge

there are many others but these ladies have to be my favourites :>

another site that inspires me is

the sunday cinema creative challenge

each week a movie is picked to inspire you to create something...

a fantastically novel idea to get your creative mojo going i think!

this week (challenge #98) was dead poets society

one of my all time favourite movies which still makes me want to randomly cry 

"my captain! my captain!" 

in crowded shopping malls 

(but i don't cos i am a wuss!lol)

 anways here is my take on that challenge...

a mini album using the inspired by nature stamp set

loads of glorious ink all over a wooden board book

a suede-look flower with a felt middle

copious amounts of hoarded ribbon and

some ephrema (sp?) found rummaging through a local op shop

here's a close up of the cover.

isn't that butterfly cool?!

that's me for today.

i am busy making stuff for the mater dei school fair.

if you are out my way come and say hi

cheers ears

time to play wiht my sweet treats

yes

about time i think! they have sat in my embellishments box for a while now quietly whispering to me "use us clare use us" and seeing i have yet to purchase a corresponding stamp set the task to use them without one has been more challenging because i don't like limiting myself to what must be used and like to think outside the box a bit so hence these cards made for some friends who were celebrating their birthdays this butterfy card turned into a shaker card. i added a mixture of glitter to the inside and used the sweet treats cup to highlight the butterfly i used the inspired by nature set just in monotone black and made the butterfly stand out by using bright colours and sparkle. the next card was made inspired by our friend's surname of wales...hence the whale lol being a guy and all you can't have too girly a card so i made a snow globe from the sweet treat which is sooooooooooo easy to do. i added a bit of pacific point ink to the water as well as some glitter which when swished up makes the water all sparkley. i also embossed the white background to give it a bit of texture. okies all done cheers ears

natural cards

now as you may have guessed my cards tend to be a bit bright and bold... not much subtle going on unless you count subtle as a truck lol. so i thought doing a card swap using natural elements in it would be good for me and it would also see me using up all those colours that i seem to have loads of like browns and greens i used one of my favourite stamp sets 'inspired by nature'. this set is just beautiful and i have used the grass side. the lovely niamh is modelling it for me with her cutest cheesey grin lol!!! first i coloured the background using water colour crayons in the rich regals colours which i washed over with an aqua painter. then I have layered different colours of grass onto watercolour paper using a mixture of earth element inks.after it had all dried i glues some yellow seed beads onto the grass to add texture and a bit of bling lol the finished card was then stuck to some white gloss and card stock. i tied some twine around and tied it all together with some buttons from my collection. I also added the 'live with passion' phrase to the side. these cards are for my essential baby cardmakers swap for november so i had better post them off shortly. cheers ears