Happy cows are smiling

 Good morning, it's been a busy week here, along with having our front doors and windows painted- inside and out- which took a lot longer than I thought it would, it was GCSE results day. My second granddaughter was hoping to get the grades she needed to secure her provisional place in the 6th form of her choice and I'm delighted to say she smashed it! One very happy girl as she opted to change schools and the one she wanted is always over-subscribed. Added to this she's managed to get herself a little part time job, so difficult for the youngsters these days compared to what it was like when I was her age, Saturday jobs were very easy to come by then. 

My card today is my DT make for this fortnight's challenge at Sweet Stampin', the theme- nice and easy- ADD A DIE CUT.

The cute image is a digi from Polkadoodles, I printed it out and masked it, adding the stencilled hearts through a die cut, which I think is Sissix. I coloured the image with Copics, adding loads of Wink of Stella to the hearts and also to the little hearts cut with the die. The sentiment is from a very old set (possibly Woodware?)

There's a story behind this choice of image, it was for my sister and BIL who celebrated their anniversary a couple of weeks ago. My BIL is usually the most patient and good tempered man but coming back from holiday a couple of years ago the traffic was awful, they were bumper to bumper for miles, he was stressed and tired and very grumpy. They passed (very slowly!!!) a field of cows and my sister said, trying to make him laugh, - 'Look at those cows, they're not cross, they are happy cows and they're smiling, smiling at you!' It was so silly he had to give in and laugh, since then it has been a family saying whenever someone is grumpy at something 'The happy cows are smiling' - so silly but it works. So some smiley cows for their anniversary.

There's more inspiration from my lovely teamies over at Sweet Stampin', hope to have you join in for this challenge.

Thanks for visiting, have a lovely weekend- a long one for us in the UK.

Chris

x

Challenges entered:

digichoosday #9

lilredwagon #873 (3 die cut hearts)

allsorts #857

Fairy Sweet

Good morning, a quick reminder of our August Challenge at We Love Stamping, 

the theme is Summer Blooms or Anything Goes.

I made a fairly (or should I say 'fairy') CAS card using a Penny Black stamp from a set called Fairy Sweet, a set I've had for years and only inked up one of the stamps before. I stamped the little fairy onto a scrap of white card, coloured with Copic markers and added loads of glitter to her wings. the frame is several die cuts stacked together. The border panel is an old TH die (one of those big fat ones that don't need a platform) . I marked the position on the card panel and stamped the tiny flowers (from a Polkadoodles set), coloured them and then stuck the die cut in place. Sentiment is a LOTV stamp. 

There's loads of fabulous inspiration from the rest of the DT over at WLS, where you will also find full details of the lovely prizes from Buddly Crafts and instructions for how to play along.

Thanks for visiting

Have a good week- hopefully with some rain (in this part of the world anyway)

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

aperfecttimetocraft. #8

classicdesign Aug/Sept

Creative moments #285

audsentiments #340

HQFCB #54

asyoulikeit -

My favourite colouring medium is alcohol markers, a huge range of colours and easy to blend.

PFM #851

dreamvalley #366

 

All about the shoes!

 It seems ages since I was last here, weather was just too hot to do much at all last week, I think I spent most of it reading...indoors. A bit more comfortable yesterday and today- last night we even had some rain, everything felt so much fresher this morning.

I made an ATC to join in with this month's Tag Along &ATC Challenge- I love the fashion theme. My 'fashion passion' has always been shoes (and boots) so I've based my design on this. I used a scrap of  card left over from a previous project for the base, it was lightly smooshed with Antique Linen and Faded Jeans Distress Oxides. The girl in those amazing shoes (Hampton Art stamp) was stamped onto a scrap of white copic friendly card and quickly coloured...took longer to fussy cut around those long skinny legs and heels! I added some scraps of washi tape then stuck the image in place. The sentiment is a very old unmounted rubber stamp that also has a shoe on it, no idea of brand. I stamped it onto another left over  scrap of card which had been gelli printed. It didn't fit on the ATC so I cut it into separate words. 

I never owned a pair of shoes quite as flamboyant as these with those huge bows but they do remind me of a pair of red platform soled sandals I had in my early twenties. They were really strappy with 4 inch chunky heels, never did the stiletto thing, couldn't walk in them! I loved my chunky platforms though- added height and so comfy to wear- those were the days!

Thanks for visiting

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

tag-alongandatc August Challenge

welove2create #8

MAWTT #192

paper-rocks-scissors #19

Summer bouquet

 

Good morning, the August Challenge at We Love Stamping begins today, the theme for this month is SUMMER BLOOMS or Anything Goes

There will be a lovely prize for two lucky winners.

Two prizes, Penny Black stamp and stencil and another stamp from Buddly Crafts (photo's not to scale).

To make my CAS card I stamped the image, a Penny Black stamp, Bouquet ballet onto white card and coloured using my Copic markers, then I chopped it into 3 pieces and matted it onto a slightly larger green rectangle. I added the tiny stamped tag (LOTV) with a scrap of green ribbon and a few clear gems to finish.

As always, you will find loads of inspiration over at WLS, along with full details of how to play along with our challenges.

Thanks for visiting, have a lovely day.

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

CAS on Friday #339

Ellibelles Garden Party #17

hesisterhoodofcrafters Flowers

PFM#848 (3 panels)

beautifulblossoms #43

aaabirthday #88

Chevrons or stripes at Sweet Stampin'

 Good morning, this is my DT card for this fortnight's challenge at Sweet Stampin', the theme is 

CHEVRONS OR STRIPES

I made this for a very special friend's birthday, he'll be 92 in September, although you would never believe it if you saw him, he really does wear his years very well.

He is a hero, one of the last surviving veterans of the Korean War, his regiment was the Royal Engineers, my card design is a nod to his passions- his patriotism and regimental colours...and motorcycles! The panel with the chevrons was created with a stencil, the motorcycle is stamped and embossed with white EP (sorry have misplaced the stamp, will add the make when it surfaces!) and the sentiment stamped and embossed in gold. 

There's more inspiration from my lovely teamies over at Sweet Stampin' so do pop over for a visit!

Thanks for looking, have a good weekend

Chris

x

GD at Kleuren met Potloden

Good morning, I was invited to be a Guest Designer for the July Challenge at Colouring with Pencils, and was given a sweet sponsor image to play with, Mabel with balloons.  She could be used for lots of occasions but I decided on a Christmas card as haven't made many yet this year. I printed the image onto muti media paper and coloured using my Polychromo pencils, adding a touch a sparkle with glitter pens. I used  aone of the lovely sketches from Sweet sketch Wednesday, matting the papers (The Works) onto silver glitter card, added small gems and a die cut snowflake to finish. 

There is still time to join in with the challenge, the theme is Anything Goes as long as you colour with pencils, please check out the challenge blog for lots of lovely inspiration. 

Thanks for visiting and happy weekend

Chris

x

Challenges entered 

CRAFT #785

avenue613. July Challenge

SAS4Kids July Challenge

crafterscafe #332

dragonflydreams July Challenge

sweetsketchwednesday2.  July Challenge

sketch #331

Guest Design at TIOT

 Good morning, I was honoured to be invited to Guest Design for this fortnight's challenge at TIOT.- .

The theme for the challenge is SUMMER BLOOMS.

I stepped out of my comfort zone and used die cuts instead of stamps/digis to create my card...in fact there's no stamping at all which is rare for me. The flower dies are from Polkadoodles, they are a bit larger than I expected when I  ordered them! I cut them from white card and coloured them with distress oxides in soft shades of blue and mauve, two different stencils and same ink pad for the backgrounds. The happy birthday die, cut several times from white card and stacked together, is from Amazon (unbranded). 

There's lots of fabulous inspiration from the lovely ladies at TIOT so be sure to pay them a visit!

Thanks for visiting

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

acutabove July Challenge

polkadoodle. #7

beautifulblossoms #43

daisychain #109

just-add-ink. #790