Christmas Time

 Good afternoon, hope your week has started well, got my hair cut this morning, always so nice to have a good long chat with Karen, my hairdresser. I've been seeing her for so long she's now a good friend and we always have a lot to talk about. Then I finished this card. I was inspired to make it by the Challenge over at Christmas Kickstart, Gothic Christmas, I do like a challenging Challenge and I had to really think about this one. I had an idea for the design and then came the challenge of finding the elements I needed. The clock was easy, a TH die, Weathered Clock, old but much loved I cut it from a piece of smooshed card, inked the edges and scattered some Shabby Green embossing enamel over it. The boot is a Stampendous stamp, ok it's more Steampunk than Gothic but the best I could. I stamped and embossed it black onto a piece of dark red DP, fussy cut it and added details with a silver metallic pen . The foliage is TH again, die cut from white card and coloured with Distress ink, gems added for the berries. I drew the candle myself as I had nothing suitable, coloured it with markers and fussy cut. Background DP is Studio Light and sentiment computer generated. It took a while but I thoroughly enjoyed the process!

Thanks for stopping by.

Chris x

Challenge entries 

christmaskickstart #115

mixitup #85

sparkles forum christmas #189

POE #121

kraftychicks #841

dreamvalley #371

hollyandivy #213

The twins have arrived.

 It's Friday...again...already! This year is just flying by, it really feels like Autumn here now that the temperatures have dropped, I really noticed how much the colours have changed in our local woods- and how many leaves have fallen this week. I'm enjoying that little nip in the air too, so lovely when the sun is shining, to have a brisk walk without getting too hot. 

Here's my inspiration card for the new Anything Goes challenge at 

CRAFTY CATZ.

It's one of the cards I made to celebrate the arrival of my best friend's great-granddaughters, the tiny girls made a safe arrival a month early at the end of August, weighing 4lb4oz and 3lb 9oz. After a week in NICU and a few days on the ward both babies were allowed home and are doing well and gaining weight. I will never forget my friend's delight when her youngest grandson told her he was going to be a Daddy...of twins! She was beside herself with excitement, in all the many years I've known her I've never seen her quite like it, bless her.

To make my card I stamped the bear image twice, then masked them and the edges of the front panel to stencil the clouds in shades of pink and soft purple Distress Oxides.

I coloured the bears with copics , added the tiny die cut hearts and stamped the sentiment.

This card was for the new parents, I also made cards for the besotted grandparents and of course the  great grandparents, which I'll probably get around to sharing later.

Thanks for visiting, don't forget to check out the Challenge blog for some lovely inspiration from the rest of the DT.

Have a good weekend

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

alphabetchallenge L for Little people

aperfecttimetocraft #10

Crafts Galore Encore October Ch.

avenue613. October Challenge

Super Birthday

Hello, I'm back with a second post for today, my DT make for October's Challenge at

Fab'n' Funky

Our lovely Pat has chosen the theme 

3 OF SOMETHING

I made a top fold card using an inset Happy Birthday die and a cute stamp from Stamping Bella. The papers are from an old pad which has mysteriously disappeared from the face of the earth and will turn up when I'm not looking for it,  so can't tell you the make. I've coloured with Copic markers and my 3 of something is 3 sparkle stamps (Visible Image) and 3 tiny gems

My fabulous teamies have made some beautiful cards to inspire you this month which can be seen 

HERE.

 Hope you can find some time to join us!

Thanks for visiting today

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

do-allkreatives. #118

alphabetchallenge # L

aaabirthday

Guest Design for Sweet Sketch Wednesday

 Good morning, I  have two posts today, first up are couple of cards I made as a Guest Designer for Sweet Sketch Wednesday2 , I was sent 2 sketches to choose from, both so lovely I decided to make a card for each.

Sketch #336

                                                    A Christmas card using Sketch #336

This one was very quick to make. I used a piece of design paper from The Works cut into sections as per the sketch, stamped and embossed the Lavinia trees in white, matted the sections onto a slightly larger panel of toning blue cardstock, added the bow and pearls and the stamped sentiment.

Entering this card into these challenges:

CCAYR  #T

MIUCB #85

MLCCB #70

girlzcreativechristmas #197

POE #121

Sketch #337

A birthday card using sketch #337. I needed a birthday card for my Daughter in Law, and had chosen an image from Mirtillamente, Take a Moment, which I thought fitted the bill perfectly as she's an avid reader, loves herbal teas and her house is full of scented candles. I coloured the image with markers and followed the sketch to complete the card using papers from The Works and a scrap of green book patterned paper that was a long ago magazine freebie. 

Entering this card into this challenge

mirtillamente #60

I'd like to thank the lovely Ladies from SSW2 for inviting me to be a guest designer and also for the beautiful sketches. If you hop over to their challenge, you will find plenty more inspiration.

Chris

x

Shades of Autumn

 Good morning, the first Sunday of the month sees the start of a new challenge at 

We Love Stamping, 

the theme for October is SHADES OF AUTUMN or Anything Goes.

    

 

                                    There are  two prizes, stamps and stencil from Sweet Poppy

To make my card I used a stamp set by Woodware, Kim's Coppice. I inked the first stamp with yellow and orange Distress Oxides and spritzed with water, stamped it onto a scrap of mixed media paper, then stamped the more detailed trees over the top using brown Versafine Clair ink. The background panel was one I'd made previously using the gelli plate, brushos and a stencil. I matted both panels onto brown cardstock and added the stamped sentiment.

As always, there is plenty of inspiration to be enjoyed over at We Love Stamping, where you'll also find full details of how to play along with our challenges.

Thanks for visiting

Have a lovely day

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

creativeinspiration #43

craftygalscorner #280

lilredwagon #878

cardz4guyz. #390

TIOT Autumn

Double Trouble!

 Good morning, here's my inspiration card for October's challenge at

  Crafty Calendar.

The theme is AUTUMN or HALLOWEEN. 

I needed a card for my youngest granddaughter so I went with the Halloween option.

The image is Mo Manning (Patreon) I printed onto a pre-coloured background that came with a previous MM digi and I've use my Copics to colour up the naughty pair. The sentiment is cut with a very old TH alphabet  die (one of those long thin Sizzix ones, used to use it a lot but it's been neglected for years!)

There's more inspiration from the rest of my lovely teamies over at Crafty Calendar, hope you can find some time to join in this month.

Thanks for visiting. have a great weekend.

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

ilovepromarkers #616 ATG

allsorts #859

snarkystampers #279

G C splashitwithcolor. #31

craftrocket #141

halloweencraftsallyearround #1

pearlysparkles #124

twooldbats October Challenge

Autumn days

 Good morning, this fortnight's challenge at Sweet Stampin' is starting today, the theme is 

AUTUMN

To make the focal panel of my card I merged two digital images, the background is Polkadoodles and the busy little girl raking the leaves is by Mo Manning, all coloured with Copic markers, a lot of colouring but very relaxing! The frame around the images is an Aall & Create die matted onto a very old piece of design paper, long lost its packaging so no idea of brand, the sentiment is part of a set of stamps- also no packaging! 

Autumn is just around the corner here, the trees still have their leaves and they're still mostly green with some hints of yellow and orange creeping in. Walking in the woods yesterday I could hear the acorns dropping to the ground so it won't be long until the leaves follow, the weather has been so lovely this week that it still feels like summer, a real bonus at this time of year.

There's more inspiration over at Sweet Stampin' - hope you'll be tempted to join in this fortnight.

Thanks for visiting

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

allsorts #859

digichoosday #9

Ellibelle's Garden Party #19

craftygalscorner #280

sisterhoodofcrafters. September Challenge

classicdesign #9

letscreate #235

polkadoodle. #9