Not just for birthdays!

 Good morning- hope everyone here in the UK is getting their share of sunshine! It's been a very hot week here, bit of a surprise coming so early in the year...and over a bank holiday too. Enjoy it while it lasts :)

There's a new challenge at Fab'n' Funky, the theme for this fortnight is to

USE A STENCIL AND/OR EMBOSSING FOLDER.

I used an A&C stencil and DOIs to colour a square of white card, cut a circle from the centre and ran the rest through my Big Shot using a Lisa Horton water droplets EF. I stamped the image and sentiment (A &C) onto the circular piece, then stamped the image again onto white card, coloured with my markers, cut it out and adhered in place. I added the die cuts and gems and finished with a doodled border.

There's more inspiration for you over at F'n'F, hope you can join us this fortnight.

Thanks for visiting

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

addictedtostamps #518

stencilfun May Challenge

PFM #839

TIOT circles

audsentiments #337

allsorts #850

cyhtp May 2026

Birthday cake

 Good morning, it's time for a new  'Anything Goes' challenge at Crafty Catz.

This is the card I made for Jessica, my friend's 6 year old granddaughter.

The cute stamp is by Stamping Bella, coloured with copics, I added a little stencilling and placed her in the arch shaped aperture, The sentiment stamp is part of the same set. I die cut some bunting (no idea of die brand- lost the packaging many years ago!) and wrote the greeting with a black glitter pen. Added some glittery dots in the corners to match the block glittery borders. Not the best photo for the colours, it's more pink than purple IRL.

Thanks for stopping by- don't forget to check out the lovely creations from the rest of the team over at Crafty Catz, hope you can join us this fortnight.

Have a great weekend- we've been promised sunshine in the UK- a welcome change  for a Bank Holiday weekend!!!

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

CRAFT #780

digichoosday #4

thesisterhoodofcrafters banners

ilovepromarkers #607

girlzcreativecrafts #68

PFM #838

aaabirthday. #85

Last reminder for Stamping Sensations

 Good morning, a bit sad today as this is my last card for Stamping Sensations Challenges, it's been an honour to be part of the team for the last 3 years, working with such lovely, talented and supportive ladies.

There is still time to join in with this, our very last challenge, you can see all the details here. 

The theme is CUTE CREATURES, or of course you can enter using the Anything Goes option as long as there is visible stamping on the front of your entry.

I used A&C dies to cut the focal panel and black frame, smooshed some Distress Oxide ink in shades of pink onto the white panel,  added some stencilling using stencils  from various companies and the same shades of ink stamped Tallula in her tutu, (Stamping Bella) directly onto the panel, then stamped again onto white card, coloured with copics and fussy cut, adhered in place. I added a little pink stencil butter frosting in two of the corners, some black sequins and a stamped and embossed sentiment. 

Thanks for visiting

Have a good week.

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

polkadoodle #5

crafterscafe May challenge

daisychain #107

craftyanimals #105

sparkles #200 ( 3 Sequins, 3 stencils )

dreamvalley #362 (embossed sentiment)

creativefriday. #411

creationsinmostlypink #93

Funky Flowers

 Good morning, there's a new challenge at FAB 'n' FUNKY, 

Pat K, our lovely host for this fortnight, has chosen the theme of

 MONOCHROMATIC 

(shades of one colour)

I love the look of monochromatic designs, there's something so 'together' about them! I  chose to use brown tones and several floral stamps from different companies. 

First I smooshed the background with D. Oxides and added some stencilled leaves and grasses along the bottom edge. I stamped the funky flowers (Hobby Art) stems and leaves  using brown Versafine Clair and coloured them with watercolour markers, adding some details with a white gel pen, masked them where necessary to add the swirl stamps ( a company called Autumn Leaves) and second generation stamping of some TH silhouette stamps to fill the spaces.  The little bees are from Lavinia. I doodled the border to finish.

There are loads of the Hobby Art  and Autumn Leaves stamps still uninked although both sets are far from new so I'm planning to make similar cards in different colours. One day.

There's more to see over at Fab'n' Funky from my lovely teamies and we'd be delighted to have you play along 

Thanks for visiting.

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

4-seasonchallenge #104

do-allkreatives #113

mirtillamente #55

avenue613 May Challenge

allsorts #849

lilredwagon #858

Things with Wings at Sweet Stampin'

 Good morning, this fortnight the challenge theme at Sweet Stampin' 

is 

THINGS WITH WINGS

I was looking through my stamp collection waiting for inspiration to strike when I can across this beauty, unopened in the packet, she has wings...so perfect! Not sure why a mermaid would need wings and pretty sure that these would be too small to be much use but I really enjoyed colouring her with my Copics, then  added loads of Wink of Stella to her wings, fins, tail and the bubbles. I  fussy cut her and popped her up with foam onto some layered backing papers (The Works) The sentiment is part of the stamp set, The Card Hut.

Hope you can find some time to join in this fortnight, the theme gives you so much scope, if you need inspiration there are some beautiful cards from the Sweeties over at the challenge blog. It's easy to join in with our challenges- just remember to follow the theme and include some stamping- 'real stamps' or digital, both are fine.

Thanks for visiting

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

leighsbdesigns #52

kraftychicks #819

aperfecttimetocraft #5

conjurerofdreams #20

morgansartworld #100

Yellow Snow!

 Good morning, it's the start of a new challenge over at CRAFTY CATZ, the theme is always ANYTHING GOES.  I had a play with my Lavinia Stamps and made a Christmas card. A lot of masking and manipulating of the stamps went on... getting the layers to match up was a bit fiddly. I was happy with how it turned out though until I added the 'snow' some glittery paste stuff, meant to be white but looks yellow to me and makes me think of the Frank Zappa song! The stamps I used are a mix of old and new, the little houses and snowy pines are new, the small pines are older. I used watercolours to colour the houses. 

There's more inspiration to get you started over at Crafty Catz.

Today is also my granddaughter Emily's birthday, 12 today and growing up too fast. I won't see her until Sunday when they're all coming over for a meal and a family get together, so looking forward to that.

Thanks for visiting,

have a good weekend.

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

CRAFT #779

LTCCB #92

girlzcreativechristmas #175

POE #111

daisychain #107

hollyandivy #204

Big Happy Birthday

 Good morning,  this is my DT card for the May Challenge at Stamping Sensations.

The theme for this month is CUTE CREATURES or Anything Goes, there are some lovely prizes from Highlight Crafts.

I made this card for a friend's upcoming BIG birthday, I very kindly haven't splashed her age all over it, although sorely tempted, as I know she can be a bit sensitive about it!

The image is by Anita Jeram (Colorado Crafts) coloured with Copic markers, I chose to use blue/green as much as possible as they're her favourites. The stamped sentiment is part of the same set.

Sadly, this challenge will be the last one, after 16 very successful years Brenda has had to make the very difficult decision to finally close its doors. It would be great to see it go out with a final flourish and a bumper crop of entries so please do take the opportunity to join in one last time. 

There's plenty of inspiration over at the Challenge Blog, full details of how to join in and the lovely prizes to be won.

Hope to see you there

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

welovestamping May Challenge

addictedtocas #307

kraftychicks #818

simonsaysstamp Monday Challenge

allsorts #848

classicdesign #04

crittercrazy #110