A beary happy birthday!

Well , hello again! Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and that no-one's gained too much weight from all the lovely festive goodies! Still, it's only a couple of days until the new year and then we can all resolve to eat healthily again!!! -well for a few days anyway!
It's my lovely friend's birthday tomorrow, so I made this card for her. The cute bear is a Mo Manning digi, part of a set (tiny dancer elements) which I treated myself to just before Christmas when there was a sale on, well it would've been rude not to!!
I think she will like the card as she loves teddy bears, still a little girl at heart, although she is now in her seventies (you'd never guess it if you knew her!), she is a wonderful lady and she's been a very special friend to me for a lot of years.

Just a quick catch up to show you how much Mathilda has grown over the last couple of weeks!
She really looks like a Great Dane now! She had a wonderful Christmas, was thoroughly spoilt with loads of presents (she has eaten quite a lot of them already- unfortunately that includes the toys as well as the treats!! Ah, well what else can you expect from a very large puppy, and she enjoyed them at the time!)
Thanks for looking!
Chris
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Challenges entered:
cardcrafterscircle. anything goes
charismacardz anything goes
cutecardthursday anything goes
pixiedust any celebration
fabnfunky add ribbon or lace
digitaltuesday layers
totallygorjuss new (image!)
whoopsiedaisy celebration

Not a Christmas card!...hooray!

Good evening my lovely friends! Today I finished making and writing my Christmas cards, hooray!!
I've put all my christmas stamps and papers away! I can see my desk! I can see the floor!- it's amazing!! (well the floor isn't amazing, just being able to see it is!)
Anyway, it's my daughter's wedding anniversary this week, 7 years ago we were in Mauritius, lapping up the sunshine and anticipating the big day!
I made this card for her using the beautiful 'Love is' stamp by Indigo Blu (seemed appropriate for the occasion!). I kept the design of the card simple, just inking the stamp with 2 colours of distress ink, doesn't really show in the photo, as light is not good, but it's a nice effect.
Entering the card in this week's Less is More challenge, the theme this week is 'anniversary'- how fortuitous!
Enjoy the rest of the evening
Chris
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...just believe...

It's Saturday and time for another challenge at Sweet Stampin' . this week the challenge is Santa Claus is coming to town.There are lovely prizes to be won, courtesy of our generous sponsors,  Joanna Sheen and A Day for Daisies, so hop on over to check out the rest of the design teams fabulous projects- and join the fun!

My card is a fairly simple design, the image is by Bugaboo (images are half price at the moment!!) and I paper pieced the word. The Santa is coloured with copics.

Enjoy the weekend!

Chris

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Challenges entered:Anything Goes - Christmas

deepocean Christmas

toptiptuesday Christmas

craftyboots Christmas

lollipopcrafts Happy Holidays

kraftjournal. Anything goes

prettylittleribbon Christmas

songbird merry Christmas

crazychallenge Christmas

eclecticellapu jolly and bright

 robynsfetish Christmas cards

/mytimetocraft Santa

... just one more sleep...

Hi, back again!
First of all, forgot to mention earlier, that the lovely Louise at Punknscrap is giving away candy so if you want the chance to win an extra little Christmas pressie for yourself, just check out her blog here -it's a really good prize- you'll be glad you did!
 My little grandaughters are already counting the sleeps until Christmas, which inspired me to make this card. The image is by Mo Manning, I love this one, she's just so appealing!
The little stockings are stamped, coloured and mounted on sticky pads and the papers were free with a magazine and check out my lovely new corner bow die!

Thanks for looking!
Chris
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Challenges entered:mosdigitalchallenge anything goes
cardcrafterscircle December celebrations
guylousinimitability Christmas -non traditional colours
fussyandfancy I love Christmas
C.R.A.F.T Christmas
cceestampers favourite new die (bow corner)
delightfulsketches all about Christmas
dutchdare-cardchallenges Non traditional christmas colours

Seeing stars!

Good afternoon fellow bloggers! Hope you're having a lovely Sunday, just where has this week gone!!!?  Christmas is just galloping towards us and I haven't even finished making my cards yet, let alone writing or posting them!!! The challenge this week at LIM is to make a one layer card with the theme 'in a row', this is my third attempt at making a card the first 2 ended up in the bin!

For Mathilda fans, a few more piccies of my rapidly growing baby, who is now venturing outside in the big wide world (one of us is on a lead - not quite sure which one...).



Beautiful baby!





So comfy!!!

Tiny little paw!!

What's all this white stuff?

Enjoy the rest of your day!
Chris
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Challenges entered: LIM week 97
Just Us Girls embossing
rogueredhead one layer, winter holiday
thesisterhoodofcrafters embossing

Santa, I've been good...

...well, most of the time! This little elf reminds me of Grandaughter No 1 - she IS good most of the time (and likes me to know it...!) so I just had to make her this card! Again photo not too good, the colours are completely different IRL, the green is a more olive green and the background is not green at all!

Thanks for looking!

Chris

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Challenges entered:

saturatedcanary sketch challenge

lovetocreate Christmas cheer

craftysentiments red white and green (2nd entry)

scrap-creations: Merry Christmas

thepapershelter. Christmas is coming

pixiedust winter holiday

sketchycolors red white green

whoopsiedaisy christmas card

Oh Christmas Tree..

Hello, I'm back again with the card I made for this week's LIM challenge : red and green! The photo is not great due to the fact it was taken at a very peculiar angle whilst attempting to stop a very determined Mathilda from eating it!!(Also very poor light makes it look a funny colour!)
I think that this year our Christmas tree will have to  be a very small one, balanced on a very high shelf!!!  The Marauder gained over 3 kilos in weight in 2 weeks, she can now reach the kitchen worktops (not condoned!) if she stands on her tippytoes! Her paws are huge! I think she may be part goat or monkey as she loves to climb! Her teeth are sharp! She steals my stuff - but I really love her!

How can I resist her!?


Have a good evening!
Chris
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Challenges entered:LIM :96 Red and green
craftysentiments red white and green
creative inspirations traditional colours

So excited!

 

 

I am so pleased to be sharing my news with you! I have been invited to join the design team at Sweet Stampin' !!(Check out my smart new badge!!) 

The challenge this week is snowflakes and ribbon, this is my card using a digi stamp from The Stamp Fairy ,George and friends, it's a lovely image and so quick to colour! The mittens were cut from a piece of DP, no idea of the make and glued to the cord washing line! I added a piece of woven red ribbon and some diecuts! It took longer to cut out the mittens than it did to colour the image!

I am so excited to join this amazing team, hop on over to the sweet stampin' blog, join in the challenge and check out all the gorgeous cards that these talented ladies have created!

PS There is candy to be won!!!

Have a great day!

Chris

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Also entering these challenges:

cutecardthursday : snowflakes

DRS : 51 snow fun

365cards Day 272 winter/patterned ribbon

oldiebutagoodie : the papers are from last Christmas!

ladybugscrafts :snowflakes

sweetstamps: cold and snowy

papermakeup ; use digi: Christmas/Holiday

dutchdare : winter wonderland

 

a bit of glamour!

Good afternoon, hope you are all enjoying what isleft of the weekend! Dinner is in the oven, Mathilda is  happily snoozing after her lunch, so all is peaceful here! I'm making the most of it because tomorrow I will be looking after my younger grandaughter and I just know that 1 bouncy three-year-old + 1 bouncy puppy(with teeth and a deep lust for whatever said 3 year old is playing with! ) does not add up to any kind of peace!
Anyway, back to the card, my entry for this weeks LIM challenge : week 94 glamour and glitz. Quite simple, a bit of embossing and matting, the mask was stamped and embossed then cut out and mounted with sticky pads, a small feather and a few gems added. The stick is a cocktail stick painted black and wrapped with ribbon.
That's all for now. Thanks for looking!
Chris
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Challenges : LIM 95 Glamour and Glitz
Clearly Inspired 64 CAS
thestampman embossing

Fairy tiptoe...

It's time for another new challenge at Southern Girls and this one couldn't be easier - pink and brown- so what are you waiting for- get creating and join the fun! You could win a fab prize from one of our lovely sponsors!- mariannedesign, dtsart and LOTV. I made this card using the first LOTV stamp I ever bought, and I have to admit she is still my favourite! I just love colouring her! The really versatile sentiment stamp is also by LOTV.  The papers are MME and I've added ribbon,flowers, a die cut swirl and a few flat back pearls. Take a look at the amazing creations the rest of the team have made - you certainly won't be disappointed!
Have a great day!
Chris
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Using the card for these challenges
artisticinspirations anything goes
cardmania pearls and swirls
whoopsiedaisy diecuts and punches
corrosivechallenges wings
stamptacularsunday recipe, ribbon ,pearls, diecuts
stampingwithdragon cute
papertakeweekly ribbons and pearls
divasbydesign 2 or more patterned papers
inkyimpressions girly

Look what I found!!

I bought this stunning Indigo Blu stamp back at the end of the summer, put it away and forgot about it! Found it yesterday and haven't stopped playing with it since! It's really easy to use and looks great in all colours!

I made this first


 





and this

then this



There are also 2 more that I haven't quite finished (in green and gold), providing a much needed boost to my stack of Christmas cards!

I'll leave you with Mathilda's advice on spending a Sunday afternoon, after a good lunch!

 

aaaahhhh bliss!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Chris
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Entering these challenges
LIM challenge 94
cas-ualfridays  CFC79

Pink Christmas

Happy Saturday everyone! A few minutes peace whilst Mathilda is sleeping off her lunch, she's blissfully snoring in her basket!, so I thought I'd share this  pink Christmas card! Hmm looking at the photo I wish I'd stamped the greeting on the tag the other way up....

Have a good day

Chris

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Challenges : bearlymine pink christmas

craftsandme Christmas non traditional colours

craftysentiments Christmas

cardcrafterscircle. textures

dutchdare diamonds and pearls

lejdesigns Seasons Greetings

hookedoncraft Christmas -no red or green

foreverfriends ribbon/twine

sweetstamping Snow people

Yay!!..made a card!!!

Managed to find a bit of time to play today! Mathilda is settling into a routine now (it really is like having a new baby!!)I used this beautiful stamp that I've had for ages but still really love using, can't remember the make. I coloured her with copics using just greytones (apart from the roses) then added lots of distress stickles to her dress. I kept the rest of the card fairly simple with minimum embellishments to keep the focus on the stamped image.
Better hurry up and finish this before baby finishes her nap!!!
Chris
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challenges entered:
creative inspirations : red
lilredwagon colouring
craftycatz anything
sweetstampin anything
onestopcraftchallenge anything
sketchycolors used sketch
stamps & fun anything
makeitmonday anything

Meet Mathilda!

So beautifully posed (total fluke!!!)

Showing off my new red collar- just like a super model!

Sooooooooooooo who are you looking at!

Here is my new baby! She's an  8 week old Great Dane and totally gorgeous! I am totally besotted already! We brought her home on Thursday, she's settled in so well already, a real joy! (The reason why I haven't had time to make anything!!!!) At the moment she has settled in her pen - absolutely no hollering yet tonight - so I'm off to bed while the goings good!!!
Chris
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Celebrate!

the inside

Happy Sunday, all. Hope you've had a lovely relaxing day. I'm starting to panic about Christmas and the fact that I've made hardly any cards yet, so I thought I'd better get on and remedy the situation! I intended to make mainly CAS style cards this year, they look classy (and they tend to be faster...!) but I felt like colouring (so therapeutic!!!) and this is the result. The image is by Mo Manning, printed onto kraft paper and coloured with pencils, matted onto various papers with added faux stitching and a bow.
Have a good evening!
Chris
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Challenges entered:
Delightful sketches used sketch
DP2 Anything goes
MAWTT stitching
Creative Inspirations Celebrate!
inkyimpressions lots of layers
onestitchatatime anything
christmasstampin anything
totallygorjuss anything + button
lovetocreate layers

Think pink!

Good afternoon. Here is my entry for this weeks Less is More challenge, week 92-pink. It really is a clean card this week - no inky fingerprints!!!!The stamp I used is an old one (I think it's Technique Tuesday). I stamped  and embossed the petals in black onto pink cardstock, cut them out and mounted them onto textured white card. the centre of the flower is just a piece of black cardstock, again embossed. Easy-peasy!
Thanks for looking!
Chris
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.. a card for Maddie...

Good evening all! Here is a card I made for my little niece's birthday. Maddie will be 6 but she thinks she is at least 16! She still loves anything 'fairy' butI didn't want the card to look too 'babyish' for her. This lovely Sweet Pea stamp seemed to fit the bill -definitely a fairy but a bit more 'grown up' as befits a 6 year old (that's almost an adult you know!!!) Hope she likes it anyway!!
Chris
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Challenges entered:
LEJ Anything goes
twistedtuesday Anything goes
fabnfunky die cut or punches
thepapershelter. Anyting goes
charismacardz recipe
cutecardthursday fairies or angels
cardcrafterscircle patterned paper
craftycatz add texture
.polkadoodle bright colour, sparkle

..ho!ho!ho!...

Good evening all! Hope you've had a lovely Saturday! I've had a very relaxing day,recovering from a very busy one yesterday! Went to London with my lovely sister (she really is the most amazing person!- doesn't enjoy good health, is always in a lot of pain, NEVER complains and remains SO cheerful) to celebrate her birthday (which was February, first time she's been well enough to go!!!). We wandered around Covent Garden, had a nice meal and went to see Blood Brothers, it was a great day but the best part for me was spending some quality time with my sister!
Anyway, on to the card I made for this weeks Less is More challenge -a sketch. This wasn't the first idea I had, but it's the first one that I didn't totally mess up! Sometimes 'simple' just isn't easy! (or clean- had a few mishaps with inky fin gerprints today!!)
Have a good evening!
Chris
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Challenges:
LIM 91 -sketch
craftyanns Christmas
willowsketchiechallenge theme Christmas

Animal Crackers

Animal Crackers is the title of this fortnight's challenge over at Southern Girls. - such a simple challenge you'd be 'crackers' to miss it!!!  Here is my DT card featuring Pepe L'Souris in Love, such a cute, goofy little guy, available from The Paper Shelter.  (There are several digital stamps featuring Pepe and they're all so cute!). I've coloured him with copics, cut him out and stuck him (youch, he didn't enjoy that!) to an embossed panel, the die cut swirl is Memory Box (I love it!!!)
Thanks for looking!!
Chris
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Challenges entered:
fabnfunky animals
abcchallenges New (new image, new die!)
Kraft Journal Inside and out
challenges4everybody anything
thecraftypad animal
qkrstampede animal madness

...back again...

Hello again, I'm back already with another card for this week's  LIM challenge - Autumn.
Just noticed the time... doesn't it go quickly when you're playing??!!... better do something about dinner....!
Chris
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LIM week 90 Autumn
Speedy Fox 130 Leaves
charismacardz. CAS
sarahhurleychallenges Autumn

Sparkle

As it's a miserable grey day I thought I'd cheer myself up with a bit of bling! The lovely, happy dancing snowflake stamp is by Stampendous, just used various papers from my stash, some die cut snowflakes and swirls, and added some little gems for more sparkle!Hope your day contains a little sparkle!
Chris
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Challenges entered:
christmaschallenges (used sketch)
totallygorjuss Bling it on
daringcardmakers Happy ( I think the snowflake looks so happy!)
hotshotcraft Bling
totallypapercrafts Christmas
paper-craftingjourney add some bling
ABC Christmas Anything
flourishes Winter

another fine mess....

Here is the card I made following this week's Less is More challenge - Autumn. I used several different colours of distress inks on this card...and on my fingers... and various work surfaces... it does go a long way! anyway this is the finished result. Have a good evening everyone.
Chris
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Challenges entered:-
LIM Week 90 Autumn
allsorts Autumn colours
Try it on Tuesday Autumn colours

B is for.......

.....bedtime story, book, butterfly, bunny slippers, blooms, beads....! Another adorable image from Mo Manning! Could you resist that beseeching little face!?
Chris
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challenges entered:
DP2 -B is for..
thecraftypad Distress it!
guylousinimitability fancy diecut
craftuscrazy children
paperplay cute
simplycreate digi
deepocean anything goes

Another week flies past....

 

Good afternoon everyone! I can't believe it's Sunday again already! -where DID last weeek go!

I've had a lovely lazy day today, playing about with inks and getting nice and messy! I wanted to make a card for this weeks Less is More challenge which is a one layer card -wings, and I didn't want to use butterflies(!!)  birds, fairies , angels, I wanted to make a card with a dragon for a change, so I made this one ... I had loads of fun , stamping, embossing masking, painting etc BUT it is impossible to get a decent photo!

The card is actually black, not dark blue, and I really love the sentiment - I think it's very sound advice!

Well after this, as I had time- and loads of stuff already spread all over the kitchen as well as my workroom (how can I make such a mess making one card???)- I made this one (back to the butterflies!!) The green panel was made using a mask, not a stamp, embossing and then inking through a hand cut acetate mask. Then I stamped the black butterfly twice (judiciously placed to cover the green inky fingerprint......) 

Better go and clear up the mess now! Have a good evening!

Chris

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Challenges entered:  LIM 89   one layer -wings

onestopcraftchallenge heat embossing

JUGS emboss resist

Hi ho silver!

Good evening all, hope you have had a pleasant weekend. I haven't had a lot of time to craft, been a bit busy and finding it difficult to concentrate on anything, my head's still all over the place with all the horrid things going on at work!
 I've made a couple of quick and easy cards for tis weeks Less is More challenge - silver.

That's all from me for now.
Thanks for looking!
Chris
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Less is More 88 silver
delightful winter holiday
fabnfunky no patterned paper

Happy days!

Good evening all. Just thought I'd share the card I have made for my lovely daughter's fast approaching birthday. I was lost for inspiration until I found these lovely digis at Digital Pencil Too,

these little beauties could have been modelled on my gorgeous grandaughters! Daughter and family are eagerly anticipating their first holiday abroad together a few days after her birthday, so the idea for the card just sort of fell into place!
I used the stepper card technique that I was taught at a recent card class, coloured and cut out the little girls (I've added glossyaccents to sunglasses, but it doesn't show in photo!)  and attached them to the middle step. The sun is just a punched paper circle with a smiley face drawn on and 'rays' attached to the back, 2 little clouds and some die cut letters (happy days) complete the backdrop.
The flipflops (daughters favourite footwear!) are cut out from a designer paper I had in my stash, just added some tiny buttons to finish. I hope she likes this card as much as I enjoyed making it!

Chris
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Challenges entered-
DP2  Ribbons and bows
onestitchatatime buttons
stamps and fun 2 images
cutiepie use digi
craftyboots 3 pairs of flipflops!
deepocean more than 2 colours
pennyschallenges more than 1 fold
guylous weather inspired

..back home..

Good evening all! It's lovely to be back home, Devon holiday was fabulous but it's always nice to sleep in your own bed, and I really missed my craft room!!! Have had quite a lazy day, enjoyed a lovely visit from my gorgeous girlies (anxious to see if Nanny had any presents....!) caught up with a few phone calls and I made this card for this weeks Less is More challenge -Love and marriage.  (Sorry photo isn't good!) The lovely shoe stamp was stamped and heat embossed cut out and mounted onto the embossed white panel then mounted onto silver card. Small tag, bow and brad and a few tiny gems to finish -quick and simple! I can hear a large glass of wine calling to me... so I'll wish you all a pleasant evening!
Chris
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Challenges entered LIM week 87
casology shoe
thepapershelter anything goes

My first DT card!

Morning all! I am at present on holiday in beautiful Devon (my husbands favourite saying is "it's heaven in Devon" and I can't disagree!) not really looking forward to going home tomorrow, although it will be lovely to see my gorgeous girlies (grandaughters are very special people!). This is the card I made for my very first DT challenge over at southerngirls challenge. If you haven't already discovered this fun challenge blog just pop over and take a look, you'll love it! This card was made using Lila May fairy, a lovely digital image from dtsart . She is so easy to work with! I paper pieced her dress and shoes, coloured the rest of her with copics and added a tiny touch of stickles to her wings. This is the first time I've paper pieced a digital image and I'm quite pleased with the finished effect (think the lovely clean lines of the drawing helped here!).

also entering these challenges partytimetuesdays anything goes

papermakeupstamps anything goes

crazychallenge spots or stripes (this has both - does it count?)

whoopsiedaisy things with wings

victorine originals dots

nomatterwhichchallenges. die cuts or punches (the lettering!)

2sisters things with wings (+glitter -just a tiny bit!!)

pattiescreations anything goes

craftingforallseasons. things with wings

divasbydesign fairies and fantasy

fabnfunky starts with f

flutterbywednesdays fairy

Well that's all from me until I get home - back to reality - holidays are great while they last but WHY does the time pass so quickly???

Chris

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First the good news....

... and very exciting news it is! - I have been chosen to join the design team at southerngirls, an amazing New Zealand based challenge blog! It's really fun , with something for everyone, so if you haven't already discovered it check it out now! I am really looking forward to it, can't wait to start - my very first DT!

On another level, life has been a bit difficult lately (work related, not going to whinge about it here!) haven't been able to concentrate on anything much, so very little crafting has been done. However, I have made a couple of CAS cards based on this week's Less is More challenge-foliage.They're not quite what I envisioned when I started, but at least making them made me feel a bit better! I got nice and inky which is always good!
Wishing you all a very pleasant evening
Chris
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PS -Have linked both cards to challenge as totally messed up the first link (brain just not fully functioning....!)

old favourite

For this week's Less is More challenge I decided to use this gorgeous flower stamp, a real old favourite of mine. When I first bought it I used it loads, but it has been left, sad and neglected for ages! Just stamped it on pink cardstock, cut it out, shaped it slightly and mounted it onto brown card. used glossy accents to stick tiny seed beads to the centre of the flower - there are now lots of tiny seed beads decorating the floor.....stamped and embossed the sentiment and that's about it!
Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Chris
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So happy!

The minute I saw this photo of my younger grandaughter, taken by my daughter on her phone, and emailed to me, I knew I had to scrap it! The look of complete happiness on her beautiful little face just epitomises (hmm good word!) what a happy, carefree childhood should be!! I left the large expanse of blue sky in the photo because I like the impression of freedom and space it gives and kept the layout fairly simple and uncluttered. The gorgeous papers are My Minds Eye -Follow your heart, torn, inked around the edges with added faux stitching.
The kite embellishments are cut from the papers, mounted on chipboard, with twine and ribbon added. Hope it does my lovely girlie justice!

challenges entered southerngirls  use chipboard
                               onceuponasketch followed sketch

Thanks for looking!
Chris
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