a simple 'Hi'...

It's been a busy day today with visits from all 3 of my gorgeous granddaughters! The two 'big girls' have just returned from two weeks holiday in Greece, I really missed them! Funny how when someone else is on holiday the time passes so slowly but when you're on holiday yourself you blink and it's gone!!!

It's bedlam here with 3 little girls bouncing around - and the chatter is non- stop! Seems very quiet now they've all gone home!

Anyways, my card today is a quick and simple one using my new favourite stamp, (Nice to meet you Hoppy Poppy from Stamping Bella) just love the expression on this little bunny's face! I followed the sketch for this weeks challenge at Less is More. I stamped the bunny twice, once on the white card and then over the edge of the green die cut and cut around her legs and the bottom of her dress so that she could stand on the grass. I stuck it all together, drew the white stitching around the edge and then put a large inky thumb print on the white background...hence the die cut clouds....

Thanks for visiting, have a good evening!
Chris
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Challenges:
Less is More #238
craftycardmakers #146 no patterned paper
getcreative no printed papers
stamping sensations  atg with a stamp and a die
craftyfriends CAS

another wet Sunday...

Well...yesterday was hot hot hot with blue skies and blazing sunshine all day...sat in the garden until late enjoying a glass of wine or two with some good friends (and getting bitten by nasty flying things...really itchy foot today...) today it's raining and chilly!
This is my entry for the current challenge at The East Wind 'You ought to be in pictures'. I used a gorgeous image, Hybiscus, which I was lucky enough to win in a previous challenge. I've coloured her with copics, sticking to grey tones apart from the flowers. I used polychromos to shade her hair. The background is embossed. The die cut filmstip has tiny repititions of the main image in shades of blu and grey. The not-very- realistic flowers are my attempt at creating hibiscus blooms! The film inspiration...Blue Hawaii..

Thanks for visiting today, hope you're enjoying better weather!
Chris
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Challenges
theeastwind #37
alphabetchallenge no design paper
craftycatz flowers
quirkycrafts embossing
thatcraftplace blue
corrosive feminine

Seeing spots...

Another week gone and another Saturday dawns with a new challenge starting at Sweet Stampin'. Just over a week left until September.....unbelievable how quickly this year is passing by!
The challenge theme this week is a lovely easy one...spots/stripes or both!
I used a cute LOTV stamp, coloured the little lad with my copics and die cut with a stitched rectangle die. The background was made by layering strip(e)s of dotted paper over a piece of dp with large spots on it. I added twine, 2 tiny tags (also LOTV) and a few dotty buttons....simples!
Thank you for visiting and also, lovely followers thank you so much for all the kind and encouraging comments you leave....it does mean a lot to me, I read every one of them and always try to reciprocate in kind!
I hope you'll have time to join us at Sweet Stampin' this week, it really is an easy challenge,just remember to stamp something too, and we do have a fabulous sponsor this time - All Dressed Up - who wouldn't want to win some of these lovely images??!!
Have a great weekend
Chris
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Challenges entered:-

brownsugar buttons and bows
craftygalscorner #33 atg
craftyourpassion #275
craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper August challenge)
emeraldfaeries favourite colours (blue and brown)
natalieandamy buttons and bows

Fancy folds

Good morning, I'm here with my DT card for the new challenge at Creative Moments, our optional theme this time is 'fancy folds', but of course, as always, 'anything goes'.

Our sponsor for this challenge is the fabulous 

Art by Miran

The DT were given some beautiful images to work with, I chose the lovely Little Garden Sally, available here. I coloured her with copics, and the sky with distress inks, a touch of glossy accents on her boots.

The larger pink flowers were made using a Heartfelt Creations die, the rest are from my stash, The leaves, ivy and tiny birds are also die cuts and so is the little tag with the stamped sentiment.

The card base is actually quite simple (I'm put to shame by some of the amazing folds my teamies have used!) it's still  not easy to get a good photo though!

Thanks for visiting, you really should take the time to check out the Challenge Blog and see for yourselves how creative my teamies have been with their folding!

Have a lovely day

Chris

x

Challenges

papertakeweekly to die for

shoppingourstash layer it on me

melonheadzfriends hand coloured image

creativecraftcottage one for the girls

diesrus the great outdoors

throughthepurplehaze flowers

artbymiran #38 atg

Shiny stuff!

Good morning, have to admit I nearly forgot to post this...thought it was next week, the last fortnight has flown by so quickly! There's a new challenge  starting today over at Southern Girls and we want to see anything shiny, so now's your chance to break out the glitter and bling!
My cute image is courtesy of Inky Impressions, she's called Birthday Lili and is available here. I made a little easel card, age is coloured with copics, glossy accents on balloons. I added a couple of extra balloons die cut from glitter paper, a few sequins and a die cut sentiment.Thanks for looking today, there's some beautiful creations from the DT to be seen just by clicking  here, and some lovely prizes to be won from our fabulous sponsors:

                                                                 Lemon Shortbread

                                                              and Inky Impressions

So dig out your bling and glitter and get creating....we'd love to see what you make for this challenge!

Have a lovely day

Chris

x

Challenges
creativecardcrew sparkle and glittere
bunnyzoes shaped cards
cutiepie cute and girly

Golden pansies

Good evening, I'm a bit later than I intended with this post as my computer just decided to upload Windows 10...it asked me what time I wanted to schedule the upgrade....completely ignored the time I chose and went ahead anyway! Hope this doesn't bode ill for the future!
Anyway, back to the card....I spent a lovely day last week doing very little but reading and colouring and I made this card with one of my coloured images. She is, of course, an Aurora Wings beauty, one of the first I bought and I've coloured her several times before, I intended to try with my distress inks but printed on the wrong paper (duh!) so I used my copics instead! I kept the design pretty simple as there is so much detail in the image. The butterfly die is Tim Holtz and I cut the solid layer from a piece of watercolour paper upon which I had made my first (not altogether successful!!) attempt at using brushos (think I added too much water!) at least the colours were perfect for what I wanted and I just used a white gel pen to add the dots to the wings

Thanks for visiting!

Chris

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Challenges 

craftingforallseasons -bright and beautiful

fantastic tuesday include a butterfly

aurorawings anything with wings

craftycardmakers warm summer colours

throughthepurplehaze flowers

cagichallenge feacture a creature

a little ray of sunshine...

Evening all! Here's the card I made with this month's freebie from The East Wind, isn't this such a happy summery image? I think she's gorgeous!
I printed her onto watercolour paper and coloured her with distress inks, her dress is paper pieced. I masked off the image and used a MB stencil to make the sunrays. The papers I used are Penny Black Painted Blooms. The hello die cut is Paper Smooches.
Hope you like it.
Chris
x

Challenges:
The East Wind -Summer Lovin'
pileiton summer or winter
allsorts inspired by summer (sunshine!)
craftingforallseasons bright and beautiful
thesisterhoodofcrafters summer heat

Just hangin' around...

Good morning, Saturday has arrived once more so it's time for a new challenge at Sweet Stampin'. This week we would like to see anything but a birthday card....so loads of scope for you to choose from.... as long as there is some stamping involved we'd love to see it!
I made these door hangers for my two oldest granddaughters, I bought the (cheap!) wooden blanks some time ago and finally got around to decorating them. I sanded the edges and painted the blanks with gesso as the surface was quite rough and obviously porous, with hindsight I wish I'd added a couple more coats!. I then coloured them with distress inks, adding a bit of stencilling for background interest.  The stamps I used are all Lavinia, stamped with black distress ink (would have used Stayzon but my pad has dried up!), there's a touch of clear Wink of Stella on the fairies' wings. I painted the wooden letters and the outside edges of the hangers with black acrylic paint. To finish I added some ribbons and a tiny gems around the 'holes'.
So pleased you popped in to visit today, hope you'll find the time to join us at Sweet Stampin' this week, just click here to check out the fabulous creations that my lovely teamies have made to inspire you!
Hope you have a lovely weekend!
Chris
x

Challenges:
craftingwithanattitude #6 atg
addictedtostamps atg
inspirationdestination #45 atg
rubysrainbow something for a little girl
craftycardmakers anything but a card
crazychallenge #203 fairies
alteredeclectics atg
laviniastamps anything but a card

Summer sun

Good morning! Summer sun....something that's been in short supply for many of us in the uk this year! I live in the SE and we've been fortunate enough to enjoy some lovely warm sunny days but further north that hasn't been the case at all I understand! :(  If you haven't been luck enough to enjoy the real thing, or live in part of the world where summer is a distant memory, why not create your own little piece of sunshine and join in with this fortnight's challenge at Creative Moments!
My card was made using a cute Clyde digi from Bugaboo (thank you!)  available here. I printed the image twice, coloured one with copics, then used just the daisy and ladybird of the second image to add a bit of dimension.

We have two lovely sponsors for this challenge : Bugaboo Stamps and Crafty Sentiments ,  both offering fabulous prizes! I hope you'll take a look at the Challenge Blogto enjoy the lovely creations from my teamies, we'd love to have you join us...remember anything goes, you don't have to follow the 'summer sun' theme!
Have a lovely day (even if there's no sunshine)
Chris
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Challenges
deepocean Summer fun
digichoosday embellish it
diesrus summer fun
craftingwhenwecan ribbon, twine or washi

A feather in her cap...

Good afternoon, just popping in to share a quick card I made yesterday. I've been playing with distress inks again (a definite learning curve but I do find them much quicker than copics!) and coloured this beautiful  image from A Day for Daisies, she was a freebie some time ago. I didn't want to overshadow the simple elegance of this image, so kept the design and palette very simple.
Thanks for visiting, have a good evening!
Chris
x

Challenges entered:
incywincy frame it
allwayssomethingcreative CAS
Suzy B's  wings or feathers
adayfordaisies add a feather