Preparing for Christmas

Good morning, start of a new week and time for a new challenge at House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge. This is my last week as a Guest Designer and I've had a great time designing along with the lovely and talented ladies of this friendly team, so thank you very much for having me :)
The  (optional) theme for this challenge is 'Preparing for Christmas', so a good opportunity for adding to my stash of Christmas cards. I used a cling stamp, Elf gifts, which I coloured with copics and glitter pens. Papers and matching ribbon were a gift from my sister. Die cut foliage and sentiment from Tim Holtz. I'm pleased with how this turned out, those little elf- mice are so cute!

Please take the time to check out this lovely challenge over at HMFMC, there's some wonderful inspiration from the team and the prizes are fabulous!

Thanks for visiting my blog today, have a great week.
Chris
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Challenges entered:
CCC #24
lilpatchofcraftyfriends #68
allsorts #439
HIMCR #324
abcchristmaschallenge - Unlimited
merrychristmaschallenge #40

Here be dragons

Hello my friends. I'm not liking the clock change at all...5pm and it's so dark outside...winter is coming (!) My card today is again inspired by the current challenge at Aurora Wings, I made it last week before the girls arrived but no chance to post it before today! In fact not much chance of getting in my craft room as it was occupied a lot of the time by small busy girls!
The amazing image, Dragon Lore, is coloured with copics. I built a 'window frame' from black cardstock and a fence die cut to frame it. The sentiment is stamped onto a shield shape then covered with crackle accents.

It's been very quiet in my house today! No giggling and flurries of activity and calls for 'Nanny, can you help me do this?' I have my craft room and computer all to myself...but I'd rather have the girls :)
Daughter is home safe and sound now and they're delighted to have their Mummy back.

One of the fun things we did together last week was to visit a Pumpkin farm where they got to choose and pick their own pumpkins, fortunately it was a beautiful warm day and the fields were dry, would have hated to push that wheelbarrow through mud! Here's what they did with some of the pumpkins-

...didn't they do well! Olivia (10) did the 2 larger ones on her own. I helped Ruby (8) with the carving on her little mouse pumpkin. Minion Bob is all her own work (apart from a bit of help making his specs!)
Thank you for all your kind wishes, I am feeling a bit better today (18 hours sleep helped!) and can talk more (much to hubby's disappointment).
Have a lovely evening
Chris
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Challenges entered:
aurorawings #59
colourcrazy #43
morgansartworld #21
eclecticellapu October Challenge

Cool bear!

I'm running really late with my post today, had such a full-on busy week looking after my granddaughters, then they stayed for an extra day as Daddy had to work this morning. They've been as good as gold and I'm going to miss them now they've gone home...but I'm shattered now, so keeping this post very short. Doesn't help that I've had some kind of 'flu virus all week and can hardly talk!
My card is for our new Challenge over at Sweet Stampin', the theme this week is 'bears'...how lovely, and so much scope!
I  used a set of stamps from Hobby Art, masked and stamped my scene, added a touch of colour to the bear with a copic and to the sky with distress ink. I matted it onto silver cardstock and then onto some embossed white panels. Added a bow and a die cut snowflake.
It would be lovely if you choose to play along this week, just click here for some fabulous inspiration and to add your entry.
Hoping to feel better tomorrow...will be back then to catch up on what I've missed.
Thanks for visiting
Chris
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Challenges entered:
allsorts #439
craftingbydesigns Get ready for Christmas
watercooler #142
paperminutes #509
2craftycrittercrazies  #7
onecrazystamper Christmas/Winter
Rudolph Day October Challenge

Peeking mice

Good morning, it's a quick and scheduled post from me today, I'm looking after my granddaughters for a few days and am away from home when this is due.

It's the last Wednesday of the month, that means it's time for a Christmas Challenge  at Fab N Funky. Our host this week is the lovely Jools and we're sponsored by Digital Delights. 

I used this cute image, available here. Coloured with copics, papers and ribbon were a gift from my lovely sister...just noticed the bow is upside down...

Hope you can find the time to play along this week...you're going to need those Christmas cards all too soon! Just click here to see what delights my  teamies have created, then add your own fabulous festive projects!

Thanks for calling by

Chris

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A little bit darker

Good evening, hope you've enjoyed a lovely relaxing weekend. Today I've been  indulging in some me time...tomorrow my granddaughters arrive for the week, so I'm going to be very busy! 

I've coloured up a couple of  fabulous Aurora Wings images and made some cards to enter in the current challenge...'Darkness Falls'.... I don't 'do' horror films but must admit I've always been fascinated by the darker side of fantasy and fairy tales, so I thought it would be fun to use my imagination and play along. The image I used for this card is Chrysanthemum Festival, I've cropped it a bit and tried to colour her a bit creepy! She's holding a butterfly but that didn't go with my theme so I gave her an owl instead (cropped from Sisterhood) it's attached over the image with silicone to add a little dimension. The frame around the image is a die cut circle oated with black Nuvo glimmer paste which has also been applied through a stencil to make the drips!.

Thanks for looking...hope I don't give you nightmares with this!

Chris

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Challenges entered:

aurorawings #59

pileiton #135

thefairyandtheunicorn #8

TIOT -Halloween

craftygirlz Spook it out

cccdigicreations #83

deliciousdoodles Halloween
eclecticellapu October Challenge

Midway reminder for Crafty Calendar

 Good morning and happy weekend. A brief reminder that our October Challenge challenge at Crafty Calendar only has just over a week to go. The theme for this month is 'Halloween'. I made a card for my smallest granddaughter using this sweet little witch from All Dressed Up...she's available here. Emily is only 3 so this cute non-scary image is perfect for her card...it even has a little cat, which I coloured to look like Emily's pet! I cut the front of the card into the shape of a 'spooky' house (just drew the shape on the inside first), and added the wonky windows. I covered what would have been the inside of the card but now shows on the outside (does that make sense??!) with purple paper and added a moon and stars. I don't have a die for a bat so I drew the shape on black card and gave him some wobbly eyes. Die cut sentiment is Tim Holtz.
For full details of this month's challenge and sponsors please click here to pop over to Crafty Calendar, where you will find plenty of inspiration from my lovely teamies. You still have plenty of time to join in with your own creepy (or not!) creations.
Thanks for visiting and have a fabulous weekend!
Chris
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Challenges entered:
allsorts #438
mytimetocraft #357
craftingbydesigns Halloween
pdelinkyparty #195

The elf is watching...

Hello, I'm a little late with my post today, been a busy morning! My card is for our new Challenge at Creative Moments, the theme this week if you want to use it is 'Purple Paradise'. We have 2 fab sponsors for this  Dr Digi and Sparkle n Sprinkle. My cute Elf-sitter image is courtesy of Sparkle n Sprinkle it comes with a coloured image as well as the uncoloured one and several sentiments too.
I coloured my elf with copics in sades of purple and olive and added glitter to the bells on his outfit, then sat him on the edge of my pop up box. He's surrounded by glittery stars and presents and you can see Santa and his reindeer in the background. I now have to decide which of my granddaughters to give it to...they love their 'Elf on the shelf' the whole family have a lot of fun with it! (you just don't want to know what that elf gets up to at night!)
Thanks for calling by today, please hop over to Creative Moments for full details of sponsors and prizes and to check out the fab creations from my teamies.
Have a good day
Chris
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Challenges entered:
Bugaboo Crafty Challenge  #10
crafterscafe #183
sparkleschristmas #81
sendasmile4kids- Christmas
crafting-with-friends #52
hidinginmycraftroom #322 (all the stars and gifts cut from scraps)

Autumn colours at HMFMC

Good morning my friends, hope the week ahead proves to be a good one for you all. My card today is my penultimate GDT creation for House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge...the theme this fortnight is 'Autumn/Fall Colours'. I am lucky enough to live less than 5 minutes walk from a small woodland area and this year the colours of the turning leaves are just amazing! We've also been very fortunate with the weather, mainly warm and sunny...with bright blue skies and I've tried to use some of these colours in my card.
The card base is a simple tent fold with rounded corners I cut out the middle section to show the beautiful blue sky inside, complete with die cut clouds. I stamped the cute mousie with his parachute leaf onto a separate piece of card, coloured with copics , then fussy cut. I stamped the tips of the leaf again onto the main body of the card then matched the cut out image to bridge the gap. The  wooden sentiment is coloured with copics.
I'm having a great time guest designing for this lovely challenge, please click here to enjoy the wonderful creations from the Mousie Girls and for details of the fantastic prizes on offer!
Thanks for calling by today, hope you have a good week.
Chris
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Challenges entered:
pattiescreations #139
4craftychicks #372
MAWTT #56
craftyaddicts #41
craftysentiments -Fall

It's great to be 8!

  The card I'm sharing today is for my little granddaughter who is excitedly anticipating her eighth birthday next week! It's a good fit for this week's challenge at Sweet Stampin' which is 'Sparkle and Shine' ...it does have lots of sparkle (promise) although it doesn't show in the photo...the card isn't lopsided either...the camera DOES lie! :))

I chose this cute image (Polkadoodles) because of  her specs...no Ruby doesn't need to wear glasses...she's just obsessed by them and wears a pair of huge 'fake' ones whenever she can get away with it, kids do have strange ways sometimes! 

There's sparkle on the edges of die cuts, added with a glitter pen (Kaisercraft) and loads of Wink of Stella everywhere (Ruby loves a bit of sparkle!), her specs have glitter on the frames and glossy accents on the lens.

The sentiment is stamped n pink and then coloured with the glitter pen.

There are loads of splendidly sparkly creations from my lovely teamies to be enjoyed by clicking here, so please do hop over and take a peek...then it's your turn to dazzle us with your own beautiful glittery makes...just remember to stamp something.

Thanks for visiting and have a lovely weekend.

Chris

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Challenges entered:
fussyandfancy #198
alohafriday  #105
audsentiments #190
starstampz  lots of pink
thesisterhoodofcrafters  Pink October
watercooler #140
unicorn #26
digichoosday #41

October Challenge...Christmas at Sweet Stampin'

It's time for our October Challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'...only 2 more challenges to go this year! For my DT card I used this fantastic Snowman Selfie image from Sheepski Designs, it's available here and believe it or not...it's a freebie! I printed out the image, then reduced the size and printed it twice more. I coloured the larger image with my copics...love these jolly snowmen, they're so cute!  The film strips are die cut (think it's a Joycraft die). I cut sections from the smaller images to fit inside each frame, coloured them and stuck them behind the  diecuts...pleased with the effect! The stamped sentiment is attached with a triangular paper clip.

If you haven't made any Christmas cards yet this year NOW is a good time to start!! For more inspiration just click here to see what my lovely teamies have made...we'd love it if you play along with us this month!

Thanks for visiting

have a fabulous day

Chris

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*Please scroll down for my earlier post today*

Challenges entered:

hollyandivy #16

crafterscafe #182

CHNCC October Challenge

christmascardchallenges #23

sendasmile4kids holiday wishes

It's only words...

Good morning my friends and visitors, hope your week is going well. Our new challenge at Fab 'N' Funky has a great theme ...' Word Art' chosen by our lovely Troppostella. We're lucky to be sponsored by the fabulous Bugaboo this week and were given some brilliant stamps to play with. I chose to use Noel Birds...so cute! Coloured with copics, glitter added to fairy lights, papers from stash (think they're Papermania), Embossed panel using an ef free with a magazine. Die cut fairy lights, coloured with copics and glitter added.
Apologies for bad photo, took it late in the evening and couldn't get lighting right!
As always my teamies have come up trumps and created some lovely cards to inspire! Please hop on over to Fab 'n' Funky to take a peek.

Thanks for stopping by

Chris

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Challenges:
merrychristmas #38
Bugaboo Crafty Challenge  #9
catchthebug -atg

Japanese Beauty

Good afternoon, hope you're all enjoying a lovely peaceful sunday. I'm full of lunch (we went out to eat so no cooking and no clearing up...YAY!), and having a bit of 'me' time!
My card is inspired by the current challenge at Aurora Wings - 'Clean and Simple. I love an opportunity to colour Mizi's beautiful images. I thought I'd try something a little different this time so I printed Miyabi twice and coloured one image in greyscale. I cut a strip from the second image and coloured that ...in colours :)) then paper-pieced it over the top of the grey image  ...quite fiddly to get it exact! With hindsight I wish I'd just marked the image and coloured in the central section instead of cutting the strip...the line down her face would have blended in better- otherwise I like the effect! The stamp in the bottom right hand corner is the Japanese kanji for beauty (I hope!)
Thanks for visiting
have a lovely evening.
Chris
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Challenges entered:
aurorawings #58
craftycatz #387 CAS
watercooler #139 feminine

Spooky!!

Good morning and happy weekend! Over at Crafty Calendar there's a new challenge starting today with the theme of 'Halloween'. It seems to getting increasingly popular here in the UK and the children seem to love it...my granddaughters do anyway, after all what's not to love about free sweeties! I always make sure I have plenty of treats for the neighbours' kiddies...and my girls very kindly take charge of any 'leftovers' to save me worrying what to do with them. So thoughtful :))

Anyway, back to the card. I don't know what the fold is called, but i made the card blank from black cardstock. The gorgeous witch is courtesy of Dr Digi, one of our fabulous sponsors this month, she's

available here. Wilma is dressed in her best party gear to celebrate her favourite night of the year...just check out those tights! The skeletons and sentiments are various stamps.

We hope you're going to join the fun and play along with us this month, just click here to hop over to Crafty Calendar for all the challenge details and to see what my lovely teamies have made to scare you with!

Have a lovely weekend and thanks for taking the time to visit.

Chris

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Challenges entered:

craftaholicsrus #39

craftygalscorner #143 add a bat

LTSCB #102

papercreators #62

Smile!

Good morning... over at Creative Moments we're celebrating World Smile Day (Fri 6th October) so the optional theme for this fortnight's challenge is 'Smile'. A smile makes everyone feel better and with all the terrible things going on in the world at present it's a good time to make the effort to spread a little happiness. Our lovely sponsors this time are Creative Bug and Sheepski Designs and as soon as I saw this fantastic image I knew I'd have to use it...so thank you Sheepski! Well, it really makes me smile anyway! For the above card I used the image just as it was, keeping my card design very CAS. I printed the image onto a piece of white cardstock, coloured it in greyscale apart from his fabulous shiny red nose. The sentiment is stamped. I enjoyed making it so much I made some more...

This time I cropped the image (my new favourite thing to do with digis!) coloured it with copics and stuck it into an aperture in a piece of DP. the pom pom is covered with stickles glitter. I die cut the letters and added a tiny LOTV tag.

I used the cropped version again on the third card, cut right round it and adhered to black cardstock , matted onto DP. white gel pen around edges of DP. 'Fluffy puffy stuff' on the pompom. Stamped and embossed sentiment.

These cards were really fun and very quick to make, the only thing that took time was the colouring..but that's a pleasure :) I think they make great Christmas cards for men!

Now it's your turn to make us smile, just click here to visit the Challenge blog and add your own fabulous creations. 

Thanks for calling by

Chris

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Challenges entered:

mmmchallenge #56 animal antics

crazychallenge. #258 add an animal

winter wonderland 

crimbo-crackers #142 reindeer

merrychristmaschallenge #37

Trick or treat

Good morning, it's  the start of a new week and time for a new challenge over at House Mouse and Friends, the theme this fortnight is Halloween.

 Here's my GDT card.

I made a side step card using a cling rubber stamp featuring 3 little mice dressed up for Halloween...such fun to colour this cute image!  The stamp is quite large so it didn't need much in the way of embellishments...I added a die cut cobweb and a stamped 'Happy Halloween.'. The pumpkins decorating the steps are stamped, coloured with copics and fussy cut.

Thank you for taking the time to visit today, please take a look at The House Mouse and Friends Challenge Blog for full details of prizes etc...there are some amazing projects to inspire you from the talented ladies of the design team.

Have a great week.

Chris

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Challenges entered:

craftycardmakers #197

crazychallenge #258

 dragonflyjourneys #102

sendasmile4kids  Fall colours

cutecardthursday #497