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Tuesday 31 March 2020

New release at Catch the Bug- Spring bird.

New Releases!
Good morning! It's New Release day at Bugaboo, and this week's week image is a cute little chick, perfect for Easter. 
However I decided to make a birthday card-


Image coloured with copics, I added some little die cuts and a stamped, embossed sentiment.
For loads more ideas just hop over to Catch the Bug to see what the team have created using this little cutie.
Thanks for visiting.
Have a good day
Chris
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Challenges entered- 
allfun #5
paperplayers#484 (die cut/spring/birthday)

Saturday 28 March 2020

Eye eye!

 Hello, another weekend is upon us, hope everyone is doing ok, staying indoors, keeping calm and hopefully managing to lose yourselves and forget about what's going on by crafting for a while.
There's a new challenge starting today over at Sweet Stampin', the theme for this week is 'Make Your Own Background'.
I made a couple of tags, these are very large to accommodate the large 'eye' , a beautiful Lavinia stamp called Simmi. The background clouds are sponge using DIs and a stencil. I always enjoy seeing the very different effects from using the same stamps and designs in different colours!
These tags make great bookmarks which is always useful to me as we have a bookmark-eating gremlin living in our house!


Thanks for visiting, why not play along with us this week? Get out those inks, stencils and stamps you love and have a relaxing play! If you need more inspiration, just pop over to Sweet Stampin' to check out the fabulous creations from the team.
Thanks for taking the time to visit
Chris
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Challenge entries:
MAWTT #116
addictedtostamps #382
countryviewchallenges March Challenge
laviniaworld  #23

Friday 27 March 2020

Freebie Friday At Catch the Bug- Garden Bunny

Freebie Every Friday!

This week's fabulous freebie at Catch the Bug is an adorable little bunny.

I think you'll agree that she's a real little sweetie, perfect for spring, easter or kid's cards!
So hop on over to Catch the Bug and grab yours now!
Thanks for stopping by
Chris
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Please scroll down for earlier post today.

Challenge entries:
just-add-ink #498 (Easel)
craftysentiments 24 March Challenge
incywincy (16/3 -2/4)

Crafty Catz Challenge #499- Optional Twist- Use Kraft

Good morning, I'm finding it hard to keep track of the days right now, they seem to be blurring together somewhat, but I'm pretty sure it's Friday and time for a new challenge at Crafty Catz,. 
We have a wonderful sponsor this week -


It's my turn to host and I picked the theme 'use kraft' for the team to follow, as always the theme is optional for those who would like to play along.
The team were given a fabulous image to play with,  Casual Boy, a perfect choice for cards for young lads and a joy to colour!

I hope everyone is coping well with the current situation, staying at home and keeping safe.

Thanks for visiting
Chris

Saturday 21 March 2020

Bugaboo Bingo!


Good morning, this week's Bugaboo Challenge is a Bingo Grid

Using the middle line across, I made a card featuring the cute Umbrella Teddy- coloured with copics, white gel pen and glossy accents added to raindrops. I have no idea why he decided to sit in the puddle...must have a very soggy bottom! I cut an aperture from a rectangle of black card, embossed  it and rounded the corners. I cut a smaller aperture from the blue card, stamped and heat embossed a raindrop stamp over the whole surface, then covered most of it with the black layer ( I'm not much brighter than the bear!) 
The blue raindrops are punched hearts cut in half and covered with glossy accents.
For more fun cards and to play along please hop over to Catch the Bug.
Keep safe and well, have a good weekend
Chris

Friday 20 March 2020

Crafty Catz Challenge # 498 - Optional Twist- add ribbon or twine


Good morning, hope you're all staying safe and sane in this crazy world!  It's time for this week's challenge at Crafty Catz, it's Billie's turn to host and she's picked the theme of  'Ribbon or Twine' for the DT to use. Our lovely sponsor this week is 


I used the pretty Cosmos image, courtesy of our sponsor. The papers are quite old and have lost their packaging so no idea of make. I added a double bow to finish.
Thanks for visiting, loads to see over at Crafty Catz if you're looking for some inspiration-please come and join us!
Have a good weekend
Chris
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challenge entries:
craftygalscorner #205
digichoosday #11
craftinghappiness #40
dragonflydreams March
creationsinpink #20
digidoodle #25




Wednesday 18 March 2020

Joy to the World....

....well I think we all could do with a little joy just now! 

My card today is for this week's challenge at Fab'n'Funky, the theme as you might have guessed is Christmas. The image, coloured with Copics, is a Mo Manning cutie. I printed the image quite large so kept the design simple.
 Thanks for visiting, have a good day.
Chris
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Challenge entries
Holly and Ivy  #67
worldwideopendesignteam #03
Creative Moments #186



Tuesday 17 March 2020

Live the High Life!


Tuesday is New Release Day at Catch the Bug. This week's newbie is this cute little bear, floating by on his balloon...not a care in the world! I've given him some lovely fluffy clouds to fly through, same clouds and colours used on the background panel. The hot air balloon dp was a magazine freebie, the sentiment is stamped. 
New releases are always 50% off for the first week so float on over to BUGABOO to take a look.
Thanks for stopping by
Chris
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Saturday 14 March 2020

Lucky to have...

 Good morning, hope you are all feeling well, no nasty little coughs or anything suspicious! 
I'm really fed up with hearing about the virus now I know we need to be careful and I understand everyone's concern for their more vulnerable loved ones but I don't want to hear about it every time I turn on the TV! It's taking over where Brexit left off!

Anyway, enough of me moaning - time to tell you about this week's fun challenge at Sweet Stampin'.
the theme this week, in honour of St Patrick's Day is to use green or make a funny card. 
As you can see I went for the green option! My cute little image is from Mo Manning, coloured up with copics. I printed her twice and fussy cut the girl and some of the shamrocks, popping them onto foam pads for a little extra dimension. Inside I have used the sentiment that comes with the image. 
I hope you choose to play along with us at Sweet Stampin' this week.
Thanks for stopping by, have a good weekend, stay safe from the germs!
Chris
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Challenge entries:
Double D- Green
lilredwagon #540  - 3 buttons
paperfunday March Challenge
tuesdaythrowdown #452
classicdesign #3
polkadoodle #10
cutiepie #145
craftycardmakers #252




Friday 13 March 2020

Crafty Catz #497- Optional Twist-Boys and their Toys


Good morning, once again the week has flown post and here we are with another Friday! This week's challenge at Crafty Catz is hosted by our lovely Aunty Sue, the optional theme she has chosen is 'Boys and their Toys' and we're sponsored by the fabulous


LEANN'S WORLD 101


My image is the cute Game Boy, coloured with copics and fussy cut, papers from stash, a button and a stamped sentiment.

On a personal note, my leg is soooo much better...I can bend it and  walk with barely a twinge. The doctor gave it some long name and prescribed a shedload of pain killers and anti inflammatories which seem to have  kicked in straight away, such a relief! I'm trying to do as I'm told and resting it but feel like a bit of a fraud!

Thanks for taking the time to visit and hope you can join us at Crafty Catz this week.
Keep away from germs and have a good weekend

Wednesday 11 March 2020

A sad goodbye to Christmas at Sweet Stampin'


I haven't been looking forward to writing this post as I hate goodbyes, but this will be my last creation for Christmas at Sweet Stampin'. I have had a wonderful time as part of this amazing team and made some lovely friends, who have been  so supportive and such fun to work with- I was a very new crafter when I first joined the team at Sweet Stampin', ( the 'big sister' blog)  and had no confidence , their encouragement and friendship will never be forgotten. 
Lovely Wends and I are the last Sweet Stampin' team members, and as we are both saying our goodbyes there is no longer an affiliation with CaSS and it's been decided to close down the challenge blog. 
However- it's not all bad news- the good news is that the remaining team, a very lovely and talented bunch of ladies!, are opening up a brand new Christmas Challenge, you will find the details HERE
Also, to say their own goodbyes, Susan, and Tracy,  and  Abi have joined us this month, for one last time.

The challenge theme this month is Clean and Simple.
I made this card in green
 I liked it it was quick and easy , so I made it again in pink!
The background is a small Inkylicious splat stamp, smooshed with Distress inks and spritzed I laid the cardstock on top of  the inky  stamp instead of stamping down because I was a bit too enthusiastic with the water...and it dripped, but I like the effect. The tree and sentiment stamps were free with a magazine some years ago, they're beautiful and stamp perfectly. If you look closely you can see I added tiny gems to the trees, looks so pretty when it catches the light!

Please do join us at Christmas At Sweet Stampin' for this final farewell.

Apologies to my team that this post is a little later than I planned. I'm struggling to move around much at the moment as I have a very painful right leg, and everything takes longer than usual! Off to the Doc's later, hope he has a magic wand!

Thanks for stopping by today
Chris
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Challenge entries:
abcchristmaschallenge F for freebie (stamps)
simonsaysstamp- add green
MIUCB #35


Sunday 8 March 2020

Harry Potter Christmas!


Good morning, I'm a day late with my DT card for this week's Anything Goes Challenge at Catch the Bug- but better late than never! This is a Christmas card I made for my eldest- Harry Potter-obsessed- Granddaughter. She loved it!
I used 2 Bug images to make this card- Potter Magical Christmas  and just the tree from Stella- Santa Died Laughing

There's still plenty of time to join in with the challenge. 
Thanks for stopping by
Chris
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challenge entries:
fezziwigsfestivefrolics #5
merrylittlechristmas #20

Saturday 7 March 2020

Crafty Calendar March Challenge


Hi, I'm back with my second post for today, this time it's with my DT card for our March Challenge at Crafty Calendar, the theme is 'More than One Fold' and our wonderful sponsor is

I made a gatefold card with an aperture, the adorable bunny, available HERE is coloured with Copics, paper is from Hunkydory. I added some die cut daisies and leaves to embellish and a sheer white ribbon to the band that keeps it closed, I made the band just tight enough to stay in place, but loose enough that the card can still stand up whilst closed. 


My 10 year old granddaughter fell in love with this little bunny, she's coloured it up herself (using promarkers) to decorate a gift bag she's in the process of making for Mother's Day.
Didn't she do well!
Please come on over and join us at Crafty Calendar this month.
Thanks for visiting 
Have a great weekend
Chris
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Challenge entries
craftyfriends #130
inkspirational #208
Ellibelle Crafty Wednesday March
lilredwagon. #539
2sistersontheblog #37
digidoodle #25

Guest Design for Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge


Good morning! I won a recent challenge at Mo's Digital Challenge -lucky me ! -and was delighted to be invited to Guest Design this month. Thank you ladies!
The theme for March is 'green', which is a colour I love and this is the card I came up with. The sweet image is called Dandelions,  I printed her onto white cardstock , die cut into a largish rectangle and coloured  the image with my trusty Copics. I stamped and embossed the dandelions around the edges using white ep, then sponged  with distress inks in green and pale blue leaving a white area around the image. The panel beneath is made the same way. Underneath that there's an embossed panel which is lightly sponged with the same green ink. 
I added the die cut wreath and dandelion, stamped sentiments, a piece of green tulle and a couple of brads. 

For loads of inspiration using Mo's beautiful images check out the Challenge Blog- the DT are a very talented lot!
Thanks for visiting, I'll be back later today with more cards!

Chris
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challenge entries
cutitup #195
southerngirls -5 March
alwaysfun #152

Friday 6 March 2020

Crafty Catz #496- Optional twist- flowers


Good morning, hope you've all had a good week and a ready to enjoy the weekend. I'm hoping that the weather will let me get outdoors a bit- it rained so hard and so long yesterday that no-one (including the dog!) wanted to venture outside! There was quite a kerfuffle when we thought she needed 'a comfort break' involving pursuing her round the sofa and physically chucking her out the door- not too easy with a Great Dane!

The new challenge at Crafty Catz has the lovely optional theme of Flowers, chosen by our lovely Zora who is hosting this week. 
Our sponsor for this is the fabulous MORGAN'S ARTWORLD


To make my card I used the beautiful digi stamp Fantasy Fae Digi Stamp 48,  and spent a happy hour or so colouring her with my copics. I placed her inside layered apertures, cut once from dp- top layer, the underneath layer is cut from  distress-inked and stencilled card which is popped up on foam to add dimension. I fussy cut some flowers from the remains of the dp and tucked them between the layers along some die cut leaves. I added a few flowers and a stamped sentiment to finish.


Please hop on over to Crafty Catz to enjoy the beautiful creations form the team, then it's your turn to wow us with your own fabulous makes!
Thanks for visiting , have a lovely day!
Chris
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Challenges entered:
audsentiments #246
craftrocket #68
creativeknockouts #340
watercooler #261
digichoosday #9
unicorn # 52
morgansartworld #3

Wednesday 4 March 2020

Happy Me Me Me Day!


Good morning, it's my turn to host the challenge at Fab'n' Funky this week -I chose the theme of 'more than one fold'.This is the birthday card I made for one of my lovely sisters- she is obsessed with giraffes! She also has no hesitation in telling people she loves presents! This image from Sasayaki Glitter was just made for her! 
I made a side step card base from black cardstock, printed the image, coloured with copics and adhered to the main panel. I printed the image again, much larger this time, coloured and fussy cut the three giraffes and arranged them on the 'steps' along with a couple of die cut parcels. I finished with the stamped sentiment (very appropriate :) and some bling. She really loved it!

Please hop over to Fab'n' Funky to check out the beautiful creations my team have made- I'd love it if you choose to play along this week.
Thanks for visiting
Chris
x
Challenge entries:
2craftycrittercrazies. #36
craftyanimals #36
worldwideopen #2
craftyfriends #130
craftysentiments 3/3/ Challenge
incywincy - hand coloured image