Christmas in September at Sweet Stampin' Challenges

 Good morning, this fortnight our challenge theme  at Sweet Stampin'  is

 Christmas in September.

A friend of mine is busily making items to sell at a craft fair and was looking for ideas so I suggested decorating candles, something I've been meaning to try for ages but have never got around to.

It was really easy to do, a lot of fun and I didn't even burn myself! I won't go into details of 'how to' as there are plenty of tutorials online but this is the finished result. I used an old, but beloved wood backed Penny Black stamp- it comes out year after year so I've def. had my money's worth from it! I wrapped the finished candle in selophane and added some ribbon and twine a tiny tag with a stamped sentiment.

Not long to go before this month is over and October means Christmas will be looming very close- so now is a good time to get started on those Christmas makes, there's loads of fabulous inspiration from Team Wendy over at Sweet Stampin' so hop over and take a look, we'd love to see your Christmas ideas and creations too so we'll be delighted to have you play along- anything Christmas but remember to include some stamping.

Thanks for visiting 

have a lovely weekend

x

Challenge entries:

mytimetocraftchristmas #19

Winter Wonderland -Anything but a card

hollyandivy #101

CCAYR - R reindeer, ribbon

daisychain #56

Rudolph Days September Challenge

Crafty Catz Challenge # 564 -Optional twist 'Anything but square'

 Good morning, hope you have all enjoyed a good week, the weather has been lovely here, lots of  late summer sunshine, just what we need to set us up for the colder and darker days ahead. Not much crafting done here- I've spent as much time as I can outside, a lot of reading and a little gardening- my husband is a keen gardener and does most of the work which suits me down to the ground! Marvin likes to help with a bit of pruning and dead heading...unfortunately he doesn't wait until the flowers are dead and he's an indiscriminate but enthusiastic pruner! Anyway, back to the card- one I made earlier- for this week's challenge at Crafty Catz, sponsored by 

Sherry West Art

FACEBOOK PERSONAL PAGE

https://m.facebook.com/sharongwen.west.1

FACEBOOK ARTIST PAGE

and 

Crafty Ribbons

Website: www.craftyribbons.com

Visit our blog http://blog.craftyribbons.com

Inspiration Blog http://craftyribbonsinspiration.blogspot.co.uk/

Challenge Blog http://craftyribbonschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

prize

Our theme for this week is 'Anything But Square', as always this theme is optional.

I used Torn Edge Octagon dies to cut a card base and frame, stamped the cute Frog and Friend image onto the card base, coloured with Copics then masked him off to stencil the  background sky and grass, I added some stamped bulrushes. The frame was stencilled and stamped to match.

As always there's plenty more to see over at the Challenge blog, so please hop over and take a look at what the team have been up to this week.

Thanks for visiting

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

kraftychicks #578

craftysentiments 21 Sept Challenge

digichoosday.#38

lilredwagon #620

thesisterhoodofcrafters stencils

watercooler #325

Just one life

 It's been a glorious day today, I've been very lazy and spent most of it in the garden, finished reading one book and read half of another, my idea of bliss! They are both library books with other people waiting for them so it would have been selfish not to! :)) I doubt if we'll get many more perfect days like this one before the autumn really sets in so I made the most of it.

 This is a card I made yesterday, just because I could. The cute image is from My Besties, a prize from a recent win and I felt like a bit of colouring therapy.  I've used Copics mainly but added a touch of sparkle here and there with gel pens, sadly not showing on the photo. The gorgeous papers are from Stamperia. The cogs die cut behind the image and clock was inked with distress inks and sprayed with a mica mist and it has a beautiful shimmer IRL. The Stamps are Tim Holtz. I added a couple of metal cogs and some pearl dots to finish.

Thanks for visiting

enjoy the rest of the weekend

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

thefairyandtheunicorn - September Challenge

colourcrazy #37

polkadoodle #38

classicdesign #9

crafterscafe #274 (blues/browns)

creativecraftinguncles. #21

mybestiesaussiechallenge #9

bestieschallenge- September Ch.

Simply Gorgeous!

 Good morning, Friday has arrived once more so it's time for a new challenge at

 Crafty Catz,

This week we're sponsored by the fabulous 

DR DIGI'S HOUSE OF STAMPS

Prize 2 images from the shop

It's my week to host which means I get to choose the theme for the DT to use-

2 or more Design Papers

As always this theme is optional for anyone who chooses to play along- anything goes at Craft Catz.

The image I have used, kindly given by the sponsor, is 

Mascara Mandy...

here she is getting all glammed up for an evening out!

I've used my Copics to colour, papers from stash and stamped sentiment. The lipstick and nail polish are die cut from white card, coloured with Copics and paper pieced with tiny scraps of DP.

As always, there's plenty of inspiration to be found over at Crafty Catz where the DT have been busy creating with some fun sponsor images, so please hop over and take a look- we'd love to have you play along with us this week.

Thanks for visiting- and have a great weekend.

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

aperfecttimetocraft #9

Crafts galore encore #91

pearlysparkles #66

sweetstampers #60

incywincy dots/stripes /checks

colourcrazy #36

Thinking of you...

 Good morning, this week at Allsorts Challenges the team are dedicating the challenge to lovely Kath. It would have been her week to host and in typical, well organised Kath fashion she had picked the theme ages ago. Her chosen theme is Favourite Stamps and the Allsorts team have added an extra option of paper- pieced flowers as Kath was the queen of paper-piecing.  Here's the card I made to join in and remember a wonderful friend. I have used my all time favourite flower stamp, Ruffled Bloom an old wood backed stamp from Stampendous. I stamped onto the square of white cardstock twice, slightly off the edge, masking one image to stamp the other- then realised that I didn't need to mask it off as I was going to paper-piece over the top of it- doh! I stamped  the leaves, coloured them with Copic markers  and masked them to add the stamped background script and sentiment. I flicked a few splats onto the background then paper-pieced the flowers, adding a few seed beads to the centres. I finished with some twine and little flower beads. 

Please do hop over and look at the challenge, there's some beautiful inspiration, some lovely prizes and it would be great if you can join in by creating something beautiful in honour of Kath.

Thanks for stopping by

Chris

x

Challenge entries

Allsorts #641

creativefingers #214

craftycreations #425

watercooler #324

aplacetostart #9

Colours of Autumn

It's time for a new Challenge over at Sweet Stampin', the theme for this fortnight is

 'Colours of Autumn'.

I made a couple of tags using Distress inks, stencils and some Lavinia stamps. I love these colours.

 I'm having a peaceful hour, Marvin is enjoying his bone in the garden - after a battle of wills, he would prefer to chew it on the carpet...but I won!

Here are a few of his holiday photos as promised. There was a wonderful walk just across the road from the cottage- through the park and an orchard and fields and woods- you can see how much he enjoyed it!

At the end of the walk as we came back to the village there was this beautiful surprise- a lovely display of wild flowers beside a little stream.

He had a wonderful time on the beach-

he ran straight into the sea... a big wave went over his head and bowled him right over- he just shook himself and went back for more

Thanks for visiting- don't forget to check out our challenge at Sweet Stampin' and have a great weekend.

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

alphabetchallenge L for Leaves

simplycreatetoo #174

craftygalscorner #223

ellibelle Flora /fauna

paperfunday #33

creativecraftcottage #144

thefourseasons September (Fall)

Crafty Catz Challenge #563 Optional twist - Masculine Birthday

Good afternoon, I'm a little late with this post today, just got back from holiday and lots to do!

We had a lovely time and Marvin was a superstar and thoroughly enjoyed his first holiday... will share some photos later when I have more time.

This week's challenge at Crafty Catz is sponsored by the fabulous

 Morgan's Artworld

Billie is hosting and has picked the optional theme of Masculine Birthday 

The image I used is Sports 16, I printed the image twice, once onto a panel of white card and once onto a scrap of grey dp with a very subtle pattern. I sponged Distress Inks onto the white panel and  stencilled  a grassy border and some 'ripples'  to give a kind of water effect, then stamped the edges with a TH script stamp. I stamped the sentiment and added a strip of green dp and some twine.  I cut the image on the  dp into a tag shape, inked the edges and a little stencilling with green distress ink, and adhered it onto the main panel, lining up the image so the fishing rod matched up (well almost!)

Well that's it from me today, need to go shopping for groceries as our cupboards and fridge are a bit Mother Hubbard.

Don't forget to hop over to Crafty Catz to see what my lovely teamies have created this week and remember the theme is optional if you want to play along.

Thanks for stopping by

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

audsentiments #283

thepapershelter #482

themaleroom #154

morgansartworld #9

 

A Challenge for Kath

 Good morning,

I'm here today to tell you about an upcoming challenge at Allsorts in honour of lovely Kath who sadly passed away last month. She is much missed by her teamies, and I'm sure many, many others who like myself, were honoured to count her as a friend. Kath was such a talented crafter and produced many beautiful cards,  a brilliant team member, so organised herself and always willing to help out when needed, and a loyal and supportive friend. I have been lucky enough to enjoy her  friendship and wonderful sense of humour since we were DT members on Ladybug Crafts Inc many years ago , and ever since then I have looked forward to reading her comments -always kind and generous and often humorous- she did have the most amazing sense of humour, her lovely newsy emails would always have me laughing out loud.  I miss her very much and my thoughts often go to her beloved family who I know will be devastated by their loss. 

 Please look out for the Challenge, which will take place on Saturday 11th September, it would be great if you can find the time to create something beautiful to join the Allsorts team in  honouring this wonderful lady. All the details will be on the Allsorts Challenge Blog.

I'll leave you with a small selection of Kath's beautiful creations to admire -

Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

Chris

x

Crafty Calendar September Challenge - Anything Goes

 Hello, well here are we are at the beginning of another month- this year is disappearing fast. The weather is already feeling quite autumnal, must say its been a bit of a disappointing summer here, not nearly as much sunshine as I would have liked!!! Many of the days have been a bit like the one on my card- wet and grey!

This month at Crafty Calendar we are lucky to have two  fabulous sponsors this month Sheepski Designs  and Crafty Ribbons. I have used the beautiful Shopping in Yorkshire image- so lovely to colour. This card started life as a slimline design. I printed the image onto white card, masked it off and added the stencilled background panel with the raindrops- all good so far, coloured the image with Copics and paper pieced the umbrella- still good- inked up my stamp for the sentiment...and dropped it!!! Of course it landed on the card 🤦‍♀️- fortunately near the top of the panel so I cut it smaller and mounted it onto a wider dark blue mat. Found 2 buttons in my stash to match the brolly.

As always there's plenty of inspiration over at the Challenge Blog, some fabulous makes from the rest of the DT, so please hop over to take a look. We'd love to have you play along this month, it's easy to join in, the theme is Anything Goes- so don't be shy!!

Thanks for stopping by, have a good week.

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

aperfecttimetocraft. #9

classicdesign #9

cccdigicreations #129

leannsworld101 #42

Snow bunnies

 Hello, I have another stamped card to share, again using some Lavinia stamps. I masked the edges of  a square of white cardstock &  created the background scene by sponging with distress inks , stamped the bunnies (ok they're hares!) trees and sentiment. Lots of tiny dots with a white gel pen for falling snow....job done! I need to get cracking with the Christmas cards now that September has arrived

We're meeting some friends for a meal out this evening, just at our local club...but it's so nice to be able to do it again- I love NOT cooking!

Thanks for visiting

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

hollyandivy #100

craftyanimals #54

creativecraftcottage #143

pammiesinkypinkies #2135

allsorts #639 (2nd entry)