Time is precious

 Good morning, how can it be the end of June already? I don't know where the time goes, I hope I'm wasting it wisely! 

This week at Crafty Catz our lovely host is Bridget ,who has chosen the optional twist of EMBOSSING, for anyone who would like to use it. 

Our fabulous sponsor this week is 

SHEEPSKI DESIGNS

The sponsor  image I've use on my card is Whisper, coloured with markers and fussy cut, I've framed her with a TH die cut clock. There is both wet and dry embossing on the black  background cardstock. the sentiment is also embossed with gold EP. 

As always there's plenty of inspiration over at Crafty Catz so please hop over to see what my fabulous teamies have created for you to enjoy.

Thanks for visiting

Chris

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Four Legged Friend

 Good morning, here's my DT inspiration card for this fortnight's challenge at

  Fab'n' Funky,

 the theme - chosen by our lovely Pat K, is one of my favourites-

  Four Legged Friends. 

 I've chosen to use a doggy stamp- This is from a gorgeous set of Aall & Create stamps, this one is my favourite, the more I look at it the more I think it's a Great Dane, which makes me think of my beautiful big girls, who are no longer with us, we were lucky enough to have been the proud 'owners' of three of them (not all at the same time) and I still miss them very much. Fortunately we have Marvin now, our crazy and fun Labrador, he couldn't be more different to the gentle laid- back Danes but  he makes me laugh everyday with his antics and cleverness - and I love the naughty so and so to bits!

Anyway enough of my waffle and back to the card. I stamped the image using black Versafine Clair ink, masked it and added the stencilled circles then stamped the sentiment (from same set of stamps). The flowers and leaves are water coloured. 

Be sure to hop over to the challenge blog to see what my lovely teamies have created, hope to see you join in this fortnight.

Thanks for visiting and have a good day

Chris

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Challenge entries:

June Stencil Fun

HLS June Stencils

creativecrafters #65

worldwidecrafters #6

creativefingers #257

Who can't wait?

Wow! it is HOT today! I've been sitting in the shade reading but came indoors  for a while to cool down- nice and cool in here as I've had windows and curtains closed to keep out the heat. I'm not complaining about the sunshine- we waited such a long time for this lovely weather, I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts and will be back outside before too long!

In the meantime I'm taking the opportunity to share a couple of Christmas cards I made before I went on holiday. I used some cute Colorado stamps, coloured with  markers and various DP from stash, most of them scraps and this sketch from Cheerful Sketches

 Thanks for visiting today, I'm off now - my book is calling!

Chris

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Challenges entered:

cheerfulsketches June

peaceonearth #42

throughthepurplehaze #205

June Rudolph Day

No Design Paper at Sweet Stampin'

 Good morning and happy weekend.  A short and sweet post from me today- I have a lot to catch up with after my holiday, there's loads of laundry, an empty fridge and neglected garden where I live! 

A new challenge begins today over at Sweet Stampin' -this fortnight we don't want to see any Design Paper on your creations- unless you've made it yourself! I've made a fairly CAS card using some  Lavinia stamps, a TH sentiment and two stencils.  A few crystal drops added to finish - and an envelope to match.

There's plenty more inspiration over at Sweet Stampin' so why not hop over for a visit? We'd love to have you play along and inspire us with your own beautiful creations.

Thanks for visiting

Chris

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Challenge entries:

alphabetchallenge F for flying

stencilfun June Challenge

unicorn #88

aperfecttimetocraft June Challenge

classicdesign #6

daisychain #75

TFATU June Challenge

Sweet Dreams

 Hello, I'm a little late in the day with my DT card for this week's challenge at Crafty Catz- I'm just back from holiday, meant to  schedule it before I went but ran out of time. 

Our Sponsor for this week is Conie Fong

DISCOUNT CODE FOR ANYONE ENTERING THE CHALLENGE during 23rd June - 29th June

Your 25% off coupon code is all caps, one word. JUNESPONSOR25

The optional twist is For a Baby.

I made a circular tent fold card- easy to do, basically it's a circular card with the fold at the top and an aperture cut from the centre, I like to put the sentiment inside. I use a small piece of folded card at the base to hold the aperture open .. 

 The cute image, Goodnight Benji ,courtesy of our lovely sponsor is coloured with markers and fussy cut, I've added a few punched stars. 

The sentiment is stamped and embossed onto blue cardstock using white embossing powder and inserted into the aperture.

We had a wonderful week in Yorkshire, excellent accommodation, glorious weather and too much food!  Yorkshire is such a beautiful part of the country and we had a relaxing week, enjoying the countryside and visits to the beach with Marvin- he gets so excited when he smells and sees the sea, as soon as he's off the lead he goes like a rocket -and straight in! I only took my phone- no camera so not a great photo but here he is enjoying playing in the sea with his precious ball- doggy heaven!

Thanks for visiting, have a lovely weekend- it's going to be a hot one here!

Chris

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Challenge entries

creative creases #60

cardz4galz. #201

kraftychicks #669

aplacetostart June Challenge

passion for markers #695

worldwidecrafters #6

Mid month reminder for Stamping Sensations

 Good morning, a scheduled post to remind you of our June challenge at Stamping Sensations. The optional theme for this month is 'Around the World' or of course you can enter with 'Anything Stamped' as long as your focal image is a stamp. You still have plenty of time to join in 

As always there's a fabulous prize for the lucky winner

As you can see my card has a Parisian theme, the Eiffel Tower is a Darkroom Door stamp and the glamourous  lady and sentiments are from a set that I've had for years and not used, I think Kanban.  I stamped the Eiffel tower onto a square of cardstock and lightly stencilled the clouds

I stamped the lady on a larger square of cardstock, then using a craft knife cut around the front and arm of the lady. Using a smaller square die I cut the aperture to insert the Tower. The stripes on the frame are stencilled, image coloured with markers and feathers added to her hat. Hope this makes sense!

There is plenty of inspiration over at the challenge blog if you want to play the theme and are stuck for ideas so please hop over for a visit.

Thanks for stopping by today

Chris

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Use a sentiment at Fab'n' Funky

 Good morning! It's summer here at last- lovely hot sunshine and no cold wind! I've been outside as much as I can- enjoying the garden now it's peaceful again. I had a lovely weekend- a Craft show on Saturday- yay! First one in this area for 4 years- it was pretty packed out- unsurprisingly. I treated myself to some lovely new stamps and stencils, so good to actually be able to see them in the 'flesh'  before you buy!  The only problem is the weather's too nice to sit indoors and play with them ....On Sunday we had a brilliant fun time at my son's BBQ- sunshine, good food and the very best company! I was persuaded to join my granddaughters on the trampoline (amazing what a couple of Prosecco's can do!)- didn't fall off or injure myself or the girls in any way, much to my husband's relief! Marvin came too- he was as good as gold and enjoyed himself as much as the humans did- didn't let him on the trampoline though in case he hurt himself.

Anyway enough waffling on! I'm here today with a project I made for our new challenge at 

Fab'n' Funky 

which starts today. Our host for this week is our lovely, talented N-Eva, who would like to see you use a sentiment on your creations- a lovely easy theme this time. I have this beautiful sentiment stamp from Indigo Blue, it's quite large so decided to make a bookmark with it. I blended some distress inks onto a piece of white cardstock added some stencilling and splatters then cut it into a bookmark shape. I stamped the sentiment with Versafine Clair ink in Warm Breeze (such a pretty colour!) Then stamped the little Lavinia mice and some vines and tiny flowers around the edges. I finished it off with some ribbon and fibres in matching colours. It's already come in useful as Marvin ate my previous bookmark last week- well not all of it some he chewed up and spat on the carpet- little treasure! Mostly he's good now but sometimes he forgets he's not a puppy any more!

There is lots of inspiration from my lovely teamies so please hop over for a visit- hope that you can join us this fortnight.

Thanks for visiting, have a lovely day

Chris

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Have a wonderful day

 Good morning, I hope you've enjoyed a good week, it's been a busy one here but the decking is all finished at last and the garden is ready for the sunshine and warm weather that's been promised all week, to be fair we have had sunny afternoons but the wind is still pretty cold- supposed to be a lot warmer this weekend- we shall see! I'm hoping it will be as my son is planning a family BBQ for Sunday and I love to see all my granddaughters together. Marvin has been invited too and he's really looking forward to it!! He does love a barbie!

My card today is my DT make for this week's challenge at Crafty Catz, our sponsor for this week is

DI'S DIGIS STAMPS

 and the optional twist chosen by Rhoda  is ' Use pink and purple '

I made a centre step card- haven't made one of these for ages, the image is by Ching Chou Kuik, Peony,  a real beauty and lovely to colour with my markers. I've added die cut trellis, flowers and leaves, a few pearls and a stamped sentiment.

There's lots to see over at Crafty Catz so please do hop on over- hope you choose to play along- remember the theme is optional - anything goes!

Thanks for visiting

have a super weekend

Chris

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Creative Creases #59

thecraftyaddicts #02

getcreative #122

cck June challenge

creationsinpink #58

morgansartworld. #6

worldwidecrafters #5

dragonflydreams # June Challenge

A new Design Team!

 Good morning, I have some exciting news today, I was delighted to be invited to join the Design Team at Stamping Sensations and here's the first card I designed for the challenge.

The theme for this month is 'Around the World' - I had to put my thinking cap on for this as I don't have many suitable stamps but eventually remembered this  one from Aall &Create - bought it from ebay without realising how big it was (some people never learn!) I had to chop a bit off the top to fit it onto an A5 card blank. I didn't need to add much to it, a bit of stencilling for background colour, paper-pieced the turtle, rocks and surfboard. A little water-colouring to the camper van and I die cut the right hand top corner- leaving all the pieces in place. 

Do take the time to hop over to Stamping Sensations Challenge to check out the fabulous makes from the rest of my new team, I hope you'll be inspired to join in with your own fabulous stamped creation.

Thanks for stopping by-

Chris

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Challenge entries :

sheepski #75

creativecrafters #64

thefourseasons June Challenge, Summer- Camper van and surfboard.

welove2create #5

MTTC #509

kraftychicks #666

MAWTT #155

June Challenge at Crafty Calendar

 Good morning, first Saturday of the month which means it's time for a new challenge at 

Crafty Calendar.

this month we are sponsored by 

Lili of the Valley

and our theme is SUMMERTIME.

Our lovely sponsor gave us some adorable images to play with, I chose Sweet Peas, the sweetest little mouse  enjoying a lovely summer day reading and snoozing in  his hammock surrounded by the lovely colours and scents of sweet peas- bliss! I coloured the image with markers, layered it up on some pretty DP and added some die cut flowers and leaves. It looks like the perfect way of spending a summer day to me!

As always there's more inspiration from the team over at Crafty Calendar, so please do hop over and take a look, I hope you'll be tempted to join in with a lovely summery creation of your own.

Thanks for visiting, have a lovely day

Chris

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Challenge entries:

paperdragonfly #18

creativeinspiration #3

cutiepie #182

dreamvalley #295

classicdesign #6

critter crazy #75

gone fishing

 Good morning, my card today is for this week's challenge at 

Crafty Catz,

 sponsored by

Polkadoodles

 they are offering one lucky winner 3 digi images of their choice from their online store.

  the optional twist this time is 'Cute for a guy' chosen by Nanna Connie.

The image I have used is Fishing Gnome kindly given by our sponsor

I've used Copic markers to colour , layered the image into green background paper and added a little stamping with a Lavinia bulrush stamp. The sign post is die cut, coloured with markers and hand written with white gel pen.

We all have men in our lives so why not get crafting and make a masculine card or two to have ready in your stash if you don't need one now? If you're looking for inspiration hop on over to Crafty Catz to see what the ladies have come up with this week.

Thanks for visiting

Chris

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Challenge entries

PFM #692

digichoosday #21

polkadoodle #21

pearlysparkles #85