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
x

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
x

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
x

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

x

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

x

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
x

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
x

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)