Blog Holiday

Hi everyone, I'm going to be on a blogging holiday for a few days, catch up with everyone next week. Thanks very much for all the lovely comments that have been left which are very much appreciated, sorry if I haven't managed to visit everyone in return yet.

Back soon,
Chris

Snowman's Hat

The challenge this week on A Spoon Full of Sugar is 'So charming' and to use a charming character or charms on your card, I've used a little candy cane charm brad on my card. The image is by Elzybells from the dinky Christmas set and stamped in black versafine, water coloured with distress inks. The card blank is embossed with a square nestability (not my idea, I saw it somewhere but can't remember where, thanks to whoever it was) then stamped with an Elzybells snowflake in Versamark and heat embossed with Kaleidascope EP. TFL.

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Chris

Handbag Card

I saw this card design on the pink petticoat blog by one of their very talented card designers and loved the shape.

My card is a bit of an experiment, I just tried it from the picture and it's a bit too narrow at the top which means it opens up too far when it's standing. I love the design and will modify if I make another. I've used the gorgeous 'In the groove' dots paper from The Shabby Shoppe to cover the black card, the flower is from the same set which I printed and cut out after adding a black border. The flap at the top, the handle and centre of the flower are cut with nestability circles. The sentiment is doodled with white and clear glitter gel pens. TFL.

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Chris

Tweet Day

The challenge on Dutch Dare this week is 'no square edges on your card. I'm also entering this card in the ABC Challenge where the challenge is 'I for Individual' the winner this week will receive a cute stamp and also win a place on the DT.

I've coloured a digital download from Pink Petticoat's 'Too Tweet' set with distress inks, added some stickles and cut out with nestabilities. The white layers are cuttlebug embossed, paper is by Pebbles. I've used a corner rounder punch on all the edges in line with the challenge and added yellow satin bows. TFL.

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Chris

Snowball Maddie and Snowy Mountains

The weekly challenge on Spiral Whisper this week is 'Cold Winter'. The challenge runs until Tuesday and the prize is the gorgeous 'Snowball Maddie' stamp designed by the very talented Sally-Ann Hancock. I've teamed the gorgeous Maddie up with my Snowy Mountains background stamp design for Spiral Whisper, I think they go perfectly together. Images stamped with Versafine ink, pencil coloured and blended with Sansodor. I've matted the background image on dark blue bazzil card and popped up on dimension tape over the card blank which has been embossed in the cuttlebug. Maddie is cut out and also mounted on dimension tape. The little circular sentiment is by Stamps Away and mounted on a nestabilities cut scalloped circle. Everthing has been liberally sprinkled with Deco Art Glamour Dust which is lovely and sparkly and much finer than ordinary glitter. TFL and good luck if you enter the challenge.

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Chris

Grass Cake!

A card for Penny Black Saturday where the challenge is to decorate the inside of your card and also for Cute Card Thursday where the challenge is 'Food'. Hopefully my grass cake card will qualify as it's a cake and Cows eat grass LOL! I've made a tri-fold card which is held closed with the ribbon and decorated inside and out. The image is stamped in Versafine Onyx Black and water coloured with Ranger Distress inks, highlighted with stickles, glitter pen and some glaze. I've used Elzybells stamps for the sentiments and little flowers on the inside. I think the paper is Doodlebug but not too sure. TFL.
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Who's that?

A card for the Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge where the theme this week is 'Christmas is coming'. I've used this gorgeous Elzybells mouse and bauble stamp which is pencil coloured and blended with Sansodor. The layers are Navy Blue Bazzill and white card which has been embossed with the Christmas Ornaments Cuttlebug folder. I've added a woodware sentiment, ribbon, gems and stickles for some sparkle. TFL.

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Chris

Muchas Gracias

It's a cat and dog tale on Cute Card Thursday this week and a cat or dog has to feature. I've made a little folder for stamped images from a great tutorial by Moni on her blog Moni's Creative Place, Rach has a link to this on her blog too which is how I originally found it, thank you girls. I think it's a lovely and a very clever idea and it's easy to follow the instructions and make it up.

I've used a little Clear Stamps set which I've stamped in Versafine Sepia and water coloured with Ranger distress inks, then cut out with Nestabilities together with a mat of pale green Bazzil Bling with a scalloped square. For the wallet I've used a dark green bazzil card and I've strengthened it a bit with more card where I put the magnetic closure. The fold over flap is decorated with a layer of the pale green Bazzil Bling, My Minds Eye dots paper a strip of pale green sparkly glitter paper, layered paper flowers with gems and then the image panel which is popped up on dimension tape.

I'd like to thank everyone for all the lovely comments left this last week and as always, they're very much enjoyed and appreciated. Apologies for not having been able to get round to everyone to reply due to work.

Back soon,
Chris

Weatherboard Cottage

A card for Dutch Dare where the challenge this week is to follow a sketch.

I've used my Weatherboard Cottage design for Kadoodle Stamps which is stamped with Versafine Sepia ink, pencil coloured and blended with Sansodor. There's some glossy accents on the window panes but the picture hasn't caught this unfortunately. The topiary trees and flower planter stamps also come with the cottage and I've coloured, glittered and then cut them out to mount on thin dimension tape. The image is matted on the beautiful paper that was given to me by Sandy at the The Craft Barn and has been cut out using square nestability dies also layered on dimension tape. Background is Bazzil Bling which has been embossed with the CB Swiss Dots folder and the 'No.?' sentiment is cut with the 'Go Create' Milan alphabet and glittered.

I had another lovely day at the Craft Barn Extravaganza yesterday, met lovely people and I've thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend. I'd like to thank everyone for making me so welcome and Isabelle for looking after me as this was my first time demonstrating. Sandy has asked me if I'd like to do a class in November on colouring techniques which I've said I'd love to do.

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Chris

Candlestick Cottage

A card with another of my Kadoodle Cottage series of stamp designs. This is Candlestick Cottage and it was named by Sandy, owner of The Craft Barn, home of Kadoodle Stamps. The image is pencil coloured and blended with Sansodor and a paper stump. I've matted the image on the reverse side of the wonderful paper that Sandy gave me to make up my samples and this is also available at The Craft Barn, it's mounted on dimension tape. The side border is cut again from the reverse of the paper with a scalloped blade, punched with a hole punch and threaded with pale gold ribbon. The sentiment is computer generated.

My friend Sandra was also demonstrating her new stamps today and they're absolutely stunning. Primrose has got my name on her, they're so funny and different. Fantastic Sandra!


I'd like to thank everyone who came to visit me today at the Craft Barn Extravaganza, it was a great pleasure to meet you all and also to chat with a couple of blogging friends who popped in. I had an absolutely wonderful and enjoyable day and am looking forward to tomorrow.

Back soon,
Chris

Holly Cottage

A card using my new stamp design for Kadoodle, 'Holly Cottage'. There are six cottages in this series which will be on sale from this weekend and I'll be at the Craft Barn for a demo on Saturday and Sunday which will be fun. This cottage also has the Christmas Tree and Door Wreath to go with it. They're coloured with prismacolor pencils and sansodor and the tree and wreath are decoupaged, sprinkled with glamour dust, stickles and liquid pearls for the tree ornaments. There's a good spattering of glamour dust all over the snow and roof too, it's lovely and sparkly IRL. The cottage is matted on red card and blue bazzil and lifted up on dimension tape over the Bo Bunny background paper. I finished it off with a wide red satin ribbon, dots of liquid pearls and doodled dots in metallic silver. TFL.

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Chris

Blog Candy

Nikki (Bunny Zoe) is celebrating 20'000 hits on her blog today with a lovely prize of gorgeous Christmas stamps and Figgy Pudding paper! Congratulations Nikki on all those hits and a really great blog. You can follow the link above to Nikki's blog. Good luck but I want to win this LOL!

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Chris

Village by the pond

The challenge this week on A Spoon Full of Sugar is to follow a lovely sketch by Nikki. I've used my stamp design for Spiral Whisper named 'Village by the pond' and coloured with Prismacolor Pencils and Sansodor, I've also used a sweet Hanglar design and she's very cute with her strawberry, I think I'm hankering after the summer that we haven't had yet! She's also coloured with prismacolor pencils and then cut out. I've matted the background image on navy bazzil card and then Doodlebug paper, both images are mounted on 2mm and 3mm dimension tape. The Sentiment is from Woodware and I added three flowers and stickles to finish. TFL.

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Chris

Bunny Pot

A card for Penny Black Saturday where the challenge is 'A card for a girl' and also for Sketch Saturday where my friend Sandra is now a member of the DT so I thought I would enter a card this week. Well done Sandra!!!

The image is coloured with Ranger distress inks and all the circles are cut with nestability dies. I punched some flowers from the paper (I used scraps so don't know which brand) and gave them some dimension with a ball tool and added some tiny pearls. The background Bazzil card is embossed with the paisly CB embossing folder and finished off with a blue lustre gem. TFL.

I hope you like my blog makeover, thanks to Kath and her tip I had a look at ShabbyShoppe.com who have a range of digital blogwear, lovely papers and digital scrapbooking kits. It's nice to have a change and they do seasonal banners too, so I'll probably change every so often.

Back soon,
Chris

Pink Princess

The Cute Card Thursday Challenge this week is 'Pretty in Pink'. I followed a sketch on the Elzybells blog for this card and have used the Elzybells 'Princess' and 'mini daisy trio' stamps. The princess is coloured with Prismacolor pencils and Sansodor, sponged with pink distress inks and highlighted with stickles and liquid pearls then mounted on dimension tape. I made the background with the mini daisy trio stamped all over white card. The centre panel is sponged with distress inks and the edges distressed then layered on pink bazzil with doodled dots. All the daisies are coloured with a pink Sakura glitter pen and the centres with a white gel pen. For the inverted corners part of the sketch I sponged a paper flower with pink ink, cut it into four pieces and spread with stickles star dust, the centre of the flower is liquid pearls. TFL.

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Chris

Castle on the hill

A card for the Dutch Dare Challenge which this week is to use buttons (lots of). For my card I've used my 'Castle on the hill' stamp design for Spiral Whisper with Elzybells 'Knight and Princess' and 'a happy ever after' sentiment. The images are coloured with prismacolor pencils and Sansodor. I've added stickles and glossy accents on the castle and the knight's armour. I added the buttons element of the challenge to the path with liquid pearls in between and overflowing on to the sentiment area. The images are matted on Bazzil Bling, white card and Doodlebug paper with green satin ribbons. The Knight and Princess are popped up on dimension tape. TFL.

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Chris

CD Wallet

This week's challenge on A Spoon Full of Sugar is 'Anything but a card' and the creations from the DT are wonderful.

I made a Wallet for a CD of my patterned papers and found a tutorial on SCS which I modified so that the pocket for the CD is on the inside rather than wrapped around the outside. I also modified the size by just allowing space around the measurement I took from a CD. It's held closed with a Basic Grey magnetic closure. To decorate I used a folded piece of white card cut with Nestabilities to leave the top uncut, added Doodlebug rub on letters, and a Sugar Nellie image coloured with Ranger Distress inks, highlighted with Stickles and decoupaged and some polka dot ribbon. On the inside of the of the little note card I wrote down the files that are on the CD. TFL.

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Chris

Ballerina

A card for House Mouse and Friends Challenge which this week has a sketch to follow.

This card is definitely a case of 'more is not more'! One of those where I wasn't happy and kept doing more and more to try and rescue it. Another one to chalk up to experience. The sketch is definitely in there and hopefully whoever views it from HM and Friends will be able to see it!!

The HM Ballerina is stamped in black versafine and coloured with distress inks. I matted on Pumpkin Bazzil Bling and White card and used Pink Petticoat papers for the background in line with the sketch. The layer of Bazzil under the image panel was cuttlebugged with the swirls folder, I added a handwritten sentiment on a scalloped circle, three gems and far too much glitter glue. TFL.

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Chris

Spiral Whisper Challenge

Spiral Whisper have their first Challenge up today with the chance to win some wonderful Pirate stamps by the amazingly talented Janet. Here is a snippet from the Spiral Whisper blog :

"Well it's Wednesday which means the start of our weekly challenges! The challenges will be a mixture of sketches, certain products & many other things, so grab your new Spiral Whisper Stamps & get crafting!

This weeks challenge is a sketch challenge! So we challenge you to make a card using the sketch below as a base, you can change it slightly & the card doesn't have to be square. You can use ANY Spiral Whisper stamps in this challenge!

The prize for this challenge is - Pirate Max & Milly

The Winner will be chosen at Random next Monday! Remember to leave us a message on this post with a link to your challenge card! Good luck everyone & have fun!

Here are some cards by the Design Team, more coming later!"

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Chris

Up, Up and Away

A card for Papertake Weekly which this week has a sketch to follow.

I've used my 'Up, Up and Away' background design for Spiral Whisper and stamped with versafine black onyx twice. The image is coloured with Ranger distress inks, matted on white card and mounted on dimension tape. I stamped the image again for two of the balloons which I coloured, cut out and mounted on tape over the complete image.

The image panel is layered over the background of pink petticoat papers in line with the sketch. To finish I added a swirly clip decorated with ribbons. TFL.

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Chris

Home Sweet Home

The Penny Black Saturday Challenge this week is 'Stars and Stripes'. For my card I used another PB cat stamp 'Home sweet home', I love these cats although I'm a bit wary of them IRL!!! I stamped it with versafine onyx black twice and coloured with Ranger Distress Inks. The second image I used for just the window shutters, cut these out and attached them to the complete image with dimension tape. I used two thicknesses of dimension tape so that the shutters would be slightly angled. The decoupage doesn't show that well in the photopgraph, I might take another picture and replace this one. I put the card blank through the Cuttlebug in the distressed stripes folder to give me the stripes element of the challenge and inked over it and around the edges with distress inks and a sponges. The image panel is mounted on Pumpkin coloured Bazzil Bling and also raised up on dimension tape. I punched a star from the Bazzil Bling and placed top left for the stars element. TFL.

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Chris

Spiral Whisper Christmas Designs, New Backgrounds and Flowers

Spiral Whisper Stamps has the first release of Christmas Designs for sale from today. My Christmas backgrounds and other Christmas designs, flowers and other new backgrounds are all ready to buy. There are so many beautiful new designs by all the other designers too, lots of new cute little characters, pretty borders, it's very sparkly there today!

A card today using Pink Petticoat downloaded paper and image. The image is coloured with Sakura Glitter pens in pink and silver, matted on black card and mounted on dimension tape over the black and white background paper. I added a pink ribbon to finish. Nice and quick. TFL.

Back soon,
Chris