BasicGrey Challenge 24 - Pockets

Hi everyone, Saturday again and another challenge at BasicGrey. This week the project must include a pocket of some kind which for me is always a challenge! My lovely DT friends have come up with some fabulous ways to make pockets, their ingenuity amazes me every week. Hope you can join in theirs some wonderful inspiration on the blog.

I found a template for this little bookmark pocket card and now unfortunately I can't find the blog where it's posted, if I do I'll update with a link and thank you for whoever you are for the instructions. It's very easy to make once I'd found something big enough to draw round for the eight inch circle that you start off with, I ended up with a frying pan! After cutting our the eight inch circle you need to score two and a half inches in from both sides vertically and then horizontally across the middle slightly below the halfway down, I just guessed this as there wasn't a measurement and seems to have worked ok. Fold the circle in half from the bottom to the top and then the sides inwards on the folds. I used Marrakech paper and also added a semi-circle of Marrakech on the inside as this paper isn't double sided. The bookmark is made from white card, more of the Marrakech and a stamp from BasicGrey Morocco set which is coloured with markers and a bit of stickles glitter. I punched holes in the two folding card front sections and at the top of the bookmark then added the green ribbon to finish. TFL.


NEW STAMPS FROM KADOODLE

There are some fantastic new stamps being released today by Kadoodle and designed by my very talented friend Sandra Dry, they're the absolute cutest little characters named Loupy Lou and Bobo and are now available to purchase on the Craft Barn Website. I received some photographs of the stamps to add to this post but when I upload them all I'm seeing is the copyright and not the stamp image so I've borrowed a beautiful card that Sandra made to show the little cuties. Hopefully I'll be able to update later with pictures. Also being released today are two hilarious and alternative style stamps by Carol Staples and these are Ma and Pa Iggly.

TFL. Chris

Elise

Hi everyone, a card today for OCC where the challenge this week is to have a tag somewhere on your card. I've used BG Porcelain papers which I really love, so many pretty patterns. The image is one of my digi-stamps 'Elise' soon to be available and she's marker coloured. The matting layers are pink coredinations with all the edges distressed and the tag is die cut from green bazzil. I cut the for you sentiment from pink fun foam and mounted on the tag with pin flair glue over the pink and gree ribbons. Finshed off with some pink half pearls. TFL Chris

Colour Create Challenge 4

Hi everyone, I hope you're all having a great weekend and are ready for another Colour Create Challenge! This week the theme is pink and grey with an option of cute and cuddly. I hope you can join in this week, there's fantastic inspiration from my DT friends and it's a lovely combination of colours to try.

My image is a cute House Mouse design, not sure if mice are cuddly but I think they're as cute as can be! I stamped it with versafine ink in Smokey grey directly onto the pink card blank, I was thinking about the pink Financial Times, perhaps his shares have gone up?!!! So that I could colour the mouse which I didn't want to be bright pink, I bleached out the mouse part of the design, just using ordinary bleach undiluted and a cotton bud to blend it gently over the image. Not too much bleach is needed as the bleaching effect continues to take out the colour after you've finished blending the area and as it soaks into the card so it's best to be sparing and go over it again if needed rather than soaking. This card took a couple of applications to get the pink out of the card and I left it for a few minutes then coloured the image with markers and drew around the eye with a black fineliner and white gel pen to bring it back to life. The top border of grey card is punched with the MS Doily punch (again!) which I've wrapped with pink polka dot ribbon and then attached to the blank. The sentiment is handwritten and sponged a little black ink around the edges of the card blank. TFL. Chris

BasicGrey Challenge 23 'Colour Combo'

Hi everyone, another Saturday and another BasicGrey Challenge which this week is a colour combo and a choice of:

Pink and Green
Pink and Brown
Blue and Brown

I hope you can join in this week, there's fantastic inspiration from my DT friends and a lovely prize of 2 downloads of your choice from new sponsors The Cutting Cafe. We've all been lucky enough to be able to use the gorgeous cupcake images for our cards this week. I chose the pink and green colour combo and coloured my cupcake with markers, cut it out and added some stardust stickles to the icing. I also used the cake stand from the set which is cut with rectangle nestabilities and matted on the scalloped rectangle of pale pink bazzil card, the image panel is finished with some sparkly pink gel pen doodling. The background paper is from BG Porcelain collection layered over some green coredinations card which I've distressed at the edges. I punched a border for the top with a MS doily lace punch, added the pink and green ribbons, little sentiment circle from the set and a gem to finish. TFL. Chris

Canyon Road

Hi everyone a card today for ABC where this week there's a colour challenge of blue and brown. There's a teeny bit of green and gold but it's predominantly blue/browns so hope it's acceptable. My image is one of my digi images 'Canyon Road' which is now available and is marker coloured then edged with distress ink. The little cowboy is by Alota Rubber Stamps also marker coloured then cut out. I've made a card blank from acetate and mounted the background image on the inside and the cut out cowboy on the front. Two holes have been punched at the folded edge which are threaded with some parcel tape. To finish I added the sentiment on the front stamped with black stayzon ink and I cut a piece of paper the same size as the background image and attached on back of the card and over the image panel so that reverse of the image doesn't show. I've realised now that I've uploaded the card that I forgot to cut out the centre loop of the rope, doh! Hope you're all having a good week. TFL. Chris

Colour Create Challenge 3

Hi everyone, hope your Valentine Day was romantic and you're ready for Colour Create Challenge 3. This week the colours are red, white and blue with an option of Holidays and Travel. There's some fantastic inspiration from my team mates and I hope you can join in.


My image is the luscious Primrose by Sandra Dry for Kadoodle Stamps, mmm I think that bikini is my size! I've coloured her with markers and cut out with a Nestability oval, matted on a scalloped oval of Navy Bazzil card. The little beach scene is various distressed, torn and embossed pieces of Bazzil card and some Nestability cut scalloped ovals cut in half, sponged and glittered for the clouds. The sentiment is Penny Black and the gorgeous twill deck chair style ribbon was from a blog candy I won recently, I'll have to find out where it came from I think it's gorgeous. Added some stardust stickles and a gem to finish. I've realised I can enter this also for the Cupcake challenge by the skin of my teeth as the challenge this week is a scene card. TFL. Chris

BasicGrey Challenge 22 'Hearts'

Hi everyone and Happy Valentine's Day! I'm sure, like me, your letter boxes won't be able to take the strain of all the cards you'll receive today ROFL!

This week's challenge on BasicGrey is 'hearts' in keeping with today and my design team friends have some stunning creations for inspiration so I hope you can join in. I've made a little heart shaped gift bag again courtesy of my friend Sandra's Cricut which I've covered with nestability cut scalloped hearts from BG Bittersweet papers. I've decorated with a button, tiny pink bow and very big wire edged ribbon for the handle. On the card I cut a triangle of paper for the first layer and added another scalloped heart popped up on dimension tape. The hearts have been sponged on the edges with Ranger distress ink and I also doodled some dots on the card. Sentiment is a studio G stamp and I've decorated again with the big ribbon, button with bow and a gem. TFL and have a great weekend. Chris

Teddy Heart Wreath

Hi everyone and here's a card for A spoon full of sugar where this week the challenge is 'Doodle doo' and you can doodle or use swirl, scroll stamps on your card. I haven't actually done either of those things (oops!) but when I saw this paper it just seemed perfect for the theme, hopefully I'll still qualify. I've stamped the absolutely adorable Elzybells Teddy Heart Wreath in Black versafine ink and coloured with markers. The image is matted on red coredinations which I cut out with the Labels One Nestability and popped up on dimension tape. Background paper is an MFT digital download from the Black and white kiss set. The Elzybells sentiment has been cut into a point at one edge, shaped before attaching to the card and I added a heart gem to finish. TFL. Chris

Colour Create Challenge Two - Peach and Aqua

Hi everyone, hope your weekend is going well and it's time for Colour Create Challenge Two.
Hope you can join in this week, there's some fantastic inspiration from the very talented Design Team and a lovely colour combination of Peach and Aqua with an option of DIY Flowers.

I've made a card with my Crazy Daisy digi-stamp which is marker coloured with added stickles for sparkle. Image is layered over peach card on the Bazzil pre-cut scalloped base and peach die cut swirl. The flowers were punched from a Raspberry Road digital paper print out with two sizes of retro flower punches which I shaped with a ball tool. These have been stickled too with little half pearls for the centres. The boxes and swirls were cut on my lovely friend Sandra's Cricut Expression (thank you Sandra x), scored, folded and stuck together. I've decorated these with more of the cricut swirls and a flower on top of the square box. There are some Martha Stewart Doily punched borders on the crayon style box which I finally managed to get from the lovely Tracey at Dies to Die For, great service, thanks Tracey and I love it! I finished off the decorating with stickles dots and ribbons in peach and aqua. TFL. Chris.

BasicGrey Challenge 21 'Lets mix it up'

Hi everyone, on BasicGrey Challenge this week we're asked to 'mix it up'.

"Mix and match from different BasicGrey collections in your creation, it can be as many collections as you wish but no less than 2, for eg

Blush + Sugared
Infuse + Wassail + Boxer"

Hope you can join in this week and pop over to the blog where there are fantastic creations from my team mates for inspiration.

I've used papers from the Granola, Boxer and Ambrosia collections, a Boxer brad and fibres for my card this week. The image is my own peacock feather sketch which is marker coloured and decorated with stickles. The layout is loosely following a previous Mojo Monday sketch but I made a distressed circle element with a brad centre from nestabilities cut circles instead of a square. The paper edges are distressed and glittered and the fibres are wound around the bottom panel and tied off at the side of the image. I added some gems, more stickles and a bit of sponging around the image to finish. TFL. Chris

Daisy Border

Hi everyone, a card today using my 'daisy border' image available here which is marker coloured and a card blank made from a pre-cut Bazzil scalloped circle in pale pink. The scalloped circle was cut in half and folded and the I used the other half cut again and layered over the first folded card to create the shape and a pocket on the front. The tags are cut then embossed with cuttlebug folders and I used the die cut letters for the greeting. The tags and card blank are glimmer misted and the image panel is matted with the three colours of card and purple glitter paper mounted on dimension tape. There's also a pocket on the inside which is just a simple oblong of card and this is where the longest tag goes and also a gift card but I forgot to photograph the inside! All the scalloped edges have been coated with Cosmic shimmer glitter jewels and I added the pearls, ribbons, cotton candy stickles and some clear sparkle gel pen to the flowers in the image to finish. TFL.

Back soon,
Chris

Pretty Window

Hi everyone, a card today for Stamp Something and a challenge of 'Summer in winter somethings' to make something summery for these winter days. I've used my 'pretty window' digi-stamp available here as pots of geraniums say summer to me. The image was printed out twice and is marker coloured. I coloured and cut out three of the flower heads from the second image to decoupage and then matted it on to pink sparkly and white card lifted up with dimension tape. The background card is pale pink Bazzil Bling which has been embossed with the distressed stripes folder for the effect of wood planked wall around the window. For decoration I added the flower with a little bow centre, half pearls, a strip of the sparkle card, tiny gem, glossy accents on the flower pots and stickles to the flowers. TFL. Chris x

Materials:
Image: Sketching Stamper Digi-stamp 'Pretty Window'
Card: Doodlebug pink sugar coated, pink Bazzil Bling, plain white card
Colouring: Promarkers in Vanilla, Sandstone, Pastel Pink, Rose Pink, Spice, Ice grey 2, 3, 4, Mustard, Moss, Olive, Cyan, Royal Blue, Blender Pen
Embellishment: Glossy accents, Stardust Stickles, half pearls, pale green gem, paper flower, ribbon and gem bow, dimension tape, Cuttlebug embossing folder 'distressed stripes', Pin Flair glue for decoupage

Loving football bear and snowfall

Hi everyone, a card today for Secret Crafters Saturday Challenge and a theme of at the Zoo, so I've used my football loving bear image available here and coloured with markers. I've cut the bear out with a nestabilities ova abd also cut some with scalloped ovals from coredinations card which has been embossed and sanded and kraft card which is also used for the card blank. The background paper and strip between the image and scalloped ovals is Pink Petticoat pretty doodles mini set which I printed out in chocolate and white and sponged with vintage photo distress ink. The sentiment is a Studio G stamp which I went over with a clear glitter gel pen. I added the ribbon and doodled in white gel pen around the scallops of the oval and the edge of the card.

Materials:
Digital Image: 'Loving football bear' Sketching Stamper Digi-stamps.
Sentiment stamp: Studio G
Colouring: Promarkers in vanilla, apricot, terracotta, cocoa, black, warm grey 2 and 3, raw sienna. Ranger Distress Ink in Vintage Photo
Card/paper: A4 Kraft card from The Craft Barn, Pink Petticoat paper dowload 'Pretty Doodles' in chocolate
Embellishment: white gel pen, chocolate ribbon, heart gems, sandpaper, clear sparkle gel pen, Paisley embossing folder

I hope you've all had a safe day in all the snow. There's been more snow here on the South Coast than I've seen for years. No children went to school and not many Daddies either by the looks of all the huge snowmen outside LOL! It was a lovely atmosphere with everyone outside enjoying themselves. I think we must have had about six inches of snow during the night and it continued until mid afternoon, I took a quick pic of the table in the garden which shows the depth of it, I couldn't get over it really.

Colour Create - Challenge One

Hi everyone, my card for Colour Create where the first challenge is pink, green and brown with an option of butterflies. I hope you can join in and it's great that this challenge can be combined with any other challenges you want to enter. There's some fantastic inspiration from the talented DT and a lovely prize too.

I'm also entering my card for the Cuttlebug Challenge and a theme of distressing. For my image I've used a gorgeous Elzybells bear which I've coloured with distress inks and cut out with a nestabilities oval. The card layers are all Coredinations and also cut out with nestabilities, embossed with a flowers cuttlebug folder and sanded. The Elzybells bear and sentiment are stamped in Versafine Timber Brown and mounted over the brown card on dimension tape. To decorate I added the green ginham ribbon, Prima flowers with Doodlebug candy dot centres, some punched leaves and butterflies with a bit of stickles for sparkle. TFL.

Materials:
Image and Sentiment: Elzybells
Colouring and Stamping: Versafine Timber Brown, Ranger Distress Inks in scattered straw, tea dye, walnut stain, shabby shutters, black, worn lipstick, fired brick.
Card: Coredinations card in chocolate, lime and bright pink
Embellishment: Green ginham ribbon, Prima flowers, Doodlebug Candydots, Nestabilities scalloped and plain ovals and Labels one, Cuttlebug flowers embossing folder, Woodware leaf and butterfly punches, sandpaper, Stardust stickles, edge distresser, dimension tape

Chris x