Dare U 2 Digi Stamp - Challenge 5

Hi everyone, Friday and another Dare U 2 Digi Stamp challenge. We have a great sketch to follow this week by my friend Sandra :D, a lovely one it is too and very popular with the DT. Hope you can join us this week and there's loads of inspiration from the Design Team to get the mojo running.

I've used my squirrel digi stamp which is now in my digi shop and has minimal watercolouring and some sponging with distress inks. Background papers are by Pebbles and the sentiment is die cut from funky foam. Added some gems and ribbon to finish. 

I just wanted to say thank you for all the lovely comments, I really do treasure them and I never seem to be able to catch up with returning them, I do try but never seem to manage it. Thank you anyway for continuing to visit and comment, it really makes my day to read them. Hope you all have some good things to do for the Bank Holiday and see you tomorrow with my BasicGrey card. TFL. Chris x

Our Creative Corner - Colour Challenge

Hi everyone, my card today is for Our Creative Corner where the challenge this week is to use your favourite colours. I've gone for burgandy and cream for this card and used my shoe image soon to be available in the digi shop. The image is watercoloured with distress inks and a bit of marker colour too and there's lots of gold and copper stickles for the encrusted jewels over the front of the shoe. I've borrowed the Bette Midler quote which Sarita used on her fabulous shoe card for CC a couple of weeks ago and which I loved and used the background stamp that she inspired me to buy together with an Elzybells flower stamp but I've used versamark to stamp instead of ink Thanks for the great inspiration Sarita and I hope you don't mind me borrowing your idea? :) I've layered up the image on BasicGrey Wisteria paper and Canson burgundy card, the bottom layer I've punched with an MS lattice arch punch. To finish I added the sentiment, pc generated and printed on Safmat, a May Arts ribbon, gem and gold and copper stickles.

The Robin Tales (thanks Jo :D )

The fledgings must have all gone from the nest as Mrs. Robin is very busy building a new one!!!! Appears we've got to go through all this again! I've been reading up about Robins and it seems they can have five or six clutches in a season, yikes, looks like we're not going to have our garden to ourselves all summer!

Just Magnolia Challenge 2

Hi everyone, a card today for Just Magnolia where the theme this week is pink and green.  I llove this little tilda, she's so cute and she's been watercoloured with distress inks. I've decoupaged part of her, just her head and t shirt to bring her forward a bit and then layered on pale pink bazzil, bright pink Canson card and the patterned paper. I've punched the edges with the MS doily punch and slightly curved them a la my friend Sandra :). and added some gorgeous rosebud trim which was a gift from my CC teamie Tara :) thank you girlies. Flowers, button, bow and pearl from stash. Hope you're week is going well. TFL. Chris x

Colour Create Challenge 13

Hi everyone and today it's Colour Create Challenge 13 and a lovely colour choice by my lovely DT friend Jo of Green, Orange and Brown with an option of a male card. I hope you can join us again this week and when you pop over to the blog you'll find some brilliant inspiration from my lovely DT friends to get you going.

For the second week running I had a disaster with my CC card, last week I spilled coffee over it and had to remake and this week I forgot about the option and had a girl character!!! Hopefully next week will be better. I've used a little Hanglar boy and he's watercoloured and cut out. The card blank layers and the trees are all cut on the Cricut and then embossed with various CB embossing folders. I've also done some sponging over the embossing in places and over the trees for shading. The paper roses were part of a pressie from my lovely BG buddy Tara, I've seen them around in blogland but these are the first I've had, might have to get some more ;D they're so pretty, thanks T x. 

Haven't seen the baby robin today but the parents are still in and out of the shrubs where it was last seen, hope it's ok. I got told off by both parents today for going up the garden, who's garden is this?!!! The most difficult thing is keeping the dog away, he's so nosey and remembers that he last saw the cat near the nest and wants to investigate! Well have a lovely Sunday. TFL. Chris x
 

BasicGrey Challenge 32 - Sketch

Hi everyone, hope your weekend is off to a good start, don't know where this week has gone and I haven't managed that much blog commenting I'm afraid, hopefully will catch up very soon. On to Challenge 32 at BasicGrey which this week is a sketch challenge by me. Hope you like it and that you'll be able to join us this week. There's great inspiration from my DT friends, I love how they all interpreted the sketch in their own wonderfully unique ways and as always there's a lovely prize to be won.

I've used a cute Magnolia image which has been watercoloured with distress inks and then cut out and mounted over layers of BG Lime Ricky paper all of which has been distressed on the edges and violet Core'dinations card. I added the flowers, a MS punched strip and some dots on the pp with a sparkly gel pen. Finished off with a woodware sentiment and some doodlebug candy dots.

I thought I'd show a couple of other pictures today, they're not that great as I had to take them with the zoom on and through the kitchen window! We have a pair of Robins that have nested in our garden, the first fledgling left the nest yesterday and headed straight for the patio much to the concern of the parents. It's so cute, tiny and funny, seems to be all head and mouth and very long legs! It did a few falling over backwards somersaults when it's mother/father fed it and tried to encourage it into the shrubbery where it did eventually go. The parents have been flying about and doing their warning dances and also trying to feed the others that must be still in the nest. I'm as worried about them as the parents are as there are cats on both sides of us and one already knows where the nest is even though our dog has seen it off several times! I hope their babies survive. Sorry, another long post from me! See you tomorrow with my Colour Create card. TFL. Chris x

Dare U 2 Digi Stamp Challenge 4 - Things with wings

Hi everyone, Friday again, where are the weeks going?! I had some brilliant news yesterday as I won Bev's fantastic anniversary blog candy! I still can't believe it, having to pinch myself as there were nearly 1300 entries and I'm thrilled to bits. If you don't know Bev's blog (but I'm sure you do!), then pop over there as you'll find loads of inspiration. Bev is a lovely lady and makes the most beautiful cards and gifts but most of all is such a supportive friend and blogger. Thanks Bev and postie stalking starts Saturday!

On to our 4th Challenge at Dare U 2 Digi Stamp and this week the theme is 'Things with wings' which could be a winged character on your digi image, things with wings in the pattern of your paper, a charm, etc., I'm sure that there are lots more. Hope you can join us this week, it was great visiting everyone's blogs for the pink and green theme and there were some really fun entries too that made me laugh with some interesting images!

I hope you haven't been blinded by the brightness of my card today as I've used the new BasicGrey Lime Rickey papers and coloured my 'Vicki Shops' image (soon to be available in the digi shop) to match the paper, she's very psychadelic! If you get your magnifying glass out when you've taken off your shades you'll be able to see that there's a butterfly brooch on Vicki's lapel, it's also glittered so not too clear what it is but it is there! The image is coloured with markers and layered on pale yellow Bazzil that I've edged with scallop scissors. I've added some punched flowers from the pp with gem centres and an Elzybells sentiment. Well nearly the weekend and no doubt the nice weather will disappear by the end of today! See you tomorrow with my BasicGrey card. TFL. Chris x

High Hopes Challenge

Hi everyone, my card today is for the High Hopes challenge where the theme this week is distressing, one of the things I love to do most on my cards and it's been a long time since I entered the challenge, it was nice to get my HH stamps out. My image is Umberto, he's so cute and I've watercoloured him with distress inks. The card is for the gorgeous twin brother of the little girl who's card I made yesterday and there's a bit of a Tinkerbell/pirate theme going on so I thought Umberto would be perfect with some pirate background paper by Sandylion. I've distressed and ripped the bp a fair bit, sanded it in various placed and curled it back in the bottom right where I placed the button, I think I can say the paper is well and truly distressed! The horizontal strip under the image is dark grey bazzil which I distressed scrunched up and then swiped with a red ink pad. The number four is cut on the Cricut and I added some clear sparkle gel pen to the cutlass and belt buckle. TFL. Chris x

Just Magnolia Challenge

Hi everyone, hope you all had a lovely weekend. My card today is for the new Just Magnolia challenge which I'm sure is going to be a huge success, there's so much inspiration from the lovely and talented DT that it's bound to be! There's a great sketch to follow for the first week by Donalda thank you, I really enjoyed working with it. I've used a cute Magnolia image which is water coloured with distress inks. The card is for a gorgeous little girl who's going to be four, not quite sure that this is what I had in mind for her but I couldn't resist this paper any longer! I hope she likes it and that it doesn't have a too grown up look to it! Paper is Bo Bunny teamed up with cobalt blue and vanilla bazzil. I've used an embossing folder and done some sponging in blue distress ink on the layer under the image. TFL. Chris x

Colour Creation Challeng 12 - Pink, Black and White

Hi everyone and time for another Colour Create Challenge. This week it's my turn to pick the colours and I've chosen pink, black and white with an option of polka dots. If you pop over the blog you'll find some amazing inspiration from my talented DT friends so I hope you can join us this week and there's a prize up for grabs too.

I've used a new Vicky digi-stamp and she'll be available soon in my digi shop and she's coloured with markers, glittered a little with stickles and cut out. The card blank is two scalloped acetate tags from Craftwork cards which are tied together with ribbon and I've cut circles of pink and white bazzill card, Doodlebug polka dot paper and the sentiment on the Cricut. Hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend. TFL. Chris x

BasicGrey Challenge 31 - Paper Piecing

Hi everyone, another Saturday ( it came round very quickly!) and another Challenge at BasicGrey!

"This weeks challenge is is a firm favourite for allot of people (including me), so for this weeks challenge we would like to see some paper piecing in your creations :), please remember though that you must use at least one item from BasicGrey somewhere in your creation, and most of all have fun creating"

Hope you can join us again this week, loads of great inspiration on the blog from my DT friends and a great prize too.

I've used a gorgeous new Bollywood dancer digital image Surahbi by my friend Sandra at Sandra Dry Digital Designs and she's one of four dancers and an amazing background image in her new Bollywood Set. I think they're all brilliant and a great excuse to break out the bling! I printed the image and coloured her with markers and cut her out. I've used Marrakech paper for the background and also paper pieced Surahbi's little top with it. I added gold stickles for her jewels and attached her with glue gel. The die cut Labels one nestie pieces and Sizzix die cut corner are in gold mirror card. The inner nestie panel is pale blue bazzil which is embossed with the Paisley CB folder and sponged over and around the edges with distress ink. The blue metallic ribbon is threaded through a sparkly blue button which still has it's shank attached so I've put a couple of glue dots under to hold it in place.TFL and see you tomorrow with my Colour Create card. Have a good weekend. Chris x

Dare U 2 Digi Stamp Challenge 3 - Pink and Green

Hi everyone, hope you've all had a good week, I can't believe it's Friday already, it's flown by. Time for another Dare U 2 Digi Stamp Challenge and this week we have a colour combination for you of pink and green. Hope you can join us, we had a great response last week and this week there's a prize of a couple of digi-stamps on offer. Pop over to the blog for some great inspiration from my lovely DT friends and more details.

I used my open rose digi image for my card which I enlarged and printed, then water coloured with distress inks. I've cut the rose out and attached it with gel glue to a layer of BG Two Scoops paper (thank you San, I love this paper!) which is punched with the MS doily lace punch. The next layer is Core-dinations card which I've embossed with a CB script folder and then sanded and there's a layer of pale green bazzil card under that. All the edges have been distressed with an edge distresser and the BasicGrey paper layer is mounted on dimension tape. I added half pearls around the scallops of the card blank and some stickles to the rose to finish. TFL. See you tomorrow with my BasicGrey card. Chris x

Hanglar Girl - SCSC

Hi everyone, I hope you're having a great Bank Holiday and soaking up the lovely weather. My card today is for SCSC where there's a great sketch to follow this week by my lovely friend Donna, thanks Donna, I loved the sketch but I totally missed that there's also a colour combination to follow of chocolate orange!!! Luckily I have used a bit of orange and there's some brown colours in the image, so I hope it counts? I've used a cute Hanglar girl which is watercoloured with Distress inks and mounted on orange bazzil card and matted on MME Bloom and grow paper. Edges of the papers are distressed and I've punched one edge with an MS arch punch. Added ribbon, sentiment, button and more ribbon in line with the sketch and stardust stickles. TFL. Chris x

Happy Easter. Colour Create Challege Eleven -

Happy Easter everyone. I hope you're all having a very special Easter. Time for another Colour Create Challenge and this week the challenge is brought to us by the lovely Tab, a colour combo of brown, beige and cream with an optiion of distressing. Gorgeous colours I'm sure you'll agree and distressing is one of my favourite things to do on most of my cards so thanks Tab for a great challenge, I enjoyed it very much. I hope you can join us this week, pop over to the blog for some fantastic inspiration from my DT friends.

For this week I've made an ATC and used a cute little Alota Rubber Stamps image which is water coloured with distress inks, cut out and attached with gel glue. The base is bazzil cardstock sponge distressed with Versafine sepia ink and the pp is BasicGrey Archaic which is distressed on the edges with a distressing tool. I added various buttons from stash, doodled and added a sheer ribbon at the top. TFL. Chris x

BasicGrey Challenge 30 - Soft Centres

Morning everyone and time for another BasicGrey Challenge.

"As its Easter on Sunday we thought we would have a challenge inspired by all those lovely chocolate treats you will be scoffing into hehe, so this week we would like you to take inspiration from your favourite Chocolates :), so say your favourite chocolate is Mint chocolate, well you could then base the colours of your card on this so your card would be Brown and Green :), sounds scrumptious doesn't it, i cant wait to see your chocolate inspired creations this week, but please don't forget to use at least one item from BasicGrey on your creation."

My favourite soft centres are rose and violet creams so my colours are chocolate, rose and a bit of violet. Papers I used are from the BasicGrey Bitter sweet collection and the image is Alota rubbers stamps watercoloured with distress inks. There's fantastic inspiration from my DT friends so hope you can pop over to the blog and join us this week. Hope you get some lovely choc soft centres tomorrow. Chris x

Dare U 2 Digi Stamp Challenge 2 - Bling

Morning everyone, hope you're all enjoying the Easter Holiday so far and are ready for another Dare U 2 Digi Stamp Challenge? Challenge 2 is Bling which could be sparkle from glitter, glitter glue, gems, metal charms etc., and probably there are lots more that can be used. A digital image must be used on your creation and there's some fantastic inspiration from my design team friends so I hope you'll pop over, have a look and join us this week. There was a great response to the first challenge and it was good to see all the different digi images that everyone used.

This week I've done a canvas which is a bit of an experiment to see how I could transfer digi stamps by increasing the size in my graphics program (my digi stamp is blown up to over 200%) and printing onto Safmat which is A4 image transfer paper. First I prepared the canvas which measures 12 x 12 inches by priming it with white Gesso and leaving to dry. I decided to use my daffodil digi stamp which I resized, printed out on the Safmat and then cut out. After peeling off the backing paper I applied it to the canvas and made sure I smoothed it down as much as I could. I hadn't used Safmat before and wasn't sure which colouring medium would work but decided to use markers. The markers pool quite a lot, did blend to some extent but I was pleased with the end result as it gives a finish a bit like an oil painting with a sheen to it. To add the bling I used lines of Stardust Stickles and a ton of gems, so this one is definitely going on the wall! I'll certainly use this method again, it was very enjoyable and the only limit to the size you can make your digi-stamp is the size of the A4 Safmat.

Hope you all have a lovely Easter and see you tomorrow with my BasicGrey DT card.
TFL. Chris x

Alota Bug Egg - Stamp with fun challenge

Hi everyone, a card today for Stamp with fun where this week there's a sketch to follow. My image is by Alota Rubber Stamps and is watercoloured with distress inks and cut out. I also stamped the little bug head as two images are required for the sketch. I've added nestie cut scalloped ovals behind the images cut from turquoise card and used the same to mat the WRMK Nonense paper and Woodware sentiment. Everything is layered with glue gel onto the white scalloped card blank which is sponged with distress ink. TFL. Chris x

Colour Create Challenge 10 - Duck Egg Blue and Rose

Hi everyone and it's time for another Colour Create Challenge. Our colours this week are chosen by Judy and they're a lovely combination of Duck Egg Blue and Rose with an option of Stitching, real or faux. Thanks Judy, absolutely love these colours and faux stitching is one of my favourite things to do on my cards so I really enjoyed this one. Hope you can join in this week and if you need some inspiration pop over to the blog for some fantastic ideas from my lovely DT friends, they'll certainly make your eyes pop!

I chose some Cosmo Cricket paper as it seemed to be a perfect shade of the blue for the challenge and I stamped it with a Paper Artsy music score stamp and some Personal Impressions swirls in Tattered Rose distress ink, unfortunately it's quite subtle and I don't think it shows up too well in the photograph. I distressed the edges. added stickles to the swirls and attached to the card after putting in some eyelets (yes you read it correctly I finally managed to set some eyelets courtesy of the Silent Setter kindly given to me by my friend Sandra!), and attaching a little tag I made from an off cut of the pink card with some sheer ribbon. Added the big flowers which have been sponged with tattered rose distress ink, stickled and a candy gem placed in the centre. I used my digi image 'Elise prepares' and coloured her with markers and I've also stamped some more of the swirls in pink over her leotard and added stickles for some sparkle. She's cut out and mounted on glue gel. I did my faux stitching around the edges of the paper and the card with a pink sparkle gel pen. Hope you're having a great weekend. TFL. Chris x

BasicGrey Challenge 29 - Easter/Spring theme

Hi everyone, I hope you're weekend is off to a good start, and you're ready for another BasicGrey Challenge which this week has lovely theme of Easter/Spring. Hope you can pop over to the challenge blog and join us and you'll find some fantastic inspiration and great ideas from my lovely DT friends as always (they amaze me every single week!)

I've used my Easter Egg with Tulips digi image for this card which I printed on white card and coloured with markers for the flower section and distress inks for a muted effect on the top and bottom. I cut it out taking off the scallops that are all around the border on the image as I wanted to create an oval scalloped aperture with the egg image raised on dimension tape on the inside of the card. I created the aperture by attaching the BG sugared paper over the cream card blank and then cutting out with the largest oval scalloped nestie to make the hole. I've doodled around the edges of the paper and the card blank, added some stickles, gems and the sheet dotted ribbon to finish. Hope to see you in the challenge. TFL. Chris x

Dare U 2 Digi Stamp Challenge 1 - Sketch

Hi everyone, here we go with Challenge 1 on Dare U 2 Digi Stamp Friday Challenge. Our first challenge is a sketch by me and there's great inspiration from my lovely DT friends so I hope you'll pop over for a look and join us in our first challenge. There's a great prize to be won this week as a little incentive, lovely goodies which you can see in the picture below.


I've used my Tulip Bowl image which I printed onto white card and coloured with markers. To give a bit of vintage feel I sponged all around the tulip bowl with distress inks and I've distressed the edges of all the papers. Used my MS lattice arch punch on the sentiment and centre panel, added a punched flower, Woodware sentiment, some glaze to the pot and some stickles on the tulips. The paper is by Cosmo Cricket. TFL. Chris x

Pink Gem Baby Girl Bundle - Cuttlebug Challenge

Hi everyone, a card today for the Cuttlebug Challenge where this week there's a sketch to follow. I've used my cute Pink Gem Designs Baby Girl Bundle stamp and watercoloured her with distress inks and cut out. All the layers embossed with cuttlebug folders and I used labels one nesties for the panel behind the baby. The little birds are part of the stamp but I cut these out too to use for an element of the sketch. There's some stickles and sparkle gel pen here and there to which might be just about visible, a little pink BG button, sheer polka dot ribbon all mounted on a Papermania pink scalloped card blank, can't seem to stop using these cards, they're lovely. TFL Chris x