Paperartsy Guest Blogger - Topic #5 Blue and Ochre

Hi everyone, I'm delighted to be featured on the Paperartsy blog tonight with my Topic #5 Blue & Ochre 'Under the sea' mixed media pocket letter using a set of Tracy Scott's gorgeous stamps.

These are a real joy to make and can be a lovely small gift of bits and bobs for a crafty friend.
All the info of how I made it and lots of photo's are on the Paperartsy blog if you'd like to have a closer look.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hi everyone and Happy Valentine's Day! I've made a collage style card with 'the kiss' stamp from the Artistic Stamper that I won last week and I love it, it's perfect for Today but other occasions too. Thanks very much Jennie!

 

I used paper from a very old book for the collages text and also for stamping onto, it was interesting that the paper was very absorbent and sucked in the ink so it appears quite black. I've added zinc white acrylic paint together with red, yellow and blue Fresco Finish paint.

 

 

I doodled some hearts, strings and dots with a zig watercolour brush pen and black and white sharpies and added the message top right freehand. There's also some shading with charcoal for a bit of definition. My base is a Ranger extra large Kraft tag, they make great cards when folded in half.

I'm entering my card into the Artistic Stamper February challenge 'Love Hearts'.

Hope you had lots of cards today ;-D

Back soon,

Chris X

 

Paperbabe Stamps Challenge midway post

Hi everyone, I'm back today with a midway challenge inspiration post for Paperbabe Stamps and a Journal page I created using the 'profile face' stamp set, the 'profile templates' and the 'a lot like Christmas' stamp. There's still time to enter the challenge over on the Paperbabe Stamps blog and you can enter even if you don't have Paperbabe stamps.

I first drew around the cut out templates in pencil and they're very easy to line up due to the markers Kim has added to the outlines. I mapped out my base coat with distress markers, just a light colouring for placement and then I rubbed out the pencil.

I followed up the markers with pencils and a bit of white pen. In the background I've coloured with gelato watercolour sticks and stamped with stars from the profile face set and the text stamp inLuxe inks. I also added some hand written text in black and white ink.

I hope you'll join us in the challenge and have a lovely weekend.

Chris x

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

A Hanglar cutie

Hi everyone, hope your week is going well so far. A card today for the Sketch Saturday Challenge and a sketch that I enjoyed working with and also for the Creative Card Crew with a theme of sparkle and shine. The Hanglar cutie is coloured with distress inks, cut out and mounted on the background with gel glue. The papers are BasicGrey Sugar Rush and bottom piece edged with stickles. There's some doodling, faux stitching, a Websters pages calendar page, sparkly ribbon, pearl pen and a flower made from punched flower pieces. Thanks as always for your lovely comments.

Can’t think of a title :D!

Hi everyone, hope you had a good weekend and the snow is all gone where you are if you’re in the UK. Thankfully all our snow has disappeared and I can get out again, my car was well and truly iced onto the drive and completely unmoveable! This is a card I made a while back for the competition in PCE and I thought I would show it today. I love the paper, it’s so bright and cheerful and I think it’s an October Afternoon design from a few months back. I cut out one of the swirls from the reverse side of the paper and punched the piece on the right hand side with an EK success scallop punch. The heart shapes are cut out with nestabilities dies and I made a lollipop flower just showing under the bow. All finished off with large and medium corner rounder punches, a gingham bow, some doodling and doodlebug candy dots. TFL and have a good day.

BasicGrey 8 – Glitz and Bling

Hi everyone, another BasicGrey challenge has rolled round, I don’t know where the weeks are going! This time we have a lovely theme of Glitz and Bling and a great Indian Summer themed prize from our sponsor Simon Says Stamp. There’s wonderful inspiration from my DT friends, so I hope you can join us.

I’ve used my gorgeous sitting Tilda with glitter so she’s perfect for this challenge and I’ve coloured her with distress inks then cut her out. The papers are from BG Eskimo Kisses and I’ve die cut some with oval nestabilities and punched the bottom layer with an EK Success scalloped punch. The sentiment is a die cut and the test is metallic red but it’s not showing up too well. I did a bit of doodling with a white gel pen, and went over Tilda’s hair, dress and socks with a Spica glitter pen for some more glitz, was generous with my favourite stardust stickles then added a bow and some sparkly star gems to the hairband and background to finish. Have a great weekend in the blustery weather if you’re in the UK! TFL.

Daffodil Jug

Hi everyone, a card today for Sketch Saturday which has a great sketch by Ria. I've used my 'Daffodil Jug' digi-stamp which will be available soon and I've paper pieced the jug with some Doodlebug spots paper, the daffs are marker coloured and stickled and the background has been sponged with distress inks. I punched some borders with the MS doily lace punch and not too well by the look of the top part then layered these and the image on black card that I've doodled dots onto. Butterflies are punched from the same doodlebug paper, can't seem to stop putting butterflies on everything at the moment, must be a spring thing! TFL. Chris

Kadoodle 'my flower garden'

Hi everyone, a card today for ABC with a challenge of distressing in any form. I chose Ranger distress ink in vintage photo and black soot which I sponged around the edges of the image panel. The stamps I've used today are Kadoodle stamps from the Craft Barn 'my flower garden' and 'my garden accessories' which I've stamped in Black versafine ink and coloured with markers. Everything is mounted on the great quality A4 mid blue card also available from the Craft Barn. I don't know the make of the patterned paper as it was a pressie from my lovely friend Martine. I punched a little border with the MS doily lace punch and mounted this with the image on dimension tape then finished it all off with some doodled dots done with a white gel pen and some lovely May arts ribbon also from the Craft Barn. 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

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

'Watering with love' - the cuttlebug spot challenge

Hi everyone a card today for The Cuttlebug Spot and 'Valentine colour challenge', a valentine card without red or pink. I've used 'Watering with love' Sketching Stamper digi-stamp and coloured with markers, cut out and glazed with glossy accents. The background panel is green coredinations card embossed with the CB hearts folder and sanded. The sentiment stamp is a freebie with this months craft stamper magazine but mine seems to be bent on the bottom edge and I've had to fill in with black liner, this is also coloured with markers. I've doodled a border with the colours used in the image and added the little heart buttons to finish. TFL.

Materials:
Image: Sketching Stamper Digi-stamp 'Watering with love', Craft Stamper Free sentiment stamp
Colouring: Promarkers: Aegean, bright orange, gold, amethyst, warm grey 2, warm grey 3, ice grey 4, black
Embellishment: CB hearts embossing folder, sandpaper, glossy accents, heart buttons, doodling with markers

BasicGrey Challenge 18 - Digi-print

Hi everyone, I can't believe another week has gone by and it's time for the next BasicGrey Challenge. This week it's digi print and a huge treat for everyone as there's a fantastic free Valentine image to download and print to use for your card by my fabulously talented team mate Kim. Thank you Kim your illustrations are wonderful, full of character and a real pleasure to colour. I chose the gorgeous Valentine girl, she has such a lovely wistful look about her, I wonder who she's day dreaming about? The whole time I was colouring her for some reason the Phil Collins song 'Two hearts' was going through my head so it ended up on my card! I think I'm taking a leaf from the book of my other team mate Tara who crafts to music and uses song titles, and I love that. I used markers to colour and cut the image out with the largest scalloped heart nestie, doodled the song title and dots around the edges and then attached to the card over a layer of BG Wassail paper (it's not just for Christmas LOL)! I used a CB die for the heart corner and the centre pieces from them for the other side of the card, these have all been given a coating of red stickles. Added a red ribbon and doodled faux stitching around the edges on the card blank in white gel pen. I hope you can join in this week and there's some fantastic inspiration from the challenge team. Hope your weekend has started well. TFL.

Materials:
Image: Digi-stamp by Kim (paperbabe), Valentine girl
Colouring: Promarkers
Paper: BasicGrey Wassail, red Canford card
Embellishment: Red organza ribbon, red stickles, CB heart corner die, white gel pen

BasicGrey Challenge 17 - First sketch of 2009

Hi everyone and here is the first BasicGrey Challenge of 2009 and the DT have some stunning creations on the blog to show you. I hope you'll have the chance to join in this week and there's also a great prize to be won.

From the blog:

"I thought I would start 2009 with a sketch, so i have drew this one up for you to play with, feel free to resize or flip the sketch, just as long as the original sketch can be seen in your creation you are good to go, and of course not forgetting to use at least one item from BasicGrey somewhere in your creation :)"

My image is a Penny Black which I've water coloured with Ranger Distress Inks and glittered all over the background with diamond stickles. All the elements of the sketch are cut from BG Recess papers and mounted on a yellow card blank. I added some doodling, distressing, fibre, a gem, Elzybells sentiment and glossy accents to the toadstool to decorate. Have a great weekend.

I just received this lovely award from Dawn, thanks Dawn it's very much appreciated and I would like to pass it on to the lovely Dawn, Kathy and Jilli.


Materials:
Paper: BasicGrey Recess, yellow Canford card
Stamps: Penny black, Elzybells
Colouring: Ranger distress inks in black soot, tea dye, scattered straw, brushed corduroy, broken china, weathered wood, fired brick, worn lipstick, dried marigold
Embellishment: fibre and gem from stash, doodling, glossy accents, diamond stickles, edge distresser.

Back soon, Chris

Basic Grey Challenge 14 'So charming'

Hi everyone, here's my card for the Basic Grey Challenge and my first card as a member of the Design Team. I was thrilled to find out that I'd been chosen as I know how many amazingly talented crafters out there had also entered and how difficult it was for Martine to choose which is why she ended up with five instead of three! I'm very much looking forward to the weekly challenges and working with the incredibly talented members of the team who are all lovely and fun. I also look forward to seeing the creations of everyone who joins in with the challenges every week and finding some new blogs to stalk!

"For this weeks challenge we would like to see some charms on your creations, you can have as many as you like, and of course not forgetting to use at least 1 item from BasicGrey somewhere on your creations and for your wonderful efforts, one lucky person will win this fabby prize which has been kindly sponsored by CraftyKrafts."

There's a lovely prizes to be won too!

I've used BG Ambrosia papers and a native American image by Rubbernecker stamps. The image is marker coloured, cut out and layered over the paper which has been embossed with the branches CB embossing folder then sponged with black distress ink. I cut another piece of Ambrosia paper and layered these onto the blue card blank after distressing the edges and sponging. To continue the native American Indian theme I made a little dream catcher embellishment from a circle of the blue card cut with nestabilities. The web effect is made by knotting embroidery cotton and looping it around in layers until you get to the centre. I added beads, doodling, feathers and a little flower charm then mounted it on dimension tape as I did with the image. The sentiment is a Doodlebug rub on and I've added doodling around that and the card base and stickles to the image. TFL.

Back soon,
Chris

Elzybells Christmas

Hi everyone, a card today for Dutch Dare where the challenge is to 'put a hole in your card', Secret Crafter with a challenge of 'decoupage', ABC with a challenge of 'snow' and Everbody Art Challenge with a challenge of 'winter/Christmas', lots of lovely challenges to put together!
I stamped the gorgeous Elzybells girl with her sledge from the Dinky Christmas set and water coloured with Ranger Distress inks then cut out using the nestabilities label one die, edged and dotted with glamour dust. I stamped the image again, water coloured and cut out the presents and layered with gel glue on the image. To add the hole element of Dutch Dare I die cut a piece of ivory bazzil bling with the labels die one size up from the image size, sponged the edges with black distress ink and layered this on the beige card blank over a piece of snowflake patterned paper, not sure of the brand it was an offcut but might be DCWV Christmas stack. The image is mounted on dimension tape in the centre of the aperture I did a bit of doodling, punched some snowflakes, added gems to their centres and stamped the Woodware sentiment to finish. TFL.

Back soon,
Chris

Ink and Rubber Challenge 1

Hi everyone and this card is for the new Ink and Rubber challenge blog for all things Stampin' Up! I only have a couple of very old SU sets at the moment and I've used the three flower stamp from the big flowers set. I stamped with a brilliance three colour twilight inkpad which is pretty and shimmery but doesn't seem to want to dry, I edged the white card with it, it went everywhere! I'll heat set it a bit next time to see if that helps. A simple card really, I used a scalloped cutter blade at the bottom of the white, added the ribbon, rub on sentiment, gems and doodled around the edge with a white gel pen. TFL.

Back soon,
Chris

Chloe's Star Wreath

Hi everyone and here's a little Christmas Tree decoration I made which is courtesy of a beautiful one made by the very lovely and talented Chloe here. I think she found the idea in a magazine, she's let me borrow it and as you'll see if you have time to look she has a wonderful way of putting her papers together and creating very lovely cards. The stars are die cut from the middle sized die on the large Sizzix multi star die, doodled for the stitching, glittered and then stuck to a circle cut with nestabilities. Added some punched and shaped flowers, a few gems and some pretty ribbons, the centre ribbon has been stamped with a Peace sentiment from Woodware and the ribbon heated with a heatgun to give a bit of a frill.

The papers are by Summer Driggs and Pink Petticoat.TFL.

Back soon,
Chris

Forever Friends

Hi everyone, back to card making today with a card for Dutch Dare where the challenge is 'a card for a boy/man', don't know if I'm in time for this one but hopefully I am. I've used the little workman Forever Friends stamp which is cut out with nestabilities, pencil coloured and blended with Sansodor. The image is layered over a mat of shimmery, pewter coloured punched card and under that a layer of white card embossed with a cuttlebug folder. The sentiment is a doodlebug rub on and the dots doodled with a sharpie marker. TFL and catch up with everyone over the next few days.

Back soon,
Chris

Kadoodle Daisy and Dan - Victorian dressing up day

I was so happy to receive a new DT package at the weekend from Kadoodle which contained these two wonderful Daisy and Dan stamps from my fellow Kadoodle stamp designer, Sandra. They're gorgeous and come in a variety of outfits. I already have Sandra's Wizard Dan stamp and I love her Pirate Dan and Red Indian and Princess Daisy, actually I love them all as they're so versatile and can be used in so many different ways. Wonderful for decoupage and lovely to colour. If you have a moment have a look at Sandra's fantastic new blog, she's so very talented, and it's full of inspiring ideas to use her stamps. Well I hope I've done Daisy and Dan justice today with my Victorian Dressing up day card.

Quite a labour intensive project but I enjoyed it so much. Daisy and Dan are paper pieced with papers from the DT Kit. I love the houndstooth check paper and couldn't help making Dan's whole suit with it. They're both coloured with prismacolor pencils and decoupaged. I freehand cut the curtains and attached some cut up paper doilies for the lace underneath. The dressing up box is a piece of white card cuttlebugged with the distressed stripes folder then sponged and doodled. Some DT papers where cut and doodled to give the impression of material falling from the box (hopefully)! I sponged the card blank with Ranger distress inks, doodled planks for the floor and a window. The card was assembled and then highlighted with a Sakura silver pen. TFL.

Back soon,
Chris

Hawaiin Tilda

A card for Friday Sketchers challenge using these lovely Magnolia images that my friend Tania stamped for me, aren't they cute? I think the Magnolia's just get better and better. All the images are water coloured with Ranger distress inks and I've arranged a little scene with sponging and wavy cut bazzil card in line with the sketch. The card blank was embossed with a CB bubbles folder before adding the other elements. I doodled waves with a white pen and continued the sand line with a black sharpie over the rest of the card, stickles were added to Tilda's flower garland and the waves for sparkle. I added a prima flower with a gem centre under the stamped Magnolia flower as I lost the smaller flower that I'd coloured and cut out! I'm not that happy with how this card turned out, I should have cut out the palm tree to make the border work better but I wanted to use the island as the panel for the sketch and I made it for the challenge so I'm uploading it and I wanted to show off the absolutely gorgeous Tilda! TFL.

Back soon,
Chris