Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone, I hope you’ve all been showered with love :)!
A card today for Just Magnolia Challenge and a theme of ‘Love’, Double Dutch where it’s ‘Be my Valentine’, Stamp with fun ‘Hearts’ and The Pink Elephant ‘Mushy, Gushy Valentine’.
I’ve stamped the ever so cute Ladybug Tilda and water coloured her with distress inks, cut her out with a nestabilities die, added lots of stickles, copic spica glitter pen and glossy accents to her spotty jacket. The background paper is also by Magnolia and I’ve faux stitched around the edges of it. There’s a border of white card with punched with the doily lace punch finished off and red dotted ribbon and to finish off I added the Magnolia ‘Loving Wishes’ sentiment which I cut in half after stamping and some clear gems.
Have a cosy evening and TFL.

Back to a Christmas card

 

 

Hi everyone, a card today with the gorgeous Jolly Tilda and which I entered into the PCE magazine competition. I was very excited when I found out that I was one of the runners up and have a lovely prize of craft goodies on the way to me, can’t wait for it to arrive.

The Jolly Tilda was stamped twice and masked so that I could stamp the Magnolia snowflake circle for her to be sitting on, I also cut out her head and arms as extra pieces, coloured them and used them to 3d the image. I’ve cut around her legs before die cutting with a large nestabilities plain circle die too. The image is water coloured with Ranger distress inks and glittered with stickles and a spica clear pen. Background paper is a lovely winter text paper from Magnolia which is distressed, edge inked and faux stitched and to finish I added some punched glittered snowflakes, Magnolia flowers spritzed with pearl glimmer mist, brown dotty sheer ribbon, some gems and a scalloped die cut and pierced circle behind the image.

I’m entering my card into the My Time to Craft challenge where this time, anything goes. Hope you’re having a good weekend. TFL

Pink Gem 'Mimi and pig' - Stamp Something Challenge

Hi everyone, hope you've had a good weekend. A card today for Stamp Something challenge and it's sketch something this week with a lovely sketch by Emily which I've flipped. I've used my gorgeous 'Mimi' and pig' stamp by Pink Gem Designs, she's so cute and lovely to colour too, I've watercoloured the image with distress inks and sponged all round the edges of the panel with black distress ink. Papers for the various panels of the sketch are BasicGrey cupcake and blue bazzil for matting and also for the bottom strip which is scored and wrapped with raffia. Everything is mounted on a white scalloped card blank sponged with black. Added a woodware sentiment, stickles and a basicgrey button to finish. TFL. Chris x

Colour Create Challenge 8 - Navy, Turquoise and Lime

Morning everyone and Happy Mother's Day to all the blogging Mum's out there in the UK where we celebrate at the beginning of spring. I hope you'll have a lovely day and good amount of spoiling! Colour Create Challenge day today and challenge number eight is a lovely colour combination of Navy, Turquoise and Lime chosen by my extremely talented DT friend Sarita who makes the most amazing and beautiful cards. The option Sarita chose is no designer paper as she mainly stamps her backgrounds with the prettiest of background stamps. I really enjoyed using this technique so thanks Sarita for a great challenge. I hope you can join in this week and there's some fantastic inspiration from my design team friends for ideas on how to interpret the challenge.

The image is by Alota Rubber Stamps and is water coloured with distress inks and decorated with stickles so it's very sparkly IRL! The card base of a dark turquoise card is stamped using some Stempelglede scroll stamps and navy ink. The layer over the card blank is made from white card stamped with a flower stamp and versamark ink which has been heat embossed with clear embossing powder, sponged all over the paper with faded jeans and broken china distress inks and then the embossing ironed off to reveal the white paper under the stamped flowers. The flowers are then coloured with lime green sparkle gel pen. I've used this method again on the lime paper layer and added the ribbon and green gem to finish. TFL. Chris x

BasicGrey Challenge 27 Add Texture

Morning everyone and I hope you're ready for another BasicGrey Challenge? This week week it's all about adding texture to your project so there are many possibilities. My lovely DT friends have come up with some great ideas for doing this and have created stunning cards for inspiration so I hope you'll be able to go and have a look and join in with the challenge.

I've embossed one of the layers of patterned paper with a cuttlebug embossing folder, added flowers and pearls, distressed the edges of the paper and used pretty ribbon for my textures. The image is marker coloured, cut out with nestabilities then sponged with dried marigold distress ink and attached with dimension tape. I've used BG Ambrosia paper for the background layer, sponged with vintage photo and I did a lot of distressing on the edges so that it's quite raised up. TFL and enjoy your Saturday. Chris

BasicGrey Challenge 26 - All Rounded Corners

Hi everyone, hope you're ready for another BasicGrey challenge and that your weekend is off to a good start. This week the challenge is all rounded corners and I've totally mucked this one up it seems as I didn't read the instructions properly and only have one that's rounded off, I'm too late to change it, sorry everyone! I hope you'll join in and if you need any inspiration then the design team have absolutely stunning creations to show you, they amaze me every week.

I've rounded off one corner on my card at the bottom right with an extra large corner rounder punch and I've done this on both the white card blank and the BasicGrey Two Scoops paper. The image is by CC designs and is marker coloured, matted on more of the BG Two Scoops and mounted with dimension tape. I pierced a scrolling butterfly trail pattern all over the card around the image and placed far too many butterflies punched from the patterned paper, edged with Ranger distress ink and applied to the card with glue gel, can't seem to put these punches down this week, I must put them out of sight for a while I think! Added the Woodware sentiment to the rounded corner using a great idea I saw on Kim's one of my BG DT friends blog where she curved a clear stamp sentiment then stamped it. I didn't quite get the curve right but I'll definitely try this again, thanks Kim! I've just realised I didn't glitter her wings which I intended to do, poor little girl, will have to do that later. See you tomorrow. Chris x

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

Mojo Monday 76

Hi again everyone, another post from me today but I've been trying all week to get a card done for the Mojo Monday sketch challenge as I really loved the sketch, I love all of their sketches but this is the first time I've managed to enter. The image is a gorgeous little Hanglar girl which I've coloured with markers and matted on black card. The blue gingham paper is matted on black too and all the layers are mounted with dimension tape. I've sponged around the image with vintage photo and black distress ink and added the blue ribbon to the bottom panel and a bow to the top. The sentiment is from Woodware, Tiny Phrases and I've done a row of piercing in line with the sentiment. TFL. Hope you've all had some craft time today. 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

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

BasicGrey Challenge 20 - Sketch

Hi everyone, Saturday again and time for another BasicGrey challenge and some fantastic inspiration for this week from the DT, I hope you can join in.

..."This week we have another sketch for you to follow, you can resize and even flip the sketch but please make sure that the original sketch can be recognized easily in your creations, feel free to also add any other embellishments etc to your creations and of course not forgetting to use at least one item from BasicGrey".

I enjoyed working with this great sketch created by Martine, well I love all her sketches actually! I've used BG Bittersweet papers for my layers and Kraft card which has been edged with Ranger Distress ink and the piece under the image embossed and sponged with the ink. The image is my new stamp design for Kadoodle, 'Frilly Flowers' and is marker coloured and glazed with glossy accents and then stickles to give an enamal effect (hopefully)! I stamped the little row of hearts instead of a sentiment, outlined them with a clear gel pen and added stickles to the centres. To finish I pierced all around the edge of the card using a Tim Holtz piercing ruler and added a BasicGrey Boxer Brad.

I hope you're having a great weekend so far. TFL.
Chris

Materials:
Stamps: 'Frilly Flowers' Kadoodle available at The Craft Barn, Studio G clear stamp, row of hearts.
Paper/card: BasicGrey 'Bittersweet', Kraft card also from The Craft Barn
Colouring: Promarkers in pastel pink, vanilla, sandstone, raw sienna. Sponging with Ranger Distress Ink in Worn Lipstick
Embellishment: BasicGrey Boxer brad, Ranger Gossy Accents, Stickles glitter glue in Candy Cotton and Black, Tim Holtz Piercing Ruler, Edge Distresser, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder 'Paisley', Dimension Tape, Sakura clear gel pen, sponge

Bearing Love

Hi everyone, I'd just like to thank you all for the lovely comments and good wishes yesterday for my new venture with the digi-stamps, it's very much appreciated. Special big thank you to Sally-Ann and Janet for their support. My list isn't endless unlike Kate Winslets' so I'll stop here!

I intended to have this card posted yesterday but time ran away, it's for the SCSC where the challenge this week is hearts. I've used my Bearing Love digi-stamp (link at top of sidebar) and coloured with promarkers then sponged with distress ink. The layers are chocolate brown coredinations card which is distressed on the edges and Doodlebug sparkly hearts paper (it hurt to cut it, but I did and it's beautifully sparkly IRL), they're mounted with dimension tape. To decorate I added brown satin ribbon, punched three hearts from the Doodlebug paper and sponged round the edges of the white card blank with distress ink.

Materials:
Image: Sketching Stamper Digi-stamp 'Bearing Love'
Paper: Coredinations Chocolate, Doodlebug Cinnamon hearts, white card
Colouring: Promarkers in red, ruby, apricot, spice, terracotta, cocoa, sandstone, raw sienna, gold, ice grey 2, ice grey 4, black. Ranger distress ink in vintage photo
Embellishment: Brown satin ribbon, heart punch, dimension tape, sponge, distressing tool

Spring Angel

Hi everyone, I hope there aren't too many sore heads around today LOL! Happy new year to everyone once again, lets hope it's a good one (in the words of the song)! A card today for the Stamp Something challenge where there's a great sketch to follow, I really like this one and will definitely use it again. I've water coloured the cute Whipper Snapper angel with distress inks and I'm currently trying to make up a tutorial for this loose style of water colour as I've had a few requests. I don't have a camcorder or a tripod so I'm still trying to get a little video done as it's really about the brushwork so it would be best to see the movement, I'll try not to talk on it but I can't promise LOL! Hope to have it sorted soon. I've done some sponging around the patterned paper and the scored card and also some faux stitching with a white inksentials pen. Hydrangea flower and gem centre from stash.

Materials:
Paper: Blue Canford card, Laura Ashley Traditional paper pack
Stamp: Whipper Snapper 'Spring Angel'
Ink: Ranger distress inks in black soot, weathered wood, tea dye, broken china, faded jeans, worn lipstick
Embellishment: Score board/scoring tool, water brushes, hydrangea flower, gemstone, white inksentials gel pen, sponge, diamond stickles

Back soon,
Chris

My Sister and Me

Hi everyone, I've made a tag today for Dutch Dare where the challenge is 'anything but a card' and also for Tag you're it with a challenge of 'Tic-Toc', not sure if I'm in time (lol) for TGI, hope I am! I started with a thick white card tag and two thick card die cut flowers, all these were sponged with Ranger distress inks and edged with black. I stamped over this in black with an Elzybells sentiment stamp 'we laugh, we cry, we make time fly, best friends are we, my sister and me' which I love and also with a clock face by Stamps Away. I added the huge gems which were a present from my lovely friend in Canada, gold liquid pearls (I took a close up shot of the tag because I think the pearls look like icing!), stickles and oddments of ribbon for decoration. TFL.

Back soon,
Chris

Leaves

Hi everyone. My card today is for the SCS Ways to use it challenge where the theme is leaves with a hint of pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and also for the SCS weekly sketch challenge. I used two leaves from a Kars stamp set, the large leaf is stamped in Smoky brown versafine, sponged with Distress inks, Worn lipstick, dried marigold and mustard seed and cut out. Two panels for the sketch had the same stamping and sponging treatment with the other leaf stamp. I edged everything with black soot ink, added the sentiment panel, the popped up single leaf and other flowers and pearls. Edged the sentiment panel with sticky ribbon (not too evenly by the looks of the photo!). Touched some of the flowers lightly with black ink and added stickles to finish. Hope you all have a great weekend. TFL.

Back soon,
Chris

Hill Top Villages

A card with another of my background design stamps for Spiral Whisper, Hill Top Villages. I've made this one as a Z fold card and given it a vintage style (hopefully). The idea for this drawing came from the hill top villages we saw when on holiday in Sicily a couple of years ago, the scenery is beautiful. I think this stamp will be good for many occasions and could also be used for male cards.

The image is stamped in Versafine Black Onyx ink twice, water coloured with Ranger distress inks and after sponging the edges, matted on black card over a layer of white which is also sponged and stamped with a manuscript background stamp by Hero Arts. I did a similar panel of the sponged and text background on the first panel of the card and added a sentiment from the Inkadinkado Garden set. On the second image I stamped I coloured only the lemon tree on the left and the fir trees on the right, cut them out, shaped them slightly and layered over those on the complete image with glue gel. The card base is from one sheet of A4 card cut lengthways to fit the image panel and then scored width ways also to fit the image panel and then in the centre between the first fold and the left hand edge to make the two other panels.
The centre panel can be used to write a greeting or could also be decorated, I've left mine plain. TFL.

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