Category Archives: Cards

Bordering on Romance CASE

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I wanted to make a card for our lovely neighbour who has been unwell for some time and recently had an operation, and when I saw the “August” card in this fabulous line up of cards on Kathy Tanners blog, I just knew I had to CASE it!
It’s also been a while since I did some serious water colouring and thought it would be a good time to get some practice in.

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I did however do the watercolouring on Whisper White card stock.  Watercolouring with inks works best on watercolour paper…. yes, really…. 🙂 as it absorbs the water, whereas the Whisper White card stock can’t absorb as much and can easily become scuffed up.  So I have used a Blender pen and added the colour as quickly as possible and with as few strokes of the brush as possible.  Nevertheless I am not entirely happy with how it turned out.  More practice required!

So I made another one…….

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I just love purple!

There is a third one, but you will have to wait a few days to see it! 🙂  and you never know, I may feel inspired to make a fourth 🙂
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Happy Stamping!
Chris

A New challenge

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If you are a follower of my blog, you will know how much I love a challenge… whether that’s a colour challenge or sketch challenge, or any other challenge for that matter!  So I love it when I find a new challenge site, especially one which is being run by two very talented stampers, Bronwyn Eastley and Kathy Tanner.  So of course, I just had to take part in the first challenge at Still AddINKtive which is both a sketch and colour challenge.  Love it!

I have made a card for a friend whose birthday is later this week, and since she loves stitching, and I love doing it on my projects, I added lots of  faux stitching!

My card uses the Betsy’s Blossoms stamp set and some patterned papers from Floral District Designer Series Papers. Add to that a greeting from the Itty Bitty Banners set and some pretty pearls, and that’s it!  Quite simple really.
This is such a pretty colour combination, why don’t you give it a go?

Happy stamping!
Chris

I am thrilled to let you know that my card was chosen as a Top Pick for this challenge, and I also won a prize!  I am feeling very lucky! 🙂  Thanks Bronwyn and Kathy.

Top Pick Badge 1

Melon Mambo and Island Indigo…

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….sounds kind of exotic, doesn’t it?  I really like the names that Stampin’ Up! use for their colours, and I like the combination of colours for this week’s Dynamic Duos challenge too!

DD# 34

I had too many ideas for this combination, so in the end I decided to keep it simple.

I have used the flower from Button Buddies stamp set and fussy cut them to create the layers of different colours.  The greeting is from Wacky Wishes and I have used the zig zaggy background was created using the Chevron Embossing folder through the Big Shot.

Lots of inspiration from the rest of the Design Team again this week, so make sure you have a look here, and lets see what gorgeous designs you can come up with using these colours.
Have fun with it, and happy Stamping!

Chris

Happy Birthday to my boy!

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Today is Jamie’s 7th birthday, can’t believe how quickly the years have flown by!  Despite being a very hot 37degrees here today (that’s around 98.5 deg) we had a lovely picnic lunch in the park with friends.  And of course the hot afternoon means that it is perfect weather for staying inside and…. crafting, of course! 🙂

I made Jamie’s birthday card using this week’s Mojo Monday sketch:

zMojo274Sketch

I have used the I Dig You stamp set, and the greeting from Wacky Wishes (Hostess Set).

Jamie loved the idea of the digger putting lots of presents in the back of the dump truck, just for him!

Best get back to the birthday boy!
Happy stamping!
Chris

Stampin’ Royalty Challenge #156

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I thought it was time I did some stamping for the enjoyment of it, so I have gone looking at some of the challenge sites that I used to frequent regularly, and today I have made a card for the latest challenge from Stampin’ Royalty.

Here is the sketch:

stampin royalty sample-005

And here is the card I have made:

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I have a few bits and pieces which arrived just before my move, and which have not been used, so definitely time to start using some of them 🙂  I have used the Summer Afternoon Hostess stamp set along with some of the Fan Fair patterned papers, which are just gorgeous!

I will be back over the next few days with more creations and with some updates for classes etc for the new year.  In the meantime, happy stamping!
Chris

Freshly Made Sketches #65

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Sharing a card today that I have made for my sister, who owns a farm with lots of apple trees.  And I have used the sketch from this week’s Freshly Made Sketches.

I have used a combination of the Perfectly Preserved and Polar Party Stamp Sets, along with the Be Of Good Cheer patterned papers in some traditional Christmas colours.
Here is the sketch:

FMS Final 65-001

Hope you are finding time to do some Christmas stamping too.
Happy Stamping!
Chris

Dynamic Duos #33

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So my second challenge card for today, and I have made a card inspired by my lovely and very talented friend Deb Fearns.  Deb recently showed me a gorgeous little box that she had made using the Natural Composition Specialty papers, and it inspired me to find the papers and use them in this card.

This week’s Dynamic Duos challenge is to use the colours Black and Gold and also a music theme.

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So I have used the music notes from the Natural Composition Specialty papers, which I have applied black ink directly to, and then just rubbed it over with a tissue to get rid of the excess ink.  With the gold coloured foil (non-Stampin’ Up!) behind, it makes the music look gold as well.
Once again I have used the Ornament Keepsakes stamp set and have hand cut around the ornament once it was embossed with gold powder.  I then die cut the Very Vanilla ornament so that I could layer one over the other.  And the greeting is from the Joyous Celebrations stamp set.

Make sure you check out the rest of the gorgeous projects from the very talented Design Team here.

Well, that’s all from me for now.  If I don’t have a chance to post more before Christmas, I hope you all have a wonderful, safe and happy Christmas.
Happy Stamping!
Chris

Purple and Silver

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This week at Our Creative Corner it is my turn to set the challenge, and I have chosen a colour theme, using my favourite colour Purple, along with Silver, you can use other colours as well, just as long as purple and silver are the feature colours for your project.  Our Creative Corner will taking a break over Christmas and it is our last challenge before our break, so lets make it a Christmas project as well.

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I have had fun with the Big Shot and embossing this week on my card.  I have used a stamp from the Ornament Keepsakes stamp set which I have heat embossed with silver powder onto Elegant Eggplant card stock and then cut out with the Holiday Ornaments Dies.  The silver layer is some of the gorgeous Glimmer paper cut using the Apothecary Accents Framelits, and for the white layer I have used the Adorning Accents Edgelits and the Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder.  The greeting comes from the Teeny Tiny Sentiments Stamp Set and I have used a little bit of Pink Pirouette card stock for some interest and some non-Stampin’ Up! ribbon that I found in my stash!

Happy Stamping!
Chris

Dynamic Duos #32

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Some nice, pretty girly colours today, so I made a nice, pretty girly card! 🙂
I have used a layout for this card that I found, well, some where on the internet when I was blog hopping… anyway, I thought it would work well with some swirls and flowers and here is the end result….

 

The stamp sets I have used are Field Flowers, Perfectly Penned and Elements of Style, along with some pink Seam Binding Ribbon (Non Stampin’ Up!) and white Baker’s Twine and a button.
This is a very pretty colour combination, and could work well for Christmas if you are busy making Christmas cards.  So feel free to join us this week, and you can check out what the rest of the Design Team have come up with here.
Have a crafty weekend.  Happy Stamping!
Chris

Stitching and Fabric

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Our challenge this week at Our Creative Corner is to create a project which uses some stitching and fabric.  Stitching can be done on the sewing machine or faux stitching, and the fabric could be used in any part of the project, either as an embellishment, or as I have done, an entire panel.

Again, I am sewing machine-less… that is, without sewing machine…. so I had to use “faux stitching” on my card.  Faux stitching is one of my favourite’s, so it wasn’t a chore, actually I think I may have got a little carried away with it, what do you think?  That’s all faux stitching around the outside of the greeting and the lines along the top and bottom of “Season’s Greetings”, plus there is some around the red star, it’s just a bit hard to see in the photo.

I stuck with some traditional Christmas colours for this one, and have used a non Stampin’ Up! embossing folder which has been sitting unused for some time now.  The Christmas tree looks a bit lumpy in the photo, but I have just used some cotton wool behind it to make it puff out a little.

The Christmas Tree was cut out of the white panel of card stock using the Holiday Collection Framelits die, and the fabric is from the Orchard Harvest Designer Fabrics.  And the greeting is from the Welcome Christmas stamp set.

If you have any questions about how I made my card, please feel free to send me an email.  And you can see what the rest of the Design Team have made  for this challenge here. We do hope you will give this one a go and join in the fun, we love to see what you have created using our challenges.
Next week is my challenge, so make sure you come back to see what I have for you, and it is also our final challenge for the year, as we are taking a well earned break over Christmas.

Happy Stamping!
Chris