My Exciting News!!

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I know my blog posts have been few and far between in recent times, however I have had to keep a little secret, so I have been busy crafting away, and keeping my secret!
But it’s ok, I can tell you now. 🙂
I am very excited to announce that I have been asked to join the Design Team with the lovely ladies from Crafty Boots Challenges.


To celebrate, I have created some projects for the current challenge, using a musical theme.

My first project is an insert for my iPhone case.  The stamps I have used here are all from Darkroom Door, I just love their musical stamps! The lady playing a clarinet has been heat embossed in gold, and then I have heat embossed the black wording over the top – very carefully!  Unfortunately the first two words didn’t come out very well, so I had to do them again onto a separate piece of cardstock, but in the end I quite like it that way, it highlights the words “Listen to…” and I think perhaps those are the most important words.

I have also made two cards, the first a Christmas card, uses some of the gorgeous Gold Foil which has been embossed using the Stars embossing folder.  The musical patterned paper was some I found in my stash (it’s a rather large stash!!), and have cut out the baubles using the retired Holiday Ornaments Framelits.  The Merry Christmas wording is gold heat embossed and is from a retired stamp set called More Merry Messages.

Once again I have used some patterned papers from my extensive stash for the second card, which I have stamped over using the Postcard stamp.  I have cut out 4 or 5 flowers using the Floral Frames Framelits, the flowers have then been wet, and crinkled up, then left to dry.  I have then partially straightened them out, layered them and joined them using a Vintage Brad, and then lightly sponged the edges.

For all of my lovely Stampin’ Up! customers and followers, you will notice that I haven’t used a lot of Stampin’ Up! products for these projects, but only because there are not a lot of musical items in the current catalogues, plus it’s always good to use up some of that stash 🙂  Don’t worry, I’ll be sharing other projects real soon. 🙂

I do hope you will drop in and see what the rest of the Crafty Boots Design Team have come up with, and I hope you will join us and share your own projects.  We love to see what you have come up with 🙂

Happy Stamping!
Chris

Festival of Trees Tags

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Very quick post today, I just wanted to share with you some ChristmasTags I made recently, using the Festival of Trees stamps and matching punch.

Festival of Trees

Such a cute set, and very easy to make lots of Christmas gift packaging and cards.
Promise I’ll be back with more soon!

Happy Stamping!
Chris

Just Add Ink #233

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This week at Just Add Ink is a sketch challenge…. my favourite type of challenge!
And yes, I have finally done some stamping!
Here is the sketch:

I have used some of the papers from the Trim the Tree paper stack for this card, which I just love, but then I have always loved traditional Christmas colours.  The stars are from the Be The Star stamp set, and have been embossed in gold onto Cherry Cobbler Cardstock, and layered over some gold foil.

Cooma Craft

After weeks of being too unwell to do much of anything, it is really lovely to feel like doing some crafting, and to have the energy to do it! 🙂

Happy stamping!
Chris

Just Add Ink Challenge

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This week’s challenge at Just Add Ink is this gorgeous bright and cheerful photo, full of rainbow colours.

So I really had to use a rainbow on my card 🙂

I adore this cute little image from the Life’s Adventure Hostess stamp set, and thought he would look quite cute sitting under a rainbow.  I have coloured the image using a Blender pen and ink, then stamped the rainbow using the Work of Art stamp set.  Then there are just a few small finishing touches which are not so easy to see in the photo….. I have done some paper piercing around the edge but only where the cardstock is still white, so not over the rainbow.  And then added some rain drops using Crystal Effects.
Hope your weekend is crafty!
Happy stamping!
Chris

Make My Monday Tags and Toppers

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Today’s card is a something a little different, for me at least.  I found yet another new challenge and thought it would be fun to play along, but I wanted to do something completely different.  The challenge is from Make My Monday Challenges, and it is to use Tags and Toppers.

So I have used a stamp set that is not in the catalogue, just to confuse you! 🙂 Actually, it was part of a promotion which Stampin’ Up! ran recently for demonstrators, and which I got for free (just one of the many perks of being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator!!)  The stamp set is called “Good Greeting” and has heaps of fabulous and useful greetings, not just Christmas ones.
So, I have stamped the greetings around the white layer of cardstock, and then run this layer through the Big shot with the star embossing folder (a bit of a sneak peek, even though you can’t really see it very well in this card).
I have then made a tag and punched the top with the Scallop Tag Topper Punch, and used some Washi Tape to decorate the tag.  The colours I have used are real red, Pool Party and Crushed Curry.
And that’s it really, pretty easy 🙂

If you would like to find out how you can also earn the Good Greeting stamp set for free, get in touch with me and I’ll give you the details.

Happy stamping!
Chris

Kinda Eclectic Quick Cards

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A couple more very quick and easy cards, this time using the Kinda Eclectic stamp set.

These could be in any colours you choose.  For this card I have chosen some of my favourite Stampin’ Up! colours – Rich Razzleberry, Pool Party and Crisp Cantaloupe.  I have coloured the rhinestones using Blendabilities to match the colours.
Or how about his colour combo for a Christmas card?

 

This time I have used Real Red, Garden Green and Crushed Curry.

Try your own favourite colours, and just have fun mixing and matching colours.
Happy stamping!
Chris

Project Life Card

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A very quick post today, to share a quick and easy card!

This card has been made using some of the insert cards from the Everyday Adventure Project Life kit, layered onto some cardstock in matching colours and with a lovely big bow made from thick Baker’s Twine.
I love how bright and cheery it is 🙂

Happy stamping!
Chris

Just Add Ink Sketch Challenge

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I just love a sketch challenge…..

JAISketch004

So many ideas, so little time!  So, I thought I show you some new goodies which will be available at the end of the month in the Holiday catalogue – yep, lots of Christmas goodies!

The very cute Santa is from a new Photopolymer stamp set called Get Your Santa On.  As you can see, Stampin’ Up! polymer stamps stamp up nice and clearly, and are really easy to use. Santa has been coloured using Blendabilities.  I have also used a new patterned paper and the gorgeous punch which punches out all those little stars along the bottom.  Love it!

Make sure you head on over and check out all the inspiration and great ideas using the sketch at Just Add Ink.

Happy Stamping!
Chris

August Stamps in Your Letterbox

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The feature stamp set for the month of August and for Stamps in Your Letterbox is Kinda Eclectic (Page 164 of the Catalogue). This is a really versatile stamp set and heaps of fun to use, so for those of you who are signed up for Stamps in Your Letterbox, you are in for a treat this month!

Today I am sharing a pouch card which I have made using not only Kinda Eclectic, but also the Envelope Punch Board.  The card fits into one of our standard size envelopes so that you can send it in the mail.

 

The card itself is a flat card, like a post card, but there is plenty of room for writing on it, and it slides into a decorated pouch made using the Envelope Punch Board.

 

I have used some of the bright and cheery papers from the Sweet Taffy Designer Series Papers (Page 186), and the “Birthday Greetings” comes from the Four You Stamp Set.  They are a little hard to see in the photo, but I have added a little bling with some Sequins (Page 208) on the butterflies, along with some Thick Baker’s Twine (Page 207) around the top of the card to make it easier to pull the card out of the pouch.

It’s not too late to take part in Stamps in Your Letterbox for August, just contact me to sign up, and you can find out more information here.

Happy Stamping!
Chris

CCC06

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Creative Challenge Club‘s challenge No 6 this week, is a colour challenge to use the colours Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Basic Black and one other colour.

I have chosen Melon Mambo for my extra colour, only because I wanted to use my Blendabilities 🙂 well, ok, not the only reason, I also like the bright summery colours – winter is a bit dull here in Australia at present.

The gorgeous flowers on this card from one of the current Hostess Sets called I Like You (on page 237 of the Catalogue).  They are an outline stamp, so perfect for colouring!

On the note of Blendabilities, the remainder of the colours will be available to order this coming Friday (1st August 2014), so contact me if you would like to get some, or all of the gorgeous colours to play with! 🙂

Happy stamping!
Chris