Freshly Made Sketch Challenge

Another very quick post, I just wanted to share this card I made late this afternoon using the current sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.

It was late and the light was fading so I apologise for the quality of the photo, hopefully it is sunny tomorrow and I will try to get a better photo, but in the meantime……

 

A little bit of sneak peek on this card, the cute stamped hearts come from another new stamp set called Groovy Love.  I have used the Hearts a Flutter framelits to cut around the stamped hears, along with a paper Doily and some of the lovely Silver Ribbon.
Happy Stamping!
Chris

Create with Connie and Mary Colour Challenge

I thought the colour challenge from Create with Connie and Mary (CCMC308) would really be a challenge for me, they are definitely not colours I would normally put together.  However, since it’s the middle of winter here, and I like a challenge, I decided to have a go and create something bright and cheery.
Here are the colours:

I also thought I would like to use some of the new Project Life products which will be available when the new catalogue goes live on the 1st July.  Just one of the many things I love about being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator is being able to get these products in advance to show you what can be done with them.

 

Becky Higgins, the founder of Project Life, has now partnered with Stampin’ Up! to bring authentic Project Life products to you in Stampin’ Up! exclusive colours and designs.
Don’t know what Project Life is? Project Life was developed as a quick and easy way of keeping memories and photos alive, without the time involved with traditional scrapbooking, it’s simple, easy and fast and keeps your photos organised.
Today I have made a card with some of the Project Life products, no stamping on this card!  I will be making up some pages using Project Life to share with you as well.  As a homeschooling family, I find Project Life the ideal way of keeping records of the things we have been doing.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend.
Happy stamping!
Chris

Blooom with Hope

I have had such a busy week or so, and I promise that I will share some of what we have been doing, and not just stamping and crafting!  We are just loving our new home and having heaps of fun exploring the area. Some photos will follow soon. 🙂

I made this set of cards as a thank you to a lovely hostess for all her work in getting a group of ladies organised for a morning of stamping recently, and have used the gorgeous new hostess set (available 1st July with the new catalogue) called Bloom with Hope.  And of course I had to have another play with my Blendabilities!
The colours are not great as I was taking the photos at night. The cards are actually made with Whisper White Cardstock!

There are six cards in all, using different images from the stamp set and different colours of Blendabilities.

I have also used some pieces of a new stack of patterned papers called Moonlight DSP – gorgeous combination of colours!

 

We are having a bit of a joke at our house at the moment, my response to doing anything other than stamping involves me speaking like a petulant child and saying “but I want to colour in!”  🙂
Blendabilities are so much fun!  Can’t take life too seriously. 🙂
And last but definitely not least…. Mr Pumpkin Head!  Now, I know it is not Halloween, but it is winter here in Australia and we decided to have fun with a pumpkin and make a Jack o Lantern.  Not bad for our first try. He looks fabulous all lit up at night.

If you live in Cooma, NSW or the surrounding area and would like to find out more about my stamping classes and parties, please feel free to contact me.  Leave a comment, or send me an email and I’ll get back to you.  And yes, I am still doing parties and classes in Canberra as well.

Hope you are having a crafty day!
Happy stamping!
Chris

Maritime Birthday

Here is the card I made for a lovely young friend of ours who recently turned 9.  And of course, I wanted to use some of my new goodies, and show you another sneak peek.  Who can resist new Stampin’ Up! goodies….. I know I can’t 🙂

 

 

Isn’t the paper just gorgeous?  I adore this colour combination, it’s wonderful for masculine cards, so bright and cheery.  And the only stamping this one has, is for the sentiment, which is from the Label Love stamp set and matching punch.  The DSP is called Maritime.
Hope you are having a crafty weekend.  And for those of you in Australia, a crafty long weekend! 🙂
Happy stamping!
Chris

Life’s Adventure

Another sneak peek for you today, more new goodies from the new catalogue!
Just couldn’t resist this cute stamp set, called Life’s Adventure, it is a hostess set which contains some gorgeous images that can be coloured.
I wanted to use the sketch from this week’s Mojo Monday challenge, and I have used some of the Moonlight Designer Series Paper Pack as a background, along with the cute little fox image from Life’s Adventure.

I have again used the Blendabilities, this time I have also used them to colour the button.

These products are from the new catalogue, so not available yet (unless you are a demonstrator), so you will have to be patient and wait until the 1st July to get yours! 🙂

Here’s the sketch that the card is based on:

Happy stamping!
Chris

Petite Petals

I have a few new goodies to play with and share with you, from the current Occasions catalogue, and my card today uses some of them.  I have used the Petite Petals stamp set and matching punch.

 

The card was inspired by this week’s sketch from Lesley at Always Playing with Paper.
The colour combination is Rich Razzleberry, Pistachio Pudding and Smoky Slate, and I have used some of that gorgeous Silver Baker’s Twine. There is a little bit of background splattering which is from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set, and the sentiment from the Four You stamp set.

Happy stamping!
Chris

MDS Time

MDS (My Digital Studio) has been a little neglected of recent times, so I put some time aside on this chilly rainy day, to create a digital scrapbook page about the cheeky Cockatoos in our garden.  They are enjoying the seed pods on our tree and I managed to get some photos of one of them.

 

I have enjoyed learning some new techniques, and getting to know the ins and outs of MDS, although I think it will take a while until I feel like I know what I am doing.  Stay tuned though, I intend to become an expert!
Happy stamping!
Chris

Shades of Pink and Purple

They just happen to be my favourite colours, so I have combined this week’s Stampin’ Up! Only Challenge of making a project featuring pinks and purples, with a new challenge that I have found on the blog fellow stamper Lesley Croghan at Always Playing with Paper.  Lesley’s Challenge #2 is a sketch, (and I do so enjoy a sketch challenge:) ):

I have used one of the “Best of” sets that are only available for a few more weeks, in this case “Best of Butterflies“.  I think this particular butterfly is just gorgeous.

I have stamped the butterfly in different shades of purple, then layered them from darkest to lightest, and added the pink layer to centre one.  It’s a bit hard to see the layers in the photo so I have taken another one side on.  And I do apologise for the colours in the photo, today has been rather a cloudy, dreary day here, so not much good for taking photos.

A fair bit of “fussy cutting” needed for this card, but I am one of those slightly odd people who find fussy cutting relaxing – a bit like paper piercing and watercolouring! 🙂
Happy stamping!
Chris

Mojo Monday 336

I am enjoying taking part in some different challenges at the moment, it is definitely helping to get the mojo flowing!
This week’s Mojo Monday sketch has inspired a few ideas, so I might just be making a couple of cards for this one.
Here is the sketch:

 

My card uses the lovely Simply Sketched Hostess stamp set, and I have just kept the image really simple so that the shapes in the layout of the card become more of a feature.  I have also used the Needlepoint Border Embossing folder to create the horizontal feature lines, and the Circles Collection Framelits to cut out the two circles.

This is such a versatile sketch, you could do so many things with it.  Why don’t you have a go too? 🙂
Happy stamping!
Chris

Freshly Made Sketches #127

Another cool sketch again this week at Freshly Made Sketches…….

I thought this one would be great for a masculine card, and since I haven’t played much with the Harvest Blessings stamp set, I decided this would be the perfect opportunity.


My background paper comes from the Soho Subway DSP and I only noticed after the card was complete that there is a little blob of blue at the bottom.  No, not an ink blog, it is definitely part of the paper, I just didn’t quite manage to get the paper cut so that it was off the edge.  I’m not sure if my faux stitching around the edge hides the blob, or actually highlights it, but never mind!
The tractor from Harvest Blessings is stamped in Pumpkin Pie, the flag in Early Espresso run through the Big Shot using the Woodgrain Embossing Folder and then sanded to get that lovely effect with the Coordinations cardstock, and I have used a retired paperclip with a knot of twine at the top.  Nice and simple!
Make sure you check out all the talent at Freshly Made Sketches!
Happy Stamping!
Chris