A Touch of Shabby Chic

Afternoon all, I made this 8x8 decoupaged card for my best friend's birthday, I do hope she'll like it.
She's one of those wonderful people you very rarely find, she and her hubby love nothing better than having friends round for dinner or little drink evenings, she's a fabulous hostess, a true rock and I treasure her as my friend for these and a thousand other reasons.
I usually make her a funny card with a cheeky sentiment, but I hate to be predictable so thought I'd do something different this year.
She has a couple of lovely pictures in her kitchen which are very similar to this, so I know the image will be her taste (not sure about the lace paper though). Both the decoupage and paper are from Joanna Sheen's store.

I've had a wonderful few weeks, firstly my youngest son came to visit for a long weekend and brought his girlfriend. It was the first time we'd met her and she's simply lovely so we had a fabulous time with them.
They went home on the Sunday, then on the Monday my eldest son phoned to say he was coming on Tuesday to stay for 10 days. He went home yesterday so I'm now trying to get back to normal again.

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges:
Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafty Girls Challenges - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly Challenges - Pretty Pastels
Fab 'n' Funky Challenges - Photo Inspiration

Sketch N Stash #139

Morning all, it's that time again, welcome to another Sketch N Stash challenge!
For my card I've used another of Mo Manning's fabulous images, this one is called 'Yeehaw!' As you've probably gathered I have quite a few male birthdays at the moment and mostly for gentlemen of a 'certain age'
I thought this brilliant image went quite well with the Portobello Road papers, very patriotic!

 We have another of our regular sponsors for this challenge, the wonderful Ooh La La Creations are offering our lucky winner a CD of their choice, now there are not many places you could win a prize like that, so please try to join in with us.

Why not pop over to the challenge blog to get some inspiration from our wonderful DT creations and while you're there see if you were one of our TWO lucky winners from the last challenge or one of our Top 3.

Put Your Feet Up

Morning all, another card from me today, this one was made for a special friend's birthday.
I very rarely seem to use stamps these days, I always tend to go straight for the (hundreds of) digi images I possess, but I thought this time I'd use a stamp that I purchased ages ago from Joanna Sheen, the sweet sentiment comes with it.
I wanted to make it a pretty, girly card as my friend is pretty and girly (make sense?) so I used some K & Co papers together with a Martha Stewart lacy punch.

I'm ashamed to say that this is the first time it's ever seen ink, I'm even more ashamed to say that it's one of a HUGE set of Diva stamps that I purchased from Joanna's shop and I think I've only ever used one of them!!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Passion for Promarkers - Yummy Food and Drink

Art Deco Chic

Morning all, I'm back with another couple of cards to show.

These were made for a friend in the village who just loves Art Deco (I know the feeling!) I made a number of cards for her birthday as all of my other friends wanted to send something in this style for her too.

Both of these cards were made using CAP2 for the layout, backgrounds and embellishments etc.

See, I told you I'd been busy recently didn't I? No doubt I'll be back to post some more of my stuff in a few days time.

I'd like to enter these cards into the following challenges:
Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafty Girls Challenges - Anything Goes

 

To Have and To Hold

Morning all,it's not often you see me these days unless it's a Sketch N Stash week but I've been busy making lots of things, just not had a lot of chance to share them with you.
Today I wanted to share a wedding card order that I recently made.
The brief was for a black and white/grey card featuring a bride and groom, with just a splash of red for the bride's bouquet and the groom's buttonhole, so this is what I came up with. It's an 8 x 8 card so I decided to make a box for it as well.

The image was googled and changed to greyscale in CAP2 where I also added the chandelier, floral corners and the scrolled paper frame containing their name.
I used Joanna Sheen's black Stardream card, lots of stickles for sparkle and finished off by using some lace, pearl embellishments and flowers from my stash.

The client was very pleased with the finished card so that was a relief!

I'd like to enter this into a couple of challenges:
Creative Corner Challenges - Wedding Bells
613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes

 

Sketch N Stash #138

 

Morning all, welcome to another Sketch N Stash Challenge. We're now up to #138 and still plowing through our archive sketches.
I've used an image from the fabulous Mo Manning for this sketch, this one is called 'Computer Guy' and I find it a great one to use for those pesky male cards.
I do apologize for the brightness of the card, did you need your sunglasses? I think the good weather we've been enjoying must have gone to my head.
 
We have TWO sponsors for this challenge, so double the chances to win a prize and we'd love it if you could join us.

 Firstly, one of our regular sponsors Crafty Individuals are offering yet another wonderful prize from their store

Also, a new sponsor for us, Crafty Devils have a voucher to be spent in their store for another lucky winner.

Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog and see whether you were our winner or one of our Top 3 from the last challenge. Our DT have come up with some fabulous inspiration so why not join us?

 

Sketch N Stash #137

Morning all, here we are for another Sketch N Stash Challenge and I so hope you'll be able to join in with us for this one.
I don't quite know what happened to my LIM state of mind for this one, it certainly looks very busy doesn't it?
The lovely image is from Delicious Doodles but I do wish I had used more subtle colouring now, especially with these colourful papers, ah well.

We are being sponsored by Inky Impressions again and they are generously offering our lucky winner a $10 voucher for their store.

We also have a new sponsor Buttons for Brains who are offering a £10 voucher to a second winner.
So TWO chances to win again, what are you waiting for?

Do pop over to the challenge blog and see who made our Top 3 and winner from the last challenge. Gather some inspiration from the lovely cards made by our DT too.

Sketch N Stash #136

Morning all, another chance to join us at Sketch N Stash. We're still progressing through the archive for our sketches and I really liked this one, nice and easy!
I used a digi image which I've had for years, in fact, so long that I can't remember where it originally came from but I thought it was perfect for this 'Thinking of You' card.

We're being sponsored by Live and Love Crafts for this challenge and they are offering a $10 voucher to one lucky winner.

We'd love it if you could join in with us, so just take a look at the Challenge blog for inspiration from our lovely DT and check out last time's winner and Top 3.

 

Sketch N Stash #135

Morning all, well another fortnight has just flown by and we're here again for our challenge at Sketch N Stash, ready or not.
I have to admit that I struggled a bit with this sketch, which was from our archive, but then you all know by now I can only do simple. Anything with angles or fiddly bits always leaves me completely flummoxed (technical term!)

I'm still in my LIM phase so I opted out of further embellishments and kept it simple (see, I TOLD you!)
The fabulous image is from Stitchy Bear's and is one of a number they kindly supplied for the DT to use and I decided she looked like the kind of girl who would have some words of wisdom, hence the sentiment.
I think this type of image is perfect for cards for girlfriends, don't you?

This fortnight we have another chance for TWO lucky people to win prizes

Stitchy Bear's have a prize of $10 to spend in their online store

and one of our regular sponsors Crafty Individuals are also offering a wonderful prize 

Well, you certainly decided to make my job of choosing the Top 3 cards difficult on the last challenge didn't you? It took me ages to decide as they were all gorgeous, but I eventually managed to whittle it down to just three. If you want to know whether you were one of them, then pop over to the blog.
The fabulous girls on our DT have done a superb job again, so check out their creations if you're in need of a bit of inspiration and please try to join in with us.

Sketch N Stash #134

Morning all, time for another dose of the Sketch N Stash Challenge. I absolutely LOVED the sketch this time as it seemed to suit my current LIM state of mind.

We are being sponsored by another TWO companies this fortnight, both of them offering fabulous goodies.

 

Firstly, My Creative Classroom who have an online workshop as their wonderful prize for one lucky winner

Secondly, Delicious Doodles are giving away FOUR images to a second winner.
So, TWO chances to win what are you waiting for?

We'd love you to join in with us and just take a look at our wonderful DT cards on the challenge blog for inspiration.
It will be my turn to choose the Top 3 for this challenge and I'm really looking forward to seeing all your little works of art.

The beautiful image on my card comes from Delicious Doodles and the papers and sentiment from my stash, all finished off with lashings of glitter on the roses.
I can't begin to tell you how simple and basic my card is but I just didn't want anything to detract from that glorious image.

 

Mixed Emotions

Morning all, things have been a bit fraught here at 'Chez Chrissie' lately so I apologise for not being around much.

The month started off quite happily with a dear friend welcoming a new baby into her family so I whisked up these 'cute as a button' baby cards for her.

I designed these in CAS and just added the die cut name tags, so they weren't too fat to be posted normally.

Later in the month we received the very sad news that hubby's sister had died.
I never really know what to do for sympathy cards, I always use the 'thinking of you' sentiment but I tend to find it difficult to decide on an image. However, I kept it very simple and my niece really liked it, so it must have been OK.
I really hate the months of January and February as we seem to lose so many loved ones then, roll on March!

A Gothic Birthday

Morning all!
I just thought I'd share this card with you as it's definitely a change from my normal style.

It was my youngest son's girlfriend's birthday yesterday and he asked me to make a card featuring her favourite character, Sally from 'Nightmare Before Christmas' fame.

This is an 8x8 card and not only did I use quite a few of my diamonds (real of course) for decoration, but I also cut into my precious flocked velvet paper for this.
Obviously, all we crafters know that using your ONLY remaining sheet of black, flock velvet paper shows unconditional love for your son, such a shame he'll never realise it.

Sketch N Stash #133

Morning all, time for another Sketch N Stash Challenge.
We're still working our way through the archived sketches and this fortnight we're being sponsored by

Crafty Devils Papercraft who are offering a £10 prize.

I'm tired of these dark and drizzly days so I decided to brighten things up a bit by using some vibrant colours for my card. Did you need your sunglasses? ha ha.
The image I used is designed by Jasmine Beckett-Griffith and is part of a set of her Gothic Fairies that I bought years ago.
I found this sketch was perfect for using up some of those scraps of papers we all hold onto.

I hope you can join in with us and check out the blog for the winner and Top 3 from the last challenge and to see the wonderful creations my teamies have come up with.

A Couple more Plaques

Morning all!
I expect you're surprised to see me when it's not a Sketch N Stash day aren't you?

While we were recently having some work done to the house, our carpenter saw some of my plaques and asked if I would make one for his partner and another for her daughter. Of course I obliged, so I thought I'd share them with you.

It's difficult to see from this photo but the shoe is decorated with lots of diamonds (real ones of course!) and finished off with black satin ribbon.

The image for this is from Digital Pencil Too it's Mo Manning's 'Video Girl' and again is finished with satin ribbon, this time pink.