Gothic Arch Challenge

The Gothic Arch challenge this week has an open theme so I decided to enter this arch that I have experimented on. The image is from Crafty individuals and I added Papermania fabric flowers. I have been itching to do some writing on something and though it's not the neatest writing I've ever done (I will learn to pencil it in first next time to make sure it fits...lol) I really enjoyed playing as usual.
I used tiny seed beeds and Anita's clear gloss for the centre of the flowers...

because although I didn't have any bling on my arch I had to have some sparkle :) I used some ribbon too... big deal for me...lol

Thanks for looking

hugs

Chris xx

Boo.........Halloween memories book

Well after a lovely weekend of fun with DG and facing the fact that I am now considered over the limit (which means over the hill!! to you and me...lol) because I'm more than 40... and finding out that in DG eyes that I am older than his No1 Nanna and Grandad (MY Mam and Dad!!) I think it's time to get some blogging done before I succumb to my decrepit body and old brain and end up doing nothing but putting my feet up with a cup of strong Tetleys and afternoon scones with jam and cream... well isn't that what oldies do...rofl
I love DG to bits but he certainly has a knack of making me feel that it won't be long before I join my maker... especially when he asks..."Nanna how long will it be before you die?" Helloooooooo I ain't ready to go for a long time yet... I've got too much crafting to do...lol

On that note.... it seems a looong time since I did any Scrapbooking so decided to do a little Halloween memories book that I can continue adding to as DG gets older. He LOVES Halloween as most kids do and thoroughly enjoys the dressing up.
I haven't put it together or added the journalling because it's an ongoing project, need to dig deep for some more Halloween pics from before last year cos I know I have a few... but last year's photos seemed a good place to start . The papers, stamps, chipboard and rub on's are all from the Cosmo Cricket Haunted kit. Take a peak at some of them here. They are lubberly :)

As Dracula last year DG also had company with DD's friends dog dressed up too. I'm not sure if DG was impressed at having a companion but many of the inhabitants of the houses they visited managed to find some kind of treat for both of them :)

Another journalling page is opposite this closer photo of DG's makeup and outfit and I know he will be thrilled with the skeleton and the bat when he sees them. I added green acrylic paint to these two pages as I wanted to keep in some of the green from the journalling strip on the first photo layout.
I also did another layout page and there are some sneak peaks below of this one..........

but if you'd like to see the rest and some more close up pics of my pages above then pop over to The Papergirls blog and check them out.

Have a fab day everyone and thanks for popping by :)

hugs

Chris xx

Gothic Arch challenge-favourite movie

Audrey Hepburn has always been one of my favourite actresses so it stands to reason that she would have to be featured on my Gothic Arch for this weeks challenge which is 'Favourite movie'...I chose The Nun's Story as my theme. I can't count how many times I have seen this film, my first time as a child and it continues to be one of my all time favourites along with Breakfast at Tiffany's and My Fair Lady. I started out thinking of doing my Arch in a totally different way... but as I have a tendency to do... I ended up going in a totally different direction and ended up with an 3d image that took over the space on my arch, but as Audrey wears a Crucifix in the film I wanted to add it somewhere so I chose to add it behind my image.
I had so much fun playing with paper for this Arch... using white printer paper (yes I did say printer paper..lol) for most of my creation. Audrey's' image came from Scrapz and the bling strips from Habico. I just have to have my bling in there somewhere.

It took me quite a while to mold the paper to make my 3d image but I think it was worth it in the end :)

I don't suppose I could do it as well again and couldn't even begin to explain how I did it... but sometimes you can even surprise yourself when you start to experiment :) It's what I call... another happy accident...lol

Thanks for popping by

hugs

Chris xx

Big art adventure Shrine challenge

This is my contribution for Rosie and Linda's first challenge on their new blog. I am not quite sure if I 'get' the shrine idea but I'm working on it... so any of you who pop in and think what on earth is that about... well bear with me cos I'm feeling a bit brain dead at the moment!! I did give it a good try but I'm sure that I haven't quite grasped the concept but hey give me time. I am looking forward to more challenges as each week will be something to enable me to push my boundaries a bit more in their arty adventure.
If you feel you would like to join in then pop over to check out the next challenge which involves a matchbox.... that's all I can tell you...but I'm sure it will be fun.
Thanks for looking
Hugs
Chris xx

Artygirl challenge # 53...Autumn

Just a quickie post today with my atc for the Artygirls Autumn challenge. Most of the collaged images are from Crafty individuals with the addition of a little fun hat from Lisa's altered art.
Not quite an autumn theme but the colours remind me of autumn. The red, rust, gold and brown my favourite colours on the trees as they change with the season. Just beautiful and so lovely to look at.
Have a great day
Hugs
Chris xx
p.s. I have a couple of awards to share with you from Karen and Terrie but haven't got round to blogging them yet...so sorry girls I will be putting them on soon :)

One for the boys....cute framed pictures

I don't seem to do boy things very often... it's just that lack of bling thing...lol I guess boys and bling just don't seem to go together in my mind at all. More like where there's muck there's magic and DG is a great believer in that... the bigger the puddle...the dirtier the mud... the happier he is but then I think that big boys don't really grow out of that either, they just move on to car parts, oil and grunge!! These cute framed pictures are a wee bit too young for DG now (weeelll he's almost grown up being over the age of 7... cos don't you know you're a grown up when you start to play chess) He's joined a chess club...think now my agenda is to relearn it or be OUTSMARTED which is definitely not difficult, I mean I get whooped at Monopoly each and every time...oh the SHAME..lol

Anyway moving on... a bit of colour today with these gorgeous goodies from Cosmo Cricket Jacks World designs.

They just screamed BOY at me... I just adore the blackboard shapes.

I started off just doing one framed pic but as usual got a bit carried away but as the frames only cost me £1.99 for a pack of 3 well it seemed wrong not to make a trio.

I removed the glass because I wanted the images to be 3d... and besides I can always use the glass for something else later... may even try some glass painting..lol

I like all of the blackboard shapes but my favourite has to be the train... I think it's well cool.

Now for those of you who like digi stuff you just have to pop yourself over to Cen's loft June is giving away these Button Basics and what's even better is that she has a fab button making tutorial on her blog for those of you who are learning or wanting to brush up on your photoshop skills. It's available as a downloadable pdf file which you can grab for free when you pop over to get your freebie buttons. How cool is that. The CT team is also doing a collab kit to share with you very soon so I will keep you updated on that :)

Hope you have a great day

Thanks for looking

hugs

Chris xx

Mixed Media Monday challenge...What you love to do.

First of all my apologies because this is going to be a loooooooong post but what I love to do.... is play.... altering anything I can get my hands on right now and I enjoyed altering this 'Bird Feeder' so much that as usual I just couldn't stop adding things. The Mixed Media Monday challenge gave me the perfect excuse to play to my hearts content and as I haven't done any scrapping for a while maybe this is the next best thing :)
Tearing doodling and painting took a big part in my 4 hours of altering, curling edges and rolling paper was fun and the black and silver scroll paper from Anita's 6x6 Christmas paper pad just had me drooling and I just had to make a little birdie...

a bit of doodling and hand cutting flourish shapes took me ages but I felt it was worth it...

hand made flower shapes and bits of bling from Habico gave me my touch of 'pretty' :)

This is the finished front view... I have scrapped this photo of DD and DG before but my altered bird feeder is going to take pride of place now so I can look at it all the time. I didn't have any black flowers so changed the colour of one of my Papermania white fabric flowers with a black ink pad.... fab that you can do this because you can then have any colour flower you like to fit with your creation.

A bit more cutting and paper curling completed this flower and the squirls for the first side...

and then I tore some paper circles and added some bling...

to add as embellishments for the other side :)

More gorgeous paper and a white Papermania fabric flower for the roof of the reverse side of the bird feeder with some hand cut lettering for the sentiment behind my photograph...

some chipboard letters from Scrapz, more lush paper and doodling and extra bling and I was one happy bunny...lol Absolutely worn out I was by the time I had finished but once I start creating something sometimes I just can't seem to pull the reins in and stop.

I have to admit though that all of the time and patience I put into altering this item gave me a total buzz and I am really happy with the outcome. Sorry I forgot to take a before photo... but once I started to paint the naked wood I was lost and it just slipped my mind. Thanks for sharing with me and for getting to the end :)

Have a great day

hugs

Chris xx

Artygirlz challenge # 52 - Its our Birthday...

The Artygirlz challenge blog has been running for a year now... my how time flies... so Happy Birthday to the Artygirlz and hope there are many more challenges to come. The theme for the challenge is Birthdays so using papers from the Papermania cupcake collection I first of all made a birthday card...

then because sometimes I have the desire to just keep going... well gotta keep abreast of my mojo when it's in full swing...lol

out came the beads and ribbons... whooohoooo me using ribbons, usually just stroke them and drool... but well this little fun offering just wouldn't have been the same without them me thinks.

More little cupcakes followed and I turned a apple sauce jar into a little goody gift jar :)

I am always partial to a little bit of something sweet and I don't think that however old we get we should have to give up on our favourite kiddy sweets... lip lickin' stuff they are.

Who still buys rainbow drops......

Well I do!! rofl and I love 'em so couldn't think of anything better to put in my jar... go on admit it... you want some ;-)

Be back soon

hugs

Chris xx

Altered door hanger

Two posts in one day... oh well I have been naughty this week so I guess I can:) I am getting into trouble from my friend Chriss for not showing you this altered door hanger that I made to go with the clock... so here you go.
Hope Chriss forgives me now...rofl
See ya soon
Chris xx

Wakey wakey rise and shine...

I recently altered this little alarm clock for DG so he can feel all grown up when he has to get up for school on a morning.... think I should have about four of these all set on tin plates so that the roof literally shakes to get me up. My sleep pattern is all to pot, went to bed at 8.30 last night cos I was exhausted and bloomin' heck if I didn't wake up before the birds even thought about singing their morning chorus!! It was still dark... so there's me thinking it must be about 7am (cos when I sleep I really sleep...lol) but hey ho made myself a coffee and decided to do a tad of crafting but it was REALLY quiet, no one outside seemed to be stirring...not even the sound of a car. So I decided to put on the TV to liven me up a bit... sometimes silence can be too silent IYKWIM and stone the crows... knock me down with the proverbial feather if I didn't look at the time and see it was only 1.30 AM!! What's that about!! Ended up having to go for a little snooze this afternoon so guess it will be a late night tonight for me. Cor blimey :) Will probably need an alarm to drag me out of bed before noon tomorrow...lol
This was the clock before I altered it... sorrry 'bout the photo... must have been sleep deprived when I took this one :) The after pic is definately a bit more reefeened (refined to those of you who don't understand my NON words...lol) After a lick of paint and the addition of some of the FAB Cosmo Cricket 'Mr Campy' goodies I'd be quite happy to keep it myself :)

Don't think DG would be very happy 'bout that though so guess I have to let it go :)

Happy crafting everyone...thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Chris xx

Gothic Arch "Time" challenge

I had great fun creating my "Time" arch for the challenge, playing with clock face stamps from the Artistic Stamper along with a collage clock image from Crafty Individuals. The background paper is another from the Papermania range and the main image is from Cen's loft digital 1920's decades papers.
I'm really pleased with the finished thing...hope you like it and if you fancy joining in with future challenges why not join the group here :)

A late post for me tonight so I'm off to the land of dreams now....

see you soon

hugs

Chris xx

Altered recycled packaging

Wow...where does time go? I've had DG here for the weekend plaguing me to play games with him even though I'm "old...wrinkly... and have got old lady hair" rofl. Good job I don't take it to heart... I still feel in my 20s on the inside, shame the outside forgets and moves on a bit quicker!!

I've spent time colouring in... doing sums (heaven forbid) and playing cars, in between eating totally unhealthy meals and dipping chocolate in a hot drink, just to see who could leave it in the cup the longest, then getting it into our mouths before the melted chocolate was destined to fall into the cup. Oh the joys of being a kid again... even for a few hours...lol

A little while ago an addition to the household decor of a couple of lamp tables produced a couple of these...almost boxes... in amongst the packaging. Now being the hoarder that I am and adding to that, having an electric light moment I just had to keep them until I could find a way to make them pretty. I've been playing for a while now so I can show you what I came up with. Lots of pics cos there is heaps of detail and the photo of the whole thing doesn't do it justice... so I hope you won't nod off and fall asleep on me... well at least until you get to the end of the post. I have decorated both sides of the box in totally different ways but will show you the reverse side another day, otherwise you will be bringing your tents and camping out at my blog for days...rofl

So here goes, this is the top of my box decorated using PM ready made adhesive chipboard embellishments which nicely for me had the compulsory bling already attached...whoo hoooo

More of the same chipboard in the form of a clock face and gorgeous PM Nostalgia warm paper as the background. PM vellum allowed me to create handmade flowers, while the large bling was more from my £shop find.

I decided that I wanted my box to look magical and I wanted to be able to see something new each time I looked at it so I made a paper toadstool but it has a secret....Are you still awake!! lol The secret is the little girl behind the door, the doorknob being a seed bead which will give you an indication of how big she is :) She's waiting to go for a walk in the grass.
The baby Queen of the fairies (from Lisa's altered art) is sitting out in the sun waiting to greet the butterflies as they return from spreading their magic around fairyland.

One sweet butterly (from PM sweet garden papers) returns among the flowers bedecked with jewels (habico bling and silver pen) with a message to all the good fairies (PM love chipboard shapes) because they help her spread happiness all around ;-)
Hope I managed to spread a little myself too... and here is the front view of the finished fairy box... so you can see what it was all about.
Thanks for taking the time to get to the end... I will wait a few days before I show you the other side...lol I DO want you to come back again ;-)

Have a great day.

Chris xx

Artygirlz challenge-Home Inspiration

I decided to enter my first challenge since my return to blogland with the Artygirlz. This week the prompt is to take inspiration from something in your home... using shape, colour, etc from your item and create a project based on it.
So my altered tissue box is based on the colours of my lickle fluffy teddy bear... proper softy aren't I ...lol
The fab papers are from the new Papermania collections and I have been dying to use them because they are just lush... and kind to the pocket too....just what I need when I can't stop putting my fingers in my purse and parting with my pennies. I just get so totally get naughty when faced with shelves of crafty goodies and I know I'm not the only one...eh girls ;-)

I decided I wanted to use a big flower so made this one rather than use the silky ones that I have been drawn to lately... much more satisfying to put that extra bit of effort into what I'm making making something sometimes.

Now isn't this little owl the most adorable little lady... I just had to use her... I cut her from one of the Papermania papers a few times so that I could decoupage her wings :) So not only was I inspired to create something from an item in the home.... I also acquired another pretty addition to decorate it and drool over.

Thanks Artygirlz :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day

hugs

Chris xx