d.d.d.d.d.d.d.DOODLING and d.d.d.d.d.d.d.DUST

Well two things I've learned this week are that having a new bathroom fitted... no matter how nice it looks... means lots of DUST (honestly how far does it spread... the only place it seems to have missed is me knicker drawer..lol) and it also means lots of stress...I HATE upheaval... moving things and feeling like this isn't really YOUR home you're living in..bah!! It also means lots of Decorating...uuuurgh more work and less crafting :( Still it'll be all worth it when it's finished I guess :)

To keep me sane while all the banging and rattling was going on I had to find something that was quite tidy to do... couldn't be done with more mess!! and I rediscovered DOODLING (happy sigh) OMG I'd forgotten how much fun it could be. Armed with a sketch pad and a pack of felt pens (did I tell you I LOVE Tesco cheapo felties...did I...did I.... did I.... well I do....lol) I just played and scribbled and coloured and ended up in seventh Heaven...ooooooh I love colour. I did lots and lots of pages and I have decided this will be my new lose myself addiction... it's great cos you can leave it and come back to it for a minute or an hour or two...total bliss!!
I decided to scan some of my doodling so I could play with it further and use it in some of my hybrid/digi creations and as the Something Completely Different challenge this week is tags(hearts) I cropped out parts of a couple of doodled pages and added digi images to them whoohooo... love the effect and I think they look totally cool. The Owl Cluster and Mary Mary images are freebies which can be found at Cens loft... the Owl Cluster is a free image on it's own but the Mary Mary image is from a free kit :D Pop over here and grab yourself some gorgeous goodies that you can use in your digi and hybrid creations... you won't be disappointed. June has some fab stuff to share and her storytelling is quite unique too... often leaving me howling with laughter ...what a lady :D Now another fabulous lady... June from ArtyRetreat is another star and shares lots of AWESOME images to use in your creating. Pop over to her blogs at ArtyRetreat to see her lovely work and to her Art freebies blog to see her wonderful vintage images which she shares every day... Brilliant!!

June has tagged me with the 6th challenge:-

Go tho the 6th folder in your Pictures folder.

Find 6th Picture and tell a story about it.

List 6 bloggers you'd like to participate (no obligation)

I've done this tag before but as I've had a recent reshuffle of my folders I'm lucky enough to be able to share something different.

I've so many photos and pictures on my ''puter that often I forget just what is actually there and I spent ages engrossed in looking at pics I'd forgotten about which is why I'm posting today instead of yesterday. Reminiscing was the name of the game :D

Anyway here is my 6th folder photo. I visited Preston Hall Museum over a year ago and had forgotten how many pics I had taken... lots from Butterfly world which is fabulous and apart from the obvious family pics I just had to take some shots of some of the beautiful colourful plants they have on show. I believe that this one is called Bleeding Hearts... but don't quote me on that... I'm definitely not that up on plant names... I just know I love the pretty ones.

Ok I'd like to see what these ladies have in their photo folders :-

Chriss

Gez

Karen

Pearl

Terrie

Dawn

I also wanted to share this photo with you... cos I found this on my scouring through my folders and I love how it turned out. It's a photo of my Angel lamp love...love... love my lamp. Not every ones cup of tea but as soon as I saw it about 8 yrs ago I just knew I had to have it. She looks so gorgeous lit up on a dark dreary night :D Well congrats if you made it to the end of this post...lol... feast or famine is the name of my game eh. Hope you are having some fabby crafting time and hope to pop by and visit as many of you as I can this week.

Until then...stay happy

hugs

Chris xx

Digi Layout-blooming

wey hey hey.... looksee at me.... two layouts in no time at all, phew what's happening to me. Mojo's come back properly me thinks and I am sooo enjoying doing some layouts for a change. The new digi downloads from Cen's loft have certainly helped give me a boost and now June has some fab elements to go with all of the colour basics papers. Don't forget to go and get yours you won't want to miss them. This layout of DD is done with all different pieces from the downloads... the only addition is the wet chipboard alpha which is from free digital scrapbooking.
DD is changing all the time and I really love this photo of her... she looks so young sometimes despite being in her late 20's... she even still gets asked for i.d. when she goes out which doesn't always go down too well.... especially when all she is trying to do is buy a bottle of wine from the co-op lol
Have a great day all
hugs
Chris xx

Papergirls Altered jigsaw challenge

It's my turn to set the challenge over on The Papergirls blog so this month the theme is an altered jigsaw with added 'Bling' If you don't have a jigsaw piece you can alter there is a template available here that you can use which has four different sizes to suit your own individual taste.
Below is my jigsaw piece example which includes a Christmas image from Cens' crafty bits as the focal point. After printing I added white glitter to Santa's hat and beard using pva glue to add a 3d effect.
I stamped mini circles with a snowflake stamp (unknown) to make little paper baubles with added ribbon....

a little bit of bling and prima flowers adds a girly touch... and I stamped onto the background paper (free from Cen's loft Christmas freebies) using an Artistic Stamper flourish stamp and Red Brick distress ink from Scrapz before edging the whole jigsaw piece with gold Kryon pen.

A ribbon bow and hanger with more bling completed my little project....

and now I have another Christmas decoration to add to my ever growing collection :D

Thanks for looking and I hope that you will pop over to the Papergirls blog and join in with the challenge. You will find the other details including the closing date over there :D

Happy crafting

Hugs

Chris xx

Willow sketchie challenge

Today's card is one I made for the first Willow sketchie challenge There will be a new challenge sketch every Thursday... I'm a bit late with this one as the new challenge will be up today but better late than never eh :D
I turned things around a bit from the sketch because I wanted to add a flower under my brad and I also used lace instead of ribbon but I think sketches always give you a head start in whatever you are creating so I love them.

The main image is from Crafty Individuals stamped in black and coloured with felt pens (cos I don't have any alcohol inks yet boo hoo) and the papers are a freebie from here...

the sentiment is a rubbon and finally I added it to my with my twisted wire.

Thanks for looking everyone and have a fab day.

hugs

Chris xx

I believe in Fairies.....

I do... I do... I do....lol Well someone's been looking after me cos after a good night and most of the morning sleeping I now feel ready to take on almost anything... and on top of that I'm in a fabulously good mood which isn't too common for me. I'm beginning to think I'm a manic depressive...lol I'm either down in the dumps or on so much of a high I could swing from the chandaliers (well if I had some that is) Cor that would be a sight for sore eyes...believe me!!!
Anyway I did these cards a while ago and forgot to share them with you so I thought since I'm once again in the fairy mood these cards are just the ticket today :) The stamps were designed by our blogging pal Sharon and you can visit her blog here or get some of her stamps for yourself here. Hey just noticed I used some ribbon....oooooooer strike me down with a feather...lol The paper on the first one is from one of June's digital freebies at Cens loft. Sorry can't remember which one but she always has lots of fab digital papers that you can download and print off to use in your paper crafts. She is also starting to do pdf downloads for those of you who want an easy way to get some great designs for yourself.

The papers I used on these two cards are from Marieke Vermeulen... I love Marieke's designs because they are just soooo colourful... she has got a great sale on printables in her Etsy shop right now so pop over there and see some eye candy for yourself, you won't be sorry and if you'd like to see some of her fab projects go visit her blog too :D
Hope you are all having a fun day... I'm off to blog hop now and catch up with you all. Thanks for all your good wishes while I've been poorly sick... you guys rock!!
See you soon :D
hugs
Chris xx

Boo bag - Gothic Arch challenge and Papergirls sneak peak

Ooooooh a long post tonight because the best laid plans this week have gone astray. I had intended to get round to visit everyone's blogs but well luck hasn't been on my side since my last post. I spent the day with my crafty friend Chriss on Thursday crafting through her birthday and having lots of laughs along the way, most of Friday was spent getting ready to go visit my sister for a couple of days but then hey ho I got a bug!! It must have been a super big bug cos it totally knocked me for six..... I think this one had pit boots on the amount of thudding it did with my tummy :-0 So no visiting or blogging for me as I have spent the last couple of days either in the little girls room or in bed!! (ooooh maybe a little too much information ok but you get my drift...lol) Thankfully I am now starting to feel much better so I will be visiting you all very soon but in the meantime here is a bit of eye candy for you to peek at :)

Halloween won't be long in coming now and while I don't really bother with it myself my DG loves it as most kids do... so I have a few things that I have made for him, to share with you over the next couple of weeks.

Once again I have been playing at making flowers albeit different ones this time, was gonna use ribbon b u t I just couldn't bend my arm up my back for this one... maybe soon I will overcome my horror of cutting it into tiny pieces.. I'm working on it ;-)

All of the cutie images I used to create my little Boo Bag are from Cens Loft I love them lots and you can get them as a free download in either digital form or as printables for those of you who like to be hands on. I indulged in a little bit of doodling too on my gift bag and filled it with sweeties... quickly before I was tempted to stuff my face with them...lol

My next piece was for last weeks Gothic Arch challenge (Haute Couture) which I didn't get posted in time but since it was finished I wanted to share it with you anyway. I love girly things and Black and White and I think the two go so well together... classy and elegant. I love the glamour of old films and the beautiful way the filmstars used to dress, I could soooo see myself in the era of those movies... glammed up and partying with a glass of bubbly in my hand, diamonds dripping from my earlobes with a figure to die for.... shame I have to come back down to earth and deal with reality ain't it ...lol

I used to wear killer heels... through summer, rain and snowstorms... nothing less than 4" heals would do... and pencil skirts ooooooh I had them in every colour imaginable BUT that was before my toes began to throb at the sight of a pair of pointy toes and my hips began to gain a wobble all of their own ;-) aaaaaw the distress that causes me...lol

Oh well guess we can't have it all... I'm happy and loved and relatively healthy (now I've kicked that big bug into touch... I hope) so I think my cup runneth over... what say you :)
Now for a sneak peek of something else I have made.... to see the whole thing you have to pop over to The Papergirls blog where you will find a pic of the whole thing :)

Okay before I hit the sheets running I have to ask you this.... Does anyone else adore Dawn Porter? She is just the most adventurous funniest gal on the box right now... she is up for anything and I just finished watching her do a programme on Seriously Dirty Dancing... oh boy what a treat. Not only cos I love the film Dirty Dancing (though not nearly as much as DD who has seen it in excess of 200 times since it was first released) but because Dawn Porter had me howling with her antics and sheer enthusiasm all the way through. She recreated the last dance of the movie with a dance instructor and did brilliantly, I must add that the highlight for me was seeing her do one of the "dirty dances" in a pink ballerina fat suit... I don't think I have gut bustingly laughed like I just did in many a month.... absolutely out of this world...fantabulous it was!!

That's my lot for tonight... I will be back tomorrow with some more creative goodies and doing some blog hopping too... I'm off to bury my head in a soft squishy pillow and wrap myself snugly in my winter weight quilt hopefully to dream nice dreams and wake up feeling on top of the world...lol

See you soon :D

hugs

Chris xx

Digital Vintage ATC

I love the fact that with digital supplies you can create almost anything... hybrid creations or purely digital ones... printing out digital designs opens up lots of avenues for altering things too so it's hardly surprising that I have to play :) Sometimes I just love to mess around on the computer and NOT turn my room into a salvage ground... so this atc was done digitally.
Credits :- Main image... JSCH vintage stamps,Top border... JSCH stamped border and Ribbon Fall Splendour kit... all freebies from Cen's loft
Flowers, bottom ribbon, tag and feathers JSCH Forgotten Dreams kit
Background paper... my own.
If you like doing digi stuff you really should try doing some digital atc's... they are really therapeutic :)
Over at The Papergirls blog there has been a little challenge to alter an envelope... it was a last minute thing but there have still been 19 entries so if you fancy haveing a look at some gorgeous eye candy pop over and have a look at the entries.... and I will give you a little fun challenge of my own... to guess which one is mine...lol All will be revealed when the winner has been chosen so you can see if you were right :)
Have a great day everyone.
hugs
Chris xx

Gothic arch challenge... Turqoise

This is my entry for this weeks Gothic arch challenge which was Turquoise... didn't think it was going to work for me because after spending almost all day with my friend Chriss... with the intentions of doing some full on crafting yesterday... we spent more time chatting and eating chocolate than actually getting anything creative done. Our mojo just didn't seem to be working but in the middle of the night, not being able to sleep I got back up to find my mojo in full swing again.... so not only did I complete my arch... I also started on 5 other projects too...lol I tend to swing from one thing to another without completing any of them and then somehow they all seem to come together at once. Anyone else do that or am I just peculiar (or unique...whichever way you look at it..lol)
For this arch I stamped the background paper with a music stamp from Crafty Individuals and added images from Cen's Loft freebie decades papers. A bit of fun with this one for a change... seriousness isn't in my vocabulary just now. Wonder why it is that some days the slightest thing tickles your fancy and has you gut wrenchingly laughing to the point of hysteria...lol Probably has something to do with going to see all the pics of the girls who went over and Yearbooked themselves ( see the link on my yearbook photos below if you want to do it yourself) I have had soooooooooo much fun and laughter looking at what everyone else looked like in their different guises that if you are up for a bit of fun you just HAVE to do your own!!
Okay that's all from me today... off to spend the night at DD's looking after my gorgeous DG so more fun for me later on with him :)
I won't have time to blog hop till I come back so thanks for popping by...will catch up with you all later :)
hugs
Chris xx