Vintage village

Tim Holtz papers are just yummy.... gorgeous... delicious and I just had to use them to cover this little mini village from Tando.  It seems like forever since I did anything in this style and I loved it.  The little family are from Lisa's Altered art...  aren't they just the cutest.

So they have new little homes... even if they can't go inside.... tis a bit like land of the giants....lol  (who remembers that t.v. programme )

I made the doors and covered the roofs with hand painted stamped paper...

and edged them with gold pen.

Mojo working well :-)

hugs

Chris xx

Dog sitting....

is what I've been doing for the last couple of days and though I wouldn't have a dog myself because I like to be spontaneous and not have to worry about getting a pet looked after... I just love this girl to bits.  She's not a year old yet and I was quite astonished when DD decided to get her but I am glad she did cos this little girl is such a cheerful little thing and soooooo funny :D

As I didn't bring any paper to DD's to play with I decided to do a digi layout (my first in a looooooong time).  I used freebies from Shabby Princess kits and changed the colours as I wanted a vintagey look.  I think I will do a few more of her as she grows to look back on.
Have a great weekend all :D
hugs
Chris xx

ATC club April swap (Vintage)

This month's ATC club challenge which is Vintage was set by the very talented Patty
Now for a change I have done 5 different ones this month... though the main image ...this pretty girl from Lisa's altered art is the feature on each one.

The background on the first one was a freebie from Altered bits.com and I used SeeD's stamps and Anna Griffin letter stamps for the word.  I've also used Tim Holtz brushed corduroy ink on all of my atc's cos it is just my favourite and suits this theme so beautifully.

The background for the atc above is a freebie from The Vintage Moth...I love this... all those stamps layered together...brilliant.  The Butterfly is from Crafty Individuals.

This delightful background featuring a bird on a branch which I watercoloured is part of a generous freebie from Patty.  I just had to use it on one of my Vintage atc's.

I have been waiting to use this fabby pen background which is a paper from Tim Holtz for ages and it went so well with the book and specs stamp from SeeD's.

Finally my 5th atc which is the one I will keep for my own collection was put together using another free background from The Vintage Moth.... the edges are part stamps from SeeD's vintage collection and I also used sepia accents on the hat.
Thanks for looking
Hugs
Chris xx

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

Gothic Arch challenge- Garden sprite and award

This is my contribution for this weeks Gothic Arch Challenge which is 'Garden Sprite' now I'm not quite sure if it fits the mould but I had the best fun doing it. All of the images including the ones that make up the background are from Lisa's altered art. Butterflies and fairies are just two of my most favourite things ever and with the colourful flowers and the cute moon man this is gonna be one of the my most treasured arches...I love it...not that I'm trying to blow my own trumpet you understand. It's just that it's not often that I am completely satisfied with something I've created... I'm my own worst critic and normally have to slap my own wrist to stop myself spoiling something by adding and adding and adding...lol Now I am honoured to have received this gorgeous award (see the butterfly...whoohooo) from one very talented male crafter. Calv has a fabulous blog and inky fingers which turn out many a masterpiece... go visit and see what I mean. He's the only man I know who can turn a piece of fruit or a vegetable into a work of art!! Thanks Calv :)
I don't quite know how many crafters I am meant to pass this on to so I am going to just bring your attention to a couple of special ladies who's blogs give me heaps of pleasure.

Nancy began the Gothic Arch Challenges and is a lady who truly leaves me in awe with her talent for vintage creations and scrapbook pages with stories of her ancestors and her nearest and dearest. One awesome lady.

Beate who is multi talented in many ways with her love of photography and her amazing mixed media/felt creations. Absolutely fantastic

Kath with her endless talent for beautiful cards and wonderful ideas. She always inspires me and along with Budster has brightened up many a day for me with her colourful imaginative creations and has been a great blogging pal to have for myself and many others. Way to go Kath :)

Ok so three's not a couple but well I just can't stop my adding and adding whatever I'm doing... no wonder I always have lots of food on my plate....lol

I could go on and on with this award cos every blog I visit... to me is the best... but I would be here for ever so don't just check out the ladies I have passed this award to... there are lots of blogs in my blogroll and each and every one of them are a pleasure in so many ways to pop by and visit...so do so if you get time and thank you all for each visit you make to mine too... you rock :)

See you soon

hugs

Chris xx

Altered jigsaw piece

This large jigsaw piece was recycled from one of DG's jigsawsfrom his toddler days... see told you I was hoarding...lol I'm on a roll right now and have lots more to share with you over the coming weeks and I promise it won't ALL be altered stuff. These girlie's are looking very laid back to me... wouldn't it be fun if WE could find a toadstool big enough to sit on.... errrrmmm ok maybe not, specially if you're holding a glass of wine at the time :)
I covered the jigsaw piece and made the toadstool with some beautiful Papermania papers from the Vintage collection.

I also added some sparkle with my gold leaf pen rather than bling, though unfortunately the photos don't do it justice I'm afraid

Thanks for looking... hope to see you again soon :)

hugs

Chris