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

Summer Surprise charm bracelet

Well thanks to my pal Chriss.... I now have yet another addiction it seems. Headpins and shiny beads keep jumping into my lap along with charms and pliers and it looks like everyone and their aunty will be receiving baubles and bangles etc for Birthdays and special occasions. Now I'm not kidding myself that I will ever be as interested in jewellery making as I am in papercrafts and digi stuff but hey it's certainly giving my fat fingers a workout... trying to fit those pesky jump rings puts me into a right frenzied red faced sweat...lol
My nieces will be the recipients of my first attempts so hence the girly colours and charms... just love the cute dress one (bottom left) was almost tempted to keep it for myself.... but I guess I have to grow up sometime eh :)
hugs
Chris xx

Digital Atc's and a little toot

Oooooooh I'm so excited and I just have to share as I've been accepted onto the Design Team for Lisa's altered art :-D I just LOVE her beautiful images and it is going to be such a pleasure to play with them to my hearts content. Whooohhooooooooo me is one haaaaaappy bunny...lol Pop over and check out all of the wonderful sights from vintage images to cute fairies which are available as downloads by email or printouts which can be posted to you. You won't be sorry believe me they are just fab!!
Today I'm sharing with you two of my two latest digital atc's... I love digi for the days when I'm not really in the mood to get stuck up... or stuck into cleaning up :) but still want to be creative and it's especially great when you maybe don't have enough time to completely finish a project as you can go back to it time after time until you do and pick up where you left off.

The backgrounds and digi stamps for these two atc's are ones I designed myself and the other images and wording are from Lisa's altered art. I really had such fun working with these especially these cute little puppies. Everyone say awwwwwwwww...lol

Sun is splitting the sky here so looks like we're in for a good day... hope you are too :)

hugs

Chris xx

Altered canvas

The minute I saw this cute little fella that June kindly shared on her Artfreebies blog I just had to have him. Isn't it funny how some images just scream at you to be used and you have immediately in your minds eye what you want to use them for? Well this fella had me thinking straight away of a little Irish guy doffing his cap at me if I passed him on the street... shouting at me in the broadest of accents " Top 'o' the mornin' to ya me Darlin' with a cheeky glint in his eye :-D and I just couldn't get the idea out of me head.
So I used some gorgeous Basicgrey papers to cover my canvas and as a background stamped with a Crafty Individuals stamp for Seamus (well he had to have a proper Irish name didn't he...lol) and he proper makes me smile every time I look at him in my crafty space.

To complete my canvas I had to add me some Irish luck (who knows I might get some) with some tiny punched shamrocks and me little bit 'o' bling.

Wishing you all the luck in the world for a gorgeous sunny weekend :D

hugs

Chris xx

Knitted wire jewellery cuffs

Hi all... I'm not going to bore you all with the details of why I've not been blogging recently but I am glad to be back. Now you know I like to try different things and as I've been promising myself for quite a while to try some knitted wire jewellery... I decided to have a bash at it and see what I could come up with.

I am well chuffed with how my pieces ended up. I used lots of chocolate and gold coloured wire and seed beads for this one.

The front is a folded knitted piece onto which I added a 3d beaded flower that I made.
Now the next piece has a little story attached of how NOT to make a knitted bracelet. You can not thread on your beads.... begin to knit and then throw a wobbly....or throw your needles.... ( can yer Chriss my pal....rofl) Ok well maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration but partly true. Chriss wanted to learn how to make her own cuff but didn't quite get to grips with the concept... so although she chose the beads and threaded them etc....

I got to do the knitting.... finish it off and claim it for me own. So guess who's happy now ;-D
Hope you likeeeeee

hugs

Chris xx

Gothic Arch challenge- Open theme

Well as it's April and in the words of the song " I'ts rainin' again" my arch for this weeks Gothic Arch challenge says it all....
Splish splash splosh... little April showers...lol Ok maybe it's not that wet but I had such fun turning this little fella from Lisa's altered art into a welly wearing, brolly carrying... puddle stamper :D

Don't ya just lurve his snazzy wellies :D

hugs

Chris xx

Sketch Saturday challenge-sketch #45

This is my first card for the Sketch Saturday challenge using sketch#45. I've been going to join in for a while but never seemed to get round to it. I've spent a couple of days with my crafting buddy Chriss this week in an effort to give my mojo a boost and I think it worked :D
I love these Basicgrey papers so that moved my mojo along nicely too.

I made a torn crumpled flower to add to this gorgeous sticky ribbon and pearls that I bought from Create and Craft... like 20 yrs ago :) Ok Ok it wasn't THAT many years ago but it was quite a few.

and this gorgeous little lady is from Lisa' altered art... isn't she sweet.

I hope you've all had a good start to the holiday weekend and this is DG's decorated Easter Egg... see he's smiling at ya :D

Happy Easter all :D

hugs

Chris xx

My mojo went for a walk... and tag your it 1st Birthday

My mojo keeps going for a walk... all on it's own...lol I've really struggled to do any creating for a few days because everything I've thought of doing has turned out completely different to how I intended...grrrrrr
So I'm a wee bit late with the last Tag your it challenge which is celebrating a whole year of challenges...whooohooo. Shame I didn't cotton on to the TYI blog for quite a while but I have enjoyed the challenges that I have taken part in so far.
I decided to draw me a cake for this challenge and do some doodling but I think I was a bit heavy handed with the topping...lol
I had to add this little cutie from Crafty Individuals at the bottom cos she looks like she's dipped her finger in so she can have a taste :)

I thought it would be nice to share some cake with you so you can celebrate too... so if you'd like these printable cupcakes.... just click on the picture to enlarge it, right click and choose 'save as' to grab them :D

Have a great day all

Will be back soon when me mojo comes back properly from it's walk :D

hugs

Chris xx

Mona Lisa altered photo frame.

You could be forgiven for getting fed up with seeing Mona Lisa on my blog buuuuut I just can't help it... there is just something about her face that draws me in and I love to create around it :D I always seem to use her on things that I have no intentions of giving away cos I can't bare to part with anything I make with her image on... freaky or what...lol
This time I altered a frame with papers from Crafty Individuals which are sooo pretty. I just love the delicate colours.

I gave Mona her own headdress too... found it in my bead box... from my days of messing with wire and pearl beads in the hope that I would come up with something worth looking at or wearing. This was a project that didn't quite happen for me but I think it's arty enough for Mona and she wears it well :D

I recently received this fabby award from Dawn and just this once I really can't just choose a few people to pass it on to because I greatly appreciate every single comment that any of you leave for me... they really make my day and I so love knowing that you like what you see when you visit my blog.

So please if you have EVER left a comment on ANY of my posts pick up this award and display it proudly on your blog with a HUGE THANK YOU from me xxxxx

See you soon

hugs

Chris xx

Tag your it challenge 51-cute and cuddly

eeeeh where's me week gone??? I spent a couple of days with DG over the weekend and a couple of days with me pal Chriss crafting and before ye know it I've missed a whole week of blogging again.
Going to visit Chriss was a necessity though... as my bestest friend arranged a long needed visit to the shhhhhhh Dentist... for me and had to come with me to make sure I didn't do a runner as I've done so many times in the past... without having my treatment!!!
I only had to have a check up this time but OMG the fear.... tears and brow mopping along with the deepest of panic filled breaths were the order of the day... BUT I managed to stay in the chair long enough to have a check up thanks to the fact that Chriss sat in the room with me... (thank you me bestest pal mmmwhaaaa) she also promised me a lolly if I was a good girl...rofl
I didn't get the lolly cos I cried...shame on me... but she did buy me a breakfast bun :D
So ordeal over till the next time.... phew!! Got a few weeks before the next visit... hope Chriss doesn't leave the country beforehand...lol

So onto this weeks TYI challenge - cute and cuddly. A bit of sketching with this one to make a basket for me kittens...awwww I love them... and some paw prints for the end tags. I used BasicGrey sultry papers for the basket,tags and basket lining.
The kittens stamp is from Crafty Individuals and has the lovely little flowers for the Kittys to sit on :D

The sentiment is cut from one of Chriss' papers so not sure which it was.

Have a fab evening all

Back tomorrow with some more crafty bits.

hugs

Chris xx