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Hello Everyone. A bright but very cold day here so I have been doing some crafting-what a mess the table looks now so I guess some tidying is called for when I have done this post. Time for another sketch at Addicted to Stamps and more . Love sketch challenges as they are a great way to get some cards in hand and especially this time of year. The stamp is one I have had a very long time by inkadinkadoo but it always makes me smile. Coloured it with Promarkers and the lipstick ran a bit -well it usually does after a few drinks lol. Not that I have had a few drinks ! The patterned paper I made myself in Painshop Pro and all of the rectangle shapes have been passed through the Cuttlebug in folders to give them some texture. Not sure where the digi image of Christmas Joy came from but it is lovely. Hope your day is going well Love Chrissie xx

Hello Everyone--hope the sun is shining where you are as it is here although it is a very cold sun. I have found Wicked Wednesdays  and they have ATCs challenges so I thought it would be nice to join in. The challenge this time is 'Frame It' and there are some really lovely samples from the DT Here is mine. I made the clock background in Paint Shop Pro. Then I made a piece of metal from aluminium tape and dry embossed it in a folder then distressed it with various inks to make it look older. The frame is a die cut that I played around with to make it the right size. I just love this steampunk boot image that I got at Beyond the Fringe  I have used it quite a few times so anyone who visits me often will recognise it. The letters are some peel-offs I have had for a while. I am sorry to say that my new silver pen doesn't show up too well on the photograph as it is really great. Silver on end and gold the other. It is made by Zig and I got it from Joanna Sheene's online sh

Hello to my new followers and to everyone thank you for all the wonderful comments you leave on my blog. If you are in the UK I hope the floods have kept away from where you are. We get very little rain here on the NE coast but it has rained on a few days this last week. The challenge this week at Out of a Hat Creations  is to decorate a mousetrap. We had this challenge a while back and a lot of people said they couldn't get a mousetrap and would like us to have it again so they could join in. Here is the one I have made. The scroll at the bottom was awarded to him by the Queen of Mice I found the free to use digital image online and what a handsome creature he is. The background is painted and stamped. Hope you will join us in this fun challenge You can visit Florence , Janet and Sandra to see what they have made for it. Love Chrissie xx

 Hello Everyone-hope you are all safe and well The challenge for the next 2 weeks at Craft-room Challenge is Chic Francais . Seem like Paris springs to mind when I think of France as that is the only place I have stayed in France. I have spent hours and hours on a coach in the driving rain heading for Italy through France but I would like to forget all of that:( I made a background with a beautiful picture of the Eiffel tower by night then I printed out pictures of various famous building in Paris. The deco stamp was free with the November/ December copy of docrafts Creativity magazine and is a nice big stamp to use. Coloured with Promarkers. I used a punch on two of the corners of the card and some peel-offs in the other two corners. The bits left behind from the corner peel-offs were great to fill up a few spaces. Sorry it's Paris girls. Love Chrissie xx

Hello everyone and welcome to my new followers--always lovely to see you and read your comments. At Anything but a Card this time the challenge is to make something sea related. They also have a beautiful picture as inspiration if you would rather use that. I chose to do underwater for my project. I have had this note book for a long time meaning to alter the covers as it had Disney Characters on it. I bought it because I liked the idea of a notebook with a lock and 2 keys--little things please little minds so they say :) The first thing I did was to put a very thick layer of cream coloured paint all over the outside of the book. When that had dried I used H20 paint to give it a bit of a glossy finish in a sea colour. I found the freebie mermaid image and printed it onto acetate then coloured on the back so the colours would show through. Then I used some very thin sticky tape around the edges of the acetate to stick it onto the book. As an extra to hold it in place I added the fish e

Hello everyone-hope your day is going well. The challenge at A Day for Daisies  is to use the adorable snowman image that is given to you to enter the challenge. Thank you for the image and for the challenge. I have made this wall hanging-all I did was print out the digi image 3 times and colour them then stick them onto some silver and white card. Then I added the festive ribbon. It looks lovely on the wall so I am leaving it there. Love Chrissie xx

Hello everyone--hope you are happy and well and safe if you are in the UK areas that have floods What a great way sketches are to get through the Christmas card list and the sketch at Retro Sketches this time is just wonderful -well they always are to be honest I kept this fairly simple really with just things that I had in my Christmas box. I now need some more green and red card and I thought I had bought loads. Thank you for the challenge Love Chrissie xx

Happy Sunday everyone--hope you are safe from the rain and floods where you are. It has just stopped raining here and we haven't had much at all in our little corner of NE UK. I do hope I haven't spoken too soon :( At Artful Times for the next 2 weeks they have an 'anything goes challenge' so do pop over and add whatever you are making. Neet and Von will be sure to welcome you and you can see what they have made for the challenge. I have made this paper napkin holder for my MIL as she has invited us for a meal on Thursday and I always try to make something to take with me as a thank you. She likes really big paper napkins so I have allowed a bit of extra space each side just in case she finds any that are larger than the ones I have bought--these are large anyway-the ones I usually buy were hidden from view when I tried them in this holder. I made the box shape from strong cardboard--old Amazon boxes mostly. I stuck it with parcel tape around all the edges and liked th

I am getting used to the clean and simple challenges now thanks to Addicted to Stamps and More where they have this sort of challenge every few weeks. This week it is a free choice of subject. I bought a stencil template and hadn't a clue what to use it for-it is rather nice and was from Imagination Crafts. I started out with a piece of white card, my brayer and a big and juicy ink pad. Next I used the brayer to cover the stencil thinking the ink would go onto the card--wrong! I turned the stencil over onto the card and it left a really nice image--the one you can see on the backing card and the flowers. Then I sprayed gold spray paint--a very nice removable variety--using the stencil--that doesn't show up at all on the picture--sob sob. A bit of gold backing paper for the leaves that were on a card I received ages ago. Then I stamped thank you straight onto the card--clean and simple-hopefully.

Hello Everyone-hope your week has gone well. Great to see what people made for the 'Use your Stash Challenge' at Out of a Hat last week and to read the comments . Everyone who left a comment had one entry in the prize draw and everyone who entered a project had two entries. Vic drew out one person this morning and the winner is ---Tracey B This week at Out of a Hat  the Challenge is Music. Another very wide subject--with song titles, music images of all kinds and also you can make anything you like so long as it has the theme music somewhere on it. Here is what I have made The box was all covered in some music paper I made by scanning some old music, song sheets I had from way back. The image I made in Paint Shop Pro from several images. I also made the the quote tag. The wonderful grand piano is from Crafty Emblies , I am entering the challenge there with this box as it is Shabby Chic there this month, the lace Sandra sent to me-thanks Sandra. I coloured all the edegs with a b

The challenge at Fun with ATCs is Faces Well today my head is full of Leonardo Da Vinci cause I went to Hull Art Gallery to see 10 of his drawings which the Queen has lent to the nation as part of her  Golden Jubilee Celebrations. It was amazing how many people were there and so far there have been 10,000 people in just a short time, viewing these little drawings. This image isn't one of the drawings but it one I have always admired. I made a Leonardo backing paper then decoupaged the image twice onto the ATC. The quote I found on Google and is by the great man himself. Love Chrissie xx

Hello everyone-hope you are having a good day and the weather is better where you are than it is here in NE UK. A nice sketch again at Retro Sketches this week-so pleased I have managed to fit it in as I have made a card for a neighbour from the sketch. The card was from a pack I bought that had the edges already shaped. I drew some gold 'stitching' to pick out the edge shape. The music paper I made by scanning  some sheet music that I have had a long time. The paper with the words was from a paper pad I bought years ago and I don't know who made it-sorry. I just added a topper that was in a set I bought at The Works. Great samples by the team as always. Love Chrissie xx

Hello Friends and Followers-I hope you are all well and happy today. It always makes my day when you pop in. Great samples as always at Show us your Twinchies  and 2 colours is more difficult than I imagined it would be. I am hoping that white isn't a colour or this twinchie has 3 colours :( It was in 1992 that I got my first version of Paint Shop Pro and was addicted to it straight away. I was looking through some very old folders the other day and found a folder with lots of pixel images that I had made way back when in PSP. so what is this to do with a Twinchie Challenge? Well! I made a background from the little pixel frog then printed it out a couple of time a bit larger to cut out and add to the Twinchie. Heaven knows what the quote means but it must be true cause I found it on Google. :) I made a crown and added a jewel and that's it. Green and black--hopefully-everything crossed. Love Chrissie xx

Hope everyone has had a great week This week at Addicted to Stamps and More  the challenge is to make something using red and white. I didn't seem to have much at all in red and white but you can always find something somewhere lol. Brilliant samples as always from the DT. Afraid my card is a bit simple :( I did try stamping a background but the red ink pad had 'gorn orf 'and I drop some on the carpet and it made a lovely red splodge. Difficult to photograph red-the cog and the layer are red in real life but look dull on the photograph.  I went to Poundland and bought the red and white cord yesterday. I used a TH cog shape and passed it through my crimper to give it some texture. Not sure where the sentiment with the ribbon came from but it was just right for what I wanted to use the card for. Love Chrissie xx

The challenge this time at Technique Tuesday  is to follow a tutorial that shows you how to make a 3D image from punched shapes. I made two images from very simple shapes as I did try a more complicated punch first and it didn't work for me. I'm still on a quest to use up my peel-offs so added a few to the card. This was a nice easy tutorial to follow and some great examples by the DTS as inspiration. love Chrissie xx

Hello Friends and Followers. Thank you for all the wonderful messages this last week and to the people who joined in with us at Out of a Hat Creation for the Locks and Keys Challenge This week at the Hatters we are asking you to use some of your stash to make anything that you like.  We have made our projects from some material and lace that were in a  parcel sent to us by Lorraine. There were other things in the parcel as well and I have put some of  them in the bag I made for this week's project together with some other things from my own stash. If you would like to win the bag and stash all you have to do is leave a comment on the post at Out of a Hat or enter your own project into this challenge-if you do enter the challenge then your name will go twice into the hat. Next Thursday morning, before we publish the new post there, I will put all of the names into a hat and draw one out to be the winner. The name will be announced in next week's challenge post. Here is the fin

Hello Everyone. I hope you have a good day. My mind is still full of the James Bond film we saw yesterday so I may not be doing much crafting. The challenge this time at Craft Room Challenge  is to make something with die cuts and punches. Not something I use nearly enough really. Great samples from the team as always. I made this card using a Woodware corner punch on the panel Joy flourish die cut and Marianne designs flower die cut. The white card is Distressed with Rangers aged mahogany. The flower layers were cut from a serviette and edged with a red Promarker. I added a pearl to the centre of each one. The sentiment I have had for years so not sure who made them. Love Chrissie xx

I hope everyone is having a good day and the sun is shining on you. We are off to the cinema to see the latest James Bond film--not been to the cinema for ages so that will be exciting. Thank you to all who left comments on my Out of a Hat post with a Steampunk character that I made based on one from the Steampunk Softies book by Sarah Skeate and Nicola Tedman. The comments were much appreciated and have spurred me on to make another character. This one I have called Preshea Rexward and is based on the character in the book called Minerva Dupine. Preshea, like Lydia, my first character, lives at Dreamcrank Manor and is also a 'Keeper' She guards the precious cog which is the remaining piece that will be fitted into a machine create by the 'Master'. Only the 'Master' knows where the machine is located or what it's purpose may be. He has been gone from the manor for almost a year now but is due to return in a month. I suppose I had better think what he may loo

Hello Everyone and thank you to everyone who leaves comments on my blog-I really appreciate them. At Addicted to Stamps and more the challenge is Flowers and at Retro Sketches they have a wonderful sketch as always so I combined the two challenges I wanted to keep it simple so used colours that seemed to blend together and a plain cream A4 piece of card for the background. The stamp is a Chocolate Baroque and I lightly coloured parts of it with Promarkers. I have had the corner punch for ages but rarely used it--it is from Woodware and a very strong punch.

An unusual challenge at Artful Times -to make a fabric tag-great samples from Von and Neet and both very different. I imagine there will be many different types of tags for this challenge. Here is mine I covered a tag shape with some mock leather cloth-this represented a long leather coat I had when I first became a motor biker at the age of 14. Then I cut some red circles from an old tee shirt that reminded me of the colour of the thick mittens I had at the time. The emblies are all from Crafty emblies-link on my side bar. Making the tag brought back so many happy memories of days out and holidays. Someone sent me the unsual string stuff that I used for the tie. I took the photograph outside as the light inside isn't good enough for photographs at this time of the year. The circles holding the tag are from a belt that I demolished and used to decorate a boring garden fence panel. Thank you for the challenge girls. Love Chrissie xx

Hello and welcome everyone. Hope your week has gone well. Thank you, as always, for popping in and for the wonderful comments you leave. Also a big thank you to my new followers. This week at Out of a Hat  we are  making something with the subject locks and keys. Here is what I made and I had so much fun seeing it develope. My daughter bought me a book called Steam Punk Softies by Sarah Skeate and Nicola Tedman.. It is full of characters and patterns for you to make. I must say I didn't follow the pattern to the letter and did my own take on one of the characters to create a new character. I will probably do the same thing if I make any more of them. This is my own character and I named her Lydia Whitlock.  I decided that she is the keeper of the locks and keys at Dreadcrank Manor, a huge, old castle with secrets too lost in time to tell. She is a close relative of Charity Storm who is one of the characters you can make from the book. I would love to write stories about all of them

Hi all There are some lovely projects by the team to give us inspiration at CraftyMess  where the challenge to use a nursery rhyme as the subject. I won this Crafty Individuals stamp a while ago on their challenge blog but this is the first time I have used it.. The backing paper I have had for ages as well so it was nice to be able to use things I already had. My quest to use up all my peel-offs in my lifetime isn't going too well really because I keep finding more of them when I tidy out a drawer or cupboard.

Hello Everyone I love these sketches at Retrosketches  as they are so different from any others I have seen. I used the sketch this week to make a topper for my brother's birthday card. He doesn't like things that are too fancy so this should be just right I think. A metal background that is half emblossed with a Cuttlebug folder. Some striped paper and ribbon to match. A die cut shape and a leaf brad. Gold thread and some peel-offs for the name. That's it folks

Hello Everyone-hope your day is going well. The challenge this time at Show Us Your Twinchies is Hot Colours. Not sure anyone would want to eat cupcakes with these bright colours!  The cupcake stamp is one from Molly Blooms and I stamped it onto the card three times and coloured with some very bright felt tip pens. I thought I would make the background look a bit like a bonfire--well I only said a bit :) Love Chrissie xx

At Craft-room Challenge the subject is Time. It is always a great subject with so many things to think about. Some wonderful samples by the team there as inspiration. I decided to make a big tag. I used some black card and some gold card for the background. The stamps I used are from Chocolate Baroque. I coloured the images with Promarkers and left some of them black and white and raised them up on the tag though that doesn't show too well. The quote is one I found on the Internet

At Addicted to Stamps and More  it is their 4th Bingo Challenge and a very interesting mix on the board this time. Great samples from the team there as always. I chose the black-free and stripes row. I had this piece of card that I had cut a large circle from for something else so I made some striped paper and fitted it inside so it showed through the hole--then I folded the whole thing to make a card. The circle is edged with some peel-off strips that mold nicely around any shape. The lantern is recycled from a card we received last year. The sentiment is another peel-off--I getting rid of them nicely though I did find lots more in my Christmas Box! Added  some fancy wool instead of ribbon and that's it.

Back to the real world everyone with Christmas packed away for now. I am sure we all enjoyed the October Christmas at Out of a Hat-thank you to Florence for organising it all for us. Back to Vic pulling the challenges out of a ha t and hopefully everyone will enjoy them. This week the subject is nature which is a vast subject so I am sure the entries will be very varied. Here is my entry which I call a scanogram. I am not sure if I invented this type of artwork in the deep and distance past but I haven't done any for years. Some of my earlier efforts with a tutorial are here  it was written in 2005 and I am pleased to see that I have progressed since those days You can use anything you like to create your work of art it doesn't have to be flowers and leaves. Just collect a load of whatever you like and lay them on your scanner but remember that the first ones on the scanner will be the ones at the forefront of your design. I think I may well have explained all this better in 20