No Patterned Papers at CCM

Afternoon All,
Another Monday, and the start of a lovely new challenge at CCM where our host Dr Monika is looking for you to use 'No Patterned Papers' in your creations.

I have to say that this was an easy one for me since I love creating backgrounds as you know.

The hard part was choosing which card to share with you.
I decided on this one which was recently on the TV when my friend Jane Gill did her Woodware shows on Create and Craft.
I used Distress Oxides for the background using the 'Smack Down Technique' that I found on YouTube. The beautiful bird has also been coloured with Distress Oxides.

This card was also made using the same stamp set, only this time I just used one colour of Distress Oxide.

As you can see his tail feathers make a fabulous background on their own.
I hope that you will have fun with our challenge. I look forward to stopping by and seeing what you come up with.
Have a great evening.
Happy Crafting and hugs.
Kimx

A very belated Thank You for CCM

Afternoon,

I'm sorry people, I think my New Year's resolution needs to be 'try harder with blog posts', but perhaps I shouldn't leave it till January.

The trouble is real life seems to keep getting in the way, and I don't find time to fit in blogging as well. Oh well, I will just have to try harder.....if the Internet will let me of course.

We started a new 'Thankful' challenge at CCM last Monday. (Is it really over a week since then?) 

I hope that we all have at least one thing to be thankful for.

I certainly have. I have just been on my hols……..a week of crafty playtime with the lovely Janice and Andy at SirStampalot what more could you ask of a week off. I sat on my bum for a week and played, although I did manage to fit in a couple of classes.

Now its back to the grind, and unfortunately crafty things have had to take a back seat.

One of the classes that I taught was 'Bump and Smudge'.

I always prep my classes after I arrive so we can use items that they have on hand, so it was wonderful to be reacquainted with a couple of lovely old Stampendous wood mounted stamps.

I was never particularly keen on the sentiments, although I love the stamped images, 

so by adding a small stamped greeting from a set designed by Jane Gill, I have changed the design, and made it more usable for me.

I also found a new favourite brown amongst my Distress Oxide ink pads, fantastic for the 'Bump and Smudge' technique.

I felt that the images lent themselves to a little extra watercolour painting.

When done with the Oxides, this added to the aged effect. 

We have a 'Bump and Smudge' class just after Christmas so I thought that this would make a lovely box of cards as a gift for someone, or to use on all those Christmas Thank yous.

I used a Marianne embossing folder for all of the backgrounds, although I have found a fabulous brick wall stamp amongst my stash which would also work well. 

Better get back to my crafting, I have taken delivery of the new stamp designs from Jane Gill so I need to get my creative head on.

I have to admit that that is a little difficult at the moment. I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but its bl...y cold here and I'm getting far too old to be frozen when working indoors.

Of course I am very thankful that we don't have any snow yet, but that might make it a bit warmer at least. Don't they say that it is too cold to snow, although I'm not sure how that works in really cold places like Canada where they still get loads of snow. Perhaps it's a UK only expression lol.

Have a great evening, and stay warm. I have my granny blanket wrapped firmly around me.

Happy Crafting and hugs 

Kimx

Halloween Chalenge at CCM

Hi All,
I am soooooo sorry for the tardiness of this post, but it seems to have been a manic few weeks, coupled with an Internet connection that seems to drop in and out every few minutes to the point where I have abandoned trying to use it at all.

Anyhoo it's my turn to host the challenge over at CCM, and as you may have guessed the theme is Halloween.

I have to say that it is not something that we celebrated when I was a kid, but then I am old lol.
Now it seems to be a big thing, and my Girls love it. There are always loads of sweeties for the Trick or Treaters, and the house is usually festooned with cobwebs and all sorts of scary things.
I spent the day wearing a rather batty headband that I had strung with lights. I did get some looks as I travelled on the train, but it certainly put a smile on a few peoples faces.

My card uses a fabulous old LOTV topper and lots of Tim Holtz dies.
The wizard was a little too cute, so I trimmed away his teddy bear when I fussy cut the image.

The background was created by attaching die cut bats to the black card base to add a little interest and dimension.

I found the letterpress tree panel amongst my stash and added some glitter around the moon, and a couple more bats.

The spooky house and tree are also from Tim Holtz.

I added a bit of sparkly card behind the windows,

and then a bit of funky foam for added dimension.

The spooky branches are another Tim Holtz die.

The sentiment is from a new set that I bought from Simon Says Stamp. It is a fabulous set with loads of little sentiments, and it has a coordinating die so you cut them all out at once.

I promise that I will get round to see you all over the next few days.

I am off to Sir Stampalot for my annual holiday, and I am soooo looking forward to it.

Have a wonderful crafty weekend.

Crafty hugs

Kimx