Trick or Treat?

Hi everyone, I'll be back later with my TFST post but for now I want to show you something I made for Halloween!

I may have mentioned before that Halloween is not a treat for me for crafting at all! 
When I found that one of the themes for our challenge at Try It On Tuesday was 'Trick Or Treat' I realised there was no other thing to do but get on with it! 
Of course Roddy Raven helped last week but I had already had another idea!

I remembered a flying raven from a set I bought a long time ago and decided to stamp it onto some acetate, but first some fun too!

I had some wooden letters which I coloured with Distresss markers and stuck onto a coffee stirrer.

I added some fun stickers and stamped on some spiders with some bits of 'web'!!

Then back to plan A - I stripped off the stickers and painted everything black.

The raven was added along with a spooky skull and I added drips of blood and slime and some more 'webs'

This photograph was taken in exactly the same place as the first project but on a much greyer day!

I must say, this is still no where near some of the fabulous Halloween projects I have been seeing, but if I can have a go I hope you will too - it would be great to see you at Try It On Tuesday!

The raven is from a Crafty Individuals set and I am thinking....could I make a spooky journal page????

Thanks for looking, Chris

I did say exciting!!!!

Hi everyone, I can at last share my exciting news with you!

I have been bouncing up and down with excitement for a while now.....I have been invited to join the Crafty Individuals Design Team!

I must say I am honoured, both to join to such a brilliant team and to be working with some of my favourite stamps!

Not only that but Jean and Malcolm are two of the nicest folk I know!

As a bonus one of my very best friends has also joined the team - Follow the links here and here to find out who I mean!

For now here is a card I made for my Brother In Law, who has a birthday this week.

I used a new stamp - CI498 on a Distress Oxide background and some other CI stamps I have had for a while.The little lad (a paper doll) reminded me of my nephew when he was younger!

I will be back with more soon.

Thanks for looking, Chris

Memories!

Hi everyone!

As promised, I have a journal page for Linda's Creature Comforts theme at Art Journal Journey.
I was very lucky as a child to grow up in the country. We lived in a cottage, with a farm just a field away on one side, and another farm almost opposite. I may have mentioned that my dad worked on a nursery growing plants on a large scale and my brother and I had access to all of these places. We were also lucky to have a large garden and lots of pets but my favourite thing in the garden was the swing built by my Dad and Uncle - not your run of the mill swing, but one with large wooden posts and a good size seat, big enough for both my brother and me although he didn't use it that much!

Now, before any of you cheeky ones suggest that this is me and my brother, I know this image is more my Gran's era than any other time but this image from a set of cheap cards I bought years ago has just the kind of swing we had, err..without the flower garlands!

This image evoking fun, family times is my reason for linking to Art Journal Journey.

I'll be back soon with some more of what I have been up to! 

Thanks for looking, Chris

More tags and a walk.

Hi everyone!
I had hoped to have a journal page to show you but it went dark before I could take a photo. 

I am slightly behind with showing you the tags I have been making for Brigit Koopsen's 31 Products Challenge.

Day 11

I used Amsterdam paints,background stamps and part of a AALL and Create stamp alongside my little bird.

Day 12 

I used some Maya Gold (that has almost dried up) over some gesso, book paper, stencilling and stamping. I found the words in a box at the caravan!

I would like to enter this at Fashionable Stampers Challenges where the theme is Bookpaper.

Day 13

I used some Lyra pens I bought on holiday - I found that by going over the lines with a water brush caused them to bleed. I added some stamping from sets by Tracy Evans and Bipasha for AALL and Create.
I coloured the flower with Lyra pens too.

I would like to enter at 
A Vintage Journey - Autumn Splendour - this obviously not about the leaves falling, but about the mellow colours of Autumn and the flowers that bloom only in Autumn.

Moo Mania and More - Autumn

Day 14

  I used Cosmic Shimmer pixie dust over some stamping with a Crafty Individuals leafy stamp using Distress inks. The leaf is a paper Artsy Lin Brown stamp and the quote is a freebie stamp. I added some spatters but I ma still not sure it is finished.

Day 15

 You may have already seen Roddy Raven here
I used Paper Artsy Infusions and Stamps by Crafty Individuals. The spider I think is from a freebie set.

We have had workmen in today and I am also trying to re- organise my stamps.
We went for a walk in the sunshine this afternoon - only around the village, the sky was such a clear blue and we only wore sweaters.

Our walk ended as it usually does by the river, the heron had just landed on the little island.

Oh! By the way, I have some exciting news to share soon!

Thanks for looking, Chris

  

T Stands for....a testing day in Budapest!

As promised some pics from our last day in Budapest, which was a day of highs and lows! 

We started our day with a walk to the Parliament to see if we could buy tour tickets - unfortunately it had been busy morning for English speakers and all of the tickets had gone...

 ..we did get to see this though - which we had seen from a distance - the mist sprays.

 This fellow stands near the entrance to St Stephens square, where there was a sweet festival - it was nice to look but I didn't touch!!!

We bought a donut to eat while we walked around though!
We were ready for coffee but were destined to wait quite a while before we found a cafe. We had water with us so we had that!

We were headed for the market across town.....until I remembered the Shoes on the Danube - we asked for directions...which sent us back in the direction of Parliament along the river.
The path became sandy and gritty which irritated my toes until they really hurt. By the time we found the shoes we were almost back to where we had started!
The memorial was so sad to see - tributes are left and candles burned.

It is the site where Jews were rounded up and shot so that they fell in the river - the shoes are cast in bronze and it is just as if they had stepped out of them - a truly sad sight! Here is a link for you if you wish to read about it. 
We walked around a corner to get back into the town and came across this - all made from drink cans!

By now we were hungry so found a lovely square to have a snack.

We had fruit lemonades, water and shared an ice-cream bowl - it really was too hot for coffee and by now it was quite late! Hubby is smiling but only because I was teasing him about his grumpy face.
Of course I am joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth for Tea Stands For Tuesday!

I spotted this - just for Elizabeth!
Off in the direction of the market and we spotted this church...

Yes did get to the market...

 ...just as they were shutting...but I got my Paprika

After this we went to a restaurant my son had recommended but we found it to be a disappointing experience!
I will save that for a TSFT post in the future as next time we will be heading for Vienna.

Thanks for looking, Chris

Trick or Treat?

Hi everyone, back from some very rainy days at our caravan and straight into a busy day of something not so nice - a friend's funeral, and a pleasure - a meal out and a Caro Emerald concert!

Our new theme at Try It On Tuesday is 'Trick or Treat'. Usually I struggle with anything Halloween - not this time, with the help of my little friend Roddy Raven(you can maybe guess why I have called him Roddy!)by Crafty Individuals

I decided to use a tag cut from watercolour paper and added some Infusions powders (this is also one of the 31 products I am using in the challenge set by Birgit Koopsen - I will show you the other tags later today)
I added some random stamping and then added 'Roddy'. From a peculiar reaction with the paper, as well as the raven's eye, I can also see two more eyes (tell me I'm not going mad!!)The Edgar Allan Poe verse is part of the same stamp set and the spiders were from a freebie set. Spatters? Of course!

As usual, our Design Team has pulled out all the eyes stops, and would love you to take a look! The challenge runs for two weeks and of course there is the chance to be in our Top 5. 

Thanks for looking, Chris

A journal page

Hi everyone, I have been tucked up in the caravan making tags and I came up with this journal page too for Linda's Creature Comforts theme at Art Journal Journey.

I make no secret of the fact that I enjoy my view here - even on a wet and windy day!
We woke up to a garden full of fungi this morning!

 A comfort? - yes, and with the birds....

....and a rabbit - a creature comfort too!

I am also entering this at Fashionable Stamping Challenges  - Bookpages theme

Thanks for looking, Chris