Something brighter!

To cheer myself up I made tag!

The Woodware flower stamped onto some scrap blue card, coloured with Inktense pencils and Sakura pen.
Mounted onto an inked tag that had some extra stencilling done in the same colour (Blueprint Sketch)and Peacock Feathers.
A sprinkle of water and some text stamping.
A little bit of spattering with Distress Paint(Picket Fence)
The words are Tim's Small Talk stickers.

I am entering in the following challenges

Country view Challenges - 'The Colour blue'

That's Crafty - 'Tag You're It'

Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge - 'Use a Stamp'

Thanks for looking, Chris

A journal page..

I am sure that many others are still trying to come to terms with what has happened in Paris. I am constantly returning to thoughts of the victims of these dreadful events and their families.

My page started as a cheerful Autumn page but now I have added black tears and a die-cut Tour Eifel.

I am linking to Art Journal Journey with my page representing this sad Autumn day

Thank you for looking, Chris

Time to play!!

Today - the day storms were forecast - we had a sunny day! I cleaned and tidied up and then off to my craft room!
Nothing much in mind(although I should have made some more Christmas cards!)so set to with a journal page and a tag.
So, this time around I'll show you the journal page!

I used this background that has been in my journal for a while…

..added inks, some napkin torn from this..

…stamped some little birds randomly and added random text, I decided to give the little bird a foil crown and then added more foiling and some gems for the bird's crown.

Added 'Always Take The Scenic Route' (TH), because that's what I like to do!!
I would like to enter the Moo Mania and More Challenge - Crowns
and 
Art Journal Journey - Autumn Colours

Thanks for looking, Chris

At last!!

I don't know where the time is going - here we are almost halfway through the month and this is the first time I have had a chance to take part in the Art Journal Journey challenge - Autumn - my favourite time of year!
I have been busy working on projects I can't show you yet, in between  worrying about hubby! He hasn't been too good but…you know men…won't go to see a doctor!!! Today however he seems a lot better, and we have had had a trip into town to see the Christmas lights…except…they are such poor show it was hardly worth bothering! Still, the Christmas Market opens on Saturday and we have an invitation to go for a coffee with son number 3 next Tuesday and have a look around! I think the council rely on the market to provide the Christmas spirit…we shall see!! 
Anyhow! Here is my page

You will have seen the background here as part of my page that I used in a digital piece.
I used a poppy head stamp(an old Elusive Images one) but extended the diamonds across the page. The cornflower stencil was used with different distress inks. I do love seeing the leaves and all their colours but I also love seeing seed heads that become more obvious once the leaves have died down. My word "JOY" (Lost coast designs I think)sums it up nicely!

Thanks for looking, Chris 

T stands for Torrential rain!!

I have missed having T with Elizabeth and Bleubeard and the weekly T Stands For Tuesday gang. Things were a bit rushed last week as we planned on going up to our caravan on Wednesday afternoon after picking GD up from school1 
We had a very relaxing time despite rain every day! We met up with friends, Jo of Jozart blog and her hubby Dave and had a great visit to Farfield Mill.

The weather didn't bother us and we sat and drank coffee and had lunch before having a look around the mill

the menfolk sat and watched a DVD..and chatted!

On the way home we saw that the mountains were disappearing in the mist.

The rest of the time we read a lot, watched some films that we had been trying to find time to watch for ages and had a quick trip into Morecambe.
By the time we had found what we wanted in the shops(dodging the rain on the way)we realised that we wouldn't get home in time for lunch - Oh Dear! Could we stand a lunch at the Rotunda at the Midland Hotel? Ha! ha! of course we could! See here and here for information about this iconic hotel

You would like to see wouldn't you?

Our hot drinks arrived first

Hubby poured you a tea, with 'that' look on his face!!! I had a naughty Mocha(have I told you they make THE best!!)
Then our matching lunches arrived...

……Beer battered fish goujons in a brioche bun, fries, coleslaw and tartare sauce.
We looked outside at the rainy view...

…and tucked in! Calories don't count if it's raining outside - right!?!?!

On the way home we couldn't see the caravan site down the hill

The crag had almost disappeared

The tree up the road looked great from the car window

It was then I saw this small group of starlings swooping around in the sky - heading for the wires and the pylon - a few minutes later they were off and heading for the reed beds at Leighton Moss

On Saturday we had more rain but a little bit of brightness just before dark….

…and on Sunday we had a little rain in the morning and on the way home it POURED!!!!

We are planning on having a bit of time at home, catching up on appointments(both of us) painting the rest of the doors in the hallway, and having some local walks(one of which was this afternoon - I'll try to show you tomorrow - the river is very high after all the rain). Of course, I will be trying to catch up with my blog visiting and having some crafty time too!

Thank you for all of your kind comments, and for visiting me today too, Chris

Creating a Scene at Try It On Tuesday!

No! Not that sort of scene!! Our new theme at Try It On Tuesday is 'Create a Scene'! Once again there are some wonderful examples from the team which you can see here.

I may have mentioned before, this time of year there are so many birthdays of either family or friends and I have tried to make cards  appropriate to the time of year. I also try to keep my cards flat for posting. This card will be put aside until December.

I used one of Sheena's 'A Little Bit Sketchy' stamps from the Nature Accomplished set.
I remember seeing her showing an example of this stamp coloured with browns and whites and I have done my best to remember this(it was a few years ago!)I added the stag from a freebie set that came with a magazine.I used my Inktense watercolour pencils to colour it.  

I used some Brushed Corduroy DI around the edge of some grey card that has been in my stash for ages and then used die cuts to frame it. 

I hope you will show us your scenes, large or small, 3D or flat.
We would love to see them, and they can be scenes for any time of year!! 

Thanks for looking, Chris 

Autumn cards

When I made my card the other day I made a couple more while I had the inks and stamps out.

 I used Crackle accents on the trunk

One of these has already been received the other one is for a couple of weeks time.

Time to make some more Christmas cards now I think, although we have several more birthdays in the family soon!

Thanks for looking, Chris
Scheduling this as we are having some time away, back soon!