CAS Mix Up October reminder .......

Happy weekend .......

I hope you've had a lovely week.  

What's the weather like where you are?  We've definitely seen a change whilst we've been on our travels.  The temepratures have dropped and we've actually had some rain!

Autumn has arrived, which to be honest, I don't mind at all. 

 

We're currently back in the beautiful Lake District, for the last leg of our trip ...... only 2 more days left.

We're in Bowness on Windermere, and it's been lovely.  

a pretty October sunset

We've had a good wander around the town, been up to Windermere too, and had a couple of days catching up with family and friends which is always nice.  Too much good food and wine probably, but hey! ...... we are on holiday!!!  

Anyway, enough of what we've been up to.  The reason for the post is, a quick reminder of this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge ...... have you entered yet?

It's a Mixed Media Challenge using the Blackout Embossing technique ....... if you haven't tried this you need to give it a go.  It's super easy, and so much fun.  It's a different way of using your embossing folders too, which is always good.

I've gone a little festive for this card, well it is only about 70 days before the big day (I'm sure that's what is said on the blackboard in the Christmas Shop earlier! ........ yes, I have been in a few Christmas shops on our recent travels.  I can't resist looking for new baubles!)

For this card I used the Simon Says Stamp Embossing Folder ...... Holiday Greenery, which is a lovely all over winter foliage design.

On the debossed side of the cardstock,  I used blending brushes and various shades of green and red Distress Oxide inks to colour the design.  Remember, you don't have to get this perfect as you'll be covering over any colour on the top part with your black (or any other dark colour) ink

I then applied Black Soot Distress Oxide, direct from the ink pad, over the top.

I love the mat finish to the DOX inks, and the Black Soot gave great coverage.

I added a few dots of Glitter Glue to some of the berries, and finished off with white paint splatters

I cut the embossed piece down using a fancy stitched edge die, cut a piece of red cardstock using the same die, and then layered them together leaving a festive red border.

I then attached this to a white cardbase and stamped my sentinment underneath.

Another idea for using your Blackout Embossed panels, is to turn them into tags, either to use as they are or, add them to the front of a card.

This pretty embossed design is another Simon Says Stamp folder called Darcy Bouquet.

I used it on a previously coloured piece of card, which I found in my stash, and I think it was done with Distress Oxide inks,  swiped directly from the ink pad across a piece of white card .... so easy to do.

I cut the panel into a tag shape and added a knot of white ribbon to the top.  I then attached a die cut sentiment onto the actual tag, and finished with a few white paint splatters here and there .......

Luckily, I remembered that you must include some stamping for the CAS Mix Up Challenge, so I added that underneath (phew!).

I do think that maybe this card is pushing the CAS rules just a little bit but, I didn't want to loose any of the pretty embossed design so I didn't cut it down any.  Maybe next time.

The challenge is open until the 31st October so there's still plenty of time to join in.  

Go on ..... give Blackout Embossing a try!  

By the way, you don't have to use black ink to do this technique.  Check out the cards from the rest of the DT, some of them have used different colours to do the 'Blackout' part, and they look fab!!

Thanks for popping by ......... enjoy your weekend.

We start our journey home tomorrow, so we're having a nice lazy day today.  

We're on the Sunday afternoon boat so we should be back on the island early evening ...... I'm ready for getting home now!

Cheerio until next time .........

Products used:

Card 1

Embossing Folder ........  Holiday Greenery - Simon Says Stamp

Inks .......  Distress Oxide Inks - Rustic Wilderness, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Festive Berries,

Black Soot:  Versafine Claire - Nocturne (to stamp the sentiment)

Other ...... Crystal Stickles Glitter Glue; Fresco Finish Chalk Paint - Snowflake (PaperArtsy)

Card 2

Embossing Folder .......  Darcy Bouquet - Simon Says Stamp

Inks ...... I think they were Distress Oxides in various shades of purple and blue; Versafine Claire - Nocture for the stamped sentiment.

Stamps ....... Julie Hickey Designs - Sweet Daisy

Other ....... Be Bold Alphabet Dies Upper & Lower Case - Spellbinders; Sentiment Starter dies - The Greetery;  Silver Chrome Pen;  Fresco Finish Chalk Paint - Snowflake (PaperArtsy); White ribbon

I love Pinterest!!!

Happy Monday .......

I hope you had a lovely weekend ...... did you do anything nice?

We're on our last week of our latest motorhome adventure.  Heading for home on Sunday, so we need to make the most of this week.

Whilst we've been away I've spent a little bit of time with one of my journals.  I brought a small amount of stash with me in the hope that I could catch up with trying out some ideas and techniques from Pinterest.  So far, I've managed to do one!

This was something I saw on Pinterest, and I knew I just had to give it a go.   It looked like they'd used actual pressed flowers on their journal page, and it was so pretty.  

Unfortunately there was no name on the picture so I can't give credit, but whoever it was, thank you for sharing.  

I'd stamped the flowers onto the journal page before we left on our trip, using a mix of Julie Hickey Desgins floral stamps, and I also drew a few stems and leaves by hand

I then used scraps of various designer papers and book pages to create the 'vases'.  You know me, I don't like to waste anything so I have a box full of bits like this.

I coloured the flowers using watercolour pencils and then added some doodling around each of the paper strips to emphasise each vase.

I love how this has turned out.  So simple, and a great way of using up all those paper strips.  

Pinterest is full of fab ideas for using up scraps, I think I'll be trying out a few more!

Since my last blog post we spent a lovely few days in the city of York.

I love this place.  It's so nice to just wander around the streets, sit and have a coffee, do a spot of shopping maybe.  There's so much to see.  

The Ghosts in the Gardens are back for 2026.  70 wire mesh figures placed all around the town and gardens.  We came across this guy on our visit to the York Musuem ......

We did the whole trail last year and it was fantastic, well worth seeing.

The food is amazing in York, so many places to eat and so many different styles.  We found a smashing Spanish Tapas place ...... Tabanco by Ambiente.  The paella was amazing!!!  We were so full when we left there.

We also found a nice French bistro/wine bar ..... Rustique

Again, the food was delicious!!  Great service too.

And of course there's the magnificent York Minster ..... always amazing to see.

We'll be back again soon no doubt.

We're in Barnard Castle at the moment.  A pretty market town on the banks of the River Tees in County Durham

It's our first time here but it won't be our last.  It's a lovely place.

Great walk from the campsite we're on into the town ....

down by the river, and the castle ruins

and the town itself was lovely.  It was quite late in the afternnon when we arrived so it was nice and quiet.

We're only here for a few days, we're making our way back to the Lake District before we finally head home at the weekend.  I'm looking forward to being back on the island.

Thanks for popping by ...... enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio until next time.

October's CAS Mix Up Challenge ......

Happy weekend to you,

Happy World Card Making Day too!  It's the perfect day to launch this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge

It's my turn to host, and the challenge for October is a Mixed Media one, with the prompt .....

Blackout Embossing 

Time to get out all your favourite embossing folders and have some fun!

This is a new to me technique.  I've seen it used a lot online, and it always looks stunning, but I haven't really done much of it myself. 

The first time I tried it, I didn't actually use any colour, I just simply used a black ink over the debossed side of an embossing folder design, so I'm not even sure if that can be classed as the 'Blackout Embossing technique'.  (I'll show you what I mean at the end of this post!)

Anyway, on with this month's challenge.  

I've got two cards to share with you, the first is using a pretty embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp called Blossom Field.  It's a pretty floral design, with lots of little details.

I simply ran the EF through the Big Shot with some plain white cardstock.

I then coloured the flowers, on the de-bossed side, using Distress Oxide Inks, in shades of pink and yellow.  I found the easiest way, for me, was to use small blending brushes to get the colour into the debossed detail of the card.

This is quite a thick EF so the detail is quite deep in the cardstock which is what you need for this technique, so that when you rub over with the black ink you don't get too much on the coloured bits.  Does that make sense?

I used Black Soot Distress Oxide on this card, but Nocturne Versafine Clair or any black ink would work just as well.  Try whatever you have to hand.

I gently rubbed the ink pad over the surface of the card, to bring out the coloured, debossed design ........ this was so much fun to do!  Try not to add too much black ink at once, I think less is definitely more with this technique.  Build up the depth of colour gradually .... remember it's always easier to add more than it is to take it away!

A simple stamped sentiment and a few highlights with a gold gel pen finishes off the card

This technique also works well with cardstock that has already got colour on it .......

I found this small piece of card in my bits box.  It's a leftover from a previous project I think, possibly a mop up piece by the look of it.   

The embossing folder is Piped Floral Lace from Altenew (I think this is my favourite EF at the moment ...... I love it!!!)  Again this is a deep, 3D, folder, giving lots of detail. 

Just remember, if you use already coloured cardstock, make sure you put it in the EF folder the right way up ..... you need the coloured side to be debossed.

For a bit of extra interest, but still keeping things CAS, I added my blackout piece to a white, die cut postage stamp frame and added the same in black, underneath.

If you need more inspiration for October's challenge, then check out the latest post on the CAS Mix Up Blog.  There you'll find more fabulous ideas from our Design Team and, there's also links to some useful videos showcasing this fun technique.

We also have a fabulous Guest Designer this month. Darnell from djkardkreations is joining in the fun so be sure to pop over there and say Hello!

Remember to follow the Challenge Guidelines ......  and keep your cards CAS.

Before I go, here's a picture of what I mentioned earlier ..... something I played around with whilst taking part in the #100 Day Challenge earlier in the year.  

It's the Blackout technique (sort of!) without any colour ....... I love this look, but then again I'm a big fan of black and white with just a hint of colour!

I'm really looking forward to seeing your take on the Blackout Embossing challenge.  I can't wait to see your entires in the gallery.  Have fun!

Thanks for popping by ....... enjoy your weekend.

We've spent the last few days in the lovely town of Knaresborough.  An historic market town in North Yorkshire. 

Nice walks, great places to eat, and the weather's not been too bad either.

We walked through Nid Gorge, quite a long walk but nice ....... I need the excercise!!

The next stop on our travels is one of our favourite places .......... we're off to the city of York!

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:

Card 1

Embossing Folder ...... Blossom Field - Simon Says Stamp

Inks ........  Distress Oxide Inks - Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, Picked Raspberry, Black Soot; Versafine Clair - Nocturne (for the sentiment)

Stamps ....... Happy Birthday sentiment from my stash
Other ......  Gold Metallic Gel Pen

Card 2

Embossing Folder ...... 3D Piped Floral Lace - Altenew

Inks ........  Distress Inks - Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, Wild Honey; Versafine Clair - Nocturne 

Stamps ....... Happy birthday Sentiment from my stash
Other ...... Postage Stamp dies; Small crystal gemstones, black cardstock

Finally finished the JOFY workshops .......

Happy Wednesday,

I hope you're having a good week.  It's the last day of September ..... that came around fast!

Before we came away I finally got around to completing the third, and last, of the latest JOFY Online Workshops.

These have all been so much fun to do, and I love the collection of finished cards.

This workshop was all about using stamp set JOFY147, along with a few other stamps from her collection and, JOFY's Vase Stencil (PS513) 

As always, the workshop was full of useful tips and techniques ........ colouring with pencils, and adding little extras to create more interest

Creating backgrounds ......

Using up scraps of patterned papers and card, and layering your stamped images

And also ways of altering stamps and stencils to get the most out of them.

There's always something to learn.  

I like using book pages on cards and journals but, you do have to be careful and check that there's no 'naughty' words on the bits that you use.  Jo came up with a brilliant tip, she uses foreign books, so that the text is not that easy to read ....... guess what I'm looking for now!!!

We're still in the motorhome, currently in the seaside town of Southport ..... not far from where hubby and I grew up really.  

I can remember coming here for days out when I was a kid ...... the fairground, the boating lake and the pier, although that's been closed for a few years now.

The place itself hasn't really changed that much. The town is still the same, just different shops, and more places to eat.

The campsite we're on is only a short walk from the centre, right next to Victoria Park (where they hold the Southport Flower Show), and over the weekend we were treated to a fantastic fireworks display ...... the British Musical Fireworks Championships apparently.

We didn't have tickets for the park but, we really didn't need them.  We got to see the show from the campsite ...... boy was it loud!!!

The pictures are not great (sorry!) but, the fireworks were spectacular!

We're off out for a late lunch now, and a stroll around the town, enjoying the sunshine while it lasts.

Thanks for popping by, enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio until next time ......

CAS Christmas Card challenge .......

Happy Friday .......

Have you had a good week?  We've been very relaxed here in the Lake District, it's all so peaceful, and the weather's been great.

I'm feeling a bit festive today so I'm playing along with September's CAS Christmas Card Challenge

They want to see Woodland Critters this month (we've seen a few of those this week)

Here's a card I made for the challenge before we left on our trip.  Hope it fits the bill.

The cute little reindeer is from a Simon Says Stamp set ...... Bright Christmas.  He's simply been stamped onto white cardstock using a brown ink ..... I did use my MISTI so that I could repeat stamp to get a good coverage of ink

I added a little red pom pom onto his nose, a few dots of glitter glue in the night sky, and stamped my greeting underneath.  Part is stamped just in red ink, and part heat embossed in gold.

How cute is he!?  And so quick and easy to do.

As this is the first time I've used this stamp set I'm also linking up to Darnell's NBUS Challenge

I'm not really in the festive mood just yet, although I have seen Christmas cards and decorations in the shops.  And, I have started to order our festive food ..... don't think I've ever done that in September before!!  Oh well, nothing like being prepared I suppose.

Sadly our week in Keswick is coming to a close.  We do love it here.

The campsite we're on is right near the centre of town, and it's been full all week. 

The town is full of fabulous shops and places to eat and drink.  And we're also just a short walk from the lake (Derwentwater)

The views are spectacular.  It's so nice to just wander down there and sit!  It's a great spot for recharging your batteries.

We're also right near the bus station, and from here you can pretty much go anywhere in the Lake District.   We did a little loop yesterday ..... Coniston, Hawkeshead, Ambleside, through Grasmere.  We did a spot of shopping for some local goodies.  Hawkeshead Relish is one of our favourite Lakes producers, their jams are amazing!!!

And I couldn't resist the Grasmere Gingerbread ..... it's the best gingerbread EVER!!!  Unfortunately it's not Gluten Free which means hubby can't help me eat it ....... that's a shame!

Thanks for popping by, have a great weekend.

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used

Stamps ...... Bright Christmas - Simon Says Stamp

Inks ...... Versafine Ink - Vintage Sepia, Crimson Red; Versamark

Other ...... WOW Metallic Gold Embossing Powder; Quickie Glue Pen; Fine Crystal Glitter; Small Red Pom Pom