CAS Christmas Challenge ........

Happy Saturday .......

Thank goodness it's the weekend.

I'm going a little festive again today with another card for this month's  CAS Christmas Challenge ...... 

This little guy has been sat patiently all week waiting to be blogged.

I love this JOFY snowman ........ he's simply stamped and heat embossed in white, onto a piece of Kraft cardstock (I do like white on Kraft!)

I used Prismacolor pencils to colour him in, with a few touches of ZIG marker here and there (his carrot nose, arms, the band on his hat, and the tiny holly leaves)

I added a touch of sparkle to the baubles with a sprinkling of fine crystal glitter ...... everyone needs sparkly baubles at Christmas!

The sentiment sits nicely underneath .......

And to finish, I added a few dots of falling snow using a white gel pen, and I also doodled a stitched border around the edge 

 

I must admit I'm not really thinking about Christmas at the moment, not with the week I'm having!  

Now, you know me, I don't mind change ....... but really! ........ this week (sigh!) ........ it's been doing my head in!!!

  

Monday ....... I was getting in the holiday mood,  making plans for our first big adventure in the van. 

 

Tuesday (morning) ......... I get an email from our landlord to say he's putting the house on the market!  Funnily enough we've been looking at property recently and thinking about moving (again!) ..... itchy feet and all that but, suddenly it's become more of a reality. 

 OK, that's not a problem, we've done it before .... time for another clear out!

Tuesday (pm) ........ we had seen a house that we quite liked the look of, so hubby rang and made arrangements to view.

In the meantime I'm making many lists, and starting to prep the van.

Wednesday ....... government press conference is tomorrow with regards to border changes etc.  

The plan was our borders were hopefully being opened fully on June 28th, for both residents and non-residents, with all restrictions being lifted.  

However, because of the new Delta variant being in the UK, and infection numbers on the rise again, we knew that there was a good chance that this would not be happening.  

It was announced that government were proposing that our borders would remain as they are at the moment except that people who had had both of their vaccinations (both IOM residents and non- residents) would be allowed to travel freely to and from the island, assuming they had had their vaccines at least two weeks before arriving here ...... they're calling it the 2+2 stage!

OK that's fine ..... hubby and I are having our second vaccine on Monday next week,  only a week before we are due to travel I know,  but we checked and that's fine, it just means that we would still have to isolate when we came back, and get a test on day 2.  Not a problem. we could do that.

So at this point we're still going on our trip (yeah!), viewing a possible new house and, something else we've been looking forward to ......... we had a table booked in the evening at the new Japanese restaurant in Castletown

I say new, it's been open a while now you just can't get a table is so busy!  And after eating there I can understand why ....... the food is amazing!

We had a lovely meal ........ the little man tried everything ....... even the sashimi!

He was braver than me ...... I like my food cooked!  Sushi I can eat, but not sashimi.  I did try the eel though ....... still deciding about that one

We will definitely be back ..... when we can get a table!

So, we get to Thursday and we go to view this property we've found ........... it's perfect! 

Now the current property market on the island is moving very quickly so we decided to put the wheels in motion with a view to moving sooner rather that later.  But hey!  aren't we're going off island for two weeks soon?  When would I pack up the current house!!!!???  And then, there's the possibility of having to isolate when we come back, I could pack up everything then I suppose.  But of course there's a worse case scenario ....... what if we test positive!!!!  OMG!!! More isolation.  

Now we have many decisions to make .......... I don't know if I'm coming or going. 

Friday was just a blur ..... I can't think straight anymore! 

I do think the sensible thing to do is put off the van trip, and concentrate on the move, assuming everything goes according to plan of course!

There's going to be a few of these over this weekend ...... well it is Fathers' Day on Sunday

Thanks for popping by ..... sorry about the long post!  Enjoy your weekend

Cheerio until next time ......

Products used:

Stamps: JOFY 58 (PaperArtsy)

Inks: Versamark ink; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Other: White fine detail Embossing Powder (WOW!); Prismacolor pencils; ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers; Fine Crystal Glitter; Quickie Glue Pen; White Gel Pen 

CAS Mix Up reminder .......

Happy Tuesday .........

It's a busy week this week.  

We're half way through June already so that means it's time to remind you about this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge.

Our host this month is Viv, and the theme for the challenge is all about ......... Flight

One of the first things I thought of was wings ......... you definitely need those to fly.   Birds have them, so do bees, dragonflies or even fairies.  Or maybe, you're dreaming of holiday ........ so it could even be an aeroplane!  No foreign travel on the horizon for me so,  in the end I decided on a butterfly

I stamped the image onto a piece of watercolour cardstock, going off the edge a little so that it didn't take up too much of my 'white' space

I sprinkled a couple of Brusho pigment colours over the top (a red and a yellow shade) ....... you only need the tiniest amounts of these fabulous powders, they are so full of colour.  I then spritzed over the top with water to activate and move the colour around the butterfly.  As you can see I wasn't particularly careful, I wanted the colour to spread outside the stamped image.

 I did use a paintbrush to help blend the colours and create areas of shading.

The sentiment is a pre-printed sticker from one of Tim Holtz's Idea-ology Sticker books ...... so useful to have in your craft stash.  I simply attached it using some foam tape.

I finished off with a few simple highlights on the butterfly using a gold gel pen (not sure that these show up on the photos), and edged around the panel with a gold paint pen.

The challenge is open until June 24th so there's still time to play along.  And, if you need some more inspiration then check out what the rest of the Design Team have created over on the CAS Mix Up Blog.

Happy stamping!

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

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:

Stamps: Perspective  (Tim Holtz)

Inks: Black Archival Ink;

Others: Brusho Pigment Powders - Rose Red, Yellow;  Metallic Sticker Book (Tim Holtz) for the sentiment, Gold sparkle gel pen

It's been fun ........

Hello there .....

Happy Monday evening. I hope your week has got off to a good start.

It's been crazy around here, getting back to normal after a week away on a little family staycation.  

We all had a fabulous week, over in Peel, with a guest appearance from a friend of ours who joined us for an evening but, more about all that later.

This is not an easy post for me to write as it's my final DT post for the Perfectly CAS Challenge (sigh!) 

After nearly two years of being part of this fabulous challenge, I've made the tough decision to step down from the Design Team

I wish Kylie and the rest of the DT all the best for the future, and send huge Thanks for having me as part of the Perfectly CAS family.  I'm gonna miss you all but, I'm sure you will see me in the gallery again at some point, you all know how much I love my CAS cards!

Anyway, I've not gone just yet so ....... here's my final Perfectly CAS inspiration piece .....

It's Challenge #16, and this time it's not just about using one third of your card space, you must also keep your design to just One Corner of your card.

This pretty bunch of tulips is from Penny Black.  

Using a black ink I stamped the image off the edges of my card, keeping the image to the bottom right hand corner 

Then using watercolour paints, I added colour to the blooms

I also added a few splatters of paint onto the background for a little more interest, and then finished off with a simple sentiment on the bottom

Well that's it from me.  

Thank you for all your support and comments on my Perfectly CAS posts, it's been an absolute pleasure designing for this challenge.

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day and have a great week.

There's not much in the diary for this week so, I'm hoping for some time in the craft room.  Although I do have to start getting the van ready for our first big adventure off the island ........ exciting or what!!

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

Products used:

Stamps: splendiferous; happy snippets (Penny Black)

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Golden Glitz (Delicata)

Other: Watercolour paints (Altenew)

CAS Christmas Card Challenge ......

Happy Monday .......

And hello from sunny Peel ...... the Walmsley's are on staycation again!

We arrived at our little cottage on Saturday ...... it's lovely, and right by the beach which is fab!

It was Peel Day yesterday (Sunday) ....... the TT may have been cancelled again this year but, the usual Mad Sunday celebrations here still went ahead.  

In the ten years that we've been on the island this was our first Peel Day ..... I don't think it will be our last, it was fun!

Not quite as many bikes as there would normally be I'm guessing but, just look at that sky ....... the weather was glorious!

We've got a little more cloud today but, it was just as nice strolling along the prom this morning, before we stopped off and had fish and chips at lunchtime (yum!) and we sat and enjoyed the view!

Anyway, enough of all that ...... I'm here to play along with this months CAS Christmas Challenge

As you can see, the theme is ......... Snowman.  I think this jolly looking chap fits the bill perfectly.

 

I stamped the snowman onto a piece of white cardstock using the black Versafine Clair ink, and then heat embossed him with a clear sparkle embossing powder .....

I added a touch of colour to the stamped image using ZIG markers, and some festive red glitter glue

To make the snowman stand out a little from the background I outlined him using a blue ZIG marker and then used a paintbrush and quite a bit of water to pull the colour out and create this soft wash of blue around him

I added a sentiment underneath, and finished off with a few dots of white Enamel Accents to give the look of falling snow.

There's no chance of snow here, thank goodness.  I am hoping for a few nice sunsets this week  ...... we're in Sunset City after all!

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

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

Products used:

Stamps: Filigree Snowman (Inkadinkadoo); Season's Greetings wooden stamp (Art Impressions G-3152) 

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Other: Clear Sparkle Embossing Powder (WOW!); ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers; Stickles glitter Glue - Cranberry; White Enamel Accents (Ranger)